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meat in order to lay it up for their winter's thefe fubftances act, is not, perhaps, eafily ftock.

Thefe facts lead to the confideration of the queftion, whether falted meat be prejudicial on account of the quantity of falt it contains; or merely becaufe the falt fails to preferve the juices of the flesh in fuch a ftate as to afford proper nutriment? The latter, I believe, is the more prevalent opinion; yet, I confels, I cannot but think, that fea-falt itself, when taken in large quantities, must prove unfriendly to the body. The feptic quality of fmall proportions of falt mixed with animal matters (and fmall proportions only can be received into the juices of a living animal) has been proved by the well-known experiments ef Sr John Pringle. But befides this it may prove hurtful, by the acrimonious and corrofive property with which it may impregnate the fluids. It is univerfally allowed, that much falt and falted meats are very prejudicial in the diforders vulgarly called jewbatic amongst us; which, though in maBy refpects different from the genuine feakurvy, yet refemble this difeafe in many Tealing fymptoms, as laffitude, livid blotches, ipungy gums, and difpofition to hæmorrhage. And fome of the symptoms of the sea-scurvy feem to indicate a faline, and not a simple putrid acrimony; fuch as that of the disjoining of bones formerly broken; in which cafe, the effous matter of the callus is probably rediffolved by the faline principle contained in the animal fluids. On the other hand, it feems to be a fact, that feveral of the northern nations, whofe diet is extremely putrid, (as before hinted with respect to the people of Kamtíchatka) are able to preserve themfelves from the fcurvy; therefore putrid aliments alone will not neceffarily induce it.

On the whole, on an attentive confideration of the facts which have been recited, fome of which are upon a pretty extenfive ftale, I cannot but adopt the opinion, that the ufe of fea-falt is a very principal cause of the fearvy; and that a total abftinence from it, i one of the most important means f preventing Las difcafe.

A confiderable article of the diet of the eight Englishmen, thongh neceflity alone would have brought them to use it, was probably of confiderable fervice in preventing the diforders to which their fituation rendered them liable. This was the whale's fritters, which, though deprived of great part of their el, auft ftill contain no fmall share of it. All voyagers agree, that the Samoides, Ef quemaux, Greenlanders, and other inhabitants of the polar regions, make great ufe of the fat and oil of fish and marine animals in their diet, and indeed can scarcely fubfift without them. In what precife manner

explained; but as the ufe of them would, doubtlefs, caufe an accumulation of fimilar parts in the body, and as we find all animals deftined to endure the fevere cold of the arctic climates, are copiously furnished with fat, we may conclude, that it poffeffes fome peculiar efficacy in defending from the impreffions of cold.

With respect to the warm rein-deer's blood, which the Ruffian failors feem to have thought fo falutary, and the ufe of which is confirmed in one of the quotations; if it has any particular effect in preventing the fcurvy, beyond that of the juices extracted from recent animal fleth by cookery or digeftion, it must probably refide in fome unaffimilated particles, derived from the vegetable food of the animal, and ftill retaining confiderably of a vegetable nature. It is well known that the chyle does not immediately lofe its peculiar properties, and mix undiftinguishably with the blood; and that the milk, that fecretion the most speedily and abundantly feparated from the blood, poffeffes many properties in common with vegetable fubftances. their other prefervative, the swallowing of raw frozen meat, I am at a lois to account for any falutary effects it may have, except as an aliment rendered eafy of digeftion, by the power of froft in making fubftances tender.

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To proceed to the next important article, that of drink. It appears, that in all the unfuccefsful inftances, vinous and fpirituous liquors were used, and probably in confiderable quantities. Thus, in one of the Dutch journals, notice is taken, that an allowance of brandy began to be served to each man as foon as the middle of September. Writers on the fcurvy seem almost unanimously to confider a portion of these liquors as an useful addition to the diet of perfons expofed to the caufes of this disease; and due deference ought certainly to be paid to their knowledge and experience: but, convinced as I am, that art never made fo fatal a prefent to mankind as the invention of diftilling fpirituous liquors, and that they are feldom or never a neceffary, but almost always a pernicious article in the diet of men in health, I cannot but look with peculiar fatisfaction on the confirmation this opinion receives by the events in these narratives.

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Indeed, from reafoning alone, we might naturally be led to the fame conclufion. great degree of cold renders the fibres rigid ; and by repelling the blood and nervous principle from the furface of the body, increases the vital energy of the internal organs. Hence, the heart contracts more forcibly, and the ftomach has its warmth and mufcu

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lar action augmented. In these circumftances, stimulants and aftringents feem by no means indicated; but rather fubftances of an oppofite nature, We have acquired by afsociation the idea of oppofing actual cold by matters potentially or metaphorically hot; but this is in great meafure a fallacious notion. On the contrary, it is found that the effects of exceffive heat are best refifted by warm and acrid substances, fuch as the fpicy and aromatic vegetables which the hot climates most abundantly produce, and which are so much uted in the diet of the inhabitants. And if it be admitted as a general law of nature, that every country yields the products beft adapted to the health and fuftenance of its inhabitants, we should conclude, that aromatic vegetables and fermented liquors are peculiar ly appropriated to the warmer climates; while bland, oily animal matters are rather defigned for the ufe of the frigid regions. Spirits, as antifeptics, may, indeed, feem to be indicated where there is a neceffity of living upon corrupted putrefcent flesh; but they cannot act in this way without, at the fame time, rendering the food harder and more indigestible, and, consequently, leffening the quantity of nutriment to be derived from it. The temporary glow and elevation caufed by fpirituous liquors are, I imagine, very fallacious tokens of their good eflects; as they are always fucceeded by a greater reverfe, and tend rather to confume and exhaust, than to feed and invigorate, the genuine principle of vital energy. Another extremely pernicious effect of thefe liquors, is, the indolence and ftupidity they occafion, rendering men inattentive to their own prefervation, and unwilling to use those exertions, which are fo peculiarly neceffary in fituations like thofe defcribed in the foregoing narratives. And this leads me to the confideration of a third important head, that of exercife.

The utility of regular and vigorous exercife to men expofed to the caufes inducing fcurvy, is abundantly confirmed by experience. Captain Cook feems to attribute his remarkable fuccefs in preferving the health of his crew, more to great attention to this point, than to any other circumftance. This opinion is greatly corroborated by the relations before mentioned. Captain Monck's crew, wintering with their fhips in fafety before them, and well furn fhed with all kinds of fe-ftores, could have little occafion for labour. The two companies of Dutchmen feem to have done little during their melancholy abode, but drink brandy, and imoke tobacco over their fires. On the other hand, Captain James's men were very fufficiently employed in the labo rious task of building their pinnace, which

notwithstanding their weak and fickly state, they had nearly completed, before they found the work unneceffary. The three Ruffians on Eaft Spitzbergen who furvived, are expreffly said to have used much exercife by way of prefervative; as alfo, according to Counsellor Muller, do those who winter in Nova Zembla. A difficulty, however, here occurs; which is, that we know it to be the custom of the inhabitants of the very northern regions, to spend their long winter night almost entirely under ground; seeming, in that refpect, to imitate the animals of the country, which lie torpid in their holes and dens during the winter. From the journal of the eight Englishmen, too, I should judge, that they were inactive during the greatest part of the time that the fun was invifible. But it is to be remarked, that in these instances, what I confider as the most powerful cause of the fcurvy, the ufe of falted provifions, did not exift; and therefore less powerful prefervatives would be neceffary. Further, the English crew had a very fcanty allowance of provifion of any kind; which would, doubtlefs, take off from the neceffity of much exercise. Thus, the animals which fleep out the winter, take in no nutriment whatsoever, and therefore are not injured by abfolute rest.

Exercife is probably serviceable, both by promoting the difcharge of effete and corrupted particles by excretion, and by augmenting the animal heat. As far as cold in itself can be fuppofed a caufe of disease, its effects will be most directly opposed by increafing the internal or external heat. And this leads to the confideration of the fur ther means for guarding against and tempering the intenfe feverity of the wintry air in there climates.

It appears from the journals of the unfortunate fufferers in these attempts, that they endured great miferies from the cold; their fuel foon proving infufficient for their confumption, and their daily increasing weakness preventing them from fearching for more, or keeping their fires properly tupplied. On the other hand, the English and Ruffians had not only made their huts very fub ntial, but had fecured plentiful fupplies of fuel. And the nations who conftantly inhabit the arctic regious, are reprefented as living in an actually warm atmosphere in their fubterraneous dwellings, and guarded by impenetrable coverings when they venture abroad. The animals, too, which retire during the winter, are alw a s found in close caverns of deep burrows, rolled up, and frequently heaped together in numbers, fo as to preferve a confiderable degree of warmth. Of the feveral methods of procuring heat, there can be little doubt, that warm clothing, and

the mutual contact of animal bodies, must be the most friendly, as being moft equable, and not inviting fuch an influx of cold air, as is caused by the burning of an artificial fire. And the advantage of fubterraneous Lodgings is proved by the well-known fat of the unchanging temperature of the air at certain depths beneath the surface.

Thefe are the most material observations that have occurred to me, on reflecting upon the remarkable hiftories and facts before related. I would flatter my felf that they might aflift in the framing of fuch rules and precautions, as would render the fuccefs of any future attempts of the like kind lefs precarious.

Extract from An ESSAY on the PLEASURE which the MIND receives from the EXERCISE of its FACULTIES, and that of TASTE in PARTICULAR. By CHARLES DE POLIER, Efq. Read Feb. 27, 1782.

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[FROM the SAME.]

HE agreeable fenfations we receive from the productions of the fine arts, are, in a great measure, owing to the order and fymmetry, which enable the mind to take in, without labour, all the different parts of them. It is by this, that rhyme becomes agree. able in poetry. Some have contended, indeed, that this return of the fame founds, invented in the Gothic ages, ought to be claffed among the Acroftics, Anagrams, and fuch other frivolous productions, whofe only merit lies in their difficulty. They inftance the Greeks and the Romans, whofe poetry, far more harmonious than ours, charms the fenfe, and delights the ear, without the help of rhyme. But they do not feem to have attended fufficiently to the ufe of poetry, and the nature of the ancient languages. Verfes are made to be fung, or to be rehearsed. From the mouth of the actor, the musician, or the reader, whoever he may be, they are fuppofed to pass into the minds of a whole people; and their compofition is the more perfect, the more readily they prefent themfelves to the memory.

The Greek and Latin tongues, by means of their long and fhort fyllables, and the va ious measures into which they may be reduced, form a kind of chaunt, melody or noted air, which the memory can easily lay hold of; and therefore, the return of the fame founds becoming ufelefs, would cause nothing but a difagreeable repetition.

Our modern languages have not the fame advantage, or poffefs it, at least, in a much lefs degree. The blank verfe of the English, German, and Italian, except in very few fhining exceptions, feems to be verfe only to

the

eye, or depends at least fo much on the kilfulness of the reader, as not to obtain the effect above-mentioned, with by far the greateft part of those who read them. Poems where it is ufed, are not popular: the ideas they convey, the fentiments they mean to

inculcate, however forcibly expressed, da not easily recur to the memory; and I dare fay, that for one perfon who remembers a paffage from Milton, Young, or Akemfide, there are twenty who will quote fome from Pope, Dryden, or Prior.

This controverfy has long been decided in France, where, notwithstanding the ftrenuous efforts of one of its greatest poets (Monfieur de la Motte) rhyme has kept in poetry the dominion which the nature of the French language inconteftably gave it.

In England, where a Shakespeare and a Milton have written, the matter feems yet to be fub judice. It would ill become me, as a young man, and a foreigner, to be that judge; but I may be indulged in fupporting what I have alledged here in favour of rhyme, by the opinion of the best critic now living in this nation, Dr. Jobafon; who, admiring the powers of Milton, and the amazing dignity given to his fentiments, by a verfification which he otherwife rather difapproves, adds, "He that thinks himself capable of aftonishing, may write blank verfe: but thofe that hope only to please, must condefcend to rhyme."*

Another general objection has been brought against rhyme. "How comes it, fays Monfieur de la Motte, that this monotony, which you affirm to be, by its nature, so agreeable in poetry, is almost conftantly fo unpleasant in a fifter art, in mufic ?" To this might be anfwered, that the chief object of the mufcian being to delight by the founds, he can. not fucceed better than by varying them judiciously: whereas a Poet is not fatisfied with charming the ears of his audience; he wifhes to imprefs on their memory a feries of ideas, of fentiments, of expreflions; and there are none of his veríes which he would not be glad to engrave, with indelible characters, on the hearts of all mankind. He avails himself, therefore, of the rhyme which

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modern languages offer him, as the most favourable help towards the attaining of his purpofe.

But to return to our fubject, from which I must beg pardon for having wandered fo far. Imitation, which is the principle of all the fine arts, is another fpecies of fymnmetry, whether it acts by means of colour, of founds, of geftures, or of words. The objects it prefents, eaûly take hold of our imagination, by the compariton we make of them with objects already known to us. Ariftotle and his followers have maintained, that the pleafure produced in the mind, by the reprefentation of any object, was owing to its acquiring, by that means, new degree of knowledge. This opinion feems wrong, because it allows no difference between a juft and an unfair reprefentation; nor any gradation of pleasure, from the different degrees of execution. The mind every way makes a new acquifition of knowledge, and muft, therefore, receive agreeable fenfations alike, from the Iliad of Hamer, and the Thebaid of Statius; the pictures of Raphael, and thofe of a fign-painter; the music of Handel, and the uncouth notes of an Irith piper.

Other philofophers have afferted, that the reprefentation of an object pleafes, only by its interefting the paffions. And fo far it is

a

e, that the foul cannot be moved, or strongly affected, without it. But does not even the leaft interefting object make a flight impreffion of pleafure, at least on the furface of the foul, if it is well reprefented, and if an exact fymmetry is to be feen between the picture and the original? Every body must have felt it; and it proceeds from this principal law in the nature of our senfations that any object becomes agreeable, whofe parts are fo formed, and fo difpofed, as to prefent the mind with an eafy, clear,

and diftinét idea of the whole.

What is called Contraft in painting, poetry, and eloquence, is another fort of fymmetry, which, by bringing contrary objects near to each other, fets off the features of the one, by the comparifon we make of them with the features of the other. This relation has been taken from nature, in whofe works it feldom fails of having a pleafing effect. It is from it, that the views in Switzerland, and in other mountainous countries, are fo particularly agreeable, The difimilitude of the objects which the eye en braces, renders them all more ftriking, and helps the mind to get a clearer idea of the whole. Thus, when skilfully applied to the productions of art, contraft is generally attended with great fuccefs. We accordingly read, that the ancient fculptors,

in order to fet off the beauty of a Venus, a Grace, or an Apollo, ufed to place them in a niche formed in the ftatue of a Fawn, or a Satyr; and Virgil, in order to paint more ftrongly the agitation of Dido's heart, places the fcene of her agonies in the night, when Alorpheus fpread his peaceful influence over all the reft of mankind.

There are, befides fymmetry, certain relations or proportions, which the mind easily conceives, and which therefore become agreeable. Thus, in architecture, for inftance, the height of the porticos, in regu lar buildings, is double the breadth; the height of the entablature, is a fourth, and that of the pedestal, a third of the height of the column. All eminent architects, among the different proportions adapted to their de fign, have always made choice of those which the mind could comprehend without any difficulty. The fame may be obferved in mufic. Of all concords, the unifon and the Fave should be the most agreeable, becaufe they excite more vibrations in the fibres of the ear: but the pleasure we receive from this enchanting art, depends more on the mind, than on the organ adapted to convey it. The fifth is the most agreeable of all concords, because it prefents to the mind a proportion, the finding out of which gives it a degree of exercife, that caufes no weari nefs, confequently no difgust.

Some compofitions there are in music, which please only profound musicians, and ftrike, perhaps, the rest of the hearers as hath and difcordant. May not this be owing to the very fine taste of the former, by which they are enabled, in the midst of feeming diffonances, to find out relations, which do not affect ears lefs exercifed than theirs?

The analogy which we find in all the works of nature, allows us to conjecture,

that the fame law which determines the agreeableness of founds, has also an influence upon other objects of our fenfes. Some colours, for instance, fet together, give an agreeable fenfation to the eye, and more fo than if they appeared fingle. The fame principle may, perhaps, be extended ta fmells, and to favours, with fome reftrictions, however; for, though it may be generally afferted, that thofe which are falubrious are agreeable, yet it must be owned, that their agreeablenefs does not always feem to depend on their falubrity.

But it is not just proportion and symmetrical relation alone that renders the works of the fine arts agreeable. They are chiefly made fo, by one principal object, or common end, to which all their different parts are adapted, and which enables the mind the

more

more eafily to comprehend, and to retain

them.

Wifdom, in morality, has been defined→→→ The having one good purpose in view, and ufing the best means to attain that purpose. So beauty, in the imitative arts, might be faid to confift in the choice of a good object, and in making every thing tend to the expreffion of it, as to one common end. Certain it is, that this correfpondence of the parts with the whole, is to be confidered as The firft and principal caufe of agreeable fenfations. It is alone fufficient to give beauty to the moft fimple objects; and, if other embellishments are wanted, it becomes the standard of their propriety, and the rule by which we can determine, whether they are real beauties, or only fhining blemishes. But to give the mind an easier and more agreeable perception of the object, art has fill gone farther. Among all thefe parts, which are made to refer to one common end, a principal one is chofen, to which all others are fubordinate, and which becomes like a center of re-union for them. Architecture can illuftrate this. Unacquainted with the real beauties of their art, the Gothic architects never failed to place, on both fides of the body of their buildings, fuch enormous wings, or rather malles of stone, as almoft totally eclipfed it, and kept the fight divided and undetermined. Bromante, Palladio, and after them most of the modern architects, taught, perhaps, by Vitruvius, but certainly more acquainted than their predeceffors with what would ftrike the eyes agreeably, have placed, in the middle of their buildings, a principal part, which, eminent above the reft, gives the fight a fixed point, from which it can glance over all the reft, and fo enable the mind to get, at once, a clear and diftinct idea of the whole.

All fculptors, in those works where the eye might be divided by the number of figures, fuch as groups, entaglios, basso-relivos, fhew great attention to this rule, and always chafe a principal object, to fix the fight of the beholders. The three Rhadian artifts, whofe joint work, according to the elder Pliny, has produced the famous group of Laccoon, which now ftands in the Belvi dere at Rome, feem to have had that principle ftrongly in view, in the. difpofition of their figures. The Society, I truft, will forgive me, if, by way of illuftration, I here join a defcription of that celebrated monument of

human powers, which Michael Angelo, himfelf a wonder of modern times, used to call a miracle of art, This defcription I shall, for the most part, take from a French book, which deferves to be better known in this country, from whence fo many annually go to vifit the claffical ground of Italy, and fo many in vain, from the want of proper guides: 1 mean, Le Description biftorique et critique de l'Italie, par Monf. l'Abbé Richard, 6 vol. 12mo. Paris 1769. In English, An hiftorical and critical Description of Italy. By Abbé Richard, 6 vols. 12mo.

The group of Laocoon was found in the Thermes, or Baths of. Titus, about the year 1506, under the pontificate of Julius II. who immediately bought it from the poffeffor of the field, where it had been dug out. The figures are higher than nature, and of fo beautiful white marble, that the fight of it alone charms the eye. The workmanfhip is exquifite, of fuch a noble style, and fuch a correctness of execution, as befpeak it a work of the best Grecian age. It is not the Laocoon defcribed by Virgil, as rending the fky with his thrieks, ftruggling hard for his life, and roaring, like a bull flying from the altar where he has been wounded.

"Clamores fimul horridos ad fidera tollit, Quales mugitus, fugit cùm faucius aras Taurus.”

VIRG. Æneid. IL

"His roaring fills the flitting air around. Thus, when an ox receives a glancing wound, He breaks his bands, the fatal altar flies, And with loud bellowings breaks the yielding fkies." DRYDEN.

It is not that man, execrated by a whole people for having difcharged a spear against the horse confecrated to Minerva, and whom the vengeance of the Gods purfues:

"Scelus expendiffe merentem Laocoonta ferunt, facrum, qui cufpide robur VIRG. ibid. Læferit."

"The general cry Proclaims Laocoon juftly doom'd to die, Whofe hand the will of Pallas had wittistood, And dar'd to violate the facred wood :"

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"Sicut in Laocoonte, qui eft in Titi domo, opus omn bis, et picturæ et fta uariæ artis, anteferendum, ex uno lapide, cum et liberos, draconum mirabiles nexus, de Confili fententia fecere, fummi Artifices, Agriander, Polidorus, et Athenedorus, Rhodii,”

Ph. Hitt, Nat. Lib. XXXVI. cap. 5,

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