650 Retrofpeé 
publication, which is defigned to be femi- 
anpual, is expected to appear towards the 
clofe cf the prefent year (1804). 
«© The Medical Repeofitory,” under the 
management of Dr. MiTcHILt and Dr. 
MILver, fiill continues to poffefs the re- 
putation which it has now enjoyed for fo 
many years. 
Two quarterly numbers of the fecond 
volume of the fecond Hexadz, or the 
eighth from. the beginning of the work, 
are now publifhed. The department Be 
original efays is conftantly filled by com- 
munications from pbyficians in various 
parts of the United States,’ in which, 
among a great number of other fubjeéts, 
the American peftilence, and the natural 
hiftory of the Weftern Continent, obtain a 
Jarge fhare of attention. And, from the 
care and diligence exercifed in making 
colleétions on the fubjcéts jul mention ed, 
there is juft reafon to believe that the 
mafs of fa&s, already very large, will 
progreffively be accumulated, vatil they 
become fuficient to reflect a ftrong light 
upon thefe interefting branches of inguiiy. 
‘The department of review affords a full 
and fatisfa%ory account of the progrefs 
of medical literature and fcience in Ame- 
rica, and of the augmentation which it is 
daily receiving from different guarters.— 
Notices are thus recorded not only of fuch 
publications as may be likely to poffels a 
lating reputation, but of fuch alfo as 
might otherwife be liable to be forgotten, 
and which hereafter may become objects 
of refearch, from curiofity, or o:her more 
interefling motives. In the department 
of medical and philofophical intelligence, 
many incidental and fugitive articles are 
recorded, which, sarhont fuch care, would 
only meet the attention of a few perfons, 
and, after the lapfe of a few years, would 
probably be loft and forgotten. : 
Among the medical publications which 
fa]! within this eee we mention, 
with great refpect, Dr. Mann's “© Differ- 
tation on the Cdslera Tijana with 
Rules and Regulations to prevent the Au-: 
tumnal Difeafes of Childien ; which gain- 
ed the Boylionian Prize for the Year 
1803.” 
This is differtation fame the firft-fruits 
a prize-medal, founded ona fund ge- 
Fare fly befowed by Ward Nicholas 
Boyifton, Eig. foi the purpefe of promot. 
ing the fcience of medicine. One of the 
queries propofed on pe foundation, in 
3803, was, * What are the canfes, 
nature, aaa cure, of eS autumnal dif- 
eales of infants, as prevailing in the 
of American Literature.— Medicine. 
New England States? To this query 
an an{wer is given in the differtation now 
under our notice. The author inquires, 
with much acutenefs and difcrimination, 
into the caufes which produce the difeafes 
in queftion ; he then delivers the mode of 
treatment which experience has been 
found to approve ; and, laftly, he prefents 
a fketch of the rules and regulations beft 
adapted to prevent the attack. On each 
branch of the fubje&t he is well-informed, 
judicious, and inftructive. We have ieen 
no performance on the fubjeét which com- 
bines fo much accurate realoning en the 
nature and caufes of thefe difeafes, with fo 
good an account of the means of curing 
and preventing them. The whole pub- 
lication does credit to the munificence of 
the founder of the prize, and to the dili- 
gence and talents of the fuccefsful candi- 
date. 
Profeffor Rusu’s ‘* Inquiry into the 
Effects of Ardent Spirits upon the Hu- 
man Body and Mind; with an Account 
of the Means of Preventing, and of. the 
Remedies for curing them,” * has been 
lately republihed in a fourth edition, with” 
confiderable additions. 
This is a very judicious, cogent, and 
eloquent difluafive from the abufes of in- - 
toxicating liquors. The vice which is 
here intended to be prevented and cured, 
if ferioufly confidered as to its intri fre 
character, and as to its relations and con- 
fequences, muft be regarded as the worit 
is human fociety. The author of this in- 
quiry deferves to be enumerated among 
the benefaGtors of mankind who have re- 
cently endeavoured to (fet this fubject in a 
true light, and to ere&t a beacon which 
may warn every beholder of the danger 
which it behoves him to avcid. ‘This 
little pamphlet is happily calculated for 
popular ufe, has had a wide ciréulation in 
America, and in many inftances has been 
infirumencal in arrefting the career of the 
intemperate confumer of ardent liquors. 
In a fmall pamphlet, :ntitled “ Ele- 
ments of Life ; or, the Laws of Vital 
Matter,” Dr. Joun Rusu endeavours ta 
account for the phenomena of life upon» 
chemical principles. 
He confiders fenfibility, ieritabitilys 
and ‘all the effential properties of life, beth 
in animals and vegetables, as the refult 
folely of chemical organization. In fup- 
port of this doétrine be alleges, that irri- 
tability and fenfibility in an animal are 
deitroyed by the abftraftion of any of its 
chemical elements, oxygen, carbone, or 
. 
azote ; and, in like manner ty that irritabi- 
t it a 
< 
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