76 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[Jan. 



cated. Tlie coloured engravings are the 

 best we ever saw in a work of this nature, 

 and are worth, at least, three out of the 

 five shillings demanded for this neat vo- 

 lume. 



Mathematics for Practical Men, being a 

 Common-Place Booh of Principles, Theo- 

 rems, Rules, and Tables in Various De- 

 partments of Pure and Mixed Mathematics, 

 with their most useful Applications, especial- 

 ly to the Pursuits of Survei/ors, Architects, 

 Mechanics and Civil Engineers, hij Olin- 

 THus Grkgorv, i.l.d. — This book fairly 

 fulfils what the title promises, and we can 

 safely recommend it for general purposes. 

 The type is clear, the engravings good, and 

 the price moderate. 



The Anti-Lancet, or Physicians and Doc- 

 tors Reviewed. Part 2. — In the days of our 

 grandfathers, the majority of physicians 

 were, it is well-known, arrant humbugs. 

 There were some exceptions to the rule ; 

 among them Boerhaave, Sydenham, Rad- 

 cliffe, &c. All the greater portion per- 

 formed was, to dress gravely, use a gold- 

 headed cane, and prescribe one, t\^■o, or 

 three spoonsfiill of a mixture, composed of 

 three hundred and more ingredients of va- 

 rious kinds, and from different countries. 

 Our forefathers were as partial to individuals 

 of this ignorant tribe as peo])le are of the 

 present day, without ten degrees more 

 reason. We do not mean to say that, 

 within these last forty years improve- 

 ments have not been made ; that clinical 

 lectm-ing has not been more general ; that 

 the inductive system of philosophy has 

 not been more practised, and the pa- 

 thology and diagnostics of diseases more 

 accurately laid down : but still much of 

 tlie mystery of the old humbugs is che- 

 rished by the doctors of the college. We 

 could name some high and noble spirits 

 who have boldly declared the age to be 

 rising above such jjroceedings, and whose 

 works bear ample testimony of their supe- 

 rior knowledge of the doctrine and treat- 

 ment of diseases. While surgery has at- 

 tained to a great height, medicine has been 

 struggling through darkness and dirt, and 

 is scarcely yet clear of the slough into which 

 it was plunged. Its degraded state has 

 given rise to a race of men termed " me- 

 dico-chirurgical," that is, men possessed 

 of skill as operating surgeons, and of all 

 the knowledge professe 1 by mere physi- 

 cians. We see the slow, but progressive 

 steps, made by the professors of the art of 

 healing, and hope before the rising genera- 

 tion has grown gray, that the remaining 

 mystery still lurking among physicians, 

 may be cleared away by the sun of science 

 and the light of truth. The work before 

 us will attract attention for a time, but we 

 fear that the style is not adapted to gain a 

 permanent footing, and so attiiiu the end 

 proposed by the writer or writers. The 

 good taste of the commonalty will not 



uphold language quite so sweeping and per- 

 sonal as the following : — 



" Such is the esprit du corps of the medical pro- 

 fession, that it would see the half of maDkind 

 blind, diseased, and at the devil, rather than it should 

 escape from Uieii trammels." 



The writer thus moderately speaks of 

 the profession and of himself: — 



" I am no college doctor, hut have myself spent 

 thousands, as you are doing, to fee and follow their 

 useless prescriptions. I have learned a conviction of 

 the fallacy of all they do; and that the present 

 medical profession is the greatest imposture, hum- 

 bug, and nuisance upon earth, fostering and rivet- 

 ting disease instead of curing it, and deteriorating 

 the bodily and mental faculties of mankind. This 

 is the consequence of the means they employ — their 

 bleeding, opium, mercury and bark." 



This writer affirms that all diseases, great 

 and small, are to be eradicated, and life 

 prolonged, by " vegetable regenerators." 

 The works of Mr. Stevenson, Sir Wm. 

 Adams, Messrs. Ware, Ilewston, Ward- 

 rop, Saunders, and Travers, on diseases 

 of the organs of sight, he considers as " all 

 my eye," and deems them liable to cure 

 by the " vegetable regenerators." We 

 cannot see our way clear enougli on tliis 

 subject to enter into it, so we leave the 

 writer of the Anti-Lancet to the profession, 

 with the belief that he will be well scarified 

 and blistered, and may think himself well 

 off if he is not obliged to leave the North 

 Crescent, to take a leaden pill or two at 

 Chalk -farm, unless he polishes his mode of 

 address to the fierce fee-line species. 



A Sketch of Ancient Geography, com- 

 piled f mm the best Authorities, and arranged 

 after the Manner of the Abbe Guultier's 

 Modern Geography. By a Lady, for the 

 Use of her own Family — This little work 

 reflects great credit on the compiler, since 

 it not only gives a succinct account of the 

 places, but also a brief detail of the liisto- 

 rical circumstance for which each is cele- 

 brated, and of the productions of the 

 eountiy, &c., thus: — 



" Thasos receivetl its name from Thasos, the son 

 of Ag^nor, wh<^ settled here when he despaired of 

 finding his sister Europa. Its wine was imiversalty 

 esteemed, and its marble quarries were also in great 

 repute, as well as its mmes of gold and silver." 



The quantity of the classical names is 

 marked, and the appendix contains a bio- 

 graphical dictionary of gods, goddesses, 

 heroes, &c. Jupiter has been deprived of 

 his Egyptian descent, which the writer 

 would do well to add to the next edition. We 

 consider it well adapted for girls' schools, 

 and a very fair substitute for Butler's Sketch 

 of Ancient and Modern Geography. 



FOREIGN LITERATURE, &c. 



RUSSIA. 



Pravda o pogare Moskvi. — This jiutheu- 

 tic memoir of the burning of Moscow, by 

 the Count Rostoptchinn, is fidl of curious 

 arid interesting matter, which, perhaps, no 

 one but the author could have made known. 



