be confiderably injured, for his legs and thighs became paralytic, at the fame time that he had a conftant erection of the penis, which never left him till death. Is it not evident in this cafe, that, as the paralyfis arofe from a violent fhock of one portion of nerves, the erection was caufed by a flighter shock of another portion, fufficient to irritate only, but not fufficient to render them torpid?' That the conftriction of the veins is influenced by the nerves, Dr. Mufgrave thinks may alfo be collected from the palenefs induced by fear. But the obfervation upon which this argument is founded, is, in our opinion, equivocal. The palenefs confequent to the paffion of fear may be accounted for upon the fuppofition that the force of the heart and arteries, as well as that of the veins, is inftantaneously diminished; and this opinion is rendered more probable, when we confider that various other fymptoms ufually excited by fear, are fuch as evidently depend upon a general relaxation of the body. We acknowledge Dr. Mufgrave's opinion to be ingenious, and that it is fo far plaufible as it afcribes oppofite effects to a contrariety of influence on the venous fyftem; but we are not fatisfied with refpect to the propriety of fubftituting a partial caufe for the explanation of phenomena which may be as readily accounted for upon a general principle. The symptoms produced by anger are evidently the refult of an univerfal affection of the body; and there feems to be no good reafon why thofe excited by fear, or any other paffion, fhould not be fuppofed to proceed from an influence equally extenfive. Dr. Mulgrave, however, fupports his theory by the following arguments. Hence alfo we are furnished with the folution of a phænomenon, of which no fatisfactory account has hitherto been given, to wit, the great fwelling of the body that fometimes comes on after eating mufcles. It is at leaft poffible that the nerves of the ftomach may be fo powerfully ftimulated by the juices of that animal, as to communicate the irritation to every part of the fyftem, which, according to the doctrine here laid down, would, in every part, produce a conftriction of the veins; the confe-, quence of which must be an univerfal fwelling. I am not now enquiring to what circumftance the innocence of muscles at one time, and their hurtfulness at another, is owing. Yet I cannot pass by fo remarkable a phænomenon without offering my conje&ture, that this difference arifes partly from the different fenfibility of different flomachs, and partly alfo, from the more or lefs vigorous ftate of the fish; the juices of that, which is in the fullest health, being probably the most rich and flimulating, and therefore the most noxious. • 1 fubmit it alfo to the learned, whether the great fwelling of the veins, during the ufe of the pediluvium, has not been erro neously neoufly attributed to their relaxation, and whether it might not be better accounted for by their conftriction from the ftimulus of heat. According to my idea at leaft, a general relaxation of the veins would tend to make the fuperficial veins difappear and almoft collapfe, inftead of filling and rendering them turgid. On which account too it feems not unlikely, that the remarkable depreffion of the mufcles of the face, commonly called the facies Hippocratica, and which is in all cafes a certain forerunner of death, may be wholly owing to the conftriction of the veins being loft, in confequence of a total exhauftion of the vital energy of the nerves. • Where a particular nerve is ftimulated, there is generally, if not always, a proportionable conftriction of the adjoining venulæ. The fimpleft inftance of this is the tumour and inflammation occafioned by a thorn fticking in any fenfible part. Did the veins in thefe cafes tranfmit the blood as readily and freely as ufual, there could be no fuch tumour and congestion; which there evidently is, when there is no fever, and when of courfe the pulfations of the heart are not increased in number. For the increafed force of the arteries, afting only alternately with the fyftole of the heart, would tend to accelerate the motion of the blood, instead of impeding it.' In the fecond chapter, the author treats of animal heat, which he also endeavours to account for upon the principle of nervous influence; after invalidating the prevailing opinions entertained on that fubject. The first of these is, that it arifes from an inteftine fermentation of the animal juices; and the other, that it is produced by the attrition of thofe juices with the folid tubes, through which they circulate. We fhall lay. before our readers the arguments advanced to prove the nerves to be the caufe of animal heat. But perhaps the most unexceptionable inftance of heat being increased by an affection of the nerves is when the cause of the affection is wholly intellectual. Who can imagine that grief, joy, fhame, anger, intenfe ftudy, can directly affect the bones, cartilages, tendons, epidermis, or the gluten, ferum, and red part of the blood? yet,all thefe produce an eminent degree of -heat. And that their first and immediate action is upon the brain cannot poffibly be doubted, as they have their origin in certain complex notions and reflexions, without which the mere tangible, vifible, and audible object produces at beft but a tranfitory perception. There is great difficulty upon any other fuppofition to account for a phænomenon frequently obferved, to wit, the pro, duction of heat by its contrary, cold. A healthy man, who walks abroads in a fharp easterly wind, will then or foon after find a remarkable glow on his cheeks. A perfon who dabbles in fnow, or handles ice, finds the cold fucceeded inftantly by heat. The cold bath has the fame effect upon the whole furface of of the body. Nothing is fo ftriking an inftance, as when a blifter is taken off, and the unprotected cutis expofed in cold weather. The fenfation of heat is then intenfe, and equal almoft to that of a red hot iron. How can we suppose this heat to arife but in confequence of a general law, that all irritations of a nerve, not overcoming the power of that nerve, produce heat ? As in these inftances cold produces heat, fo on the contrary it is found that fubftances producing heat, or even actual heat will not increase, but even abate morbid heat. Thus a part highly inflamed with exceffive pain and heat, is frequently affuaged and cooled by a hot fomentation compofed of a decoction of warm aromatic herbs. Thus camphorated ointments, hot in themselves, allay the heat of a blifter: and camphor, taken internally in certain forts of fevers, mitigates and abates the febrile heat. From thefe facts it is clear that heat and cold fometimes produce in the animated body the very reverfe of those effects which they invariably have upon inanimate fubftances. There must therefore be fomething in every animated body, through the medium of which external fubftances produce heat and cold, not according to their own natures, but according as they affect that medium. And what can this be but the part, which difcriminates animated bodies from all others, the fentient part of the folids, or, in one word, the nerves?' In the fubfequent chapter, Dr. Mufgrave prefents us with the recital of experiments and obfervations for evincing that the animal fluids are corrupted by irritations of the nerves. In the fourth, he declares his opinion, that even the dropfy arifes from a diforder of this part of the human frame; confidering the dropfy as, in many cafes, not an original difeafe, but the confequence of fome other, which had been produced by an affection of the nerves. In the fifth chapter, this doctrine is extended to the whole tribe of diseases, which the author thinks it probable are produced by antecedent diforders of the nerves; and in the two fucceeding chapters he endeavours to fhew, that they are likewife univerfally cured by the operation of medicinal influence exerted on thofe parts alone. The eighth chapter contains an account of the feveral methods of relieving irritation; and the volume concludes with the following obfervations relative to the authority of the facts which the author has mentioned in fupport of his hypothefis. . Of the extraordinary facts here cited, the greater part are extracted from books, the authors of which have been long fince dead, and are now in general forgotten. It is impoffible therefore at prefent to bring any vouchers for their accuracy: but, on the other hand, their teftimony has this advantage, that it cannot be charged with partiality or unfairness, as they only relate relate the naked fact, without any fufpicion of the inference that would be drawn from it. Had I therefore been able to fupport every pofition by living vouchers, I am not fure whether i fhould not on this occafion have preferred the evidence of recorded facts. One principal fource of my materials has been the tranfactions of the Naturæ Curiofi in Germany, published under the different titles of Ephemerides, Centuria, Acta Phyfico-Medica, and Nova A&ta. The authors, who have furnished out this collection, being for the most part unknown in England, might perhaps be confidered as a fet of ignorant dreamers, did we not find among them the names of Heifter and Morgagni, men whofe accuracy and fagacity is undoubted, who would neither have fuffered their names to appear in an unlearned lift, nor their writings to be inferted in a collection of legendary tales. Now if it be admitted, which no one, I think, can reasonably deny, that the witneffes here produced are competent, the fingular nature of the facts, inftead of invalidating our general doctrine, is a great prefumption in favour of it. For what can more ftrongly evince the truth of any fpeculative principle, than that it furnishes a ready folution of the moft irregular phænomena? as, on the other hand, nothing fhews the imperfection of a theory more clearly, than that it encountered every day by atteftations of miraculous facts, which the theorist, from being unable to explain, is obliged to difcredit.' The opinion, that the effects of various medicines are produced by their action on the nerves or folids alone is not a new doctrine; but totally to exclude the fluids from ever being primarily effected in any of their own deviations from a healthy ftandard, seems to be a degree of fcepticism not warranted by the probable laws of the animal economy. It must be acacknowledged, however, that Dr. Musgrave maintains his hypothefis by many rational and ingenious arguments. V. The Hiftory and Antiquities of Winchefter. 6s. in Boards. 2 Vols. 12mo. WInchefter is confeffedly a place of great antiquity, and is fuppofed to be the fourth in order of time, of the ci-, ties which were founded by the Britons. That it was likewife occupied by the Romans, who gave it the name of Venta Belgarum, appears from a pavement of brick, and fome coins of Conftantine the Great, difcovered in digging the foundations of the royal palace. Upon the authority of Warner, and fome other writers, the author of this hiftory afcribes its origin to Ludor Rous Hudibras, the fon of Liel, and grandfon of Brute Greenfhield, fo early as about eight hundred and ninety-two years before the Chriftian æra. It is faid to have been firft fortified with walls and ramparts by Guiderius, a British king; upon the demolition of which, in the civil wars of those times, the prefent walls were erected, by Molentius Dunwallo, A. D. 341. Without enquiring into the truth of those occurrences, which it would be difficult either to fupport or difprove by fatisfactory evidence, we shall proceed to inform our readers, that near the weft-gate of the city are the veftiges of a ftrong and flately caftle, reputed by tradition to have been built by the renowned king Arthur, A. D. 523. This ancient ftructure was demolished by Oliver Cromwell; but the chapel, which was a detached building, ftill remains, and is the place where the affizes are held for the county of Hants. Over the court of nifi prius, above the judges feat, hangs what is commonly called king Arthur's round table, which is eighteen feet in diameter. This piece of antiquity, continues our author, is faid to be upwards of twelve hundred years ftanding; though fome authors affirm, that it is of a much later date, However, it is of higher antiquity than it is commonly fuppofed to be: for Paulus Jovius, who wrote above two hundred years ago, relates, that it was fhewn to the emperor Charles V. and that, at that time, many marks of its antiquity had been deftroyed; the names of the knights were then juft written afresh, and the table, with its whole ornaments, newly repaired. Tilts and tournaments are supposed to have been established at Winchester by king Arthur, and were often held here before the king and parliament. This table might probably have been used on thofe occafions, for entertaining the combatants; which, on that account, was properly infcribed with the names of Arthur's twenty-four knights. The names of the knights infcribed on the table, are much the fame as thofe we find in an old romance, called Morte Arthur.' The city of Winchefter claims, we believe with juftice, the honour of having been the first place in the kingdom incorporated by a charter, and governed by a mayor, aldermen, &c. and it is faid to have obtained this privilege twenty-two years before London. Winchefter was in the zenith of its profperity in the reign of Henry I. abounding, as we are informed, in magnificent edifices of various kinds, enriched by the refidence of many noble inhabitants, among whom was frequently the royal family, and flourishing in a cloathing manufactory. The number of churches and chapels only, faid to have been in this city and its fuburbs, about the year 1282, almost exceeds belief. According to a lift in the Appendix, the number amounted to fixty-four. The author obferves, it is poffible, that fome of thefe churches may have been mentioned under different names, where they happened to |