740 
But in the trmult of literary projects, amid 
which we live, scarce any absurdity being 
impossible, let us imagine some adyen- 
‘turer, sufficiently intoxicated to undertake 
to communicate the capacity for exercis- 
-ing one of our humblest, and most use-. 
ful trades,’ without apprenticeship, by a 
tract'on domestic shoe-making. Should any 
one, after stndying this: tract, conceit hini- 
self qualified to handle the awl and the par- 
ing kuife, I leave it to be imagined by the 
reader, how unmercifelly the leather would 
be pricked and slashed, and what would be 
the condition of the poor toes, condemned 
to be lodged in the receptacle, prepared by 
these learned hands. Woes common sense 
spurn af'the idea of efficacious instruction in 
such anvart by such means? Are the qua- 
lities, then, of feather more complicated than 
those of ;the living body? Does the art of 
managing the former to most advantage re- 
quire along apprenticeship, and not that of 
managing the fatter? Are the tools that lie 
within the compass of the shoemaker’s 
bench, more casy to employ properly, than 
the arti¢les of the materia medica? I see, 
indeed, one essential difference: the incom- 
petent mechanic will soon be marked; no 
clumsy workmanship of his can pass : where- 
as, tn medicine, bunglers may go on, I know 
not how . long, without disgrace. This 
chance of escaping detection is, no doubt, 
an encontagemnt for prinale practitioners, 
suchas nothing can countervail, if- they be 
agitated by the same restless damon that 
possessed Lord Chesterfield’s  blood-letting 
peer.. But I have no hope of effecting any 
thing, except with active, but misguided be- 
nevolence. Insanity must be. difierently 
dealt with, and wrong-lreadedness, is scarce 
to be reclaimed by plain dictates of prudence. 
Otherwise, a consideration, yet untouched, 
would be decisive! For the dpfect of the 
artisan, who Jeaves his work imperfect, can 
be afterwards supplied. But an amending 
hand may be vainly applied in case of omts- 
sion during sickness, where it ig ofien just 
as fatal to leave undone what is right, as to 
do what is wrong. What then shall we 
think of the defence, which conscious inca- 
pacity is so apt to set up by anticipation : 
very simple my advice is: you may be sure 
if it does no good, it cun do no harm? Oh, 
yes, but ifdoes no good, it cwx do harm 
all possible harm, provided in killing there 
be harm: It can arrest the rescuing hand, 
till the, silent, but progressive finger of fate 
move from time is, to time is no more. There 
are plenty of ,occasions on which water- 
gruel, upon the harmless principle, will do 
a man’s bacineseWiet as effectually asdaurel- 
water, “And what, I pray, does it signify 
to the killed, whether they come to their 
end by the saucepan or the still? To the 
killer,’ the difference, we know, is all in all. 
“Yer he who simply thrusts his ignorance be- 
tween the sick, nid the means of recovery, 
will really haye done more. mischief, inas- 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, ANATOMY, &c. 
much.as he will have more largely accumut- 
lated pain upon death. And surely, where law 
cannot interfere, the call is so much louder 
for public censure. It is by far too unequal 
a game to be allowed in society, where one 
party stakes empty professions of good-will 
against the other's existence.” 
To many persons the study of physio- 
logy must be well suited, as an_interest- 
ing branch of natural philosophy. An 
inquiry into the structure of animal bo- 
dies, an investigation of the beautiful 
adaptation of different parts, and of the 
most wonderful effects produced by the 
simplest means, will be deemed far more 
interesting than the history of butterflies 
and cockle-shells. But the latter of these 
pursuits, is less liable to abuse, and there- 
fore better adapted for general readers ; 
inasmuch as medical reading excites 
groundless anxieties, especially on hypo- 
chondriacs, which have so often been ex- 
hibited with exquisite humour. Some 
acquaintance with the general principles 
of medicine might be useful to the clergy, 
especially those residing in the country, 
as they may be called upon to judge of 
the propriety of sending for aciteat av 
and can enforce the regulations necessary 
for the preservation of health. . 
The third and fourth essays include a 
variety of curious and important obser- 
vations on schools. Many of the in- 
stances of errors, mentioned in the fourth 
essay, might have been omitted with 
great propriety. Common _ decency 
and decorum require such omissions. 
The remarks on girls’ schools appear 
just and well-founded; the lady abbesses 
of our temporary nunneries will blush at 
such a public declaration of the truth. 
Tt is to be hoped, that tHe faults are not 
so general or so enormous as detailed. 
The condition of children, with respect, 
to food, is said to be improved, and there 
was room for improvement, as a. curious 
fact is stated in another part of this work, 
of forty girls at a school who fed for tevo suc- 
cessive days upon a single leg of mution! 
The second volume commences with 
a series of useful details relating to ani- 
mal temperature, Then follow two es- 
says on serophula and consumption, which 
include many excellent remarks, well de- 
serving an attentive perusal. Did our 
limits permit, several interesting passages 
might be selected fron these two impor-. 
tant dissertations. ; cus 
In the last volume,.our author comes, 
to treat of what as gencrally understood, 
by the appellation of nervous disorders 5. 
