L

mon harvests in the internal parts of the country afford generally from fixty to feventy, and the ground on the coast from forty to fifty. In the provinces fituated between the 24th and 34th degree of latitude, the harvests are generally more conftant, because the husbandmen water their fields by canals; while, in the northern provinces, they depend only on the natural dews, though the brooks and rivers offer them the fame advantages. I believe the calculation may be extended, if we reckon the quantity of wheat loft in the harveft, fince it is feldom reaped till it begins to germinate, and the wheat, left on the ground, is often fufficient for a new crop, without the labour of fowing agains

There are many plants, he obferves, which Chili poffeffes in common with Europe, as plantains, fuccory, fage, nettles, mallows, &c. others, which are cultivated with care in the gardens here, grow naturally in that country, as the lupins, pimento, creffes, celery, fennel, &c. Several tropical plants fucceed very well in the northe n provinces (the reader will recollect that we fpeak of a country beyond the equator), as the fugar-cane, the cotton-tree, the banana, the jalap, and mechoac na. Beides thefe, Chili produces a great number which are peculiar to herfelf. The plants which our author collected in his different botanical excursions amount. he fays, to three thousand, of which the greater part are not described in any botanical work. Among them, he tells us, that there are many whose flowers are very fuperb, which deferve to be cultivated with care; but the inhabitants, we find, have the common error of preferring the exotics of Europe to their own riches. The number of aromatic plants, which grow wild, give the flesh of of animals, rot domefticated, a flavour with which the inhabitants of other countries are unacquainted. As the different vegetables which afford them nourishment fucceed each other regularly, and there is no want of verdure at any time of the year, torage is not preferved dry as in other countries. In the cities, horfes are fed with barley and a kind of cultivated trefoil. The meadows afford twelve different forts of trefoil, much lucern, and a kind of Venus looking-gla's, which they call loiqui lahuen, or alfilerillo, which cattle are very fond of. The Chilians call the maize, gua. It fucceeds well in Chili, and the inhabitants cultivate eight or nine varieties, of which many bear three or four loaded ftalks. One of thefe varieties is preferred to every other, and is called aminta. The grains are bruised while they are fresh, like cocoa-nuts for making chocolate, and butter and fugar are added: they afterwards boil it in water. Magu, a kind of wheat, and teica, a fpecies of barley, were cultivated by the Araucos, before the arrival of the Spaniards; but, fince the corn of Europe has been introduced, these fpecies have been neglected, and I have not, adds the abbé, even been able to procure a fpecimen of them.

In the province of St. Jago is found a fpecies of wild bafil
VOL. LXVIII. July, 1789.

F

(ocy

(ocymum falinum), which greatly refembles the common ba except in the ftalk, which, in this ipec es, is round and jointed. Its fmell and taste are thofe of flags and fen-weeds. The plant, which grows from the earliest fpring fo long as the be ginning of winter, is found every morning covered with faline globules, which are hard and fplendid: they look at a distance like dew, and each plant-furnifhes about half an ounce every day The peasants collect this falt, and ufe it like common falt, though in flavour it is fuperior. The abbé thinks this phenomenon difficult to explain, fince the plant grows in very fertile ground, at a distance of more than fixty miles from the fea, where there is no other veftige of falt! But, while we fre that different fpecies of plants form falts in their conftitution, from the very fimple materials found in the ground, and pere ceive that in different kinds thefe falts are more or less evolved, we need not be furprifed if they fhould be fometimes feparated fo perfectly as to exude with the intenfible perfpiration, and to concrete on its evaporation.

The Chilians, for a series of ages, have ufed their indigen ous plants for dying; and their fuperior quality rendered the introduction of foreign'dyes wholly fuperfluous. The abbé tells us that he has cloths dyed in this country, which, after thirty years ufe, have loft nothing of their beauty. The yellow, the red, the green, and the blue are equally permanent; neither the air nor foap can change them. In the northern provinces they employ a plant for the blue dye which is not known. Among the Araucos, and in the Spanish territories, they employ indigo, diffolved by fermenting urine; and the ftuff or limen is dipped in it feveral times. This fimple process is fad to give a durable and beautiful colour: the volatile alkali, feparated by the fermentation, is thought to fix,to bite in,' the colouring parts of the indigo. The red is produced by a kind of madder the rubia Chilenfis. A kind of eupatorium, eupatorium Chi lenfe, furnishes the yellow, which is fometimes procured from the poquel, the fantolina tinctoria, a fpecies of creffes, whofe elongated leaves give it the appearance of flax : the stalks produce the green colour. The root of a lively plant, called panke, affords a beautiful black; and this is the most useful plant of Chili. Some authors have called it the bardana Chilenfis, becaufe its leaves resemble thofe of the bardana, though the frucetification is entirely different. The colour comes from the juice of the root, which may be alfo ufed for ink, fince its vifcidity, and the beautiful black which it acquires from time, render i very proper for this purpose. Perhaps it may be really a na-tural ink, finee every vegetable contains a little iron, and the aftringent power of the panke is evident from its being employ ed to tan leather. It is, however, a deleterous plant; it is nes ceffary to bruife it for the tanner's ufe; but the smell is fo ftrong that the workman cannot endure it for half an hour. The fhoe makers employ the woody stalk for the lafts of the fhoes; and they

Luppole

fuppofe it to be lafting. The internal parts of the ftalk are flightly acid; and, on this account, are eaten in the fummer. Our limits will not allow us to extend this account much farther. What we have extracted will, we fuppofe, render our readers folicitous to look at the work; but we must not omit what the abbé fays of the inhabitants of Chili

Man, fays M. Molina, enjoys in Chili all the advantages derived from a mild and steady climate; and those who do not fhorten their lives by irregularity, arrive in that country to an advanced age. Notwithstanding the affertions of M. Paw, I have known more than one old man of 104, 105, and even of 115 years. D. Antonio Roza died there not many years fince at the age of 106. My uncle and great uncle, both creoles, reach ed the age of 95 and 96 refpectively. Thefe examples are not rare, particularly among the natives. The women are very fruitful; and in no country perhaps are twins fo common. The Chilians, like the Tartars, have very little beard; and their custom of plucking out the hairs makes them feem beardless. The nippers are their common companions, and they make always one of the inftruments on their toilet. Yet there are fome who have beards as strong as the Spaniards. The opinion that the want of a beard fhows a weak conftitution is not fupported by this people. The Indians are generally vigorous, and bear fatigue better than the Creoles: on this account Indians are chofen for the laborious works. Those who inhabit the plains are of the fame fhape with the Europeans; but the inhabitants of the mountains are diftinguished by a taller ftature, and I am perfuaded that these are the Patagonians fo often fpoken of. Lord Anfon's opinion is exactly the fame: the defcrip tions which Byron, Wallis, Carteret, Bouguainville, Duclos, and Giraudais give of thefe pretended giants agree perfectly with our mountaineers. What confirms me in this opinion is, that their language is the Chilefe, as we can judge from the few words which thefe voyagers have preferved. Betides, the language of the Patagons contains many Spanish words, which fufficiently proves that there is a communication between the two nations. The ordinary ftature of thefe mountaineers is about five feet feven inches, and the tallest that I have feen was fix feet three inches *. But what makes them appear larger is the enormous fize of their limbs, which appear by no means proportioned to their height: their hands and feet form an exception to this obfervation, for they are very fmall. The whole of their figure is not unpleafing: their faces are ufually round, nofes rather large, eyes brilliant, teeth of a dazzling whiterefs; hair black and in diforder: fome of them have a mouftachio. They have generally a browner tint than the Chilians, because they are continually in the air.'

Thefe are probably French feet, and we nuft correct the measure by cur ftandard. The first is nearly equal to five feet eleven inches; the lat ter to fix feet feven inches and three quarters.

CATALOGUE.

MONTHLY

MEDICAL.

Obfervations on the Rupture of the Gravid Uterus: with the Sequel, to Mrs. Manning's Cafe. By Andrew Douglas, M. D. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Johnfon.

D'

R. Douglas has enlarged his former obfervations by additional cafes, and the fequel of that very interefting and important one, which was the occafion of his first publication. It occurs in our LIXth volume, p. 396. Mrs. Manning was foon afterwards again pregnant; and if we except a fevere pain, probably from fome adhelion in confequence of the former inflammation, the pregnancy went on well, and fhe was delivered of a living child at the end of the eighth month: the recovery was fearcel, interrupted. In a fubfequent parturition at the ufual time, a little faintness, pain at the bottom of the back, and vomiting, came on foon after delivery, but disappeared in about an hour. In this pregnancy too the pain of the fide was felt, but a little higher. The adhesions had not, probably, been all deftroyed. Our author's very judicious conclufions, from the cafes felected, we fhall tranfcribe: they will conclude our article.

First: That a rupture of the gravid uterus, which has even allowed a fœtus to pass into the cavity of the abdomen, is not to be confidered as a cafe abfolutely hopeless.

Secondly: That no relief is reasonably to be expected from any power which we can fuppofe the conítitution to have over a foetus in fuch circumstances.

Thirdly That the danger of such a cafe is not solely from the injury done to the uterus itfelf; but is greatly increased by that which the vifcera muft fuftain, from the child remaining in the cavity of the abdomen.

Fourthly: That the danger will generally be in proportion to the time the child is fuffered to remain among the vifcera, and to the fufceptibility of irritation which then prevails in the conftitution.

Fifthly That delivery affords the only profpect of recovery to the patient; and fhould therefore be effected as foon as the circumstances will permit: and that by delivery is to be underftood the extraction of both fœtus and placenta.'

An Efay on the Rupture called Hydrocele. By Benjamin Humpage, Surgeon. 8vo. 15. Murray.

This pamphlet comprehends a fhort anatomical defcription of the parts, the methods of different authors ancient and modern, with the objections which occur on each fubject and each mode of proceeding. What is new, independent of the objections, which have great force, though perhaps thofe derived from the uncertainty of the radical attempt, are

not

not fo fatisfactory as the others, may be comprised in a few pages. Our author's plan, or rather his first improvement, confifts in the conftant or occafional ufe of the fponge tent, according to the pain and inflammation excited; the fecond depends on corroding a circle of the fkin, where Mr. Elfe applies his caustic by means of the concentrated nitrous acid. The acid is confined by a circular ring of defenfative plafter, within which there is a round plafter fomewhat lefs in diameter. Our author thinks his method a very advantageous one; but reasoning for this purpose would be ufelefs: the whole must be referred to the decifion of experience.

Confiderations on Bilious Difeafes: and fome particular Affections of the Liver, and the Gall Bladder. By John Andree, M. D. 8vo. 15. 6d. Murray.

Thefe Confiderations contain fome useful and interesting remarks, but they are fo little below the furface, that many apothecaries and most old women could fupply the defect, if this pamphlet had never been published. The author has been himfelf bilious; but his own experience furnishes little that is new. The pain at the pit of the ftomach is relieved by warm tea, and cordials employed, for it might produce indurations of the liver; aloes are well adapted for the difeafe; a fcirrhous liver cannot be felt, fometimes, through the integuments. Is there any thing more? Truly we have not perceived any thing of more importance.

DIVINITY.

A Sermon preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, before his Majefty, and both Houses of Parliament, on Thursday, April 23, 1789, being the Day appointed for a general Thankf giving. By Beilby, Lord Bishop of London. 4to. ingrons.

IS.

Riv

In a moment of folemn thanksgiving for a great and effential benefit, it was perhaps the best subject of reflection that we are in the Lord's hands, and that from him flow bleifings as well as afflictions, benefits as well as trials and diftrefs. From the example of David, who in his way to the throne of Ifrael, and after he was fecurely feated on it, experienced various misfortunes, the bifhop properly advifes his hearers to put their truft in the Lord.

"O tarry thou the Lord's leifure; be ftrong, and he fall comfort thine heart; and put thou thy truft in the Lord.'

This is a precept not only of the law, but of the gospel; and it cannot be too deeply impreffed on our hearts: indeed the most rational and well founded piety is confpicuous in every page of this difcourfe.