| Retrofpeé? of Dometic Literature...Medicine and Surgery. 
that although nothing of great novelty or 
firft-rate importance -is communicated in 
this volume, there is yet a great deal to 
intereft the lover of f{cience. 
_._ “ Experimental Enquiries concerning 
the Principle of the lateral Communica- 
tion of Motion in Fluids, applied to the 
Explanation of various Hydraulic Phe- 
nomena, by Citizen J.. B. VENTURI. 
Tranflated from the French by W. Ni- 
CHOLSON.”’ The very curious fubjeét 
of this work feems to have been invefti- 
gated with much care, judgment, and in- 
genuity; and the refult is, that various 
new and curious facts relative to the mo- 
tion of fluids are afcertained. The de- 
{criptions are lucid and fatisfactory ; the 
reafoning is precife and logical; and the 
ftyle plain and fimple. It is impoffible 
without the plates to give a juft idea of the 
contents of this valuable work. 
“ Refult of two Series of Experiments 
towards afcertaining the refpective Velo- 
city of floating Bodies, varying in Form, 
&c.” by CHartes Gort, Efg. of 
Weimar, in Saxony. Thefe experiments 
are communicated to the fociety for the 
improvement of naval architeéture, who 
lent the author the machinery employed 
in them. They are of two kinds: the 
firft have for their objeét to afcertain the 
velocities of bodies of- different fhapes 
when drawn through water by a certain 
power ; the fecond, the refpeétive degrees, 
of ftability or power to refift the preffure 
of the wind while carrying fail. Mr, 
Gore is of opinion, that there is room for 
confiderable improvements in naval ar- 
chiteéture. ; 
MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 
Six more numbers, forming a fecond 
volume, have appeared of the ‘* Medical 
and Phyfical Journal,’ . conduéted by 
Drs. BRADLEY and Wituicu. . This 
work has received cummunications from 
medical charaéters of the firft importance 
not only of London, but of ail other parts 
of the kingdom, and cannot: therefore 
fail of being in the higheft degree both 
ufeful and interefting to every medical 
practitioner who wifhes to be acquainted 
with the aétual ftate of the fcience. We 
would recommend to the conduétors to be 
more feleé&t in the publication of original 
communications, and more ample in their 
extracts from fuch foreign works of im- 
portance as are not likely to come into the 
hands of the generality of their readers. 
From their hitherto obfcure concifenefs 
on this head we have but a glimpfe inftead 
of a fatisfa€tory view of many interefting 
facts. We alfo think that they fhould 
1043 
review medical and phyfical publications 
more at large, and give more copious ex< 
tracts than they have hitherto done. 
In 1796 Dr. CARMICHAEL SMYTH 
pubhfhed an effay on the ‘‘ Effect of Ni- 
trous Vapour in preventing and deftroy- 
ing Contagion ;”’ this he has now repub- 
lifhed, with the important addition of nu- ° 
merous cafes communicated to him chiefly 
by naval furgeons, which tend to confirm 
the antifeptic efficacy of this vapour. It 
is very extraordinary that Dr. Mitchell 
fhould fuppofe this very fame vapour, 
which, according to Dr. Smyth’s account, 
is the deftroyer of contagion, to be the 
principle itfelf of contagion, and fhould 
of confequence have given to the acid 
which forms it the: name of feptic. Here 
is a very wide difference, which, as the 
fubject is of fuch paramount importance 
to fociety, we trutt will be foon fatisfac- 
torily accounted for. We would recom- 
mend to Dr. Smyth toexamine, with the 
utmoft degree of chemical accuracy, the 
nitrous vapour which he employs in fu- 
ture, and to ftate the proportions of oxy- 
gen and azote which it contains. 
«“ An Effay on the Caufes, early Signs, 
and Prevention of Pulmonary Confum- 
ption,”’ by Dr. BEDDOES, 1s one of the 
moft important medical publications which 
we have feen for a long while; import- 
ant not only to the medical praétitioner, 
but to parents, as it fhows thofe who have 
the care of children how the remote 
caufes of this fatal {courge may be guard- 
ed againft. The defeription which the . 
doétor gives of the painful fymptoms of 
the difeafe is remarkably ftriking, and 
can {carcely be read without flruddering. 
We wifh we were as fanguine as our au- 
thor with refpeét to digitalis as a cure ; 
but his hope that this difeafe will here- 
after yield as regularly to this medicine 
as ague to Peruvian bark, appears to 
favour of extravagance. Digitalis cer- 
tainly poffeffes the property of render-' 
ing the circulation of the blood lan- 
guid in a very remarkable degree, and 
will therefore frequently alleviate the 
diftteffing fymptoms of this difeafe. But 
like air with an under proportion of oxygen, 
and like every other fedative, its opera- 
tion is only alleviating : it does not attack 
the unknown fource of the difeafe. Even 
if the ulcers. of the lungs fhould heal, we 
fear that the caufe which originally pro- 
duced them will continue to operate, and 
to produce frefh ones after the difeafe has 
appeared to be cured. Befides, digitalis 
is a very dangerous medicine, and, we 
fear, would frequently produce fucden 
6S 2 death 
