a

ham; and it was Mr. John Hunter who first taught us the cause of those phenomena, which the former, indeed, saw, but accounted for by an erroneous theory.

The fourth and last chapter is chiefly occupied with “ Prevention :" it concludes with observations on variolous and vaccine inoculation.

The following short deductions quoted from chap. ii. are worthy of attention :

“ If what we have said is admitted, it will follow, that the fever from infectious atmosphere is to be ascribed to the confined effluvia from living bodies — the yellow fever to effluvia of putrid animal or vegetable matter exposed to a hot sunand the plague to the latter, joined to an epidemic constitution of the air. That in all, a fomes may excite the disease, yet we are not certain whether a diseased subject is contagious, unless in a certain atmosphere. Lastly, if a pestilential atmosphere may sometimes be of itself sufficient to excite fever, it is still probable, that its effects would be greatest in crowded cities, as we have seen is the case with influenza.”

In respect to a disease on which the Doctor must be allowed to be well qualified to decide, he thinks that since the discovery of vaccination, not only districts but individuals may secure themselves whenever they think proper. After stating a case from Dr. Jenner, of a boy receiving the infection while attend. iug to the operations of a grave-digger in a country churchyard, he observes, “ that the means of exterminating smallpox are, first, by an universal vaccination ; next, by an universal quarantine; next, by shutting up all burying-grounds, burning the furniture of all suspected houses, painting and white-washing the houses themselves.”

“ I should conceive it lost time," observes he, soon after, “to offer even a summary of the arguments adduced to prove that cowpox is a security against smallpox. There is, in my opinion, no medical fact that stands on a securer foundation. The very exceptions that have been made are so few as to establish thelaw. In all inquiries, we are to consider the credibility of witnesses, On the side of cowpox, they are not only the most numerous,

but include those names to which the public look up

with the greatest confidence. On the other side there are certainly respectable names, but the number is comparatively small. The publications, however, on this subject are 'so numerous, and have been so lately digested by Dr. Willan, that I shall leave the mere question of evidence, and content myself with offering a few proofs that the cowpox and smallpox are the same morbid poison."

Again, at the conclusion of the whole, our Author thus decidedly expresses himself in behalf of cowpox:

“ As to every other mark of perfect or imperfect vaccination, nothing has been added since the discoverer published his

Enquiry.' There is no mode of judging of vaccination but by the progress of the vesicle, by its contents, its scab, and cicatrix; and though the last may prove a confirmation when regular, it is not to be considered when irregular as a sufficient proof of want of security. The vast numbers we have tested in every possible way at the hospital prove to a conviction, that whatever objection may be made by the enemies of vaccination, or whatever doubts and anxieties may be nursed by its over-zealous friends, the practice must ultimately bear down all opposition, and the arguments against it will be forgotten, or only recollected, like the early pamphlets against variolous inoculation.".

In addition to this, and the other works already enumerated, Dr. Adams was also, for some years, the editor of the “ Medical and Physical Journal.” Of this periodical publication, one

, third of the property appertained to him; the printer and bookseller, two very respectable tradesmen, having each an equal portion with himself. It was supposed likely to have proved advantageous to all parties; but a dissension among the partners unhappily took place; and it is not at all unlikely, that the profits were dissipated in a long and tedious chancerysuit. In addition to these various and numerous avocations, Dr. Adams gave an annual course of lectures, and acted for some time as physician to the New Finsbury and Central Dispensary, in Smithfield. It of course follows, that but little time remained for private practice.

His death, at a period when he still remained in full possession of all his mental faculties, was occasioned by an accident. On the 7th of June of the preceding year, being then at Holloway, he happened to fall while looking at some land recently purchased by him; and however slight this occurrence on a level surface may seem to be, yet it produced a compound fracture of the leg, which at the end of about a fortnight proved fatal. He was removed soon after this unfortunate incident to his house in Hatton-Garden; and as the bones had united by the first intention, and every thing denoted the most favourable results, all ideas of danger had vanished. He accordingly continued to see his friends and converse with them as usual, until about an hour previously to the fatal moment, when he ceased to exist. Having dined at five o'clock in the evening, the Doctor expressed himself as being “in a very comfortable state,” yet shortly after he was seized with cold sweats and faintings; he appeared, however, to revive for a few minutes; but soon relapsed, and gradually ceased to breathe at 7 o'clock in the evening of the 20th of June 1818.

Thus died, in the 62d year of his age, Joseph Adams, M.D., a man of not unpleasant manners, short in stature, didactic in conversation, and plain and unaffected in dress. The vigour of his body did not equal that of his mind, while the labours of the closet, the hospital, the dispensary, and the lecture-room, unfitted him, perhaps, to cope with the multitude of his engagements. In private life, Dr. Adams was amiable; and his loss will be long felt by an afflicted widow, and a numerous list of friends. He was beloved by his pupils, and possessed the happy faculty of communicating his ideas with perspicuity to his audience. To such opulent patients as consulted him, he was candid and explicit; to the poor, humane, benevolent, and liberal. His professional labours were meritorious in no small degree, both abroad and at home. It was he who gave the first distinct account of modern leprosy; it was he who, by actual experiment on himself, proved the itch and ouçöes to be two distinct diseases; and it was he who undertook

a journey to Dumfries for no other purpose, than to enquire into the nature and treatment of the Sivvens.

LIST OF THE WORKS
Of the late Dr. Adams.

1 Observations on Morbid Poisons, Chronic and Acute, 1st edit. 8vo. 1795; 2d edit. 4to. 1807.

2. A Guide to Madeira, 8vo. 1801. 3. Observations on the Cancerous Breast, consisting of riginal Letters from Dr. Baillie, Mr. Cline, &c. 8vo. 1801.

4. Answers to all the Objections hitherto made against the Cowpox, 8vo. 1805.

5. Popular View of Vaccine Inoculation, 12mo. 1807.

6. An Enquiry into the Laws of Epidemics, svo. 1810. .N.B. Here was first suggested the idea of Saving Banks.

7. Report from the Royal College of the United Kingdoni, in favour of Vaccination.

8. Syllabus of a Course of Lectures, on the Institutes and Practice of Medicine, 8vo. 1811.

9. Hunter's Treatise on the Venereal Disease, with Commentaries, 8vo. 1812.

10. A Philosophical Dissertation on Hereditary Peculiarities of the Human Constitution, Svo. 1814.

11. An Illustration of Mr. John Hunter's “ Life of the Blood,” in answer to the Edinburgh Reviewers, 8vo. 1814.

12. Life of John Hunter, 8vo. 1816.

13. On Epilepsy, printed in the Transactions of the Medical Society of London, 1817.

14. A variety of Papers, Dissertations, &c. in the Medical and Physical Journal, of which he continued Editor until his death.

[With an Analysis of his principal Works.]

THE Bernards were long settled in Lincolnshire and the neighbouring counties; and including the present, there have been four baronets of this family. Sir Francis, who obtained the first patent, on account of the active part taken by him as a zealous Loyalist, previously to the American contest, was originally bred to the bar; he, indeed, practised with some degree of success, and in due time became a bencher of the Middle-Temple. By his wife Amelia, daughter of Stephen Offley, of Norton-hall, in the county of Derby, Esq., and niece to John Viscount Barrington, he had a numerous family of six sons and four daughters, some of whom were born in America, and others in different parts of the British empire.