of this excellent man. And a moft important diftinction it is! For it will be found, that in the various offices of life, we fall fhort, not fo much for want of talents, as from indolence, and want of activity.. We readily feem to yield the pre-eminence, in point of ability, to the perlon who far excels us in moral and religious attainments; little, perhaps, fufpecting, that our floth, and want of exertion, are then obliquely making their own apology. You know it was an effential article in the character of an eminent Roman, that he was vir induftrius, "an industrious man :" and I am perfuaded it will be found, that fuperior eminence is oftener the fruit of this plain virtue, than of fuperior abilities. However, fuccefsful industry fuppofes the powers and energy of mind properly pointed to the courfe of life, as well as unbiaffed, and unobftructed, by the counterworking of opposite forces. Hence the apoftolie precept, of laying afide every weight, and the fin that moft easily befets us. But, in proof of our friend's most exemplary industry, a point highly deferving particular notice, as in a great measure i mitable by all, and productive of the best effects, let it be confidered, that after a vigorous application in early youth, to fit himself for that reputable course of life he had chofen, and after having made honourable progrefs in it, acquitted himself of all its duties with a moft confcientious zeal, at the fame time by diligent ftudy, and a fingular patience of labour, which is a capital point, having laid up up not only an uncommon ftock of ufeful knowledge and learning, but, which is a more immediate neceflary of theological Life, of fermons alfo, one may say, more than fufficient to have equipped most modern divines for life; yet, all this notwithstanding, on being chofen to fucceed the late Mr Abernethy, in the Proteftant diffenting congregation of Wood-ftreet, Dublin, though now past the meridian of life, of a valetudinary habit of body, and in circumstances which, from change of place, might have tempted the love of eafe to abate the ardour of application,he, on the contrary, began, as it were, his career anew; not availing himself of the rich treasure before laid up, in the way of writing, but forgetting, as St Paul fpeaks, the things that were behind, he alfo preffed forward for the prize that awaits a patient continuance in well-doing; infomuch that, amidst daily avocations, du ring a courfe of twenty years which he furvived from his first fettlement in Dublin, he compofed and wrote fermons to an amount almost beyond belief, perhaps fcarcely to be parallelled; more, it appears on the best computation, than fever hundred. So ftriking an instance, so late in life, of renewed, one may fay, of obftinate labour, is furely worth recording. It will doubtlefs be matter of wonder to many, and to fome, it is to be hoped, of generous emulation. His manner alfo of compofing fermons deferves notice, perhaps the imitation of all not incapable of it, who would wish to strengthen memory by vigorous exercife, and to acquire a contemplative habit. By continued practice, the Doctor had arrived at a facility of digefting, and laying up in his mind, the whole of a difcourfe; infomuch that he not unfrequently transferred it upon paper, unless broke in upon, at one sitting, without hefitation, and with more than the rapidity of almost any mere tranfcriber. His thoughtful turn of mind, and his parfimony of time, probably led him into this track: certain it is, he much, but modeftly, recommended the practice from his own experience. Whether one is mafter of his time, or even other fe, ftill a much greater portion of it cily runs to waste than can well be apprehended, without entering into a detail of particulars. These precious moments are generally dilipated without regret, in the fuppofed neceffary gratifications or amusements of life; not to reckon the greater facrifices of time made to indolence, or to impertinent activity; for which, perhaps, we charge ourfelves as criminal. The accustomed daily round which fills up life, at the time eafily justifies itself; and it is only on bringing longer periods to a fair account, that we become properly fenfible of the mighty blank spaces, and of the irreparable lofs incurred. Here, as in many other things, our friend's conduct was most worthy of imitation. It was his frugality of time, his redeeming every pafling moment almost, which enabled him to croud fo much work into fo fhort a period. Perhaps no maa had lefs reafon, in any fenfe, to fay with the Roman Emperor, "My friends, I have loft a day !" I just mentioned above, the Doctor's frequent avocations in the way of his profeflion. In truth, where-ever the distressed, the disconsolate, the neceffitous, the fick, demanded his prefence, there was he. In fuch offices of mercy and humanity, he furely laboured more abundantly than you all. Befide the occafions of miniftering relief, which his compaffionate heart fought out, multitudes of all forts, as well as thofe under his immediate care, applied to him; for, without partial regards himfelf, he was loved by all; and fuffering of any fort, which he could any way alleviate, was to him an irreGftible call. Was any hungry, or thirty, or a stranger, or naked, or fick, or in prison, and he did not minifter relief, when in his power? All this was in him the more meritorious, as it broke in upon his natural love of retirement, of reading, of writing, which he not only gave up to the focial active du ties of life, but, indeed, his ease, his health. He was much in the wretched habitations of poverty and disease. At all times, regardless of the inclemency of the season, and the obstruction of crouded streets, he went about doing good. No man ever reduced to practice more thoroughly the philofopher's just decifion, that where the calls of public or private virtue clash with learned ease and retirement, the latter fhould be inftantly abandoned: but how difficult this piece of felf-denial, common practice abundantly fhew!" Such unwearied diligence in his vocation may well account, we are told, for fo much work done in it; and should also be a powerful incentive to others, to ftir up every gift that is in them; the rather, as it does not appear that the Doctor's pre-eminence lay in the poffeflion of na tural powers much beyond the common rate of men, fo much as in the culture and application of them; and in the vigour they derived from the allistance of a good heart. Now, as these advantages are attainable by all who are not want ing to themselves, by all who feel that beft ambition, of being good stewards of the manifold grace of God, this excellent man's character and conduct may, with great propriety, be fet forth as a pattern of imitation to others; the only valuable end, indeed, of fuch exhibitions. The Doctor's early education, we are told, was under the direction of an uncle, a venerable and learned man, as the times then were: his preparatory studies were greatly aflifted by the wife counfels of a man now generally known, and justly admired, the late Rev. Mr Abernethy; He afterwards finished his courfe of ftudy at the univerfity of Glafgow; which, in teftimony of regard to his merit, confer. red on him the degree of Doctor in Di. vinity. He refided at Cambridge during the face of ten or eleven years, not as a deciple, but as the pastor of a small congregation; and during that time laid in an uncommon fund of useful knowledge. ing, was correct and elegant: his killin His tafte in what is called polite learnthe languages of Greece and Rome, gave him ealy accefs to their fineft writers, whom he converted with to the last, when the duties of his profellin permitted; and entered, with the fpiri of true cri ticifin, into their numbe lef beauties. "As to the following difcourtes," fays the letter-writer," they are almost taken at a venture, from the mighty mass a bove mentioned; becaufe fuch a vein of ftrong manly fenfe, and of rational piety, cult to find any principle of felection. runs through the whole, as made it dit They are all the first flow of thought; fometimes, as before obferved, cominit. any view to the prefs, or public at large. ted to paper at one fitting, and without None of them appear to have been writ ten anew, or at all revised by the author, and therefore may be fuppoled very much alike, unless where a more interefting fubject, or a more happy hour of compofing, may have made a difference. Without doubt they had appeared to greater advantage in his own finithing: but his fervent zeal to do good; to keep awake by variety the attention of his audience; and his modetty, which confined his views to that purpose, prevented his own selec tion and revifal of any, except one vo lume on the prefumptive arguments in favour of the Christian religion, which were rather given up to the importunity of his friends, than by himself destined for publication. It will not then be thought strange, if our author's discour fes hould not bear a critical examen with regard to the minutiæ of compoítion; more important matters engaged his attention; nor was fame, as a writer, by any means his aim." [To be continued.] A differtation on the inutility of the am putation of limbs. Written in Latin by Mr Belguer, furgeon-general to the ar mies of the King of Pruffia. Augmented with the notes of Mr Tijot, phyfician Laufanne. Now firft tranflated into Eng M. the cafes in which amputation is ne lib, by a furgeon. 2 s. fewed. Beidwu. Belguer's firft pofition is, "That ceflary, ceffary, are much less frequent than has hitherto been fuppofed." This pofition, he says, is founded on his own obfervations in the military hofpitals, during the late bloody war; where he remarked, that in a great number of cafes in which amputation was judged neceffary by the physicians of the army, it did not answer the end: he had alfo under his immediate care a great number of patients, whofe limbs had been shot of, and the stumps left hattered in fuch a manner, that a fresh amputation was univerfally thought neceffary, and whom he cured without that dreadful expedient: and be cured, without amputation, many patients whofe limbs were not entirely feparated, but fo much detached, contufed, and hattered, that the ableft furgeons thought it indifpenfably necessary to take them wholly off. M. Belguer re luces the cafes in which amputation has been univerfally thought neceflary, to fix. 1. A mortification, which spreads till it reaches the bone. 2. A limb fo hurt that a mortification is highly probable. 3. A violent contufion of the flesh, which at the fame time has shattered the bones. 4. Wounds of the larger blood-veffels of the limb, when recourfe is had to am putation, as the only means of stopping the hemorrhage, or through an apprehenGon that the limbs fhould perith for want of nourishment. 5. An incurable caries of the bones. 6. A cancer, or tumour in danger of becoming fuch. He lays down his method of cure in each of these cafes feparately. 1. In a mortification he begins by ma king incifions on the part affected, to pro cure a difcharge of the corrupted matter, and aflift the action of the medicines, He makes these incifions of a confiderable length, not only on the mortified parts, but thofe adjacent; and as near to each other as the large trunks of the bloodveffels and branches of nerves will allow, not more than an inch diftant from each other, and always to the quick. If the bone be affected, he cuts through the periofteum, and lays it bare. Thefe incifions are in the direction of the fibres of the muscle on which they are cut. But he obferves, that when the gastrocnemii, the glutei, or deltoid muscles, have been wounded by a ball, they must be cut VOL. XXVI. : tranfverfely, otherwife convukions, particularly the fpafmus cynicus, will enfue. Several of the aponeurofes, especially that of the biceps, ought likewife to be cut tranfverfely the tendons alfo must be cut in the fame direction. If the wound or ailment happens to be near the articulations, he allo cuts through the ligaments. These incifions must be longeft where the fore has fpread the wideft, and deeper in the middle than at the extremities. The number may be from three to eight, as the cafe may require. After thefe incifions, the mortified parts must be feparated from the found by a bitory, as one mufcle is divided from another in diffections: but parts not totally corrupted may be spared; for, after the removal of what is totally dead, they will recover. Great care must be taken in removing the gangrened parts that lie near large veffels, that fuch veffels are not wounded; and it is better to leave a finall part of the mortified flesh that adheres to them, behind, and trust to its feparation by the dreffings, than to risk breaking them; and, in general, the incifions fhould be made with as little effufion of blood as poffible. If the neighbouring parts are tainted, the corrupted humour must be squeezed out by gentle compreffion, and wiped off with a foft linen rag: afterwards, proper external applica tions must be used. The bone, whether the periosteum be found or destroyed, must be dressed with the following medicine: "Frankincenfe, maftich, farcocolla, and myrrh, finely pounded; true balfam of Peru, and genuine effential oil of cloves, of each equal parts; of balfam of fioraventi as much as may, in mixing all the ingredients over a very gentle fire, form a thin liniment." 66 an ounce This must be used warm, and poured plentifully into the wounds, fo that the bone may be well moistened with it. Some dry lint must then be laid on, and the fleshy parts dreffed by fprinkling upon this lint a powder compofed of of myrrh finely pounded, half an ounce of fal ammoniac, camphor and nitre, each a drachm." After the firft laver of lint is thus covered, fresh lint must be applied, and fprinkled with the powder, till the wound is quite filled up with alternate layers of the lint and powder. If the bone is not affected, or the reriofteum laid bare, the liniment may he oned, and the lint and powder only u 4 C 554 fed. Bélguer on the inutility of amputations. Slight fcarifications fhould alfo be made upon the neighbouring parts, fprink ling them with the powder; and all the fores fhould be afterwards embrocated with oil of turpentine, and the whole bandaged up with plain linen cloth, which must be kept moistened night and day with warm fomentations. Heifter has collected a fufficient number of these fomentations, from which a forgeon will easily felect the most proper for the cafe of his patient. That confifting of a pint of lime-water, three ounces of camphorated fpirit of wine, and an ounce or half an ounce of fal ammoniac, is ufeful in mortifications which proceed from high inflammations; fo is that made with foap, falt of tartar, and oil of turpentine, diffolved in lime-water. When the mortification proceeds from a mere defect of the vital motions, as in dropfical and aged perfons, the following fomentations are more proper. "1. Take of water-germander, worm wood, fouthernwood, rue, of each two handfuls; chamomile-flowers, one hand ful: boil them together; and to two pints of the ftrained liquor add four cunces of treacle-fpirit, two ounces of Venice foap, and half an ounce or even an ounce of fal gem. 2. Take of water-germander, wormwood, feverfew, of each two handfuls; of mint and fouthernwood, of each a handful boil them together in oxycrate, fo as to have four pints of the ftrained liquor; to which may be added half an ounce of fal gem, and afterwards from two to four ounces of treacle-fpirit. 3. Take of martial ball two ounces, fal ammoniaç one ounce; diffolve them in about eight pints of fpring water, and add two pints of rectified fpirit of wine. 4. Take of crude alum, and white vitriol, each two ounces and two drams; lytharge of filver and myrrh, each an ounce; Aleppo galls, two ounces; juni per and bay berries, each an ounce; fa • The martial ball is thus made: Take of filings of iron one part; white tartar two parts: let them be reduced to a fine powder, and put into a matrafs with as much French brandy as will fwim about an inch above the powder; exhale to drynefs, either in the heat of the fun, or in that of a waterbath. Pour fresh brandy upon the remainder, and evaporate them in this manner feveral times fucceflively, till the mafs appears refincus; then form it into balls nearly of the bignefs of an egg. Vol. xxvi. vin and rue, each two handfuls; oak. The following embrocations applied to 1. Spirit of wine, three ounces; myrrh and aloes powdered, of each half an ounce; Egyptian ointment, three drams t 2. Vinous decoction of scordium, twelve ounces; vinegar of rue, and of roses, of each four ounces; fpirit of treacle, three ounces; and one ounce of fal ammoniac. 3. Lime water, four pint; treaclefpirit, or that of feverfew, two pints; white-wine vinegar, one pint; elixir proprietatis. fix ounces; Egyptian oint.. ment, two ounces. 4. Decoction of elder flowers. fix ounces; wine, eight ounces; vinegar, camphorated fpirit of wine, treacle-spirit, or that of feverfew, each two ounces; fpirits of falt, two drams." Laftly, in order to foften the parts, feparate the floughs, and promote fuppuration, the following application may be ufed. “Water-germander, two handfuls; mallows and marshmallows, each a handful; flower of lintfeed, three ounces; Venice foap and fal ammoniac, of each two ounces; lintfeed-oil, an ounce. Let thefe ingredients be boiled together, in vinegar and water, to the confiftence of a poultice." It may be in general observed with regard to fomentations, that such as are emollient are ferviceable when hard dry crufts prevent a discharge; those which abound with acid, when there is a confiderable degree of putrefaction; and, lastly. thofe which are fpirituous, faline, or ftrengthening. fwellings are flabby, and the body abounds are most proper when with aqueous humours. The diligent ufe of these fomentations, will in twelve hours alter the condition of gangrened wound for the better; then In using the external vulnerary medi cines, in which aloes is an ingredient, it must be remembered, that they often prave purgative, the he lint and powder may be removed, all he detached pieces of mortified fleth extracted, and the dreffings renewed every twelve hours: at the third or fourth dreffings, the wounds will discharge matter of a favourable aspect, and then it will be neceffary to give the bark interbally. The bark may be given by itself in powder, or made into an electuary with any of the cordial fyrups; if it purges in fubftance, it must be given in the effufion or extract. But if the fever be strong, the heat confiderable, and the patient thirfty, the bark will be of no fervice; but recourse must be had to temperante. If the bark is given. it may be in doses of half a drachm or two scruples, every hour at first, afterwards every two hours, and at length, once in every three or four hours: a few drops of spirit of fea-falt, or dulcified fpirit of vitriol, or a few grains of alum or catechu, may be added to every dose; and if the patient be very weak, a small glafs of fome acid wine. His drink fhould be water and vinegar, weak veal and chicken broth, and I gruels of barley or oat-meal, acidulated with vinegar, or lemon-juice. In this stage, the dreflings already defcribed, being fuppofed to have procured a discharge of matter, the vulnerary powder and oil of turpentine must be laid afide; but the fuppuration muft ftill be promoted, fometimes to the eighth day, by dreffing with the following digeftive ointments. "Boil half a pint of oil-olive and an ounce of red faunders together, till the oil acquires a deep red colour; when it is ftrained, add a pound of yellow wax, and a pound and an half of turpentine; when the whole is mixed, and melted together over a gentle fire, a little ballam of Peru may be added, and it may be quickened with a little eflence of myrrh. Suppuration must also be allifted, by keeping the parts conftantly covered with emollient fomentations; and by avoiding to cleanse the wound too much, either by compreflion or wiping, and removing the corrupted parts without effufion of blood. Regard muft alfo be had to the bones: after the most careful examination, in which dilatation is fometimes necellary, all the pliuters and carious parts, that can be removed without vioience, must be extracted, and they must then be covered with the balfam for the benes, of frankincenfe, maftich, &c. as directed before. All these dreffings fhould be finished as expeditiously as poffible, to avoid cold; the room thould be warm; and, if neceffary, a few burning coals held near the part which is dreffed, After thefe directions, M. Belguer ar gues thus with respect to mortifications. They are the effect either of fome internal morbid cause, or external injury. If of an internal caufe, amputation can do no good while fuch caufe remains; and if that can be removed, a cure may be effected without amputation. If of an external accident, and they continue to spread, there must be a fever, and general inflammation; and for that reafon amputation can only accelerate the patient's death *. While the mortification therefore is gaining ground, the method above proposed should be pursued. When the progress is stopped, we fhould conûder whether the limb can be faved: and nothing but the total rottennefs of the bone is a proof that it cannot; for the periosteum may be cut and torn, without giving pain, in a found state, as Hal. ler has deinonitrated. It the bone is totally rotten, amputation thould be performed, not by cutting through the quick, but by lopping off the gangrened ufelefs mafs very near it. After providing against an hæmorrhage of the larger veffels by a proper ligature, topping the progrefs of the gangrene must be then attempted by internal medicines, and fuitable dreflings; the patient's strength fhould be fupported by a proper regimen ; and if it increafes, a feparation of the foft parts that are mortified, will certainly enfue; after which it will be eafy to faw off the little tump of the dead bone that was left; and the wound may be cicatrized by epulotic applications, and fuch as have been just recommended for bones when laid bare. 2. With respect to limbs violently contufed, which fome have made a practice of cutting off before they tried any other remedy, M. Belguer declares expressly against amputation, even if the bones, as well as fleth, are bruifed and crushed by the fall of a large beam, a mals of ftone, or by a cart-wheel, a fcrew, or a prefs. In thefe cafes, he fays, the patient has a better chance, even for life, • Our own countryman Mr Sharp, who has been long an honour to his profeffion, has irrefragably proved the impropriety of operating on the found part while the mortification is gaining ground. 4 C 2 fetting |