ences, preferved fome reputation even fo lare as the year 1770, when a new edition of it was published in four volumes in 4to. Dominic, of whom we now offer a flight account, received the belt education that the city of Naples, or any part of the kingdom, could afford; and as he was early intended for the medical profeffion, it was natural that he thould methodically go through all the ftudies connected with it, and hat he fhould afterwards be completely inftructed in its theory and practice by his learned and refpectable uncle. It was, however, neither to his natural abilities, nor to the peculiar care of his inftructors, that young Dominic ftood indebted for that brilliant figure which he fubfequently made in the medical line, and for the uncommon reputation which he foon acquired among the learned men of his native country, and of the remainder of Italy. The whole was owing to an extraordinary combination of circumftances arising from the viciffitudes of fcience in the age in which he happened to live, Any attentive obferver, who has adverted to the progrefs of phyfics, during the eighteenth century, may have remarked that each of the three generations compofing this period has fome fpecific fhades of its own, through which it is diftinguished from the two others, befides the acknowledged generic character which all of them have in common. polition is taken, it is obvious that, as the When this first generation was diftinguished for the Newtonian philofophy, and the third for chemistry; fo was the fecond for botany, and other branches of natural hiftory. It is likewife known that this movement was communicated to the human mind by Buffon, who employed his enchanting powers in popularifing the fcience: and by Linné, who brought into it that admirable fpirit of order which has immortalized his name.-Cirillo found himfelf in these happy circumftances! he connected his rifing fame with the fpirit of his age: he happened to be the first perfon, in Naples, who studied the works of the immortal Swedish naturalift; who was duly fenfible of the fuperior beauty of his daffification and nomenclature, and who knew and taught that eternal economy of the vegetable world, by which Vivunt in venerem frondes; nemus omne per altum Felix arbor amat. We feel, however, that, whilft we are making the eulogy of one man, we indirectly and unwillingly make the fatire of all his countrymen; and we are indeed heartily forry that we cannot mention a fingle Neapolitan character in this Magazine, without fome unfavorable obfervation, either on the inhabitants, or on the government. The kingdom of Naples is, in a great measure, the Baotia of Italy. Whilft the Italians held the fupreme rank in the empire of learning, the Neapolitans were always half a century behind the rett of their countrymen; as foon as the fcion this fide of the Alps, they have been, ences arole to a greater degree of Splendor juft as before, behind the remainder of Italy, and moreover a full century behand France and England. Thole of our readers, who may deem thefe expreffions too harsh, will be easily reconciled to them when, in the prefent instance, they are told that, during nearly two centuries minic Cirillo, the fcience of botany, in which feparate Fabio Colonna from DoNaples, feems to have been utterly erated from the map of human knowledge; and as this propofition alfo may appear too dogmatic, we feel it incumbent upon us to illustrate it with a fhort commentary. Whether we confider the fyftem of vege table phyfics, or the general and partial hiftory of plants, or the peculiar deferiptions of botanic gardens, we find the Italians, within the period to which we allude, as much active in thefe purfuits as in any other occupation. And, in fact, from Cefalpini to Bonelli, they can proin each of the four mentioned branches, duce a number of writers, which, although decidedly inferior to that of their contemporaries in the fame line, either in England or in France, would, perhaps, of botanical knowledge; and, perhaps be fufficient to exhibit a complete fyftem alfo, be competent to do credit to any civilized nation. to remark, that no one of theie writers It is certainly curious has been a Neapolitan, though the kingdom of Naples compofes nearly the third part of Italy, and that no attempt was ever made by the inhabitants to render botany an object of attention, if we except (what a few inveftigators of national antiquities only know,) the final garden which the prince of Cattolica, a Sicilian fure, in Naples, towards the ciofe of the nobleman, conftructed for his own plea 17th century, and another inconfiderable one which, at the beginning of the art, was erected on the adjacent hillock, called for the ufe or the famous hofpital of l'AnLa Montagnuola, by the duke Filamiini, nunziata, of which he was a governor. The prefent writer has reafon to think, that before the publication of the French Encyclopedie, the claffical fyftem of Tournefort was either unknown or little appreciated in that country; and he knows, almost to a certainty, that fo late as the year 1780, not ten perfons there were acquainted with the beautiful and unrivalled method of Juffieu. A city, like Naples, which ranks the third in Europe for population and wealth, is condemned to be without a public botanic garden! And to have done with this difgufting picture, let us only fubjoin that no perfon ever told his Sicilian majefty that, in his capacity of a powerful monarch, he is not allowed to have, in his royal domi nions, any thing like what his ancestors already poffeffed, in the mere capacity of Roman princes-the celebrated Hortus Farnefianus! It is no wonder that, in the circumftances of this national blindness, and of the predominant fpirit of the age, Mr. Cirillo fhould obtain the chair of botany, in the university of Naples, when he was fcarcely 30 years old; and if we were to judge of his ideas at that time, by his fubfequent performances, we thould think that he already intended to prefent the public with feveral performances in the different branches of his profeffion. In the year 1761, (if we recollect rightly) he published his firft work, Introductio ad Botanicam, in a fmall volume in quarto. The book was in itfelf of no great confequence, nor perhaps could it bear any weight in the European fcale. Owing, however, to the fame circumstances, it was received with applaufe by his country. men, and we incline to think that it really proved of confiderable benefit to his ftudents, and to the generality of young people of his own nation. Many obstacles arifing from the practice of medicine prevented Mr. Cirillo from indulging in his botanical purfai's, for the fubfequent twenty years of his life. Having the advantage of fpeaking the English language tolerably well, he was the exclufive phyfician to all the individuals of the nobility and gentry of Great Britain who occafionally refided in Naples. He was introduced, in this capacity, to Lady Walpole, who having no profpect of foon recovering her health in Naples, and being anxious to return to her native country, engaged Mr. Cirillo to attend her, in her journey to England. The latter availed himself of the opportunity to live for fome time in London, to improve ftill more in the medical fcience, and to get acquainted with fome of the eminent character of that time. He regularly attended the lectures of the late celebrated Dr. Hunter, of whom he constantly spoke, in the remainder of his life, with the deepeft fentiments of admiration, honour, and gratitude. It was during this journey (we fuppofe) that he was appointed a fellow of the Society of Natural Hiftory in Paris, and (if we are not mistaken,) of the Italian Society, at Verona. Not long after his return to Naples, Mr. Cirillo happened to have a difagreeable difcuffion with his colleagues in the univerity. In virtue of the bye-laws of that literary eftablishment, the profellors are divided into primary and secondary: a diftinction which is far from being merely honorific: as, befides the confiderable difference in the falary, the primary profeffors alone enjoy the right of giving their votes for the admiffion of the candidates to the vacant chairs. According to the fame bye-laws, no newly-elected profeffor is allowed a primary chair; a gradual afcent muft take place among the veterans, and the appoinded candidate is only to fill the laft inferior place which, in the ultimate refult of gradation, happens to be vacant. This practice caufed no inconvenience, as long as the university contained only the old fettled faculties. But as, in procefs of time, fome new chairs (and botany among them) were established in it, without a previous decision to which of the ancient faculties each of them fhould be aggregated; it was obvious that the profeffors filling them would be excluded from the benefit of a gradual afcent, and confequently doomed to be, in fome refpect, out of the ranks. Mr. Cirillo raised the standard of rebellion against this abfurd fyftem: he vigorously affei ted that the chair of botany fhould be aggregated to the medical faculty, and infifted that a fuperior place, actually vacant in that department, fhould be filled by him, in the order of priority. He allo candidly declared that, in thefe exertions towards the abolition of the exifting abufe, he felt an additional impulfion from his own perfonal concerns; as it was neceffary for his fortune, faid he, that he fhould acquire the reputation of an able physician as he had already obtained the fame of a good botanist. The oppofition made against him on the occafion was fuch, that he was near giving in his refignation to the univerfity. At length he came off victorious, and was actually promoted to one of the higheft chairs in the medical faculty. We have been rather particular in relating thefe details, as they were neceflary to bring our readers to believe that the deare of establishing a great great reputation, in the medical line, induced Mr. Cirillo to publish in 1780, his known work Nofologia Methodice Rudimenta. What was the pofitive merit of this performance, the writer cannot tell, though he has reason to think that it was deferving of a great confideration, and that it really aniwered the purpose of its author, in extending and confolidating his fame. We conclude the paragraph by remarking that about this very time (in 1779) Mr. Cirillo was elected a fellow of the newly inftituted Academy of Naples. It appears that as foon as thefe perfonal concerns were fatisfactorily terminated, our auther refumed his botanical pursuits; accordingly, we faw him publishing, in 1784, his work, De Effentialibus nonnullarum Plantarum Characteribus, in octavo; and in 1785, the more interefting one Fundamenta Botania, five Philofophia Botanica Explicatio, in two large volumes of the fame fize. The prefent writer never read the former of thefe works; but if he can rely upon his memory, he remembers to have been accidentally informed by Mr. Cirillo himself, that the leading ideas in it were to investigate the essential character of fome plants, in order to complete, if poffible, what is called the natural fyftem; and to afcertain how far the multiplication of varieties, by this method, could have a tendency to diminish the number of fpecies. The latter work, on the philosophy of botany, exhibited many interesting ideas: but we entertain great doubts whe ther much novelty and originality could be produced upon a topic perhaps already exhausted by the great Swedish philofopher, and by his numberlefs difciples, commentatois, tranflators, almost in every language of Europe. We fcarcely need mention another analogous work published in 1790 Tabule Botanica Elementares, five Icones Partium quæ in Fundamentis Botanicis defcribuntur:" as the very title of it already fhews that it is little better than amappendage, or rather a fynoptic illuftration, of his fyftem of botanical phyfics. Much about the fame time (1790) Mr. Cinllo attempted to pass his medical and botanical line, and to penetrate into the field of fentimen al philofophy. He publifhed a fall volume in cctavo, of Meditazioni Flilofofiche,which exhibited a strange mixture of the fpirit of Young, Sterne, and Roffeau. Happy would it have been for him, and much to the wishes of his friends, that he had never made fuch an attempt; as the publication did not even rue to the height of mediocrity, and foon after fell into complete oblivion! What ftill contributed to render it more contemptible, was one of the meditazioni confecrated to the praife of his then deceafed friend Filangieri, who being toɔ much overvalued in his life, by the intriguing philofophifm at home, and by mercantile fpeculations abroad, was, foon after his death, appreciated in his juft ftandard, and defervedly regarded in no better light than that of a book-maker, or of what fome witty people called in a vulgar and pulcinellefca, but appropriate and energetic expreflion, the pastry-cook of the political science! In 1793, Mr. Cirillo prefented to the public a really important work, in his favorite branch of study. This was the Neapolitan Flora, or Planta Rariores Regni Neapolitani. Inftead of paffing any opinion ourselves on this performance, we think it better to inform our readers of the judgment given upon it by the refpectable French periodical work, Le Magazin Encyclopédique. According to this review, the author bad difcovered many rare plants, and many alfo, until then unknown: and in order to exemplify this assertion, the editor refers to the first Fafciculus of the work, in which are found four plants, the Scabiofa Crenata, the Lamium Bifidum, the Hypochaeris Minima, and the Phormium Bultiferum, not generally noticed by our modern phytographs; and in which alfo is feen the Convolvulus Stoloniferus, described bitherto, fays the editor, by no one but Profeffor Cirillo. Still more important than the laft, was the next work which our botanist publifhed, in 1796, under the title of Cyperus Papyrus, printed (we borrow the expreffion from the title page) Parma, in^æðibus Palatinis, typis Bodonianis. The author justly thought that an accurate description of that famous Egyptian plant was a great defideratum in natural hiftery; as no one among the botanifts, who had exprefsly written on the subject, had ever given the figure or the reprefentation of the natural itate of the plant. He confequently thought that the work fhould be printed in Atlas folio, and accompanied with two fuperb plates of the fame shape, one of which might reprefent the flourishing ftate, and the other the trunk and body of the plant exactly in its natural fize. The writer never faw this work; but he is informed that it is really magnificent beyond defcription, and one of the moft beautiful things ever iffued from the printing-house of Bodoni! Here is the end of the literary life of the fubject fubject of the prefent memoir; and as we Having already completed his fcientific career, and being actually in an advanced period of life, happy would it have been for this refpectable man, if he had left the world with that tranquillity of mind and thofe comforts of life which fortune had lavished upon him. He was doomed to live two years too long to fall a victim to that pernicious philofophy which has inflicted fo many incurable wounds on Europe, and on mankind itfelf! It is known how he had the weakness to fide with the French, in their aggreffion on Naples; how he condefcended to fill an important place during their ufurpation; and how he was afterwards executed, at the restoration of the lawful government, towards the latter end of the year 1799, about the 70th year of his age. Unfortunate man, and deferving of a better fate! He will be fincerely regretted by his nu merous friends, and by all his countrymen, as long as they shall have a sense of refpect for talents and virtue; whilft, on the other hand, they will lament that he was guilty of that unjustifiable error, the confequence of which was the lofs of his life. Juftice will be done to his heart: but his calamitous end will also be a new proof that the claffes of literary men are not-competent to give a knowledge of the world, and of the complicated maze of the human paffions; and that philofophical focieties, anatomical theatres, and botanic gardens, very feldom are schools for ftatefimen and patriots! Dominic Cilo was of a middle fize, ftout and well-proportioned, and of a gentle and philanthropic mien. In converfation, no one perhaps better than he ever underftood how to be polite without meannefs, free without offence, and fecret without mystery. He was remarkably neat and elegant in his drefs, in his furniture, in his library, and in his fmall botanic garden. His morals were excellent, efpecially towards his friends; and even during the short reign of that mimic and ridiculous eftablishment which, in the Gipty jargon of Jacobins was called the Paribenopean Republic, he was faid to have difplayed many important examples of public virtue. Some ACCOUNT of the late DR. GARNETT: HE occurrences of Dr. Garnett's life Tnot being strongly marked with viciffitude, a sketch of it must neceffarily be fhort. He was born in a village in Weftmoreland, and like most men who have become eminent by their talents, he fprang from the middle clais of fociety. His father is the proprietor and cultivator of a smallestate near Kirkby-Lonfdale. Prompted by his fon's evident fuperiority over his little playmates, he refolved to spare no expence in his education, and accordingly when he had paffed the ufual time at a country grammar-ichool, he was placed under the care of Mr. Dawfon, of Sedberg, in Yorkshire, a gentleman of well-known mathematical abilities. Four at health, for a time, fufpended his labours. Refolutely ftruggling with diftale, in a few days he refumed his chair, and gave feveral lectures, when fuffering under the feverelt indifpofition; but, at length, his feeble limbs refufed to obey the dictates of his vigorous mind, and he was obliged to remain in his own apartment. H's diforder every inftant affumed a more ferious afpect. The medical gentlemen, who attended him, declared it to be a typhus fever, caught in the gratuitous exercife of over-exertion; and, in fpite of every effort his profeffion, and increased by anxiety and of fkll, and every care of affection, on the 28th of June this amiable man expired. As an author, Dr. Garnett is known land; by his Analysis of the Mineral to the world by his Tour through ScotGreen, &c. by his Lecture on Health; Waters at Harrogate, Moffat, Horley and by a number of papers inferted in the Memoirs of theMedical Society of London, the Royal Irish Academy, and the Literary and Philofophical Society of Manchefter, of which bodies he was a member. The Monthly Magazine alfo is indebted to him for feveral valuable communications. years were here fpent in the clofeft ftudy, at the expiration of which period, determining on the purfuit of medicine, he proceeded to Edinburgh, and became a pupil or Dr. Brown, whofe fyftem he ever after defended and acted upon. A refidence of feveral years procured him a degree. He then vifited London, and fudied furgery with confiderable attention. Conceiving himself qualified to enter into the practice of his profeffion, and an opportunity offering by the death of Dr. Wilfon, he began his public career at Harrogate, in Yorkshire. To thofe who have obferved the means which the medical men of this place find themfelves under the neceffity of ufing, to obtain employment, it will not appear furprising, that the delicate mind of Dr. Garnett received fevere and frequent fhocks, until, the irkfomeness of his fituation becoming infupportable, although lucrative, he was compelled to abandon it. He now formed a defign of emigrating to America, but the perfuafion of his friends prevailed upon him to relinquish this fcheme. It being fuggefted in Liverpool, that a courfe of lectures on chemistry and experimental philofophy would, in all probability, be well received, he embraced the idea, and was gratified by a fuccefs exceeding his moft fanguine expectations. The neighbouring town of Manchester was the next theatre for the difplay of his knowledge, and he there repeated, with the higheft approbation, the courfe he had given at Liverpool. Encouraged by the flattering reception he met with, he became a cand'date, and a fuccefsful one, for the lecturthip of Anderfon's Inftitution, in Glasgow. The reputation which he ac. quired, while in this fituation, induced the managers of the Royal Inftitution to offer him the place of lecturer in phyfics and philofophy, a felection which was the more honourable to Dr. Garnett, as it was entirely unfolicited, and unexpected by him. The temptation was too trong to be refifted. He acceded to the propofed terms, and, coming immediately to London, delivered his lectures during two feafons, to a crowded and brilliant audience. The publicity he had thus gained, added to other circumftances, influenced ried a Mifs Cleveland, a charming wom in, Before he quitted Harrogate, he marhim to refign his feat in the Inftitution; who was fo fondly attached to him, as to and the leafe of a houfe in Great Marlbo- participate in his ftudies. From the day rough-ftreet being on fale, he bought it, of their union, it was her endeavour to built a large and convenjent lecture room, affimilate her mind to his. She attended purchafed a quantity of philofophical ap all his lectures, paid particular attention paratus, and had the pleafure, laft winter, to thofe fubjects on which the found he to fee his forms filled with pupils. In the Spring, he began a new courte, and was herfif to affist him in the correction of was most interested, and even qualified advancing towards its clofe, when ill- his manu.cripts. He returned her affecMONTHLY MAC, No. 99. praife for complete knowledge of his fubAs a lecturer, he was intitled to every ject, although, in explaining it, he did not ufe the rhetorical action and declamation, which fo frequently impofe upon the world, and which, in matters of icience, are perhaps worse than ufelefs. What he allowed an opportunity to efcape of il ut faid was eafily apprehended, and he never trating and confirming by experiment what he had advanced in theory. His counte and beloved. Active and energe ic, yet As a inan, he was generally admired mild and unafluming, the fuperiority of his mind was diguiled by the fimplicity and fuavity of his manners. nance was open and intelligent, fometimes highly animated, but too often overcaft with an expreffion of melancholy, which thofe who were fo happy as to be his friends must ever lament should have a caufe for existence. G tion |