tion is, the account given of the Dumb Borfholder of Chart; a figure of which is inferted at p. 143. It is an inftrument calculated to break open doors: and the officer to whom it was entrusted might, on fufpicion of goods being stolen, apply this, without a justice's warrant, in the precinct of Pizein Well. P. 165 brings us to Penfhurst-place: here we willingly pause, from emotions of refpect to its former poffeffor, the gallant and all-accomplished Sir Philip Sydney. Here alfo refided the Sachariffa of Waller; "Whose presence had fuch more than human grace, "That it could civilize the rudeft place; "And beauty too, and order could impart, The whole of this fection is employed in an hiftorical account of the various owners of Penhurst-place, from the time of Edward I. when it belonged to Sir Stephen de Penhurste, to the prefent period; concluding with an eulogium on Sir Philip Sydney. An oak was planted at Sydney's birth on the spot called Bear's-oak. This tree Waller has celebrated in fome elegant lines, which concludes one of his poems: "Go, boy, and carve this paffion on the bark We have a drawing by Mr. Ireland, at p. 180, of what is now shown as this identical tree. It measures twenty-two feet in circumference, and has within its trunk a feat capable of holding several perfons. A fingular, but honourable anecdote occurs at p. 190, of a former duke of Orleans, a title marked at the present period by the deteftation and contempt of all mankind: "At the battle of Agincourt Sir Richard Waller is faid to have found the duke of Orleans amidst the flain with fmall figns of life. By the king's order Sir Richard conducted his prifoner to Groombridge: here he was kept twenty-five years, and finally obtained his release for four hundred thousand crowns. So highly was he fatisfied with the treatment he received, that he rebuilt his hoft's mansion, and repaired the parish church, over the porch of which his arms yet remain. As a farther proof of his esteem, he affigned to SirRichard, and his heirs for ever, the efcutcheon of France fufpended on a walnut-tree, with this motto—" Hi fructus virtutis.” The volume concludes with a panegyric on the valour of the men of Kent. The plates which embellish it are generally well chosen, and fuccefsfully executed. We think Mr. Ireland lefs happy in his representation of water, than in any thing which exercises his pencil. There is a want of fubftance; and, if we may use a technical word, a flickering which is not natural. ART. XVI. Practical Obfervations on the Operation for the Stone. By James Earle, Efq. Surgeon Extraordinary to his Majefty's Houfehold, and Senior Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hofpital. 8vo. 4s. Johnson. THE HE refult of extensive and important profeffional application fhould always be laid before the public. He must be a very inattentive "obferver," fays this author, "who, having "feen much practice, cannot add fomething to the ftock of general experience;" and the art of furgery cannot but derive confiderable benefit, when, as in this cafe, the knowledge of an able and experienced practitioner is candidly and unrefervedly communicated. The work is infcribed, by a short dedication, to Mr. William Long, a fellow-labourer with Mr. Earle at St. Bartholemew's Hofpital. The obfervations which it contains wholly originated, we are told, from a paffage inferted by the late ingenious Dr. Austin, in his Treatife on Human Calculi; which had, in the judgment of many profeffional men, a tendency to create too much alarm in the minds of perfons afflicted with a painful disease, and to deprefs their hopes of relief, by reprefenting the only means of curing it in an unfavorable light. This publication was in the prefs when Dr. Auftin died: it had, however, been shown to him by Mr. Earle in manufcript, and was fo much approved by him, that he had affured the author of his intention to alter the expreffions alluded to, fhould he print another edition of his work. But such occafion for ingenuous retractation, unhappily for the public, was not furnished. Mr. Earle, after this statement in his preface, avails himfelt of the opportunity to pay a tribute to Dr. Auftin's memory, in a concife, but interefting account of his life; the materials of which he profeffes to have obtained from the beft authority. Extraordinary merit, like that of Dr. Austin, fhould not drop, unnoticed to the grave, and it is fortunate for departed worth, when, as in the prefent inftance, the friend who erects the mo numenta aument, has fkill and fidelity to defcribe the character. Mr. Earle had before shown his judgment as a biographer in the Life of his eminent relation Mr. Pott. Dr. Auftin, who, in 1785, was appointed to the profefforship of chemistry at Oxford, and read lectures there upon that fubject, with reputation to himself, and advantage to the fcience; and who, after he had fettled in London, pursued the study with particular application, with a view to render it fubfervient to the practice of phyfic, had principally employed his laft experiments in analyzing and inveftigating the nature of concretions formed in animal bodies; efpecially those which are found in the urinary bladder. The refult of thefe inquiries> made the subject of his Gulftonian Lectures, which he read at the College of Physicians in 1791, and afterwards formed into a treatise. Mr. Earle, though he much approves of the investigations which may tend to the difcovery of any chemical folvent of the ftone, or any mode of preventing its growth, fully affents to the statement of Dr. Auftin, that "the art of diffolving the ❝ftone, in such a manner as to affift those who linger under it, " is yet imperfect;" and maintains, that till fo valuable a disclosure of the powers of chemistry fhall be produced, the operation of lithotomy appears to be the only mode by which the wretched fufferers can procure effectual relief. On this fubject the author particularly endeavours to invalidate the obfervation of Dr. Austin above alluded to, in which it is afferted, that few furgeons ever acquire the art of performing the operation dexterously, and that when performed, even by the most skilful, it is by far the most dangerous of any that is practised in furgery. In refutation of this remark, Mr. Earle maintains, that where the operation is properly performed, the event is generally more favourable and fuccefsful, than has been reprefented; in confirmation of which he obferves, that even fo far back as the time of Mr. Cheffelden's practice, we learn from this statement of that author himself, that out of 213 whom he cut, only 20 died; that fince his time, the operation is greatly improved, and made more fafe; principally, as Mr. Earle is inclined to think, by the affiftance of the excellent invention of Sir Cæfar Hawkins, the cutting gorget. As a further corroboration of this, Mr. Earle informs us, that he performed his first operation in lithotomy at St. Bartholomew's in the year 1770. After which he occafionally performed in the absence of the principal furgeons till the year 1776, and that from that time he has operated upon one third of all the patients of that clafs who have been received into St. Bartholomew's, befides many others in private, That in the earlier part of this period, not not being attentive to make memorandums of every cafe (which ought by no means to be omitted by any practitioner), he cannot afcertain the number, but has an account of 47. Yet he has the fatisfaction to declare, that of all thofe on whom he ever performed the operation, though they have been of all ages, from under two years to near feventy, and, as may be prefumed, in some inftances bad fubjects, and undez circumstances of considerable difficulty, one only did not recover, and there were peculiarities in his cafe, which, in juftice to the operation, fhould be confidered. He had by endeavours to get rid of the stone by lithontriptic medicines for two months, impaired his health without obtaining any relief; and though the operation was performed with every profpect of fuccefs, he died on the fourth day after it, and his bladder being examined was found thickened and diseased, bearing evident marks of the continued inflammation and irritation, which it had fuffered from the rough surface of the stone, and perhaps from the action of the folvent medicine. From the confideration of this cafe Mr. Earle recommends, that the operation of lithotomy fhould not be performed in less than a month after leaving off lithontriptic medicines, that the bladder may have time to recover from the irritation which it may have fuffered; and he conceives, that the lofs of this patient cannot fairly be afcribed to the operation, as the dangerous fymptoms which arife from that caufe take place much earlier than thofe which appeared in this cafe; and it is probable that had the cutting been performed when the bladder was in a better state, it might perfectly have fucceeded. After all, however, it must be admitted, that for a variety of cogent reafons, every attention fhould be paid to ascertain and promote the efficacy of folvents; and Mr. Earle admits, that the milder lithontriptic medicines, fuch as lime water, may fometimes be advantageously given; fince, though they may not be capable of diffolving the ftone entirely, they may blunt the afperities and foften the furface of it, fo as to prevent it for a time from giving great pain, and thus may tend to strengthen at least the health of the patient, fo as to enable him the better to undergo the operation. Mr. Earle introduces his fubject with a confideration of the nature and formation of concretions in different parts of the body, &c. particularly of the ftone in the urinary bladder. He lays down, with much circumftantial precifion and perfpecuity, the anatomical defcription of the parts concerned, their general ftructure and relative pofition; confiders and difcriminates the indications and fymptoms of the diforder, pointing out the equivocal circumftances; he maintains the general neceffity of founding; and, aware of the importance of ftrict attention to the minuteft particulars, defcribes the whole operation of lithotomy with the most cautious directions; fpecifies the requifite inftruments, and details the circumftances of the diforder, and inode of relief in both fexes. ART. XVII. An Appendix to a Treatife on the Hydrocele; containing additional Proofs of the Efficacy of Injection for the Cure of that Difeaf. By James Earle, Efq. Surgeon Extraordinary to his Majefty's Household, and Senior Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hojpital. 8vo. 6d. MR. R. Earle, in his edition of Mr. Pott's works, had inserted an account of a method of curing the hydrocele by injection, which appeared to him preferable to any which he had known to be practifed. In his Treatife on the Hydrocele, published in 1791, after an examination of all the ufual methods of obtaining relief in that disease, by incifion, excifion, the cauftic, the tent, and the feton; and fhowing that thefe, when they have proved effectual, have been attended with great inconveniences, and fometimes with very alarming danger to the junctions of the difeafed part, and to the life of the patient, he ftrongly infifted on the advantage of injections for the cure of the hydrocele; recommending vinous injections, and confirming his opinion by many important reflections, and ftriking cafes, in which they had been employed with success. The prefent Appendix is published in confequence of many other inftances which have occurred, in which the means of cure by injection have been employed. It contains the account of feveral cafes tending to exemplify and ftrengthen the argument which the author had before fully stated. The cafes are very strong, and fully demonftrate the efficacy and fuccefs of this mode of cure. Amidst the accounts is a letter from Mr. Richard Dunning, of Plymouth-dock, who profeffes, notwithftanding his partiality to the cauftic, to have been converted to Mr. Earle's mode of practice, and to have tried it with fuccefs. He obferves, towards the conclufion of his letter, that, when he reflects on the eafe and fimplicity of the operation, which he confiders as not more formidable than that of common blood-letting, and oppofes to it the many painful and operofe modes of cure hitherto, and indeed at this time too often employed, the cure by injection appears in a most striking point of view; must be ranked among the greateft improvements of modern furgery, and commands the gratitude of mankind. Mr. Earle, after relating a number of cafes, concludes with the following words; "Such |