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Arabic inscriptions in the early Cufic character, some in-
taglios on carnelian or oriental onyx, brought from thence,
are of a higher antiquity than Mohammed. The city of
Ahwaz lies on the banks of the river Karun (31° 20' N. lat.
48° 50', E. long.) in a flat and uncultivated country, abandoned
by its former inhabitants to rapacious animals, and hordes of
ferocious Arabs, who occasionally pitch their flying camps
here, when in search of pasturage or plunder. The modern
town of Ahwuz occupies but a small portion of the site of
the old city, on the eastern bank of the Karun, and exhibits
a mean and solitary appearance when contrasted with the
immense mass of ruins. Its houses are almost entirely built
of stone brought from the ruins, and it can only boast of
one decent building, a mosque, apparently modern. The
population at present does not exceed 1600 souls. Con-
siderable traces are discernible of the bund or dyke that
was thrown across the river, chiefly, if not entirely, to
favour irrigation, by thus making a head of water. A part
of this stone wall is still standing, remarkable for its state
of preservation; it is in many places ten feet high, and
nearly as many in breadth; while it extends upwards
of one hundred feet in length, without any intermediate
breach. Many single blocks in it measure eight and ten
feet. The river dashes over the bund with great violence,
and, being accelerated by the strong current of the Karun,
the sound of the fall is heard from a considerable distance.
Boats of every description are obliged to unload previous to an
attempt at passing over, and even then the passage is attended
with much danger, and they are frequently swamped. The
river is one hundred and sixty yards in breadth at each side
of the dyke, and of great depth. The shallowness below
the town is caused by the great mass of masonry under
the surface. Towards the south end of the town, there are
several singular cavities, and a few water-mills erected
between the rocks, the latter, probably, constructed since
Kinneir's visit. Behind them are the remains of a bridge,
and here, too, commences the mass of ruins, extending to
least ten or twelve miles in a south-easterly direction, while
their greatest breadth covers about half that space. All the
mounds are covered with hewn stone. One of them is nearly
two hundred feet high. In many parts flights of steps are
in good preservation. At the base of this mass of ruins are
graves, in which are found stones measuring five or six feet,
in length, several with Cufic inscriptions, and others with
fret-work, indicative of an era subsequent to the Moham-
medan. In every direction are found heaps of circular flat
stones perforated in the centre, four, five, or six feet in
diameter, and some with characters upon them-they have
apparently been used for grinding. These circular stones
appear in some places to have been used for the conveyance
of water, and may be traced for great distances in suc-
cessive rows in small dry rivulets, placed so firmly together,
that it would require days to remove any of them. The
above-mentioned large mound extends as far as the eye
can reach, varying in height and breadth, and is the first
in magnitude upon the plain. To the west of this is a
mound entirely of stone, fifty feet high, and twenty feet
broad, with several flights of steps traceable to its sum-
mit, but much mutilated and injured by the weather.
About a mile to the east, separated by a deep ravine, stands
an immense pile of materials, consisting of bricks, stone,
and tile of various colours. The Arabs call it kasr or palace.
Its ascent is gradual, but fatiguing from the numerous
furrows, which have been apparently worn by water. The
height is, at the lowest estimate, one hundred and fifty feet
above the plain. At the summit are several floorings of
stone, as fresh as if only recently laid down; together with
several rounded troughs, some of which are of Persepolitan
marble in its rough state. From numerous cavities start
packs of jackals, and porcupine quills are strewed in every
direction. One side of this mound is nearly perpendicular,
so that it is impossible to descend. At its base the ca-
mel's thorn is plentiful, which, by its green appearance,
relieves the landscape from the general gloom of sterility
and dreariness. The kasr is about three miles from the
east bank of the river. About half a mile north-west from
the kasr is a circular mound measuring two hundred yards. |
At its base, a wall of masonry may be traced for twenty-one
feet, the face of which is perfect and unbroken, and appears
to have been the front of some building. To this mound
is joined another ruined heap, covered with fragments of
glazed tile, a coarse kind of crystal, pieces of alabaster, and
bits of glass.

Several mounds form one connected chain of rude, un shapen, flaked rock, lying in such naturally-formed strata, that the very thought of any part of the materials having been accumulated by human labour is scarcely admissible. The soil on which these ruins rest appears to be soft and sandy. Perhaps the site was naturally elevated before the Glass of all colours is found in abuncity was built. dance, and the fragments of pottery are remarkably fresh. Many of the burnt bricks that lie on the surface of the mound appear to have borne some written character; but exposure to the weather, and probably occasional inundations, caused by the melting snows of the mountains in the upper country, have nearly effaced all traces of it. On the hewn stone, some characters are as fresh as from the sculptor's hands. No bitumen was observed on the bricks. The villagers say, that they find sometimes, when digging for bricks, small intaglios, generally denominated seals, and probably used as such, similar to those found at and near Babylon. The Arabs are always digging up and removing stones for the purpose of building; but a large city might be erected from the materials still remaining. The ruins of Ahwuz extend also on the west bank of the river in a northerly direction, exhibiting the same appearance as the mounds on the east side, but less in magnitude. Ahwuz is generally supposed to be much lower in antiquity than either Babylon, Persepolis, or Susa. Alexander navigated the Karun, but his historians do not mention Ahwuz. It appears from the extracts from oriental writers made by Captain R. Taylor, that the sugar-cane was once largely cultivated round Ahwaz, and the sugar was exported to all parts. Ahwaz, in the height of its prosperity, belonged to the Khalifs, from whom it revolted. Ali-ibn-Mohammed took the field against them, and after a long and destructive war, the Khalifs triumphed; and from that time we may date the ruin of this great city. (See Transac. of the London Asiatic Soc. vol. ii.)

AI (Bradypus, Illiger), in zoology, a genus of mammals belonging to the order Edentata of the Règne Animal, and, together with the genus Unau or Cholapus, composing a small family to which Baron Cuvier has given the appellation of Tardigrada, from the peculiar conformation of their extremities, and the remarkable slowness of their pace. Both these genera were formerly included by Linnæus in the same group, under the common name of Bradypus or Sloth; but later zoologists have separated them, on account of certain anomalies in their organic structure, which will be explained, and which certainly deserve to be considered as important generic characters. With this difference, however, it must be confessed, that the two genera of Sloths are closely approximated to one another in many essential details both of structure and economy and this fact is the more remarkable and interesting, since the modifications upon which their generic distinction has been founded, are greater and, as we might naturally presume, more influential, than those which frequently characterize two different families.

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[Figure of the Sloth.]

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The order Edentata comprises a number of genera, perhaps the most singular and anomalous among mammals, differing widely from all other quadrupeds, but unfortunately possessing so few natural affinities or relations of resemblance among themselves, that we cannot help regarding the order edentata as the most arbitrary and artificial of all the primary groups into which MM. Cuvier and Geoffroy have divided the mammalia. In other respects, every thing which relates to these animals, their habits and economy, but still more particularly their osteological structure, is in itself exceedingly interesting. The family of tardigrada, or sloths, are more especially deserving of attention, as well from the singularity of their physical structure, and the mistakes which have hitherto prevailed among naturalists concerning the habits and manners of these singular animals, as on account of the relation which they present in their osteological details to the megatherium, the most curious and anomalous of extinct animals. This family is distinguished from the other edentata by a short round head, and the presence both of molar and canine teeth, the incisors alone being deficient; but, above all, by the great length and singular structure of their arms, which, adapting them to a mode of progression altogether peculiar to themselves, and consequently disqualifying them for the exercise of that species of locomotion common to ordinary quadrupeds, has caused them to be considered as the most miserable and unfortunate of beings, imperfect monsters of creation, equally remarkable for their disgusting appearance and helpless condition. The valuable observations of a recent traveller have at length dissipated the obscurity which so long prevailed upon this subject, and have shown in this instance, as in all others, that every modification in nature is adapted to a wise and useful end; and that deformity and imperfection appear only when, from our own imperfect knowledge, we fail to discover the adaptation of organic structure to the habits and economy of particular beings

To enable us clearly to comprehend the nature and functions of these animals, it will be necessary to enter into a short description of parts of their osteological structure. The next view of the skeleton of the Ai seems to indicate a distortion of certain parts, and proportions altogether opposed to freedom of motion, at least of that kind of motion which we are familiar with in ordinary quadrupeds. The arm and fore-arm taken together are nearly twice as long as the leg and thigh, so that if the animal attempts to walk on allfours, it is obliged to trail itself painfully and slowly on its elbows, and if it stands upright on the hind legs, the arms are so long that the fore-fingers touch the ground. This disproportion between the anterior and posterior extremities, obviously deprives these animals of the power of moving on a plain surface with that speed which is so admirable in the generality of quadrupeds; and, accordingly, we are assured by all observers, that their mode of progression, under these circumstances, is of the most slow and painful nature. The sloths, however, are not terrestrial animals, but live entirely among the thick branches of trees in the most extensive and solitary forests. This remarkable disproportion of their fore-arms is common to another genus of arboreal mammals, the real apes, in which, far from retarding their motions, this peculiar structure is of the most essential importance in adding to their agility. But the sloths partake of none of the accessory advantages which the apes possess. They have no opposable thumb; their fingers are short, and so perfectly rigid that the joints ossify at a very early period of the animal's life, leaving them totally incapable of individual motion, whilst they are at the same time so completely enveloped in the common integuments of the hand, that nothing is to be seen externally except the immense crooked claws with which they are provided. The wrist and ankle, also, are articulated or joined to the fore-arm and leg in an oblique direction; so that the palm or sole, instead of being directed downwards towards the surface of the ground, as in other animals,

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is turned inwards towards the body, in such a manner as to render it impossible for the sloth to place the sole of its foot straight down upon a level surface, but to compel it, under such circumstances, to rest upon the external edge of the foot. This position is obviously but ill-adapted for ease or facility of motion. But there is still another singularity in the structure of the foot of this animal which materially increases its difficulties of progression on a plain surface. This arises from the peculiar form of the last phalanx or joint of the fingers and toes, that, namely, which gives insertion to the claws, and which is articulated with the second phalanx in such a manner as to permit the fingers and claws to be strongly bent inwards along the palm and arm, but at the same time prevents the animal from raising them upwards or opening the hand beyond a certain position. This structure is exactly the reverse of what we observe in the common cat, which has the phalanxes of the toes formed in such a manner as to keep the claws habitually retracted or drawn up, so that it requires a considerable degree of muscular force to extend or depress them. In the sloths, on the contrary, they are naturally depressed in the position represented in the figure of the skeleton, and the muscular

force is exerted to expand or open them. The claws themselves are of a size altogether enormous, surpassing the entire foot in length. They are so sharp and crooked that they readily seize upon the smallest inequalities in the bark of the trees and branches among which the animals habitually reside; and united to the great muscular strength and rigid formation of the extremities, furnish the most powerful weapons of defence. Nor are the form and articulation of the posterior extremities less singular than those of the anterior. The formation of the pelvis alone is of such a nature as to render it impossible for the sloths to walk after the manner of ordinary quadrupeds; and the mode in which the hind legs are articulated with the pelvis, to use the expression of Baron Cuvier, seems almost expressly arranged for the purpose of depriving the animal of the use of its legs altogether. 'If,' says M. Cuvier, we consider the sloths in the relations which they bear to other animals, the general laws of organization at present existing apply so little to their structure, the different parts of their body seem so completely contradictory of those laws of co-existence which we have found established in the rest of the animal kingdom, that we might be almost tempted to consider them as the

remains of a former order of things, the living relies of that I would never think of calling him a sloth. Though the precedent nature of which we are obliged to seek the other merit of explaining and accounting for the many apparent inconsistencies and anomalies observable in the conformation of these animals is undoubtedly due to Mr. Waterton, yet their habit of resting suspended from a branch or perch, was long since noticed by different authors, and is particularly described in a communication to Buffon from the Marquis de Montmirail, in whose menagerie a sloth was preserved for upwards of three years. Stedman, in his History of Surinam, has an engraving of a sloth in this position, which we have copied, as illustrating its singular mode of progression.

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[Formation of Pelvis.]

ruins beneath the surface of the earth, and that they escaped, by some miracle, the catastrophe which destroyed their contemporary species.'

The false and exaggerated opinions which have been entertained concerning the functions and condition of these animals, arise from preconceived notions which do not apply in any manner to the conformation of the sloths. If placed upon a plain surface, the sloth moves indeed with great pain and difficulty and only by seizing upon the little asperities which he finds in his way, and by that means dragging his body slowly forwards, just as we may observe a bat to do under similar circumstances. But this is a situation equally foreign to the habits and economy both of the sloth and of the bat; and we are no more justified in judging of the nature of the one under these circumstances, than we should be in reasoning upon the habits of the other. The sloth is eminently an arboreal quadruped: it is produced, it lives, and it dies in the trees; it never voluntarily descends to the surface of the earth, and those, therefore, who observe it in that situation, have not a favourable opportunity of judging of

its nature and functions.

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Yet if we attentively consider the organization of the extremities as already described, it will appear that the amazing disproportion between the hind and fore legs in point of length, the immoveableness of the toes, the reversed position of the claws, the oblique articulation of the feet, and the great rigidity of all the members, are circumstances which should equally disqualify this animal for moving along the branches of trees with anything like the ease and security of the squirrel or monkey. We are indebted to the valuable observations of Mr. Waterton, during his wanderings' in South America, for a final and satisfactory explanation of all these apparent difficulties and inconsistencies in the structure and habits of the sloth. The sloth,' says this traveller, in its wild state, spends its whole life in the trees, and never leaves them but through force or accident; and what is more extraordinary, not upon the branches like the squirrel and monkey, but under them. He moves suspended from the branch, he rests suspended from the branch, and he sleeps suspended from the branch. Hence his seemingly bungled composition is at once accounted for; and in lieu of the sloth leading a painful life and entailing a melancholy existence upon its progeny, it is but fair to conclude that it just enjoys life as much as any other animal, and that its extraordinary formation and singular habits are but further proofs to engage us to admire the wonderful works of Omnipotence. Nor are the motions of this animal so slow while suspended in this strange position, nor his habitat so circumscribed as naturalists have hitherto imagined. The Indians, continues Mr. Waterton, have a saying, that when the wind blows the sloths begin to travel. In fact, during calm weather they remain tranquil, probably not liking to cling to the brittle extremities of the branches, lest they should break whilst the animals are passing from one tree to another; but as soon as the wind rises the branches of the neighbouring trees become interwoven, and then the sloth seizes hold of them and pursues his journey in safety. He travels at a good round pace, and were you to see him, as I have done, passing from tree to tree, you

[Mode of Progression.]

The conformation of the extremities is not the only part of its anatomy in which the sloth differs from ordinary mammals. The number and form of the bones which compose the trunk, the nature of its teeth, and the conformation of its stomach and intestines, are all peculiar. The stomach is divided by transverse ligatures into four separate compartments, which bear a distant resemblance to the four stomachs of ruminating animals: they do not, however, exercise the functions of these organs, nor do the sloths regurgitate their food, or subject it to a second process of mastication like the ox and the sheep. The intestines, also, are unusually short for an animal which lives entirely upon vegetable substances, scarcely equalling twice the length of the body, whilst those of ruminants frequently exceed ten times those dimensions. Their simplicity and diminutive size in the sloths appear to be compensated by the superior and unusual complication of the stomach,-which, retaining the food for a longer period than in ordinary non-ruminating animals, allows it to be more perfectly macerated, and prepared for the action of the absorbent vessels which imbibe its nutritious particles in its passage through the intestines. The number of vertebræ in the necks of mammals is generally seven, so that the whales and dolphins, which have scarcely any neck at all, as well as the giraffe and camel, which have it developed in a most unusual degree, are all found to agree in this particular, however widely they differ in other respects: the Ai alone forms an exception to this otherwise universal rule in having nine cervical vertebre. What renders this circumstance still more surprising is, that the neck of the Ai, notwithstanding its two supernumerary vertebræ, is far from long,-being, on the contrary, much too short for its long fore-legs, if it were compelled to seek its food on the ground, like other animals. But this defect is compensated, as well by the nature of the situation which it habitually occupies, suspended from the horizontal branches of the trees, as by its power of using the fore-paw as a hand in conveying the food to its mouth, which, notwithstanding the rigidity of its members, it does with great address with one paw, whilst it clings firmly to the branches by means of the other three.

The dental system of the sloths is the most simple that can well be conceived. They have no incisor teeth, but canines and molars only; and in the Ai the canines are diminutive, and in all respects very similar to the other teeth. The molar teeth are universally eight in the upper jaw and six in the lower, four and three on either side respectively. Their construction is most simple, consisting merely of a cylinder of bone, enveloped in enamel, and hollow at both ends,-at the upper by continual detrition, and at the under by default of ossification. They have no lamina of enamel penetrating the body of the tooth, as in other herbivorous animals, which renders them such effective instruments in grinding and masticating vegetable substances. Hence it results that the mastication of the sloth must be extremely imperfect, though the defect of

dentition is probably compensated, in some degree, by the superior complication of the stomach.

species is a large black collar which completely surrounds the neck, and from which its specific name of collaris is derived. Beneath this outer coat there is an inner one of very fine fur, which is of a dark brown colour on the collar, but gradually diminishes in intensity towards the croup, where it is entirely white.

The genus Ai, for which the name of Bradypus has been more properly reserved, differs from the Unau, Cholœpus, in many respects, but at the same time approximates more nearly to it than any other known animal: these two genera, together with the extinct fossil animals which have been Both these species feed upon the leaves of trees, and called Megatherium and Megalonyx, and which, with the bring forth but a single young one at a birth. When in form and organization of a sloth, nearly equalled the elephant motion in the forests they emit a feeble, plaintive cry, rein size, constitute the Cuvierian family, Tardigrada. Be-sembling the word Ai, and which is the origin of the name sides the difference of the canine teeth, which are completely they bear among the Europeans settled in America. They developed in the Unau, and in the Ai of the same form and are extremely retentive of life, and have been seen to move subject to the same detrition as the molars, these two genera their legs and exhibit other symptoms of vivacity, a are distinguished from one another by the number of toes full half hour after being deprived of the heart and other on the fore-feet, which are three in the Ai and only two in viscera. the Unau; by the comparative length of the fore-arms, which are much longer in the former than in the latter; by the number of cervical vertebræ in the Ai, as already mentioned; by the equally-unusual number of ribs in the Unau, which amount to no fewer than forty-six, the greatest number hitherto found in any mammal, the Ai having but thirtytwo; and by numerous other modifications which it is unnecessary to enumerate.

The sloths are known to bring forth, and suckle their young like ordinary quadrupeds. For this purpose they have two mammæ, which are situated on the breast; and the young sloth, from the moment of its birth, adheres to the body of its parent till it acquires sufficient size and strength to shift for itself. The head of the Ai is short, the face small and round like that of the American monkeys, the ears concealed in the long hair which surrounds them, the eyes small and deeply sunk in the head, and the tail a mere rudiment. The Ai is found only in the most gloomy and retired tropical forests of South America. The Indians like his flesh, and are in continual pursuit of him. Naturalists reckon two distinct species of the Ai, and three or four varieties, some of which may probably be found to be specifically different, when they come to be dissected and carefully compared with one another. 1. The Common Ai, (Bradypus Communis,) has a short round head, furnished with coarse shaggy hair, disposed on the crown in verging rays, like that of the human species the face is of a yellowish colour, covered with very short hair, whilst that of the body and extremities is universally long and shaggy; the eyes are encircled by a brown ring; the hair of the body varied with irregular patches of dark and light brown, or silvery white: between the shoulders there is an oval patch of short orange-coloured hair, of a finer quality than that found on other parts of the body, and divided in the centre by a longitudinal black stripe; the throat and breast are frequently of a light straw colour. The texture of the hair is altogether peculiar, and more nearly resembles dry hay, or grass shrivelled and withered by the sun, than the hair of ordinary quadrupeds. It is coarse and flattened at the extremity, but as small at the root as the finest spider's web; and its dry and withered appearance forms the Ai's principal security against its pursuers, as it renders it extremely difficult to detect it whilst at rest among the branches covered with bark and moss of the same colour; it is only when in motion that it can be readily distinguished from the trunk beneath which it hangs suspended. In other respects, different individuals of this species differ considerably from one another, in the shades and disposition of their colours, and in the intensity of the mark between the shoulders; some even want this lattei mark altogether, others are of a uniform ash colour over the whole body, and there are others still, which have the hair of the head parted in the centre, and hanging down upon each side; but whether these constitute distinct species or mere varieties of the common Ai, is a point hitherto undetermined; the cabinets of Europe do not afford sufficient materials for an extensive comparison, and no naturalist has ever examined the Ais with this view in their native regions.

2. The Collared Ai (Bradypus collaris), is a very distinct species, even in the bony structure of its cranium. Its face is naked and of a black colour; the hair of its body less flattened, and withered-looking than in the common species; the forehead, temples, chin, throat, and breast covered with reddish or rust-coloured hair, slightly frizzled; on the crown of the head it is long and yellow, and on the rest of the body pale orange but the most distinguishing mark of the

AIA-SOLOUK, or AIA-SALUK, a small village of Asia Minor, on the banks of the Kitchik Minder, the old Caystrus; many remains are found there, which have given rise to the supposition that it occupies the site of Ephesus. But the remains of Ephesus are two miles lower down the river. [See EPHESUS, for an account of both places.]

AIDE-DE-CAMP, a French term, denoting a military officer usually of the rank of captain, one or more of whom is attached to every general officer, and conveys all his orders to the different parts of his command. A field marshal is entitled to four, a lieutenant-general to two, and a major-general to one. The king appoints as many aidesde-camp as he pleases, and this situation confers the rank of colonel.

AIDS, called by ancient legal writers auxilia, were a kind of pecuniary tribute paid by a feudal vassal to his superior or lord, on occasions of peculiar emergency. The kinds of aids of most usual occurrence were, 1st, when the lord made his eldest son a knight;-this ceremony occasioned considerable expense, and entitled the lord to call upon his tenant for extraordinary assistance: 2d, when the lord gave his eldest daughter in marriage, he had her dower to provide, and was entitled by law to claim a contribution from his tenants for this purpose. The amount of these two kinds of aid was limited to a certain sum by the statute Westminster 1. c. 36, namely, at 20s. for a knight's fee, and at 20s. for every 207. per annum value of socage lands, and so on in proportion. The third species of aid, which was to ransom the lord's person when taken prisoner, was of less frequent occurrence than the other two, and was of necessity altogether uncertain in amount; because, if the lord were taken prisoner, it was absolutely necessary to restore him, however exorbitant the required ransom might be. In the more ancient treatises on feudal tenures, there is a vast collection of abstruse learning upon the various kinds of aids; but as aids for knighting the lord's son and marrying the lord's daughter are expressly abolished by the stat. 12 Car. II. c. 24. and as the aid for ransoming the lord's persor. is now become obsolete, the learning upon these subjects has long lost all practical utility, and is become merely matter of historical curiosity.

AIKIN, JOHN, M.D., was the only son of the Rev. John Aikin, D.D., for many years tutor in divinity at the dissenting academy of Warrington in Lancashire. John was born at the village of Kibworth-Harcourt in Leicestershire, on the 15th January, 1747. Here, and afterwards at Warrington, he received a classical education under his father, from whom he imbibed that love of letters for which he was distinguished through life.

Having made choice of the medical profession, he was at an early age articled to a surgeon and apothecary at Uppingham, in Rutlandshire, where he remained for three years, and then went to pursue his studies at the University of Edinburgh. Having continued here during two winters, he returned to England in May, 1766, and after paying a short visit to Warrington, renewed his medical studies at Manchester. After a residence of three years in Manchester, he proceeded to London, and joined the class of Dr. William Hunter.

The first field which he chose for his professional exertions was the city of Chester, where he settled in the autumn of 1770, and here his earliest medical work was published. This was entitled Observations on the External Use of Preparations of Lead, with some general Remarks on Topical Medicines. This work met with a satisfactory reception from the members of the medical profession, and is still held in esteem. Not meeting with sufficient encouragement at Chester, in little more than a year he re

VOL. I.-2 H

moved to Warrington, where he immediately succeeded in obtaining a moderate amount of practice. Shortly after this time, he published a pamphlet entitled Thoughts on Hospitals, which was well received both by the medical profession and by the public generally. Mr. Aikin's earliest publication, unconnected with his profession, was a small volume, entitled Essays on Song Writing; this was first published in 1772, and was speedily carried through a second edition. Very many years afterwards this little work was remodelled, and published with additions, under the title of Vocal Poetry.

In the year just mentioned, Mr. Aikin married Miss Martha Jennings, the daughter of his maternal uncle, a union from which he derived the truest domestic happiness during the remaining years of his lengthened life. In 1773, he assisted his sister, Mrs. Barbauld, in the composition of a small volume of Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose, and in the following year published a translation of The Life of Agricola, by Tacitus, with copious notes, which was soon followed by a translation of The Manners of the Germans, by the same author. His next was A Specimen of the Medical Biography of Great Britain, and this essay meeting with considerable attention from many professional and literary persons of celebrity, by whom he was incited to pursue the subject, he published, five years after, an octavo volume of Biographical Memoirs of Medicine in Great Britain from the Revival of Literature to the Time of Hervey. It was Mr. Aikin's intention to still further extend the work, but it was found impossible for him, as then situated, to procure materials for completing his purpose in a satisfactory

manner.

To these literary occupations, and to the labour attendant on an extensive medical practice, were at this time added the task of delivering chemical lectures to the students at the Warrington academy, and the charge of privately instructing a few medical pupils.

The next publication of any consequence which we owe to Mr. Aikin appeared in 1784. This was a much enlarged and corrected edition of Lewis's Experimental History of the Materia Medica, in 1 vol. 4to., the preparation of which had occupied him during a large portion of the preceding year. About the same time was published the first of his works composed for the benefit of young people. This, which was entitled The Calendar of Nature, contained an instructive sketch of many striking circumstances in animal and vegetable life, and of the changes attendant upon the revolution of the seasons in our latitude. This little piece was republished fifteen years after, and entitled The Natural History of the Year.

Having lost his father by death, and the breaking up of the Warrington academy having scattered the literary and scientific society of that town, so much in accordance with his tastes, Mr. Aikin determined, upon the advice of many professional friends, to take his degree as a doctor of medicine, and to seek some more promising field than Warrington for the employment of his professional talents. With this view he proceeded, in July, 1784, to the University of Leyden, where, having gone through the necessary examinations, he received his degree, and returned to England.

strongly-expressed pamphlets on the question. This act of partisanship produced him many enemies. The clergy with their connexions, as well as the members of the corporation, chose to consider themselves thereby absolved from their promises of support, which they secretly transferred to another physician, who was invited by them to settle in the town. Dr. Aikin's situation was, in consequence, rendered so much less lucrative and agreeable, that early in 1792 he again removed his family to London, where he recommenced his medical practice.

In the same year, Dr. Aikin, who had before assisted Howard in preparing his works for the press, published, in one small octavo volume, A View of the Character and Public Services of the late John Howard, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. This work comprises an account of the principal events of Mr. Howard's life, and of the origin and progress of his inquiries into the state of prisons, hospitals, and lazarettos, and it gives a summary of his character and exertions; a task for which Dr. Aikin was peculiarly qualified, as well by the continual and unreserved intercourse which had passed between Howard and himself, as by the peculiar turn of his own mind, which led him to view with interest approaching to enthusiasm every scheme which promised in any way to diminish human suffering.

The first volume of Evenings at Home, the most popular, and probably also the most useful of all Dr. Aikin's works, was published very soon after he had settled in London. The volumes of this work appeared successively, the sixth and last in June, 1795. This work was the joint production of Dr. Aikin, and his sister, Mrs. Barbauld, whose contributions, however, did not exceed half a volume in the whole. The object of these volumes was a favourite one with their authors, who desired to teach things rather than words. In the execution of the task, they presented, in a manner sufficiently attractive to engage the attention of young persons, a good deal of natural history, with some of the elements of chemistry and mineralogy; but the principal charm and value of the work consist in its just views of human character, and in the uncompromising integrity visible in every line. Things by their Right Names is the title of one of the papers inserted in these volumes, which might, with great propriety, have been adopted for the entire work. At the expiration of nearly half a century from its first appearance, Evenings at Home' is still in possession of public favour, and the work has been translated into almost all the European languages.

In the beginning of 1794 Dr. Aikin published a volume of Letters from a Father to his Son on various Topics relative to Literature and the Conduct of Life. This may be characterised as an original work; as it was not designed for children, it is less elementary than the Evenings at Home.' The chief aim of these letters, thirty in number, appears to be to obviate prejudices, to lead the person who shall study them to judge and enjoy and act for himself, inculcating freedom of thinking on all occasions, lest the deference to authorities on small matters should induce the same habit of passive compliance in affairs of capital importance.'

In 1795 Dr. Aikin published in a large quarto volume, A Description of the Country from thirty to forty Miles round Manchester. The author brought considerable local knowledge to the execution of this task, which is written with much clearness and animation, and displays throughout the doctor's characteristic good sense and freedom from vulgar prejudices.

At the end of some months spent in inquiries after a suitable opening for practice, Dr. Aikin was persuaded that such an opportunity presented itself at Yarmouth, in Norfolk, from many of the inhabitants of which place he received promises of support. The experiment of a year convinced the doctor, however, that the ground he had chosen was too far pre-occupied as a medical station to offer reasonable expectation of success, and he then removed to London, where he appeared to be rapidly making his way, when the retirement from practice of one of his former competitors at Yarmouth occasioned an invitation for his return to be forwarded to him from so large a number of the respect-graphy, which employed a large portion of his time during able inhabitants, that he felt it impossible, with prudence, to hesitate, and returned to that town after only a very few months' absence.

In 1788, Dr. Aikin wrote his popular little work, England Delineated, and also produced a new edition of Lewis's Materia Medica, with all the alterations called for by the then recent progress of medical science. Two years afterwards, upon the refusal of the legislature to repeal the Test and Corporation acts, Dr. Aikin, who was bound by the ties of birth and connexions, as well as by principle, to the dissenters, employed his pen as their champion, and published two

On the establishment of the Monthly Magazine, in the beginning of 1796, Dr. Aikin became its literary editor, the political portion being placed in other hands. This office the doctor retained for ten years with considerable credit to his literary reputation. At the close of the same year (1796) Dr. Aikin engaged in his greatest work, the General Bio

nineteen years, and was extended to ten quarto volumes. In this undertaking he had the assistance, first of Dr. Enfield, and, after his decease, of the late Dr. Thomas Morgan. The portion of matter contributed by Dr. Aikin amounted to nearly one half the contents of the volumes.

His health, which had been declining from the summer of 1796, became so seriously bad in the spring of 1798, that Dr. Aikin was then obliged to have recourse to the relaxation of a country life; and he passed four months at Dorking, in Surrey. Even under these circumstances, however, he gave evidence of the activity of his mind by

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