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MEDICAL FACTS

AND

OBSERVATIONS.

VOL. VI.

medical facts

AND

OBSERVATIONS.

VOLUME THE SIXTH.

LONDON:

miN + IB roK J. JOHNSON, N® 72, ST. TAVL’s CHURCH YARB

M.DCC.XCV

) r ■ . -j . . , . -

I ' i <

* ■

Digitized by the Internet Archive
"' in 2016 ^ ^

https://archive.org/details/b28042499_0006

C V 3

CONTENTS.

ftgt

I ObSERFJ^IONS on ths XJJe of Arfenlc
in the Interniit 'tent Feveirs of a tropical Cli-
mate ; to ivhieh is prefixed an Account of
the We-ather, at- Sierra Leone ^ during the
Seafon in which Juch Fevers are niofi pre-
valent, By Thomas Mafterman Win-
terbottom, M. D. Bhyfician to the Set-
tlement at Sierra Leone. ~ — t

II. An Account of the good EffeSfs of a So-

lution of Sal Ammoniac, in Vinegar, em-
ployed, as a topical Application, in Cafes ■
of lacerated W lunds. By Mr. Henry Y ates
Carter, Surgeon at Kettley, near Welling-
ton, in Shropfinre. — 66

III. Cafe of a difeafed Kidney. By the fame. 85

IV. Cafe of a Gun-Shot Wound of the Head.

By the fame. —

V . An Account of fome extraordinary Symp-^
toms which were apparently connected

with

[ Vi ]

with certain morlid Alterations about
the Feins and Nerves. By Mr. John
Pearfon, Surgeon of the Lock Hojpitaly
and of the Public Difpenfary^ —

VI. An Account of the ExtraSUon of an
extraneous Subfance from the ReSium. By
Mr. William Blair, Surgeon of the Lock
Hofpital ; and of the General Difpenfary

in Newman Street, St. Mary-le-hone, iii

VII. A Cafe of Aneurifm of the Crural Ar-

tery. By Mr. Thompfon Forfter, Sur-
geon on the Staff, of the Army, and Sur-
geon to Guy’s Hofpital. — 114

VIII, An Account of a Key Infir ument of a new
ConJiruHion ; with Ohfervations on the
Principles on which it alls, in the Extrac-
tion ofPeelh, and on the Mode of applying
it. By Mr. Robert Clarke, Surgeon at
Sunderland, in the County of Djurham. 120

IX. An Account of a new Species of Swie-
tenia ( Mahogany ) ; and of Experiments
and Ohfervations on its Bark, made with'
a View to afcertain its Powers, and to
compare them with thofe of Peruvian Bark,
for which it is propojed as a Suhjlitute :

Being

[ Vii ] .

Page

Being an AbJlraEt of a Taper on this Sub-
Je£i, addrejed to the Honourable Court of
Hireblors of the United Eaji~ India Com-
pany, ^ William Roxburgh, Af.Z). 127

X. An Account of the EffeUs of Mahogany
Wood in Cafes of Diarrhoea. By Mr.
Francis Hughes, Surgeon of the General
Infirmary at Stafford. — - — 156

XL Account of fome Difeoveries made by
Mr. Galvanij.o/ Bologna; with Experi-
ments and Obfervations on them. In two
Letters from Mr. AlexanderVolta, F. R. S.
Profeffor of Natural Thilofophy in the
Univerfity of Pavia, to Mr, Tiberius Ca-
vallo, F. R. S. — From the Philofophical
LranJaSiions of the Royal Society of Lon-
don. . — — 162

XII. A Return of the Sick of the Ship's

Company, and of the Military, on Board
the Ships in the Service of the Honoura-
ble the United Eaft -India Company, for
the 7'ears 1792 and 1793. By John
Lorimer, M. D. — 21 1

XIII. An Account of a fingular .Cafe of Ifchu-
ria, in a young Woman, which continued

for

[ vlii J

Pag*

/or more than three Tears ; during which
Time^ if her Urine was not drazvn off with
the Catheter, JJoe frequently voided it hy
vomiting ; and, for the laji twenty Months,
paffed much Gravel by the Catheter, as
well as hy vomiting, when the UJe of that
Injirument was omitted, or unfuccefs fully
applied. To which are added Jome Remarks
and Phyfiological Obfervations. By Ifaac
Senter, M. D. Affociate Member of the
College of Bhyficians of Philadelphia, and
Jenior Surgeon in the late American Army.

Vide TranJa3ions of the College of Phyfi-
clans, of Philadelphia, — — 212,

Catalogue of Books. — - — 223

Jndex, ^ — — 228

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

Plate the Firft, the references to which are explained ia
pages 92 and 116, may be placed at page 92 ; and plate thp
fccond at page lai.

MEDICAL FACTS

AND

OBSERVATIONS.

I. Ohfervations on the Ufe of Arjenlc In the Inter-
mittent Fevers of a tropical Climate ; ' to which^
is prefixed an Account of the Weather, at Sierra
Leone, during the Seafon in which Juch Fevers
are niofi prevalent. By Thomas Maftermaii
Winterbottom, M. D. Phyfician to the Set-
tlement at Sierra Leone.

S arfcnic» though of late years frequently

and fuccefsfully ufed in England for the
cure of intermittent fevers, has not, to my know-
ledge, been hitherto employed in a tropical cli-
mate ; fome account of its ufe in Africa, with
the hiftories of a few of the cafes in which it
was exhibited j will not, I hope, be altogether
unacceptable.

VoL. VI.

[ ^ ]

It may be proper however to premlfe a fliort ac-
count of the weather at- Sierra Leone during the
feafon in which intermittents are moft prevalent.

The year may be divided into the rainy,
tornado, and dry feafons. The rains on this
part of the coaft commonly fet in about the
end of May, or beginning of June ; and conti-
nue, more or lefs violently, until the beginning
or middle of September : they are tlren fuc-
ceeded by tornadoes, which continue until the
end of November. It muft be obferved, how-
ever, that the rains are not only carried off by
tornadoes, but alfo brought on by them ; and
that the tornadoes preceding the rains are, in
general, lefs regular than thofe which terminate
them. The dry feafon continues from Decem-
ber until May, though ihowers of rain fome-
times occur during the dry months.

In 1792, the rains commenced about the end
of May, and continued for fome time to be
very heavy; from the middle of July, however,
until the laid week of Auguft, there vvere fre-
quent intervals of fair weather, twelve hours of
V rain being generally followed by twenty-four or
thirty hours of fair weather, with fometimes a
bright fun. During this period the thermo-
meter at noon ufually flood at from 78° to 80°.

The

[ 3 ]

The ]aft week of Auguft and firfl week of Sep-
tember were remarkable for an almoft inceffant
rain, which was for the moft part fmall and
drizzly, though it fometimes fell in heavy
fhowers; the air at the fame time felt cold and
raw, particularly in the evenings and mornings,
when a thick fog covered the hills. The ther-
mometer at noon was from 77° to 80°.

On the 7th of September a tornado came on,
which returned on the loth, 15th, i6th, 18th,
19th, 2 1 ft, 22d, 24th, 26th, 28th, and 30th.*
On the 8th, nth, 12th, 25th, and 29th, the
fliowers of rain were frequent. '

On the 9th, nth, 14th, and 23d, thunder
and lightning occurred during fome part of the
day. The 9th, J3th, 15th, 17th, 24th, an^ 26th
were fultry and almoft calm. During the con-
tinuance of the rains, the winds chiefly blew
from between the fouth and weft points, but
moft frequently from the fouth-weft, whence alfo
the heavieft'rain came.

As foon as the tornadoes appeared, the fea
and land breezes had a more regular fucceflion;
the fea breeze ufually began from the north-
weft about eight or nine A. M., .and towards
funfet drew round to the weft : the land breeze
then fetting in from the eaft or fouth-eaft, con-

B 2 tinned

[ 4 ]

tinued to blow all night and during the early*
part of the morning.

Towards the end of the month the thermo-
meter generally flood at 82° at noon, the at-
mofphere being lefs hazy, and the air cool.

The month of October was throughout at-
tended with regular fea and land breezes ; the
atmofphcre was free from haze, but fometimej
overcafl with clouds during the day ; the whole
of the month was cool and agreeable, though
the thermometer at noon generally flood at 82®^
and on the 29th at 84°.

A tornado occurred every night, or early ict
the morning, from the ift to the i8th inclu-
fively, frequently attended with heavy rain fof
fome hours, and with much thunder and light-
ning. During the remainder of the month tlic
tornadoes became lefs frequent, occurring only*
on the 19th, 21ft, 23d, 25th, 27th, 28th, and
29th. The I ft, 17th, and 24th were fultry.
On the 24th it was calm all day. On the 3d
there was much thunder and lightning. On the
7th, 15th, i8th, 21ft;, and 30th, frequent
Ihowers of rain fell. The tornado on the 17th
eame from the fouth-weft which is uncommon.
The tornado on the 2d was not followed by
rain. The 26,tli was remarJtably hazy all day.

The

C 5 ]

The lightning was extremely vivid on the aSth,
appearing in long ftreams or chains of fire.

The month of November was much warmer
than the preceding one, the thermometer at
noon being from 82° to 84°. On the nth it
rofe to 85°. It was on the 5th at 75°. There was
continued rain till noon, when, the Iky became
clear, the day calm and fultry. The atmof*
phere during the greateft part of the month was
clouded and hazy, at leaft the tops of the bills
were covered with haze during fome part of the
day. The fea and land breezes continued to
blow very frefla, but the mornings were fre-
quently calm and fultry till near ten A. M. On
the 28th it was calm all day. Tornadoes oc-
curred on the 2d, 8th, loth, I2th, i3th, i6th,
19th, and 25th. The 5th, 17th, and 23d were
rainy. The 5th, nth, 14th, i8th, and 28th,
were fultry, with a little wind.

In December alfo the Iky was generally hazy
and clouded ; the fca and land breezes were
pretty frelh during their continuance, but the
mornings were for the moft part calm, the fea
breeze- not fetting in till near ten A. M.; the
evenings alfo were clofe and fultry from fun-^fet
till late at night.

A tornado came on, the morning of the 7th,
f B 3 followed

L 6 ]

followed by much rain, thunder, and lightning;
but it cleared up before noon ; a heavy lliower
fell in the afternoon of the fame day.

The cleareft days this month were the 3d,
9th, 13th, i8th, 24th, and 25th.

On the 5th, 8th, 14th, 15th, and 22d, gentle
fliowers fell : on the 8ih there was much thun-
der and lightning. The weather was fultiy,
with little wind, on the ift, 3d, 14th, igth,
22d, and 27th. The 14th and 27th were cihn
days. The land wind blevv all day on the 13th,
and the fouth-we.ft and fouth-fou h weft winds
on the 2d, 30th, and 31ft davs. The thermo-
meter at eight A. M. ufually flood at from 77°
to 80°; on the 13th at 75°, and on the 26th at
81°: at noon it was from 81° to 84°; at eight
P. M. from 78° to 80°.

The remittent fever which during the months
of June, July, and Auguft, had very generally
prevailed here, and had raged with great vio-
lence, began to abate in the month of Septem- ,
ber. Early in the month, this difeale had not
only become lefs frequent, but alfo more mild
in its fymptoms, gradually changing into the
form of an intermittent. Towards the end of
the month it became very rare, the cafes which
occurred being chiefly among the whites, ef-

pecially

pecially thofe lately arrived in the country; or
others who had been irregular and intemperate
during the courfe of preceding intermittent com-
plaints.

In the months of Odober, November, and
December, intermittents were fo prevalent, that
fcarcely a family in the fettlement, although the
whole number was nearly 400, remained perfectly
free from them. They generally obferved the
quotidian and tertian type there' were, how-
ever, a few inftances of double tertians. Moft of
the above cafes were fo mild, particularly
among the men, as not to prevent them from
following their different occupations, except
during the time of the paroxyfm. But in lome
inftances, the daily recurrence of the difeafe,
the long continuance of the paroxyfm, and a
poor diet, confifting chiefly of falted meats,
rice, caflada, &c. reduced the patients to a
ftate of great debility, and infenfibly laid the
foundation of long and tedious complaints.
The greateft fufferers from intermittents were
thofe who had previoufly laboured under re-
mittent fevers, and had not yet recovered their
ftrength ; alfo perfons of delicate and irritable
habits, children, and women giving fuck.

In every inftance where the bark was takeii

B 4 iij

r 8 ]

in due quantities, and perfifted In for a proper
length of time, the paroxyfm was fpeedily
checked, and the danger of a relapfe effedtu-
ally prevented ; nor did the patient fuffer
thofe ill effedts which ufually occur where the
difeafe has continued long, and been left to
itfelf. Few, however, of the common people
could be prevailed upon to take the bark in
any form ; and even thofe who took enough of
it to obviate the return of a lingle parox\fm,
would feldom continue it a fufhcient lenerh of

time to eradicate the difeafe. Thcle confidera-
tions, joined to an apprehenfion that ferious
and alarming confequences might enfue from
frequent rclapfes, determined me to try the
effedts of the mineral folution, according to the
plan recommended by Dr. Fowler*. The tear
of difordering the bowels, and inducing dy-
fenteric fymptoms, rendered me at firft very
cautious in its ufe ; but 'on finding, after re-

peated trials, that no ill effedts were produced
by its exhibition, I was encouraged to employ
it more generally. The fuccefs with which it
was attended will appear from the following de-
tail of cafes :

* Medical Reports of the EfFedls of Arfenic in the Cure
df Agues, &c. 8vo. London, 1786.

CASE

[ 9 ]

CASE I.

Odober 4. — S. Peters, a black, aged four
years, is affeded every day, about noon, with
coldnefs and violent flilverings, which conti-
nue near an liour, and are then fucceeded
by a hot dry ikin, head-ach, and fometimes
vomiting. The paroxyfm is terminated in the
evening by a copious perfpiration. , In the ab-
fenceof the fit he makes no complaint, but ap-
pears languid and weak, and has little appetite.
A confiderable degree of hardnefs is felt on the
left fide, with a tumour projeding below the
cartilages of the falfe ribs. He was ordered to
take four drops of the mineral folutlon three
times a day.

5. Had no cold fit yefterday at the ufual time,
but appeared heavy and uneafy ; no ficknefs or
griping was occafioned by the drops.

8. Has had no return of the paroxyfm fines
the 3d. No griping nor any fenfible efFed has
been produced by the medicine.

The folution was now omitted, and he took,
on the 9th, four grains of calomel. This child
had no relapfe, and has continued fince to

enjoy

[ lO ]

good health, although the tumour in the
fide did not wholly difappear till the beginning
of the year 1793.

CASE II.

Odober 4. — Hannah Peters, a black, aged
thirty-fix years, has been for two months paft af-
feded with an intermittent fever ; at prefent a
paroxyfm comes on every day at noon. During
the hot fit, fire has a confiderable pain of the
• ' head, efpecially over the eyes, which conti-
nues till evening, and is gradually abated bj
the fweat which then breaks out. Her flrength
and appetite are much diminifhed.

Capiat folutionis mineralis guttas x. ter die.

6. Had no return of fever yefterday at the
ufual time ; but towards evening had a flight
cold fit, fucceeded by heat and fweating. The
paroxyfm, however, was neither fo fevere, nor
of fo long continuance as ufual. She felt a
little griping in her bowels.

Repetatur Solutlo.

8. Has omitted the folution two days, and has
had a return of the hot fit each day at the ufual
time, without the preceding cold ftage. She
was defired to continue the drops regularly. •
> 16. Has

[ II ]

1 6. Has taken the folutlon regularly fincc
the laft report, during which time fhe has not
had the leaf! return of her ague, nor any pain
of ’the bowels.

Oniittatur folutio et capiat Infus. Coit. Anguft. Jiij ter die-.

CASE III.

Odtober lo.,— David Edmonds, a black, aged
' forty years, has had every day, for near a
month paft, a paroxyfm of ague, attended
with a very fevere pain of the head. Of late
the fit has only returned every fecond day, be-
ginning about one o’clock, P. M. In the ab-
fence of the paroxyfm he has no complaint but
languor and debility.

Capiat Iblut. min. guttas x. ter die.

II. Had a flight attack yefterday evening,
which did not continue long ; he felt no griping
or naufea from the folution.

Repetatur Solutio.

1 6. Has negledted his medicine for fome
days, during which he has miffed the cold fit,
but had a pretty fmart hot fit every day, towards
evening.

Repetatur Solutio.

20. Has had no return of the cold or hot fit

fincc

[ 12 ]

lince the i6th: he continues the folution without
experiencing any difagreeable effed from it*

CASE IV.

Odob. 5. — J. Barnes, ag-d thirty-fix years, of a
fair complexion, and florid, with red hair, was
attacked with the remittent fever about the end
of Auguft laft, from which he recovered by
a liberal ufe of the bark ; but foon after, on re-
turning to work, and expofing himfelf too
much in the fun, he fuffered a fevere relapfe in
the beginning of September. His complaint,
however, yielded again to the bark, but left
him' greatly enfeebled. During the remainder
of the month -of September, he continued to
take from |i to gifs of bark every day, and re-
turned todiis work. . About a week afterwards
he was fuddenly feized with a cold fit, followed
by a hot ftage and a profufe perfpiration,
which left him very weak during the apyrexia.
His pulfe is now 100, rather hard and quick :
he ![ias a fevere attack every day at noon, at-
tended with vomiting, and, during the hot fit,
with a quick and hurried refpiration; he is hot

and

[ 13 3

and reftlefs till late in the evening, and has
then very profufe night fvveats.

Capiat folut. min. guttas x. ter die.

Od. 6. The folution did not difagree witli
him. He had a flight return of the paroxyfon>
yefterday.

Repetatur Solutio.

8. Has had no return of the ft, nor felt any
fenfible effeft from the medicine. He perfpired
much at night; has great debility and languor,
with little appetite.

lo. The fymptoms are nearly as before; he did
nor reft well, but had no return of the paroxyftrr.

Capiat opii gr. ij h. s. Repetatur Solutio.

12 The folution was yefterday omitted; he
refted better with the pill : in other refpedts
finds no alteration.

13. Had a return of the paroxyfm yefter-
day ; the cold ftage lafted half an hour, the hot
ftage about two hours. He was much relieved
by the opium, and fweated very profufely af-
ter it.

14. Had another flight fit yefterday evening,
the cold ftage being very fhort ; he fweated much:
does not recover his ftrength or appetite. As
he could not be prevailed upon to take the
bark again, I diredfed that four ounces of the

following

[ 14 ]

following infufion fliould be taken three times
a day:

Corticis AngufliirsB Cremor. Tart. 31] Aquae-
pur. Ih'Ts.

By this plan his appetite became better, and
he regained his ftrength in fome degree ; but
in a week or ten days he rclapfed Into his for-
mer flate, having every day an ague fit, which
was, however, relieved by two grains of opi-
um, taken at the commencement of the cold
ftage. He now began to take the bark to the
amount of |ifs a day, which finally put a Hop
to the ague; notwithflanding, he recovered his
ftrength fo fiowly, that it was thought necefiary,
fix weeks afterward, to fend him to England
for the effectual reftoration of his health.

CASE V.

Odober 14. — A. Richardfon, a black, aged
forty years, fince her recovery from a remittent
fever in Auguft laft, has continued in a very
debilitated date, and for fome time pafl; has
been affeded with an intermittent fever, the
cold fit of which comes on daily at four o’clock,
P. M. is very fevere, and of long duration.

Much

‘ [ -5 ]

Much pain of the head, and frequent vomit-
ing attend the hot fir, which continues the
greateft part of the night, and is fuccecded to-
wards morning by a flight partial fweat : fhe
remains very weak till the commencement of
the next paroxyfm ; her appetite is much im-
paired ; her body open.

Capiat folut, min. guttas x. ter die.

1 6. Hus taken the folution two days, and
has had no appearance of the ague, except a
little uneafinefs and yawning about the time of
its ufual attack. No.fenfible effeft is produced
by the medicine.,

Repetatur Solutio.

17. Had a return of the paroxyfm yefterday;
the cold fit was fhort, but fevere ; the hot fit
was alfo violent, and terminated by a profufe
perfpiration ; after which, however, fhe ap-
peared more eafy and compofed than ufual.
She complained of no griping or naufea from
the medicine.

Repetatur Solutio.

24. Has had no return of the paroxyfm fince
the 17th, nor any fymptoms of its approach.
She continues flill very weak, and has little ap-
petite.

Omittatur folut. Capiat infuf. gent. c. ^ij ter die.

28. Has had no return of the fit. She be-

gins

[ ]

gins to recover her ftrength and appetite.

Repetatur Infuf.

CASE VI.

Nov. 2. — Mary Bowler, aged forty years,
' a black, has been for fix weeks affedied with a
tertian ague ; the cold fit is fcvere ; the hot fit,
which is very violent, and attended with great
pain of the head, generally continues all night,
and fometimes part of the next day, without
any ' fvveating ftage. She is much debilitated,
but has a tolerable appetite.

Capiat folut. min. guttas x. ter die.

4. Had a return of the paroxyfm yefterday,
after the third dofe of the folution. The fit
returned at the ufual period, and in the fame
manner as before. No fenfible effed was pro-
duced by the medicine.

Repetatur Solutio.

8. Has had no return of the cold fit fince
the 3d; the hot fit occurred about the ufual
time, but it was flrorter and much lefs fevere
than ordinary.

Repetatur Solutio.

■12. Has had no return of the paroxyfm ; flie
complains of a little griping in her bowels, and
continues ftill weak.

Omittatur ^olut. min. Capiat inf. gent. c. |ij ter die.

I 20. She

20. She makes no complaint^ and has nearly
recovered her health and fpirits.

Repetatur Infus. Gent. c.

CASE VII.

Nov. I. — E. Perth, a black, aged forty-five
years, has been for near fix weeks paft affedted
with an irregular intermittent, which moft com-
monly follows the tertian type. The cold fit
is fevere, and very uncertain in the time of its
attack and in its duration. In the hot fit fhe
complains of exceflive pain of the head, efpe-
cially over her eyes, and of great pain of the •
back. The hot ftage generally continues all
night, feldom terminating by regular fweats :
it is followed by much laffitude and uneafinefs
through the enfuing day. Her ftrength is

greatly impaired, her appetite bad ; and Ihe is
very coflive.

Capiat ftatim Sal. cathart. amar. |i. Cras incipiat fumerc

Sol. min. guttas x. ter die.

6. After taking three dofes of the medicine,
fhe had a return of the paroxyfm on the 3d,
but thought the cold fit later in its approach
than ufual, and fhorter. The hot fit continued

VoL. VI. C throusi;^'^

(

[ >8 3

through a great part of the night, but the pain
of the head was much lefs fevere. She has had
no return of the paroxyfm fmce, and feels only
a little griping from the medicine.

^■Repetatur Solutio.

10. Has had no return of the paroxyfm fince
the 3d. She complains only of debility and
want of appetite.

Omittatur Solut. Capiat Infus. Gent. c. §ij ter die.

14. Begins to recover her ftrength ; her appe-
tite is alfo better.

Repetatur Infus. Gent, c.

CASE VIII.

Odlob. 3. — Ann Bowler, a black, aged four-
teen years, has been, for fome weeks paft, af-
fedled with an irregular tertian, which is fome-
times, but not generally, preceded by a cold
flage. The hot ftage continues during the
greater part of the day, and feldom terminates
by fweating. Her body is open ; her appetite
much impaired.

Capiat Solut. min. guttas viii; ter die.

10. The folution has now been taken for a
week, during which time fhe has had no return

[ '9 ]

of the ague, nor has felt any naufea or griping
from the medicine. No complaint remains but
debility.

CASE IX.

October 4. —Dinah Lawrence, a black, aged
forty-four years, is every other day, about fix
o’clock P. M., feized with a fevere cold fit, fol-
lowed by great heat and violent pain of the
head, efpecially over the eyes, which fymptoms
continue through the whole night, and are not
fucceeded by any regular fweating ftage ; Ihe
is coftive, and much debilitated ; fhe has had
this complaint near three months.

Capiat ftatim Sal. cath. am. 3vl • et eras Solut. min. guttas
X. ter die.

to. Has had no return of the fit fince fhe be-
gan to take the folution ; fhe finds no difagree-
able efFedt from it : is flill coftive.

Repetantur Sal cathart. et Solut. min. ut antea.

14. Feels no complaint but what proceeds
from debility; her appetite is belter; fhe was a
little griped by the medicine.

Omittatur Solut. min. Capiat Infus. Gent, c.fij ter die.

C 2

CASE

[ 20 ]

CASE X.

Sept, 24. — Jane Armftrong, of a fair com-
plexion, aged thirty years, is feized every day,
at eleven o’clock A. M., with a head-ach fo vio-
lent as to produce frequent fhrieking and
continual moaning. The pain chiefly affe<fts
the crown and one fide of the head ; it is in
general preceded by a cold flage, though flight,
and of fhort duration. The hot fit, which is
not very violent, continues till night, when
it abates along with the pain; but is not en-
tirely removed till morning : the paroxyfm is
ufually terminated by a profufe perfpiration.
The patient is naturally of a delicate conftitu-
tion, and has of late been much reduced by
the remittent fever, from which fhe recovered
very flowly.

Capiat Opii gr. iij et Tart, cinet. gr. | ingruente pa-
roxyfmo.

25. The head-ach was almoft entirely re-
moved within half an hour after taking the pill;
the paroxyfm terminated alfo more fpeedily
than ufual. Being very coflive, fhe was ordered
to take half an ounce of purging fait the fol-
lowing morning.

26. The

C ]

26. The fait operated gently; flie had a very
violent return of head-ach at the ufual time,
which was relieved by the opium taken alone.

Odtober 4. — She refufes to take the bark :
fhe has every day had a return of head-ach at
the ufual time, which was however removed by
the opium.

Capiat Solut. min. guttas x. ter die ; et repetatur Opium
fub initium paroxyfmi.

10. Has had no retlirn of the paroxyfm
fince fhe began the folution ; feels no inconve-
nience from its ufe, but a flight diarrhoea,
without any pain.

Repetatur Solutio.

14. Has had no return of the head-ach ; fhe
fweats much at night ; is very weak, and has
no appetite.

Omittatur Solut. Capiat Infus, Cort. Anguft. ^iij ter die.

This woman has never had a return of the
paroxyfm, though a twelvemonth has now
elapfed fince the laft report. She gradually reco-
vered her ftrength by the ufe of tonic remedies.

CASE XI.

Sept. 1 2. — Jeffe George, a black, aged twenty

C 3 years.

[ 22 ]

j/f y'cari, )>'ejilerday afternoon feized with a fe-

vere cold fit of an ague, which continued up-
wards of two hours, and was fucceed; d by great
heatj'fevere pain cf the head, nautea, pains -
all over his body, more efpecially in the back
and loins, great reftlelsnefs, and anx'ctv. To-
wards morning a general but not pr.ofufe per^-
fpiration took place; the fhverity of the head-
ach at the fame time abated, and all the Other
fymptoms wholly difappeared: he has much
thirfl ; his fkin is cool ; his pulfe 72, and foft.

Capiat Solut. min, guttas x. ttt die.

13. He had a return of the paroxyfm laft
night, at eight o’clock, four hours later than
the former one. The cold fir, though very -fe-
vere, did not continue long ; the hot fit was
ftrong; the head-ach lefs violent. He had a
very profufe perfpiration this nrorning. His
fkin is now cool and moift, and his tongue clean;
but foine pain ftill remains over the orbits of the
eyes; he complains of third:, and is coftive.

Capiat Sal. catnart. am. ^i — Repetatur Solut. mih.

14. The head-ach continued yefierday till
the afternoon, and then went off; the faks were
not taken till this morning. He reded well lad
night, and makes no complaint but of debility.

Repetatur Solutio.

15. He

[ J

3:5. continued free from complaint yef-
terday, till towards evening, when he became
hot and feverilh ; and after a very uneafy night,
he, this morning, at eight o’clock, had a fevere
cold fit, attended with violent head-ach, which
lafted near an hour. Two grains of opium,
taken at this time, brought on a fwcat, and ter-
minated the paroxyfm.

Repetatur Solutio.

16. He flept well laft night, and feels no
complaint but from debility. He has omitted
the drops this day.

Repetatur eras Solutio.

17. Has had no return of the paroxyfm ; he
feels no complaint but a flight griping from the-' '
folution.

Tinft. Opii et Solut. min. 5a 3ij m. capiat guttas sx.
ter die.

20. He has had no return of the paroxyfm
fince the 1 5th. At that time he probably
brought it on by havingexpofed himfelf the night
before to the damp evening air in his fhirt. He.
feels no griping, or ficknefs, from the drops,
which he {till takes. He returned to his work
this day.

.c 4 "case

[ 24 ]

CASE XII.

Augiift I2j 1793. — Mr. T , a Euro-

pean, of a dark complexion, with black hair,
was fuddenly feized, two days ago, with an
acute pain of the head, chiefly over the orbits
of the eyes, attended with naufea and vomit-
ing. Thefe fymptoms were foon followed by
great heat and refllefsnefs, which continued
■ through the whole night, and yielded in the
morning to a profufe perfpir.ation. On the i ith
he was free from complaint ; walked about, and
ate heartily. In the evening, however, he was
feized with a very fevere (hivering fit, which
continued near two hours, and was fucceeded by
great heat and refllefsnefs, by fevere pain above
the eyes, and bilious vomiting. He was a'gain
relieved in the morning by a copious perfpira-
tion. At ten o’clock, A. M. his fkin was ftill
hotter than natural, and his pulfe rather quick;
in other refpedls he appeared free from com-
plaint.

Capiat Solut. min. guttas y. ter die.

1 3. The firfl dofe of the folutlon yefterday
produced vomiting; the fecond gave him three

ftools^*

[ ^5 ]

ftools; the laft. had no particular effeft. He
pafled an eafy night, without feeling any fymp-
tom of the fit, except a general uneafinefs,
which, however, foon went off. He complains
this morning of flight pain over his forehead.

Repetatur Solutio.

14. The medicine again produced ficknefs,
and a flight diarrhoea, though he only took two
dofes of it. He remained well till two o’clock,
P. M.; he then became very hot, and had a
fevere return of the head-ach, attended with
naufea and vomiting. The heat, pain, and
reftlcfsnefs continued till this morning, when a
copious perfpiration took place, with which he
is yet affeded.

At ten o’clock A. M. his pulfe Is 130; his fkin
pretty cool; his head-ach almoft gone; his
tongue fomewhat furred. He complains of third:,
and of flight pain of his bowels, with a fen-
fation of numbnefs about the umbilicus

Omittatur Solut. Capiat pulv. Cort. Peruv. 3I fecundi
quaque hora.

At fix o’clock, P. M. he has a very flight head-
ach, with a fenfe of weight in the forehead; his
eyes are more prominent and brighter than ufual.
He has taken two dofes of bark fince noon,
the fir ft of which produced vomiting; he has

had

[ 26 ]

had one flool to day; his lirine is very high
coloured; pulfe 130, foft, and lefs quick than
in the morning.

Repetatur Cort. et capiat h. s. Tind, Opii et Vin. An-
tlfn. aa guttas xxx.

1 5th. Ten o’clock, A.M — he has had a good
night ; fome pain ftill remains over his eyes, but it
is lefs fevere ; his Ikin is rather hot, but moift;
pulfe 1 12 ; his tongue dry and white ; his uiine
high coloured, with a light cloud fufpended in
it. He complains much of third and fever,
and of a pain in his back. He has taken, fince
yefterday noon, |ifs of Peruvian bark. '

♦ Repetantur Cortex, Tin<St. Opii, et Vin. Antim.

16. He paffed an eafy night, and enjoyed fome
refrefliing deep; he complains only of a flight
pain over his eyes, and is able to fit up. He had
two flools in the night ; his tongue is cleaner,
but ftill dry; pulfe 104 and foft, but eafily
quickened by the leaft exertion. His urine is
not fo high coloured, and exhibits a flocculent
cloud. He took |ifs of bark between ten
o’clock, A. M. yefterday, and fix o’clock this
morning*

Repetantur Cortex, TiiuSt. Opii, et Vin. Antim.

17. He was much griped yefterday by drink-
ing foftw; cyder; has no complaint this morn-
ing

[ 27 J

ing but frofti Weaknefs. His pulfe is 104, and
foft; his tongue clean and moift. His urine
is much paler than before, and has a kind of
gelatinous ftriated cloud fufpended in it.

The fame medicines were repeated.

18.^ He feems much better in every refpeft ;
his appetite is returning; his pulfe 90, and foft.

He continued the bark a few days longer,
and had no return of complaint.

CASE XIII.

Odiober 4.— Ann and Eliz. Davis, blacks,
the former five, the latter fix years old, have
been for fome time paft affected with quotidian
agues. The cold fit comes on at four o’clock,
jP. M ; is very fevere, and frequently attended
wbh vomiting. The hot fit ufually continues
the whole night, being attended with great reft*
leffnefs, anxiety, and acute pain over the eyes;
but is feldom fucceeded by a regular fweating
ft age. Their appetite and ftrength are much
impaired.

Capiant Solut. min. guttas vj. ter die.

9. Each of them had a return of the cold fit

Qjn

[ 28 ]

on the 4-th, after the third dofe of the folutlon.
They have fince had no return.

Repetatur Solutio.

II. There has not been any appearance of
the paroxyfm, nor any difagreeable eiTedt from
the medicine.

CASE XIV.

John Oliver, a black, aged five years, who
was affefted nearly in the fame manner as the
two laft patients, began, on the i6th,ot Auguft,
to take four drops of the folution three times a
day.

23, He had a return of the fit on the t 6th, 17th,

and 1 8th, but it commenced every day later, was

lefs fevere, and of fiiorter duration. Since the

1 8th he has had no fir, although the folution
was difeontinued. A flight tumefaction of the
face has been obferved for two days paft, but
is at prefent fubfiding; He felt no naufea or
pain from the medicine^

CASE

[ »9 3

CASE XV.

Dec. 10.— Mary Jones, a black, aged thirty-
fix years, about three months ago was afFedtcd
with a remittent fever, from which (lie reco-
vered very flowly, and has fince continued in a
. flate of great debility. She has of late been
fubjed: to violent pains in the bowels, attended
with diarrhoea. During the laft month fhe has
had a regular tertian ague, the cold fit of which
begins generally at fun-fet, but is not very fe-
vere, nor of long continuance. The hot fit is
long and fevere, being attended with violent
head-ach, intenfe third:, and great reflleffnefs.
Thefe fymptoms are not terminated by a regular
fwcating ftage ; and have often no remiffion till
the middle of the following day. She is feeble,
and much emaciated.

Capiat Solut. min. guttas x. ter die ; et Op'u. gr. ij, fub
acceifioncm paroxyfmi.

12. The hot fit was much relieved by the
opium ; the paroxyfm was Ihorter, and the
head-ach lefs fevere. She is very coftive.

Repeutur Solut. nain, et capiat Sal. cathart. Jfs mane.

15. Con-

[ 30 ]

15. Continues the folution without feeling
any fenfible effed from it. She has had no cold
fit or head-ach during the two lafl: paroxyfms.
The hot fit was much lefs violent and of fliorter
duration than formerly.

Repet^tur Soliuio.

18. Has had no return of the fit, nor any
appearance of it fince the lafl report ; nor does
(he perceive any naufea or griping from the
folution. Her appetite is ftill much impaired.

Repetatur SoltiUo. Capiat Iqf. Cort. Angufl. |ij ter die,

22. There has been no return of the parox-
yfm. She finds her flrength and appetite much
increafed by the infufion,

The ufe of the folution was difeontinued.

CASE XVI. "

Feb. T. — John Jonesj a European, of a fal-
low complexion, aged twenty-eight years, is
affefted in the afternoon, every other day, with
a violent cold fit, attended with rigors, and
fucceeded by a regular hot fit and fweating.
Until within a fevv days, he has been able to
do his duty on fhip- board as a feaman; but
the paroxyfm returns now with fo nauch violence,
I as

[ 3* ]

as to confine him to his hammock. He has ta-*
ken a large quantity of Peruvian bark at different
times, which has never failed to prevent the next
return of the paroxyfm ; he has always, how-
ever, had a relapfe in a few days, through in-
temperance, and expofure to the night air.

Capiat Solut. min. giittas x. ter die.

8. Has taken the folution without perceiving
any fenfible effcdt from it. The paroxyfm re-
turns as ufual, but, as he fays, with much lefs
violence.

Repetatur Solutio,

15. The paroxyfm returns as ufual, but is
fhorter and leTs fevere. Through mifiake, he
has taken the folution only before the attack of
each paroxyfm.

Repetatur Solutio ; et capiat guttas x. ter die.

20. He has had no return of the paroxyfm
fince he took the folution as diredfed, and feels,
no naufea or griping from it.

He continued the medicine a few days longer,
and was reftored to perfed health.

CASE

C 3* ]

' CASE XVII.

Feb. I. — Ann Wicks, a mulatto, aged forty
years, has been for a month pall; affe6ted, every
other day, with a violent cold fit, attended with
rigors, and fucceeded by great heat. She has
alfo a fevere pain over the forehead, and on one
fide of the head, extending to the neck and
Iboulder of the fame fide. There is much ftiff-
nefs and pain in moving the neck during the
intermiffion. The cold ftage commences about
five o’clock, P. M. and continues near an hour.
The hot fit does not terminate before morning,
and is feldom fucceeded by a' regular fweating
ftage. She is much debilitated by the long con-
tinuance of the complaint, and has lately given
fuck to a young child. Her appetite is alfo
greatly impaired.

Capiat Solut. min. guttas viij ter die.

4. She has had no return of the cold fit. The
hot fit continued only part of the night, and
was unattended with head-ach or any other dif-
treffing fymptom.

Repetatur Sohitio.

' 12. She

^ 33 3

12. She has had no return of the paroxyfm,
and feels no ill efFedts from the folution. Her
ftrength is fomewhat increafed, but her appetite
is ftill bad.

Oniittatur Solutio. Capiat Inf. Gent. c. |ifs bis die,

CASE XVIII.

Mrs. D. a delicate woman, of a fair com-
plexion, aged twenty-four years, in the month
of Auguft laft had a mifcarriage, from which
Ihe recovered without much trouble, and en-
joyed a tolerable ftate of health till the begin-
ning of Qdober, when Ihe w^as feized with
the common remittent fever of the place. From
this complaint Ihe alfo recovered within a fort-
night, by taking largely of the bark in powder
and decodtion. About the end of the month,
however, Ihe fulFered a relapfe, and made a
very flow progrefs towards recpvery; her fto-
mach being only able to retain the bark in the
form of a decodtion. She laboured under great
debility, very profufe night fweats, and fre-
quent hedlic flufhings during the day, with lofs
of appetite, and general tremors on ufing the
IdiR; exercife. Thefe fymptoms were at length
VoL, VI. D ' • confide-

■ [ 34 ]

confiderably alleviated by the Infufion of An-
guflura barkj elixir of vitriol, and other tonics.

Dec. 15. 'Yefterday, at fix o’clock, P.M.
file had a cold fit, with rigors, which lafted near
half an hour, and was fucceeded by a hot
fit, attended with great pain of the head, nau-
fea, vomiting, and reftleffnefs, v.'hich conti-
nued through the whole night ; towards morn-
ing fhe was relieved by a partial fweat, but re-
mained very weak and languid.

16. Yefterday, at the fame hour, flie had a
return of the paroxyfm, the fymptoms of w'hich
were mitigated by an opiate taken foon after its
commencement : flie had a copious perfpiration
during the night, and feems free from com-
plaint tills morning.

18. Had a return of the fit on the i6th and
17th, but was relieved as before by an opiate.
She refufes to take bark.

Capiat Solut. min. gnttas viij. ter die.

20. She has had no return of the cold fit fince
the 1 8th. The hot fit w'as much fliorter and
lefs fevere. She experiences no inconvenience
from the medicine.

Repetatur Solutio.

22. She has had no return of the paroxyfm,,
but feels a flight pain in her bowels.

Capiat flatiin Tin6l. Opii guttas xx. et fp. lav. c. 3fs.

Repetatur Solut. min.^

24. Tlie

[ 35 ]

- 24- The pain of her bowels was removed by
the opiate; die has had no return of the pa-
roxyfm ; refts pretty well during the night, but
fwkts much towards morning.

Omittatur Solutio ; et capiat Infuf. Gent. c. ter die.

30. Her ftrength is returning. Her appetite
is good, and die has had no- return of the pa-
roxyfm.

This lady continued to enjoy a good ftate of
health, till the 20th of March, 1793, when flie
was affefted with a diarrhoea, attended with acute
pain in her bowels, chiefly about the umbilicus.
She was foon relieved from thefe complaints by
an opiate, and a few powders, confifting of the
Colombo root joined to an aromatic ; but on the
25th, Ihe had a return of an intermittent fever,
the cold fit of which was very fevere. It began
at fix o’clock in the evening, continued near
two hours, and was followed by a hot fit, which
lafted all night, terminating towards the morn-
ing in a flight perfpiration, and leaving her low
and weak the remainder of the day.

28. She refufed yefterday to take an opiate on
the approach of the cold fit, having on formet
occafions found her head' difagreeably affedled
by it. The paroxyfm proved very fevere : the

D 2 hot

C 36 ]

hot fit continued all night, and was fucceeded
by partial fweats about the head and neck. She
is very weak this morning, and complains of a
great pain of the head and back ; of lownefs of
fpirits and general uneafinefs.

Capiat Solut. min. guttas viij. ter die, ex Infiif. Cort.-

Angullur. cyatho.

30. The folution did not difagree with-her in
any refpccft; (he had a cold fit lad night, 'but
it was much lefs fevere than ufual j fife is alfo
in better fpirits to-day.

Repetatur Solutio.

April I . There was no cold fit yefterday l
but file had a hot fit, which continued all night,
and terminated in a very profufe perfpiration.
Her fpirits are much revived ; Ihe is confide-
rably ftronger, and has a better appetite.

Repetatur Solutio.

6. She continues the folution without feeling
any inconvenience from it ; and has had no re-
turn of the fit, or night-fweats, fince the ift: her
appetite at prefent is good.

Repetatur Solutio.

8. She has had no fit, and recovers her ftrength
gradually. No naufea or griping has ever been
produced by the folution.

Omittatur Solutio. Capiat pulv. rad. colomb. gr. xv. ter
die.

CASE

C 37 ]

CASE XIX.

Feb. I, 1793 — Mrs. H. of a fair complexion,
aged twenty-four' years, during the months of
September and October laft, had two feveral
attacks of the remittent fever, from which die
recovered fpeedily by means of the bark : fince
that time die has continued in a very weak irri-
table date, fubjeft to pains of the bowels, and to
frequent though dight returns of a febrile com-
plaint, which continued only for a day or two,
and commonly yielded to an opiate. On the
27th of January Ihe had a cold fit at eight
o’clock in the morning ; this was fucceeded, in
about an hour, by a burning heat of the fkin,
with dudiing of the face, great reftlefTnefs, and
fevere pain of the forehead. Her eyes, at the
fame time, appeared bright and prominent ; die
complained alfo of a fenfe of heat in them, and
w'as unable to bear the light. In the evening,
a copious perfpiration enfued, and confiderably
alleviated the fymptoms ; die had, however, a
flight head-ach through the whole night : the

D 3 fit

[ 38 ]

fit has returned every morning at the fame time
-for the laft four days.

Feb. 2. The paroxyfm appeared this morn-
ing as ufual, with a fevere cold fit and head-
achy but was rendered much fliorter and lefs
diftreffing by an opiate draught taken foon after
its acceffion.

Capiat Solut. min. guttas viij. ter die.

5. She had a fight return of the cold fit this
morning, with a little head-ach, but the pa-
roxyfm was of fliort duration.

Repetatur Solutio.

6. She has had no cold fit to-day, nor.any
pain of the head ; the hot fit returned at the
iifual time. Her face is much flulhed, and. her
fidn hot, but with lefs anxiety and reftleffnefs
than heretofore : fire finds no inconvenience
from the folution. The opiate'was not taken
to-day.

Repetatiu Solutio. ■ ^

10. She has had no return of the paroxyfm,
nor has felt the flighted fymptom of its approach
fince the 6th ; flie complains only of a flight pain
or uneafinefs in her domach. Her appetite dill
continues weak.

Omittatur Solut. min. Capiat tindl. opii guttas xx. flatim.

14. She begins to recover her fbrength and

appetite ;

C 39~]

appetite ; the pain of the ftomach was Imme-
diately removed by the opiate.

All the patients whofe cafes arc here related,
have continued to enjoy good health fince cured
by the folucion-; and though feveral months
have now elapfed, none of them have expe-
rienced the leaft unpleafant fymptom which
could be attributed to that remedy. The women
continued to labour under a fuppreffion of the ca-
tamenia, until their ft re ngth was entirely reftored.

Mrs. H. (Cafe XIX.) though enjoying a good
ftate of health, had no appearance of them till
the middle of Auguft laft, when they flowed
for feveral days rather profufely.

In Cafe IV. I had little profpcd: of fuccefs
from the ufe of the folution, the child having
become very weak and irritable by frequent re-
lapfes : but as he had for a length of time
taken the bark in large dofes without any effedt,
I was induced to try the mineral folution, with
a view of checking the returns of the paroxyfm,
hoping afterwards to complete the cure by the
bark ; which might prove more efFedlual after
Its ufe had been fufpended a few days.

[ 40 ]

In Cafes I. X. XIII. and XIV. there was an
evident enlargement of the fpleen, forming a
projeftion below the cartilages of the ribs. In
Cafe X. it was fo large as to extend nearly as low
as the crifta of the os ilium. After the ague had
ceafed, the patient continued to ufe corrobo-
rant medicines, taking at the fame time fmall
dofes of calomel, but without any fenfible effedt
on the tumor; it yet remains nearly in the fame
Hate, not, however, caufing much uneafinefs.
In Cafes XIII. and XIV. as the patients fpcedily
regained their health after the ague had ceafed,
and felt no uneafinefs from the enlargement of
the fpleen, I did not think it proper to ufe any
medicine, excepting a purgative dofe of calomel
occafionally, becaufe, in many fimilar cafes,
vvhere this medicine had been ufed, even in
very fmall dofes, a falivatlon was very foon ex-
cited, the tumor not being at all affedted by
it, whereas the patient was rendered extremely
weak and irritable. The only inftance of tu-
mefadtion which could with any probability be
referred to the ufe of thefolution, w^as Cafe XIV.
in which, however, it proved fo flight, as
fcarcely to deferve notice.

In order to give the mineral folution a fairer
|;rial, I avoided, in many inftances, making

ufe

[ 41 ]

ufe of two very powerful means ufually em-
ployed for the purpofe of diminifhing the vio-
lence of the paroxyfm^ and which frequently
indeed put a total ftop to it ; I mean, , opium
and emetics : when two grains of opium are
given a fhort time before the paroxyfm is
expeded, it feldom fails to bring the fit to a
fpeedy termination by a profufe fweat ; and
generally relieves the violent pain of the head,
which is fo diftr effing during the hot fit, as in
Cafes X. and XV. The recurrence of the pa-
roxyfm being once obviated, I have found that
a full dofe of opium at night affords more com-
fortable reft, and more certainly prevents the
folution from affeding the bowels, than when
the tindure of it is added to the mineral folu-
tion ; a mixture of this kind always become^
turbid, and the opium is partly feparated.

Intermittents partake m.uch of the nature of
remittents, and the two difeafcs have a very
uncertain boundary; whenever, therefore, the
intermiffions are imperfed and indiftind, the
exhibition of an emetic is attended with mofl:
beneficial effeds. In many inftances this prac-
tice puts a temporary ftop to the returns of the
fit, and in every cafe confiderably diminifhes
its violence. The proper time of giving an

emetic

[ 42 ]

emetic, is about two hours before the paroxyfni
is expected ; and the bell mode is to employ a
folution of tartarized antimony in divided dofes,
at intervals of eight or ten minutes, until full
vomiting be produced. When the patient has
vomited a few times, and his ftomach is a little
fettled, a more moderate dofe of the antimo-
nial folution, joined to a full dofe of opium,
feldom fails to produce a copious perfpiration
before the attack of the cold fit. This method
generally fucceeds in preventing the immediate
recurrence of the paroxyfm : but in thofe cafes
where the intermittent has continued long, and
feems to return by the power of habit, it will
be proper to repeat the emetic once or twice
more before the time when the paroxyfms are
expected.

I think it proper here to obferve, that antimo-
nials, in the naufeating dofes in which they are
frequently given during the remiffion or apy-
rexia, w\th a view of procuring a more perfed
folution of the difeafe, are feldom found ade-
quate to the purpofe; on the contrary, the con-
tinued adion of fo powerful a ftimulus, in ge-
neral, produces a correfpondent ftate of debi-
lity, and relaxes the mufcular fibres of the fto-
2 mach

C 43 ]

mach fo much, that neither food nor medicine
can be properly retained.

The remittent fever is, in many cafes, very
mild ; whence the remiffion has often been mif-
takenfor an intermiflion. This miftake is more
liable to be made when the remittent fever is
preceded by an evident and fev'ere cold ftage
at each return of the paroxyfm, and is followed
by a regular hot, and fweating ftagc. The
remittent may, however, be diftlngtiiflied from
the intermittent feVer ; ift, by a flight pain
which remains fixed in the forehead, or over
the orbits of the eyes, during the apyrexia ;
adly, by the pulfe, which, though not more fre-
quent than in health, yet retains a degree of
quicknefs.or- fharpnefs through the whole of the
remiffion ; 3dly, by the date of the fkin, which,'
though moifl, feels hotter than natural. In
fuch cafes I have not found the mineral folution
fo fuccefsful as in thofe where the intermiffion
was complete ; for which reafon it feems moft
prudent to place our foie dependance upon the
bark, as in Cafes IV. and XTI. Sometimes, how-
ever, when the- patient could not be prevailed
upon to take the bark in proper dofes, I have
found much advantage from joining It with the
rnineral folution, by which means a fmaller quan-
tity

C 44 ]

tity of bark wlli anfwer the intended purpofe.
But whenever immediate danger prefents itfelf,
or is to be apprehended from a continuance of
the fever, the bark, given in large dofes, is the
only medicine to be depended on.

The mineral folution ufually fails in fome
irregular cafes, which at firfl; view refemble in-
termittents, and have been improperly ranked
with them, under the denomination of erratic
or anomalous intermittents. A morbid increafe
of irritability appears to be the foundation of
thefe irregular complaints ; they alfedt prin-
cipally thofe who have been debilitated by fre-
quent attacks of fever, or by lingering difeafes ;
alfo children; and women, more efpecially thofe
who give fuck ; and, in general, perfons of a
weak delicate habit. The fymptoms which
occur in thefe complaints are nearly as follow ;
during the afternoon,, or towards evening, the
patient becomes uneafy and refllefs ; his Ikin
feels dry, and is hotter than ufual, but with-
out imparting the burning heat ufually obferved
in the hot ftage of intermittents; the pulfe be-
comes quick, and rather more frequent than
natural; a pain is fometimes felt in the head,
either on the crown, or on the back part of it ;
the thirft is fcldom very great; difagreeable

clamtnb

[ 45 ]

clariiminefs, however, takes place in the
Thefe fymptoms are fometimes preceded by
flight chills running down the back, which,
however, when they do occur, are not of long
continuance, and never accompanied with vio-
lent fliiverings.

In this manner the patient is harrafled during
the whole night*, but obtains relief towards
morning, when a partial fweat fometimes ap-
pears about the head and breaft. Excepting a
degree of languor and debility, little or no
complaint is felt till the return of evening.
The duration of thefe complaints is very uncer-
tain ; they fometimes affedt the patient daily
for one or more weeks ; at other times abate
or difappear for a few days, and then return as
before. Whatever increafes the irritability of
the body, may be coniidered as an occafional
caufe of them; but the moft common as well
as moft: powerful one is too much fatigue,
along with expofure to a hot fun.

In thefe cafes, after evacuating the ftomach
and bowels by a gentle emetic or purgative, it
is commonly fufficient to exhibit fome tonic, in
a form agreeable to the patient’s-ftomach. The

* Hence the denomination of night-fever.

/ Peruvian

[ 46 1

PeKivIan bark does not appear to produce any
better efFcdts than the other vegetable tonics,
as Gentian, Colombo, See. An infufion of
Anguflu’ra bark is what I moft frequently eni-
ploy, and find mofl ufeful, taking care to pre-
vent the coftivenefs arifing from its ufe, by
giving, at proper intervals, a dofe of calomel.

For children, who cannot eafily be induced to
take bitters, after the previous ufe of an emetic,
a few moderate dofes of calomel are commonly
fnfficient.

Notwithllanding the effedls of arfenic appear
to be equally as powerful and nearly as certain
as thofe of bark in the cure of intermittent fe-
vers, yet it mu ft be confefifed that perfect
ftrength is lefs fpeedily recovered when the cure
has been accompliflaed by arfenic alone, than
when bark has been employed. This objec-
tion to the ufe of arfenic is of lefs confequence
in cold climates, where, if the ague has not
been of longftanding, the debility induced by
it is feldom very confiderable. In tropical
countries, however, a few attacks of an inter-
mittent'frequently reduce the patient fo much,
that even when the paroxyfm has ceafed to re-
turn, the extreme debility which remains, is

C 47 ]

of itfelf fufficlently alarming to demand every
attention from the practitioner.

It does not appear improbable that the bark
owes its fpecific power, in the cure of remittent
and intermittent fevers, to fome peculiar prin-
ciple in its compofition, which has hitherto
eluded the refearches of experimenters, and
which they have in vain attempted to imitate
by various combinations of bitters and aftrin-
gents. In whatever this peculiar power of the
bark may confift, the fame quality appears to
be poflelTed by the arfenic in a confiderable de-
gree. Both remedies probably effec^t the cure
of intermittents, by their action upon the fibres
of the ftomach, fmee they often operate fpee-
dily, and even in a fmall dofe;.but the power
of the arfenic feems to ceafe here ; whereas the
bark is capable of reftoring tone to the fyffem
in general. The fame effeeft may perhaps be
nearly obtained by joining fome tonic medicine
to the arfenic. With this view, in many cafes,,
after the folution had been taken a week or ten
days, I difeontinued its ufe, and ordered the
patients to take the Infuf. Angnft. In'fuf. Gent. c.
See. until their ftrength was completely reftored.
It may be found flill more, advantageous to em-
ploy

t 48 ]

ploy thefe remedies along with the mineral fo-
lution.

Arfenic feems to have been oftener employed
as a medicine in Germany, than in any other
part of Europe ; but chiefly by the empirical
clafs of pradtitioners, which no doubt pre-
vented its introduftion into general ufe. Many
eminent phyficians in Germany, as well as.
elfewhere, have, however, fpoken highly in
its favour, and occafionally prefcribed it. Like
many other adtive remedies, it has been much
abufed by the bold and the ignorant, and has
been given in dofes which no man of prudence
would venture to diredl ; efpecially as we know
that the fame good elfedts may be obtained by
moderate dofes of it, and without the leafl rilk.
The following obfervations, extradled from a
German work will fliow how extenfively this
medicine has been ufed on the Continent, and how
little caution has been obferved in its exhibition.

Dr. Slevogt, ProfefTor of Anatomy at Jena,
in 1700, recommended the ufe of arfenic, ex-
tolling it as the beft, moft certain, and fafeft
cure of intermittents, efpecially of tertians and
quartans. He employed it in dofes of a grain

* Nicolai Reccpten und Kurarten. 8vo. Jena, 1780.

C 49 J

of a grain and a half mixed with a proper quah- ,
tity of Theriaca; not only giving it on the days
of the apyrexia, but alfo a fliort time before
the acceflion of each paroxyfm. He alTerts,
that in fifty inftances, two or three dofes were
fiifficient to put a total ftop to the difeafe, and
that he never obferved the leaft ill efFeft from it.

Melchior Friccius'* recommends arfenic in
intermittents, and declares he has ufed many
drachms of it in the cure of fuch fevers ; but:
coafefles that he had often met with relapfes
afterwards.

Lanzonus “f- quotes a letter from Valifnieri to
one of his friends, written in 1707, in which he
fays the French furgeons were accuftomed to cure
long-continued intermittents with a finall quan-
tity of arfenic : and he adds, that their remedy
feemed to refemble much the famous aqua del
petefino, which was a ftrong folution of arfenic
boiled in a copper vefiTel

* De Virtute Veneriorum medlca. 8vo. Ulmse, 1701.—**
Sec alfo London Medical Journal, Vol. VII. p. 194.

t Lanzoni Oper, omni med. phyf. 410. Lauf. 1738b
Tom. I. p. 68.

I The della Toffanina (fo called from the

inventor), Aquetta di Napoli, Poudre de Succejjion, Eau Mi*
ruble. See. were preparations of arfenic frequently ufed as
poifons during the lall: century.

VoL. VI. 'e

Keil

[ 50 ]

Keil ^ praifes ^arfenic as a certain and fafc
fpecific in intermittents, when prepared and
adminiftered in the following manner : half an
ounce of white arfenic, finely powdered, is to
be put into a glafs, or tea-cup ; half an ounce
of diftilled vinegar is then to be added, and
evaporated over the fire, being conftantly ftir-'
red at the fame time with a wooden fpatula;
the fame quantity of vinegar is again to be ad-
ded and evaporated in like manner. After this
procefs has been repeated fix times, the refidu-
urn, is finally to be waflied with warm water,
and dried ; a drachm of the dry powder is to
be made up into fixty pills by means of a feru-
ple of wafers foftened with water. Previoufly
to the ufe of the pills, the patient is to take
an emetic compofed of tart. emet. or fulph.
aurat. antim. and a little vitriolated tartar, or
fome purgative medicine on the morning free
from fever : the next day, or only a few hours
before the acceffion of the paroxyfra, one of
‘ the pills is to be taken faffing, and nothing is to
be eaten or drank after it for three or four hours.
Wh(!;n this has been repeated three days, du-
ring the apyrexia, or a few hours before the

* Anatom. Chirurg. Medicin. Haadbuchlein. 8vo. Ko*
niglberg, 1761.

z attack

C 51 3

attack of the paroxyfm, the fever commonly
ceafes. He affirms that this pradlice has been
attended with fuccefs in feveral hundred cafes,
when every other remedy had been employed in
vain ; that he has never obferved the lead ill effe6t
to accrue from it; but, on the contrary, that
thofe who had before looked thin and ill, had
become, in c'onfequence of it, fat and firong ;
and that he knew many pcrfons who had ufed this
remedy fifteen or twenty years before, and whp
continued to enjoy a date of perfed health.

Dr. Jacobi * recommends the ufe of arfenic
drongly in fevers : he diredts one part of arfenic
and twelve of fait of tartar, to be mixed with
i8o parts/ of water, and boiled till one half
has evaporated; when cold, as much frelh
water is to be added to it as has been lod by
the evaporation, together with a little fpirit of
wine. The dofe for adults is twenty-five
drops, to be given on the day which is free
from fever, at feven A. M., at three, fix,
and nine, P. M. Before the ufe of this me-
dicine, the prims vis mud be evacuated by
emetics and purgatives ; and the common febrh

■* De pnidenti ufu Arfenici, fale Alcalico domiti, Interno
falutari, Diflert. — Vide Ad. Acad. Eled, Mogunt, Tom. I.
p, 216. 8ro. Erford. 1751.

E 2 fuge’

[ 5* ]

fuge remedies fiiould be ufed for fome time. Dr.
Jacobi obferves that he has employed the above
preparation not only in intermittents, but alfo in
continued fevers, with the greateft fuccefs, and
without ever experiencing any bad effefts from it.

Heuermann * fays that arfenic is ufed in Hol-
ftein, at Copenhagen, and fome other places,
as the moft certain remedy for the cure of in-
termittents ; that he has himfelf given it with
conftant fuccefs, in fevers, to patients who were
not able to retain other medicines on the flo-
mach in a proper quantity ; and that two cafes,
wherein frequent relapfes had occurred, were
entirely cured by this remedy. He prepares a
folution of arfenic in the following manner:
half an ounce of white arfenic, and fix ounces
of alkaline fait, are added to ibifs of water,
and then evaporated to drynefs. The fame
quantity of water is added a fecond' time to
the refiduum, and evaporated to one half,
which is coloured red by a few poppies. Of
this he direfts from feven to ten drops to be
taken during the day, beginning immediately
after the paroxyfm is over, and omitting it a
fliort time before the return of the next. If the

* VermlfchteBemerkungen und Untcrfuchungen. Vol.,I.
8vo. Copenhagen, 1765.

folution

[ 53 3

foiution produces vomiting, it is too ftrong,
and muft be diluted ; only one dofe is to be
given in twenty-four hours, and the patient
muft be kept moderately w'arm, to promote a
gentle perfpiration. Expofure to cold, he fays,
is as hurtful during the ufe of this as of other
febrifuge remedies, as it difturbs Nature in her
operations, and retains in the body the noxious
matters which fhe is endeavouring to expel.
If in the firft three or four days after the ufe of
thefe drops, the fever does not ceafe, he re-
commends that the fame dofe fliould be repeated
twice a day, which commonly proves fufficient.
The ill confequences which have been obferved
after the ufe of arfenic, as palfy, trembling of
the limbs, blindnefs, deafnefs, &c. he afcribes
to the improper preparation and imprudent ufe
of it; aflerting, that it is a fafe remedy when
properly prepared.

In the Ephemerid. Acad. Nat. Curiof.* arfenic
is alfo celebrated as an infallible fpecific for in-
termittents. Three or four grains of powdered
white arfenic are dir.e6ted to be put into a fmajl
uncovered glafs with a proper quantity of water,
and placed upon the fire till a foiution takes
place, when it is to be well ftirred up and
given to the patient :* the fever, we are in-

* Dec. II. Ann. III. p. 132,

E 3

formed,

[ 54 ]

formecl, is by this means certainly prevented
from returning. The patient lliould eat nothing
for twelve hours before ; but a quarter of an
hour after having taken the medicine, he is
allowed a gill of warm water, in which a quan-
tity of butter is diffolved, together with the
yolk of an egg ; after which, nothing more is
to be given for fome hours. There generally
follows a confiderable degree of uneafinefs, and
a profufe fweat ; and by thefe means, it is faid,
every intermittent, even a quartan, may be rea-
dily cured. Two other formulas are given in
the fame work*, and recommended as highly
ufeful in the cure of inter mittents, viz.

iy. Tart. crud. 31. Arfen.^yft. 3(3. Tip. long. ^fs. Lap,
prunell. 3ifs. Specif, fcyidfog. Crollil 3iij. M.

The dofe is from gr. v. to ^fs.

The other is

]y . Arfen. alb. gr. v. Lap. prunell. vel Nitri depur.
gr. :iv. M. pro ima dofi.

Profcifor Ackermann-f- relates, that in Paufa,
a town of Saxony, a furgeon’s family had
been poffefTed for more than a century of a
fecret remedy againft melancholy, which con-
fided of two grains of arfenic mixed with a ^
drachm or more of white fugar, to be taken

• Dec. II. Ann. V. p. 474.

-j- Neues Magazin fur Aerzte, Vol. II, p.

Lclpfic, 1780,

early

[ 55- ]

early in the rnorning, along with a large quan-
tity of mucilaginous drink. The medicine
produced a violent vomiting, fo as to agitate
the whole body, which continued not kfs than
fix hours ; after this, he obferves, the patient
ufually enjoyed a quiet fleep, and became more
rational. The remedy was perfifted in, care be-
ing taken that the efFeifts of the firfl: dofe Ihould
be completely over before a fecond one was
adminiftered. Many repetitions of the medi-
cine were not however requifite, as the difeafe,
in general, foon yields to this mode of treat-
ment ; the patient was afterwards directed to
continue a mucilaginous diet for a few weeks.
Profefibr Ackermann examined fome of the
patients who had been cured by the furgeon at
Faufa, and found that no ill elTedls had arifen in
confec^uence of it. The fame perfon, it is added,
employed arfenic very frequently for the cure of
intermittents : he diffolved two orains of ar-

fenic in a pint of w'ater, and gave two, or
three table fpoonfuls for a dofe every day ;
under this treatment the fever feldom recurred
^ more than twice; but he remarked that the
patients were longer in recovering their ftrength
than when the bark had been ufed.

Profefl’or Ackermann farther obferves, that
another furgeon in the fame place likewife

E 4 employed

[ 56 3

employed arfenlc with great fuccefs; he gave fif-
teen drops of a folution of arfenlc in water, along
with alkaline fait, but the ProfelTorhad not been
able to afeertain the exad proportions. A dofe
was ordered to be taken as foon as the patient
felt the approach of the fit, and a quantity of
warm tea was to be drank immediately afterwards.
This produced a vomiting, which was encou-
raged as much as poffible by repeated draughts
of the tea. In this manner, it feems, he had
cured many obftinate agues by two or three dofes
of the folution ,* and, amongft others, a quartair
which had continued upwards of two years.

From fome of the foregoing narratives, ar-
fenic feems to have been ufed with as little pre-
caution as emetic tartar; and fince it appears,
on good authority, not to have been produdtiye
of bad confequences, even in very large dofes,
we may be induced to lay afide that extrenie

anxiety with which we generally preferibe it ;
and may be encouraged to perfift in the ufe of a
remedy which, when prudently adminiftered,
is both fafe and efficacious.

Many of our moft adlive and approved me-/
dicines, as preparations of mercury and anti-
mony, the fquill/ foxglove, &c., are capable

r 57 ]

of producing as violent effedts in the conftitu-r
tion, when given in too large a dofe, as arfenic
itfelf. All thefe medicines met with the fame,
if not ftronger, oppolition when firll introduced,
as arfenic does from many at prefent. It is
well known that antimonial preparations were
declared to be poifonous, and that the ufe of
them was prohibited by a decree of the faculty of
Phylic at Paris in the year 1 566 ; which decree
was not repealed till 1637. We fliall ceafe, how-
ever, to wonder at the prejudices formerly en-
tertained againll thefe medicines, when we
confider, that even at the prefent day fimilar
objedlions are made upon the Continent, efpe-
cially in Germany, to the ufe of the bark, a
remedy, the reputation of which has been fo
fully eftablilhed by the united teftimony of fo
many eminent pradlitioners, fupported by al-
moft innumerable experiments.

Mr. Theden, one of the molt celebrated fnr-
geons in Germany, and Surgeon General to the
Pruffian army, infpeakingof the treatment of
intermittents, obferves *, that when his patients
had previoully enjoyed a healthy ftate of body,
he was generally able to effed a cure in fix or

f Unterricht fur die Uiitcrwundarzte. 8vo. Berlin, 1793.

eight

[ 58 J

eight weeks. As he entertained the common
idea that bark is apt to produce obftrudlions and
enlargement of the vifeera, oedematous fwel-
lings of the extremities, &c. he cautioufly
avoided giving this remedy until he had tried
every other means. During the firft three
weeks he employed different medicines, with a
view to loofen the morbific matter, and to ren-
der it fit for expulfion from the body; he then
gave. two ounces of barjc, in dofes of half a
drachm, every two hours. After an interval
of eight days, during which only bitters were
preferibed, he ventured again to exhibit an
ounce of the bark, and thus completed a cure.
He cautions us againft the ufe of bark whilfl
the face retains a yellow tinge, or whilfl the
febrile matter remains in the conftitution ; he
confefies, at the fame time, that he has feen
oedematous fwellings of the lower extremities
after agues where no bark had been employed.

Dr. Vogel* is likewifeof opinion that many
cachedic difeafes, particularly obflrudfions of
the vifeera, dropfy, jaundice, phthifis,* tympa-
nitis, coughs, afthma, hemicranium, deafnefs,
catarad, vertigo, Src. are frequently the con-

* Handbuch der praktifehen ArzncywilTcjifchaft. 8vo.
Stcndalj 1781.

fequences

I 59 1

fcqiienccs of an improper treatment of intcr-
mittents ; more efpecially when the cure has
been attempted by aftringents, arfenic, &c. or
even by an unfeafonable exhibition of the Pe-
ruvian bark, whilft the morbific matter ftill
remains in the fyftem.

The objeftipns to the ufe of thefe medicines
are fo vague, that they appear to originate from
popular prejudice and ill-grounded theories,
rather than from any juft practical dedudfions ;
they will therefore have little weight with thofe
who are not contented with bare afiertions, but
make adtual obfervation and experience the
ftandards of truth.

Having frequently found the moft beneficial
effeefts from the mineral folution, and having;
never obferved any ill confequences to arife from
its ufe, I may prefume to recommend a trial of
it to fnrgeons pradifing in warm climates, and
particularly upon the coaft of Africa.

The high price of bark may fometimes pre-
vent furgeons of fiiips from laying in, at their
own expence, fuch a ftock of this valuable,
medicine as will enable them to employ it freely
in every cafe which requires its ufe.- For notr-
withftanding the frequent complaints of feveral
r.cfpeflable furgeons in the navy, the quantity

[ 6o ]

of bark allowed by government to fhips on
foreign ftatlons, is much too fmall; and mofl
of the merchant fhips trading to this coaft arc
ftill more infufficiently provided.

Of the two mofl: frequent difeafes upon the
coafl; of Africa, the remittent and intermittent
fever, it is certain that the latter, though lefs
rapid in its courfe, and apparently lefs dange-
rous than the former, yet for the moft part oc-
cafions that irremediable injury to the conftitit-
tion, which fo often befalls Europeans trading
upon this coaft. There are few, even of thofe
who are faid to be feafoned to the climate by
long refidence, who have not fuffered feverely
from repeated attacks of intermittents. This
in a great meafure arifes from the unhealthy
lituation in which they live for the convenience
of trade. They generally fix their refidence on
the banks of fome river, or narrow creek, whofe
oozy ftiores, furrounded by mangroves, and ex-
cluded from the wholefome breezes, areaconftant
fource of miafmata and contagion ; to this muft
be added the debauched and irregular courfe of
life which mofl: of them lead. Though fea-
foned to the climate, as they fuppofe, their
unhealthy fallow complexions and emaciated
bodies, the frequent heftic fluftiings of the

face.

[ 6> ]

/ace, fwelled legs, &c. attended with obfiriid-
tions and enlargement of the abdominal vifcefa,
fufRcientlj'^ indicate to every obferver the Ihat-
tered ftate of their conftitutions. The ague
probably ftill continues to return once a month
or oftener, and harraffes them a few days,
without being much noticed ; for the feverity
of the difeafe feems to be confiderably abated
, by its frequent recurrence, though its bad ef-
fects in the end are equally certain. As their
appetite during the intermiflion is frequently
keen, and even voracious, they flatter them-
felves that the conftirution is not impaired by
frequent returns of the difeafe; many alfo are
negligent, from a confidence in the popular
prejudice, that a cold fit fliows the abfence of
danger.

In thefe cafes, therefore, when the bark can-
not be procured, or, as more frequently hap-
pens, wben the patient has conceived a difguft
for it, and cannot be prevailed upon to take it
in a fufficient quantity, the mineral folution
promifes to be a fafe and efleftual fubftitutc
for it.

During the laft rainy feafon I have had fre-
quent

C 62 ]

qucnt opportunities of exhibiting the mineral
folution in intermittents with tlie fame good
effefts as in the preceding }'ear. Out of the
number of cafes which occurred in the prefent
feafon, I have feledled the two following, as
being the only inftances of quartans I have met .
with fince I began to ufe the mineral folution.

CASE XX.

t _

Sept. II, 1793. — John Thompfon, a mulatto,
aged thirty years, was feized, about two mpnths
ago, with an ague, which returned every fecond .
day. After the fecond paroxyfm he took an
emetic, and foon after the operation of this, an
opiate, which appeared to put a flop to the dif-
eafe. A month ago he was agam feized with'
cold fhiverings, followed by an increafe of heat, '
which terminated by a prof ufe fweat. The fit
now returns every fourth day; the cold ftage of
which, commencing about noon, is very fe-
vere : the hot ftage continues through the
whole night, with violent head-ach, and to-
wards morning is relieved by a profufe fweat-

ing.

, [ 63 ]

ing. His appetite is pretty good ; his body
open.

Capiat Vefp. Antim. Tartar, gr. ij. cu. P. Ipecac,

Cras iiicipiat fumere Sol. min. guttas xij. ter die.

20. The emetic operated well. He took the
folution regularly for four days, and then omit-
ted it, finding no return of his complaint.

30. He has had no return of the paroxyfm,
nor has taken any medicine fince he left off the
folution. ' V

CASE XXL

Sept. 8. — Anne Crankepoor, a black, aged
twenty-eight years, has every fourrh day, at
noon, a feverc cold fit of the ague, which
continues near two hours, and is attended with
violent rigors and pains of her bones ; thefc
fymptoms are followed by a hot ftage of long
continuance, but which terminates by profufc
fweating. She is affefted, during the wLolc
paroxyfm, with violent pain of the head,
ftom^ach, and back, which alfo continue ^
through the intermiffion, though with fome
abatement. She has taken an emetic and
two anodyne draughts Without any relief j and

has'

[ 64 3

has l^ad no flool for eight days. Her hfead-aeK
is at prefent very fevere ; her pulfe quick and
frequent ; her Ikin hot and dry.

Gapiat ftatim Camphor, gr. x. Tin£l. Opii, guttas xxv^
Aq. font; ^fs. et eras mane Sal. cathart. amar. 5ifs,
part, vicib.

9. 'She fweated profufely with the draught,
and is much eafier this morning. Her head-
ach is confiderably relieved ; her pulfe foft and
regular. Both dofes of the Sal. cath. amarus
produced vomiting.

Capiat llatim Ol. Riciui ^i. — Repetatur Hauftus h. s.

10. She could not yeflerday retain the oil
,/ on her ftomach, nor has yet had a ftoo). She

paffed an eafy night, and feels no complaint
this morning, excepting great languor and laf-
litude, with a fenfe of weight and fulnefs in the
abdomen.

Capiat ftatim Calom. gr. v. Extr. Cathart. ^j.

11. The pills operated gently three times;
her bowels are much eafier ; Ihe feels a flight
pain of the head and general uneafinefs, as if

the fit was approaching.

Iiicipiat eras fumere Solut. min. guttas x. ter die.

13. The fit returned on the iith at the ufual
time with great violence. The pain of her
head and ftomach was alfo very fevere ; flie yet

feels

[ 65 ]

feels fome pain of her ftomach, with great
refUeffnefs and uneafinefs. The folution has
not been taken till this day.

17. The paroxyfm returned at the ufual
time on the 14th, when (lie was affefted with
very fevere head-ach and pains of the ftomach
and back, which ftill continue, being accom-
panied with great languor. She has taken
only five dofes of the folution fince the 13th,
and thofe not at regular times. She was very
coftive on the 15th, when fiie took

Calom. gr. v. c. Extr. Cathart. gr. xv,

which operated twice. She expects the pa-
roxyfm to-day.

Repetatur Solutio.

18. The paroxyfm did not return yefterday,
until fix P. M. ; the cold ftage was very fevere,
and attended with great pain of the ftomach
and head; but thefe fymptoms were much re-
lieved by two grains of opium. She fweated
profufely during the night, and feels a flight
head-ach and pain of the ftomach this morn-
ing, with languor and debility. Her body is
open ; her pulfe natural.

Repetatur Solutio. Sumantur Opii gr. ij. urg. dolore

Ventriculi.

20. She continues ftill weak and languid ;

VoL. VI. F the .

the pain of her ftomach was wholly removed
by the opiate.

Repetatur Solutio.

23.' She has had no return of the paroxvfm
fince the 17th, and makes no .complaint but
of debility ; flie is, however, able to walk
about, and her appetite is fomewhat better.
Omitratiir Solut. min. Capiat Infus. Corticis Anguft. §iij
ter die.

' Early in Odtober (lie had entirely recovered
her health and (Irength.

■r ^

II. An Account of the good Effehls of a Solution
of Sal Ammoniac^ in Finegar, employed, as a
topical Application, in Cafes of lacerated (Founds.
By Mr. Henry Yates Carter, ftirgeon at Ket-

tley, near Wellington, in ShropJJoire.'

IN the fecond yolume of Medical Fads and
ObfervatioDS*, I took occafion to mention,
in a curfory manner, the good effects I had ex- ^
perienced, in lacerated wotnids, from a folu-
tion of fal ammoniac in vegetable acid, em-

[ 67 ]

ployed as a topical application and which, iii
- fuch cafes, I obferved, had feenied to promote
the union of the parts and to moderate the dif-
charge. As this mode of treatment is very
dilfi-rent from that commonly in ufe, and [
have had occafion to try it in many cafes of bad
compound fradture, and other lacerated wounds,
in which there has been a tendency to fphace-
lus, I have been Induced to make it the fubjedt
of a dillindt paper, and for this purpofe have
feledled the following cafes, from a greater
number, in which I have ufed it ; and thefe, I
hope, may be deemed fufficiently interefling
to procure their infertion in a future volume of
the valuable collection above referred to.

CA5E I.

A poor man, named Ingram, aged upwards
of eighty years, received an injury on his right
foot, from a carriage palling over and lacera- .
ting it from the inftep to the toes. The wound
had been negledled for fome days, when I was
requefted by a benevolent gentleman in the
neighbourhood to vifit him, and found the foot

F 2 fphace-

/ /

[ 68 ]

fphacelated as high as the ancle, and the in-
flammation apparently extending ftill farther.

I began with fcarifying different parts of the
foot, by which means I gave vent to a confide-
rable quantity of acrid ichor. The whole foot
was then well covered with lint, continued to
fome diftance above the difeafe, and direfted
to be kept conftantly wet with a mixture com-
pofed of half an ounce of crude fal ammoniac
diffolved in a pint of vinegar. Internally he
took the bark in fubftance, liberally, with
opium, as he had a difpofition to diarrhoea.

On the fecond day after this mode of treat-
ment had been adopted, I had the fatisfadion
to find that the inflammation had not fenfibly
increafed, and that the patient felt at intervals
a throbbing, but which, he faid, was not pain-
ful, about the ancles. His pulfe, which had
been much quicker, was now at loo.

On the fixth day, a vifible feparation of the
morbid parts was difcoverable, and matter was
perceptible on the verge of the feparating parts;
a fluctuation was felt in feveral parts of the
foot, particularly beneath thofe places that had
been fcarified ; and upon making deeper inci-
fions here, we difeovered a collection of good
pus and granulations of new flefli. ' In the

courfe

[ 69 ]

courfe of a fortnight, the floughs, having
previoufly become loofe, were gradually taken
away, and the parts expofed one clear uniform
wound. After this the bark was adminiftered
lefs frequently, but the ufe of the lotion was
continued till the wound was nearly healed,
which happened in about two months. ,

CASE II.

A girl, aged nineteen years, was attacked by a
maftifF, and had the mufcles of the thigh and leg,
particularly the vaftus externus and gaftrocnemitis
fo violently lacerated, that the word; confe-
quences were to be expedted from the circula-
tion being cut off in the large veffels from the
extremity, notwithftanding which (lie loft little
or no blood ; a circumftance, by the bye, that
frequently occurs in lacerated wounds. She
fuffered but little pain, although the feparated
mufcles of the upper part appeared to be much
irritated. The large portions of mufcle yet
adhering were cautioufly replaced as near their
original fituation as the nature of the cafe
would admit ; and after the parts had been well

F 3 bathed

[ 70 ] ^

• /

bathed, with warm vinega^', and due proportions
of lint apjdied round the limb, the whole was
encompalfed with a broad roller, applied merely
tight enough to retain the Urtffings ; the l‘mb
was then laid in an horizontal pofition, and the
prefline taken fom the affected part by iiieans
of a pillow placed under the lower part of the
leg, confiderabiy below the injury. The whole
was then wet with a lotion compofed, of half
an ounce of crude fal ammoniac diffolved in a
pint of vinegar, and ordered to be kept fo con-
Itantly.

The firft; day flie was but little fenfible of the
application. At night a draught, containing
twenty drops of laudanum^ was given, and Ihe
refted well. ^ ,

On the fecond day I found her pulfe but, lit-
tle quickened, and her third: moderate ; fhe
had perfect feeling in every part of the limb,
and complained of an acute fmarting in the
wound upon every renewal of the lotion,
which continued’ for a few minutes, and then
fire became eafy. An opening draught was
given this morning, and Ihe repeated the opiate
night.

, On the third day matter feemed to be form-
ing.

[ 71 ]

ing, but there was no appearance of inflam-
mation or fvvelling of the limb.

On the fifth day from the receipt of the in-
jury, the bandage was' carefully removed, and
I had the fatisfii^tion to find that the mufcles
had united, and that the parts of the bone
that had been laid bare were covered with new
flefli. The difcharge was kindly, and in mo-
derate quantity, and the limb was free from
pain. The fame mode of drefiing and the
fame applications were continued without alte-
ration during three weeks, at the end of which
time the cure was complete.

CASE III.

A young man, aged nineteen years, by a
fall of coal in the pit while he was {looping,
was preifed to the ground, and had his thigh
broke about four lingers breadth above the pa-
tella. The upper part of the bone was forced
through the mufcles and into the ground, fo
that the hollow of the bone was-' filled with
dirt, and ftripped bare nearly four inches, and
the mufcles much lacerated. In this fituation

F 4 he-

[ 7^ ]

he was brought home, (about a mile) and I
then faw him ; the wound bled but little.

In this cafe I determined to t'y the effed: of
keeping the limb gently extended, nearlv at its
original length, after taking off lb much of
the bone as I Ihould find requifite to a complete
and exad reduction and to get above the
coal flack which had been introduced.

As the bone was fhivered longitudinally, I
found it necefl'ary to take off about three inches
of it. This being done, and the wound well
cleanfed with warm vinegar and a fmall pro-
portion of fpirit of wine, I placed the lower
part of the limb as exadly parallel to the other
as poffible, and retained it in that pofition by
means of proper bolflers on each fide of the limb.
An eighteen-tailed bandage having been pre-
vioLifly laid under the part, the dreffing was
made by gently filling the vacancy (the whole
fide of the leg externally being o])en) with foft
pledgets of lint dipped in the fame folution as
that ufed in the preceding cafe, and the ban-
dage w'as then applied as gently as poffible, in
order to prevent the flefh from being preffied
into the part that the bone ought to have occu-
pied ; and a fplint applied externally on each
fide, merely to give more fleadinefs to the
I limb.

[ 73 ]

limb, but without occafioning much prefliirc.
I think it right to mention alfo that the mid-
dle tails of the bandage were cut fmalk-r than
the others, and applied in fuch a manner that
the wound might be uncovered, in order that
the lotion might be applied immediately to the
wound, without difturbing any other part.

He was let blood, and tvyenty-fivc drops of
tincture of opium were given at night, and the
attendant was ftridliy enjoined to keep the part
conftantly wet with the folution, except only
during the intervals of flcep.

Upon vifiting him the morning after the ac-
cident, I found he had had but little fieep,
though his, limb had given him but little pain,
except for about a quarter of an hour after the
application of the lotion, after which he faid
he had felt the whole leg and foot become fen-
fibly warmer. The lower part of the limb lay
very fteady, exactly in the fituation in which it
had been placed; he took this morning three
grains of calomel, which procured one ftool.

On the fifth day, including the day of the
receipt of the injury, (there having been fome
appearance of matter between the folds of the
bandage) the dreffings were wholly removed,
and the wound was found covered with a well-

concoffed

■ i; 74 ] ■

concoded pus in moderate quantity, and with
new granulations. The dreffings were conti-
nued in the fame manner as before, the- whole
vacancy being carefully filled with doffils of
lint, made as fofc as poffiblc, till the whole
was level with the fkin ; and over tbefe the
bandage was applied as before. He continued,
to repeat the opiate every night, and the calo-
mel occafioria-lly; his appetite was tolerably
good, he ufdd nearly the fame diet as when in
health, and ' was permitted to drink a fmail ,
quantity of ale.

On the eighth day the drefiings were again
removed, ^ aixi the appearance^ continued to be'
favourable. From this time, the weather being
warm, the wound was drefled every day ia the
fame manner as at firtt; and in al)out eight
weeks the callus was completely •'formed, and
had filled up the void fpace, and the wound
was reduced to about a quarter of an inch in
diameter.

In ten weeks he came down ftairs, and went
about on crutches ; and in about fixteen weeks
from the time he received the injury, he went
with a ftick only, and was able to walk nearly
two miles. The limb w^as not quite an inch
(hotter than the other ; the fmall ulce,r conti-
nued

[ 75 J

nued to difcharge, till a confiderable exfoliation
of bone, which .gradually made its way out-
wards, was extraded, after which the wound
foon healed,.

CASE IV.

✓ '

■ A boy, aged about fifteen years, had the
misfortune to Eiip his hand under the axletree
of a \yater-\vhe.el, which moves at about the dif-
tancc of two inches and a half from a brick
\yall or buitrefs fupporting another building;
his arm was taken in to the elbo'iv, and the
machine performed feveral revolutions on the
part before he could be extricated. ..The flelh
was firipped down on each fide of the thick
part of the arm, and the thumb was nearly
feparated ; but the fingers and hand had buf-
fered but little, and there was no hcemorrliage.
The thumb was not taken off, but carefully re-
placed, as w'ellas the other mufcu'ar parts that
had been feparated ; and to the whole wound a
large quantity of lint was applied, wet with the
folutipn of fal ammoniac in vinegar. He took
twenty drops of tindlurc of opium at night,

but

[ 76 ]

but he was very refUefs, and complained much
of his arm.

Second day. The arm had bled in the night,
and the dreffings were become flifF and hard,
which rendered it neceflary to remove them.
The difturbance this occafioned produced a de-
gree of inflammation which, I believe, might
otherwife have been prevented, and which
proved the fource of misfortune. The parts
from this time became exceffively painful, and
the inflammation extended to the upper part
of the arm, and to the fhoulder and fide, as far
down as the pedforal mufcle. He was coftive
and feverifh, and complained much of thirft.
The whole arm was wrapped in a cataplafm
made of oatmeal, with equal parts of vinegar
and water ; and three grains of calomel were
immediately given. Two ftools were procured
by this medicine; but the pains ftill continued
to be very diftreffing to him. His pulfe was
at too.

Third day. The above fymptoms continued;
the pulfe was increafed to no; and he was at
times delirious ; the upper parts of the arm,
fhoulder, and fide, were become of a dark
red colour, and were exceedingly tenfc. He
had feveral loofe flools ; the arms and fide were

drelTed

. [ 77 ]

drefled as before, with the addition, in the li-
quid of which the poultice was made, of half
an ounce of crude fal ammoniac, and an ounce
of fpirit of turpentine. He took half a drachm
of Peruvian bark, with fifteen drops of tinc-
ture of opium, every third hour; and care was
taken to diftil fome of the folucion between the
dreffings, upon the Ihoulder, very often, in
fuch a manner that it might make its way to
the affeded parrs.

Fourth day. I found the whole fore arm,
from the elbow, completely fphacelated and
dry ; but the Ihoulder and fide were nearly
in the fame ftate as yefterday, the inflammation
not having increafed ; his purging had ceafed ;
he was not fo thirfly, and his pulfe was at loo;
hut he complained much of head-ach and wea-
rinefs. Notwithftanding there appeared forae
realon to conclude that his head-ach might, in
fome raeafure, be occafioned by the quantity
of opium he had taken, I continued the ufe of
it in the fame dofes ; a ftool was procured by
means of a clyfter. The ufe of the lotion , was
continued.

Fifth day. The fymptoms were nearly the
fame as yefterday. The fame dreflings and
medicines were continued.

Sixth

[ 78 ] ,

Sixth day. The pain anchtenfion were much
leflened, he' had refted tolerably well, and was
free from third ; the Ihoulder and fide, with a
condderable part of the upper arm^ ^feemed
approaching to their natural colour, and the
extent of inflammation was vifibly decreafing.
The bark was dill continued, but without the
tincture of opium, indead of which. he took
two grains of purified opium at night.

The cataplafm was continued as before for
about a week, from this time, when the flioulder
and fide having recovered their original tone,
it was changed for one compofed of oatmeal
and the folution alone. In a few days matter
formed plentifully round the bone in thofe parts
where the lacerations had been deep, and large
portions of the mufcles were cautioufly removed.
The matter formed was of a good confidence,
and moderate in quantity ; and the wound was
perfedly eafy, except’ ng only upon the appli-
cation of the lotion, and for fome Oiort time
after. The whole hand dropped off at the
wrid; the other parts gradually filled up with
good flefli, and are now completely healed.

CASE

[ 79 ]

CASE V.

\ * -
A man, aged thirty-fix years, by the fall of

a very heavy iron rod perpendiciilady upon
his foot, upon that part where die fiioe is ge-
nerally buckled’, received a confiderable lace-
rated wound, by which the tendons were much
injured, and' the integuments and mufcular flefli
were dripped olf from the upper part of the
tarfus, ar.d hui^g in-a large loofe flap down the
fide of the foot. The wound bled confidera-
bly, and the whole foot, ‘from the violence of '
the blow, was infenfible. The parts were well
cleanfed from the grumous blood with vinegar
and water, W'ith a fmall quantity of fpirit of
wine, and the loofe flap replaced in the fituati^n
frq,m which it had been torn, and dreflTcd with
pledgets of lint dipped in the folution ; and a
\ cataplafm applied of oatmeal and vinegar.

The morning after the injury, upon rempving
the dreflTings, the wound and v;hole foot were '
found to have a favourable appearance; but at
night he began to complain of a great degree
of hear, throbbing, and fenfe of tenfion.

[ So ]

On the third day, on removing the dreflings,
the whole upper part of the foot appeared to
be hadily approaching to a fphacelated ftate.

It had loft all fenfibility to the touch, and the
inflammation had increafed, thouo-h in fo fliort
a time, confiderably above the ancle, and to the
extremity of the toes. A fenfation of burn-
ing heat in the whole foot and leg ftill conti-
nued. The parts thatiwere loofe were now re-
moved, and the wound, after having been
bathed a confiderable time with a mixture of
warm vinegar and water, with a fmall quantity
of fal ammoniac previoufly difTolved in it, was
dreflfed as ufual, the lint being fiift well fatu-

rated with the lotion : and over the whole a ca-

* \

taplafm was applied as before. A purgative
medicine, compofed of four grains of calomel,
and five grains of aloes, was given, which ope-
rated well. He paired this day with fomewhat
more eafe, and at night took thirty drops of
tindlure of opium.

Fourth day. He complained of having
palled a very reftlefs night, and that the pain-
ful fenfation of burning heat ftill continued;
the inflammation went on increaling ; his pulfe
was at 97, and he had much thirft and flulhing
eat. Bark, in the quantity of half a drachm,

was

[ s. ]

Was given every third hour, and twenty drops
, of tindurc of opium every fixth hour. The
fame dreffings were continued, with the poul-
tice; but at night the poultice was omitted,
and the dreffings kept wet with the folution
alone.

Fifth day. He had relied much better; his
thirft was more tolerable, and the heat and.
other fymptoms were much more moderate ; his
pulfe was at 90 ; the inflammation had not ia-
creafed; and the tenfion about the ancle was
leflened. The fame medicines and local appli-
cations were continued as lift night. On renew-
ing the dreffings in the evening, he complained of
having paflTed a very painful afternoon, and that
the fenfe of heat had been greater. He attri-
buted all this to the omiffion of the poultice,
which was now, at his earned requed, renewed.

Sixth day. In the morning the fymptoms
were much increafed, and the inflammation was
fpreading, with a violent degree of pain and
tenfion, the whole upper part of the foot being
in a fphacelated date; and the patient com- '
plained of exceffive pain. The fame dreffings
as before were applied, but without the poul-
tice, after bathing the parts with warm vine-
gar; a broad roller, for the convenience of

VoL, VI. G keep-

[ Sz ]

keeping the parts wet, was gently applied over
all the inflamed parts ; and as I had a fuf-
picion that the increafe of* his pain, &c. yefter-
day, if not wholly, was, in a great meafure,
owing rather to a want of due care 'in keep-
ing the parts conflantly moift, and thus fuffer-
ing them to get dry and hard, than to any ef-
fect the application could have in producing
thofe fyniptoms, I paid this 'day a particular
attention to this circumftance, by viflting him
feveral times, to fee that the folution was duly
applied ; and in a few hours the fymptoms of
pain and heat in the whole limb were greatly
diminiflied, and continued gradually to abate
the whole day His pulfe at night was at 93.

Seventh day. The fymptoms were nearly
the fame as ycfterday; the inflammation, upon
the whole, was rather lefs, but there was no ap-
pearance of matter. He liad paflTed a tolerable
night; but his pulfe was ftill at' 93. As he was
coflive, the purgative medicine was repeated.

Eighth day. He had paft a good night,
comparatively fpeaking ; the pain in the upper
part of the limb (or above the difeafe) was
confiderably lelTened, and the inflammation
was much lefs ; a fmall quantity of matter ap-
peared upon the edges of the lacerated parts;

I ' ■ his

[ 83 ]

his pulfe was at 90. He began to complain of
fevere fmarting upon the renewal of the lotion,
and at times infilled on its application being de-
ferred to longer intervals, though when the parts
began to grow dry, the heat and fenfe of ftric-^
lure were conftantly renewed.

Ninth day. He had paffed a reftlcfs and
painful night ; his foot and leg were in much
pain at intervals, but (exclufive of the fmart-
ing pain for a quarter of an hour upon the lo-
tion being applied) he always became much
eafier after the wetting of the parts, which took
place once in about two hours, unlefs fleep
intervened.

From this time the ufe of the lotion was
continued in the fame manner as before, and
he continued alfo to perfevere in the ufe of the
bark and opium ; the Houghs feparated kindly ;
the inflammation went off from the leg and
toes, and a feparafion of the- difeafed parts took
place at a very little diftance from the edges of
the original injury. The wound difcharged a
well-formed matter, and as the parts beneath
fome of the thickeft floughs granulated, the
latter gradually came away without much pain,
and the whole was healed in ten weeks, ex-
cept a very fmall ulcer upon the lower part

G a of

[ .84 ] ■

of the Tarfus, through which a fmall exfolia-
tion made Its way.

As in the preceding cafes I was careful to obvi-
ate the cfFedts of irritation, by keeping the bowels
moderately open, giving occafionally, and fome-
times liberally, of opium; and invigorating
the fyftem by means of wine and the Peruvian
bark ; it may perhaps be fuggefted, by fomc
readers, that the favourable termination of the
cafes I have been relating was due rather to the
internal than external remedies employed ; and
that to fubjeft to a fair and decifive trial this or
any other remedy, no other Ihould be employed
-at the fame time. This is indeed what I have
done in fllghter cafes of laceration, where local
. applications only were requifite ; and in all fuch
cafes the union of the parts has appeared to
me to be much more fpeedily effedfed by means
of the lotion, than it is by the ordinary mode
of treatment. And 1 am able to recoiled: no
inftance of bad compound frad:ure, or of la-
, €;erated wounds, attended with or threatening
fphacelus, where the warm fomentations and
twiapliifms commonly employed in fuch cafes

were

C 85 ]

were made ufe of, in which there was any fuch
obvioufly good eifedt from the local treatment,
as in the cafes I have been deferibing ; not-
with handing there was the fame liberal ufe of
opium and Peruvian bark, &c. internally. On
the contrary, I have but too often feen the
worft effedts from fuch cataplafms, &c.; and in
one of the above cafes, (Cafe V.), the bad ef-
fedls of a poultice, applied at the earneft re-
queft of the patient, were very ftriking, when
contrafted with the relief he afterwards expe-
rienced from the ufe of the lotion.

III. Ca/e of a dljeajed Kidney. By the fame.
SEAMAN, forty years old, of a pletho-

ric habit, applied to me at Port Royal,
in Jamaica, in 1782, with complaints nearly as
follow :

A conftant aching, and fometimes acute pain,
about the region of the right kidney, attended
with a numbnefs of that lide, and prickirig

pains

[ 86 J

pains along the urethra, particularly when be
paffed his urine ; frequent inclination to make
water, fomerimes without ability to 'void any,
and never voiding it but in fmall quantity ; the
urine itfelf being high coloured, depofiting a
gritty lateritious fediment, fmelling very ftrong,
and forming a film on its furface, which ap-
proached to a yellow colour. He complained
likewife of a fenfe of fulnefs and heat at the
neck of the bladder and about the perineum,
and could get but little reft in any other than an
horizontal pofture. He was coftive, and had
frequent naufea.

As he had a full pulfe, ten ounces of blood
were taken from the arm, and a purging
draught was adminiftered; after which he took
occafional dofes of a mixture, the principal
ingredients of which were diuretic fait and
tinfture of opium.

In the courfe of two or three days his pain
was much alleviated, but the difficulty with
which he voided his urine ftill continued.

He now complained of frequent and painful
eredtions, more efpecially when an Inclination
to make water came on ; he had likewife pro-
fufe colliquative fweats, and was coftive.

Care was taken to obviate this difpofition to

coftive-

[ 8? ]

coftlvenefs, by means of purgative medicines
and clj’fters. Opium was now more liberally
adminiftered, and recourfe was occafionally had
to the warm bath. This laft produced a certain
degree of eafe while he remained in it, but the
fenfc of ftrifture about the neck of the bladder
continued, and the quantity of urine he was
able to void feemed every day to become lefs,
fo that at the end of a fortnight it was deemed
neceffary to make ufe of the catheter, as he
was unable to pafs a Angle drop of urine with-
out it.

By means of this inflrument, from four to
Ax ounces of turbid urine were drawn off twice
a day. He had now much fever, and the pain
about the neck of the bladder was become very
acute, and feemed to affedl him fpafmodically,
as well after as previoufly to the introdudlion of
the catheter. He was likewife frequently feized
with violent pain, which began in his fhould-
crs, and proceeded along the right Ade to the
hip.

'About a month after the Arft ufe of the ca-
theter, he complained of a pain in the urethra,
near the feat of the proftate gland, particu-
larly when the inflrument was paffing; and

G 4 at

[ 88 3

at times the catheter feemed to meet with fomc
refiftance at that part.

From this circumftance, together with the con-
tinuance of the pain in that and the neighbour-
ing parts, and the frequent difcharge of drops
of a mucous confidence from the urethra, we
were inclined to think that the principal feat of
the difeafe was in the prodate gland, (efpeci-
ally as no appearance of calculus had been ob-
ferved), w'hen a frefh fet of fymproms diredled
our attention more particularly to the right
kidney.

Thefe fymptoms confided in a pain about
the region of that kidney which he had before
fcarcely mentioned, but w'hich now (about
feven weeks alter he firft made his complaints
known) was, at times, very fevere. His
Ihoulders alfo, but particularly the right, were
fore, and at intervals acutely painful; the in-
guinal and axillary glands became fwelled, and
fore to the touch ; and he complained frequently
of a fenfe of coldncfs in the diredlion of the
right ureter, which was fucceeded by a painful
inclination to make water.

From thefe circumltances it was fufpedted
that the right kidney, if not the chief fourcc
of the extraordinary fymptoms I have been

defcribing.

C 89 ]

defcrlbing, had at lead fuffered confiderably.
He was therefore urged to recoiled: any exter-
nal injury lie might have received.- After a
little hefitation he informed us, that about a
month prevloufly to his firft applying for relief,
he had received feveral Violent blows from the
end of a large rope acrofs his loins, wdiich for
fome time had given him confiderable uneafi-
nefs. In the courfe of a few days, however,
he faid, the pain had gone off, but had re-
turned at intervals ; and as he had fuffered
much, at different times, from gravel, he
had afcribed his prefent complaints to that
caiife.

At the time he made known thefe particu-
lars, he was in a very reduced condition ; his
ftomach was become fo extremely irritable,
that it retained but little of what was given
to him either of food or medicine; and about
a week afterwards he died.

On diffeffion the urethra was found to be in
a healthy Hate, but the proftate gland was a
little enlarged. The bladder contained about
eight ounces of turbid urine, mixed with a pu-
rulent fluid, very offenfive to the fmell. The
right ureter was much enlarged, and filled
with the fame kind of foetid matter. The kid-
ney

[ 9° ]

rcy on the fame fide was enlarged nearly to
thrice its natural fize, and on being opened
was found to be in a ftate of fuppiiraiion, and
to contain a confiderable quantity of foetid pus,
fo that the internal fubftance of the kidney was
in a great meafure deftroyed.

There was no appearance of calculus ; and
tlie other kidney, as well as the reft of the
abdominal vifcera, appeared to be in a natural
ftate.

Tt may be doubted, perhaps, whether tho
affedtion of the kidney, in this cafe, ought
folely to be attributed to the effefts of the blows
that were inflicted ; but allowing the kidney to
have been previoufly difeafed (and the com-
plaints the patient had already experienced,
‘and which he attributed to gravel, render it not
improbable that it was fo); ftill there can, I
' think, be no doubt that the fuppurative procefs
which took place was haftened, if not immedi-
ately occafioned, by external violence. And
of fuppuration of the kidnies from external in-
jury, in any refped fimilar to the prefent, I
have been able to meet with no example in
books. Different fyftematic writers do indeed

enume-

C 91 J

enumerate external contufion among the remote
caufes of nephritis^ but I do not find, in any of
them, an inftance of fuch an affeftion from_fuch
a fource; fo that I flatter myfelf the cafe I
have related will be thought worthy of being
recorded.

It flaows that a frequent inclination, without
ability, to make water, is not always occafioned
by gravel or calculous concretions ; and it af-
fords a ftriking inftance of the influence an
organ like the kidney may have upon parts not
only contiguous to, but even remote from the
feat of difeafe.

IV. Cafe of a Gun-Shot Wound of the Head. By
the fame.

A HESSIAN grenadier, aged between
thirty and forty years, being one of a
detachment fent to reduce a fort on the banks of

the

[ 9? j

the Delawar, in the a6t of levelling his piece,
received a ball (grape fliot) on that part of the
os frontis which forms the external canthus of
the eye. The ball making its pall'age through
the head, came out under and rather behind
the oppofite ear, as in the annexed plate

What were the immediate effeds upon the
receipt of the injury I am not able to fay,
not being immediately upon the fpot ; but
he appeared, when brought to the regimental
hofpital, to have a perfedt recolledion of
every circumftance that had occurred to him,
except only for a (liort time after he fell. He
complained of little pain, and did not ap-
pear to have loft fo much blood as might have
been expeded.

The ball being a fpent one, had much fplin-
tered the cranium, both at its entrance and
exit; and was found in the folds of his coat
collar.

The wounds being cleanfed, and the fplin-
ters of bone removed, as far as was prac-
ticable, from about the external parts, fuitable

* See Plate!. Tig. i. in which refers to the entrance of
the ball, and 6 to the part where it paffed out,

d reflings

/acds Sc Ohs Vol . VI. PL. I .

.'MX

' '

.im:

«kV'

■ (■*•. ''V-i .

;

'•

• 1

** I

(

■•(

' j

■ !

IJ:

)

;

C 93 i

dreffings were applied; and his pulfe being
full, he was let blood ; after which he took
twenty-five drops of tindture of opium. The
next day he had a fenfe of heavinefs. over his
eyes, and obfervcd that objedls did not appear
to him fo brilliant as ufual ; towards the even-
ing he complained of naufea and thirft. He
took tart, vitriol, and antim. diaph. ad gr. xii
every third hour, and a clyfter was adminiftered.
On the third day he complained of pain of his
head, accompanied with drowfinefs ; and, at in-
tervals, of a weaknefs of his extremities. As the
•lyfters had failed to procure a fufficient difcharge
of feces, he was diredled to take three grains of
calomel and fifteen grains of powder of jalap,
which operated well, and procured an allevia-
tion of the fymptoms juft now mentioned.
His eyes were but ftightly infiamed, and he
complained of but little pain in that on the af-
fedted fide.

On the 6th day there was a good difcharge
of matter from the wound, and efcars began to
fcparate in pretty large ftoughs. From this time
he refted tolerably well without the ufe of the
opiate, which till now had been repeated at bed-
time. Splinters of bone, that had been driven
in at the fuperior wound by the ball, came

away

[ 94 ]

away from the dependent orifice at almoft every
diefling Cvvhich was twice a day) for feveral
days. The naufea, head-ach, weaknefs of his
limbs, thirfl, and every fymptom of fever,
gradually vanifhed ; the fuperior orifice filled
up with new granulations, and cicatrized firnlly ;
and in about ten weeks there remained nothing
more neceffary than a fuperficial drefling to the
inferior opening near the ear.

I did not fee this man after he had adually
left off every application to the affeded part ;
but from the condition of the wound, and the
patient’s health and vigour, I have not any room
to doubt, that in a few days, after I lafl: faw
him, he was capable of returning to his duty.

On refledling on this extraordinary injury,
(inafmuch as it was not a mortal one) 1 am in-
clined to think, that as the ball, though a large
one, entered low down upon the orbit, and
near the external part of the eye, it miffed the
os planum and frontal finufes, and confequently
that branch of nerves that paffes through them ;
fo that, judging from its apparent diredtion, it
muft have injured part of the os ethmoides,
near the feptum nafi. To this courfe of the

ball.

[ 95 ]

hall, and the favourable fituation of the de-
pendent orifice, the favourable event of the
cafe was probably owing ; for though he com-
plained at certain periods of a fenfe of weight
upon the upper and fore part of the head, ge-
neral weaknefs of his limbs, and lofs of fight,
fymptoms indicating an oppreffion of the brain,
yet upon opening the wound, and giving vent to
the matter, which was in fome meafure confined
by the dreffings, thofe fymptoms gradually va-
nifhed, and the patient always became perfedUy
eafy after the application, for a few minutes, of
a warm fomentation.

An inftance of a ball entering under the
right eye, and paffing obliquely through the
cerebrum and cranium above the right ear,
without hurting the eye or fight, is recorded
by Heifter in his Medical, Chirurgical, and
Anatomical Cafes and Obfervations, page 7
(of the Englifli tranflation) Obf. VII.

V. An

[ 96 }

V. An Account of fome extraordinary Symptoms
which were apparently conneEied with certain
morbid Alterations about the Veins and Nerves.
Communicated in a Letter to Dr. Simmons by
Mr. John Pearfon, Surgeon of the Lock Hof-
pitaly and of the Public Difpenjary.

Mrs. P. aged fifty-one years, of Miles*
Lane, Cannon Street, began to fuffer
from a peculiar uneafinefs at the inner part of
her left leg, about feventeen years ago, when
(he was in the third nlonth of her fecond precr.
nancy. The Ikin which covered the particular
feat of her complairir, retained its natural co-
lour; but there Was a circular induration, of
about half an inch in diameter, very little
elevated above the furface, which was exqui-
fitely painful when fiightly touched or com-
preflcd ; this morbid part was fituated in the
courfe of the vena faphena major, and was
about fix inches above the joint of the ancle.
Befides the acute pain which was produced by
inadvertently touching this little tumour,
Mrs. P. commonly fuffered feveral paroxyfms

[ 97 ]

of pain every day; each of thefe attacks was
accompanied with an increafed rednefs, and a
fenfible elevation of the indurated part, the
pain at the fame time extending to the knee,
and often darting to the ftomach ; the duration
of the fit was about twenty minutes ; it was at-
tended with flight conyulfivc motions of diffe-
rent parts of the body, and frequently termi-
nated with flatulent emulations. Thefe fits of
pain did not recur at any regular periods ; fo
- that the number which flae underwent in the
courfe of a day was various and uncertain ; for
a difordered ftate of the ftomach, or a fudden
perturbation of mind wmuld at any time excite
one of the paroxyfms. She alfo had obferved,
that the feverity of her fufferings was invariably
increafed during the periods of menftruation
and of pregnancy ; and that in the latter months
of geftation, the duration of each recurrence
of pain was extended to an hour and a half.
But although this difeafe was uniformly aggra-
vated by certain alterations in the ftate of the
uterus, yet it continued with undiminiflied fe-
verity after Mrs. P. had ceafed to bear chil-
dren; for when her youngtft child was more
than fix years old, Ihe had not experienced any
abatement of her daily fufferings. About thir-
VoL. VI. H

teen

[ 98 3

teen years ago, I advifed her to have the mor-
bid part removed ; but at that time flie was un-
willing to undergo an operation ; fhe however
fubmitted to various methods of treatment,
under the diredlion of different medical gen-
tlemen, but without obtaining any relief.

In the month of April, 1793, Dr* Lowder,
who had been long acquainted with the circum-
fiances of this painful complaint, informed
Mrs. P. of the fuccefs which had attended the
removal of a fimilar tumour, by the applica-
tion of a can flic. She read the hiflory of the
cafe, which is publifhed in the third volume
of the Memoirs of the Medical Society of Lon-
don, and very foon determined to feek relief
from the fame mode of treatment.

Accordingly, on the aad of April, I applied
the lapis infernalis to the morbid part ; fhe en-
dured the moft excruciating tortures during fe-
veral minutes after its application ; but the pain
gradually diminifued with the fenfibility of the
part, fo that in about twenty minutes the efehar
was completely formed, and flie then , felt no
more pain than what is the ufual confequence
of a cauflic applied to any part of the body.
From this day fhe never experienced the recur-
rence of a fingle paroxyfm of pain; the efehar

2 exfoliated

C 99 ]

exfoliated in about twelve days; and on tile
7th of June the fore was perfectly healed.

As the preceding hiftory contains fome cu-
rious and rather uncommon circumftances, I
beg leave to offer a few obfervations upon fome
of them. The indurated part having been de-
ftroyed by a cauftic, it was not in my power to
examine its internal ftrudbure, fo as to difeover
the true nature of the morbid alteration. I af-
certained, however, that a portion of the vena
faphena major, and that branch of the crural
nerve which accompanies it in its courfe down
the infide of the leg, were completely included
within this tumour. This fad: was clearly de-
monftrated after the exfoliation of the efehar ;
for I then law a portion of the vein hanging
down at the fnperior part of the fore, and the
naked nerve in contact with it ; and on touch-
ing the nerve with my probe, Mrs. P. inftantly
complained of an acutely painful fenfation,
fimilar to that which fhe had been accuftomed
to feel before the tumour was removed. I then
deftroyed that part of the nerve which was ex-
pofetl with lunar cauftic, and my patient fuf-
fered no more uneafinefs. After thus proving

H 2 that

[ 100 ]

that a vein, and a confiderable ramification of
a nerve, were contained within the difeafed
part, I proceed to obferve, that the paroxyfms
of pain were excited every thing that acce-
lerated or otherwife difturbed the circulation of
the blood; whether applied to the induration,
or affedting the general fyftem ; as all ftrong
exertions of the mufcles, external impulfe, or
mental commotion. The afeent of the blood,
in the veins of the lower extremities, is necef-
fiirily impeded in the ftate of pregnancy; and
during this period, the fits of pain were always
fliarper, and were alfo of longer duration ; and '
at the time of parturition, when the action of
the heart and blood -veffels is confiderably in-
creafed, Mrs. P. fuffered exceedingly; for, to
ufe her own expreffion, flie had all her labour
pains in her leg.”

It is alfo highly probable, that the portion
of vein which paffed through the tumour was
nnufually didended w'ith blood at the time of
the paroxyfm ; for upon thefe occafions, the-
morbid furface became redder than common ;
and the tumour was fenfibly elevated. Vv'"e may
therefore, perhaps, venture to conclude, that the
vein and the nerve being confined within a fub-
ilancethat could not be eafily diftehded, when-
ever

r loi ]

ever the vein became preternaturally turgid, the
nerve was comprelTed between its parietes and
' the internal furface of the induration; and th at
confequently the fympcoms were conneded with
this ftate of the part. I do not fuppofe that it
will be neceffary for me to undertake a proof •
in detail, that a certain degree of preffure upon
a nerve will produce pain, fpafms, and con-
vulfions ; it may be fufficient for my purpofe
to refer to a few of the many inftances which
are recorded in medical books. In the fourth
volume of the Edinburgh Medical Effays,
Dr. Short has related the hiftory of an epilepfy,
which was caufed by the preflure of a hard
cartilaginous fubftance upon a nerve ; he cured
his patient by removing the tumour, and di-
viding the nerve. Guattani, in his Treatife
de exiernis Jneuryjmatlhus, (Hilt, XX.) has
recorded a cafe in which violent fpafms were
occafioned by the preffure of an aneurifm
upon a nerve. In the Effays and Obferva-
tions Phyfical and Literary, Vol. III., the
late Sir John Pringle has publilhed a Cafe,
where a tumour formed by extravafated blood,
by preffing upon the intercoftal nerves, pro-
duced pain, irritation, and perhaps a hic-

H 3 cup,

[ 102 ]

cup, which could not be flopped*. I do not
intend to deduce any general conclufion from a
particular inftance ; for although the remarka'
ble fymptoms which occurred in Mrs. P.’s cafe,
were connedled with a morbid ftate of a vein
and a nerve ; yet as no account has been pub-
lifhed of the internal ftrufture of parts which
have been affeded by a fimilar complaint, it
would be improper to conclude, that every in-
fiance of local morbid fenfibility, accompanied
with convulfive motions and pain, mull depend
upon fuch a peculiar condition of the fuffering
parts. I have indeed feen another cafe, very
much refembling that of Mrs. P.’s, in which
there is a fmall exquifitely fenfible iiiduratiori

*** For inftahces of convulfive motions, and even cpilepfy,
produced by local difeafes about fome of the extremities,
or that were cured by the removal of matter, carious bone,
or fome portion of the integuments, confult Willis dc Mor-
tis Convulf, ; Riverius de Epilepjia ; Schenckii Ohfervat.
(Lib. dc EpUepJjd.) ; Foreftus de Cerebri Morbis, Lib. Xi
Obf. 67 ; Petri Borelli Hijior. fsf Olfervat. medico phyfica-
rum. Cent. II. Obf. 95. Joh. Rhodii Obferv. Med. Cent. I. ;
Tulpii Obferv. Med. Lib. IV. Cap. 2 ; Boncti Sepuh
■ehretum. Lib. I. Se£l. 13; Van Svvieten Comment, in
Aph. H. Boerhaave, Tom. III. § 1075. Flaller Ele-
menta Phyjiologire, Tom. IV. § 30. Simfon on the Vi-
^1 and Animal Addons, Effay I. cb. 3.

r 103 ]

at the pofterior part of the leg, near the be-
ginning of thetendo achillis, from which the pa-
tient fuffers acutely whenever it is touched. She
has occafional paroxyfms of pain, but they re-
turn at uncertain intervals ; and flie thinks that
they grow milder. In this inftance, as in that
recorded by Dr. Biffet the tumour becomes
uneafy in rainy and windy weather; but it does
not appear that the difeafe had ever any con-
nexion with pregnancy. I fufpedt that the
tumour, which 1 have juft now mentioned, may
be connedted w'ith the vena faphena minor,
and that confequently it may include or com-
prefs a fmall branch of the fciatic nerve ; but
as I could not render the cutaneous veins of
the leg turgid by moderate preftlire, its exadt
fituation was not afeertained f.

* Memoirs of the Medical Society of London, Vol. III.
Art. VI.

f The firft volume of M. Pouteau’s pofthumous works,
contains a very curious hiflory of a difeafe which he there
calls cancerous ; whether properly or no I Iliall not inquire ;
but as it refembles Mrs. P.’s cafe in fome of its charadlcrs,
I fliall take the liberty of prefenting an abftradl: of it :

“ On voyoit a la partie bafle du Sternum une furface
ov}ib de largeur d’un ecu de fix livres dans fon petit dia-

H 4 ' u metre,

f 104 J

In the early part of the laft Spring, a young
married woman applied to me at the Public Dif-
penfary, complaining of pain and latnenefs of the
right arm. She flaewcd me a tumour of a pale
red colour, and of about the fize of a filberd,

metre, fans elevation, fans rongeur, ians engorgement
‘ cii convoilin. L<a pcau fculement cjui la recouvroit ctoit
“ un pe.Li moins nette, que par tout ailleurs, mais fcmblable
a la fenlitive qui paroit craindre la main qui I’approche.
“ Cette portion des tegumens auroit fait reflentir les plus
“ vives doulcurs, li le doigr, ians la toucher, cn eut ap-
“ proche avec trop de ccierite. Le molndre infedte, un
fetu que le hafard auroit fait pofer deifus, eufient auffi-
“ tot rappelle les convulfions. Les retours de ces convul-
“ fions ctoient periodiques, fc montrant a fept heurcs &
“ demie precifes dii foir, Dans le plus grand calmc, on ne
“ les attendoit quc4e deux jours I’un ; & a la moindre agita-
“ tlon, les mouvemens couvulfifb etoient journalicrs. Leur
“ duree etoit de deux heures. Sc memeplus.” The hif-
tory prefents us uith many other extraordinary clrcum-
liances; but it may be fufficient at this time to add, that
iM. Pouteau made a crucial incifion in this morbidly fcnfi-
blc part, which afforded an immediate althdugh but a tem-
porary fufpcnfion of the pain and convulfions. He then
extirpated the portion of diftafed integuments ; but as the
young lady was not perfcft'.y relieved by this operation, he
finally completed the cure by burning a cylinder of cotton
upon the parr. Vide Oeuvres pofibumcs ch M, Pouteau^
Tom. I. ch, I.

which

[ 105 ]

' which was fituated in the courfe of the vena
mediana bafilica, at the ‘bend of the arm : this
morbid part was conftantly uneafy; but when '
it was prefTed or handled, fhe complained of
acute pain, which extended along the upper
arm, and produced flight convulfive motions
in the mufcles. She derived no advantage from
mild difcutient and emollient applications;
but her pain increafed fo much, that her health
became iniured, and (lie w'as at length confined
to her bed. On vifiting her at home, I found
\he tumour unaltered in its appearance, except-
ing a Ipdntaneous feparation of the cuticle from
its furface ; Are was in conftanc pain ; the unea-
finefs not only proceeding along the upper arm,
but allb to the neck, and affcdfing the breaft and
mulcles on the right fide. Her pulfe was feeble,
but not too frequent ; flie complained of a great
fenfe of weaknefs, and convulfive motions were
excited in the mufcles of the upper arm, neck,
and thorax, on that fide, by the gentleft exa-
mination of the morbid part. I ordered a large
veficatory to be applied on the inner part of
the fore arm, and directed her to take ten
grains of pulvis ipecacuanhie compofitus, when-
ever her pain Ihould be unufually feverc. She
foon derived confiderable relief from this mode

[ io6 ]

of treatment : the bliftering plafter was repeated
twice during my attendance ; the tumour gra-
dually became lefs painful, and diminilhcd in
bulk ; and in about a month it had entirely dif-
appeared. It was not more than three weeks
after fhe was difmifTed, when flie applied to me
again, on account of a tumour very much re-
fembling the former one, which was fituated
at the bend of the arm, in the courfe of the
vena cephalica; fo that a portion of the
vein evidently paffed through, or, rather, was
included within the center of the morbid part.
The pain and morbid irritability affected the
fame parts as before, but in a much inferior de-
gree. I directed a mode of treatment fimilar
to that which had been employed on the former
bccafion, and it was attended with equal fuc-
cefs.

This young w^oman had fome fymptoms
which indicated a difeafed flate of the lungs ;
and (he occafionally fpat blood : but (he had not
been formerly fubjedt to any particular corn-
plaints ; (lie menftruated 'regularly ; and had
never been pregnant. I cannot afhgn any pro-
bable caufe for the appearance of fo lingular a
complaint as that which I have now deferibed ;
but fome of the elfedfs which took place would
• , perhaps

[ 107 ]

perhaps admit of an explanation, if it could b©
proved that a fmall ramification of a nerve, as,
well as a portion of a vein, were included within
each of the tumours. That this was aftually the
cafe is highly probable, becaufe the cutaneous
nerve diftributes feveral of its branches in the
vicinity of the vena mediana bafilica ; and fmall
fibrils belonging to the mufculo-cutaneous nerve,
are commonly feen near the vena cephalica, and
the vena mediana cephalica ; fo that tumours
fituated at the bend of the arm, and In the
courfe of thefe blood veffels, muft be almoft ne-
cefTarily in contadt with one or more branches
belonging to the internal,' or external cutaneous
nerves

• The late Profeflbr Camper, in a valuable work
entitled Demo7tJirationuiH Anatomlco-Patholflgicaru?n Liber
primus continens Bracai. humatil Fabricam et Morbos, has
given a very diflincl: view of the mode in which thefe
fmall branches of nerves are dillributed at the bend of the
arm ; and his engravings are accompanied with fome good
pradical obfervations. Mr. Abernc.thy allb publiflied two
engravings, laft year, in the fecoud part of his Surgical and
Phyfiolog’cal PifTays, in which the courfe of thefe nerves
is very neatly and corredly delineated: and the.eflay to
which they are annexed, contains many ufeful remarks
“ on the ill coufequences fometimes fucceedhig to vena-

fedion,”

I beg

[ loS ]

I beg leave to refer it to the intelligent reader,
how far the following account of a difeafe of
the fubcutaneous nerves, as deferibed by Pro-
felTor Camper in the work already referred to,
bears any rdemblance to the preceding hiflories.

“ Non raro in nereis ciitaneis tubercula par-
“ va ac dura obfervantur, qu£ vera ganglia
‘ funt, pifi magnitudinem licet non excedant ;
“ dies tamen nodlefque acutiflimis lancinanti-
“ bus doloribus tegros torquent : externis re-
mediis non cedunt ; fcalpello igitur ea attin-
“ gere oportet. Franequers ex cubito femins
“ tale, plagafadta, fuftuli, quodramo mufculo-
cutanei nervi adhserebat : poll operationtm
optime fe habuit. In fubcutaneis nervis: fre-
“ quenter effe videntur. Amftelcedami fiOille
‘‘ ganglium genu mulieris occupans, eodem
modo fanari curavi. In viris ''plus femel ea
vidi : albicant intus, cartilaginete duritis
funt, renitentia, & intra nervorum tunicas
“ fedem habent.” Lib. I. P. ii. Can. 2. § 5.

I have feen many f) mptoms refembling thofe
which occurred in the preceding cafes, appa-
rently follow, as confequences of wounds in-
flifted on fmall branches of nerves ; but as this
paper is already much longer than I expeded it
would have been, 1 mud defer giving an ac-
count

[ 109 ]

cdunt of diem to another opportunlt3^ As the
following cafe exhibits fome uncommon clrcum-
ftances, I infert it as a kind of fupplement to
the foregoing hiftories.

‘‘ The lingular effedfs of an iflue in the in-
‘‘ fide of the thigh, which appeared in the cafe
“ of a clergyman ; written by himfelf, Auguft
‘'25th, 1793.

“ The Rev. Dr. T- , of Knightlbridge,

above 60 years of age, having had a hint
“ from a medical friend, that an iffue might be
of ufe to his health, he had one made by a
“ blifter, in the lower part and at the infide
“ of his right thigh, about the end of May laft.

Two days after the pea was put in, he was
“ feized with a ficknefs and vomitinp- v.-hicli

continued feveral hours. In about fix days
after this fi'rfl: attack, he had a return of the
“ fame fymptoms ; and thefe fits recurred every
“ fix or feven days. But what is very remark-
“ able, when the iflue began to difeharge, he
“ became' deaf in both his ears, and the deaf-
“ nefs arrived to fuch a degree, that in preach-
“ ing he could but juft hear his own voice.

“ After the ififue had been kept open fix
weeks, it occurred to him, that perhaps the
‘‘ regular fits of ficknefs and vomiting, and the

unufual

r I lo

imufual deafnefs, (both of uhich he recol-
“ leded had commenced with the iffiie) were
occafioned by a fympathy of the nerves ; and
‘‘ having made obfervations for one week longer,
which confirmed this opinion, he determined
to dry it up. This he did gradually, by ufing
peafe of a fmaller fize, till the ulcer was not
more than one eighth of an inch in diameter.
** When the pea had be^n out only twelve hours,
he was fenfible of fome fmall return of his
hearing, and on looking at the fore, he found
*' it healed ; whieh he confidered as a farther
confirmation of his opinion, refpeding the
caufe of his deafnefs, as well as of the ficknefs
and vomiting. He found, that as the wound
healed, the deafnefs lefTened, and when it was
completely healed, his hearing was quite reco-
vered, nor has he had one fit of ficknefs fince.”

When Dr. T related his cafe to me, I

defired him to let me fee the cicatrix of the
ifiue ; and on carefully examining it, it ap-
peared probable that the pea had prelfed againft
the fide of the vena faphena. I would alfo far-
ther add, that my examination of the part ex-
cited a flight degree of naufea.

VI. Jn

[ J

VI. An Account of the ExtraElion of an extra-
neous Subjiance from the Return. By Mr. Wil-
liam Blair, Surgeon of the Lock Hofpital ; and
of the General Difpenfary in Newman Street,
St. Mary-le-bone. ^

N Tuefday, the 25th of March laft, a

French gentleman was fent to me by an
Apothecary in this neighbourhood, complaining
of a pungenr, hot, and irritating fenfation in
the reSium ; which was confiderably augmented
during every evacuation per anum. Thefe pain-
ful fymptoms had commenced on the preceding
Sunday, and continued to encreafe in fo alarming
a manner, that, upon the day following, he was
induced to examine with his finger, whether or
not any foreign fubftance, or other caufe of his
uneafinefs, could be difcovercd in the inteftine.
He had the good fortune to feel fomething in
the redtum, which he thought w^as unnatural,
but could not remove it ; and therefore he ap-
plied the next day for chirurglcal affiftance.

Having fubmitted the patient to a proper ex-
amination, I readily perceived an hard body
confined in the interior membrane of the in-
teftine. With the help of a pair of forceps, I

extracted

r II2 ]

cxtra£led two portions of a brittle black fub-
ftance; which, on careful infpedlion, appeared
to be bread toafled nearly to a cinder : the two
pieces, which were whole before the extraiftion
was attempted, might be together about an inch
in length, half an inch in width, and one third
of an inch in diameter.

The patient remembered to have fwallovved
foniething with confiderable difficulty two
davs before, while partaking of fo'me foup ;
which was probably the fame morfel of bread
that diftrefled him upon this occafion.

Does it not appear from this cafe, that bread
when toafted islefs fit for digeflion than fome per-
fons would have us believe ; and that it affords »
but little nourifhment compared with that which
is moderately baked }

However trifling the circumflances of the
above cafe may be regarded in its earliefl ftage ;
there can be no doubt entertained of the pro-
bability of its terminating very ferioufly, if the
patient had not applied for fpeedy relief : inflam-
mation, abfeefs, and all their confequences,
might have enfued, if the efforts of 'nature, or
the power of aperient and antiphlogiflic reme-
dies had alone been trufted to.

' In fimilar inftances, without lofing time by

endeavours

[ II3 3

endeavours to relieve the patient’s fufferings by
medicine, it will be immediately proper to fub-
jedl him to a careful examination. If the fimple
introduction of a finger be infufficient to difen-
gage the extraneous body, and it can be felt
adhering to the ruga, or piercing the coats of
the reCtum, a pair of blunt-pointed feiflars, or
forceps, (as the cafe may indicate) fhould be
gently conduced upon the finger, in order to
divide, break in pieces, or loofen the foreign
fubftance : if a pointed bone, or other hard
and (harp body, Ihould be confined acrofs
the gut, endangering the neighbouring parts,
it will be prudent to empty the urinary blad-
der, previous to any attempt to remove it by
mechanical means : and, Ihould the pain, and
Other ill effeCts become urgent, it might be ne-
ceflary, after milder methods had proved inef-
fectual, to make a judicious incifion either into
the reClum, or circumjacent integuments, as
the peculiarities of the cafe fhould require to fa-
cilitate the extraction. To obviate the inflam-
mation, and its concomitant fymptoms, leeches,
anodyne and laxative clyfters, w'ith the ufual
antiphlogiftic remedies, ought to be diligently
employed.

Inftances of the kind above related, with

VoL. VI. I fuitable

[ II4 ]

fuitable remarks, are recorded by feveral prac-
tical authors ; but the reader may fpare himfelf
the trouble of pcrufing fome of them, by con-
fulting the Memolres de i'Acadmk Royale de
Chirurgte, Tom. I. p. 540, et feq. 4m Edit.

Rc’voman Street^ OSl, 6, 1 794.

VII. A Cafe of Aneurifm of the Crural Artery ;
communicated in a Letter to Dr. Simmons, by
Mr. Thompfon Forfter, Surgeon on the Staff
of the Army, and Surgeon to Guy’s Hofpital.

' Dear Sir,

r O the two cafes of Aneurifm which you

have done me the honour to infert in

the fifth volume of Medical Fadts and Obfer-
vations, I am defirous of adding the following,
as I flatter rnyfelf it will, tend ftill further to
elucidate the peculiar utility and advantages of
the operation in queflion.

TO DR. SIMMONS

AW. 3, 1794.

Believe me. Dear Sir,

Your’s^ &c.

THOMPSON FORSTER.

CASE.

[ II5 ] '

CASE.

' Lawrence McCarthy, a labouring mah, aged
thlrty-fe,ven years, was admitted, as my patient,
into Guy’s Hofpital, on the 30th of July 1794,
for the cure of an aneurifm of the crural artery.

About nine months before his admiffion, he
had perceived a fmall tumor on his right thigh,
near that part where the crural artery dips under
the triceps mufcle ; as it occafioned no incon-
venience, nor prevented his working, he took
but little notice of it ; it came fpontaneoufly,
without any external violence, and remained
ftationary for near fix months before it became
painful : when the tumor had acquired the fize
of an egg, a pulfation was perceptible in it,
but not before.

At this period of the difeafe he was advifed
to foment the part, and to make ufe of lini-
ments : this he continued to do for fome
time ; but finding no relief from thefe reme-
dies, he applied to a furgeon, who recom-
mended the ufe of a bandage, which he made
ufe of for near three months, but without any
abatement of the pain ; and the tumor in the
mean time had increafed to a very confiderablc

I a fize,

[ ]

fize, and the limb in general had acquired
fomething more than its natural bulk.

The patient, naturally hypochondriacal, be-
came anxious, irritable, and dejeded ; com-
plaining of great pain in the limb, and parti-
cularly in the tumor, which was in fome mea-
fure eafed by preffure. In this ftate he came
into the hofpital; and his general habit havino-
been lowered by bleeding, purgatives, and a
fuitable regimen previoully to the operation, I
performed it on Monday, the' 1 1 th of Auguft,
by making an incifion in the eourfe of the lower
edge of the fartorius mufcle, and about an
inch below where the profunda is ufually given
off. Having laid bare the artery, * I paffed a
ligature under it with an eyed probe, and ap-
plying the flick, furrounded by adhefive plafter.
See. as deferibed in the former cafes ■f-, the ar-

With a view of conveying to the I'eader a more precife
idea of the operation, I have made a iketch of the parts con-
cerned in it, from a fubjedf dilTedted for the purpofe. Set
the annexed engraving (pla^e i, fig. 2.) in which a refers
to Poupart’s ligament 3 to the crural artery, with a li-
gature pafied under it at the part where it was tied ; e to
the profunda; and ^ to the fartorius mufcle. It feems
hardly necefiary to remind the reader that the objedt of this
fketch being merely to point out the feat of the operation,
the parts are delineated in their natural Hate.

+ Vide Vol. V. p. 6.

tery

C ”7 ]

tery was thus furrounded, and by thefe means
equally comprefled; the pulfation below of
courfe ceafed : but, for fear of a fudden he-
morrhage, I pafled a fecond ligature about half
an inch above the former, laying it loofe, that
an affiftant might inftantly tie it in cafe of fuch
an accident.

Auguft 2 1 ft. The firft: ligature, with the
flick, came away with eafe.

Auguft 22d. The fecond ligature came away
with equal eafe.

An account of the ftate of the pulfe at the
wrift, and of the temperature of both limbs, at
the ham, and atthe foot, was taken every day with
great accuracy by Mr. G. Babington, according
to the annexed Table *, until Auguft the 27th,
when the temperature of each was found to be
equal.

The fize of the tumor gradually decreafed,
and the patient, having the perfedl ufe of his
limb, was difmifled, cured, Odlober 10, 1794.

The preceding cafe differs materially from
the two former, not only in the circumftance of
the tumor in this having been fituated in the

* See page 1 19.

1 3

upper

[ i‘8 ]

upper part of the thigh, fo that the artery could
not be fecured lower than about an inch below
where the profunda is uTually given off, but
likewife in the very great pain the patient en-
dured both night and day for three weeks before
the operation. The tumor was as confidcrable,
but the enlargement of the limb below it was
much lefs than in the former cafes. After the
operation, the fymptoms were much flighter
than in the other cafes, probably owing to the
low ftate I thought it proper to reduce the patient
to for the purpofe; and the ligature came away
on the tenth day after the operation without the
leafl trouble. But the ciicumdance in which it
differed the raoft effentially from the odier two,
was, that the tumor was completely abforbed in
feven weeks, and the patient had then acquired
a perfedf ufe of the limb, while, in the former
cafes, the patients did indeed acquire the ufe of
their limbs, but the tumors, though leflened
and free from.puKation, flill remained.

TABLE.

[ ”9 ]

TABLE.

Day of the
Month.

pulfe

wrift

tom,

arm.

tern.

right

ham.

right

foot.

1 eft
ham»

left

foot.

I'ime of day
when the obf.
were made.

Aujfuft 11

684“

qSt

94 "

97 "

96 «

toi P. M.

684

8^ A. M.

128

io| P. M.

109

9°

84 A.M.

too

loh P. M.

104

9‘

g'z

84 A.M.

116

8i P. M.

. 96

8^ A.M.

112

725

8 P. M.-

93z

8 A. M.

112

8 P. M.

7»

8 A. M.

112

94,

8 P. M.

7®

924

8 A. M.

1 10

9 P. M.

10»

8 A.M.

124

7'2

101

964

'97

84 P. M.

100

84 A.M.

116

84 P. M.

21 Firfl ligature and ilick came away with eafe, there being
a perfetl folution of continuity.

100

1 66 “

97®

93 “

8 A. M.

too 1 69 1 98 1 92 1 95

22 Second ligature was removed.

8 P. M.

1.00

69“

g6°

93 °

84 •

84 A.M.

J08

9 P. M.

100

672

9 A.M.

104

7°2

»4 P. M.

10 A.M.

104

8 P. M.

104

664

84 A. M.

106

69!

8 P.M.

100

8 A. M.

106

84 P. M.

100

9»

8,4 A.M.

63^

I96

Igo

8 . P. M.

Ail

[ 120 ]

VIII. An Account of a Key Injlrument of a new Con-
JiruEiion ; with Cbjcrvations on the Principles
on which it acls^ in the pMtr action of Teeth, and
on the Mode of applying it. By Mr, Robert
Clarke, Surgeon at Sunderland, in the County of
X>urham. Communicated in a Letter to Mr.
AntHony Carlille, Surgeon of the Wefiminfter
Hofpital, and Reader of Anatomy in London ;
and by him to Dr. Simmons.

To Mr. Carlisle.

Sir,

7ITH this I fend you a Key inftrument.

for the Extraction of I'eeth, of a con-
jftrudtion different from any in common ufe,
and which in praftice fully anfwers to the
expectations I had formed, a priori, from a care-
ful examination of the principles of its adtion.

I cannot, perhaps, give you a clearer idea of
its advantages, than that which you will obtain
by purfuing the fame train of inveftigation
which 1 followed rnyfelf. I fliall therefore pro-
cetd to lay it before you, that I may more
thoroughly convince you of the propriety of the
alteration I have made, or be corredted by your
pointing out any error I may have fallen into.

[ I2I ]

In the fiift pkce then, it appeared to me that
as the fulcrum, or point, upon which the tooth
is carried roqnd as on a center, is that part of
the bolfter which refts upon the gums, the axis
of motion of the inftrument would always be
found by drawing a line through that point* and
the middle of the handle ; and CQnfequently
that the old conftrudtion of the Key InUrunient
was free from an inconvenience which attends
the more modern one ; I mean the axis of the
bolfter and axis of the fhank making an angle
with each other \ on which account it is dif-
pofed to Ihift its point of aftion on the gums,
and to raife the tooth in a plane inclined to the
throat, inftead of a vertical one, as may be
clearly feen by infpe(fling Figures I. II. (Plate
II.*) where a, h, reprefent the axis of motion;
c, df the diredtion in which each inftrument
raifes the tooth ; and e. f (Fig. II.; the axis
of the bolfter.

Now as the line of diredion In Fig. I. is per-
pendicular to the jaw, it is needlefs to fay that
it is highly preferable to Fig. II. where the line
of direftion is inclined backw'ard, making the

Jt feems right to obfervc here, that all the figures of this
plate are on a reduced fcale of two thirda ot their proper lize.

cKtraftioa

[ 122 ]

extra<flioii of the tooth more difficult, and ex-
pofing that which is lituated behind it to be
driven from its focket, or even to be caught in
the arch of the claw. Befides this, the bolfter
refts only upon the corner d, adding greatly to
the injury of the gums.

The conftruftion then of the Key-inftrument
delineated in Fig. I. would feem perfed, were it
not that in drawing teeth inwards, with refped
to the jaw, the fore teeth prevent its due appli-
cation, confining it to the diredtion reprefented
in Figure V.

. To remedy this imperfedion I have made
the.infirument with a bend in its fhank, to clear
the fore teeth, and to allow its proper application,
as in Figure III. where the fame obfervations
and references apply as in Figure I. and there-
fore it is unncceflary to repeat them. But in
order that the comparative merits of the three
inftruments may be feen at a glance, 1 have
added Figures IV. and V. wherein the axis of
motion, -and the diredion of thcrifing tooth, are
Ihown by dotted lines.

Flaving fully confidered what relates to the
diredion of the tooth, I fhall next examine the
mechanifm which takes hold of it. For this
purpofe recourfe muft be had to the engraving.

Let

[ ^23 ]

Let h, Figure VI. reprefent an end vlevf of
a Key infl rument, fixed upon a piece of hard,
fmooth wood. Then it is obvious, that if it be
turned from left to right, by means of its
handle, it will break the wood in the direction
d, c, and caufe the upper fragment to revolve
on the point r, as a center. It is equally ob-
vious, that if a line be drawn from the point
crofling the oppofire furface of the folid e^f, at
right angles, the counterpoife of the claw will
fall into that line before it can take hold ; for
then the point is at the giearefi; poffible dif-
tanc'e from the furface e,f; confequently if the
inftrumcnt be placed as in Figure VII. the
point c wnll dcfcend ; or, if as in Figure VIIL
it will afcend until it coincides with the line
a, b,

I fhall now endeavour to apply this to prac-
tice. Let I, 2, 3, in Figure IX. reprefent a
tooth with its roots fixed in a fedbon of the jaw,
and its corona engaged in a Key-inftrument ;
then it will readily appear that upon the adlion
of the infirument, the tooth will be drawn
from its focket, and carried round the point b,
as a center, rather than the joint fubfcance of
the tooth and jaw be broken in the line b, as
happens in Figure VI. This however happens

[ 124 ]

only under particular circumftances : For if
the bolfter be placed too high, the tooth will
be broken ; and if too low, the alveolar procefs
will always be torn away with it. It is therefore
a matter of importance to determine the bell
point ofcontadt for the bolfter, and this I have
uniformly found to be at two-thirds the depth
of the tooth, the claw being fixed at one third,
as reprefented in Figure IX.

It will always be eafy to afcertain this point,
by attending to the fize of the corona, and the
part of the jaw where the tooth is fituated ; and
equally fo to make the inftrument a<5t upon it,
by ufing a larger or fmaller claw as the cafe
may require. For illuftration, howeyer, I
fhall refer to Figure X. which reprefents a
piece of wood grafped by the tooth inftru-
ment in the fame manner as in Figure VI.
Now If a larger claw, fhewn by the dotted line,
be ufed, the bolfter will fix higher upon the
wood than before. For as the center pin of
the claw will always reft in the line b, the
bolfter muft rife higher before It can come Into
contact. But notwithftanding the ufe of a larger
or fmaller claw, in proportion to the fize of the
tooth, enables us to fix it at a proper height,
the ufe of a very difproportionate one is always-

inconvenient.

C 1^5 ]

inconvenient, by depriving us of the ufe of the
crank, in drawing teeth inwards, and by en-
croaching upon the cheeks in drawing them
outwards. I have therefore in the conftrudlion
of this inftrument, taken care to make the
bolfter of fuch a depth, as to be free from either
inconvenience.

The form of the bolfter is by no means a
matter of indifference ; for if it be too fmall,
it prefents fo fmall a furface to the gums, that
the preflure. made upon them, by the extradfioa
of a tooth moderately firm, cuts them through,
and even penetrates the bone, efpecially if the
bolfter be of the ufual form. I have therefore
been careful to make it of a proper fize, and to
give it a prolate fpheroidal figure, as being the
leaft difpofed to injure the gums, and applicable
with exadnefs and eafe to all parts of the
mouth ; and in order ftill further to guard

O -

againft this bruifing of the gums, I wrap the
bolfter to the thicknefs of a line, with tow,
wound on as tight as I can, before 1 ftide for-
ward the bolt and put in the claw.

1 have alfo been attentive to the form of the
claws, that they may touch the tooth only with
their points. And the inftrument is fo con-
trived, that they can be quickly changed or

turned

[ 126 ]

turned to an oppofice dire(5tion as the cafe may
require : this is done by means of a fiiding
bolt, inftead of a fcrew, which paffes through
the claws.

I have always found that when the tooth is
to be turned from right to left in drawing it,
that the handle anfvvers beft placed perpendi-
cularly; and when from left to right, horizon-
tally. The reafon of this will be obvious,
if we confider that in the firft cafe, the prona-
tor miifdes of the operator’s arm, which are
thofe exerting the force, adt with moft advan-
tage when the hand is vertical ; and in the
fecond cafe, that the fupinators adl moft advan-
tageoufty with the hand prone. I have therefore
contrived the handle fo that it may be eafily
turned, as often as there is occafion to turn the
claw.

I am. Sir, &c.

Sunderland, Robert Clarke.

Aug. i8, 1794.

IX. An

[ 1^7 ]

IX. An Account of a new Species of Swktenia
(Mahogany ) ; and of Experiments and Obfer-
‘vations on its Bark, made zmth a Viezv to afcer-
tain its Powers, and to compare them with thofe
of Peruvian Bark, for zvhich it is prcpofed as a
SuhJUtute : Being an AbJlraSl of a Paper on
this Subject, addrejfed to the Honourable Court
of Directors of the United Eaft- India Company.
By William Roxburgh, M.D.

fpecies of Swietenia defcribed in this
a paper, and which Dr. Roxburgh names
Swietenia Febrifuga^y is a native of the moun-
tainous part of the Rajamundr}^ Circar, North
of Samulcotah and Peddapore. It is a very

* Dr. Andrew Duncan, junior, who has made this new
fpecies of Swietenia the fubjeft of a very ingenious inaugu-
ral Differtation, gives a good reafon for preferring, at a
trivial name, the Hindoo appellation, Soymida, to one
founded on its medicinal properties ; limilar properties, he
obferves, being aferibed by Dr. Wright (London Medical
Journal, Vol. VIII. p, 286) to the mahogany tree of Ja-
maica (S-wkte7iia Mahagoni), another fpecies of the fame
genus. — Vide Tenta?nen inangurale de Swietenia Soymida ;

Andrea Duncan. 8vo. Edinburgi, 1794. Edi i or.

large

[ 128 ]

large tree, known among the Hindoos by the
name of Soymida, and flowers about the end of
the cold or beginning of the hot feafon. Its
feeds ripen in three or four months after.

Of this tree Dr. Roxburgh gives the follow-
ing botanic defer! ption :

“ TRUNK. Very flralght, rifing to a great
“ height, of a great thicknefs, and covered
“ with a grey, fcabrous, cracked bark.

“ BRANCHES. Numerous, the lower
fpreading, the higher afeending, forming a
very large fliady head.

LEAVES. Alternate, about the extre-
“ mities of the brachlets (turiones) abruptly
feathered, about twelve inches long.

‘‘ LEAFLETS. Oppofite, very fhort, pe-
tiolated, three or four pair, oval, obtufe, or
end-nicked, the lower fide generally extend-
ing a little further down on the petiolet than
“ the upper ; fmooth, fhining ; from three to
five inches long, and from two to three
btoad, the inferior fmalleft.

“ PETIOLE. Round, fmooth, about nine
to ten inches long.

« STIPULES none.

PANICLE. Very large, terminal, dif-

fufe,

r 129 ]

“ fufe, bearing great numbers of middle-fizccl,
white, inodorous> flowers.

PEDUNCLE and PEDICLESi Round
“ and fmooth.

“ BRACTS. Very minute. >

“ CALYX. Below, five-leaVed ; LEAF-'
** LETS. Oval, deciduous.

COROL. Petals five, Inverfe, egged,
obtufe, concave, expanding. NECTARYi
‘‘ Not quite half the length of the petals, a
“ little bellied ; mouth ten*toothed, teeth bi-
fid (two-cleft).

“ STAMEN. Filaments ten, very fliorr,
inferted juft within the mouth of the nedtary*
ANTHERS. Oval.

« PISTIL. Germ conical. STYLE. Thick,
** tapering. STIGMA. Large, targetted, fhut-
ting up the mouth of the nedtaryi
“ PERICARP i Capfule egged, large, five-
“ celled, five-valved, vaivdets gaping from
the topi

“ RECEPTACLEi In the centre, large,
‘‘ fpongy, five-angled ; angles (harp and con-
nedted, with the futures of the capfule, be-
“ tween them, deeply fulcated.

“ SEEDS. Many in each cell, imbricated,
obliquely wedge-fhaped, enlarged by a long
VoL. VL K mem-

t rjo ]

“ membranaceous wing, infertcd, at the upper
point of the wing, into a' long brown lpe.:k
‘f on the upper part of the excava'ions ot the
“ receptacle : all the relt of the receptacle is
white.’*

The wood of this tree, we are told, is of a
dull red colour, remarkably hard and heavy;
and is reckoned, by the natives, by far the
moft durable timber they know; on which ac-
count it is ufed for all the w'ood work in their
temples.

The bark of the trunk and large branches^
of large and middle-fized trees, is covered
with a dark rufty-coloured coat, of about an
eighth of an inch in thicknefs, which cracks in
various diredlions, and fometimes peels off in
irregular pieces, according to the direcflions of
the cracks. Immediately under this is a very
firm, but brittle coat, of about three-eighths
of an inch in thicknefs. When firft cut, it is
light-coloured ; but on drying, or even expo-
fure to the air for a few minutes, it turns to a
•reddifh brown. The inner lamina are thin,
confining of tough, lighter-coloured layers.

The bark of the younger branches is not
cracked, is pretty fmooth, of a much lighter

- colour.

[ ]

colour^ and has not the rufty coat above de-
fcribed, but has often many blotches of various
Coloured lichen over it : it confifts wholly of
the brown, folid, and inner layers*

The outer ruft- coloured layer of the trunk
has but little tafte ; the other two poflefs a lit-
tle aromatic fmell, and their tafte is very bitter
and aftringent, accompanied with fomething
aromatic, but in a trifling degree. There is
nothing difagreeable in the tafte, more than
may be expedted from a pure, fimple, ftrong
bitter and aftringent united. The middle la-
mina are eafily reduced to a very fine rofe or
light brown-coloured powder.

Cold water, in the courfe of an hour, our au-
thor obferves, acquired from this bark a deep but
clear reddifli colour. The moft minute portion of
a chalybeate (one drop of a folution of twenty
grains of fal martis in an ounce of water) in-
ftantly changed a much-diluted cold infufion
to a deep purple^ which, on ftanding, became
darker and darker, with a reddifh tinge ; and
no decompofition took place till about the tenth
day; the colouring matter then began to fepa-
rate, and fall to the bottom in black flakes,
leaving the liquor almofl; colourlefs. If the
infufion was fome days (from four to thirty)

K 2 old,

C 13^ 3

oW, the colour produced by the martial folu*
tion was as inftantaneous as when frefh, and
deeper; and at n^o period, up to thiity days,
did it (liow the leafl: tinge of green. Ten times
the fame quantity of the fame martial ibiution, it
feems, did not produce fo great a change upon a
fimilar infufion of the common pale Peruvian
bark ; and its cflfedt on the latter was much
flower. Its bitter qualities are alfo defcribed as
much more intenfe than thofe of the common
fort of Peruvian bark.

The infufion, we are told, bears to be mixed in
any proportion with fpiri's, without becoming
turbid, or producing any kind of decompofition.
The firfi; decodfion is confiderably deeper-colour-
ed than the infufion (which colour it retains in
pafling the filter), and polfefiTes the fame powers
in a higher degree, but does not retain them
fo long, nor is it fo pleafant to the tafte. On
Handing any length of time with the chalybeate,
the colour becomes prde, and is fooner decom-
pofed than the cold infufion : on ftanding fome
days it lets fall a fmall quantity of a reddifh,
earthy fecula, which is intenfely bitter and
aftringent; the fuperincumbent liquor becom-
ing gradually clearer and clearer, and at the fame
time of a deeper red, much refembling the
tincture. Lime-water added to the decodtion,

infufion.

• • ' [ 133 ]

infulion, or diluted tinfture, darkened them
confiderably, and caufed in all a copious depo-
iition of reddifli brown fecula, which became
purple coloured in twenty four hours. The de-
coftion, it is obferved, gave the greatefl; quantity
of fecula- An infufion of pale Peruvian bark,
prepared in every refpedtthefameas the infufion
of Swietenia bark, was treated with lime-W'ater in
the fame manner, and formed a feparation, but
in a much lefs degree.

Bark of Melia Azadirachta (Margofa tree) treat-
ed exactly in the fame manner, formed a fepara-
tion of a lighter-coloured fecula, in a much
greater quantity than the common Peruvian
bark, but much lefs than the Swietenia bark.

The clear reddifh-coloured liquor, weare told,
that floats over the precipitate caufed by the addi-
tion of lime water, is void of aftringency to the
tafte, or has it only in a trifling degree ; but for a
farther proof, it fcems, a chalybeate was employ-
ed, which did not in the leafl; darken this liquor;
but a greenifh tinge was produced, together with
a further decompofition and precipitation of a
reddifli fecula. This experiment, our author
thinks, ferves to fhow that at lead the aflringept
part of the bark is entirely thrown down by
lime-water; and he confidered this as fo intereft-

K 3 ing

[ 134 ]

ing a point, that he repeated the lame experi-
paent with this, as well as with other allringent
barks, and found the refult exadlly the fame.

The fame chalybeate added to lime-water of
the fame llrength as that employed in the above-
mentioned experiments, produced a fmall, green
cloud ; the Swietenia bark infufion thrown into
this produced a muddinefs, and foon after, a
copious precipitation of dirty-coloured fecula.

An infufion of this bark in lime water is deeper
coloured than the plain infufion, but polTelTes
very little bitternefs, and Hill lefs aftringency,
A chalybeate added to this infufion rendered its
red colour a little deeper only, and no decom-
pofition took place : after Handing fome time,
the infufion had no tafte of the lime-water.

From tfiefe experiments. Dr. Roxburgh con-
fiders lime-water as a very irhproper addition ;
and obferves that, in this refpeft, they agree with
thofe made by Dr. Irving on the red and quil-
led Peruvian barks.

Vitriolic acid rendered the firfl decodtion, or
watery infufion, paler ; and, upon Handing, it
became a little turbid, and let fall a fnrall quan-
tity of a light-brown fediment,

Vinegar had the fame effedl.

Mild, or cauHic yegetable alkali, or mild

fofiil

[ 135 ] .

foffil alkali, foon deepened and rendered brighter
the cold watery infufion or decoction, nor did
any decompofition take place in forty-eight
hours.

Mild magnefia, fimply added, rendered the
colour of the infufion paler, without fenfibly
altering the tafte.

Alum has been at times fuccefsfully em-
ployed for the cure of intermitting fevers, and
the analogy it bears to other tonics renders it -a
likely remedy. Our author was therefo,*'e de-
firous to try what would take place on adding
it in a final I quantity to infufions and decodtions
' of this bark. The addition, it feems, rendered
their colour paler, and a little decompofition
took place, with a precipitation of a fmall quan-
tity of a light-brown fecula : to the tafte it in-
■ creafed the aftringency without fenfibly dimi-
nilhing the bitter; but with alum they did not
change their colour when a folution of green
vitriol was added.

Eight ounces of the coarfe powder were
boiled in ten pints of fofc well-water to four
pints ; the refiduum was repeatedly boiled in
frefti parcels of water, exactly in the fame
manner for eleven times, when the liquor

K 4 came

[ 136 ]

came off fllll much coloured, but taftelefs, and
fliowed no figns of aftringency with the chaly-
beate ; the tenth decodtion excepted, which did
fliow figns of aftringency, as it was darkened a
little by it;

The frefli decodtion of common Peruvian
bark, made fimilarly, but in a ftnaller quan-
tity, ftruck ftowly about as deep a colour with
the fame chalybeate, as the fourth or fifth de-
codion of Swietenia bark did quickly.

As the eleventh decodion was taftelefs, al-
though coloured, it was thrown away ; the other
ten had been regularly ftrained, while hot, and
fuffered to ftand till perfedly cold, then poured
off, clear from fediment ; they were mixed, and
evaporated to a hard extrad, which weighed
two ounces and three-quarters. The extrad,
when foft, was of a dark red colour, fiavourlefs,
fmooth, homogeneous, and unduous when rub-
bed between the fingers and thumb. The tafte
of the decodion was well preferved In this ex-
trad ; the moft minute part of it, diffolved in wa-
ter, ftruck a black colour with martial folution as
quickly and as deep as the decodion itfelf, but
the tafte was not fo ftrong as might be expeded
from that of tite bark. This, our author thinks^^

might

C 137 ]

might perhaps be owing to the more fixed^ inert
parts, extraded by the long and repeated boil^
ings (which lafted two days) being mixed in
the raafs of extrad. But this, he obfcrvcs, ,
would not be the cafe, or but in a fmall degree,
with one prepared from only one or two boil-
ings. To determine this point, he boiled one
ounce of the powdered bark in tw'o pints of
water, pretty briikly, down to one pint; after
the liquor was poured off, to the refiduum were .
added two other pints of water, and boiled in
the fame manner. The decodions were mixed,
and evaporated to a dry extrad, which weigh-
ed two drachms and a half, and was in tafte,
&c. much as the former from ten codions ; the
proportion of extrad from two boilings is there-
fore, he obferves, nearly equal to that of ten :
fo that, although the decodions were highly co-
loured, and confiderably bitter and aftringent,
even to the tenth, yet they could have contained
but a fmall portion of the powerful qualities of
the bark.

The refiduum, when perfedly dry, weighed
four drachms and a half ; and fpirit of wine
being poured on it, though affifted at times with
the heat of the fun for many days, extraded

ireither

[ 'i3S ]

neither colour nor tafte, fo completely had -the
virtues of the bark been extracted by the water.

Dr. Roxburgh obferves that the dry extra6t
imbibes much moillure when the weather is
damp; fo much as to make it (lain the fingers, or
any thing that touches it : that it melts readily
in the mouth ; is eafily folublc in water and in
fpirits ; and, like the decoftion and tindlure,
bears to be mixed without decompofition.
Thefe folutions and mixtures, we are told, re-
femble much the original decodtion and tinc-
ture, and their mixtures, both in tafte and co-
lour.

Should this ever become the valuable drug it
promifes, it would be advifable, our author
thinks, to have the extradt prepared on or near
the fpot where the trees grow. Tf this is done
during the hot feafon, the evaporation, he ob-
ferves, might be effedted by the heat of the fun
and hot winds, which would certainly produce
a much more elegant, efficacious extradf than
could poffibly be prepared in any other way or
place, and would alfo preclude every idea or
chance of its being Ibphifticated.

This bark, he finds, contains much muci-
laginous matter, the cloth that the decodfions

were

[ 139 ]

were ftrained through, having become, when
dry, ftiif as if ftarched. This, he thinks, may
account for the decodions remaining fo many
days turbid, which is, no doubt, he adds, favour-
able for the adion of the ftomach upon the bark.
The late Dr. Fothergill, he obferves, recom-
mended an addition of tome mucilage to decoc-
tions of common bark, in order to keep them

turbid, that the adive parts might be kept more
completely fufpended in the liquor

In the way of diftillation, this bark, it fcems,
yields nothing, not the fmalleft apparent quality,
either with water or fpirits. In this refped. Dr.
Roxburgh thinks, it refembles exadly both the
pale and red Peruvian barks, viz. in having its
powers or virtues of a very fixed nature.

Redified fpirit of wine extrads from the bark
a clear, deep red tiadure, poirelTing the aftrin-
gency of the watery infufion or decodion, and
more of the bitter. If not too ftrong, it makes,
we are told, one of the moH pleafant bitters we
are in pofleffion of; and it bears to be diluted
with water in any proportion, without decom-

♦ Med. Obf, and Inq. Vol. b p. 321. 2d Edit, 8vo.
London, 1758.

pofition.

[ 14° J

portion, which renders it in many cafes the
more defirable.

Four ounces of powdered bark were infufed,
by our author, for eight days, in three pints of
French brandy; thefe were poured off, and four
pints more of the fame brandy added, which, af-
ter {landing four days, were alfo poured off : both
thefe infulions were mixed, and he drew off, by
diftillation, a quantity of the fpirit, which (as be-
fore obferved) did not in the lead partake of any
of the qualities of the bark : the refl was gently
evaporated to a dry extradl, which weighed nine
drachms. The cxtra6l itfelf was of a much darker
colour than that procured by water, and was
dried with more difficulty ; but the tafle of the
two extracts was much the fame. The refiduum
was boiled in fix pints of water to two, and the
decoftion was found to be flill pretty ftrong to
the tafte, both in bitternefs and aflringency.
This induced him to repeat the boiling, twice
more, with frefh parcels of water ; and the laft
decoclion, though weak, was flill bitter, and
{bowed figns of aflringency, with a martial
folution. Thefe four decodlions were mixed
and evaporated to a dry extracl, weighing three
([{rachms, which added to the fpirituous ex-

tradl.

[ MI j

traft, made in all twelve drachms, from four
ounces of powdered bark, and agreed nearly
with the quantity procured by water alone.

The antifeptic powers of this bark, accord-
ing to our author’s experiments, are not infe-
rior to its bitter and aftringent qualities; for
watery infufions in open phials kept perfeftly
good for fixty days, without any tendency to fer-
mentation, except a few' air bubbles, which
they difeharged about the fecond day ; indeed
they acquired ftrength, we are told, as the co-
lour produced at the end of that time (fixty
days), by the addition of a chalybeate, was
darker, and as inftantaneous as at any prior
period.

Sixty grains of the lean of raw mutton were
preferved fweeter and firmer in an infufion of
ten grains of this bark in four ounces of water,
than an equal quantity of the fame mutton in a
fimilar infufion of pale quilled Peruvian bark.
The flefh was tinged red by the infufion of Swi-
etenia bark, and its fibres were firm and diftindt
at the end of twelve days ; while that preferved
m the Peruvian infufion was white, and its fibres '
fofter, and infinitely more fetid.

Almofi all the foregoing experiments, it is

obferved.

C 142 ]

obferved,' were made firft with bark of the
fmaller branches, and a^ain with bark of the
trunk of a large tree j the latter was evidently
ftrongeft.

The feeds of this tree are defcrlbed as a flrong,
fimple, pleafant bitter, without any of the af-
tringent power. The leaves poffefs nearly if
not all the ahringency of the bark, and a very
large proportion of its bitter ; but their tafte is
faid to be not fo agreeable either in fubflance or
in infufion.

From the foregoing analyfis. Dr. Roxburgh
ventures to draw the following conclufions :

Firft. That the adtive parts of the bark of
this fpecies of Swietenia are much more foluble
than thofe of Peruvian bark, particularly in
watery menftruums.

Secondly. That it contains a much larger
proportion of adlive (bitter an'd aftringent)
powers, than Peruvian bark.

Thirdly. That the watery preparations of
this bark remain good much longer than fimilar
preparations of Peruvian bark.

Fourthly. That the fpiiituous and watery pre-
parations bear being mixed in any proportion,
without decompofition.

Fifthly. That the bark in powder, and its

preparations,

[ 143 ]

prcparationsj are much more antifeptic than
Peruvian bark, or fimilar preparations of it.

Now, fince this bark yields fo much of its
virtues to cold water, as to prefer ve flefli from
corruption, in a hot climate, with the thermo-
meter from 87“ to 102°, it is reafonable, he
contends, to fuppofe it will yield ftill more of
its tonic and antifeptic virtues in the ftomach,
where it meets with the moll powerful folvents :
we have therefore, he thinks, much to expedt
from it in the cure of gangrene and other pu-
trid difeafes.

Bitters and aftringenls, in a feparate ftate, our
author obferves, are confidered as tonic reme-
dies; but when found combined in the fame
fubftance, they become ftill more powerful : it
is from thefe qualities, he contends, that the
'belt judges allow the Peruvian bark to derive
its virtues. On this point he quotes the autho-
rity of Dr. Cullen, who has remarked, “ that the
“ recurrence of the paroxyfms, in intermitting
“ and remitting fevers, depends on the recur-
rence of atony in the extremities of the arterial
“ fyftem; hence they are prevented by fuch
tonic medicines as obviate this atony ; a
“ great variety of aftringents and fimple bitters
“ have been found to anfwer that end, but
‘‘ none, hitherto difeovered, fo effecfually as the

Peruvian

[ H4 3

Peruvian bark, on account, It is tbouglit, of
“ its poffeffing thofc powers conjoined

The antifeptic qualities of Peruvian bark, our
author obferves, are alfo great; hence itsufe in
the cure of all febrile putrefcent diforders, at-
tended vvith debility, putrid ulcers, &c.

From the evident qualities of this new bark,
and from the fuccefsful experience he has had
with it, in intermittent fevers-f- , &c. Dr. Rox-
burgh

* Treatife on the Materia Medica.

* Hiftories of feveral of thefe cafes have been communi-
cated by Dr. Roxburgh to the College of Phyficians at Edin-
burgh j and an account of them is given by. Dr. Duncan In the
differtation referred to in a former note, together with the re-
fults of feveral trials made with this bark, by his father, in
the Clinical Ward of the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh. Wc
lhall take the liberty of tranfcribing this part of his work :

“ Morbus, quo Roxburgius hunc corticem fsepiflime adhu
bendum curavit, febris quotidiana apud Cullehum nun-
** cupatur. Rarius ex toto, fed ex partCy etad breve tantum-
** modo tempus, remittent, periculofiflimus erat. .ffigroti fere
“ omnes hoc morbo correpti fuerant, dura inc'olebant iftos
montes ingentes, qtii Indiaspeninfulam tranfeurrunt. Inter
** hos montes fylv® opaca:, denfa ferarum tefta, convalles pa-*
ludofas, hominum generi peftiferas, ubique obombrant. Se-
deseft indigenis efiam, confuetudine licet obfirmatis, infa-
** lubris, advenis autem adeo pernieiofa ut pauci, perpauci
“ quldem, quos dira neceflltas inter hos montes hiemare coege-
jit, morbo hoc atrociffimo immunee fait. Tali febre, tali

“ tempeftate

r 145 3

burgh has every reafon to imagine it will prove
equalj if not fuperior, to the Peruvian bark, for
every purpofe for which that medicine is ufed.

Our

" tenipeftate laborantium ne dimidiam quidem partem coni-
valefcere Roxburgius affimat.

"Cal. Junii, A. D. 1791. Indus annos natus viginti,

" habitus tenuis, nonnullis ante menfibus, dum prope montes
occupabatur, febre quotidiana afieftus erat. Corticem
" Cinchonas officinalis aliquantifper fine fruftu afTumpferat ;
idcirco Roxburgius, et quia ipfe parvas corticis Seymidx
quantitates impune adhibuerat, asgro nihil a periculo ab-
“ horrent! grana viginti pulveris ex aquje cyatho fum- nda
" prasfcriplit. Duabus exinde horis, ferupuli duo adhibiti
" funt ; et, poft fimile temporis intervallum, drachma. Cor-
tex aegro nequaquam ingratus erat, alvumque folvit. ^Eger,

" cortice poftea ad drachmam, unaquaque intermiflione, af-
" fumpto, triduo febre immunis erat.

" Pridie Iduum Augufti, A. D. 1791, J — V — Lufi*
tanus*, annum agens quadragefinum quintum, ejufque duae '
filia:, altera fex, altera tres annos nata, manferant aliquan-
“ diu, inter menfem proximo prjeteritum, intra montium ter-»

" minos ; initioque menfis labentis, febre quotidiana, qua
nihil ferme quicquam remifit, affefli funt. Febre remit-
" tente, femper altera quaqile hora fumebant aqux ex cortica
" Soymidae* pater fefcunciam, filia major natu unciam, et
** minor femunciam. Duos poft dies, a morbo valebant.

■* “ R. pulv. coit. Swiet. Soymidec unciam unam,

“ aquae fontanae libras duis. '

‘‘Mifceantur,tft phiala prius agitatl, modo prseferipto fumantur.”

VoL. VI,

'* Vide p. 148,

" Morbus,

L 146 j

Our author next enumerates different fpecics
of Cinchona, viz.

Firft.

“ Morbus, quo hi quatuor aegroti laborabant, partim ob
anni tempus, quo febre correpti funt, atque partim ob
" tempeftat;is ficcitatem, Iblito levior erat ; atque Roxbur-
gius, propter agrorum debilitatem, neque evacuantia ad-
“ hibebat, nec intermifliones expedlabat.

“ XV. Cal. Sept. A. D. 1-91, B— Lufitana, habitus
** infirmi, nonnullos dies, febre gravi, nunquam ex toto re-
“ mittente, laboraverat. Antimonium tartarifatum ex multi
“ aqua, partitis vicibus, ufque ad vomitionem, adhibuit.
‘C Poftero die drachma corticis Soymida, in remiflione mi-
nime adhuc notablli, ter affumptaeft. Intermilfio proxima
“ plenior evafit, atque, ex corticis ufu, biduo poftea morbus
“ ipfe, fimulque diarrhoea qua laboraverat a?gra, ceflarunt.

“ Menfe Septembris, A. D. 1791, J. E — decurio Euro-
pteus, annos natus quadraginta, febre remittente graviter
“ affeftus eft, Receflus principio fere nulli, ex ufu praepara-
“ torum ex antimonjo notabiliores evaferunt ; et xger, quan-
“ quam omnl generl intemperantix deditus, cortice ter fin-
gulis intermiflionibus adhibito, paucis diebus convaluit.

“ VII. Cal. Sept. A, D. i79i» T. L — annos natus
“ oftodecim, quofdam dies febre biliofa laboraverat ; cujus
“ receffus, etiam poft antimonii tartarifati ufum, parum
notabiles erant. Debilitate autem urgente, ferupuli duo
“ corticis Soymidte, omni rcceffu, ter adhibebantur, et, ad
" alvum folvendam, lixiva tartarifata.

“ A cortice autem nihil proficiente, in. Cal. decelTum
eft i atque medicamentis idoneis aflumptis, febris prorfus

“ fere.

[ 147 ]

Firft. Cinchona Officinalis fanicula hrachiata ;
to this fpecies, he obferves, belong the pale,

quilled,

** fere, ftatis temporibus, intermifit. Soymida nunc iterunj
adhibita, quatuordecim diebus, morbum penitus fugavit.

“ Menfc Septembris, A. D. 1791. S — nutrix ladlans,
“ annos nata triginta quinque, febre quotidian! correpta
eft. Alvo, inter primam intermiffionem, foda vitriolata
foluta, morbus triduo cortice Soymida depulfus eft; fed
" lac interim flucre ceflaverat.

“ Menfe Septembris, A. D. i79t. Indus, fervus domef-
*'ticus+, febre lingulariter intermittente agrotavit. Sub
occafum folis, acceflit febris gravis, qua bora nona vef-
pertina intermifit. Oriente autem foie, iterum acceffif,
“ atque, horam circiter nonairi ante meridiem, denuo inter-
“ mittens, agrura viribus integrum reliquit. Exinde cor-
tice Soymida ter, fingulis intermiflionibus matutinis, ad
** fcrupulos duos adhibito, triduo morbus omnino evanuit.

“ J — R — Europaus annum agens trigefimum, vitio pul-
" monis multum debilitatus, ineunte Odobri febre quotidi-
** ana, cui erant accefliones vefpertina, affeftus eft. Tertia
“ intermiffione, duo corticis ferupuli bis adhibiti alvum
magnopere folverunt. Soyibida nihilominus continuata,
“ ager quatuor diebus a febre valebat.

“ Pridie Iduum Decemb. R — miles Indicus, annos natus
" triginta, febre quotidian! tredecim dies, medicamentls
vernaculis nihil proficientibus, laboraverat. Intermiffione
proxima duo corticis Soymida ferupuli ex aqua ter adhi-
“ biti alvum bis cierunt, morburaque levarunt. Cortex
“ repetitus agro fanitatem reftituit.

“ Pridie Iduum, Dec. A. D. 1791, L— miles Indicus,

+ Vide p. 148.

L 2

annos

[ hS ]

quilled, and red barks, which the beft judges
imagine are from the fame tree ; the thick-

red

*' annos natus viginti tres, antecedente die, febre quotidiana
*' afFecius eft, Cortice ter fingulis interraiilionibus adhibuo,
** alvus foluta eft, morbufque mox remifit.

*’ Pridie Iduum Dec. S. N — miles Indicus, annoi natus
quadraginta, iv. Non. Decemb. febre correptus erat. Nullis
haftenus medicamentls ufus, magis nunc magifque d^bilis
evaferat. Cortex in remiftion* ter adhibitus ventrem
“ folvit) triduoque morbum depulfit.

“ Pridie Iduum Dec, A. D. 1791. N — miles Indicus,
annum agens vigefimum quintum, pridie febre quotidiana
“ affefius erat. Cortex Soymida:, ter in unaquaque inter-
“ miflione adhibitus, alvum movit, atque morbum brevi fu-
“ peravit.

“ VIII. Cal. Martli, A. D. 1792. J. V — per biduum
“ febre iterum* laboraverat, Morbo autem duo acceffus
totidemque remifliones quotidie erant, ejus inftar paulo
“ fupra deferiptae +, Cortex Soymidic, in matutinis inter-
“ mifiionibus, altera quaque bora adhibitus, triduo febreni
curavit.

“ Circiter medium Februarii, R — infeftor tels xylinaj,
“ annos natus viginti quinque, laborans tumore hypogaftrii
sequali, dolente, quemcomitata eftfebrisomni mane rece-
“ dens, atque alvus aftridla, ad Roxburgium adduftus eft ;

cui dixit, fe duodeciin ante dies affeftum effe dolore circa
“ umbilicum torquente, qui uno alterove die gravis evafit,
“ atque profundus, et, quafi inter vefic® urinarise fundum
atque inteftinum Yeflum, fedem cepit; abdomen mox tu-
“ muiffe, ipfumque toto corpore febricitafle ; caufam autem

* Vide p. 145. f Vide p. 147.

“ ignoraffe

r 149 ]

red fort being from the trunk, while the pale-
quilled fort is from the branches, and from

young

ignnrAflc malorum ; multa denique reraedla vernacula
“ incafsum adhibuiffe.

Ei praecepit mcdicus, ut afllimeret parvas lix'ivise tar-
“ tarifatae quanrifates, donee fuperveniret catharfis, pro
potu communi hiberet aquam ex tamarindis coftam cum
faccharo, et ut interea diasta ex oryza fainem tolleret.

Alvo his exonerata, meliufcule fe habere fenlit Jeger ;
“ tumori autem nequaquam decrefeenti, velicatorium ad-
“ mofum eft, alvufque lixivA tartarifatA et aqua ex tama.-
“ rindis cum faccharo commifta foluta eft,

“ Per noftem febris invaluit. Die autem, a curatione
“ incepta, tertio alvus vehementer fluxit. Dejefliones
“ purulentae admodum erant, peffime olentes, colore per-
virldes. Tumor ftatim fubfedit.

,dEgcr maxime debilitatus, per noftem, graviter fe-
“ bricitabat. Mane igitur, cum prlmftm febris fe remiftf-
“ fet, ei pulvis ex Soymida cortice et lixivA tartarifatA com-
“ pofitus adhibitus eft, et, die progrediente, ter repetitus.
“ His fadis, alvus purulenta quaedam quater dejecit. Hac
“ curatione triduo port a febre valebat, et, cortice nuac
“ femel tantum in die adhibito, decern diebus domiim re-
“ diit fan us.

“ Roxburgius unam tantam occafionem corticis Soymida;
“ contra gangraenam adhibendi nadus eft. Viro diflbluto,
“ per idem tempos lue Venerea laboranti, fuper mediam
tibiam ulcus erat. Cum Soymidx pulvis eius ftoma'cho
“ nigratus clTet, extrado ufus eft, atque, expedatione ci-
tius, morbo immunis evafit. Perhibet praetcrea Roxbur-

L 3 “

[ '5° 3

young trees. The Spaniards themfelvesj he
adds, employ the red fort.

Second.

“ gius, Duffinum chirurgiim valetudlnarii MadrafienGs pri-
marium hunc corticem contra iftiufmodi mala maximo
“ cum frudlu adhibuiffe.

“ His memoratis, Roxburgius ingenue fatetur inGgnem
tempeftatis Gccitatem, hujus nova Swietenise corticis
“ ufum feliciorem forfitan reddidifle. Notat praeterea, cor-
“ tlcem primo die alvum plerumque moviffc, poftea autem
“ nunquam, neque profettg, praster morbi curationem,
** ullos ex ejus ufu efFedlus obfcrvafle. Cur, ante corticis
ufum, non faspids, ut mos plerilque eft, vomitum et al-
vum moviflet, banc rationem reddit, nempd ex regionis
natura, ex vidtu, ex vita, atque ex rcligione, corpora
Indis efle gracilia, nec plena, nec inflammationibus ob-
** noxia ; atque remediis, quae ante corticem adhiberi for
“ lent, febres, ut ille putat, in longum faepe trahi, et iis,
** aeque ac morbo fere ipfo, aegrotos inftrmari.

“ Ha;c uberius dixi atque fuftus c6 quod ex his potiffi-
mum, quantum polleat hie cortex, apparet. His adduc-
tus pater meus, cum aegrotos nofocoraio Edinburgenli
curabat, atque difeentibus de iis przlegebat, nova hujus
corticis tentamina facere voluit. Hac autem regione,
“ cum febris intermittens perrara Gt, nobis nulla, quid pro-
ficiat cortex nofter, experiendi idonea fatis occaGo oblata
eft. Nonnuliis autem aegrotis adhibita eft.

“ XIII. Cal. Jan. A. D. 1793. Joannes M’Kay, annum
agens vigeGmura tertium, priufquam in nofocomio recep-
“ tus erat, duodecim dies febre, cujus accefliones alterb
“ quoque die redibant, laboraverat. Sed, cum, ab initio

“ horror

[ >51 J

Second. Cinchona Caribaa; the Caribcean

“ horror et calor per idem tempns dciraviiTent, fudor pror-
“ sus defecilFet, atquc mala pedtoris, coma, et torpor fc-
“ brem comitata eflent, haec affedlio mlni'me idonea, in quam
“ Hovum medicamen tentaretur, videbatur. Cortex igitur
“ Cinchonar rubrs, per duodecim dies adhibitus eft ; cum
“ autem acceffus poft intervalla, licet valde diffimilia, ad-
“ hue redirent, aegro, ut Soymida:! drachmam altera qiia-
“ que hora fumeret, prajfcriptum eft. Alvuiii torminibus
“ magnopere movit, acceffus autem proximus poftremus
“ erat. Convaluit.

“ Jacobus Grant, annos natus viginti quinque, qui ali-
“ quandiu in nofocomio propter teftis tumorem manferat,
VIII Iduftm Junii, A. D. 1793, herbS humida vefperi
“ recumbens, frigore, gravi dyfpnoea atque anguftix in
**• faucibus fenfu, affedus eft. Hare facile astheri vitriolico
cefferunt, cortexque Cinchona, quo vires proftratas re-
“ ficeret, adhibitus eft. v. Iduum iterum frigore, dyfpnoeA,
“ atque vomitione fanguinolenta, correptus eft. Quinto
“ poftea vefpere horrores, intermittentis inftar, accefferunt.
“ Ufum corticis Cinchona?, quippe qui acceflionibus nihil
“ obftaret, intermilit medieus, pulveremque corticis Soy-
“ midse, duplici autem quantitate, in ejus locum adhibuit.
“ Hoc fadlo morbus nunquam poftea rediit.

“ Duabus adolefcentulis, alter! a fingulaii pffedfione hyf-
“ teried, convalefcentibus cortex Svvieteni* Soymida, ut
“ corpora firmaret, ft non cum militate faltem fine incom-
“ modo, adhibitus eft.

“ Vi infuper aftridoria pollere, fatis cbnftat h muliere
annorum quadraginta fex, quse leucorrhcea laborabat.

^ 4 Duobus

[ ]

or Jamaica bark 'of Dr. Wright *. This lad,
our author obfervcs, poffeffes in a higher degree
the bitter, but is very weak in the aftringent
power, and ought not to be depended on when
the other is procurable.

Third. Cinchona San6i^ Lttcia, Jlortbus pa-
niculatiSj glabris, laciniis linearibus tubo Ion-
gioribuSy Jlaminibus exertis, foliis ellipticis gla-
bris ; Saint Lucia, or new bark. This is ano-
ther fort, Vv^hich Iras been introduced into prac-
tice : but its being poflefled of flrong emetic
and purgative qualities, renders it, in our au-
thor’s opinion, lefs eligible, particularly after
the paflages have been cleared. Thefe proper-
ties, he obferves, the Jamaica bark does not
pofl'efs ; which eftablifhes a ftriking difference.
Fourth. Cinchona Corymbiferay foliis oblon-

Duobus fenibus ventris fluxu afFefbs nihil profecit> Hi
“ autem, omnia, qu2e alvum aftringunt, experti, morbo
“ non levato, e nofocomio egrelii funt.

Cortex Soymidte, ut multum, necne, contra putredb
“ nem poffet, appareret, quinque sgrotis typho putrido
laborantibus adhibitus eft. Omnes convaluere. His
ventrcm adeo non movit, ut, per totiim morbum, alvum
“ aliis niedicamentis ducere opus eflet.” Vide Duncan
1’entatn, de Swiete?iia Soymida, p. 41. et fcq.-r— Editor.

* See Philol. Tranfaft. Vol. LXVII. page 504;
Dondon M>;dical Journal, Vo!, VIII. page J39.

. [ 153 ]

gls, lanceolatis, corymbis axillaribus ; of Dr.
Forfter; is a native of the South-Sea Iflands :
but of its virtues we know nothing more, than
that he lays, “ it is like Peruvian bark, bitter
and aftringent.”

Fifth. Cinchona Orixenjis^ foliis oppofitiSy to-
mentnfts, ftiptilis interfoliaceis^ femilanceolath, jlo-
ribus terminalibus, paniculatlsy lomentofis, capjula
valvis contrariis a vertice dehifcens', of Dr. Rox-
burgh. The ftrufture of the capfule, he ob-
ferves, forms the chief difference between this
and Cinchona Officinalis, for the feeds are exadlly
as delineated by Gaertner, and the reft of the.
definition correfponds with that given by Lin-
naeus, It is a native of that chain of mountains
which feparates- the northern provinces, or cir-
cars, from the Mahrattah dominions immedi-
ately behind them. The bark of this fpecies
likewife is bitter and aftringent.

Dr. Roxburgh has alfo found another new fpe-
cies of Swietenia, a middle-fized tree, the wood of
which is very heavy, clofe-graincd, and yellow ;
the bark likewife is yellow, and very bitter, but
pofleffes much lefs aftringency than that of the S.
febrifuga, and its aftringengy, he obferves, is of a
peculiar kind, for the colour produced, on an in-
fufion, with a martial folution, was a dark brown.

There

C >54 ]

There is alfo the bark of another large
tree, which, at the time of writing this account,
he tells us, he had under examination, and
which is likevvife very bitter : the H.ndoos
call it Wallurje. It will, he imagines, form a
new genus in the clafs Decandria, and order
Monogynia, Its elTential charaders are calyx
quinquejidus , petala qninque, nedlaritm duplex^
exterius cylindricum ore decemfido, antheras gerens,
interius annularium, hafin germinh cingens, bacca
monofperma.

The bark of this tree, we are told, is in high
repute as a medicine amongft the Hindoo phy-
licians ; and gives name to a compound foft ex-
trad, called IValluvodufay, which they em-
ploy in a variety of difeafes.

It alfo poflefles powers of a very different
nature ; for, powdered and thrown into pools
w'here there are fifh, it foon intoxicates them
to that degree, that they are eafily taken with
the hand.

Dr. Roxburgh obferves that the bark of
Melia Azadirachta, already taken notice of'^,
has frequently and fuccefsfully been employed
as a fubftitute for Peruvian bark, in the cure

* i’age 133*

2 of

C 155 ]

of remittents and intermittents ; and that an
infufion or decodlion of its leaves is alfo a good
anthelmintic, and as fuch employed by the Hin-
doos.

The bark of another large tree, which our
author calls Nauclea Daduga^ poffeffes alfo, he
tells us, in a confiderable degree, both the bit-
ternefs and aftringency of Peruvian bark ; and he
thinks it is next in power to that of the Swie-
tenia febrifuga. Although this tree differs
widely in its flower from the hitherto known
fpecies of Cinchona, yet in its parts of fructifica-
tion it agrees with them, itfeems, almoft exaClly,

X. An

[ 156 ]

X. An Account of the Effects of Mahogany Wood
in Cafes of Diarrhoea. By Mr. “Francis
Hughes, Surgeon of the General Infirmary at
Stafford. Communicated in a Letter to Mr.
John Pearfon, Surgeon of the Lock Hofpual,
and hy him to Dr. Simmons.

An accidental circumftance firft fuggefted
to me the idea that mahogany wood
might prove ferviceable as a medicine ; for I
did not then know that any part of the tree had
been employed for medicinal purpofes. I was
accordingly induced to make ufe of it in cafes
of diarrhoea, both in decoftion and in the form
of an extradl ; and after repeated trials, I can'
venture to aflert that I have not' been difap-
pointed in the expectations I had formed of its
efficacy.

For the decoction I boil an ounce of the
fliavings of Jamaica mahogany wood in two
pints of water, till one pint of the liquor is
wafted, and then ftrain off the remainder for
ufe.

The extract I make life of has been prepared

C 157 3

♦ by boiling the (havings of the fame wood irt
repeated alfufions of frefh water, in the fame
proportion and manner as are directed for the
cxtraft of logwood (extra^ium ha;matoxylt) of
the London Pharmacojjoeia. The quantity of
extraft obtained in this way amounts to fome-
thing more than i of the (havings employed.
The Honduras mahogany wood is of a paler
colour, and lefs aftringent than the Jamaica, and
does not yield quite part of extradt.

Both the decodion and exCrad are very bit-
ter and aftringent, leaving a rough nefs in the
mouth for fome time after they have been tafted.

The extrad, in its appearance, refembles
gum kino. It dilTolves completely in water,
and in fpirit of wine, and ftrikes a black colour
with fait of (led.

The following are fome of the Cafes in which
I have employed thefe remedies.

CASE I.

1793? 3, foldier belonging to a re-
giment on the Irifh eftablifliment, who is a na-
tive of Stafford, was fent hither from his re-

giment

[ 158 ]

giment for the recovery of his health. He had
for fome time been unfit for duty, and was much
reduced by a diarrhoea, which having come on
after a fever, had continued feveral months, and
relifted a variety of medicines.

I gave him an ounce of the decodion three
times a day, and as it fat eafy on his ftomach,
and feemed to have a good effed, the dofe, after
the third day, was increafed to an ounce and a
half. He perfevered in the ufe of it during fix!-
teen days ; the diarrhoea gradually fublided ;
his appetite and ftrength returned ; and at the
end of that time he v^as'fufficiently recovered to
go back to his regiment in Ireland.

CASE II.

A woman of a thin, delicate habit, applied
to me in Odober, 1 793, on account of a violent
diarrhoea, for which fhe had taken different me-
dicines without any good effed. It had come
on, file faid, after fitting up a whole night in
wet clothes, and had continued more than a
fortnight; Ihe was free from fever.

I direded her to take pills compofed of fix
, grains

[ 159 J

grains of the extrad, three times a day. With-
in the fpace of a week the diarrhoea was much
abated, and fhe had acquired ftrength ; file pet-
fevered, however, in the ufe of the medicine
for the fpace of three weeks, at the end of which
time the complaint had entirely ceafed. A fluor
albus, with which Ihe had been troubled many
months, was likevvife much abated ; but per-
haps this latter circumttance ought rather to be
afcribed to the improved ftate of her general
health, than to any fpecific effect of the medi-
cine. '

CASE III.

In January, 1794, I was applied to by a man
fifty years old, who for feveral years had been a
hard drinker, and was now extremely emaciated ;
his legs were oedematQUs; he had no appetite;
was fubjedl to frequent vomiting, and had a
flight diarrhoea.

1 gave him aromatic. bitters for feveral days,
but finding no amendment, I determined to
have recourfe to the mahogany. I gave him
eight grains of the extraft, made into pills-,
three times a day. At the end of five days his

difpofition

[ i6o ]

difpofitlon to vomit had ceafed, and he had a
little appetite. He continued the ufe of the
medicine for ten days longer, and was then fo
much relieved as to be able to walk and ride out
every day. Xhis ftate of amendment continued
for a fortnight, when he relapfed into his old
habit of drinking, and his former fymptoms
returned. RecouiTe was again had to the fame
medicine, but without effect.

To the above I could add many other in-
ftances of the good effedts of the extradt and
decodlion in cafes of long continued diarrhoea,
where the complaint feemed to depend on a
morbid irritability of the ftomach and inteftines,
and where the ufe of tonic and aftringent me-
dicines appeared to be indicated* The few hif-
tories I have related will, I truft, be fufficient
to point out the modes of adminiftering the re-
medies in queftion, and the effeds that may be '
expeded from them; and perhaps will induce
medical praditioners to extend a trial of their
efficacy to other difeafes.

The dofes in which I have hitherto given thefe
remedies have been fmall ; but much larger
dofes may be given with fafety, and in many
'cafes will, I am perfuaded, be more efficacious.

[ 3

To try the effed; of a confiderable dofe on
the ftomach, I took two ounces of a decodlion,
prepared by boiling two ounces of the lhavings
in two pints of water-to a pint, which is twice
the ftrength of the dccodtlon deferibed in
Cafe 1. and which I have ufually adminiftered.
’At firft I perceived no effedl from it ; but at
the end of ten minutes a difagreeable naufea
came on, with a flight pain at the ftomach, and
a glowing fenfation fimilar to that produced by
the taking a glafs of ftrong wine. ■ Thefe effedls
gradually w'ent off in about half an hour, and I
felt no other inconvenience from the dofej

Stafford, Feb. 12, 179-f.

VoL. VI.

XL Account

C 162 ]

XI. Account of fome Difcoverles made by Mr.
Galvani, of Bologna ; with Experiments and
Obfervations on them. In two Letters * from
Mr. Alexander Volta, S. Profejfor of Na-
tural Ehilofophy in the Univerfity of Pavia, to
Mr. Tiberius Cavallo, F. R, S. — From the Phi-
lofophical TranJaPtions of the Royal Society of
London, for the Tear 1793. Part I. 4ta-
London, 1793.

fubject of the difcoveries and re-
A fearclies, concerning which I am about
to write to you. Sir, is animal electricity ; a
fubjedt which cannot but be extremely intereft-
ing to you. I know not if you have yet feen
the work of a Profeffor of Bologna, Mr. Gal-
vani, which appeared about a year fince, wkh
this title ; Aloysii Galvani de Viribus FJec-
tricitatis In Motu Mufculari Commentarius. Bo-
nonite, 179I1 in 58 pages, 410, with four
large plates ; or at leaft if you have had any

* In the Philofophical Tranfaftions thefe two letters are
given in French; for the prefent tranflation of them we are
indebted to the kindnefs of a friend. — Editor. *

account

[ 1^3 ]

account of it*. It contains one of the mofl;
beautiful and furprifing difcoveries, and the
germe of feveral others. Extradls from this
work have appeared in different Italian Jour-
nals, and, among others, in that entitled Gio-
mle Fijtco-medico, publifhed by Dr. Brugna-
telli, of Pavia, to whom I myfelf have fent two
long papers, which will be followed by feveral
others, as I have confiderably extended my ex-
periments and inquiries on this fubjedl. The
letters I now addrefs to you are intended as
a fketch both of the admirable difcovery of
Mr. Galvani, and of the progrefs which I have
been fortunate enough to make in this new path ;
and I requeft 3^ou, Sir, to prefent them to Sir
Jofeph Banks, Bart, the worthy Prefident of the
Royal Society, to be communicated, if he
thinks proper, to that learned body, as a feeble
reftimony of my gratitude for the honour they
have done me in electing me one of their num-
ber, and of my zeal and eagernefs to comply
with their invitation to communicate to them, '
from time to time, the fruit of my refearches.

(i.) Mr. Galvani having differed and pre-
pared a frog, in fuch a manner that the legs re-
mained attached to a part of the back bone,

* See Vol. III. p. I So.— Editor.

M 2 feparated

[ *<54 ]

feparated from the reft of the body, folely by
the crural nerves, which were laid bare, ob-
ferved that very lively motions w'cre excited in.
thefe kgs, with fpafmodic contradions in all
the mufcles, every time that (this part of the
animal being placed at a confiderable diftance
from the condudor of an eledrical machine,
and under certain circumftances, which I lhall
explain hereafter) a fpark was drawn from this
condudor, not on the body of the animal, but
on any other body, or in any other diredion.
The requifitc circumftances, therefore, were,
that the animal thus difleded fliould be in con-
tad: with, or very near fome metal or other
good condudor, of fufficient extent, or, what
was ftill better, between two fimilar conduc-
tors, one of which ftiould be turned towards
the extremities of the legs of''the animal, or
fome one of its mufcles ; the other towards the
fpine, or its nerves : it was likewife very ad-
vantageous that one of thefe condudors, which
the author diftinguilhes by the names of con-
du^or of ihe nerves, and condudor of the 'mufcles,
and preferably the latter, ftiould have a free
communication with the floor. It was in this
fituation efpecially, that the legs of the frog,
prepared as above deferibed, received violent

(hocks.

[ ]

ihocks, fprang up and contraftcd with vivacity at
each fpark drawn from the condudor of the ma-
chine, although it was at a confiderable diftance,
and although the difcharge was made neither on
the condudor of the nerves, nor on that of the
mufcles, but on any other body, equally re-
mote from them, and having any other com-
munication through which the difcharge might
be tranfmitted, for inftance, on a perfon placed
in the oppofite corner of the room.

(2.) This phenomenon furprized Mr. Gal-r
vani, perhaps more than it ought to have
done; for the power, not only of eledric
fparks when they immediately ftrike the mufcles
or nerves of an animal, but of a current of this
fluid traverflng them, in any manner whatever,
with fufficient rapidity, its great power, I fay,
of exciting commotions, was a thing fuffici-
ently known ; befides, it was obvious how, in
this experiment, and in all thofe of the falne
kind, related in the firfl; and fecond parts of
his work, and which are reprefented in the two
flrft plates of figures, his frog became liable to
be affeded by fuch a current. We have only to
conflder that w^ll-known property of eledrical
atmofpheres, or what is called comprejjive eleSlri-
fity, by which the fluid of conduding bodies,

M 3 place4

[ i66 ]

placed within the fphere of adion of an eledri-
fied body, is comprelfed and difplaced, in pro-
portion to the force and extent of this fphere, and
kept in this ftate of difplacement fo long as the
eledricity fubfifts in the predominant body ; and
when this is removed, returns to its place gra-
dually, if the eledricity of that body is flovvly
diffipated, or in an inftant if it be deftroyed in-
ftantaneoufly, by difcharging fuddenly the body
that contained it. It is this returning current,
therefore, this reflux of eledrical fluid in the
conduding bodies contiguous to the frog, or
near it, its fudden paflage from the condudor
of the mufcles to the condudor of the nerves,
or vice verfa, through its body, cfpecially when
fuch a current is comprefled in the Angle and
narrow channel of the nerves, which excites the
fpafms and movements in the- experiments in
queflion. Mr. Galvani, who feems not to have
fuificiently refleded on this property of eledrical
atmofpheres, and who was not aware of the pro-
digious fenfibility of his frog, Angularly pre-
pared in the manner above deferibed ([ muft
here obferve that I have found this fenAbility
nearly equal in all the other fmall animals, fuch
as lizards, falamanders, and mice) was ex-
tremely flruck with fuch an efted, which will

probably

[ i67 ]

probably not appear fo marvellous to other phi-
lofophers. This, however, was the firft ftep
which led him to the grand and beautiful dif-
.covery of an animal eledricity, properly fo cab
led, and which belongs not only to frogs and
other animals of cold blood, but likewife to
every animal of warm blood, quadrupeds,
birds, &c. ; a difcovery which forms the fubjed
of the third part of his book, a fubjed alto-
gether new, and very interefting. It is thus
he has opened to us an immenfe field, into
which I propofe to enter, and purfue my re-
fearches, after I flrall have dwelt a little more
on thofe preliminary experiments which relate
to the adion of artificial or extraneous eledricity
on the nervous and mufcular fibres.

(3.) It was chance that prefented to Mr.
Galvanl the phenomenon I have been defcri-
bing, and which aftoniflied him (I repeat it)
more than it ought to have done. Still who
would have believed that a ftream of eledricity,
fo feeble as not to be rendered fenfible by the
molt delicate eledrometer, fliould be capable
of affeding fo powerfully the organs of an ani-
mal, and of exciting in its limbs, cut off one
or more hours before, movements, nowife ini-
ferior in ftrength to thofe produced in the living

animal;,

t' ,68 ]■

animal, fuch as vigoroully darling out its legs,,
fpringing up, &c. to fay nothing of the moft
violent tonic convulfions ? And yet fuch is the
ftream that affefts the little animal, placed, for
inftance, on a table, near fome metal, or be-
tween two good conduftors, not infulated, when
a perfon draws from the prime conductor, fuf-
pended. feveral feet above, a moderate fpaiTe,
and conveys the difeharge through quite another
channel.

(4.) I fay moderate ; for if it be very ftrong,
and the conduftor, large and highly charged, be
not at a very confiderable diftance from the bor
dies on the table, little fparks will be perceptible
in the interftices of tbefe bodies, efpecially the
metallic ones, and even in the place where the
frog forms a ring of communication between
them, which fparks are evidently produced by
the returning flream of elecfricity, of which I
have already fpoken, (fed. 2.) Qr if matters
do not come to this point, inftead of fparks w^e
may perceive movements, fufficiently obvious,
ipf eledrometers placed on the fame table and
in the fame places. In this cafe, therefore,
where the eledrometer affords the fign, and
much more in the other, where the above-men-
tioned fparks are obtained, ♦we may obferve,

that

[ i(S9 ]

tliat even a frog, entire and untouched, or any
other fmall animal, -as a lizard, a moufe, or a
fparrow, is feized witkftrong convulfions in all
its limbs, efpecially in its legs, which dart for-
w'ards with vivacity, if the palTage of the elec-
tric fluid (the returning flream) follows the di-
r.edlion of thefe fame legs from one end to the ,
ofher. So far there is nothing wonderful ; the
circumftance that may excite furprife is in the
cafe where the flream of eleftricity, though no
longer fenflble, not even to the moft delicate
eledlrometer, continues to excite the fame com
vulfions, the fame movements, if not in the en-
tire frog, at leaft in its limbs, when difledlqd and
prepared in the manner pradtifed by Mr. Gal-
van i.

(5.) I have endeavoured, with much atten-
tion, to determine what might be the leaft elec-
trical power requifite to produce thefe effedls,
as well in the entire and living frog, as in one
diflfedted and prepared in the manner above de-
feribed, which is what Mr. Galvani has omitted
to do. I have preferred the frog to every other
animal, becaufe'it is endowed with a very dura-
ble vitality, and it is very eafy to prepare it. -
I have, however, made experiments on other
fmall animals with the fame view, and with a
fpccefs nearly fimilar. In order to, eftimate well

the

[ lyo ]

the ftrength of the ftream of eledlriclty, I have
thought it right to fubmit the animal intended
for experiments of this kind, not to the return-
ing ftreams occafioned by eledtrical atmofpheres
(Se6l. 2.), but to direft eledfrical difcharges,
, fometimes from a fimple condudlor, fometimes
from a Leyden phial, and in fuch a manner
that the whole ftream muft have pafled through
the body of the animal. For this purpofe I
was careful to keep it infulated in one way or
other, and moft frequently by fixing it, with
pins, to two fiat pieces of foft wood, fupported
by glafs columns.

(6.) I have found then, that for the living
and entire frog the electricity of a fimple con-
ductor, of a middling fize, is fufficient, when
\t comes only to be able to give a very weak
fpark, and to, raife Henley’s electrometer from
five to fix degrees ; that if I make ufe of a Ley-
den phial, likewife of a middling fize, a much
weaker charge of this produces the effeCt, fuch
a one, for example, as yielding not the leaft
fpark, and being nowife fenfible to the qua-
drant-eleCtrometer, is fcarcely fufticiently fo to
Cavallo’s eleCtrometer to feparate its little pen-
dula. about i -tenth of an inch.

(7.) This, as I have juft nov/ thov.'n, fora

frog

C 171 ]

frog entire and untouched ; for when It is dif-^
fetted and prepared in different ways^ and par-
ticularly after Galvani’s manner, in which the
legs are connected with the dorfal fpine merely
by the crural nerves, a much weaker degree of
electricity, whether from the conductor or from
the Leyden phial (the fluid being- obliged to
pafs through the narrow paflage of the nerves),
fails not to excite convulfions, &c. Yes, an
electricity forty or fifty times weaker, as a
charge of the phial that is abfolutcly impercep-
tible to the laft-mentioned electrometer (Ca-
vallo’s), and even to that extremely delicate
one of Bennetj a charge, that 1 was able to
render fenfible only by means of my condenier,
and which I think may be eftimated at five or
fix hundredths of a degree of Cavallo’s elec-
trometer.

(8.) Thus then, in the legs of a frog attached
to the fpine of the back folely by its nerves
(thefe being laid bare), w^e have a new fpecies
of electrometer ; fince eleCtrical charges, which
from their yielding no fign to the deCtrometers >
already in ufe, would feem null, afford fuch ob-
vious ones to this animal ele^rometer j if I may
be allowed the expreflion.

(9.) When

[ i72'J

(9.) When we have feen how, in a ’frog
thus prepare.d, flrong convulfions are excited
by an extremely weak.elecftricity, by an imper-
ceptible ftream of fluid, we ought furely to be
no longer furprifed, that the animal fliould be
afFeftcd in the fame manner when any body
whatever difeharges fuddenly the prime con-
duftor of an eleftrical machine, and oeca-
lions another ftream of electric fluid, great or
fmall, of the fluid before difplaced in the con-
ducting bodies near the frog, and which re-
eftabliflies itfclf, in the manner already ex-
plained (SeCt. 2.), to pafs rapidly through its
nerves. Let us fuppofe this returning ilream to
be fcarcely equal to that which a conductor, fuf-
ficiently bulky, throws off direClIy, with an
electricity that yields no fpark, and that is al-
moft infenfible even to Cavallo’s^ eleCtrometer,
or a fmall Leyden phial, charged fcarcely a tenth
of a degree of this fame eleCtrometer'; let us
fuppofe, I fay, that the ftream of eleCtricity is
not ftronger than this, ft ill it will be fufficient,
as my experiments, above related (SeCt. 6.
and 7.), fhow, to excite the movements in
queftjon.

(10.) But if, after the experiments juft now

referred

[ 173 ]

referred to, we ought no longer to be furprlfed
at thofe of Mr. Galvani, defcribed in the firll
and fecond parts of his work, how can we avoid
being fo at thofe entirely new and wonderful
ones related in the third ? Experiments in which
he obtained the fame convulfions and violent
movements of the limbs, without having re-
courfe to any artificial electricity, or extraneous
excitement, by the fimple application of a
conductor, one end of which was made to
touch the mufcles, and the other the nerves or
fpineof .the frog prepared in the manner al-
ready defcribed. This conductor, he found,
might be either entirely metallic, or compofed
partly of metal and partly of other bodies of
the clafs of conductors, as water, one or more
perfons, &c. Even wood, the walls and floor
of the room^ plight enter into the circle pro-
vided they were not too dry; it was only by
the interpofition- of non-conduCting fubftances,
as glafs, rofin, and filk, that the effeCt was pre-
vented. Bad conductors, however, did not do
fo well, and only during the firfl; moments after
the animal was prepared, and fo long as the
vital powers remained in full vigour ; after
which good conductors only were found to fuc-

ceed.

[ '74 ]

ce6d, and in a fhort time it was found impoffi-
ble to produce the effedt unlefs with excellent
condudtors, that is, with conductors entirely
metallic. He moreover found a great advantage
from applying ,a fort of metallic armour, or
coating, to that portion of the fpine which he
left. attached to the crural nerves, and to the
nerves themfelves, and particularly from cover-
ing this part witli a thin leaf of tin or lead.

(II.)' Mr. Galvani did not confine himfelf,
in thefe truly aftonifliing experiments, to frogs j
he extended his trials with fuccefs, not only to
feveral other animals of cold blood, but like-
wife to quadrupeds and birds ; in all of which
he obtained the fame refults, by means of the
fame preparations, which confided in laying bare
fome principal nerve at the part where it paffes
into a limb fufceptible of motion, and after
arming the nerve with fome metallic, fubdance^
forming a communication, by means of his con-
ductor, between this coating and the mufcles
to which the nerve is diftributed.

(i2.) It was thus he fortunately difcovered>
and demonftrated to us, in the mod evident
manner, the exidence of a real animal eleBricity
in all, or almoft all animals. It feems in faCt to
]3C proved by his experiments, that fhe eleCtric

duid

C 175 3

^uid ten'ds inceffantly to pafs from one part to
another of a living organized body, and even
of detached limbs, fo long as any remains of
vitality fubfift in them; that it tends to pafs
from the nerves to the mufcles, or vice verja,
and that the mufcular movements are owing to
a fimilar transfufion, more or lefs rapid. In
truth, it would feem that no objections can be
railed to this, or to the manner in which Mr*
Galvani explains it, by a kind of difeharge fi-
milar to that of the Leyden phiah But a great
number of new experiments that I have made
on this fubjeCt, will ferve to fliow that many
reftrictions muft be made with regard both to
the thing itfelf, and to the deductions the au-^
thor has drawn from it ; my experiments likc-
w’ife'will be found confiderably to extend the
phenomena attributed to this animal eleClricity,
and will difplay it to us under a great number
of new circumftances and combinations.

(13.) Mr. Galvani, purfuing the idea he has
formed to himfelf from his experiments, and
adhering in every refpeCt to the fuppofed
analogy of the Leyden phial, and his con-
ductor, imagines there is naturally an excefs of
eleCtric fluid in the nerve, of in the interior part
of the mufcle, and a correfponding defeCt of this

fluid

- [ lyfi 1

fluid in the outer parr, and vice verfa ; and hd
fuppofes confcquently that one end of this con-
dudtor mufl: communicate with the nerve, which
he confiders as the conducing wire or hook of
the phial ; and the other end with the external
furface of the mufcle. All the figures of his
third and fourth plates, and all his explanations
relate to this. But if he had a little varied his
experiments, as 1 have done, he would have
feen that this double contadt of nerve and of
mufcle, this circuit which he imagines, is not
always neceflaryi He would have found, as I
have, that the fame convulfions, the fame move-
ments may be excited in the legs and other
limbs of frogs, and of every other animal, by
placing metallic fubftances in contadf with two
parts of a nerve only, or with two mufcles, or
even with different parts of a Angle and fimplc
mufcle.

(14.) It is true we are very far from fucceed*-
ing fo well in this way as in the other, and that
in this cafe it Is neceflary to have recoui fe to an
artifice, of which we.fhall have occafion to
fpeak more fully hereafter, and which con fills
in employing two different metals; an artifice,
which is not abfolutely neceffary when the ex-
periment is condudted according to Galvani’s

method

r 177 ]

ftietliod above defcribed (Seft. 10 and il), at
lead fo long as vitality remains in full vigour in
the animal, or in its detached limba ; but, at
any rate, fince by arming the nerves only, or
the mufcles only, with different metals, we are
able to excite contractions in the latter, and
movements in the limbs, we muft conclude that
if there are cafes (and this may perhaps dill be
very doubtful) where the pretended difcharge
between nerve and mufcle (SeCt. 12 and 13.) is
the Caufe of the mufcular movements, there are
likewife many and more frequent circumflances,
where the fame movements are obtained by
quite another play, quite another circulation of
the eleCtric fluid.

(15.) Yes, it is quite another play of the
electric fluid, of which we may be faid rather to
difturb than to reftore the equilibrium, info-
much as it paffes from one part to another of a
nerve, a mufcle, &c. as well internally by their
conducting fibres, as externally by mean's of the
metallic conductors that are applied, not in
confequence of any refpeCtive excefs or defeCt,
but by a peculiar aCtion of thefe fame metals,
when they are of different kinds. It is thus I
have difcovered a new law, which is not fo
much a law of animal elcCtricity as a law of
VoL. VI. N

common

[ 178 J

common eleflricity ; to which w'e mull attribute
the moft part of the phenomena, which, from
the experiments of Galvani, and from feveral-
others which I made myfelf, ‘ feemed to belong
to a true fpontaneous animal electricity, but
which in truth do not : they are really the efFefts
of a very feeble artificial eleCtrIcity, which is
excited in a way never before fufpedted, by the
fimple application of two coatings of different
metals, as 1 have already hinted, and which I
fliall explain better elfewhere.

(16.) I think it right here to fay, that at the
dlfcovery of this new law, of this, till now,

' unknown artificial eleCtricity, 1 was miftruftful
of every thing that feemed to me to demonflrate
a natural eleClrlcity, in the Arid; fenfe of the
term, and that 1 was on the point of giving up
this idea. But upon carefully reeonfidering all
the phenomena, and repeating the experiments
under this new point of view, I found that fome
of them fupport fuch an idea, (thofe, for in-
fiance, in which there is no need of different
coatings, or even of any coating, a Ample me-
tallic wire, or any other conducting body, per-
forming the office of conduClor between the
nerve, and one of the mufcles conncCled with
if, being capable of exciting convulfions in the

•latter).

[ 179 ]

latter), (Sedt. lo, &c.) and that thus a natural
animal and properly organic eledlricity fubfifts,
and cannot be entirely overturned. The phe-
nomena which eftablilhit, although much more
limited, are however fufhcient to demonftratc
its exiftence, as I have juft now mentioned, and
as will more clearly be fliown hereafter.

(17.) What will perhaps be found more dif-
agreeable is, that we muft likewife confine with-
in narrower limits its influence in the animal
oeconomy, and give up the fineft ideas we had
formed of it, and which feemed to be about
leading us clearly to explain mufcular. motion.
My experiments, varied in every manner pof-
fible, fliow that the motion of the eledtric fluid
excited in organs, does not adt immediately on
the mufcles ; that it does nothing more than ex-
cite the nerves, and that the latter, put into
action, excite in their turn the mufcles. What
this adtion of the nerves is ; how it propagates
itfelf from one part of a nerve to another ; how
it pafles to the mufcles, and how the motion of
the latter refults from it ; thefe are problems,
in the explanation of which we are not farther
advanced than before the difeovery in queftion.

Cl 8.) I come now to the experiments that
prove all the aflTertions I have advanced in thefe

N 2 laft

-* [ i8o ]

laft paragraphs. From a great number I (hall
feleft only a few, which feem to me the beft
calculated to eftablilli certain principles, for the
moft part new and different from thofe adopted
by Mr. Galvani. But 1 muft fir ft fay a few words'
more concerning the experiments of this writer.

I know not w'hether he has made others, but
thofe he has defcribed in his W'ork are included
in too narrow a circle ; in all of them the ob-
jedl is to lay bare and infulate the nerves, and
to eftablifli a communication, by means of coii>-
dufting bodies, between thefe nerves and the
mufcles ^that are dependent on them (as may be
feen in all the figures of the four plates annexed
to his work), in order to excite convulfions and
movements of the mufcles, by the atftion of the
eledtric fluid. He fuppofes therefore, in every
cafe, and he explains himfelf pretty clearly on
this point, that the transfufion of the eletftric
fluid that is produced, whether by artificial elec-
tricity, or by natural animal eledfricity, muft
take place from the nerves to the mufcles, or
vice verfa ; that thefe two limits at leaft muft
be included in order for the mufcular move-
ments to take place; and in truth all the expe-
riments he has defcribed feem to prove this.
But then they arc confined, as I have juft now

fitid,

[ .8. ]

faid, within a circle that is too limited, and be-
yond which he has never, or fcarcely ever, ex-
tended his inquiries. By varying the experi-
ments of this kind in dilferent ways, T have
fliovvn, that neither the one nor the other of
thofe conditions, viz. the laying bare and in-
fulating the nerves, and the touching fimulta-
neoufly thefe and the mufcles, in order to pro-
cure the fuppofed difcharge, are abfolutely ne-
celTary (Seft. 13.). It is fufficient, when, for
inllance, we have laid bare the ifchiatic nerve of
a dog, lamb, &c. if we pafs a ftream of electri-
city from one part of this nerve to the other,
even though it be near, and leave all the reft
untouched and free ; it is fufficient, I fay, to do
this in order to excite in the limb very ftrong
convulfions and movements ; and this whether
we employ an extraneous artificial eleCtricity, or
excite the eleCtric fluid that is inherent in the
nerve itfelf. Here is the manner in which I
make thefe experiments.

(19.) Experiment A. I comprefs, with a
pair of forceps, the ifchiatic nerve a little above
its infertion into the thigh, and I apply, a few
lines higher up, a piece of money, or a plate of
metal, on this fame nerve, carefully feparated
from the parts that adhere to it, and fupported
\ N 3 .by

[ iZz

by a thread, a plate of glafs, a flick of fealing
wax, a piece of dry wood, or any other fubftance
that is a bad condudor. Then placing the belly
of a Leyden phial, very weakly charged, on the
forceps, I bring the hook into contad with the
other piece of metal ; and the moment the dif-
charge takes place, although it be too feeble to
produce the leafl fpark, convulfions take place
in all the mufcles of the thigh and leg, the
whole limb being agitated and fpringing up
with more or lefs violence. And yet the whole
of this leg, and even a part of the nerve which
pafles to it, are, as w'e fee, our of the track
which the eledric fluid takes in its paflage, fo
that only a fmall portion of the nerve can have
been irritated ; and yet this is fufflcierit to occa-
flon the convulfion of the mufcles.

(20.) Experiment B. The fame effeds,
that is to fay, firailar convulfions and motions
of the leg, take place, without our having re-
courfe to an extraneous eledricity, by the dif-
charge which takes place, in a certain manner
naturally, when we apply, as above, the fame
forcepsj or a plate of filver,* to one part of the
nerve, and a plate of fome other metal, and
above all, of tin or lead, to another part, and
then bring about a Ample communication be-
tween

[ 1 8.3 ]

tween them, either by an immediate contadt, or
by the interpofition of a third piece of metal
made to perform the office of a condndtor.

(21.) Thus we fee that the fame effedts, that
is, convulfions and violent mufcular contrac-
tions, take place without any difcharge of elec-
tric fluid between the nerves and mufcles, in
the manner Mr. Galvani fuppofes ; and without
requiring one end of a condudlor to communi- '
cate with the one, and the other end with the
other. Neither is the other condition, that of
laying bare the nerve, and freeing it of its ad-
hefions, at all more neceflary, as will appear
from the following experiments.

Experiment C. I apply coatings, or platesj
of different metals, (and it is this difference of
coatings that is eflential) (Sedl, 14. and to
an entire and living frog, that is covered with
its Ikin, and, in fhort, is untouched. I apply,
for example, a thin piece of tin-foil on its back,
or its loins, and I place a piece of filver money
under its thighs, or its belly, flightly compreffing
it ; this done, I Aide forward the piece of mo-
ney till it comes into contadt with the tinfoil, or
I form a communication between the two metals
by means of a piece of iron wire, or any other
metal j and at that inftant convulfive motions

N 4 take

[ 1^4 ]

take place in all the mufcles of the belly, thighs,
and back, with violent tremors of -the legs,
contradion and curvature of the fpine, &c.
which convulfions and fpafms, although nearly
univerfaj, are however moft confiderable in the
limbs and mufcles contiguous to the coatings,
and ftill more fo in thofe which are dependent
on the principal nerves neareft to the two
metals.

(22,,) Thefe experiments fucceed in fome

other animals; in filhes, and particularly in eels,

in none of which is it neceflary to remove the
fkin, though it does not fail, in a fmall degree,
to leffen the elfed. This is why, by removing
it, at leaft in part, particularly in the frog, we
obtain the effeds with more certainty, and to a
greater degree. We like wife gain fomething,
' in this refped, by cutting off the head of the
frog, and thrufting a large pin into the fpinal
tnarrow ; we then excite, by means of different
coatings in the manner above defcribed, ftronger
movements, or at leaft fuch as are more ob-
vious, becaufc they are no longer confounded
with the movements the animal gives itfelf
while living.

(23.) If it be advantageous, as we have feen,
to take off the Ikin of frogs, althovigh very thin

and

[ >85 3

and pretty, mqift, it is much more fo, and evert
neceflary, to remove it from almoft all the other
animals^ as lizards, falamanders, ferpents, tor-
toifes, and more efpecially from quadrupeds and
birds, thr|t are furnilhed with a drier and much
thicker Ikin, to fucceed in thele experiments.
The following, therefore, is the mode I adopt.

Experiment D. I fallen to a table, by
met], ns of fume large pins, a lizard, a moufe, a
fowl, &c. and after making an incifion through
the Ikin, and other integuments, to the bare
delli, on the back of the animal, 1 turn back
the integuments on each fide ; 1 do the fame on
the thigh or the leg; after which I apply the
two metallic coatings on the eifpofed parts, viz.
on one the tin foil, and on the other a fpoon or
a piece of money ; I then form a communica-
tion between the two coatings, and every time I
do this I excite ftrong contradions in the ad-
jacent mufcles, and particularly in thofe of the
thigh and leg,' which moves and agitates itfelf
with great violence. Thefe convulfions are
much more confiderable when the tin foil is ap-
plied near the ifchiatic nerve, and the piece of
filver on the gluteus mufcle, or on that named
gaftrocnemius ; and the effeds are Hill greater
if the nerve itfelf is laid bare, and coated with

the

r i86 ]

the tin foil ; if, leaving it attached only to the
mufcles to which it is diftributed, we deprive it
of every other adherent part; or if, in Ihort,
we feparate the entire limb from the reft of the
body, with its nerve hanging out, and fubmit
it in this ftate to our experiments.

I am, &c.

September 15, ^792.

A. Volta.

SECOND LETTER.

(24.) It will be fufficiently underftood that
what I have faid with refpedt to the ifchiatic
nerve, and the leg, is applicable to the brachial
nerve and to the arm, as well as to every other
nerve relatively to the rnufcles under the in-
fluence of that nerve.

(25.) Thefe laft preparations are analogous to
thofe of Mr. Galvani ; and they clearly prove
that it is advantageous to lay bare the nerves,
and ftill more fo, to detach them all round from
the adherent parts ; but they are far from ftiow-

ifig

[ i87 ]

ing that this is a neceffary condition, fince we
never fail to obtain the fame convulfions and
movements of the limbs when we fimply lay
bare the mufcles, and leave the nerves covered
and concealed under them in their natural ftate,
as all my other experiments above related (Sedt.
21, 22, 23.) ferve to fhow.

(26.) After thefe trials on reptiles, birds, and
fmall quadrupeds, I proceeded to other and
larger animals, as rabbits, dogs, lambs, and
bullocks ; and I not only fucceeded in obtaining
fimilar effects in all the ways above defcribed,
but even ftronger and more durable ones, by
realbn- that the vital heat maintained itfelf in
thofe large animals, and in their limbs, a longer
time. For I ought not to omit to fay, that if
in the moll part of animals of cold blood, and
particularly in frogs, the vital principle fubfifts
in detached limbs feveral hours, that principle
which renders them fo fenfible to the w ^keft
eledtrical irritation, it hardly continues beyond
a few minutes in animals of warm blood, and
commonly difappears before the whole of this
animal heat is diflipated.

(27.) Having had fuch fuccefs with my ex-
periments on large and fmall animals of every
kind, in Tome inftances alive and entire; in

others

[ i88 ] ■

Others deprived of thejr fkin, or their head, or
diffed:ed in different ways ; and having obtain-
ed fimilar effedts in their large detached limbs,
and almoft always without the preparation re-
quired by Mr. Galvani, that is to fay, without
laying bare the nerves, I was defirous of going
flill farther, and of making fimilar trials on
fmailer limbs, on a Tingle mufcle, and even on
fmali portions of mufcles ; and the frefh fucr
cefs 1 had in thefe trials led me to* other difeo-
verles, which I will foon mention, after having
deferibed Tome of thefe experiments.

(28.) Experiment E. 1 cut off, In Tome
inflances, the leg and thigh of a frog, in others,
the leg only, and in Tome half or a quarter of
a leg ; and on applying, as ulual, to one part
of the amputated portion the tin foil, and to the
other the plate of filver, and forming a commu-
nication between thefe two coatings, I conftant-
ly excited convulfions and movements; I have
even feparated a fingle mulcle, for inttance the
gluteus, or the gaftrocnemius, and fometifnes
only a portion of mufcle not larger than a bar-
ley-corn, and yet the fame effedts, that is to
fay, very ftrong contradtiojis of thefe mufcles,
or parts of mufcles, have been produced by
means of two different coatings, &c.

Ex PE-

C 1S9 ]

Experiment F. I have repeated the fame
experiments on a leg, on a half or a third part
of the leg, on a Angle mufcle, or part of a
mufcle, of a fowl and other birds ; on a flice of
the gluteus of a rabbit, a lamb, &c. and I have
had the fame effedts as long as the flefli preferved
a fenfible heat. (Sedf. 26.)

(29.) Thus then we are able to excite very
ftrong contradtions in the mufcles of animals of
warm as well as of cold blood, and in every
detached portion of mufcular flefla ; and this by
means of the Ample artiAce of different metal-
lic armours or coatings, applied to the mufcle
itfelf, without any preparation of the nerves,
and even without laying them bare. We have
beAdes feen that we can excite thefe cf-
fedts quite as well, and by the fame means of
metallic coatings applied to two neighbouring
parts of the fame nerve, (Sedt. 19, and 20. Ex-
periments A. and B.) whence 1 have reafon to
conclude, that there is no neceffity for a dif-
charge of eledtric Auid to take place between
nerve and mufcle, or for any tranfmiAion of it
from the interior to the exterior part of the lat-
ter by means of the nerve and metallic conduc-
tor, as Mr. Galvani fuppofes, or vice verja:
and that there is no comparifon to be made be-
tween

[ 190 ]

tween the mufcle and the Leyden phial and its
difeharge, in the experiments in queftion. In
fadl, what refemblance or analogy is there to
the Leyden phial, where the two plates of me-
tal, a communication between which is formed
by the condudor, are applied very near to each
other on the external furface of the fame nerve,
(Experiments A. and B.) or on the external fur-
face of two mufcles, or even of the fame mufcle
(Experiments C. D. E. F.) ; it mull be con-
felTed it would be in vain to attempt to fupport
any analogy between any of thefe experiments
and the Leyden phial.

(30.) Experiment G. Having placed two
coatings, one of filver leaf, the other of tin
foil, on exadly correfponding parts of the two
thighs of a frog, I excited contradions of the
mufcles, and the ufual motions of the less, at
the inftant I formed a communication between
the two coatings by means of the condudor.

(31.) Is it thus, I alk, that the difeharge of
two Leyden phials takes place, by forming a
communication between their homologous fur-
faces ? Let us lay alide, therefore, thefe ideas
of phial and difeharge, and every forced expla-
nation^ and let us fay fimply, that in thefe and
other analogous experiments, a tranfmiliion of

the

[ 3

the eledric fluid takes place from one to an-
other of two parts properly coated; a tranf-
miflion determined, not by a relative excefs of
this fluid, which cannot naturally be fuppofed
between parts that are fimilar, but by the di-
vcrfity of thefe fame coatings, which muft be
of different metals, as I have taken care already
to point out, (Sed:. 20, and 21. Experiments
B. and C.) and uniformly to inculcate in the
fubfequent parts of my paper.

In fa6t,

(32.) Experiment H. If two mufcles, or
two parts of the fame mufcle, are fimilarly
coated, that is, with two plates of the fame ■
metal, both of them equal in temper and hard-
nefs, in foftnefs or rigidity, in the roughnefs or
fmoothnefs of their furface, and both are ap- ,
plied in the fame manner, it will be to no pur-
pofe to bring about a communication between
them by means of a conductor, as no convul-
fion, no motion will take place.

(33.) I confefs it is not eafy to conceive how
and why the Ample application of two diffi-
milar coatings, I mean of two different metals,
to fimilar parts of the animal, and even to two
parrs very near to each other of any one mufcle,
ihali difturb the equilibrium of the eledfric

fluid.

[ 192 ]

fluid, and drawing it from its date of repoTe attd
inadivity, (liall induce it to pafs inceflantly
from one part to another ; which transflux takes
place as foon as a communication, by means of
the condudor, is formed between thefe two dif-
fimilar coatings, and continues all the time this
communication fubfifts. But conceivable or
not, and whatever may be the caufe, it is a fad
that the experiments I have already related fuf-
ficiently prove, and which will be confirmed
by many others, to the defcription of which 1
lhall endeavour to add folne explanation. It is
a fad, to be added to what we already know in
eledricity ; a fad which muft furely appear ex-
traordinary, and difficult to be reconciled with
the laws commonly eftablilhed. It is truly a
new and very Angular law, which I have dif-
covered ; a law that belongs not properly to
animal eledricity, but 'to common eledricity,
fincethis transflux of the eledric fluid, a trans-
flux, not momentary, as a difeharge would be, but
which continues as longasthecommunication be-
tween the two coatings fubfifts, and takes place
whether thefe Coatings are applied to living or
dead animal fubftances, or to other condudors
not metallic, but fufficiently good, as water, or
moift bodies. But before I proceed to the ex-
periments

[ 193 ]

periments which decifively prove all that 1 haVc
advanced, I think it right to offer a few more
remarks on thofe I have already dcfcribed (Sedt*

20 — 32. )•

(34.) It would feem from thefe that by means’
of the fimple artifice of coatings of different
metals fuitably applied, we are able to excite
very ftrong convulfions in every mufcle of every
animal, fo long as it continues to poffefs any de-
gree of vitality. Such a conclufion, however,
would be too general, my experiments having
taught me that it is to be admitted only with cer-
tain refiriduions, as well with refpedl to the claffes
and genera of animals, as with refpedt to the dif-
ferent mufcles of each animal.

(35. J And firft with refpedt to the different
claffes of animals ; although it has uniformly
happened that all the quadrupeds, birds^ fifhes,
reptiles, and amphibious animals, which have
been fubmitted to my experiments^ exhibited
the phenomena above deferibed, it is no lefs
certain that worms in general, and feveral fpe-
cies of infedts, remained unaffedted. I have in
vain tried with worms, leeches, fnails, oyffers,
and different caterpillars ; 1 have not even been
able to excite the leaff motion in them by fmall
and moderate fparks, and difeharges of artificial

VoL. VI> O eledtricity.

[ 194 ]

eledlricity. Here is the manner in which I pro-
ceeded.

Experiment I. I applied the tin foil, and
filver leaf, to different parts, as well external as
internal, of thefe fnails, leeches, earth worms,
&c. and in the beft way I was able ; I then
formed a commiinicatiort between thefe metallic
coatings, fometimes by bringing them into con-
tadl; with each other, and at others by means of
another metal that performed the office of a
condudfor ; but by neither of thefe means could
1 ever obtain the leaft motion in any part of the
body.

Experiment L. I conveyed through their
bodies, both when infulated and not infulated,
difeharges of a Le3^den phial of fufficient ftrength
to excite a moderate fpark, and to give me a
flight fliock, but they were not fenfibly affedted
by it; no motions or cohvulfions were produced.

(36.) Does it follow from hence that the
more imperfedt animals, the whole clafs of
worms, and feveral fpecies of infedls, are defti-
tute of that fenfibility and iriitability, that elec-
trical mobility, if I may be allowed the expref-
fion, with which other more perfedt animals are
endowed ? T am unwilling to draw this general
conclufion from my experiments, becaufe I have

, [ 195 ]

as yet extended them only to a^fniall number of
worms and infedts ; and with regard to the lat-
ter, I think it right to obferve that I have fuc-
ceeded, without much difficulty, with craw
.fiffi, beetles, grafshoppers, butterflies, and flics.
It may not be ufelefs that I explain one of the
ways in which I fucceed with thefe animals, as
they are with difficulty fubmkted to experi-
ments, on account of their minuienefs, or of
the fcales with which they are covered.

Experiment M. After cutting off the head
of a fly, a butterfly, beetle, &c. I flit open, with
a penknife or fmall fciffars, the whole length of
the corflet, and introduce deep into the flit, near
the neck, a bit of tin foil, (what is improperly
called filver paper is very fit for this purpofe)
and a little below I introduce, and likewife deep
into the flit, a bit of filver plate, or fmall fil-
ver coin ; and when I bring the latter into con-
tact with the piece of tin foil, the legs begin to
bend and tremble, and the other parts, and
even the trunk of the animal, are thrown into
agitation. It is very amufing to excite in this
\nanner the chirping of a grafshopper, &c.

(37.) After what I have juft now faid, I
Ihould be wrong to rank infedls among the ani-
mals that are deflitute (like the clafs of worms

O 2 above

[ 196 ]

above menrlonea) of the eledlrical property in
queftion. At the ntmoft, if caterpillars appear
to be fo, it may be faid that in this ftate of lar-
va, before they have attained, by their meta-
morphofis, a perfed; ftate, and acquired new
organs, 6cc. they may be compared in many
refpeds to worms, and, like thefe, are not en-
dowed with cledric fenfibility.

(38.) In fhort, if I may be allowed to ftate
here what I think, ihofe animals only that have
very diftind limbs, with joints, and mufcles
fitted for the morion of thofc joints, or, in other
words, mufcles that are called flexors, or le-
vators, and nerves proper to regulate them, fuch
animals onl}'', I fay, are fenfible to, and become
feized with real fpafmodic contradions in con-
fequence of either fmall difeharges of artificial
eledricity, or a weak current of fluid occa-
fioned Amply by different metallic coatings;
. which contradions and fpafms bring on the mo-
tion, and even a violent agitation of the faid
limbs. On the contrary, worms, and fuch in-
feds as have not fufficiently diftind limbs, or
joints properly fo called, or which are deftitutc
of flexor mufcles, or enjoy only a vermicular
motion, are nowife affeded by fuch an eledri-
city. The motions of thefe animals depend on

a different

C 197 .]

a different animal oeconomy; on a different me-
chanifm, which in feveral fpecies has been very
well difeovered and explained. Such arc my
ideaSj ftill indeed fomewhat vague, and founded
only on a few experiments ; it is the fequel of
thefe that muft either confirm or rectify them.

(39.) With rcfpedl to different mufcles in the
fame animal, I am able to advance fomething
more certain. I fay then, that all mufcles are
very far from being fufceptible of contraction
from the weak electricity in queftion. There is
a great dlftinCtion to be made with regard to
their functions in the animal oeconomy ; all of
them are not fubjeCt to the empire of the will,
and fitted for fpontaneous movements : and,
ftriCtly fpeakingj it is only thofc which are fo
that are capable of fpafniodic contractions by
the means above deferibed ; yes, the mufcles
fubjeCt to the will arc the only ones I have found
fufceptible of irritation and motion, by the ac-
tion of that weak current of eleCtric fluid occa-
fioned by the Ample contaCt of two different
metals. The other mufcles, over which the
will has no direCt power, as thofe of the fto-
mach, inteftines, &c. are not at all fo, not eveii
the heart, though in other refpeCts fo irritable.
We muft except, however, the mufcles of the

O 3 diaphragm.

[ 193 ]

diaphragm, (and I conjedlured it before I made
the trial) thefe being of the number of thofe
whofe motion depends on the will.

Experiment N. Tt is very furprihng that
a nice of good mufcular flefli, cut, for indance,
from the thigh of a lamb killed half an hour or
an hour before ; that this piece, I lay, of
mufcle, almoft quite cold, and which is no
longer fenfible to the adlion of any mechanical
or chemical dimulus, fliould be fo powerfully
affedfed by the eleftric fluid conveyed from one
part of it to another, as to be feized with very
flrong fpafmodic contradlions ; and that, on the
contrary, the heart recently taken out of the
fame animal, and ftill warm and very irritable,
fhould, when treated in the fame manner, with the
befb adapted metallic coatings, fuffer no altera-
tion upon our making a communication between
the two metals by means of the condudtor ; and
that its pulfations, when weakened or flackrced,
or altogether fufpended, fhould not beincreafed,
or even revived, notwithftanding all this takes
place from the application of the fignteft me-
chanical or chemical ftimulus.

(40.) The eledfric fluid, therefore, which
feems to be the ftimulus appropriated to the
mufcles of the will, is nowife fo to the heart.

[ 199 1

or to the other mufcles formed for involuntary
vital and animal fundions. But what will be
faid if I make it appear that it is not the imme-
diate or efficient caufe of motion in the volun-
tary mufcles } that even in thefe it is a mediate
caufe only, the nerves alone being direfUy af-
feded by it ? And yet this is what I have learned
from feveral experiments ; experiments that
have obliged me to give up the fineft and moft
extenfive ideas I had formed on the fubjedt.
I was fond of thinking, with Mr. Galvani, that
as often as a current of the eledlric fluid, put in
motion in the organs, was impelled with a cer-
tain degree of ftrength to the mufcles, this fluid
did itfelf perform the office of a ftimulant, and
excited the irritability which.is peculiar to them;
that every mufcular movement was executed in
confequence of a fimilar irruption of eledlrical
fluid into the mufcles, either by means of arti-
ficial eledtricity, or by ’putting in motion the
natural artificial eledlricity ; that, in flaort, even
the motions which are performed naturally in
the living animal machine, at leaf! the volun-
tary motions, acknowledged the fame caufe,
that is to fay, the immediate adtion of the elec-
tric fluid on the mufcles. ,But I repeat it, I
have found myfelf obliged, with regret, to

O 4 give

[ 1200 ]

give up all thafe fine ideas by which it feemed
poffible to explain things to admiration. Yes,
we muft confiderably limit the adlion of eledtri-
city in animals, and confider it under another
point of view, that is to fay, as being capable
of exciting, of itfelf, the nerves, as I have al-
• ready hinted, and as I fhall now proceed to
prove.

(41.) In the firil place, then, that it can adt,
and that it really does aft, on the nerves, and
that the latter, excited by it, excite in their turn
the mufcles connefted with them, without even
the elcftrical flream’s arriving at thofe mufcles,
is a faft which no longer Hands in need of proofs
after thofe furnifhed by the experiments A. and,
B. (Seft. 19. and 20.) and even by an expe-
riment of Mr. Galvani, which, according to
his account, was the firft he made, and the ori-
gin of all his other experiments. It is fuffi- ,
ciently obvious that the eleftric current, in the
experiment in queftion, as well as in thofe made
by me, and which I have juft now referred to,
pervades only a part of the crural nerve, but
. not one of the mufcles of the leg ; and yet as
the latter depend on the nerve, they are af-
fefted with convulfions.

(42.} Bpt I go farther, and maintain, that

cvep

[ 201 ]

even in the cafes where the electrical current (it
will be clearly underftood that I am fpcaking
only of weak artificial difeharges, or of the
current which takes place by the fimple appli-
cation of coatings of different metals) ftrikes
and penetrates mufcles fufceptible of move-
ment, it is not by irritating the latter imme-
diately that it occafions them to contract, but
by flimulating their nerves. This is what is
fhown by my experiments C. and D. (SeCt. 21.
and 23.) where, upon the tin foil and piece of
filver being applied immediately to the mufeu-
lar parts of the animal, whether the animal or
only a detached portion of it is the fubjed: of
the experiment, it is not fo much the mufcles
covered by the two metallic coatings that fuffer
the mod: violent contractions, as thofe which
depend on fome principal nerve, to which one
or other of the coatings is contiguous. It is in
this manner that in the frog, when the tin foil
is applied on the loins, where the crural nerves
lay at but little depth, the mufcles of the legs
are feized more than any others with ftrong con-
vulfions, more fo even than thofe contiguous
to the other coating, that is to fay, to the piece
of filver. I have already pointed out the fame
thing in quadrupeds, dogs, lambs, &c. with re-
gard

. [ 202 3

gard to the ifchiatic nerve, (Experiment D.)
and I have only to add, that the leg never fails
to be convulfed when this nerve does not lay
too deep under the flefh and other integuments,
and one of the coatings is properly applied to
this part ; even although the other coating
fhould be made to correfpond neither with the
gluteus nor any mufcle of the leg, but with any
other mufcle whatever, provided it be not at too
great a diftance. Here is another proof why
this happens ;

Experiment O. If we apply in a frog, or
any other fmall animal, the tin foil the whole
length of the fpine of the back, from which
proceed all the nerves of the trunk and limbs,
and the other coating to any other part what-
ever, all the limbs become aftedted ; the mufcles,
not only of the legs, but of the belly and back,
experience fpafmodic contradlions, and the
trunk itfelf becomes curved ; in a word, the
convulfions are general. The experiment is
ftill more ftriking in a lizard than in a frog, and
I fliall therefore defcribe it.

Experiment P. After cutting off the head
of a lizard, and laying bare the mufcles of the
back by removing the flcin, I apply a piece of
tin foil to the mutilated end, in fuch a manner

that

[ 203 ]

that the tin foil is fpread beyond the edges of
the wound, fo as to rife a little over the fnoul-
ders, and I place a piece of money on the mid-
dle of the fpine ; this done, I Aide forward the
piece of money till I bring it into contact with
the tin foil. At that inftant the legs move, the
tail twids itfelf,. and the whole body of the ani-
mal becomes agitated, and darts from right to
left, and from left to right. Is not this becaufe
the upper part of the fpinal marrow, the prin-
cipal fource of the nerves, is irritated ?

(43.) Nearly the fame effedfs may be obtained
by a fimilar operation on a moufe, a fmall bird,
&c. but in thefe it is neceflary to remove not
only the ikin and other integuments, but like-
wife fome of die flelh, and this becaufe their
back being more fleftiy, the principal nerves of
the fpine are more concealed by this ficfli, and
by the bones alfo of the vertebral rube. It is
in fadl eafy to comprehend that the current of
eledric fluid, occafioned by the two coatings,
penetrating only to a certain depth the parts of
the animal covered by thefe coatings, can hard-
ly reach the fpinal marrow, or the principal
branches of the nerves that enter into the in-
terior parts of the limbs, if the bones, flefli,
and other intervening integuments are of con-

fiderable

C 204 ]

fidcrable thicknefs. The reafon alfo mufl be
obvious, why, in the larger animals, as dogs,
lambs, &c. we fall to excite contradlions in all
the limbs by the application of the two coatings
to the back, although ftripped of its flelh. The
large trunks of the nerves remain ftill at too
great a depth ; and it is only the fmaller
branches or ramifications that lay but a little
below the coatings, and thefe branches termi-
nate, for the moft part, only In the neighbour-
ing external parts ; confequently we fee pro-
duced only fuperficial contratffions or palpita-
tions imone or other of the mufcles : or if by
chance a whole limb is put in motion, it is be-
caufe the nerve that goes to it, and influences
this motion, is but thinly covered, fo that only
a thin layer of fibres intervenes between it and
one or other of the metallic coatings, as appears ,
from Experiment D. and the following ones
(Sedt. 2,3. &c.) in which the application of one
of the coatings near the ifchiatic nerve, in a
dog or a lamb, was fufficient to excite confider-
able movements in the leg ; and the nearer the
coating was to the nerve, and the thinner the
layer of flefh was that furrounded it, fo much
ftronger in proportion were the contractions of
the limb.

(44.) It

[ *05 3

(44-) It becomes therefore neceffar}'’ to know
the fituation of the nerves, their diredion, &c. ;
and it is reqiiifite to remove not only the com-
mon integuments, the fat, &c. but likewife part
of the flelli that covers and furrounds the nerves,
in order that this furrounding mufcular fubftance
may be more or lefs extenuated, previoufly to
the application of the metallic coating, to enable
us to obtain in the larger animals contradions In.
any particular limb, to fay nothing of the fu-
perficial contradions and palpitations of one or
more mufcles. It is perhaps impoffible to ex-
cite thefe fame motions and contradions in all
the limbs at oncej although this is not difficult
in the fmaller animals, as vve have already feen,
(Sed. 42. Experiments O. and P.) merely by
depriving them of the Ikin or a part of the
other integuments ; and even this is not necef-
fary in frogs, for in thefe animals we may
leave the fkin,' it being fo extremely thin and
moift, as not to prevent, by its interpofition,
the eledrical current from reaching the prin-
cipal nerves or thefpinal marrow.

(45.) But if it be neceffary to pay attention
to the diredion of the principal nerves, in or-
der to bring on the contradions in the different
limbs, it is not lefs fo to be careful of the po-

fition

[ 2o6 ]

fition of the coatings relatively to (The mufeles;
for thofe mufclcs which are neareft to one or
other of the coatings, are in general the moft
liable to contract fpafmodic convulfions, and
are oftentimes the only ones in which fuch an
elFedt takes place ; as, for inftance, when the
coatings do not correfpond with any confiderable
nerve, or if there be a nerve, when it is fur-
rounded with too much mufcular flelh, or Is too
deeply feated.

f46.) This, and the Experiments E. F.
(Sedt. 28.) where a fingle mufcle, and even a
part of a mufcle, treated in the ufual way, ex-
perienced very flrong contractions, might lead to
a fuppofition that the eledtric fluid produces thefc
effedts by irritating the mufcular fibres them-
felves, without the intervention of nerves ; the
adtion of which would confequently be neither
•primary^ nor abfolutely neceflTary, as I pretend.
But an argument of this fort, founded on thefc
fadts, can have no weight, unlefs it could
be proved that in thefe mufeles, or portions of
mufeles, there are no nerves ; for if there are
nerv<es, (and certainly there muft be, and are,
nervous filaments in every fenfible portion of a
mufcle, I had almoft faid in every mufcular
fibre) 1 may flill maintain that it is thefe ner-
'X vous

[ 207 ]

vous filaments, ramifying through the whole
•fubftance of a mufcle, that are immediately af-
fected by the eleClric fluid which penetrates this
fame fubftance ; that this fluid exerting its in«-,
fluence on their nerves, an influence that finiflies
there, the latter exert theirs on the mufcles,
&c. I may, I fay, be able to maintain, with
fufficient probability, that- the elcCtric fluid has
no other influence, in the phenomenon of muf-
cular contractions, than that of exciting the
nerves ; in a word, that it is. not the immediate
caufe. Such an aflertion, which the things al-
ready explained render more than probable, is
proved direCtly, and in the moft obvious man-
ner, by feveral experiments I have made on the
tongue ; experiments that have led me to other
difeoveries equally interefting and curious.

(47.) Having fucceeded in exciting tonic
convulfions, and the moft violent motions in the
mufcles and limbs, not only of fmall but -of
large animals, without laying bare any nerves,
by the fimple application of coatings of different
metals to the mufcles when freed from their in-
teguments, I foon thought of trying whether the
fame effeCts might not be obtained in the human
body. I conceived that the thing might fucceed
very well in amputated limbs; but in the en-
tire

f 208 ]

tire and living fubjedt how was it to be effedled ?
It fet med likewife to be ncceffary to remove the
integuments, make deep incifions, and even
diffea; off portions of the flefli from the parts
on which we might think of applying the me-
tallic coatings (as I have remarked we are often
obliged to do in the larger animals). Fortu-
nately it came into my head, that we have, in
the tongue, a mufcle that is bare, or at leaft
deftitute of thofe thick integuments with which
the external parts of the body are covered, a
mufcle which is extremely moveable, and move-
able at will. Here then, I faid to myfelf, are
all the conditions requifite to enable us to ex-
cite movements by the ufual artifice of different
metallic coatings. With this view I made, on
my own tongue, the following experiment.

(48.) Experiment Flaving covered
the point of the tongue, and a part of its upper
furface^ to the extent of fome lines, with a
piece of tin foil, (what is called filver paper is
the fitted: for the purpofe) 1 applied the convex
part of a filver fpoon farther on, on the flat
part of the tongue, and by inclining the fpoon
downwards brought the handle of it into con-
tadt with the tin foil. I expedted to fee my
tongue affcdled with tremor; and on this ac-
count

C 209 ]

count I made the experiment before a looking-
glafs. The effed, however, I had ventured to
foretel did' not take [place ; but inftead of it I
had a fenfation I nowife expeded ; this was a
pretty ftrong acid tafte on the point of the
tongue. < .

(49.) I was at firft mitch furprifed at this ;
but upon refleding a little on the fad, I
ealily conceived, that the nerves which termi-
nate on the point of the tonguej being the
nerves deftined for the fenfations of tafte, and
not for the motion of this flexible mufcle. It
was perfedly natural, ‘that the irritation of the
eledric fluid, put in motion by the ufual arti-
fice, Ihould excite a tafte, and nothing more ;
and that in order to excite in the tongue the
motions of which it is fufceptible, it would be
neceflTary to apply one of the metallic coatings
near its root, where the nerves enter that influ-
ence its motion ; and this 1 foon verified by an-
other experiment, as follows :

(50.) Experiment R. Having cut our,
from a lamb recently killed, the tongue near its
root, I applied a piece of tin foil at the end
that was cut, and the filver fpoon to one of the
furfaces of the tongue;' and then forming a
communication between thefe two metallic co^t-
VoL. VI. p

ings.

[ 210 ]

ings, I had the pleafure to fee the whole tongue
affected with tremor, railing its point, and turn-
ing and bending itfelf in different diredions,
every time, and as long as fuch a communication
took place.

(51.) I have repeated this experiment on the
tongue of a calf, which I placed, coated in the
fame manner with a piece of tin foil near its
root, on a lilver plate, that the latter might
ferve as another coating; and thefuccefs was the
fame. I have likewife repeated it on the tongue
of other fmaller animals, as mice, chicken,
rabbits, &c. and I have almoft always obtained
the fame effedt. I fay almofi always, for in the
tongue of the fmaller animals it fometimes failed;
either becaufe the tin foil was not applied exadlly
to the proper place, where the nerves that influ-
ence the motions of the tongue are inferted ;
or becaufe the tongue being cold, had loft its
vitality, which feldom lafts long in the mufcles
’ of animals of warm blood, as I have already
had occafion to obferve (Sedl. 26.), and parti-
cularly in the tongue.

I am, &c.

A. Volta.

OiI$ber 1792.

XII. AReiimi

L 2” J

XII. Return* of the Ship's Company, and of the Military, on Board the Ships in the Service of the Honourable

1792 1793. jB}i John Lorimer, M.D.

the United E'ajl- India Company, for the Tears

Shic

s’

Re-

Ships*

Re-

CoiT

Ships’ Names ,

DefUnation,

Compa-
ny out-

Sick.

cove-

red.

Dead

pany

home-

Sick.

cove-

red,

Dead

ward.

wai

d .

Ocean

Sc. Helens, Madras, 1
and China J

134

102

100

Notcinphnm

Coaft and China

I 28

Lord Macartney

Ditto

105

2 I

Ganp:es

Ditto

106

Sir Edward Hughes

Ditto

No Reg

ular Return out.

Europa

Ditto

103

136

132

Mclviilc Caftlc

Coalt and Bay

106

Contractor

Ditto

105

lOO

Ponfborne

Ditto

ro6

I 2

Bufbridge

Ditto

106

1 1

Rofe

Ditto

104

ICing George
Rockingham

Ditto

Bombay and China

106

Suli van

Ditto

113

Middlefcx

Ditto

1 I I

Duke of Montrofc

Bombay

lOI

3‘

General iilliot

Ditto

10;

Earl of Wycombe

Bencoolen and China

Valentine

St. Helena, Bengal, \
and Bencoolen /

106

■9

3°

General Goddard

Bengal

106

104

Bcllinont

Ditto

1 10

I 10

Earl Talbot

Ditto

Lafcclles

China

108

I I

Walpole

Ditto

105

Thetis

Ditto

106

136

Royal Admiral

Port J addon and 1
China J

121

120

2657

'253

I2ig

27c

105S

987

Dublin T

of thefe three Ships,

Airly Caftle 1

which i'ailed in the Y ear

1791

, there are no

retiu

Bridgewater )

Number
of Re-
cruits
outward

Sick.

Re-

cove-

red.

Dead

Inva-
lid.';, c^C.
lionic-
waid.

Sick.

Re-

cove-

red.

Dead

309

. 62

218

lOt)

106

181

144

140

2 I

16^

No Return.

428

264

263

387

i2<;

1 19

186

1,83

157

138

142

■3

I I

L55

■3

I I

168

160

- 2

186

176

155

I 10

109

■4

Convifls

■3

39^

225

■39

3929

1751

1623

5°

1 ‘075

282

256

In Port.

Sick.

Re-

cove-

red.

St. Helena, Madras,!

and China J

Coaft and China

Ditto

No Return.

Ditto

148

126

Coaft and Bay

Ditto

3°

Ditto

Bombay and China

Ditto

’

Ditto

Bombay

Ditto

Bencoolen and China

St. Helena, Bengal,!

and Bencoolen J

1 Bengal

'Ditto

106

[

1 Ditto

jChina

1 16

I 1-0

)

Ditto

1 Ditto

d^ort Jacklbn and 1

1 China J

)

■533

ns.

* In this Table the number of Tick fometimes exceeds the number of the fhip’s company. If the fame man is two
this mull be the cafe. Sometimes alfo the number of recovered and dead. are not equal to the number of Tick ; but this
fome Hill remain on the lick lilt.

three times fick during the voyage, and recovers,
mtifl alfo happen when, at the end of the voyage,

XIIT.. An

C 212 3

^Ili. An Account of a fingular Cafe of Ifchuria, in
a young Woman, which continued for more than
three Tears ; during which Time, if her Urine
zuas not drazvn off with the Catheter, floe fre-
quently voided it by vonpting ; and, for the laji
twenty Months, paffed much Gravel by the Ca-
theter, as well as by vomiting, zvhen the UJe of
that Injirument was omitted, or unjuccejs fully
applied. To which are added Jome Remarks and
Phyfiological Obfervations. By Ifaac Senter,
M. D Affociate Member of the College of Phy~
ficians of Philadelphia, and fenior Surgeon in the
late American Army. Vide Tranjaflions of the
College of Phyftcians, of Philadelphia. Vol. I.
Part I. 8 VO. Phila4elphia, 1793.

fubjedt of this extraordinary cafe
A was a healthy-lookir.g fervant girl, who,
in June, 1785, being then in her fifteenth year,
was feized with a pain in the left hypochon-
drium, accompanied with cough, oppreffion
at her bread:, dyfpnoea, .and fever.

She had menftruated pretty regularly from
the age of thirteen till within five weeks of her
prefent illnefs, which was aferibed to cold.-

P ^ Venie-

[ 213 ]

Venafedion and ether fuitable remedies were
had reconiTe to by Dr. Senter, to whom flie
applied for relief, and her complaints foon fub-
fided ; but about a month afterwards flie vo-
' mited up a quantity of bloody pus, which in-
duced him to think a vomica had burft in her
ftomach ; for during the whole of this illnefs,
her ftomach, it feems, was fo irritable, thatflie
could with difficulty retain in it cither food or'
medicine.

She had now a fuppreffion of urine, which,
after continuing twenty-four hours, went oft'
without any medical affiftance. After this flic
became regular in her menfes, and in about
two months was fufficiently recovered to re-
fume her employment as a fervant, which flie
continued to follow till the 3d of June, 1786,
when all her former complaints (except the
fuppreffion of the menfes) returned with greater
feverity than before.

Her pulfe was now at 120 ; her ftomach, as-
during the former attack, vvas fo irritable, that
fhe vomited up immediately almoft every thing,
ftie took. Of the different remedies that were
had recoLirfe to, opium, when flie could retain
it on her ftomach, and repeated blood-letting in
fmall quantities, gave her the moft relief.

[ 114 ]

On the 2d of July, when the feverity of the
fymptoms had fubfided, fhe was feized with a
total fuppreffion of urine, which continued till
the beginning of the fixth day, when a vomit-
ing came on, which lafted till flie brought up
nothing but water ; and this water, Ihe faid,
tailed like urine.

As the vomiting continued fhe found relief
from the forenefs nnd fwelling flie had felt for
feveral days in the lower part of the abdomen.

She now thought herfelf much better, but
the vomiting continued to return, more or lefs,
every day, till the 14th of July, when Dr.
Senter again law her, and prevailed on her to
fubmit to the introdu(5lion of a catheter, by
mean^ of which he drew off about three pints
of clear, but high-coloured, urine.

From this time, till December, llie conti-
nued with very little abatement of her com-
plaints ; and as fhe could lie in no other 'poli-
tion, was conllantly fupported in an arm chair,
in a reclined pofture, with pillows under her
hips.

During the whole of this period, whenever
her water was omitted to be drawn off once in
thirty or thirty-fix hours at fartheft, llie never
failed, we are alfured, to vomit it up. To af-

F 3 certain

[ 21^ ] '

certain fo extraordinary a fa6t^ our author tells
us he ofren'‘vifitcd her about the time he knew
die mufl; vomit if the catheter was not intro-
duced ; and after examining her bladder, and
finding ir full, hard, and tender, fat by her till
the vomiting returned, faved the water that die
brought up in this way, and on comparing it
■with what he drew off by means of the cathe-
ter, found it the fame in every refpeCt.

During the time her urine came off by vo-;
miting, fhe fuffered, it feems, great arlxiety
and third, and complained of a fenfation of
inverfion or turning up of fomeching (running,
as die expreffed it) that appeared to tear her
bowels.

In January, 1787, from dome caufe unknown,
die could not be relieved with the inflruraenr,
nor could die vomit up her urine for feveral
days ; but at length it paffed by the navel for
three days fucceffively ; after which the catheter
was ufed with the fame effedt as before.

About thr beginning of Auguft a brick-co-
loured gravel began to pafs off through the ca-
theter, and continued to be difeharged in con-
fiderable quantity, whenever her urine was
drawn off, till the beginning of November ; at
'^hicli time die felt more diftrefs than ufual,

w'hen-

I ■

■[ ]

whenever her urine came off by vomiting, and
fhe foon obferved a gritty fubftance in her
mouth. When our author was informed of this
new phenomenon, he requefted her to fave the
urine for his infpedfion the next time Ihe vo-
mited; and on comparing it with what he drew
off, found it contained the fame kind of gravel
as that which paffed the catheter.

From this period, to the fummer of 1788,
her complaints, he obferves, continued much
the fame ; but during that fummer (he twice
paffed a fmall quantity of urine through the
urethra, each time in confequeuce of being
frightened. The hypogaftrium became more
tumid, and fhe complained of great forenefs
about the bladder, even after it was evacuated;
the bladder itfelf feemed to be much thick-
ened, and the apparent inequality of its furfacc
was fo great, and the tumour fometimes fhifted
fo towards the right or left inguen, according
as her body was moved, that our author fuf-
pedfed the exiftence of a ftone.

Through the month of September her urine,
we are told, could very rarely be drawn 'off;
for upon the introdudlion of the catheter, a
fpafm feized the urethra and neck of the blad-
der, fo that although the inflmment feemed to

P 4 pafs

[ 217 i

pafs high up into the bladder, not more than
a gill of urine could be drawn off, before it
flopped entirely, with a fenfation of fomething
falling down againft the cervix, which flie was
confident was a flone ; and early in the follow-,
ing month, Dr. Senter being able to introduce
a found, readily met with a flone, which feemed
to be of a fmall fize,‘ and fofter than urinary
calculi commonly are.

She had at different feafons of the year feverai
fmall abfceffes on different parts of her body,
but they did not appear to relieve her general
complaints. She alfo voided at times (after
file had thrown up her urine) a bloody pus, of
a coppery tafle. This purulent difcharge, it is
obferved, was never expeftorated by coughing,
though fhe had at times a dry cough, but was
conftantly brought up by vomiting.

In the fpring of 1789 her urine began to
pafs per anum, loaded with the fame kind of
gravel that had come away by the catheter.
This diminifhed but did not put a flop to her
vomiting ; for fhe continued to throw up more
or lefs gravel that way every week. This new
courfe of her urine occafioned a troublefome
diarrhoea and tenefmus, but flie felt lefs incon-
venience from the done in the bladder.

After

[ ]

After the 13th of May her bladder never be-,
came fo much diftended with urine as it had
been before ; and the fecretion of urine^ as well
as the formation of .gravel, we are told, evi-
dently diminilhed in proportion to her lofs of
ftrength, and the increafe of the diarrhcea.
The menfes, which, during the whole of her
jllnefs, had returned at irregular periods, now
entirely ccafed. During the fummer, the fre-
quency of vomiting increafed ; Ihe had feveral
convulfive fits after vomiting ; became more
and more emaciated, and heftical ; and, at
Jaft, lethargic; and on the nth of Auguft,
^ 1789, died.

The body was examined the day after her
death, by Dr. Senter, in the prefence of Dr.
Waterhoufe, of Cambridge, and Dr. Mafon,
of Philadelphia, who, as well as feveral other
rerpedlable medical practitioners, had occa-
lionally vifited her in her life-time, and feen her
vomit up both urine and gravel.

On difleCtion, nothing was difcovered that
could throw any light on the nature of the
difeafe.

In the thorax, the only morbid appearance
was an adhefion of part of the right lobe of
the lungs to the pleura.

C 219 ]

In the abdomen, the omentum was found
much wafted, and of a dark gangrenous co-
lour; the ftomach aUo is defciibed as being in
a gangrenous ftate, 'and containing ‘ a femi-pu-
‘ rulent matter, of a foetid fcent but the wea-
ther, we find, was very warm, and the body in
an ofFenfive ftate, at the time the diftedion was
made. Nothing particularly worthy of notice
was obferved in' the ftate of the liver, gall-
bladder, inteftines, kidneys, or ureters. The
urinary bladder was alfo in its natural ftate, not
in the leaft thickened, and contained no fand
or gravel. The uterus contained about a
drachm of thick, feetid pus, but had no other
appearance of difeafe ; the Fallopian tubes were
larger than ufual, and ftrung with feveral hyda-
tids of the fize of a walnut ; the corpora fim-
briata had a gangrenous appearance^ ; the ova-
ria were enlarged to the fize of a fmall hen’s egg,
and diftended with a clear limpid fluid.

To the preceding hiftory Dr. Senter has
added many judicious remarks ; and in his at-
tempt to account for the phenomena of fo very
uncommon a cafe, has not omitted to avail

himfelf of the modern dodrine of the retro-

grade motion of the lymphatics, and of the
opinions of thofe writers who have maintained

the

[ 220 3

the exiftencc of a direft communication between
thp alimentary canal and the urinary bladder.

There are many inftances, he obferves, in
medical books, of fudden and partially-in-
creafed actions of the_ veil'ds of the human
body ; but he candidly acknowledges that his
reading has furnifhed him with no fadt fimilar
to the extraordinary one which is the fubjed: of
the paper before us ; that which he confiders

* There are, however, upon record, two cafes which exr
hibit a ftriking analogy to that of Dr. Senter’s patient ; and
although they may have been overlooked, or perhaps difre-
garded on a fuppoiition of their improbability, they mull
now become extremely interefting by the tendency they have
to corroborate the curious and extraordinary fadfs he has re-
lated, Both the cafes we allude to occur in the Hiftory of
the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and are as follows :

Cafe I. “ M. Maraldi has communicated to the Aca-
demy the following cafe, from a letter addrelfed to him
“ by M. Marangoni, phyfician at Mantua;

“ A Nun, of the Order of St. Francis, in the convent of
St. Jofeph, at Mantua, aged thirty-five years, of a thin
aitd delicate habit of body, and who had long been fub-
jedl to hyiferical complaints, was attacked with pains,
“ fpafms, and fweliing of the abdomen, to which fucceeded
“ a violent and alarming fuppreflion of urine. Soon after
this fire felt a pain, which fire deferibed as afeending from
f' the lower part of the abdomen to her Itoirrach ; aird fire

‘ ‘ vomited

[ 221 ].

as coming the neareH to it, is a cafe defcribed
by Dr. Percival, in the fecond volume of his
Effays, Medical and Experimental, (8vo,

London,

vomited a fluid which, without any difficulty, was
“ known to be urine. This vomiting continued forty days,
“ during which time the patient voided no urine by the
*« ufual channel, unlefs the furgeon drew it off with a cg,'-
theter, and even then the quantity fcarcely amounted to
•* an ounce a day. At the end of the forty days, the urine
“ fpontaneoufly refumed its natural courfe, and in a day or
two the patient found herfelf perfedlly recovered. But
the vomiting of urine returned, and at the end of twenty-
feven days, the patient complained of very acute pain
“ about the region of the pubis. Her furgeon was defirous
“ oh relieving her by means of the catheter, but there was
fuch a contradiion of the urethra, that he found it itnpof-
‘f Able to introduce even a probe into the bladder. The
“ vomiting of urine has continued, and what is remarka-
ble, there is no appearance of food mixed with it, even
“ when the vomiting takes place foon after her meals.
“ When M. Marangoni wrote this account, the patient had
‘f been in this ftate thirty-two days.

“ This Angular complaint would lead one to think there
is an immediate though hitherto undifcovered coinmu-
nication between the flomach and the urinary bladder ;
but M. Marangoni and the celebrated Lancifi are of a
“ different opinion; they both of them think, that in cafes
of this kind a fuppreffion of urine takes place in the kid-
neys; that is to fay, that the kidneys ceafc to extradl this

“ flui^

f 222 3

London, 1773) of ai woman who, after a fpon-
.taneous vomiting of feveral days, during which
file brought up three gallons of w'ater, was en-
tirely cured of a dropfy of the ovarium.

“ fluid from the blood, and that in their ftead the glands of
“ the ftomach perform this function.”

Cafe II. “ M. Lemery is acquainted with a Monk, who,
“ for about eight years, has been fubjeft to a periodical vo-
“ miting, the fits of which are as regular as thofe of a quar-
“ tan ague. Five hours, or thereabouts, before the voinit-
“ ing begins he complains of violent pains in his kidneys.
“ The vomiting continues, with Intervals, four or five
hours. What he vomits is of a dirty red colour. It is
“ almoft entirely water, but has a flrong urinous fmell, and
“ the patient has no doubt of its being really urine, as he
eats but very little, and drinks more than the ufual portion
■“ of a Monk. He drinks only wine, the colour^of which
“ agrees with that of the fluid he vomits. A few hours
“ after the vomiting he finds himfelf well, and remains fo
“ till the next fit. He ufes a great deal of exercife, with-
“ out which he thinks he fhould fuffer more. It is a known
“ faft, that in nephritic pains, which are always occa’lioned
“ by obftruftions of tire kidneys, the patients are fubjeft to
“ frequent vomiting, and that what they bring up fmells

“ much of urine.” See Hiftoire de I’Academie Royale

des Sciences, Annees iyz2. Editor.

CATALOGUE

[ ]

CATALOGUE op BOOKS,

^f^HOUGHTS on the Effeds of the Ap*-
X plication and Abflradion of Stimuli
on the Human Body; with a particular View to
explain the Nature and Cure of Typhus. By
y. Wood^ M. D. 8vo. Murray f London, 1793*

2. An Account of the Bilious, Remitting,
Yellow Fever, as it appeared in the City of
Philadelphia in the year 1793. By Benjamin
Rn/hy M. D. 8 VO. Philadelphia, 1794.

3. Obfervatlons on the Canfe, Nature, and
Treatment of the Epidemic DIforder prevalent
in Philadelphia. By D. NaJJjy M. D. Mem*
ber of the American Philofophical Society. 8vo.
Philadelphia, 1793.

4. A Short Account of the Malignant Fever,
lately prevalent in Philadelphia ; with a State-
ment’of the Proceedings that took place on the
Subjed in different Parts of the United States.
'Qy Matthew Carey. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1793.

5. A Treatife on the Extradion of the Ca-
tarad. By Frederick Bifehoff, F. M. S. Oculifl
to his Majelly in the Eledorate of Hanover,

I and

[ 224 3

and to her Majefty in England. 8vo. Nicolf
London, 1793*

6. An Account of a Fever which appeared
in feveral Parts of Somerfctfliire in the year
1792. By Richard Poole, Surgeon, Sherborne.
8vo. Johnfon, London, 1793*

• 7. A Guide for Sclf-Prefervation and Paren-
tal Alfedtion ; or plain Directions for enabling
People to keep themfelves and their Children
free from feveral common Diforders. By Pho-
mas Beddoes, M. D. i2mo. Murray, London,

1793-

8. A Chemical Differtation on the Thermal
Waters of Pifa, and on the neighbouring aci-
dulous Spring of Afciano ; with an Hiftorical
Sketch of Pifa, and a Meteorological Account
of its Weather. To which are added. Analy-
tical Papers refpeCting the Sulphureous Water
of Yverdun. By John Nott, M. D. of Brillol
Hot-well?. 8vo. Walter, London, 1793.

9. Horti Botanici Cantabrigienlis Catalogus.
8 VO. Cantabrigifc, 1794.

10. Flora Oxonlenfis, exhibens Plantas in
agro Oxonienfi fponte crefcentes, fecundum
Syftema fexuale diftributas. AuCtore Joanne
Sibthor-p, M. D. Profeflbre Regio Botanico, Re-
gia Societatis Londinenfis aliarumque Societa-
tum Socio. 8vo. Oxonii, 1794.

1 1. Differ-

C ^2^ ]

ii. Differtatio Inauguralis de Angina ma-
ligna. Auftore Arthuro Bedford, Anglo. 8voi
^ Edinburgi, 1792.

12. Diffeitatio Inaugnralfs de Refpiratione.
Audtore Idhoma Blair, Scoto-Britanno. 8vo.
Edin. 1792.

13. Differtatio Inauguralis de Variolis. Auc-
x.ort Joanne Bower, Scoto. 8vo. Edin. 1792.

14. Differtatio Inauguralis de Vifu. Auc-
tore Wheaton Bradijh, Hiberno. 8vo. Edin*

. ^792-

15. Differtatio Inauguralis dc Rheumatifmo
acuco. Audlore Joanne Bradley, Anglo. 8vo*.
Edin. 1792.

16. Differtatio Inauguralis de Coell Effedtibus,

Audtore Jacoho Buchan, Scoto. 8vo. Edin*
1792. ' V

17 Differtatio Inauguralis de Rheumatifmo
acuto. Audtore Andrea Grieve, Scoto. 8vo.
Edin. 1792.

18. Differtatio Inauguralis de Hypochon-

driafi. A\od:o\-Q David Corbin Kerr, Virginienfe.
8vo. Edin. 1792* 1

19. Difiertatio Inauguralis de Variolis. Auc-
tore Gulielmo Marfden, Anglo-Britanno. 8vo*
Edin. 1792.

20. Difiertatio Inauguralis de Pneumonia*

2 , ‘ Audtors

C ]

Auftore Carolo Merivether, Virginienfe. 8vo.'
Edin. 1792.

21. DiffertatTo Inauguralis de Variolis. Auc-

tore Roberto Montgomery, Hiberno. 8vo. ,Edin..
1792. ^ ^ ^

22. Differtatio Inauguralis de Hydrdpe Ana-‘
farca. Autflore Thoma Pollard Pierce, Barba*
denfe. 8vo. Edin. 1792.

23. Diflertatio Inauguralis de Angina ma-.
ligna. Auflore Georgia IVier, Scoto. 8vo
Edin, 1792.

24. DilTertatio Inauguralis de Alimento.,

' Auftore Gulielmo- Tates, Anglo. 8vo* Edin.

1792.

25. Diflertatio Inauguralis de Coitu ejufquc
Tariis Formis quatenus Medicorum funt. Auc*
tore Joh’anne Paul Gottleib Kircheifen, 4^0.
Jena, 1792.

26. Analyfe du Syfteme abforbant ou lym-
phatique. Par M. des Genettes, D. M. 8vo.
Montpellier, 1791.

27. Memoire fur une Maladie de I’Ovaire.
Par Jean Baptijle Ph. R. N. Laumonier, Chirur-
gien en chef de I’Hotel Dieu de Rouen. 4to.
Rouen, 1 790.

28. Avis aux Sages Femmes ; par M. Sacomhe,

VoL. VI. Medecin

C 227 ]

Mcdccin-Accoucheur, Membrc dc plufieurs
Academies. 8vo. Paris, 1792.

29. Recherches Phyfico-cliyrniques. Cahlers
I. II. 111. 4.10. Amfterdaai, 1793-4,

30. Memoires de I’Academie Royale dcs
Sciences et Belles Lettres depuis TAvenement de
Frederic Guillaume II. au Trone. 1788 ec'
1789. Avec PHiftoire pour le meme Terns.
4to. Berlin, '793.

31. Sammlung der DeutfChen Abhandlungen
wclche in der Kdniglichen Akademie der Wif-
fenfchaften zu Berlin vorgelefen worden in den
Jahren 1788 und 1789. i.e. A Collection of
German ElTays, read before the Royal Academy
of Sciences at Berlin, in the Years 1788 and
1789. 4to. Berlin, 1793.

32. MemOria Chirurgica 'ul Labbro leporino
complicato ; di Giufeppe Sonfis, R. AlTelT. Me-
dico, '&c. .-4to. Cremona, 1793.

33. Pifaiira Automorpha e Coreopfis formofa ;
Piante nuove pubblicate da Giufeppe Antonio Bor-
■nato, Dott. di Medicina, pubblico Biblioteca-
rio, Ifpettore e Soprantendente all’ Orto me-
dico dell’ Univerlii;a di Padova. 410. Padoyaji

1793-

INDEX.

C 228 j

INDEX.

AGID, Vegetable, Solution of Sal Ammoniac In, good
cffe6ts of, in lacerated Wounds, — 66

Africa, Coaft of, Obfervatlons on the DIfeafes moft frequent
there, — — 60

Aliment, Dlflertatlqn on, 226

Ammoniacal Salt, Solution of, in Vinegar, gqod ejffefts of, in

lacerated Wounds, 66

Anafarca, Differtatlon on, 226

Aneurifm, of the Crural Artery, Cafe of, — 114

Angina, malignant, DIlTertations on, — 225,226

Animal Eleftricity, Obfervations and Experiments relative

to, — 1 16 1

Antimony, tartarifed, recommended as the beft Emetic in the

Intermittents of Tropical Climates, 42

— — , ill effefts of naufeating Dofes of, during

the State of apyrexia in fuch Cafes, ihid^

Arfenic, Obfervations on its life in Intermittents, 1, 46, 61
, E^cdts of, in fuch Cafes, when combined with Pe-
ruvian Bark, 43

faid to be as powerful and nearly as certain as the
Bark, in the Cure of Intermittents j but allowed to be in-
ferior to the Bark in its tonic Elfefts, — 46

, Conjedlure concerning its fpecific Adiion, and that

of the Bark, in the Cure of Intermittents, 47

, Account of irregular Cafes of Intermittents in

which it fails, 44

Hiftorical Account of its Ufe in Intermittents, 46
Atmofpheres, Eledrical, Etteds of, on Frogs and other Ani-
mals, 166

Bark, Peruvian, the only Remedy to be relied on in the In-
termittents of Tropical Climates threatening immediate

Danger, — 44

; : , Conjedures relative to its fpecifie Adion

in the Cure of Intermittents, ’ 47, 143

CL* Bark,

[ 229 ]

Peruvian, Prejudices which ftill prevail againft its

> different Species of, enumerated,

Beddoes, Thomas, Guide for Self-prefervation,

Bedford, Arthur, de Angina maligna.

146

224

225
227
223
22^

Berlin, Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences at,

Bifchoff, Fred, on the Extradlion of the Cataraft,

Blair, Thomas, de Refpiratione,

— — , William, of the Extraftion of an extraneous Subftance

from the Reftum, — —

Bonato, G. Anton. Defcription of two new Plants,

’Bower, Joannes, de Variolis,

Bradifh, Wheaton, de Vifu,

Bradley, Joannes, de Rhcumatifmo acuto.

1 1 1
227
225
ibid,
ibid.

Bread, toafted, Inflance of its producing painful Effefts in

the Reftum, i j x

Buchan, Jacobus, de Coeli Effe£tibus, 225

Cambridge, Catalogue of the Botanic Garden at, 224

Camper, Profeflbr, his Demonjlr. Anat. Pathol, referred to,

107, 108

Carey, Matthew, Accouot of the Yellow Fever at Phi-

. ladclphia, — 223

and
66
85

9*
223

193

146
120
225

Carter, Henry Yates, on the Effeds of Sal Ammoniac
Vinegar on lacerated Wounds, — .

■ , Cafe of a difeafed Kidney,

Gun-fhot Wound,

Catarart, Treatife on the Extraftion of, ^

••Caterpillars, not affefted by Eleftricity, '

Cinchona, different Species of, enumerated, ' —

; Clarke, Robert, Account of a new Key Inftrument,

Climate, Differtation on the Effefts of, —

Coating, Metallic, Advantages of, in Experiments of Animal

Eledtricity, 174

, of two different Metals, Obfervations on the Ufe

; . of, in Experiments of Animal Elef.ficity, 178, 183

. Biarrhoea, Effcdls of Mahogany Wood in Cafes of, 156
Duncan, Dr. Andrew, Junior, his Differtation on the Swi-
ctenia Soymida referred to, 127, 144

Eledlricity, Animal, Obfervations and Experiments relative

' ^ 161

Eledlricity,

[ ^30 ]

feleflricity, Difcovery of a new I^w in, — 1 77, ig»

r Eftimate of the Quantity of, neceffary to produce

certain EfFeds in a Frog, 1 70

Eleftrometer, Animal, what fo called, — 171

Emetics, good Effedls of, in Intermittents, 41 , 42

F. ^

Fever, Epidemic, in Somerfetlhire, Work relative to, 224
, Intermittent, of a Tropical Climate, Obfervations

on.

guiflied from the Remittent,

how diftin-
43

anomalous

Cafes of, deferibed,

• , See A7UiiH07iy,

Arfenic, Bark, Emetics, Opium.

-1 , Intermittent and Remittent, the mofl: frequent Dit-

eafes on the Coaft of Africa, 60

-, Yellow, at Philadelphia, Works relative to, 223

Forfter, Thompfon, Cafe of Aneurifm of the Crural Artery,

^ 114

P'rogs, EfFeftsof Elcftric Atmofpheres on, — 166

Galvani, Lewis, Account of his Difeoveries relative to Ani-
mal Eleftricity, • ■ - 1 61

Genettes, M. des, Analyfe du SyftemeLymphatique, 226
Gravel, voided, with Urine, by vomiting, — 213

Grieve, Andreas, de Rheumatifmo acuto, 223

Hare Lip, Work relative to, 227

Head, Cafe of a Gun-lhot Wound of, — 91

Hughes, Francis, on the Effedls of Mahogany Wood in Di-
arrhoea,

Hypochondriacal Affedlicn, Differtation on, — 22^

Infedls, feveral Species of, not affedled by Eledlricity, 194
Intermittents of a Tropical Climate, Obfervations on theUfe

of Arfenic in, 1

, Ufe of Opium in, 4*

Emetics in, iii^.

a Remittent Fever,

-, how diftinguifhed from

; ; Circiimftances of,. in

which the Bark alone is to be relied on, ^ ^

Intermittent^

231

]

Intermittents of a Tropical Climate, anomalous Cafes oi;

defcribed, — — ~

Ifchuria, fingula'r Cafe of, —

IlTue, fingular Effeils of,

ihido

212

109

Kerr, David Corbin, de Hypochondriafi, 22^

Key Inftrument, of a new Conltruftion, Account of, 120
^ , Obfervatioi’is on the Principles ^on which it

afts, ■ - - 124,

Kidney difeafed. Cafe of,

'Appearance of, on Diffeftion, 89

Kircheifen, I. P. G. Differtatio de Coitu, — 226

Lancifi, his Theory of a Cafe in which Urine was voided by-
vomiting, — - 221

Laumonier, M. fur une Maladiede I’Ovairc, ■ — 226

Lemery, M. Cafe of a Monk who vomited Urine, 222
Leyden Phial, the fuppofed Analogy of, to fome Phenomena

of Animal Eleftricity, 190

Lizard, Experiment on, . 202

Lorimer, Dr. John, Return of the Sick on Board the Eaft-
India Company’s Ships forthe Years 1792 and 1793, 211
Lymphatic Syftem, Work relative to, 226

Mahogany, a new Species of, defcribed, and its Bark recom-
mended as a Subftitute for the Peruvian Bark, 127

, Wood, Account of its Effefts in Diarrhoea, i

»- , of Jamaica, defcribed as rnore aftringent

than that of Honduras, 157-

iVIarangoni, M. Cafe of a Patient who vomited Urine, 220

Marfden, Gulielmus, deVariolis, 22^;

Mdia Azadirachta, the Bark of, recommended as a Subftitute

for Peruvian Bark, 1 94

Merrivether, Carolus, de Pneumonia, — 225-

Montgomery, Robertus, de Variolis, 226

Mufcles, Experiments on, 188, 191, 198, 202

■ , not immediately affeded by Eleftricity, 179, 200

— , voluntary, the only ones affeded by weak Currents

of Eleftricky, 197

N. _ _

^^alfy. Dr. D. Obfervations on the Epidemic Fever at Phila-
delphia, — ^ — 223

J^cle*

C ^3^ ]

Nauclea Daduga, Bark of, its Properties defcribed,

Nerves, the only Parts immediately affedled by Eleftricity,

179, 200

— , Effefts of certain morbid Alterations 6f,
— -, Experiments on.

-, painful Effefts of PreiTure on,

-, iubcutaneous, a Difeafe of, defcribed.

i8t

lor

108

224

Ndtt, Dr. John, on the Waters of Pifaand Yverdun,

Ppium, its Eifefls in the Intermittent* of a tropical Cli-
mate, — ' — — ^ — 41

Ovarium, Dropfy of, cured by a fpdntaneous vomiting, 221

fearfon, John, Account of extraordinary Symptoms arifing
from certain morbid Affeftions of the Veins and Nerves, 96
Percival, Dr. his Account of a Dropfy of the Ovarium cured

by a fpontansous vomiting, referred to, 221

Philadelphia, Works relative to the Yellow Fever at, 22 j

Pierce, Thomas Pollard, de Hydrope Anafarea, 226

Pifa, Differtation on the Thermal Waters of, — 224

jPneumonia, Differtation on, 22^

Poole, Richard, Account of an Epidemic Fever in Somer-

fetfhire, 224

Pouteau, M. his Pofthumous Works quoted, iqj

Q:.

Quadrupeds, Experiments on,

Recherches Phylico-chymiques,

Remittent Fever, Fever.

Refpiration, Differtation on, —

Rheumatifm, acute, Differtation on, —

Roxburgh, Dr. W, Account of a new Species of

l8i, 187

227

Rulh, Dr. Benj. of the Bilious Remitting Yellow

Sacombe, M. Avis aux Sages Femmes
Sal Ammoniac. — See Ammoniacal Salt.

Senter, Dr. Ifaac, of a fmgular Cafe of ifehuria

Sibthorp, Joannes, Flora Oxonienfis

Sierra Leone, Account or the Weathe a'.

Small Pox, Differtations on,

Sonfis, G. his Work relative to the Hare L.’p
jStimuii, Work relative to the Effefts of.

225

Swietenia,

Jbever, 223

226

212

224

— 2
225, 226
227
' 223

Swietenia,

[ ^33 ]■

ywietenia, Accounts of two new Species of, 127, 1^3

Xeeth, Obfetvatlons on tlie Extradlion of, by the Key Inftru-

ment, — 121

Tongue, human. Experiments on, 208

, of Quadrupeds, Experiments on, 209, 210

Typhus, Work relative to the Nature and Cure of, 22^

Vinegar, Solution of Sal Ammoniac In, Effe^s of, on lace-
rated Wounds, r J 66

Vilion, Differtatioii on, ^ 2.25

Volta, Alexander, Tranflation of his Letters on Animal

Eledlricity, 161

Urine, Cafes in which it has been voided by vomiting,

212, 220, 222

W. _

Wallurfe, a Tree fo called by the Hindoos, deferibed, 1 54
Wier, Georgius, de Angina maligna, — 226

Winterbottom, Dr, T. M. on the Ufe of Arfenic in Inter-

mittents, — i

, Account of the Weather at Si-
2

J94

erra Leone,

Worms, not affefled by Eleftricity,

Wood, Dr. J, on the Application and Abftraftlon of Stimuli,

1 ^

Yates, GuIIelmus, de Alimento, 226

Yellow Fever, Works relative to it, • 223

Yverdun, Work relative to the fulphureous Water of, 224

• XND QF THE SIXTH VOLUME.

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