water, so much sun, infallibly produce Malaria. Malaria produces all the forms of fever of an intermitting or remittent character; they in their train induce the diseases of the spleen and liver which end in dropsy and such like. We are almost inclined to suspect, with the translator, that the liver cakes referred to are really spleen cakes. At all events the description of the sufferers near the Amazon, the Yupura, and the Tocantin, strongly coincides with what we have ourselves seen near the banks of the Doab canals by Delhi and Saharunpore. By the aid of Malaria the vegetable world contests the supremacy of the land with man, but experience has shewn that the contest is for the most part neither long nor doubtful, if but skill and labour be brought to bear upon it. Witness the reclaimed fens of Lincolnshire and Essex in England, and the improved though certainly still improvable state of our Indian metropolis. Dr. Von Martins states the following to be the general results of his observations regarding the diseases of the Brazilian Savages :

"If we now combine into one point of view the outlines of the flying picture which I have sketched, the following will be found to be the essentially characteristic points :

1. The Brazilian Indian has scarcely any disease, that belongs to him peculiarly, 2. He shares with the other classes of the population the diseases prevailing there through climate influences. His system reacts against these diseases in an analogous way to that of the European, only with such difference as might be expected from his natural constitution: and the characteristic traits of his race are found in the diseases to which he is most subject.

3. In his proportionately salubrious land, the Indian knows no more than the European settler of the plague, of cholera, of the yellow fever, of the frightful putrid fevers of the west of Africa, or of the Vena medinensis.

4. The disease introduced by Europeans, the small-pox, causes the greatest mortality, and the sterility inherent in his race is increased by syphilis, which was originally unknown to him.

5. We may thence assume that the race of the red man is naturally a very healthy one (its longevity is well known,) but this only as long as it is the exclusive possessor of its own country, and not disturbed by European civilization.

6. But as things have changed since the arrival of the Portuguese, a constantly increasing rate of mortality has been observed. The only race of men, regarding which, one can from preceding facts lay down a general prognosis, is the American. In this prognosis, which pronounces the extinction of the red man, the aborigines of Brazil also share.

This melancholy view of things, against which the feelings of the philanthropist struggle, has but too much foundation in the state of medicine among the red race, for when we consider the matter a little more, it becomes quite plain, that the savage is in no condition to discover for himself the appropriate remedies for the physical evils from which he suffers. Then again he is, from his social condition, quite beyond the reach of any beneficical operation of the medical knowledge introduced from Europe."

The practice of medicine among the aborigines of Brazil is, as may be supposed, in no very high state of intelligence. The Doctor who is called Pajé is also priest, prophet, southsayer and magician. It must be allowed however that his errors incline to the right side. He is not heroic in his practice of Materia Medica. He allows nature some scope:—

"It is in the Materia Medica and Pharmakognosy of the Indian that we find the strongest traces of a former knowledge. In every age man follows analogy, and thence the system of signatures in medicine, of which traces are so common among the Brazilians. But it requires a higher degree of knowledge to escape from these loose analogies, and to study the powers of remedies according to the principles of induc

tion. The remedies of the Indians require to be fully examined by scientific physi cians, and it is wonderful to how small an extent this has been done, although the small number of educated doctors who have gone to Brazil may be some excuse for it. As it is, the traditions of the Indians have remained almost exclusively in the hands of barbers, self-taught men, and old women, and have never had their truth thoroughly investigated.

Throughout the whole of America the belief in the cold or hot action of certain substances on the body is universally prevalent. Thus, bananas and rice are hot, Mandiocca flour and the Carás (Caladium) are cold kinds of food. In like manner their remedies are divided into hot and cold. This is however probably an idea of Arabic medicine imported from the Spanish peninsula, where to this day it is very generally entertained.

Articles from the Animal kingdom.

The Materia Medica of the Indians is remarkable for the number of substances belonging to the animal kingdom which it includes. All the excretions of the system are to him either impure and injurious, or pure, and under certain circumstances beneficial. He carefully buries human excrement the moment it is passed. He at tributes unclean properties to the mucus of the nose, to the blood, and to the wax of the ear, and employs them in preparing magical charms. The spittle and the urine are also remedies in use. The secretion of Tyson's glands is used as a cure for the bites of serpents and of large ants. He has a great idea of the healing virtues of certain bones, beaks, talons, and spurs, of particular birds, (such as Parra, Palamedea, He wears the teeth of the ounce, the claws of the great ant eater, the hinge of the large river oysters, &c., not only as ornaments, but as amulets on his neck and his extre mities. Thus, he considers wearing the teeth of the crocodile a prophylactic against the bite of poisonous serpents, and their powdered teeth are drunk in water as cures for snake bites. From the musky smelling fat, which is found in two bags under the neck of the crocodile, he prepares a powerful remedy against the bite of the rattlesnake. He cuts portions of the horns of the Cervus Paludosus into four cornered pieces of the length of an inch, heats them till they are almost burnt, and then drops in the crocodile fat. The pieces of bone thus prepared are bound over snake bites, from which they are supposed to extract all the poison. Many people of European origin have faith in this remedy, and wear it on their persons. The Indians employ the Bezoar of the deer as a most excellent medicine in complaints of the digestive organs, and the green fat of the crocodile is used as a liniment in rheumatism, and as a salve for wounds. The pounded flesh of the black toad (Spix Ranæ) split and roasted at the fire, is a protective against witchcraft, and is used by women in labour to render childbirth easier. The pounded fangs of the rattle-snake are ordered for unhealthy ulcers; a live rattle-snake has its head and tail cut off, and is then boiled down with a young fowl, long enough to make the whole of the consistence of a jelly. This mess drunk off at once is supposed to heal chronic eruptions and syphilis. Large ants, we have already said, are eaten preserved in Mandiocca flour; they are also considered to be good stimulants in weakness of digestion. The dried and powdered stomach of the crocodile is used for gravel; the small stones sometimes found in the intestines of that animal are used for several diseases, and the powder of dried fish-bone, for strangury They stuff into carious teeth calcined tiger claws to cure the pain. The pounded rattle of the rattle-snake when introduced into hollow teeth, is said to make them drop out. Bezoars are often brought down from the mountains of Peru to the plains of the Amazon, and are in high repute in stomach complaints. They ascribe great efficacy in discussing swellings and improving the unhealthy granulations of wounds, to various animal fats. This is not only the case with the fat of the crocodile, but also with that of ounces, deer, cattle and fowls. They apply it directly over the part, either unmixed, or rubbed up with various kinds of charcoal or with herbs. The fat of the ounce is applied for the especial purpose of destroying worms in unclean wounds. In sciatica they apply the freshly stripped skin of dogs over the part.

Articles from the Mineral kingdom.

Few minerals are used by the Indian in medicine. The Amazon-stone, or Lapis Nephriticus, (whose country is still a riddle, like the history of various pieces of stone, which shaped and polished with more or less skill are common over the whole of South America) is worn as an amulet; but the Indians, whom I questioned, knew nothing of its use in diseases of the kidneys, sciatica, gout, and rheumatism, in all which Jesuits have in former centuries ascribed to it great efficacy. Pomice, which sometimes floats down the rivers from the Peruvian frontier, is on account of this strange property, prized and used as an amulet. Of other minerals employed as medicines,

the Indian is acquainted only with salt and lithomarge; both are used in comolaints of the abdomen. He has no idea however of preparing them by any chemical process. He does not even know how to separate potash from the ashes of the wood which he burns. Thus the low state of Indian medicine is abundantly proved by the absence of any one chemical substance in his materia medica.

General Management and Care.

The most common

In respect to their practice it resembles much the homeopathic. The most rigid fasting is ordered. Seclusion from light and air, and complete silence are enjoined. The patient usually lies motionless, and does not by any sound betray his sufferings, however acute they may be. The doctor, who in severe cases, seldom quits the patient's side, often goes through a great many operations, which to the eye of the European appear only as deception and juggling, but to which both the patient and the family ascribe a deeper meaning, than meets the eye. operation, to which a patient is subjected for an internal complaint, is that of shampooing, not only the part affected, but the whole body. This process is performed by the Paje with great perseverance, and in the most complete silence. The doctor is often covered with perspiration, and takes food from time to time, to recruit his strength. But this forcible mode of cure often causes the patient intense pain, which he bears in silence. The Pajé usually commences with the affected part, and goes on to press the extremities up and down, and generally produces profuse perspiration, at times vomiting and purging also. When the process is finished, the patient is allowed some drink, and left to sleep for several honrs. I have seen this treatment employed in several cases of snake-bites, and may take occasion to remark, that I have never seen a fatal case of this dangerous accident among the Indians; while two other cases, one of a white man, the other of a mulatto, in which the help of an Indian doctor could not be procured, terminated fatally. If the treatment just recorded may shew some slight traces of animal magnetism, their other processes bear much rather the character of exorcisms. Their priest-doctor falls upon the patient's bed with fearful contortions of face, or if the patient be in a hammock, upon the ground, and spurts out all kinds of exorcisms to drive out the evil principle. In this stage the following processes are particularly applicable. Spitting on the patient; fumigating him with the large cigars, which the Indians use at most of their feasts and carousals; covering the patient with strong smelling herbs, and smearing him with blood. The substances, which the Pajé uses for such purposes, vary much in different tribes. I have already mentioned that supernatural powers are ascribed to certain animals; but hairs also, and the ashes of bones, &c. are among the strange preparations which the Pajé employs.

If we consider the dreamy life which the Indian almost always lives, and from which nothing but the effects of the violent passions arouse him,-if we think of his superstitious dread of the unknown powers of nature, his fear of spirits, and his deep-rooted inclination to feign what man does not possess, namely, mastery over some unknown higher power in nature,-we may be able to understand the light in which the doctor is regarded by his patient. But the doctor is a self-deceived conjuror, much more than a crafty deceiver: and the patient is rather a timid, thoughtless, passive agent than a steadily confiding, friend. To describe their mutual relation still more completely, I must add that it is commonly the Paje who understands how to prepare poison for their arrows. He is also generally the depository of the knowledge of the kindred arts. Thus, he directs the preparation of the fine red colouring stutis, Carajurú and Guaranápaste, and guides the tribes to gather the plants which stupify fish. Many races are acquainted with certain poisons which, when introduced into the system, are supposed in a longer or shorter time to cause death. The Pajé is the possessor of the secret of these sinister arts, and is thus in some places dreaded as an actual poisoner. These poisonous plants are partly Liance, especially of the family of Sapindacea, partly species of Amaryllis. From the first, they are supposed to prepare their most virulent poisons from extracts of the stalks, from the latter, by drying and preparing the bulbs in a peculiar way. In the work of preparation they also make use of superstitious practices, and labour by night, unseen by Europeans whom they always distrust. It is universally believed along the Amazon stream, that there are poisons which, when introduced into the month, in small quantities during sleep, produce gradual sinking, and certain death. But the Indians are very reserved on the subject. I could only learn that it was a powder prepared from the roots of a bulb (an Amyryllis?) which had a golden-yellow flower.

To conclude: this point of view again presents to us that deep degree of demo

ralization and of barbarism, which the life of the red man presents, in all its phases and developments. We must confess that the attempt to discover traces of a higher kind of knowledge in the isolated and confused facts and traditions which coustitute Indian medicine, has been a failure. Here, as in the history, the language, the mythology and the ethnography of the red man, we find only one dark picture; and while we cannot let so dark and sunken a state of things pass by us in review, without feelings of grief and concern, yet we immediately begin to wonder, and to ask this question-what singular catastrophe has the red man experienced, in what fearful paths of error has he wandered for thousands of years, to occupy now so degraded and so lamentable a position?"

Such are the aborigines of Brazil. When we remember that the country is in the hands of the Portuguese, and have fresh in our recollection, the account of that people's doings in India, as described in a recent number of the Calcutta Review, we cannot wonder at what we learn of the present state of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro itself is centuries behind European cities in the comforts of civilized life. Nowhere has nature done so much or man so little. With her colonies Portugal resolutely introduced the Romish religion. It lost none of its superstition by the transfer from the Western coast of Europe. to the Eastern coast of America. The mischief of it has been propagated in a fearfully encreasing ratio, and Brazil now stands a spectacle to the world. Arrogance, ignorance, indolence must remain till the dawn of civil and religious liberty. It is as impossible to overrate the re sources of the country as to overstate the religious bigotry, the unlettered ignorance, unsocial manners and narrow policy of its present rulers.

In concluding we must not forget to thank the translator, Dr. MacPherson We are entirely indebted to his disinterestedly studi ous and scientific turn of mind for the perusal of this interesting work on the aborigines of Brazil.

Justice's Manual or Suggestions for Justices of the Peace. By R. Montgomery, C. S.

We have great pleasure in noticing the above brochure, which in the space of forty pages contains several valuable suggestions to magistrates in their capacity of Justices of Peace, besides all the forms necessary for the execution of warrants, recognizances, sureties and the like, and all the constructions and Circular Orders now in force regarding the duties of officials in the above line. The book is due to Mr. R. Montgomery of the Civil Service, now attached to the North West Provinces, where he is well known, we understand, as an active and efficient public servant, and it is pleasing to comme - morate that we owe the book itself to reflections which occurred to the author when recreating himself at home on furlough. We say that it is gratifying to think that the time spent in England by some of our Indian Officers may thus be turned to profit as well as to pleasure, and that the contemplation of institutions working in the totally different sphere of an English or Irish county may be sug

gestive of hints for the better performance of magisterial duties in Bengal. It may so happen that a Civilian, who is thoroughly versed in every regulation relative to his duties as Magistrate may yet from residence in a district, where there are no European inhabitants save the usual complement of the station, be entirely ignorant how he should proceed if called on as Justice of the Peace. To remedy this and give all the duties of a Justice of the Peace in one compendious volume, Mr. Montgomery comes forward, and we heartily recommend his little work to the perusal of all those whom it most concerns. It may be read through in half an hour any day, and its arrangement and style are equally commendable and perspicuous.

1. The History of Bengal, from the first Mahommedan Invasion until the virtual conquest of that country by the English, A. D. 1757. By Charles Stewart, Esq. M. A. S. &c. &c. Calcutta, 1847.

2. Addison's Papers in the Spectator, Reprinted from the Baskerville Edition of his works; and preceded by the Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay's Essay on his Life and Writings. Calcutta, 1847.

3. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, &c. &c. by Adam Smith, L.L. D. Calcutta, 1847.

4. A Treatise on Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, by John Newmarch B. A. Calcutta, 1847.

IN a country like India there are many principles found to be inapplicable to the state and circumstances of the people which are esteemed highly valuable in those lands which have long passed through that "transition-state" in which we now find ourselves. Such is the principle of "Free-trade" and "Supply and demand" in the matter of education. It is a simple fact that a few years ago the people of India would not have accepted of a sound European education had it been offered to them gratuitously. Now large numbers of our youth gladly receive that education which is provided for them, and pay for it so much as defrays a small portion of the expenditure. But for a long time to come the appetite for learning will not be so strong or so general as to create its own supply. In such circumstances we think it would be absolute folly to stand up for an abstract principle, whose application, however safe and salutary in happier circumstances, would have the effect of depriving of education those who now seek it, and postponing indefinitely the period when the principle itself may be safely applied.

We accordingly regard the efforts of the Government and of various other bodies to provide education, either gratuitously or at rates far from remunerative, as worthy of all commendation. And in the same light