them merely thefe phyfiological obfervations, that the booksellers were unwilling to have any concern with fuch a trifle; I was, therefore, almoft compelled to make up a volume."

This is book-making, with a vengeance! A great part of these "obfervations" are trifling and frivolous in the extreme: and, (maugre the bookfellers) Dr. T. ought to have withheld them from the public, from the principle of felf-love, to fay nothing of any

other motive.

In the firft fentence of his firft tract, Dr. T. is guilty of an inaccuracy: it is an inaccuracy of every hour's occurence: we are more concerned, therefore, in noticing it. "The neceffity of refpiration to the fupport of life, and the evident injuries arifing from any impediment in this function, induced the earliest medical philofophers, to make it a fubject of enquiry; and from that time to this, it has afforded a continued subject of admiration"-What time? No time is grammatically specified.

In this manner, Dr. T. opens his lecture, if fuch it may be called, on the refpiration of the Amphibia. With regard to its fubject matter, he was anticipated (as he fays himself) by Swammerdam and others. His notion is, that the respiration of amphibious animals is, in a great measure, voluntary; and that it depends on the action of the mufcles on the throat. From the refpiration, the author paffes, abruptly, to the abforption of the Amphibia. "It was my intention, when I began these physiological obfervations, to have gone (he should have faid, to go) through the function of refpiration in all the different tribes of Amphibia -but the difficulty I [have] found to procure fome of them [has] induced me to change my plan." On the fubject of abforption, (which is very curious) he tells us, that" while those animals, with whofe economy we are beft acquainted, receive their principal fupply of liquids by the mouth, the frog and falamander tribes TAKE IN THEIRS THROUGH THE SKIN ALONE: ALL THE AQUEOUS FLUID WHICH THEY TAKE IN BEING ABSORBED BY THE SKIN, AND ALL THEY REJECT BEING TRANSPIRED THROUGH IT.

"Near three years ago, when the chilling cold of winter was coming on, a large female Frog (Rana temporaria) was brought to me. I put it in an earthen jar with water in my room, which being warmed by a stove it fhewed no figns of torpidity. Though the jar was above a foot deep, it used to come out and make excurfions in my room, and in a few hours retire: almost every evening it came out, but before I was up in the morning it had leaped into the jar again. This continued through a great part of the winter, when a favourite hedge-hog ftole in, from an adjoining room, and ate it. During this time I had occafion to obferve, that when I forgot to replenish the jar with water, or when it had remained a longer time than ufual out of the jar, it grew meagre, emaciated, and feeble; but fpeedily recovered its embonpoint, ftrength, and vivacity on being put in its favourite element: this obfervation induced me to turn my thoughts to this subject. In

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"In the fpring fome Tree-Frogs (Rana arborea) afforded me excellent opportunities of obfervation, for they foon grew tame and feldom left the window appropriated to them where they had a bowl of water. But if they did, and got down on the floor they became very foon lank and emaciated; and if not taken up in a few hours they were fo debilitated, that though replaced in the water they never recovered. When the weather was dry and hot, and the fun fhone bright upon them, they often retired to a more fhady place; if they did not they were, in a few hours, obliged to feek the water. They feldom failed going into it in the evening, except in damp and cold weather; they would then frequently stay out two days. If I took the bowl away, and dropped a few drops on the board, they applied their bodies as close to it as they could, and again looked plump."

Through no lefs than ten pages, he plays tricks with his two favourite frogs, Damon and Mufidora. But he fhould have recollected the fable of the Boys and the Frogs. To the philofopher and his croaking companions, it may be pleasant paftime; but, to his readers, it is vexatious. In his description of the frog tribe, the author fays:

"The ikin, which is beautifully covered, on the inner fide, with blood veffels, is connected with the body only in a few places; this, one would think, would render the detecting of the lymphatics very eafy, yet where the great blood veffels leave the skin and enter the body I could never obferve any accompanying lymphatic veffels. It puts on a different appearance in the fame animal at different times; that of the Tree-Frog is fometimes smooth and shining, just like the finest kind of green vellum. In this state, if touched with the finger, this receives not the smallest sign of humidity upon it; at other times it is much rougher; if it is then touched it leaves a moisture upon it. It changes likewife its colour according to a variety of circumftances, which I fhall mention when I fpeak of the characters for determining the fpecies."

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In Greece, the little Tree-Frog is frequent; when at reft, refembling a walnut, both in fize and form. The remarks of our phyfiologift are often tedious, from their minuteness. From this charge, however, we must except his obfervations on a kind of plica in a hare""on the common rabbit producing Angora rabbits"-" on the instinct of a moufe," and "on the bullfinch." Of two bullfinches, Dr. Townfon opened the ftomachs; and, exclufive of a few grains of fand, and fome small pebbles, found nothing but the embryo flowers, which proves, beyond all contradiction, the difputed fact, that bullfinches eat the fruit-buds of feveral kinds of trees, and confequently do a great deal of mischief in gardens. good part of the volume is occupied by a masterly sketch of the mineralogy of Shropshire. There are too circumstances with which we were forcibly ftruck, in our Review of Dr. Townfon's experiments and fpeculations, an apparent deficiency in benevolence and piety. From the fcenes of his obfervations, and his conti

nental

A

nental connections, we must class Dr. T. we fuppofe, among the German and French naturalifts.

In perufing his defcription of the cruel experiments which he made upon frogs, during his refidence at Gottingen, we recollected (from that principle of affociation which metaphyficians term contrariety) the late SIR WILLIAM JONES, whofe amiable humanity and unaffected sympathy with the brute creation, cannot be too frequently contemplated by our natural philofophers. Sir William was fond of zoology. He ufed often, during his refidence in India, to procure an uncommon animal: and he was delighted in the notice of its figure, its difpofition, and its character. But he liked not to deprive it of its liberty; much lefs of its life; for the fake of being able to publifh fomething new, the refult of barbarous experiment. He fported not with the existence of the minutest infect; keeping ever in mind that fine oriental fentiment;

"Ah, spare yon' emmet, rich in hoarded grain;
He lives with pleasure, but he dies with pain."

In the mean time, Dr. T. affects a more than ordinary fenfibility *. There is nothing, indeed, more frequent than the affectation of refined feeling, in those who poffefs not even common humanity. Had we obferved any traits of piety in his work, we fhould not have been thus fevere, in our reflections on Dr. Townfon's benevolence. Nothing is, here, referred to the GREAT FIRST CAUSE. "Nature" is echoed from page to page: but the God of nature is forgotten. In contemplating the human ftructure, we know, that a heathen was converted from atheifm to the belief in a God. In obferving the curious phyfiology of the Amphibia, Dr. T. had feveral opportunities for directing his thoughts from the

creature to the Creator.

If on this, or any other, fubject, he rejoice in his discoveries, would it derogate from his philofophic dignity, to exclaim :- "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom haft thou made

them all!"

DIVINITY.

ART. XIII. The Danger of Lukewarmnefs in Religion confidered and applied to the prefent ftate of this Country, in a Sermon delivered at the Octagon Chapel, Bath, on Sunday, April 29, 1798. By J. Gardiner, D. D. Second Edition. 8vo. Pr. 40. 1s. Rivingtons.

DR. Gardiner deduces, from the threats contained in the thir chapter of the Revelations, the extreme danger of Luk warmness in Religion, both as it affects individuals and nation

*See PP. 154, 155.
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and he, very properly, infifts on the neceffity of a complete refor mation of manners in order to fecure a continuance of the Divine favour towards this country. From the energy with which he expresses himself, on the crime of perjury, we fear he has witnessed the prevalence of a practice which cannot be too feverely reprobated. We fhall extract his obfervations on this topic for the two-fold purpofe of calling the public attention to the crime, and of exhibiting an apt fpecimen of the preacher's stile and manner.

"But what makes me tremble for the fate of my country is, to hear of a crime that has found its way in all parts of the kingdom, and among all ranks in fociety, the very idea of which almost freezes one with horror, and which one hardly knows how to name in a civilized affembly!-a crime accompanied with this aggravation, that in being perpetrated to defraud the revenue, it deprives the State of thofe fupplies which are fo neceffary, in our emergency, for the prefervation of every thing we hold dear. Have the perfons, who, under the moft fcandalous fubterfuges and nugatory pretences, daily commit this crime, ever confidered what perjury is it is, by making ufe of artifice and deceit to impofe on man, openly to mock and bid defiance to the great Searcher of hearts. He who takes an oath, concluding "So help me GoD," may be fuppofed to express himself in fuch language as this: O GOD! I acknowledge that thou doft exift, that thou art mafter of my life and my immortal foul, I confent that thou shouldft deprive me of this life, and plunge this foul into everlasting mifery, if I speak contrary to my knowledge-if the words of my mouth are not conformable to the thoughts of my mind.'

in

"Now, if the reprefentations on this fubject be juft, which are every one's mouth, (for I allude not to this or that particular place-forry am I to fay that fimilar accounts every day reach us from different parts of the kingdom) if, I fay, these representations be real, gracious Heaven! what were the fins of Sodom and Gomorrah, that they should be consumed with torrents of fire? and how can a land, overflowing with guilt like ours, hope to escape the divine vengeance?

"After this, is it poffible to advert, as I would wish, to any thing like a confolatory idea on our state? It must be only by hoping that things are mifreprefented or exaggerated, and that the horrible fin complained of is not fo frequent as fuppofed. It muft be by hoping that, for the honour of this country at large, for the honour of human nature, there are few fo abandoned of every principle, fo loft to all fenfe of fhame, fo dead to every idea of a future ftate, as to infult their GoD, and incur all the effects of his wrath, for the fake of faving a paltry fum, or gaining a tranfient earthly advantage.*",

ART.

"Such things fhould not be mentioned in the pulpit, unless they can be proved." If, in faying this, you ftand up in defence of the innocent, or thofe to whom no imputation of the guilt in

question

ART. XIV. A Sermon delivered at the Octagon Chapel, Bath, on Thursday, Nov. 29, 1798. Being the day appointed for a General Thanksgiving. By J. Gardiner, D. D. 8vo. Pr. 41. Riving

tons.

AN appropriate and impreffive difcourfe, in which the preacher admonishes his congregation to attend to the figns of the times, and to afcribe all victory to God, and exhorts them to reform their lives as the best means of ensuring a continuance of the Divine favour.

ART. XV. The Confolations of pure Chriftianity. A Difcourfe, delivered at Cullompton, July, 5, 1798, before the Society of Unitarian Chriftians, established in the Weft of England, for promoting Chriftian Knowledge, c. By J. Ifaac. 12mo. PP. 36. 8d. &c.

Johnson.

AS this fect" (of Unitarian Chriftians) fays the author has been, and ftill is too generally spoken against, perhaps, like

question will attach, it is to be feared they will not be very thankful to you for your zeal; if, on the other hand, you become a voluntary advocate in the cause of the guilty, it is to be lamented that you have not better clients. Qui capit ille facit.

"Should any one wish to acquire further information on this subject, let him apply to any Commiffioner before whom these oaths have been administered. He certainly will not undertake to prove any thing; but he will tell you, that he has witnessed circumftances which leave no room for doubt, nor want of conviction in his mind, of the fact as here ftated.

"A country-gentleman, who lived at the rate of 1,500l. per annum, fwore he was worth but eight--and it is poffible he may have fworn the truth. I wish not to caft a ftone at any individual; I would rather be obliged to condemn a gentleman's imprudence, than arraign his integrity. But what was the confequence ?—No fooner was the circumftance known, than the inferior but opulent farmers came forward, prepared to make fuch deductions, and to fwear in a manner that perfectly aftonished the Commiffioners! nor was it till after the strongest remonftrances that any were diffuaded from their intention. Another gentleman deducted the expences of educating his children at fchool from his nett income, and then took the oath. Now whether he had or had not read the act of parliament, in what predicament does he ftand!

"But to what are Minifters of the Golpel reduced? As long as we expatiate on the horrors and cruelties practifed by our infidel neighbours, we are liftened to with pleasure, or at least with patience; but the moment, in discharging our more important duty, we attack the prevailing irregularities and crimes of our Chriftian countrymen, we are called on to produce our proofs, or we are deemed impertinent and prefumptuous.-O Tempora !"

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Christianity