1804. ] Retrofpelt of American Literaturee—Medicine, &c. 
by the Mobile will be found eafir, 
quicker, cheaper and fafer, as to a vatt 
extent of the weftern country of the 
United States, than even that on the wa- 
ters of the Miffiffippi itfelf- 
Mr. Grancer, the. Poft-mafter-gene- 
ral, in his ** Lit of the Poit-offices in 
the United States,” gives many impref- 
five facts to prove the rapid advances of 
the country in the fettlement and cultiva- 
tion of its vacant territory. He enu- 
merates neatly thirteen hundred poft-offices 
in the United States!’ This alone would 
afford fatisfactory proof of the wonderful 
progrefS by which neighbourhoods thick- 
en, villages {pring up, towns are peopled, 
fettlements are multiplied, induftry ad- 
vances, and jintercour(e isextended. The 
activity and diligence which pervade the 
department of the Poft-cffice reflect great 
credit on Mr. GRANGER. 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, &c. 
Within the period of this retrofpect 
the Editors of the “‘ Medical Repofitory”’ 
have publified the quarterly’ number, 
which completed the fixth volume of that 
work, With the termination of that 
volume they thought it expedient to clofe 
the work, comprehending the whole of 
the fix volumes under-the general denomi- 
nation of the firlt Hexade. As it was 
their defign immediately to commence a 
mew feries or Hexade, they publified 
about three months ago the firft quarterly 
number of the firft volume of the fecond 
Hexade, with the determination, as ex- 
prefled in their preface, to profecute the 
work hereafter with all the diligence and 
regularity in their power. 
In the firlt number of the firft volume 
-of the fecond feries there are feveral 
papers deferving of notice. Dr. Com- 
STOCK’sS paper on a cale of fingular, 
nervous aftetions, {uppofed to have been 
occafioned by the bite of a Tarantula, and 
to have been cured by mufic, abounds in 
curious Circumftances, and is as well cal- 
culated to excite furprize as any of the 
inftances detailed by the celebrated Bac- 
nivi. Dr. Puysick’s communication 
concerning an improvement of the Cathe- 
ter is of real importance, and likely to 
attract the attention of Surgeons. 
The anonymous author of ¢* The Town 
and Country Friend and Phyfician,” 
furnifhes another example of the attempts 
to render medical knowledge popular, and 
to fupply the public with a manual of 
health. The performance is drawn up 
under the fuppofition of being’ delivered 
by a country phyfician to the circle of 
his friends and patients on his retiring 
MonrHuiy Mac, No, 112. 
/ 
183 
from bufinefs. It is judicioufly compiled 
from every fource which the benevolent 
author had within his reach, and, as far 
as publications of this kind are calculated 
to be ufeful, may not altogether difap- 
point his good intentions. It is drawn 
up with plainnefs and perfpicuity, and 
will be readily underftood in that clafs of 
fociety for which it feems to have been 
chiefly intended. 
Profeflor WaTERHOUSE’S fecond part 
of “¢ A Profpeét of exterminating the 
Small Pox,’? is a continuation of a narra. 
tive of facts concerning the progrefs of 
vaccine inoculation in America, together 
with practical obfervations on the local 
appearance, fymptoms and mode of treat- 
ing the Cow-pock. “The author was the 
firit perfon in America who fuccelsfully 
imported and inoculated this difeafe. 
His unwearied exertions to. introduce, 
diffeminate and defend this ineftimable 
fubftitute for the Small Pox, give hima 
ju and elevated difiinction among thofe 
who have laboured in this field, and fig- 
nalized their zeal in the caufe of huma- 
nity. The work contains a large portion 
of interefting praétical matter, and is in 
every ref{pect worthy of the excellent re- 
putation which the author has fo long 
and fo defervedly fuftained both at home 
and abroad. 
Dr. Hami.Ton has very little increafed 
our knowledge by his publication under 
the ftrange title of ‘ A certain Bar 
againit the approach of the Yellow Fever,” 
The confident and pofitive ftile in which 
he writes may probably produce fome 
effect upon fuch of his readers as have 
not been inftru€ted in the f{chool of exe 
perience; and indeed there is reafon to 
believe that himfelf, under the direction 
of a fanguine temper, has undertaken 
to treat of a difeafe which he has very 
rarely feen, 
‘© A phyfical Inquiry into the origin 
and. caufes of the Peftilential Fever,’’ is 
full of the wildeft and moft unintelligible 
nections. The anonymous author takes 
it for granted that the ancient doétrine 
of the four elements is right, as far as it- 
goes; but he thinks two others ought ta 
be added, viz. the eledric fluid, and 
another univerfal agent, to which he af- 
cribes very whimfical properties, 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Profeffor Barron, of the Univerfity 
of Pennfylvania, in his ‘* Elements of 
Botany: Or Outlines of the Natural Hif- 
tory of Vegetables,’’ has given to the 
public a work of great value, and which 
had long been an object of impatient ex. 
é% pettation 
