Page images
PDF
EPUB

the water to an air-cheft, whence it is forced to the external trench of the bafon,' higher than the engine, and diftant perhaps 60 or 70 yards, The air-cheft may be about 16 feet above the river. The communication from it to the trench, is by a wooden pipe of Scots fir, of three inches bore. From the trench the water filters into the bafon. The bafon is a circle of about 23 feet diameter, and to deep, funk perhaps about two feet below the level of the ground; its bottom of puddied earth; its fide, a wall of free-ftone, neatly jointed, but laid without cement. It is furrounded by a bed of fand, or very fine gravel, about fix feet wide, the fame depth with the bafon, and retained by a wall of freeftone ruble without cement, and, like the former, about a foot thick. A fecond bed of gravel furrounds this wall, of the fame width and depth as the other, but the gravel coarfer, and retained by a fimilar wall to the former. The water-trench fucceeds: about fix feet wide, of the fame depth with the bafon; the bottom of puddled earth, as are the bottoms of the fand-beds. The outer wall of the trench is double; the interior one hewn ftone joined; the exterior, thick whinftone. A space of about 16 inches between them is rammed with clay or puddled earth; a coping of hewn ftone covers both in; the cutfide is faced with earth and turf, and gradually floped to the level of the furrounding ground. All the ftone employed in the first communication from the river, and in the walls, is carefully picked from quarries perfectly free from any metallic tinge. From the bafon, a pipe is carried below the fand-beds, to a diftance of perhaps a furlong, to where a declivity in the ground gives opportunity to drive a cart below the mouth of the pipe, where a large cask, placed upon it, is commodiously and expeditiously filled.? Vol. I. p. 260, 261.

The chapter ends with an account of the exaggerated and absurd assertions of a certain set of physicians, who maintained that water was the panacea for all diseases; and of the controversy which they maintained with a more jolly set, who asserted the superior virtue and salubrity of wine.

The chapter on Milk is also very diffuse; and we are minutely informed, that it may be eaten raw-boiled-sour—as cream-as butter as whey-and in punch. Nay, the worthy Baronet actually condescends to insert into his text a particular recipe for the preparation of that luxurious beverage, known by the name of milk punch, The general directions for the use of this article are perfectly obvious and familiar,

We proceed next to fluids compounded with water, and not fermented; under which the learned author treats at great length of gruel, toast and water, teas, coffee, chocolate and soups. The dissertation on tea is full of all manner of common-places, and is incredibly tedious. The arguments for and against the use of this favourite beverage are stated at great length, and the balance held by so very impartial a hand, that it is not easy to say on which side the author understands it to preponderate. If people will

drink

drink tea, however, he informs us that it should not be green, but black tea; that it should be mixed with much cream and sugar, and only taken along with solid aliments. We do not know on what authority he asserts, that the practice in the east is to boil at once the quantity of tea to be used, and thus, to speak learnedly, to employ the decoction instead of the infusion. Whatever the authority be, however, we should be disposed to reject it, on the faith of the celebrated ode or recipe of the great Chinese emperor Kien Long, who must certainly be admitted to be a judge without appeal in a question of this nature, and who, we recollect, is so far from recommending boiling the leaves, that he will only allow them to be infused for a very few minutes in an open cup. Barrow, too, assures us, that this is the universal mode of preparing tea, at least among the opulent part of the Chinese community.

The author gets at laft to 'fermented liquors,' and favours us with the analysis of Wine from Thomson's chemistry. We have then a tiresome array of the arguments for and against the use of wine, drawn up in the moft tame, vulgar, and childish language. We give the following as a fair fpecimen of this tritical effay.

It is alfo faid, that not only phyficians, but that many philofophers, have recommended the ufe of wine as a prefervative againft chagrin, and as a falutary remedy in disease. Seneca informs us, that Solon and Cato fometimes cheered themfelves with wine; a glass of which they confidered as tending to produce Arength, and as a remedy against many disorders, as well as an antidote to grief. Plato, though fevere against the ufe of wine for the young, yet permitted men of forty years of age, to drink it with moderation, and even invites them to take a cheerful glass.

The firft effects of wine, we are told, are an inexpreffible tranquillity of mind, and liveliness of countenance; the powers of imagination become more vivid, and the flow of fpirits more fpontaneous and easy, giving birth to wit and humour without hefitation. Diffipat ebrius curas edaces. All anxieties of business, that require thought and attention, are laid afide; and every painful affection of the foul is relieved or alleviated.

Invigorated with wine, the infirm man becomes throng, and the timid courageous. The defponding lover forfakes his folitude, and filent fhades, and in a cup of Falernian, forgets the frowns and indifference of an unkind miftrefs. Even the trembling hypochondriac, unmindful of his fears and ominous dreams, sports and capers like a person in health. Regaled with the pleafures of the board, the foldier no longer complains of the hardships of a campaign, or the mariner of the dangers of the ftorm.' I. p. 311.

He ends with recommending temperance, and with Professor Hahnemann's teft for the detection of deleterious fubftances in wine. After this he condefcends to defcribe the process for making negus

and

and cup; and, paffing rapidly over cyder and perry, comes to malt liquor, the fubject of which he introduces with the following learned paragraph.

We are informed, that in very early periods of hiftory, the art of making a fermented liquor from barley, was difcovered by the Egyp tians, which was anciently called barley wine, (vinum hordeaceum,) and was afterwards known under the name of northern wine, (vinum regionum Septentrionalium,) being principally used in northern countries; (indeed, in hot countries, or in very warm weather, it can hardly be made at all); and by fome it has been called the strength of corn, or liquid bread.'. I. p. 326.

We are then presented with a long enumeration of contradictory opinions and affirmations on the subject of Ale, which the worthy author endeavours to reconcile, by the good wholesome recommendation of moderation in the ufe of it; and by obferving, that most of the objections feem rather to be levelled against the abuse than the use of that article. He is also pleased to inform us, that ale is faid to be derived from ale, to nourish;' that it is good for women giving fuck; and, that new ale is most nutritive; whence tipplers may be faid, with Boniface, to eat as well as to drink their ale;' though we really do not perceive very clearly the grounds of that facetious induction.

Spiritous liquors are treated, on the whole, with great indulgence; and are even recommended, in fmall quantities, when the body has been expofed to wet or fatigue. Of punch we are told, that it is a mixture of fubftances very oppofite in their nature, being strong and weak,-fweet and four !'-and that the author's correfpondents in Glasgow make rather a favourable report as to its falubrity. Before clofing the chapter of intoxicating fluids, we have, as might have been expected, fome moral reflections on the effects of intemperance. We prefer, on the whole, the following obfervations on the feats of a noted toper, by name Mr Vanhorn, of whom we are informed

In the space of three and twenty years, it is computed, that he drank, in all, thirty-five thousand fix hundred and eighty-eight bottles, or fifty-nine pipes of red port. It does not appear, that Mr Vanhorn found this regimen favourable to longevity; indeed it is more than probable, that it cut him off before he had lived half a century. It is incredible, what pleasure any individual can feel, in fuch abundant potations, in the courfe of which, he resembles more a cellar than a man; for there are many cellars that never contained what this man's ftomach muft have done, namely, fifty-nine pipes of port wine.' I. p. 356.

There is something peculiarly ingenious, though rather severe, in the comparison of Mr Vanhorn's stomach to a cellar; though, as he rarely exceeded four bottles at a time, it is rather hard on the honest gentleman, to say that his stomach ever actually contained fifty-nine

fifty-nine pipes of port. Sir John, however, is for all sorts of sobriety; he is of opinion, that we should rise from the table with the desert, but allows us to drink a little more in winter than in summer, and in advanced life than in youth.

After this come 150 pages on Solid Food,' divided into eight long sections, the first being dedicated to point out the trses of solid food, and the necessity thereof;' or, in other words, to prove that man could not subsist without eating. We do not think it necessary to make any abstract of the learned arguments by which Sir John has incontrovertibly established this important fact. We cannot say, however, that he has been altogether so successful in his attempt at medical lexicography; for, of the ten technical words of which he has been pleased to prefix an explanation to this chapter, he has mistaken the meaning of at least three. Acescent is not sourish, but having a tendency to become sour ;Alkalescent, in like manner, is that which has a tendency to become alkaline-not putrid as Sir John has it ;-and Esculent does not mean nourishing, but eatable.

His first division is of Vegetable food; under which he treats of fruits, nuts, pulses, grains, roots, salads, &c.; and delivers nothing that we can discover but the most common and obvious maxims. In treating of salads, however, he informs us, that there are instances of persons living only upon grass and hay;' and quotes, in confirmation of this assertion, the 4th chapter and 32d verse of the prophet Daniel! We really did not expect to find the diet of poor Nebuchadnezzer commemorated in a modern treatise on vegetable food; but we cannot help admiring the accuracy with which the learned President of the Board of Agriculture speaks upon this interesting subject. The prophet says only, that the humbled monarch ate grass like an ox; but Sir John is too learned in the feeding of cattle, to let this pass uncorrected; he therefore makes the addition of hay also; taking it for granted, no doubt, that his Babylonish majesty grazed only during the summer season, but was stalled and fed with good dry hay in the winter.

We get next to Animal food; beginning with quadrupeds. He puzzles sadly about beef and veal;-first, beef is easily digested by persons in health ;-then veal is not so easily digested, nor so fit for weak stomachs as is commonly imagined ;-then, when properly roasted, it is not so heavy as beef, and ought to be given to the sedentary and delicate;-it is afterwards added, that the flesh of oxen is more digestible the younger it is ;-and, finally, it is solemnly declared, that beef is easier of digestion than veal! This, it must be owned, is not altogether so distinct or conistent as might be wished; but, to make amends, we are told that

'pork

'pork is savoury food; and, as this animal is of no use to man when alive, it is therefore properly designed for food; and, besides, from its loathsome appearance, it is killed without reluctance!' Of birds, we are informed, that the flesh is particularly calculated for persons in the studious professions, as the blood produced therefrom is clear, light, and full of spirits, and peculiarly favourable to exercises of the mind.' And then we are told of pigeons, that if any person were to live on them for sixty days, a fever would probably be the consequence!' Of fish he eloquently observes, that it makes an excellent addition to vegetable food; for instance, with potatoes or other roots, what can be more acceptable than a salted or smoked herring, to give a relish for such insipid diet?' We have afterwads the following profound and important remarks.

Filh is much improved by the addition of butter. Indeed, the use of butter fauce feems to be a rule followed from fome inftigation of inftinet, rather than a precept of reafon, as it has not yet been fully accounted for. The ufe of butter, at the fame time, muft make the fifh heavier; and hence thofe difagreeable confequences arife, which render drams neceffary, the fault of which is occafioned by the fauce, though the innocent fifh are blamed for it. Fish and milk are not proper together; nor are eggs to be used, unless with falt fifh.' I. p. 411.

The enumerarion of esculent animals is closed with a long comparison between animal and vegetable diet, which results in this most impartial and conciliatory decision, that a mixture of both is the proper plan to pursue.

The worthy author's philanthropy is not satisfied with directing us as to the kind of food we should eat, or order in general; but he dedicates two long sections to our instruction in the arts of Preserving and of Cooking it. The first is set about in a most. orderly and scientific manner. After observing that wild and hungry men would probably eat their meat as they found it, he proceeds, with becoming solemnity, to trace the steps by which more provident and elegant practices would be introduced.

Men, however, would foon become defirous, not only to preferve food for a few days, and to render it more palatable, but would also fee the neceffity of laying up, while they had it in their power, a ftore of provifion for future use, in order to prevent any risk of scarcity or famine. The various arts which have been discovered for that purpose, may be claffed under the following general heads. 1. Drying in the fun. 2. Artificial heat. 3. Salting. 4. Pickling. 5. By butter. 6. By fugar. 7. By ice. 8. By charcoal. 1. p. 43, 432. Each of these articles is gone over at great length; and, in the end, we come to Cookery. This valuable section begins with telling us, that the primeval inhabitants of the earth certainly ate their meat raw;' and also, that raw flesh produces great

bodily

« PreviousContinue »