Retrofpelt of American Literature. — Medicine, Surgery, Fe. 691 
among hiftorical compofitions. This vile 
and fcurrilous performance, equally exe- 
crated by all parties, was compiled of 
newfpaper feraps, of anonymous flander 
and falfehood trom all fources, and was 
dreffed up by the infamous author merely 
for the purpofe of turning a penny. 
As connected with the above, we men~ 
tion « A Narrative of the Suppreffion, by 
Col. Burr, of the Hiftory of the Admini- 
{tration of John Adams,” &c. 
This fingular pamphlet was defigned to 
unravel what the author confiders as a 
very fufpicious kind of proceeding in the 
condu&t of Col. Burr, Vice Prefident of 
the United States. 
The * Addrefs to the People of the 
United States, on the Policy of maintain- 
ing a Permanent Navy,’ is an ingenious 
and neatly written performance. 
The author defcribes with fpirit the be- 
neficial effe&ts of commerce, in meliorat- 
ing the condition of mankind, and enlar- 
ging the {phere of their activity and enjoy- 
ments, He regards as pleafing but de- 
jafive dreams the opinions of thofe philo- 
fophers who with to bring back fociety to 
that primitive ftate in which men were 
hufbandmen and tillers of the earth. And 
he afferts that thefe periods of fociety, in 
which commerce and the arts were little 
known, were diftinguifhed either for the 
fercene(s of foreign and domeitic conten- 
tions, or for the ignorance and barbarifm 
sto which men were generally funk. And 
as the fituation and difpofitions of the 
people of the United States powerfully 
impel them to the cultivation of commerce 
and the arts, he thinks a navy indifpenfa- 
ble to the proteétion and fecurity of thefe 
objects. 
Mr. Emerson’s * Oration on the ath 
of July,”’ the anniverfary of American In- 
dependence, exhibits the topics commonly 
dwelt upon on fuch occafions, without de- 
viating into any of the regions of novelty 
or imagination. 
The language of Mr. Emerfon is toler - 
ably neat, natural, and per!picuous. 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, &c. 
«¢ The Medical Repofitory, and Review 
of American Publicaitons on Medicine, 
Surgery, and the auxiliary branches of 
Philofophy,” which has obtained fo ex- 
tenfive a circulation in the United States, 
and frequently finds its way to different 
arts of Europe, is fill profecuted with 
the fame diligence, zeal, and abilities by 
which it has been always diftinguifhed. 
The number of contributions to it from 
all parts of the United States on fubjects 
of Practical Medicine, Surgery &c. as 
a 
well as on Chemiftry, Natural Hiftory, 
&c. is very large, refpeétable, and con- 
flantly growing. In the courfe of the late 
fpring, the editors were expected to com> 
plete the fixth volume of the work, which 
is (till publifhed as formerly in quarterly 
numb:rs. 
Profeffor Barton’s ‘* Collections for an 
Effay towards a Materia Medica of the 
United States,’ is a fecond and improved 
edition of an excellent -work which that 
learned Phyfician and Natufalift publith- 
ed fome years ago. This fecond edition 
is enriched by a number of valuable notes 
at the bottom cf the page. 
has likewife added an appendix, which 
coftains, befides nearly all the remarks 
included in the appendix of the former 
edition, a large portion of interetting mat- 
ter, much of it of a practical kind, which 
had no place in the original publications. 
Ei Quincy’s Lexicon Phyfico- Medicum 
improved,” is a new A nerican edition of 
Dr. Quincy’s Lexicon, which has been 
long known to medical gentlemen, and 
pofteffes a confiderable circulation, efpe- 
cially among the ftudents of medicine. 
In this new edition a great number of ob- 
folete and ufelefs terms are expunged. 
In the place of thefe, a number of new ar- 
ticles are introduced, intended to exhibit a 
view of modern difcoveries and improve- 
ments, and to render the work better ac- 
commodated to the prefent fate of medical 
opinions and practice. 
‘© The Proximate caufe of Difeafe,’’ by 
Dr. Mack, isa theoretical performance, 
of fome ingenuity, which purports to bean 
indu@tion from the laws of animated na- 
ture. It contains an examination of the 
theories of Townfend, Reich, Darwin, 
Ruth, and Wilfon. The author feems to 
be more a difciple of Dr. Brown than of 
any of the other celebrated men whofe 
do&trines he undertakes to examine. But 
our gratification in the perufal of this 
pam phlet. would have been far greater, if 
the induftry and abilities of the author 
had been devoted to fome pathological or 
practical inquiry more within the reach of 
experimental inveiligation, and more ac- 
ceffible tothe undei ftandings of his readers. 
« Pra@tical Obfervations on Vaccina- 
tion ; or, Fnoculation of the Cow-pock,”” 
by Dr. John REpMAN Coxe, is an accu- 
rate and fatisfattory exhibition, of the 
chief parts of what has been hitherto af- 
certained on_this important fubje&t. Dr. 
Coxe has taken laudable pains to extend - 
the practice of vaccination in the United 
States. 'And,‘at prefent, the public con- 
4 viction, 
The author 
