4-SO 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



close this section, which are either 

 derived from the above theory, or, 

 at least, are mr.le happily to coin- 

 cide with it. From these, we shall 

 copy what the writer terms two 

 golden rules respecting the applica- 

 tion of stimuli. In fevers with de- 

 bility, when wine or beer are eX' 

 hibited, if the pulse; becomes slower, 

 the stimulus is of a proper quantity, 

 and should be repeated every two 

 or three hours, or when the pulse 

 has again become quicker. In chro- 

 nical detiility, bnA oht on by hard 

 drinking, the patient should be di- 

 rected to omit a fourth part of his 

 accustomed quantity of vinous spirit. 

 If, in a fortnight's time, his appe- 

 tite increases, he should omit ano- 

 ther fourth part: bat, if this farther 

 diminution impairs the appetite, he 

 should remain wliere he is. At the 

 same time, flesh-meat is recom- 

 mended, with Peruvian hark and 

 steel in small quantities between 

 meals, and opium with rhubarb at 

 night* 



5. 13. relates to vegetable anima- 

 tion. Some of the well-known facts 

 respecting the irritability of plants 

 are here rnenlioned. Their secre- 

 tions are compared to those of ani- 

 mals . and the individuality of every 

 bud on a tree is asserted. Next, 

 the marks of sensibility shewnby the 

 sexual parts of piants are recited, 

 and the writer does not scruple to 

 ascribe the passion of I ve to pisMls 

 and anthers ; thus seriously main- 

 taining, as a philosopher, opinions 

 which we conceived to be the sport 

 of a poetic imagination in his beau- 

 tiful work, entitled The Loves of the 

 Plants. He touch'-s on the curious 

 enquiry, whether \egetables have 

 ideas of external thino-s ; which, 

 from arguments that seem to prove 

 them possessed of a commofi senso- 



rium, he is inclined to answer ill 

 the affirmative. 



6". 14. on the troduction of ideas, 

 goes over the several organs of the 

 senseS: and the manner in which ob- 

 jects affect them : but, in so very 

 concise a discussion, we cannot ex-- 

 pect much new elucidation of 

 points which, singly, have cost 

 much labour to many philosophers. 

 Besides the usual enumeration ©f 

 senses, he adds the senses or appe- 

 tites of hunger, thirst, heat, ex- 

 tension, the want of fresh air, ani- 

 mal love, and the suckling of chil- 

 dren. 



The \5th section, on the classes of 

 ?V/t'«?, is purely metaphysical, and 

 offers nothing new to I he informed 

 reader. 



5- 16. on instinct, is verv curious 

 and entertaining, but will probably 

 by many be thought fanciful and 

 inconclusive. Its genrral purpose 

 is to shew that the blind impulse in 

 animais, to actions and reason and 

 consequences of which are not seen 

 (which we usually call instinct), 

 docs not in reality exist, — but that 

 early unmarked associations or pre- 

 vious experience have been the true 

 causes of those actions. He traces 

 these associations and acquirements 

 in the early motions, sensations and 

 tattes, of animals. Thus, our sense 

 of beauty he dt^rives from the va^ 

 riouv pleasurable sensations original- 

 ly experienced by the infant from 

 the mother's breast, whence all 

 forms analogous to it become af- 

 terward sources of a kind of recol- 

 lected delio-ht. Even the natural 

 expressions of the passions, accord- 

 ing to him, spring from original as- 

 sociations. Thus, a disagreeable 

 irritation of the lachrymal ducts in 

 the nose from cold dry air being one 

 of the first pains in infants, and oc- 

 casioning 



