beral extracts from another pamphlet, entitled, A brief View of the Conduct of Penfylvania, &c. Both thefe pieces came from the fame quarter, and exhibited a fummary of the famous but unhappy contest betwixt fome late Governors of that province, as agents for the proprietary, Mr. Penn, on the one part; and the Affembly, on behalf of the people, on the other. From the representations contained in the Brief State, and the Brief View, it feemed to us, (as far as people at our distance from the scene of debate, and without any particular connexion with that part of the world, could be fuppofed competent judges) that the Affembly were much to be blamed for the part they acted in this conteft;-that, at leaft, if not altogether unreasonable, they were extremely unfeafonable, in their demands upon the Proprietor; and that while, inftead of providing for the common fafety, against the cruel attacks of the common enemy, they continued obftinately disputing about the taxation of particular lands, they were, at the fame time, in the most imminent danger of being difpoffeffed of the whole, and left without any lands to difpute upon.

The Affembly, however, conceiving the object before them to be of the utmost confequence to the rights and liberties of the people they reprefented, and that if they yielded up the point now, it would be yielding it up for ever, feem to have adopted this maxim, that Thofe who would give up effential liberty, to purchase a little temporary fafety, deserve neither liberty nor fafety *?

On this principle, the assembly hath steadily persisted in maintaing their point; and, without pretending to judge of the merits of the caufe, with respect to either party, we fhall only observe, that, in our opinion, never was any public debate carried on with more poignancy and fpirit, on both fides: and that the many meffages and anfwers, which paffed between the Governors and the Affembly, may be numbered among the moft acute and masterly pieces of the kind we have ever feen, in any language, ancient or modern. They were printed in the public papers of Philadelphia; and, as lovers of good compofition, we cannot but regret that they have never been collected, and re-published here.

To fhew, that the popular fide in this political conteft is not afraid to appeal likewife to the public, as the other party is fuppofed to have done, in the pamphlets above mentioned, fome pieces have lately appeared, which feem to come from the

Vide a book juft published, entitled, An hiftorical Review of the Conflitution and Government of Pensylvania, &c. of which an account will foon be given in our Review.

agents

agents or friends of the Affembly; the firft of which, in the order of publication, is the tract whole title-page is copied at the head of the prefent article. This Enquiry, however, relates not immediately to the affair of the taxation; although that affair probably contributed to its appearance. Its defign is to place the proprietary family in an unfavourable point of view, before the eye of the public; and to fhew, that their mif- usage of the Indians + has been the cause of their alienation from the British intereft; and confequently, that to this cause we are to afcribe the affiftance which thefe Indians have afforded to the French; and all the horrid devaftations they have made upon our back-fettlements, fince the commencement of the present war.-The knowledge of the truth, with regard to these particulars, is the more feasonable at this time, while an appeal here is depending; and at a juncture when moderate men of both parties feem to be convinced, that the beft method of ending all difputes, and preventing fuch difagreeable confequences for the future, will be, for the government of the mother-country to take that of this province into its own hands, and to fettle it upon the fame footing with the left of cur moft flourishing colonies.

As to the journal of Chriftian Frederic Poft, which is added to this inquiry, it is a curious, though fomewhat tedious account of the fuccefs of this honeft enthufiaft; to whofe negotiations with the Ohio Indians, and the withdrawing them from the intereft of the French, is afcribed, in a great measure, the fuccefs of General Forbes's expedition againft Fort du Quefne, in the fummer of 1758. The great danger to the general's army, fays the Editor, was, that it might be attacked and routed in its march by the Indians, who are fo expert in woodfights, that a very fmall number of them are fuperior to a great number of our regulars, and generally defeat them. If our army could once arrive before the fort, there was no doubt but a regular attack would foon reduce it. Therefore, a proper perfon was fought for, who would venture among those hoftile Indians with a meffage; and, in the mean time, the general moved flowly and furely. Chriftian Frederick Poft was at length pitched upon for that service. He is a plain, honest, religiously difpofed man, who, from a confcientious opinion of duty, formerly went to live among the Mohickon Indians, in order to convert them to chriftianity. He married twice among them, and lived with them feventeen years, whereby he attain

Particularly by a fraudulent purchase of lands, about twenty years ago.

He was fert by the Quakers of Philadelphia, for whom the Indians have a great rega: d.

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ed

ed a perfect knowledge of their language and cuftoms. Both his wives being dead, he had returned to live among the white people; but at the request of the governor he readily undertook to perform this hazardous journey. How he executed his truft, the journal will fhew. As he is not a fcholar, the candid reader will make allowance for defects in method or expreffion. The form may feem uncouth, but the matter is interefting. The Indian manner of treating on public affairs, which this journal affords a compleat idea of, is likewife a matter of no Imall curiofity.'

Since the publication of this tract, another of Poft's journals has been published, price is. It contains the particulars of his fecond journey, on a meffage from the governor of Penfylvania to the Indians on the Ohio; and affords a further proof, that gentle and pacific measures with the Indians, are to be preferred to violent and hostile means.

The event of this negociation was, that the Indians refused to join the French, in attacking Forbes, to defeat him in his march, as they had defeated Braddock: fo that the French, in despair, blew up their Fort (Du Quefne) before the General arrived.'

A Treatise on the Eye, the Manner and Phenomena of Vision. In two volumes. By William Porterfield, M. D. Fellow of the Royal College of Phyficians at Edinburgh. 8vo. 12s. Millar, &c.

THE

HE ftructure of this curious and useful organ, and the manner wherein vifion is performed, are fubjects which, in all ages, have excited the curiofity, and employed the refearches of the moft celebrated phyficians and philofophers; but their various hypothefes were inconfiftent and abfurd, till the great Sir Ifaac Newton, from the nature and properties of light, and the laws of refraction, fupported by a number of convincing experiments, at length established the true theory of vifion. Since his time, a great many writers of the first reputation, following the fame tract with our illuftrious philofopher, have enriched this subject with a number of new obfervations and experiments.

The learned and ingenious Dr. Porterfield, published two differtations in the Edinburgh medical Eflays, on the external and internal motions of the eye; in which he difcovered great acuteness of judgment, and an extenfive knowledge of his fub

In this publication he has confiderably enlarged his plan; we fhall prefent to our readers, as fketched out by him

6

felf,

felf, together with fome reflexions on the nature and utility of this part of his defign: which was, fays he, to explain the phyfiology of the eye; in which I have omitted nothing either neceffary or useful, or curious and entertaining, that our defigned brevity could eafily admit of. I have examined the ftructure and use of its external parts, and thence deduced the neceffity of their different conformations in different animals. I have inquired into the globe or body of the eye itself; and, for the better understanding its beautiful economy, I have confidered these fix things, 1. Its fituation in the body; 2. Its connection with the orbits in which it is placed; 3. Its form; which is either spherical, as in man, or fpheroidal, as in feveral other creatures; 4. Its number; which in man is always two; but greater in fome other animals; 5. Its motions, which are wanting in fome animals; and lastly, Its fabrick and compofition; than which nothing can be more beautiful or noble; every part, however different in different animals, being always fuch as beft contributes to the perfection of the whole. After this I have explained the nature and chief properties of light, and from thence, and the known fabrick of the eye, I I have deduced not only the true manner of vifion, and the use of the feveral parts of this organ, but also have accounted for the neceffity of its different conformations in different animals; and have fhewn its ftructure and difpofition to be always fuch as is beft fitted to their neceffities of life, and their manner of living. And lastly, I have, from the above eftablished principles, accounted for the chief phenomena of vifion. From all which, every body may fee, what a noble piece of geometry is manifefted in the fabric of the eye, and the manner of vifion. There is not one part of the whole body, that difcovers more art and defign, than this small organ: all its parts are so excellently well contrived, fo elegantly formed and nicely adjusted, that none can deny it to be an organ as magnificent and curious, as the fense is useful and entertaining. Surely it cannot be faid, without betraying the greateft ignorance, as well as impiety, that the eye was formed without skill in optics, or the ear without the knowledge of founds.

Of what use this theory may be for understanding the dif eafes of the eye, and the method proper for curing them, is too obvious to need to be infifted on: for want of fuch a theory, the diseases of the eye have in all ages been thought to have fomething very intricate in their nature, and to require a method of cure quite different from all other difeafes: whence, as Herodotus tells us, the ancient Egyptians had perfons fet apart for treating thefe difeafes, who were not to meddle with any other; and even yet, which is very ftrange, and much to be regretted, notwith

Nn 3

notwithstanding the great difcoveries in anatomy and optics, their cure is frequently committed to pretenders to fecrets, and ignorant empyrics, who call themselves oculifts; but, being entirely ignorant of the principles of medicine, and particularly of the economy of the eye, the ufe of its parts, and the manner of vifion, they ought never to be trufted with the cure of fuch a tender and delicate organ, wherein the leaft mistake may be of the greatest confequence; of which we daily meet with but too many inftances, when it is too late to help them. But the diseases of the eye have nothing intricate in their nature; neither does their cure depend on any other principles, than thofe commonly employed in other difeafes, provided only due regard be had to the nature of the eye, and the use of its feveral parts. And this ought the more to be here inculcated, because fome of our ableft phyficians have not yet left off talking of specific medicines, as if there were fome fuch, that are fpecifically appropriated to the diseases of this organ; whereas in fact, there is no fuch thing all medicines for the eyes operate the fame way as in other difeafes; whence the fpecious title of specifics ought always to be laid afide, as ferving for nothing, but to nourish and cloak ignorance, and the method of cure ought to be directed according to the general indications taken from the preternatural ftate of the folids and fluids of the difeafed part. For the body of man is nothing but a curious machine, whose actions or functions are the neceffary confequences of its ftructure it is compofed of folids and fluids, which, fo long as they abide in their natural ftate, all the functions are regularly performed. But, on the contrary, when they are any way vitiated, then the functions are lefed, or, which is the fame thing, a disease ensues.

The function of the eye is vifion, and whatever hurts the fight, is called a disease: fo that, to cure any disease in the eye, nothing is required but to restore that natural ftate and condition to its parts and humours, from which perfect vifion does proceed.

The conditions required for perfect vifion are indeed very numerous, as may be gathered from what has been faid above, and therefore the difeafes of this organ, or the want of one or more of thefe conditions, muft alfo be very numerous. To explain these diseases in a rational manner, and agreeable to the principles I have laid down, and to point out a method of cure founded on reafon and experience, is what I fhould now pro

ceed to.'

All that is premifed in thefe two volumes, our Author ins us, is chiefly intended as a Lemma for the more eafily unanding the difeafes of the eye, and the means by which they

may