Mr. Douglas's defign, in this performance, is to prove the antiquity of the earth, from the confideration that petrifactions of animal fubftances require a vaft space of time to become totally changed in their texture, and acquire the ftony form in which they are found. Naturalifts univerfally allow petrifactions to be undeniable proofs of the great age of the world, but we do not recollect that any one, like our Author, has pretended, from the various phenomena attendant upon thefe fubftances, to determine what length of time would be neceffary to produce the changes they have undergone and indeed with very great reafon; for the fituations in which animal relics lie buried are fo various, and the circumftances of their lodgments fo widely different, that no arguments of any weight can be brought to fhew how long this or that must have lain before it could have been in part or wholly petrified.

The principal fact on which Mr. Douglas builds his arguments, is the difcovery of fome petrified bones at Chatham, 12 feet below the furface of the earth. They were depofited in a ftratem of drift or river fand, blended with a kind of clay, of a yellowish grey tinge: the incumbent foil was a compact loam with horizontal veins of a blackish hue running through it. This vein of loam extends itself, in an horizontal direction, through the town of Chatham, about 20 feet above the level of the river Medway at high water-mark. By the pofition of the bones, and the fragments that were preferved, they appear to have belonged to one entire animal. Our Author procured part of the under jaw with two teeth (of which he has given an excellent aquatinta plate), and fome other tragments; they were wholly deprived of their animal falt, and fome of them, especially the jaw, are permeated with a lapidefcent matter.' Mr. D. enters into a long difquifition about animal falt, and the component parts of animal fubftances, but in a manner which fhews that he is not yet an adept in chemical knowledge.

Returning to the bones, he concludes, and indeed with every appearance of probability, that they are the remains of an Hippopotamus, at prefent an inhabitant of the Nile, and other large rivers of Africa; and fince they were difcovered petrified and entire in a foil which had been formed by the refidue [lubfiding] of the water,' it should feem that they must have been depofited by this caufe, that the animal must have lived near the place where it was found, and, confequently, could not have been brought from any of the African rivers by Noah's food. From a confideration of these circumftances, Mr. D. makes the following conclufions:

That this ifland has been under a warmer influence of climature than at this prefent æra.

That the animal called the Hippopotamus, the inhabitant of the continent of Africa, muft have been depofited on the ftrand

frand of the river Medway by waters, feparable from that epoch recorded in holy writ which fubmerged the world in forty days.

That the earth was once endued with a power of tranfmuting bodies into ftoney or hard fubftances, which it seems no longer to poffefs; or that by the undoubted teftimony of these petrified animal bones, they must have been interred much anterior to any written record, from fome extraordinary convulfion of the globe.'

It is ftrange that the earth fhould have been once endued with a power which it feems no longer to poffefs. We have ever been of opinion that one of the principal properties of nature is to be fibi femper fimilis, and it must be acknowledged that her operations are carried on in the fame manner now as formerly: as an inftance of which we mention the petrifaction of a human body found in 1722, which lay buried about 50 years in the copper-mines at Falhan in Dalecarlia, vid. Linn. Syft. Natur. tom. iii. This is a recent fact, which we look upon as furnishing an undeniable proof that petrifactions have been produced within these last 100 years.

Our Author next confiders the petrifactions of elephants' bones and tusks, fo frequently found in various parts of Europe. The Emperor of Germany's mufeum at Vienna furnished him with numerous fpecimens of this petrifaction, fome of which are throughout calcareous, while others are entirely changed to the hardest black agate. Thefe are confidered as having required an immenfe length of time to become fofully faturated with Japidescent matter.'

Mr. Douglas has had various opportunities of finding human bones in many different foils, with the date of their depofit interred near them; and one in particular with a variety of relics found in the grave, he takes the liberty to introduce as perfectly effential to the matter of the prefent difquifition. The bones, which were entire during the space of 1 300 years, were not calcined, but contained almost as much glufen or animal phlogifton as a recent bone; and an ivory armilla, not a quarter of an inch in thickness, found in the fame grave, also preserved its animal

* I beg to obferve, when I speak of petrifaction, that I mean a quality which the earth appears to have had of indurating bodies, by the operation of certain acids, and not of that quality with which certain foils are endued, of depofiting an earthy or ferrugineous incrustation on the bodies enclosed in it; or of that power which produces fparry or stalactical matter, and which is fometimes found to enclofe heterogeneous bodies; in fhort, of that power which is known to come within the fcope of human definition, and to which a phyfical caufe can be afcribed.'-Indeed, Mr. Douglas, this is a very curious chemical note!

falt,

falt. From thefe premises our Author thinks he is juftly permitted to draw this inference :

That, as the earth, within the given time of thirteen hundred years, has not had the power of petrifying fo fmall a fubftance as an ivory armilla, or of extracting the animal property from it; the time which would have elapfed to have rendered the tusk of an elephant calcareous, and to have converted it into the folid substance of an agate, could not bear any relative proportion to the tranfition of time, which human obfervation has thus prefixed: hence, by a progreffive fucceffion of truths, I may naturally conclude, that fome unknown lapfe of time must have tranfpired for the production of this phenomenon, or that the earth must have been endued with a power of operating this effect, which fome revolution in nature has now entirely deftroyed.'

This is the principal outline of the performance before us, though it was not without difficulty that we were able to give our readers any idea of the Author's plan, for he writes in a very defultory and immethodical manner, and his ftyle in many inftances betrays hafte and inaccuracy. We hope, however, that in time his judgment will controul his ideas, and in fome measurereftrain the flight of his imagination,' fince he seems, from the fpecimen before us, to be poffeffed of ingenuity and abilities that may be highly useful in the cause of science, efpecially when joined with the ardent defire which he appears to have for useful difcoveries.

In the Appendix Mr. D. offers fome obfervations on the bones found in the rock at Gibraltar, and others of a fimilar kind. Buffon's fyftem, and Whitehurst's theory of the earth, are examined, and remarks are made upon them.

The plates in aquatinta accompanying this work, which we find to be the Author's own performance, are neatly executed, and are good representations of the originals, particularly those of the coins, which we cannot help commending as engravings, although they are totally foreign to the main fubject of his book.

m.

ART IX. A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, illustrated by Plates taken from the original Armour in the Tower of London, and other Arfenals, Museums, and Cabinets. By Francis Grofe, Efq. F. S. A. 4to. 2l 2s. Hooper. 1786.

IN

N our Review for July 1785 we gave our readers an account of the first number of this ingenious work, wherein we explained, as far as the preface could enable us, the intention and nature of the performance. The whole being now completed, we find it divided into two parts, one defcribing defenfive, and the other offenfive arms. Although Mr. Grofe confines himself

chiefly

chiefly to the armour worn in England, from the conqueft to the time of its difufe, yet he frequently entertains his readers with descriptions and engravings of foreign ancient armour; especially when the confideration of the latter elucidates or explains any particulars relative to the former. The fources whence Capt. Grofe has drawn his information and examples, are the armour and weapons themselves; he has never mentioned any part of armour without having the original before him both for the verbal defcription and drawing, fo that we meet with nothing of which fpecimens may not be seen either in public arfenals, private cabinets, fepulchral monuments, or ancient feals; and in order to fatisfy the curiofity of his readers, he has, in the explanation of the plates, always been attentive to refer to the originals whence the drawings were made; and in the hiftorical and defcriptive part he is no lefs careful to quote authorities for what he advances.

Such is his general plan, and the accuracy with which he has executed it, is fimilar to that obfervable in his former publications.

The feveral parts of armour are defcribed feparately, their ufes are pointed out, and the different forms in which they were made at different periods of time, are fully explained. The learned Reader will find many curious remarks relative to the etymology of the names of the moft material pieces of armour; by which it evidently appears that our Author has not compiled the prefent performance in hafte, but that it has been the refult of extenfive reading, clofe ftudy, and a mature confideration of the fubject. The hiftorian will also receive much instruction as well as entertainment from an attentive perufal of this treatife, especially in fuch matters as relate to fieges and martial operations. In a word, readers of every defcription will have the fatisfaction of meeting with fomething agreeable or useful.

The engravings which, being 49 quarto plates, befide an elegant frontispiece, conftitute a confiderable part of the book, are executed in that mafterly ftyle which has always characterized the Captain's former works: they are exact reprefentations of the originals, which is a moft material recommendation of them; they would however have been much more agreeable to the eye had they been drawn without the ftands or props on which the armour is fupported. Though the ftands are neceffary in the arsenal, yet they fill the picture with an appearance of fomething foreign and extraneous: but it feems a peculiarity of this accurate artift, to let nothing efcape which prefenis tielt to his eye, when he is viewing a fcene, or drawing an object.

9*

Rim

ART.

ART. X.

FOREIGN LITERATURE.

ITALY.

Art. 1. NUOVO Methodo, &c. i. e. A new Method of treating certain Disorders under chirurgical Infpection. By M. FULGONI. 4to. With Plates. Rome. 1786.The first of four differtations contained in this work treats of aneurisms in the lower extremities, the fecond of the fracture of the collar bone, the third of the fracture of the knee-pan, and the fourth of the ufe of camphor in the cure of external wounds. To thefe differtations our Author has prefixed fome critical reflections on chirurgical practice, and hiftorical accounts of feveral eminent practitioners, whofe merit is celebrated with due applaufe. To these are added two remarkable observations; one, of an imperfect conformation, in which the parts of generation, and the urinary bladder, were wanting; the other, of two heterogeneous fubftances which found a paffage into the bladder, one by the mouth, the other by the urethra.

2. Delle Offa, &c. i. e. A Memoir concerning the Bones of Elephants, and other natural Curiofities, found in the Mountains of Verona. By the Abbé FORTIS. 8vo. Vicenza. 1786.We have received information concerning this work, but we have not yet seen it: when it comes to hand, we shall communicate the ingenious Abbé's explication of the matter. As the bones in question announce elephants, in great number, of all ages and all fizes, thefe fragments cannot be fuppofed to belong to the elephants which are faid to have been brought into Italy by Hannibal and Pyrrhus.

3. Lettere fifiologiche, &c. i. e. Phyfiological Letters of Dr. ROSA, Prefident of the College of Phyficians at Modena. 4to. Macerata. 1786. These letters do honour to the penetration and industry of their learned Author, whose discoveries and observations have contributed not a little to explain feveral curious and important phenomena both in the animal and vegetable world.

4. Memorie, &c. i. e. Hiftorical Memoirs of the Eaft-Indies. By Father EUSTACHIO DELFINI, a Piedmontefe Carmelite. 8vo. Turin. 1786.-This Monk, who accompanied the French admiral Suffrein in his expedition to the Indies, gives us a topographical description of that extenfive region, together with an hiftorical account of the different forms and tenets of religion that diftinguish its inhabitants. Like all new comers on the historical scene, this Author corrects, on several occafions, the relations of preceding travellers and obfervers. Among other things, we find in this publication a life of the famous Hyder Ali, together with a relation of many fingular

events.