tution than that of the minifter himself. The particulars of this I need not give at prefent, as they must appear hereafter, in the account of my administration which I laid before the affembly, upon my difmiffion.

As M. de Gerville was more enthusiastically fond of the conftitution than any one of the council, he was confounded and rather abashed to find that the king was inclined to adhere to it more fcrupulously than himself.' Vol. ii. p. 16.

Soon after the event here related, our author refigned his poft. The king then defired him to maintain a correfpondence by letters.

On quitting the miniftry, I expreffed my regret that I could not pay my duty to his majefty with the fame affiduity I wished, without creating fufpicions that might be dangerous to him; I therefore propofed only to attend his levee every Sunday; and this I thought would be expedient, becaufe, if I never appeared there at all, it would be immediately believed that he faw me in fecret.

The king approved of this, and at the fame time gave me the fuperintendance of an operation which was first contrived and fet a-going by Alexander Lameth, afterwards directed by M. de Leffart, and in the prefent circumftances feemed more neceffary than ever. The object of this was to obtain a minute knowledge of the public difpofition, by the means of certain perfons called obfervers, who were chofen and employed for that purpofe.

At this time they were in number thirty-five. Some attended the tribunes of the affembly, others the Jacobin club and that of the Cordeliers, whilft others were ordered to mix in the various groups who attended in the palais royal, the Thuilleries, the principal coffee-houfes, and the cabarets. Their bufinefs was to fupport, by their applaufe, all conftitutional and royalift mo-. tions, and to hifs, and even infult, whoever propofed a measure contrary to the intereft of the king and the conftitution. Their cuftom was, to give in a daily report of whatever they faw or heard. It was the province of the most intelligent, who were highest paid, to combat every feditious motion in the various focieties. Giles, a fubaltern officer in the garde nationale, entirely devoted to the king, took in the above reports, and delivered them to M. de Leffart, from whom he received directions refpecting the operations of the following day. These men were alfo employed to ftick up, during the night, placarts of a conftitutional or royalist nature, according to the circumftances.

The king, by this means, knew all that paffed in Paris, and, might have derived advantages from it at least equal to the expence of the whole operation, which amounted to 8000 livres a month, had it not been for his averfion to those vigorous meafures which the prefent emergence required: but that averfion. was fo great, that the information he received only ferved to alarm and torment him.' Vol. ii. p. 153.

The confequence of this fcheme was, that, before the end of July, fifty-eight of the most feditious were appre

hended and tried. Some were condemned to imprisonment for three years, others for two years, in the Bicêtre; where they remained till Auguft, when the populace fet them at liberty. (To be continued.)

An Enquiry into the Nature and Caufes of the great Mortality among the Troops at St. Domingo: with practical Remarks on the Fever of that Ifland; and Directions, for the Conduct of Europeans on their firft Arrival in warm Climates. By Hector M Lean, M. D. Affiftant Inspector of Hofpitals for St. Domingo. 8vo. 6s. Boards. Cadell and Davies. 1797.*

THE feafon of war, in tropical climates, is conftantly a feafon of diftemper. Haraffed by the fatigues of military duty, and unaccustomed to the noxious effects of a warm climate, the foldier foon becomes the prey of difeafe. New regulations may, indeed, be introduced, and new modes of medical treatment be propofed; but the difeafe too frequently proceeds with unabated violence. Much has been lately afferted of the powers of particular remedies in preventing the ravages of the fevers of hot countries; but the writings of thofe who ought to be the beft informed on the fubject, do not, in general, difplay a coincidence of opinion in the authors themselves, with regard to the caufes or the nature of the diforders, or propofe any determinate plan of management for the cure of them. We therefore are not furprised to find that Dr. McLean differs in many particulars from other medical gentlemen who have treated of the difeafes in queftion.

The points which he chiefly labours to establish are, that what has been termed the yellow fever of St. Domingo is not an infectious disease, and that it is not a new or peculiar diftemper, but the common remittent endemic of that country, applied to the English conftitution, and occafionally accompanied with yellownefs as an accidental fymptom.' Thefe are conclufions which, though plaufible, cannot be fully established by fo few facts as are here brought forward.

His ideas of the caufes of the malady of St. Domingo may be collected from the following paffage, which he introduces by remarking, that fome places can fcarcely by any means be rendered healthy.

'Port-au-Prince' (he fays) is one of those. It is placed at the bottom of an immenfe bite, which pushes itself into the heart of St. Domingo. The fcite of the lower part of the town is, in fact, on a marsh gained from the fea, the fkirts of which are covered with weeds or mangroves, where decompofed animal and

vegetable matters are promifcuously thrown; on these the fun exerts its power, and the breeze conveys the noxious particles with a new activity to the lungs and bofoms of the inhabitants. But this is not all the fea breeze, which in other fituations is hailed as the genial fource of refreshment and health, is here interrupted; the inland of Gonave is fo placed in the mouth of the harbour, as, in a great meafure, to intercept this falutary gale; and, before it arrives at Port-au-Prince, it lofes its ufual coolness, by paffing over heated lands, and gathering in its course noxious vapours. This neceffarily refults from the inland fituation of the town. Besides thefe manifeft caufes of ill health, Port-au-Prince is exposed to the action of others. It is placed on a level, on the verge of the bite, and furrounded by very lofty mountains, from the bottom of which a horizontal plain ftretches towards the town. Torrents of water, in times of rain, rush through this plain, and retain their impetuofity till they reach the fea.

The land is moistened, but after the torrent ceases the water ftagnates; fmall ftreams, attaining a horizontal level, lofe the impetus acquired in their defcent; they linger in the plain, and by mingling with the foil form a marsh. On this marsh a vigorous fun acts daily, and evaporates its noxious particles, which are conveyed to the lungs of every one that breathes, and applied to their fkins, and probably in this manner communicate with the blood. This is a never ceafing caufe of disease, a nursery conftantly rearing mortal poison. In every infpiration, we draw into our bofom a column of air thus impregnated; in every ftep we walk, a fresh application of thefe particles is made to our bodies; it is no wonder then, that on this fatal fpot the British troops caught fever in each treacherous breeze. It is true, that the French, when they exclufively poffeffed this town, did not perish in the fame proportion with us. The caufes of this difference are not difficult to trace; the French poffeffed a free open country, and could at pleasure retire to breathe the more pure atmosphere of their diftant plantations. Every merchant, every planter, in fhort, every inhabitant, poffeffed the power of retiring into the country and changing their fituation.' P. 9.

He cenfures, perhaps juftly, the timid dietetic practice of the French phyficians in this fever. He feems to think that patients were frequently loft by fuch feeble management.

In inveftigating the more remote causes of this fever, our phyfician makes fome good obfervations; but he seems to have fallen into an error with regard to the innoxious effects of night dews in the Weft-Indies.

With most other writers, our author finds the ftomach in this fever to be the principal feat of disease: its fenfibility and irritability are at an early period aftonishingly augmented. He allo fuppofes that confiderable changes are produced in the

fluids; but the circumstances which he has adduced in fupport of the opinion, rather prove the folids to be the primary feat of the disease. The appearance of livid fpots, and the oozing of blood from the mouth and nofe, are no proofs of his pofition.

He roundly afferts that the fever of St. Domingo is not infectious; but to us it feems difficult to account for the uncom mon fatality of the difeafe, without having recourse to a fuppofition of the agency of contagion,

On the frequent occurrence of remittent fevers in that climate, their caufes, nature, and phænomena, the author has offered many obfervations. On the diagnofis and prognofis, in particular, he has pointed out fome circumstances to which the medical practitioner fhould pay attention.

He appears to have arrived at the place of his destination with no correct ideas of the nature and management of this disease. At first he followed the plans of thofe practitioners who were refident in the island; but the want of fuccefs induced him to relinquifly them.

He gives us the following method, as the refult of many attempts and confiderable experience,

• Whenever I was called' (fays he) to vifit a person attacked by the remittent in the manner already defcribed, if there was any inflammatory difpofition, or that the patient was a stranger lately arrived, I inftantly bled him in proportion to his ftrength and the urgency of the cafe; the quantity can only be ascertained by the circumftances then prefent, and cannot be regulated but at the pafient's bed-fide. No directions can be given in words, that would apply to any number of cafes; as minute occurrences often guide. the physician. I am however of opinion, that much depends on the evacuation being liberal at first; if the fymptoms do not change, and the pulfe retains its vigour or increases in strength, the evacuation may be repeated next day, but not fo freely as on the first. After the blood-letting the patient was ordered into the warm bath, and whilst fitting there, half elevated out of the tub, three buckets of cold water were dafhed over him; he was then taken out, and well rubbed with a rough dry cloth, and put to bed well covered; the room was chofen airy and open, and the bed placed in such a manner, that no direct draught of air played upon it. As foon as he was put in bed, an injection was administered, and eight or ten grains of calomel joined with a fcruple of James's powder, were formed into pills, and one ordered every half hour till their effects were produced; the patient was permitted to drink freely of lemonade, beef tea, rice or barley water, tamarind water, orangeade, or any light drink that was pleasant to the tafte. If the fever did not give way to this treatment, the bath and cold water were repeated again and again, till fome impreffion was made in changing the given circumftances of the body.' P. 164.

The pills were continued till a difpofition to loofenefs was brought on. The baths were directed three times a day. Blifters were also employed to leffen the irritability of the fto mach; and, in this refpect, the doctor alfo found great advan tage from a folution of white vitriol in peppermint-water, with a few drops of laudanum. The learned physician will readily perceive that this mode of treatment has little foundation in fyftem.

The means of prevention, the changes induced on the fyftem by heat, and the courfe of preparation for hot climates, afford opportunities for a variety of remarks, many of which are judicious. The directions for treating and exercifing troops after their landing in fuch fituations, are well conceived; and the confiderations on military hofpitals, and on diet, are fre quently juft.

We shall only remark farther, that Dr. M'Lean has not arranged the materials of his volume in the best manner. They are frequently jumbled together without attention either to method or to the nature of the author's original plan.

The Annual Regifler, or a View of the Hiftory, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1792*. Part I. Hiftory of Europe. Part II. Chronicle, State Papers, Characters, &c. 8vo. 14s. Boards. Rivingtons. 1798.

THE convenience and utility of a work of this kind are so generally acknowledged, that it is unneceffary to infift on thofe points; and it is equally fuperfluous to intimate the particular plan of this performance, as it has long been known and approved. But the causes of the delay which has occurred fince the publication of the last volume require fome explanation. One caufe is the extraordinary length of the hiftorical part, which extends to the 521ft page; another is, the critical and interesting period to which the volume relates; a third is, the important variation of statement refpecting the affairs of France, which rendered the tafk of difcovering the truth extremely difficult. Thefe allegations are not entirely fatisfactory; but, as it is added, that the hopes of obtaining new information which had been promised to the world induced the compiler to keep the press standing a long time,' we are the lefs difpofed to complain of the delay.

The long arrears of the hiftory of Poland are answered in the earlier part of the volume. The deliberations of the diet in the year 1789, for the fettlement of a new conftitution, are not ill fketched. The felfifh policy of the late king of Pruffia is properly developed; the patriotic exertions of Sta

A part of this title is very incorrect. The before bistory should be ex punged, or for fhould be altered to of