THE EDINBURGH PRACTICE OF PHYSIC, suRCERY, &c. 
Sometimes, indeed, the pain and inflamma- 
tion are very considerable ; and when it so 
happens, you should apply a fomentation and 
poultice. Should the worm perish, and, by 
Art. VII. The Edinburgh Practice 
Abstract of the Theory of Medicine, 
avards of six hundred Formule from the Books of St. 
mas’s, Guy’s, and other Hospitals in London, and from the Lectures and W, ritings of the most 
eminent public Teachers, with Twenty Quarto Plates. Anew Edition, in Five Volumes. 
THE plan of the present compilation 
is similar to that of the former edition of 
“ The’ Edinburgh Practice,” but much 
enlarged, and rendered more extensively 
useful. Of the present edition, the com- 
piler thus speaks: 
«¢ That mere directions how to treat a dis- 
- ease, unaccompanied with any precise law by 
_ which that disease is eat or any detail 
of the variations to which it is subject, are 
not merely useless but even pernicious, may 
be easily proved by the testimony of medical 
men, who have trusted to the Gailanints guid- 
ance of those publications which pretend to 
teach the practice of the diflerent branches of 
the medical art, without paying any material 
_ regard to theory. It isa conviction of this 
sort that has induced the editor of the follow- 
ing sheets to avail himself of a northern work, 
already and deservedly popular; and, in its 
_ present detached form, to place jt within the 
_ reach of cvery medical student and practi- 
 tioner, divested of many accidental errors, 
_-and enriched by materials drawn from the 
_ first sources of medical, chirurgical, and ob- 
_ stetrical information in South Britain. 
__ *§ Thus to the excellent compilations of 
_ Dr. Monroand Mr. Fyfe, have been added 
_ every successive improvement in medicine 
_ and surgery; nor has less attention been paid 
_ to the necessary additions to the treatise on 
_ midwifery, originally the work of an eminent 
_ teacher at Edinburgh. Aboye all, it has been 
_ the editor's endeavour to bring together in 
these volumes a body of cases, truly valuable 
and authentic; and greatly to augment the 
formu, which stamped the former edition 
with a marked degree of superiority over other 
ublications of the kind. Of these it may no 
ess truly be said, that ‘* none are the vague 
productions of obscure anonymous pharma- 
copolists, but stamped with the strongest pos- 
_ sible characters of authenticity.” 
* * * 
‘ «« The plates, the number of which has 
_ been considerably augmented, it is. hoped, 
, will be found eminently useful, particularly 
_ to the young practitioner ; and the tables and 
copious indexes capable of facilitating the 
_ seader’s pursuits, in a manner that will en- 
728 
corrupting in the part, oceasion an ulcer, it 
must be dressed with basilicon, spread on 
some lint.” 
of Physic, Surgery, and Midwifery, preceded by an 
and the Nosology of Dr. Cullen; and including up- 
Bartholomew’s, St. George’s, St. Tho- 
sure his decided approbation of the under- 
- taking.” 
Thé work is strictly a compilation: the 
editor does not appear in any part as the 
adviser or instructor of his readers, his 
plan is to take a standard book asa text, 
and to add under each disease all that 
has been given on the same subject by 
the other writers, which he has chosen 
to select. The praise of industry, and 
some judgment in selecting is certainly 
his, the execution of the work is entirely 
that of thetranscriber. The editor’s re- 
cipe for composition is the simplest in the 
world; it is only to mark for publication 
the volume and page of Cullen, Lind, 
Fordyce, Zoonomia, Cleghorn, Medical 
Journal, &c. &c. and the printer will re- 
turn you a compleat treatise on the dis- 
ease in question. 
In this manner, and on this plan, have 
five bulky volumes been put together, 
two on medicine, two on surgery, and 
one on midwifery ; and as five large vo- 
lumes, full of extracts from the most emi- 
nent writers, cannot but contain a great 
proportion of excellent mattter, this se- 
lection is certainly a kind of arranged 
library, and must prove eminently ser- 
viceable to those who have not time or 
opportunity of perusing the originals. 
As we are not reviewing the medical 
classics, and standard books in our libra- 
ries, we shall pass over the contents of 
these volumes ; but in justice to the com- 
piler we must add, that he has fulfilled 
his promise in the preface, of bestowing . 
considerable pains in the selection of for-- 
mul, and the indexes and tables of con- 
tents are full, and apparently -accurate. 
The plates are pretty numerous: although 
an artist or connoisseur might not admire 
their execution, they give a very faithful 
view of what theyare meant to represent, © 
and correspond with the general charac« 
ter of utility, to which alone this compi- 
lation aspires. 
3A2 
