dexterity which is requisite in the private to be accounted much less than in reality it ought. The private must, in truth, know every part of military duty which the officer does, and must not only know it but be able to carry it into execution, otherwise the knowledge of the officer is in vain. Unless the private is as perfectly skilled in any evolution as the officer who commands it to be done, and is besides able to carry this skill into practice, the evolution cannot be skilfully performed whatever may be the abilities of the officer. The same holds good of every duty which the private may be called upon to execute. The private has also occasion for coolness, intrepi dity, presence of mind, and sagacity to enable him to execute the commands of his officer with precision and effect. It is in vain that the officer is intelligent, active, and brave, if the private be stupid, tardy, and cowardly.

But there are other circumstances which render it peculiarly expedient that the privates should be assimilated as much as possible in professional skill and dexterity to the officers. The business of warfare is, in many respects, widely different from any other business. In any private business, such for instance as particular manufactories, where a number of men must co-operate, and where consequently some must be appointed to direct, the co-operation is seldom in dan ger of being disorganised by the death of any of the directors. A director is seldom carried off so suddenly as that there is not sufficient time to fill up his place before the business receives any material detriment. In such cases it is not necessary that those who are directed should be acquainted with the business of direction. But in warfare, circumstances are extremely different. In the field of battle, when the exertions of the officer are peculiarly necessary, he is every moment in danger of being killed; and if, on such an event, the privates are incapable of directing themselves, all who were under the command of the slain officer must be thrown into utter confusion, and scattered before the enemy as sheep without a shepherd are before the wolf. The childish helplessness, to which privates are habituated by the usual course of military discipline, is the great cause of those terrible headlong routs, in which so many more men perish than while the action is most warmly maintained.'

Mr. Macdiarmid next exposes, in very forcible terms, the old methods of recruiting. Some of the absurd and mischievous practices here censured have been corrected, while others still continue to disgrace our internal policy. With regard to. Military Instruction, it is here very justly and truly stated that

Unfortunately the laws and usages of Great Britain are not less defective in regard to the instruction than the election of our land forces. The officers, on whose instruction the efficacy of military subordination requires particular care to be bestowed, are left to pick up a little professional knowledge in the best way they can. The adjutant is, indeed, commissioned to teach them how to carry their swords, when to step out, how to station and deport themselves in the wheelings, with some other things of the same sort which are necessary to prevent them from exciting the risibility of the bye

standers,

standers. Yet so negligently is their instruction in even these trifles managed, that after twelvemonths spent in the army, an officer is often no great proficient in them. As to the mechanism and use of the various manoeuvres, with the other mechanical parts of military discipline, it is accounted praise-worthy if an officer has acquired a considerable proficiency in them after several years spent in the army.

With regard to the higher parts of military duty, those on which the warlike success of nations more particularly depends, there is absolutely not even an attempt at instruction. Are there any steps taken to render our officers conversant with the means of practising or counteracting the stratagems of war, or even with the topography of the countries in which they may be employed; Yet if the officers are ignorant of these circumstances, how is it possible that an army can act with proper effect against the enemy?

From this unaccountable negligence in the professional instruction of British officers, it is not until after a long course of personal observation, usually termed experience, that an officer at length acquires a considerable share of that professional skill and dexterity, which he ought to have possessed when he received bis commission. So very scanty, and at the same time so very incorrect, is the information which he picks up in this manner, that unless he has been in several battles, he is not supposed to have any idea of the business of actual warfare; and even general officers, who have made an excellent figure in the business of the parade, are proverbially inefficient when sent to encounter the enemy. Nothing can be a more cut. ting satire on the course of military instruction, than that an officer should still be ignorant of the most essential duties of bis station, after having been actually placed in it for the better part of a life time. This may excite the ridicule of our enemies; but it ought to excite in us the sincerest affliction, and the most gloomy apprehension, since the State must always calculate upon losing many battles, until these great children are beat into some knowledge of their duty.

Were our enemies equally careless of the instruction of their officers, this might afford us at least some negative consolation. But, although in general far behind us in civil policy, yet in military affairs, to which they have eagerly applied their attention, they have for the most part greatly surpassed us in improvements. The instruc tion of their officers is an object on which the French bestow the most unremitting attention. Besides assiduously attending to the business of the public parade, the officers have a private drill of their own, in which they not only perfect themselves in the mechanical part of their duties, but also discuss the various stratagems and chances of war. To render them masters of the topography of the countries in which they may be employed, a circumstance so essentially neces sary to success, no pains are spared. Topographical maps, with local surveys and descriptions of all the French frontiers and the adjacent countries, are provided; and the Depôt de la Guerre at Paris Furnishes a ready supply of every species of military information. By such arts do our enemies overthrow antient empires, while the bravest nation in the universe is made to tremble on its own shores from the miserable inefficiency of its army.'

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On this interesting topic, Mr. M. adds his opinion that little or no improvement can be expected from the plans pursued in our recent Military Schools.

Chusing to be rigidly systematic, and treating of his subject on general grounds, the author uses the term election where only that of appointment is applicable, according to our institutions.

In prosecuting these inquiries, the penetration, the patient investigation, and the powers of analysis, which Mr. Macdiarmid displays, appear to considerable advantage; and we are of opinion that his labours deserve the notice of those who are in situations of authority and influence, since they may derive from them useful hints and practical suggestions.-If he appears to be a stranger to some celebrated systems, respecting the branch of knowlege by the application of which he proposes to reform our institutions, he seems to be by no means ignorant of the conclusions which these theories meant to establish, nor of the facts on which they have been founded; and if he has not shewn himself an adept in metaphysics, his pages throughout are characterized by a liberal spirit, by manly sentiments, and by an ardent and enlightened patriotism.

ART. XIV. The Anatomy of the Human Ear, illustrated by a Series of Engravings of the natural Size; with a Treatise on the Diseases of that Organ, the Causes of Deafness, and their proper Treatment. By J. C. Saunders, Surgeon of the London Dispensatory for Diseases of the Eye and the Ear. Folio. l. 58. Boards. R. Phillips. 1806.

T

HE organ of hearing has not obtained, either from the anatomist or the pathologist, that attention which the intricacy of its structure and the importance of its functions deserve. Although the several parts of which it is composed have been occasionally described with considerable minuteness, yet the descriptions are generally obscure, or the works which contain them are difficult of access; so that the young practitioner, who wishes for information on the subject, finds his progress impeded by almost insurmountable difficulties. These obstacles the volume before us must, in a material degree, tend

to remove.

Mr. Saunders's work is arranged in four chapters; in the first three of which, the anatomy of the ear is described, and in the last we have some remarks on its diseases. He divides the complicated mechanism of which the ear consists, into three parts; the external, by which the air is received and conveyed to the seat of sensation; the internal, which forms

Jo.

the immediate seat of sensation; and the middle, which connects the two former together, and carries the impulse of the air from the one to the other.-Of the first three chapters, which consist merely of anatomical description, we shall not attempt any analysis. The account of the several parts appears to be correct, and as perspicuous as so intricate a subject can be made; while the accompanying figures are numerous, and well executed. As we do not meet with any thing which can be said to be new, either as to the anatomy or the physiology of the ear, the merit of this part consists in its correctness; on which point it is intitled to much commendation.

Chapter IV. on the diseases of the ear, occupies nearly twothirds of the whole volume, and will by many persons be deemed the most interesting part. Our great ignorance on the subject is generally admitted and lamented; and the obstacles to the acquisition of information respecting it are, as the author remarks, almost insuperable. Nature has placed the greater part of the Ear in a situation absolutely beyond the reach of examination in the living body, and as its diseases are rarely if ever mortal, morbid Ears are seldom dissected in the dead. Such observations as are related have mostly been made on subjects that have casually fallen into the hands of the dissector, and the history of the cases is unknown.' These impediments seem to have prevented us from attempting to acquire that little knowlege which is within our reach the diseases of the ear have been almost entirely overlooked by the regular practitioners; and its morbid anatomy has seldom been an object of attention with the anatomist. In this state of uncertainty, we feel the more grateful to Mr. Saunders; who has not only directed our attention to this object, but has been able to make some important advances in it.

Mr. S. commences with the diseases of the meatus externus; and he particularly describes an herpetic eruption of these parts, by which the integuments are thickened, and a fœtid ichorous discharge is produced. The disease is cured by alterative mer curial medicines taken internally, together with the external application of mercurial lotions and ointments. After having noticed some less frequent and less important complaints of the meatus externus, the author proceeds to the diseases of the tympanum. The most serious complaint of this part is acute inflammation, to which may be referred that painful sensation called the ear ache. When this advances to the state of suppuration, it resembles in some respects the herpetic affection just mentioned: but, as the cure must proceed on very different principles, it is of considerable importance to establish the diagnosis between them. This may frequently be done by observing whether the patient

patient has the power of expelling air through the membrana tympani; if this membrane be imperfect, it is nearly a certain proof that the disease is seated in the neighbouring parts: but this is not absolutely an unerring criterion: the disease may exist in the tympanum, and yet the membrane may not be ruptured; while, on the other hand, the membrane may be ruptured, but, owing to the inflammation having extenced to the Eustachian tube and closed it up, the patient will not be able to force out the air. When the nature of the disease is ascertained, the cure of it, in the early stages, is to be attempted by the employment of the most powerful antiphlogistic plan, while all stimulants are to be carefully avoided. Unfortunately, however, the opposite system is too frequently practised, and the most acrid substances are employed. After some time, they indeed appear to produce relief:-not by causing a resolution of the inflammation, but by bringing on the suppurative process; a highly dangerous state, which frequently ends in the loss of some part that is essential to the functions of the organ. When this puriform discharge from the tympanum has taken place, it has been a question among practitioners, whether it be more advisable to leave the disease to the operations of nature, or to endeavour to check it by the interference of art. Mr. Saunders argues strenuously in favour of the latter opinion, and, we think, with much propriety. The evils that are supposed to arise from stopping the effusion are merely hypothetical; whereas the most serious injury to the structure of the parts is occasionally induced by permitting the discharge to continue without interruption.

The diseases of the internal part of the ear are much more obscure in their cause than those of the exterior, and lie so far beyond the reach of assistance that, even were their nature accurately ascertained, it is probable that they would in general be irremediable. As the author remarks, they may consistin a want of sensibility in the nerve, some alteration in the structure of the membranes on which the nerve is expanded, or change in the properties of that fluid which is contained in the membranes, and is the immediate agent in impressing the sentient extremities of the nerve.' The diseases of this part of the ear have been classed together under the title of nervous; a term which has been used in a vague sense, to denote all those cases in which no visible defect could be perceived. It may be applied in a more appropriate manner to signify those diseases, the seat of which is in the nerve, or the parts containing the nerve. The symptoms of this species of deafness are very variable: but in general they consist in the perception of different kinds of noises in the lead. This state of hearing

has