tunity of getting entirely rid of the disease by an operation fhould be loft.

Mr. Home is an advocate for the early removal of tumours in the breast; and in this he feems, in fome degree, at variance with Mr. Pearfon. The latter gentleman difapproves of the attempt to remove an incipient schirrus, because the morbid alteration may be very extenfive, and yet fcarcely obvious to the senses of the operator.

Mr. Home confiders the disease as beginning in a central point, from which it diverges: and thinks that if it is not removed, that the circumference of the disease may foon extend beyond the furgeon's reach. Mr. Pearson, on the other hand, conjectures, that the difeafe originates in many parts of the gland: and that nothing is gained by removing the part which is firft affected. He thinks it better to wait till all thofe portions of the gland affected with difeafe, are well marked; and then to remove the whole very extenfively. We entertain a high refpect for the learning and ingenuity of Mr. Pearfon, but we cannot help fufpecting, that the novelty and fubtle refinement of this notion has tempted him to adopt it. Mr. Home's is more confonant to that of the best authors, as well as of the moft experienced practitioners. He has great doubts of the fuccefs of an operation in any cafe where the difeafe has acquired the power of contamination; and when it is done too late, he is convinced that it accelerates the fatal progrefs of the malady.

The author is likewife of opinion, that neither fcrofulons tumours, nor hydatids, can always be diftinguifhed from fchirrus. Such tumours have fometimes been removed with the belief of their being of a schirrus nature, by the most expe- ' rienced furgeons. But the miftake ought to occafion no regret, for a fpeedy and permanent cure ufually follows: whereas Mr. H. thinks, that if the operation had not been performed, the disease might have changed to a cancer.

The tranfmutation of diseases was a common notion among the older writers; but it has been contefted by fome of the moft philofophical modern furgeons. We obferve in fcrofulous habits, that ulcers, though produced by other diseases, or by wounds, or bruifes, frequently change their nature, and acquire the fcrofulous difpofition. But we have fome doubts of a fcrofulous tumour being ever converted into a cancer. None of the cafes here related, nor any fact we are acquainted with, decidedly prove this. As fcrofula is a difeafe which pervades the whole conftitution, this accounts

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BRIT. CRIT, VOL. XXV. JUNE, 1805.

for

for the former mutation; but the locality of cancer renders the fecond improbable.

The fungus hæmatodes of Mr. Hey is believed by Mr. Home to be a cancer. In proof of which, he narrates a cafe of a schirrus breaft, in which the disease had extended to the pectoral mufcle; and a fungus of this kind fhot up from the diftempered mufcle, and proved fatal.

In dwelling upon the various fpecies of this fhocking difeafe, nothing of an agreeable nature can be expected. However, feveral very fortunate cafes are defcribed where cancerous tumours in the tongue were moft fuccefsfully removed by the double ligature. The pain of the operation was much lefs than was expected; and a confiderable reproduction of the loft fubftance took place afterwards.

The facts and opinions contained in this work undoubtedly form a valuable addition to our knowledge of cancer. The fpeculative furgeon will be curious to compare it with the effays lately publifhed by Meffrs. Pearfon and Abernethy. They will thus obferve three eminent men ftruggling with the difficulties of a most momentous subject, and striving to overcome them.

ART. IV. Tranfactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Vol. V. Part II. 4to. 184 pp. 1802.1

THIS

HIS publication of the Royal Society of Edinburgh contains feven papers; viz. from the fixth to the twelfth. We fhall endeavour to give a brief account of their contents in the following pages.

VI. Remarks on a mixed Species of Evidence in Matters of Hiflory: with an Examination of a new hiftorical Hypothefis in the Memoirs pour la Vie de Petrarque, by the Abbè de Sade. By Alexander Frafer Tytler, Efq. F.R.S. Edin.

The conviction which arifes from the evidence of authentic hiftorical documents, may be almost confidered as a demonftration in matters of hiftory; but, befides this moft dignified fpecies of hiftory, there is another fort of circumftantial evidence, which arifes from a careful interpretation, comparison, and difcuffion of relations or paffages of authors which are in themselves doubtful, and even contradictory.

This latter fpecies of evidence is, with refpect to its power of conviction, inferior to the former, yet, in many cafes, it is the only method we have for afcertaining, or inveftigating, the nature of certain important facts. Much fkill and patience is required on the part of the hiftorian, in order to collect, to compare, and to appreciate the value of the different accounts whence this fecondary fort of evidence may be derived. The method of obtaining this evidence, reduced to a fort of fyftem, and then applied to the elucidation of certain facts in the life of the celebrated Petrarch, forms the subject of the prefent paper. As a foundation of the fyftem, this author, in the first place, ftates the following seven rules.

"I. Where a doubtful fact is to be afcertained, by bringing together, comparing and weighing the fenfe of various paffages of an author's writings, the conftruction put on ambiguous expreffions ought to be fuch as is confonant with the fenfe of those paffages or expreffions, which, on the fame fubject, are plain and unambiguous.

"II. Where a perfon's character and manner of thinking, feeling, or acting, are clear, from the general tenor of his life and writings, no interpretation ought to be given to doubtful paffages of these writ ings, which contradicts, or is inconfiftent with, fuch character, fentiments, and conduct.

III. Where many paffages concur to eftablish the belief of the difputed fact, a fingle paffage, though apparently contradictory to that fuppofition, muft not be allowed weight, if it is poffible to give it an explanation confiftent with that opinion which is better fupported.

"IV. In fuch a cafe, where many paffages concur to establish the belief of a certain fact, and there appear one or two paffages in apparent contradiction to that belief, there is room to fufpect either an error of tranfcription or typography; or, if fuch fuppofition is excluded, interpolation or fabrication.

V. In the fuppofition of interpolation or fabrication, there must of neceffity be included a cogent and adequate motive; and therefore, where fuch motive is utterly wanting, the fupponition is not to be indulged.

VI. Where this motive is apparent, the prefumption of falsehood is in proportion to the ftrength of the motive, the facility of executing the deception, and the weight of the oppofing evidence.

"VII. Where a paffage is fufpected of interpolation or fabrication, it is most material to attend to the fenfe of the context, or what immediately precedes and follows the paffage in difpute; as its confonancy or diffonancy is strong matter of corroboration." P. 121.

Previously to the application of thofe rules, this author mentions, that the life of Francis Petrarch, written by diverse diftinguifhed authors, was laftly drawn by the able pen of the Abbè de Sade, in three large quarto volumes. But in this laft-mentioned publication, the characters both of Petrarch,

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and of Laura, the grand object of Petrarch's affection, are not represented in fo honourable a light as they are by preceding biographers.

Now it is for the vindication of those characters, or for the elucidation of the various hiftorical documents, which relate to thofe perfonages, that this author applies the above-mentioned rules. In this application, he displays much skill and erudition; he tranfcribes various paffages from the works of Petrarch, as well as of other authors, and employs a confide rable number of pages in the examination of thofe authorities.

VII. Defcription of an extra-uterine Fatus. By Mr. Thomas Blizzard, F.R.S. Edin. &c.

A woman of twenty-eight years of age, about fix weeks after a mifcarriage, was feized with a violent pain in the lower part of the abdomen, which, in a few hour's time, was followed by her death.

On opening the body,

"It appeared, that an extra-uterine gestation had taken place; that the procefs was going on in the Fallopian tube, the embryo having refted there inftead of paffing to the cavity of the uterus; that the tube had enlarged to the capable extent, and then had burft. The fimbriated extremity of this tube was open as ufual, and its cavity nearly of the natural fize, perhaps a little enlarged. It poffeffed alfo the tortuous form, as is common, till it began to expand to form the pouch. The tube was of its natural fize alfo, in that half towards the uterus, and was alfo pervious; for, quickfilver was introduced by the rube near the uterus, towards the pouch, which paffed readily, and infinuated itself between the pouch and its contents." P. 190.

Two plates are annexed to this paper, the first of which fhows the uterus and its appendages, with the enlargement in the Fallopian tube, having a burit open in its middle. The fecond plate exhibits the enlargement of the Fallopian tube, with the appearance of its contents; and the ovarium of the fame fide, with a large corpus luteum.

VIII. Meteorological Abstract for the Year 1797, 1798, and 1799. Communicated by John Playfair, F.R.S. Edin. &c.

"In order," this author fays, " to reprefent more accurately the progrefs of the feafons, every month is here divided into three parts, and the ftate of the barometer and thermometer is given for each of thefe divifions.

"In the tables, therefore, that follow, the firft column contains the greatest height of the barometer for each of the above divifions; the fecond the leaft; the third the mean; and the fourth the tempera

ture

ture of the air in the room where the barometer is kept; the fifth and fixth columns fhew the greatest height of the thermometer in the air that was observed during the ten days to which the numbers refer; the next three give the mean heights as obferved at three different times every day, viz. at 8 in the morning, ten in the evening, and, as nearly as can be judged, when the day is warmeft, that is, fome time between mid-day and 3 in the afternoon. The mean of all these three is taken for the mean temperature of the day, which being computed for each day, the mean of all these mean temperatures is fet down as the medium temperature of the air, for every one of the thirty-fix divifions of the year. The mean of the three divifions of every month is given in the next column, under the title of the mean temperature of the month." P. 193.

From this abftract it appears, that the mean temperature, and the quantity of rain, for each of the three years, were as follows:

IX. A new and univerfal Solution of Kepler's Problem. By James Ivory, Efq.

After his grand discovery of the laws which regulate the movements of the planets, Kepler propofed a problem of the following nature, viz. to draw a ftraight line from a point taken fomewhere in the diameter of a femicircle, to another point in the circumference thereof, fo that the whole femicircle may be in a given ratio to the area contained between the above-mentioned ftraight line, that part of the diameter which flands between the firft of the above-mentioned points and the circumference, and that portion of the circumference which stands between thofe lines.

Such is the problem; but with respect to the solution which forms the fubject of the prefent paper, we must refer our readers to the paper itself; it being not practicable to give a distinct idea of it in a few words, especially without the aid of the neceffary diagrams.

X. Defcription of fome Improvements in the Arms and Accoutrements of Light Cavalry, propofed by the Earl of Ancram, Colonel of the Mid-Lothian Regiment of Fencible Cavalry, to his Excellency Marquis Cornwallis, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, &c. &c.

In this fhort paper the Earl of Ancram principally defcribes, and recommends to the attention of the Marquis Cornwallis, a

carabine