same time that they are most useful in restoring the tone of the stomach and bowels. But if the irritations of the intestinal canal continue after the febrile symptoms are removed, the chalk julep of the dispensatory, with the addition of laudanum or paregoric elixir is very advantageously prescribed. In some instances where the diarrhea is attended with tenesmus, severe gripings, and the discharges are tinged with blood, small injections composed of starch and laudanum are more effectual in relieving the sufferings of the patient than anodynes administered by the stomach, while they are less apt to disturb the functions of that organ in other instances astringent remedies are indicated to restrain the profuse liquid evacuations from the bowels. For this purpose we have found none more effectual than an infusion of the root of the marsh rosemary, the statice limonium of Linnæus.* But of all the remedies prescribed either for the purpose of preventing or of curing this disease, we know of none so effectual as removal to the cool air of the country, particularly near the sea shore, where the atmosphere is not only cooler, but in a peculiar manner restores the appetite and strength of the patient. "It is extremely agreeable, says Dr. Rush, to see the little sufferers revive as soon as they escape from the city air, and inspire the pure air of the country." But among the means of prevention we also recommend the use of flannel worn next the skin: this preserves the action of the vessels on the surface, at the same time that as a non-conductor, it guards the tender infant from the extreme heat and vicissitudes frequently experienced in the hot season of the year. Warm bathing at this season,

* See an Inaugural Dissertation on this subject, by Dr. Valentine Mott.

† Rush's Med. Inq. and Observ. vol. 3. P.

370.

by lessening the effects of heat upon the system, is no less useful to children than to adults.

As before remarked, intermitting, remitting and typhus fevers have also been among the prevailing diseases of the last three months, and are still daily met with both in our private practice and public institutions. Intermittents have appeared in all their variety of forms of quotidian tertian; double tertian, and quartans. Remittents also assumed their varied character according to the constitutions in which they occurred. In some they manifested all the symptoms of the true bilious remittent, in which the patient throughout the whole course of the disease discharged large quantities of bile both by vomiting and stool; while in others, especially those of a sanguine temperament or who may have recently arrived from a more northern latitude, it exhited all the characters of the "ardent fever" or "causus." This form of fever from the violence of its symptoms and shorter duration than the ordinary bilious remittent is frequently confounded with the yellow fever of the tropics, and it must be acknowledged that in many symptoms it bears a greater resemblance to that species of fever than to any of the indigenous fevers of the United States: we are therefore not so much surprised that by those who believe in the unity of fevers they should be pronounced one and the same disease. In the first number of this work these two forms of remittents have been very happily described by Dr. Norcom, in his account of the fevers of North-Carolina.

In many instances the remittents of the season have terminated in typhus, and in some cases have proved fa

tal. We however are happy to add that our city has enjoyed a total exemption from that occasional scourge of our sea ports, the yellow fever. Although some cases appeared at the quarantine ground introduced by vessels from the Havanna or Porto Rico, and in North-Carolina from the same sources, as we are credibly informed, we believe it will be on all hands admitted, such has been the vigilance of our present health officer, such his rigid and impartial performance of the duties enjoined upon him, that not a single case of yellow fever has been seen in the city of New-York or the village of Brooklyn this season. We believe it must also be granted that we have had all the requisites for the generation of it, that the advo cates for its domestic origin have ever considered necessary viz. moisture, heat, and filth.

As to moisture, we can safely assert that no season can be mentioned in which we have had more repeated falls of rain or in greater quantities than in the months of July and August. For a period of about six weeks scarcely a day occurred in which we had not one or more showers of rain, insomuch that the docks were overflowed, and the cellars in the lowest part of the city filled with water. The seasons of 1795 and 1798 in which the yellow fever prevailed with a mortality that will never be forgotten, bear no comparison to that we have just passed through. The thermometer also pointed out during many weeks of that time a degree of heat far above our ordinary temperature at this season, and greater in the aggregate than was experienced in either of the above years, as will be seen by examining the tables that were kept. Nor have we wanted the materials for this heat and moisture to operate upon. On the contrary,

1

we are compelled to observe, that our streets, docks, and market places have never within our recollection, exhibited more subjects of putrefaction both of animal and vegetable matter, than they have in the past season. Peck-slip in particular, is acknowledged to have been in a most offensive condition, insomuch that vessels were not permitted to go into it for fear of disturbing its waters. These have been and continue to be, in a state of fermentation, emitting their exhalations to the great annoyance of the whole neighbourhood. Yet surprising to be told, if yellow fever be the produce of domestic filth, similar causes have, in the present instance, ceased to produce similar effects; for with the exceptions already noticed, our city has enjoyed an unexampled degree of health.

Godon's Treatise on Mineralogy.

The prospectus of a new work on Mineralogical Science has been lately issued, entitled "A Treatise on Mineralogy, adapted to the present State of Science; including important Applications to the Arts and Manufactures. By S. GODON." It will be divided into two parts, according to the divisions generally admitted, and followed in the lectures of the author. The first will treat of minerals considered as simples. The second of minerals in their state of aggregation, with their usual disposition on the body of the earth: these two divisions denoted by the names of Oryctognosy and Geognosy, including the whole series of mineralogical knowledge. The work will also contain a great number of local observations on the territory of North America, either made in the course of the travels of the author, or communicated to him by

respectable authorities. These memorandums will give an additional degree of utility to this publication, and are calculated to render it a national work. It will be comprised in two volumes, octavo, with one volume of plates in quarto, and be published by Messrs. Birch and Small, of Philadelphia.

RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country, through the States of Ohio and Kentucky; a voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; and a trip through the Mississippi territory, and a part of Florida. Commenced at Philadelphia in 1807, and concluded in 1809. By F. Cuming. With Notes and an Appendix, containing some interesting facts, together with a notice of an expedition through Louisiana. Cranmer & Co. Pittsburgh.

A Practical Treatise on Vaccina or Cow Pox. By Samuel Scofield, M. D. &c. 12mo. New-York. Collins & Perkins.

The American New Dispensatory. By James Thatcher, A. A. & M. S. S. 8vo. Boston. T. B Waite & Co.

The History of Printing in America, with a Biography of Printers, and an Account of Newspapers. To which is prefixed, a concise View of the Discovery and Progress of the Art in other parts of the world. In two volumes octavo, with five Plates, one of which is a fac simile of the first articles known to be printed in Europe by the discoverer of the art; two are fac similes of the printing types first used in England; another represents cylindrical presses; the fifth is an Indian Gazette. Boston: Isaiah Thomas, jun. 2 vols. 8vo. Price $6 in boards.

Nos. I. & 2. Archives of Useful Knowledge: a work devoted to Commerce, Manufactures, Rural and Domestic Economy, Agriculture, and the Useful Arts. By James Mease, M. D. Secretary to the Agricultural Society of Philadelphia. New-York. Williams and Whiting.

The natural and civil history of Vermont, by Samuel Williams, L. L. D. member of the American academy of arts and sciences of Massachusetts, &c. in 2 vols. octavo. Second edition, corrected and much enlarged, with a map of the state. Burlington. S. Mills.

The Poems of Ossian. Translated by James Macpherson, Esq. To which are prefixed, Dissertations on the Aera and Poems of Ossian, and a Preliminary Discourse, or Review of the recent controversy relative to the authenticity of the Poems. With engravings on wood, by Anderson. New-York. E. Sargeant.

Report from the Secretary of the Treasury, on the subject of Ame rican Manufactures, prepared in obedience to a resolution of the House of Representatives, April 19, 1810 Referred to Mr. Macon, Mr. Pitkin, Mr. Fisk, and Mr. Clopton. Boston. John Eliot, jun.