of conftitution, mode of life, times and contingencies, and occafionat caufes; and the perpendicular columns, the daily ftate of the pulfe, fkin, temperature of the body, excretions, appetites, variations of the animal functions, medicines preferibed, and their apparent effects. In order, however, fully to understand the utility and objects of this method, and the manner of employing it, our readers must have recourfe to the effay itself. XVII. Obfervations, and Heads of Inquiry, on Canine Madness, drawn from the Cafes and Materials collected by the Society, refpecting that Difeafe. By John Hunter, M. D. F. R. S. and Phyfician to the Army. At the Defire of the Society. This effay is written with much method and perfpicuity, and contains many ingenious remarks. It treats, 1, Of the generation of the poifon;-2, Of the fymptoms of the disease in the dog kind;-3, What domeftic animals communicate the difeafe;-4, Effects of the poifon on the human fpecies, including a full and correct hiftory of the fymptoms;-5, Diffections;-6, Of the prevention ;-7, Of the treatment of the Difeafe ;-8, Of its antiquity. In the fection on the prevention of the disease we do not think Dr. H. appears fo well read as in the other parts. He says, "It would appear that the beft cauftic has not been used, "which is probably the cauftic vegetable alkali, the kali purum "of the London Pharmacopeia." In regard to this affertion, we have only to remark, that, in the year 1785, Profeffor Mederer, of Freyburg, published a small treatise, entitled Methodus facillima, et certiffima, homines et animalia cuncta a beftiis rabiofis admorfa confervandi, ne quoque in rabiem deveniant; and that the whole of this method confifted in washing the wounded part with a folution of thirty grains of the kali purum in one pound of water. The wound ought first to be dilated, especially if the teeth of the animal have penetrated far, and the part must be washed feveral times a day. This prophylactic he has found to fucceed in every cafe in which he has tried it; and it may be employed at any period previous to the first symptoms of the hydrophobia. Where the wound has clofed before medical advice has been required, it ought to be again opened and washed with the folution. Again; in a very excellent inaugural differtation, published by a Dr. Schwarts, entitled De Hydrophobia ejufque fpecifico, meloë maiali et profcarabao. Hal. 1783; we find, in the first instance, that Dr. S. himfelf, and feven other people, who had been bitten by a mad dog, efcaped the disease by the ufe of this remedy. In the fecond inftance, of five people bitten, four, who had not ufed it, died of the hydrophobia; the 5 fifth, fifth, who had taken it, escaped. In the third instance, two boys, to whom this fly had been given, escaped. In the feventh fection of this effay Dr. H. enters into a very accurate account of the various means that have been employed for the cure, fhowing, that none hitherto ufed can be depended cn. Dr. H. does not, however, fpeak of the ufe of oil. XVIII. Some Obfervations on Ulcers. By Everard Home, Efq. F. R. S. Affiftant Surgeon to St. George's Hofpital. This is an ufeful, practical paper, relating to the treatment of fuch ulcers, as from "weakness, indolence, or habit, have "no difpofition to heal." For the cure of thefe, Mr. H. recommends, from his own experience, certain vegetable powders, and efpecially rhubarb, from which he has derived the most benefit. A trial had been made with feveral others, none of which, except the powder of columba root, approached the rhubarb in efficacy. We cannot conclude this article without expreffing a hope, that this fociety may continue, as it has begun, and that its diligence may be equal to our expectations, and proportioned to the abilities of its members. ART. V. Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, by Robert Burns. 2 vols. 12mo. 75. The 2d edit. confiderably enlarged. Cadell, London; Creech, Edinburgh. THE HE author of these poems is well known, and deservedly admired, and probably will be, as long as genuine and unaffected fimplicity fhall be confidered as one of the effential ingredients of poetry. With refpect to fecond editions in general, we confider that it is only our office to record them, fpecifying any material alterations, or improvements. We Congratulate Mr. Burns, that the popularity of his productions has fo foon rendered a second impreffion neceffary; and we are well pleased that his fituation and circumstances have enabled him, progreffively, to exercife his mufe for his own gratification, as well as that of the public. This new edition contains twenty new poems, of which fome are grave, fome ludicrous, but all agreeable. We should infert the Addrefs to the Shade of Thomson, of the poetic fpirit of which we think more highly than of any of the rest; but it has already appeared in most of our periodical publications. We fhall, therefore, content ourselves with introducing Ee 3 the the following lines, on the Birth of a Pofthumous Child, born in peculiar circumstances of family distress: "Sweet floweret, pledge o' meikle love, November hirples o'er the lea, "May HE, who gives the rain to pour, "May HE, the friend of woe and want, "But late fhe flourished, rooted faft, "Bleft be thy bloom, thou lovely gem, And from thee many a parent ftem ART. VI. An Effay on the Natural Equality of Men; on the Rights that refult from it, and the Duties which it impofes: To which a Silver Medal was adjudged by the Teylerian Society at Haarlem, April 1792. Corrected and enlarged. By William Lawrence Brown, D. D. Profeffer of Moral Philofophy, and the Law of Nature, and of Ecclefiaftical Hiftory; and Minifier of the English Church at Utrecht. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Duncan, Edinburgh; Cadell, London, E VERY fpecious and feducing falfehood has fome affinity to truth, or fo far bears refemblance to it as to elude a fuperficial fcrutiny and to this is altogether owing its feductive quality. Pure and unmixed falfehood is not the food of any intellect; to reject it with difguft and abhorrence, is the fpontaneous movement of nature. The object of our native appe tite vite is truth; and it is only by admixture with it, fallacious deduction from it, fome fpecies of difguife, or fome mistake, that falsehood can be recommended, even to the grossest mind. Our very fenfes take alarm at poifon, unless fome means be used to put them off their guard. In opinions which materially affect the general welfare of fociety, to detect confusion of this nature, by whatever means introduced, is to render a moft important fervice to humanity: nor is it within the range of every understanding to separate what has been thus confounded, or to mark out the limits that negligence has permitted, or malice caufed, to be effaced: fo that an able, as well as an honeft, advocate is wanted, in fuch cafes, to restore the rights of truth. The question of the Natural Equality of Men is, perhaps, of all that can be agitated, that which has, at various times, moft needed this judicious interference. Part of it lies fo very near the furface that every eye difcerns it. The most unlettered peafant can perceive, that, in all but accidental circumftances, he is naturally equal to the highest among men. Of a right in his fuperiors to hold him in fubjection, or even to injure and opprefs him, he may, in fome countries, have confufed ideas; but, in every country, he can apply the common scale of equal rectitude: He can and will afk, if under oppreffion, how would his oppreffor relifh the fame treatment, could they mutually change places? he can and will measure his own perfonal qualities against the man above him; and if in fome things he look up to him, in others he will strive hard to preferve the balance of equality; if he admire his wifdom, eloquence, or learning, he probably will defpife his delicacy, and what feems to him effeminacy: if he envy his luxuries, he probably will pity, not without a mixture of contempt, his want of ftrength, and robust health. If he be a Chriftian, he will fay, with reafon, that the univerfal Father of all makes no diftinction, but from merit, among his children; that his foul is no lefs worthy of falvation than that of the most glorious potentate, and has received the fame redemption. In thefe, and many other points, our natural equality is not only true, but fo extremely obvious, that it is hardly poflible to overlook, or to disguise it. Armed with thefe general truths, which, even if not previoufly thought of, the great majority of mankind is ready to receive at the very first propofal, the fubverter of fociety goes forth; and either blundering himfelf, or defirous to miflead others, declaims impetuously against thofe conftituted inequalities into which it is as natural for fociety to fall, as it is for man to form focieties: inequalities neceffary for the well-being of all, and the fource of many of the moft important duties. Unhappily Ee 4 Unhappily it is by a greater number of steps that these truths are made out, than the former. Steps which the ignorant cannot, and the malevolent will not take. So that, though no less true than the others, they are by no means equally obvious; as the last propofition in geometry, though no lefs certain than the first, is far from being so acceffible. In Profeffor Brown we are happy to meet a strong and able advocate for the truth; a reafoner qualified to mark the limits between that and falfehood, in this much perverted question, and so distinctly, that there feems no reafon why they thould ever be again confounded: and the members of the Teylerian Society may congratulate themfelves on having given occafion to a publication more likely to be of general fervice, in the prefent times, than, perhaps, any other that has been hitherto produced. The effay is, for the most part, ftrictly methodical. It is divided into three books, of which the firft treats generally of the queftion of equality and inequality; the fecond of the rights. that flow from these diftinctions; and the third of the duties originating from the fame fource. The whole is founded on an accurate knowledge of human nature, affifted by the light of revelation; infomuch that, we believe there is not a pofition in it which is not fully deduced from reafon, and equally authorized by the gofpel. A mere reafoner ought to be convinced by it. A chriftian will derive additional fatisfaction, in contemplating the light it receives from facred truth. Dr. Brown commences his effay, by eftablishing the pofition of the equality of men in its true fenfe, but denying it according to the acceptation of the greater part of those who admit it. Perhaps it would have been better, had the general circumftances of equality, ftated in the fixth chapter of book I, been prefixed; and the limitation then drawn from the natural circumftances of inequality. The author has, however, preferred beginning with the natural diverfities by which inequality is produced, and certainly there is no obfcurity in this method. After thowing, very clearly, that men are formed to depend upon each other for the feparate exertion of their various talents, by which diverfity the different orders in fociety are naturally produced; and that as all are equally dependent on the reit for thefe affiftances, an equality of obligation arifes to all, Profeffor B. thus illuftrates this important pofition, and its confequences: "In propertion as that equality is maintained, which the Creator has eftablished, and which confifts, not in all the members of the focial body being placed on a level, but in mutual dependence and parity of obligation among all, amidst a variety of diftinctions, conditions, and ranks, fociety |