MEDICINE.-If the increase of the population of a state be an object of the greatest solicitude in countries not already over peopled, every thing which contributes to the preservation of human life must be of paramount interest.

Independent of the inclemency of the seasons and the thousand accidents to which man is naturally liable, there are other causes which operate powerfully on individual health, and are intimately connected with the established institutions of a country. A wise and paternal government, seeks as much as possible to diminish the homicidal influence of a bad climate, and pays particular attention to all those labours which may be injurious to the health of those who execute them.

If in the choice of a spot for building a city, more attention were paid to the purity of the air, the good quality and the abundance of the water; if in tracing the plan of a city, the breadth and direction of its streets were determined with due regard to a proper circulation of air; if cleanliness were more strictly enforced, &c., there is little doubt but that the mortality of cities would be greatly diminished. In like manner, if the pernicious consequences which result from the inconsiderate destruction of the forests were duly considered; if all pestilential marshes were dried up, and stagnant waters carried off, many diseases would be prevented, and much effected for individual happiness and the general advantage: of a country. The extreme wretchedness, however, of the lower classes of the people brings them, more than any thing else, to untimely graves, and deprives their country of hands.

These considerations belong to internal policy, but it is curative, not preventive means that are now to occupy our attention. Man, by his very nature, is subject to sickness, and his intelligence, his experience and his observations, have led him to the discovery of remedies. His first efforts in the healing art were confined to the knowledge of a few simples and their application. In the virtues of a few plants he discovered almost all that was necessary to cure him of the few complaints to which he was liable in his primitive state. The congregating of men in cities, their forced and sedentary occupations, their factitious and unwholesome diet, ridiculous and dangerous habits; in a word, luxury and refinement of pleasures have considerably increased the catalogue of human diseases, and hence medicine has become a science, and its practice a profession. Philosophy has, to a certain degree, enlightened the progress of the healing art,

which anatomy and the great discovery of the circulation of the blood, have so greatly advanced. But if, on the one hand, the number of able physicians has increased, it cannot be denied that charletans are still more numerous. It is difficult to decide whether the ability of good physicians at all diminish the prevalence of disease and the number of untimely deaths; but every one must agree that quacks convert the slightest indisposition into an incurable malady, and seldom prolong life.

Of all the sciences none is more difficult than medicine, nor is there any one more important in its results; for when it fails to diminish our sufferings, it unquestionably augments them; and, therefore, no object perhaps claims more attention from a wise legislature than the progress of Medicine. Surgery is a positive art; with a perfect knowledge of the anatomy of the human body, firmness and dexterity, a surgeon is almost certain of the success of his operations; it is not so with the physician, his science is occult. It is impossible for him to know before-hand, and with certainty, the effect of even the simplest medicines, and so much the more is he in perfect ignorance of the effects that will be produced upon the organs by the numerous drugs, mixed up in all proportions, which he administers. The very diseases themselves, and their true seat, are concealed from him by the great number of complicated symptoms which they present; thus every thing in his art is conjectural, and if we except the discovery of a few specifics really efficacious, such as bark and a few other substances, it does not appear that medicine has advanced in proportion to other sciences. We have seen, it is true, more than one Sangrado, symptoms have been multiplied, and each one, however absurd, has had its day and its partisans.

From these considerations it would appear, that medicine is entirely an empyrical and almost useless science, and those who practice it dishonest men; but it is not altogether thus, and though we have but a poor opinion of the science, we have the highest esteem for many of its professors. The humanity and disinterestedness of many of the medical profession, have reflected the highest honour on the body to which they belong; consecrating their lives to the service of suffering humanity, often without other reward than an approving conscience, they have atoned for the presumption and dishonesty of those unworthy members, from which

their profession, no more than any other, is wholly free. In general it may be said, that if medical science is not what it is to be wished it were, it is less the fault of the Faculty than of the nature of the science itself.

Nevertheless, we may distinguish, even in the curative art, the reasonable from the ridiculous. An exclusive system is bad in every science, in medicine it is dangerous. The wisest amongst physicians, is he who establishes his practise on experience and the observation of nature, whose wholesome operations he endeavours to assist.

The end which every wise administration should propose to itself, in what regards physicians and their art, is, to remove as far as possible the causes of sickness, and to watch with attention over those who pretend to prevent or to cure our bodily ailments.

Besides what may be gleaned from the foregoing remarks, we will point out a few special observations which the traveller should make.

Are there, in the country, any medical schools? Are they organised in such a way that the ablest physicians, men of real merit and ability, are ambitious of becoming professors in them?

What are the studies to be followed, and the examinations to be gone through, to authorize any one to practice medicine? Are the schools maintained at the expense of the government or of private individuals; are they sufficiently provided with all that is necessary for the study of Anatomy, Chemistry, Medical Botany, Physics, in a word, for the study of the medical science generally, and the sciences immediately connected with it.

May every one, duly qualified, follow the practice of medicine? Are there any laws prohibiting all unqualified persons from practising medicine, and are these laws rigorously enforced; are they efficient or defective? Are the apothecaries, compounders and retailers of medicines. and drugs subjected to proper regulations, for preventing the evils that may arise from their ignorance or their dishonesty?

Is the publication of medical works and journals encouraged, and do there appear many treatises on particular diseases?

Is there any particular system of medicine followed in the country, and if so, what is that system; is it conformable or not to the nature of the climate, the physical

constitution, the food and general habits, and mode of life of the inhabitants, &c. ?

Has the nation much or little confidence in the efficacy of medical science? Do the people still indulge in superstitious notions regarding the infallibility of certain medicaments? Do the people in general know the medical virtues of the common plants of the country; do they apply this knowledge with success; or, being ignorant of this, are they, nevertheless, from poverty, forced generally to treat themselves when ill, and thereby frequently increase their ailments? Are there in the rural districts many old women who pretend to be possessed of infallible remedies and recipes, and if so, what good or mischief do they do?

What is the beneficial or prejudicial influence of the ordinary food of the people, and particularly of the labouring classes; where it is unwholesome, what kind of change is it possible or desirable to introduce?

Are there any particular manufactures or arts which are prejudicial to the health of those engaged in them, what processes might be employed to render these labours less hurtful?

Are there any endemic diseases, and, if so, to what causes may they be attributed? Have the people any particular modes of treating such diseases, and what are they? What are the most common diseases of the country; and what are those which, being common or known in other countries, are unknown or very rare in the country the traveller is visiting; and to what may this happy exemption be attributed?

Is vaccination known in the country? what attention is paid to its propagation? what does the government do or prescribe on this subject? Can any calculation be made of the probable number of lives that have been saved by this happy discovery, since its introduction into the country? when, and by whom was it introduced? does the small-pox still cause any ravages? Are the people generally favourable to inoculation, for the natural or the cowpox, or are they opposed to these preventive measures? What public or private establishments are there for the relief of suffering humanity? How are they organised and what influence have they exercised since their foundation? Is there anything yet wanting to be done in this respect, and what?

Are murrains frequent in the country, what animals

what may

do they effect; at what seasons of the year; they be attributed to; how are they treated, and what steps are taken to arrest the progress of the contagion?

The success of the medical science in the country will be best shown by the hospital registers, where such are kept, and may be relied on; for they detail the number of the sick, and the nature of their complaints, with the number of cures effected, and the number of those who succumb.

These and every other observation which may suggest itself to the mind of the traveller should be made by him, if he would have a competent knowledge of the state of medical science in any country.

SECTION II.

LITERATURE.

In every civilized country, whatever may be its institutions, there exists a constant relation between the laws, the morals, the customs, the arts and sciences, and literature. The principles which regulate one of these objects, affects all the others, so that it is impossible to arrest the progress of, or effect any changes in, the one, without affecting all the rest.

When the institutions of a country facilitate the natural progress of things, and exercise such influence only as is necessary for the prevention or repression of prejudicial excesses and exaggerations, they all advance together towards perfection; wherever, on the other hand, the free development of man's various faculties is impeded by a thousand absurd regulations, every thing stagnates or retrogrades; and those governments that unwisely seek their safety by means so opposed to their own best interests, ever recognize, sooner or later, the fatal error of their system. A discontented people, paralyzed efforts, uncultivated fields, ruined manufactures, innumerable bankruptcies, a stagnant