The two Memoirs of M. MAUDUIT, relative to the efficacy of electricity in the cure of the palfy, and other diseases, deferve the attention of physicians and philofophers in a particular manner. This acute and laborious obferver of nature, animated by the countenance of government, and of the Royal Society of Medicine, has illuftrated this important fubject, by the moft ample series of obfervations and experiments that have yet been made. These two Memoirs, which will be followed by feveral more, fhew already to what the researches of the learned academician will amount; they may even prove, that, in certain cafes, electricity is an effectual method of curing the palfy, and other diforders of a like nature, and that, in other cafes, it proves ufelefs, and even prejudicial. What he has already published is fufficient to determine the kinds of thefe diforders, and the particular circumftances and cafes in which it is expedient to have recourse to electricity, and where its application would be pernicious ;-to fhew the effects it produces, in general, on the animal economy, the inconveniencies that may refult from it, and the means of preventing or removing them; in a word, to point out the method of adminiftering this new remedy upon right principles.

M. DE LASSONNE has, in a very judicious Memoir, proposed a method of improving and rendering entirely uniform, the tartar emetic, or flibiated tartar. This difcovery is a matter of no fmall confequence, as there have been hitherto great variations in the method of preparing this important remedy, and a great diversity in the degree of its ftrength and efficacy. The moft eminent medical chymifts are agreed, that these variations, and this diverfity of ftrength and efficacy, may be entirely removed, and the remedy, under confideration, brought to the highest degree of perfection, by fubftituting in the place of glass of antimony, which is the ordinary bafis of ftibiated tartar, another emetic preparation of antimony, which must be invariable, when well made, and which is called powder of algaroth. This is alfo the opinion of M. DE LASSONNE. this eminent phyfician has difcovered a ftill farther improvement of this remedy, viz. the means of preventing this falt from falling, in form of precipitate, on the fides of the veffel, when the tibiated tartar is diffolved in water.-This he prevents by incorporating with the tartar a quantity of fal ammoniac, equal to it in weight. The development and theory of this remarkable effect must be interefting to the lovers of chymical pharmacy, and with this theory M. LASSONNE promifes to gratify their curiofity, on another occafion.

But

ART.

ART. III.

Voyage Pittorefque de la Grece. Chap. V.-Travels through the different Parts of Greece, reprefented in a Series of Engravings. Large Folio. No. V. Paris. 1780.

PLA

LATES XLIII. and XLIV. of this elegant work contain, 1. A plan, or map, of part of the island of Metelin; 2. A beautiful view of the city of that name and its northern harbour, of which the drawing was made by Count DE CHOLSEUL-GOUTTIER himself. His account of the island, which is the ancient Lesbos, could neither be particular nor inftructive, as he was there but two days. He tells us, however, that the city of Mytilene, on whofe ruins Metelin was built, is yet to be known by the defcriptions of Strabo, Longus, and other ancient writers +. The multiplicity and magnificence of its ruins agree perfectly with their accounts. The name of Lefbos recals to our Author the celebrated names of Sappho, Arion, and Terpander; and the harbour of Metelin renews the remembrance of one of the moft fignal events of the Peloponnefian war. Our Author is never at a loss to entertain his Reader, one way or another; and ancient history is laid under contribution, where modern obfervation has been either wanting, through precipitation and hurry, or unsuccessful through defect of materials.

Euftathius is the only writer who makes mention of the ancient city of Lefbos. The ifle of Metelin would ftill, fays our Author, be a noble poffeffion, if fo many centuries of calamities had not almoft ruined its population. These calamities, produced at first by the anarchy of the Grecian empire, and prolonged afterwards by the tyranny and oppreffion of the Turks and Venetians, have spread desolation in a scene, which a mild climate, and the faireft marks of Nature's bounty, feemed to point out for the well-being of its inhabitants.

Plate XLV. exhibits a view of the harbour of Scio, or Chio, which is frequented by all the fhips that go from Egypt to Conftantinople. This is the hand fomeft city of the Levant: Its houses, built by Genoefe and Venetians, difplay marks of elegance, convenience, and amenity, which are rarely found in the Archipelago. "The island is interfected by feveral chains of "barren mountains; but the vallies, watered by a multitude. "of ftreams, are full of pomegranates, of orange-trees, and "citrons, and exhibit, on all fides, the moft delightful pro"fpects. The vineyards of Scio have always been famous: they

See our account of No. IV. in the Appendix to vol. LXI. p. 1. The preceding Numbers were mentioned in former Reviews. + See Vitruv, 1. 1. c. 6.-Cicero de Lege Agraria.

"still conftitute the principal riches of the island; and the "delicious wines, which Virgil calls the Arvifian nectar, main"tain, at this day, their ancient reputation." The manu factures of gold and filver brocades in this island are ftill numerous, though lefs fo than they were fome years ago: the culture of the Lentifcus, which produces the Maftic, forms a confiderable and very profitable branch of the commerce of Scio. The Turkish and Grecian ladies make great ufe of this detergent, ftomachic refia, which they chew in order to give to their breath an aromatic perfume, though it has a very noxious effect on the beauty of their teeth. Our Author gives (after Mr. Galard) a particular account of the manner of preparing the Mastic, defcribes the four different trees that produce it, and the medicinal and other ufes to which it is fuccefsfully applied.

We have in plate XLVI. a view of the fountain of Scio; and in the XLVIIth, a view of the rock, which is called The School of Homer. Dr. Richard Pococke gave a drawing of this rock merely from his own imagination, which has been cenfured in Dr. Chandler's Travels. This latter ingenious Author looks upon the pretended School of Homer as nothing more than the remains of an ancient temple of Cybele, and Count de Choifeul is of the fame opinion. Plates XLVIII. and XLIX. reprefent the women of Scio in their ufual drefs, and alfo one of the gardens of that ifland; and here we begin to perceive, that our Noble Author is fometimes more liberal of his engravings and defcriptions than the fubjects deferve. For the reft,-the women of Scio, whom Nature has rendered beautiful and pleafing, disfigure their natural charms and graces by the awkwardness and abfurdity of their drefs. Their liberty is great, their affability ftill greater, and, nevertheless, their virtue does not fuffer by either:-for no where, fays the Count DE CHOISEUL, are the women fo free and fo wife.

Plates L. and LI. reprefent a plan and a perspective view of the harbour of Tchefme, known, in ancient times, by the name of Cyffus. It was in this harbour that the Romans defeated the fleet of Antiochus in the year 191 before Chrift, and that the Ruffians deftroyed the naval force of the Turks in 1770, and might have made, or rather granted peace under the walls of the Seraglio, had they known the wretched ftate of the Dardanelles at that time, and availed themfelves of the variety of circumftances which united to favour their enterprife.

At the end of this Number, in a noble tail-piece, we have beautiful engravings of three medals, ftruck in the ifle of Lef bos. The first reprefents, on one fide, an helmet inclofed in a fquare with the name of the Lesbians. The fame name appears on the reverfe, together with a woman carried off by a Centaur. This fquare and the form of the letters prove this

medal

medal to be of the higheft antiquity.-The fecond medal is of the city of Mitylene, and exhibits the head and the lyre of Apollo. -The third is of the city of Methymna, which contains, on one fide, a head armed with a helmet, and, on the other, an unknown animal.The medals of Chio here engraven are common; one represents a vase, another, two Genii making libations, and a third (which is of gold, and much more rare than the others), a fabulous animal.

AR T. IV.

Memoires concernant l'Hiftoire, les Sciences, les Arts, les Maurs, les Ufages, &c.-Memoirs concerning the Hiftory, Sciences, Arts, Manners, Customs, &c. of the Chinese. By the Miffionaries of Pekin. Vols. V. & VI. * 4to. Paris.

T

1780.

HE firft Memoir of the fifth volume exhibits a general idea of China, and its first intercourfe with Europe. It was not compofed at Pekin, but at Paris, by an anonymous writer; and its defign is to give the more uninstructed clafs of Readers fuch preliminary notions of different epochas of the Chinese empire, of its revolutions, religion, laws and manners, as may enable them to perufe thefe Memoirs of the Miffionaries with intelligence and profit. The fecond Memoir, which is compofed by the Ex-Jefuit Amiot, one of the moft learned and celebrated of the Miffionaries, is a continuation of the lives or portraits of the more eminent Chinese emperors, empreffes, warriors, minifters, and men of letters, which was begun in the third volume of this work. We have 24 of thefe portraits in the volume before us, though the editors, in their preface, mention only ten. The lines of thefe portraits are fometimes interefting, fometimes whimsical, generally fpeaking infipid, feldom ftriking or fublime. They are not unpleasant reading: but there are in these two volumes other objects that have a fuperior title to our attention.-These biographical portraits fill about 400 pages, which is a space rather too great for their importance.

The remainder of this volume confifts of fome obfervations on the wines, fpirituous liquors, and vinegar of China; on the dried raisins of Ha-mi, and the territory of that little tributary kingdom; on certain remedies; on the manner of dying ftuffs in China; on the Apricot tree, and on the Mug-wort.--The wine of China is a kind of beer, made of wheat, rice, or rys, into which, when it is boiling, they throw either choice herbs, or fpices, or honey, or fugar, or fruits of different kinds, fresh

* For our former accounts of this Work, fee App. to Reviews, Vols. LV. and LIX.

or dried, from whence the wine derives different names according to the mixture, and is called quince-wine, cinnamon-wine, raifin-wine, and fo forth. The form of the veffels employed by the Chinese to boil and bake, with the vapour of hot water, and the manner of diftilling an aqua vitæ, or gin, from the larger millet, in the northern provinces, and from wild rice or fugar-canes, in the fouthern, are particularly described by our Author. The dried raifins of Ha mi lead the learned Miffionary into a difcuffion concerning the high antiquity of raifias and raifin-wine in China. There are, at prefent, a great number of vines in the provinces of Chan-tong, Ho-nan, Chan-fi, and Pe-tche-li; and the later Emperors, and particularly the reigning Prince, has ordered the importation of a confiderable quantity from foreign countries, to fupply the Chinese with a fufficient quantity of fresh and dried raifins, which they eat with pleafure, and often employ medically. The dried raifins of Ha-mi are the most celebrated: they are of two kinds; the one refembling our currants, and frequently employed in medicine; the other, in high requeft as a table-delicacy, and fuperior in flavour to the fmall grapes in Provence, which are called Paffarilles. Infufions of dried raifins of the first kind are employed in China, as an effectual and excellent method of accelerating the eruption of the fmall-pox, when the weakness of the patient required it: it is alfo employed to promote perfpiration in certain malignant fevers and pleurifies. Under the article of remedies, the Miffionary mentions two, one of which is inacceffible almoft, on account of the high price and rarity of the ingredients, confifting of rubies, pearls, emeralds, &c. -the other is attainable, and is faid to be effectual in bilious apoplexies; it confifts of a pound and a half of spirits (eau de vie forte), aloes, myrrh, and frankincenfe, of each three drams (gros), and faffron half a dram. We pafs over his account of the dyers art as it is practifed in China, to mention a word or two of the Apricot-tree, of which there are three kinds in that country, one with double bloffoms, one that bears fruit, and one that is wild. The firft of these three kinds is fubdivided into four, the millefolia, the pale-yellow, the milk-white, and the common, whofe bud appears at firft red, and whose flower whitens as it opens and fpreads itself. The fruit-bearing apricot-tree is of fix different kinds; that, whose fruit is yellow within, and of an excellent tafte,-that, whofe fruit is white within, and inferior to the former,-that, whofe fruit is flesh. coloured, plump, and excellent,-that of the Choui-bing, whofe fruit is juicy, and of an exquifite perfume; and two more of an inferior quality. There are various rules laid down here for improving the apricot-tree and its fruit; among others, that of grafting it always on a natural ftock, i. e. on one of its own Species,