their fhips in narrow, intricate, and difficult channels, and in tide ways; and the feamen in the Eaft India trade are so on the open feas.

I have heard it was faid by the great doctor Halley, that the fafety of navigating fhips, in his time, depended principally upon three L's, meaning lead, latitude, and lookout. But a late mathematician, a friend of mine at Liverpool, faid, that there was no hidden or unknown principles concerned in the art of building, failing, working, and managing of fhips, but the laws of motion, the preffure of fluids, and the properties of the leaver, which are all well known to the British philofophers and mathematicians, and nothing fo much deferved their attention and purfuit, to bring this art to its utmost perfection for the welfare and fupport of Great Britain.

Thefe reafons, and that of the most of the useful arts hav ing been made public, to our great improvement and advantage, emboldens me to publifh this laboured performance on this long neglected subject, which, I muft own, will appear to great difadvantage from the unexpected difficulties I have found, in being a new writer venturing to lead the way on fo important and extenfive a subject, in this learned criticifing age; but for my imperfections, as a fcholar, I hope the critics will make allowance for my having been early in life at fea as cook of a collier; and having fince then gone through all the most active enterprifing employments I could meet with, as a feaman, who has done his beft, and who, as an author, would be glad of any remarks candidly pointed out how to improve his defects, if there should be a demand for fecond edition

After this fimple and ingenuous conclufion, it would have been cruel to criticife feverely a performance fo well intended, even if we had found the work in general deferving of animadverfion. It is, however, but doing the author juftice to acknowledge that, excepting thofe defects, and for which the apology he has made may be admitted as sufficient, we have, on a careful perufal, found his book filled with materials equally new and useful...

The performance is not of that kind which usually paffes under the title of a Treatife of Navigation, containing only the mathematical rules and methods of computing a fhip's way and run on her various courses; but it includes the mechanical conduct or working of a fhip in all fituations, befides a practical account of every thing proper to be done on fuch occafions. The directions and obfervations under the feveral heads are taken from, and illuftrated by practical cafes, in which the author was concerned, and which ferve greatly to enforce the precepts he endeavours to inculcate. The directions and obfervations feem both to refult from good fenfe, and a careful attention to circumftances.

Although the language and method may be condemned as defective, they are fufficient to render the differtations clear, and not unpleasant; the descriptions are alfo illuftrated with many useful copper-plates. To enumerate the contents would give no adequate idea of this performance: recommending it therefore to the attention of practical mariners, and to commmanders in particular, we hall take our leave of it with the following fhort fpecimen, on towing and rowing a fhip in chafe.

Chafing in little winds and calms, may often require both to tow and row the fhip with oars, therefore, to do it in the most advantageous manner, deferves notice. When towing a ship to make her fteer and work, it may require the tow-rope not only from the bowfprit end, but from the jib boom end, which will give more power in proportion as it is farther from the hip's turning motion to pull her about, but when towing to give a fhip the moft head way poffible, the tow-rope fhould be made falt no higher than necessary to keep it clear of the water.

To row the hip with oars, the oars fhould be made fuitable to the room the hip affords to row and flow them.-In the Liverpool privateer, we rowed with eleven oars on each fide, and fculled with two, run out right aft, after the manner of the Chinese. And in order to add more power, by more people pulling altogether, at the oars on each fide, and prevent the confufion and hindrance that is occafioned by the people's not pulling all together, we had fwifters for each fide, made of fingle ropes with gromits in them, at the fame distance of the row ports from each other, and put on the handles of the oars fo that men could pull between the oars by these swifters, which after a little practice, foon made all the people pull completely together.

The two fculling oars abaft were made crooked or curved, with the flat of their blades bending downwards, and an iron focket nailed to the under part of the oar at the port, when the blade was flat in the water, and a fhort bolt tapered and filed like a wood screw, with a round head, was fixed in the middle of the ports for the pars to turn upon, the ftaples in the deck, right under the handle of the oars, to hook a line with an eye-fplice on the handle of the oar that bears the ftrain, whilft the men fcull by ftanding on each fide of the handle of the oar, and only have to pull to, and push from them with all their ftrength, which makes the blade cant and aft flanting downwards into the water each way with great power, to give the fhip head way, and may likewife help to fteer the fhip and bring her about from one tack to the other, when it cannot be done by the rudder, and fweep a fhip ftern about as occafion may require, when engaging in a calm. The comparative power and effect of fculling oars, to force a veffel through the water, is indifputably proved in China, where the the people appeared to me no ways expert in their navigation, but in this method of fculling all their very

numerous river veffels and paffage boats great and fmall without any fail or rudder: and this they do in a more dexterous easy and expeditious manner, in my opinion, than any other part of the world that I have feen. I have obferved with pleasure their veffels with 20 tons of goods and room to accommodate their fa milies, fculled by two men only, from the city of Canton (20 miles) to our fhips, ftemming and fculling against the tide, running above two miles an hour and laying the fhips on board in á fafe and easy manner. And not only their large river veffels, but their small boats are moved very faft through the water by this method of fculling. I was once in a fine eight oar'd pinnace that was beat with eafe and laughed at by two men in one of their common bumb-boats in fpite of our utmost endeavours, this therefore deferves notice, and might in my opinion be brought into useful practice among us, on many occafions, in narrow rivers, canals, boats to land numbers of men where there is not room to row with oars, and our whale boats, &c. for with the very power they fcull the veffel a head they steer her at the fame time, which must on this account be much better than a rudder, that ftops water, as has been obferved on rudders. I cannot forbear here remarking that these Chinese fculling veffels are built upon good principles to answer their propose, as all veffels that are to be moved with oars or paddles ought to be, having flat rounding bottoms, with flanging projecting bows and fterns, without keel, ftem or ftern post to hinder their ready turning, and drawing fo little water that they are eafily made to kim in a manner, at a great rate over the furface of it, where the particles give way much easier than they can do at a greater depth, and their method of fculling makes (them as much as poffible for art) to imitate the nature of porpoifes, which fcull with their horizontal tails fwifter than any other fifh we fee at sea, where they frequently feem to fport and mock a fhip when failing at the rate of ten miles an hour, and will fwim as may be observed fculling with their horizontal tails crofs and cross the ships bows at fuch an angle, that they cannot go lefs than at the rate of 30 miles an hour, which must be allowed to make greatly in favour of the Chinese method of fculling their veffels, inftead of rowing them as we do with oars, which are levers, and our method of applying their power in rowing, will in my opinion never be beat, by any complicated machinery.'

Hiftorical and practical Enquiries on the Section of the Symphyfis of the Pubes, as a Subfiitute for the Cæfarian Operation, performed at Paris, by M. Sigault, October 2, 1777. By M. Alphonfe Le Roy. Tranflated from the French, by Lewis Poignand. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Baldwin.

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So early as the time of Hippocrates it was obferved, that in pregnant women, the bones of the pelvis gradually separate from each other, by a dilatation of the fubftance which con

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nects them; but though the juftness of this remark has been repeatedly admitted by anatomical writers, it was not till lately been rendered fubfervient to any useful purpose in the practice of the obfterrical art. The perfon entitled to the honour of this invention is Mr, Sigault, a French phyfician, who, in 1768, pro. posed the section of the fymphyfis of the pubes as a substitute for the Cæfarian operation, so often productive of the most fatal confequences; and the utility of this practice was exemplified last year in the cafe of Mrs. Souchot, on whom he made the experiment, in conjunction with Mr. Le Roy, the author of thefe Enquiries, After informing our readers that Mrs. Souchot was a deformed woman, of a small stature, with a narrow pelvis, we shall prefent them with the account of the operation.

I obferved that the child prefented by its feet, that the orifice of the uterus was very much dilated, and that the diameter, from the anterior to the pofterior part of the pelvis, did not exceed two inches and a half. I told Mr. Sigault, that as the diameter of a child's head at its birth is usually at leaft three inches and a quarter, it would be impoffible for it to be delivered at an aperture of only two inches and a half that confequently the muft fubmit to the Cæfarian operation, or that which we intended to fubftitute for it, to which laft the confented.

"Every thing being got ready, we folded the mattrass three times, and placed her on it. We began by feeling for the middle part of the cartilage of the fymphyfes, which we readily discovered by the finger. I advised Mr. Sigault to begin the fection of the fuperior part of the fymphyfes, but not above the pyramidal mufcles, and to do it by two incifions. First, to divide the integuments as far as the middle of the pubes, while I held the lower part downwards, and then to begin the fection of the cartilage. Secondly, to finish the incifion of the integuments, without any fear of hæmorrhage obstructing him in the fection of the cartilage, Mr. Sigault had nothing but a common bistory to perform this operation with. The thighs being opened and raised, he performed it in the manner mentioned. The moment the feparation was completed, the pubes parted, as if the ftring of a bow had been divided, and receded to each fide under the integuments. I immediately began to extract the child after Mr. Sigault had broke the membrane, and brought the feet as far as the os externum. I first made myself sure of the extent of the separation which we had gained by the section, in order to judge of a proper method to extract the head. I laid my four knuckles in the space procured by the fection, which measured o

anebes and a half, an extent fomewhat more than that which I had gained upon the body of Mrs. Braffeur, which gave me pleasure. The child's heels were turned to the right fide, and Iextracted the body by gentle efforts, which I directed towards the lateral parts entirely, and not to the spine. I difengaged the left arm, and then the right, the head being still above the brim of the pelvis, I applied my hand to the face, which correfponded with the fymphyses of the left ilium; f opened her thighs as far as I could, and fixed the largest portion of the right parietal in the feparation. The integuments projected; I made the left parietal answer to the right lateral fide of the hollow of the facrum; afterwards, upon raifing the body of the child, I drew out the left lateral fide of the head, while at the fame time, with the right hand applied to the nafal foffa, I brought the chin downwards. By thefe united efforts I overcame the greatest resistance at the brim of the pelvis. When it had now gained the hollow of the facrum, I brought the occiput between the feparation, and difengaged the chin at the inferior part of the os externum, by raising the child's body; the reft of the body followed prefently, and the patient was delivered, to her great joy, of a diving fon. The thighs being lowered, the feparation appeared not to exceed eight lines. I immediately extracted the placenta, because the uterus began to contract itself exceedingly.

During this operation, which was neither very painful nor tedious, the woman loft very little blood, and the husband being called in, could fcarce give credit to fo fortunate and speedy a delivery. We applied fome lint to the wound, and removed the patient on the mattrafs, in order to make her bed. Upon the leaft opening of her thighs the felt very acute pains in the left pofterior fide of the loins and pelvis. We applied a napkin, by way of bandage, to keep the pelvis in a just position, to which we fastened two ribbands behind, one on the right, the other on the left, and brought them under the thighs, in order to tie them before. When put to bed, we found her pulfe was not affected, and enraptured at becoming a mother, the requested us to give her the child, in order to fuckle it.'

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Mrs. Braffeur, whofe name is mentioned in this narrative, was a person on whose body Mr. Le Roy made trial of the operation, immediately after the had expired from the injurious treatment of a woman who attempted to deliver her.

Mr. Le Roy informs us, that he has performed the section of the pubes upon dead fubjects, both male and female. In the former he obferved a feparation of between two and three