Retrofpect of French Literature. —Mifeellaneous. 
Guces a feries of precepts from the 
whole. l 
_ The work terminates with an invita- 
tion to the French nation to celebrate 
the death of Turenne, at the end of 
every century, in the fame manner, 
that the ancients had fecular feftivals 
to commemorate their great men. He 
propotfes to erect the ftatue of the hero 
in the Champ de Mars, to confecrate a 
monument tor him at Salzbach, near to 
the ancient elm-tree where he received 
his wound, and alfo to propofe his eu- 
logium for the purpofe of academical 
difcuffion. The fhort but appofite eu- 
logy of his rival Montecuculli, is not 
here omitted, who obferved on receiv- 
ing intelligence of his death, ‘that he 
was aman who did honour io the hu- 
man race.” 
Since the period at which this was 
Originally written, the French army, at 
the requeft of Gerbert, colonel of a bat- 
talion of Engineers, has fub{fcribed a 
fum of money with which a monument 
has been erected on the {pot where the 
hero fell, of whom Saint Hilaire, who 
Joft his arm by the fame bullet that de- 
prived his general of life, obferved, 
** My fon, think not of me, but weep 
for the great man whom France has jult 
loft.” 
“< Coup d’ceil fur les Revolutions, et 
fur la Reforme de la Medecine, &c.’”’-— 
A. brief Survey of the Revolutions, and 
the Reforme of Medicine, by C. Ca- 
BANIS, 
As this work, a fecond edition of 
which has already appeared in France, 
feems worthy of notice, we fhall there- 
fore, take the opportunity afforded by 
a new and an improved verfion, to men- 
tion it a fecond time. It may not be 
unknown to many of our readers, that 
Cabanis, who was bred a phyfician, re- 
fided fome time in England, after which 
he returned to his native country, then 
in a revolutionary ftate. Young, re- 
plete with freand ambition, hetook an 
active part in the conteft and fided in 
with the Guirondilts, to whom he was 
introduced by the. two Rolands. Per- 
ceiving however, that this party was 
deftitute of refolution and boldnefs, he 
abandoned it, and thus avoided that 
profcription, which was the fate of {o 
many of its chiefs. He was fortunate 
enough alfo to furvive the tyranny of 
Robetpierre, to enjoy the fimiles of the 
Directory, and, by fiding with Bona- 
parte, to attain the rank of a fenator! 
ss To trace the fucceflive revolutions, 
675 
the changes, the errors, the difcoveries, 
and the progrefs of one {cience, is 
not only to render fervice to that par- 
ticular fcience itfelf, but alfo to the 
whole circle of human knowledge. 
Actuated by this obje&, it is the with 
of the author to prefent the public with 
a philofophical work, containing a va- 
riety of interefting details, relative to 
the improvement of medicine, the ori- 
gin of its errors, and the hittory of its 
meliovations.’’ Such, we are told,:is 
the defign of the author, and through. 
out the whole of his undertaking, he 
endeavours to fearch into human na- 
ture, for the caufes which have either 
accelerated or retarded the healing 
art. 
Medicine arifes out of a with very 
natural to man, that of fearching after 
a folace to his phyfical evils, or in other 
words, the mifaaps or difeafes incident 
to his own perfon. Its origin, there- 
fore, we are told, is coeval with man- 
kind, and it has accordingly been cul- 
tivated by all the nations of the unt} 
verfe, without one fingle exception. 
The author here prefents us with a 
defcription of medicine while yet in 
its cradle, being then cultivated, or ra- 
ther practifed by every individual, as 
his wants called forth the exertions of 
his fkill, The chiefs of little tribes, 
and thofe defignated as heroes, then 
afiumed fuperior fkill. Naturally pro- 
tectors of all around them, the art of 
healing in refpect to them became a 
{pecies of political function. —Priefts 
{ucceeded heroes in the exercife of this 
attainment, and it became with them a 
new mean of acquiring power, credit, 
and riches ; ‘¢ but fortunately atlength 
philofophers madeit the fubject of their 
ftudies and meditations ; it entered in- 
to the fyitem of their doctrines ; it ceaf- 
ed alfo to be an inttrument of fuperfti- 
tion, yet it afterwards was bewildered 
by the foirit of hypothefis..” FPotterior 
to this, it became a particular icience, 
but it remained fubordinate to the in- 
fluence of many other fciences, whica 
in. ref{pect to this ‘* poffefs only an il- 
lufory connexion by means. of hetero- 
geneous doctrines.” 
The beft-written portions of this 
work are perhaps thofe, in which M, 
Cabanis gives an account of the labours 
of Hippocrates and Stahl. Itis necef- 
fary to recur to the text itfelf, for the 
dei{cription of thefe two great men, as: 
well as for an account of the fervices 
they have rendered to medicine, at two 
452 epochs 
