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tem, it must at no very distant period overtake us. It is not in declamation that he deals while treating this subject, but rather, we fear, in something that approaches very nearly to demonstration. His reasoning is certainly calculated to rouse our public men; who, it must be owned, have been thrown on most difficult times, and have an arduous part to perform. We do not see that the policy of our colonial system, and of our navigation acts, has any immediate connection with the subjects which the author brings under discussion. Many important observations on the former of these topics. occur in a very ill-digested performance, which we have lately had occasion to notice*: but the views here given of it are partial and contracted. Our navigation code is treated with great perspicuity and felicity, but the investigations are in our judgment rather out of place in the present work.

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The author's plans for rendering the nation warlike, (which Occupy most of the second volume), if they be not profound, display a respectable knowlege of human nature, and human manners and affairs; while those which he proposes for our defence are, we suspect, more ingenious and plausible than just and solid but, if the statesman will decline the schemes which are here submitted to his consideration, he will meet with various hints and suggestions which it will not be wise in him to disregard. Most of the councils here given are excellent, but many of them have the misfortune of coming too late: though we fear that, had they been interposed earlier, they would not have met with a better fate than they experi enced when proceeding from the mouths or pens of others. On the subject of Military Discipline, Mr. M. coincides much with and quotes often from Brig. Gen. Stewart's and Sir R. Wilson's late pamphlets; especially in reprobating our practice of military floggings. To fortifications he is wholly adverse.

To conclude: the present writer is a zealous and a grave, but neither a gloomy nor an illiberal monitor. His intentions are of the most pure and honourable kind; and his services intitle him, in our estimation, to the acknowlegements of all good subjects and lovers of their country.

Mr. Macdiarmid has also published a work on the Principles of Civil and Military Subordination, which will be the subject of our future notice.

*Brougham on Colonial Policy, Rev. Vol. 1. N. S. p. 1.

ART.

ART. III. Practical Observations concerning Sea Bathing: to which are added, Remarks on the Use of the Warm Bath. By A. P. Buchan, M. D. of the Royal College of Physicians, London. Crown 8vo. 5s. Boards. Cadell and Davies.

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'HE indiscriminate manner in which sea-bathing is practised, by persons of all ages and constitutions, must in many instances prove injurious. As in some states of the body it is capable of producing the most beneficial effects, it is obvious that, in the opposite conditions, it must be hurtful; and yet such is the present current of fashion, that an annual migration to the sea-coast is regarded not only as a means of preserving the health against all impending ills, but also as the method of removing every complaint to which the human frame is liable. A work there fore like that before us, the object of which is to point out those states of the body in which sea-bathing is more particularly indicated, and those in which. its use might be followed by any injurious consequences, is of unquestionable importance.

Dr. Buchan commences by some general observations on cold bathing', in which he first describes the effects produced on the body by the shock of a sudden immersion in the sea, and afterward by a longer continuance in the same medium. One of the most obvious, and at the same time the least pleasant of its effects is that which is produced on the respiration, which is rendered short and convulsive. Different opinions have been offered to account for this circumstance: but Dr. B. conceives that it depends on a degree of torpor being induced by the external cold on the cutaneous vessels, with these the vessels of the lungs sympathize, and hence it becomes necessary to use a voluntary exertion of the respiratory muscles in order to overcome the difficulty arising from an obstructed circulation through them.

Considering how much attention has been paid to the effects of temperature on the body, it is remarkable that we should be still in doubt respecting the operation of the coldbath on the circulation. Dr. Currie, in his experiments, found the number of pulsations to be diminished, while the present author has observed the action of the arteries to be accelerated, and it appears that other experimentalists have met with the same result. Probably this seeming contradiction may be attributed to the circumstance of these gentlemen having directed their attention almost exclusively to the velocity of the pulse, considering this as the sole criterion of the force of the circulation.

We have next some remarks on the glow of heat which generally succeeds immersion in the cold bath; and which is A a 3

justly

justly regarded as a proof that its operation on the system is favourable. It appears to be unattended with any absolute. increase in the heat of the body, and to depend altogether on the surface becoming more sensible to the usual temperature of the atmosphere, after it has been exposed to a comparative degree of cold.-Perhaps the most important advantage, that is to be sought from the employment of sea-bathing, is that it may enable the body to bear a more extensive range of temperature, without experiencing any of those bad effects which follow from the sudden variations in the weather that so frequently occur in this climate. The evils of our changeable atmosphere are much augmented by the habit, which is now so generally adopted, (particularly by females,) of employing a thin covering of dress, and excluding most carefully the access of cold air from their overheated apartments. Our moist and variable climate should be counteracted by cool rooms and warm clothing.

Dr. Buchan next proceeds to offer a number of judicious observations on the time and manner of bathing. He objects to the prevailing custom of plunging into the sea early in a morning, while the atmosphere is cold, and the body enfeebled by the nocturnal perspiration.

I have frequently been shocked (he says) at seeing delicate invalids. of both sexes, apparently just risen, and before the vital functions had resumed their proper energy, standing pale and shivering on the bleak beach, or waiting in a bathing room chilled by streams of cold air rushing through opposite doors and windows, and expecting, apparently with a degree of horror, their turn to go into the water. From bathing in this state of the body, no possible advantage can be derived.'

Two chapters of this work are devoted to the consideration, first of those complaints for which sea-bathing is beneficial, and afterward of those in which it is found to be injurious. In general, it is in chronic diseases that its good effects are the most obvious; and among these, in none is it found to be more serviceable than in the different forms of scrophula. Repeated experience has also decidedly marked its good effects in chorea, hypochondriasis, hysteria, and in the latter stages of chincough; while it is to be entirely avoided in inflammatory affections of the viscera, and, according to the opinion of our author, in many of the cutaneous affections.

The volume concludes with some observations on the use of the warm bath, which Dr. Buchan regards as, in many cases, a salutary application; and he attempts, as had been previously done by Darwin and Currie, to controvert the general prejudice entertained against it in consequence of its supposed relaxing effects. This idea appears to have arisen from the excess to which

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the practice was carried in the earlier periods of the Roman empire, when the temperature of the baths was raised to an excessive degree, and other customs were' adopted of the most debilitating nature. The example, however, of the Romans. during the period of their republic, and that of some of the northern nations of Europe at this day, afford abundant evidence of the safety of warm-bathing. We agree with Dr. B. in thinking that the moderate use of the tepid bath will be found serviceable in retarding the approaches of old age, in different states of chronic weakness, in several cutaneous diseases, and more especially in obviating the effects of severe fatigue.

ART. IV. An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and other Islands in the Indian, Southern, and Pacific Oceans: including the Figures and Descriptions of one hundred and fifty-three Species of the more splendid, beautiful, and interesting Insects, hitherto discovered in those Countries, and which for the most part have not appeared in the Works of any preceding author. The Figures are correctly delineated from Specimens of the Insects; and with the Descriptions are arranged according to the Linnæan System, with Reference to the Writings of Fabricius and other Entomologists. By E. Donovan, F.L.S., Author of the Natural His4to. Six Guineas. tories of the Insects of China, India, &c. Boards. Rivingtons, &c.

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I may be proper to remind the reader that Mr. Donovan, some years ago, published a volume on the entomology of China, which was succeeded by another on the insects of India and of the islands in the contiguous seas. The present is intended as the third of a series, completing a general epitome of the insects of Asia, and forming, with the two preceding, the first part of an extensive work intitled General Illustrations of Entomology.

Most of the animal and vegetable productions of Australasia have a peculiar physiognomy, which it is not easy to define, but which is readily recognized by the discriminating observer. The present ingenious and indefatigable zoologist appears to have bestowed his accustomed pains and accuracy, in the delineation of that portion of them which his design embraced. His figures are eminently distinguished by the richness and brilliancy of the colouring, by elegance of the forms, and appropriate varieties of attitude. Should the number of species described be reckoned somewhat limited, and many of the descriptions be regarded as dry and scanty, let it not be forgotten that the work is a professed epitome, and that the remote

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regions

regions named in the title-page have as yet been very imper fectly explored by the eyes of the naturalist. Some important circumstances, however, have contributed to enhance the present publication. The Banksian cabinet, it is well known, is comparatively rich in Australasian entomology; and to this cabinet the author had unreserved access. In mentioning his own collection, Mr. Donovan informs us that,

Besides a number of those species found in the vicinity of our settlement in New South Wales, he has been long possessed of a select number of scarce insects collected by Mr. Bailey, the astronomer, who sailed in one of the expeditions with Captain Cook; and since the death of the late Mr. Drury, he has further enriched his cabinet with many others discovered in New Holland, and adjacent islands, at the time they were visited by Sir Joseph Banks.

The author has also farther to acknowledge the benefit he has derived from inspecting two other cabinets of celebrity in this country, without the assistance of which the present illustration would have been far less copious and interesting, than it is at this time: these are the cabinet of Mr. Francillon, and that of A. Macleay, Esq. to both of whom he begs leave to express his warmest thanks for this testimony of their friendship.'

The species here described are, one of Melolontha, Cerapterus, Brentus, Lixus, Rhynchanus, Tettigonia, and Geometra; two of Lucanus, Cerambix, Saperda, Lamia, Fulgora, Sphinx, Musca, and Tabanus; three of Erotylus, Prionus, Clytus, Stenocorus, Tortrix, Tinea, and Thynnus; four of Curculio, and Cossus; five of Cetonia; seven of Chrysomela, Cicada, Cimex, and Noctua ten of Buprestis; twelve of Bombyx; and forty-six, of Papilio. From the non-descripts, we select the account of

CERAPTERUS MACLEAII.

Generic Character.

Antennæ compressed, pinnated, with the first joint concave, and placed transversely, and that at the extremity large, and rounded at the apex: head very small, with the eyes prominent; thorax flat, somewhat heart shaped, truncated, and narrower than the elytra: wing cases length of the abdomen, and embracing it at the sides; body oblong.

Specific Character.

Entirely brown, with the legs simple.

Cerapterus Macleaii: totus brunneus, pedibus simplicibus.

A non-descript species of this singular genus has been received by our kind friend Mr. Francillon from New Holland. This is a diminutive but most curious creature, and is especially remarkable for the structure of the antenna, which latter appear to considerable advantage under the lens of the opake microscope.

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In its general habit, this insect approaches the Pansus genus; with which the juvenile Entomologist, attentive only to the magni

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