45 



Of plaistering and smoothing wounds, 

 our author is a decided advocate, yet we 

 will venture to assert, that whoever fol- 

 lows his directions on this head implicitly, 

 must spend much good Time and Tar in 

 vain. 



The detailed consequences of such me- 

 thods w^ill be considered in their proper 

 places, our object here, being chiefly to 

 exhibit the discordant opinions of diffe- 

 rent authors. 



From the fores-oino; we gather, that the 

 opinions of writers upon the subject, to a 

 very late period, may rather be said to be 

 founded on floating ideas than on fixed 

 principles ; and that such must rather re- 

 tard than forward the business of improve- 

 ment. We shall leave them for the pre- 

 sent, and advert briefly to the importance 

 of the subject. 



