Ih 21 .j Critical Notices of 
each argues in support of worthless laws 
and customs, while be exposes those of his 
rival is truly amusing-. The peculiar genius 
and excellencies of the saints, with the 
character ot the people they patronize are 
altogether well preserved. There is also 
u much food for thought,” delivered in no 
unpoetical language, both for travellers 
and statesmen: whiie the general reader 
cannot fail to be entertained with its satire 
or its wit. 
We have waded through a Treatise on 
Cataract by Philip de la Garde, with¬ 
out being able to discover a single fact or 
opinion new to the opthalmia surgeon ; the 
nature of this disease, however, is so well 
understood, and its several operations and 
their respective merits have been so dearly 
elucidated in the treatises previously be¬ 
fore the public, that much novelty could 
not have been expected. We were sur¬ 
prised to find in the author’s enumeration 
of the species of this disease, that black 
cataract was excluded 5 but our amaze¬ 
ment was still greater, when, in the progress 
of the work, we were informed that it was 
the antientname for amaurosis, in a manner 
which implies his disbelief of its existence. 
The surgeons of former times did, in fact, 
confound the one disease with the other • 
but that the existence of black cataract as 
an affection of the chrystallinelens is wholly 
distinct from paralysis of the optic nerve, 
we know from actual observation. The 
birth of the performance is explained as 
being the substance of two essays written 
for a society of students. When Mr. De la 
Garde is a few 3 ears older, he will proba¬ 
bly have learned that a performance may 
be tespectable and useful for the purpose 
of exciting discussion among hospital pu¬ 
pils, and absolute lumber in company with 
the works oi Scarpa, Hey, Ware and others 
of the same stamp. If the author should 
meditate any fresh flights, we recommend 
him to avoid egotism, of which he has 
given us an unpardonable specimen. When 
his opinions,by an unlucky fatality, seem to 
be copied from Ware or Sir W. Adams, he 
tells us with unexampled sang-froid, that 
their opinions are the same as his ! 
On Sir Richard Phillips’s Twelve 
Essays, we forbear, for obvious reasons, 
to make any observations, except that 
at least three fourths of the volume of six 
hundred pages are perfectly original, and 
that a quantity equal to the other fourth, 
has at sundry times been presented to the 
public through this miscellany. Thewoik 
embodies and systematizes the theory of 
motion, and extends the doctrine to atomic 
phenomena of every kind. It contains 
also many calculations, demonstrations and 
applications altogether new. 
A small anonymous tract, entitled a Phi- 
sio logical Essay on the sensibility of Ani¬ 
mals, is intended to shew that sensibility 
Books of the Month. 357 
is the result of the combined action of the 
arterial and nervous system. That a ner¬ 
vous fluid is elicited in the op eration of the 
artery upon the nerve, and such fluid has 
the property of restraining ch emical affini¬ 
ties ; that heat is evolved during its elicita¬ 
tion, and the blood passes through the 
lungs and is exposed to the air in a large 
surface to part with its superabundant 
heat. 
The lovers of genuine poetry will be 
highly gratified by the perusal of a volume 
from the pen of Mr. David Carey, en¬ 
titled the Lord of the Desert, Sketches of 
Scenery foreign and domestic, Odes and 
other Poems. The first piece contains an 
Arabian tale of deep interest, and many 
fine and poetical delineations of oriental 
manners. The sketches of foreign scenery 
are highly picturesque 5 the view from Mont 
Martre in particular, in the neighbourhood 
of Paris, is unquestionably the most spi¬ 
rited and accurate description we have 
seen given of any foreign landscape. The 
lyrical effusions are equally entitled to our 
commendation. 
The second series of Sketches from St. 
George'sF,elds, by Giorgione di Castel 
Chiuso, is executed with unabated 
spirit and ability ; and, from the intelli¬ 
gence, poetical powers, and good feeling 
evinced by the author, gives us reason to 
regret that he should ever have been in a 
situation to delineate such scenery with 
such expressive colours. To depict human 
life as it is found within those precincts, 
the artist should possess a deep and affec¬ 
tionate sympathy with human infirmities 
and sufferings, which are often most keenly 
felt when the gestureor the speech assumes 
an air ot levity. This requisite the author 
possesses, and while we read and are 
highly amused with his ludicrous images 
and descriptions, thoughts of a more seri¬ 
ous nature arise in our minds, and leave 
behind them impressions both salutary and 
lasting. As a specimen of the grave 
powers of Giorgione, we may instance the 
highly-w rought description of the death of 
the maniac, which equals in horror any 
thing we recollect} and, in his lighter vein, 
lie is very happy in the story of the Three 
Bolters, which is touched in the true spirit 
of Border minstrelsy. But in the midst of 
his mirth, the bard seems ready 
“ To smite his brea-t and rush aside. 
The tears he cannot check to hide;” 
and there is a gall and bitterness in his 
highest glee which suit well with his sub¬ 
ject, and give the author and his work al¬ 
most a painful interest in our feelings. 
The first number of a work has^ lately 
appeared, entitled, Denmark Delineated ; 
or, Sketches of the present State of that 
Country; illustrated with Portraits , 
Views, and other engravings, from draw¬ 
ings by eminent Danish artists. The work 
will 
