590 Retrofpeet of Domeftic Literature—Medicine ni Surgery. | 
‘fupplementary volume evinces the fame 
accuracy, diligence, and jndgment, which 
difthguifh the fow? preceding ones. 
Our readers will learn, with pleafure, 
that the prefent author, in- conjunction 
with his -brother, Mr. Samuel Lyfons, is 
engaged ina “* New General Survey of, 
gage 
Great Britain 3’? a work of much impor- 
tance, and which demands all the perfe- 
verance in topographical refearch,: which 
even thefe gentlemen poffefs. 
The thirteenth volume is publifhed, of 
the ** Archzolegia,”’ containing, as ufual, 
a-great variety of Antiquarian matter. 
“<Picture of Palermo, by Dr. Hacer: 
tranflated from the German by Mrs. 
Mary Robinfon.”” Dr. Hager is a man of 
learning, who refided two years at Pa- 
lermo, in order to examine the Arabian 
manulcripts of the Abaté Vella, fuppofed 
to .contain the hiffory of the Ifland of 
Sicily under the dominion of the; Saracens 
and Normans, and which proved to be a 
literary forgery. Our expectations were 
therefore high, and the work 1s certainly 
not deftitute of interefting matter. The 
tranflation fs in a refpectable ftyle, and, 
we dare fay, faithfully executed. 
Mr. ANTEs has publifhed fome. ** Ob- 
fervations on the Manners and Cuftoms 
of the Egyptians, the Overflowing of the 
Nile, and its Effeéts; with Remarks on 
the Plague, and other Subjects: written 
during a Refidence of ‘Twelve Years in 
Cairo, and its Vicinity: illufrated with 
a Map of Egypt.” This volume is, in 
many refpects, curious and interefting, 
and the information which it contains 
may be ufeful. The ftyle in which it is 
written, however, is prolix and un- 
polithed. 
<¢ Etymologicon Magnum? or, Univer- 
fal Etymological Ditionary, on a new 
Plah ; with Hluftrations drawn from va- 
rious Languages: Englifh, Gothic, Saxon, 
German, Danifh, &c. &c. Greek, La- 
tin, French, Italian, Spanifh, Gaelic, 
Irith, Welth, Bretagne, &c. The Dia- 
le&ts of the Sclavonic; and the Eaftern Lan: 
guages, Hebrew, Arabic, Perfian, San- 
{cript, Gipfey, Coptic, &c. &c. Part 
the Firft, quarto.” The learned author 
of this work endeavours to undermine 
the general idea, that {peech was, origi- 
nally, the gift of God, and to fliew that 
it is of human invehtion. ‘Fhe funda- 
mental principle of this hypotliefis is, that 
in all languages there-are certain elemen- 
tal founds expreffive of certain ideas, and 
that words intended to exprefs certain 
ideas, are therefore naturel and neceffa- 
rily formed out of Lame of thofe elemental 
radical founds. It fhould feem, howevers 
if this were true, that the elemental founds 
in all langtages fhould be ahke, and fig- 
nificant of the fame ideas: but it is well- 
known that they are not merely diffonant 
in different languages, but fometimes that - 
the fame founds in different languages 
convey ideas which are in dire&t oppefi- 
tion to each other. 
But it is time that we fhould quit this 
fubject and proceed to the important one of 
MEDICINE AND SURGERY ; 
and here we fhall tranfcribe, pro forma, 
prior to our confideration of medicab 
books, properly fo called, the title-page of 
the following pamphlets, and briefly 
fketch the nature of a difpute which has 
been carried on with confiderable acri- 
mony, on the other fide of the Tweed. 
** Memorial to the Managers of the 
Royal Infirmary, by James GREGORY; 
M. D. &c.”°—** Aniwer for the Junior - 
Members of the Royal College of Sur- 
geons of Edinburgh,to theMemoriat of Dre 
James Gregory,&c. by Mr. JonN BELL.” 
—‘* Remarks on the prefent Mode of 
Chirurgical Attendance in the Royal 
Infirmary of Edinburgh, fabmitted to the 
Confideration of the Royal College of 
Surgeons there, by James ARNOT; 
Member of the College.’’—** Hints, tend~ 
ing to refute the Objeétions that have 
been urged againft the prefent Syftem of 
Chirurgical Attendance in the Royal In- 
firmary atEdinburgh,by an Old Surgeon.”” 
It appears from the Charter of Incor- 
poration of the Managers of the Royal 
Infirmary at Edinburgh, that the Inftitu- 
tion is to be attended by the College of 
Phyficians, and * fome of the moft fkil- 
ful Chirurgeons :”? the Managers, how- 
ever, foon became fenfible of the incon- 
venience which refulted from fuch a pro- 
mifcuous attendance of Phyficians, and. — 
without any oppofition, it was determined 
that the infirmary fhould be attended by 
two Phyficians, with a fixed falary, chofen 
for life, or during good-behaviour. The 
original claufe, moreover, refpeéting the 
limited attendance of the Surgeons, {oon 
excited objcCtions, and a memorial was 
prefented in the year 1738, nine years af- 
ter the eftablifhment of the Hofpital, and 
two years after the grant of the Charters 
in order to induce the Managers to per- 
mit a/l the Surgeons to attend and .to 
Cyerate in rotation.’ To give full effeét 
to this memorial a hint was attached to 
it, that fhould the propofal be rejeéted, a 
rival hofpital woeld be inffttuted by the 
Surgeons ; and on the contrary, fhould it 
be accepted, @ prefent fhould be madeof 
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