500 Half-yearly Retrofpett 
ated. Jt is but juftice to add, that Mr. 
Cross is highly delighted with his own 
performance. Little, if any thing, is to 
be found in Mr. HurcHESON’s ‘ Trea- 
tife on Excife and Qui tam Information, as 
| they relate to Summary Proceedings before 
Fuftices of the Peace,’ which may not be 
found.in Burn; the index to all the excife 
atts of parliament, is corre&ly and ably 
executed. Mr. CHARLES WATKINS, al- 
ready known to the public by one or two 
profeilional publications, has written ** 4 
Treatie on Copybolds.”” A fubject of more 
dificult elucidation could fcarcely have 
been felected; Mr. WATKINS, however, 
has been extremely fuccefsful, fo far as he 
has already proceeded: the frit volume 
only has yet been publifhed ; another will 
complete the work. Mr. ANSTRUTHER 
has publifhed the third, and, fo far as 
himfelf is concerned, concluding volume 
of his “ Reports of Cafes argued and deter- 
mined in the Court of Exchequer, from Mich. 
Term 36 Geo. Ill, to Trinity Term. 37 
Geo. III. both inclufive 3’ we have reafon 
to believe, that this ufeful work will be 
continued by fomie other hand. Two 
gentlemen, Mr. BosanQuet, of Lin- 
coln’s Inn, and Mr. PULLER, of the 
Inner Temple, have publithed ‘* Reperis 
of Cafes,” &c. inthe courts of Common 
Pleas and Exchequer Chambers, in Eatter 
and Trinity terms, 37 Geo. Til. 1797. 
This fpecimen is favourable to their in- 
duftry and talents. Mr. MARRIoT’s 
<< New Law Dittionary,”* is undoubtedly 
a uferul work, and may be con{fuited with 
advantage by magiftrates as well as pre- 
fefled lawyers; when Mr. M. fates that 
his dictionary comprenends a_ general 
abridgement of the law, on a more exten- 
five plan than has hitherto been attempt- 
ed, he exceeds the bounds both of mo- 
-defty and truth. Mr. SMEE’s ‘* Complete. 
ColleGion of Abftradts of Aéis of Parliament, 
and Cafes, with Opinions of the Fudges,”* 
on a variety, of taxes, is a book of very 
convenient and ufeful reference: the ab- 
ftrats appear to be made with judgment 
and with accuracy. It is ttated in the 
advertifement to a pamphlet, intitled 
‘© Confiderations on the Advantages and 
Difadvantages attendiig Commiffions of 
Bankruptcy,’ &c. that the profits of the 
work ** are intended to he given to that 
humane inftitution, the Society fer the Re- 
hef of Perfons imprifened for Small Delis: 
with fo laudable an objeét on the part of 
the author, we hope the work will {eil. 
Its contents are not of a nature to infure 
a very extended circulation; the legal 
eanfequences ef 2 commiffion, howerer, 
4 
of Britifo Literature. 
both to a creditor and debtor, are ftated 
with fairnefs and precifion. 
MEDICINE, PHYSIOLOGY, ANATOMY, 
AND SURGERY.» ae 
Dr. CurRRIE’s ‘* Medical Reports on the 
Effects of Water, cold or warm, as @ Ré- 
medy in Fever and febrile Difeafes,” Sc. 
is a work of uncommon importance ; 
that its ufefulnefs may be extended as 
widely as poffible, the Dr. has fet the 
mofi excellent example of avoiding all ~ 
unneceffary technical phrafeology. Why 
muft f{cience be fhrouded in a pompous 
hiereglyphic language, unintelligible to 
the profanum vulgus, who always confti-~ 
tute the mafs of mankind? ‘¢* It were 
better, perhaps,”’ fays Dr. CURRIE, “that 
medicine, like all other branches of na- 
tural knowledge, were brought from its 
hiding place, and exhibited in the fim- 
plicity of fcience and the nakednefs of 
truth. The defolating fever of the Weft 
Indies has hitherto found no adequate 
antagonift from among all the powers of 
edicine :_ the effects of mercury have 
been occafionally flattering; and as the 
nitric acid, in cafes of lues and hepatitis, 
has often been found a iuccefsful febiti- 
tute, Dr. C. fuggetted to feveral prac. 
titioners, the application of it in cates of 
fever. But ablution with cold water has 
been {fo long, and fo beneficially employ~- 
ed in typhus (the low contagious fever), ~ 
~ both at the hofpital in Liverpool and.in 
private practice, among phyficians in that 
part of the kingdom particularly, that 
Dr. C. who is “¢ expofed, by fituation, to 
the reiterated founds of death from the 
weftern world,’? determined to publifh an 
account of this fuccefsful mede of treat- 
ment, hoping to intreduce an additional 
power to oppofe the tremendous pefti- - 
lence of a Welt India fever. Dr. C. 
has preferved a regifter of a hundred and 
fifty-three cafes—he confidered that more 
would be fuperfluous—where the cure 
was. chiefly confided to the aifufion of 
cold water. Frefh water was firft em- 
ployed; but a faturated folution of fea- 
falt in water was preferred, and after- 
wards adopted: in the firit place, be- 
caufe falt-water ftimulates the cutaneous 
veffels, by which means the debilitating 
action oi cold is probably prevented ; 
and, fecondly, becaufe either for the pur- 
pofe of immeriion or affufion, falt-water 
is confiderably:more grateful to the pa- 
tient than frefh. We would gladly enter 
at large into the particular merits of this 
performance, which, in point of execution, 
and utility, merits the higheft commen- 
dation; but to analyze is no part of our 
* plan. 
