the fortunate difcovery of my friend, Mr. Partington; and the credit which it has obtained in practice, fince that period, has awakened the attention of the public in this metropolis.I was induced to accompany him in his inquiries, from the fuccefs which followed his judicious application of it, in fome recent cafes of furgery which I fent to him. But, cautious of being mifguided by falfe appearances, I proceeded flowly, and doubted much; till experience taught me, that when I was unfuccessful, it oftener proceeded from want of judgment in the application, than from want of power in the remedy.'-The Author afterwards informs us, that a collection of cafes, and a view of the present state of Medical Electricity, is preparing for =the prefs, by Mr. Partington; and will be published as foon as that gentleman's avocations will permit.

When we reviewed Dr. Priestley's Hiftory of Electricity, we took particular notice of the uncertainty which, at that time, attended the medical adminiftration of the electric fluid; by which, even then, fome indubitable and extraordinary cures had been performed: though repeated failures had likewise attended the application of it in other inftances. We then obferved, that one, and that too a principal, caufe of this uncertainty, was the difficulty of directing the course of the electric fluid through those particular parts, where its action would be beneficial. By an attention to this capital circumftance (and by means of fome particular contrivances, as we conjecture;- for the Author appears very reserved on this head) we apprehend he has been enabled to reduce his electrical method of cure to that degree of certainty, in the removal of female obftructions, which he profeffes to have attained to, by a skilful application of the electric fhock;' fo as never yet to have failed in one inftance.'

The Author, apologifing for his feeming invafion of the phyfician's province, by affuming the cure of a disease which has hitherto naturally fallen under the care of the phyfician, obferves, that his mode of cure is ftri&tly chirurgical ;-being ' an operation performed by the hand, with the affistance of inftruments; adding, that anatomical skill is necessary to direct it with propriety and fuccefs.'

We with, however, that Mr. Birch had been fomewhat more particular, with respect to his modus operandi ;-using the phrase, not in its common or medical acceptation, but in its chirurgical, or rather in its new anatomico-electrical sense. We here meet with no particular directions on this avowedly very effential part of the fubject. In the first cafe here related, the Author only obferves, that no relief was obtained, during a whole fortnight, by drawing sparks from the ftomach and feet of the patient; or

See Monthly Review, vol. xxxvii. Dec. 1767. p. 449.

by paffing fhocks from the hands and the vertebra of the neck to the feet: because the electric matter feemed to act only, without any good or bad effect, on the external mufcles.' He, therefore, confidering the obftruction as being probably feated only in the veffels of the uterus, concluded, that the fhock fhould be paffed, if not confined, to the direction of thofe veffels :' and obferves, that the effect was quick and falutary. He speaks likewife of placing his directors in fuch a manner, as to convey the electric matter through every part of the uterus.'-But hoc opus, hic labor eft! The reader naturally wifhes to know how this is to be done; or whether the Author is in poffeffion of any method, not generally known, of rendering the electrical fluid more manageable, and obfequious to the defigns of the medical electrician.

For the feven cafes related in this pamphlet, which the Author has felected from many other fuccessful trials, we must refer the faculty to the performance itfelf. They certainly exhibit the medical powers of electricity in a very advantageous point

of view.

PLAN

FOREIGN LITERATUR E.
(By our CORRESPONDENTS.)

FRANC E.
ART. X.

LAN d'un Traité fur l'Aurore Boreale, pour fervir de Suite à Celui de M. de MAIRAN, &c. i. e. The Plan of a Treatise on the Aurora Borealis, defigned as a Supplement to that of M. de Mairan, on the fame Subject. By J. H. VAN SWINDEN, Profeffor of Philofophy at Franeker, Member of feveral Academies, and Correfpondent Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. We have had more than once occafion to mention Profellor VAN SWINDEN, with the high esteem that is due to his unremitting induftry, his judicious and well directed labours in the advancement of natural knowledge, and the fagacity and precifion that accompany his uncommon modefty, in the conclufions he draws from his obfervations and researches. The interefting work he has, at prefent, undertaken, and of which we have the plan now before us, will undoubtedly give him a new title to the attention and gratitude of both connoiffeurs and diletanti in natural philofophy.

Every one acquainted with matters relative to this fcience, knows the excellent treatife of M. de Mairan on the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Light, which is univerfally allowed to be a masterpiece of induftry, fagacity, and genius. But as five and twenty years have paffed fince the laft edition of that work was published, many discoveries have been made during that period,

which open new views of this curious fubject, and are adapted to carry our knowledge of it feveral fteps farther toward the true theory of this remarkable phenomenon.

M. VAN SWINDEN, during the space of eight years, has observed above 200 of these, meteors, compofed accurate and circumftantial defcriptions of each, compared them with the motions of the magnetic needle, the different ftates and modifications of the atmosphere, and with the obfervations of the fame phenomenon, made, during the fame period, in other places, by learned men, whofe accounts he has collected with care. This collection of his own observations and reasonings, and those of other eminent men, relative to the Aurora Borealis, he has refolved to communicate to the Public; and as the treatise of M. DE MAIRAN contains the theory, the principles, the combinations, and details, that must be the bafis of all welldirected researches on the fubject in question, our ingenious Profeffor proposes to employ his materials in fuch a manner, that they will ferve as a Supplement to the excellent work of the French Philofopher.

M. DE MAIRAN's work contains two parts. 1ft, The Hiftorical and Phyfical-and 2dly, The Syftematic. The former is the principal object of M. VAN SWINDEN's illuftrations and refearches:-the latter he means only to treat occasionally, as M. DE MAIRAN has pretty nearly faid all that can poffibly be offered for the illuftration and fupport of his fyftem. The Zodiacal Light, and the Aurora Borealis, are the two important objects that compofe the phyfical part of his work; the first of these he treats mathematically, aftronomically, and physically; and as it is a part of M. VAN SWINDEN's plan, to complete the lift of observations that have been made on the Zodiacal Light, he entreats the learned, in all countries, to communicate to him any obfervations they may have made upon that fubject. It is well known, that M. D'ALEMBERT + has propofed objections against the Zodiacal Light, confidered as the folar atmosphere, to which it is difficult to give a folid and fatisfactory answer: nevertheless, as this light follows invariably the courfe of the fun, M. VAN SWINDEN thinks, that it muft depend, in some way or other, on that luminous body; and this confideration is fufficient to juftify thofe who adopt the fyftem of M. DE MAIRAN.

In order to fhew our readers the extent and importance of the learned labours of M. VAN SWINDEN, on this curious fsubject, it will be neceflary to mention (as he has done in the plan before us) the effential parts that compofe M. DE MAIRAN'S treatife on the Aurora Borealis; Thefe are, 1. An explanation

+ Opufcules, vol. vi, p. 333

of the phenomena.-2. A chronological lift of thefe meteors.3. The immediate confequences deduced from facts, and the relations which the different phenomena bear to each other.4. The influence of the Aurora Borealis upon certain phenomena, and that also which certain agents may have upon it.→ 5. An examination of the caufes which have been affigned to this meteor.-6. The doubts and conjectures to which the difcuffion of what relates to the Aurora Borealis may give rife.

New obfervations and difcoveries have enabled M. VAN SWINDEN to make interefting additions to each of these articles, and the observations and difcoveries he has found in the later works of learned men in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Holland, have been carefully attended to in the execution of his plan. He does not give us here a fummary of his additions. He, however, tells us, that the most important obfervations, among those which he has made or collected, relate to the phenomena of the Aurora Borealis,-to the filence, which, according to M. DE MAIRAN, reigns in all the parts and periods of this phenomenon,- or to the noife, which other obfervers have heard during its appearance,--and, finally, to the Aurora Boreales, (or rather Auftrales) which are formed near the antarctic pole, whofe exiftence M. VAN SWINDEN propofes to demonftrate by new observations.

2. With respect to the chronological lift of thefe meteors, our Author's additions to, and improvement of, M. DE MAIRAN's excellent table (which goes as far as the year 1751, and contains 1441 of the phenomena in queftion) will be very confiderable. He propofes, firft, to continue the table down to the year 1778, or ftill farther, -to complete it by an account of feveral of these meteors that appeared before the year 1752, but are not mentioned by M. DE MAIRAN,-to rectify the errors that this celebrated philofopher has fallen into by imagining, that the dates in Frobes's table (which he follows) were formed on the old ftile, and reducing them to the new,-and to give the chronological table, a more exact, inftructive, and convenient form, than it has in DE MAIRAN'S work.

3. The third article of that learned work, which contains confequences deduced from facts, and the relations which the different phenomena bear to each other, will alfo be enriched with many improvements from the obfervations and additions of Profeffor VAN SWINDEN. Thefe will be relative to the great height of the Aurora Borealis (which we fhall henceforth call the Northern Light) in the atmofphere,-to the interruptions and returns that prevent its permanent appearance, even in the places that lie neareft to the pole,-and to the correfpondence that there is between its appearances and that of the Zodiacal Light. Under thefe articles, our learned Profeffor proposes, among

313

among other things, to determine, whether the Northern Lights, feen at the fame time, in different places, are in reality, the fame meteors placed at a great height, or different phenomena, merely local, and not much elevated, as is the opinion of fome modern authors who have treated this fubject fince M. DE MAIRAN. In this difcuffion, our Author will draw confiderable affiftance from the comparison of phenomena perceived, at the fame time, in different places, and alfo from three learned differtations, publifhed by M. BERGMAN, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sweden.

4. As to the influences of the Northern Light upon certain phenomena, fuch as magnetifm, the electricity of the atmosphere, and the temperature of the atmosphere, M. VAN SWINDEN proposes to treat largely on thefe interefting fubjects. The article of magnetifm has attracted, particularly, his attention, and the obfervations he has made, during eight years paft, on that phenomenon, will be employed with advantage in the prefent investigation. Under the article of electricity, he will have occafion to difcufs the following question, Whether the air is more charged with the electrical fluid, during the appearance or the approach of the Northern Light, than at other times? And as to the influence of this meteor on the temperature of the atmoSphere, he means to inquire, whether it be true, as fome obfervers have affirmed, that the appearance of the Northern Light is ordinarily followed by high winds; an obfervation that has been made by fome navigators, and which Dr. Franklin has endeavoured to explain.

--

5. The causes that have been fuppofed to produce the northern light may be reduced to five :-the vapours and exhalations of the earth, which hypothefis is now almost entirely rejectedthe ice and fnow of the polar zone, which opinion has been revived by the learned Abbé Hell, in his Ephemerides of 1777the effluvia of magnetic particles, which was Halley's fyftem-the zodiacal light, which is the fyftem of DE MAIRAN-and the electrical fluid, which has, fince his time, put in bold pretenfions to the honour of producing the aurora borealis. All these causes our learned Profeffor propofes to difcufs with attention, as alfo to confider the doubts and conjectures which may arise from these difcuffions.

We cannot here infert, for want of room, a fpecimen of the table, or chronological lift of the northern lights, which we find at the end of M. VAN SWINDEN's plan; but we have seen nothing of the kind fo accurate, fo circumftantial, and so com

For the Doctor's hypothefis, relative to the Aurora Borealis, fee his miscellaneous and philofophical pieces, lately published; or our account of it, in the Review for last month, p. 207.

plete,