650 
every indifpofition he feels, he attributes 
to the effe&t of magic, and his exiftence 
becomes amifery. One cannot:bur fimile 
at the fimplenefs of Dr. Dancer, in pre- 
feribing fuch a methodus medendi, as the 
following: “If, (lays he, with all the 
gravenefs and_lolemnity imaginable,) 
they appear to be under the influence 
of magic or fuperftition, the Obeah peo- 
ple fhould be fearched tor, and brought 
to punifiment, end the bewitched Negrees 
Jbould be chrifiened! This is tne beit, and 
perhaps the only way of completely exor- 
cifing them. Every thing fhouid be done 
to render the practice infamovs: an odium 
fhould be attached to it, or rather tha/e 
«vho can prove themfelves defcended from 
jJamuilies uncontaminated by this abborred 
wice, fhould be held in honour.’ Ah, 
Doétor, thy medica! irca'ment of the 
body may be good, but, alas! thou 
Can’ft not minifter to a mind difeafed, 
Pluck from the memory a rooted forrow ; 
Raze out the written troubles of-the brain 3 
And with fome {weet oblivious antidote, 
Cleanfe the ftuft’d bofom of that perilous ftuff 
Which weighs upon the heart ! 
And, in the prefent inftance, it unfor- 
tunately happens, that the poor ‘* patrent”’ 
cannot ** minifter to himielt.”?> On ‘1 is 
very interefling and melancholy fubjeét, 
we fhall be excufed, if we make a fhort 
extract further fiom Dr. Dancer's account: 
<¢ Whatever metives, (he fays,) aétu- 
ate them to eat dirt, they always do it 
fecretly and clandeftinely. There is {carce 
a poflibility of deteéting them, and they 
will never acknowledge it. Nothing can 
extort from them the confeffion, which 
fhews they are under the influence of fome 
horrible fuperttition, or bent on fome feil 
purpofe, I confider this difeafe then, as 
fometimes a woluntary one, proceeding 
from hopelefs, though perhaps caufelets 
grief, and a determination either to fhun 
or_revenge certain evils, by felf-dettruc- 
tion. This purpofe is at firft formed 
mong a few grandee people, cr thole 
who have a great afcendancy over the 
minds of others; and the :ett tcllow their 
example, by a kind of faicination. When 
this once feizes them, they daily devour, 
with the moft voracicus avidity, large 
quantities of earth, at firft of one kind 
only, afterwards of every kind indilcri- 
minately, and quickly fall into that de- 
plorable flate of cachexy before de‘cribed, 
from which they are not by any means 
yet kn. wn fo be recovered. Such is the 
natuie or force of this infanity, (for in 
this view I confider ir,) that an alteration 
in the iyftem of management, or a com- 
Retrofpect of Domeftic Literature.—Medicine, t¥¢; 
pliance with their own demands and 
wifhes, will not in all cafes put a ‘top te 
it. Threatenings and punifhments, of 
different kinds, fuch as humanicy will 
certainly jufify, have no efe&. Of all 
thefe circumitances, I could adduce hit- 
t.ries and proof, did they require authen- 
tication. . 
“* Eifuys on the Difeafes of Children, 
with Cafes and Diffetions. Effay I. Of 
Cynanche Trachealis, or Croup. iBy 
Joun Cueyrnze,, M.D.” There does 
Not appear to be much new matter intie- 
duced into this effay, and the nature and 
treatment of the difeale is pretty well un- 
derftood. The defign is to dilcufs, in 
feparate cffiys, the molt important of thé 
diteafes of children, beginning with thofe, 
as lefs intrica e, to which children, after 
beig weaned, are expoled, and proceed- 
lig aftciwards to thofe which attack in- 
faints at the breaft. As a work, ceyoted 
folely to the difeafes of cnilcren, might 
be made extremely u‘eful, we are forry to 
fee the prefer.t printed in fo expenfive a 
manner. ' 
“A Trestife on the new-difcovered 
Dropfy of the Membranes of the Brain, 
and Watery-head of Children; proving, 
that it may be frequ-n‘ly cured, if early 
difcovered. With Objections to vomits, 
&e. &c. To which are added, ob/erya- 
tions on Errors in Nuvfing ; on the Difeafes 
of Chilaren; their Treatment, &c. pro- 
per for the Contemplation of Parents: By 
Wititiam Row Ley, M.D.” Dr, Row- 
ley is fo perpetually ref-rring to his cwn 
works, and boafling of his own medical 
and ph.iofophical attainments, and ‘¢ the 
libsral manner’ in which he has for many 
years gratuitoufly reieved the inferior 
clafies of fociety, that we fully expeéted 
to have been intormed, that € a lamp was 
kept buining in the private pafiage:’ in 
thort, the woik favours of empiricifm. 
*« Medical Dilcipline; or, Rules and 
Regulations for preferving the Health of 
Seaimen, in Voyages to hot Climates; 
more eéfpeciiliy of thofe in the fervice of 
the Hon. Ealt India Company; in a 
Letter addrefled to the Hon. the Court of 
Directors, and publifhed with their Ap- — 
probation: By ALEXANDER SrEWaRT, 
Surgeon in S.uthwark, and formerly of 
the Earl Talbot and General Goddard 
Eaft-Indiamen. Second Edition.”’ This 
isa truly valuable work: fince the voyagcs 
of Castain Cook, a Wan to whom the 
Britith failiis ave perhaps under greater 
obligations than to any other individual, 
great attention has becn paid to the pres 
{ervyation of the health of feamen, and. 
within 
