There are numerous collections from authors, sometimes of reference only, but more often copies of detached passages, arranged, in many instances, alphabetically, which, though not properly dictionaries, demand some attention. While the works which have been styled definitions and glossaries preclude disquisitions, these reject mere verbal explanations. They approach nearly to our prototypes, particularly the dictionary of Dr. James; but are different in their pretensions, as well as in their execution, and of unequal value.

Moronus first published his Directorium Medico-practicum, at Leyden, in 1650, professing to give a list of the opinions of the most eminent physicians, who had written either in the form of consultations, epistles, replies, observations, or histories on different diseases. This Directory was published in octavo, and, thirteen years afterwards, .a more enlarged edition, by Sebastian Scheffer, in quarto, appeared. Without impeaching the accuracy of Moronus, we may remark, that his work is very unsatisfactory, from the general objects of his references. Under each disease we find a list of authors, without the slightest hint in whose volumes we are to seek the pathology or cure, by whom the remedies are discriminated and adapted with the most scientific care, or where the greatest number of idle fancies obscure the merit of attentive observation.

The Sylva Medica of J. G. Walther is far more valuable. His references are copious and distinct; his synonyms, including the barbarous and obsolete appellations, numerous; his chemical compositions, in which, however, he could not soar beyond the state of the science at that time, detailed with accuracy. His work was published at Bautzen, in Germany, 1679, in quarto, illustrated by an index of authors and diseases. Had Walther fulfilled the promises of his title, the Sylva would have been highly useful; but his omissions are numerous, and his references so general, that they are often of little real value. A similar work was published at Frankfort, previously to the former publication, by M. Martianus Lipenius, in folio, 1759, with a copious index, which we have been unable to procure.

Walther was followed by Mangetus, a most voluminous collector, who published his Bibliotheca Medico-practica at Geneva, in 1698, etc. in four thick folio volumes; and, twenty-six years afterwards, the Bibliotheca Chirurgica, in volumes equally numerous and bulky. Each collection is a tedious cento, from different authors, without a scientific arrangement, almost without any apparent design. From many vast collections, the observations are selected, without a reference to the volume, and the editions are seldom so carefully distinguished as to ascertain the real merit of the passage transcribed. Yet Mangetus was not merely a tasteless compiler, but a man of sound judgment and accurate discrimination, as he has evinced by his critical remarks in his Bibliotheca Scriptorum Medicorum.

Bonetus was a collector almost equally indiscriminate, and his Polyalthes, a posthumous work, was published at Geneva, in 1691. The title is derived from the name of a supposed daughter of Aesculapius, who appears to have received it from her extensive powers of healing. This work, however, scarcely belongs to the present subject, since it consists of a close, but extensive commentary on the syntagma of J. Johnson, the Idea Medicinae Universae. A former work, entitled Mercurius Compilatitius, denominated from the statues of Hermes, placed in the highways, to point out the road, was more professedly a compilation, in an alphabetical order, but without a nice selection of authorities. In the following year, the same author's Medicina Septentrionalis Collatitia appeared, containing the discoveries of the Germans, the English, and the Danes, chiefly from their transactions, in an order not alphabetical.

The Encyclopediae of Dolaeus are similar collections, arranged according to the subjects: the Encyclopedia Chirurgica was an early work, published in 1659; the Encyclopedia Medica only in 1691.

This inundation of compilations, at the end of the seventeenth century, appears to have exhausted the spirits and the industry of collectors, since several years elapsed before a . similar attempt was published. The first work of this kind seems to have been the Synopsis of Dr. Allen, a physician at Bridgewater, in octavo, which, though not in alphabetical order, contained the opinions of different physicians on the principal diseases, and it was one of the first English publications in which the opinions of Boerhaave were popularly detailed. A third volume appeared, in English, in 1756.

The Lexicon Physico-chemicum Reale of G. H. Behr was published in 1738, in quarto, and followed by a smaller work, entitled Bibliotheca Medica, by Christopher William Kestner. Neither of these have we been able to procure.

A French work, Planque's Bibliotheque choisie de Medecine, appeared at Paris, in 1738, and eight successive volumes were published, at different periods. It contains, however, extracts only from the periodical works of France, and other countries, but chiefly from the former, with little selection or discrimination. It is, in every respect, a trifling collection.

The most important publication, in this form, is the Bibliotheca Chirurgica of Jerome de Vigiliis von Creutzenfeld, in two volumes quarto, published at Vienna in 1781. This is an excellent collection, and more valuable, since the Bibliotheca Chirurgica of Haller is, in so many respects, imperfect and erroneous.

The last compilation of this kind is the most valuable, the Initia Bibliothecae Practice, by Plouquet, published at Tubingen, in eight volumes, small quarto, to which two supplementary volumes were afterwards added. It includes a catalogue of the best authors, under the different diseases, each arranged alphabetically, distinguishing those who have treated generally on the complaint - the causes and remedies assigned and recommended. The references are particular, accurate, and numerous; perhaps more numerous than select. The author has collected from every source, and seems to possess a most accommodating belief in all the tales of wonder, from Schenkius, the authors of the Ephemerides Naturae Curiosorum, and those whose narratives rather excite contempt than confidence. The remedies, too, are frequently the most trifling and ridiculous. But, on the whole, this collection is full, correct, and instructive.