1898: 
which is brim full of real and important in- 
struction, exhibits the results of the practice 
and experience of two of the most success- 
ful surgeons and lecturers in London—Sir 
Astley Cooper and Mr. Green. The Edi- 
tor, Mr. Castle, of Bermondsey, has intro- 
duced nothing but what will be found in 
the lectures of these eminent men, unless 
specifically excepted ; and therefore the stu- 
dent will know precisely whom he trusts to— 
the whole comes from the best authority the 
actual state of the science will furnish. 
The Editor’s object has been to prepare a 
manual, literally, for the use of students. 
“ The mere walking,” says he, “from one 
ward to another, and taking a cursory view 
of ae patient, isnot a proper plan to be 
pursued; they should take with them a 
pocket companion, and when they meet with 
any particular case, they should first make 
their own observations, and then imme- 
diately refer to know what they have over- 
looked, or what is unusual to its general 
character.’’—Here is a manual exactly cal- 
culated for this purpose. Brevity and clear- 
ness have been studied throughout ; and we 
are bound to say, wherever we have dipped 
into it, we have found these aims success- 
fully accomplished. 
A Treatise on Universal Jurisprudence, 
by J. P. Thomas, Esq. ; 1828.—Has the 
prevailing style of dedication struck the 
reader lately ? Often have we been tempt- 
| ed to protest against it ~ Mr. Thomas has 
passed the bounds of toleration, and our 
disgust is no longer repressible. But Mr. 
| Thomas shall be self-convicted. He is, 
it must be premised, a Fellow of that pre- 
cious piece of mummery, called the Royal 
Society of Literature—the use of which— 
beyond that of pensioning adherents—is 
perfectly inconceivable. Take the dedica- 
tion—and when you have read it—quem- 
__ eunque voles modum pones :— 
To rue Kine’s most EXCELLENT MaAgeEsty. 
Most AuGusT SOVEREIGN, 
With more of gratitude than of confidence, I 
approach Your MAsesty’s throne, to lay at your 
7 
J 
feet, my Treatise of Universal Jurisprudence; 
deeply sensible of the highly-flattering con- 
descension with which Your MAJxsty is gra- 
ciously pleased to receive it. 
Amidst the varied fatigues of this attempt to 
reduce the comprehensive and often-puzzling 
science of Jurisprudence into a form intelligible 
to all Your MAsesty's subjects, it has been the 
constant object of my anxious ambition to merit 
your royal sanction. Often as the midnight lamp 
has lighted me in my researches—difficult as has 
been the task of condensing, with impartiality and 
precision, the principles of the noble but much 
neglected science of which I treat, I look back, 
Siee, with unmixed joy, to lucubrations which 
are recompensed by the exalted honour of Your 
Masusry’s approval. 
The age of gold which early fable painted, is 
realised in the auspicious sway of Your Ma- 
_ sesty. Science, by rapid strides, is approaching 
towards that perfection, beyond which she is fated 
_ Domestic and Foreign. 
419 
not to pass. The splendours of legislation and 
peace are, in Your MAgsgsty’s magnanimous 
mind, far more estimable than the achievements, 
even of your victorious forces. Your MaAsesty 
has raised a splendid pyramid of peaceful glory, 
in the institution of a Royal College of Literature ; 
which, so long as it exists, will, with the gratitude 
of an affectionate child, cling to the recollection 
of Your Masgsty’s munificence. 
Your affectionate subjects, Sire! in perusing 
this book, will perceive in the enumeration of 
kingly duties, a faint sketch of those imperial 
virtues which endear Your Maggsty to your de- 
voted people. 
That the reign of Kinc GeorGe THE Fourts, 
whicb history will record as one conspicuous for 
its dignity, and worthy of lasting imitation, may 
long continue to shed blessings upon the British 
nation, is the fervent wish of, Sire, &c. 
What is to be anticipated from a writer, 
on the principles of government too, who 
thus, without blushing scarlet, addresses the 
sovereign of a constitutional government, in 
terms suitable only to an imperial despot 
from a crouching slave, whose head is at 
stake? The book itself, however, is of a 
more upright and manly character; and if 
“the writer occasionally fall into the obsolete, 
the hum-drum, and the superfluous, it is 
more from defect of judgment, than want oF 
pluck. It has no doubt cost him labour 
enough; but the labour has produced a 
most unreadable book— its form is that of a 
syllabus, and its value precisely that of ari 
index. He speaks of his own running 
stream of references as a ‘* methodical in- 
dex,”’ but the term is more strictly appli- 
cable to the text. 
What is the basis of this Universal Juris- 
prudence? On what principle is it to be 
built? On particular and general utility. 
It is useful to me that my life, limbs, and 
property be secure ; it is useful to you that 
yours also should be secure ; it is therefore 
our reciprocal interests that we abstain from 
offending each other, and moreover to unite 
in defending each other. It is precisely 
the same with all others within the sphere 
of mutual influence—that all abstain from 
offending, and unite in repelling. These 
are the earliest suggestions of experience, 
the parent of the laws of nature. But in the 
complications of extensive societies, mewm 
and ¢wam require defining and enforcing, and 
then it obviously becomes useful that the 
business of protection and redress should be 
consigned to particular persons. Hence 
arises the distinction of the governors and 
the governed; and the regulations which 
are believed upon the whole best fitted to 
answer the purpose of their appointment— 
to define their rights and duties,—get the 
name of the laws of nations. But nations 
in the progress of civilization heconie con- 
nected with neighbouring nations, and ex~ 
tend their intercourse with them ; and here 
again it becomes useful to frame the rules 
or customs which shall govern that inter- 
course, and these go by the name of inter~ 
3H 2 
