Death from Poison is not very happily arranged. Instead of a loose enumeration of different appearances, it would have been more useful to have referred each class of symptoms to the peculiar noxious power by which it is produced; and thus to have distinguished the effects of poisons, which destroy by inflaming the stomach and bowels, from those of substances which enfeeble, and at length extinguish the energy of the brain and the nervous system. The author considers, with Hebenstreit, the separation of the villous coat of the stomach, as the most positive sign of the exhibition of poison: yet this appearance, we conceive, is by no means to be expected in the case of some poisonous substances.-The following passage is more satisfactory :

If a person in good health, after having taken some food, drink, or medicine, finds himself suddenly attacked by vertigo, pains in the stomach, colic, vomiting, cholera morbus, spasms, convulsions, faintings, stupor, and swellings of the lips, throat, stomach, or belly, with a painful sense of burning heat; and if, in addition to these symptoms, there be found among the matter rejected or evacuated by the pa tient, any chewed herbs, remains of roots, mushrooms, juices, powders, salts, or pills; if he complain of a bad smell, or taste of the matter vomited; or lastly, if no epidemic disease prevail, accompanied with similar symptoms; we may suspect the action of poison.'"

Dr. MAHON distinguishes the fallacious from the certain symptoms here enumerated; and, among other useful observations, he remarks that he has known every sign of poison produced by swallowing a roasted chesnut whole.-He also discriminates between the effects of irritating poisons, which occasion inflammation of the stomach, and those of sedative and narcotic poisons, which seldom leave any visible traces of their agency in the viscera.

Particular poisons are specified in another chapter; in which, though the subject is clearly arranged, we observe nothing that requires particular notice.

The next point of discussion is that much-contested question of Child-Murder. The author inclines, in his general view of the appearances indicating this crime, like most of our own late writers, to the merciful side. He opposes the notion which had prevailed too generally on the Continent, that the neglect of tying the umbilical chord, after delivery, must uniformly cause the death of the child; and he shews with how many exceptions the danger of hæmorrhage from the division of the chord is to be admitted. The proof of child-murder, derived from the specific gravity of the infant's lungs, is carefully considered; and Dr. M. concludes, from comparing a variety of experiments, that the lungs of a foetus which had

never respired will swim on the surface of water, when putre faction begins to take place, but that the slightest compression will precipitate them to the bottom.

The experiments of M. Ploucquet, on the specific gravity of the lungs. as ascertained by the balance, are also mentioned. He calculated that the weight of the lungs is doubled by the introduction of blood into that organ, in consequence of respiration. Much accuracy, however, would be required, to establish so important a mark of distinction between a foetus which had respired, and one which had not ;--and, after all, the simple fact that respiration has taken place in the foetus does not prove that it was afterward intentionally destroyed, as Dr. Hunter has well observed.

The volume concludes with particular directions for examining the body of the foetus, in cases in which a suspicion of violent death arises. To some of our readers, these directions will perhaps appear unnecessarily minute: but it must be considered that this branch of legal medicine has occupied a great degree of attention in foreign courts of justice; and that, in the course of ages, many errors have been accumulated on the subject, which the present author is usefully employed in correcting. Volume the third of this interesting work opens with the subject of Death by Drowning. The principal object of the medical legalist, in this inquiry, is to ascertain whether the subject had perished in the water, or had been thrown into it after death. On this question, we meet with much discussion, and little real information. The obsolete notion of the reception of water into the bronchia is introduced, but no reference is made to the discovery of Dr. Godwin. In justice to Dr. MAHON, however, we must observe that this article is said to have been furnished by Dr. De la Fosse; and in the succeeding chapter, which treats of Death occasioned by Suspension, we find the same person, to our astonishment, maintaining the exploded doctrine that life is destroyed in this case by the accession of apoplexy. Such extreme ignorance of the experiments and inductions made in this country by a variety of writers, who have trodden in the footsteps of Dr. Godwin, is perfectly unaccountable.

We next meet with some judicious observations on the method of drawing up Medical and Surgical Reports of different kinds; and authentic specimens are given, which may assist the young practitioner,-especially as several errors which they contain are pointed out.

A number of questions relative to Legal Medicine are afterward enumerated, rather than discussed.-Indeed, this volume: may be regarded as chiefly composed of hints and fragments.

In

In giving a sketch of Medical Police, Dr. MAHON treats of hospitals, lazarettos, of the abuses respecting air, water, food, &c. He proposes that there should be inspectors of the dead, to prevent premature interment.

In a chapter on Celibacy, Dr. M. observes that the greater number of suicides are batchelors; and that instances of this crime appear to have multiplied in France, since marriage has been avoided by many persons on account of the expences attached to it. Much of the pathology in this chapter, however, is obsolete. The reflections on the necessity of encouraging marriage among soldiers are excellent, both in a medical and a political view: but we think that Dr. MAHON has gone rather too far, in proposing that governments should interfere to prevent individuals, affected with hereditary diseases, from enter ing into the matrimonial state. Such a check on this most powerful of all inclinations would hardly be endured under the most despotic sway.

The state of Pregnancy, and that of lying-in Women, are considered in their relation to society; and much useful informa tion is given on both subjects.

Dr. MAHON treats of the Casarean Operation, merely with the view of saving the child after the death of the mother. He observes that it is difficult to ascertain the death of the parent before the expiration of twenty-four hours. The following are the signs on which he thinks the performance of the operation ought to depend:

That the supposed death of the mother shall have been preceded by a severe disease, or by symptoms which generally prove mortal.

That efforts shall have been made to restore respiration.

That the action of the heart and arteries shall be no longer perceptible.

That all motion shall have ceased, excepting that of the in fant in the womb.

That the natural heat shall be extinct, either totally, or in proportion to the continuance of the symptoms which shall have carried off the patient; and in the latter case, the heat of the body generally ceases before the last gasp. Finally,

That all the usual remedies against the different kinds of asphyxia shall have been employed.

Even with these precautions, tending to ascertain, the death of the mother, Dr. MAHON advises that an attempt should be made to deliver by instruments, in preference to the Cæsarean operation. He adds the following words, which deserve particular attention, at a time when the authority of French APP. REV. VOL. XXXVIII.

L1

practi

*

practitioners is eagerly urged in favour of this practice 'on living mothers: It would be necessary to appoint accoucheurs for the particular purpose of performing this operation on women who die undelivered: for, though examples are quoted of living women who have undergone it with success, in unpractised hands, yet common experience demonstrates that these operations are no better than a disgusting massacre, and that those who perform them hardly suspect the subjects of them to be alive.' We hope that these humane sentiments will be generally adopted by British practitioners.

A chapter follows on afflictive Punishments, in which Dr. MAHON recommends a plan similar to that introduced by Mr. Howard in this country. The editor has added a note, in which he informs us that, in the prisons at Rouen, the spinning of cotton has been introduced as an employment.

The work concludes with a chapter on Inoculation for the Small pox, for which Dr. MAHON was an advocate. The great discovery of Dr. Jenner has happily superseded all discussion on this subject.

After having allowed so much room to our account of this book, it is unnecessary to add that we recommend it to the attention of our medical friends.-A translation, abridged in some places, and accommodated to the law of this country, would be a valuable present to the Profession.

A slight biographical sketch of Dr. MAHON, prefixed to the first volume, informs us that he was born at Chartres, in 1752, and died in 1800, aged 48, after an illness of only two days, caused by an indefinite complaint in the chest. He is said to have been a man of such good character that his death is a loss to society, and of such skill in his profession that medicine will long mourn his departure. His mother, on being informed of the fatal event, exclaimed; "My son, my poor son; I shall never again behold thee! This is the first, the only pang which thou hast ever excited in my bosom."

*Il seroit donc necessaire qu'il y eût des accoucheurs chargés spécialement de pratiquer cette opération sur les femmes qui meurent elant grosses. Car, quoique l'on cite quelques exemples de femmes meme vivantes opérées avec succès par des mains peu exercées, cependant l'experience commune démontre que ces opérations ne sont qu'un massacre dégoûtant, et que ceux qui l'exécutent soupçonnent à-peine que celles qui en sont le sujet peuvent être encore vivantes.' Tom. 3. pp. 209, 210.

ART.

ART. X. Sermons de M. E. S. REYBAZ, &c. i.e. Sermons by E. S. REYBAZ, Minister of the Holy Gospel, formerly Representative of the Republic of Geneva to the French Republic, &c. Accompanied by Hymns adapted to each Sermon, and preceded by a Letter on the Art of Preaching. 8vo. 2 vols. Paris. 1801. Imported by De Buffe, London. Price 10s.

ANY publication of a religious cast in the French language would lately have been a novelty: times, however, are now changed; and that government, in imitation of every government yet known, has taken religion by the hand, and lent it a portion of its fostering influence. The ministers of the altar, if not restored to their former rank and emoluments, have been reinstated in their functions, and placed under the care of the state. As the establishment of the new Gallican church, therefore, forms an epoch, it is not improbable that some of its members may be ambitious of illustrating the event; and that this language, of late so exclusively the ve hicle of infidelity, may again add learned, ingenious, and eloquent treatises to our theological stores. It will be seen whether the future invisible rewards of Christianity, after a period of persecution, will have the same effect which rank, wealth, and court favour, produced in the reign of Louis: but we fear that the men of this day are of too terrene a make, to be impelled to great exertions by spiritual motives, in the total absence of all earthly remuneration. We own that we have little hopes of seeing the reign of Bonaparte rendered illustrious by geniuses in the theological line. Within the Roman pale, we do not expect to see the Massillons, the Bourdaloues, the Flechiers, and the Bossuets of a happier period again rising to our view; nor, among the Protestant seceders, do we look for new Saurins and Abbadies.

The preacher of the discourses here offered to us is a minister of the reformed communion; now that Geneva is incorporated with France, a subject of the First Consul; and a member of that inferior establishment which, under the Concordat, embraces the Protestants. He discovers a spirit and turn which have long prevailed in that class of Christians on the continent to which he belongs; and which consist in an aversion to dogmas, and an adherence to the letter of divine writ. Though we find in his compositions no reference to the councils of antient times, nor to the synods of more modern days, neither to the former held at Nice, Chalcedon, and Ephesus, nor to the latter which met at Augsburgh or Dort; yet his pages are enriched with numerous and apt quotations from the sacred Scriptures. Those, therefore, who are not wedded to the subtleties of scholastic dogmas, who have no taste for technical theology, but who esteem the Gospel for the L12

hope