in the compofition. The Lyrics are indeed all excellent. The Poem, on the Immortality of the Soul, is ingenious, poetical, and an exact imitation of the ftile of Lucretius. In fhort, the whole collection is fuch as would by no means have disgraced a Roman in the age of an Auguftus.

Time, if it does not cool the fire of imagination, certainly frengthens the powers of the judgment. As our author advanced in life, he cultivated his reafon rather than his fancy, and defifted from his efforts in poetry, to exert his abilities in the difquifitions of criticifm. His obfervations on one of the Fathers of English Poetry, need but to be more generally known, in order to be more generally admired.

Claffical productions are rather amufing than inftructive. His works of this kind are all juvenile, and naturally flowed from a claffical education. Thefe however were but preparatory to his higher defigns, and foon gave way to the more important inquiries which were peculiar to his profession. His Difcourfes on the Chriftian Religion, one of the first fruits of his theological pursuits, abound with that found fenfe and folid argument, which entitle their author to a rank very near the celebrated Grotius.

His Differtations are equally remarkable for tafte, learning, originality, and ingenuity.

His Life of Erafmus has extended his reputation beyond the limits of his native country, and established his literary character in the remoteft universities of Europe. Erafinus had long been an object of univerfal admiration, and it is matter of furprize, that his life had never been written with accuracy and judgment. This task was referved for Dr. Jortin, and the avidity with which the work was received by the learned, is a proof of the merit of the execution.

• His Remarks on Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, are full of manly fenfe, acute remarks, and profound erudition. The work is highly beneficial to mankind, as it reprefents that fuperftition which difgraced human nature, in its proper light, and gives a right fenfe of the advantages, derived from religious reforma.. tion. He every where expreffes himself with peculiar vehemence against the infatuation of bigotry and fanaticism. Convinced, that true happiness is founded on a right ufe of the reafoning powers, he makes it the scope of all his religious works, to lead mankind from the errors of imagination to a serious attention to difpaffionate reafon.

Posthumous publications, it has frequently been remarked, are ufually inferior in merit to those which were published in an author's life-time. And, indeed, the opinion feems plaufible, as it may be prefumed, that an author's reafon for not publish ing his works, is a confcioufnefs of their inferiority. The Sermons of Dr. Jortin were however defigned, by their author, as a legacy to mankind. To enlarge on their value, would only be to echo back the public voice. Good fenfe and found mora

ity appear in them, not indeed dreffed out in the meretricious ornaments of a florid ftyle, but in all the manly force, and fimple graces, of natural eloquence. The fame caprice, which raifes to reputation thofe trifling difcourfes which have nothing to recommend them but a prettinefs of fancy, will again confign them to oblivion : but the Sermons of Dr. Jortin will continue to be read with pleasure and edification, as long as human nature fhall continue to be endowed with the faculties of reason and difcernment.

The tranfition from an auther's writings to his life, is frequently difadvantages to his character, Dr. Jortin, however, when no longer confidered as an author, but as a man, is so far from being leffened in our opinion, that he excites ftill greater elteem and applaufe. A fimplicity of manners, an inoffenfive behaviour, an univerfal benevolence, candour, modefty, and good fenfe, were his characteristics. Though his genius, and love of letters, led him to choose the ftill vale of fequeftered life, yet was his 'merit confpicuous enough to attract the notice of a certain Primate, who did honour to epifcopacy. Unknown by perfonal acquaintance, and unrecommended by the follicitation of friends, or the interpofition of power, he was prefented, by Archbishop Herring, to a valuable benefice in London, as a reward for his exertions as a fcholar and a divine. Some time after, he became a chaplain to a late Bishop of London, who gave him the vicarage of Kenfington, and appointed him archdeacon of his diocefe. This was all the preferment he had, nor had he this till he was advanced in life. While blockheads were made bishops, a man who had been uncommonly eminent in the fervice of learning and reli gion, was left to pine in the fhade of obfcurity. Secker has been thought by many to have had only the fhadow of piety and learning, but he had the fubftantial reward of them: Jortin was acknowledge to poffefs true virtue and real knowledge, but was left to receive his recompence in the fuggeftions of a good confcience, and the applaufe of pofterity."

On motives of humanity, and out of a fincere regard for the intereft of virtue and learning, we enter into thefe sentiments with the deepest fenfibility; and cannot forbear feeling emotions of fympathy, when we think of Dr. Jortin, and many others, who, like him, have been left to receive their recompenfe in the fuggeftions of a good confcience, and the applaufe of pofterity.'

A New Medical Dictionary; or, General Repofitory of Phyfic. By G. Motherby, M. D., Folio. l. 11: 6d. in Boards. Johnfon, THER THERE is perhaps no fcience, of which a fyftem digested in the form of a Dictionary, can prové more éminently ufeful than in that of medicine; on account not only of the many fubordinate

fubordinate branches of knowledge neceffarily connected with this art, but likewife of the confequent difficulties encountered by those who profefs it, in being obliged to fearch for improvement amidst fo great a multiplicity of writers. To thefe confiderations we may add, that the alphabetical method is attended with the farther advantage of collecting into one view the fentiments of different writers on any particular fubje&t; not to mention another circumstance of no fmall importance, which is that of facilitating the access to information, beyond every other mode of arrangement.

It affords us pleasure to find, that in a work of fo extensive and arduous a nature, Dr. Motherby has received the affiftance of feveral literary friends, refpectively converfant in the different provinces of phyfic. This was a matter of the utmoft confequence, the neglect of which has proved the bane of all preceding Medical Dictionaries; and without any disparagement to the abilities of the judicious author, confidered as an individual, we need not hesitate to pronounce, that the fuperiority of this Lexicon to all those which had formerly been digested by a fingle writer only, muft be in a great meafare owing.

As a fpecimen of the work, we fhall prefent our readers with the article Afthma.

ASTHMA, from aw to breathe. Galen fays, that the Greeks gave this name to a quick refpiration, fuch as happens to people who run, &c. The word now is applied to a disorder, the chief fymptom of which is a difficult or fhort breathing.

This disorder is of two kinds, viz. the humoural, the pituitous or moist; and the fpafmadic, dry, nervous, or convulfive. There are also three degrees of short breathing, firft, a dyspnoea, from dus, difficult, and vw, to breathe: a difficulty of breathing, which in a greater degree is; fecondly, afthma, which in a yet greater degree is called orthopnoea, from flòs, straight or erect, and iw, to breathe, for in this cafe the patient cannot breathe but in an erect pofture, alfo with a violent motion of his breast and shoulders.

Thofe of a fanguine habit, with fmall veffels and with ftraight chefts, are the most fubject to this difeafe; it may come on at any age, but generally its approach is after the prime of life.

The caufes of the afthma are concifely enumerated by Dr Dover, who fays they are inflammation, convulfions, or plenitude. When fyptomatical, any diftemper that affects the breaft or lungs may be the cause; but when it is an original disease, fome defect in the lungs, or other parts fubfervient to respiration, is a principal one. The lungs may be preternaturally large, an cedema, alfo an emphysema in this vifcus, may produce this diforder; a redundancy of blood; the vital heat too copiously determined to the lungs, from a check to perfpiration;

a defect

a defect of the vital fire in the lungs; a diminished perspiration is the most frequent caufe in England, from the neglect of changing the cloaths with the feafons; the nervous kind is produced by a preternatural irritability of the lungs, acrid defluxions, mineral and other fubtil exhalations, or a fpafmodic 'ftricture of the diaphragm alone may be the cause, cold north winds occafion this kind of afthma in fome conftitutions, and not unfrequently its rife is from a fubtil acrid matter about the nervous parts of the precordia, which generally is fent there by an imprudent repulfion of the morbid matter of exanthematous diforders, the drying up of iffues, or old ulcers, &c.

In the diagnoftics of the humoural and nervous kinds of afthma, the discharge of phlegm in the firft, and the freedom of all apparent diforder after the fit of coughing ceafes, in the latter, being the principal difference, Aratæus's defcription may fuffice for both: he fays, "the patient is feized with an oppreffion of the breaft, a liftleffnefs on ufing any kind of exercife, the breathing is difficult and laborious, he becomes hoarfe and coughs, is troubled with flatulencies of the precordia, and racked with uneasy eructations; he is fubject to watchings, and in the night-time is very little, and almost imperceptibly hot, his noftrils also become too much contracted for a free and eafy refpiration. If the diforder is degenerating, and becoming more formidable, the cheeks grow red, the eyes prominent, like those of strangled perfons, he fnores whilft awake, but much more when afleep, his voice is indiftin&t, languid, and faint; he is fond of a free and cold air, and loves to walk in the open fields, because a house is a scene too narrow and confined for his breathing with the freedom he wishes. He breathes in an erect posture, and is eager to attract all the air he can, for this purpofe he opens his mouth wide, and feems difconcerted, because it is too fmall for his purpose. His face, except the cheeks, which are red, becomes pale, a fweat breaks out about his fore head and neck, he is racked with a fharp and continual cough, and expectorates a fmall quantity of thin, cold, and as it were frothy matter. In refpiration his neck becomes tumid, and there is a retraction of the precordia. His pulfe is fmall, frequent, and depreffed; his legs becomes fmall and flender; if thefe fymptoms should happen to be increased, they fometimes fuffocate the patient, in the fame manner that an epilepfy does; but if they are alleviated and leffened, the cough becomes lefs frequent, and returns at longer intervals; a large quantity of fanious and moift fpit is expectorated, copious and aqueous, ftools are difcharged, and the urine is evacuated in large quantities, though nothing as yet fubfides in it. His voice becomes more fonorous and clear, his fleep longer and fufficient for the Tupport of nature, his precordia are relaxed and rendered easy, and his pain, upon its remiffion, is fometimes tranflated to the fcapula; he breathes at longer intervals, and more easy, though with a certain roughness." To this may be added, that as the paroxyfm abates, the urine is higher coloured and lets fall a fediment;

fediment; and under this diftemper different fymptoms may ap pear as conftitutions vary, but generally a coftiveness attends. In many perfons there are cedematous fwellings of the feet, hands, face, or back; a torpor feizes the arms, leaden coloured fpots are seen in the face, there is alfo fometimes a flight anomalous fever, which increases a little in the evening; this train of fymptoms leads on to one fpecies or other of dropfy, or perhaps ends in a palfy of fome part, or of one fide. In the pituitous asthma the patient is feldom free, though at fome times much better than at others: eafterly winds bring on or aggravate this diforder, occafioning a large expectoration of phlegm.

Though the humoural afthma is fo fimilar to the bastard peripneumony, that they are generally confidered as one and the fame, yet the convulfive, or dry afthma, must be distinguished from it, and from the moift afthma too. The dry afthma muft be diftinguished from the convulfive fuffocation of hysteric pa tients, and from the fuffocative catarrh.

When this diforder is recent, and produced by gouty matter, and fuch like, there may be fome hopes of a lasting reco very. An eruption of the menfes, or of the hæmorrhoids, during a paroxyfm, alleviates it much; improper management caufes an asthma more readily to end in a dropfy; convulfive afthmas greatly endanger the life at every return, and if they are frequent and long continued, if the patient efcapes with his life, a dropfy is the refult, which is the deftruction of the patient. If a flow fever comes on, an unequal intermitting pulfe, a palfy of the arms, a continual palpitation of the heart, a preternaturally fmall discharge by urine, or a fyncope, death is at hand. An afthma coming on old people, it ufually attends them to the

grave.

The indications of cure will be to drive the humours to the exterior and inferior parts, to procure a due and equitable circulation of them, and to remove the feveral caufes which fupport the diforder, by medicines adapted to their refpective natures: the two firft are to be anfwered during the paroxyfm, the latter in the intervals between them. In the convulfive afthma, the care will be to alleviate the fpafmodic ftrictures of the breaft, and parts fubfervient to refpiration.

The diet fhould be light, fweet things, and fuch as are flatulent must be avoided ; old Rhenish wine mixed with Seltzer water, or with a pure light common water, is ufeful: muftard whey is an excellent common drink in the pituitous aftma. fo is an infufion of hyffop, ground-ivy, daily flowers, or of Paul's betony; fweetened with liquorice. Exercife fhould be moderate, but regular and daily, the feet fhould be kept warm, and perfpiration affifted with a flannel fhirt.

With refpect to the air which thefe patients breathe, it should be observed, that fome are easy only in a dry ferene, one in the country, and others are fo only in the moift vapid air of great towns; with one a light, and with another an heavy atmosphere, does the best. In order to a due exercife of the lungs, a proper

quantity