It is not to be fufpected that the opulent will foon return to the Gothic arch, the narrow-grated window, the long avenue, the formal terrace. walk, the jet-d'eau from the mouth of a triton, and the cascade fupplied from the temple of a water-nymph. p. 339.

On the whole, although there is nothing very original in Mr Arthur's fpeculations, yet they always indicate a clear and intelligent, if not a very profound, mind. If they will not add much to the information of the philofopher, they will at least aflift the conceptions of the ftudent; and, in point of writing, they are certainly of a fuperior order to the compofitions which generally fall under our review. Making allowance for a few Scoticisms, which the learned editor might have taken upon him to correct, without any fear of abufing the truft repofed in him, the language is, in general, pure, chafte, and unaffected; although, as we have already hinted, bordering too frequently on feebleness and languor.

Having faid this, we think we have faid enough; and are not confcious of lying under any obligation to promife immortality to thefe difcourfes, as Mr Richardson appears inclined to do in the concluding paragraph of his biographical sketch. Speaking of Mr Arthur's relations, he fays,

They have thus erected a monument to his memory, more permanent, and more fatisfactory, than any that could have been executed by the chiffel or by the pencil. These must perifh; but this will endure: and, if their partiality does not deceive them, will tranfmit to pofterity the portraiture and likeness, not of a frail and perishing body, but of a mind actuated by the beft principles, and endowed with fuperior powers. p. 517.

This is no doubt very fine, although not quite equal to the pattern paffage in Tacitus; but we fufpect there is more eloquence in it than the occafion required. Indeed, that immortality which authors and their friends are fo fond of predicting, is a poor bufinefs at the best; and the frequent failure of the prophecy gives a ludicrous air to its repetition. It will be enough if the author fucceed in edifying the present generation.

ART. XIII. Remarks on the Conflitution of the Medical Department of the British Army; with a Detail of Hofpital Management; and an Appendix, attempting to explain the Action of Causes in producing Fever, and the Operation of Remedies in effecting Cure. By Robert Jackson, M. D. 8vo. London, 1803. PP. 351.

THE HE fingular and motley production before us was written, as we are informed in the preface, with the twofold defign of directing the attention of Government to the improve

ment

ment of military medicine, and of vindicating the reputation of the author from certain charges of mal-practice and mifmanagement, which were preferred against him while phyfician to the hofpital of the Army-Dépôt in the Ifle of Wight. For the credit, however, of the writer, (whofe former works are not entirely unknown to us), and for the honour of the medical profeffion, we could have wished that it had not appeared; for we do not recollect to have ever waded through fo great a mass of matter, with fo little pleasure or inftruction; and nothing but the extreme importance of the fubject, and the dangerous tendency of many of the doctrines inculcated in the prefent volume, could have led us to offer any animadverfions upon it.

In the obfervations contained in the First Part, concerning the bad effects that refult from the various and deficient education of regimental furgeons, the improper management of hofpitals, and the neceffity of a reform of thefe abuses, we find nothing which difcovers much profound reflection or laborious refearch, or which can be ranked above common-place remark. To obviate the firft of thefe evils, Dr Jackfon, in imitation of fome former projectors, fuggefts the propriety of inftituting a Medical School, for the education of military furgeons; and, as the recruits affembled at, the Army-Dépôt in the Ifle of Wight require a medical establishment, he thinks this School may be very conveniently placed there. The pupils admitted into the feminary muft be of the age of twenty to twentythree years, poffeffed of a liberal and claffical education, and all the information neceffary for the exercise of their profeffion in civil life, with unequivocal teftimonies of a good moral conduct. After remaining for the space of twelve months in this inftitution, and acquiring, under the guidance of an able teacher, a thorough knowledge of the difeafes moft incident to armies in different climates and in different fituations, and a fufficient acquaintance with the management of hofpitals, they may be confidered as qualified to become candidates for the commiffions of affiftant-furgeons in regiments of the line. To the general plan of this establishment, we have little to object; but we fhould be inclined to oppofe its foundation, on the fame principle that Dr Jackfon has cenfured the regulations of the Medical Board reftricting the advancement of Army furgeons, viz. that it would be extremely injurious to preclude deferving individuals from all poffibility of ferving in the medical department of the Army, merely becaufe they had not gone through a ftated, though, perhaps, not neceflary form of education. Indeed, we are at fome lofs to conjecture the reafons which led Dr Jackfon to fix upon the Mle of Wight (a moft fequeftered fpot) as the proper place

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for such a school, or the motives which could induce him to propofe that the fuperintendance of it, as well as of all military hofpitals, fhould be confined to one medical chief; unless that Dr Jackfon, from his extenfive experience, deem himself the fole perfon endowed with the rare and fuperior qualifications requifite for these important offices. Of his mode of reafoning on this fubject, the following quotations may ferve as fpecimens.

An army,' fays Dr Jackson in his figurative language, is an animated machine, confifting of many parts or inftruments, of different degrees of power and importance, in a general purpofe. It is organized upon a common principle; it is bound together by a common connexion; and it is moved by a common impulfe: but, though fo organized, so connected, and fo moved in its artificial arrangement, its different parts, which are perfect in themselves individually, are animated independently, and, in obeying their own laws of motion, are expofed to the action of a variety of causes, which have a tendency to derange or deftroy their elementary exiftence.' (p. 2.) There is only one military chief in an army; there can only be one chief in an hofpital, and he must be a medical one; for health is the object of hospital establishments, and the concerns of health cannot be fuppofed to be well underflood, except by perfons of the medical profeffion, and thofe of the mott enlightened clafs.-The conftruction, therefore, of the medical machine, in order to be effective of its purposes, muft hinge upon a fimple principle; for deviation from fimplicity leads to error, or produces noneffect. p. 27-8.

Contrafting the arrangement of the foreign medical establishments with that of the British army, he obferves,

The Auftrian hospital is regular in its movement as the duty of the military parade; and the efficiency of the organizing principle mechanically arranges new materials in their proper places, without confufion, and without lofs of time.

p. II.

To our minds, however, this regularity of operation and uniformity of practice appear to be the grand and fundamental defects of the fyftem which Dr Jackfon fo warmly recommends, and to form the strongest arguments against the imitation of fuch a mode of proceeding. In fact, we can conceive nothing more prejudicial to the welfare of his patients, than the habit of conduct mechanically correct,' which he proposes for adoption in the management of hofpitals.' (p. 46.) Educated in the camp, and accuftomed to the routine of military operations, Dr Jackson seems to think, that the various affections of the living fyftem may be as easily difpofed of as the different articles of a foldier's equipment, and that, at the command of a' medical chief,' aif as thould perform their evolutions, and arrange themselves in any order he is pleased to dictate; but fad experience,

experience, we believe, will inform him, that they are not always fo fubmiffive and obedient, but will often rife in mutiny, and difpute his moft peremptory decisions.

The fecond divifion of the Remarks' is occupied with an account of the management of the hofpital in the Isle of Wight, under the fuperintendance of the author. From this narrative it appears, that Dr Jackfon, when he first became entrusted with the care of the fick in Packhurft barracks, judged it neceffary, or expedient, to deviate from the plan generally pursued in fimilar fituations. Thus he divided his patients into different claffes according to their particular complaints; allotted to each class a separate ward; and, when they recovered to a certain, degree, removed them to apartments deftined folely for the reception of thofe in a convalefcent ftate: if they fuffered a relapfe, he caused them to retrace their steps to their former apartments.-Thefe regulations, to a certain extent, seem not improper; but we can by no means approve of the principle which led Dr Jackfon to fix the diet of all the patients in the fame ward at the fame general standard; for it must be obvious to every one the leaft converfant with difeafe, that appetite does not always keep equal pace with the other symptoms of fickness or recovery, and that it varies very much according to the mode of life and conftitution of the patient. Nor can we, after much ferious confideration, difcover the vaft fuperiority of verbal instructions to written orders, with regard to the duties of hofpital attendants. The following obfervations, connected with this fubject, appear to border a little on the ludicrous.

It is a duty of the medical chief to fan the fparks of affection as they fhew themselves; to fofter them with care, till they affume a good and fteady growth. The growth, even among foldiers and foldiers? wives, is not reluctant, if tenderly nursed; but it does not thrive under harsh and rigorous treatment. The nurses and attendants of the fick, who poffefs fenfibility of heart, are cordially engaged in their duties, by being confidentially treated, fo as to be made, in fome measure, a part of the medical establishment. If they poffefs confidence, their benevolence is warmed; they feel an intereft in the fate of their charge and participate all the anxieties, and all the pleasures of the phyfician. P. 94.

Thefe improvements or alterations in hofpital practice, which Dr Jackson was defirous of having generally introduced, did not, however, meet with the approbation of thofe to whofe confideration they were fubmitted. A confiderable mortality had taken place among the foldiers in the Isle of Wight, towards the end of the year 1801; and fome eye-witneffes of the mode of treatment followed by the author, thought it their duty to lay an account of it before the Army Medical Board, who highly difap

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proved of it, attributing to it the great decline and lofs of the troops under Dr Jackfon's care. It appears, they obferve in a letter addreffed to the Secretary at War, that Dr Jackfon's mode of carrying on the Ile of Wight Hofpital, is an apparent faving of money; but at the Isle of Wight, and lately at Chatham, we have obferved an unprecedented number of deaths, (viz. 27 in the last month, and 21 in the laft two weeks), frequent relapfes, and tedious recoveries, with a debilitated state of the patients; therefore, fo far from economy being effected, there has been a very ferious lofs of men, and ultimately a great expenditure. Thefe returns called upon us to recommend, that two phyficians fhould be fent immediately to the Isle of Wight.' To justify himself from these allegations, Dr Jackfon endeavours to fhew, that the great number of deaths among the foldiers arofe from the malignant nature of the diforders with which they were affected; and the four physicians, who were deputed by the Medical Board to examine, and prefent a report of the ftate of Packhurst Hofpital, feem disposed to refer them to the fame cause, aggravated by the crowded ftate and foul air of the wards. Nor does this mortality appear to have been diminished under the phyficians who fucceeded Dr Jackfon in the charge of Packhurst Hofpital; but, on the contrary, very much increased; having been, from the 18th of July to the 31st of December 1801 (the time of Dr Jackfon's fuperintendance), in the proportion of in 15; while, from the 1st of January to the 30th April 1802, it was no less than 1 in 8. This difference, however, may have been owing to accidental circumftances, and cannot be regarded as attributable to neglect or improper management on the part of the phyficians, to whom the care of the fick was entrusted after Dr Jackfon's demiflion.

So far we think the author's vindication of himfelf plausible. Into the merits, however, of the remaining part of his apology, we are not prepared to enter very fully, as the documents with which he has furnished us are too fcanty and imperfect to enable us to form any decided opinion with regard to the juftnefs of his cause. The fpecimens, however, which he has given us of his practice in the course of the Remarks,' and which he has developed at full length in the Appendix, call for the feverest cenfure, and feem to juftify most completely the conduct of the Medical Board towards Dr Jackfon. We agree with the late Dr M'Laurin (to whom the author feems to have had a very unjust antipathy) in deprecating the horrid fyftem of depletion; and we perufed, with no fmall degree of terrific anxiety, the account given by Dr Jackfon of a patient in the firft ftage of typhus fever, whom he bled at once to fifty-fix ounces, and who, in three or four days, after

the