for the translator to introduce such heterogeneous matter by writing a preface.

We are next presented with an abridgment of the life of M. Desault, who survived the scenes of confusion and murder lately exhibited in France, written by one of his pupils, Havier Bichat. We shall select his character, as recorded by his friend:

• Desault was of a middling stature, of a well-proportioned shape, and of an open and ingenuous countenance. His constitution, naturally robust, had been strengthened by his first education; he was not weakened by the excess of pleasures; their allurements constantly found his heart indifferent.

All men have a predominant passion: his was the love of fame. They have all a favourite enjoyment: his was the improvement and exercise of his profession.

• At some moments he appeared to possess an irascible disposition, and was subject to involuntary bursts of peevishness and passion; but was ever ready to acknowledge his indiscretions. These weaknesses, although pardonable, often carried him beyond the bounds of strict decorum; and his pupils, although they held his talents in the highest degree of veneration, sometimes could discover a want of gentleness in his temper.

• His soul was noble, elevated, and great, even in its defects.He despised the base and underhand dealings of intrigue. He never had to reproach himself, with having obtained, by such means, the places he enjoyed.-He was affected sensibly at the ingratitude of his patients; and would have thought it disgraceful to have made the least advance, to procure a legitimate retribution due to his labour.

He had enemies:-but what man of his abilities ever lived without them? Envy, which constantly pursues merit with a persecuting zeal, opened on him the flood-gates of defamation; but his answer to calumny was uniformly a silent contempt. He had many friends. Their society was one of the chief pleasures of his life. At certain periods he assembled them at his house, and, in their conversations, diverted from his mind the recollection of his disappointments.

• There are few surgeons, who, having written so little, have enjoyed so great a reputation. Two causes have contributed to extend it:-first, the places which he enjoyed in the great hospitals of the republic; and, the second, the considerable number of pupils he had formed for his profession.

• He died, too soon for humanity, in the 51st year of his age, beloved by all who knew him, except those, in his profession, whom he had eclipsed. The nation was eager to render to his memory a distinguished homage, in securing to his widow an annual pension of two thousand livres. He had married Margaretta, daughter of Matthias Thouvenin. An only son, Alexis Matthias Desault, was the fruit of this marriage.'

The

The first part of the volume consists of remarks on 'chirurgical operations in general. These are delivered in a clear and simple method, and are properly adapted for the instruction of those to whom they are addressed.

The remainder of the book treats of diseases of the head, face, and neck. The enumeration of the symptoms of each is accurate and concise; and the mode of treatment is rational and judicious. With respect to the notes, which are promised, the translator observes :

The notes, on particular passages, which I intended to place under the text in each volume, I have relinquished, until the publication of the second, when they will be divided in such a manner as to bind up at the end of each volume separately, or to form a third, at the discretion of the purchaser. In pursuing my original intention, I found the publication would be considerably retarded, and the reader too frequently interrupted in the perusal.'

We cannot deem this mode of publication useful. If notes be necessary, they should accompany the text to which they refer; and it should be remembered that they are beneficial in proportion' to the ease with which they may be consulted.

ART. XIII. The Natural History of the rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia. Including their Systematic Characters, the Particulars of their several Metamorphoses, and the Plants on which they feed. Collected from the Observations of Mr. John Abbot, many Years resident in that Country. By James Edward Smith, M. D. F. R.S. P. L.S. &c. Folio. 2 Vols. 211. Boards. White, &c.

N his valuable preface to this splendid work, Dr. Smith [the

I British Linné) very justly remarks that, in the rapid advance

،

ment which the science of Natural History has lately experienced, the systematic study of insects has been largely cultivated; and that those botanists, who were most expert in the principles of scientific arrangement, have advantageously applied those principles to the other departments of Nature; for that, while the sagacious and acute Linné was conceiving and digesting the plan of his Philosophia Botanica, his labours tended to the grand effect of methodizing all natural knowlege. The principles of that immortal work, (says Dr. S.) appear throughout his zoological labours; and they have been particularly applied to the insect-tribe by his pupil, the celebrated Fabricius, whose Philosophia Entomologica has formed a new epoch in the science it is calculated to teach. While he marshalled his newfound squadrons under the banners of his great preceptor, the riches of Nature flowed in on every side upon the scholar, as they they had formerly done upon the master, seeming to have beern in each instance reserved for a favourite observer.'

The learned editor then proceeds:

• But although the systematic arrangement of insects has of late been prodigiously advanced, the philosophical study of their economy does not appear to have been equally cultivated. The splendid works of Clerc, Cramer, and Olivier, and the more exquisite one of Drury, do indeed display the complete insect, in a degree of perfection that leaves scarcely any thing to be desired; but where are the metamorphoses through which these finished forms have passed? and where are their various habitations, foods, and manners? Some European moths and butterflies alone are exhibited through all their changes, and with some of their varieties, by Harris, Wilkes, Esper, Ernst, the admirable Roesel, and the inimitable Seppe; but who, since the celebrated, though not very accurate, Merian, has laboriously scrutinized those of the remote regions of India or America?"

Dr. Smith likewise observes, for the information of those into whose hands this noble edition may fall, that the materials of which the work is formed have been collected on the spot by a faithful observer, Mr. John Abbot, who was many years resident in Georgia; and who, after having previously studied the metamorphoses of English insects, pursued his inquiries among those of Georgia and the neighbouring parts of North Ametica.

• The result of his observations he has delineated in a style of beauty and accuracy which can scarcely be excelled, and has accompanied his figures with an account, as well as a representation, of the plants on which each insect chiefly feeds, together with many circumstances of its manners, times of the different metamorphoses, and other interesting particulars. For all such facts recorded in these pages, the public are entirely obliged to Mr. Abbot. His memorandums, not methodized by himself for publication, have merely been digested into some sort of style and order, by the editor, who has generally added remarks of his own, in a separate paragraph and different type from the rest; and who has entirely to answer for the systematic names and definitions; that department having been left altogether unattempted by Mr. Abbot.'

Of these truly beautiful volumes, we are indeed enabled to speak with entire approbation. The plates are 104 in number, and are executed with admirable skill and elegance: on each is represented the caterpillar, chrysalis, and insect, and one of the plants on which it feeds; so that to the botanist as well as the entomologist this book is a valuable acquisition. The able editor has manifested his accustomed discrimination, and his intimate acquaintance with this branch of natural history, by the addition of synonyms from Linné and Fabricius, to such of the insects here represented as have been described by those two great naturalists:-a considerable portion, however, of these beautiful American Lepidopteræ has never before come under the notice of an European. On the whole, therefore, on account of the selection of rare and interesting objects, the elegance and apparent exactness with which they are delineated, and the able manner in which the editor has performed his office, this work cannot fail to be considered as a highly valuable addition to the materials which we already possess, towards a general history of the most numerous and beautiful tribe of animated beings.

The observations are given both in English and in French.

ART. XIV. The Sentiments of Philo Judeus concerning the Aoγος, or Word of God; together with large Extracts from his Writings compared with the Scriptures on many other particular and essential Doctrines of the Christian Religion. By Jacob Bryant. 8vo. pp. 290. 3s. sewed. Cadell jun. and Davies, &c. 1797.

W

HETHER Philo Judæus was a convert from Judaism to Christianity, is a question that has often been agitated among Christian critics. By some it has been decided in the affirmative; yet it is hard to conceive how those, who bave perused his works with any degree of attention, can be seriously of that opinion. In his writings, which are rather voluminous, we have not found the smallest indication of his being at all acquainted either with Christ or with his disciples; and, indeed, how should we expect it? Philo was an Hellenist Jew of Alexandria, who was either dead, or in a very advanced age, before we can suppose that Christianity had made any progress in Egypt.

The principal reason for the notion that Philo was a Christian seems to have been his encomium on the Therapeuts; who have been imagined, too credulously, to have been Christian Cænobites. A long and warm controversy, on this subject, was carried on about the beginning of the present century, between Father Montfaucon and the President Bouhier; in which the magistrate had, in our opinion, by far the advantage of the monk.

The English editor of Philo gave up his Christianity, but laboured hard to prove that, in some particular points, he was a Christian by anticipation; and that some of the most important doctrines of Christianity are found in his writings: particularly, the divinity and personality of the Logos:-so that Athanasius himself is not more explicit on the subject.

Mr. Bryant places Philo in another point of view. He supposes him to have derived all that he says of the Logos from the disciples

disciples of Jesus; and he even thinks that Philo must have been convinced of the principal truths of the Christian doctrine, while he had not the courage to embrace Christianity. We are far, very far, from being of this learned writer's opinion: but we shall let him fairly speak for himself, with respect to the great point; namely, that Philo believed in Jesus Christ.

• He speaks (says he, p. 15) at large in many places of the Word of God, the second Person; which he mentions, as (δευτερος Θεος) the second Divinity, the great Cause of all things, and styles him as Plato, as well as the Jews, had done before, the Logos. His thoughts upon this subject are very just and sublime: such as would do honour to a Christiar. But though the Jews in his time expected the Messiah Prince, and flattered themselves, that he would arise among their brethren, and exalt their nation: yet he suppresses every thought to this purpose; and intimates plainly, that, in his opinion, nothing human or corporal could be annexed to the Son of God. This prejudice was the great obstacle to his becoming a Christian : though he must have been convinced of the miracles of our Saviour, also of the sanctity of his manners, as well as of his goodness and wisdom. He must likewise have known many of the first proselytes, which were very numerous at Alexandria; and probably was not unacquainted with some of the Apostles. But notwithstanding these advantages, he could not bring himself to believe, that the Word could be made flesh: and a suffering Messiah, and Christ crucified, was past his comprehension. As to the operations of our Saviour upon earth, they were too notorious to be denied. He therefore says nothing in opposition: but passes over the whole in mysterious silence. Hence not a word is to be found in him about Christ Jesus the Messiah, nor of his mighty operations: which is extraordinary.

• But of the divine Logos, or Word, he speaks in many places : and maintains at large the divinity of the second Person, and describes his attributes in a very precise and copious manner, styling him,τον δευτερν Θεον, ός εσιν κειμε (Θες πρωτε) Λόγος, the second Deity, who is the Word of the supreme God. Πρωτογονον ύτος, his first-begotten Son. Είκων Θι8. The Image of God: and Ποιμην της ίέρας αγέλης. The Shepherd of his holy flock.

αυτοί

• In his Treatise upon Creation, he speaks of the Word, as the Divine Operator, by whom all things were disposed: and mentions him as superior to the Angels, and all created beings, and the image and likeness of God; and says, that this Image of the true God was esteemed the same as God-e (0) This Logos, the Word of God, is superior to all the world, and more ancient; being the Productor of all that was produced. The eternal Word of the everlasting God is the sure and fixed foundation, upon which all things depend. He mentions man, as in need of redemption, and says, - What intelligent person, who views mankind engaged in unworthy and wicked pursuits, but must be grieved to the heart, and call upon that only Saviour God, that these crimes may be exteruated, and that, by a ransom and price of redemption being given for his soul, it may again obtain it's freedom. It pleased God therefore to appoint his Logos to be a Mediator.