652 
tout espéce d’emploi; il a fallg un aussi 
puissant motif pour me déterminer a ac- 
cepter ce fardeau énorme, avec la per- 
suasion que j’al, que vous concourrez, 
en votre particulier, & m/’aider de vos 
lumiéres lorsque le bien public I’exi- 
gera. . 
* Jem’étends plus au long, par cetce oc- 
casion, au général Gerin, a quij’écris; je 
vous prie de vous entendre avec lui, pour 
maintenir le bon ordre, jusqu’a ce que les 
lois soient définitivement organisées; ce 
qui ne doit pas éprouver du retard. 
“¢ J’ail’honneur de vous saluer avec con- 
sideration,” 
“ Henry Curistopue.” 
“‘ Memoires, &c.”—Memoirs relative 
to Arts and Sciences, Medicine, &c. 
The French have long been celebrated 
on account of their attention to anatomy, 
and the plates of Viscq d’Azir, physician 
to Louis XVI.are perhaps the most splen- 
did that have ever appeared in auy coun- 
try of Europe. Florence, however, hi- 
therto so famous as an asylum for the 
master-pieces of the fine arts, possessed, 
until very lately, a series of anatomical 
preparations unrivalled on account of their 
exquisite perfection, in point of manual 
skill, and, whatis infinitely more desirable, 
their near approach and resemblance to 
nature. These objects were acquired in 
consequence of a fortunate train of cir- 
cumstances: the munificence of a grand- 
duke, the scientific skill of the Abbé 
Fontana, &c. the exemplary labours of 
the artist Mascagni. 
Laumonier, a surgeon of Ronen, in 
the ci-devant Normandy, has dedicated 
twenty years of his life to researches of 
this kind, and, with the assistance of his 
wife, (who is sister not only tothe physi- 
cian Thouret, a celebrated chemist, and 
author of “ Le rapport sur les Exhuma- 
tions du Cimetiere des Innocens,” but also 
to the famous, but unfortunate advocate 
of the same name,) he has acquired a 
great reputation in France. 
In consequence of this he became, 
some years since, a candidate for a share 
of the 300,000 livres, distributed annu- 
ally among artists and men of letters, by 
the Bureau de consultation dcs Arts & 
Metiers, an establishment consisting of 
thirty members chusen by scrutiny, from 
among the different societies of learned 
meu. Dessault and Hallé, two of the 
first surgeons in Paris, were selected to 
make a report on the occasion, a transla- 
tion of which follows. The result was 
highly favourable to the artist, for the 
candidate not only received 6000 livres in. 
Retrospect of French Literature—Miscellanies. 
money, a sum which forms the maximum 
of the first class of national recompences, 
but it was voted, that ie should havea 
tight to present himself, at the next dis- 
tribution, in order to sue for a similar re~ 
ward, ) 
‘* Report delivered to the Bureau de 
consultation des Arts und iMetiers, rela- 
tive to the anatemical labours, and prepa- 
rations of M. Laumonier, chief surgeon of 
the Hétel Deu at Rouen, by the citizens 
Dessault, chief surgeon of /’ Hospice d’ 
Humanité, and Wallé, Hygean professor 
to ? Ecoles de Santé.” : 
“¢ Tn order to appreciate the merits of the 
citizen Laumonier, it may be necessary 
to present a succinct account of what has 
been already accomplished in similar 
cases. 
“* After the discovery of the circulation 
of the blood, that of the lymphatics or 
absorbent vessels must be allowed to have 
thrown bie greatest light on the aninal 
economy. Rudbeck first ascertained 
thein on the liver, in the same manner as 
Asellius had before pointed out the lac- 
teal vessels in the mesentery. The difk- 
culty was much vreater to discover them 
in the spleen, the kidneys, the lungs, and 
the other viscera; and although Thomas 
Bartholin had ascertained some lympha- 
tic vessels in the extremities of animals, 
it has only been very lately that these, 
as well as the rest of the absorbent sys- 
tem, have been successfully demonstrated 
in wan. 
“‘ In short, notwithstanding the multi- 
plied labours of anatorists, on this sub- 
ject, and although the science has been 
enriched by the discoveries of a Cruick= 
shank, a Hunter, aud a Sheldon, a gene- 
ral system of demonstration was stil 
wanting to the art, when the Academy of 
Sciences deemed this the proper object of 
a prize, which it accordmyly proposed 
in 1786; but no attempt whatever was 
made to obtain it. Soon after, how- 
ever, appeared the tamous work of Mas- 
cagni. ) 
“¢ While Mascagni was intent on thissub- 
ject, the citizen Laumonier was busied in 
the same manner. In 1775, he com- 
menced hisresearches relative to the ab- 
sorbent system, in fishes and birds. En- 
couraged by his success, he followed up 
his ideas, and concluded with quadrupeds 
andman. Atlength, in the month of Ja- 
nuary 1730, he exhibited the demonstra- 
tion of the whole system im the hospital of 
Metz. 
“* The art of injecting the vessels, so as 
to render them cdnspicuous, and facili- 
tate 
