Dr, Davy’s Ceylon. 297 
circle of Mechanical Friends in this and other Countries, is pre- 
paring for Publication, A Technical Repository of Practical In- 
formation on Subjects connected with the present daily Improve- 
ments and new Discoveries in the useful Arts. 
From this Gentleman’s extensive knowledge and connexions, 
we have every reason to expect a fund of valuable information. 
The First Part is promised in January of the ensuing year. 
Miscellaneous Works of the late Robert Willan, M.D. F.R.S. 
F.A.S., comprising an Inquiry into the Antiquity of the Small-pox, 
Measles, and Scarlet Fever; now first published.—Reports on the 
Diseases in London; a new Edition, &c. in one volume, octavo. 
Edited by Ashley Smith, M.D., Licentiate of the Royal College 
of Physicians of London, 
An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, and of its Inhabitants. 
With Travels in that Island. By Joux Davy, M.D. F.R.S. 
Ato. pp. 530. London, 1821. 
With the exception of the ¢ Historical Relation of the Island 
of Ceylon,’ by Robert Knox, an English seaman, who was wrecked 
on the coast in 1660, and suffered twenty years’ captivity, there 
is not a single volume in existence on the natural or civil history 
of Ceylon. Knox’s History has always been popular, on account 
of its simplicity of style and narrative, and the good sense and 
good feelings of the author; but his sphere of observation was 
necessarily limited, and the period of one hundred and forty 
years, which has elapsed since its publication, and the vast in- 
terest which the subject has acquired since Ceylon has become a 
British province, have rendered an account of it one of the most 
acceptable works that could be offered to the public. 
The present work has been drawn up by Dr. Davy from ori- 
ginal materials collected in Ceylon during a four years’ residence 
of the author, who was on the medical staff of the army. He 
has received the assistance of every one who was capable of aiding 
him in the information, and hence the work is enriched by many 
valuable contributions. It gives a full account of the history, 
geography, and geology of the island; its population, laws, lan- 
guage, and religion; the state of the arts and sciences, the do- 
mestic habits and manners of the inhabitants, &c. A work of 
this nature, written with the ability which Dr. Davy has displayed, 
cannot fail of exciting great interest; and to those parts which 
fall more particularly within the scope of our work, we purpose 
briefly to direct the attention of our readers. 
The Island of Ceylon is in the tropic of Cancer, situated nearly 
‘between the parallel of 6° and 10° north latitude, and between 
Vol, 58, No, 282, Oct, 1821, Pp 80° 
