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a rejoinder to a reply to the first) is by pointing out the 

 difficulties in the subject of fluxions, then almost newly in- 

 vented, to show one of two things ; either that mathema- 

 ticians were not such masters of reasoning as to make 

 their opinions on religious subjects more valuable than 

 those of other people ; or else that there were, in the science 

 of fluxions, incomprehensible points as difficult as those of 

 religion, and yet logically established. It was a very 

 dangerous use of analogy, considered with reference to the 

 interests of the cause it was meant to serve ; but it is by no 

 means the only instance of an attempt to place mathema- 

 tical 'on a similar footing with moral difficulties. The 

 points on which Berkeley insisted have since been cleared 

 up, and the publication of the Analyst was the immediate 

 cause of the work of Maclaurin on the subject. 



The style of Berkeley is very clear, and his bold method 

 of thinking and absence of all adhesion to great authorities 

 make his works, even now, valuable to the student. These 

 same qualities make them difficult to describe, and the 

 peculiar nature of the subjects which he treated has caused 

 them to be misrepresented, so that their true scope is less 

 understood than that of any other writings of his day. 



(See his Life prefixed to his works published in 2 vols. 

 4to. in 1784, written by the Rev. Dr. Stock from particulars 

 furnished by Berkeley's brother, and first published anony- 

 mously in 1776; Howard's Essays and Dissertation, and 

 Sir James Mackintosh's Dissertation, Enc. Brit. ; Adam 

 Smith's Essay* on PhilosojMcal Subjects, London, 1795.) 



BERKENHOUT, DR. JOHN, the son of a Dutch 

 merchant, was born at Leeds about the year 1730. He 

 was educated partly at the grammar-school of that town, 

 and partly in Germany; and he afterwards made the tour 

 of Europe in company with one or more English noblemen. 

 He then entered the Prussian service as a cadet, and rose 

 to the rank of captain. When the war broke out between 

 England and France in 1756, he quitted the Prussian and 

 obtained a company in the English service. On the con- 

 clusion of peace in 1760 he quitted the arrny, and com- 

 menced the study of physic at Edinburgh. During his 

 residence there he wrote a work entitled ' Clavis Anglica 

 Linguse Botanicso; or a Botanical Lexicon, in which the 

 terms of botany, particularly those which occur in the works 

 of Linnxus and other modern writers, are applied, derived, 

 explained, contrasted, and exemplified.' (London, 1764, 

 small 8vo. not paged.) This is a useful little work, and 

 perhaps the first of its kind published. The following 

 articles are short specimens of this lexicon : 



' Calycifibrae (a calyx, and fibra, a fibre), a natural class 

 in Scopoli's Flora Carniolica.' 



' PANDURIFORME folium (Pandura, a musical instru- 

 ment), shaped like a Spanish guitar, oblongum, in/erne 

 latins, lateribusque coarctatum. 



' SAOITTATUM folium (sagitta, an arrow), a leaf shaped 

 like the head of an arrow, triangulare, basi excaratum, 

 angulin posticis instructum, as in the Convolvulus 

 arcensis, and sepium, Rumex acetosa. Erica vulgaris.' 



Berkenhout took the degree of doctor of physic at Leyden 

 in 1765, on which occasion he published his * Dissertatio Me- 

 dica inauguralis de Podagra,' dedicated to his relation Baron 

 do BielfeM (Jto. pp. 28). On returning to England, Dr. Ber- 

 kenhout settled at Isleworth in Middlesex ; and until his 

 death, which took place in 1791, employed a great part of 

 his time in writing on an immense variety of subjects. In 

 1 766 his ' Pharmacopoeia Medici' appeared, which reached a 

 third edition in 1 782. The third edition is a small octavo 

 of 1 1 7 pages ; it consists of a list of simple substances, with 

 a description of their properties, followed by a table of 

 doses, and a selection of prescriptions. The following list 

 of synonyms to Alkali Vegetabile (potash) may interest 

 some readers. Cineres Russici, Cineres Clavellati, Pot 

 ashes, Pearl ashes, Alkahest Glauberi, Marcoft, Blanch 

 ashes, Cendres Gravellees, Sal Tartari, Sal Absinthii, 

 Nitrum flxum, Fluxum nigrum, Cassob., Lapis infernalis. 

 (3rd edition, p. 11.) 



His ' Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain 

 and Ireland' came out by a volume at a time in 1769, 1770, 

 and 1771. The copy at the British Museum is bound up 

 with a short treatise entitled the ' Naturalist's and Tra- 

 veller's Companion' (London, 1772, 8vo. pp.69). It has 

 no name, but is probably by the same indefatigable 

 author. 



In 1 771 he published ' Dr. Cadogan's Dissertation on the 

 (lout examined and refuted;' and in 1777 ' Biographia 



Literana ; or a Biographical History of Literature, contain- 

 ing the lives of English, Scotish, and Irish authors, froni 

 the dawn of letters in these kingdoms to the present time, 

 chronologically and classically arranged:' London, 1771, 

 4to. pp. 537. This volume contains the authors who lived 

 from the beginning of the fifth to the end of the sixteenth 

 century. In a very long preface dated from Richmond in 

 Surrey, the author promises his readers a second, third; 

 and fourth volume, but they never made their appearance. 



Dr. Berkenhout's next work was ' A Treatise on Hysterical 

 Diseases, translated from the French.' In 1778 he waa 

 sent with certain commissioners appointed to treat wit-be 

 America, and on his return obtained a pension in consi- 

 deration of his political services, and the losses sustained 

 by giving up practice for a time. 



In 1780 he published 'Lucubrations on Ways and 

 Means, inscribed to Lord North.' His next work was an 

 ' Essay on a Bite of a Mad Dog ;' and in the following year he 

 published his ' Symptomatology.' The writer of hig life 

 in Chalmers's ' Biographical Dictionary,' to whom we are in- 

 debted for most of these particulars, speaks of the ' Symp- 

 tomatology' as of a book, ' too universally known to require 

 any recommendation.' Yet it is a book which we have 

 nover seen even in a quotation or a catalogue, and of which 

 we suspect that it would not be very easy at present to 

 procure a copy. 



In 1788 appeared Dr. Berkenhout's ' First Lines of "the 

 Theory and Practice of Philosophical Chemistry.' The 

 title ' First Lines' is taken from Cullen's ' First Lines of the 

 Practice of Physic,' as that again was probably borrowed 

 from Haller's 'Primae Lines Physiologiae.' The biogra- 

 pher just quoted says, that the book 'exhibits a satisfactory 

 display of the present state of chemistry.' In our opinion it 

 hardly exhibited the state of chemistry even at the time it 

 was published, but was a smart, pleasant, readable intro- 

 duction to the science. The eulogy in question, however, 

 was probably reprinted from a contemporary writer. 



In 1779 he published a continuation of Campbell's 

 Lives of the Admirals,' 4 vols. 8vo. His last publication, 

 according to the writer of his life, was ' Letters on Edu- 

 cation, to his Son at Oxford,' 1791, 2 vols. 12mo. Whether 

 this is a mistake or not we will not venture to decide, but 

 we think it probable. We have seen a similar work en- 

 titled ' A Volume of Letters from Dr. Berkenhout to his 

 Son at the University,' but it is in one octavo volume (of 

 374 pages), is printed in 1790, and addressed to a son at 

 the University of Cambridge. Some of these letters are 

 curiosities of their kind. Thus, in the tenth letter, the au- 

 thor, not being surprised that his son has forgotten at the 

 Charter-house all the arithmetic that he knew before his 

 admission, begins to instruct him in the very elements of 

 the science. In the twenty-second and twenty-third letters 

 he supposes his son equally ignorant of geography, and 

 after furnishing him with a few of the more prominent 

 facts in this branch of knowledge, he says ' Thus, I flatter 

 myself, I have fulfilled my promise in communicating, in 

 the compass of two not very long letters, as much geogra- 

 phical knowledge as you will ever want.' (p. 211.) This 

 satisfying system of geography is contained in eighteen 

 loosely printed octavo pages. 



The last 140 pages are occupied with botany, and this is 

 certainly the best part of the work. In a series of imagi- 

 nary herborizing excursions, Berkenhout demonstrates 

 many of the plants growing about. Cambridge, and he would 

 appear to have been really on the spot when writing, for 

 he continually uses such phrases as ' There is one now in 

 the walks of" Queen's College.' ' Three days ago I met 

 with a specimen at the back gate of St. John's.' ' This 

 Salvia verbenacea you will find in great plenty in the field- 

 path opposite the horse^bridge of Trinity College.' * &c. &c. 

 These were the principal works of Dr. Berkenhout, a man 

 who, though certainly undeserving of the lavish panegyrics 

 of his friends, left but little to be said against him by his 

 enemies. He was active, energetic, and indefatigable, from 

 the earliest to the latest years of his life, and though he 

 has no claim to the rare praise of creating knowledge, it 

 would be unjust to deny hiLi the credit due to those who 

 acquire and diffuse it. 



Dr. Berkenhout .y. he does not know where Linnaeu. got 

 conium. unless from Pliny, who, I think, mention. ,t a. the name of a towtt 

 Phrygia.' Linnsu. obtained comum from the fountain wnenc 

 I..ti 'word, of the kind came the Greek " (koneium) .. found m th, 

 bcit authors. 



NO. 240. 



[THE PENNY CYCLOPAEDIA.] 



Voi. IV. 2 O 



