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THE 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Vol.  L— No.  I. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Preface   ui 

Circular  Addrefs   vii 

Medical  Etfays — No.  I. 

Introduction  I 

Plague  of  Athens 

Section  I.  .  .  .  3 

Section  II.  .  .  .  17 

Remarks  on  Manures   30 

Morton's  Summary  of  the  Hiftory 

of  continued  Fever,  &c.   ...  51 

On  the  Cholera  of  Infants  ....  58 

Speech  of  Fourcroy  .......  66 

REVIEW. 

P.ufrTs  Medical  Inquiries  and  Ob- 
fervations,  vol.  iv   73 

Barton's  Memoir  on  the  Fafcinat- 
ing  Faculty  of  Serpents  ....  79 

Ouviere's  Medico-Chymical  Dif- 
fertation  on  the  Caufes  of  the 
Yellow  Fever,  &c  88 


Page. 

Medical  Fafls,  Hints,  and  Inqui- 


ries  95 

Meteorological  Obfervations  ...  99 

Table  of  Hofpital  Patients  ...  10; 

Return  of  Difpenfary  Patients  .  .  10S 

MEDICAL  NEWS. 

Domeftic   II? 

Foreign   120 

APPENDIX. 

DOMESTIC. 

Bayley's  Letter  to  the  Reverend 

Richard  C.  Moore   tsj 

Bayley's  Letter  to  Gov.  Jay  .  .  .  IZ7 

Wanen's  Letter  to  Mr.  Pearfon  .  136 

foreign. 

Scott  on  the  Nitrous  Acid  ....  141 

Pearfon  on  ./Ether   146 


N  E  W-YOR  K: 

Printed  by  T.  &  J.  SWORDS,  Printers  to  the  Faculty  of  Phyfic  of 
Columbia  College,  No.  99  Pearl-ftreet. 


PREFACE. 


JPhE  firjl  Number  of  the  Medical  Repository  makes 
its  appearance  under  many  difadvantages.  It  was  the  original 
intention  of  the  Publishers  not  to  have  committed  it  to  the 
prefs,  till  communications  from  various  pans  of  the  United 
States  fhould  enable  them  to  offer  an  example  of  that  method 
which  they  have  traced  in  their  Circular  Addrefs.  But  it 
was  difcovered,  that  a  longer  time  than  had  been  expected, 
cither  by  their  correfpondents  or  themfelves,  was  effential  to 
the  due  arrangement  of  the  proper  materials  j  and  the  delay, 
thus  unavoidably  occafioned,  led  many,  even  of  their  friends, 
to  fuppofe  they  had  relinquished  their  defign.  In  this  Situa- 
tion, it  became  neceflary  for  them  to  haften  their  firft  pub- 
lication, that  they  might  encourage  exettions  in  others  by  this 
pledge  of  their  own  perfeverance.  The  prefent  Number,  of 
confequence,  confirms,  almoft  exclufively,  of  papers  furnifhed 
by  themfelves :  a  circumftance  which  the  induftry  of  many 
refpectable  correfpondents,  (and  particularly  feveral  valuable 
communications,  received  as  the  laft  Sheet  of  this  Number  was 
piinting  off,)  encourage  them  to  believe  will  not  occur  in 
future. 

After  this  explanation  of  the  caufes  of  the  imperfections  of 
the  publication  now  made,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  add  a 
few  words  on  what  may  be  deemed  the  recommendations  of 
the  plan  of  the  Compilers  to  general  patronage. 

The  zeal  and  activity  with  which  medical  improvernein 
are  profecuted  in  Europe,  is  fart  fpreading  in  America ;  and 
if,  hitherto,  our  profeflbrs  of  the  healing  art  have  been  behind 
other  profeffional  men  in  fcienoc  and  induftrv.  it  may  f.tfelv  bf 


PREFACE. 

predicted,  that  this  will  not  long  continue  their  reproach.  But 
various  caufes  wiil  probably,  for  fome  time,  prevent  themi 
from  appearing  extenlively,  as  authors.  And  as  medical  and 
other  (Scientific  ifffociat!ons  Have  been  but  partially  attempted 
in  the  feveral  States,  and  where  they  have  been,  have  not  ap- 
peared to  ftourilh  with  much  vigour,  a  confiderable  period 
mult  elapie  before  a  different  kind  of  publication,  from  the 
prefent,  will  be  fo  generally  convenient  and  ufeful  as  the  de- 
pofitary  of  facts  and  reafonings  relative  to  Natural  Hiftory» 
Agriculture,  and  Medicine. — Should  thefe  considerations  de- 
termine men  of  indufh  y  and  learning,  in  different  parts  ot  our 
country,  to  encourage  it,  it  wiil  be  obvious,  from  the  fmall- 
nels  of  the  type,  the  fullnefs  of  the  page,  and  the  moderate 
price  at  which  it  is  afforded,  that  an  equal  portion  of  valua- 
ble information  can  no  where  be  fo  eaiily  procured.  This 
circumftance,  though  it  may  be  undervalued  by  thofe  who  re- 
fute in  our  principal  towns,  who  have  the  means  of  purchaf- 
ing,  and  the  opportunities  of  confulting,  large  collections  of 
books,  will  not  fail  to  be  duly  appreciated  by  profeffional  men, 
in  general. — The  art  of  book-making,  as  it  is  now  practifed 
in  Europe,  and  efpecially  in  Great-Britain,  with  the  increas- 
ing neceffity  for  books,  and  the  increafing  charges  upon  them, 
muff,  leave  men  of  moderate  fortunes  in  abfolute  defpair  of 
forming  any  confiderable  library  of  medical  works.  The  pe- 
riodical publications  alone,  where  a  fhort  paper  is  often  ex- 
panded through  twenty  pages,  when  it  might  be  compreffed 
in  half  the  number,  amount  to  an  expence  that  few  are  abl^ 
to  bear.  The  effect  of  this  is  to  reftrain  the  courfe  of  know- 
ledge, and  exclude  the  hope  of  improvement,  except  by  the  moff, 
tedious  and  imperfect  of  all  proceffes.  But,  for  this  evil,  a  re- 
medy will  be  provided  in  the  Medical  Repository,  mould 
it  meet  with  fuccefs. — In  addition  to  the  original  contents  of 
each  Number,  it  is  intended  to  re-publilh,  in  an  Appendix,  the 
belt  papers,  connected  with  the  plan  of  the  Work,  which 
have  appeared,  and  fhall,  from  time  to  time,  appear  in  the 
United  States  and  in  Europe.  Thofe  materials  which  our 
own  country  will  afford  for  this  part  of  the  Repofitory,  will 


PREFACE. 


probably  be  foon  expended;  but  Europe  offers  an  inexhaufti- 
b!e  fund ;  and  it  is  evident  that,  with  the  power  of  felection, 
this  publication  may  vie  with  any  of  the  foreign  Journals. 
This  will  be  better  underftood  when  it  is  obferved,  that  from 
the  difference  in  the  mode  of  printing,  a  hundred  pages  of  the 
Repofitory  will  comprehend  not  lefs  than  three  hundred  of 
any  limilar  work,  in  Great-Britain,  and  at  one  fourth  of  the 
expence ;  and  thus,  the  Appendix  alone  may  be  made  to  con- 
tain a  volume  of  the  lize  of  the  Medical  Commentaries,  Medi- 
cal Memoirs,  &c.  &c. — The  frequency  of  publication,  like- 
wife,  will  give  the  Repofitory  a  manifeft  fuperiority  over  mod 
works  of  the  fame  kind,  in  the  opportunity  it  affords  of  fpee- 
dily  circulating  new  improvements  and  difcoveries  ;  while  an 
extenfive  correfpondence,  forming,  or  already  eftablifhed,  iri 
various  parts  of  Europe  and  America,  will  enable  the  Pub- 
lifhers,  at  the  fame  time,  to  communicate  the  earlicft  and  mofi: 
authentic  American  information,  to  Europe ;  and  the  lateft 
labours  of  the  learned  in  Great-Britain,  France,  Germany, 
Italy,  Sweden,  &c.  to  America. — Time,  it  is  true,  will  be  ne- 
ceffary  for  the  complete  eflablifliment  of  this  part  of  the  un- 
dertaking ;  but  of  this  eftablifhment,  with  the  countenance  of 
their  fellow  citizens,  the  Publifliers  entertain  no  doubt.  The 
ill-fuccefs  of  former  attempts  is  all  that  excites  any  apprehen- 
sion in  their  bofoms,  for  the  fate  of  the  piefent.  But  they 
rely  on  the  confiderate  good  fenfe  of  the  public,  and  encou- 
rage brighter  expe&ations. 

NfW-  York,  July  26.  1797. 


Fd.  I.  No.  1 . 


(§3=*  SINCE  the  EJfay  on  the  Plague  of  Athens  was 
printed  off,  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  the  paffage  <j/"Hal- 
LER,  from  which,  on  the  authority  of  De  Pauw,  I  had 
Ventured  to  ajpi t,  that  the  illuftrious  Swifs  confidcred  that 
difeafe  as  an  ordinary  contagious  fever. — See  p.  20  of  the 
Repofitory. — This  affertion  is  not  correct — though  the  dif- 
ference is  not  material  to  the  argument. — Haller'j  opi- 
nion is  exprefl  negatively,  in  the  following  words  : — "  Non 
"  putes  veri  nominis  peftem  fuiffe." — Biblioth.  Med.  Pracl. 
torn.  i.  p.  102. — The  whole  paffage  is  too  long  to  be  quoted 
in  this  place. 

S. 


CIRCULAR  ADDRESS. 


After  a  continued  struggle  of  many  centuries,  against  the 
absurd  systems  of  ancient  physicians,  and  amid  the  difficulties 
repeatedly  opposed  to  the  progress  of  Medicine  by  modern  hy- 
potheses scarcely  less  preposterous,  it  has  at  length  become  esta- 
blished as  a  fundamental  truth,  that  though  conjecture  may  pre- 
cede experiment,  facts  are  the  only  rational  basis  of  theory.  Phi- 
losophers are  no  longer  permitted  to  descend  from  generals  to 
particulars,  shaping  them  according  to  preconceived  notions  of 
their  intimate  relations ;  but  are  expected  to  proceed  by  a  rigid 
examination  and  cautious  assemblage  of  particulars  to  every  gene- 
ral inference.  This  laborious  process  of  reasoning,  so  favourable 
to  truth,  and  so  little  flattering  to  indolence,  to  vanity,  and  to  a 
creative  fancy,  requires  the  possession  of  an  extensive  mass  of  ex- 
periment, a  various  and  judicious  selection  of  facts ; — not  only 
for  him  who  would  overthovv  or  construct  a  system,  but  for  every 
one  who  would  rightly  exercise  the  art  to  which  they  belong.  And 
in  proportion  as  these  sentiments  have  gained  ground  among  phy- 
sicians, Systems  of  Physic  have  lost  much  of  their  value;  and 
Collections  of  Histories  and  Observations,  whether  the  work  of  a 
single,  or  of  many  hands,  have  gradually  obtained  a  high  consi- 
deration and  authority  in  the  schools  of  medicine,  as  well  as  in  the 
closets  of  practitioners.  For,  whatever  advantages  may  have  been 
temporarily  derived  from  certain  celebrated  theories,  it  is  chiefly 
by  the  new  spring  which  they  have  given  to  the  mind,  and  by  the 
more  accurate  investigation  of  natural  phenomena  to  which  they 
have  excited  others,  that  they  have  been  permanently  useful.  For 
our  knowledge  of  nature  is  too  limited,  our  collection  of  materi- 
als too  scanty,  to  enable  even  the  most  diligent  and  ingenious  to 
frame  a  correct  theory.  Medical  collections,  therefore,  are  still 
necessary,  and  must  long  continue  to  be  so;  and  as  they  are  free 
from  the  incumbrance  of  systematized  hypothesis,  the  opinions 
they  contain,  for  the  most  part,  spring  more  naturally  out  of  the 
facts  on  which  they  are  founded,  are  thus  less  likely  to  mislead, 
and  even  though  erroneous,  as  they  maintain  no  intimate  connec- 
tion with  an  extensive  scheme,  still  leave  us,  in  the  facts  them- 
selves, the  surest  guides  amidst  the  intricacies  of  practice.  Publi- 
cations of  this  kind,  likewise,  from  their  very  nature,  possess  many 


viii  CIRCULAR  ADDRESS. 

advantages  over  systematic  works.  They  employ  a  greater  num- 
ber of  observers,  over  a  wider  field,  admit  of  minuter  details,  am- 
pler discussions,  and  more  various  opinions  and  recondite  investi- 
gations. By  their  instrumentality,  facts  are  preserved  or  rescued 
from  oblivion,  which,  without  them,  had  been  wholly  lost :  for 
there  are  few  men  who  find  leisure  and  inclination,  from  the  pres- 
sure of  daily  business,  to  become  authors,  and  still  fewer  whose 
observations  are  so  numerous  and  important  as  to  demand  a  la- 
boured treatke ;  while  there  are  many  who  have  time  and  fach'to 
furnish  out,  almost  every  year  of  their  lives,  a  short  but  valuable 
essay.  j\ni  if  to  these  arguments,  in  favour  of  Medical  Collec- 
tions, drawn  from  the  nature  of  the  works,  it  may  be  permitted  to 
add  others  from  the  practice  of  other  nations  than  our  own,  the 
example  of  almost  every  civilized  country  of  Europe  may  be 
cited  ;  in  which  publications  of  this  kind  are  successfully  multi- 
plied, and  sought  after  wkh  peculiar  avidity.  But,  notwithstand- 
ing the  many  obvious  benefits  resulting  from  them,  such  under- 
takings, in  the  United  States,  have  been  few,  and  feebly  prosecut- 
ed. And  this  is  the  more  to  be  lamented,  as  no  country  in  the 
world  is  so  capable  of  giving  permanent  utility  to  such  a  design. 
For,  beside  those  advantages  which  we  possess  in  common  with 
other  nations,  there  are  numerous  others  of  new  and  peculiar  im- 
portance. These  exist  in  our  extensive  territory;  in  the  variety 
of  its  soil,  climate,  elevation,  and  aspect ;  in  the  varied  descent, 
population,  intermixture,  institutions,  manners,  and  consequent 
diseases,  of  its  inhabitants  ;  in  the  opportunities  it  affords  of  ob- 
serving arid  estimating  the  effects  of  old  and  new  settlements,  of 
gradual  and  rapid  charges  in  the  face  of  a  country,  of  agriculture, 
commerce,  and  navigation,  of  the  savage,  civilized,  and  interme- 
diate states  of  society ;  of  comparing  the  diseases,  or  phenomena 
of  each  disease,  and  the  operation  of  the  same  remedies,  in  the 
same  or  different  complaints,  in  Europe  and  America  ;  in  the  ge- 
neral diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  turn  for  observation,  among  all 
classes  of  its  citizens ;  and,  finally,  in  the  sameness  and  perfection 
of  their  language — an  advantage  possessed  in  the  same  degree  by 
no  other  people. — These  are  privileges  which  should  prov  e  so  ma- 
ny powerful  incentives  to  medical  industry;  which  should  inspirit 
the  exertions  of  physicians  to  give  that  importance,  in  a  profes- 
sional view,  to  their  country,  which,  fertile  as  she  is  in  occa- 
sions, she  loudly  calls  for  at  their  hands. 

The  present  time  seems  particularly  favourable  to  such  attempts. 
The  distressing  events  which  have  been  so  recently  witnessed,  in 
various  parts  of  our  country,  have  awakened  the  curiositv  of  others, 
as  well  as  of  physcians;  and  while  they  have  quickened  the  zeal 
f  nd  observation  of  the  latter,  have  excired  the  eager  apprehensions 
Af  all.    This  has  created  an  uncommon  mierest,  in  respect  to  me- 


CIRCULAR  ADDRESS. 


itical  opinions,  among  the  people  at  large,  and  especially  since  the 
belief  of  the  domestic  origin  of  certain  diseases  has  been  consider- 
ably disseminated.  The  partial  success  of  a  late  benevolent  at- 
tempt, of  the  kind  now  referred  to,*  is  rather  encouraging  than 
disheartening;  since  its  failure  is  attributable  to  causes  not  neces- 
sarily connected  with  the  design,  and  since  there  is  good  ground 
to  believe,  that  a  little  perseverance  would  have  given  it  stability 
and  reputation. — To  the  success  of  such  a  publication,  much  time, 
as  well  as  the  concurrent  exertions  of  many  observers,  were  indis- 
pensable. The  field  of  inquiry,  likewise,  was  comparatively  nar- 
row; and  too  much  reliance  was,  probablv,  placed  on  public  soli- 
citation, with  so  limited  a  time  for  the  collection  of  materials. 

Influenced  by  consideration*,  and  invited  by  views,  which  we 
have  now  uniolded,  and  shall  coi-.sequt.ntly  enlarge  upon,  we  have 
ventured  to  project  a  work  such  as  we  have  recommended,  and 
thus  publicly  to  solicit  your  assistance  in  its  execution.  And  we 
request  you  to  furnish  us,  either  quarterly,  semi-annuullv,  or  an- 
nually, as  may  best  suit  with  your  convenience,  with  such  in- 
formation, relative  to  ail  or  either  of  the  following  particulars,  as 
may  be  in  your  power. 

'  i  .  Histories  of  such  diseases  as  reign  in  your  particular  places  of 
residence,  at  each  and  every  season  of  the  year;  including 
the  time  of  their  appearance  and  disappearance;  the  peculiar 
customs  and  manners,  and  food  of  the  people;  local  peculi- 
arities, (not  merely  those  of  the  town  or  village,  but  of  the 
immediate  residence  of  the  sick,)  preceding,  cotemporarv, 
and  subsequent  complaints ;  symptom*,  progress,  extent,  me- 
thod of  cure,  mortality,  and  what  proportion  of  either  sex, 
and  of  different  ages,  are  affected : — in  sea-port*,  attention 
to  be  paid  to  supposed  sources  ot  importation,  and  to  the  ar- 
rival of  foreigners;  in  new  settlements,  to  changes  in  the  face 
of  the  country,  by  clearings,  drainings,  Bee,  and  to  the  in- 
crease of  population,  by  immigration  and  otherwise. 

i.  Histories  of  such  diseases  as  appear  among  Domestic  Animals 
— such  as  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  &c — their  causes,  symptoms, 
method  of  cure,  &c.  Sec. 

3.  Accounts  of  Instils— whether  any  uncommon  dearth  or  num- 

■  bers  of  them  ;  whether  troublesome  or  noxious  to  men,  beasts, 
or  vegetables;  with  as  accurate  and  minute  notices  as  may 
be  of  their  derivation,  mode  of  propagation,  nature  and  extent 
of  such  ravages,  or  other  eyils,as  they  mav  occasion;  of  their 
appearance  and  disappearance,  and  of  the  means,  if  anv,  of 
guarding  against  or  destroying  them. 

4  Histories  of  the  progress  and  condition  of  {■fetation — with 
regard  to  growth,  vigour,  and  disease;  independent  of  the 

*  Mr.  \ViE.iTsa">  Colkftion,  relative  to  Bil;..u*  Frvers,  &c. 


CIRCULAR  ADDRESS. 


ravages  of  inserts;  but  marking  the  influence  of  manure?, 
and  the  local  situation,  both  as  to  elevation  and  soil,  air  and 
water. 

5.  The  state  of  the  Atmosphere — in  respect  to  dryness  and  humi- 
dity, heat  and  cold,  serenity  and  tempestuousness;  including 
the  direction  and  iorce  of  winds,  and  the  sensible  quantity  of 
electricity. 

Where  information  relative  to  these  various  topics  of  inquiry 
can  be  given  in  a  connected  form,  it  will  be  most  acceptable;  and, 
the  moie  minute  and  precise,  the  more  useful  will  it  be.  But 
general  and  distinct  communications  are  earnestly  requested,  where 
more  extensive  and  combined  intelligence  cannot  readily  be  zi- 
forded. 

The  outline  now  traced,  gentlemen,  will  enable  you  to  form 
some  idea  of  the  nature,  extent,  and  importance  of  the  work,  in 
the  prosecution  of  which  we  solicit  your  co-operation.  The  be- 
nefits which  may  resuit  from  such  a  publication,  if  vigorously  and 
judiciously  executed,  are  too  numerous  and  considerable  not  to  be 
suggested  by  the  slightest  reflection.  Were  it  to  be  ably  and  com- 
pletely prosecuted,  it  could  scarcely  fail,  even  in  a  few  years,  of 
leading  us  to  a  near  view  cf  the  origin  and  causes  of  general,  or 
febrile  diseases;  to  the  discovery  of  what  utuations,  climates,  and 
seasons,  most  favoured  their  production ;  of  the  order  and  rapidity 
of  their  progression,  from  one  place  to  another,  in  the  same  or 
different  countries;  and  of  the  most  successful  method  of  cure,  as 
well  as  of  prevention.  Aided  by  a  work  composed  of  materials  col- 
lected with  such  care,  and  drawn  from  so  many  and  so  distant  quar- 
ters, we  might  be  enabled  to  determine  the  relative  healthiness  of 
places;  the  causes  why  some  were  favourable  and  some  unfavourable 
to  health;  their  peculiar  diseases,  with  the  means  of  their  removal 
and  extirpation. — No  plan  seems  more  happily  calculated  to  mark 
and  explain  the  influence  of  different  states  of  society,  occupations, 
institutions,  manners,  exposure,  air,  modes  of  living,  &c.  &c.  on 
health;  and  thus,  indirectly,  on  morals,  industry,  and  happiness: 
cone  more  happily,  for  resolving  the  hitherto  unexplained  and  dif- 
ficult problem,  proposed  by  the  illustrious  Sydenham,* — "  whe- 
**  ther  a  careful  examination  might  not  shew,  that  certain  tribes  of 
V  disorders  constantly  follow  others,  in  one  determinate  series,  or 
"  circle,  as  it  were;  or  whether  they  all  return,  indiscriminately^ 
"  according  to  the  secret  disposition  of  the  air,  and  the  inexpli- 
"  cable  succession  of  the  seasons."  Nor  is  the  solution  of  this 
problem  of  small  importance;  since,  in  the  first  place,  were  it  dis- 
covered that  general  diseases  pursued  a  regular  course,  we  might 
thence  be  prepared  to  receive  and  counteract  them;  or,  were  it 


•  Wmui'i  Sydenham,  vol.  L  p.  6. 


CIRCULAR  ADDRESS, 


determined  that  they  depended  on  the  qualities  of  the  atmosphere, 
we  should  be  directed  to  the  proper  object  of  investigation,  and 
thus  be  well  advanced  towards  a  knowledge  of  their  causes.  But, 
whatever  may  be  true  in  respedt  to  the  systematic  succession  of 
diseases,  hinted  at  by  Sydenham,  it  is  certain  that  an  apparent  pro- 
gress of  a  particular  disease  has  sometimes  been  observable  in  the 
United  States;  as  though  the  morbid  principle  possest  the  power 
of  assimilating  the  atmosphere  to  its  own  nature,  agreeable  to 
determinate,  but  inscrutable  and  peculiar  laws:  sometimes  rapidly 
extending,  as  in  the  Influenza;  sometimes  slowly,  as  in  Scarlatina. 
It  is  perhaps  difficult  rightly  to  appreciate  the  benefits  which  the 
determining  of  a  single  point  like  this  would  confer  on  medicine; 
(whether  by  quieting  apprehensions  of  such  an  extension  of  a  dis- 
ease, if  indeed  there  were  no  reason  to  fear  it;  or  by  putting  us  on 
our  guard,  if  such  were  clearly  proved  to  be  its  nature) — but, 
whatever  they  may  be,  no  method  seems  better  adapted  for  ascer- 
taining the  fact,  than  by  a  publication  like  the  one  now  proposed. 
By  this  means,  the  inquirer  will  be  presented  with  a  regular  his- 
tory of  the  progress  of  such  a  disease,  from  one  extremity  of  the 
continent  to  the  other;  and  be  able  to  mark  its  effects  in  all  the 
varieties  of  people,  climate,  and  season;  or,  if  it  appear  in  several 
places,  obviously  disconnected,  at  the  same  time,  of  comparing 
the  circumstances  in  which  they  resemble  each  other,  and  thus  of 
determining  its  causes. — But,  not  to  dwell  longer  on  the  recom- 
mendations to  such  a  work,  we  may  ultimately  remark,  that, 
when  thus  completed,  the  volume  of  every  year  will  form  the  history 
of  the  health  of  the  United  States  for  the  year  preceding:  a  single 
glance  of  the  eye  will  be  equal  to  perceive  what  diseases  prevailed 
at  the  same  time,  in  all  the  intermediate  situations,  from  St.  Mary's 
to  St.  Croix,  and  from  the  Missisippi  to  the  Atlantic ;  and  indi- 
vidual experience,  as  well  as  new  discoveries,  will  be  propagated 
with  unexampled  benefit  and  celerity,  to  every  part  of  the  United 
States. 

When  we  consider  the  extensive  plan  now  proposed,  the  num- 
ber of  persons,  and  the  time  required  for  its  execution,  and  the 
difficulties  which  always  attend  every  work  of  the  kind,  we  should 
indulge  a  presumptuous  and  reprehensible  expectation,  did  we 
look  to  see  it  speedily  and  completely  carried  into  effect.  But, 
notwithstanding  all  reasonable  allowance  for  impediments  of  this 
sort,  we  flatter  ourselves  that  such  materials  may  be  collected,  from 
time  to  time,  as  will  enable  us  to  present  annually  an  acceptable 
volume  to  the  public;  while  the  great  object  of  our  proposed  in- 
quiries, as  already  explained,  will  gradually  acquire  consistence 
and  patronage. 

To  the  end  that  such  a  volume  may  be  readily  and  regularly- 
published,  we  have  thought  it  advisable  to  add  the  following  sub- 


Circular,  address^: 


i?£\j,  to  these  already  proposed,  concerning  all  of  winch  we  would 
request  information. 

1.  Accurate  and  succinct  accounts  of  the  general  diseases  which 
have  formerly  prevailed  in  any  part  ot  the  United  States. 

2.  U=eful  histories  of  particular  Cases. 

3.  Histories  ot  such  complaints  of  professional  menj  mr ( hanks, 
manufacturers,  &c.  as  appear  to  originate  from  their  pecu- 
liar employment.'-,  or  the  materials  with,  or  about  which 
they  are  employed. 

4.  New  methods  of  curing  diseases. 

5.  Accounts  of  new  discovered  or  applied  remedies,  in  rare  or 

hitherto  incurable  diseases. 

6.  Extracts  from  rare,  printed  or  manuscript,  works,  illustrative 
of  the  nature  and  cure  of  such  diseases  as  now  prevail  in  the 
United  States. 

7.  Interesting  information,  relative  to  the  minerals,  plants,  and 
animals  of  America. 

8.  American  medical  biography. 

9.  Accounts  of  former  American  medical  publications. 

10.  Reviews  of  new  American  medical  publications. 

1 1 .  Medical  news. 

It  will  be  obvious  to  everv  one,  that  the  variety  of  subjects  com- 
prehended in  this  undertaking,  will  put  it  in  the  power  of  almost 
every  other  class  of  citizens,  as  well  as  of  physicians,  usefully  to 
aid  in  its  execution :  and  as  the  benefits  which  may  result  from  its 
success  are  limited  to  no  description  of  men,  we  are  the  more  en- 
couraged to  solicit  assistance  from  all  whose  situations  enable  them 
to  afford  it.  We  address  ourselves,  therefore,  not  to  physicians 
only,  but  to  men  of  observation,  and  to  the  learned,  throughout 
the  United  States. 

With  respect  to  the  mode  of  publication,  we  have  not  yet  de- 
cided, whether  to  print  an  octavo  volume  annually,  or  to  distri- 
bute the  same  materials  into  four  quarterly  numbers,  equal  to 
Mich  a  volume.  This  must  be  determined,  in  good  measure,  by 
the  regularity  and  readiness  with  which  we  are  supplied  with  suit- 
able materials:  and  by  those  superior  advantages  for  circulation 
which,  after  proper  inquiry,  one  form  shall  appear  to  possess  over 
the  other.  But,  whichever  may  be  preferred,  seasonable  notice 
will  be  given,  and  a  subscription  will  be  opened  ro  defray  the  ex- 
pence,  when  we  are  ready  for  publication ;  and,  in  the  mean  time, 
it  is  desired  that  all  communications  may  be  addressed  to 

Samuel  L.  Mitciull,  Columbia  College. 
Edward  Millet.,  No.  158  Broadway. 
E.  H.  Smith,  No.  4c  Pine-street. 

Xrzv-  York,  Kov.  1 5,  J  796. 


[  UFT/ERSlfY  OFMERYLSN:  ■ 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Vol.  L— No.  I. 


ARTICLE  I. 
MEDICAL  ESSAYS.— No.  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


J.  HE  design  of  the  Papers  which  will  be  presented  to  the  Public 
under  this  title,  is  to  illustrate  the  connection  subsisting  between 
Climate,  Soil,  Temperature,  Diet,  &c.  and  Health.  The  study  of 
the  histories  of  those  wide-wasting  diseases  which  pass  under  the 
name  of  Epidemics,  (if,  perhaps,  we  except  those  that  are  thought 
to  depend  on  a  specific  contagion,  the  nature  of  which  seems  hi- 
therto imperfectly  comprehended,)  is  calculated  to  excite  a  suspi- 
cion, that  they  all  have  one  common  origin;  arise  in  circumstances 
nearly  similar;  and  assume  those  varieties  from  which  they  obtain 
their  several  denominations  in  consequence  only  of  varieties  in  the 
number,  force,  combination,  season,  and  application  of  those  cir- 
cumstances. Should  a  minute  inquiry  into  every  thing  which  re- 
lates to  these  pestilential  maladies  justify  such  a  suspicion,  we 
should,  probably,  discover  their  hitherto  hidden  cause,  and  be  en- 
abled to  prevent  its  future  operation.  And,  though  the  immediate 
principle  of  contagion  escape  our  researches,  the  benefit  resulting 
from  such  investigations  will  scarcely  be  less  real,  if  they  lead  to 
a  discovery  of  those  circumstances  which  are  necessary  to  its  gene- 
ration and  influence. 

It  was,  originally,  the  intention  of  the  writer  to  compose  a  con- 
nected series  of  Essays,  which  should  exhibit,  in  chronological  or- 
der, a  successive  view  of  those  epidemical  diseases  which  desolated 
the  ancient,  and  continue  to  spread  devastation  over  the  modern, 
World.    But  this  is  found  to  be  impracticable.    Of  the  slender 

Foil.  No.  1.  B 


2 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


memorials  handed  down  to  us  from  antiquity,  relative  to  the  epi- 
demics of  those  times,  few,  comparatively,  are  to  be  found  in  the 
United  States.  Of  those  few,  this  city  possesses  a  very  small  and 
inadequate  share;  while  our  libraries  are  equally  deficient  in  those 
writings  of  the  moderns  which  might  best  supply  their  place. 
Those  who  have  not  considered  this  difficulty,  and  European 
writers  in  particular,  can  never  sufficiently  appreciate  it.  While 
they  have  free  and  ample  recourse  to  originals,  we  are  restricted  to 
the  more  doubtful  and  unsatisfactory  use  of  translations,  compila- 
tions, and  excerpts,  — often  erroneous  in  their  attempts  to  convey 
the  meaning  of  the  author,  or  imperfect  from  their  brevity,  or 
perverted  in  their  application. — But,  notwithstanding  the  embar- 
rassments which  perpetually  arise  from  this  source,  the  writer  is 
induced  to  believe,  that,  from  the  following  essay,  as  well  as  such 
others  of  this  collection  as  shall  relate  to  ancient  plagues,  some 
benefit  will  result,  if  the  patience  of  the  reader  keep  pace  with  his 
own.  For,  though,  in  respect  to  these  diseases,  we  may  often  be 
left  in  the  dark  as  to  particular  symptoms,  and  modes  of  medical 
practice,  yet  memorials  sufficient  remain  to  indicate,  in  a  satisfac- 
tory manner,  the  general  causes  of  the  diseases  themselves. 

In  the  composition  of  so  much  of  the  present  Essay  as  relates 
particularly  to  the  Athenian  Pestilence,  the  authority  of  Thucydi- 
des  has  been  principally  relied  on.  Frequent  reference  will  be 
found,  in  the  first  section,  to  the  Philosophical  Dissertations  on 
the  Greeks  of  the  ingenious  M.  de  Pauw,  in  the  fidelity  of  whose 
quotations  it  has  been  necessary  to  confide  more  than  was  to  be 
desired.  But  as  the  reader  is  always  carefully  directed  to  every 
authority,  whether  original  or  otherwise,  it  is  hoped  that  no  mis- 
take will  arise  which  may  not  readily  be  corrected.  The  writer 
ventures  to  beiieve  none  will  be  found  to  invalidate  the  inferences 
u  hich  seem  to  flow  most  naturally  from  the  succeeding  statement 
of  facts.  The  elaborate  commentary  of  Utinensis  (a  quarto  of 
6co  pages,)  on  that  part  of  the  history  of  Thucydides  which  re- 
lates to  the  plague  of  Athens,  mentioned  by  Mr.  Gibbon  in  his  his- 
tory, is  not  to  be  found  in  America;  and  all  the  difficulties,  in  re- 
spect to  original  writers,  spoken  of  above,  particularly  embarrass 
the  subject  of  the  present  inquiry. 

Hereafter,  these  essays  will  be  continued  at  such  intervals  as  may 
be^t  subserve  the  purpose  of  the  publication  of  which  they  are  to 
form  a  part;  and  never  to  the  exclusion  of  more  interesting  com- 
munications. 

E.  H.  SMITH. 

June  25,  1797. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


THE  PLAGUE  OF  ATHENS. 
SECTION  t 

Xn  the  third  year  of  the  87th  Olympiad,  answering  to  the  430th 
preceding  the  christian  era,  a  plague  broke  out  in  the  city  of  Athens, 
which,  far  its  severity,  duration,  and  the  mortality  it  occasioned, 
exceeded  all  which,  before  that  time,  had  been  known  to  the 
Greeks:  For  it  inflicted  the  most  dreadful  pains  on  all  who  ex- 
perienced it;  spared  neither  age,  nor  sex;  destroyed  near  5000  of 
the  flower  of  the  Athenian  armies,  with  an  immense  multitude  of 
the  poor;  and  did  not  disappear  till  after  it  had  exercised  the  most 
unexampled  cruelties,  for  a  period  of  little  less  than  five  years,  and 
reduced  the  powerful  republic  of  Athens  to  the  very  verge  of 
ruin  and  despair. 

Attica,  of  which  Athens  is  the  capital,  is  a  small  state,  situated 
between  the  37  and  39th  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and  compre- 
hending a  territory,  the  extent  of  which,  though  variously  estimat- 
ed, is  on  no  computation  very  considerable.*  Its  figure  is  a  triangle, 
having  its  two  sides  washed  by  the  sea,  and  its  base  united  to  the 
continent.  The  face  of  the  country  is  exceedingly  broken  and 
diversified  by  high,  rugged  and  irregular  mountains,  contrasted 
with  deep,  winding,  and  pent  up  vallies. 

The  streams  by  which  it  is  divided,  are  remarkably  rapid ;  swelled 
in  the  spring,  by  the  dissolution  of  the  snows  which  crown  the 
mountains;  but  shrunk  up,  by  the  excessive  heat  of  the  summer: 
resembling,  in  this  respect,  the  Lehi  and  other  rivers  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  southern  states. 

The  lower  extremity  of  the  Attic  peninsula  was,  and  continues, 
remarkably  barren  ;  being  chiefly  composed  either  of  bare  rocks, 
or  desert  sands.  Towards  Athens  it  assumed  a  more  lively  ap- 
pearance; where  the  assiduous  hand  of  cultivation  intermingled  the 
olive,  the  vine,  and  a  variety  of  plants,  with  the  firs  and  other  ever- 
greens that  naturally  ornamented  the  summits  of  the  hills.  But  of 
other  woods  they  were  nearly  destitute;  so  that,  at  the  period  of 
which  we  are  speaking,  fuel  was  both  scanty  and  clear. 

The  soil  of  Attica,  light  and  poor,  produced  no  other  grain 
than  an  indifferent  barley;  and  the  country  was  unfitted,  no  less 
on  this  account,  than  from  its  small  extent,  for  pasturage.  Eubea, 
and  the  neighbouring  parts  of  Greece,  furnished  the  Athenians 
with  their  meats  $  while  their  ships  supplied  them  with  wheat 

*  The  Abbe  Barthelcmi  makes  it  66  fquare  leagues.  Voy.  du  J.  Anachar. 
ebap.  vi.  M.  de  Pauw  computes  it  to  equal  250  fquare  miles.  Philof.  Difiert. 
on  the  Greeks,  vol.  i.  p.  3.    Tranflation.  Edit.  London. 


ir 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


from  distant  countries,  but  chiefly  from  the  borders  of  the  Eujc- 
ine.  The  constant  demand  for  grain  at  Athens,  gave  rise  to  a 
multiplicity  of  municipal  regulations,  frequently  evaded  by  a  spi- 
rit of  speculation  not  unworthy,  either  for  ingenuity  or  eagerness, 
of  the  present  times;  while  the  imperfect  supply  of  better  meats  con- 
ferred a  value  on  many  kinds  of  flesh,  birds  and  insects,  at  which 
modern  delicacy  would  sicken.*  Even  at  the  present  time,  if 
■we  may  credit  the  assertion  of  a  late  traveller,  f  no  other  flesh  but 
that  of  goats  is  to  be  found  in  the  Athenian  markets.  This  defect 
of  animals  proper  for  food,  created  in  the  people  of  Attica  an  ha- 
bitual preference  of  vegetables;  and,  conspiring  with  the  meagerness 
of  the  soil,  produced  a  state  of  cultivation  unequalled  in  any  coun- 
try now  known,  if,  perhaps,  in  deference  to  the  testimony  of 
K^mpfer  and  Thunberg,  we  except  Japan.  The  olive  and  the  vine 
•which  flourish  in  a  thin  soil,  were  naturalized ;  earth  was  carried 
from  the  vales  and  deposited  upon  the  hills ;  walls  were  constructed 
to  support  it  there,  and  prevent  its  being  washed  down  by  the 
rains ;  and  by  contrivances  not  different  in  effect  from  our  hot- 
beds and  green-houses,  the  markets  of  Athens  were  regularly  and 
daily  supplied  with  fresh  vegetables,  even  during  the  severity  of 
■winter.  Nor  was  the  industry  of  the  people  restrained  to  the  se- 
curing of  a  steady  sufficiency  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Luxury 
and  taste,  which  found  little  to  gratify  them  in  the  meal,  presided 
over  the  desert;  not  esculent  plants  alone,  but  the  myrtle,  the  rose, 
and  other  flowering  shrubs,  were  assiduously  reared ;  and  a  win- 
ter entertainment  in  Athens,  regaled  the  smell  with  fragrance,  the 
eye  with  blossoms,  and  the  taste  with  fruits  of  delicious  flavor. 

But,  though  industry  and  art  could  remedy  the  defects  of  soil, 
nature  had  been  equally  parsimonious,  in  another  respect,  where 
they  could  not  prevail  against  her.  Athens  and  Attica  were  poorly 
supplied  with  water.  Their  streams  were  brackish,  impregnated 
with  minerals  or  with  salt;  and  the  people  were  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  pits  and  cisterns,  to  preserve  that  water  with  which 
they  were  scantily  supplied  by  infrequent  rains.  For,  beside 
that  the  air  of  Attica  was,  in  general,  exceedingly  J>y,  plentiful 
rains  were  only  known  to  happen  when  the  hellesftontias,  or  north- 
east wind,  prevailed. % — The  climate  of  Attica  bears  a  striking 
resemblance  to  that  of  many  of  the  United  States.  Its  latitude 
being  nearly  the  same,  variations  could  only  depend  on  local  cir- 

*  De  Pauw,  fe£l.  xi.  chap.  3. 

■f  Travels  through  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  part  of  Greece,  &c.  in  1787, 
1788,  and  1789,  by  Thomas  Watkins.— -London,  Cadell,  8vo.  2  vols. 

X  De  Pauw,  chap.  io,  vol.  i.  part  I. — It  may  be  proper  once  for  all,  to  in- 
form the  reader,  that  the  chapters  of  De  Pauw,  which  have  been  particularly 
confulted,  are  the  2d,  3d,  Sth,  10  h  of  feftion  i.  and  the  6th,  of  feftion  ii.— 
Other  parts  of  the  work  are  occafionally  referred  to. 


t 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  1 

cumstanc.es.  From  the  broken  face  of  the  country,  we  should  na- 
turally expect  to  find  the  seasons  tempestuous;  and  from  its  near- 
ness to  the  sea,  the  weather  changeable.  Both  of  these  were  true; 
but  the  snowy  heights  of  the  numerous  surrounding  hills,  and  the 
loner  chain  of  mountains  which  reached  quite  across  and  almost 
buried  the  adjoining  kingdom  of  Thrace,  preserved  a  more  steady 
and  severe  cold  in  winter,  than  on  the  sea-coast;  and  a  more  uni- 
form and  suffocative  heat,  in  summer.  The  north-west  winds, 
which  came  from  the  icy  summits  in  the  cold  season,  were  pierc- 
ing; and  the  sultry  and  confined  vales,  when  agitated  by  any 
breeze  in  the  warmer  months,  seemed  to  have  borrowed  their 
gales  from  the  deserts  of  Africa. — So  excessive  was  the  cold  of  the 
neighbouring  states  of  Bceotia  and  Phocis,  though  both  in  a  latitude 
lower  than  Norfolk  in  Virginia,  that  the  Bacchantes  nearly  pe- 
rished in  a  sno'.r- storm,  in  the  former;  and  an  army,  from  the 
confines  of  Germany,  were  unable  to  sustain  the  rigors  of  a  win- 
ter campaign  in  the  latter.* 

*  De  Pauw,  chap.  10  fection  i. 

The  following  paflages,  from  the  "  Works  and  Pays"  of  Hefiod,  a  poet 
who  refided  at  Afcra,  a  village  in  the  neighbouring  country  or  Bceotia,  and  but 
a  few  leagues  from  Athens,  ferve  to  confirm  this  account  of  the  ehmate  of 
Attica, 

"  The  month  all  hurtful  to  the  lab'ring  kine, 
In  part  devoted  to  the  god  of  wine, 
Demands  your  utmoft  care  ;*  when  raging  forth, 
O'er  the  wide  feas,  the  tyrant  of  the  north, 
Bellowing  through  Thracr,  tears  up  the  lofty  woods, 
Hardens  the  earth,  and  binds  the  rapid  floods. 
The  mountain  oak,  high  tow'ring  to  the  fkies, 
Torn  from  his  root,  acrofs  the  valley  lies  ; 
Wide  fpreadin^  ruin  threatens  all  the  ihore, 
Loud  groans  the  earth,  and  all  the  forefts  roar: 
And  now  the  beaft  amazed.,  from  him  that  reigns 
Lord  of  the  woods,  to  thofe  which  graze  the  plains, 
Shiv'ring  the  piercing  blatt,  affrighted,  flies, 
And  guards  his  tender  tail  betwixt  his  thighs. 
Now  nought  avails  the  roughnefs  of  the  bear, 
The  ox's  hide,  nor  the  goat's  length  of  hair, 
Rich  in  their  fleece,  alone  the  well-cloth'd  fold, 
Dread  not  the  bluft'ring  wind,  nor  fear  the  cold. 
The  man  who  could  erect  fupport  his  age, 
Now  bends  reluctant  to  the  north-wind's  rage." 

•         #         »         •  » 

f  Now  does  the  bonelefs  polypus,  in  rage, 
Feed  on  his  feet,  his  hunger  to  aiTuage  ; 
The  fun  no  more,  bright  mining  in  the  day, 
Directs  him  in  the  flood  to  find  his  prey ; 
O'er  fwarthy  nations,  while  he  fiercely  gleams, 
Greece  feels  the  power  but  of  his  fainter  beams. 


*  This  anfwers  to  the  month  Nivcfe  of  the  new  French  calender. 


6 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Sometimes  a  sudden  and  severe  frost  destroyed  even  the  roots  g( 
the  vines  and  the  trees.* 

The  winter  sat  in  very  early  in  Attica.  The  cold  winds  began 
to  prevail  about  the  autumnal  equinox;  when  the  north-west,  in 
particular,  seemed  to  descend,  fraught  with  chills,  perpendicu- 
larly, on  the  city  of  Athens.  Its  greatest  height  was  about  the 
first  of  February — nor  has  the  climate  undergone  any  change  since 
the  time  of  Pericles,  in  those  particulars,  as  appears  from  the  pub- 
lications of  Riedesel  and  W heeler f — the  last  of  whom  was  pre- 
vented from  visiting  the  top  of  Mount  Hymettus,  by  the  snows  in 
February,  and  found  his  woollen  clothes  scarce  sufficient  to  protect 
him  against  the  cold  of  the  vallies.  The  narrow  and  rapid  streams 
of  Attica  and  Peloponnesus  were  seldom  fastened  by  ice,  notwith- 
standing this  rigorous  winter;  but  the  broader  rivers  of  Thrace,  a 
country  situated  in  a  much  warmer  latitude  than  New-York,  were 
frozen  over  like  the  Connecticut  and  the  Hudson. 

It  resulted,  necessarily,  from  this  variety  of  seasons,  that  a  great 
difference  existed  between  the  summer  and  winter  dress  of  the  peo- 
ple. In  the  cold  season,  it  was  difficult  to  clothe  too  warm;  in  the 
warm  season,  to  go  too  thinly  clad.    The  Athenians,  in  summer^ 

Now  a!!  things  have  a  different  face  below; 
The  hearts  nuw  fhiver  at  the  falling  fnow ; 
Thro'  woids,  and  thro'  the  (hady  vale,  thty  run 
To  various  haunts,  the  pinching  cold  to  fhun : 
Some  t'i  the  thicket  cf  the  foreft  flock, 
And  fome,  for  lhelter,  feek  the  hollow  rock." 

Cooke's  Hefiod,  verfe  175. 
"  When  with  their  domes  the  (low -paced  fnails  retreat, 
Beneath  f.me  foliage,  from  the  burning  heat,"  &c. 

Cooke — verfe  256, 
"  The  feifon  when  the  dog  refumes  his  reign, 
Weakens  the  nerves  of  man,  and  burns  the  brain. 
Then  in  the  (hade  avoid  the  mid-day  fun,"  &c. 

Verfe  270. 

The  cefcription  of  winter  would  well  apply  to  the  northern  boundary  of  '.hs 
United  States;  and  the  direction  in  the  laft  line  of  the  laft  quotation  is  well 
adapted  to  the  climate  of  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas. 

*  Theiphraftui — Di  Causis  Plantarum,  lib.  v.  quoted  by  M.  ne 
P  A  v  w .— Inft  inces  of  this  kind  are  frequent  in  cur  own  country.  I  have 
known  fuch  a  frort  near  the  city  of  New- York,  in  June;  and  a  fnow-ftorm 
happened  in  the  May  of  1760,  after  the  apple-trees  were  in  bloffom ;  and 
another  in  May,  1774. 

■f  Obferv.  fur  le  Levant,  par  M.  Riedefel.  Wheeler's  Travels  in  Greece, 
vol.  ii.  both  cited  by  De  Pauw,  but  neither  to  be  found  in  the  New-York 
and  Philadelphia  libraries. — The  accounts  of  thefe  gentlemen  do  not  feem  per- 
fectly to  accord  with  that  of  Mr.  Watkins,  unlefs  we  are  to  fuppofe  the  winter 
in  which  he  was  at  Athens,  unufually  moderate.  He  was  there  in  December, 
178S — when  he  fays,  M  the  feafon  which  is  particularly  fevere  at  Constantino- 
ple, is  here  cpen."  Perhaps  the  greateft  cold  happens  after  December,  at 
Athens,  as  appears  to  have  been  the  cafe  at  New- York,  for  fome  year?  paft. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


7 


rambled  about,  and  performed  their  exercise?,  nearly  naked,  in 
their  extensive  porticoes  and  public  groves.  In  the  winter,  they 
wrapped  themselves  up  in  woollens,  and  shrunk  into  their  close, 
confined,  and  heated  rooms.*  Even  their  nice  sense  of  the  graceful 
in  attire  yielded  to  the  imperious  mandates  of  the  season ;  and  the 
aftors  of  their  theatres,  as  well  as  the  spectators,  covered  themselves 
with  a  fleecy  mantle.  The  women,  alone,  with  that  pertinacious 
regard  to  external  appearance,  which  has  been  little  weakened  by 
time,  were  remarkable  for  a  light  dress,  ill-suited  to  protect,  them 
from  the  terrors  of  the  winter.  But  their  recluse  and  sedentary  lives 
did  not  so  much  expose  them  to  its  influence,  as  the  active  habits 
of  the  men,  who  monopolized,  at  the  same  time,  business  and  di- 
versions f 

To  causes  already  enumerated  it  may  doubtless  be  attributed 
that  the  principal  part  of  the  food  of  the  Athenians  consisted  of 
vegetables.};  Even  at  the  tables  of  the  rich,  their  scanty  and  mi- 
nute dishes  of  meats,  which  formed  the  first  course,  or  the  meal, 
were  soon  removed,  to  make  way  for  fruits  of  every  flavour,  the 
rich  olive,  the  delicious  grape,  and  the  honey  of  Hymettus.§  To 
the  poor  this  slender  supply  of  flesh  was  denied,  as  beyond  their 
means  to  procure;  and,  except  at  their  public  feasts,  we  may 

•  Hefiod,  in  the  Poem  before  cited,  gives  the  following  directions  for  a  win- 
ter drefs. 

"  A  winter  garment  now  demands  your  care, 

To  guard  the  body  from  the  inclement  air; 

Soft  be  the  inward  veft,  the  outward  Arong, 

And  large  to  wrap  you  warm,  down  reaching  long: 

Thin  lay  your  warp,  when  you  the  loom  prepare, 

And  dole  to  weave  the  woof  no  labour  fpare. 

The  rigour  of  the  day  a  man  defies, 

Thus  cloth'd,  nor  fees  his  hairs  like  briftles  rife. 

Next  for  your  feet  the  well-hair'd  flues  provide, 

Hairy  within,  of  a  found  ox's  hide. 

A  kid's  foft  Ikin  over  your  (houlders  throw, 

Unhurt  to  keep  you  from  the  rain  or  (now  ; 

And  for  your  head  a  well  made  covering  get, 

To  keep  your  ears  fafe  from  the  cold  and  wet." 

Works  and  Days,  v.  115. 
f  To  this  reclufe  life  of  the  Athenian  women  Hefiod  alludes  in  the  follow- 
ing lines — "  Works  and  Days,  v.  195. 

"  the  tender  maid, 

Free  and  fecure,  of  ftorms  nor  winds  afraid, 
Lives,  nurtur'd  chafte  beneath  her  mother's  eye, 
Unhurt,  unfully'd,  by  the  winter's  Iky." 
In  addition  to  De  Pauw,  confult  Voy.  du  J.  Anachar.  chap.  xx.  and  Potter's 
Grecian  Antiquities,  B.  iv.  chap.  13. 
J  Potter's  Antiquities,  B.  iv.  chap.  18. 

§  Watkins,  in  1788,  enumerates  "  rice,  dried  figs,  olives,  honey  of  Hy- 
mettus,  and  rich  milk"— among  the  delicacies  which  Athens  afforded,  to  com- 
fenfate  him  for  goat's  flelh,  few  roots,  and  bad  bread. 


9 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


presume,  they  rarely  tasted  it.  Oa  these  occasions,  indeed,  the* 
indulged  in  gluttony  and  drunkenness  without  restraint.*  Nor 
were  the  private  entertainments  of  tne  Athenians  always  more  be- 
comingly conducted.*  Women,  as  well  as  men,  at  certain  feasts 
gave  way  to  the  most  disgusting  intemperance  and  disorder;  as  if 
resolved,  at  .such  times,  to  avenge  themselves,  by  the  extent  and 
violence  of  their  debaucheries,  for  that  general  state  of  dependant 
insignificance  to  which  they  were  subjected.*  But  such  opportu- 
nities occurred,  neither  for  them  nor  for  the  people  at  large,  so 
oiten  as  to  have  any  permanent  influence  on  their  health.  Tneir 
vegetable  diet  was  mostly  persisted  in.  Roots  and  fruits  abounded 
in  the  winter;  honey  they  always  had;  and  the  dried  grape  was 
then  substituted  for  the  fresh.  Thus  a  steady  succession  of  garden 
vegetables,  of  fruits,  and  even  of  flowers,  became  essential  to  the 
Athenians;  and  a  failure  in  quantity,  or  a  defect  in  quality,  tended 
to  excite  commotions  and  insurrections  in  Athens,  as  certainly  as 
like  circumstances  in  respect  to  bread  in  Paris.  But  frugal  as  they 
were  in  time  of  peace,  in  war  they  were  obliged  to  submit  to  still 
greater  frugality,  and  a  less- agreeable  fare.  The  subsistence  of  the 
Athenian  armies  consisted  of  salted  meat,  particularly  fish,  dried 
ii  uits,  cheese,  olives,  onions,  and  an  inferior  species  of  barley. f  Nor 
were  the  poorer  citizens  or  Attica  better  provided.  Pent  up  either 
in  their  boroughs,  or  in  the  capital,  they  were  restricted,  at  once, 
from  their  accustomed  supplies,  which  the  rich  only  could  draw 
from  their  extensive  gardens :  for  the  Athenians  held  a  feeble  face 
on  the  land  side;  and  their  territory  was  frequently  left,  unde- 
fended, to  the  ravages  of  a  merciless  invader.  Nothing  could  ex- 
hibit a  more  striking  and  immediate  change  in  the  ordinary  food 
of  the  people,  than  the  preparations  for  war.  Yet,  how  great  so- 
ever were  their  sufferings,  and  though  commotions  succeeded  com- 
motions, tneir  vanity  and  ambition,  their  numerous  spectacles  at 
home,  and  their  splendid  victories  abroad,  deceived  them  of  their 
sorrows,  and  elevated  them  above  their  misfortunes. 

Domestic  slavery  existed,  in  full  force,  throughout  Greece.  In 
Attica  the  generous  temper  of  the  people  mitigated  its  severity , 
and,  if  we  except  the  wretches  who  were  doomed  to  labour  in  the 
mines,  the  slaves  were  treated  with  mildness  and  indulgence.  This 
might  be  the  more  necessary,  as  they  greatly  exceeded  their  masters 
in  number,  and  were  employed  on  ail  public  works,  and  some- 
times in  the  armies.  The  number  of  slaves  in  Attica  is  estimated 
at  400,000;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  the  citizens  of  the  Republic, 
together  with  strangers  resident  in  the  Athenian  territory,  exceed- 
ed 100.000,  including  women  and  children     The  permanent 

*  See  Voy.  cu  J.  Anachar.  chap.  25.  De  Pauw,  ft£V.  iii.  chap.  2.  Pot- 
to, B.  iv.  ch^p.  20. 

•   j-  Potter's  AiUiquitie*,  B.  iii.  chap.  4.    De  Pauw,  fe£t.  i:.  chap.  3. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  9 

houses  of  Athens  and  its  suburbs  are  computed  by  Xenophon,  to 
amount  to  10,000;  and  when  we  consider  that  most  of  them  were 
mere  cabins,  we  shall  not  think  the  residents  of  that  city  more  nu- 
merous than  50,000 :  which  is-the  estimation  of  De  Pau w.  The  re- 
mainder were  inhabitants  of  the  neigbouring  boroughs;  employed 
in  the  mines;  and  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  country.  Fifty 
thousand  people,  therefore,  may  be  supposed  to  have  steadily  re- 
sided in  Athens,  in  time  of  peace.  And  it  is  the  more  material  to 
obtain  correct  ideas  on  this  point,  as  very  important  deductions 
will  be  found  irresistibly,  to  flow  from  its  establishment. 

Tlrc  extremity  of  the  Attic  peninsula  seems  to  have  been  little 
Susceptible  of  tillage.  Its  chief  population  consisted  of  the  slaves- 
employed  in  the  silver  mines  of  Laurium,  and  the  persons  con- 
cerned in  their  superintendence.  Northward,  and  to  the  north 
of  Athens,  the  whole  country  was  covered  with  orchards  and 
vineyards.  It  was  in  the  country  that  the  wealthy  and  luxurious 
Athenians  most  delighted  to  dwell.  For  while  the  private  build- 
ings of  the  city  exhibited  an  appearance  of  meanness  and  wretch- 
edness below  that  of  our  most  miserable  frontier  towns,  every  de- 
coration that  architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  gardening,  and 
planting  would  bestow,  was  expended  on  the  villas  of  the  rich. 
As  in  European  countries,  their  plantations  oftentimes  extended 
Several  miles  irt  circumference,  while  the  poor  possessed  not  a 
foot  of  earth.  Yet  the  superior  wretchedness  of  the  city  poor,  at- 
tached the  country  people  to  their  habitations,  where  they  were 
tniversally  more  comfortably  settled,  and  led  more  tranquil, 
healthy,  and  independent  lives. 

Such  was  the  general  condition  of  Attica,  and  the  Athenian 
people:  but  the  city  of  Athens,  the  seat  of-  the  severe  calamities 
which  were  brought  upon  the  nation  by  the  Plague,  demands  a 
more  particular  consideration. 

•  The  city  of  Athens,  situated  on  the  left  side  of  the  peninsula  of 
Attica,  and  built  almost  on  the  border  of  the  Saronic  gulf,  lies  in 
north  latitude  38  deg.  5  m.  or  nearly  thai  of  Norfolk  in  Virginia. 
This  place,  afterwards1  so  celebrated,  at  first  consisted  only  of  a 
few  miserable  cabins,  erected  on  the  top  of  a  rock,  in  the  midst 
of  an  extensive  plain.  As  the  number  of  inhabitants  increased, 
the  surrounding  plain  became  settled:  the  original  citv  was  de- 
voted to  the  gods,  and  was  called  Acropolis,  or  the  Citadel;  while 
the  rest  of  the  settlement  was  denominated  the  Lower  City.  The 
Citadel  was  inclosed  in  a  proper  wall;  and  a  wall,  common  to  that 
and  to  the  lower  city,  surrounded  the  whole.  The  population  and 
commerce  of  Athens  extending,  the  city  extended  with  them;  and 
by  means  of  the  Long  Walls,  which  reached  to  the  sea,  was  made 
to  comprehend  three  harbours — the  PirseuSj  Munychia;,  and  Ph&- 
lerum. 

Fol.  I.  No.  1.  C 


iO 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  Citadel,  if  perhaps  we  except  the  ministers  and  servants  of 
the  temples,  contained  no  inhabitants.  Nor  does  it  appear  to  have 
been  visited  by  the  plague. 

The  Lower  City,  like  most  of  the  cities  of  modern  Europe,  and 
many  of  our  own,  was  settled  without  regard  to  any  plan.  Each 
person  regulated  the  position  of  his  house  by  his  own  particular 
notions  of  convenience;  and  thus,  while  in  some  quarters  the 
buildings  were  huddled  together,  in  others  large  places  were  left 
unlocated. — The  circumference  of  the  city,  or  the  space  compre- 
hended within  the  wall,  was  about  seven  miles.  This  extent  of 
territory,  though  much  more  considerable  than  was  necessary  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  proper  inhabitants,  afforded  them  little 
advantage;  for  scarcely  a  third  was  built  upon.  A  large  portion 
of  it,  the  Marshes,  was  unfit  for  use.  Some  parts  were  rocky; 
others  covered  with  groves,  and  devoted  to  particular  exercises; 
and  many  places,  the  best  adapted  for  building,  were  left  desolate. 
For,  when  any  citizen  was  convicted  of  treason,  the  laws  dirt- cted 
his  house  to  be  razed,  his  grounds  to  be  laid  waste;  and  forbade 
the  erection  of  other  buildings,  and  the  prosecution  of  further 
improvements,  on  the  places.  This  sentence,  it  is  true,  was 
sometimes  reversed  by  particular  rulers;  but,  at  the  time  now 
treated  of,  many  such  vacant  spots  were  left.  Of  these,  the  Pe* 
lasgic  was  one,  and  probably  the  most  extensive;  and  its  settle- 
ment was  specially  prohibited  by  the  Oracle. — But  a  further  reason 
for  leaving  so  much  ground  unoccupied,  was  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  country  people,  who,  in  time  of  war,  were  obliged  to 
take  refuge  within  the  walls  of  the  capital.  Here  they  erected, 
without  any  order,  their  temporary  and  wretched  huts;  leaving  their 
fields  to  be  desolated  by  their  furious  adversaries. 

Marshes  and  stagnant  water  were,  by  no  means,  confined  to  the 
city.  Much  of  the  road  to  the  harbours  was  marshy;  and  the  Ilys- 
sus  and  Cephisus  wandered  through  the  extensive  marsh  of  Phale- 
rus,  which  lay  directly  south  of  and  near  the  lower  wall,  leading  to 
the  harbour  of  that  name. 

The  northern  and  eastern  environs  of  Athens,  partook  of  the 
same  misfortune.  The  Academy,  where  the  celebrated  school  of 
Plato  was  kept,  suffered  severely,  in  consequence.  That  philoso- 
pher himself,  many  years  after  the  plague,  and  when  much  labour 
and  money  had  been  expended  to  render  the  situation  healthy,  was 
made  sick  by  the  dampness  of  the  air,  and  obliged  to  remove  to 
the  higher  country  of  Colonna.  Nor  was  the  Academy  more  salu- 
brious from  the  vicinity  of  an  extensive  burying-ground,  on  one 
side;  numbers  of  tile-kilns,  on  the  other;  and  the  rows  of  thick 
planted  trees,  (a  common  fault  in  Athens) — which  excluded  the 
sun,  and  prevented  a  free  circulation  of  the  air. — Within  the  city, 
this  was  not  the  only  obstacle  to  due  ventilation.    The  nume- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  1 1 

rous  streets  of  the  inhabited  quarters  were  narrow,  irregular,  un- 
paved,  and  worse  built  than  any  of  the  towns  in  the  United  States. 
The  public  buildings  alone  excelled  those  of  other  countries  for 
elegant  magnificence,  rendered  more  striking  by  contrast  with  the 
uniform  meanness  of  those  by  which  they  were  surrounded.  For 
it  was  the  policy  of  the  government  to  discountenance  private  ex- 
pence  in  building;  and  the  Areopagus  sat  the  example  of  this  rigid 
and  baneful  simplicity,  by  holding  their  own  assemblies  ina house 
whose  cieling  was  of  clay. — The  wealthy  fled  into  the  country, 
where  they  rioted  in  luxury  at  their  superb  villas;  but  the  regular 
citizens  were  obliged  to  submit;  while  the  poor  were  consoled  by 
constant  employment  in  constructing  and  beautifying  the  national 
edifices,  whose  splendor,  equally  shared  by  rich  and  poor,  gratified 
their  vanity  and  elevated  their  pride.  Their  own  dwellings,  in- 
deed, were  little  better  than  the  wigwams  of  our  savages;  few  of 
the  rich  had  houses  of  more  than  a  single  story;  and  where  upper 
apartments  were  added,  the  second  story  projected  into  the  street, 
and  was  ascended  to  by  stairs  on  tlje  outside.* 

The  number  of  houses  in  Athens  has  been  already  stated  at  10,000, 
exclusive  of  temples,  other  public  edifices,  and  manufactories. 
These  last  were  numerous  and  extensive.  A  whole  square  was  de- 
voted to  the  cabinet-makers;  another  to  sculptors;  and  several  to 
the  workers  in  metals. 

The  following  facts  may  serve  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  ordi- 
nary cleanliness  of  Athens. 

The  people,  it  has  been  noticed  already,  ate  but  sparingly  of 
meat.  Most  of  their  cattle  were  offered  up  as  sacrifices  to  the  gods. 
Sometimes  the  victims  were  portioned  out  among  the  assistants; 
sometimes  a  fe3St  succeeded,  when  the  limbs,  half  consumed, 
were  wantonly  thrown  about  the  streets;  sometimes  the  blood  and 
entrails  were  burnt,  and  thrown  into  a  ditch;  but  oftener  they 
were  left  undisturbed,  or  unburied,  at  the  places  of  sacrifice;  and 
this  was  so  common,  that  some  parts  of  the  town  must  have  borne 
a  near  resemblance  to  a  slaughter-house. — To  these  circumstances, 
De  Pauw,  with  great  probability, j-  ascribes  it  that  Athens  was 

*  In  many  European  towns,  and  even  in  London  fo  late  as  frje  year  1784, 
and  probably  later,  the  fame  facT;  has  been  cbferved.  In  the  narrow  ftreets 
where  this  manner  of  building  prevails,  the  tenants  of  the  lower  ftairs  never 
feel  the  fun,  or  fee  him  ihine.  Thofe  who  live  in  the  upper  rooms  can  make 
hands,  acrofs  the  ftreet,  and  from  their  front  windows. — Is  it  furprizing  that 
tUefe  places  are  rarely  free  from  low  fevers  ? 

The  prefent  town  of  Athens  is  as  badly  built  as  ever,  according  to  Mr. 
Watlcins ;  and  its  population  reduced  to  about  5000  people  ;  others  fay  10,000. 

•f-  Compare  this  with  Mr.  Brnce's  account  of  the  city  of  Gondar,  in  Abyfli- 
nia.  The  hyaenas  enter  Gondar,  in  the  night,  to  prey  on  the  remains  of 
flaughtered  animals,  which  lie  in  the  ftreet:. 


is  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

perpetually  infested  with  wolves.*  The  rewards  offered  for  tfee 
destruction  of  these  animals  were  insufficient  while  the  cause  re- 
mained; nor  are  they  extinct,  if  we  may  believe  a  modern  travel- 
ler, ^  at  this  day,  in  the  vicinity  of  Athens. 

From  the  south-western  gate  ot  Athens,  two  walls  took  their  rise ; 
the  southernmost  of  which  extended,  about  34  miles,  to  Phalerum; 
the  northernmost,  about  4  miles,  to  the  Piraeus,  between  these  two 
ports,  but  nearest  Phalerum,  lies  Munychia;  which,  by  means  of  a 
third  wall,  near  seven  miles  in  length,  conformable  to  the  windings 
of  the  margin  or  beach,  was  included  with  them.  Thus  these 
three  walls,  the  two  former  of  which  were  called  the  Long  Wall*, 
formed  a  triangle,  whose  irregular  base  was  on  the  sea,  and  its 
narrow  apex  at  the  wall  of  the  city.  The  extent  of  Athens,  if 
determined  by  the  walls  which  inclosed  as  well  the  town  as  the 
ports,  is  estimated  at  22  Attic,  or  about  17  of  our  miles. 

At  the  time  of  the  plague,  the  Piraeus  was  the  principal  port; 
though  all  three  were  in  constant  use.  Here  the  vessels  and  ships 
of  war  were  built,  victualled,  refitted,  and  stationed.  Here  all 
commodities  were  shipped  and  received  from  abroad.  These,  and 
the  borough  of  Pir#us,  which  was  situated  between  that  port  and 
Munychia,  were  the  receptacles  of  their  seamen,  of  residentiary  and 
trading  strangers,  of  manufacturers  and  artisans,  of  all  employed 
in  traffic  and  the  labours  of  the  ports,  and  of  the  many  wretches 
which  commerce  and  navigation  never  fail  to  create.  The  harbour 
and  town  of  Piraeus  were  very  populous.  Three  docks  distirv- 
guished  the  former;  and  an  extensive  portico,  composed  by  the 
union  of  five  inferior  porticoes;  two  forums,  one  near  the  sea,  and 
another  towards  the  city;  a  spacious  mart,  the  resort  of  all  the 
trading  nations;  and  a  prodigious  arsenal;  ornamented  the  latter. 
From  hence  to  Athens  was  about  four  miles,  over  a  marshy  road; 
the  width  of  which,  between  the  walls,  was  near  £  a  mile  at  Piraeus., 
end  about  50  rods  at  Athens.  60  small  and  confined  was  this  an- 
cient emporium  of  commerce;  and  when  we  recollect  the  infe- 
rior size  of  vessels  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking;  when  we 
bear  in  mind  the  assertions  of  late  travellers,  who  maintain  that  this 
port  would  not  afford  anchorage  for  fifty  modern  ships;J  when, 

*  "  She  (Gieece)  breeds  the  ravenous  wolf,  the  bear,  the  boar, 

Pernicious  monfters  I"  Fawkes'  Theocritus,  idyl.  xxv.  1.  201. 

•f  Any  one  who  brings  in  an  he-walf,  /hall  have  five  drachras,  and  for 
a  fhe-wolf,  one."  Law  of  Solon.  Potter's  Grecian  Antiquities,  vol.  i.  page 
j 67. — In  the  time  of  Xenophon,  the  hunters  alone  were  allowed  to  pafs  the 
I  :ae  of  defence,  in  time  of  war,  in  order  to  deftroy  bears  and  wolves,  which, 
wou  d  otherwife  defolate  the  country.    De  Pauw,  fe£t.  ii.  chap.  6. 

■j-  Spon.  Voyage  de  la  Greece. 

f  "  Defcription  of  the  Gulph  of  Venice  and  the  coafts  of  the  Morea,"  by 
M.  Bellin — referred  to  t>y  De  Pauw,  feet.  ii.  chap.  6. 

Watkins,  vol.  ii.  p.  279.  fays  that  Phalerum  is  "  fo  fhallow  that  a  large 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


15 


too,  ffc  -remember  the  immense  crowd  of  people  who  Eirtjally  ret- 
sorted  there  in  times  of  peace,and  the  navies  fitted  oat  by  the  Athe- 
nians, in  the  Peleponnesian  war;  we  shall  have  so:ne  idea  of  the 
confusion,  mixture,  and  miserable  accommodations  which  the  rcsi»- 
dents  of  that  quarter  submitted  to,  in  its  ordinary  state  of  popu- 
lation. 

The  Athenians  in  general,  if  we  except  the  regular  inhabitants 
of  the  town,  were  remarkably  attached  to  a  country  life.  Neither 
trie  splendid  ceremonies,  nor  the  enchanting  spectacles,  of  the  city 
possessed  sufficient  allurements  to  entice  them  from  places  where 
they  acted  without  restraint,  and  indulged  in  exercises  equally  con- 
ducive to  health  and  pleasure.  The  rich  were  more  luxurious,  and 
the  poor  better  provided  for.  This  tranquility  and  enjoyment  had 
been  interrupted  by  the  Persian  invasion;  but,  alter  the  liberties 
of  Greece  had  been  asserted  and  secured,  the  Athenians  re-settled 
their  territory ;  beautified  it  with  new  groves  and  villas;  covered  it 
with  their  wooden  huts;  and  spread  an  ample  and  luxuriant  vegeta- 
tion over  all  its  fields.  Such  was  their  situation  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Peioponnesian  war. 

Differences  had  subsisted  between  the  Spartan  and  Athenian  re- 
publics, for  a  long  time.  Negociation  had  been  ineffectually  resorted 
10,  for  their  accommodation,  till  at  length,  Athens,  by  the  per- 
suasive and  irresistible  eloquence  of  Pericles,  was  led  to  adeclaration 
of  hostilities.  The  Spartansand  their  confederates  were  powerful  by 
Sand;  the  Athenians  by  sea.  The  former  trusted  to  their  armies; 
the  latter,  to  their  fleets.  It  was  their  usual  practice  to  leave  then- 
frontiers  unguarded,  and,  at  the  alarm  of  war,  retreat  within  the 
city  and  the  walled  borouglts.  A  similar  conduct  was  recommend- 
ed to  them,  by  Pericles,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the.  present  war, 
in  the  year  431,  preceding  the  christian  era.  But,  though  they 
followed  his  advice,  from  a  conviction  of  its  propriety,  yet  never 
was  a  removal  attended  with  circumstances  more  melancholy,  and 
regrets  more  poignant.  The  people  had  just  become  comfortably 
settled,  and  the  country  beginning  to  respire,  after  the  defeat  of 
the  Persian  invaders.  These  pleasant  accommodations,  and  these 
rural  scene?,  passionately  beloved,  they  were  forced  to  relinquish, 
nnprov-dtd  with  shelter  in  the  city,  from  which  in  times  of  the 
greatest  prosperity  they  hastened  to  depart,  and  where  they  were 
pow  to  reek  their  sad  and  reluctant  refuge.  They  were  obliged, 
with  their  own  hands,  to  pull  down  their  new-built  houses,  and 
to  abandon  the  fields,  tilled  by  themselves,  to  a  merciless  and  de- 
barge  ould  not  fl.iat  in  it" — and  M'.inychia  is  in  the  same  condition.  If  ano- 
ther remark  of  this  writer  be  accurdtr,  vol.  ii.  p.  293.  that  ''  the  Coil  of 
Athens  is  fro:n  12  to  1?  teet  h  gher  than  it  orig  fially  it  will  appear  thaC 

f'ime  confn  erable  change  has  tjken  plact  in  the  capacity  of  thele  pjrts.  That 
*n  alteration  has  beei.  tif  Oed  is  evident  by  the  cin  uixi!\  \nce  of  the  channel 
bath  of  the  llyflus  and  Cephylus  beijg  dry  .  See  p.  3C4  ano  3 10  uf  the  lame  waik. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


solating  enemy.  Nay  more,  to  forsake  "  their  temples,  which, 
**  from  long  antiquity,  it  had  been  their  forefathers'  and  their  own 
"  religious  care  to  frequent;"  "  to  quite  alter  their  scene  of  life, 
"  and  each  abandon  as  it  were  his  native  home.  When  they  were 
"  come  into  the  city,  some  few  had  houses  ready  for  their  reception, 
"  or  sheltered  themselves  with  their  relations.  The  greater  part 
"  were  forced  to  6ettle  in  the  less  frequented  parts  of  the  city,  in 
"  all  the  buildings  sacred  to  the  Gcds  and  Heroes,  except  those  in 
44  the  citadel,  the  Eleusinian,  and  any  other  from  whence  they  were 
**  excluded  by  religious  awe."*  So  urgent  was  the  necessity,  that, 
contrary  to  the  express  prohibition,  as  it  was  supposed,  of  the  Py- 
thian oracle,  they  seized  upon  the  interdicted  ground  of  the  Pelasgic, 
and  erected  there  their  miserable  huts.  Set  up  wherever  space 
was  found,  in  the  utmost  disorder,  and  prest  together,  they  expe- 
rienced no  free  circulation  of  the  air;  while  their  diminutive  size 
provoked  the  sallies  of  a  sarcastic  poet,f  who  compares  them  to 
butts  or  casks.  When  the  Pelasgic  was  fully  occupied,  there  was  not 
yet  sufficient  room  for  the  new-comers.  "  The  city,"  says  Thu- 
cvdides,  "  was  not  able  to  receive  so  large  a  conflux  of  people." 
"  Many  were  forced  to  lodge  in  the  turrets  of  the  walls,  or  wherever 
"  they  could  find  a  vacant  corner."  "  Afterwards  the  Long  Walls, 
"  and  a  great  part  of  the  Piraeus,}  were  portioned  out  to  them,  for 
"  little  dwellings."  "  Some,"  he  remarks  in  another  place,  "  had 
*'  no  houses,  but  dwelled  in  booths,  where  there  was  scarce  room 
M  to  breathe."  "  At  the  same  time,  they  (the  Athenians)  were 
"  busied  in  the  military  preparations,  and  fitting  out  (at  this  very 
*'  Piraeus)  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  ships,  to  infest  Peloponnesus.'' 
This  was  in  the  spring  of  the  year  43 1 ;  the  flocks  and  labouring 
cattle  had  been  previously  sent  over  into  Eubea,  and  the  neigh- 
bouring islands;  and  the  harvest  was  left  standing.  By  this  remo- 
val, the  population  of  Athens  was  augmented  from  50  to  more 
than  400,000;  all  supplies  of  fresh  meats  were  at  an  end;  the  city 
was  in  a  state  of  blockade,  dependent  for  its  vegetable  nutriment 
on  the  importations  and  hoards  of  the  preceding  year,  and  the 
scanty  product  of  the  fields  in  its  immediate  vicinity. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  Attica  and  the  capital,  when,  "  in 
*'  the  height  of  summer,  and  when  the  harvest  was  ripe,"  the 
Spartans  and  their  confederates  broke  into  the  Athenian  territory, 
end  laid  it  waste  even  to  the  walls  of  Acharna;§  which  they  closely 

*  Thucydides,  B.  ii.  Smith's  Tranflation. 
•f-  Ariftophanes. 

j  i.  e.  The  ftreets,  market-places,  porticoes,  Sec.  of  this  borough,  were 
partitioned  off,  into  little  rooms,  for  the  families  from  the  country. 

§  Acharna  was  about  fix  ofour  miles  from  Athens ;  and  contained,  at  this 
time,  3C00  fighting  men.  Befide  this,  theie  were  feveral  fmaller  towns,  alfo 
garrifoned,  and  in  the  fame  condition  as  Athens  and  Acharna,  in  refpeel 
to  fupplies. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  15 

besieged.  But  the  southern  extremity,  and  most  barren  part  of  the 
Attic  peninsula,  protected  by  the  fleet,  escaped  this  year.  Thus 
were  the  principal  supplies  of  Athens,  for  the  ensuing  year,  totally 
destroyed.  Nor  were  the  people  shut  up  within  its  walls,  insensible 
to  this  calamity.  A  scene  like  this  they  had  never  witnessed  be- 
fore; and  its  horrors  were  magnified  by  their  apprehensions  of 
famine;  by  their  grief  on  quitting  their  fields  and  dwellings;  by 
their  resentment  against  the  actors  in  it;  and  all  were  heightened 
by  the  earnest  entreaties  of  the  Acharnians,  to  sally  out,  and  repulse 
the  enemy.  Commotions  and  insurrections  followed;  the  courage 
and  conduct  of  Pericles  were  loudly  arraigned;  and  it  required  the 
utmost  efforts  of  his  address  and  eloquence,  and  the  full  weight  of 
his  popularity,  to  restrain  the  disaffected. 

When  the  Peloponnesians  had  withdrawn  from  Attica,  the  Athe- 
nians, as  ?f  it  were  to  leave  no  possibility  of  supplies,  for  themselves 
or  others,  on  the  north  of  Athens,  marched  into  the  adjacent  coun- 
try of  Megara,  and  subjected  it  to  similar  devastations. 

Those  who  remember  the  desolation  effected  under  the  orders 
of  the  celebrated  Marshall  Turenne,  or  the  more  recent  horrors  of 
the  Vendee,  will  have  some  suitable  notion  of  the  condition  in 
which  Attica  was  left  by  the  Peloponnesians.  Neither  fire,  nor 
sword,  was  left  unemployed,  in  this  terrible  war  against  the  harm- 
less earth;  vines  and  fruit- trees  were  wholly  destroyed;  the  govern- 
ment of  Sparta  encouraged  its  rapacious  soldiery;  and  "  nothing 
was  left  to  the  vanquished  but  their  temples  and  their  tombs."* 

The  Athenians  past  the  first  winter  of  the  war,  pent  up  within 
their  city,  discontented,  and  unhappy;  in  part,  supported  by  their 
naval  strength,  and  cherishing  the  vain  hope  that  their  enemies 
would  not  renew  their  depredations;  or,  at  least,  not  to  the  same 
degree. 

Early  in  the  ensuing  spring  (of  430,  A.  C.)  the  Peloponnesians 
made  a  fresh  incursion.  Whatever  had  escaped  before,  or  had 
since  grown  up,  on  the  north  and  west  of  Athens,  was  now  utterly 
laid  waste.  They  were  busied  in  this  work,  when  the  Plague, 
about  the  last  of  April  or  beginning  of  May,  suddenly  appeared 
in  the  Piraeus ;  and  afterwards,  during  the  same  summer,  extended 
over  the  whole  city. — The  Peloponnesians,  having  completed 
their  ravages  in  all  the  Attic  territory,  above  Athens,  fell  upon 
the  soudiern  parts  of  the  peninsula,  and  rendered  them  equally 
desolate.  Thus,  to  use  the  words  of  Thucydides,  "  they  made 
the  whole  country  one  continued  devastation." — If  the  Athenians 
who  had  removed  into  the  city  were  before  afflicted,  all  their  sor- 
rows were  now  redoubled.     Nor  could  the  talents  of  Pericles, 

*  Scholiaft  of  Demofthenes,  on  the  "  Difcourfs  againlt  Timocrates,"  quoted 
by  De  P<iuw,  fe£t.  i.  chap.  8. 


45  UM&SSMS,  REFOSTTdPtV. 

which  prevailed  upon  them  to  continue,  and  which  dke&ed  thi? 
efforts  of  the  war,  re-3nim,ite  their  spirits  amid  such  unexpected 
calamities.— "  The  poor  citizens  who  had  but  little,  could  not 
bear,  with  patience,  the  loss  of  that  little.  The  rich  and  the  great 
regretted  the  loss  of  their  estates-,  with  their  country -seats,  and 
Splendid  furniture.*'* 

Meantimcj  the  plagus continued  to  extend;  and  prevailed,  with 
great  mortality,  the  wholes  of  the  years  430  and  429.  However, 
in  the  iast  of  these  years,,  the  country  respired  a  little.  Tne  ene- 
my made  no  ravages,  and  Athens  had  opportunity  to  gather  in  her 
vegetable  harvest.  This  was  followed  by  an  abatement  of  the 
plague,  during  the  following  year,  428. — >In  the  snmmer  Of  that 
year,  and  "  when  the  corn  was  full-grown,"  the  Pelopcnnesiarra 
entered  Attica.  But  the  Athenian  horse  and  light  troop3  kept 
them  off;  and,  by  means  of  repeated  skirmishes,  defended  and  pro- 
tected "  the  parts  adjacent  to  the  city."  This  allowed  the  people 
to  gather  a  second,  but  more  scanty  harvest;  and  they  past  the 
succeeding  summer,  with  a  further  exemption  from  the  plague; 
which,  however,  had  at  no  time  deserted  them.f  But,  in  the  au-» 
tumn  of  427,  and  about  the  equinox, -j1  it  broke  out  afresh,  and 
with  augmented  violence.  As  a  precursor  to  this  severe  calamity, 
their  enemies,  the  preceding  summer,  had  renewed  their  depreda- 
tions, with  such  success  as-  to  be  necessitated  to  retire  from  the 
At  irnian  territory,  for  want  of  forage  for  their  horses. — -The  year 
ensuing,  (426)  the  plague  raged  with  unexampled  fury  and  mor- 
tality. But  this  was  the  limit  of  its  power.  Causes,  hereafter  to 
be  investigated,  operated  to  deliver  them  from  its  dominion;  and 
the  incursions  of  their  hostile  neighbours  now  ceasing,  health  was 
sestored  to  Athens-. 

The  relation  apparently  subsisting  between  the  plague  of  Athene, 
and  the  state  of  the  citizens,  in  respect  of  vegetable  supplies,  is  too 
curious  and  important  to  be  lightly  passed  over;  and  wiil  be  best 
exhibited  by  the  following  table,  for  the  introdudaon  of  which  it 
seems  unnecessary  to  offer  an  apology. 
Attica  ravaged^  and  the  vegetable  supplies  cut  off,  in 

the  summer  of  431,  A.  C 

The  plague  breaks  out  in  the  spring  of  430 
The  ravages  renewed  and  extended,  in  the  summer  of  430 
The  plague  at  its  height  m  42^ 
lib  devastations-  ki-  429 

*  Thuc»d'rdes,  B.  ii. 

\  The  New- York  (ever  of  1795,  though  it  commenced  the  lsft  of  Ju!y  ;bat 
year,  was  neariy  extin£t  on  the  fourth  of  September  j  but  revived  about  the 
Ijih,  and  increafed  in  mortality  till  the  middle  of  October.  The  greatcft 
(•Morality  01  tir.e-  fever  of  Philadelphia,  in  1793,  vfxs  in  Gftober  j  nor  did  the 

winter  entirely  bani/h  all  fyreptouas  of  the  dilcaiC. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


No  plague — or  but  very  little,  in  428 
Depredations  in  the  latter  part  of  the  summer,  but 

not  so  extensive  as  formerly,  in  428 
The  plague  holds  off  all  summer,  but  recurs  in  au- 
tumn 427 
The  ravages  more  extensive  than  ever,  in  427 
The  plague  worse  than  ever,  in  426 
Tempestuous  season,  vcc.  obliges  the  Peloponnesians 

to  retire,  without  committing  any  depredations,  in  426 

No  recurrence  of  the  plague  either  in  425 

or  after. — The  Peloponnesians  were  in  Attica  but  fifteen  days 
this  year,  (425)  in  which  time  they  had  opportunity  to  Inficl 
very  little  injury  on  the  country. 


SECTION  II. 

THE  preceding  narration  of  facts  h?s  prepared  the  way  for  the 
discussion  of  a  question  in  relation  to  the  disease  under  considered 
tion,  which  has  always  given  rise  to  great  variety  of  opinion,  and 
been  deemed  of  much  importance,  in  the  history  of  Epidemics — 
Whether  .the  Plague  was  imported,  or  of  local  origin?  As  no  cer- 
tain evidence  is  left  to  us  by  the  ancients,  on  this  interesting  pohitj 
we  are  necessitated  to  have  recourse  to  the  exercise  of  our  own 
judgments;  on  a  comparison  of  all  the  circumstances  connected 
with  this  memorable  calamity.  It,  indeed,  appears,  from  Thucy- 
tlides,'  that  a  report  prevailed  in  his  time,  that  the  Plague  origin- 
ated in  Africa,  and  was  imported  into  Athens.  But,  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  report  is  noticed  by  the  historian,  it  may  be  in- 
ferred that  he  thought  it  entitled  to  very  little  credit;  for  he  de- 
clares that  the  disorder  fell  suddenly  on  the  people  of  the  Piraeus, 
so  that  it  "  occasioned  a  report  that  the  Peloponnesians  had  caused 
poison  to  be  thrown  into  the  wells;"  and  he  calls  upon  "  every 
one,  physician,  or  not,  freely  to  declare  his  own  sentiments  about 
it,  and  to  assign  any  credible  account  of  its  rise,  &c.".*  Great 
Stress,  it  is  true,  is  not  to  be  laid  on  an  argument  like  this;  it  is 
sufficient,  however,  to  counteract  the  absurd  dogmatism  of  later 
writers,  who  have  not  hesitated  to  represent  the  disease  as  propa- 
gated from  imported  contagion. — Medicine,  at  this  period,  had 
scarcelydisencumbered  herself  of  her  swaddlingclothes;  and  though 
no  person  will  venture  to  question  the  sagacity  of  the  Athenians, 
and  the  peculiar  talents  of  Thucydides  for  observation,  neither  bis 
countrymen,  nor  himself,  can  fairly  be  supposed  to  have  examined 

*  Smith's  Thucydides,  B.  ii. 


Vol.  I.  No.  1. 


D 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


this  subject  with  philosophical  precision.  The  method  least  hable 
to  rational  objection  will  be,  carefully  to  enumerate  all  the  ch  cum~ 
stances  connecled  with  this  memorable  calamity. — To  this  enumera- 
tion, therefore,  we  shall  immediately  attend. 

1.  The  condition  of  the  city  of  Athens,  in  its  ordinary  state, 
was  favourable  to  the  generation  and  continuance  of  rebrile  diseases, 
in  their  season. 

2.  The  people  of  the  town,  as  well  as  of  the  country,  were  ac- 
customed to  a  vegetable  diet,  and  to  much  and  free  exercise. 

3.  The  population  of  Athens,  in  common,  was  small  in  pro- 
portion to  its  extent. 

4.  Its  population,  during  the  first  years  of  the  Peloponnesian 
war,  was  increased  beyond  all  capacity  of  the  place  for  accommo- 
dation. 

5.  The  country  people,  especially,  underwent  a  remarkable 
change  of  air,  lodging,  diet,  and  mode  of  life. 

6.  Exercise  was,  in  great  measure,  denied  to  all ;  few  were  pro- 
vided, in  any  considerable  degree,  with  fresh  provisions;  all,  pro- 
bably, had  salt  meats;  all  were  disheartened;  most  of  them  were 
without  employment,  and  idle. 

7.  The  plague  first  appeared  in  that  part  of  the  city  where  there 
was  the  least  cleanliness;  the  least  ventilation;  the  worst  accom- 
modations of  all  sorts;  and  where  the  people  were  the  poorest  of 
the  country  poor. 

8.  In  this  part  of  the  town  it  broke  out  all  at  once,  or  "  fell 
suddenly,"  to  use  the  words  of  Thucydides;  and  thence,  gradually 
extended  to  the  better  settled,  and  more  healthy  parts  of  the  city. 
It  was  longest  in  reaching  or  appearing  in  the  neighbouring  coun- 
try towns  of  Attica,  which  were,  like  Athens,  in  a  state  of  siege 
or  blockade. 

9.  It  commenced  in  the  sultry  season  of  the  year;  after  people 
had  passed  a  year  in  this  new  and  wretched  situation,  opprest  in 
mind,  and  harrassed  in  body;  and  as  soon  as  the  summer  sun  came 
to  operate  on  the  collected  filth  of  winter. 

10.  Those  who  came  into  the  town,  from  the  country,  suffered 
most ;  and  the  poor  more  than  the  rich;  and  this  in  proportion 
as  they  were  badly  lodged  and  provided  for. 

11.  Like  other  epidemical  diseases,  the  plague  of  Athens  con- 
verted every  other  complaint  into  itself,  or  banished  it,  during  its 
own  continuance. 

12.  It  was  fatal  to  domestic  animals,  as  well  as  to  men;  and 
birds,  and  all  wild  animals,  shunned  the  city  during  its  prevalence. 

1 3.  It  affected  the  Athenians  only,  when  carried  by  their  troops 
into  other  countries;  and  was  never  propagated  into  any  other 
State  than  theirs— not  even  the  contiguous  towns  of  Peloponnesus 


MEDICAL  REPOSITOPvY. 


«9 


and  Boeotia — notwithstanding  the  numerous  encounters  between 
the  hostile  nations. 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  430  A.  C.  when  the  plague  first 
arose,  the  Athenians  were  fitting  out  a  fleet,  to  commit  depreda- 
tions on  the  coast  of  Peloponnesus.  This  armament  landed  at 
Epidaurus,  and  expected  to  take  the  city;  but  the  plague  raged 
a,oioiig  the  iroops,  destroyed  numbers  of  them,  and  they  were 
obliged  to  return  without  having  effected  their  purpose.  Plu- 
tarch* says  that  ihey  communicated  the  disease  to  all  who  had  in- 
tercourse with  them.  Byihis  he  may  mean  to  all  their  allies. — 
The  total  silence  of  Thucydides,  a  cotemporary  writer,  on  this 
point,  would  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  believing  this  statement  to 
be  inaccurate,  even  if  he  had  not,  elsewhere,f  expressly  mentioned 
that  the  plague  was  never  propagated  to  Peloponnesus. 

The  same  summer,  the  Athenians  sent  a  reinforcement  to  their 
army  which  was  carrying  on  the  siege  of  Potidea,  a  town  of  Chal- 
cidica,  lying  on  the  gulf  of  Therma.  The  reinforcement  amount- 
ed to  4000  men ;  and  they  found  the  troops  before  Potidea  healthy. 
This  did  not  long  continue.  They  fell  sick  themselves;  com- 
municated the  pestilence  to  :he  others;  and  returned,  after  a  stay 
of  forty  days,  having,  in  that  time,  lost  1050  of  their  number. 
Yet  the  pld  troops  continued  the  siege,  and  afterwards  took  the 
place;  and  the  Potideans  were  never  affected  by  the  disease.^ 

14.  The  condition  of  the  skin,  mouth,  &c.  (hereafter  to  be 
more  particularly  noticed,)  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  that 
state  of  the  same  parts  which  occurs  in  scurvy;  a  disease  univer- 
sally attributed  to  confinement,  bad  air,  and  want  of  fresh  provi- 
sions^ 

15.  There  was  always  a  decline  cf  the  plague,  when  the  har- 
vest of  the  preceding  year  was  spared;  and  the  plague  returned, 
when  the  harvest  of  the  preceding  year  was  destroyed. 

The  second  great  prevalence  of  the  plague  did  not  commence 
till  after  the  middle  of  September;  when  the  ordinary  causes  of 
fever  are  most  accumulated;  when  the  scanty  supplies  of  the  pre- 
ceding year  may  be  supposed  to  haye  been  consumed ;  and  when 

*  Article— Pericles. 

•f  Smith's  Thucydides,  B.  ii. 

J  Neither  the  Philadelphia  fever  of  1793,  nor  New- York  fever  of  1795, 
\vere  communicated  to  other  places.  The  citizens  of  both  places  were,  in  nu- 
merous inftances,  feized  with  the  fever,  after  leaving  ihofe  cities  ;  but  their 
country  attendants  efcaped. — The  Philadelphia  fever  appears  to  have  been  con- 
tagious— i.  e.  communicable  by  one  to  another,  from  contadt,  &c.  The  New- 
York  fever,  on  the  contrary,  was  rarely,  or  never,  fo  communicated. 

§  It  is  worthy  an  attentive  investigation,  whether  the  peculiar  ulcers,  buboes, 
carbuncles,  &c.  of  the  plague,  which  render  it  worfe  than  our  yellow  fever,  do 
jiot  depend  on  falted  meats,  other  defects  in  diet,  and  fuch  circumftances,  ge- 
nerally, at  are  known  to  occafion  fcurvy. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


those  for  the  year  succeeding,  which  should  then  have  been  gather- 
ed in,  were  cut  off.* 

1 6.  The  plague  did  not  cease  till  after  the  incursions  of  the 
Peloponnesians  were  given  over.  But  the  consideration  of  the 
causes  of  its  disappearance  will  be  deferred  for  the  conclusion  of 
this  section. 

if.  The  Athenians,  themselves,  accused  Pericles  of  having 
caused  the  plague,  by  bringing  so  vast  a  number  of  people  into 
the  city,  who  were  ill-provided  with  lodgings,  and  lived  in  idle- 
ness, infecting  the  air,  and  poisoning  one  another,  f 

18.  A  further  indication  of  the  sentiments  of  the  Athenians,  con- 
cerning the  source  of  their  pestilence,  may  be  perceived  in  the  fol- 
lowing fact.  After  the  war,  they  constituted  five  distinct  places, 
in  separate  Cantons,  asylums  for  the  country  people,  in  times  of 
invasion;  nor  have  we  any  certain  account  of  any  future  plague 
infesting  their  city  4 

A  due  consideration  of  the  facts  just  enumerated  can  hardly  fail 
to  impress  the  mind  of  the  reader  with  entire  conviction  of  the 
domestic  origin  of  the  Athenian  plague.  Nor  should  we  want 
medical  authority  to  countenance  us  in  the  belief,  if  opinions 
could  be  admitted  as  confirmation.  Yet,  to  pass  by  those  of  many 
living  physicians  of  deserved  reputation,  who  might  be  supposed 
improperly  biassed  in  their  decision  on  this  question;  and  not  to 
insist  on  the  pointed  declaration  of  the  illustrious  Haller^  who  con- 
siders the  plague  of  Athens  as  an  ordinary  contagious  fever,  of 
local  origin  ;§  it  may  not  be  impertinent  to  quote  the  words  of  the 
sagacious  and  learned  De  Pauw;  whose  opinion  may  be  the  more 
relied  upon,  as  that  elegant  writer,  net  being  a  physician,  was  un- 
likely to  be  influenced  by  the  prejudices  so  liberally  ascribed  to 
professional  writers.  After  asserting  the  domestic  origin  of  the 
plague,  and  noticing  the  sentiments  of  Haller  on  this  point,  he 
says,  "  To  seek  in  Ethiopia  the  origin  of  a  disorder,  so  evidently 
M  arising  from  multitudes  of  men  heaped  and  pressed  together, 
"  would  be  absurd ;  especially  as  its  influence  did  not  extend  be- 
<!  yond  the  walls  of  Athens,  and  was  totally  unknown  in  everv 
"  other  part  of  Greece.    Similar  effects  would  be  now  produced 

*  How  far  may  hab:t  be  confidered  as  influential  in  this  cafe  ?  The  plague 
originally  broke  out  in  the  firft  of  fumtier:  could  the  people  have  become  fo 
habituated  to  their  fituation  as  to  require  the  accumulation  of  all  the  oidinary, 
as  v  eil  as  the  extraordinary  caufes  of  fever,  to  the  renewal  of  the  difeafe  ? 

-f-  See  Plutarch — Life  of  Pericles,  near  the  end. 

+  London  has  never  been  affiled  by  any  extenfive  peftilence  fince  the  town 
was  rebuilt,  the  ftreets  widened,  and  finks  and  water-clofets  provided.  The 
Jow  fevers  of  th*t  city  are  mofirly  confined  to  the  poor,  and  to  fuch  as  refjde  in 
the  old,  narrow  and  dirty  ftreets ;  which,  have  derived  little  benefit  from  modr:.- 
improvements. 

§  Biblioth.  Med.  Prae,  < 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


H  in  any  (own  where  the  particles  of  the  atmosphere  are  entirely 
"  changed,  by  being  charged  with  different  noxious  effluvia,  as 
"  frequently  happens  in  fleets,  or  among  armies  encamped  in  too 
<!  close  order."* 

Thus  the  sentiments  of  men  not  to  be  suspected  of  being  any  way 
warped  by  recent  occurrences  and  discussions,  are  found  to  coun- 
tenance the  inferences  ventured  to  be  deduced,  in  this  Essay,  from 
ah  examination  of  facls  relative  to  the  Attic  pestilence.  But  it  is 
time  to  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  tm  disease  itself. 

In  the  following  account  of  the  symptoms  of  the  plague  of  Athens, 
the  authority  of  Thucydides  is  principally  relied  on.  He  was  a 
cotemporary  writer,  resided  in  Athens  at  the  time,  and  was  himself 
afflicted  with  the  disorder.  His  rehticn  is  rather  that  of  an  his- 
torian than  of  a  physician ;  for  he  purposely  avoids  noticing  par- 
ticular symptoms,  though  he  gives  us  reason  to  believe  that  a  great 
variety  was  observable  i:i  individual  cases.  Beside  Thucydides, 
we  have  no  original  author  on  this  epidemic.  The  cases  left  us  by 
Hippocrates,  if  indeed  written  by  him,  must  relate  to  some  later 
plague,  and  in  some  other  place.  All  the  documents  to  establish 
the  reality  of  his  presence  at  Athens  at  the  time  we  are  treating  of, 
are  manifestly  supposititious  f  Nor  is  more  credit  due  to  the  de- 
scription of  Lucretiu9;t  though  arrayed  in  all  the  transcendent 
tharms  of  eloquence  and  poetry.  He  has  done  little  more  than 
versify  Thucydides;  interweaving  with  the  words  of  the  his- 

•  De  Pauw,  fed*.  li.  chap.  6. 

•f  On  this  fubjedr.  confuk  Meed's  Work;,  p.  210.  Edit.  IJ;n!>.  8vo.  Athe- 
nian Letters,  Letter  316.  by  Dr.  Keberder.,  who,  in  a  profeffed  account  of  Hip- 
pocrates, it  totally  filent  as  to  his  fabled  journey  to  Athens,  2:<d  his  equally 
fabulous  exploits  there,  during  this  piague  ;  but  particularly  "  Hifloire  de  la 
Medicine,  &c.  par  Daniel  Le  Clerc,"  printed  at  Amfterdam,  1702,  4to.  chap. 
xxx'\.  p.  232.  where  the  authenticity  of  the  papers  referred  to  is  examined  at 
great  length,  and  completely  difproved.  Indeed,  the  total  filence  of  Thucy- 
dides in  refpect  to  Hippocrates'  being  at  Athens,  and  his  exprefs  declaration 
that  *'  all  human  art  was  totally  unavailing,"  fterr.s  fufficient  proof  that  the 
papers  called  Tb  f£«7i**  by  Foefius,  in  his  edition  of  Hippocrates,  are  a  fabri- 
cation by  later  hands. 

The  reader  whe  may  be  curious  to  examine  w!i2t  Hippocrates  has  left  con- 
cerning the  plague,  is  referred  to  his  treatife  intituled  nZ'i  tTriJriftiwi',  or  Epi- 
demics, Book  iii.  feci.  3.  p.  166.  Edit.  Foes,  he  will  there  find  a  hiftory  of 
what  Hippocrates  confiders  a  peitilcntial  constitution,  or  condition  of  the  atmof- 
phere,  generating  plague ,  followed  by  fome  account  of  the  fymptoms,  &c.  of  the 
difeafe,  and  a  statement,  more  or  lefs  minute,  of  fixteen  caies.  Tliefe  cafes 
differ,  in  many  ftriking  particulars,  as  to  the  fymptcms,  duration,  and  event 
ef  the  difeafe;  of  which  the  hiftorian  appears  to  ha\e  been  no  more  than  a 
looker-on.  They  are  without  date,  either  of  place  or  year;  and  how  ufeful 
foever  they  might  be  to  a  writer  who  mould  treat,  generally,  on  the  plague, 
deferve  no  confiJeration  in  relation  to  the  fubjeft  <<f  the  prefent  efTay. 

J  Dz  Ribiim  NatiIIia,  Lib.  vi.  p.  254.  Edit.  Earbou,  (1754)  ver.  19. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


torian,  some  scattered  passages  from  the  Prognostics  and  Epidemics 
of  Hippocrates, and  superadding  the  wonderful  embellishments  of 
an  ardent  and  vigorous  imagination. 

In  the  arrangement  of  symptoms,  the  order  of  Thucydides  is 
not  adhered  to;  both  because,  his  account  being  historical,  the 
method  is  not  perfectly  adapted  to  convey  a  connected  exhibition 
of  the  disease,  and  because  the  variation  now  made  will  better  ena- 
ble the  reader  to  compare  the  Athenian  pestilence  with  those  of 
Philadelphia  in  1793,  and  New-York  in  1795;  the  arrangement 
being  nearly  that  ot  Dr.  Rush,  in  his  account  of  the  former,  and 
corresponding  with  the  method  punned  in  the  letters  to  Dr.  Buel> 
on  the  latter.* 


THE  fore  part  of  the  year  430  A.  C.  was  remarkably  healthy; 
but  whatever  diseases  existed  at  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the 
Plague,  were  either  banished  by  it,  or  assumed  its  livery.  This 
disease  broke  forth  suddenly.  Its  attack  was,  generally,  sudden ; 
commencing  without  any  previous  illness,  or  apparent  cause.  It 
began  with  violent  head-ach,  inflammationand  fiery  redness  of  the 
eyes;  soon  succeeded  by  inflammation  of  the  throat,  difficult  respi- 
ration, and  offensive  breath.  A  sneezing  and  hoarseness  followed, 
with  cough  and  other  pulmonary  affect  ions.  But  the  progress  and 
nature  of  the  disorder  will  be  more  clearly  comprehended,  from 
the  following  disposition  of  the  particular  symptoms. 

I.  Thucydides  has  left  us  no  observations  to  lead  us  to  any  mi- 
nute information  of  the  peculiar  state  of  the  Blood-iessels.  Lu- 
cretius says  there  was  hemorrhagy  from  the  gums,  fauces,  and  even 
the  tongue;  from  all  which  a  dark-coloured  blood  oozed. 

II.  Thucydides  and  Lucretius  agree  in  describing  the  breast  as 
severely  affected.  The  former  tells  us  that  "  the  malady  soon  de- 
"  scended  to  the  breast,  with  a  violent  cough."f 

All  had  hoarseness,  extremely  difficult  respiration,  and  offensive 
breath.  "  A  greet  part,"  says  Thucydides,  "  of  the  infected  were 
"  subject  to  such  violent  hiccups,  without  any  discharge,  as  brought 
"  upon  them  a  strong  convulsion,  to  some  of  short,  to  others  of  a 
"  very  long  continuance. "+ 

«  See  Mr.  Webfter's  Colleftion,  &c. 

\  Lucretius  fays  the  heart  was  affected.  But  the  word  cob  ,  in  thisplace,  is 
intended  to  fignify  the  stomach;  and  in  this  he  coincides  with  Thucydides. 
See  annotations  annexed  to  Creech's  Verfion  of  Lucretius,  note  on  line  1 114. 

t  From  the  words  "  without  any  difcharge,"  one  might  fuppcfe  that  the 
fommon  hiccup,  noticed  in  fevers,  is  not  ail  that  was  meant  l>y  Thucydides.  I 
ebferved  in  the  New.  York  fever  of  1 ,  95,  a  mingled  hiccuping  and  belching  ;  and 
there  fometitnes  occurs  in  difpeptic  cafes  a  kind  of  belching  with  violent  fpaf- 
mod'ic  motions  of  the  ftomach,  not  readily  diifinguiftcd,  by  the  inexperienced 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  brain  was  remarkably  diseased,  during  the  whole  of  the 
sickness.  Violent  head-ach,  and  inflamed  eyes,  were  among  the 
first  symptoms  by  which  the  disease  manifested  itself.  A  morbid 
wakefulness  "  never  abated  lor  a  moment,"  which  cannot  be 
attributed  solely  to  the  extreme  restlessness  of  the  sick.* 

III.  The  whole  alimentary  canal  was  greatly  deranged.  The 
threat  and  tongue  were  inflamed  ;f  and  vomiting  of  bilious  matter 
was  general,  "  with  excessive  torture."  When  the  sick  out-lived 
the  usual  period  of  seven  or  nine  days,  the  disease  fell  upon  the 
bowels,  which  became  "  violently  ulcerated;"  and  the  ulcerations 
"  were  accompanied  with  an  incessant  flux,  by  which  many,  re- 
*'  duced  to  an  excessive  weakness,  were  carried  off." 

IV.  The  Secretions  and  Excretions,  in  the  plague,  were  much 
increased;  particularly  from  the  intestinal  canal.  But,  notwith- 
standing what  Thucydides  observes  of  "  discharges  of  bile"  in 
vomiting,  there  seems  no  more  reason  for  supposing  any  remark- 
able secretion  of  that  fluid,  in  this  disease,  than  in  our  fevers;  in 
which  it  is  generally  thought  to  be  augmented:  perhaps  without 
sufficient  reason.  On  the  nature  of  the  alvine  discharges,  Thucy- 

cbferver,  from  hiccups.  The  hiccup  is  commonly  accounted  one  of  the  mod 
unfavourable  fymptoms,  and  does  not  often  appear,  in  our  fevers,  till  the  clofe 
of  the  difeafc  But  the  hiccup  of  the  Athenians  feems  to  have  been  of  early 
occurrence,  and  extreme  violence;  nor  is  it  noted  as  particularly  fatal ;  but  of 
nearly  univerfal  experience.  Convulfions  are  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  Athe- 
nian plague.  Violent  cramp  of  the  extremities,  with  pains  of  the  bowels  like 
rhofe  of  Colica  Pictonum,  often  occur  in  Yellow  Fever;  and  I  have,  my- 
felf,  obferved  a  true,  but  irregular  Trismus,  in  that  complaint,  not  entirely 
difappearing  for  fever«l  days. 

•  When  they  patted  over  the  firft  7,  8,  or  9  days,  which  may  be  confidered 
as  the  firft  (lage  of  the  diforder,  Lucretius  informs  us  that  it  took  another  turn, 
and  fometimea  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  pain  of  the  head,  with  a  profufe  dif- 
charge  of  corrupted  biood  from  the  noftrils.  Of  this,  however,  Thucydides 
fays  nothing.  Were  it  adnrjlted  as  faft,  it  would  fcem  that,  in  thefe  cafes, 
the  brain  was  principally  affefted  ;  and  would  therein  offer  another  refemblance 
to  our  fevers. 

In  a  girl,  who  had  (he  yellow  fever,  the  fummer  of  1796,  the  greateft  vio- 
lence of  the  difeafe  was  expanded  on  the  brain  ;  which  continued  much  diforderei 
for  ii  or  14  days.  The  difappearance  of  the  coma  was  attended  by  a  dark 
difcharge  from  her  ears,  one  eye,  and  efpecially  both  noftrils.  The  difcharge: 
continued  fome  days,  gradually  becoming  light-coloured. 

\  The  trjnflator  of  Thucydides  renders  the  words  on  which  this  remark  is 
founded,  viz.  Kot»  to.  sxToc,  "rjTi  Ipa^vy^,  xstl  q  •y'Kuaca.  tt/uu;  ai/-ca1«i5»)  %t. 
— "  Within,  the  throat  and  tongue  began  inftantly  to  be  red  as  blood."— 
But  the  annotator  on  Creech's  verfion  of  Lucretius  tranflates  the  paffage  more 
correftly — "  And  inwardly  their  throats  and  tongues  grew  prefently  bloody." 
This  difference  is  not  material  here  ;  but  it  illuftrates,  confirms,  and  mews 
the  origin  of  the  remark  of  Lucretiu3,  noticed  under  the  firft  divifion  in  this 
arrangement  of  fymptoms. 


£4  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

dides  furnishes  us  with  no  remarks.  The  experience  of  most  phy- 
sicians wili  supply  this  defect,  without  recurring  to  the  authority 
of  Lucretius,  who  describes  them  as  black,  feetici,  and  corrupt.— 
Nor  may  we  place  more  confidence  in  his  account  of  thin,  salt, 
sparing,  and  saffron-coloured  sjiuta,  minutely  copied  from  the 
Prognostics  of  Hippocrates. 

The  smezing,  noticed  among  the  first  symptoms  of  the  disease, 
was  probably  accompanied  witn  the  usual  increased  discharge  from 
the  nostrils. 

V.  The  hiccup,  convulsions  and  morbid  wakefulness,  already- 
mentioned,  indicate  the  diseased  condition  of  the  Nervous  System. 

Thucydides  enlarges,  with  consummate  eloquence,  on  the  ter- 
rible influence  which  this  calamity  exercised  over  the  minds  of 
his  countrymen.  As  no  treatment  afforded  any  certain  relief,  and 
as  the  disease  spared  neither  age  nor  sex,  few  dared  to  yield  assist- 
ance to  tneir  friends ;  and  when  some  generous  spirits  flew  to  the 
relief  of  others,  it  was  in  a  fit  of  despair,  with  the  expectation,  or 
determination,  of  sharing  their  fate. — A  dubious  and  destructive 
.war  agitated  the  minds  of  all.  Pent  up  within  their  walls,  desti- 
tute of  employment,  they  saw  their  friends  perishing  around  them, 
and  a  merciless  enemy  laying  waste  their  territory,  and  threaten- 
ing them  with  famine. — The  melancholy  emigrants  from  the 
country  beheld  their  possessions  desolated,  their  houses  devoted 
to  the  riames,  and  themselves  menaced  with  utter  extirpation ;  while 
.neither  the  consolations  of  affection,  the  prospect  ot  speedy  suc- 
cour, nor  the  comforts  of  food  and  cloathing,  of  lodging  and  at- 
tendance, were  extended  to  their  relief. — A  superstitious  horror 
seized  on  every  heart,  and  weighed  down  eyery  spirit,  when  they 
remembered  the  .interdictions  of  the  Qracle.  They  shudderc.i 
when  taey  saw  the  pestilence  depopulate  the  Pelaigic,  on  which 
they  had  impiously  erected  their  miserable  dwellings;  and  ima- 
gined, in  the  dreadful  calamity  that  opprest  and  overwhelmed 
them,  the  effects  of  the  vengeance  of  the  offended  Gods.  Bur, 
"  whatever  supplications  were  offered  in  the  temples,  whatever 
"  recourse  to  oracles  and  religious  rites,  all  were  unavailing."  At 
length,  with  the  hope  of  favourable  change,  regard  to  decency 
was  iost.  An  utter  depravity  of  morals  extended  itself  wkh  the 
disorder;  aided  it,  in  all  its  ravages;  and  exceeded  it,  in  the  mea- 
sure of  its  desolation. 

In  the  sick,  "  dejection  of  muid  constantly  attended,  from  the 
V  first  attack;"  andaftersome  continuanceof  the  disease,  and  when 
its  operation  was  well  understood,  those  who  were  seized  with  it 
instantly  relinquished  every  hope,  and  surrendered  themselves  to 
%n  c^rpedted  death  ,in  silence  and  despair. 


Medical  repository. 


Such  were  the  affections  of  the  mind,  during  the  continuance  of 
Che  disease,  in  the  sick  and  well. — A  frequent  consequence  was  a 
loss  of  Memory;  and  oftentimes  an  incurable  Fatuity.  "  Some," 
$ays  Thucydides,  "  who  quite  recovered,  had  at  once  totally  lost 
"  all  memory,  and  quite  forgot  not  only  their  most  intimate  friends, 
"  but  even  their  own  selves."  And  this  serves  to  confirm  our  opi- 
nion that  the  Brain  suffered  great  derangement  in  the  plague. 

VI.  It  is  probable,  from  the  affections  of  the  head  and  eyes,  and 
even  asserted  by  Lucretius,  that  the  vision  was  impaired.  Some 
recovered  with  a  total  loss  of  the  substance  of  the  eyes. 

The  condition  of  the  nostrils  and  fauces,  doubtless,  impaired  or 
destroyed,  for  the  time,  both  smell  and  taste. 

The  appetite  for  food  is  no  farther  noticed  by  the  historian, 
than  to  inform  us  that  no  kind  of  diet  seemed  to  have  any  cura- 
tive effect. 

The  patient's  sense  of  heat  and  thirst  were  intolerable;  and  so 
painful  as  nearly  to  occasion  madness.  Though  the  skin  did  not 
seem  hot  to  the  touch  of  the  by-standers,  yet  in  the  patient  it  ap- 
peared to  inflame  his  whole  body.  The  heat  was  so  excessive 
that  the  sick  could  not  bear  the  slightest  covering,  or  finest  linen; 
but  lay  naked,  in  the  streets,  and  even  in  the  wells  and  cisterns, 
if  they  could  get  into  them:  hurried  away  no  less  by  this  dreadful 
heat,  than  by  a  thirst  at  once  insufferable  and  insatiable.  "  For, 
*'  whether  they  drank  much  or  little,  their  torment  still  continued 
"  the  same/' 

VII.  The  ulcerations  and  discharges  from  the  bowels  before 
mentioned,  seem  connected  with  some  derangement  of  the  lympha- 
tic system. 

When  the  patient  outlived  the  first  stage,  and  the  disease  did  not 
expend  its  force  on  the  intestinal  canal,  there  seems  to  have  been 
an  absorption  of  the  pestilential  fluids,  perhaps  from  the  bowels, 
which  were  carried  into  the  circulation,  and  deposited  on  particu- 
lar members.  In  this  case,  it  affected  the  fingers,  toes,  and  genital 
organs;  and  many  recovered  from  the  plague  with  the  loss  ot  these 
parts.  Lucretius  intimates,  that  their  lives  were  sometimes  pre- 
served by  amputation  of  the  organs  diseased.  "  Fivebant  fern 
privati parte  virili." 

VIII.  The  skin  was  not  hot  to  the  touch;  neither  was  it  cold, 
nor  pallid — "  but  reddish,  livid,  marked  all  over  with  little  pustules 

and  sores."* 

•  Lucretius  compares  the  appearance  of  the  (kin  to  that  occafioned  by  eki- 
sipelasj  and  fays,  that  no  exceflive  heat  was  to  be  difcovered  even  "  m 
summo  ardore  :"  by  which  I  conjecture  him  to  mean  in  the  exacerbations 
of  the  fever. 


Vol.  J.  No.  t. 


E 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


IX.  The  plague  of  Athens  appears  to  have  been  an  acute  and 
continued  fever;  terminating  fatally  on  the  seventh  or  ninth  days, 
for  the  most  part;  but  if  longer  continued,  falling  on  the  intes- 
tines, in  the  form  of  dysentery;  or  affecting  the  extremities  and 
genital  organs. 

.  When  the  disease  lasted  only  seven  or  nine  days,  there  was  very 
little  visible  waste  of  the  body,  and  "  the  strength  was  not  exhaust- 
ed."* When  protracted,  in  the  shape  of  dysentery,  it  commonly 
proved  fatal;  exhausting  the  patient,  and  reducing  him  to  the  ex- 
treme of  weakness  and  wasting.  When  the  disease  fell  upon  the 
extremities,  &c.  (and,  according  to  Lucretius,  when  a  discharge  of 
dark-coloured  and  foetid  matter  happened  from  the  nostrils,)it  seems 
that  the  sick  commonly  recovered. 

But,  though  the  fever  was  usually  continued,  this  was  not  uni- 
formly the  fact.  Sometimes  it  was  lingering,  and  had  intermis- 
sions. This  was  its  appearance  in  the  case  of  Pericles;  whose  body 
had,  probably,  been  prepared  by  degrees;  and  previously  worn 
down  by  fatigue  and  grief.  He  was  one  of  the  first  victims  to  the 
second  increase  and  violence  of  the  plague;  having  escaped  it  for 
three  years  and  a  half;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  calumnies  of  his 
enemies,  the  ill  success  of  some  of  his  enterprizes,  the  ingratitude 
of  one  of  his  sons,  and  the  death  of  the  one  most  worthy  of  his 
love,  and  of  whom  he  was  doatingly  fond,  predisposed  him  to  be 
affected.! 

X.  The  old  and  young,  males  and  females,  the  robust  and  fee- 
ble, were  equally  exposed  to  the  disease,  and  equally  destroyed  by  it. 

No  medicine  appeared  to  have  any  effect  in  relieving  the  pains, 
or  in  hastening  or  promoting  recovery. 

No  person  had  the  disorder  twice;  or  rather  none  were  re-in- 
fected. 

Those  who  removedfrom  the  country  suffered  most;  not  merely 
■because  they  were  worse  accommodated  than  the  town's-people, 
but  from  so  total  a  change  in  all  their  habits. — The  historian  brings 
their  sufferings  before  our  eyes  in  a  masterly  manner. — "  As  they 
"  had  no  houses,  but  dwelled  all  the  summer  season  in  booths, 
"  where  there  was  scarce  room  to  breathe,  the  pestilence  destroyed 
"  with  the  utmost  disorder,  so  that  they  lay  together  in  heaps,  the 

*  I  have  uniformly  obferved  in  the  yellow  fever,  that  few  recover  who  are 
able  to  walk  about  as  late  as  the  5th  or  6th  day  of  the  difeafe;  when  no  previ- 
ous medical  afliftance  has  been  afforded  them.  Indeed  it  may  be  confidently 
affirmed  that,  where  fuch  vigour  remains  in  tfie  mufcles,  it  is  not  the  vigour  of 
.health,  and  the  vital  parte  are  proportionally  difeafed.  This  unnatural  appear- 
ance of  ftrength  is  like  that  produced  by  intoxicating  liquors :  the  poifon  of 
contagion  is  meanwhile  bufily  undermining  life. 

T  See  I'lutarch— Life  of  Pericles. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  dying  upon  the  dead,  and  the  dead  upon  the  dying.  Some  were 
"  tumbling  one  over  another,  in  the  public  streets,  or  lay  expiring 
*'  round  about  every  fountain,  whither  they  had  crept  to  assuage 
*i  their  immoderate  thirst.  The  temples,  in  which  they  had  erected 
**  tents  for  their  reception,  were  full  of  the  bodies  of  those  who 
"  had  expired  there."* 

It  is  perhaps  impossible  to  make  any  estimate  which  may  be 
depended  on,  of  the  number  of  persons  who  died  of  the  Athenian 
pestilence.  The  disease  continued  four  years  and  a  half  from  its 
commencement;  during  three  years  of  which  time,  the  mortality 
was  constant.  For  eighteen  months  it  abated,  but  was  not  ex- 
tinct. Thucydides,  when  he  mentions  the  disease  the  last  time, 
gives  an  imperfect  account  of  the  number  of  deaths.  Whether  this, 
account  is  meant  to  include  the  whole,  or  only  those  who  died  in 
the  last  year  of  the  plague,  is  uncertain.  Probably  the  whole  is 
meant  of  those  who  died  at  Athens ;  but  it  is  still  doubtful  whethet 
he  computes  the  loss  sustained  by  the  troops  engaged  in  foreign 
service.  In  this  dilemma  we  can  do  no  better  than  to  quote  the 
words  of  the  historian  himself,  in  the  language  of  his  translator: — 
"  It  appeared,  from  the  muster-rolls,  that  there  perished  4400  of 
"  those  citizens  who  wore  heavy  armour,  and  300  of  the  horse- 
"  men.  The  number  of  the  lower  people  who  died  was  not  to 
"  be  computed." 

It  remains  for  us  to  assign  some  probable  reasons  for  the  cessa- 
tion and  disappearance  of  the  pestilence  whose  history  we  have 
been  considering.  These  will  be  found  in  the  following  circum- 
stances, which  preceded  and  accompanied  its  departure. 

1.  The  whole  people  of  Attica,  with  the  exception  of  such  as 
were  employed  in  the  armies  and  in  the  garrisoned  towns,  had 
been  included  within  the  walls  of  Athens  for  near  six  years. 
Though  habitually  addicted  to  a  country  life  and  vegetable  diet, 
from  which  they  had  been  mostly  restricted,  ihey  must,  in  so  long 
a  period,  have  gained,  in  some  measure,  new  habits,  become  re- 
conciled to  their  mode  of  life,  and  gradually  hardened  against  the 
operation  of  contagion. 

2.  Numbers  had  recovered  from  the  disease;  and  as  none  were 
twice  affected,  they  enjoyed  an  immunity  from  its  attacks. 

3.  Several  thousands  of  their  countrymen  had  fallen  in  battle; 
many  were  captive,  in  other  countries;  they  had  garrisons  in  seve- 

*  Compare  the  fituation  of  thefe  people  with  that  of  the  Irifh  emigrjnts  ta 
New. York,  in  1795.  See  the  Rev.  Mr.  O'Brien's  letter  to  Mr.  Bailey,  in 
his  account  of  the  fever  of  1795,  page  89. — Of  more  than  700  perfons  who 
died  in  New-York,  in  1795,  only  1  jo  were  citizens.  See  Webfter's  Colleflion, 
tail  page. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


ral  of  the  foreign  states;  armies  in  others;  and  a  prodigious  fleet, 
full  of  mariners  and  soldiers,  triumphant  over  the  sea.  This  di- 
minished the  number  of  inhabitants  in  Athens ;  and  allowed  more 
room,  and  a  greater  quantity  of  suitable  food,  to  those  who  re- 
mained. 

4.  Many  thousands  fell  victims  to  the  plague;  and  the  deaths 
were  chiefly  among  those  who  were  most  crowded  together.  Op- 
portunity was  thus  given  for  those  who  survived  to  acquire  better 
lodgings,  and  better  accommodations  of  every  kind. — It  is  pro- 
bable that  the  deaths  by  war  and  disease,  and  the  space  vacated 
by  the  armaments  abroad,  diminished  the  population  at  least  a* 
third. 

5.  The  same  season  that  the  plague  broke  out  a  second  time, 
Athens,  Eubea,  and  all  the  neighbouring  country,  felt  the  shocks' 
of  successive  earthquakes.  The  next  spring,  new  earthquake* 
happened,  so  as  to  deter  the  Peloponnesians  from  entering  Attica. 
The  sea  broke  over  the  land  in  Eubea,  and  on  the  continent,  a 
little  above  Athens. — This  was  the  last  year  of  the  plague.  The 
next  season  (year  425)  was  very  tempestuous;  and  though  the 
Peloponnesians  entered  Attica,  yet  they  came  so  early  as  to  do 
very  little  damage,  and  were  obliged  to  retire  after  a  stay  of  only 
fifteen  days.  They  never  repeated  their  incursions;  and  the  next 
year  another  earthquake  was  felt.  Is  it  not  probable  that  such  a 
succession  of  tempestuous  seasons,  materially  affected  and  altered 
the  atmosphere  of  Attica  and  Athens? 

6.  But,  perhaps,  the  most  material  advantage  derived,  from 
these  stormy  seasons  was,  that  they  put  an  end  to  the  blockade  of 
Athens,  and  to  the  war  on  the  land-side.  Thus  the  people  were, 
once  more,  allowed  to  issue  from  the  city ;  to  re-visit  the  deserted 
country;  re-erect  their  rural  habitations;  extend  the  cheering  and 
beautifying  hand  of  cultivation  to  the  desolated  and  afflicted  fields; 
to  crown  their  heads  with  chaplets,  and  their  boards  with  fruits. 
— The  last  ravages  of  any  extent,  committed  by  the  Peloponne- 
sians, were  in  427;  they  were  deterred  from  renewing  them  in 
426;  and  the  pestilence  ceased  with  that  year. 


THE  history  of  the  Plague  of  Athens,  now  concluded,  offers 
so  many  points  of  resemblance,  both  in  its  nature  and  origin,  to 
our  own  fevers,  that  we  may  be  justified  in  declaring  it  to  have 
been,  in  all  essential  particulars,  the  same  disease,  A  minute  com- 
parison, should  it  display  minute  dissimilarities,  could  scarcely 


MEDICAL  RErOGITORY,  29 

foil  of  presenting  as  many  minute  similarities;  and  a  due  consi- 
deration of  every  circumstance  cannot  but  impress  the  mind 
with  a  deep  conviction  of  the  unity  of  cause,  in  ages  so  remote. 
This  point,  so  well  established,  ought  to  make  us  careful  how  we 
overlook  the  more  obvious  sources  of  pestilential  diseases,  in  our 
search  after  those  which  are  foreign  and  remote.  If  local  causes 
originated  a  pestilence  in  Athens,  local  causes  may  generate  a 
Yellow  Fever  in  Philadelphia  and  New-York.  To  these,  then, 
be  our  attention  more  scrupulously  directed;  and  let  us  be  more 
solicitous  in  the  inspection  of  our  nouses,  yards,  streets  and  docks, 
than  of  cottons  and  woollens,  of  vessels  from  the  West- Indies, 
and  ships  from  the  Mediterranean. 


(    3°  ) 


ARTICLE  II. 


REMARKS  ON  MANURES: 

W herein,  by  an  Inquiry  into  ike  Nature  of  Septon,  (A.zotc)  and  its 
Relations  to  other  Bodies,  it  will  be  seen  how  nearly  Physic  and 
Farming  are  allied  to  tack  other.  Intended  as  a  Sequel  to  Judge 
Pe  t  e  r  s'j  Agricultural  Inquiries  on  Flaister  cf  Paris.  By  Samuel 
L.  Mi T chill,  Member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  State 
of  New-  York,  Fellow  of  the  Rcyal  Society  cf  Edinburgh,  Professor 
of  Chemistry,  tsfc.  in  Columbia  College,  &c.  &c. 

T  T  will  appear  from  a  perusal  of  a  great  number  of  books,  that 
\  an  opinion,  grounded  on  fact  and  long  observation,  has,  from 
early  ages,  prevailed  among  writers,  that  there  was  something  of 
an  acid  nature  produced  in  the  atmosphere.  The  names  they 
gave  to  this  acid  shew,  that  the  principal  and  most  respectable 
notices  about  it,  were  tinfhired  with  much  conjecture  and  uncer- 
tainty. Sometimes  it  was  called  acidum  ftrimogenium,  because  it 
was  imagined  to  be  the  first-formed  acid,  and  that  other  acids  deriv- 
ed their  qualities  in  some  measure  from  it;  then  it  was  called  aci- 
dum universale,  on  account  of  its  existence  so  generally  where  the 
business  of  men  was  carried  on ;  again,  it  was  termed  acidum  va- 
gum,  as  it  seemed  to  stray  and  wander  about  through  air  and  wa- 
ter, attaching  itself  now  to  one  thing,  and  then  to  another.  It 
was  by  some  denominated  acidum  atmosfihericum,  from  its  pre- 
sence and  universality  in  the  atmosphere;  and  by  others,  acidum 
cereum,  by  reason  of  the  gaseous  or  volatile  form  it  assumed  while 
flying  about,  or  floating  along  with  the  winds.  And  when  artifi- 
cially prepared,  by  disuniting  it  from  pot-ash,  with  which  it  loved 
dearly  to  associate,  it  has  since  received  the  more  specific  and  de- 
terminate names  of  the  nitrous  and  nitric  acid.  The  learned  exa- 
miner will  pretty  readily  discern,  that  the  fact  intended  to  be  ex- 
pressed by  these  various  terms  had,  from  an  early  period  of  history, 
attracted  the  attention  of  mankind;  and  that,  in  expressing  their 
sentiments  about  it,  while  all  agreed  it  was  an  acid,  different  names 
were  given  to  it,  according  to  the  guess  and  fancy  of  each  observer. 
And  it  may  also  be  collected,  that  under  the  enumerated  terms, 
were  contained  not  only  the  effects  truly  ascribable  to  the  vaporific 
or  nitrous  acid,  but,  through  want  of  discriminating  an  analogy 
then  not  understood  between  it  and  certain  other  acids,  the  names 
employed,  embraced  likewise  a  number  of  phenomena,  which 
more  recent  science  has  traced  t©  the  operation  of  oxygenous  air,zvA 


MEDICAL  EXPOSITORY. 


carbonic  acid  air.  It  appears  to  have  been  a  favourite  notion  of 
.some  acute  investigators,  that  there  was  not  only  a  general!)  -pre- 
vailing principle  ot  acidity,  but  that  acids  formed  by  it,  were,  to  a 
certain  extent,  at  least,  convertible  into  each  other.  Experiments, 
indeed,  upon  the  acids  afforded  by  vegetables,  countenance  the  idea 
pi  the  radical  similarity,  or  perhaps  sameness  ol  the  acid  of  tartar, 
vinegar,  sugar  and  must.  (Crell.  Chemische  Annalen,  &c. 
Chemical  Essays  of  C.W.  Scheele,  Ess.  xxiii.)  But  it  was  surely 
carrying  the  business  too  far,  to  affirm,  with  Ingenhousz,  (3  Ex- 
periences sur  les  Vegetaux,  §  xvii.  p.  no.)  so  late  as  the  year 
j  789,  in  asseveration  of  an  idea  often  maintained  by  others  bttore 
him,  that  the  aerial  acid  (by  which  he  meant  carbonic  acid,  or  fixed 
air)  may  be  a  wandering  "  acid,  (acide  vague)  convertible  into 
«  every  other  acid,"  and  "  all  other  acids  convertible  into  fixed 
"  air  j  and  that  these  considerations  might  give  us  new  light  con* 
*'  cerning  the  regeneration  of  the  ni/rous  acid  in  earth,  irom  which 
"  it  had  been  wholly  extracted." 

The  whole  of  modern  experience  on  those  subjects  goes  to  the 
establishment  of  these  points,  that  vital  or  oxygenous  air  is  com- 
posed of  heat,  oxygene,  and  light;  fixed  air,  or  carbonic  acid,  of 
heat,  oxygene,  and  charcoal ;  nitrous  acid,  of  heat,  oxygene,  and 
septon ;  and  phlogisticated  air  or  atmospheiieal  mephitis,  of  heat 
and  septon.  Nitrous  acid  may  therefore  be  resolved  into  two  dis- 
tinct airs;  to  wit,  oxygenous  airt  when  the  principle  of  acidity 
quits  its  septous  basis,  and  flies  off  with  heat;  and  atmospherical 
mejihitis,  when  the  septon  deserted  by  the  substance  from  which 
it  derived  its  sourness,  turns  to  a  gas  with  the  matter  of  heat  also; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  clear,  that  the  two  airs, 
which  in  their  distinct  state,  (Jacquin,  Commentar.  de  rebus, 
Sec.)  constitute  the  atmosphere,  may  unite  their  basis  chemically 
to  each  other,  part  with  a  portion  of  their  caloric,  and  form  the 
nitric  or  atmospheric  acid.  The  idea  of  the  convertibility  of 
fixed  air  and  nitrous  acid  into  each  other,  as  they  are  radically  and 
totally  distinct,  is  conjecture  without  any  probability  whatever  to 
support  it;  though  I  see  no  improbability  in  the  association  of  sep- 
ton and  carbone,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  with  oxygene,  an 
oxyd  or  acid  with  a  double  base,  which  I  suppose  to  be  one  of  the 
modifications  of  those  animal  poisons  called  specific  contagions. 

As  the  words  poisons  and  contagions  have  been  mentioned,  I 
shall  observe,  that  septon  and  oxygene  most  probably  enter  into  the 
composition  of  the  whole  of  them.  From  chemical  combinations 
of  these,  acting  upon  different  parts  of  the  body,  seem  to  spring  the 
common  symptoms  of  fevers,  dysenteries  and  plagues.  And  tuus, 
a  clear  idea  can  be  entertained  of  the  nature  and  composition  of 
common  infeftwn.  But,  as  there  are  some  distempers  of  a  na- 
ture that  have  been  called  s/iecificaily  contagious,  their  constitu- 


ft  \IEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

tion  may  be  conceived,  by  supposing  the  marter  of  small-pov,  fe* 
instance,  to  derive  its  peculiar  quality  from  a  commixture  of  car- 
bane,  with  the  matter  of  ordinary  contagion ;  that  of  syphylis,  to 
arise  from  phosphorus,  blended  with  the  septon  and  bxygene; 
that  of  measles,  from  a  combination  of  sulphur;  that  of  pertussis, 
or  croup,  from  the  addition  of  the  unknown  radical  of  the  muri  - 
atic acid,  forming  a  nitro-muiiatic  oxyd  or  acid  vapour,  &c.  and, 
in  like  manner,  may  conjectures  be  found  about  the  poisonous  mat- 
ter of  rabid  and  other  animals. 

I  suggest  these  things  in  this  place  because  there  is  reason  to 
consider  all  these  compositions  of  atmospherical  and  animal  mat- 
ter, as  good  manures. 

If  any  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  Ir;GENHousz's  experiments, 
we  miibt  admit  that  a  great  number  of  growing  and  healthy  vegeta- 
bles during  the  prevalence  of  darkness,  emit  from  their  leaves  sep- 
tous  (azotic)  air  (a  Experiences  sur,  &c.  seel.  vii.  and  ubiq.) 
A  fresh  cabbage  leaf  exposed  to  air  for  a  night,  is  said  to  have 
mephitized  it.  But  whether  these  are  true  relations  or  not,  it 
is  admitted  by  all  parties,  that  some  plants,  when  they  ferment  or 
rot,  afford  azotic  air.  The  question  now  to  be  examined  is  whence 
the  vegetables  that  exhale  azotic  air  when  alive  or  emit  it  when 
dead,  originally  derived  the  azote  (septon)  or  basis  of  that  air? 

If  can  be  shewn  that  there  are  manures  that  contain  septon, 
that  this  frequently  evaporates  with  heat  in  the  form  of  septous 
(azotic)  air  or  combines  with  oxygene  into  septic  (nitric)  acid,  or 
rises  to  a  small  height  in  the  form  of  nitric  (septic)  acid  gas,  then 
it  will  be  evident  what  the  sources  are  whence  vegetables  may 
derive  it. 

Now  the  belief  of  mankind  from  a  very  early  period  of  ancient 
history  has  favoured  the  existence  of  a  primitive  and  universal  acid, 
existing  at  almost  all  times  and  places,  and  performing  great  things 
in  the  economy  of  this  world.  The  experiments  of  the  moderns 
have  established  the  truth  of  this  opinion,  by  ascertaining  that,  by 
a  law  of  nature,  the  septon  of  those  plants  and  animals  which  con- 
tain it,  does,  during  the  putrefactive  decay  of  such  organized  sub- 
stances, very  commonlv  unite  with  oxygene,  and  form  the  acid 
of  putrefaction,  or  the  nitric  acid.  And  as  all  living  systems, 
whether  of  plants  or  animals,  must  die  and  undergo  dissolution, 
such  a  mass  of  putrifying  materials,  corrupting  at  all  times  and  in 
all  places,  will  generate  enough  01  septic  (nitric)  acid  to  coun- 
tenance the  ancient  idea  of  the  universality  of  its  existence.  It  is, 
therefore,  the  most  abundant  and  most  active  of  all  acids,  at  least 
as  respects  man  and  the  various  objects  with  which  he  is  conver- 
sant, on  or  near  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

Among  other  effects  which  oxyds  and  acids  of  this  sort  seem  to 
produce,  when  volatilized  by  heat,  they  float  about  in  the  atmos- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY, 


phere,  endemic  and  epidemic  distempers  deserve  to  be  particu- 
larly mentioned.  Accordingly,  sickness  of  one  or  other  of  these 
denominations  has  been  always  remarked  to  prevail  where  putre- 
faction and  corruption  abounded,  where  septic  vapours  conta- 
minated the  atmosphere,  and  where  the  bodies  of  living  animals 
inhaled  them  in  sufficient  quantity.  Hence,  it  has  been  remarked, 
that  in  countries  or  places  where  the  atmosphere  possesses  vital  air 
enough  to  support  the  life  of  animals,  and  is  not  infected  with  such 
a  quantity  ot  septic  and  pestilential  vapours  as  to  induce  sickness, 
and  shorten  the  lives  ot  the  inhabitants,  that  vegetables  thrive  well. 
This  state  ot  moderate  purity,  appearing  to  be  best  adapted  to  the 
convenience  of  both  plants  and  animals.  But  in  situations  where 
a  soil,  over-rich  with  moist  and  putrid  materials,  exhales  its  sep- 
tic and  unwholesome  steams,  and  excites  agues,  fevers  and  plague?, 
there  it  often  happens  that  vegetation  goes  on  vigorously,  and  in 
proportion  to  its  luxuriance,  iessens,  by  converting  to  its  own  use, 
the  quantity  of  pestilential  matter  in  the  soil  and  air.  While  on 
sandy,  mountainous,  and  rocky  places,  where  only. small  quanti- 
ties of  putrid  substances  can  collect,  where  the  atmosphere  is  little 
or  not  at  all  poisoned  with  their  exhalations,  but  the  respirable 
portion  of  it  is  unusually  large,  in  such  circumstances  plants 
thrive  but  poorly4 

These  general  remarks,  which  I  take  to  be  facts,  have  not,  that 
I  recollect,  been  well  explained  i  physicians,  by  confining  them- 
selves too  strictly  to  the  narrow  views  and  pursuits  of  a  profession, 
have  seldom  written  the  history  of  endemic  and  epidemic  diseases 
as  they  ought  to  be  written.  Tney  should  have  dwelt  much  more 
at  large  than  has  been  generally  done  on  concomitant  and  sur- 
rounding events,  as  well  as  the  detailed  enumeration  of  symptoms, 
and  prescriptions.  In  discussing  these  subjects,  the  persons  who 
made  it  a  profession  to  study  the  constitution  of  man,  have 
thought  it  beneath  their  dignity  to  seek  information  from  their  bro- 
ther physicians,  who  superintend  the  health  of  such  mean  objects 
as  brute  animals,  and  plants.  But  it  is  vain  and  idle  to  separate, 
in  speculation,  events  which  the  unchanging  order  of  things  has 
connected  indissolubly  together.  Amidst  the  darkness  which  over- 
hangs this  subject,  physic  will  find  it  impossible  to  read  a  page  of 
the  book  of  nature,  unless  agriculture  lights  and  trims  the  lamp. 

Supposing,  then,  that  septic  acid  vapours  contaminate  the  at- 
mosphere, and  destroy  men  and  other  animals,  these  must  undergo 
decomposition  after  death,  and  enlarge  the  mass  of  putrefying  ma- 
terials. Every  carcase  added  to  the  heap,  increases,  with  regard  to 
plants,  the  quantity  of  aliment,  and,  with  respect  to  mankind, 
augments  the  bulk  of  poison. — An  inquiry  into  the  particular 
phenomena  which  a  country  sickly  by  reason  of  its  fertility,  or  a 
dung-heap  unwholesome  oa  account  of  its  richness,  presents  to 
Vol.  I.  No.  i.  F  ' 


54 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


the  mind,  will  go  a  great  way  toward  elucidating  the  history  of 
azote,  or  the  principle  of  putrefaction  in  manures. 

There  septon  (azote)  exists  in  one  or  other  of  these  forms: 

i.  Pure  or  uncombined  septon. 
•  s.  Septon  converted  to  an  elastic  fluid  by  caloric,  and  existing 
in  the  form  of  azotic  gas. 

3.  Septon,  combined  with  a  small  portion  of  the  principle  of 
acidity,  but  not  oxygenated  highly  enough  to  become  acid, 
turned  to  a  gas  by  heat,  and  existing  in  the  form  of  dephlo- 
gisticated  nitrous  air. 

4.  Septon  united  to  a  large  portion  of  oxygene,  and  exhibiting 
itself  in  the  form  of  nitrous  gas. 

5.  Septon  charged  with  yet  a  larger  dose  of  the  principle  of 
acidity,  and  assuming  the  form  of  aqua-fortis,  or  smoking 
nitrous  acid. 

6.  Septon  still  more  highly  oxygenated,  and  becoming  the  sep- 
tic, nitric,  or  clephlogisticatcd  nitrous  acid. 

7.  Septon  combined  with  a  yet  greater  proportion  of  oxygene, 
and  converted  by  heat  into  a  gazeous  form,  and  thus  becom- 
ing the  septic  or  nitric  acid  air  or  vapour. 

8.  Septic  acid  in  weak  commixture  with  water,  as  in  certain 
dews  and  fogs,  and  in  showers  attended  with  sharp  lightning. 

9.  Septic  acid  acting  upon  timber,  horns,  bones,  leather,  shav- 
ings, straw,  rags,  and  other  substances,  strewed  over  fertile 
soils,  or  entering  into  the  composition  of  manure. 

10.  Septic  acid  joined  to  pot-ash,  and  forming  the  nitre  or  salt- 
petre of  soils. 

11.  Septic  acid  united  with  soda,  and  making  quadrangular  or 
cubic  nitre. 

12.  Septic  acid  associated  with  lime  or  calcarious  earth,  and 
constituting  calcarious  nitre. 

13.  Septic  acid  ailing  upon  volatile  alkali,  and  affording  ni- 
trous ammoniac. 

14.  Septic  acid  in  conjunction  with  clay,  and,  by  their  union, 
giving  rise  to  alumen  nitrosum. 

15.  Septic  acid  combined  with  oil,  and  turning  it  black,  by 
virtue  of  its  own  partial  decomposition,  as  in  foul  soap  suds, 
&c. 

In  this  enumeration  are  included  the  principal  compositions  of 
septon  with  other  bodies  which  relate  to  agriculture.  A  lew  re- 
marks on  each  of  them  will  illustrate  the  respective  value  of  each, 
and  its  relation  to  other  things.  On  the  first  five  there  will  not 
be  a  necessity  of  offering  mucn.  For, 

1.  Whether  we  consider  the  ultimate  particles  of  matter  as  solid 
and  indivisible  atoms,  or  as  mere  mathematical  points,  endowed 
with  attractive  and  repulsive  powers,  such  is  their  extreme  minute- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  3S 

cess  or  tenuity,  that  they  evade  all  examination.  Septon  is  one, 
of  tnose  subtle  and  fugitive  things  wnich  has  never  yet  been  ob- 
tained distinct  from  all  other  substances,  and  examined  by  itself. 
There  is,  however,  no  reason  on  that  account  to  doubt  its  exist- 
ence, because  it  enters  largely  into  the  constitution  of  the  blood 
muscles,  and  lean  parts  of  animals;  and  on  its  union, 

2.  With  caloric,  or  the  matter  of  heat,  it  takes  upon  itself  an 
aerial  form,  and  constitutes  that  sort  of  gas  which  some  experi- 
menters suppose  iiving  and  healthy  plants  emit,  during  the  absence 
of  sun-shine;  the  same  species  of  air  of  which  the  greater  part  of 
the  atmosphere  consists,  and  by  which  growing  vegetables  are  in- 
cessantly surrounded.  If  what  are  caded  their  trachea1,  or  air- 
vessels,  take  in  air  at  all,  doubtless  a  portion  of  this  particular 
kind  is  absorbed. 

3.  If  the  septous  or  azotic  air,  just  mentioned,  has  dissolved  a 
\rery  small  portion  ot  oxygene,  so  as  to  oxydate,  but  not  acidify 
it,  a  very  singular  sort  ot  gazeous  compound  is  formed,  whose 
operation,  in  agriculture,  has  never  yet  been  properly  investigated. 

4  and  5.  Septic  gas  and  septous  acid  are  never  found  to  exist  for 
any  considerable  length  of  time,  in  the  open  air;  but  of  all  the 
compounds  formed  by  septon  with  oxygene,  these  two  are  the 
most  frequent  in  laboratories,  and  are  the  subjects  of  the  chief  ex- 
periments in  science  and  the  arts.  They  are  artificial  productions, 
and  must  be  kept  in  closely-stopped  vessels.  Their  existence, 
during  exposure  to  the  common  atmosphere,  is  only  momentary; 
for  they  both  absorb  oxygene  so  greedily  as  very  soon  to  turn  to 
pale  and  colourless  septic  (nitric)  acid,  which  is  the  ordinary  and 
most  natural  form  they  assume.  As  the  qualities  of  nitrous  air 
and  aqua-fortis  are  very  different  from  those  possessed  by  the 
more  highly  oxygenated  acid,  the  experiments  ypon  the  two  for- 
mer, and  the  reasonings  upon  them,  are  not  to  be  applied  to  ac- 
count for  the  phenomena  ot  the  latter.  A  practice  too  frequently 
done,  to  the  bane  and  detriment  of  science!  As  they  can  only 
exist  when  closely  stopped,  so  they  can  have  no  influence  on  ma? 
nures  and  soils,  nor  on  the  constitution  of  plants  and  animals, 
And  whenever  they  can  find  oxygene  they  attract  enough  ot  it  to 
turn  to  septic  acid. 

6  and  7.  The  nitric  acid,  and  oxygenated  nitric  acid  vapour, 
are  the  forms  in  which  septic  compounds  most  commonly  and 
universally  exist.  In  these  states,  pale,  colourless,  and  possessing 
in  their  sparse  and  dilute  condition,  few  obviously-striking  or  sen- 
sible qualities,  mankind  observed  enough  of  them  to  be  prompt- 
ed to  make  vague  conjectures  about  something  acid,  but  knew  too 
little  to  form  any  correct  opinion  on  the  subject.  The  foimer 
may  be  produced  whenever  septon  and  oxygene  come  into  che- 
mical union.    By  the  effect  ot  lightning  in  the  clouds  the  basis 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


of  ths  two  gases,  constituting  our  atmosphere,  seem  to  be  mads 
to  unite,  and  thus  produce  the  septic  acid,  with  which  the  rain- 
water of  thunder-showers  is  tinctured.  During  the  putrefactive 
process  of  mucn  animal  matter  which  abounds  with  septon,  the 
ox\ gene  of  the  corrupting  bodies  themselves,  or  of  the  water  in 
or  near  them,  or  of  the  circumambient  air,  joins  with  that  basis, 
and  forms  t.ie  acid  of  putrefaction.  And  while  corruption  of  such 
vegetable  bodies  as  contain  septon,  is  going  on,  an  acid  with  the 
same  radical  is  produced.  Yet  we  constantly  find  in  the  books, 
this  acid  classed  witli  fossil  bodies.  Even  in  a  book  printed  as 
late  as  the  year  1791,  from  a  compilation  of  so  well  informed  a 
man  as  the  Abbe  Roziex,  (i  Cours  complet  d'Agriculture, 
tit.  Acide,  p.  231.)  no  mention  is  made  01  this,  as  of  animal  ex- 
traction, but  it  remains  preposterously  ranked  with  mineral  acids. 
This  notion  is  the  cause  of  much  misconception  and  error  in  esti- 
mating its  qualities  and  operation.  It  is  wholly  immaterial  from 
what  body  the  septon  and  oxygene  are  derived;  whether  they  are 
furnished  by  the  animal,  vegetable,  or  aerial  departments  of  na- 
ture, they  may  enter  into  chemical  union  by  putrefactive  and 
electrical  aid,  and  constitute  the  atmospheric  or  primogenial  acid. 
The  septous  and  oxygenous  gases  of  the  atmosphere  are,  in  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  perfectly  disunited;  but  when  their  bases  are 
associated  by  chemical  attraction,  they  form  the  new  product  now 
under  consideration.  These  same  radicals,  constituting  a  part  of 
vegetables  and  animals,  do  very  commonly  get  within  the  sphere 
of  each  other's  attraction,  during  the  disorganization  of  such  bo- 
dies, and  form  a  similar  composition.  Htnce  the  universality  of 
such  a  production  can  be  readily  comprehended,  and  a  rea- 
son be  given  for  the  greater  prevalence  of  it,  in  and  around  the  bo- 
dies and  habitations  of  men,  especially  the  carnivorous  and  un- 
clean:— and  wherefore,  as  all  living  beings  must  die  and  be  dis- 
organized, the  quantity  of  septon  united  to  oxygene,  during  such 
processes,  must  be  prodigious,  and  surpassing  all  estimation. — 
Where  large  quantities  of  this  compound  are  produced,  and  the 
ground,  after  the  evaporation  of  its  moisture,  becomes  hot  and  dry, 
the  septic  acid  will  be  converted  to  a  gas,  and  in  the  form  of  va- 
pour, pervade  the  atmosphere  near  the  earth's  surface.  As  its 
qualities,  when  scting  upon  many  animal  bodies,  are  caustic,  cor- 
rosive, inflammatory,  and  suffocating,  it  very  commonly  incom- 
modes or  destroys  such  of  them  as  live  near  its  source  or  manu- 
factory; exciting,  by  its  venomous  properties,  agues,  fevers,  an- 
guish, catarrhs,  diarrhoeas,  dysenteries,  eruptions,  plagues,  &c. 
according  to  the  degree  of  concentration,  to  the  quantity  applied, 
the  length  of  time  for  which  its  action  is  continued,  the  suscepti- 
bility of  the  constitution  it  fixes  upon,  the  part  of  the  system  now 
particularly  invaded,  &c.  &c. — From  this  history  of  the  genera- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


37 


tion  and  growth  of  these  pestilential  fluids,  it  would  seem  that,  in 
process  ot  time,  the  salubrity  of  the  atmosphere  would  be  de- 
stroyed, and  the  oxygenous  and  septous  gasts  forming  it,  lose  their 
distinct  forms,  and  coalesce  into  nitric  acid  and  its  vapour.  As  far 
as  I  can  judge  this  would  really  happen,  was  it  not  that  there  are 
various  ways  whereby  this  acid  is  neutralized  and  decompounded. 
Some  of  these  we  know,  and  others  there  probably  are,  though 
as  vet  unknown  to  us.  As  the  septic  acid  and  its  vapours  never 
constitute  the  nourishment  of  plants,  but  in  conjunction  with 
other  substances,  it  will  be  proper  to  dwell  a  little  upon  these. 
The  examination  of  these  facts  will  explain  by  what  economy  of 
nature  this  acid  is  neutralized,  and  its  noxious  and  pestilential  va- 
pours repressed.  And,  at  the  same  time,  it  will  give  a  tolerable 
idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  compounds  formed  by  it,  with 
different  saline  and  eaithy  bodies,  contribute  to  the  fertilization  of 
soil,  and  the  thriftiness  of  vegetation.  In  doing  this  I  shall  en- 
deavour to  follow  the  method  of  nature. 

8.  From  the  analysis  of  rain-water,  by  Bergman,  and  other 
able  Chemist1;,  it  is  found  to  contain  a  small  portion  of  this  acid; 
and  it  is  probably  more  owing  to  this  than  to  the  presence  of  fixed 
air,  that  this  kind  ot  water,  espeJa  1/  during  showers,  accompanied 
with  lightning,  becomes  turbid  by  mixture  with  lime-water,  as 
Sennebier  observes,  while  common  rain-water  exhibited  no  such 
appearance.  In  these  cases  the  septic  acid  formed  by  the  electric 
flashes  in  the  clouds,  seems  to  unite  with  the  lime  into  calcariou3 
nitre.  The  use  of  this  acid  in  vegetation  is  proved  by  the  experi- 
ments of  Home,  who  found  a  diluted  mixture  of  nitrous  acid  in 
water  to  be  a  good  manure  for  certain  gramineous  plants.  This 
acidulous  tincture  of  rain-water  then,  may  be  considered  as  a  boun- 
tiful provision  of  nature,  to  supply  the  gramina,  which  afford  pas- 
ture and  forage  as  well  as  those  which  yield  bread-corn  with  a  nu- 
tritive material,  in  every  shower  which  besprinkles  the  face  of  the 
earth  during  summer.  Thib  view  of  the  subject  too,  indicates  one 
of  the  great  and  beneficial  uses  of  electric  explosions  in  the  atmos- 
phere. But  while  this  diluted  acid  refreshes  and  feeds  the  vegetable 
world,  it  has  often  been  remarked  to  operate  unhealthily  upon  hu- 
man constitutions;  many  men  being  subjected  to  febrile  indispo- 
sitions, after  exposure  and  soaking  in  such  falls  of  rain. 

Facts  from  all  quarters  prove,  that  the  septic  acid  generated  by 
putrefaction,  is  always  cn  the  earth's  surface,  and  its  vapours  never 
rise  to  a  great  height  above  it.  From  these  exhalations,  the  water 
of  dews,  mists  and  fogs,  precipitated  when  the  atmosphere  is 
cooled,  particularly  during  the  night,  receives  a  portion  ol  the  same 
acid,  w  hich  thus  uniud,  attach  themselves  to  animal  and  vegetable 
bodies.  Exposure  to  water  so  impregnated,  causes  the  most  vio- 
lent distempers  in  the  southern  latitudes,  and  is  followed  by  almost 


33 


MEDICAL  REFOSITORY. 


certain  destruction  of  human  life  in  many  places.  The  dew,  bring- 
ing down  with  it  as  it  falls,  pestilential  matter  enough  to  poi.ori 
the  constitutions  of  men  in  a  single  night;  nor,  in  these  cases,  do 
the  bodies  of  men  only  suffer.  I  am  strongly  led  to  believe,  that 
too  great  a  quantity  o(  this  material,  or  too  frequent  a  repetition  of 
it,  even  in  our  own  climate,  is  a  common  cause  of  blasts,  blights, 
and  mildews  in  our  harvests.  Too  much  of  this  matter  deposited 
upon  plant?,  stimulates  them  excessively,  and  makes  thtm  sickly. 
And  tne  diseased  spots  so  often  observed,  when  drops  of  dew  have 
long  remained  upon  the  leaves  and  fruit  of  trees  after  the  watery 
parts  have  been  evaporated,  seems  to  evince  the  operation  of  some 
venomous  and  caustic  substance  left  behind  to  work  such  injurious 
effects.  It  is  well  known,  that  some  of  the  mildews  are  accom- 
panied with  multitudes  of  microscopical  plants  growing  upon  the 
blighted  spots,  and  these  parasitical  productions  have  been  thought 
to  be  the  cause  of  the  malady  of  the  plants  on  which  they  grew. 
The  more  just  opinion  is,  that  the  mildewed  plants,  the  wheat,  for 
instance,  first  grew  sickly,  by  the  corroding  and  scorching  effect 
of  too  much  septic  acid  precipitated  with  the  dew;  and  alter  cer-j 
tain  spots  were  discoloured  2nd  mortified  by  its  action,  the  growth 
of  little  funguses  spouted  forth  from  the  disiempered  part,  and  are 
an  effect,  not  a  cause  of  the  mischief.  They,  therefore,  injure  the 
plant  on  which  they  grow,  not  by  converting  its  juices  to  their  own 
nourishment,  but  their  presence  serves  as  an  index  to  shew  the 
mildewed  vegetable  was  injured  before.  Tlx  quantity  of  this  ma- 
nure, which  falls  in  common  rain  and  dew,  seems  very  nicely 
proportioned  to  what  the  economy  of  vegetables  can  receive  with 
advantage,  and  that  oi  animals  can  bear  with  no  considerable  detri- 
ment; whiie  the  proportion  of  it  descending  with  dews  in  certain 
highh  contaminated  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  near  the  earth,, 
may  not  only  disturb  the  health  of  animals,  but,  by  their  excessive 
strength  and  stimulation,  work  destructive  effects  upon  vegetables 
themselves.  The  proneness  of  metallic  substances  to  rust,  and  the 
restoration  of  their  former  qualities,  to  exhausted  nitre  grounds,  by 
the  influence  of  such  dews,  give  countenance  to  this  mode  of  rear 
soning  on  the  facts.  Thus  it  appears,  that  certain  plants,  among 
which  may  be  reckoned,  perhaps,  all  the  gramina,  tetradynamia, 
and  fuv.gi  of  the  botanists,  and  all  such  as  by  their  analysis  are  found 
to  contain  septon,  derive  it  from  the  septic  acid,  which,  in  its  very 
weak  state,  they  seem  capable  of  inhaling  without  detriment.  This 
acid  is  very  easily  decomposed.  Its  basis,  the  se/iton,  is  retained  in 
such  a  proportion,  as  the  economy  of  the  plant  requires;  on  the 
decomposition  of  the  acid  within  the  plant,  the  surplusage  is 
discharged  in  the  form  of  mejihitic  or  azotic  air;  while  its  oxjgene, 
after  having  supplied  as  much  of  that  ingredient  as  is  needed,  sends 
off  its  overplus,  to  make  a  junction  with and  constitute  vital 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


air.  The  doctrine  now  stated,  as  connected  with  rain  and  dew, 
is  equally  applicable  to  tne  septic  acid  formed  in  dung-heaps,  stables, 
duck-puddles,  muck-holes,  &c.  where  a  moderate  quantity  or  it 
acts  as  a  fertilizer,  but  too  much  induces  sterility,  by  burning  up 
all  before  it.  A  recollection  of  the  facts  relative  to  over-manur- 
ing with  such  substances  will  evince  the  high  probability  of  this 
reasoning,  and  lead  to  a  true  tneory  of  ashes  and  lime,  as  manures 
and  neutralizers.  And  do  not  pond-water,  brook-water,  and 
swamp-water,  owe  a  part  of  their  enriching  quality  to  the  presence 
of  the  same  septic  compound,  produced  from  the  animal  and  veget- 
able matter  decaying  within  them?  Do  I  go  too  far  in  ascribing, 
in  part,  to  vegetables,  the  correction  of  that  taint,  which,  if  not  kept 
within  due  limits,  might  give,  at  last,  to  all  the  waters  of  the  globe, 
as  venomous  qualities  as  those  of  ponds  and  marshes  have  been 
long  found  to  possess?  Am  I  wrong  in  believing,  that,  on  the  ex- 
halation of  the  water,  the  septic  effluvium  rises  into  the  air,  and 
makes  the  neighbouring  inhabitants  sick;  because,  in  such  cases, 
the  vegetable  economy  cannot  decompound  it,  and  there  is  no  suf- 
ficient neutralizer  on  the  denuded  surface  of  mud,  to  keep  it  from 
rising  ? 

Be  these  things  as  they  may,  there  is  evidently  a  connection, 
within  certain  bounds,  between  the  fertilizing  quality  of  water 
upon  plants,  and  its  moderately  hurtful  operation  upon  animals; 
and  beyond  those  limits,  both  classes  of  beings  become  distemper- 
ed and  die,  by  its  action.  The  septic  acid  appears  to  be  the  ma- 
terial, which,  according  to  its  quality,  strength,  mixture  with  wa- 
ter, and  extrication  from  it,  &c.  produces  these,  amidst  a  variety 
of  other  effects. 

9.  Among  other  memorable  changes  wrought  by  the  septic  acid 
in  mixture  with  water,  those  it  works  upon  the  putrifying  mate- 
rials of  the  heap  .wherein  it  is  produced  are  by  no  means  the  least 
considerable.  This  acid  is  one  of  those  substances  which  the 
makers  of  experiments  have  been  pleased  to  cali  antiseptic,  from  its 
power,  in  some  instances,  of  resisting  common  putrefaction.  From 
the  overcoming  of  this  acid  in  manures,  by  lime  and  alkalies,  it  has 
probably  happened,  that  these  latter  substances  have  been  termed 
septics,  or  promoters  of  putrefaction.  Tnis  is  a  deceitful  state- 
nient,  tor  alkalis  resist  corruption  as  powerfully  as  acids  do,  and, 
if  possible,  in  a  higher  degree.  This  notion  of  the  septic  quality, 
and  tendency  of  calcarious  earth,  has  led  to  a  world  of  mistake  and 
misconception  concerning  lime  as  a  manure.  Lime,  it  was  said, 
by  the  septicity  of  its  nature,  disposed  manure  to  rot-  This  asser- 
tion, made,  I  believe,  first  by  Sir  John  Pringle,  and  repeated  by 
almost  every  writer  since,  appears  to  have  no  foundation  in  truth. 
Pr ingle's  Doctrine  of  Septics  and  Antiseptics,  is  full  of  false 
philosophy,  and  has  done  abundance  of  harm.    It  is  the  source 


I 


40  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

whence  most  of  the  erroneous  ideas  current  now  a-days,  about 
those  classes  of  objects,  are  derived.  Tne  operation  of  lime,  when 
thrown  among  common  manure,  is  to  combine  with  the  strongest 
acid  trie  heap  contains.  Tnis  is  usually  the  septic  or  acid  of  putre- 
faction, which,  it  quick-lime  be  added,  neutralizes  it  without  effer- 
vescence; if  mild  lime  be  thrown  on,  combines  with  it,  after  ex- 
pelling the  carbonic  acid  or  fixed  air.  The  product  in  botli  cases 
is  calcareous  nitre,  whose  qualities  I  shall  examine  further  by  and 
by.  if  lime  and  alkalies  are  considerable  promoters  of  putrefac- 
tion, it  must  arise,  saving  their  transient  effect  when  in  their  caus- 
tive  state,  irom  their  taking  to  themselves  and  saturating  so  strong 
an  antiseptic  as  the  nitric  acid  of  the  manure.  But  this  conclusion 
also  is  fallacious;  tor  the  nitric  acid,  antiseptic  as  it  is,  is  known 
to  be  a  great  corroder  or  disorganizer  and  destroyer  of  a  great 
variety  or  things.  There  is  formed  from  the  softer  and  more  pe- 
rishable parts  of  organized  bodies,  an  acid  liquor,  possessed  of  qua- 
lities capable  of  breaking  do wn  or  eating  away  tne  texture  of  the 
most  compact  and  durable.  Tlius,  both  in  the  grave  and  the  dung- 
hill, by  the  operation  of  t!'.e  acid  of  putrefaction,  the  firmness  of 
bones  is  dissolved,  as  it  expels  the  acid  of  phosphorus,  and  asso- 
ciates itself  with  their  calcarious  basis,  in  the  form  of  a  caicarious 
nitre  (nitrite  of  lime):  Thus  the  tougher  compages  of  horns  is 
by  slower  degrees  made  to  yield  to  the  same  powerful  men- 
struum; in  like  manner  the  skinny  parts  of  animals,  whether 
crude  or  tanned,  lose  their  cohesion  by  the  destroying  effect  of 
this  offspring  of  corruption;  by^ne  same  means,  the  solid  cohe- 
rence of  wood  and  timber  is  forced  to  crumble  down  and  waste 
away,  at  a  rapid  rate,  in  all  places  where  water  and  putrid  vapours, 
near  the  surface  of  the  ground,  can  act  with  full  effect  upon  them; 
the  accelerated  corruption  of  shavings,  straw,  and  rags  of  linen, 
cotton  and  wool,  added  to  animal  manure,  leaves  little  or  no  doubt 
that  their  more  rapid  disorganization  in  such  cases  proceeds  from 
the  nitric  (septic)  acid  by  which  they  are  penetrated.  Such  seems 
to  be  the  operation  of  septic  acid,  as  it  co-operates  with  other 
causes,  in  breaking  down  the  niceiy-wrought  and  finely-fabricated 
works  of  animated  machinery.  And  every  otner  thing  would  be 
obliged  to  yield  to  its  rapacity  and  violence,  had  it  not  been  so  pro- 
vided, that  this  arch  destroyer  should  become  glutted  and  saturated 
with  conquest,  and  unable  to  pursue  the  work  of  destruction  any 
longer. 

10.  Alter  this  triumph  over  every  thing  delicate  or  beautiful 
exhibited  in  the  composition  of  the  solid  and  more  durable  parts 
of  organized  matter,  the  acid  rises  from  its  mass  of  ruin, 
for  lack  of  farther  employ,  and  proceeds  through  the  air  to  the 
neighbouring  places.  In  this  state  it  often  meets  with  the  bodies 
of  men,  and  attempts  to  carry  on,  in  ail  it  meets,  the  accustomed 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


4* 


process  of  destruction.  Hence  arise  distempers  of  different  malig- 
nity, in  proportion  to  circumstances  favourable,  or,  otherwise,  to 
the  operation  of  the  poison  imbibed.    Hence  the  unhealthiness 
so  often  complained  of  and  commented  upon,  of  the  steams  issued 
from  large  collections  of  rich  manure.    But  active  and  volatile  as 
they  are,  there  are  substances  which  have  power  to  coerce  and  re- 
strain them;  to  disarm  them  of  their  ferocity,  and  make  them  calm 
and  gentle.    The  chief  of  these  is  pot-ash,  or  the  vegetable  fixed 
alkali,  that  saline  substance  which  is  afford  by  the  incineration  of 
plants;  that  which  in  the  shops  is  called  salt  of  wormwood  and  salt 
of  tartar.    The  union  of  the  septic  acid  with  this  alkali,  forms  the 
septite  of  pot-ash,  the  very  salt  commonly  known  by  the  name 
of  nitre  and  salt-petre,  and  from  which  this  acid  has  almostalways, 
to  the  great  injury  of  science,  borrowed  the  name  of  nitrous.  It 
is  not  essential  to  the  present  inquiry  to  determine  the  controverted 
question,  whether  pot-ash  is  a  simple  and  elementary  substance,  or 
whether  it  is  a  compound  body,  formed  in  the  fire  during  the  com- 
bustion of  wood.    Of  all  bodies  existing  where  putrefaction  goes 
on,  this  salt  has  the  strongest  attraction  for  the  acid  of  putrefaction. 
Consequently  the  acid  will  quit  its  connection  with  all  other  sub- 
stances, and  attach  itself  to  this  aikalk    The  extent  to  which  this 
takes  place  will  determine  the  quantity  of  salt-petre  produced,  and 
the  quantity  of  septic  acid  neutralized  by  it,  and  taken  out  of  cir- 
culation. Pot-ash  then  acts  in  a  beneficial  and  wholesome  manner ,- 
by  repressing  and  keeping  down  that  fluid  which,  by  rising  in  va- 
pour, might  occasion  intermittent  fevers,  or,  according  to  its  degree 
cf  malignity,  others  of  a  more  alarming  nature,  and  even  pestilence 
!  itself.    It  will  be  found  accordingly,  that  the  region  of  unhealthy 
exhalations  of  this  kind,  is  that  where  the  substances  on  the  earth 
I  neutralize  this  destructive  acid  either  partially  or  not  at  all.  As 
I  far  as  pot-ash  is  concerned  in  this  process,  it  appears  that  there  are 
j  some  soils  and  tracts  of  land  in  the  world,  where  it  is  native,  or  is 
an  original  material.    By  absorbing  from  rains,  dews,  and  putrid 
bodies,  all  the  acidity  they  can  impart,  these  beds  of  pot-ash  change 
to  nitre,  which  is  in  many  places  artificially  extracted  from  the 
earthy  matter  with  which  it  had  been  mingled  and  manufactured 
for  use  in  several  parts  of  Asia.    This  is  the  case  in  certain  parts 
flif  Europe.    But  where  nature  has  not  bestowed  a  store  of  pot-ash 
jrothe  earth,  thai  salt  is  frequently  accumulated  there  from  adven- 
titious and  secondary  causes.   Near  the  settlements  of  men,  pot-ash 
is  generally  produced  by  the  agency  of  fire;  and  wherever  soap  is 
:  employed  to  aid  common  water  in  rendering  substances  clean,  a 
i  quantity  of  alkali  is  thrown  away  with  those  solutions  that  have 
j  served  the  purposes  of  washing.    Perhaps,  too,  as  pot-ash  seems  t# 
be  a  constituent  part  of  some  plants  before  they  are  subjected  to 
'the  operation  of  fire,  a  portion  of  it  is  extricated  by  common  pu* 
Vol.  I.  No.  I,  G 


4* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


trefaction.  From  these  sources  the  earth,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  human  dwellings,  and  more  especially  large  cities,  becomes  of- 
tentimes highly  nitrous.  Where  animal  and  vegetable  matter  ac- 
cumulates, something  of  such  a  process  may  be  expected  to  go  on. 
This  is  so  much  the  case,  that  Tournefort  relates,  "  the  people 
"  of  some  parts  of  Armenia  carefully  collect  the  dirt  of  the  great 
"  roads  which  are  Irtquented  by  caravans  of  camels,  which  they 
"  wash,  and  extract  from  it  considerable  quantities  of  nitre;  while 
"  the  earth  of  the  neighbouring  fields  yields  no  nitre."  (Voyage 
au  Levant,  letter  vii.)  It  would  be  needless  to  quote  from  Lan 
cis i,  that  nitre  is  found  in  the  soil  of  Rome;  from  Bourgoanne, 
the  abundance  of  it  around  Madrid;  and  other  authorities  proving 
the  plenty  of  it  in  all  the  villages  of  Prussia.  It  is  sufficient  to 
say,  the  universal  acid  which  joins  the  pot-ash  forms  nitre,  and  is 
subservient  to  the  purposes  of  agriculture  and  the  arts,  when  on 
the  earth;  bur,  as Huxh  a m  seems  to  have  conjectured,  (i  Observ. 
on  Air,  preface,  p.  xx.)  oftentimes  excites  sad  disturbance  in  the 
animal  economy,  and  kindles  up  epidemic  distempers  after  its  ele- 
vation into  the  atmosphere.  The  operation  of  pot-ash,  then, 
whether  in  the  form  of  common  ashes,  tartar,  soap-suds,  Ike.  is 
twofold,  ist.  It  forms  salt-petre  with  septic  acid  in  the  earth;  and, 
2dly.  It  consequently  fixes  the  acid  so  that  it  can  by  no  means  rise 
in  pestilential  steam  and  vitiate  the  air.  These  facts,  taken  toge 
ther;  allow  a  theory  to  be  formed  of  the  effects  of  alkaline  ma- 
nures. They  attract  the  acids  of  the  soils,  and,  on  combining 
with  them,  assume  new  qualities.  Though  they  may,  and  do 
unite  with  fixed  air  into  carbonates  of  pot-ash,  yet  the  greater  good 
done  by  manuring  with  alkalies,  is  the  conversion  of  themselves 
to  nitrites,  by  forming  connections  with  the  more  strong  and  ac- 
tive septic  acid.  Too  much  of  this  unneutralized  acid  does  harm 
even  in  the  richest  soils:  this  alkali,  by  saturating  it,  will  bring  them 
to  a  more  productive  condition.  Where  land  is  bare,  and.  ex- 
hausted of  organic  matter,  alkaline  manures  are  not  very  profit- 
able :  there  is  no  surplusage  of  acid  to  overcome,  and,  consequent- 
ly, no  new  nutritious  material  produced  by  the  union  of  the  two 
into  nitre. — Tne  general  conclusion,  from  what  has  been  men 
tioned,  is,  that,  in  the  street-manure  of  cities,  the  door-dirt  of 
country-houses,  the  stable-dung  of  animals,  &c.  there  is  a  portion 
of  septic  acid,  which  exists  in  close  coherence  with  pot-ash,  or  in 
looser  connection  with  some  other  material.  Hence  we  can  ex- 
plain why  common  ashes,  and  the  ashes  vf  lime-kilns,  are  so  service- 
able as  fertilize  rs  on  being  mixed  in  the  heap  with  street  manure. 

The  next  object  ol  inquiry  is,  how  the  nitre  of  the  soil  operates? 
This  question  resolves  itself  into  parts :  ist.  The  operation  of  ni- 
tre upon  the  soil  itself,  or  the  substances  put  on  it  for  manure;  and 
2d!y.  Its  effects  upon  the  constitution  and  economy  of  plants. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


43 


i.  Notwithstanding  the  firm  alliance  of  septic  acid  and  pot-ash, 
there  is  one  substance  by  which  it  may  be  broken.  This  is  the 
acid  of  sulphur,  or  vitriolic  acid,  which  sometimes  occurs  naturally 
in  the  soil,  but  in  modern  husbandry  is  more  frequently  intro- 
duced in  combination  with  lime,  and  spread  upon  trie  land  in  the 
form  of  gypsum.  Nitre,  it  has  been  said,  is  composed  of  septic 
acid  and  pot-ash;  gypsum  consists  of  sulphuric  acid  and  lime.  If 
nitre  and  gypsum  meet,  then  there  will  be  a  decomposition  of 
both  ;  the  sulphuric  acid  of  the  gypsum  will  quit  the  lime,  to  form, 
with  the  pot-ash  of  the  nitre,  a  vitrioiated  tartar;  and  the  septic 
acid  of  the  salt-petre  will  unite  with  the  lime  of  the  gypsum,  into 
calcarious  nitre,  by  the  application  of  plaister  of  Paris.  In  such 
circumstances,  the  principal  change  wrought  is  the  conversion  of 
the  septite  of  pot-ash,  into  a  septite  of  lime ;  the  septic  acid  in  the 
latter  case  being  more  easy  of  separation  and  decomposition  than  in 
the  former,  and,  of  course,  more  favourable  to  the  growth  of  plants. 
But  of  this,  mention  will  be  more  particularly  made  under  the  1 3  th 
article  below.  The  vitrioiated  tartar,  or  sulphite  of  pot-ash,  has 
not  any  fertilizing  effect:  that  I  know  of.  Sea-salt  is  almost  al- 
ways mixed  with  manures,  in  greater  or  less  quantity  ;  but  as  it  is 
composed  of  the  muriatic  acid  and  soda,  and  as  neither  of  these  in- 
gredients can  decompose  salt-petre,  the  two  compound  salts  can 
exist  in  each  other's  neighbourhood,  without  undergoing  decom- 
position on  either  side.  2dly.  Besides  the  power  already  explain- 
ed, by  which  plants  are  rendered  capable  of  decompounding  the 
septic  acid  when  applied  to  them  in  a  dilute  form  with  water,  they 
seem  to  possess  a  further  power  of  separating  this  acid  from  its  al- 
kaline basis.  There  has  been  considerable  diversity  of  opinions, 
as  to  the  mode  in  which  nitre  operated  as  a  manure.  The  fafts 
appear  to  me  reducible  to  the  following  heads.  1.  The  nitre  may 
be  wholly  absorbed  by  certain  plants,  as  perhaps  in  tobacco,  with- 
out undergoing  decomposition.  2.  It  may  be  decompounded, 
and  the  pot-ash  chiefly  be  absorbed,  as  in  wormwood.  3.  Aftef 
decomposition,  the  acid  itself  may  perhaps  be  inhaled,  and  im- 
part corroding  qualities  to  the  juices  of  plants,  as  in  Euphorbium, 
Celandine,  &c.  4.  The  septic  acid  may  be  resolved  into  its  consti- 
tuent parts,  and  the  septon  be  retained  in  large  proportion,  as  in 
cabbages;  or,  5.  The  septon  may  be  expelled  in  the  form  of 
azotic  gas,  ana  the  oxygene  remain  as  in  sorrel,  currants,  &c. 
In  so  many  ways  may  the  septite  of  pot-ash  operate,  and  impart  the 
whole,  or  some  part  only  of  its  ingredients,  to  the  plants  on  which 
it  acts,  according  to  the  appetite  and  disposition  of  each,  deter- 
mining them  to  retain  one  part  or  another,  jointly  or  separately,  as 
best  suits  their  living  economy  in  each  particular  case.  Thus,  the 
ancient  opinion  of  nitre,  as  a  fertilizing  material  in  manure,  is 
confirmed  by  modern  experience  and  theory. 


44  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

11.  Septic  acid  may  exist  where  there  is  no  pot -ash  -  or  then; 
may  be  more  acid  than  the  pot-ash  existing  in  the  dung-heap  or 
$oil  can  neutralize.  In  such  cases,  the  common  salt,  or  muriate  of 
soda,  which  is  consumed  in  large  quantities,  by  men  and  brute 
animals,  and  which  is  mingled  more  or  less  with  beds  of  manuref 
may  undergo  decomposition.  It  was  stated  in  the  preceding  arti- 
cle, that  the  pot-ash  of  the  nitre  restrained  its  acid,  from  making 
any  coalition  with  the  soda  of  the  sea-salt.  But  the  case  will  be 
different  when  no  pot-ash  is  present,  for  then  the  alkaline  basis 
of  the  common  salt  having  a  stronger  attraction  for  the  septic 
than  for  the  muriatic  acid,  will  dissolve  its  union  with  the  latter? 
and  form  a  more  firm  connection  with  the  former.  Under  such 
circumstances,  then,  sea-salt  will  be  changed  to  a  septite  of  soda, 
(cubic  nitre)  and  the  muriatic  acid  will  be  set  loose.  And,  in  like 
circumstances,  the  same  neutral  salt  will  be  formed  from  solutions 
of  soap  made  of  kelp  or  barilla.  This  same  principle  will  be  found 
to  have  an  extensive,  application  to  all  maritime  situations,  where 
the  land  is  always  insome  degree  impregnated  with  particles  of  sea- 
salt,  elevated  by  the  surf  and  winds,  and  borne  to  some  distance 
through  the  air,  or  brought  upon  the  land  with  the  fodder  cut  up-; 
on  salt  marshes.  The  septite  of  soda  is  more  easy  of  decomposi- 
tion than  salt-petre,  and  might,  therefore,  seem  to  be  a  preferable 
manure;  to  some  plants  it  may  be  so,  particularly  to  such  as,  by 
their  incineration,  afford  that  species  of  fixed  alkali;  but  as  this  is 
not  the  case  with  the  greater  part  of  upland  vegetables,  the  soda 
will  be  of  little  or  no  service,  as  it  is  not  an  article  of  their  food ; 
perhaps  it  is  frequently  of  disservice.  If  gypsum,  strewed  upon 
land,  meets  with  cubic  nitre,  it  ought  to  be  decompounded;  the 
sulphuric  acid  of  the  gypsum  uniting  with  the  soda  of  the  other 
compound  salt,  into  a  sulphite  of  soda,  (Glauber's  salt)  and  the 
septic  acid  combining  with  the  earth  of  the  plaisier  into  a  septite  of 
lime  (calcarious  nitre).  As  to  the  action  of  the  living  economy  of 
plants  upon  cubic  nitre,  it  is  the  same,  mutatis  mutandis,  with  that 
already  given  in  the  preceding  article,  on  the  manner  in  which 
prismatic  nitre  or  common  salt-petre  is  affected. 

12.  The  discussion  of  this  article  will  involve  a  good  deal  of 
the  theory  of  lime  as  a  fertilizing  substance  in  farming.  From 
the  greater  abundance  of  lime,  or  calcarious  earth,  in  and  about 
human  dwellings,  and  on  farms,  than  of  pot-ash,  soda,  and  ammor 
niac,  it  might  be  presumed,  a  priori,  that  the  septite  of  lime  would 
be  a  very  common  production.  This  is  the  fact.  Wherever,  in  the 
absence  of  the  two  alkalies,  septic  acid  or  its  fumes  meet  with  lime, 
calcarious  nitre  is  formed.  Lime  is  commonly  exposed  to  putrid 
materials  or  their  exhalations,  in  three  forms;  i.  That  of  quick 
or  caustic  lime.  z.  Of  mild  or  carbonated  lime,  or  lime  united 
■with  fixed  air.  And,  3.  The  sulphite  of  lime,  gvpsum,  cr  plaister 
of  Paris. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


;.  The  common  form  in  which  lime-stone  is  found  in  the  krgc 
strata  of  the  earth,  is 'that  of  combination  with  the  acid  of  char- 
coal or  fixed  air.  The  lime  is  obtained  from  this  in  its  distinct 
and  caustic  state,  by  exposure  to  a  high  degree  of  heat,  whereby 
the  carbonic  acid  is  driven  off  in  the  state  oi  gas.  It  is  then  cal- 
led quick-lime,  and,  in  that  condition,  is  brought  to  market,  and 
employed  in  husbandry  and  the  arts.  After  having  been  deprived 
of  its  fixed  air,  the  lime  is  always  greedy  of  regaining  it.  This 
process  goes  on  so  certainly,  that  quick-lime,  by  being  exposed 
to  the  open  2ir,  will  grow  mild  again,  by  absorption  of  carbonic 
acid.  From  the  avidity  with  which  these  two  bodies  associated, 
in  ordinary  circumstances,  it  has  been  imagined  that  quick-lime 
a&ed  upon  land  or  manures  by  promoting  putrefaction;  that  is, by 
disorganizing  animal  and  vegetable  substances,  and  depriving 
them  of  their  fixed  air:  this  may  be  true  in  certain  circumstances. 
A  more  common  operation  or  the  calcarious  earth,  is  to  neutralize 
the  septic  acid  of  the  soil  or  dung-hill,  temper  its  stimulant  and 
corroding  nature,  and,  in  a  junction  of  two  caustic  bodies,  form 
that  mild  compound  the  septite  of  lime.  If  the  carbonate  of  lime 
be  thrown  into  a  heap  of  manure,  the  fixed  air  will  be  expelled, 
and  the  septic  acid  take  its  place.  Thus  calcarious  nitre  is  formed 
when  quick-lime  is  employed  as  a  manure  upon  land  impregnated 
with  putrefying  matter. — Provided  there  is  more  lime  than  the  sep- 
tic acid  can  saturate,  the  surplusage  may  re-attract  carbonic  acid, 
if  no  stronger  one  prevents. 

2.  If  mild  lime  be  added  instead  of  quick-lime,  the  septic  acid 
will,  as  in  the  former  case,  constitute  with  it  calcarious  nitre;  but 
will,  in  addition  to  this,  cause  an  extrication  of  fixed  air,  which 
appears  to  aft,  when  applied  in  a  moderate  quantity,  both  as  a 
stimulant  and  nutritive  ingredient  of  plants.  But  I  must  not  di- 
gress by  entering  into  a  discussion  of  the  effects  of  charcoal,  its 
oxyd  and  acid,  upon  the  vegetable  economy. 

3.  The  prodigious  effects  wrought  by  tne  sulphite  of  lime,  or 
plaister  of  Paris,  in  many  places,  are  matrers  of  great  profit  as  well 
as  surprise  to  farmers.  Specimens  of  a  very  pure  gypsum  have 
been  brought  to  me  from  one  of  the  western  counties  of  the  state 
of  New-York.  This  must,  in  course  of  time,  become  of  invalu- 
able importance  to  that  interior  country,  as  well  for  architecture  as 
for  agriculture.  The  manner  of  its  production  seems  to  be  this. 
Great  quantities  of  sulphur  are  found  thereabout.  This  frequently 
combines  with  clay  and  iron,  into  martial  pyrites.  Many  varieties 
of  this  pyrites  are  prone  to  attract  oxvgene  lrwm  the  atmosphere, 
and  when  this  happened,  the  sulphur  was  converted  to  vitriolic 
(sulphuric)  acid,  a  part  of  which  dissolved  the  iron,  and  formed 
green  vitriol  or  copperas,  (sulphite  of  iron) ;  and  the  rest  combined 
with  the  clay  into  alhun  (aulpiutt  of  clay.)    When  these  processes 


46  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

went  on  in  the  vicinity  of  great  beds  of  lime-stone  (carbonate  of 
Time.)  the  ca'csrious  earth  gradually  attracted  the  sulphuric  acid 
from  die  iron  ar.c  t be  clay,  and  in  the  course  of  ages,  tne  strata  of 
common  ilme-stone  were  convened  into  the  suipr/tte  of  lime  (gyp- 
sum.) Tr.c  di-enga  ^ed  fixed  air  then  flew  away,  w  hile  the  iron  and 
clay  rum 1.  :z  ocr.re.  P.-.er.omena  analogous  to  these  have  proba- 
cy, in  soak:  fanner  aeras  or  tne  world,  zxcompanied  the  formation 
of  otr.er  mttsses  c:  piaister  of  Paris.  How,  now,  does  such  a  sul- 
phite of  lime  opcriLC  when  employed  as  a  manure  ?  Its  operation 
be  mocified  by  the  circumstances  which  accompany  its  appli- 
cation a/:d  qjodity  its  power.  Gypsum  may  be  decompounded  se- 
Tera!  ways.  j.  B\  rr.e  nitrite  of  pot-ash  (salt-petre.)  2..  By  the 
nitrite  of  soda.  And,  3.  By  the  muriate  of  soda.  4..  Ey  the  car- 
bonate of  pot-ash  (miid  vegetable  alkali.)  And,  5.  The  carbo- 
nate ot  soda  (mild  mineral  alkaii.)  In  any  of  these  cases,  one  or 
other  of  which  is  likely  to  occur  when  gypsum  is  employed  to 
t  rv  •  :•  •  :  it  whi  be  generally  decompounded.  And 

upon  this  decomposition,  it  is  not  unlikely  much  of  its  value  de- 
pends, in  some  ca>es  of  its  application;  and  to  the  same  cause  may 
hs  want  of  success  be  ascribed,  in  others. 

1.  If  the  investigation,  herein  attempted,  has  any  validity  in  it, 
the  septite  of  pct-asn  is  a  frequent  production  in  manure.  Gyp- 
sum,  mingled  with  such  manure,  may  be  e?pe&ed  to  undergo  de- 
composition, by  a  double  elective  attraction :  The  pot-ash  of  the 
nitre  attracting,  by  a  stronger  affinity,  the  sulphuric  acid  of  the 
piaister  o:  Paris,  and  forming  a  sulphite  of  pot-ash  (vitriolated 
tartar.)  and  the  disengaged  septic  acid  joining  the  lime,  and  con- 
st::-;.;-; a  septite  of  lime  (calcarious  nitre.)  This  latter  substance 
seems,  in  this  cast,  to  be  the  fertilizing  ingredient.  2.  If  gyp- 
sum is  sprinkled  on  a  soil  abounding  with  tne  septite  of  soda  (cu- 
bic nitre,)  it  ought  to  be  decompounded;  and  while  the  sulphuric 
wdAjaias  the  alkali,  and  forms  a  sulphite  of  soda,  (Glauber's  salt,) 
the  septic  acid  constitutes,  with  the  calcarious  earth,  a  septite  of 
lime.  In  this  case  too,  calcarious  nitre  seems  to  be  the  aftive 
ingredient  of  the  manure.  3.  When  the  piaister  is  applied  to  a 
soil  impregnated  with  common  salt  (muriate  of  soda,)  a  double 
decomposition  may  happen;  the  sulphuric  acid  forming  with  soda 
a  Glauber's  salt,  and  tne  muriatic  acid  making  with  the  lime  a 
muriate  of  lime.  As  neither  of  these  substances  is  remarkable 
ior  promoting  the  growth  of  vegetables,  the  reason  is  plain,  where- 
fore gypsum  so  often  fails  to  fertilize  land,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  ocean,  or  in  any  place  where  it  can  be  decompounded  by 
I  --".teles  ot  sea-salt.  But  even  on  some  farms  in  the  state  of  New- 
York,  bordering  upon  the  salt  water,  gypsum  will  sometimes  pro- 
|nce  considerable  effects ;  and  these  will  depend,  in  some  degree, 
upon  the  force  and  direction  of  the  winds,  bringing  more  cx  less 


- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  47 

of  the  saline  spray  of  the  Atlantic  along  with  them,  and  on 
the  emplo) ment  of  salt-fodder  on  the  farms.  4  and  5.  When- 
ever the  carbonates  of  pot-ash  and  soda  are  applied  to  gypsum, 
its  sulphuric  acid  may  combine  witn  them  into  vitriolated  tartar 
and  Glauber's  salt,  then  while  part  of  their  carbonic  acid  con- 
verts the  basis  of  the  plaistcr  into  a  carbonate  of  lime,  (mild 
caicarious  earth,)  the  rest  may  mingle  with  water  and  other  sur- 
rounding bodies,  and  contribute  in  those  forms  to  nourish  ve- 
getables. 

These  ruks,  here  investigated,  will  strictly  apply  to  pure  gyp- 
sum only.  Under  that  name,  a  considerable  variety  of  the  sul- 
phites of  lime  are  brought  to  market  and  sold.  Those  varieties, 
!  I  believe,  are  not  merely  such  as  result  from  the  fibrous,  lamel- 
lated,  or  amorphous  structure  of  the  gypseous  material.  They 
differ  from  each  other  further.  1.  In  the  degree  of  purity:  and, 
a.  In  the  force  of  chemical  attraction,  binding  the  ingredients  to- 
gether. In  respect  to  the  latter  particular,  there  is  something  not 
wholly  understood  in  the  composition  of  gypsum;  for  though  it 
can  be  tolerably  well  analyzed,  there  is  a  somewhat  in  the  texture 
of  some  sorts  of  it,  that  cannot  be  perfectly  arrived  at  or  imitated 
by  synthesis.  The  very  considerable  variety  in  the  purity  and 
cohesiveness  of  plaister  of  Paris  is,  no  doubt,  another  cause  of  un- 
certainty in  its  operation,  and  of  perplexity  in  theorizing  upon  it. 
And  to  this  jointly,  with  the  substances  enumerated  before,  as  ca- 
pable of  decomposing  it,  may  be  ascribed  much  of  that  irregu- 
larity approaching,  as  some  term  it,  to  something  like  whim  or  ca- 
price, tor  which  this  manure  is  so  remarkable.  Septic  and  car- 
bonic acids  cannot  decompound  gypsum.  If  there  is  no  alkali  in 
the  soil,  I  see  not  how  it  can  be  decompounded  at  all  in  manure. 
Perhaps  it  can  answer  a  valuable  purpose  without  decomposition. 
It  may  be  so,  though  I  question  it  very  much.  The  formation  of 
caicarious  nitre  seems  to  be  the  thing  which  characterizes  the  de- 
composition of  gypsum,  in  cases  where  particularly  the  most  benefit 
has  been  derived  from  it;  and  this  corresponds  with  the  great  fertility 
imparted  to  land,  by  the  same  thing,  in  old  walls,  rubbish,  &c. 

13.  If  there  be  neither  pot-ash,  nor  soda,  nor  lime, to  lessen  the 
vehemence  and  repress  the  activity  of  the  septic  acid  and  its  va- 
pours, the  volatile  alkali  is  the  substance  having  the  next  degree 
of  attractive  force  for  them.  The  general  opinion  of  philosophers, 
that  ammoniac  was  the  common  and  almost  universal  result  of  the 
putrefactive  process,  I  believe  to  be  a  misconception.  If  it  is 
such  a  common  product  of  corruption  as  it  has  been  alledged  to 
be,  it  is  very  strange  it  should  be  so  difficult  of  detection.  No 
one  will  deny  that  it  may  he  formed  during  the  decay  of  organized 
matter;  but  this  seems  to  be  rather  an  unfrequent  occurrence. 
Whenever  volatile  alkali  meet:  with  septic  acid  in  the  earth,  which 


4&  MEDICAL  RfiFO^if  ORY. 

I  believe  to  be  a  very  rare  event,  there  will  be  a  formation  of 
nitrous  ammoniac.  The  virtues  of  this  as  a  manure  have  not  been 
investigated  that  I  know,  further  than  respects  the  operation  of 
j'jot,  which  contains  it;  and  on  this  point  more  precise  information 
is  wanted  than  I  am  possessed  of.  From  its  easy  decomposition 
the  septite  of  ammoniac  would  seem  to  be  a  very  operative  ingre- 
dient in  manure. 

14.  Septic  acid  has  an  attraction  for  clay.  This,  however,  is 
so  weak,  that  the  presence  of  any  of  the  substances  already  enu- 
merated will  prevent  the  connection,  or  dissolve  it  if  made.  In 
soils,  therefore,  where  neither  pot-ash,  soda,  lime  nor  ammoniac 
exists,  nitrous  allum  may  be  formed,  and  contribute  something  to 
the  productiveness  of  land. 

15.  The  union  of  the  acid  of  putrefaction  with  oily  substances 
includes  both  the  case  of  the  rejected  water  of  wash-houses,  and 
the  corruption  of  organized  bodies.  The  greasy  part  of  soap,  the 
adipose  matter  of  carcases,  the  oily  substance  of  certain  seeds,  &c. 
are  all  capable  of  being  changed  into  new  forms  by  the  operation 
of  septic  acid.  By  this  they  seem  to  be  modified  in  such  a  way  as 
to  afford  healthy  aliment  to  many  sorts  of  vegetables. 

Such  are  the  methods  by  which  this  active  and  abundant  pro- 
duct of  corruption  is  overcome  and  kept  within  tolerable  compass. 
Some  substances  only  neutralize  it;  others  again  rend  it  asunder, 
snd  dissever  element  from  element.  But  the  processes  I  have  ex- 
hibited, though  they  are  the  principal  which  agriculture  furnishes, 
are  not  the  whole  which  nature  has  provided  for  the  destruction  or 
septic  acid  j  for  it  acts  with  more  eagerness  upon  other  bodies,  and 
on  a  greater  variety  of  them  than  other  acids,  chiefly  on  account 
of  its  being  of  more  easy  decomposition.  The  dissolution  of  sil- 
ver, the  explosion  of  gun-powder,  the  deflagration  of  nitre,  are 
all  of  them  processes  of  a  similar  kind.  As  the  quantity  produced 
is  prodigious,  so  the  means  of  destroying  it  are  adequate,  andj 
upon  the  whole,  well  adjusted. 

On  this  occasion,  I  wish  to  avoid  the  censure  of  ascribing  too 
much  to  one  principle  or  thing.  I  would  not  be  understood  as 
giving  an  entire  theory  of  manures:  all  that  is  intended  is  to  bring 
to  view,  and  to  interpret  the  history  of  septon,  and  its  compounds, 
in  some  of  their  relations  to  physic  and  farming.  Nor  would  I 
incur  the  charge  of  saying  these  things  are  the  only  pabula  planta- 
fum.  Partial  views  in  abundance  are  already  before  the  public,  in 
favour  of  attenuated  earth,  water,  hydrogene,  carbone, -&c.  I 
believe  all  these  have  their  effect.  But,  as  they  have  each  been 
treated  of  more  particularly  than  the  septic  substances  have,  I 
merely  undertook  the  statement  of  the  subject;  as  far  as  these  latter 
were  concerned,  in  such  a  manner  as  appeared  to  me  to  be  just. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY,  49 

Tne  acid  properties  of  some  manures,  and  the  alkaline  or  ab- 
sorbent nature  of  others,  highly  deserve  the  consideration  of  agri- 
culturists. Without  an  attention  to  the  action  of  the  tormer  of 
these  upon  the  latter,  the  formation  of  manures,  and  their  opera- 
tion upon  plant?,  cannot  be  understood.  These  might  easily  be 
reduced  to  a  small  table,  and  their  affinities  traced. 


Acids  commonly  present  in  manures. 

Septic,  or  nitric  acid. 

Carbonic  acid,  or  fixed  air,  both 
very  common. 

Sulphuric  acid,  sometimes. 

Muriatic  acid,  very  frequent  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the 
ocean,  and  abounding  on 
farms  where  much  salt  fod- 
der is  consumed. 

Phosphoric  acid,  not  unfre- 
quently  evolved  during  ani- 
mal decomposition. 


Alkalies  very  frequent  in  manures. 

Pot-as/;,  or  vegetable  fixed  alka- 
li, very  common. 

Soda,  or  mineral  alkali. 

Ammoniac,  or  volatile  alkali, 
now  and  then. 

Lime,  or  calcarrous  earth,  very 
common  indeed. 

Magnesia,  sometimes. 

Clay,  almost  always. 


But  to  return  to  the  subject  of  sickly  air.  As  the  vapour  issu- 
ing from  putrid  substances  is  occasionally  of  an  acid  nature,  the 
alkalies  will,  under  all  possible  circumstances,  unite  with  it, 
ind  neutralize  it.  This  is  a  composition  of  septon  with  oxygencf 
which,  according  to  abundance  of  experiments,  form  the  effluvium 
if  high  animal  putrefaction.  This  vapour  has  been  called  putrid, 
ind  supposed  to  act  as  a  ferment  in  corrupting  the  fluids,  &c.  of  the 
living  body.  Such  an  opinion,  besides  being  a  violation  of  all 
iound  reasoning,  is  entirely  contradicted  and  refuted  by  the  expe- 
'iments  made  long  ago  by  Alexander  in  Scotland,  and  now 
ately  by  Brug\ atelli  in  Italy:  whence  it  is  proved,  that  both 
vater  and  air,  tainted  with  putrid  effluvia,  not  only  do  not  pro- 
note  putrefaction  like  atmosjdierical  air  and  common  water,  but  ac- 
quire therefrom  a  power  ot  retarding  and  insisting  the  corrujition  of 
lead  animal  substances,  in  an  eminent  degree.  In  such  atmospheres, 
o  little  favourable  to  the  putrefaction  of  substances,  do  pestilen- 
ial,  malignant,  endemic  and  epidemic  disorders  prevail.  But  the 
muholesome  exhalations  do  not  act  by  promoting  directly  a putre- 
aclive  fermentation  in  the  body,  but  by  morbid  ox  excessive  stimu- 
ation,  causing  inordinate  or  violent  excitement,  and  thus  induc- 
ng  disease  and  death. 

In  these  modes  does  it  appear,  that  the  volatility  of  acid  ex- 
lalations  is  repressed,  and  their  causticity  blunted  by  the  more 

ftl.  J.  No.  i.  H 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


fixed  and  strongly  neutralizing  qualities  of  the  alkalies;  thai,  in 
proportion  to  the  nature  of  the  compounds  formed  by  the  union 
of  these  with  each  other,  or  with  yet  other  substances,  will  the 
products  be  various,  and  impregnate  the  soil  accordingly;  and 
from  the  composition  and  character  of  these,  will  the  land,  in  a 
good  degree,  derive  its  productiveness  or  sterility,  and  the  climate 
no  inconsiderable  share  of  its  salubrity  or  unwholesomeness. 

New-York,  July  r,  1797. 


(  5<  ) 


ARTICLE  HI. 


[Recommended  to  all  who  have  read  the  Treatises  on  Epidemical 
Diseases  written  by  Doctor  Sydenham.] 

Dofiw  Morton'j  Summary  of  the  History  of  the  continued  Fever  in 
England,  from  1658  to  1691;  being  the  Appendix  to  the  second  Ex- 
ercise of  his  nvffloXiytec,  Ji.  415  &  seq. — Translated  from  the 
original  Latin  for  the  Medical  Repository. 

I SHALL  begin  from  the  year  165,8,  an  s;ra  I  well  remember, 
when  this  fever,  both  in  its  spurious  and  simple  form,  pre- 
vailed throughout  all  England,  particularly  in  the  autumnal  months ; 
as  our  celebrated  Willis  has  testified  in  his  treatise  of  fever,  for- 
merly published.  Oliver  Cromwell,  who  at  that  time  was  pro- 
tector of  England,  and  my  revered  father,  a  very  experienced 
physician,  both  died  that  year,  of  this  fever,  about  the  beginning 
of  September,  when  it  arrived  to  its  height:  the  synocha,  in 
•both  cases,  as  the  powers  of  nature  gave  out,  turning  to  synochus, 
with  delirium,  spasms,  and  other  symptoms  of  high  malignity. 
And  even  then,  after  I  had  beheld  my  mother,  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, the  men-servants,  the  maid-servants,  the  nurses,  and  every 
body  within  the  house,  and  almost  every  person  in  the  same  and 
the  neighbouring  parishes,  jnfc&ed  and  laying  sick  with  this  poi- 
son, I  remember  well,  and  I  have  reason  to  reme mber  it,  that  I 
myself  was  taken  ill  of  the  same  distemper,  and  after  a  narrow  es- 
cape from  death,  on  the  first  attack,  I  was  three  months  slowly 
recovering:  the  continued  fever,  with  which  I  was  first  affected, 
turning  into  a  quotidian,  and  then  into  a  tertian  intermittent,  after 
the  poison  had  been  subdued  by  a  long-continued  and  repeated 
expansion  of  the  spirits.  At  this  time,  almost  the  whole  of  this 
island  (Great-Britain,)  especially  in  the  autumnal  months,  resem- 
bled an  hospital;  and,  in  some  places,  such  was  the  amount  of 
sickness,  that  there  was  not  well  persons  enough  to  take  care  of 
the  sick.  It  is,  however,  very  certain,  that  this  fever,  though  so 
extensively  epidemic,  was  less  fatal  than  the  pestilential  or  malig- 
nant fever  commonly  is,  because  it  arose  from  a  milder  poison. 
Whence  it  came  to  pass,  either  by  the  expansive  power  of  the  spi- 
rits, or  the  assistance,  such  as  it  was,  afforded  by  art,  (for  as  yet 
the  efficacy  of  the  bark,  in  overcoming  the  power  of  this  poison, 
had  never  been  proved  among  us,  at  least,)  a  great  many  recovered 
Irom  the  distemper,  though  slowly.  But  you  might  see,  almost 
«very  where,  persons,  after  the  sixth  or  seventh  exacerbation, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


(where  nature  had  been  forced,  at  last,  to  yield  to  the  increased  vi- 
olence of  the  poison,)  having  no  more  fits  and  remissions,  nor  any 
trace  of  ti?en^  seized  with  malignant  continual  fever,  accompanied 
with  horrid  spasms  and  delirium,  carried  off  in  the  seventeenth  or 
twentieth  day  of  the  disease.  Others  were,  as  it  were,  prematurely 
cut  oft,  by  a  diarrhoea  and  vomiting,  or  pains  like  those  of  pleurisy, 
pcrijincumnny  or  colic;  or,  worn  down  and  exhausted  by  some  more 
violent  symptom  of  the  sjiuiious  synocha,  died  on  the  seventh,  ninth, 
or  eleventh  day  of  the  distemper.  Besides,  of  those  who  escaped 
from  the  diseases,  almost  all  that  I  knew  of,  passed  the  winter  in 
the  sickly  way;  for  even  during  the  coldest  weather,  quartan,  ter- 
tian, and  quotidian  intermiltents,  arising  from  a  more  moderate 
quantity  of  the  same  poison,  were  almost  as  epidemic  as  continued, 
and  remittent  fevers  had  been  in  the  fall.  Nor,  indeed,  during 
the  prevalence  of  the  frost,  did  these  synochas  entirely  leave  us, 
but  though  they  were  not  epidemic,  as  the  preceding  autumn,  they 
every  where  appeared  sporadically,  during  the  next  spring  and 
summer,  until  the  month  of  August.  From  this  time,  and  the 
whole  course  of  the  autumnal  months,  they  on  all  sides  increased, 
and  became  epidemic  again.  And  thus  I  observed  this  fever  to  be 
very  general  under  the  forms  of  a  simple  and  proper  synocha,  and 
under  a  quotidian  and  tertian  type,  and  during  the  fall,  to  be  more 
or  less  epidemic,  until  the  year  1664;  during  which  period,  it  was 
fatal  to  a  great  many,  notwithstanding  the  dogmatic  and  exquisite 
method  of  treatment  which  then  prevailed;  the  efficacy  of  this 
Peruvian  antidote,  in  destroying  this  poisonous  ferment,  being  yet 
unknown  to  the  common  herd  of  pre<>cribers. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  autumn  of  the  year  1664,  this  fever  had 
nearly  disappeared ;  and  almost  all  acute  diseases  had  suddenly 
vanished ;  and  the  constitution  of  the  season  became  very  whole- 
some. But  on  the  return  of  spring,  after  an  uncommonly  severe 
winter,  and  a  comet  in  the  Heavens,  the  fore-runner,  as  it  were, 
of  this  calamity,  the  poison  gathering  fresh  strength,  and  increas- 
ing prodigiously,  unexpectedly  changed  this  synocha  to  a  most 
dreadful  and  destructive  plague,  which,  spreading  epidemically,  kil- 
led, in  the  duration  of  one  year,  more  than  forty  thousand  persons. 
Yet,  during  the  rage  of  this  plague,  vestiges  of  the  synocha  were 
not  wanting;  for  as  many  as  escaped  from  the  plague,  either  by 
the  efforts  of  nature  or  the  aid  of  art,  and  began  to  exhibit  buboes, 
parotides  and  carbuncles,  or  other  monuments  and  trophies  of 
victory  over  the  enemy,  experienced  in  themselves,  as  if  by  a 
milder  operation  of  the  poison,  or  greater  vigour  of  spirits,  every 
day,  or  every  other  day,  exacerbations  and  remissions  of  these 
symptoms,  alternating  with  each  other,  at  stated  hours.  Whence, 
I  think  the  medical  faculty  of  Naples  are  not  justly  chargeable 
with  rashness,  (as  Badi  relates,  Anastas.  lib.  i.  chap.  20,)  in  hav- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


53 


ing  ordered  the  Peruvian  bark  to  be  prescribed  in  the  cure  of 
plague;  and  it  may  contribute  a  great  deal  to  destroy  this  poison, 
(when  of  a  milder  sort)  and  afterwards  hasten  the  cure. 

Moreover,  this  dismal  plague,  disappearing  about  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1666,  the  svnocha  fever,  occasioned  by  a  milder  poison, 
be^an  to  shew  itself,  attended  with  painful  and  dysenteric  flux. 
From  the  beginning  of  August,  it  spread  and  grew  worse  and 
worse,  througn  all  the  autumnal  months.  I  was  infected  by  it  my- 
self, as  I  caught  the  distemper  from  incautiously  examining  a  dy- 
senteric stool,  and,  with  difficulty,  recovered  from  it:  and  so  vio- 
lently and  epidemically  did  this  malady  prevail  in  London,  that  the 
next  fall  I  had  another  attack  of  the  disorder,  induced  by  a  similar 
accident.  But,  during  its  height,  in  the  months  of  September  and 
pclober,  at  which  times  the  simple  svnocha  ordinarily  prevailed, 
there  was  scarcely  any  other  disorder  to  be  seen.  Almost  the 
whole  city  was  down  with  it,  and  every  week,  from  300  to  400 
and  500,  were  carried  off  by  fluxes  and  gripes,  and  the  other  dread- 
ful symptoms  of  excruciating  dysentery,  or  colliquative  diarrhoea, 
on  or  about  the  14th,  1  ;th,  or  20th  days  of  their  illness,  accompani- 
ed with  unquenchable  thirst,  white  or  black  aphtha;,  quick  pulse, 
delirium,  and  other  tokens  of  the  epidemic  fever.  Many,  how- 
ever, after  the  looseness  and  griping,  and  other  symptoms  of  dysen- 
tery had  been  suppressed,  by  the  plentiful  use  of  opiates  and  astrin- 
gents, nevertheless  languished  and  lingered  along,  until  emaciated 
and  burned  up  almost,  they  fell  into  a  fatal  hectic.  I  remember 
others  who  were  preserved  (the  virulence  heing  critically  expel- 
led by  the  salivary  duels)  by  the  appearance  of  aphthae,  and  pro- 
fuse salivation,  {which  frequently  COHENS  on  at  the  crisis  of  the 
svnocha.)  Then,  again,  the  poison,  taking  on  itself  the  form  of 
an  epidemic  dysentery,  spontaneously  attacked  the  intestines  with 
the  violence  of  colocynth,  or  any  other  cathartic ;  excited  in  them 
perpetually  horrid  and  veilicating  spasms,  and  causing  a  copious 
effusion  of  coliiquated  and  poisonous  serum  through  their  glan- 
dular membrane,  induced  a  considerable  exhaustion  of  strength,  but 
jiot  so  great  but  that  nature,  after  stated  or  uncertain  periods,  espe- 
cially in  the  beginning  of  the  disease,  would  recruit  a  little,  collect 
force,  make  a  stand,  and  sometimes  gain  a  victory.  This  was 
very  easy  to  be  observed;  for  a  remission  and  exacerbation  of  the 
gripings,  looseness,  and  other  tormenting  symptoms,  were  plainly 
observed  to  return  duly  on  every  other  day.  During  the  remis- 
sion, all  the  excruciating  symptoms  were  sometimes  spontaneously 
mitigated;  but,  on  the  return  of  the  fit,  they  were  not  to  be  re- 
strained by  the  powers  of  opiates  themselves.  Whence  I  clearly 
discerned,  that  the  dysentery  was  but  a  symptom,  and  that  the  fe- 
ver, (howsoever  it  might,  by  reason  of  the  suppression  of  external 
beat,  by  the  griping  and  Icostnes*,  conceal  itself  from  the  observer,) 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


even  of  the  true  synocha  type,  was  the  primary  disease,  and  arose 
from  a  more  mild  poison,  operating  in  tliib  instance  like  a  cathar- 
tic. And,  at  last,  relying  firmly  upon  this  observation,  I  under- 
took a  new  method  of  treatment.  Before  this,  I  had  been  engaged 
with  the  rest  of  the  medical  practisers,  in  vain  attempts  to  over- 
come the  disease,  by  rhubarb,  myrobalans,  opiates,  and  astringents 
externally  exhibited,  as  well  as  by  anodyne  clysters,  fomentations, 
and  other  things  of  high  name,  and  warmly  recommended  by  au- 
thors lor  the  cure  cf  dysentery ;  while,  during  all  my  efforts  to  al- 
lay their  wretched  symptoms,  the  poisonous  ferment  was  lurking 
within  the  body.  In  addition  to  opiates  and  astringents,  which 
merely  regard  the  dysenteric  symptoms,  I  determined  to  employ 
some  more  powerful  febrifuge,  (if  I  could  find  such  an  one)  which, 
by  destroying  the  poisonous  ferment  of  the  fever,  and  the  cau^eof 
the  looseness,  would,  at  once,  be  caDable  of  removing  the  fever, 
stopping  the  flux,  and,  of  course,  allaying  the  gripings.  And  my 
mind  was  the  more  inclined  to  this  opinion,  because  I  had  often 
observed  the  miserable  patients,  notwithstanding  the  most  antidv- 
senteric  remedies,  exhausted  with  these  most  seyere  symptoms, 
until  at  last  they  died  upon  the  close-stooi;  while  others,  driven, 
bv  many  astringents  and  opiates,  to  delirium  and  fainting,  and 
made  drunk  rather  than  well  by  them,  frequently  suffered  an  un- 
expected return  of  the  dysenteric  symptoms;  and  becoming  ema- 
ciated, with  a  quick  pulse,  hectic  heat,  and  other  tokens  of  a  poi- 
sonous taint  lurking  in  the  constitution,  at  test  expired  in  a  state  of 
quietness  and  cosliveness  of  the  bowels.  Judging  from  the  alterr 
nating  exacerbation  and  remission  of  the  griping  and  flux,  (which 
I  had  long  ago  often  known  in  some  form  or  other  to  accompany 
this  disease,  at  least  in  its  beginning,)  rather  than  from  the  feverish 
heat,  which,  in  proportion  to  the  troublesome  symptoms,  I  found 
to  be,  in  some  degree,  unequal,  but  always  low  and  moderate;  in 
such  cases,  I  determined  to  try  the  powers  of  the  Peruvian  bark, 
mixed  with  laudanum.  Nor  was  this  rashly  done,  since,  however 
prone  the  bark  may  be  to  purge,  by  irritating  the  tender  intestines  by 
its  bitterness;  yet,  when  mixed  and  obtunded  by  laudanum,  which 
steps  the  running  off  of  the  juices,  and  blunts  and  stupifies  the 
exquisite  feelings  of  the  guts,  it  may  be  reckoned  a  proper  remedy 
to  all,  and  compose  the  flux  and  griping,  as  well  as  the  fever,  by  sub- 
duing the  colliquative  poisonous  ferment.  I  first  experienced  the 
efficacy  of  this  most  celebrated  febrifuge  in  dysentery,  in  a  patient 
living  m  Long-lane,  who  laboured  under  a  tertian  dysentery;  for 
some  cases  of  this  sort  occurred  to  me  in  practice,  where  gripings 
and  a  slimy  bloody  flux  returned  every  third  day,  at  a  stated 
hour,  notwithstanding  the  most  diligent  exhibition  of  opiates; 
while,  in  the  intervals,  these  cruel  symptoms  were  mitigated  by 
administering  a  small  dose  of  laudanum,  or  oftentimes  of  their 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


55 


own  accord.  Seizing,  therefore,  the  first  opportunities  of  a  remis- 
sion of  the  symptoms,  I  ordered,  without  delay,  a  drachm  of  bark 
with  a  grain  of  London  laudanum,  to  be  taken  in  the  form  of  a 
draught,  and  repeated  every  fourth  hour,  until  six  doses  had  been 
administered.  What  was  the  consequence?  So  far  was  the  bark 
from  irritating  the  intestines  by  its  bitterness,  that  I  immediately- 
perceived  they  were  more  effectually  composed  and  appeased  by 
laudanum  mixed  with  the  bark,  than  joined  to  astringents;  for, 
from  the  exhibition  of  the  fifth  or  sixth  draught,  the  flux  and 
griping, together  with  the  fever  and  other  accompanyingsymptoms, 
entirely  went  off,  and  never  returned  at  the  accustomed  periods. 
This  observation  encouraged  me  to  try  the  powers  of  this  sovereign 
remedy  in  quotidian  dysenteries,  as  otten,  and  as  long  as  they  took 
upon  themselves  the  synocha  type,  though,  with  some  irregularity, 
in  the  exarcerbation  and  remission  of  symptoms,  and  they  were 
not  of  the  malignant  kind.  Nor  did  the  event  disappoint  my  ex- 
pectation: and  I  have  no  doubt,  that  every  epidemic  flux,  and 
every  looseness,  connected  with  fever,  even  camp  fevers,  accom- 
panied, as  they  generally  are,  with  similar  symptoms,  to  wit,  the 
spurious  synocfi2S,  might  be  much  more  certainly  cured  in  this 
short  way,  than  by  the  formidable  apparatus  of  rhubarb,  myroba- 
lan;,  astringents,  and  opiate,  which  have  hitherto  made  up  the 
treatment  of  these  kinds  of  diseases.  But  of  these  things  I  shall  speak 
more  at  large,  in  my  fifth  Essay  on  colliquative  fevers.  At  present 
I  "only  mention  them,  that  I  may  shew,  that  the  dysentery  and  griji- 
htg  diarrhoea,  which  lasted  near  seven  years,  anu  renewing  its  vio- 
lence here  in  London,  raged  epidemically  almost  over  the  whole 
country,  from  the  year  1666,  to  1672,  arose  from  a  true  synocha, 
which  I  denominate  a  spurious  synocha,  because  it  was  connected 
with  a  more  violent  collicjuation  of  the  juices,  and  their  excretion 
by  the  intestines.  And,  indeed,  it  was  a  favourite  wish  of  mine, 
that  from  the  true  and  genuine  idea  of  this  disease  thus  formed, 
more  certain  indications  of  cure  should  be  thenceforward  derived; 
so  that  the  ca?np  flux  and  dysentery,  or  any  other  epidemic,  should 
be  designated  by  the  proper  name  of  spurious  cnid  colliquative 
synocha. 

As  the  genuine  synocha,  from  the  year  1665,  (when,  from  the 
working  up  of  the  poison  to  its  height,  the  plague  broke  out,)  dis- 
appeared for  almost  two  years,  and  did  not  return,  as  before,  with 
the  return  of  warm  weather;  in  like  manner,  this  spurious  and  col- 
liquative synocha,  called  by  the  name  of  the  griping  dysentery  and 
flux,  which  succeeded  the  plague,  and  returning  every  autumn, 
continued  to  exercise  its  virulence,  far  and  near,  in  these  parts,  did 
at  last  entirely  cease.  But  it  was  succeeded  by  the  epidemic  measles, 
which,  like  a  milder  plague,  sparing  neither  age  nor  sex,  prevailed 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


with  such  mortality  in  London,  in  the  fall  of  1672,  that  there  died 
about  three  hundred  a  week  of  it.  But  thtse  never  afterwards 
existed  with  so  gre;it  a  degree  of  virulence.  In  what  degree  how- 
ever, this  same  pestilential  and  epidemic  morbillous  fever,  after  arriv- 
ing to  its  height  (that  is,  where  the  event  was  to  lie  fortunate,)  re- 
sembled thesynocha  form  of  fever,  and  how  excellently  the  Peru- 
vian bark  succeeded  in  the  cure  of  it,  will  be  afterwards  related -in! 
its  proper  place;  to  wit,  in  the  second  chapter  of  my  third  essays 
where  I  shall  professedly  treat  of  the  measlts  and  scarlet  fever. 

Toward  the  close  of  winter,  this  morbillous  constitution  began 
to  decline,  after  a  duration  of  six  months,  and  at  length  entirely 
ceased,  leaving  the  febrile  poison,  in  1673,  considerably  more  mild 
and  moderate,  as  it  still  continues  to  be.  Whence  it  happens,  that 
the  fever  which  hitherto  raged  annually  from  the  month  of  August 
to  the  winter  solstice,  no  longer  put  on  the  appearance  of  griping 
diarrhoea  or  dysentery,  nor  was  accompanied  with  any  other  more 
violent  symptom ;  but  for  twenty  years  wore  the  same  appearance  as 
it  did  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  plague  of  1665  and  1666:  and 
it  is  not  improbable  it  will  continue  to  observe  that  type,  until,  by 
some  fatal  plague,  the  poisonous  ferment  shall  be  changed,  and 
exalted  to  a  more  deleterious  degree  of  virulence.  I  confess  indeed, 
that  in  some  years,  from  a  milder  degree  of  the  poison,  particularly 
from  1677  to  1682,  that  quotidian  intermittents,  tertians  and  quar- 
tans, were  nearly  as  epidemic  as  the  synochas;  and  that,  in  later  years, 
particularly  during  the  height  of  the  constitution,  in  the  months 
of  September  and  October,  the  very  synochas,  from  a  more  ir- 
ritating degiee  of  the  poison  than  usual,  were  sometime?  attended 
with  some  more  violent  svmptom,  which  did  not  only  take  on  the 
form  of  a  periodical  flux  and  dysentery,  but  also  of  cholera  morbus,  ex* 
cessive  vomiting,  flying  rheumatism,  pleurisy,  colic  pains  of  the  stomach 
and  intestines,  or  of  some  other  very  acute  disease;  and  that  these 
synochas,  when  not  seasonably  and  properly  treated,  often,  from  an 
increase  of  the  poison,  degenerated  into  malignant  and  fatal  fevers; 
and  even  sometimes,  by  reason  of  an  unusually  deleterious  degree 
of  the  poison,  indicated  malignancy  from  the  beginning,  being  of 
the  purple  or  petechial  kind,  and  distinguished  by  a  morbillous 
eruption,  watery  blisters  scattered  over  the  neck  and  breast,  paro- 
tides, buboes,  carbuncles,  and  other  malignant  symptoms.  But 
all  these  fevers,  whether  spurious,  synochas,  or  malignant,  were 
also  sporadic,  and  did  not  spread  by  contagion,  as  in  the  pestilential 
constitution.  The  only  epidemic  fever  which  I  have  observed 
regularly  to  return  every  fall,  for  twenty  years  past,  was  the  simple 
synocha,  which  always  yielded  to  the  bark  when  seasonably  adminis- 
tered. Nor  did  the  epidemic  constitution  or  influence  of  small- 
pox, erysipelas,  scarlet  lever,  rheumatism,  sore-throat,  pleurisy, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


57 


£r  any  other,  which  prevailed  at  any  season  of  the  year,  make  so 
C#*tekierable  a  change  in  the  autumnal  poison,  that  the  epidemic 
fever  proceeding  from  it,  changed  at  all  its  usual  type  in  such  a 
course  of  years,  or  went  through  its  stages  after  a  new  and  varied 
manner. 

IT  is  matter  of  equal  curiosity  and  instruction  to  observe  the 
varied  shapes  and  degrees,  under  which  Doctor  Morton  has  so 
acutely  detected  the  operation  of  a  single  noxious  principle.  Equal 
sagacity  and  diligence  of  observation  would  often  certainly  lead  to 
the  same  result.  The  history  of  diseases  in  our  own  country,  for 
some  years  past,  furnishes  so  many  circumstances  of  a  correspon- 
dent aspect,  that  no  person  can  avoid  being  struck  with  the  re- 
semblance. 

By  this  attention  to  the  extensive  operation  of  a  single  morbid 
power,  we  not  only  enlarge  our  acquaintance  with  the  nature, 
origin,  and  causes  of  diseases,  but  receive  important  lessons  con- 
cerning the  prevention  and  treatment  of  them.  Instead  of  wan- 
dering to  foreign  countries  to  trace  the  source  of  contagion,  or 
.  multiplying  morbid  causes  without  end,  we  discover  the  materials 
of  mischief  growing  up  and  acquiring  malignity  under  our  own 
eyes;  and  we  learn  to  acquiesce  in  the  simplicity  of  nature,  and 
only  to  distinguish  when  she  has  established  a  real  difference. 

It  is  probable,  if  medical  history  were  sufficiently  ample  and 
authentic  to  enable  us  to  compare  the  phenomena  of  diseases,  as 
they  have  existed  in  all  ages  and  countries,  we  should  find  much 
more  ground  for  the  same  inferences,  which  arise  from  this  remark- 
able chapter  of  Doctor  Most  on 's  work. 


I'd.  I.  No.  I. 


(   58  ) 


ARTICLE  IV. 


REMARKS  ON  THE  CHOLERA,  OR  BILIOUS 
D1ARRHCEA  OF  INFANTS. 

By  Edward  Miller,  M.  D. 

THE  Cholera  of  infants  forms  one  branch  of  a  large  stock  of 
diseases,  as  much  distinguished  for  the  universality  of  their 
appearance,  as  for  the  diversified  character  they  occasionally  as- 
sume. Another  form  of  them,  more  familiarly  recognized  by  the 
public,  is  that  of  remittent  and  intermittent  fevers.  On  account 
of  circumstances,  which  every  body  is  acquainted  with,  they  have 
attracted,  for  several  years  past,  much  more  attention  than  usual. 
Views  of  the  subject,  more  comprehensive  and  accurate,  have 
enlarged  the  number  of  them,  by  bringing  back  to  their  proper 
station  many  diseases,  formerly  so  much  disguised  in  external  ap- 
pearances, as  to  conceal  the  fact  of  their  radical  relation.  And  it 
will  not  be  surprising,  if  this  simplification  should  be  carried  much 
farther;  nor  if  our  successors  should  groupe  together  a  still  larger 
assemblage  of  diseases,  and  demonstrate  their  origin  from  one 
common  cause. 

Notices  of  the  cholera  of  infants  are  to  be  found  in  almost  all 
the  writers,  who  record  the  annual  epidemics  of  summer  and  au- 
tumn, in  sickly  countries.  Clegl  orn,  in  his  account  of  the  dis- 
eases of  Minorca,  describes  it  exactly  as  it  appears  in  the  United 
States,  invading  children  some  weeks  sooner  in  the  season  than 
similar  affections  are  discovered  in  adults;  which  he  properly 
ascribes  to  their  greater  excitability,  and  to  the  remarkable  tender- 
ness of  the  alimentary  canal  in  the  infantile  system. 

The  importance  of  the  subject  now  undertaken,  is  admitted  by 
every  physician.  For,  notwithstanding  the  nature  of  the  disease 
is,  at  present,  well  understood,  and  the  treatment  greatly  improved, 
it  still  continues,  particularly  in  the  southern  and  middle  states,  to 
destroy  multitudes  of  infants,  and  even,  in  more  favourable  cases, 
to  prove,  in  a  high  degree,  obstinate  and  distressing. 

An  interesting  account  of  the  cholera  of  infants,  by  Dr.  Rush, 
has  been  many  years  before  the  public*  His  description  of  it  is 
so  accurate,  tha',  after  much  attention  to  the  disease,  I  am  unable 
to  add  any  thing  which,  in  that  respect,  deserves  to  be  considered 
important.   His  account  of  the  nature  and  causes  of  this  complaint, 

*  Medical  Inquiries  and  Obfervatiens,  vol.  i.  p.  112. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY, 


of  the  relation  it  bears  to  some  others,  and  of  the  mistakes  that  have 
prevailed  on  this  point,  is  so  just,  that  it  has  been  commonly  adopted. 
The  mode  of  treatment  he  recommends  is  very  judicious,  and  has 
been  generally  received.  But,  as  this  valuable  book  is  in  the  hands 
of  almost  all  our  medical  practitioners,  it  would  be  an  abuse  of  their 
time  to  repeat  these  things  here.  I  shall  not,  therefore,  attempt 
to  give  any  history  of  the  disease,  nor  propose  any  general  plan 
of  treatment,  or  any  minute  detail  of  remedies.  My  observations 
will  be  confined  to  a  few  detached  points,  which  have  appeared 
tome  to  be  important;  and  they  will  be  often  so  irregular,  and 
desultory,  that  this  paper  can  be  considered,  at  most,  only  as  a 
brief  supplement  to  former  essays  on  the  same  subject. 

The  physicians  of  the  United  States  seem  generally  to  concur  in 
opinion,  that  a  retreat  from  an  unhealthy  situation,  and  particu- 
larly a  change  from  the  air  of  cities  to  some  salutary  part  of  the 
adjacent  country,  is  one  of  the  best  means  both  to  prevent  and 
cure  this  disease.  The  evidence  in  favour  of  this  opinion  is  such, " 
that  we  shall  take  it  for  granted,  and  only  propose  the  applica?- 
tion  of  the  treatment  we  have  in  view,  in  cases  where  the  change 
of  air  cannot  be  obtained. 

It  is  well  known,  that  the  situations  and  circumstances  of  a  large 
proportion  of  the  community  are  such,  as  necessarily  to  fix  them  in 
the  spot  where  they  happen  to  reside.  |n  this  case,  the  best  ex- 
ertions must  be  made  that  the  nature  of  the  affair  wiil  admit. 

As  the  first  indication  that  presents  itself,  in  the  treatment  of 
this  disease,  is  to  discharge  the  stomach  and  intestines  of  their 
acrid  and  offensive  contents,  great  difficulty  often  occurs  in  the 
outset,  as  to  the  choice  of  the  means  to  effect  this  purpose.  When 
the  stomach  is  excited  into  action  so  inverted,  convulsive  and  vi- 
olent, the  administration  of  emetics  will  be  often  thought  hazard- 
ous. And  if  a  thorough  evacuation  of  the  offending  matter 
shall  appear  to  have  been  already  accomplished  by  spontaneous 
vomiting,  or  if  the  disease  shall  have  invaded  with  great  violence, 
and  already  have  produced  great  prostration  of  strength,  feebleness 
of  pulse,  and  a  receding  of  heat  from  the  extremities,  an  emetic 
would  certainly  be  improper  and  unsafe.  The  violent  action  of 
the  stomach  should  always  be  suffered  to  subside  before  such  a 
remedy  as  this  can  be  attempted  with  propriety. 

But  however  mischievous  the  rash  interposition  of  this  remedy 
may  often  prove,  the  maxim  that  vomiting  should  never  be  em- 
ployed to  relieve  vomiting,  has  been  sometimes  maintained  in  a 
sense  far  too  general  and  unqualified.  Mild  emetics,  which  soon 
cease  to  operate,  will  often  leave  the  stomach  stronger  than  before. 
This  is  attributed,  by  Dr.  Darwin,  to  the  accumulation  of  excita- 
bility during  the  stomach's  inverted  action.*    It  may  also,  per- 

*  Zoonomia,  vol.  ii.  p.  57. 


6o  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

haps,  be  in  part  ascribed  to  the  difference  in  the  modes  of  a&ioJL 
which  take  place  in  spontaneous  and  in  artificial  vomiting. 

To  rtiieve,  however,  any  doubt  on  this  subject,  whenever  the 
state  of  the  stomach  and  intestines  is  found  to  require  evacua* 
tion,  a  more  safe  ana  unequivocal  means  of  effecting  the  purpose, 
3t  is  conceived,  may  be  found  in  the  use  of  calomel,  accommo- 
dated in  its  dose  to  the  age  of  the  parient,  and  to  other  circum- 
stances. And  as  long  as  mere  evacuation  can  be  requisite  or  ad- 
missible, this  medicine,  uncombined,  will  prove  efficacious, 
gentle  and  safe.  As  soon  as  the  profuseness  or  sufficiency  of  the 
discharges,  or  symptoms  of  debility,  admonish  to  support  the 
strength,  the  addition  of  opium  to  the  calomel,  in  suitable  quan- 
tity to  compose  the  stomach  and  bowels,  forms,  in  my  judgment, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  remedies  ever  employed  in  this  disease. 

To  recommend  the  trial  of  mercury,  alone  or  combined  with 
opium,  as  different  states  and  exigencies  of  this  disorder  may  re- 
quire, is  one  of  the  principal  objects  of  this  paper.  A  case  of  in- 
fantile cholera,  very  violent  and  protracted,  attended  with  dysen- 
teric symptoms,  first  induced  me  to  make  trial  of  this  remedy, 
according  to  Dr.  Clark's  plan  of  treating  chronic  dysentery.* 
It  succeeded  so  completely, '  that  I  soon  extended  the  use  of  it 
to  the  bilious  diarrhoea  of  children;  and  here  it  answered  as  hap- 
pily as  before.  Some  of  my  medical  friends  have  since  made 
trial  of  it,  and,  they  assure  me,  with  singular  advantage.  If  with 
others  the  same  benefit  should  result,  it  will  certainly  not  be  thought 
unworthv  of  being  recommended  to  the  public ;  and,  if  future 
experience  should  find  me  too  sanguine  in  my  estimation  of  this 
medicine,  this  brief  paper  will,  at  most,  add  but  little  to  the  mass 
of  hasty  and  injudicious  encomiums  bestowed  on  favourite  reme- 
dies. 

As  to  the  dose  of  this  medicine,  or  the  interval  of  repetition, 
it  is  difficult  to  speak  with  precision,  considering  the  variety  of 
circumstances  which  must  always  determine  questions  of  that  sort. 
It  will,  perhaps,  convey  an  idea,  sufficiently  explicit,  of  the  mode 
of  exhibiting  this  remedy,  to  observe,  that  from  an  eighth  part  of 
a  grain  to  one  grain  of  calomel,  combined  with  a  portion  of  opium, 
from  a  twentieth  part  of  a  grain  to  half  a  grain,  repeated  every  2d, 
4th,  6th,  or  8th  nour,  vvili  comprize  nearly  all  the  range  of  variety 
necessary  in  the  treatment  of  this  disease,  in  order  to  accommodate 
the  medicine  to  ail  the  circumstances  of  age,  constitution,  and 
habits,  as  well  as  the  endless  differences  in  the  state  and  degree  of 
the  complaint,  in  the  concourse  and  succession  of  symptoms,  &c.f 

*  Dif-afes  of  Hot  Climafs. 

■j-  To  be  more  particular — a  child  about  two  years  old  may  take  a  fill  com- 
piled of  one-fix  h  part  of  a  grain  of  opium,  and  on».-third  part  of  a  gran  of 
calomelj  every  ad,  4th,  or  6.h  hour,  or  fo.Tneti.Ties  o::ener,  according  to  iht 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


6t 


It  will  scarcely  be  necessr.ry  here  to  observe,  that  not  only  the 
relative  quantities  of  these  ingredients  require  to  be^€ontinually 
varied  in  order  to  meet  the  ever-varying  circumstances  above- 
mentioned,  but  that  frequently  one  or  the  other  article  should  be 
entirely  omitted,  accordingly  as  evacuation  or  astriction  of  the 
alimentary  canal,  or  greater  or  less  degrees  of  either,  may  be  held 
jn  view. 

The  form  of  pill  was  commonly  preferred,  in  prescribing  this 
medicine.  If  the  child  was  too  young  to  swallow  an  entire  pill, 
it  was  directed  to  be  broken  into  small  fragment;,  and  given  in 
any  pleasant  vehicle,  liquid  enough  to  be  readily  taken  without 
adhering  to  the  mouth,  and  of  sufficient  consistence  to  entangle 
the  small  pieces  of  the  pill.  When  it  was  necessary  to  depart  from 
this  mode,  the  addition  of  a  little  white  sugar,  and  of  a  small 
portion  of  some  aromatic,  easily  formed  powders  of  a  convenient 
size. 

The  following  advantages  seem  to  attend  the  use  of  this  medi- 
cine. 

i.  The  facility  of  exhibition.  Neither  article,  when  properly 
enveloped,  is  nauseating — the  smallness  of  the  bulk,  and  the  agree- 
able form  into  which  it  may  be  reduced,  remove  every  difficulty. 
The  trouble  of  giving  unpalatable  remedies  to  children  is  expe- 
rienced every  day;  and  the  trouble  increases  with  the  bulk.  Im- 
pressions on  the  senses  frequently  affect  the  stomach,  especially 
when  enfeebled  by  disease;  hence  a  disagreeable  taste  or  smell  will 
sometimes  so  instantaneously  produce  the  rejection  qf  an  article 
attempted  to  be  swallowed. 

3.  The  difficulty  of  dislodging  it  from  the  stomach  by  the  ut- 
most violence  of  vomiting.  The  great  specific  gravity  of  the  calo- 
mel seems  to  favour  the  retention  of  the  opium,  as  well  as  of  itself, 
on  the  stomach. 

3.  By  this  combination,  much  more  of  each  ingredient,  active 
rnd  powerful  as  they  always  are,  can  be  safely  and  advantageously 
given,  than  in  a  separate  state.  They  evidently  correct,  regulate, 
and  soften  the  powers  of  one  another. 

4.  It  is  calculated  to  obviate  the  most  fatal  tendencies  of  the 
disease.  When  a  fatal  termination  takes  place  at  any  other  than 
a  very  early  period,  there  is  ground  to  conjecture  that  effusion  in 
the  head,  or  destruction  of  the  organization  of  the  stomach  or 
bowels,  commonly  takes  place.  The  symptoms  of  determination  to 
the  head  render  the  former  probable;  and  the  inflammatory,  dysen- 
teric, and  gangrenous  appearances  leave  little  doubt  of  the  latter. 

urgency  of  the  fymptorns.  If  much  evacuation  be  wifln-d,  the  above  qna.itity 
01  calomel  is  too  finall  ;  if  much  altrictio-  be  dcfired,  and  the  inteliines  be  very 
irritable,  it.  i.ill  be  too  ;.irt'P.  And  fo  alio,  vice  ve.fa,  with  refpeft  to  the 
OJ  ' 


6js 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


That  mercury  is  well  adapted  to  prevent  consequences  such  as 
these,  w  ill  be  readily  agreed. 

c,.  Calomel,  combined  with  opium,  and  especially  when  exhi- 
bited in  small  doses,  excites  a  strong  absorbent  action,  with  respect 
to  the  fluids  poured  into  the  stomacM  and  intestines.  Most  ot  the 
metallic  salts  possess  more  or  less  of  the  same  power.  The  degree 
of  absorption  effected  by  the  combination  of  calomel  and  opium 
will  probably  be  in  proportion  to  the  quantify  and  completeness  of 
the  evacuations  previously  made  by  the  calomel  alone,  or  other  eva- 
puant  means;  as  absorp.ions  in  general  are  increased  by  inanition. 

It  will  be  difficult,  we  conceive,  to  appreciate  the  virtues  of 
calomel  in  the  cholera  of  children,  unless  we  hold  in  constant  view 
the  quantity,  vitiation,  and  acrimony  of  the  contents  ol  the  stomach 
and  bowels.  When  the  intestines  are  so  enfeebled  and  diseased^ 
a  diarrhoea  may  be  present  for  many  days,  even  for  weeks;  and  yet 
ejxnmentitious  matters  may  collect  and  remain  in  such  quantity 
as  to  produce  the  greatest  mischief  by  their  putridity  and  excessive 
stimulation.  In  what  manner  shall  we  venture  to  expel  this 
matter?  Physicians  generally  agree,  that  calomel,  though  com- 
monly safe  and  gentle  in  operation,  is  the  most  penetrating, 
detersive,  and  effectual  of  all  the  means  employed  to  cleanse  the 
intestinal  canal;  that  it  dislodges  substances  not  to  be  moved  by 
other  purgatives;  and  often  discharges  more  bilious  and  other  acrid 
matter  of  every  description  at  one,  than  other  cathartics  at  several 
evacuations.  It  results  then  from  all  this,  that  in  calomel  alone, 
we  possess  an  excellent  evacuant  in  the  diseases  denominated 
bilious;  and  that  in  calomeLjoined  to  opium,  we  have  a  medicine 
of  still  higher  value. 

Cases  may,  perhaps,  occur,  of  such  irritability,  in  the  alimentary 
canal,  that  no  portion  of  calomel  can  be  borne,  even  in  connec- 
tion with  opium.  Such  cases,  indeed,  we  have  not  yet  met  with; 
ttut  supposing  them  to  happen,  we  should  advise,  without  hesita- 
tion, the  external  application  of  mercury. 

Upon  the  whole,  we  think  ourselves  warranted  in  ascribing  a 
superior  efficacy  to  the  action  of  mercury  and  opium,  in  the  cholera 
of  children.  The  common  mode  of  treatment  appears  compara- 
tively superficial  and  palliative;  and,  of  consequence,  the  effects  of 
it  are  transient;  while  mercury,  penetrating  to  the  inmost  recesses 
of  the  disease,  and  disarming  it  of  all  malignity,  effectuates  a  cure, 
at  once  radical,  durable,  and  complete.  Opiates  alone,  so  gene- 
rally used,  and  so  much  confided  in,  afford  only  a  short-lived,  de- 
lusive repose  in  this  tumult  of  the  system. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  fortify,  by  authorities,  the  mode  of  treat- 
ment here  proposed,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  mention  the  names  of 
Doctor  Cieghorn*  and  Doctor  Clark, f  who  place  a  principal  reii- 
*  Difealds  of  Minorca.  +  Difeafes  of  Hat  Climatis. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  63 

ance  on  a  combination  of  calomel  and  opium,  in  the  worst  forms 
of  dysentery.  Doctor  Lysons*  relates  a  number  of  cases  of  the 
efficacy  of  a  similar  composition  in  the  bilious  diarrheca  of  adults. 
Doctor  Chisholmf  depended  chiefly  on  the  same  medicine,  given  in 
such  manner  as  to  produce  a  rapid  ptyalbm,  in  the  malignant  fever 
of  Boullarn.  Doctor  C.Smyth  employed  the  same  combination  to 
relieve  the  formidable  symptom  of  vomiting)  and  found  it  success- 
ful, when  all  other  means  had  failed,  in  the  jail  distemper.}  And 
Doctor  Armstrong  used,  with  signal  advantage,  a  composition, 
substantially  the  same,  in  the  disease  of  infants  which  he  denomi- 
nates the  watery  gripes.\  The  efficacy  of  mercury,  also,  in  the  ma- 
lignant fevers  of  our  own  country,  within  a  few  years,  is,  I  pre- 
sume, too  well  known  to  need  being  mentioned  in  this  piace. 

In  the  advanced  stages  of  the  cholera  of  children,  the  virtue  of 
allum  deserves  much  commendation.  All  acrid  and  offensive  mat- 
ter should,  as  much  as  possible,  be  removed  before  the  use  of  it  be 
attempted.  It  is  thought  a  necessary  caution  to  begin  with  it  in 
very  small  doses,  as  half  a  grain,  conjoined  with  opium,  and  gra- 
dually to  increase  them.  It  possesses  the  great  advantage  of  small 
bulk,  and  of  easy  envelopement  in  a  pill. 

To  the  preceding  observations,  we  now  proceed  to  subjoin  some 
remarks  on  the  management  of  the  state  and  temperature  of  the 
skin  in  this  dilbase.  It  would  be  difficult  to  point  out  any  branch 
of  medical  attention  so  much  neglected  as  this  has  too  generally 
been.  The  importance  of  it  in  all  febrile  diseases,  is  unquestion- 
able. In  the  principles,  however,  which  ought  to  guide  our  con- 
duct on  this  point,  we  are  still  sorry  to  find  too  much  indefinite- 
ness  and  ambiguity.  And  although  we  are  persuaded  many  firm 
and  decisive  steps  may  be  taken  beyond  the  common  practice  at 
this  time,  we  are  not,  at  present,  prepared  to  state  the  limits,  or  de  - 
liver the  rules  which  should  invariably  govern  this  subject. 

As  the  cholera  of  children  is  a  febrile  disease,  and  the  surface 
of  the  body,  often  heated  far  beyond  the  proper  point,  it  will  be 
adviseable  to  expose  all  such  parts  of  the  skin  as  feel  too  warm  to 
the  hand,  to  a  stream  of  cool  air,  or  to  bathe  them  in  cool  water. 
Several  times  a  day  the  patient  should  be  washed  with  vinegar  and 
water,  salt  and  water,  or  water  alone,  by  means-  of  a  sponge,  as 
he  lies  in  bed,  with  as  little  motion, disturbance,  or  fatigue,  as  pos- 
sible. Considerable  inequality,  as  to  the  heat  of  different  parts  of 
the  body,  is  often  observed.  If  some  parts,  as  the  extremities,  be 
too  cold,  they  should  be  covered  with  flannel ;  if  other  parts,  as  the 

•  Practical  EfTays. 

■J-  EfiTdy  on  Malignant  Fever  of  Boullarn. 
J  Description  of  Jail  Diitemper,  p.  126. 
§  Difcafcs  of  Children,  p.  45. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY, 


fate,  breast;  c.c.  be  too  warm,  they  should  be  cooled  by  a  streant 
of  cold  air,  or  by  bathing  them,  as  before  directed.* 

As  to  the  temperature  of  the  water  to  be  employed  for  this  pur- 
pose, there  must  be  much  latitude  of  discretion  in  different  cir- 
cumstances, as  there  will  be  much  diversity  of  opinion  in  the 
same  circumstances.  We  believe,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that 
any  temperature  of  a  bath,  at,  or  a  few  degrees  below,  the  healthy 
Standard  of  heat,  in  the  human  body,  will  produce  a  speedy  and 
considerable  abatement  of  febrile  heat  on  the  skin.  And  we  have 
direct  conclusive  experiments  to  prove,  that  such  a  bath,  from 
95  to  85  degrees  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer,  when  duly  applied 
to  the  skin,  morbidly  hot,  will  powerfully  diminish  the  celerity 
of  the  pulse,  and  the  heat  of  the  body.  But,  wherever  these  tepid 
or  cool  degrees  of  the  bath  do  not  sufficiently  carry  off  the  heat, 
ti;e  use  of  colder  water  should  certainly  be  enjoined;  directing  the 
successive  reductions  of  temperature  to  be  gradually  performed. 
And  in  cases  where  a  determination  to  the  head  is  indicated  by 
unusual  heat  of  that  part,  by  turgescence  and  redness  of  the  face, 
redness  of  the  eyes,  delirium,  &c.  the  coldest  water  should  be 
applied;  and,  if  this  fail,  powdered  ice  in  a  bladder,  as  recom- 
mended by  Doctor  Rush  in  yellow  fever. f 

It  would  require  much  detail  to  enumerate  all  the  advantages  of 
these  applications.  Besides  obviating  dangerous  determinations, 
and  affording  great  refreshment,  they  save  a  great  expenditure  of 
excitability,  and  thereby  preserve,  from  an  unavailing  and  noxious 
waste,  such  a  portion  of  vital  power,  as  may  become  extremely 
important  in  the  perilous,  doubtful,  and  protracted  struggles  of  the 
system  with  this  disease. 

It  would  be  improper  here  to  pass  without  notice  the  efficacy 
of  cold  water,  or  iced  water,  as  the  severity  of  the  case  may  re- 
quire, injected  into  the  bowels.  This  operates  powerfully,  as  an 
anodyne,  sedative,  and  antispasmodic.  Besides  actual  experience, 
a  striking  analogy  in  favour  of  this  remedy  is  presented  by  the 
instantaneous  relief  it  affords  in  the  retrograde  motions  of  the 
alimentary  canal,  which  take  place  in  hysteria,  mentioned  by  Dr. 
Darwin  as  recommended  by  Mons.  Pomme.  Dr.  Biirwin  ex- 
plains the  relief  produced  in  this  case  by  supposing  "  the  inverted 
motions  of  the  intestinal  canal  to  be  checked  by  the  torpor  occa- 
sioned by  cold;  or  that  one  end  of  the  intestinal  canal  may  be- 
come strengthened,  and  regain  its  peristaltic  motion  by  reverse 
sympathyj  when  the  other  end  is  rendered  torpid  by  ice-water." 
This  remedy,  though  generally  ad^iseabie,  appears  to  be  most 
adapted  to  ihac  state  of  the  disease,  when  the  alimentary  canal 


*  Dsrwin's  Zoonomla,  vol.  !!.  p.  218. 

■f  Medico!  ln<jjirie;  and  Obfet  various,  vol.  iv.  p.  91. 


\ 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  65 

has  been  previously  well  emptied  of  its  acrid  and  offensive  con- 
tents.* .  s 

In  addition  to  the  common  applications  to  the  epigastrium, 
or  other  convenient  parts;  blisters  are  well, adapted  to  effect  A 
change  in  the  state  of  the  alimentary  canal.  If  the  propriety  of 
applying  them  in  the  early  part  of  the  disease  be  doubted,  they 
must  be  thought  unequivocally  proper,  after  the  canal  shall  have 
been  emptied  of  its  impurities,  and  the  skin  become  generally 
cooler  and  paler  than  at  the  beginning.  Sinapisms  would  probably 
answer  very  well  in  many  cases;  they  are  less  painful  and  trouble- 
some than  blisters;  and,  if  not  suffered  to  lie  on  too  long,  will 
produce  no  disagreeable  effects. 

When  the  disease  is  sufficiently  subdued,  and  the  retentive 
power:  of  the  stomach  re-established,  it  will  be  necessary  to  have 
recourse  to  the  common  corroborant  remedies  of  the  vegetable 
kind.  Among  these,  none  have  succeeded  so  well,  in  my  hands, 
as  infusions  or  decoctions  of  Columbo  root,  or  Angustura  bark. 

*  The  Spanilh  phyficians  (fays  Cleghorn)  have  often  2(Tjred  me,  that  they 
found  nothing  more  beneficial  in  violent  deplorable  choleras,  than  drinking  of 
cold  water.    The  fame  practice  is  recommended  by  many  of  the  ancients. 

Sin  autem  omnia  antiqua  ftercora  dejecta  fuerint,  et  biliofi  humores  tran> 
iierint,  biliofulque  vomitus  et  diflenfio  adfit,  faftidium,  anxietas,  virium  lab:- 
fjftatio,  tunc  frigidx  aquxcyathi  duo  aut  tres  propinandi  funt  ad  ventris  aftric- 
tionem,  ut  retrogradus  humorum  cuifus  coh'.beatur,  atque  ftomachus  ardcn« 
re/rigeretur.  Afiidue  vero  id,  quum  potam  sq  jam  vomuerit,  facito.  Aret.  Cap- 
pad,  de  curat.  M.  A.  !.  ii.  c.  iv.     See  likewife  Cal.  Aurel.  de  morb,  iCut. 

iii.  c.  xxu    Cleghorn's  Difeafes  of  Minorca,  p.  24.3. 


trd.  I.  No.  i. 


K 


(   66  J 


AR  TICLE  V. 


The  Speech  of  Fourcroy  in  the  Council  of  Ancients,  delivered  in 
the  Session  of  the  loth  of  Pentose,  (February  28,  1  797 ^  on  '•'•the 
Resolution  relative  to  Poiuder  and  Salt-petre  Manufactories." 
Translated,  from  The  National  Gazette  or  Universal  Monitor, 
of  the  yh  of  March,  1 797,  for  the  Medical  Repository. 

T  HAVE  reflected  on  the  objections  which  have  been  made  to 
_£  the  Resolution  under  consideration.  I  foresaw  that  they  would 
be  suggested:  they  have  often  occurred  to  my  own  mind;  but  an 
attentive  examination  has  never  failed  to  convince  me  that  none 
of  them  ought  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  this  Resolution.  Some 
?.re  unfounded ;  others  are  feeble;  and,  as  to  the  importance  of 
others,  they  are  so  intimately  interwoven  with  the  very  nature  of 
things,  that  they  would  equally  apply  to  any  law  which  could  be 
proposed. 

It  is  desired  that  the  manufacturers  of  salt-petre  shall  be  bound 
to  make  compensation  for  the  materials  that  are  to  be  lixiviated. 
This  regulation  was  included  in  the  original  Resolution,  which  you. 
have  rejected.  It  has  been  omitted  in  the  present,  because  it 
would  impede  the  collection  of  salt-petre,  and  because  it  might 
give  rise  to  an  unfortunate  competition  between  the  manufacturers, 
who,  under  the  pretext  of  bargaining  for  the  materials  (remblais)r 
would  arrange  the  matter  with  the  proprietors,  and  outbid  each 
other.  This  regulation  would  be  injurious;  for  the  harvest  of 
salt-petre  will  be  diminished,  if  the  manufacturer  is  obliged  to 
pay  for  the  substances  which  are  to  be  lixiviated.  Beside,  this  is 
altogether  unnecessary,  as  it  is  for  the  interest  of  the  manufac- 
turers to  replace  them  ;  which  they  seldom  neglect  to  do. 

The  article  that  authorizes  the  fouilles,*  lias  been  particularly 
objected  to;  and  the  objectors  have  cited  the  efforts  of  the  Ancient 
Government,  made  under  the  direction  of  a  philosophical  minister, 
to  put  an  end  to  the  constraint  and  vexations  to  which  the  people 
were  exposed  on  this  account.  It  is  a  misfortune  of  our  climate, 
that  the  formation  of  nitre,  among  us,  takes  place  only  around  our 

*  Fouiile,  fing.  Fouilles,  pi.  is  a  privilege  granted  to  the  manufac- 
turers of  fait- p*-cre,  to  djg  up  and  remove  the  earth  of  the  cellars,  vaults,  &c. 
of  the  citizens  in  general,  for  the  purpofe  of  lixiviating  it,  and  extracting  the 
nitie.  The  gieat  and  weighty  objection  to  the  fouille  is,  that  it  affords  a 
pretext  for  entering  private  houfes  at  all  times,  and  expofes  the  inhabitants  to 
the  moft  tyrannical  infpedlion,  at  the  pleafure  of  ihofe  to  v.hom  this  privilege 
is  granted. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


dwellings ;  but  it  is  not  the  less  necessary  to  collect  it  for  our  de- 
'  fence.  The  chemists  have  proved,  that  the  salt  which  is  obtained 
t  in  those  places,  which  have  been  hitherto  subjected  to  the  fondle, 
is  nitre  with  an  alkaline  base,  (nitrate  of  pot-ash)  which  scarcely 
needs  refining  ;  while  that  which  is  found  among  marble,  gianite, 
and  lime-stone,  is  nitrate  of  lime,  (calcarious  nitre)  and  requires 
the  most  tedious  processes  to  render  it  fit  for  use. — When  Tua- 
got,  in  connection  with  the  venerable  La  Rochefoucauld, 
attempted  to  suppress  the  fo:iilles,  his  real  object  was  the  suppres- 
sion of  artificial  nitre-beds.  The  proof  of  this  is  to  be  found  in 
an  Arret  of  the  8th  of  August^  1777,  which  ordains — That  the 
communes  that  should  establish  artificial  nitre-beds  should  be  ex- 
empted from  the  fouille ;  and  that  private  persons,  who  should 
construct  similar  nitre-beds,  should  be  exempted  from  the  poll- 
tax,  road-tax,  and  militia  duty.  Another  edict,  of  about  the  same 
date,  ordains — That  the  suppression  of  the  fouille  should  not  take 
place  till  after  the  establishment  of  the  artificial  nitre-beds.  So 
that  it  is  not  accurate  to  say  that  the  fouille  has  been  abolished; 
and  if  we  take  for  our  rule  of  conduct  that  of  the  former  go- 
vernment, which  has  been  much  commended  on  this  occasion, 
w<?  shall  not  abolish  the  fouille  till  after  the  establishment  of  the 
artificial  nitre-beds. — I  acknowledge  that  it  is  an  unpleasant  and 
vexatious  restriction ;  and  I  had  much  rather  that  it  were  abolished. 
But  when  it  comes  to  be  understood,  that  its  continuance  is  only 
necessary  till  something  better  can  be  substituted,  I  see  no  room 
for  hesitation.— The  law  must  be  carried  into  effect  ;  and  they  who 
resist  its  execution  must  be  punished. 

Our  colleague,  Porcheh,  supposes  that  the  manufacturers,  ac- 
customed to  a  different  mode  than  that  proposed  in  the  resolution, 
will  not  follow  the  new  process  of  washing  the  salt-petre.  The 
manufacturers  themselves  have  answered  this  objection,  in  their 
replies  to  my  Memoir — where  they  acknowledge,  that  nothing  can 
be  more  simple  than  this  process.  And  what  demonstrates  the 
necessity  of  adopting  it  is,  that,  hitherto,  for  want  of  a  certain  me- 
thod of  trying  nitre,  the  government  has  suffered  an  annual  loss 
of  eighty  millions  of  salt-petre. — The  1 3th  article,  according  to 
the  new  premium,  doubles  that  of  1790,  suppresses  the  excess 
{bonification)  of  four  per  cent,  and  the  delivery  of  pot-ash.  It  is 
a  necessary  consequence  of  the  preceding;  and  will  oblige  the 
manufa-cturers  to  make  use  of  ashes  and  other  alkaline  substances, 
whose  loss  will  require  expensive  purchases.  At  the  same  time, 
it  will  increase,  in  France,  the  production  or  preparation  of  pot- 
ash, which  we  draw,  at  present,  with  great  expence,  from  the 
north  of  Europe  and  America,  whilst  a  crowd  of  vegetables — pa- 
rasite, and  even  noxious  plants,  that  infest  our  roads,  hedges,  arKj 
ditches — barks,  wild  fruits,  and  the  remains  of  certain  plants,  of" 


68 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


which  no  further  use  can  be  made,  might  become,  without  injury 
to  agriculture,  (from  whom  we  should  never  take  more  th:m  rhe 
excess  ot  what  is  requisite  as  manure,)  inexhaustible  sources  of 
this  alkali — still  more  useful  in  many  other  arts  than  in  the  manu- 
factory of  salt-petre. 

Our  colleague,  Imbert,  seems  terrified  at  the  prospect  of  the 
cxpence  which  will  follow  the  establishment  of  the  nitre-beds.' 
To  relieve  him  from  his  apprehensions,  and  to  shew  the  Council 
how  little  foundation  they  really  have,  it  is  incumbent  on  me  to 
declare,  that  the  greater  number  of  the  proposed  establishments 
will  require  no  new  locations;  and  that  those  already  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  administration,  will  not  only  suffice  in  the  out- 
set of  the  business,  but  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  appro- 
priate only  a  small  part  ol  them  to  this  purpose.  All  that  is  to  be 
done  is,  to  dig  a  few  pits;  to  construct  a  few  slight  sheds,  with 
poles,  and  a  covering  of  thatch;  to  carry  thither  earths  already 
lixiviated,  the  scattered  and  fine  dirt  made  by  pulling  down  old 
buildings,  marly  and  chalky  earths;  to  add  to  these  the  scum  of  ra~ 
fineries,*  the  straw  and  chaff  of  worn-out  beds,  the  half  putrefied 
remains  of  vegetables;  to  moisten  them  with  dirty  liquids,  such 
as  water  from  the  common  sewers,  from  the  sinks  of  kitchens, 
urine,  and  other  matters  Of  the  like  kind,  which  are  of  very  little 
use  for  other  purposes;  to  stir  these  heaps  from  time  to  time ;  and 
to  lixiviate  them  when  the  salt-petre  is  formed.  Here  is  nothing 
which  requires  great  expence.  Tne  most  material  things — the 
situations  for  carrying  on  the  business,  as  well  as  the  utensils, — 
exist  already.  The  substances  which  produce  the  acid  and  become 
nitrified  will  require  no  further  trouble  than  to  collect,  heap 
them  up,  and  stir  them.  The  workmen  employed  in  refining 
nitre  and  manufacturing  gun-powder,  will  suffice ;  or,  at  most,  a 
very  small  number  only  will  be  requisite  for  the  additional  labour 
of  these  establishments. 

Nitrification  was  long  a  mystery  to  chemists,  before  they  learnt 
how  to  seize  upon,  distinguish,  and  fix  those  fugitive  and  volatile 
substances,  known  at  present  by  the  name  of  elastic  fluids,  or 
gases.  The  acid  which  enters  into  the  composition  of  nitre, 
and  which  is  formed  by  the  combination  of  two  of  these  fluids, 
was  entirely  unknown,  and  its  formation  still  presented  to  the 
learned  an  inexplicable  problem.  The  immortal  discoveries  of 
Cavendish,  of  Priestley,  of  Lavoisier,  and  of  Berthollet,  have 
taught  us  that  this  acid  is  composed  of  the  same  elements 
with  atmospheric  air,  only  under  a  different  form,  and  in  differ- 
ent proportions  than  those  which  constitute  the  atmosphere. 

*  The  ordinary  fignificnion  of  this  word  is  fjgar-houfes ;  but  it  maybe 
okd  here  to  denote  the  houfes  for  refining  of  nitre. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


These  facts  are  indisputably  established  by  experiments,  in  which 
the  nitric  acid  is  decomposed,  and  again  produced  by  the  union 
of  the  original  elements.  Hence  it  is  demonstrated  that  it  consists 
of  four  parts  of  oxygene,  and  one  of  azote.  But  these  two  princi- 
ples, as  contributing  to  the  formation  of  the  atmosphere,  are  in 
the  proportion  of  a  little  more  than  two  parts  and  a  half  of  the 
first,  and  one  part  of  the  second;  and  exist  in  an  uncombined 
state,  separately  dissolved  in  a  common  menstruum,  and  without, 
the  possibility  of  contracting  a  real  chemical  union.  Hence  it 
arises,  that  atmospheric  air  is  never  spontaneously  converted  into 
bitric  acid;  and  that,  after  augmenting  the  proportion  of  oxygene 
gas,  if  the  electric  spark  is  passed  through  this  new  mixture,  a 
few  cabic  inches  or.ly  are  acidified,  in  the  delicate  experiments 
kno\lB's;iu  verified  by  the  greater  part  of  the  natural  philosophers 
of  Europe.  But  this  acidification,  to  which  the  beneficence  of 
nature  has  placed  an  insurmountable  obstacle,  in  the  atmosphere, 
(which  ought  always  to  maintain  the  equilibrium  of  its  composi- 
tion, for  the  preservation  and  continuance  of  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal life,)  takes  place,  always,  when  substances,  into  whose  com- 
position azote  enters,  are  exposed  to  a  stagnant  air,  that  envelopes 
and  penetrates  them.  Then,  in  proportion  as  the  azote,  freed 
from  the  bonds  of  its  primitive  connection,  tends  to  disengage  it- 
self, and  assume  the  nascent  state  of  an  elastic  fluid,  it  gradually 
unites  with  the  oxygene  of  the  atmosphere,  which  it  absorbs  with 
avidity,  and  forms  the  nitric  acid,  as  soon  as  one  part  of  the  for- 
mer of  these  principles  is  associated  with  four  parts  of  the  latter. 

It  is  in  this  manner  that  vegetableBhd  animal  substances  that 
contain  a  large  quantity  of  azote  in  their  intimate  combination, 
and  which  is  slowly  disengaged  in  consequence  of  their  sponta- 
neous decomposition,  produce  the  nitric  acid  whenever,  after 
having  been  slightly  moistened,  they  rot  in  an  atmosphere  but 
little  agitated.  It  is  thus  that  the  eaiith  of  stables,  studs,  folds, 
barns,  vaults,  and  cellars,  impregnated  with  liquors,  fragments 
of  viands,  or  the  humid  dust  of  vegetables  and  animais,  acquires, 
after  a  certain  period,  that  acid  which  it  did  not  originally  possess. 
Farther,  it  is  by  this  means  that  this  very  earth  or  soil,  taken  out 
of  the  'vaults  which  contain  it,  and  which  are  often  verv  imper- 
fectly ventilated,  and  exposed  to  a  free  air,  becomes  more  en- 
riched with  the  acid,  in  a  few  days,  ihan  it  would  have  been  in 
some  months,  without  atmospherical  contact1.  Finally,  it  is  by  the 
operation  of  the  same  natural  cause  that  the  soft  calcareous  stones 
that  are  dug  up  in  the  fine  countries,  bathed  bv  the  Indie  and  the 
Loire, — materials  naturally  abounding  with  one  of  the  elements 
of  the  nitric  acid,  without  containing  an  atom  of  it  while  they 
are  buried  under  the  soil, — become  impregnated  with  it,  with  a 
readiness  and  abundance  equally  astonishing,  when  exposed  to  the 


jo  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

air.  And  these  important  truths,  of  which  the  world  was  wholly 
ignorant  till  within  the  last  fifteen  years,  have  been  incontestibly 
demonstrated  by  the  ablest  philosophers  and  the  most  learned  and 
illustrious  chemists  of  Europe.  The  researches  and  celebrated 
experiments  by  which  this  beautiful  theory  has  been  devdopf-d, 
are  contained  in  the  memoirs  and  works  of  Cavendish,  Pntstity, 
Lavoisier,  Berthollet,  Kirwan,  Van  Mons,  Chaptal,  Gren,  and 
Scherer,  all  men  upon  whose  discoveries  and  labours  Europe  and 
the  whole  learned  world  have  now  their  eyes  fixed,  and  whose 
names  will  never  be  pronounced  by  a  grateful  posterity  but  with 
respect  and  a  tender  remembrance  of  the  benefits  derived  from 
their  exertions. 

But  it  is  not  sufficient  to  comprehend,  how  perfectly  jjoever, 
the  formation  of  the  nitric  acid.    For,  alter.1'.,  this  acicflfcnMi- 

tutes  but  the  one  half  of  nitre  or  salt-petre.  If,  in  proportion  as 
it  forms,  it  does  not  find  a  base  capable  of  absorbing  it,  an  alkali 
3ble  to  retain  and  confine  it,  k  flies  off,  and  is  dissipated  in  the 
air.' 

Nitre  results  from  the  saturated  union  of  the  nitric  acid  and  a 
fixed  alkali,  called  pot-ash,  in  nearly  equal  parts.  This  species 
of  alkali  is  abundantly  found  in  vegetables;  and  it  is  on  this  ac-? 
count  that  the  salt-petre  which  is  extracted  from  caves,  cellars, 
coach-houses,  and  barn?,  is  purer  and  richer  than  that  which  is 
extracted  from  nitrified  stones,  the  ruins  of  walls  and  piaister. 
Those  departments,  so  fertile  in  nitrous  salts,  of  which  I  spoke  but 
a  moment  since; — those  countries,  bathed  and  encircled  by  the 
Loire,  the  Indi  e,  and  the  flfcyeime ;  those  cantons  of  whom  Sau- 
mur  has  long  been  the  center,  and  whose  name  Sa.lmup.jum,  sel 
de  mur,  sel  dc  muraille,  discovers  the  ancient  manner  of  abundantly 
extracting  salt-petre,  furnish  us  only  with  calcarious  nitre,  or  the 
union  of  the  nitric  acid  and  lime;  because  the  lime-stone,  which 
becomes  nitrified  in  the  air,  contains  no  alkali;  so  that,  to  obtain 
real  nitre,  a  salt  which  will  no:  give,  in  the  air,  and  which  will  an- 
swer in  the  fabrication  of  gun-powder,  we  are  obliged  to  decom- 
pose this  earthy  salt,  this  natural  mother-water,  to  precipitate  the 
lime,  and  substitute  the  alkali.  This  requires  the  consumption  of  a 
large  quantity  of  pot-ash,  and  ought  to  convince  the  administration 
that,  to  carrv  the  production  of  the  salt-petre  of  these  rich  central 
departments  to  the  height  which  it  ought  to  attain,  it  is  necessary 
to  create  and  render  domestic  the  art  of  making  salt  and  pot-ash, 
as  has  been  attempted  with  some  promise  of  success.  It  has  been 
alreadv  shewn  why,  and  in  what  manner,  the  liquid,  or  moistened 
solid,  remains  of  vegetables  and  animals,  mixed  with  light  calcari- 
ous and  marly  earths,  suffered  to  putrefy,  in  a  sheltered  place, 
where  the  air  slowly  circulates,  whose  surface  is  occasionally 
changed,  and  which  contains,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  con- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  ft 

stitucnt  elements  of  the  nitric  acid,  and  the  alkaline  base  with  which 
this  acid  unites  to  form  nitre,  produce  this  salt  by  absorbing  one 
of  its  most  abundant  principles,  or  three  fourths  c:  its  weight,  from 
the  atmosphere. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  this  art,  founded  on  a  theory  as  simple 
as  perspicuous,  can  oblige  nature  to  produce  salt-petre,  by  unit- 
ing, under  suitable  circumstances  and  conditions,  the  materials 
which  enter  into  its  composition ;  and  favouring  their  combination 
by  processes  resembling  these  which  nature  herself  employs,  the 
secret  of  which  we  have  at  length  discovered.  For  it  is  no  longer 
to  be  doubted  that  the  salt-petre  which  forms  itself,  under  our 
eyes,  in  soils  soaked  by  vegetable  and  animal  juices,  or  in  stones 
impregnated  with  the  same  juices  or  their  vapour,  (the  mate- 
rials which  compose  the  floors  and  the  walls  of  our  stables,  folds, 
vaults,  coach-houses,  &c.)  represent  in  this  respect,  real  artificial 
nitre-beds:  to  imitate  whose  proportions  and  processes  is  all  that 
we  aim  after.  And  this  is  what  the  latest  and  most  precise  data 
on  the  formation  of  nitre-beds  would  induce  us  to  do,  for  the  erec- 
tion of  these  establishments,  almost  without  expence  and  original 
cost.  "  Without  the  apparatus  of  extensive  artificial  nitre-beds," 
(says  one  of  our  most  celebrated  and  most  useful  French  chemists, 
citizen  Berthollet,  in  one  of  his  excellent  lessons  at  the  Nor- 
mal School) — "  an  immense  quantity  of  salt-petre  may  be  pro- 
"  cured,  through  the  whole  extent  of  the  Republic;  if  the  strata  of 
"  earth  which  are  to  be  found  under  the  dung-hills  of  sheds  and 
"  stables  were  to  be  collected  from  rime  to  time;  if  the  substances 
"  that  have  been  already  lixiviated  were  substituted  in  their  place ;  if 
*'  this  earth  were  then  mixed  with  remains  of  vegetables;  if  this 
"  mixture  were  moistened  with  the  waters  collecting  occasionally 
"  on  the  surfaces  of  dung-heaps  then,  by  proceeding  to  llxiviation 
"  and  evaporation,  a  succession  of  operations  might  be  established 
"  equally  beneficial  to  the  national  interest,  and  that  of  individuals." 

In  short,  if  any  thing  further  be  required  to  demonstrate,  that 
the  success  of  artificial  nitre-beds  is  certain,  we  may  cite  the  ex- 
ample of  those  which  have  been  established  in  Sweden,  in  Prussia, 
in  the  Canton  of  Appenzel,  at  Malta,  in  China,  and  in  India:  that 
of  Dijon,  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  exertions  of  our  fellow- 
citizenGuiTON-MoRVEAU,  already  produces  15  millions  of  salt- 
petre annually;  that  of  Auxerre,  10  millions;  and  those  of  Caen, 
of  Chalons-sur-marne,  and  Troves,  afford  results  equally  satis- 
factory. 


(    73  ) 


REVIEW. 

[  x|»  Under  this  title  it  is  intended  to  include  a  review  n?t  only  of  late 
medical  publications,  strictly  so  called,  but  also  of  all  such  publica- 
tions concerning  agriculture,  and  other  branches  of  natural  history, 
natural philosophy,  EsV.  as  may  in  any  wise  relate  to  the  objects  con- 
templated in  the  plan  if the  Medical  Repository.] 


Art.  I.  Medical  Inquiries  and  Observations :  Containing  an  Ac- 
count of  the  bilious  remitting  and  intermitting  Yellow  Fever,  as 
it  appeared  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  i  794.;  together  with  an 
Inquiry  into  the  proximate  Cause  of  Fever;  and  a  Defence  of 
Blood-letting,  as  a  Remedy  for  certain  Diseases.  By  Benjamin 
Rush,  M.  D.  Professor  of  the  Institutes,  and  of  Clinical  Medi- 
cine, in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  8vo.  pp.  258.  Dobson. 
Pniladelphia.    1 796. 

THE  present  work,  may  be  considered  as  the  sequel  of  a  for- 
mer, on  a  similar  subject,  which  the  public  has  received 
from  the  same  author.  It  should  serve  to  alleviate  our  recollec- 
tion of  the  ravages  occasioned  by  the  disease  here  treated  of,  to  ob- 
serve, that  we  owe  to  this  cause  an  increased  zeal  for  medical  in- 
quiry, much  variou5  disquisition  of  importance,  and  several  pub- 
lications likely  to  produce  lasting  benefit  to  the  science  of  medi- 
cine. To  derive  improvement  from  calamity,  and  thereby  to 
convert  misfortunes  into  blessings,  is  a  mode  of  exertion,  in  which 
active  and  enterprizing  minds  have  been  often  engaged  with  much 
success.  It  requires  promptitude,  freedom,  and  boldness  of  think- 
ing, and  the  wide  range  of  a  mind,  unawed  by  authoritv,  and  un- 
fettered by  the  shackles  of  a  preconceived  system. 

The  disease  which  produced  the  present,  and  the  former  work, 
was,  in  several  respects,  most  remarkable.  Relinquishing  the 
tameness  of  common  forms,  and  the  blended  and  insidious  co- 
louring, which  often,  in  our  observation  of  epidemics,  tend  to  per- 
plex and  confound ;  it  assumed  a  definite  and  striking  character, 
not  only  calculated  to  disclose  its  own  nature,  but  also  to  throw 
light  on  the  general  doctrines  of  diseases.  The  author  has  availed 
himself  of  this  advantage  with  great  ability.  Perceiving  at  an 
early  period  of  the  epidemic,  that  the  moment  of  important  obser- 
vation was  arrived,  and  that  nature  might  then  be  subjected  to  a 
close  inspection  and  decomposition  of  ber  morbid  operations,  he 
/W.  J.  No.  1.  L 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


watched,  and  scrutinized,  and  penetrated,  with  a  degree  of  ardour? 
assiduity,  and  success,  which  do  him  great  honour.  And  we  find 
ourselves  at  a  loss  w  hich  most  to  admire,  the  humanity  that  impel- 
led him  to  such  labours,  or  the  force  of  mind,  and  felicity  of  inves- 
tigation, which  conducted  him  in  his  researches  on  this  subject. 

This  work,  as  is  indicated  by  the  title  page,  consists  of  three- 
principal  parts.  The  first  contains  "  An  Account  of  the  bilious 
remitting  and  intermitting  Yellow  Fever,  as  it  appeared  in  Phila- 
delphia, in  the  year  i  794.."  And  this,  therefore,  comes  in  the  first 
place  under  our  consideration. 

Dr.  Rush  begins  by  remarking,  that  the  fatal  epidemic  of  1 793 
was  succeeded  by  diseases  of  a  highly  inflammatory  nature.  The 
same  disposition  was  continued  throughout  the  spring  of  1 794. 
Intermittents  were  more  obstinate  than  common,  and  yielded  not 
to  the  largest  doses  of  Peruvian  bark ;  and,  in  one  case,  an  internal 
dropsy  of  the  brain,  produced  by  that  remedy,  could  only  be  ' 
overcome  by  blood-letting  and  other  evacuations. 

From  the  inflammatory  complexion  of  the  diseases  of  the  win- 
ter and  spring,  our  author  expected  to  find  the  levers  of  the  summer 
and  autumn  ot  a  violent  and  malignant  nature.  This  opinion  wa> 
strengthened  by  observing  the  filth,  allowed  to  accumulate  in  the 
gutters  of  the  city,  and  inattention  to  other  important  objects  of 
police. 

Early  in  June,  appearances  of  the  Yellow  Fever  were  observed} 
and  during  the  remainder  of  that  month,  several  cases  occurred  to 
Doctor  Rush  himself,  displaying  the  unequivocal  character  of  the 
disease,  and  attended  with  considerable  degrees  of  violence.  In 
the  course  also  of  this  month,  many  cases  ot  swelled  testicles,  suc- 
ceeding slight  attacks  of  fever,  took  place,  not  dissimilar  to  instances- 
of  swelled  testicles,  recorded  by  Doctor  Desportes,  in  an  account 
of  the  Yellow  Fever  which  prevailed  at  St.  Domingo,  in  the  year 
174.1.  •  <••;,  •'  *h 

In  July  and  August,  the  disease  shewed  a  disposition  to  spread 
still  more.  It  often  appeared  disguised  under  the  forms  of  cholic, 
pneumony,  and  hemorrhagy.  The  cholera  infantum  was  comi 
mon  during  these  months ;  and  was  more  obstinate  and  fatal  than 
usual. 

From  the  influence  of  occasional  showers  of  rain,  in  the  months* 
of  September  and  October,  the  disease  was  frequently  checked.  It;  . 
was  observed,  however,  that  while  showers  of  rain  checked  it, 
moist  or  damp  weather,  without  rain,  favoured  its  propagation* 
The  coid  weather  in  October  restrained,  but  did  not  extinguish  • 
the  fever.  It  appeared  in  November,  and  in  all  the  succeeding 
winter  and  spring  months;  owing  probably  to  the  mildness  of 
the  weather  in  those  seasons. 

-The  causes,  which  predisposed  to  this  fever,  were  the  same  as 


REVIEW. 


in  the  year  1793.    Persons  of  full  habits,  strangers  and  negroes 
ere  most  subjecl:  to  it. 

Summer  fruits,  improperly  used,  terror  and  vexation,  were  some- 
times observed  to  aft  as  exciting  causes  of  this  disease. 

Two  premonitory  symptoms  struck  the  author  this  year  which 
had  not  been  observed  in  1793.  A  frequent  discharge  of  pale 
urine  for  a  day  or  two  before  the  commencement  of  the  Fever — 
and  sleep  .unusually  sound  the  night  preceding  the  attack.  The 
former  symptom  was  a  precursor  of  the  plague  of  Bassora,  in  the 
year  1773. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  symptoms  of  this  fever,  the  author 
follows  the  order  adopted  in  his  account  of  the  Yellow  Fever  of 
1793,  and  describes  them  as  they  appeared  in  the  sanguiferous 
system — the  liver,  lungs  and  brain — the  alimentary  canal — the 
secretions  and  excretions — the  nervous  system — the  senses  and  ap- 
petites— upon  the  skin,  and  in  the  blood.  This  detail  ofsymptoms 
is  delivered  with  great  precision  and  accuracy,  and  certainly  forms 
a  very  interesting  part  of  the  history  of  the  disease;  but  as  it  does 
not  materially  differ  from  the  account  of  the  disease  in  1793,  our 
limits  do  not  permit  us  to  enter  into  particulars  on  this  point- 

The  forms  in  which  this  fever  appeared  were  the  following — 
a  tertian,  most  frequently  a  remittent,  with  evening  exacerba- 
tions— it  assumed,  in  several  instances,  the  symptoms  of  cholic, 
cholera,  and  dysentery — once  it  appeared  in  the  form  of  apoplexy 
— it  was  disguised  in  the  form  of  madness — late  in  the  season  it 
was  accompanied  with  symptoms  of  pleurisy — it  attached  itself  to 
puerperal  fever — even  dropsies  partook  of  its  character — it  blended 
itself  with  scarlatina,  measles,  small-pox,  gout,  &c. 

The  predominance  of  this  disease,  and  of  powerful  epidemics 
in  general,  over  other  diseases,  is  strenuously  maintained  by  the 
author.  His  former  proofs  on  this  head  are  reinforced  by  some 
additional  instances,  and  illustrated  by  further  reasoning. 

This  fever  was  contagious  in  very  few  instances,  compared  with 
that  of  the  preceding  year.  The  contagious  quality  was  bv  no 
means  confined  to  the  most  malignant  degrees  of  the  disease.  And 
in  many  cases,  where  fever  was  not  excited,  peculiar  effects  of  the 
contagion  were  discoverable  in  different  parts  of  the  body. 

The  common  modes  of  preventing  the  action  of  contagion  on 
the  system,  during  this  epidemic,  as  well  as  that  of  r  793,  not  only 
failed,  but  probably  favoured  the  spreading  of  the  disease.  Tem- 
perance, a  vegetable  diet,  with  such  addition  of  aromatics  as  may 
be  necessary  to  preserve  the  tone  of  the  stomach  and  bowels,  and 
occasionally  gentle  doses  of  physic,  seem  to  be  best  calculated  for 
this  purpose.  The  effects  of  smoke  in  destroying  contagion  are 
particularly  commended. 

From  the  means  of  securing  individuals  from  contagion,  Doctor 


76 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Rush  passes  on  to  give  directions  for  preventing  its  admission  and 
propagation  in  cities.  To  accomplish  this,  he  would  have  physi- 
cians compelled  to  disclose  the  existence  of  contagious  fevers — if 
imported,  that  the  importing  vessel  be  removed  to  a  proper  dis- 
tance, and  purified — if  of  domestic  origin,  that  the  putrid  sources 
of  exhalation  be  destroyed — and  meanwhile,  that  ail  the  families 
within  fifty  vards  of  the  infected  person  or  persons,  be  ordered  in- 
stantly to  remove  into  houses  or  tents,  provided  at  the  public  ex- 
pence,  and  that  all  access  to  the  sick  be  denied,  except  by  physi- 
cians and  nurses. 

The  author,  notwithstanding  these  directions  for  arresting  the 
progress  of  contagion,  is  far  from  admitting,  that  a  contagious  dis- 
position is  one  of  the  characteristic  marks  of  this  disease.  On  the 
contrary,  he  contends,  it  is  accidental,  depending  on  circumstan- 
ces of  different  seasons,  countries,  &c. 

The  origin  of  this  fever,  in  the  next  place,  claims  attention.  It 
is  asserted  to  have  been  evidently  produced  by  exhalations  from 
the  gutters,  and  the  stagnant  ponds  of  water  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  city.  Where  there  was  most  exhalation,  there  were  most 
persons  affected  by  the  lever. 

What  the  exact  state  of  the  atmosphere  is,  which  disposes  to 
malignant  fevers,  Doctor  Rush  supposes  to  be  difficult  to  deter- 
mine. Two  things  with  respect  to  it  are  obvious — it  pervades,  at 
the  same  time,  a  great  extent  of  country — and  it  continues,  for  se- 
veral years,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  wet  and  dry,  of  hot  and 
cold  weather.  This  morbid  peculiarity  is  suspected  by  our  author 
to  be  the  effect  of  a  preternatural  quantity  of  the  oxygenous  por- 
tion of  the  atmosphere. 

With  much  of  the  caution  and  diffidence  which  become  a  philo- 
sopher, in  treating  a  subject  not  yet  satisfactorily  developed,  Dr. 
Rush  offers  this  conjecture.  As  this  is  a  subject  on  which  different 
opinions  are  held,  and  as  it  is  probable  many  persons  may  not  con- 
sider our  author's  arguments  on  this  point  as  conclusive,  it  will 
not  be  deemed  improper  to  state  some  of  the  objections  which  lie 
in  the  way  of  his  hypothesis. 

1.  This  opinion  seems  to  derive  no  support  from  eudiometrical 
experiments,  nor  any  other  direct  proof  hitherto  laid  before  the 
public. 

2.  It  seems  to  be  rendered  improbable  by  the  season  of  the 
year,  when  these  malignant  fevers  are  most  apt  to  prevail;  that  is, 
the  latter  end  of  the  summer  and  the  autumn.  Ir  any  material  va- 
riation, as  to  the  relative  quantity  of  oxygene  air,  at  different  sea- 
sons, should  hereafter  be  found  to  take  place,  it  would  seem  pro- 
bable that  it  is  most  scanty  in  the  season  just  mentioned.  A  con- 
siderable proportion  of  vegetable  substances  is  then  dead;  and  even 
the  living  vegetables,  a  principal  source  of  that  air,  have,  at  that 


REVIEW.  7? 

time,  much  declined  from  the  fresh  vigorous  and  healthy  state  in 
which  they  emit  the  most  copious  supplies  of  it. 

3.  That  a  greater  proportion  of  oxygene  air  exists  in  the  atmos- 
phere in  the  winter,  spring,  and  early  part  of  the  summer,  than 
ic  ing  the  remainder  of  the  year,  .seems  to  be  rendered  probable 
by  the  brighter  and  more  florid  complexion  of  people  generally  at 
such  seasons,  and  by  the  nature  of  the  diseases  then  most  apt  to 
prevail.  And,  in  further  confirmation  of  this,  it  may  be  observed, 
that  during  tne  usual  epidemic  season  of  these  malignant  fevers, 
paleness  and  sallownessof  complexion  are  commonly  found  to  pre- 
dominate. 

4.  If  an  increased  proportion  of  oxygenous  air  predispose  to 
malignant  fevers,  it  would  scarcely  seem  probable,  that  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  country  should  so  generally  resist  the  spreading  ot  that 
contagion  as  experience  testifies. 

5.  No  uniform,  general,  or  even  frequent  appearances,  in  the 
circumstances  of  blood-letting,  seem  to  warrant  this  opinion. 

6.  Our  author  himself  recommends  'vegetable  diet,  as  one  of  the 
best  preventives  of  malignant  fevers;  and  orders  acidulated  drinks 
in  the  course  of  the  disease.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  the  ac- 
knowledged usefulness  of  this  diet,  and  thest  drinks,  can  consist 
.with  a  predisposing  prevalence  of  the  oxygenous  principle  in  the 
atmosphere. 

7.  The  late  experiments  of  Dr.  Cannichael  Smith  appear  to 
militate  against  this  opinion.  The  fumes,  produced  according  to 
his  directions,  to  destroy  contagion,  consist,  as  Mr.  Keir  asserts, 
of  highly  oxygenated  nitrous  vapour,  mixed  with  a  large  quantity 
pf  pure  oxygene  air. 

The  specific  nature  of  thr  exhalations  which  induce  these  dis- 
eases, our  author  declines  to  decide.  Besides  their  effects  on  the 
human  system,  he  mentions  several  instances  of  their  violent  ope- 
ration on  domestic  animals,  and  particularly  on  cattle,  fed  upon 
marshy  pasture  in  autumn. 

Dr.  Rush  proceeds,  in  the  next  place,  to  deliver  an  account  of 
the  method  of  cure.  The  remedies  used  in  this  fever  were  the 
same  he  hid  employed  the  year  before.  And  the  treatment  con- 
sisted, 

ft  In  the  abstraction  of  the  stimulus  of  blood  and  heat  from 
the  whole  body,  and  of  bile,  and  other  acrid  humours,  from  the 
bowels, by  means  of  the  following  remedies:  Bleeding,  purging, 
cool  air,  and  drink: — cold  water  applied  to  the  external  j  arts  of 
the  body,  and  to  the  bowels  by  means  of  glysters. 

2.  In  crtating  a  diversion  of  congestion,  inflammation,  and 
serous  effusion,  horn  the  brain  and  viscera  to  the  mouth,  by  means 
of  a  salivation,  and  to  the  external  parts  cf  the  body,  by  means  of 
blisters. 


78  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

3.  In  restoring  the  strength  of  the  system,  by  tonic  remedies. 

Under  the  head  of  bleeding,  the  author  observes  that  this  fever 
differed  from  that  of  1793,  in  coming  forward,  eariy  in  the  sea- 
son, with  a  number  ot  paroxysms,  which  refused  to  yield  to 
purging  alone.  He,  therefore,  "began  the  cure  of  every  case  he 
was  called  to  by  bleeding.  And  it  is  only  by  contemplating  the 
extent  in  which  it  is  necessary  to  use  this  remedy,  in  ord<>r  to 
overcome  a  yellow  fever,  that  we  can  acquire  just  ideas  of  its 
force. 

On  the  subject  of  purging,  but  little  is  added  to  the  observa- 
tions made  upon  that  remedy  in  the  year  1793.  Jaltf),  calomel, 
and  gamboge  were  used  until  large  and  dark-coloured  stools  were 
obtained;  alter  which  the  bowels  were  kept  gently  open  every 
day  with  castor  oil,  cream  of  tartar,  or  Glaubers'  salts.  Calomel 
was  given  in  much  larger  quantities  than  in  the  preceding  year. 

Cool  air  and  cool  drinks,  cleanliness,  cold  water  applied  to  the 
external  parts  of  the  body,  and  injected  into  the  bowels  by  way 
of  glyster,  did  great  service.  Pains  of  the  head,  and  of  the  bow- 
els, were  relieved  by  cloths,  dipped  in  cold  water,  and  applied  to 
those  parts.  The  coldness  of  pump  water,  when  used  in  this 
way  in  1795,  was  increased  by  dissolving  ice  in  it,  and,  in  some 
cases,  powdered  ice  was  applied  in  a  bladder  to  the  head  with 
great  advantage- 
Salivation  was  excited,  as  early  as  possible,  in  all  those  cases 
which  did  not  immediately  yield  to  bleeding  and  purging.  It 
were  greatly  to  be  wished  that  the  use  of  this  remedy  should  be 
rendered  universal  in  the  treatment  of  malignant  fevers. 

Blisters,  when  applied  at  a  proper  time,  •  did  much  service,  i 
This  time  was,  when  the  force  of  tiie  fever  was  so  far  reduced  by 
evacuations,  that  the  stimulus  of  blisters  sufficed  to  carry  off  the 
remainder  of  the  disease. 

After  the  reduction  of  the  morbid  action  of  the  blood-vessels, 
by  the  remedies  mentioned,  Dr.  Rush  seldom  made  u:e  of  anv 
other  tonic  than  a  nourishing  and  gently  stimulating  diet.  This 
consisted  of  summer  fruits,  bread  and  milk,  chicken  broth,  the 
white  meats,  eggs  oysters,  and  malt  liquois,  more  especially  porter. 

Peruvian  hark  was  commonly  found  ineffectual,  and  in  many 
cases  manifestly  hurtful  in  this  disease.  Columbo  root,  the  Car- 
ibbean bark,  and  other  bitters  were  attempted  to  be  substituted 
for  it,  but  without  success. 

Wine  was  hurtful  in  every  case  of  Yellow  Fever,  in  which  it 
was  given  while  there  were  any  remains  of  inflammatory  action 
in  the  system. 

Opium  was  observed  to  be  less  injurious  in  this  fever,  than  Lri 
that  of  1793. — Nitre  and  antimonials  were  offensive  to  the  sto- 
mach, and  altogether  useless. 


REVIEW. 


With  these  observations  our  author  concludes  the  history  of  the 
iymptoms,  origin,  and  cure  of  the  Yellow  Fever,  as  it  appeared 
in  Philadelphia  in  1794,  and  in  the  winter  of  i  7^>  5- 

We  exceedingly  regret,  that  it  is  not  in  our  power,  consistently 
with  our  limits,  to  give  a  more  detailed  account  of  this  part  of 
our  author's  work.  A  great  number  of  his  proofs  and  illustra- 
tions, very  material  to  a  due  understanding  of  his  opinions,  are 
unavoidably  passed  without  notice.  For  a  satisfactory  view  of 
these,  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  work  itself. 

The  additional  proofs  of  the  domestic  origin  of  the  Yellow  Fe- 
ver, here  adduced,  together  with  occurrences,  which  have  taken 
place  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  must,  we  apprehend, 
have  long  since  removed  every  doubt  on  this  question. 

The  mode  of  treatment,  adopted  by  our  author,  was,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  simple  and  energetic;  and,  notwithstanding  every 
inference  that  can  be  drawn  from  a  few  unfavourable  cases,  was 
singularly"  successful. 

[  To  be  continued.  ] 


Art.  II.  A  Memoir  concerning  the  Fascinating  Faculty  ivhich  /tat 
been  ascribed  to  the  Rattle-snake,  and  otlicr  American  Serpents.  By 
Benjamin  Smith  Barton,  M.  D.  &c.  Philadelphia.  Svjeitzer. 
8vo.  pp.  70.    1 796. 

TT  appears  from  the  preface  to  this  Memoir,  which  is  inscribed 
X.  to  the  late  amiable  and  ingenious  Dr.  Rittenhouse,  that  it  was 
originally  read  in  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  and  in 
expected  to  form  a  part  of  the  next  volume  of  its  Transactions. 
Dr.  Barton  assigns  as  reasons  for  a  separate  publication,  a  desire 
of  "  distributing  it  among  his  friends,  and  those  who  are  curious 
"  of  researches  in  natural  history."  He  also  informs  us,  that  the 
Memoir  in  question  has  received  considerable  additions,  since  its 
first  reading. 

Our  readers  are  well  informed  of  the  various  opinions  which 
are  entertained  on  the  subject  of  the  paper  before  us ;  of  the 
contradictory  explanations  which  have  been  offered;  and  of  the 
doubts  which  have  been  entertained  of  the  reality  of  the  fact 
termed  Fascination.  We  shall  detain  them,  therefore,  no  longer 
from  the  Memoir;  from  which  they  may  naturally  expect  to  de- 
rive entertainment,  judging  from  the  author's  well-known  inge- 
nuity in  this  kind  of  investigation. 

The  Dr.  commences  his  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  Fascination, 
and  the  reality  of  the  Fascinating  Faculty,  by  remarks  on  the  ex- 
tent of  the  conviction  of  its  truth, — which  he  does  not  hesitate  to 


8o 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


call  a  prejudice; — and  by  a  description,  chiefly  after  Professor 
Kalm, ot  the  manner  in  which  the  supposed  fascination  is  faceted. 
As  there  is  nothfng  new  or  peculiar  in  this  description,  it  is  unne- 
cessary to  lay  it  before  the  reader.  The  author,  next,  examines 
into  the  origin  of  this  belief,  or  prejudice.  He  finds  no  traces 
of  it  in  the  writings  of  the  Ancients;  which  have  been  subjected 
to  his  inspection.  He  even  questions  the  correctness  of  the  opi- 
nion of  Dr.  Cotton  Mather  and  Mr.  Dudley,  that  it  originated 
among  the  Indians  of  North-America.  He  observes  that  this 
belief  is  by  no  means  now  prevalent  among  our  Aborigines;  and 
that  the  veneration  accorded  to  the  rattle-snake,  by  some  tribes, 
mav,  with  great  probability,  be  ascribed  to  a  superstitious  fear  of 
its  power  to  injure  them — founded  on  their  religious  notion.. 
Finally,  on  this  point,  he  remark^,  that  there  is  no  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  this  prejudice  among  the  native  Indians  of  South- 
America. 

From  this  fruitless  attempt  to  discover  the  native  country  of 
the  opinion  which  he  combats,  Dr.  Barton  enters  into  an  enume- 
ration of  the  principal  authors  who  have  supported,  or  have 
coubted  of  its  validity.  Linnseus,  Gmelin,  Kalm,  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson,  Mr.  Bartram of  Philadelphia, &c. are  ranged  in  its  favour; 
Dr.  J.  E.  Smith  and  Mr.  Pennant  appear  to  entertain  suspicions 
of  its  truth.  But  a  much  larger  portion  of  the  Memoir  is  dtvoted 
to  an  examination  of  two  distinct  explanations,  of  fascination, 
offered  by  M.  de  la  Cepede,  in  his  "  Histoire  Naturelle  de  Ser- 
pens;" whose  words  Dr.  Barton  quotes  at  length.  The  first  solu- 
tion of  Mi  de  la  Cepede  is,  that  what  is  called  fascination  is  effect- 
ed by  the  pestilential  oveath  of  the  serpent,  or  l>v  noxious  effluvia  ex- 
haling from  his  body.  In  opposition  to  this  idea,  Dr.  Barton 
affirms,  that  persons  have  taken  the  head  of  the  black,  and  other 
snakes,  into  their  mouths,  without  injury,  and  without  perceiv- 
ing any  bad  smell;  that  he  has  been  present  when  a  small  box, 
in  which  a  number  of  serpents  had  been  confined,  was  opene'l 
in  a  small,  warm  room,  without  being  sensible  to  any  peculiarly 
offensive  odour ;  and  that  a  gentleman  of  his  acquaintance,  who 
has  long  had  a  rattle-snake  under  his  immediate  care,  has  never 
observed  any  disagreeable  vapour  to  proceed  from  it.*  Not- 

*  In  foTie  parts  of  the  United  Sta'es  it  is  nit  uncommon  for  perfons  t 
fiften  the  live  rattie-fnake  to  :he  earth,  (hy  means  of  crctched  li  cks  at  the 
kead  an.)  tail;)  and  inen  to  bite  this  repcile,  through  ihe  back,  from  one  ex. 
tremity  to  the  other.  This  is  done  from  a  perfoalion  that  thofe  who  peiform 
this  ttrange  a£l  will  thereby  fecure  themfelves  from  all  pain  and  decay  of  the 
teeth.  The  fnake  is  luppofed  to  bear  off  tveiv  thing  which  tends  to  promote 
i  feafe  In  the  teeth.  The  writer  of  this  article  has  teen  two  perfons,  and  one 
of  them  a  phyfician,  who,  when  boys,  had  male  the  experiment.  Were 
fhe  effluvia  of  the  ferpent  very  nsX'Ous,  this  attempt  woulo,  prab;b!y,  have 
proved  fatal. 


REVIEW. 


8r 


withstanding,  our  author  acknowledges  that  the  testimony  of^men 
of  indisputable  veracity  leaves  him  no  room  to  doubt  but  that 
an  odour,  exceedingly  unpleasant,  does  emanate  from  this  and 
some  other  species  of  serpents.  But,  observes  our  author,  birds 
have  been  inclosed,  with  these  serpents,  in  the  same  cage,  with- 
out suffering  any  inconvenience;  and  birds  are  often  known 
to  sit  over  their  eggs,  hatch,  and  rear  their  young,  on  the  branches 
of  bushes  at  whose  roots  the  rattle-snake  lay.  This  serpent,  too, 
is  often  preyed  upon  by  the  eagle,  the  hawk,  and  ottier  birds, 
without  their,  or  their  young,  suffering  any  injury  in  conse- 
quence. The  first  explanation,  therefore,  of  M.  de  la  Cepede  is 
not  admissible. 

The  reasons  assigned  by  Dr.  Barton  for  rejecting  this  solution 
of  the  Continuator  of  BufFon,  are  of  various  importance.  No 
great  evidence  seems  derivable^  on  either  hand,  from  the  fact  of 
the  presence,  or  absence,  of  foetid  emanations.  The  most  offen- 
sive odours  arc  often  harmless,  so  far  as  the  health  of  those  ex- 
posed to  them  is  regarded ;  and  the  most  subtle  poisons  are  fre- 
quently destitute  of  any  peculiar  pungency  of  smell.  But  if  Dr. 
Barton  have  displayed  no  remarkable  ingenuity  in  this  part  of 
his  Memoir,  it  may  be  observed  that  no  great  strength  of  argu- 
ment appears  requisite  to  refute  so  improbable  a  suggestion  as 
that  of  M.  de  la  Cepede. 

The  second  explanation  proposed  by  the  French  Naturalist  is, 
that,  in  cases  of  supposed  fascination,  the  biro's  and  other  animals, 
thought  to  be  fascinated,  have  been  previously  bitten  by  the  serpent  ; 
mud  that  their  cries,  efforts,  and  apparent  agonies,  are  the  ejfefts 
of  the  poison :  and  such  appears  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  Sir 
Hans  Sloane,  and  of  the  author  of  the  article  in  the  Monthly 
Review,  which  contains  an  account  of  M.  de  la  Cepede's  work. 
But  Dr.  Barton  rejects  this  solution  equally  with  the  other.  He 
observes,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  effects  attributed  to  fascina- 
tion bear  no  resemblance  to  those  known  to  be  produced  by  the 
poison  of  the  rattle-snake — for  a  description  of  which  he  refers 
to  a  paper  inserted  by  him  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Society's 
Transactions; — and  he  dwells  with  emphasis  on  the  well-establish- 
ed fart  of  the  animal's  having  often  survived,  after  having  been 
;-ubjec~ted  to  fascination,  when  the  serpent  had  been  seasonably 
1  t  ightened  away.  In  the  second  place,  the  Doctor  remarks,  that 
the  fascinating  faculty  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  rattle- 
snake, but  is  predicated  of  various  other  serpents,  particularly  the 
black -snake,  who  are  known  not  to  be  venomous.  M.  de  la 
C  p  de's  second  explanation  is,  therefore,  alike  insufficient  with 
the  first. 

This  argument,  we  confess,  appears  to  us  conclusive  ;  and  two 

Vol  J.  .Vc  i.  M 


3s 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


facts  which  will  come  to  be  stated,  in  the  course  of  this  article,  add 
strong  confirmation  to  its  truth.  ' 

The  last  opinion  examined  by  Dr.  Barton,  is  that  of  Professor 
Blumenbach,  of  Gdttingen,  who  ascribes  the  power  attributed  to 
the  rattle-snake,  to  his  stedfast  looks,  and  to  the  hissing  noise  of  his 
rattles,  by  which  he  entices  the  birds,  >istc.  to  follow  him  :  and  the  Pro- 
fessor observes,  that  this  last  circumstance  is  perfectly  analogous  to 
the  practice  of  the  Indians,  who,  by  imitating  the  noise  made  by 
this  serpent,  allure  and  take  squirrels. 

In  reply  to  this,  Dr.  Barton  remarks,  t.  That  serpents  unprovid- 
ed with  rattles, are  equally  successful  as  the  rattle-snake:  z.  That, 
from  good  information,  he  has  reason  to  believe,  that  this  serpent 
does  not  always  shake  his  rattles,  in  the  aft  of  charming;  and  3. 
That  M.  Blumenbach  has  probably  mistaken  the  artifice  of  the  sa- 
vages, to  which  he  alludes,  tor  their  praftice  ot  imitating  the  cries 
of  young  birds,  and  by  that  means  enticing  the  parents  within 
reach  of  their  arrows. 

Having  thus  carefully  examined  the  opinions  of  his  predecessors 
in  tills  inquiry,  Dr.  Barton  now  proceeds  to  state  his  own  opinion,- 
together  with  the  fafts  on  which  it  is  founded.  We  shali  follow 
his  arrangement  as  nearly  as  will  consist  with  the  limits  of  this  pa-" 
of  our  work,  and  without  neglefting  the  justice  due  to  the  author. 

Before  any  decisive  judgment  snould  be  hazarded  on  the  sub 
jeft,  Dr.  Barton  informs  us,  he  deemed  it  necessary  to  ascertain— 
"  First,  what  species  of  birds  are  most  frequently  observed  to  be 
"enchanted  by  the  serpents;  and,  secondly,  at  what  season  of 
"  the  year  has  any  particular  species  been  most  commonly  seen 
"  under  this  wonderful  influence.''  The  result  of  his  investigation 
and  observation,  with  relation  to  these  points,  is — 

1.  That  all  the  birds,  said  to  be  fascinated  by  the  rattle-snake,, 
build  on  or  near  the  ground. 

2.  That  the  season  when  fascination  is  agreed  to  be  most  com- 
mon, is  that  in  which  the  birds  lay,  sit,  and  hatch. 

3.  That  the  rattle-snake  is  a  slugglish  reptile,  and  unable  to 
climb  to  any  height;  but  that  the  black-snake  is  able  to  glide  up 
the  highest  trees,  and  is  often  seen  to  mount  their  tops,  when  im- 
pelled by  hunger,  in  search  of  prey. 

4.  That  the  principal  food  of  the  rattle-snake  is  the  Great-frog* 
of  our  river?,  creeks,  &c.  On  dissefting  many  of  this  species  of 
serpent,  no  other  anim.  l  has  been  found  in  its  stomach,  save  in  one 
or  two  instances ;  and  then  the  animals  were  such  as  dwelt  on  the 
ground. 

5.  That  the  black-snake  chiefly  preys  on  birds;  his  superior 
aftivity  enabling  him  to  assail  the  nests,  in  the  absence  of  the  pa- 
rent bird,  and  destroy  the  eggs,  or  bear  off  the  young. 

*  Rana  ocellata  of  Llnnsus. 


REVIEW. 


83 


These  facts  being  established,  the  inquiry  naturally  recur?,  for 
r,hat  end  were  the  serpents  endued  with  the  fascinating  faculty? 
The  uniform  reply,  Dr.  Barton  remarks,  is — t,o  obtain  their  food. — 
In  shewing  this  supposed  power  to  be  unnecessary,  or  unemployed, 
for  this  purpose,  the  Doctor  derives  a  new  argument  against  its  ex- 
istence. For,  according  to  him,  the  rattle-snake  only  preys  on 
animals  within  his  reach,  to  take  whom  he  has  no  need  ot  the  fa- 
scinating faculty;  while  the  black-snake  exerts  himself  in  a  sur- 
prizing manner  to  catch  a  prey  that  might  be  easily  entrapped  were 
lie  able  to  charm  it — and  Dr.  Barton  relates  (p.  67.)  a  very  strik- 
ing fact,  to  prove  the  labour  and  art  of  this  serpent,  to  satisfy  his 
hunger. 

Having  shewn  that  the  serpents,  said  to  be  possest  of  the  fasci- 
nating faculty,  do  net  employ  it  for  the  only  purpose  for  which  ii 
can  rationally  be  supposed  to  have  been  conferred  on  them,  all  that 
remains  for  Dr.  Barton  is,  to  explain  the  effects  which  have  been 
attributed  to  this  power  in  a  more  satisfactory  and  rational  manner. 
This  he  endeavours  to  do,  by  referring  the  cries,  efforts,  &c.  of  the 
animals  said  to  be  under  the  influence  of  fjscination,  to  their  anxi- 
ety, courage,  and  exertions,  for  the  protection  ot  their  young.  On 
this  topic,  the  Doctor  enlarges  with  much  ingenuity;  and  we  re- 
gret that  we  cannot  extract  the  whole  of  his  interesting  argument. 
When  the  nest,  or  the  young,  are  assailed  by  the  serpent,  Dr. 
Barton  supposes  the  parent  bird  to  attack  him  "  with  her  wing, 
'*  her  beak,  or  her  claws."  This  is  successful,  and  the  reptile  is 
killed, or  obliged  to  fly;  or  it  is  unsuccessful;  andhe  first  consumes 
the  offspring,  and  then  the  wearied  and  agitated  parent.  Dr.  Bar- 
ton concludes  this  part  of  his  argument  by  relating  a  fact,  com- 
municated to  him  by  Mr.  Rittenhouse,  which  is  corroborative  of 
this  explanation. 

THE  reasons  assigned,  by  the  author  of  the  Memoir  just  no- 
ticed, for  discrediting  the  existence  of  the  Fascinating  Faculty  as- 
cribed to  serpents,  are  for  the  most  part  satisfactory;  and  the  ex- 
planation given  by  him  of  the  effects  attributed  to  this  supposed 
faculty  is,  probably,  many  times  just.  But,  as  in  all  doubtful 
rases,  there  is  a  propriety  for  every  suggestion  which  may  lead  to 
greater  certainty,  we  shall  make  no  apology  for  proposing,  in 
this  place,  two  additional  solutions  of  the  problem  before  us. 
We  are  willing  to  believe  that  what  is  called  fascination  may, 
at  different  times,  be  attributable  to  the  cause  assigned  by  Dr. 
Barton,  and  to  each  of  those  which  we  shall  now  suggest.  The 
various  animals  subjected  to  this  pretended  power,  and  the  vari- 
ous effects  it  is  described  as  producing,  sufficiently  countenance 
the  conjecture. 

I.' 


Z\  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

I.  The  cat-bird  is  enumerated  among  those  birds  that  are  prey* 
ed  on  by  snakes,  by  means  of  the  fascinating  faculty.  The  am* 
fices  of  this  bird  are  known  to  every  person  conversant  with  the 
birds  of  this  Country.  In  the  season  of  rearing  her  young,  if 
started  by  a  man,  she  flies  along  before,  with  every  appearance  of 
concern;  agitating  her  body;  frequently  alighting;  and  uttering 
the  most  distressful  cries.  By  this  means  she  eludes  the  search  of 
those  who  are  hunting  for  her  nest.  The  pursuer  is  induced  to 
believe  it  at  every  placr  where  she  alights;  and  is  thus,  constantly, 
led  farther  and  farther  from  its  real  situation. — Nor  is  this  artifiei 
peculiar  to  the  cat-bird.  Every  school-boy  has  been  made  the  dupe 
in  this  way,  of  many  of  those  birds  who  nest  on,  or  near  the 
ground, 

Is  not  this  the  probable  history  of  many  instances  of  supposed 
fascination  ?  The  agitation  and  cries  of  the  bird  are  its  artifices  to 
mislead  the  serpent,  who  is  looking  for  her  young.  In  those  in- 
stances where  the  snake  discovers  them,  the  artifice  proves  useless, 
and  the  mother  may,  according  to  Dr.  Barton's  explanation,  fall  a 
victim  to  her  efforts  in  their  behalf.  In  other  cases,  the  snake  is 
either  drawn  away  by  the  deception,  or,  being  frightened  from  his 
purpose,  the  bird flies  off,  uninjured  by  the  supposed  fascination. 

II.  Another  supposition  which  has  occurred  to  us,  and  which 
is  countenanced  by  a  number  of  facts,  is,  that  in  those  cases -where 
birds,  or  other  animals  have  died,  witlwut  any  external  injury  from  the 
snake,  they  have  expired  in  a  paroxysm  of  fear. 

This  conjecture  derives  no  inconsiderable  support  from  the 
whole  conduct  of  birds,  while  under  the  influence  of  fascination, 
as  described  by  the  advocates  for  this  inconceivable  faculty. 

On  this  supposition,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the 
facts  related  of  animals  dropping  down,  suddenly,  into  the  very 
mouths  of  the  charmers. 

The  facts  stated  by  Mr.  Vosmaer,  and  mentioned  by  Dr.  Barton, 
(p.  34  of  his  Memoir)  are  in  point;  as  seems,  in  part,  admitted  by 
the  Doctor  himself.  Nor  are  the  experiments  made  in  Philadel- 
phia less  in  favour  of  this  explanation.  The  operation  of  terror 
will  be  different,  according  to  its  degree.  Some  animals,  and 
there  have  been  instances  among  the  human  species,  expire  im- 
mediately, under  its  powerful  influence.  Others,  it  affects  with  a 
temporary  torpor.  Others,  again,  it  provokes  to  actions  the  least 
favourable  to  their  own  designs;  and  they  precipitate  themselves 
into  the  very  danger  they  would  avoid.  Some,  it  furnishes  with 
unusual  powers  of  flight:  and  some,  it  arms  with  all  the  courage 
of  despair.  Indeed,' the  varieties  in  the  operation  of  the  fabulous 
charming  power  of  serpents,  are  not  so  numerous  but  that  they 
admit  of  peifec"!  explanation,  on  the  idea  now  suggested.  Nor 
will  a  solitary  instance  of  unconcern  in  a  bird  exposed  to  a  serpent 


REVIEW.  85 

(see  Memoir,  p.  36.)  be  sufficient  to  invalidate  the  probability  of 
its  correctness.  Two  very  curious  facts  may  be  added,  in  support 
of  this  conjecture,  which,  as  it  appears  to  us,  are  not  easily  to  be 
explained  dn  anv  other  hypothesis.  We  quote  them  from  the  ac- 
count of  "  Le  Vaillant's  Second  Journey  into  the  Interior  of  Af- 
rica," given  in  the  Appendix  to  the  xxth  vol.  ot  The  Monthly 
Review  Enlarged,  art.  vii.  pp.  526,  27.  The  passage  referred  to 
is,  in  the  words  of  the  translator,  as  follows. 

ff  Casting  my  eyes  on  the  trees,  I  perceived  a  m»tion  in  the 
"  branches  of  that  which  was  nearest  us.  We  presently  heard  the 
f*  piercing  cries  of  a  butcher-bird,  which  was  struggling  in  con- 
"  vulsions.  Our  first  idea  was  that  it  lay  under  the  talons  of  some 
l<  bird  of  prey:  but,  on  surveying  it  more  attentively,  we  were 

surprized  to  see,  on  the  next  branch,  a  very  large  serpent, 
"  which,  totally  immoveable,  but  prepared  to  strike,  and  with  in- 
"  flamed  eyes,  fixed  the  poor  animal.  The  bird  agitated  itself, 
"  and  struggled  in  a  frightful  manner;  but  fear  had  taken  away  all 
"  its  powers;  and,  as  it  held  by  the  feet,  it  seemed  to  have  lost  the 
4<  faculty  of  flying  away.  One  of  us  went  for  a  gun :  but,  before 
"  he  returned,  the  bird  was  dead,  and  he  shot  only  the  serpent. 
"  I  then  caused  the  distance  between  the  two  creatures  to  be  mea- 
"  sured,  and  found  that  it  was  three  feet  and  a  half;  so  that  all  the 
"  company  were  convinced  that  the  bird  could  not  have  perished 
"  by  the  bite  of  the  serpent.  I  plucked  the  bird  in  their  presence, 
"  and  made  them  all  remark  that  it  was  entire,  and  had  not  the 
"  least  wound. 

"  A  similar  adventure  had  before  occurred  to  me,  in  the  Canton 
"  of  Twenty-four  Rivers,  which  I  now  related  to  my  companions, 
"  in  order  to  confirm  what  they  had  just  seen.  One  day,  as  I 
"  was  shooting  in  a  morass,  I  heard,  on  a  sudden,  very  shrill  and 
"  painful  cries  issue  from  a  tuft  of  reeds.  Curious  to  know  the 
K  cause,  I  approached  gently,  and  saw  a  little  mouse,  which,  like 
"the  butcher-bird,  was  in  a  convulsive  agony;  and  two  paces 
"  farther,  I  perceived  a  serpent  looking  intently  on  it.  As  soon 
"  as  the  reptile  perceived  me,  he  skulked  away :  but  the  effect  of 
"  his  presence  had  already  taken  place.  Having  caught  the  mouse, 
f  it  expired  in  my  hand,  without  my  being  able,  on  the  most  at- 
u  tentive  examination,  to  discover  the  actual  cause  of  its  death." 

We  recommend  these  facts,  which  would  add  some  plausibility 
to  the  idea  of  Professor  Blumenbach,  (that  fascination  is  in  part 
effected  by  the  stedfast  looks  of  the  serpent,)  to  the  attention  of 
Dr.  Barton;  and  leave  our  readers  to  form  their  own  conclusions. 


THAT  we  m?.y  not  take  leave  of  this  subject  without  some 
practical  advantage  tptht  reader,  we  shall  request  his  patience,  if 


66 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


we  extend  this  Article  to  a  purpose  not  altogether  disconnected 
with  the  question  just  examined. 

Whatever  may  be  true  of  birds  and  other  small  animals,  the 
human  species,  notwithstanding  some  ridiculous  tales,  seem  to  be^ 
in  little  danger  from  the  fascinating  power  of  serpents.  Unfortu- 
nately, they  are  not  equally  exempt  from  danger,  from  the  poi- 
son of  these  reptiles.  Various  vegetable  substances  are  extolled 
for  the  cure  of  the  bite  of  the  rattle-snake ;  but  we  know  not  with 
what  reason.  It  will  be  some  compensation  to  these  who  have 
attended  us  through  the  preceding  analysis  and  conjectures,  if  we 
shall  be  able  to  point  out  to  them  a  certain  and  convenient  reme- 
dy against  the  venom  of  this  serpent.  And  such  an  one  we  hope 
is  discovered:  though  we  cannot  pronounce  with  certainty  till  the 
experiment  has  been  tried. 

In  a  valuable  collection  of  papers,  intitled — "  Dissertations 
and  Miscellaneous  Pieces  relating  to  the  History  and  Antiquities, 
the  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Literature  of  Asia,"  by  Sir  William 
Jones  and  others,  vol.  ii.  p.  222,  there  is  an  interesting  paper 
"  On  the  cure  of  persons  bitten  by  snakes,  by  John  Wiiliams, 
Esq." — The  paper  consists  of  the  history  of  seven  cases  of  per- 
sons  "bitten  by  snakes,  with  remarks.  These,  the  author  affirms, 
were  selected  by  him,  from  a  number  of  similar  cases,  in  which 
his  remedy  had  proved  equally  successful.  Most  of  the  instances, 
here  related,  are  of  bites  by  a  serpent  which  Mr.  Williams  calls 
the  Cobra  dc  Cajitllo;  but  he  assures  us  that  the  means  he  employs 
are  alike  efficacious  in  the  cure  of  the  bite  of  other  serpents. 

The  operation  of  the  poison  of  the  East-India  serpents  is  very 
'  rapid.  In  a  few  minutes,  those  who  are  bitten  are  aft". died  with 
pain,  giddiness,  stupor,  convulsions — particularly  of  the  jaws, 
and  a  profuse  discharge  of  saliva.  The  affections  of  the  throat, 
the  author  remarks,  are  constant  symptoms  of  the  poison  of  the 
Cobra  de  Capello. 

The  cure  consists  in  the  immediate  application  of  a  ligature 
around  the  limb  bitten,  so  as  to  prevent  the  return  of  the  venous 
blood  to  the  heart;  in  washing  the  wound  with  F~ciatik  Caustic  Al- 
kaline Hjtirit;  and  in  the  repeated  administiation  of  the  same  me- 
dicine, in  doses  of  from  50  to  60  drops,  in  water,  every  five, 
eight,  or  ten  minutes,  tiil  the  patient  is  completely  relieved. 

The  author  lays  some  stress  on  the  use  of  the  ligature;  yet  it  is 
probable  that  he  is  mistaken  in  supposing  the  poison  to  be  trans- 
mitted by  the  veins;  and  it  may  be  remarked, that  the  ligature  was 
applied  in  but  two  of  the  seven  cases  he  has  recorded.* 

*  The  alfurp tion  of  the  poifon  can  only  take  place  by  the  lymphatics. 'If  com- 
prefli  n  anfwer  any  good  purpole,  it  mull  be  by  impeding  circulation  in  them. 
They  Iranfmit  the  venom  to  the  heart  ;  and  it  mult  be  through  their  agency 
that  the  changes  fi\i  to  be  wrought  in  the  blood,  by  the  poifon  of  ferpents, 


REVIEW. 


3; 


Though  the  medicine  is  directed  to  be  administered  immediate- 
ly, yet  one  instance  occurs  of  its  obviating  the  effects  of  a  bite, 
which  had  been  inflicted  more  than  an  hour.  And  Mr.  Williams 
I  declares,  that  he  never  knew  it  fail,  if  the  patients  were  able  to 
swallow  it. — Relief  is  generally  given  in  a  few  minutes;  and  most 
of  the  cures  are  completed  wkhin  a  few  hours — some  in  half  an 
hour. 

It  is  not  essential  to  use  the  Volatile  Caustic  Alkali  Spirit ;  tho' 
it  is  to  be  preferred,  as  the  dose  is  more  easilv  ascertained.  W nere 
it  is  not  to  be  had,  Spirit;  of  Hartshorn,  of  Sal  Ainmoniac,  &c. 
may  be  employed;  increasing  the  dose  in  proportion.  One  of  the 
cures,  related  by  Mr.  Williams,  was  made  by  Eau  de  Luce. 

The  uniform  success  of  this  medicine — the  Volatile  Alkali — 
in  the  cure  of  the  bite  of  Asiatic  serpents,  and  the  probable  ana- 
logy between  all  animal  poisons,  induce  us  to  recommend  a  trial 
of  the  remedy  to  our  country  practitioners,  on  the  rirst  occasion. 
We  shall  be  gratified  to  receive  communications  on  this  subject ; 
and  still  more  gratified  if  they  convey  to  us  assurances  of  the  efh» 
!  cacy  of  the  remedy  proposed.* 

Another  important  inquiry,  suggested  by  the  paper  we  have 
just  mentioned,  is — as  the  Volatile  Alkali  is  so  successful  in  the 
cure  of  those  who  are  poisoned  by  the  bites  of  serpents;  as  the 
inseperable  symptoms  of  the  venom  ol  the  Cobra  de  Cajiello  bear 
a  striking  resemblance  to  those  which  accompany  tne  disease 
known  by  the  name  of  Hydrophobia — viz.  spasms  of  the  glottis, 
locked-jaw,  and  a  profuse  discharge  of  saliva;  and  as  the  Hydro- 
phobia also,  at  least  in  some  instances,  appears  to  be  of  animal 
!  origin;  may  it  not  likewise  be  found  a  useful  remedy  in  cases  of 
!  Canine  Madness? — The  idea  seems  not  altogether  unworthy  of 
j  attention.    Hitherto  we  have  discovered  verv  little  of  the  nature 
of  this  disease,  or  of  the  manner  in  which  animal  and  other  poi* 
j  sons  affect  the  system.    In  this  uncertainty  the  most  improbable 
!  suggestion  may  have  its  use.    The  lea^t  glimpse  of  probable  be- 
:  nefit  from  any  medicine,  in  this  case,  deserves  notice;  and  future 
j  experience  may  prove  Ammoniac  to  be  a  valuable  remedy  in  the 
numerous  diseases  which  arise  from  chemical  injury  to  the  consti- 
tution. 

are  produce!.  Th:  unexpected  length  of  this  article  foibids  our  enlarging  on 
this  futj^tt. 

*  The  fuccefs  of  the  Volatile  Alkali  in  the  cure  of  the  bite  of  the 
Viper,  is  a  further  inducement  to  make  trial  of  it,  in  cal'es  of  the  bite  of  the 
rattle-fruke.  The  reader,  who  is  curious  for  further  information  on  this 
point,  may  copfult  "  Didfionaire  raifonne  univerfel  d'Hilloiie  Natutelle"— 
par  M.  Valmont  de  Bomare,  tome  ix.  p.  352;  where,  with  much  other  valua- 
ble information,  he  will  find  a  circumitantial  narration  of  an  inllance  of  the 
curative  effects  of  this  fait,  in  dertroying  the  poiion  of  the  Viper. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Akt.  III.  Mcdico-Chymical  Dissertations  on  the  Causes  of  the  Epi- 
demic called  the  Yellovj  Fever ;  and  on  the  best  Antimonial  Prepara- 
tions for  the  Use  of  Medicine.  By  a  Physician,  Practitioner  in 
Philadelphia.  Pniladelphia.  Sno-xdon  and  M'-Corkle.  8vo.  pp. 
Cf\.  1796. 

WE  learn  from  a  vcte  of  thanks  annexed  to  each  of  these 
Dissertations,  that  the  author  is  Felix  Paschalis  Ov- 
vtere,  Doctor  of  Divinity  and  of  Physic,  in  Philadelphia  ;  and 
from  the  queries  prefixed  to  each,  that  they  are  intended  as  answen 
fb  Prize  Questions  proposed  in  1 794  and  l 795,  by  the  Medical 
Society  of  Connecticut.  We  rejoiced  to  find  the  Physicians  on 
the  one  side  of  New-York,  promoting  useful  inquiry  at  their  an- 
nual sittings,  and  endeavouring  to  bring  forward  professional  ta- 
lents ;  and  a  practitioner  on  the  other  side  making  answers,  which 
the  querists  call  "  ingenious,"  and  "  very  ingenious  and  enter- 
taining." We  had  liltle  doubt,  in  turning  over  at  first  the  leaves 
of  the  pamphlets,  and  finding  this  to  be  the  case,  we  should  be 
struck  v\  ith  the  ingenuity,  and  pleased  with  the  entertainment''*,  afford- 
ed, in  as  high  a  degree  as  the  Medical  Society  of  Connecticut  ap- 
}>ear  to  have  been.  It  must  be  owned,  however,  that  the  ex- 
pectation raised  by  the  commendations  of  that  medical  body,  and 
their  resolves  of  thanks,  have  in  a  good  degree  been  disappoint- 
ed on  the  perusal  of  the  performances.  And  we  cannot  but  re- 
gret, that  Public  Institutions  are  not  more  circumspect  in  dis- 
tributing their  compliments  and  honours. 

From  these  general  remarks,  we  shall,  however,  proceed  to  the 
•eparate  consideration  of  the  pieces  themselves. 

The  Dissertation  which  stands  first,  is  intended  as  an  answer  to 
the  following  prize-question :  "  What  are  the  Chymical  properties 
of  the  effluvia  of  contagion  of  the  epidemic  of  yew-York,  in  the  year 
1795;  what  its  mode  of  operation  on  the  human  body;  and  does  said 
epidemic  d'jfer  from  the  usual  fexers  of  this  country  except  in  degree?" 
— To  which  Dr.  Ouviere  replies,  that  "  the  chymical  properties 
*'  of  the  effluvia,  or  principles  of  the  epidemic  of  New-York, 
44  which  raged  also  through  several  town^  of  the  United  States, 
"  are  those  of  the  abundant  heat  or  excessive  caloric  of  the  at- 
"  mosphere;  that  this,  caloric  operates  on  the  human  body,  by  sa- 
"  turating  itself  with  all  the  aqueous  particles  of  the  blood,  until 
**  it  reduces  //  to  its  putrid  fermentation;"  and  that  "  the  Yellow 
"  Fever  differs  entirely  from  the  bilious  intermitting  of  this  coun- 
"  try,  which  is  owing  only  to  the  alteration  or  putrefaction  of  the 
"  bile:" — and  so  the  writer  informs  the  proposers  of  the  question, 
that  the  chymical  properties  of  the  effluvia  of  the  epidemic  of  New- 
York,  and  of  other  parts  of  North-America,  are  thos;  of  exces- 


REVIEW. 


sive  heat  in  the  atmosphere,  which  saturates  itself  with  the  watery 
particles  of  the  blood,  and  reduces  it  to  a  putrid  fermentation ! 
and  chat  this  Yellow  Fever  is  wholly  different  from  the  Bilious 
Intermitting  Fever  of  this  country ! 

In  order  to  come  to  this  conclusion,  Dr.  Ouviere  considers  the 
distemper  in  New-York,  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1 795, 
as  the  same  which  prevailed  in  Philadelphia  in  1793.  He  does 
not  dispute  whether  it  is  of  foreign  derivation,  or  of  local  origin  at 
home,  but  thinks  "  such  a  fever  is  epidemical  whilst  its  remote 
"  or  primitive  cause  proceeds  wholly  from  the  state  of  t.ie  atmos- 
*'  phere ;  but  this  cause  acts  as  a  contagion  infecting  the  body  with 
"  all  the  principles  of  its  own  putrefaction."  He  affirms  the  cer- 
tain prognostic  to  be  a  complete  decomposition  of  the  whole  mass 
of  blood  in  the  course  of  six  or  seven  days.  To  establish  this  lat- 
ter point,  he  takes  a  three-fold  view  of  the  disease.  1 .  The  ana- 
lysis of  the  symptoms,  a.  The  accidents  attending  it.  (What 
are  symptoms  but  accidents?)  And,  3dly.  The  appearances  on 
dissection;  and  endeavours  to  prove  therefrom  the  putrid  decom- 
position of  the  blood  in  the  living  vessels.  We  arc  grieved  to 
rind  that,  at  this  time,  there  are  any  supporters  of  that  deceitful 
hypothesis:  and  while  we  recommend  to  Dr.  Ouviere  an  attentive 
examination  of  the  different  appearances  which  the  blood  assumes 
in  the  course  of  the  disease,  both  from  internal  causes,  and 
the  introduction  of  substances  ab  extra,  we  would  caution  him 
against  giving  his  assent  to  the  notion  of  a  (wtrefaftive  fermen- 
tation  going  on  there;  an  opinion,  as  we  believe,  false  in  itself, 
leading  to  wrong  estimates  of  the  virtues  of  remedies,  and  conse- 
quently productive  of  erroneous  and  mischievous  management  in 
practice.  The  author  then  goes  onto  remark, that,  being  drained 
of  its  aqueous  particles,  the  blood  will  be  rendered  unfit  for  the 
different  animal  functions:  and  that  uncommon  heat  of  the  atmos- 
phere, and  many  internally  heating  causes,  will  bring  on  such  a 
condition  of  that  fluid,  by  dissipation  of  its  watery  part,  as  to  in- 
duce, among  others,  malignant,  putrid,  and  epidemic  diseases. 
These  are  produced  by  destroying  the  equilibrium,  which  ought 
to  exist  among  the  constituent  elements:  and  after  the  destruction 
of  this  equilibrium  of  the  blood  by  caloric,  a  decomposition  is 
produced,  which,  according  to  our  author,  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  putrefaction. 

Impressed  with  this  idea,  he  proceeds  to  inquire,  whether  con- 
tagion or  miasmata,  introduced  into  the  blood,  can  make  it  putrefy  ? 
And  th  ugh  he  seems  to  allow  there  are  facts  which  support  the 
affirmative  of  the  question,  yet,  upon  the  whole,  there  is  not  suf- 
ficient ground  lor  the  theory  in  the  present  case;  he  therefore  re- 
jects the  introduction  of  effluvia  into  the  blood,  as  an  inadequate 
cause  of  its  putrefaction. 

Fcl  I.  N9.1.  N 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


He  then  examines  whether  the  decomposition  of  the  blood, 
which  with  him  is  the  essence  of  the  malady,  is  caused  by  the  bile  ? 
and  considers  this  opinion  as  adopted  upon  feeble  and  inconclu- 
sive  evidence. 

Having  thus  removed  the  impediments  to  his  investigation,  Dr. 
Ouviere  proceeds  to  explore  this  abstruse  subject  in  his  own  way. 
in  doing  this,  he  calls  in  the  aid  of  the  New  Cnemistry,  which  h2s 
been  applied  with  so  much  success  of  late,  to  explain  the  pheno- 
mena of  organized  bodies,  and  even  to  elucidate  some  of  the  func- 
tions of  living  beings. 

The  author  mentions  the  analysis  and  synthesis  of  water;  but 
declines  enumerating  the  component  parts  of  the  blood,  or  the 
changes  they  are  prone  to  undergo  from  chymical  attraction.  To 
the  water  in  the  blood  corrupting,  as  in  every  putrefying  substance, 
he  looks  for  the  efficient  cause  of  all  the  febrile  phenomena.  Wa- 
ter converted  into  steam,  (or  algous  gas,  to  use  the  word  of  our 
author)  by  caloric,  is  the  great  disorganizer  of  animal  and  vegeta- 
ble substances  after  death,  and  of  the  circulating  blood  before  death. 
And  by  this  first  and  only  agent,  either  in  the  form  of  ice,  water, 
or  steam,  are  most  phenomena  during  life,  and  after  death,  to  be 
accounted  tor.  Aqueous  gas  was  the  cause  of  the  distemper  in  New- 
York,  in  1 795,  and  of  all  similar  distempers  that  have  visited  the 
United  States;  and  it  operated  by  breaking  down  and  removing 
whatever  obstacles  were  in  its  way,  and  by  its  specific  levity  disen- 
gaging itself  from  every  thing,  leaving  the  other  component  atoms 
to  form  ammoniac,  nitric  acid,  &c.  according  to  their  respective 
affinities.  In  short,  putrefaction  of  the  blood  was  the  cause  of  th 
Yellow  Fever,  and  aqusous  gas  was  the  cause  of  the  putrefactio- 
and  caloric  was  the  cause  of  the  expansion  of  the  watery  portion  o 
the  blood  into  aqueous  gas. 

It  is  extremely  unpleasant  to  be  obliged  to  review  such  reason 
ing  as  this.  To  extract  a  meaning  from  sentences  obscurel 
composed,  is  at  all  times  laborious;  and  to  interpret  words  em 
ployed  in  the  most  vague  and  indefinite  manner  in  every  para- 
graphias a  perplexing  task;  but  all  this  andrnoreour  patience  could 
submit  to,  were  we  to  be  compensated  for  our  pains.  This  part 
of  the  performance  now  before  us,  gives  us  indeed  a  deal  of  dis- 
agreeable work,  and  a  very  inadequate  reward.  We  can  hardly 
persuade  ourselves  to  offer  any  further  criticism  upon  it.  Dr. 
Ouviere  is,  however,  requested  to  consider  whether  aqueous  gas 
can  be  formed  (he  admits  the  fact  himself,  p.  12.)  under  the  80th 
degree  of  Reaumur's  scale?  (ai2th  of  Fahrenheit's)  whether  the 
heat  of  human  blood  ever,  in  the  hottest  fever,  exceeds  much  more 
than  half  that  amount?  whether  experiment  has  not  ascertained 
that  the  temperature  of  the  vital  parts  is,  azteris  paribus,  nearly 
the  same,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year?  whether,  therefore,  aqueous 


REVIEW. 


m  can  be  formed  at  the  heat  of  human  blood?  and  in  the  blood- 
vessels? from  the  serum?  and  rather  in  summer  and  autumn  than 
at  other  times  of  the  year?  when  the  blood  is  equally  warmormore 
fraught  with  water?  It  is  a  strange  opinion  of  this  gentleman 
that  the  blood  oftentimes  waxes  boiling  hot  (80  degrees  Rem, 
or  a  is  Fahren  ) ;  and  when  such  a  phenomenon  happens  in  the 
bodv,  an  abundant  perspiration  transudes  from  all  its  parts,  and 
cbirfly  from  the  breast. 

The  author  next  proceeds  to  answer  two  objections  to  his  hy- 
pothesis. The  first  is,  that  if  aqueous  gas,  (boiling  steam)  formed 
in  the  blood  was  the  cause  of  yellow  fever,  all  persons  ought  to 
die  of  it;  to  which  he  thinks  he  has  made  a  sufficient  reply  when 
he  says,  that  in  abundance  of  cases  aqueous  gas  is  formed  so  gra- 
dually, and  the  putrefaction  occasioned  by  it  operates  so  mode- 
rately, that  there  is  time  for  art?  to  relieve  the  patitnt  before  a  latal 
decomposition  is  wholly  effected.  The  second  objection  is  de- 
rived from  the  heat  of  the  atmosphere,  which  might  be  supposed, 
he  thinks,  to  produce  a  similar  decomposition  in  the  blood  every 
where,  especially  between  the  tropics;  and  this  he  obviates  in  a 
manner  that  we  confess  we  are  unable  to  comprehend. 

Though  Dr.  Ouviere  is  so  defective  in  the  philosophical  part 
of  his  dissertation,  it  is  but  candid  to  pronounce  that  he  appears 
to  more  advantage  in  his  "  Practical  Cautions"  and  "  Method  of 
Cure."  In  the  former  he  recommends  washing,  cleaning,  &c. 
running  streams  ol  water  brought  into  towns;  vegetable  diet  of 
ripe  fruits,  greens  and  seeds;  sparing  use  of  spirituous  liquors; 
frequent  warm  bathing ;  avoiding  the  exhaustion  of  strength  by 
excessive  heat  and  sweating;  drinking  of  claret  wine  mixed  with 
water  ;  small  liquid  purgatives;  the  removing  of  crudities  from  the 
stomach  and  intestines,  and,  generally,  attention  to  the  peculiarities 
of  each  individual  constitution.  All  this  we  believe  to  be  good 
advice,  and  we  join  our  recomrrv-ndation  to  that  of  Dr.  Ouviere, 
in  order  to  encourage  our  fellow  citizens  to  adopt  the  mode. 
Much  benefit  will  undoubtedly  accrue  from  it,  both  in  tity  and 
country.  In  the  latter,  his  first  indication  of  cure  is  to  restore 
to  the  blood,  and  all  the  animal  fluids,  as  many  wajery  particles 
as  they  have  lost,  by  the  caloric.  This  indication  he  fulfils  by 
acidulous,  cooling  and  diluting  draughts,  such  as  barley-water 
and  gruel,  chicken  or  veal  broths,  and  milk  whey.  From  the 
general  distatse  which  the  sick  express  for  animal  food,  and  for 
other  reasons  which,  if  it  would  not  swell  this  article  too  much, 
we  could  easily  express,  we  think  the  soups  and  whey  may  be 
omitted,  in  the  beginning  of  the  disorder  especially,  and  ripe 
fruits,  cold  water  and  oxymel,  and,  in  general,  farinaceous  and 
saccharine  substances,  mixed  with  a  large  proportion  of  water,  sub- 
tituted  in  their  place.  In  addition  to  these  things,  he  recommends 


92  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

the  use  of  the  warm  bath,  a  time  or  two,  early  in  the  disease, 
Pra£tisers  have  disputed  whether,  if  the  bath  were  proper  at  all,  it 
ought  to  be  cold  or  warm:  some  have  recommended  one,i\nd  some 
the  other;  and  some  again  both  alternately,  in  quick  succession. 
Our  own  opinion  is,  they  are  all  useful,  by  removing  pestilential 
matter  from  the  body,  as  well  as  by  procuring  for  it  an  agreeable 
kemperattjre.  We  believe  the  cold  bath  practice  has  been  fre- 
quently carried  too  far,  from  a  misrepresentation  of  its  mode  of 
operation  ;  and  are  incline'  to  think,  upon  the  whole,  the  tepid 
bath  may  be  as  efficacious  as  any,  and  upon  the  whole,  the  most 
safe. 

The  second  indication  is  to  remove  the  morbific  matter,  re- 
sulting from  the  decomposition  of  the  blood:  and  this  he  says 
ought  to  be  efficacious  and  active,  to  prevent  the  rapid  progress 
either  of  the  inflammation  or  putridity.  For  this  purpose  he  re- 
commends repeated  bleedings  to  be  begun  even  before  the  use  of 
the  bath,  and  these  not  to  be  omitted  even  in  fat  and  weak  habits. 
On  this  controverted  point  of  venaeseclion,  besides  the  authority 
of  Dr.  Ouviere,  and  the  practice  of  De  Haen,  Sydenham,  La 
Montagne,  Stubbs,  &c.  we  can  add  our  own  experience  of  its 
high  utility,  in  many  cases  of  autumnal  distempers  of  this  coun- 
try, as  it  has  been  advantageou.->!y  practised  in  the  New-York 
Hospital  during  the  pestilence  of  1 796,  at  repeated  times,  to  the 
amount  of  from  24  to  175  ounces,  and  in  some  cases  several 
times  performed  after  the  sixth  day  of  the  disease,  to  the  great  re- 
lief of  the  sick.  Mistaken  notions  about  the  putrid  state  of  the 
blood  and  humours,  and  concerning  the  use  and  operation  of 
what  are  called  aiexipharmic  and  antiseptic  remedies,  have  in- 
duced many  physicians  of  late  to  oppose  this  practice.  But  ex- 
perience of  the  great  benefit  to  be  derived  from  it,  is  happily  get- 
ting the  better  of  these  ill-founded  and  hypothetical  prejudices. 
As  far  as  we  can  judge  of  the  practice  of  many  of  the  most  reput- 
able writers  in  physic,  and  from  our  own  observations,  we  are 
clear  incur  opinion,  that  though  venaeseclion  may  be  and  has  been 
abused,  yet  it  is  justly  to  be  reckoned  one  of  the  most  proper 
remedies  that  can  be  employed  in  the  greater  part  of  these  pesti- 
lential maladies,  and  that  a  large  portion  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
sick  have  been  endured  by  reason  of  its  total  omission,  or  too 
tardy  and  limited  use. 

Immediately  after  bleeding,  our  author  advises  strong  epispas- 
tics ;  a')d  it  must  be  observed,  that  in  cases  of  considerable  local 
affections  of  the  head,  stomach,  or  breast,  they  have  been  pro- 
ductive of  good  effects,  and  ought  to  be  applied. 

He  next  proposes  the  employment  of  cathartics,  and  even  of  the 
drastic  kind,  to  clear  the  alimentary  canal,  and  to  repeat  these  ac- 
cording to  the  exigency  of  the  case.    The  calomel  and  jalap  which 


REVIEW. 


9i 


he  mentions  as  having  been  frequently  successful,  is,  however,  not 
a  new  remeciy.  More  than  an  hundred  years  ago  we  find,  that  a 
scruple  of  calomel,  mixed  with  half  a  scruple  or  resin  of  jalap  or 
scammony,  had  been  prescribed, and,  as  it  is  related,  with  remark- 
able benefit  in  febrile  diseases,  by  Professor  Ri  verius,  the  famous 
physician  of  Montpellier.  This  was  his  great  febrifuge,  and  he 
almost  made  a  sort  of  nostrum  of  it.  The  renewal  and  repetition  of 
this  practice  in  America,  coincides  remarkably  with  the  effects 
ascribed  to  it  by  the  French  practitioner. 

Dr.  Ouviere  also  observes,  that  antiseptic  medicines  have  been 
too  much  used  during  the  Yellow  Fever  in  Philadelphia.  We  con- 
sider this  a  just  remark,  and  are  satisfied,  that  in  numberless  in- 
stances, Peruvian  bark,  snake-root,  &c.  have  done  more  hurt  than 
good. 

On  the  whole,  while  we  declare  our  sentiment,  that  the  author 
has  wholly  failed  in  his  attempt  to  explain  the  chymical  properties 
of  contagion,  and  its  manner  of  operating  on  the  constitutions  of 
men,  and  is  mistaken  in  his  opinion  of  the  Yellow  Fever,  differing 
entirely  from  the  common  fevers  of  America;  we,  without  hesita- 
tion, do  him  the  justice  to  observe,  that  the  practical  directions 
(which  are  not  asked  tor  in  the  Society's  queries)  are  such,  as  in 
general  are  safe  and  well-adapted  as  far  as  they  go. 


THE  Second  Dissertation  is  a  professed  treatise  on  the  Antimonial 
Preparations  which  best  answer  the  different  indications  in  fevers, 
and  on  the  necessary  modes  of  their  exhibition:  proposed  bv  the 
Connecticut  Society  as  another  Prize  Question.  Of  tins  it  may  be 
remarked,  that  it  contains  chiefly  the  common  accounts  of  the  his- 
tory and  preparations  of  Antimony,  in  a  more  imperfect  form  than 
they  are  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  modern  books  on  chemistry. 
The  author  dwells  most  particularly  upon  tartar  emetic,  and  kernes 
mineral,  (red  sulphurated  oxyd  of  antimony,)  to  the  latter  of  which 
he  is  particularly  attached,  and  declares  it  to  be  the  best  antimonial 
preparation  that  physic  can  employ  in  a  great  number  of  M  dis- 
eases, and  indications  of  fevers:"  And  closes  the  dissertation 
with  a  particular  enumeration  of  its  virtues  and  mode  of  adminis- 
tration. In  doing  this,  Dr.  Ouviere  appears  to  us  to  shew  the 
partiality,  very  commonly  possessed  by  physicians  for  a  favourite 
remedy. 


(   95  ) 


MEDICAL  FACTS,  HINTS,  AND 
INQUIRIES. 


INOCULATION. 

TT  has  lately  become  a  question,  in  Great-Britain,  whether  the 
_f_  degree  of  fever,  and  quantity  of  eruption,  in  the  inoculated 
small-pox,  are  not  modified  by  the  quantity  of  matter  introduced 
into  the  system,  by  inoculation.  It  is  the  opinion  of  Dr.  George 
Fordyce,  that  the  number  of  pustules  will  be  greater,  and  the  fe- 
ver more  severe,  when  much  matter  is  inserted,  than  when  but  lit- 
tle is  inserted  ;  and  this  opinion  is  countenanced  by  two  communi- 
cations, made  to  Dr.  Beddoes,  and  lately  published  by  that  gentle- 
man, at  the  end  of  his  translation  of  Gimbemat's  "  New  Method 
"  of  Operating  for  the  Femoral  Hernia."  And  since,  still  further 
supported  by  communications  from  Dr.  Thornton  and  Mr.  Field, 
printed  in  Dr.  Beddoes'  "  Considerations  on  the  Medicinal  Use, 
"  &c.  of  Factitious  Airs." 

I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  practitioners  of  medicine  to  this 
point.  No  country  is  under  better  circumstances  to  determine 
the  question,  than  the  United  States ;  in  which  inoculation  is  al- 
most universally  practised,  and  where  some  physicians  have  op- 
portunity of  making  several  hundred  observations  every  year. 

I  have  always  been  in  the  practice  of  inserting  a  very  small  quan- 
tity of  dilute  matter,  by  a  small  incision ;  though,  I  confess,  not 
from  any  expectation  of  mitigating  the  disease  by  this  means. — 
When  an  incision  is  large,  the  blood  is  apt  to  wash  away  the  mat- 
ter, or  the  local  inflammation  throw  it  off.  And  if  it  be  not  fluid, 
it  is  an  impediment  to  its  ready  absorption.  All  these  inconveni- 
encies  are  prevented  by  dilution  and  a  small  puncture.  But,  if  a 
milder  disease  is  communicated  by  it  also,  there  is  a  more  import- 
ant reason  for  observing  the  practice. — Mr.  Field's  letter  is  pointed 
on  this  subject.  He  declares,  that  he  has  followed  the  practice  of 
inoculating  with  matter  so  diluted  that  he  cannot  have  used  more 
than  a  "drop  or  two,"  for  more  than  twenty  years;  in  which 
time  he  and  his  pupils  have  inoculated  upwards  of  tivo  thousand 
persons,  without  the  loss  of  more  than  one.* 

*  Mr.  Field  prefers  the  thin  matter  which  firft  appears  in  the  puftule9,  to 
that  which  is  maturated  ;  and  diluted  in  the  proportion  of  about  10O  parts 
water,  to  one  of  matter.    He  never  draws  blood. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


In  all  the  cases  which  have  fallen  under  my  care,  I  do  not  re- 
member but  a  single  instance  where  the  patient  has  had  so  many 
as  thirty  pustules;  and  this  depended  on  circumstances  fio  wise 
connected  with  the  manner  of  performing  the  operation,  and  arose 
from  causes  sufficiently  obvious.  My  patients  have  been  of  vari- 
ous ages,  from  two  months  to  thirty  years. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe,  in  nume* 
rous  instances,  where  the  incision  was  large,  and  the  quantity  of 
matter  inserted  considerable, — especially  when  the  thread  was 
used, — that  the  patients  either  had  very  sore  arms,  or  great  num- 
bers of  pustules;  and  oftentimes  with  several  days  of  severe  pain 
and  fever.  I  do  not  pretend  that  this  uniformly  happens.  Consti- 
tution, treatment,  and  accident,  may,  and  must,  produce  variety. 
But  still  it  seems  highly  interesting  to  determine  how  far  their  in- 
fluence extends ;  and  whether  any,  and  what,  effect  is  to  be  aN 
lributed  to  the  greater  or  lesser  quantity  of  variolous  matter,  intro- 
duced into  the  system,  by  inoculation. 

Communications  are  requested,  from  all  parts  of  the  United- 
States,  and  elsewhere,  on  this  subject. 


CARBON. 

DR.  PEARSON,  (p.  159,  Beddoes'  Considerations,  Sec.  on 
Factitious  Airs.  P.  iii.)  speaking  of  the  internal  exhibition  of  yeast* 
seems  to  suppose  that  its  having  in  one  instance  caused  vomiting 
and  in  another  purging,  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  bitter  principle  of 
the  hop.  Dr.  Thornton  (p.  i6o.)»controverts  this  Doctrine,  and 
considers  eructations  as  the  evidence  of  the  operation  of  the  me- 
dicine. Perhaps  the  following  remarks  may  tnrow  some  light  on 
the  question : — 

Simple  carbon,  or  charcoal  deprived  of  its  oxygen  by  heat, 
has  been  administered,  in  the  New-York  Hospital,  in  perhaps  15 
or  20  cases.  In  no  instance,  as  far  as  I  can  remember,  lias  it 
failed  to  purge ;  and  in  several,  the  purging  and  intestinal  com- 
motion excited  by  it  have  been  so  great,  that  we  have  been  oblig- 
ed to  discontinue  it. — Combined,  however,  with  carbonate  of 
soda  (sal  soda,)  and  particularly  with  the  addition  of  lenitive 
electuary,  it  has  proved,  in  my  hands,  one  of  tae  gentlest  and 
most  efficacious  remedici  for  the  removal  of  habitual  costiveness, 
1  have  ever  known.  I  have  thought,  too,  that  this  combination 
has  had  other  and  more  salutary  ettecfc,  in  a  few  cases  of  Scrofula 
and  Consumption,  in  which  I  have  administered  it.  But  further 
and  more  nice  observations  are  necessary  to  determine  the  point. 


FACTS,  HINTS,  AND  INQUIRIES.  97 
The  following  formula  is  that  which  I  have  used; 

Take  of  Lenitive  Electuary,        |  iv  1 

Carbonate  of  Soda,         3  ii  >  Mix. 
Carbon,  3  ii  J 

Of  this  from  3  ss  to  3  i  and  3  ii*  to  be  taken  twice,  thrice,  or 
more  times  in  the  day,  according  to  circumstances. 

SIPHILIS. 

JOHN  CLARKE  was  admitted  into  the  New-York  Hospital, 
Sept.  7,  1796.  Six  weeks  before  this  date  he  was  seized  with  ve- 
nereal runmng  and  scalding.  After  the  appearance  of  the  Go- 
norrhoea, he  had  intercourse  with  other  women ;  and  in  a  fortnight 
from  its  breaking  out,  he  had  a  Chancre  come  on  the  outside  of 
the  prepuce;  the  Glans  being  naturally  hooded.  About  a  week 
after  the  chancre  made  its  appearance,  a  bubo  formed  in  the  left 
groin ;  which  opened  of  itself,  yesterday ;  and  now  discharges  freely. 

A  case  of  Gonorrhoea  and  Siphilis,  equally  distinct,  and  with 
equal  probability  of  having  originated  from  separate  infection,  fell 
under  Dr.  Rodgers's  care  the  ensuing  autumn  or  winter. 

Do  these  facts  go  any  way  towards  the  confirmation  of  Mr. 
Bell's  doctrine,  that  Gonorrhoea  and  Siphilis  are  different  diseases? 


SIPHILIS  AND  FEVER. 

IN  the  summer  of  1 796,  a  man  came  into  the  New-York  Hos- 
pital in  a  state  of  salivation.  On  inquiry,  we  discovered  that  he 
had  the  venereal  disease — chancres,  or  buboes,  or  both — for  which 
he  had  taken  mercury,  so  as  to  product  the  salivation;  which  was 
of  some  standing,  iiut,  beside  that  he  had  siphilis  and  was  sali- 
vated, he  had  an  Intermitting  Fever,  of  some  standing  also,  and 
which  was  more  than  commonly  obstinate.  He  got  well,  by  the 
use  of  the  ordinary  remedies;  but  not  till  he  had  one  or  two  re- 
lapses of  the  fever. 

Remark.  It  is  nothing  new  for  an  Intermittent  to  proceed,  not- 
withstanding a  salivation,  and  even  to  arise  during  it — (see  Hoff- 
man de  bile  Medicin,  SsV.  §  29.  and  Van  Sweiten's  Comment,  on 
Aphorism,  757.)  but  that  it  should  exist  at  the  same  time,  and  for 
several  weeks,  with  Siphilis,  has,  I  believe,  never  been  publicly 
noticed  till  now. 

Fol.  I.  No.  1 .  O 


0  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

Quere.  Does  this  h£t  form  any  obje&ion  to  Mr.  Hunter's 
theory  of  the  impossibility  of  different  contagions  displaying  their 
effefts,  co-ordinately,  in  the  same  person?  Or,  are  we  to  infer 
from  this  that  the  contagion  of  fever  and  siphilis  are  the  same  ? 
The  nitric  acid,  according  to  Mr.  Scott  and  others,  cures  hepatic 
swellings;  and  these  are  often  the  consequences  of  intermittents. 
It  also  cures  siphilis.  Should  future  trials  demonstrate  this  acid  to 
be  equally  successful  in  the  cure  of  intermittent,  remittent,  and 
yellow  fevers,  would  it  be  fair  to  conclude  that  the  immediate 
cause  of  these  fevers  and  of  siphilis  are  but  modifications  of  one 
common  principle  ? 

E.  H.  S. 


i£f*  In  the  following  Meteorological  Tables  some  explanation  may 
fierhajis  be  necessary.  The  figures,  in  the  columns  of  clear  and  cloudy, 
denote  the  times  of  observation.  Thus,  -when  the  figure  i  occurs  in  the 
first  of  these  columns,  and  in  the  second  likewise,  it  signifies  that  the 
sky  was  clear  at  the  first,  and  cloudy  at  the  second,  observation.  When 
the  figure  z  occurs  in  either  column,  it  signifies  that  the  sky  was  cleart 
or  cloudy,  at  both  times  cf  observation. 

Tfie  Thet  tnometrichl  Observations  are  made  %i  Fahrenheit'' s  Tier' 
mometer. 


% 


(    99  •) 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS/or  January,  1797, 
made  ^  Gardiner  Baker,  in  the  Cupola  of  the  Exchange  in 
the  City  of  New-York. 


Dayb 
or  tbe 

Thermometer  oblerved 

'at  ' 

Prevailing 
winds. 

Clear. 

T3 
3 
Q 

Barometer  obferved  at 

7  A.  M. 

■  3  P.  M. 

7M. 

3E. 

U 

7  A.  M. 

3  P.  M, 

I 

27 

33 

W 

w 

2 

29  80 

29  88 

% 

23 

28 

N  VV 

w 

2 

29  97 

30  7 

5 
j 

22 

26 

N  £ 

N  E 

2 

30 

29  80 

A 

*r 

r9 

5° 

30 

N  W 

S  VV 

I 

I 

29  78 

29  67 

r 

j 

23 

5° 

28  50 

W 

VV 

2 

29  60 

29  67 

6 

27 

75 

39  25 

s'w 

w 

2 

29  52 

29  43 

7 

17 

22  50 

N 

VV 

I 

X 

29  85 

29  96 

8 

3 

5° 

i5 

N 

N  E 

2 

30  20 

30  30 

0 

V 

0 

16 

N 

N 

2 

w.fro 

3°  47 

30  50 

20 

3 

5° 

24  25 

N  W 

S  VV 

2 

30  47 

30  3a 

tt 

23 

36 

£ 

S  E 

2 

30  15 

29  84 

12 

32 

5° 

38 

W 

w 

2 

29  08 

29  78 

*3 

31 

40  50 

N  W 

VV 

2 

30  IO 

30  14 

14 

30 

33'  45 

s  w 

N  E 

2 

29  98 

29  70 

15 

33 

75 

4i 

N  W 

w 

2 

29  70 

29  75 

16 

32 

4i 

S  W 

N  W 

2 

29  45 

29  47 

17 

/ 

20 

3i 

N  W 

N  W 

2 

29  94 

29  99 

18 

23 

5° 

32 

S  E 

S 

2 

29  95 

29  79 

29 

27 

28 

N  W 

N 

2 

> 

30  6 

30  25 

20 

I  0 

5° 

_  r> 
25 

N  E 

N  E 

2 

30  30 

30  23 

21 

24 

N  E 

N  E 

2 

30  21 

30  IO 

22 

23 

29 

N  E 

N  VV 

2 

30 

29 

23 

27 

5° 

37 

S  VV 

S  W 

2 

29  99 

29  80 

24 

26 

41 

VV 

VV 

2 

29  74 

29  8£ 

30  19 

«5 

20 

27 

N  W 

S  E 

2 

30  5 

26 

28 

42 

s 

s 

I 

I 

30  15 

29  97 

27 

36 

45  5° 

s  w 

S  VV 

2 

29  95 

29  80 

28 

39 

46 

S  VV 

S  VV 

I 

I 

29  55 

29  58 

29 

36 

44 

E 

E 

I 

I 

29  5o 

29  23 

30 

27 

35  5° 

N  VV 

VV 

2 

29  65 

29  8? 

3i 

24 

5° 

30 

E 

1  E 

2 

30  13 

30  50 

Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  January,  1797. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,            deg.  24  35  hund. 

Do.       do.          of  the       do.          at  3  P.  M.  32  78 

Do.       do.          of  the       do.          for  the  whole  month,  28  56 

Created  monthly  range,  between  the  gth  and  28th,  46 

Do*                     do.      in  24  hours,  on  the  10th,  SO  75 
Six  days  it  fnowed,  and  about  %\  inches  have  fallen. 
Five  days  it  rained,  and  a  large  quantity  has  fallen. 
Coldeft  day,  the  9th.    Warmed  day,  the  loth. 


ioo  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  February,  1797, 


Days 
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Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  February,  1797. 

Meaif  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,  deg.  32    9  hund. 

Do.        do.  of  the       do.  at  3  P.  M.  41  2 

Do.       do.  of  the       do.  for  the  whole  month,      36  55 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  24th  and  26th,  41  o 

Do.  do.      in  24  hours,  between  the  26th  and  27th,  22  o 

One  day  it  fnowed,  and  z\  inches  have  fallen. 
Seven  days  it  raiaed,  and  a  large  quantity  has  fallen. 
Coldeft  day,  the  26th.    Warmer!  day,  the  24th. 

On  the  26th,  a  remarkable  appearance  of  the  Aurora  Borealis  in  the  evening, 
at  the  north  point.  It«  appearance  changed  feveral  timet,  and  at  length 
collected  in  a  pyramidkal  form  and  difappeared. 


MEDICAL  RirOSITORY.  tar 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  March,  1797. 


Days 

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Result  j  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  March,  1797. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-r'.fe,  drg.  34  <;c  hunf. 

Do.       do.  of  the       do.  at  3  P.  M.  43  85 

Do.       io.  for  the  whole  month,  39  75 

Created  monthly  range,  between  the  7th  and  iSrh,  43  o 

Do.  do.      in  24  hours,  between  the  Sth  and  oil),     35  o 

Three  days  it  fnowed.  and  about  eight  inches  have  fallen. 

Nine  days  it  rair.cd,  ind  a  very  large  quantity  has  f^lien. 

Coldert  day,  the  7th.    Warmer}  day,  the  iSth. 

Two  thunders  and  lirfiTnings,  ejie  of  which  was  heavy. 

A  number  of  rerriailcablt  heavy  winds  ha\c  cccuned  this  month. 


jo»  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  April,  179ft 


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Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  April,  T797. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,  deg.  43    6  hun<K 

Do.       do.  of  the       do.  at  3  P.  M.  53  7 

Do.       do.  for  the  whole  month,  48  65 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  5th  and  14th,  47 

Do.  do.      in  14  hours,  on  the  5th,  28 

Twelve  days  It  rained,  and  an  uncommon  quantity  has  fallen. 

One  day  it  fnowed,  and  about  fix  inches  have  fallen. 

Coldeft  day,  the  14th.    Warmeft  day,  the  5th. 

Three  times  it  thundered  and  lightned,  and  there  was  confiderable. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY, 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  May,  1797. 


Day- 
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Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  May,  1797. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,  deg.  52  ijhund. 

Do.       do.         of  the       do.  at  3  P.  M.  63  3 

Do.       do.  for  the  whole  month,  57  58 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  3d  and  nth,  33 
Do.  do.      in  14  hours,  between  the  10th  and  1 1  th,  20 

Thirteen  days  it  rained,  and  a  very  large  quantity  has  fallen, 
Six  days  it  thundered  and  lightned,  and  in  ^rcat  abundance. 
CoUeft  day,  the  3th.    Waimeft  day,  the  1Mb. 


io4  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  June,  1797, 


Days 
or  the 

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at 

1  l^rcvjjjiflg 
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Clear. 

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Results  cf  Meteorological  Observations  for  June,  I  797. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,  deg.  61    4  hund. 

?-'■>.        do.  of  the       do.  at  3  P.  M.  75  X 

Do        do.  for  the  whole  month,-  68  a 

Greateir.  monthly  range,  between  the  ift  and  30th,  39 
Vo.  do.      in  24  hours,  on  the  30th,  »I 

Nine  days  it  rained,  and  a  very  hrge  quantity  has  fallen, 
ieven  days  it  thundered  and  lightned,  and  in  great  abundance. 
Cjlaeft  day,  the  ift.    Warrr.eft  day,  the  50th. 


(    ">s  ) 


A  Table  of  Patients  admitted  into  the  New-  York  Hospital,  from  the 
1st  of  January,  1 797,  to  the  1st  of  July,  1797;  shewing  the  disease 
for  which  each  was  received,  with  the  event  of  the  case. — N.  B.  This 
Table  will  he  continued  in  the  future  numbers  of  the  Repository ;  and 
hereafter  it  is  the  design  of  the  Editors  to  render  it  more  ample,  and 
in  all  re  spells  more  correft. 


Medical  Patients  received  in  January. 


February. 
Pneumony 
Anarsarca 
Syphilis 
Fever 
Herpes 
Haemoptysis 
Diseased  Hip  Joint 

Ulcer  of  the  Leg 
Laceration 
Frozen  Limbs 
Burn 
Fol.  I.  No.  1. 


Medic  a  l. 


> 

is 

Kemam 

DISEASES. 

etc 

under 

Refult 

ij 

Pi 

5 

Care. 

Pneumony 

8 

8 

Fever 

3 

3 

Received 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

2 

1 

1 

Gonorrhoea 

2 

2 

Cured 

Syphilis 

10 

10 

Relieved 

Rheumatism 

1 1 

1 1 

Died 

Natural  Small-pox 

1 

1 

Remains 

Ischuria 

1 

1 

Diarrhoea 

1 

1 

Surg 

ICAL. 

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1 

1 

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i 

1 

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10 

8 

1 

I 

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I 

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I 

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1 

I 

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1 

1 

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i 

I 

4 

2 

2 

4 

2 

2 

4 

4 

4 

3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

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4 

4 

1 

j 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Received 

Cured 

Relieved 
Died 
Remains 


io6 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


March. 

M 

B  D 

fCAL. 

j 

VI 

1 

IMCIM. 

N 

p 

E 

J  i  fo  rd . 

D  .Cult 

J 

—j 

>r  elop. 

Syphilis 

IO 

I  0 

Fever 

I 

1 

Rheumatism 

4 

3 

I 

Amenorrhea 

i 

I 

v/UltU 

Pneumony 

3 

a 
j 

Disorderly  i 

Sur 

GI 

CA 

Cm 

~  2 

Fraftured  Arm 

2 

2 

Ulcer  of  the  Leg 

2 

2 

Wounded  Hip 

I 

I 

Dislocation 

I 

I 

i 
i 

I 

I 
I 

4 

4 

16 

16 

5 

4 

I 

i 

i 

I 

I 

i 

I 

2 

2 

I 

1 

Surgical. 

i 

I 

i 

I 

i 

I 

2 

t 

I 

I 

I 

Received  40 

Cured  29 
Relieved  1 
Dead  4 
Eloped  a 
Remain  4 

~~  40 


Medical. 

Scrofula 
Cancer 
Colic 

Rheumatism 
Syphilis 
Pneumony 
Amenorrhea 
Opthalmia 
Palsy 
Fever 
Enteritis 

Tinea 
Scrofula 
Luxation 
Fra&ure 
Lumbar  Abscess 

May. 

Pulmonary  Consumption 
Pneumony 
Syphilis 
Rheumatism 
Fever 
Dropsy 
Mania 

*  As  this  patient  was  nearly  well,  he  was  feized  with  Rheumatic  pains.; 
and  as  they  were  removed,  with  Intermittent  Fever,  which  preceded  the  erup- 
tion of  the  natural  Small-pox.  He  is  now  recovering  from  a  Fever  which  fol- 
lowed the  Small-pox. 


Medical. 


I 

1 

4 

1 

1 

•  1 

7 

7 

3 

1 

2 

3 

2 

1 

2 

2 

2 

1 

1 

HOSPITAL. 


207 


Surgical. 


— 

[Remain 

DISEASES. 

Mo 

u 

s 

1  under 

Refult. 

'J 

D 

Care. 

Sore  Legs 

a 
i 

2 

H  Pi  PI  Vf'ii             0  52 

Fistula 

I 

I 

Swelled  Testicles 

I 

I 

Cured  19 

Apoplexy 

I 

J 

Relieved  2 

Dead  4, 

Remain  3 

28 

Medical. 

Dropsy 
Mania 
Syphilis 

Pulmonary  Consumption 
Rheumatism 
Dyspepsia 
ptver 


Sore  Legs 


I 

1 

Received 

7 

2 

2 

3 

9 

3 

6 

Cured 

8 

2 

1 

1 

Relieved 

2 

3 

3 

Dead 

1 

1 

1 

Remain 

20 

5 

2 

3 

Surgical. 
I  31    I    I    J  3 


3i 


3J 


Patients  received  into  the  New-York  Hospital  from  the  first  of 
January  to  the  first  of  July,  1797,  exclusive  of  those  then  re- 
maining under  care, 

209 

Of  this  number  have  been  cured,    .....  152 
relieved,      ....  § 

have  died,   17 

eloped,   3 

Remain  under  care,      .....  29 

209 


(    io8  ) 


^Return  of  Patients  admitted  to  the  Care  of  the  New- York  City 
Disfensary,  from  the  first  of  January  to  the  first  (f  July,  i  797. 

JANUAR  Y.  ■ 


Removeo 

g , 

Relie 

Q 

to  the 
Hofpital. 

Refult. 

Wounds 

2 

2 

K  PC  PI  vpfi 

3 1 

Rheumatism 

2 

2 

Herpes 

2 

I 

V  »  U I  Ills 

n 

2 

Kp  ipvpH  I 

Fracl:  ure 

I 

I 

Dead  ^ 

Pinrpr  nf  thif>  TTf^mc 

1 

T 

1 

IVt  1 1 JU  v  cu 

*?  ,11  xation 

1 

I 

to  the 

Pnlmnn^rv  Consnmntion 

i  >  ^  . ,  * .  i  y  — '  1  ^ .  1.  1 1 1  j  ^  ..'.-j 

2 

I 

| 

J.1CCL1L  X  CVCI 

n 
— 

jnooping-cougu 
Dropsy 

I 

I 

3t 

: 

I 

Pneumony 

5 

5 

Menorrhagia 

1 

1 

Vomica 

1 

1 

Convulsions 

1 

I 

Epilepsy 

T 

I 

Sore  Legs 

2, 

2 

Head-ach 

2 

2 

Ascites 

I 

Syphilis 

I 

I 

FEBRUARY. 

Sore  Legs 

5 

5 

37 

Rheumatism 

2 

2 

Pneumony 

3 

3 

OnrpH        1 1 

Palsy 

1 

1 

Relieved  4 

Hooping-cough 

2 

2 

Dead  2 

Dyspepsia 

3 

Fracture 

i 

1 

37 

Quotidian  Fever 

1 

1 

Erisipelas 

1 

1 

Burns 

2 

Luxation 

; 

i 

Syphilis 

2 

2 

Ophthalmia 

1 

1 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

2 

2 

He£Hc  Fever 

I 

i 

Scrofula 

I 

1 

Natural  Small-pox 

6 

6 

Diarrhoea 

2 

Head-ach 

1 

i 

W  orms 

i 

1 

DISPENSARY. 
MARCH. 


— 

l  0 

u 

S 

- 

Refulr. 

Mofoital. 

I  J  i  -j  **  r*  1 1 cf  3 

— 

j 

In.CvviT.vM                 S  ^ 

PnAii  *^ir\n \~ 

5 

r 

5 

W  ri  01  t  ry\  otic  m 

2 

1 

u  red         2  Q 

l 

S  vnV»  1 1 1  c 
o  \  r  -  -  * . ' .  ■ 

3 

LV  v»  1 1 1  vj  V  v.  M 

INaiUldl  OUiaU-LJUA 

1 1 

I  | 

to  the 

\  *  Uui'lUj 

A  nntrion 
-  .    ■  n  .  ■  ■  1 1 

ivciiiuvcu 

Luxation 

i 

to  the 

Intermitting  Fever 

i 

Count. 

Country  i 

Remitting  Fever 

i 

Abscess 

i 

33 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

i 

I 

Herpes 

i 

Anasarca 

i 

APRIL. 


Pneumony 

Ulcers 

'Diarrhoea 

pleurodynia 

Incipient  Consumption 

Luxation 

Rheumatism 

Cough 

Catarrh 

Syphilis 

Scrofula 

Diabetes 

Dropsy 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

Inflammation  cf  Bowels 

Dyspepsia 

Abscess 

Wound 

Convulsions 


6 

6 

3 

3 

5 

s 

i 

I 

2 

I 

I 

I 

3 

3 

2 

2 

3 

3 

2 

2 

I 

I 

2 

1 

3 

i 

Received 
Cured 

Removed 
to  the 
Hospital 

rJnder  care 


40 


36 
2 


43 


1 


no  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


MAY. 


DISEASES. 

Mo 

u 
9 

> 
I; 

u. 

Dead.  1 

Remain 
u  nH  er 
Carf . 

Refult. 

^Natural  Sniali-pox 

12 

1  2 

Received 

46 

Dyspepsia 

I 

1 

Croup 

I 

I 

Cured  41 

Scrofula 

! 

I 

Relieved  1 

Herpes 

1 

1 

Dead  1 

Ulcer 

I 

1 

Eloped  1 

Pneumony 

E 

j 

c 
3 

Removed 

Luxation 

3 

3 

to  the 

Coueh 

a 
j 

j 

Hospital  1 

Rheumatism 

I 

(R.C.) 

Removed 

Syphilis 

4 

3 

to  the 

Intermittent  Fever 

6 

6 

Country  1 

Remittent  Fever 

2 

2 

Pleurodynia 

I 

I 

46 

Anasarca 

2 

I 

(R.H.) 

Head-ach 

j 

I 

Phrenitis 

I 

1 

JUNE. 


Kead-ach 

2 

1 

1 

Received 

Remitting  Fever 

3 

3 

Cough 

1 

1 

Cured  36 

Menorrhagia 

1 

1 

Relieved  1 

Epilepsy 

1 

1 

Eloped  1 

Wound 

1 

(Elop.) 

Under  care  4 

Abscess 

1 

1 

Natural  Small-pox 

:  1 

1 1 

Herpes 

2 

1 

z 

Sore  Leg 

1 

1 

Pleurodynia 

1 

1 

Anasarca 

i 

1 

Worms 

3 

3 

Pneumony 

3 

3 

Hectic  Fever 

1 

1 

Rheumatism 

2 

2 

Diarrhea 

1 

1 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

1 

1 

Burns 

2 

2 

Parturition 

1 

1 

Contusion 

1 

1 

Gonorrhoea 

; 

1 

DISPENSARY. 


ill 


SUMMARY. 

Whole  number  of  Patients  admitted  into  the  New-York  City 
Dispensary  from  the  first  of  January  to  the  first  of  July,  1 797, 

229 


Of  this  number  have  been  cured, 

relieved, 
have  died, 
eloped, 

Removed  to  the  Hospital, 
Country, 
Remain  under  care,  . 


197 
7 
9 
2. 

7 
2 

5 


223 


HUGH  M'LEAN. 


♦ 


(    "3  ) 


MEDICAL  NEWS. 

[j£f=  This  title  is  meant  to  include  intelligence  concerning  Medicine^ 
Natural  History,  Agriculture,  &c.  &c.  both  Foreign  and  Domes- 
tic. The  difficulties  which  beset  every  undertaking  of  the  nature  of 
the  Medical  depository,  at  its  commencement,  will,  we  hope,  be 
deemed  a  sufficient  apology  for  any  imperfections  which  may  be  dis- 
covered in  the  present  article.  Every  information,  tending  to  render 
this  part  of  our  publication  more  complete  in  future,  is  respectfully 
solicited,  and  will  be  thankfully  received.] 


DOMESTIC. 

A  T  a  meeting  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
J^\_  Sciences,  (Massachusetts)  the  following  officers  were  elect- 
ed lor  the  ensuing  year,  viz. 

John  Adams,  LL.  D.  (President  of  the  U.  S.)  President. 

Joseph  Willard,  D.D.  Vice-President. 
Hon.  Robert  T.  Paine,  Francis  Dana,  Benjamin  Lin- 
coln, John  Lowell,  Esqrs.  John  Lathrop,  D.D.John 
Warren,  M.D.  John  Clark,  D.D.  Caleb  Garnet,  Esq. 
Hon.  Cotton  Tufts,  and  Mr.  Professor  Webber,  Coun- 
sellors. 

Benjamin  Deareorn,  Recording  Secretary. 

Mr.  Professor  Pearson,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Thomas  Welsh,  M.  D.  Treasurer. 

John  Lathrop,  D.D.  Librarian  and  Cabinet-Keeper. 

Rev.  James  Freeman,  V$6e- Treasurer. 
TijP  following  gentlemen  have  lately  been  elected  members  of 
the  Academy,  viz. 

C^istopher  Gore,  Esq.  of  Waltham. 

S'  -  John  Sinclair,  Bart.  (President  of  the  British  Board  of  Agri- 
culeL-e.) 

.eV.ciohn  Haliburton,  of  Halifax,  (N.  S.) 
{Edwr.rd  Bancroft,  M.  D.  F.  R.  S.  of  London. 
Timothy  Dwight,  D.  D.  President  of  Yale  College. 
a  SamAsl  L.  Mitchill,  M.  D.  &c  of  New-York. 

Donations  to  the  Academy. 
'fhe  Worl.s  of  Francis  Bacon,  Baron  of  Verulam,  4  vols,  folio. 
Presented  by  Dr.  Isaac  Rand. 
Vol.  I.  No.  1.  Q 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Observations  on  the  Increase  of  Infidelity,  by  Joseph  Priestley, 
L  L-  D.  F.  R.  S.  Presented  by  tiie  President  of  the  Academy. 

Agricultural  Inquiries  on  Plaister  of  Paris,  by  Richard  Peters. 
Presented  by  the  same. 

Communications  to  the  Academy. 

Variation  of  the  Magnetic  Needle,  from  January  24,  to  May  22 f 
1797.    By  Mr.  Stephen  Sewall. 

M-dtcal  Observations  on  the  Bilious  Remittent  Fever  of  1796. 
By  John  Warren,  M.  D.* 

Astronomical  Observations  respecting  the  extent  of  the  Solar  Sys- 
tem, and  distance  of  the  Fixed  Stars.  "By  the  Hon.  Judge  Winthrop. 

A  proposition  for  making  Saft-petre  from  Pot-ash.  By  Joseph 
Greenleaf,  Esq.  [Columbian  Centinel,  June  21,  1 797* 

The  Second  Part  of  the  Second  Volume  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  is  said  to  be  in 
a  state  of  forw  ardness  fof  publication. 

Dr.  Barker  of  Portland,  in  the  District  of  Maine,  is  preparing- 
a  work  for  the  press,  on  Consumption  and  Fever.  In  this  work 
the  Dr-  expects  to  establish  the  efficacy  of  Alkalies,  in  the  cure 
of  Yellow  Fever. 


~/ft  an  adjourned  Meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  the  Medi- 
cal Society  of  the  State  of  Conneclieut,  lield  at  Hartford,  en 
'  trie  second  Tuesday  of  May,  1 797,  at  the  house  t/"JoHN  Lee  ; 

VOTED,  That  in  future  there  shall  be  appointed  annually  by 
the  Convention,  one  General  Committee,  for  examination  of 
Candidates  for  the  practice  of  physic  and  surgery, — which  Com- 
mittee shall  consist  of  five  members,  three  of  whom  to  be  a  quo- 
rum, vested  with  fuli  powers  to  examine  such  Candidates  33  m3y 
be  recommended  to  them  for  examination,  from  any  of  the  County 
Committees,  or  any  others: — And  that  the  general  committee,  and 
they  only,  shall  be  vested  with  power  to  countersign  and  dyiver 
to  such  candidates  as  they  shall  approve  of,  a  licence  from  \;;.der 
the  seal  of  the  Society;  and  that  every  candidate  so  receiving 
a  licence,  shall  pay  the  sum  of  ten  dollars  to  said  cornnv  ee, 
which  shall  be  paid  over  by  them  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  So;  y; 
and  also  pay  the  committee  a  reasonable  reward  for  their  ex's".  - 
nation. — And  that  the  several  county  committees  shall  be  eny 
powered  only  to  examine  and  recommend  to  the  general  comt 
mittee,  such  candidates  as  they  may  think  proper — any  former] 
by-laws,  usage,  or  custom,  not  comporting  herewith,  notwithj 
standing. 

*  See  the  Appendix. 


NEWS. 


Voted,  That  Doctors  John  Osborn,  Eliakim  Fish,  Lemuel  Hop- 
kins, Mason  Fitch  Cogswell,  and  Daniel  Sheldon,  be  the  examin- 
ing committee. 

Voted,  That  the  thanks  of  this  convention  be  given  to  Do£lor 
James-Potter,  for  his  oration  delivered  this  day. 

Voted,  That  Doctor  Felix  Pascalis  Ouviere,  M.  D.  of  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  be  a  corresponding  member  of  this  society. 

Voted,  That  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  bs  conferred  on 
Doctor  Thaddeus  Betts,  of  Norwalk. 

Voted,  That  application  be  made  to  the  General  Assembly,  for 
additions  to  the  ail  incorporating  the  Connecticut  Medical  So- 
ciety. . 

Voted,  That  Doctor  Mason  F.  Cogswell  be  an  agent  to  transact 
the  business  before  the  Assembly. 

Voted,  Thai  whereas  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Medical 
Convention,  convened  at  New-Haven  in  October  last,  were  only 
to  examine  a  manuscript  of  Doctor  Samuel  Stearns,  called  the 
American  Dispensatory,  and  report  thereon  to  the  next  convention : 
— Bur  they  having  but  partially  examined  it,  did,  by  the  repeated 
importunities  ot  said  Stearns,  give  him  a  certificate,  approbating 
the  same: — The  convention  not  having  received  the  report  of 
their  committee  till  this  day,  do  not  undertake  to  recommend  the 
aforesaid  dispensatory  to  the  public. 

Whereas  Dr.  Elisha  Perkins,  a  member  of  this  society,  having 
obtained  a  patent  from  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
Tor  the  exclusive  privilege  of  using  and  vending  certain  pointed 
Metalic  Instruments,  pretending  that  they  were  an  invention  of  his 
own;  and  also,  thai  they  possess  inherent  powers  of  curing  many 
diseases,  which  is  contrary  to  rules  and  regulations  adopted  by 
this  society,  interdicting  their  members  the  use  of  nostrums, — 
Therefore,  Voted,  Thr.t  the  said  Elisha  Perkins  be  expelled  from 
the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

Voted,  That  a  tax  of  one  dollar  be  laid  on  each  member  of  the 
society,  to  be  collected  before  the  next  Convention. 

Voted,  That  the  clerks  of  the  several  County  Meetings  be  col- 
lectors of  the  above  tax. 

V tied,  That  this  meeting  be  adjourned  until  the  first  Tuesday 
after  the  second  Thursday  in  October  next — then  to  convene  at 
the  Coffee-House  in  New-Haven. 

Test.     DANIEL  SHELDON,  Secretary. 

\Conneclicut  Courant,  June  5,  1  797. 

The  Agricultural  Society  of  Connecticut  are  forming  a  collec- 
tion of  facts  for  publication,  on  the  use  of  Gypsum,  or  Plaister  of 
Paris,  as  a  manure. 


ti6  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  at  the  White-Plains,  there  was  a  meeting 
of  respectable  physicians  of  the  county  of  Westchester,  who  formed 
themselves  into  a  society  to  be  known  and  called  by  the  name  and 
Stile  of  "  The  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  IVestchater."  Dr. 
Archibald  M'Donald  was  elected  President,  and  Dr.  Matson  Smith, 
of  New-Rochelle,  Secretary.  The  principal  views  of  their  for- 
mation appear  to  be  an  harmonious  establishment  of  a  regular 
practice  of  physic  throughout  the  county,  and  an  immediate  com- 
pliance with  the  law  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  made  at  the  last 
session.  [New-Yorik  Mag. 


A  spring  has  been  discovered  in  Clinton  county,  state  of  New- 
York,  containing  very  large  quantities  of  a  saline  substance,  sup- 
posed, from  some  slight  trials,  to  consist  chiefly  of  Sulphate  of 
Magnesia,  (Epsom's  salts.)  We  are  promised  a  more  particular 
recount  of  it  shortly. 


At  the  Medical  Commencement  of  New-York,  on  the  first 
Wednesday  in  May,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Physic  was  conferred 
on  William  Bay,  and  Alexander  Hosack,  jun. — The  Inaugural 
Dissertations  were,  on  Dysentery,  by  Mr.  Bay ;  on  the  Yellow  Fever 
of  1795,  by  Mr.  Hosack. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Society  instituted  for  the  Promotion  of  Agri- 
culture, Arts  and  Manufactures  in  the  state  of  New-York,  on  Thur- 
day,  January  4,  1 797,  the  annual  choice  of  officers  for  the  current 
year  Was  made,  when  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected: — 

Robert  R.  Livingston,  Esq.  President. 

Ezra  L'Hommedieu,  Esq.  Vice-President. 

Samuel  Jones,  Esq.  Treasurer. 

Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  Esq.    }  c 

c        ,T  t-         f  Secretaries. 

Samuel  Jones,  jun.  Esq.  j 

It  must  be  pleasing  to  all  friends  of  their  country  to  be  inform- 
ed, that  during  the  conflict  of  opposite  opinions  in  politics,  this 
Institution,  which  embraces  wider  objects  of  benevolence  than 
any  political  party  whatsoever,  is  in  friendly  communication  with 
both  English  and  French  Institutions  of  a  similar  nature.  During 
the  meetings  of  the  present  sessions,  the  Corporation  has  been 
favoured  with  correspondence  from  their  friends  in  England  and 
Scotland,  France,  and  its  distant  territories  in  America.  The 
Society  is  desirous  of  cultivating  harmony  and  friendly  intercourse 
with  all  persons  and  associations  conversant  in  agricultural,  ceco- 
nomical,  and  handicraft  matters,  in  every  country.  In  particu- 
lar, the  members  feel  themselves  interested  in  their  correspondence 
with  the  merchants  of  Glasgow,  and  the  Board  of  Agriculture  of 


NEWS. 


London,  the  Superintendant  of  the  National  Botanical  Garden  of 
Paris,  and  the  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  St.  Domingo. 

That  illustrious  character,  who,  after  liberating  his  country 
from  bondage,  has  guided  it  since  the  revolution  to  a  very  ele- 
vated pitch*  of  happiness  and  grandeur,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  wise  and  virtuous  Washington,  has  expressed  himself 
with  so  much  warmth  and  force,  in  his  farewell  address  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  in  favour  of  Agricultural  Associations, 
that  it  cannot  be  doubted,  that  in  every  State  wherein  individuals 
combine  their  efforts  for  the  promocion  of  husbandry  and  rural 
(economies,  the  Legislature  will  aid  their  efforts,  and  grant  their 
encouragement  and  protection.  [Ncw-}ork  Mag. 

Late  in  March  was  landed  in  New-York,  from  on  board  the 
ship  Nancy,  Captain  Johnson,  a  fine  Barbary  shee/i,  being  a  pre- 
sent from  Captain  George  Dekay,  to  Chancellor  Livingston,  Pre- 
sident of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture,  &c.  The 
ctve  died  at  sea.  But  Mr.  Dekay  writes,-  that  he  has  taken  mea- 
sures to  procure  two  others.  This  sheep  has  a  thick  and  fine 
fleece. 

By  the  same  vessel,  and  from  the  same  patriotic  gentleman,  have 
been  received  samples  of  wheat  from  Algiers  and  Saffe,  which  the 
President  of  the  Agricultural  Society  proposes  to  distribute  so  as 
to  insure  experiments  of  its  utility. 

Last  year  several  seeds  of  different  kinds  were  forwarded  by 
Captain  Dekay,  from  India,  to  the  Agricultural  Society,  and, 
among  others,  a  spec  ies  of  flax,  which,  upon  experiment,  made 
i  by  the  President  and  several  members,  appears  to  be  well  adapted 
to  this  country.  It  is  an  acquisition,  considered  only  as  an  orna- 
mental plant,  and  more  so  as  a  useful  one ;  the  staple  of  this  iiax 
being  greatly  superior  to  that  in  common  use. 

It  is  pleasing  to  acknowledge,  in  a  gentleman,  deeply  engaged  in 
business,  so  sedulous  an  attention  to  the  agricultural  interest  of  his 
country;  and  it  is  much  to  be  lamented,  that  though  the  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture  have  addressed  printed  instruc- 
tions on  this  head  Co  the  Captains  of  vessels  sailing  from  New- 
1  York,  which  have  been  seconded  by  the  recommendation  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  yet  agriculture  has  hitherto  received  little 
of  that  aid  from  them  which  they  might,  without  expence  or 
trouble,  afford. 

To  Mr.  Dorhman  and  Mr.  Ntilson,  the  public  are  also  indebt- 
ed for  the  introduction  of  sheep  frcm  Holland  and  Ireland. 
*  

The  Agricultural  Society  of  New -York,  have  directed  their 
Committee  of  Publication,  to  prepare  a  third J;art  of  the  fii  ;t  -volume 
lor  the  press. 


ii3  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

Thermometrical  Observations  at  Poughkeejtsie. 
1 797.  Jan.  4   7  o'clock  A.  M.  the  Ther- 
mometer stood  at       11  below  o 

8.  do.  do.  1 1  do.  o 
At  sun-down  4  do.  o 
9  o'clock  P.  M.  10  do.  o 
12  do.       do.               1 3    do.  o 

9.  7  o'clock  A.  M.  14  do.  o 
11  do.    P.  M.              14    do.  o 

io>    7  o'clock  A.  M.  19    do.  o 

This  has  been  the  coldest  morning  possibly  ever  known  in  this 
latitude.  It  certainly  was  colder  by  7  degrees  than  has  been  mea- 
sured in  this  place  by  a  Thermometer  within  20  years. 


Nine-partners,  January  10,  1797. 
The  mercury  in  my  Thermometer,  (Fahrenheit's  scale)  stood" 
as  follows: 

The  day  before  yesterday  at  sun-rise,  14  degrees  below  o,  1 
P.  M.  3  above  do.  9  P.  M.  18  below  do. 

Yesterday  at  sun-rise,  16  below  do.  This  morning  at  sun-rise, 
20  below  do. 

Which  are  the  coldest  days  we  have  had  this  winter,  and  greater 
degrees  than  are  rarely  to  be  found  in  this  country. 

S.  RICKITSON. 
^Neiv-York  Mag. 

The  College  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia  have  elected  the  fol 
lowing  gentlemen  officers  for  the  ensuing  year,  viz. 
Doctor  John  Redman,  President. 
Doctor  William  Shippen,  Vice-President. 
Doctors  Adam  Kuhn,  Samuel  Duffield,  Thomas  Parke,  Ca?p- 
Wistar,  Censors. 

Doctor  Thomas  C.  James,  Secretary. 
Doctor  Benjamin  Say,  Treasurer. 

[Brown's  Philadelphia  Gazette,  July  5. 

At  the  annual  election  of  officers  for  the  American  Philosophi- 
cal Society,  held  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  6th  of  January,  the  fol- 
lowing gentlemen  were  chosen  for  the  current  year: — Thomas 
Jefferson,  President. — Dr.  Caspar  Wistar,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush, 
Rev.  Dr.  Nicholas  Collin,  Vice-Presidents. — William  Barton, 
John  Bleakley,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Magaw,  Jonathan  Williams,  Se- 
cretaries.— Charles  W.  Peale,  Dr.  Benjamin  S.  Barton,  RobertPat- 
terson,  Curators. — John  Vaughan,  Treasurer. — Andrew  Ellicor, 
Tench  Coxe,  Rev.  J.  Abbercrombie,  Richard  P.  Smith,  Coun- 
sellors for  three  years. 


NEWS. 


119 


In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  the  following  gentlemen  are  Coun- 
sellors of  the  Society,  viz.  Until  January  1 799,  Rev  Dr.  Robert 
Blackwell,  Thomas' M'Kean,  LL.  D.  Rev.  James  Davidson,  Dr. 
Adam  Kuhn. — Until  January  1798,  Jonathan  B.  Smith,  Dr. 
William  Currie,  Rev.  Dr.  William  Smith,  Rev.  D  .  William 
White.  [  flfcw  York  Mag. 

The  Philosophical  Society  have  a  fourth  volume  of  their  Trans- 
actions in  the  press. 

At  a  public  commencement,  held  on  Friday,  May  12th,  1797, 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine was  conferred  on  the  following  gentlemen,  who  submitted 
Inaugural  Dissertations  to  the  examination  of  the  Medical  Faculty, 
on  the  following  subjects : 

Mr.  Joseph  Johnson,  of  Charleston,  South-Carolina,  An  Experi- 
mental Inquiry  into  the  Properties  of  Carbonic  Acid  Gas,  or  Fixe  J  Air; 
its  Mode  of  Operation,  Use  in  Diseases,  and  most  effectual  Method  of 
relieving  Animals  affeded  by  it. 

Mr.  Benjamin  De  Witt,  of  New-York,  An  Explanation  of  the 
Ejfefts  of  Oxygene,  or  the  Base  of  fatal  Air,  on  the  Human  Body. 

Mr.  James  Walker,  ol  Virginia,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of 
Sterility  in  both  Sexes,  with  its  Met/iod  of  Cure. 

Mr.  Robert  Black,  of  Pennsylvania,  On  Fraclures. 

Mr.  Goodridge  Wilson,  of  Virginia,  On  Absorption. 

Mr.  Samuel  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  On  Hydrocele. 

Mr.  William  Allison,  of  Georgetown,  South-Carolina,  Ou 
Dropsy,  or  the  Hydropic  State  of  Fever. 

Mr.  John  Edmond  Stock,  of  Gloucestershire,  England,  On  the 
Effetls  of  Cold  ujion  the  Human  Body. 

Mr.  James  Fisher,  of  Delaware,  On  that  Grade  of  the  Intestinal 
State  of  Fever  known  by  the  name  of  Dysentery. 

Mr.  Colin  Mackenzie,  of  Baltimore,  On  the  Dysentery. 

Mr.  Francis  K.  Huger,  of  South-Carolina,  On  Gangrene  and 
Mortification. 

Mr.  Edward  North,  of  South-Carolina,  On  the  Rheumatic  State 
of  Fever. 

Mr.  Samuel  Cooper,  of  Philadelphia,  On  the  Properties  and  Ejfefts 
if  the  Datura  Stramonium,  and  on  its  Use  in  Medicine. 

Mr.  John  Church,  of  Philadelphia,  On  Camphor.  And, 
Mr.  John  Laws,  of  Delaware,  On  the  Rationale  of  the  Operation 
of  Opium  on  the  Animal  (Economy,  -with  Observations  on  its  Use  in 
Disease. 


An  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of 
Delaware  was  held  at  Wilmington,  on  Monday,  the  19th  of  June, 
J 797;  when  the  following  officers  were  elected. 


* 


1-0 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY, 


James  Tilton,  President. 
Joshua  Clayton,  Vice-President. 

George  Monro,  Joseph  Hall,  Elijah  Barrattj  Joseph  Capell<?, 
Censors. 

John  Laws,  Secretary. 
James  Sykes,  Treasurer. 

It -wiil  be  remembered  by  many  of  our  readers,  that  this  Socie- 
ty, in  the  year  1 792,  published  a  program,  in  which  was  proposed^ 
«s  a  subject  of  prize-uiasertation,  the  following  question: 

Qjnvnam  sit  Petentia  Nocens,  ejusque  origo  atque  natura,  unde,  in 
regionibus  calidit,  iisdemque  humidis,  Intermitteiites  oriunfur  Fehres, 
■Remittentcs  eliam,  variaque  alia  mala,  qua:,  eestatis  et  autumni  tern- 
Jwa,  grassari  solent?  Qua  ratione  hoc  cceli  vitium  corrrgi  Jiossit  ?  Qi» 
Jiaciv,  quibusquc  auxiliis  istius  modi  rnorbi  arceri  atque  tratlari  deheant  9 

Tim  usual  conditions  of  prize  dissertations  were  annexed. 

Within  the  limited  time,  no  dissertation,  deemed  worthy  of  the 
prize,  w2s  received.  We  understand,  however,  that  the  Society, 
conceiving  the  question  of  great  importance,  intend  to  renew 
their  offer  oi  it  to  the  public  for  a  still  longer  period,  with  the 
same  prize  of  three  hundred  dollars. 

ExiraM  of  a  letter,  dated  June  22,  ijc)j,from  Dr.  Wilkins,  of  BaU 
timore,  to  Mr.  Smith. 
"  Dr.  Archer,  near  this  place,  has  discovered  the  Rad.  Seneka, 
"  in  strong  decoclion,  to  be  an  almost  infallible  remedy  in  the 
*'  Croup,  or  Stiffocatio  Stridula." 

~   i 

The  President  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  the  State  of  South- 
Carolina,  has  received  from  Mr.  Jefferson,  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  upwards  of  one  hundred  different  kinds  of-  Rice, 
which  have  been  procured  by  that  gentleman  from  the  Pnilippinfc 
Islands.  We  understand  that  several  members  of  the  society  have 
taken  some  of  each  sample  to  plant.  Their  experiments  will  de- 
termine whether  either  of  the  species  ought  to  be  introduced  into 
this  country.  Some  of  the  samples  are  of  rice -which  grows  on 
highland.  [New- York  Mag. 


FOREIGN. 

THE  Annals  of  Chemistry -*-Annalcs  de  Chimie — which  have 
been  discontinued  for  some  years,  have  lately  been  rev  ived  in  Paris. 
M-  M.  Guyton,  (Morveau)  Monge,  Berthollct,  Fourcroy,  Adet, 
Hassenfrazt,  Seguin,  Vauquelin  and  Pelietier,  in  their  address 
to  the  public,  inform  that  the  Annals  will  appear,  as  heretofore, 
in  twelve  numbers  annually;  each  of  which  will  contain  from 

"  •!  .  ' 


NEWS. 


tit 


seven  to  eight  sheets  o£favo;  and  will  be  published  monthly. 
They  purpose  to  re-commence  with  the  21st  volume, and  to  com-* 
plete  the  Series,  which  left  off  with  the  18th  volume,  by  publishing 
a  19th  and  20th,  to  consist  of  the  most  interesting  experiments, 
discoveries,  &c.  that  have  been  made  between  September  1795, 
and  January  1 797. 

Subscriptions  are  received  by  Moreau  de  Saint  Mery,  at  Phila-» 
delphia. 

A  Treatise  m  the  Scurvy  has  been  lately  published  in  Great- 
Britain,  by  Mr.  D.  Patterson,  a  surgeon  in  the  navy,  chiefly  for 
the  purpose  of  recommending  a  new  medicine  in  the  treatment  of 
that  disease.  This  is  a  solution  of  four  ounces  of  nitre  in  a  quart  of 
vinegar,  of  which,  from  half  an  ounce  to  two  ounces,  may  be  ad- 
ministered twice,  thrice,  or  oftener  in  a  day,  according  to  circum- 
stances.  The  same  solution,  he  says,  may  be  applied  to  scorbu- 
tic eruptions  and  ulcers,  with  advantage. — Mr.  Patterson  appears 
to  have  been  remarkably  successful  by  means  of  this  medicine  in 
the  cure  of  Scurvy  i  Further  and  more  extensive  trials  seem  ne- 
cessary, to  fully  establish  the  efficacy  of  the  acetum  nitrosum,  as  it 
is  called  ;  but  our  readers  will  readily  conceive  how  extensive  it 
may  become  in  its  application,  if  future  experience  should  verify 
the  eulogies  of  the  inventor. 

Dr.  Girtanner,  of  Gottingen,  has  been  induced,  by  the  publi- 
cations of  Dr.  Beddoes,  to  make  trial  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  in  the 
cure  of  consumptions.  His  trials  prove  it  to  be  of  great  service  in 
eome  cases,  sometimes  useless,  and  sometimes  hurtful.  More  pre- 
cise experiments  are  wanting  to  determine  in  what  particular  cir«- 
cumstances  it  shall  do  good  and  hurt.- — Dr.  Girtanner  is  prosecut» 
ing  experimental  inquiries  into  the  effects  of  hydrogene  andazo-* 
tic  gases,  with  greater  prospect  of  success  in  similar  cases. 

Dr.  Beddoes  has  now  completed  his  series  of  publications,  in- 
tituled, M  Considerations  on  ti:e  Medicinal  Use  and  Production  of 
"  Factitious  Airs." — This  valuable  work  abounds  with  the  most 
interesting  information  to  mankind  in  general,  as  well  as  to  phy- 
sicians in  particular,  whom  it  seems  to  arm  with  new  weapons 
wherewith  to  encounter  disease.  Experiments  already  made  suffix 
ci-ently  attest  the  great  power  and  efficacy  of  various  Factitious  Airs 
in  the  cure  and  alleviation  of  different  diseases ;  and  we  are  led  to 
believe,  that  the  Pneumatic  lnstituthn,  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
Beddoes,  will  not  fail  to  determine,  with  scrupulous  accuracy, 
the  peculiar  situations  to  which  each  species  of  Air  may  be  most 
successfully  applied. 

Vd.  I.  No.  1.  R 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Dr.  Duncan,  of  Edinburgh,  who  has  for  many  years  supported, 
with  reputation,  the  Medical  Commentaries,  agreeable  to  the  in- 
tention exprest  in  the  20th  volume  of  that  publication,  has  dis- 
continued it;  and  having  connected  himself  with  his  son,  Dr. 
Duncan,  jun.  has  lately  published  the  first  volume  of  the  Annals 
cf  Medicine,  on  a  plan  nearly  the  same.  To  this  work  we  are 
indebted  for  the  following  articles  of  intelligence.  

We  are  happy  to  find,  that  considerable  progress  has  been  rriade 
in  the  Pneumatic  Institution  projected  by  Dr.  Beddoes,  at  Bristol. 
Several  hundred  pounds  more  have  lately  been  subscribed;  and 
we  are  informed,  on  good  authority,  that  the  proposer  has  now 
little  doubt  but  that  it  will  soon  be  set  on  foot  in  a  proper  way. 
Still,  however,  fresh  contributions  are  desirable,  as  it  would  be 
much  to  be  lamented,  if  an  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  the 
action  of  differently  modified  atmospheres  on  the  human  body, 
in  different  morbid  conditions,  should  be  left  imperfect  for  warit 
of  an  inconsiderable  sum  of  money. 

Dr.  Beddoes,  we  are  told,  soon  intends  to  circulate  the  Outlines 
of  a  Plan  for  the  execution  of  this  design.  In  that  paper,  he  will 
solicit  the  suggestions  of  medical  and  philosophical  men,  in  order 
that,  by  a  comparison  of  ideas,  he  may  be  enabled  to  dispose  of 
the  contributions  to  the  greatest  advantage,  for  promoting  the 
knowledge  of  physiology  and  pathology. 

Dr.  Withering,  of  Birmingham,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Duncan, 
has  the  following  observations  with  respect  to  pneumatic  medi- 
cine :  "  With  us,  pneumatic  medicine  is  advancing;  and  I  think 
enough  has  been  done  to  authorise  me  to  say,  that  a  cure  of  con- 
sumption is  yet  to  be  sought  for.  Plydrocarbonate  and  oxygene 
fcre  the  two  airs  that  have  mostly  been  used ;  and  these  should  be 
diluted  with  eighteen  or  twenty  times  the  bulk  of  atmospheric  air. 
The  former  weakens  the  stroke  of  the  pulse,  occasions  vertigo, 
and  sometimes  excites  nausea.  It  produces  a  disposition  to  sleep, 
abates  the  cough,  and  eases  the  respiration  in  some  asthmatic  affec- 
tions; but  in  active  hemoptoe,  it  effects  a  cure  more  speedily,  and 
more  pleasantly,  than  I  have  seen  done  by  any  other  means. 
Oxygene,  on  the  contrary,  excites  the  action  of  the  arterial  system, 
warms  the  extremities,  and  seems  to  invigorate  the  vital  principle, 
without  exhausting  it.  From  these  last  circumstances  you  will 
at  once  conceive  it  applicable  to  a  very  extensive  class  of  diseases. 
I  have  lately  qsed  it  with  advantage  in  two  cases  of  Melancholy; 
and  I  have  seen  it  remove  the  Paralysis  of  Lead,  which  had  been 
treated  to  little  purpose,  by  the  other  more  usual  means. 


NEWS. 


12$ 


Mr.  George  Kellie,  surgeon  to  his  Majesty's  ship  the  Iris,  who 
has  already  communicated  to  the  public,  in  the  19th  volume 
of  the  Medical  Commentaries,  some  interesting  fails,  respecting 
the  effects  of  compression  by  the  Tourniquet,  in  stopping  the  cold 
fit  of  intermittents,  has  since  that  continued  to  bestow  particular 
attention  to  this  subject::  and  an  account  of  his  experiments,  and 
observations  respecting  it,  will  probably  soon  be  published. 

Mr.  John  Bell,  surgeon  in  Edinburgh,  who  some  time  ago 
published  a  volume  on  the  anatomy  of  the  bones,  muscles,  and 
joints,  has  now  made  such  progress  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
■work,  that  a  second  volume,  containing  the  anatomy  of  the  heart 
and  blood-vessels,  will  be  published  in  a  short  time. 

Dr.  Duncan,  junior,  has  for  some  time  been  employed  in  pre- 
paring for  the  press  a  translation  of  the  History  of  Medicine,  by 
Kurt  Sprengel,  a  work  interesting  to  the  philosopher  and  historian, 
as  well  as  to  the  physician.  In  order  to  write  a  history  of  our 
science  with  advantage,  it  was  necessary  to  collect,  and  bring 
under  the  most  proper  points  of  view,  the  facts  which  are  scat- 
tered in  a  thousand  works ;  to  read  the  writers  of  each  age  and 
nation  in  the  original;  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  times  when 
they  wrote;  and  to  study  the  history  of  society,  and  the  sciences, 
wherever  they  were  connected  with  medicine.  All  this  Professor 
Sprengel  has  been  able  to  accomplish;  nor  has  he  ever  availed 
himself  of  the  labours  of  his  predecessors;  but,  with  the  most  in- 
defatigable zeal,  derived  his  knowledge  from  the  original  sources. 

Dr.  Girtanner  has  long .  employed  himself  in  analysing  some 
bodies  hitherto  considered  as  simple,  and  thinks  he  has  obtained 
the  following  results. 

1.  Phosphorus  consists  of  azote  and  hydrogene,  like  ammo- 
niac. 

2.  The  fixed  alkalis  consist  of  carbone  and  azote,  soda  contain- 
ing more  azote,  pot-ash  more  carbone. 

3.  Sulphur  consists  of  carbone  and  hydrogene. 

4.  The  fluoric  acid  has  a  compound,  probably  triple,  base. 

5.  Arsenic  seems  to  consist  of  carbone,  azote,  and  hydrogene. 
The  proofs  of  these  assertions  are  soon  to  be  published  at  length 

in  Gren's  Journal  of  Natural  Philosophy. 

DEATH. 

At  Hanover,  7th  October,  1795,  Jonn  George  Zimmerman, 
author  of  the  works  on  Dysentery,  Solitude,  and  Experience  in 
Physic,  by  birth  a  Swiss.    The  highest  degree  of  medical,  literary, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


and  personal  merits  concurred  in  giving  to  this  physician  a  more 
extended  celebrity  than  perhaps  to  any  of  his  profession  during 
the  present  age.  His  works  will  remain  an  everlasting  proof  of 
his  philosophic  spirit,  after  the  recollection  of  the  amiableness  of 
bis  manners  has  descended  with  his  friends  to  the  grave.  The 
adage,  "  Minuit  firasentia  famam"  unfortunately  so  often  veri- 
fied, was  with  regard  to  him  reversed.  Melancholy,  the  effect  of 
too  severe  study,  and  a  painful  chronic  disease,  long  prevented 
him  from  fully  enjoying  the  respe£l  paid  him  by  Princes,  and  the 
fruits  of  his  well-earned  fame. 


(   "5  ) 


APPENDIX. 


DOMESTIC. 
TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  MINERVA. 


Siatert- Island,  August  1st,  1796. 

Sir, 

TT\  EPORTS  of  an  alarming  nature  having  spread  through 
the  country  relative  to  the  sickly  state  of  New-York,  I  was 
led  to  inquire,  by  letter,  how  far  those  reports  deserved  credit;  to 
which  the  following  is  an  answer,  and  by  which,  at  mv  request, 
the  author  has  consented  should  be  made  public. 

RICHARD  CHANNING  MOORE. 

New-York,  July  2.0th,  1796. 

Sir, 

IT  is  true  that  a  fever  resembling  the  one  which  proyed  so  great 
a  scourge  to  our  city  the  last  year,  made  its  appearance  about 
Whitehall,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Exchange,  early  in  this 
month;  but  fortunately  for  us,  from  a  concurrence  of  happy 
events,  the  fever  has  entirely  subsided.  It  had  continued  but  a 
short  time  only,  when  it  pleased  a  Gracious  Providence  to  send 
us  hard  winds,  repeated  thunder  and  lightning,  inundations  of 
rain,  and  cool  weather.  To  these  causes  I  think  we  may  ascribe 
the  suspension  of  a  formidable  disease  which  had  began  to  shew 
itself  among  us.  And  should  it  return  again,  I  have  solid  reasons 
fo  believe  that  it  will  not  be  extended  beyond  certain  limits. 

You  may  recollect  that  in  the  frequent  conversations  we  have 
had  on  the  subject  of  the  last  year's  fever,  I  have  been  uniform  in 
my  opinion,  as  to  the  causes  of  its  production,  namely,  the  accu- 
mulation of  every  species  of  filth  and  perishable  matter,  on  the 
low.  new  made  grounds  on  the  south  side  of  the  city,  and  the  abo- 
minable custom  of  filling  up  the  slips  and  docks  with  similar 
materials:  I  have  said  that,  such  causejj  aided  b\»  a  moist  atmos- 
phere and  a  hot  sun,  would  not  fail  of  producing  the  most  baneful 
exhalations,  and  that  their  effects  must  necessarily  be  felt  by  those 
who  are  more  immediately  exposed  to  their  influence. 

The  proprietors  of  the  lots  on  the  east  side  of  Whitehall-slip 
carried  out  a  bulk-head  the  last  spring,  with  a  view  to  extend  the 
1  dock  further  into  the  river.  *The  dimensions  of  the  dock  are  very 


126 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


considerable;  and  a  maxim  invariably  adopted  by  the  owners  o£ 
the  dock,  is,  that  the  cheapest  mode  of  rilling  up  js  the  best :  ac- 
cordingly carts  were  employed  to  collect,  such  dirt  and  filth  as  all 
large  and  populous  cities  furnish  in  abundance;  and  with  mate- 
rials of  this  description  was  the  dock  filled  up,  and  to  give  greater 
salubrity  to  the  mass,  there  were  occasionally  added,  dead  horses, 
dogs,  cats,  hogs,  &c.  &c. 

The  exposure  of  Whitehall,  and  indeed  the  whole  of  the  west 
end  of  the  city,  must  be  considered  as  naturally  extremely  healthy : 
The  winds,  during  the  warm  season,  are  commonly  from  the  sea, 
and  arrive  at  this  part  of  the  town  uncontaminated  by  passing  over 
any  unwholesome  grounds.  Yet  such  is  the  fact,  that  the  poison- 
ous exhalations  which  have  abounded  in  that  quarter,  during  the 
warm  weather  in  the  beginning  of  this  month,  had  so.  changed 
the  air,  that  the  inhabitants  on  the  south  side  of  Pearl-street,  be- 
tween the  Old-slip  and  Whitehall,  almost  all  concur  in  their  tes- 
timony, that  the  disagreeable  effluvia  have  frequently  obliged  them, 
especially  in  the  evening,  to  close  the  windows  on  the  south  side 
of  their  houses;  and  in  several  instances  gentlemen  have  assured 
us,  that  tile  offensive  smell  has  been  such  as  to  occasion  vomits 

The  wharf  on  which  Mr.  Delafield's  stores  are  erected,  is  in  a 
state  truly  execrable,  and  the  slips  on  the  right  and  on  the  left,  are 
in  a  condition  little  better.  These,  and  such  places,  are  visited  by 
the  Dock  Fever — the  Yellow  Fever  if  you  please,— that  murderer 
of  our  own  creating.  Were  the  proprietors  of  these,  and  such  like 
docks,  compelled  to  live  in  their  vicinity,  the  evil  would  soon  be 
remedied;  but  people  of  this  description  are  generally  secure  from 
the  ravages  of  disease,  in  the  cooler  retirements  of  the  country. 

The  present  exertions  of  the  common  council,  in  giving  a  new 
surface  of  wholesome  earth  to  the  dock  at  Whitehall,  will,  no  doubt, 
be  productive  of  the  greatest  advantages  to  the  inhabitants  of  that 
part  of  the  citv;  and  if  the  same  measures  were  extended  to  other 
parts  of  the  town,  there  would  be  much  less  reason  to  apprehend^ 
a  return  of  the  dock  fever. 

Thus,  Sir,  your  questions  are  answered ;  you  might  have  com$ 
to  town  with  safety;  you  may  come  to  town  with  safety.  New- 
York,  as  I  have  said  before,  may  be  rendered  as  healthy  a  city  as 
any  under  the  sun — and  when  a  more  rigid  police  prevails,  and 
the  nuisances  with  which,  this  city  abound  are  corrected,  you  will 
hear  no  more  of  the  ravages  of  particular  diseases. 

I  am,  Sir,  &c. 

RICHARD  BAYLEY. 

To  the  Rev. 
Richard  Channing  Moose. 


APPENDIX. 


LETTER  FROM  Dr.  BAYLEY  TO  THE  GOVERNOR. 

Neiv-York,  November  28,  1796. 

Sir, 

THE  desire  which  your  Excellency  has  expressed  to  see  the 
causes  of  the  late  Malignant  Fever  investigated,  has  induced 
me  to  submit  to  your  perusal  the  enclosed  narrative. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  most  respectfully,  &c.  &c. 

R.  BAYLEY. 

BEFORE  I  undertake  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  Fever 
which  made  its  appearance  in  this  city,  in  June  last,  I  must  be 
permitted  to  revert  to  certain  facts  and  opinions  contained  in  a- 
work  which  I  furnished  to  the  public  on  the  subject  of  a  similar 
Fever,  which  prevailed  more  generally  in  this  city,  during  part  of 
the  summer  and  autumn  of  1795. 

In  that  publication  it  was  stated,  that  the  Fever  was  first  ob- 
served in  the  neighbourhood  of  Fitch's  wharf,  in  Water-street, 
and  that  it  gradually  extended  from  thence  in  different  ways,  but 
more  particularly  in  the  direction  of  the  prevailing  winds. 

Near  where  the  fever  first  began,  there  were  several  unfinished 
docks,  which  had  been  receptacles  for  several  years  of  every  kind 
of  filth  and  dirt. — There  was  also  a  considerable  surface  of  new 
made  ground  in  the  neighbourhood,  in  a  very  unfinished  state, 
upon  which  dirt,  collected  from  the  streets,  was  frequently  thrown; 
likewise  several  store-houses  erected  on  piles;  and,  added  to  these* 
a  neglected  and  filthy  state  of  the  wharves. 

This  representation,  as  it  regards  the  then  condition  of  the  docks 
in  that  part  of  the  town,  is  confirmed  by  the  letter  of  Mr.  Fitch, 
an  extract  of  which  is  given  in  the  publication  above  alluded 
to,  and  which,  as  it  is  much  to  our  purpose,  I  shall  again  introduce 
— His  words  are:  "Although  the  docks  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
store  which  I  occupy,  may  be  less  offensive  than  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  city,  yet  many  of  them  are  in  a  very  exceptionable 
situation.  The  ponding  of  water  by  running  a  bulk  head  across 
an  unfinished  dock,  and  leaving  the  vacancy,  for  several  years,  to 
be  filled  up  with  every  species  of  filth  and  perishable  matter,  is  an 
object  wotthy  the  attention  of  the  police.  The  situation  of  the 
grounds  between  Water-street  and  Cherry-street,  is  rendered  very 
noxious  by  Water-street  being  raised  above  a  certain  level,  and 
thus  preventing  those  grounds  from  being  drained.  The  effect 
of  such  nuisances  on  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  crowded 
part  of  the  city  cannot  be  imaginary." 

Those  who  have  perused  that  publication,  will  find  a  number  of 
reasons  assigned  why  the  inhabitants  of  the  south-east  part  of  the 


128 


MEDICAL  RFTOSiTORi 


city  would  be  particularly  liable  to  fever,  during  the  hot  months  of 
tlieyear.  This  opinion  was  warranted  in  the  first  place  froni  natter 
of  fact,  as  the  Bilious  Fever  had  appeared  in  that  quarter,  for  several 
years  successively}  and,  in  the  second  place,  as  a  matter  of  rea- 
soning, lroiri  the  relative  situation  and  exposure  of  that  part  of  the 
city ;  but  fortunately  the  south-east  part  of  the  city  had  been  more 
healthy  this  year  than  for  several  years  past — and  the  causes  of 
lever  seem  to  have  been  transferred  into  a  part  of  the  towty 
hitherto  reputed  little  liable  to  particular  sickness. 

In  investigating  the  causes  of  this  change,  a  recourse  to  facts 
only  will  afford  a  sufficient  explanation. 

First. — The  docks  spoken  of  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the 
city,  wnich  were  in  so  loathsome  a  state,  have  been  completed^ 
and  generally  covered  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  good  earth,  gra- 
vel, or  sand. — The  grounds  have  been  drained,  or  where  that  was 
not  practicable,  the  surface  has  been  rendered  uniform,  with  clean 
earth;  the  vacancies  under  the  stores  which  were  built  on  pilesj 
have  been  filled  up  in  a  proper  manner,  and  the  wharves  have 
been  kept  free  from  rubbish  and  filth.  In  short,  so  much  care 
ami  industry  have  been  bestowed  here  to  remove  the  nuisance* 
that  so  generally  abounded,  that  where  a  person  was  before  almost 
suffocated  with  intolerable  stenches,  one  may  now  pass  without 
experiencing  the  least  offensive  smell. 

Secondly. — Let  us  see  what  has  happened  at  the  south-west  part 
©f  the  town.  Between  the  Whitehall  and  Exchange  slip,  a  new 
dock  has  been  made,  running,  on  an  average,  sixty  feet  into  the 
fiver,  extending  458  feet  in  trout,  and  nine  teet  in  depth.  If  nine  1 
square  feet  are  calculated  to  be  equal  to  a  cart  load,  it  will  be  found 
that  24,000  loads  were  necessary  to  fill  up  the  dock,  which  were 
accumulating  from  July,  1795,  to  Juiv,  1796.  And  whet  has  beea 
the  nature  of  the  materials  employed  tor  this  purpose  ?  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  answer  the  question,  except  in  very  general  terms,  r.ameiv, 
every  thing  subject  to  decay  and  corruption.  " 

One  third  of  the  substance  of  thi-.  dock  may  be  computed  to 
be  lodged  above  the  ordinary  height  of  the  tides ;  therefore,  800a 
loads  of  these  perishable  materials  were  exposed  to  the  action  of 
the  hot  summer  sun.  In  the  month  of  April  of  this  year,  I  had 
frequent  occasion  to  visit  Whitehall.  The  stench  which  already 
issued  from  the  dock  was  highly  offensive;  and,  <m  inquiry,  I 
found  that  the  matter  which  had  been  employed  to  make  the  new 
ground  consisted  chiefly  of  the  dirt  which  had  been  accumulating 
in  the  streets  during  the  winter  season;  and  that,  besides  dogs,  cats, 
hogs,  &c.  there  had  been  actually  two  horses  buried  in  the  rub- 
bish, which  had  died  in  the  spring,  in  a  small  hovel  erected  on 
the  margin  of  this  nuisance. 

Reflecting  on  this  state  of  things  at  Whitehall,  and  recollecting- 


APPENDIX. 


What  had  happened  in  another  part  of  the  city,  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances, I  found  my  mind  strongly  impressed  with  the  pro- 
bable consequences ;  and  was  led  from  thence  to  converse  with  se- 
veral individuals  of  the  Corporation  on  the  subject.  But  nothing 
material  could  be  done  to  guard  against  the  supposed  probable  mis- 
chiefs. There  was  a  contract  between  the  proprietors  of  the  ground 
and  other  individuals,  for  filling  in  that  dock,  with  which  the  ma- 
gistracy did  not  think  themselves  authorized  to  interfere,  unless  it 
was  declared  to  be  a  nuisance  on  oath,  or  by  the  presentment  of 
the  grand  jury. 

About  tne  middle  of  June,  the  offensive  smell  arising  from  the 
new  dock,  and  other  nuisances  in  the  neighbourhood,  were  very 
generally  observed,  in  that  quarter  of  the  city;  and  their  effecls 
were  manifest  in  many  who  complained  of  head-achs,  sick  sto- 
machs, &c.  &c. 

The  situation  of  the  Exchange-slip,  as  a  source  of  noxious  ex- 
halations, I  feel  myself  obliged  to  notice,  also,  particularly.  This 
siip,  from  its  length  and  narrowness,  from  its  being  the  receptacle 
of  an  extensive  common  sewer,  and  especially  from  having  a  great 
proportion  of  its  muddy  bottom  exposed  at  low  water,  sends  forth 
effluvia,  which  in  a  very  sensible  manner  contaminate  the  air  to  a 
considerable  distance  around. 

In  a  letter  which  was  published  in  July  last,  I  had  occasion  to 
mention  the  frequent  disagreeable  state  of  the  air,  in  the  south- 
west part  of  the  city.  It  was  there  stated,  "  That  the  poisonous 
exhalations  which  had  abounded  in  that  quarter  during  the  warm 
weather,  had  rendered  the  air  so  noxious,  that  the  inhabitants  on 
the  south  side  of  Pearl-street,  between  the  Old-slip  and  Whitehall, 
almost  all  concur  in  their  testimony,  that  the  disagreeable  effluvia 
have  frequently  obliged  them,  especially  in  the  evenings,  to  close 
their  windows  on  the  south  side  of  their  houses;  and,  in  several  in- 
stances, gentlemen  have  assured  us,  that  the  offensive  smell  has 
been  such  as  to  occasion  vomiting."  These  are  circumstances  of 
great  moment,  and  are  entitled  to  serious  consideration,  if  they  are 
regarded  only  as  causes  which  increase  the  malignity  of  diseases. 

In  the  latter  part  of  June  the  fever  began  to  shew  itself  about 
Whitehall,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Exchange.  But  it  continued 
lor  a  short  time  only,  when  the  concurrence  of  high  winds,  heavy 
rains,  much  thunder  and  lightning,  and  cool  weather,  which 
happened  about  the  middle  of  July,  were  probably  the  causes  to 
which  we  may  attribute  the  suspension  of  the  disease.  This  at 
least  was  rendered  probable,  because,  as  soon  as  the  weather  be- 
came warm  and  dry  again,  it  was  accompanied  by  those  noxious 
exhalations,  which  again  produced  the  fever.  Thus  the  disease 
appeared,  went  off,  and  came  on  again,  according  as  the  weather  fa- 
I     Fol.  I.  No.  i.  S 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


voured,or  impeded  the  generation  of  those  vapours  which,  in  theif 
operation  on  the  human  body,  are  the  exciting  cause  of  fever. 

I  must  take  notice,  also,  of  some  other  circumstances  relative 
to  many  of  the  houses  about  Whitehall;  which,  if  they  were  not 
of  themselves,  in  any  instance,  a  cause  of  fever,  must  certainly 
be  considered  of  a  nature  to  aggravate  the  disease,  when  brought 
on  by  other  causes — namely,  the  state  of  the  ground  in  the  rear 
of  the  houses,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  streets  being  raised, 
is  in  many  places  considerably  below  the  ordinary  level;  and, 
therefore,  liable  to  accumulate  matter,  which,  in  the  process  of  de- 
cay, produce  vapours,  which  render  the  air  impure — and  which, 
in  confined  situations,  are  often  the  cause  of  fever:  also,  the  old 
and  decayed  state  of  many  of  the  houses,  and  the  inattention  to 
cleanliness,  which  is  always  neglected  where  people  of  the  poorer 
sort  are  much  crowded  together.  The  bedding  and  clothes  of  the 
sick,  under  these  circumstances,  must  be  supposed  to  become  daily 
more  and  more  impregnated  with  the  exhalations  arising  from  their 
bodies;  and  hence  arises  the  dreadful  havock  made  by  infectious 
diseases  in  the  small  houses  of  the  poor  ;  and  on  such  as  are  destU 
titute  of  the  means  of  cleanliness,  and  who,  of  necessity,  are  oblig- 
ed to  remain  a  length  of  time  without  changing  their  clothes.' 

The  further  we  inquire  into  the  sources  of  the  fever,  the  greater 
is  the  analogy  discovered  to  be  between  the  state  of  things  at 
Whitehall,  and  in  that  part  of  the  city  where  the  fever  first  ap- 
peared last  year. — Accumulations  of  decaying  animal  and  vegeta- 
ble matter;  a  part  of  the  ground  below  the  general  level;  poor 
people  crowded  together  in  small  uncleanly  apartments,  were  cir- 
cumstances so  perfectly  coincident,  that,  were  particular  effects  to 
take  place  in  one  situation,  we  should  naturally  expect  similar  ef- 
fects to  take  place  in  the  other. 

If  the  fever  of  last  year,  and  that  of  the  present  year,  were 
brought  on  by  the  same  causes,  it  may  possibly  be  asked,  how  it 
happened,  that  in  the  one  instance  it  was  so  widely  extended,  and 
in  the  other  confined  to  such  narrow  limits.  This  question  ad- 
mits of  an  easy  solution.  It  is  generally  acknowledged,  that  epi- 
demic diseases  are  either  produced  or  widely  diffused  by  some  par- 
ticular qualities  of  the  atmosphere;  and  the  extraordinary  preva- 
lence of  heat  and  moisture  in  the  air,  during  the  summer  and  au- 
tumn of  the  last  year,  must  still  be  recent  in  the  memory  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  city;  whilst  the  state  of  the  air,  during  the  warm 
season  of  the  present  year,  has  been  much  cooler  and  drier  thaa 
usual. 

Thus  the  fever  of  the  last  year  was  more  generally  felt,  because 
a  peculiarity  of  the  weather  predisposed  the  body,  or  rendered  it 
more  susceptible  of  those  causes  which  produced  the  disease ; — 


APPENDIX. 


whereas,  the  weather  of  this  year  occasioning  no  predisposition, 
the  fever  was  generally  confined  to  a  situation  where  it  required 
the  exciting  cause  to  be  of  itself  sufficiently  concentrated  to  pro- 
duce its  effects. 

Many  of  the  men  who  belonged  to  the  market  vessels  which 
/came  to  the  Whitehall  dock,  sickened,  from  being  exposed  to  the 
exhalations  arising  in  this  situation.  The  boatmen  of  the  Staten- 
Island  and  Elizabeth-Town  ferry-boats,  suffered  very  generally, 
although  many  of  them  were  so  cautious  as  not  to  sleep  on  shore, 
and  to  avoid  all  communication  with  the  sick.  Several  of  them 
died  of  the  disease, 

Many  transient  persons  from  Staten-Island,  who  visited  fre- 
quently at  Mr.  Catleyou's,  residing  at  Whitehall,  during  their  stay 
at  New-York,  sickened,  and  soon  died.  It  was  said,  that  Mr. 
Catleyou's  family  were  sick  with  the  Yellow  Fever;  but  this  re- 
port was  not  well-founded.  The  family  were  not  well  during 
any  part  of  the  warm  weather,  but  none  of  them  had  the  Bilious 
Fever.  Their  complaints  were  such  as  are  commonly  the  conse- 
quence of  living  in  foul  air,  viz.  sick  stomachs,  and  head-achs,  at- 
tended  with  considerable  lassitude. 

The  above  facts  respecting  transient  persons  taking  the  fever, 
-ire  confirmed  by  Dr.  Clark,  of  Elizabeth-Town,  New-Jersey, 
who,  in  a  letter  with  which  he  has  favoured  me,  observes,  that 
**  in  many  instances  of  the  disease  among  the  ferry-men,  who  re- 
«  sided  chief  of  the  time  at  Whitehall;  or  among  other  persons 
"  who  slept  there — and  all  had  taken  their  passage  from  Whitehall 
ff  dock,  within  twelve  days  of  the  attack." 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  also,  that  the  disease,  according  to  Dr. 
Clark,  occurred  in  those  only  who  had  been  in  New-York.  He 
writes,  "  that  amongst  the  cases  which  came  within  my  practice, 
"  and  from  the  best  information  of  others,  there  was  no  instance 
ff  of  the  disease  taking  place  in  any,  except  those  who  had  been  at 
f  New-York,  and  particularly  at  Whitehall." 

Dr.  Clarke  states  further,  "  that  there  was  no  instance  of  the 
V  fever  amongst  the  nurses,  or  attendants  upon  the  sick."  Thia 
fact  is  confirmative  of  the  opinion  which  we  have  always  endea- 
voured to  support,  that  the  fever  in  question  is  not  a  contagious 
disease. 

The  operation  of  local  causes  in  producing  diseases  is  well  ex- 
emplified in  the  account  of  the  Remitting  and  Intermitting  Fevers 
of  the  West-Indies,  given  us  by  Dr.  Hume;  "  and  while,"  says 
he,  "  the  hospital  remained  there  (at  Port-Royal)  the  sick  were 
seldom  seized  with  complaints  of  this  kind." 

"  When  another  hospital  was  built  on  the  opposite  side,  though 
only  at  the  distance  of  four  miles,  not  one  man  in  an  hundred 
escaped  these  fevers,  who  were  sent  to  the  hospital,  and  remained 


i3*  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

in  it  three  or  four  weeks :  and  even  the  marine  guard  who  were 
relieved  once  a  fortnight,  or  three  weeks,  fared  no  better." 

Dr.  Hume  describes  the  situation  of  this  hospital  to  be  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  stagnant  water  marshes.  He  then  adds,  "  it 
was  the  damp  winds,  filled  with  the  putrid  exhalations,  which  occa- 
sioned the  frequency  of  remitting,  or  Yellow  Fever,  and  interi 
mitting  disorders  of  this  place.  At  my  request,  this  hospital  was 
deserted,  although  in  all  other  respects  it  was  good,  and  had  cost  * 
near  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling." 

Several  plantations  near  this  hospital  were  unhealthy  from  the 
same  cause. 

It  would  be  endless  to  quote  authorities  upon  this  subject :  nor 
is  it  necessary  to  look  to  a  distance  for  them.  What  has  hapr 
pened  within  our  own  state  abundantly  confirms  the  fact,  as  may 
be  seen  from  Dr.  Williams's  letter,  inserted  in  my  publication 
upon  the  fever  of  the  last  year. 

I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  be  more  particular  in  reciting  facts, 
or  in  detailing  these  circumstances  which,  in  my  mind,  are  fully 
competent  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  fever  which  has  excited 
so  much  alarm,  and  proved  so  great  a  scourge  to  the  citizens  of 
New-York.  It  is  the  less  necessary,  because  I  mean  to  shew  by 
the  following  documents,  that  the  disease  was  not,  as  many  have 
insinuated,  nay,  positively  declared,  brought  here  from  abroad — 
And  if  wc  can  advance  sufficient  testimony  to  invalidate  that  opi- 
nion, the  conclusion  necessarily  follows,  that  the  fever  was  occa- 
sioned by  causes  of  a  domestic  nature;  and,  therefore,  the  fact  we 
are  solicitous  to  establish,  receives  that  degree  of  probability  which, 
in  matters  of  this  kind,  gives  an  assurance  equal  to  demonstration. 

I  shall  then,  in  the  next  place,  bring  forward  what  appertains 
to  the  vessels  supposed  to  have  introduced  the  Yellow  Fever  in  New- 
York. 

The  first  suspected  vessel  was  the  ship  Antoinette.  On  the  2  5th 
of  May,  the  ship  Antoinette  arrived  in  this  harbour  from  Brest, 
in  ballast,  and  anchored  in  the  North-river.  Two  days  after  her 
arrival,  I  was  requested  to  visit  sick  on  board.  The  commander 
of  the  vessel  assured  me,  that  the  men  had  not  been  confined,  nor 
did  he  think  their  indisposition  such  as  to  render  it  necessary 
they  should  be  sent  to  the  hospital;  one  of  the  men  was  then  at 
work  upon  deck,  and  the  other  came  from  below  immediately  on 
being  called;  as,  however,  the  ship  was  to  be  brought  to  a  dock, 
it  was  thought  expedient  that  these  men  should  be  sent  to  the 
hospital. 

That  these  men  had  not  complaints  of  an  infectious  nature  shall 
not  rest  on  my  assertion  alone.  The  opinion  and  declaration  of 
Dr.  M'Farlane,  under  whose  care  they  were  placed,  will  carry  with 
them  much  stronger  evidence. 


APPENDIX. 


J33 


October  20,  1796. 

Sib, 

I  HAVE  just  received  a  few  lines  from  you,  wherein  you  re- 
quest me  to  declare  my  opinion  respecting  the  nature  of  the  com- 
plaints of  the  two  patients  from  on  board  the  ship  Antoinette,  who 
were  sent  to  Bellevue  Hospital,  and  placed  under  my  care. 

I  do  not  at  present  recollect  the  names  of  those  people,  as  I  did  not 
note  the  histories  of  their  complaints.  Their  cases,  however,  have 
not  escaped  my  memory. — The  one  complained  of  a  pain  in  his 
breast, attended  with  cough  and  difficulty  of  breathing.  His  strength 
was  considerably  impaired;  the  complaint,  which  he  attributed  to 
cold,  having  been  of  some  duration.  By  the  application  of  a  blis- 
ter to  the  sternum,  and  the  continued  use  of  expectorants,  he  was 
discharged,  as  cured  from  the  hospital. 

The  other  laboured  under  a  complaint,  hernia  hermoraJis.  By  the 
use  of  mercurial  frictures,  saturnine  applications,  the  suspensory 
bandage,  &c  he  was  relieved,  and  discharged  as  such,  by  his  own 
request.         1  I  am,  Sir,  &c. 

JOHN  M'FARLANE. 

To  Dr.  R.  Bayley,  Realth-Officer. 

On  the  29th  of  May  the  Antoinette  hauled  to  the  dock  at  White- 
hall. In  this  situation  the  crew  could  not  come  on  shore,  nor  re- 
turn on  board,  without  passing  over  the  new  made  ground;  and 
thus  were  the  men  exposed  to  the  exhalations  which  arose  from  it, 
whilst  in  the  ship,  and  occasionally  in  a  greater  degree,  bv  their 
visits  on  shore.  During  the  month  of  June  most  of  the  men  of  the 
Antoinette  complained  of  an  unusual  weakness;  and  in  the  begin- 
ning of  July,  several  of  them  were  attacked  with  fever. 

Two  of  these  cases  terminated  in  black  vomit  and  death. 

The  cause  of  the  sickness  on  board  of  the  Antoinette  being  no 
longer  a  subject  of  conjecture,  the  remedy  became  obvious;  name- 
ly, the  removal  of  the  vessel  to  a  more  healthy  situation ;  and  as 
the  ship  had  laid  more  than  a  month  at  the  Whitehall  dock,  it  must 
be  supposed,  that  the  air  beneath  her  decks  had  become  completely 
saturated  with  the  noxious  vapour  arising  from  that  mass  of  decay- 
ing materials,  of  which  the  dock  was  composed. 

It  was  deemed  necessary,  therefore,  to  have  recourse  to  the  mea- 
■  sures  commonly  employed  to  purify  vessels.  For  this  purpose  the 
Antoinette  was  hauled  out  in  the  stream,  and  after  the  process  of 
purification  was  over,  she  was  directed  into  the  north-river  to  take 
in  her  cargo.  After  this  period  the  men  on  board  her  remained 
in  good  health,  except  Captain  Hendricks,  who  had  the  ague  and 
fever. 

Now,  as  the  men  who  were  complaining  at  the  lime  of  the  arrival 
e*  the  Antoinette  were  not  sick  with  fever,  of  which J)r;  M'l'ar- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


lane's  letter  is  sufficient  evidence,  and  as  the  fever  did  not  appear 
among  the  crew  until  five  weeks  after  she  had  been  at  the  White- 
hail  dock,  and  mote  than  ten  days  after  it  had  appeared  on  shore, 
it  must  acquire  more  than  an  ordinary  share  of  prepossession  ia 
any  one  to  believe,  that  the  Antoinette  had  any  agency  in  the  ori- 
gin of  the  fever  at  Whitthall. 

On  the  29th  July  the  brig  Patty  arrived  at  this  port.  After  she 
bad  left  this  place,  a  report  was  circulated,  and  by  many  credited, 
that  this  vessel  had  introduced  a  malignant  fever  in  this  city.  Al- 
though, on  this  subject,  I  had  no  doubt,  as  I  had  taken  a  manifest 
of  the  htalthlul  situation  of  the  brig  Patty,  and  the  crew  had  unr 
dergone  my  personal  examination,  yet  I  was  anxious  that  every 
suspicion  should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  removed  from  the  minds 
of  the  citizens;  I  was,  therefore,  induced  to  write  to  the  comj 
mander  of  the  brig  Patty,  who  was  then  at  Boston,  to  request  that 
he  would  give  me  an  attested  statement  of  facts,  respecting  such 
sickness  as  might  have  existed  on  board  the  brig  during  her  voyage, 
and  the  condition  of  the  health  of  her  crew  at  her  arrival  in  this 
port;  whether  she  had  any  fever  on  board  after  that  period,  or 
whether  any  person  had  sickened  in  Boston  after  her  arrival  there, 
who  had  had  communication  uith  her.  To  these  inquiries  I 
6hortlv  after  received  the  follou  ing  attested  certificate: — 

M  This  is  to  certify,  that  during  my  voyage  in  the  brig  Patty,  from 
Boston  to  the  West- Indies,  and  back  to  New-  York,  none  of  jny  crew 
were  sick  of  a  malignant  fever;  and  that,  on  my  arrival  in  New* 
York,  all  my  crew  were  in  good  li- -Jill,  except  my  mate,  who  was  sick 
•with  the  ague  and fever,  and  who  was  taken  out  of  my  vessel,  and put 
en  board  a  packet  to  be  sent  home  to  Trenton ;  and  since  my  arrival  in 
Boston,  my  crew  has  remained  in  perjeft  health  as  before ;  nor  has  any 
person  who  has  been  on  boatct  the  brig  Patty,  received  any,  or  been  ap- 
prehensive of  any  disorder  whatever. 

"  JOHN  SNOW. 

"  August  3,  1  "96." 

The  above  statement  of  Captain  Snow  is  so  clear,  and  con- 
clusive, that  still  to  entertain  any  doubt  would  imply  a  mind  dis- 
posed to  contemn  truth,  even  under  the  serious  garb  of  a  sacred 
oath. 

Thus,  then,  have  I  taken  a  cursory  view  of  the  circumstances 
relative  to  the  origin  of  the  Yellow  Fever.  In  reviewing  the  situa- 
tion of  that  part  of  the  city,  we  have  found  abundant  reason  for  be- 
lieving, that  the  fever  was  produced  by  causes  of  a  local  nature, 
and  originating  there. 

The  importance  of  this  fact  renders  me  extremely  solicitous,  that 
the  truth  of  it  should  be  generally  established,  and  strongly  impres- 
sed upon  every  mind;  for  if  measures  are  to  be  pursued,  calcu- 


APPENDIX. 


feted  to  prevent  the  calamity  in  future,  the  extent  and  adequateness 
of  those  measures  must  depend  upon  this  conviction. 

It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  we  may  not  deceive  ourselves,  by  a  mode 
of  reasoning  adopted  by  some,  which,  however  plausible  it  may 
appear  at  the  first  view,  must  certainly  prove  fallacious  upon  exa- 
mination. It  is  urged,  that  the  city  of  New-York  has  remained  for 
many  years  exempt  from  any  particularly  fatal  diseases ;  and  we 
have  no  greater  reason  now  to  suppose  ourselves  more  liable  to  sick- 
ness than  formerly;  and  that  if  diseases  of  a  malignant  kind  should 
at  any  time  prevail  among  us,  we  ought  to  look  to  some  foreign 
source  for  their  origin.  The  answer  to  this  argument  is,  that  the 
state  of  things  are  every  day  changing.  The  city  is  extending  its 
dimensions;  the  houses  are  becoming  more  compact,  and  crowded 
together;  the  inhabitants  are  increasing  in  number;  and  more  es- 
pecially the  mode  of  making  new  ground,  wtmA  renders  a  consi- 
derable part  of  the  city  a  low  level,  are  changes  which  place  us  in  a 
situation  different  from  any  previous  period. 

This  kind  of  calculation,  it  is  to  be  feared,  is  not  by  many  en- 
tered into;  but  it  is  one  which  is  entitled  to  serious  consideration, 
in  as  much  as  it  takes  in  those  circumstances  which  have  a  parti- 
cular influence  upon  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of 
New-York. 

Before  I  conclude  I  must  take  the  liberty  of  mentioning  to 
■  your  Excellency,  what  has  hitherto  been  the  condition  of  the  hos- 
pital lately  established  upon  Bedlow's  Island.    I  am  induced  to  do 
this,  in  order  that  the  inconveniences  under  which  it  has  laboured, 
may  be  rendered  apparent,  and  from  a  hope  that  measures  will, 
1  in  consequence,  be  taken  to  provide  for  the  hospital,  in  such 
.  manner  as  may  be  necessary  to  complete  the  establishment,  and 
give  it  extensive  utility. 

The  necessary  alterations  and  repairs  which  the  buildings  on 
Bedlow's  Island  required,  to  render  them  fit  to  receive  the  sick, 
were  not  completed  till  the  middle  of  August. 

As  soon  as  these  were  done,  application  was  made  to  the  com- 
missioners of  health,  for  a  supply  of  necessaries  to  accommodate 
the  sick,  who,  at  this  period,  were  sent  to  the  hospital,  from 
Whitehall,  and  from  several  vessels  just  arrived  from  sea.  The 
commissioners  directed  the  beds  and  bedding  which  had  been 
used  the  year  before  at  Bellevue  to  be  sent  to  the  new  hospital  on 
Bedlow's  Island;  but,  unfortunately,  those  articles  were  in  a  very 
filthy  state:  but  as  the  sick  were  already  at  the  hospital,  we  have 
had  no  alternative  but  to  select  the  cleanest  of  those  articles  and 
use  them  in  that  state.  The  hospital  also  was  unprovided  with 
\r  earing  apparel,  than  which  nothing  is  more  necessary,  as  well 
for  the  comfort  of  the  sick,  as  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  infec- 
tion in  the  hospital. — Under  these  circumstances,  the  consequen- 


itf  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

ces  were  such  as  might  naturally  be  expected;  for  within  eight 
days  of  the  time  whei^  those  articles  were  brought  to  the  hospital, 
those  people  who  had  been  employed  in  transporting  the  bedding 
from  Btllevuc,  the  nurses  who  attended  the  sick,  and  tlie  steward 
of  the  house,  were  attacked  with  fever.  The  attending  physi- 
cian, Monsieur  Bouvier,  was  also  indisposed  lor  several  days. 

From  this  distressing  situation,  however,  the  hospital  was  soon 
happily  relieved  by  a  supply  of  beds,  bedding,  and  such  clothes 
as  were  necessary  for  frequent  changes ;  and  placing  the  sick  in 
a  state  of  the  greatest  cleanliness.  From  the  period  that  this  was 
done,  neither  nurse,  visitor,  nor  any  kind  of  attendant  were  known 
to  be  attacked  with  fevers. 

(Signed)  RICHARD  BAYLEY. 

To  Gov.  Jay. 

New-Yoti,  Dee.  22,  1796. 


ARTICLE  II. 

LETTER  from  Dr.  Wakken  to  Mr.  Eliphalet  P/iarson', 
Corre<jionding  Secretary  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences. 

Sir, 

IN  the  month  of  December  last,  I  communicated  to  the  public 
a  number  of  facts  relative  to  the  fever  which  prevailed  the  last 
autumn  in  the  town  of  Boston,  calculated  to  counteract  the  effects 
of  a  publication  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  which  the  opinions 
of  the  Physicians  on  tlie  nature  of  the  disease,  and  the  method  of 
practice,  were  grossly  misrepresented. 

My  principal  object,  in  what  was  then  offered,  was  to  establish 
the  following  propositions: 

1  st.  That  tlie  physicians  of  the  town  were  unequivocally  of 
opinion,  that  the  fever  originated  irom  local  causes. 

adly.  That,  in  the  treatment  of  the  disease,  the  stimulant  plan 
had  not  been  adopted  in  any  stage  of  its  existence. 

5<ily.  That  the  depleting  system,  in  general,  had  been  used  from 
tlie  beginning.  But, 

4thiy.  Tnat  bleeding,  in  particular,  was  by  no  means  generally 
practised ;  and  that  there  were  strong  reasons  for  believing,  in  op- 
position to  what  had  been  asserted  in  the  publication  referred  to, 
that,  where  it  had  been  used,  the  effects  had  been  unfavourable. 

I  had  then  prepared,  as  an  elucidation  of  the  above,  the  follow- 
ing history,  which  may  perhaps  suggest  some  motives  for  a  greater 
deg:'.e  of  caution  in  adopting  a  rigid  adherence  to  sy  stem  in  medi- 
tai  practice;  and  furnish  the  means  of  comparing  this  with  other 


APPENDIX. 


137 


fevers  which  have  proved  epidemic  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States.  And  I  now  submit  it  (as  I  judged  it  a  more  proper  mode 
of  communication  on  a  professional  subject)  to  the  candour  of  this 
Academy. 

The  first  appearance  of  the  disease  ".-as  on  the  25th  of  August, 
1796,  in  a  family  at  the  south-easterly  part  of  the  town  of  Boston, 
near  a  considerable  extent  of  flats,  which  are  daily  exposed,  for 
some  hours,  to  the  action  of  the  sun. 

A  lady  of  this  family  was  the  first  victim  of  the  disease.  She 
was  seised  with  rigors,  a  general  distress  throughout  the  whole 
system,  with  a  white  and  moist  tongue,  dry  skin,  frequent  and 
weak  pulse;  but  without  any  very  alarming  appearance  until  the 
third  day,  when  the  pains,  which  now  became  more  severe,  with 
laborious  respiration,  a  slight  redness  of  the  eyes,  a  sleepiness;  and 
insensibility,  followed  at  night  by  a  sudden  sinking  and  intermis- 
sion of  the  pulse)  announced  the  extreme  hazard  of  her  situation. 
Aftivc  cathartics  were  prescribed  in  the  beginning,  and  a  blister 
was  applied  over  the  whole  anterior  part  of  the  thorax;  but  no 
benefit  was  derived  from  either,  and  she  died  at  the  end  of  the 
fourth  day. 

The  next  person  attacked  was  a  female  of  the  same  family.  She 
was  taken  sick  within  twelve  hours  of  the  first,  with  pains  in  the 
head,  back,  and  lower  extremities;  a  vomiting,  which  continued 
incessant  through  every  stage  of  her  illness,  great  oppression  at 
the  breast,  a  weak  and  quick  pulse,  moist  skin,  and  yellow  tongue. 
Opium,  and  calomel,  with  other  purgative  medicines,  were  admi- 
nistered, without  having  been  a  moment  retained  in  the  stomach; 
her  pulse  became  intermittent  on  the  third  day;  and  on  the  fourth 
a  fatal  termination  ensued. 

Neither  of  these  patients  had  any  yellowness  of  the  skin  in  the 
course  of  their  sickness:  there  were  no  reasons  to  believe  they  had 
ever  been  exposed  to  contagion — and  they  both  imputed  their  ill- 
ness to  their  having  sit  at  an  easterly  window  in  the  evening  air, 
when  heated  with  exercise. 

On  the  2d  of  September,  a  son-in-law  of  the  above-mentioned 
lady  was  seized  with  a  fever  of  the  same  kind;  and  within  three 
days  from  that  time,  his  wife  and  her  two  brothers,  all  of  whom 
had  been  closely  attendant  on  their  deceased  mother.  Three  of 
these  were  treated  with  large  and  repeated  doses  of  jalap  and  calo- 
mel; two  of  the  three  took  emetics;  one  of  them  was  bathed  with 
cold  water,  dashed  over  the  whole  body  on  the  third  day  from  the 
attack ;  and  having  been  kept  cool,  they  all  recovered.  The  fourth 
was  in  a  situation  peculiarly  untavourable  when  attacked;  she 
rook  such  doses  of  jalap  and  calomel  as  were  thought  best  adapted 
to  her  state;  and  on  the  fourth  dav  sne  died. 

Fd.  I.  No.  i  .  T 


138  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY1. 


I  would  here  remark,  that  in  two  of  these  cases  the  symptoms 
were,  from  the  first,  more  miid  than  in  those  which  proved  ratal—* 
that  they  were  destitute  of  some  of  the  most  alarming  symptoms 
with  which  the  others  were  attended — had  no  inflammation  of  the 
eyes,  nor  difficulty  of  respiration,  but  a  thicker  fur  upon  the 
tongue,  which  was  of  a  dark  colour  towards  the  height  of  the  dis* 
order;  with  more  distincl  pains  in  the  head,  back  and  limbs,  with 
exacerbations  at  night;  and  ran  on  until  the  eleventh  day,  before 
any  remarkable  change  in  the  symptoms;  after  which,  the  reco- 
very was  slow,  as  in  a  common  typhus,  and  was  not  completed 
until  the  fourth  week. 

The  next  person  whom  I  visited  with  the  disorder,  lived  at 
Oliver's  Dock ;  and  within  two  or  three  days  from  this  time,  I 
was  called  to  five  others  at  the  south  part  of  the  town,  and  one 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  first-mentioned  family. 

Between  this  and  the  1 8th  September,  when  I  was  called  to  Mr. 
Newell,  the  person  whose  situation  excited  so  much  apprehension 
in  the  town,  I  had  visited  about  a  dozen  others,  with  somewhat 
similar  complaints,  but  very  different  in  the  degree  of  violence 
with  which  they  were  attended.  In  the  former,  the  skin,  on 
about  the  fourth  day,  became  yellow;  on  the  sixth,  petechias  were 
discovered  over  all  parts  of  the  body ;  and  a  most  obstinate  dysen- 
tery, followed  by  colliquative  diarrhoea,  proved  fatal  on  the  eighth. 
In  many  of  the  latter,  after  slight  rigors,  and  obtuse  pain  in  the 
head,  for  the  first  twenty-four  hours*  together  with  a  sense  of  heat 
or  burning  at  the  stomach — a  ha?morrhage  from  the  nose  often 
took  place,  and  continued  to  be  a  troublesome  circumstance  for 
several  days,  without  any  remarkable  mitigation  of  the  symptoms. 

In  these,  spontaneous  vomitings  rarely  occurred — but  when 
they  did,  large  quantities  of  bile  were  thrown  up  from  the  stomach, 
and  emetics,  or  cathartics,  invariably  produced  the  same  effeft. 
The  pulse  was  generally  small  and  irregular — The  tongue  coated 
with  a  saburra  of  a  yellowish  cast;  and  the  excretions  from  the 
kidneys  were  often  turbid  during  the  augmentation  of  the  disease, 
highly  tinged  with  bile,  and  sometimes  depositing  a  copious  sedi- 
ment, before  any  thing  like  a  crisis  had  been  discovered  in  the 
patient. 

The  crises  were  seldom  very  sensible  or  perfecl;  and  when  pre- 
sent, were  commonly  most  conspicuous  in  the  excretions  of  the 
skin;  and  the  above  was  the  usual  form  in  which  the  disease  after- 
wards continued  to  appear,  with  now  and  then  an  instance,  in 
which  it  approached  more  nearly  to  that  in  which  it  commenced. 

In  the  first  stage,  emetics  were  sometimes  strongly  indicated  from 
the  incessant  nausea,  which  prevented  any  medicine  from  resting  on 
the  stomach — but  generally,  a  dose  of  from  10  to  15  grains  of  calo- 


APPENDIX.  139 

inel,even  under  this  circumstance,  often  answered  a  better  purpose 
by  discharging  very  copiously  a  bilious  matter  from  the  stomach,  as 
well  as  intestines;  and  by  frequent  repetition,  effected  the  cure. 
Antimonials  were  sometimes  given  between  the  doses — blisters 
were  occasionally  applied — the  drinks  were  principally  acid;  and 
wine  was  forbidden. 

The  disease,  however,  unless  conquered  by  a  very  early  exhibi- 
tion of  this  medicine,  often  ran  on  to  about  the  nth  day,  and 
tometimes  to  the  end  of  the  third  week ;  and  in  no  instance,  after 
the  case  of  Mr.  Newell,  did  it  prove  fatal  within  that  period. 

In  three  patients  whom  I  visited,  the  cold  bath  was  used  in  the 
hottest  stage  of  the  fever,  to  very  great  advantage.  In  two  cases 
only,  what  is  called  the  black  vomit,  took  place.  JFrom  the  be- 
ginning of  September  the  fever  was  slowly  increasing;  and  I  find 
that  the  number  of  patients,  at  any  one  time  under  my  care,  was 
greatest  in  the  first  week  of  October;  from  which  time  it  gradually 
declined,  until  about  the  middle  of  December,  when,  I  believe, 
it  had  altogether  disappeared. 

A  very  great  proportion  of  those  taken  sick  were  situated  near 
extensive  flats,  particularly  about  the  easterly,  southerly,  and  wes- 
terly skirts  of  the  town.  The  place  called  Oliver's  Dock,  where 
the  disease  was  most  prevalent,  was  exposed  to  exhalations  from 
foul  substances,  lodged  about  the  wharves  and  docks  of  that  quar- 
ter, with  buildings  so  constructed  as  to  admit  of  but  very  imper- 
fect ventilation,  and  with  large  numbers  of  inhabitants  crowded 
together  in  a  small  space. 

When  the  disease  first  made  its  appearance  the  weather  was 
warm;  in  about  the  middle  of  September  it  became  cool;  plen- 
tiful rains  having  previously  fallen;  and  as  the  cool  weather  ad- 
vanced, its  violence  and  mortality  were  gradually  diminished.* 

In  most  families  where  one  person  had  been  sick,  others  were 
soon  taken  down  of  the  disorder; — in  some,  almost  every  adult 
person  became  jll;  the  children  generally  escaping.  I  knew  of 
no  instance  of  any  black  person  being  infected. 

The  disease,  as  far  as  I  could  discover,  was  as  often  contracted 
from  those  who  had  it  lightly,  as  from  those  who  had  it  in  a  more 
dangerous  degree.  In  several  families  where  one  had  died,  no 
other  person  received  any  infection ;  in  others,  one  had  it  lightly, 
and  several  others  contracted  it  from  him ;  some  of  them  in  the 
milder  form,  and  some  in  the  more  severe. 

The  mortality  of  the  disease  was  by  no  means  great;  of  fifty- 
two  persons  whom  I  attended,  nine  died;  two  of  these,  in  conse- 
quence of  circumstances  foreign  from  the  disease;  of  the  number, 
two  were  children,  five  were  women,  and  two  were  men. 

*  Herein  it  feems  to  differ  from  what  has  been  remarked  with  refpeit  t» 
Typhus,  which  has  been  found  to  increafe  as  cool  weather  advanced. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


From  the  best  information  I  can  obtain,  not  above  thirty  perspps 
died  of  it  in  the  whole  season; — several  persons  were  buried  in 
the  night,  and  this  having  excited  a  great  degree  of  alarm  in  the 
country,  served  as  a  foundation  for  the  most  exaggerated  accounts 
Of  the  mortality  with  which  it  was  attended. 

The  town  was  remarkably  free  from  other  disorders  through 
the  whole  of  the  autumn; — no  dysenteries  prevailed  in  it,  and  few 
of  the  usual  diseases  of  children. 

Whether  there  is  any  essential  difference  between  the  fevers 
denominated  bilious,  or  whether  they  vary  only  in  degree,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances  under  which  they  are  produced,  1  shall  not 
presume  to  decide. 

Dr.  John  Hunter  seems  to  have  held  the  latter  opinion,  and  it 
is  not  improbable,  that  the  same  disease  may  have  its  symptoms 
and  periods,  so  much  under  the  influence  of  exterior  causes,  as  at 
times  to  bear  some  of  the  appearances  of  one  belonging  to  a  dif- 
ferent class  of  disorders.  However  this  may  be,  there  seems  clearly 
to  be  a  great  difference  in  degree  at  least,  between  that  which  has 
been  above  described,  and  the  Philadelphia  fever  of  1 793.  Having, 
almost  every  fall,  seen  a  considerable  number  of  cases  very  similar 
to  the  above,  not  excepting  the  black  vomit,  nor  the  yellow  skin, 
together  with  the  quality  of  contagion,  and  other  circumstances 
nsually  attendant  on  fevers  of  this  denomination,  I  have  been  in- 
duced to  believe,  that  the  disorder  in  question  was  no  other  than 
what  has  more  or  less  prevailed  here  almost  every  year,  and  is 
what  is  properly  termed,  a  Bilious  Remittent  Fever. 

That  it  originated  from  noxious  substances,  exhaled  into  the 
atmosphere  from  putrifying  animal  or  vegetable  matter,  or  both,  is 
extremely  probable  from  the  places  in  which  it  was  most  prevalent,* 
and  that  a  confined  situation,  or  filthy  state  of  the  streets,  alleys, 
and  by-places  of  the  town,  will,  as  it  becomes  more  populous, 
rents  higher,  and  consequently  the  poor  more  closely  crowded  to- 
gether, further  expose  us  to  the  danger  of  such  diseases,  is  a  seri- 
ous truth,  which  may,  perhaps,  in  some  future  day,  be  too  fatally 
evinced.  And  it  may  not  be  improper  here  to  remark,  what  is 
too  seldom  attended  to,  that  nothing  can  contribute  so  much  to 
individual  preservation,  as  personal  cleanliness,  and  by  frequent 
bathing,  removing  impurities  from  the  skin,  and  promoting  a  free 
perspiration. 

*  It  has  been  generally  thought,  that  continued  fevers  are  the  offspring 
only  of  human  effluvia,  and  intermittent,  of  marfli-miafmata  ;  jet  there'll 
fuffieient  realon,  from  fome  recent  inftances  of  thefe  difeafes,  for  believing, 
that  this  limitation  does  by  no  means  generally  prevail. 

Animal  fubftances,  of  which  many  are  to  be  found  in  thefe  places,  inter- 
mixed with  vegetable,  are  faid  to  putrify  when  expofed  to  the  fun,  mote  quickly 
after  having  been  covered  with  fait  than  with  frelh  water. 


APPENDIX. 


141 


In  case  of  actual  infection,  the  sick  should  invariably  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  well — the  rooms  cleansed,  and  the  clothes  washed 
or  destroyed.* 

The  success  of  Dr.  Rush's  prescription  of  the  jalap  and  calomel 
might  perhaps  be  considered  as  a  proof  of  the  affinity  of  this  fever 
to  that  of  Philadelphia;  but  if  the  success  of  the  latter  medicine, 
in  the  malignant  species  of  throat  distemper,  has  been  established, 
as  has  been  affirmed,  it  will  appear  the  less  extraordinary,  that  it 
should  succeed  in  this  disease,  even  on  the  supposition  of  its  being 
of  a  putrid  nature. 

If,  in  the  common  Bilious  Remittent  Fever,  it  appears  that  the 
use  of  active  cathartics,  and  particularly  large  doses  of  jalap  and 
calomel,  produce  the  most  salutary  effects,  it  will  be  an  additional 
satisfaction  to  that  benevolent  man  to  find  a  part  of  his  treatment 
of  the  Yellow  Fever  extended  to  diseases  in  which  he  had  not 
perhaps  contemplated  its  efficacy. 

JOHN  WARREN. 

*  Dr.  J.  C.  Smyth,  in  a  report  to  the  Lords  CommitTnnsrs  of  the  Admi- 
ralty of  Great-Britain,  of  the  la  ft  yeir,  endeavours  to  eltablilh,  on  the  founda- 
tion of  experiment,  the  advantage  of  fumigation  with  the  vitriolic  and  nitrous 
?cids,  for  cleanfing  infeiled  clothes  anJ  buildings.  He  prepired  an  earthen 
vclTel,  containing  fand  heated  in  an  iron  pot ;  and  having  placed  in  it  a  tea-cup 
with  half  an  ounce  of  highly  concentrated  vittioiic  acid,  after  it  had  acquired 
a  proper  degree  of  heat,  poured  into  it  gradually,  an  equal  quantity  of  nitre  in 
powder;  this  was  ftirred  with  a  glafs  fpatula,  and  carried  through  the  wards 
of  the  fick.  It  at  firft  excited  a  flight  cough  among  the  patients,  which  foon 
fubfided,  and  the  air  was  in  an  aftoniihing  degree  fweetened  by  the  procefs. 
He  cautions  againft  ufing  metallic  veflels,  as  the  fumes  might,  in  that  cafe, 
prove  injurious. 

Dr.  Trotter,  in  his  Medicina  Nautica,  a  very  late  publication,  fcruples  the 
efficacy  of  this  method;  but  there  is  reafon  to  hope  it  may  prove  a  valuable 
difcovery. 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  all  cloathing  of  animal  matter,  fuch  as  woollen 
and  filk,  being  more  fubjeel  to  decompofition,  is  one  of  the  moft  dangerous 
fiurces  of  infection ;  and,  therefore,  the  utmolt  care  is  required  in  purifying 
them. 


FOREIGN. 


ARTICLE  L 

Account  of  the  Efecls  of  the  Nitrous  Acid  on  the  Human  Body. 
By  Mr.  William  Scott,  Surgeon  in  the  Service  tf  the  East-India 
Company.  First  published  in  the  Bombay  Cotniei  of  April  30, 
1796. 

THE  following  attempt  to  extend  a  little  the  limits  of  the  heal- 
ing art,  is  inscribed  as  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  character 
oi  Dr.  James  Anderson,  Physician -general  at  Madras. 


142  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

In  August,  1793,  I  employed  myself  for  some  time  in  making 
experime  nts  op  the  bile,  a  secretion  that  is  connected  in  a  great 
degree  with  many  of  the  diseases  of  this  country.  I  wished  ta 
unite  some  of  the  calces  of  mercury  with  the  resinous  matter  of 
that  fluid;  for  I  imagined  that  I  might  discover  some  chemical 
affinity  between  those  substances,  and  be  able  to  see  by  what 
means  this  metal  is  so  singularly  qualified  for  removing  obstruc- 
tions* of  the  liver. 

I  had  collected,  for  experiment,  a  quantity  of  the  resinous  base 
of  the  bile  of  a  buffalo,  which  1  had  separated  very  carefully  from 
iis  soda,  and  from  the  lymphatic  matter  with  which  it  is  united. 
I  had  put  a  dram  or  more  of  this  substance  into  a  vessel,  to  which 
I  added  about  half  of  the  same  weight  of  the  red  calx,  of  mercury, 
with  ten  or  twelve  ounce?  of  water.  On  heating  the  whole  toge-- 
ther,  I  was  surprised  to  observe,  that  the  base  of  the  bile  became 
remarkably  more  soluble  in  the  water.  I  cannot  say  that  I  ob- 
served the  red  colour  of  the  calx  in  any  great  degree  altered;  but 
it  is  known  to  retain  its  brilliancy  with  different  quantities  of  oxy- 
gene.f  I  filtrated  this  bitter  solution,  which  deposited  the  base  of 
the  bile,  as  the  water  evaporated  in  the  ordinary  heat  of  the  at- 
mosphere. I  shall,  at  another  time,  consider  this  subject  with  a 
little  more  attention. 

M.  Fourcroy  has  observed,  that  water  dissolves  a  small  portion 
of  the  base  of  the  bile.  In  this  experiment,  a  considerably  larger 
quantity  was  taken  up  than  water  could  have  dissolved,  which  I  at- 
tribute to  the  oxygenation  of  the  resin,  by  the  pure  air  of  the  calx. 
1  had  some  rea<on  to  think,  that  obstructions  of  the  liver  do  often 
consist  of  a  deposition  of  the  resin  of  the  bile,  which,  I  now  began 
to  suppose,  might  be  rendered  soluble  in  the  animal  fluids,  by  the, 
pure  air  of  the  mercurial  preparations  that  are  given  for  the  disease, 
I  have  seen  iivers,  on  the  dissection  of  the  dead,  of  a  pearl  colour, 
«nd  much  enlarged,  which,  I  suspect,  were  composed,  in  a  good 
measure,  of  this  resinous  matter.  I  have  even  found  it,  from  ac- 
curate trials,  in  a  considerable  quantity,  in  the  substance  of  a  IN 
verthat  was  apparently  without  disease.  Is  the  well  known  effect 
of  new  grass,  in  dissolving  the  biliary  calculi  of  the  gall-bladder, 
that  cattle  get  in  the  winter-time,  to  be  accounted  for  from  the  pure 
air  of  green  and  ascescent  vegetables? 

It  is  acknowledged,  that  all  the  calces  of  mercury  which  are  used 
in  medicine, contain  a  quantity  of  pure  air;  but  I  know  of  no  direct 
experiment  having  been  hitherto  made,  to  prove  that  the  effect 
of  mercury  in  diseases  of  the  liver,  or  in  other  maladies,  depends 
on  this  principle,  and  not  on  the  metal  itself.  The  experiments  that 

*  I  have  ufed  the  word  obstruction  to  exprefs  the  chronic  difcafe  of  tli« 
liver,  fo  common  in  this  country. 

•}"  bee  Experiments  by  Van  Mons  on  the  Red  Oxide  of  Mercury. 


APPENDIX. 


I  had  made  on  the  base  of  the  bile,  inclined  me  to  wish  Id  take  my- 
self a  quantity  of  pure  air,  united  to  some  substance  fop  which  it 
has  no  great  attraction.  I  reflected  on  the  different  ways  that  are 
employed  by  chemists  to  oxygenate  inanimate  matter;  for  1  be- 
lieved,' that  the  same  chemical  attractions  would  produce  a  similar 
effect  in  the  living  body,  although  they  might  be  discurbed  in  their 
operation  by  the  vitality  of  the  principles  of  which  it  is  composed. 

The  nitric  acid,  as  may  be  supposed,  was  one  of  the  first  sub- 
stances that  occurred  to  me  as  fit  for  my  purpose;  for  it  is  known 
to  contain  about  four  parts  of  vital  air,  united  to  one  ot  azote,  with 
a  certain  proportion  of  water.  Tiiese  principles  can  be  separated 
from  each  other  by  the  intervention  of  many  other  bodies,  as  che- 
mists find  every  day  in  their  operations.  I  was  led,  besides,  to 
give  a  preference  to  the  nitric  acid,  from  observing,  that  it  dis- 
solves very  completely  the  resinous  base  ot  the  bile.  I  have  since 
found,  that  the  celebrated  M.  Fourcroy  had  made  the  same  obser- 
vation before  me. 

Before  I  began  to  take  the  nitric  acid,  I  consulted  all  the  ac- 
counts of  it  that  I  could  procure,  with  a  view  of  learning  some- 
thing of  its  effects  on  the  human  body.  The  result  of  this  inquiry 
was  but  little  satisfactory;  for  I  only  found  that  it  had  been  given 
as  a  diuretic,  in  very  insignificant  quantities,  or  recommended  in 
general  terms,  where  the  mineral  acids  are  supposed  to  be  useful. 
I  did  not  think  myself  warranted  to  administer  it  to  others  from 
such  imperfect  information:  but  I  resolved  to  take  it  mvself;  and 
I  thought  I  was  particularly  qualified  to  determine  its  effects,  as  I 
had  reason,  for  a  long  time  before,  to  complain  of  my  liver. 

In  September,  1793,  I  began  to  take  the  nitric  acid.  I  mixed 
sbout  a  dram  of  the  strongest  that  I  could  procure,  with  a  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  water;  and  I  was  happy  to  find,  that  I  could 
finish  that  quantity  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours,  without  any  dis- 
agreeable effects  from  it.  The  following  is  the  journal  that  1  kept 
of  myself  at  the  time. 

nth  September,  1st  day.  Took  at  different  times  about  % 
dram  of  strong  nitric  acid,  diluted  with  water.  Soon  after  drink- 
ing it,  I  feel  a  sense  of  a  warmth  in  my  stomach  and  chest;  but 
I  find  no  disagreeable  sensation  from  it,  nor  any  other  material 
effect. 

2d.  I  have  taken  to-day  a  considerable  quantity  of  acid,  diluted 
with  water,  as  much  as  I  could  easily  drink  during  the  forenoon. 

3d.  I  have  continued  the  acid.  I  feel  my  gums  affected  from 
it,  and  they  are  somewhat  red,  and  enlarged  between  the  teeth.  I 
slept  ill;  but  could  lie  for  a  length  of  time  on  my  left  side,  which, 
from  some  disease  in  my  liver,  had  not  been  the  case  for  manv 
months  before.  I  perceive  a  pain  in  the  back  of  my  head,  re^ 
»embling  what  I  have  commonly  felt  when  taking  mercury. 


m  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

4th.  My  gums  are  a  little  tender.  I  continue  the  acid  as  before) 
I  still  find  a  pain  in  my  head,  and  about  my  jaws,  like  what  arises 
trom  mercury.  I  perceive  no  symptoms  of  my  liver  complaint. 

5th.  I  have  tak.n  the  acid;  and  always  feel  an  agreeable  sense 
of  heat  alter  drinking  it.    I  spit  more  than  usual. 

6m.  I  continue  the  acid.  I  observe  my  mouth  sorer  to-day*1 
and  spit  more. 

7.  I  think  I  am  now  sufficiently  oxygenated.  I  feel  my  mouth 
so  troublesome*  that  I  shall  take  no  more  acid. 

From  tnis  time  my  mouth  got  gradually  well,  and  I  found  my 
health  considerably  improved. 

1  now  began  to  suppose,  that  I  had  discovered  a  remedy  for 
that  chronic  disease  of  the  liver,  which  is  so  mnch  more  commort 
here  than  the  acute  hepatitis.  I  thought  that  it  might  in  some 
respects  be  preferable  to  mercury,  as  it  did  not  appear  to  produce 
the  inconveniences  that  arise  from  the  use  of  that  metal.  I  have 
given  it  since  to  a  number  of  people,  who  had  taken  mercury  for 
hepatic  obstructions,  without  being  effectually  cured  j  and  I  tiave 
found  it  in  many  cases  produce  the  most  agreeable  consequences; 
It  it  were  proper  on  this  occasion  to  be  more  particular  in  detail- 
ing the  cases  in  which  I  have  administered  this  remedy,  I  believu 
I  could  make  it  very  probable  that  I  have  not  been  deceiving  my* 
self.  In  the  acute  hepatitis,  I  have  hardly  employed  it;  for  w her© 
the  life  of  a  person  is  in  immediate  danger,  1  have  thought  it  my 
duty  to  make  use  of  remedies  that  are  established. 

I  have,  with  the  best  effect,  oxygenated  several  people  with  the 
nitric  acid,  who  were  much  reduced  by  tedious  intermittents. 
That  kind  of  fever  is  often  connected  with  a  diseased  liver  or 
spleen.  In  consequence,  I  think,  of  this  remedy,  I  have  seen 
them  recover  their  natural  colour  trom  a  leaden  or  bilious  hue,  and 
regain  their  strength  from  a  long  continued  weakness.  I  believe, 
if  given  in  a  sufficient  quantity,  it  would  be  very  useful  in  the 
fever  of  this  country,  which  has  been  called  bilious,  or  nervous* 
or  putrid,  and  lor  which  mercury  appears  to  be  a  specific. 

I  have  met  with  two  instances  oniy  in  this  country  of  diabetes.- 
They  were  both  natives,  and  in  the  decline  of  life.  I  cured  them 
both  by  mercury,  alter  many  other  remedies  had  been  tried.  One 
of  these  men  had  a  relapse  of  his  disease,  which  I  removed  a  second 
time  with  the  nitric  acid.  I  thought  this  a  satislaftory  corres- 
pondence in  the  effects  of  the  two  remedies.  Ma)'  they  not  both 
be  useful  in  that  disease? 

The  great  resemblance  that  I  perceived  in  myself,  between  the 
effects  or  mercury  and  of  the  nitric  acid,  made  me  anxious  to  know 
if  the  acid  would  remove  the  various  symptoms  of  syphilis.  In 
September,  1793,  it  was  administered,  at  my  desire,  by  my  friend 
Mr.  Anderson,  surgeon  of  the  77th  regiment,  to  a  person  who 


APPENDIX.  14$ 

had  a  head-ach  that  came  on  every  night,  and  which  had  long  been 
suspected  to  arise  from  lues.  He  had  taken  several  courses  of  mer- 
cury on  this  account,  which  carried  away  all  the  uneasy  symptoms; 
but  they  as  constantly  returned  after  a  certain  period.  On  using 
the  acid  for  about  a  fortnight,  he  got  perfectly  free  from  his  head- 
ach,  and  he  remained  very  well  for  a  few  months,  as  was  usual 
to  him  after  mercury. 

I  have  now  had  a  pretty  extensive  experience  of  the  good  effects 
of  the  nitric  acid  in  syphilis;  and  I  have  reason  to  believe,  that 
it  is  not  in  general  less  effectual  than  mercury  in  removing  that 
disease  in  all  its  forms,  and  in  every  stage  of  its  continuance.  I 
think  that  in  some  cases  it  has  even  superior  powers;  for  I  have 
succeeded  completely  with  the  acid,  when  mercury,  administered 
both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe  for  years  together,  had  failed 
of  success.  We  appear  to  be  able  to  carry  the  degree  of  oxyge- 
nation of  the  body  to  a  greater  length  by  means  of  the  nitric  acid, 
and  to  continue  it  longer  than  we  can  do  by  mercury. 

A  mass  of  mercury,  in  the  circulation,  produces  many  disagree- 
able effects,  that  make  it  often  necessary  to  give  over  its  use  before 
it  has  answered  its  intention :  but  the  nitric  acid  may  be  taken  a 
long  time  without  any  material  injury  to  the  health;  nor  are  its 
effects  on  the  mouth,  in  producing  inflammation,  and  a  flow  of 
saliva,  so  disagreeable  as  from  mercury. 

A  man  could  hardly  offer  to  his  species  a  greater  blessing  than 
a  new  remedy  against  any  of  the  host  of  diseases  that  assail  us: 
but  the  reputation  of  specifics,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  in- 
stances, has  arisen  only  from  the  weakness  of  the  human  mind. 
Am  I,  too,  deceiving  myself,  and  attempting  to  lead  others  into 
error  ? 

As  the  acid  that  I  distil  is  not  strong,  and  is  of  unequal  strength 
at  different  times,  I  am  regulated  chiefly  by  the  taste  in  giving  it. 
I  put  half  or  three-fourths  of  a  Madeira  glassful  of  it  in  two  pints 
of  water,  or  I  make  two  pints  of  water  as  acid  as  it  can  well  be 
drunk.  This  quantity  is  finished  every  twenty-four  hours,  taking 
about  a  Madeira  glassful  only  at  a  time. 

I  have  sometimes  removed  syphilitic  symptoms  with  the  acid  in 
five  days;  more  commonly,  I  think,  they  give  way  in  a  fortnight; 
but  sometimes,  though  seldom,  they  continue  for  twenty  days 
without  any  apparent  relief.  I  must  confess,  that  in  some  cases 
I  have  failed  altogether;  but  in  those  cases,  mercury  had  long  been 
given  to  little  purpose ;  the  bones  were  highly  diseased,  and  the  ha- 
bit probably  of  a  peculiar  kind.  I  have  cured  syphilis  with  the 
acid,  under  a  variety  of  forms,  where  no  other  remedy  had  ever 
been  employed,  and  for  above  two  years  I  have  seen  no  relapse  in 
those  cases.    I  have  administered  it  against  the  primary  symptoms 

Vol.  I.  No.  1.  U 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


of  the  disease,  and  I  have  given  it  for  exostoses,  for  carious  bones,: 
for  nocturnal  pains,  for  eruptions  and  ulcers  of  the  skin,  and  for 
all  the  train  of  misery  that  is  attendant  on  lues.  I  have  the  plea- 
sure to  see,  that  several  of  my  friends  have  begun  to  use  the  nitric 
acid  in  syphilis,  and  in  other  diseases.  An  account  of  their  expe- 
rience, which  every  body  will  esteem  the  most  respectable  author 
ntv,  wilCmake  the  subject  of  a  future  paper. 

I  hope  this  slight  account  will  induce  medical  practitioners  to- 
try  the  effect  of  the  nitric  acid  in  syphilis,  a  disease  which,  in  this 
climate,  is  so  frequently  the  disgrace  of  their  art.  Too  often  the 
miserable  wretch  is  but  worn  down  sooner  by  the  very  remedies 
that  are  called  in  for  his  relief. 

Quaefitaeque  nocent  artes ;  ceflere  magiftri, 
I'hyllirides  Chiron,  Amythaoniufque  Melamput. 

Vmc.  Georc.  HI. 


ARTICLE  II. 

LETTER  from  Dr.  Richard  Pearson. 
(CIRCULAR.) 

Birmingham,  July  i,  1796, 

Sir, 

HAVING,  for  the  last  two  years,  prescribed  the  vapour  of 
vitriolic  *thes  to  patients  labouring  under  Phthisis 
Pulmonalis;  and  having,  both  in  hospital  and  private  prac- 
tice, experienced  the  best  effects  from  its  use  in  this  frequent  and; 
formidable  disease,  I  am  preparing  to  lay  before  the  public  a  rev 
port  of  the  cases  in  which  it  has  been  givenr  accompanied  with  re- 
marks on  some  other  remedies  that  maybe  employed  with  advant- 
age in  the  cure  of  consumptions.  Being  desirous,  in  the  re- 
commendation of  a  new  medicine,  to  have  my  own  evidence  sup- 
ported by  the  concurrent  testimonies  of  other  practitioners,  I  take 
the  liberty  of  calling  your  attention  to  this  subject,  and  of  sub- 
mitting to  your  notice  my  method  of  using  this  application,  which 
is  simply  this :  I  direct  the  patient  to  pour  one  or  two  tea-spoonfuls 
of  pure  or  vitriolic  aether  (or  of  vitriolic  zether,  impregnated  with 
cicuta,  in  the  manner  hereafter  described)  into  a  tea-cup  or  wine 
glass,  and  afterwards  to  hold  the  same  up  to  the  mouth,  and  draw  in 
the  vapour  that  arises  from  it,  with  the  breath,  until  all  the  zether 
is  evaporated.  This  is  repeated  three,  four,  or  five  times  in  the 
course  of  a  day,  for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  more  or  less,  according 


APPENDIX, 


147 


:o  circumstance--.*  The  first  tffeds  of  this  application,  are  an 
agreeable  sensation  of  coolness  in  the  chest,  an  abatement  of  the  dy- 
spnaea  and  cough,  and,  after  ten  minutes  or  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
easier  expectoration.  The  ultimate  effeHs  (provided  other  proper 
measures  be  not  neglected,  for  this  is  not  to  supersede  the  use  of 
other  medicines,  but  to  be  employed  in  conjunction  with  them) 
are,  a  removal  of  the  local  inflammation,  a  cleansing  and  healing 
of  the  ulcerated  lungs,  and  a  suppression  of  the  hectic  fever.  To 
assert  that  all  these  beneficial  consequences  will  flow  from  its  ap- 
plication in  every  species  and  degree  of  phthisis  pulmonalis,  would 
be  adopting  the  language  of  quacks,  and  insulting  the  understand- 
ing of  every  one  experienced  in  the  profession ;  but  to  say  that 
some  of  these  good  effects  are  likely  to  result  from  its  use  in  most 
instances,  and  most  of  them  in  a  great  number  of  instances,  is  only 
asserting  what  an  experience  of  two  years  in  a  situation  where  the 
opportunities  of  making  trial  of  it  have  been  very  frequent,  has 
fully  confirmed. 

The  salutary  operation  of  aether,  applied  to  the  lungs  in  the  form 
of  vapour,  I  have  found  to  be  greatly  promoted  by  several  volatile 
substances  that  are  soluble  in  it;  but  by  none  more  so  than  by  ei- 
cut  a.  By  macerating  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  dried  leaves  of  this 
plant  in  aether,  for  the  space  of  three  or  four  days,  or  at  most  a  week, 
and  occasionally  shaking  them  together,  a  vciy  saturated  tincture 
is  obtained,  which  may  be  inhaled  in  the  same  manner,  and  in  the 
same  doses  as  the  pure  aether.  My  proportions  are  a  scruple,  or 
half  a  dram,  of  the  powdered  leaves  to  every  ounce  of  aether.  The 
narcotic  particles  of  the  cicuta,  conveyed  in  this  manner  along  with 
the  aether-vapour  to  the  diseased  lungs,  act,  as  a  topical  application, 
with  the  best  effect;  hence,  a;ther  thus  impregnated  succeeds,  in 
most  instances,  better  than  when  it  is  employed  alone.  The  only 
unpleasant  circumstance  attending  the  inhalation  of  this  zetheria! 

*  The  lofs  of  a  part  of  the  vapour,  which  is  unavoidable  in  this  mode  of 
applying  it,  may  be  prevented,  as  a  Medical  Friend  ha9  fuggelled,  by  fetting 
the  tea-cup  containing  the  sther  in  a  fmall  bafon,  and  inverting  a  funnel  over 
it.  By  applying  the  mouth  to  the  tube  of  the  funnel  and  making  an  infpira- 
tion,  the  patient  draws  in  all  the  vapour  along  with  the  ztmofpheric  air,  which 
enterc  at  the  bottom  of  the  funnel.  Jn  winter,  the  evaporation  may  be  pro- 
moted, by  fetting  the  tea-cup  in  hot  water;  in  which  cafe  the  funnel  is  to  be 
inverted,  not  into  the  bafon  containing  the  water,  but  over  both  tea-cup  and 
bafon,  fo  as  to  reft  immediately  upon  a  table,  tray,  or  plate,  having  a  bit  of 
double  paper,  or  a  quill,  put  under  it,  to  allow  the  external  air  to  enter  more 
freely. 

Children,  and  even  infants,  may  be  made  to  inhale  this  vapour,  by  wetting  a 
handkerchief  with  xther,  and  holding  it  near  the  nofe  and  mouth.  It  muft 
be  confefTed,  that  this  is  attended  with  great  wafte;  but  in  urgent  cafes  of 
hooping  cough  and  croup,  in  whish  it  promifes  to  be  of  ufe,  this  confi- 
dertion  can  have  little  weight. 


148 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tincture  of  cicuta,  is  a  slight  degree  of  sickness  and  giddines^ 
vhich,  how  ever,  soon  go  oft. 

It  cannot  be  expected  that  I  should  here  point  out  every  symp. 
torn,  or  set  of  symptoms,  which  indicate  or  forbid  the  use  of  this 
application.  I  shall  only  remark,  that  it  appears  to  be  best  suite4 
to  the  florid,  or  what  is  commonly  termed  the  scrophulous  con- 
sumption. Where  the  pulmonic  affection  is  complicated  with 
mesenteric  obstruction,  or  diseases  of  the  other  viscera,  or  a  drop- 
sical condition,  it  affords  but  transitory  relief;  and  in  the  very  last 
stage  of  the  disorder,  the  proper  time  for  using  it  is  past. 

Should  you  be  induced,  Sir,  by  this  address,  to  make  trial  of 
the  vapour  of  vitriolic  jEther,  impregnated  with  cicuta, 
in  phthisical  cases,  I  shall  be  glad  to  be  favoured  with  your  re- 
iv.£.rks  and  observations  upon  it,  whether  in  its  favour  or  not.  All 
communications  on  tnis  subject,  are  requested  to  be  sent  before 
tie  jirst  if  January  next,  as  after  that  time  the  Treatise  will  be 
printed. 

N.  B.  In  catarrhs,  the  jether- vapour,  without  the  cicuta, 
succeeds  very  well.    In  these  cases  it  is  seldom  necessary  to  conV 
tinue  the  inhalation  more  than  three  or  four  days,  or  a  week 
farthest. 

RICHARD  PEARSON,  M.  Qj 


K3*  The  reader  is  desired  to  substitute  the  word  syphilis,  instead 
of  "  siphilis,"  wherever  it  occurs  in  pages  77  and  78. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY, 


Vol.  I.— No.  II. 


CONTENTS. 


Pa?e. 


•On  the  Digitalis  Purpurea  .  .  .  IJ3 
On  the  poifonous  Quality  of 

Pheafants   161  I 

On  the  Yellow  Fever   165 

Cafe  of  Scrofula   17a 

On  the  Cauftic  in  urethral  Qb- 

ftru&ions   179 

Cafe  of  Mania   181 

On  Alkalies  and  Lime   185 

On  Abftinence  in  Fevers  .  ,  .  •  194 

On  the  Human  Liver   204 

Cafe  of  Fever   210 

REVIEW. 

Rufh's  Medical  Inquiries  and  Ob- 

fervations,  vol.  iv  413 

Mafdevall's  Prefcriptions,  &c.  .  218 

Prieftley  on  Phlogifton  221 

Adet's  Reply  to  Prieftley  ...  225 
Hofack  on  Yellow  Fever  ....  229  ] 


Page. 

Bay  on  Dyfentery   236 

Fifher  on  Dyfentery   24* 

M'Kenzie  on  Dyfentery  ....  243 

Jones  on  Hydrocele   ibid 

North  on  Rheumatifm   244, 

Alllton  on  Dropfy  ibid 

Meteorological  Obfervations  .  .  245 

Table  of  Hofpital  Patients  .  .  .  248 

Return  of  Difpenfary  Patients  .  250 

MEDICAL  NEWS. 

Domcftic   25? 

Foreign  .  .  .  .  ,   355 


APPENDIX. 

DOMESTIC. 

Mitchill  on  Alkalies  in  Fever  .  265 

FOREIGN. 

Beddoes  and  Baynton  on  the  Ni- 
trous Acid  27? 


NEW-YORK: 

Printed  by  T.  &  J.  SWORDS,  Printers  to  the  Faculty  of  Phyfic  of  Colutnc 
bia  College,  No.  99  Pearl-ftrect. 


1  797- 


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regularly  secured  according  to  Lain. 


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New- York,  Nov.  7,  1797. 


ERRATA. 


The  reader  is  requested  to  correct  the  following  errors  of  the  press 

Page  169,  line  30,  for  conserva  read  conferva. 

166,  line  2  from  the  bottom,  for  exerted  read  excited. 

1 70,  line  29,  insert  the  between  upon  and  gaseous. 

171,  line  9  from  the  bottom,  for  health  read  healthy. 
173,  line  2,  for  inquiries  read  inquirers. 

191,  t.  11,  from  the  bottom,  for  fifty-handed  read  hundred 
handed. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

Vol.  L— No.  II. 


ARTICLE  I. 
ON  THE  DIGITALIS  PURPUREA. 

By  James  Mease,  M.  D.  Resident  Physician  of  the  Port  of 
Philadelphia. 


THE  Digitalis  Purpurea,  or  Purple  Fox  Glove,  is  a  medicine 
which,  for  some  time  past,  stood  higli  in  the  list  of  the  Materia 
Medica,  but,  for  various  reasons,  appears  to  have,  in  some  measure, 
lost  the  character  once  formed  of  it.  The  frequent  trials  made  by 
the  judicious  Dr.  Withering,  and  the  repeated  success  that  has  at- 
tended its  U:e  in  his  hands,  certainly  shew,  that  the  opinion  he  en- 
tertained of  it,  as  a  valuable  addition  to  the  stock  of  medicinal  plants, 
was  well  founded.  Many  other  physicians  have  likewise  spoken 
favourably  of  its  good  effects;  but  many  instances  of  failure  have 
also  been  recorded,  and  in  cases  too  apparently  favourable  to  its 
operation.  I  have  seen  it  exhibited  both  in  public  and  private 
practice,  and  have  given  it  myself,  sometimes  with  advantage,  and 
at  other  times  with  little  benefit,  or  obvious  injury.  The  causes  of 
this  different  success  have  never  been  fully  ascertained  ;  but  the  re- 
sult of  the  present  experience  of  this  medicine,  I  believe,  is  rather 
unfavourable  to  its  character.  From  my  own  reflections  and  ob- 
servations, I  am  disposed  to  attribute  the  want  of  success  of  digi- 
talis less  to  its  own  inert  quality  than  to  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing its  exhibition,  which  I  shall  point  out  in  the  following  paper; 
and  I  shall  also  endeavour  to  ascertain  the  manner  most  proper  to 
exhibit  the  medicine,  and  the  cases  most  favourable  to  its  ope- 
ration. 

The  causes  influencing  the  success  of  the  digitalis,  may  be  re- 
ferred to  the  following  heads. 

i .  The  season  of  collecting  the  plant, 
a.  The  part  of  the  plant  used. 
Vol.  I.  No.  z  B 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


3.  The  mode  of  curing  it. 

4.  The  adulteration  of  the  plant. 

5.  The  manner  of  exhibiting  it. 

6.  The  condition  of  the  system  at  the  time  of  use. 

I.  The  season  of  the  year  in  "which  the  plant  is  collefled  will  have* 
a  very  considerable  influence  on  tre'effects  produced  on  the  system.- 
It  is  well  known,  that  tne  activ-  parts  of  vegetables  possess  the 
most  power  when  the  sap  is  present  in  them ;  and,  for  this  reason 
those  plants  whose  virtue  resides  in  the  root,  are  directed  to  be  ta- 
ken up  early  in  the  spring,  before  the  sap  has  ascended:  and,  on 
the  contrary,  vegetables,  whose  medicinal  quality  exists  in  the  irp* 
per  parts  of  the  plant,  are  directed  to  be  used  in  summer.  Ac- 
cordingly, as  Dr.  Witiiering  has  found  the  leaves  the  most  effica- 
cious part,  he  directs  the'm  to  be  collected  "  about  the  time  the 
"  flowering  stem  has  shot  up,  and  when  the  blossoms  are  commt 
"  forth."  Contrary,  however,  to  this  rule,  I  have  kr.ow.i  the  di- 
gitalis collected  late  in  summer,  and  autumn;  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  if  thi«,  combined  with  other  causes,  should  produsea 
disappointment  to  the  expectations  of  the  prescribed 

II.  "The  /tart  of  the  plant  employed  ought  likewise  to  be  attended 
to  when  forming  a  judgment  ot  its  virtues.  Tiie  parts  constantly 
used  by  Dr.  Withering  are  the  small  haves;  and  he  is  so  cautious 
to  have  these  alone,  that  he  directs  the  leaf  stalk,  and  even  the 
midrib  to  be  thrown  p. way.  But  without  attending  to  this  rul^ 
I  have  known  every  part  of  the  plant  indiscriminately  mixed,  and 
exhibited  in  this  state;  and  have  heard  an  opinion  of  its  virtues 
formed  from  the  little  effects  produced  by  such  a  partial  and  ur> 
fair  proceeding.  I  do  not  knew  that  the  root  possesses  any  pro- 
perties different  from  those  of  the  small  leaves,  or  that  it  would 
in  any  way  prove  injurious  by  being  mixed  therewith,  otherwise 
than  weaken  the(tffect  of  the  active  part:  yet,  in  the  exhibition  of 
a  medicine,  so  celebrated  as  the  present,  in  a  disease  that  so  oftea 
baffles  the  best  directed  efforts  for  a  cure,  every  circumstance 
which  may  in  the  least  influence  its  operation,  should  be  strictly 
guarded  against;  and  as  long  and  repeated  experience  has  convinc- 
ed Dr.  Withering  of  the  superior  efficacy  of  the  small  leaves  to 
the  other  parts  ot  the  plant,  it  is  certainly  incumbent  upon  every 
prescriber  to  pay  attention  to  this  caution.  I  have  known,  how- 
ever, every  part  used  without  distinction,  except  the  root,  both  in 
a  separate  and  combined  state;  and  I  have  no  doubt  a  neglect  of 
this  rule  has  been  one  common  source  of  the  failure  of  this  me- 
dicine. 

III.  A  frequent  cause  of  the  failure  of  digitalis  may  be  at- 
tributed to  a  careless  mode  of  preparing  it  for  use.  From  its  sen- 
sible qualities  it  appears  to  be  of  a  volatile  nature;  ar.d  Dr.  Wi- 
thering, aware  of  tins  circumstance,  directs  it  to  be  slightly  dried 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


in  the  sun-shine,  or  on  a  tin  pan  before  the  fire,  so  as  barely  to  al- 
low its  reduction  to  powder.  There  is  great  reason  to  believe, 
however,  that  its  active  quality  has  been  often  either  entirely  or 
greatly  dissipated  by  being  long  dried  by  a  hot  fire,  from  a  sup- 
position, that  this  was  requisite  to  permit  its  reduction  to  powder. 

IV.  'The  adulteration  cf  the  plant  with  other  vegetables  is  a 
source  of  failure,  to  which  I  know  some  unsuccessful  cases  may  be 
ascribed}  for,  notwithstanding  the  small  value  of  ti-.e  plant,  and 
the  ease  with  which  it  may. be  cultivated,  I  have  been  inlormed  of 
some  very  iniquitous  adulterations  practised  with  2.  variety  of  other 
plants  of  similar  coiour,  but  possessing  qualities  so  inert,  that  they 
must  have  interrupted  or  weakened  the  effects  of  the  digitalis,  by 
mechanically  clogging  its  active  parts  in  the  stomach. 

V.  The  various  modes  of  exhibiting  this  medicine  may,  I  think, 
have  some  influence  upon  the  effects  produced  by  it.  Dr.  Wither- 
ing preferred  an  infusion  of  the  plant  to  every  other  form,  and 
cirects  one  drachm  of  the  dried  leaves  to  be  infused,  for  four  hours, 
in  half  a  pint  of  boiling  water,  adding. to  the  strained  liquor  half 
an  ounce  of  any  spirituous  water,  and  an  ounce  cf  this  inf  usion  to 
be  given  twice  a  day  to  an  adult.  If  the  patient  be  stronger  than 
usual,  or  the  symptoms  very  urgent,  this  dose  may  be  given  once 
m  eight  houio:  and,  on  the  contrary,  in  many  instances,  half  an 
ounce  at  a  time  will  be  quite  sufficient.  But,  without  attending 
to  this  rule,  I  have  known  the  digitalis  prescribed  .in  the  various 
forms  of  decoction,  pills  made  with  soap,  and  in  powder  mixed 
with  prepared  chalk  or  magnesia ;  and  though  the  two  last  sub- 
stances may  not  act  in  any  opposite  way,  yet  they  may  divide  the 
particles,  and,  by  clogging  them,  prevent  application  to  the  sto- 
jnach,  and  thus  diminish  its  activity.  A  tedious  decoction  will 
dissipate  the  virtue  of  many  plants -less  volatile  than  digitalis ;  but 
a  slight  one  .will,  no  doubt,  injure  it,  and  ought,  therefore,  never 
to  be  employed.  .Pills  are  often  made  up  with  such  substances  as 
render  them  soluble  with  difficulty.  If  we  even  suppose  soap  free 
from  this  objection,  we,  nevertheless,  do  not  know  what  secret  ef- 
fect may  be  produced  by  it  on  particular  stomachs,  to  interrupt 
the  action  of  ths  medicine  ;  and  certainly  it  will  not  be  so  readily 
applied  to  that  organ  as  in  a  watery  form. 

VI.  But  exclusively  qf  the  above  causes  of  the  failure  of  digita- 
lis, and  even  supposing  the  proper  part  of  the  plant  to  be  used, 
and  in  the  manner  directed  by  Dr.  Withering,  there  is  still  one 
source,  from  which  I  am  well  convinced  many  instances  of  its 
•want  of  success  have  arisen.  This  is,  the  particular  condition  of  the 
system  at  the  time  of  its  exhibition  ;  and  I  am  disposed  to  think,  it 
is  the  most  powerful  of  any  mentioned,  though  the  others  have 
doubtless  contributed.  It  is  a  misfortune  attending  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  medicine,  that  when  it  has  been  given  with  success 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


in  several  cases  of  a  particular  disease,  it  soon  obtains  the  charac-* 
ter  of  a  specific,  and  is  exhibited  in  every  case,  without  discrimina* 
tion  or  attention  to  the  state  of  the  complaint.  The  consequent 
failure  which  must  necessarily  foiiow,  in  some  instances,  is  soon 
spread  about,  and  the  charadrer  of  the  remedy  commonly  sinks 
in  proportion  to  its  previous  elevation.  The  history  of  many 
once  famed,  but  now  neglected  remedies,  fully  proves  this;  and 
the  digitalis  has  been  nigh  adding  to  the  list.  A  bare  recital  of  the 
effects  oi  other  medicines  which  have  been  much  longer  in  vogue 
than  the  digitalis,  and  have  been  successful  in  many  diseases,  will 
show  the  foily  oi  expecting  uniform  good  effects  from  this  or  any 
other.  I  may  adduce  that  familiar  medicine,  Peruvian  Bark,  c,s  in 
point,  which  is  well  known  to  be  so  generally  the  most  effectual 
cure  for  the  intermitting  fever  we  are  acquainted  with,  that  it  has 
long  since  obuined  universal  credit;  and  yet,  how  frequently  do 
we  observe  this  famous  remedy  fail  in  that  very  disease,  and  after* 
wards  the  disease  yield  to  other  remedies,  whose  mode  of  action  is 
directly  contrary  to  that  of  the  bark.*  What  then  are  the  states 
of  the  system  in  dropsies,  and  other  complaints  in  which  the  digit 
talir  does  good?  In  order  to  determine  this  question,  let  us  take 
a  view  of  its  mode  of  action  on  ttie  bodv.  From  the  time  it  is 
taken  into  the  stomach,  and  shews  any  operation,  it  is  of  a  debilv 
tating  nature.  This  is  evinced  by  itsama/.ing  power  of  diminish* 
ing  the  action  of  the  heart  and  arteries  in  frequency  and  force; 
2nd  by  the  relaxation  perceived  over  the  whole  system,  as  well 
from  direct  effect  as  from  the  nausea  induced.  The  confusion 
sometimes  produced  in  the  head,  shews  it  possesses  narcotic  powers. 
Similar  effects  are  produced  by  cicuta,  stramonium,  and  other 
medicines  ot  that  class.  This  effect  upon  the  arterial  system  has. 
been  noticed  by  every  physician,  who  has  given  any  account  of 
the  digitalis,  and  is  particularly  mentioned  bj  Dr.  Withering 
himself.  Hence  we  should  naturally  imagine,  it  would  prove 
tiseiul  in  diseases,  attended  with  inflammation  or  an  excessive 
action  in  the  arterial  system;  and,  accordingly,  Dr.  Withering, 
when  speaking  of  its  use  in  mania  and  httmohtik,  directs  it  to  be 
confined  to  persons  with  "  a  bounding  pulse"  In  such  cases  Dr. 
Ftrriar,  of  Manchester,  found  the  moat  benefit  from  it.  I  have 
seen  it  relieve  a  violent  pain  in  the  head,  with  which  a  lady  had 
been  long  troubled,  and  which  occasionally  brought  on  a  vertigo; 
the  pulse  was  not  very  full  but  tense,  and  a  slight  degree  of  in* 

"  I  allude  to  the  cure  of  cbftinate  intermittents,  efpecially  thofe  protract- 
ed into  the  winter,  by  bleeding;  a  practice  I  was  firft  taught  by  Dr.  Rufh, 
by  whom  1  had  feen  it  frequently  tried  with  fuccefs.  See  his  Med.  Inq.  and 
Obf.  vol.  i.  Dr.  Gardiner  alfo  mentions  the  utility  of  purging  in  intermit- 
tents;— which  is  of  the  fame  debilitating  tendency,  though  inferior  in  power, 
to  bleeding.    S:e  Gardiner's  Animal  Economy. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


creased  action  was  evinced  by  other  symptoms.  From  these  facts 
we  should  be  led  to  conclude,  without  hesitation,  as  to  the  parti- 
cular states  of  diseases,  in  which  it  would  be  most  productive  of 
^ood  effect,  and  we  should  totally  omit  it  in  dropsies  or  other 
complaints,  which  were  to  be  removed  by  the  cure  of  debility, 
and  confine  it  intirelv  to  those  accompanied  by  increased  arterial 
force.  Some  may  startle  at  the  opinion  of  dropsy  being  ever  ac- 
companied by  such  a  state;  but  that  it  does  olten  attend  various 
species  of  watery  collections,  I  am  fully  convinced,  from  my  own 
experience*  of  the  efficacy  of  bleeding  and  purging,  as  original 
remedies,  or  after  the  repeated  use  of  tonics  usually  prescribed 
withont  good  effect,  and  sometimes  evident  injury,  and  the  expe- 
rience ot  others.  It  will  not  be  expected  that  I  should  digress  upon 
this  subject; — those  who  wishtosee  it  fully  treated,  must  be  referred 
to  the  Medical  Inquiries  of  Dr.  Rush,  whose  arguments  are  incon- 
trovertible. In  dropsies,  attended  with  this  state  only,  that  gen- 
tleman found  benefit  from  digitalis;  and  yet  Dr.  Withering  says, 
that  in  dropsy,  it  seldom  succeeds  in  men  of  great  strength,  of  tense 
fibre,  of  warm  skin,  of  florid  complexion,  or  in  those  with  a  tight 
and  cordy  pulse,  producing  the  diuretic  effects,  in  a  kindly  manner 
only  in  those  cases  where  the  pulse  is  feeble  and  intermitting,  the 

*  Among  many  cafes  that  have  occurred,  in  which  debilitating  remcdiet 
have  fucceeded  in  removing  dropfies,  I  will  juft  note  a  remarkable  one. 
In  the  fummer  of  1 793  I  attended  Walter  Mitchell,  a  waterman,  for  ana- 
farca.  Ke  had  been  for  three  -years  previoufly  occafior.ally  attacked  by  the 
fever  and  ague,  which  he  always  cured  by  bark.  In  April,  1 793,  it  return- 
ed in  a  violent  manner,  but  it  was  now  accompanied  by  a  great  fwelling 
of  his  belly  and  lower  limbs,  and  by  epileptic  fits;  from  which  he  w?s  fo 
far  relieved,  by  repeated  bleeding,  as  to  be  able  to  follow  his  ufual  employ- 
ment. Shortly  after  he  was  expofed,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Jerfey  coaft, 
to  cold  and  wet,  and  ltarvation,  for  nigh  two  days,  by  his  boat  being  flrand- 
ed,  and  great  fatigue  in  walking  before  a  houfe  could  be  found.  He  wa» 
again  taken  ill,  was  much  fwelled,  had  regular  chills  and  fevers,  pulfc  full 
and  bard.  I  gave  him  three  grains  of  the  powder  of  digitalis  three  times  a 
day,  which  produced  naufea,  pain  in  the  ftomach,  reduction  of  the  pulfe, 
but  not  much  difcharge  of  water.  I  then  gave  of  nitre  and  jalap,  each  10 
grains,  every  two  hours,  for  feveral  days,  which  incrcafed  the  urine  very 
confiderably,  and  kflencd  the  fwellings.  He  again  expefed  himfclf;  the 
fymptojns  again  returned  with  mare  violence.  I  now  bled  him  to  12  ounces, 
and  repeated  his  powders  laft  mentioned.  A  vomiting  and  purging  came 
on  after  a  few  dofes,  and,  in  the  courfe  of  five  hours,  he  difcharged  two 
gallons  of  water:  a  diarrhoea  fucceeded  for  two  days,  and  evacuated  all  the 
water.  He  now  took  bark  with  good  effect,  and  would  have  been  cured, 
had  he  not  again  returned  to  the  water,  which  brought  back  his  fwellings. 
He  then  went  to  Europe. — In  Dr.  Donald  Monro's  Treatife  upon  Dropfy 
there  are  feveral  cafes  related  of  blood-letting,  purging,  and  vomiting,  cur- 
ing that  difeafe;  and  alfo  in  the  various  periodical  publications  of  Great- 
Britain;  but  it  is  rendered  beyond  a  doubt  by  Dr.  Rufli,  that  inflammation 
frequently  accompanies  this  difeafe.    See  Med.  Inq.  and  Obf.  vol.  ii. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


countenance  pale,  the  lips  livid,  skin  cold,  and  ether  symptom* 
of  debility  are  present.  (1\  189.) 

The  t  vperience  of  others  is  directly  opposed.    Dr.  Rush  says 
he  is  satisfied,  that  in  atonic  dropsies,  digitalis  is  not  only  a  uselesj 
hut  dangerous  remedy.    Dr.  VV.  Curne,*  of  Che-cer,  Great* 
Britain,  is  ot  the  same  opinion.    Dr.  Ferriar  found  it  to  fail  in  se- 
veral cases  accompanied  by  the  state  described  by  Dr.  Withering, 
es  favourable  for  its  operation.    (i\  361,  Med.  Hist,  and  Reflect.) 
One  patient  was  affected  with  gangrene  in  his  feet,  and  was  70 
years  old.    My, own  experience  coincides  with  that  of  the  two  lat- 
ter, having  seen  it  do  essential  injury  in  several  cas^sof  dropsy  of 
the  atonic  kind,  by  increasing  the  debility  already  existing,  to  an 
alarming  degree.    In  one  old  man,  with  ascites,  the  pulse  was  rer 
duced  to  40  in  a  minute,  and  it  otherwise  much  deranged  his  sys- 
tem.   To  account  for  the  success  of  this  remedy  in  dropsies,  and 
other  diseases  of  too  much  action  in  the  arterial  system,  is  readily 
done.    But  to  reconcile  the  opposite  testimony  of  Dr.  Withering 
and  others,  with  respect  to  iiieir  diiferent  success  in  dropsies  of 
too  littie  action,  is  very  difficult:  nay,  to  reconcile  the  contrary  ad- 
vice of  Dr.  Withering  himself,  who  recommends  the  digitalis  in 
mania  and  haamopttie,  "  with  a  bound'mg  pulse,"  and  in  dropsies 
with  a  wok  one,  is  impossible.    And  here  I  may  repeat  a  remark 
I  formerly  made,  viz.  *'  that  a  medicine  whose  primary  operation 
"  is  the  reduction  of  the  force  of  the  arterial  system,  when  this  is  sq 
"  intimately  connected  withthegeneral  strength  of  the  body,  shoulcj 
"  only  succeed  in  those  cases  where  the  latter  is  considerably  ex- 
"  hausted,  appeal's  not  only  to  be  paradoxical,  but  ill-agrees  witn  the 
u  uniformjtv  observed  in  the  operations  of  nature,  in  other  parts  of 
u  the  anim.il  occonomy."f    It  is  incumbent  upon  Dr.  Withering 
to  account  for  this  apparent  opposition  in  his  own  sentiments,  and 
to  satisfy  the  doubts  of  physicians,  arising  from  the  action  of  the 
remedy  being  directly  contrary  to  the  principles  upon  which  alone 
certain  dropsies  can  be  cured.  I  may  also  remark,  that  it  is  much 
to  be  wished  physicians  were  more  accurate  in  noting  the  state  of 
their  patients  systems,  at  the  tin>e  of  prescribing  this  and  other  re- 
medies; and  also  the  force  of  the  pulse  at  the  same  time,  with  its 
frequency;  which,  though  so  constantly  stated,  is  of  far  less  conse- 
o^ience  in  determining  the  situation  of  the  system,  as  to  the 
important  point  of  the  existence  or  absence  of  inflammatory 
disposition,  than  the  former.    We  shouid  thus  arrive,  with  more 
certainty,  at  the  true  virtues  of  a  medicine,  and  be  able  to  recon- 
cile the  contradictory  accounts  of  physicians  respecting  its  utility 
in  the  same  disease. 

1  *  Mem.  Med.  Soc.  Lond.  Vol.  iv.  p.  II. 
f  Obs.  on  the  Weather  and  Dif.  for  0&.  1791.  See  American  Mufeuw- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  inattention  of  physicians  in  the  exhibition  of  digitalis,  to 
the  rules  prescribed  by  Dr.  Withering,  has  not  escaped  hi->  notice, 
appears  by  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  him  to  D/.  Wood- 
ville,  and  published  in  the  M  M;dical  Botany"  of  the  latter.  "  Un- 
"  der  my  own  management,  under  that  ot  the  medical  practirion- 
"  ers  in  this  part  of  England,  and,  I  may  add  also,  in  the  hands  of 
"  some  worthy  and  respectable  clergymen  in  village  situations,  it 
"  continues  to  be  the  most  certain,  and  least  offensive  diuretic  we 
"  know,  in  such  cases,-  and  in  sucn  constitutions  as  I  have  advis- 
**  ed  its  exhibition.  I  have  also  the  satisfaction  to  find,  by  letters 
"  from  some  of  the  most  eminent  physicians  in  different  park* 
"  of  England,  that  it  is  equally  useful  and  safe  in  their  hand-:.. 
"  But  I  complain  of  the  treatment  ttiis  medicine  has  had  in  Lon- 
"  don.  Its  ill-success  there  cannot  be  altogether  o.ving  to  dif- 
"  ference  of  constitutions.  Dr.  Lettsom*  nas  related  his  unsuc- 
"  cessful  attempts  with  a  degree  of  courage  and  of  candour,  which; 
"  do  the  highest  honour  to  his  integrity;  but  no  one  can  compare; 
"  his  choice  of  patients  w  ith  my  declarations  ot  the  fit  and  the  un- 
"  fit,  or  the  doses  prescribed,  and  the  perseverance  he  enjoined, 
"with  my  rules  and  camions,  without  being  astonished  that  ha 
*'  could  suppose  he  had  been  giving  this  me;licine  '  in  the  man- 
<;  ner  prescribed  by  me.'  I  am-  fully  satisfied  that  had  I  pre- 
"  scribed  it  in  such  cases,  such  forms,  such  doses,  and  such  repe- 
"  titions  as  he  has  done,  the  effects  would,  in  my  hands,  have  been 
"  equally  useless,  and  equally  deleterious;  I  must,  therefore,  sup- 
"  pose,  that  he  had  forgotten  what  I  had  written,  wiihout  being 
"  conscious  that  his  memory  had  deceived  him.  Had  it  been 
"  otherwise,  after  perusing  the  cases  I  had  published,  at  p.  xx„ 
"  and  51,  of  my  account,  he  would  hardly  have  thought  it  ne- 
"  cessary  to  have  published  more  instances  of  w  hat  I  had  stig- 
"  matized  as  bad  practice,  or  to  have  sought  for  further  proofs, 
"  that  an  active  and  useful  medicine  might  be  employed,  so  as  to 
'l  prove  deleterious  poison." 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  add  some  cautions  and  observations 
upon  the  use  of  digitalis,  not  mentioned  in  the  above  paper,  for 
the  information  of  those  who  may  not  have  seen  Dr.  Withering's 
work,  and  may  wish  to  exhibit  the. medicine. 

The  Doctor  desires  the  medicine  to  be  given  in  the  doses,  and 
at  the  intervals  mentioned  above,  and  to  be  continued  until  it  either 
icts  on  the  kidneys  or  stomach,  pulse  or  bowek:  to  be  stopped 
jpon  the  first  appearance  of  any  of  these  effects;  the  patient  to  drink 
/cry  freely  during  its  operation. 

In  case  of  ascites  and  anasarca,  when  the  patient  is  weak,  and 
he  evacuation  of  the  water  rapid,  the  use  of  a  proper  bandage  is 

*  Memoirs  Med.  Soc.  Lond.  Vol.  ii. 


160  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

indispensibly  necessary.  If  the  water  should  not  be  wholly  eva- 
cuated, it  is  best  to  allow  an  interval  of  several  days  before  the  me- 
dicine be  repeated,  in  order  that  food  and  tonics  may  be  exhibited. 

The  flow  of  urine  will  often  precede,  sometimes  accompany, 
and  frequently  follow,  the  sickness  at  stomach,  at  the  distance  of 
some  days,  and  not  unfrequently  be  checked  by  it,  especially  if 
given  in  too  large  doses.  The  sickness  will  sometimes  cease,  and 
recur  again  as  violent  as  before,  and  will  continue  to  recur  for 
three  or  four  days  at  more  distant  intervals.  These  sufferings  arc 
not  necessary,  and  are  no  objection  to  the  use  of  digitalis,  neither 
is  a  stone  in  the  bladder. 


(    i6i  ) 


ARTICLE  II. 


OBSERVATIONS  UPON  THE  BAD  EFFECTS  SOME- 
TIMES PRODUCED  BY  EATING  PHEASANTS.* 

By  James  Mease,  M.  D.  Resident  Physician  of  the  Port  of 
Philadelphia* 

IN  the  month  of  February,  1791,  several  persons  in  Philadel- 
phia were  seized,  in  about  three  hours  after  dining  upon  phea- 
sants, with  giddiness,  violent  flushing  of  heat  and  cold  in  the  face 
and  head,  sickness  at  stomach,  and  repeated  vomiting.  These 
symptoms  were  soon  succeeded  by  delirium,  weak  pulse,  and  the 
greatest  debility,  which  threatened  approaching  death.  Some 
cases  were  marked  by  the  preservation  of  the  senses,  but  a  total 
inability  to  articulate.  By  plentiful  draughts  of  warm  water,  or 
chamomile  tea,  the  vomiting  was  promoted,  and  the  offensive 
matters  discharged.  Gentle  stimulants  and  cordials,  as  wine 
whey,  volatile  salts,  and  liquid  laudanum,  were  afterwards  exhi- 
bited, and  most  commonly  with  success.  In  some  cases,  however, 
the  event  was  not  so  fortunate;  from  the  co-operation  of  other 
causes,  the  attack  was  more  violent,  and  either  death,  or  a  pro- 
tracted recovery,  ensued. 

The  late  George  Bryan,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court 
of  Pennsylvania,  dined,  with  Mrs.  Bryan,  upon  roasted  pheasants; 
and  after  walking  out  two  squares,  called  at  the  house  of  a  friend, 
where  he  drank  a  draught  of  cyder.  He  was  soon  afterwards 
informed  of  the  sudden  indisposition  of  Mrs.  Bryan,  and  ran  home 
in  great  haste.  Being  upwards  of  60  years  old,  short,  and  of  a 
clumsy  built,  the  exertion  to  his  system  was  immense  ;  and  he 
had  no  sooner  arrived  home,  and  beheld  Mrs.  Bryan  in  the  alarm- 
ing situation  described,  than  he  fell  upon  the  floor,  apparently  in 
an  apoplectic  state,  which,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  proved 
fatal.   Mrs.  Bryan,  after  being  very  ill,  recovered. 

The  same  day,  an  old  lady,  Mrs.  G.  also  dined  upon  roasted 
pheasant;  her  negro  woman  also,  advanced  in  life,  eat  part  of  the 
same  bird,  and  as  in  the  case  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bryan,  no  other 
animal  food  was  eaten.  In  about  four  hours  after  I  was  called 
to  their  assistance,  and  found  them  both  labouring  under  the  above 
symptoms:  both  recovered  by  plentiful  dilution  and  gentle  tor- 
dials. 


*  Tttrao  GifMofLitt.  This  is  the  partridge  of  New-England. 
Vol.  I.  No.  2.  C 


t6z 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Another  instance  of  the  bad  effects  produced  by  eating  those  birds 
fell  under  my  notice  in  April,  1 792,  in  a  gentleman  aged  62 ;  who 
had,tora  long  time,  been  subject  to  tiie  gout;  but,  for  some  months 
before,  was  particularly  affected  with  it  in  his  breast,  causing  the 
trouoiesome  symptom,  Angina  Pefloris.  Having  somewhat  reco- 
vered from  the  violence  of  the  disease,  he  was-  tempted  to  gra- 
tify a  returning  appetite,  by  dining  upon  a  pheasant.  His  meal 
consisted  almost  intirely  of  the  back,  except  a  small  proportion 
of  bread.  In  about  four  hours  after,  while  sitting  in  his  arm 
chair,  he  was  seized  with  a  faultering  voice,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
was  intirely  deprived  of  the  power  of  utterance,  though  he  was 
sensible  of  his  situation,  and  had  a  great  inclination  to  speak.  A 
gentleman  in  company  with  him  at  the  time,  perceiving  his  alarm- 
ing situation,  dispatched  a  messenger  for  Dr.  Rush,  his  family 
physician,  who  arrived  in  a  short  time,  and  found  him  apparently 
in  the  agony  of  approaching  dissolution.  His  pulse  could  scarcely 
be  felt:  he,  nevertheless,  took  about  12  ounces  of  blood  from  his 
arm  immediately,  and  with  the  most  sensible  good  effects:  for, 
during  the  flowing  of  the  blood*  he  exclaimed,  "  I  am  better." 
An  emetic  was  afterwards  administered,  and  I  arrived  during  its 
operation.  He  discharged  the  remains  of  his  meal,  which  by  rea- 
son of  the  slow  and  feeble  action  of  the  stomach  was  but  half 
digested.  An  anodyne  was  afterwards  exhibited,  which  produced 
a  calm,  refreshing  sleep;  a  blister  was  also  applied  to  the  breast  to 
relieve  the  difficulty  of  breathing,  under  which  he  laboured  from 
his  old  complaint,  and  was  now  rendered  more  severe  by  the  irri- 
tation of  his  meal.  During  the  night  he  slept  tolerably  well;  but 
I  was  frequently  alarmed  by  interruptions  in  his  breathing,  and  by 
the  irregularity  and  interruption  of  his  pulse.  He  soon  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  the  pheasant ;  but  his  old  complaint  harrassed 
him  to  the  last. 

These,  and  several  similar  cases,  are  the  foundation  of  my  opinion 
of  the  occasional  poisonous  quality  of  pheasants;  and,  in  order  to 
account  for  their  bad  effects,  I  would  observe,  that  in  the  winter, 
and  early  in  the  spring,  these  birds  live  chiefly  upon  buds  of 
trees,  and  particularly  upon  those  of  the  laurel,*  which  is  one  of 
the  few  shrubs  that  preserves  its  verdure  throughout  the  winter, 
and,  from  many  melancholy  proofs,  is  known  to  be  highly  poison- 
ous. It  is  not  improbable,  therefore,  that  the  noxious  quality  of 
the  laurel  may  have  been  communicated  sufficiently  strong  to  the 
pheasants  to  produce  the  effects  described.  Some  of  the  faculty, 
who  heard  of  the  above  cases,  accounted  for  the  symptoms,  by  sup- 
posing that  the  juice  of  the  laurel,  extracted  by  the  bird,  had  been 
mixed  with  the  sauce  from  the  carelessness  of  the  cook  in  opening 


*  Kelmia  latlfolia,  Lin.  Sometimes  called  the  Jhruh  ivj. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


die  craw;  but  this  could  not  be  the  case  in  the  last  instance,  for 
the  craw  of  the  bird  was  carefully  examined  after  the  accident, 
with  a  view  of  ascertaining  the  fact,  and  was  found  intire,  with  its 
contents  preserved.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  craws  of  the 
pheasants  upon  which  the  persons  dined  who  are  mentioned  above, 
were  also  examined,  but  the  single  fact  is  sufficient  to  prove  that 
the  opinion  advanced  is  false.  Neither  do  I  apprehend  any  ne- 
cessity exists,  to  have  recourse  to  the  supposition,  to  account  for  the 
bad  effects  of  these  birds.  We  have  a  number  of  similar  facts 
to  prove,  that  not  only  the  flavour,  but  the  quality  of  certain 
plants,  and  even  minerals,  may  be  communicated  to  the  flesh  of 
different  animals  feeding  upon  them.  Fishes,  it  is  well  known  in 
the  West-Indies,  are  sometimes  highly  poisonous,  although  in  the 
taste  or  smell  there  may  be  nothing  indicative  of  a  noxious  qua- 
lity; and  so  powerful  is  the  poison,  that  a  gentleman  informed  me 
he  has  seen  a  person  at  dinner  fall  off  his  chair  and  expire,  in  St. 
Domingo,  two  minutes  after  having  swallowed  a  morsel  of  a  yel- 
low sprat.*  Hence  the  common  practice  of  putting  a  silver 
spoon  or  coin  into  the  pot  in  which  the  fish  is  boiled,  that  a  judg- 
ment may  be  formed  of  the  safety  or  danger  of  eating  them  by 
the  permanency  or  change  of  colour  in  the  silver.  The  London 
mutton  is  known  to  taste  strong  of  turnips,  with  which  the  sheep 
prepared  for  market  are  chiefly  fed.  Dr.  Rush  informed  me, 
that  when  at  the  college  of  Princeton,  almost  the  whole  of  the 
students  were  severely  purged  by  dining  on  wild  pigeons,  which 
had  fed  upon  the  berries  of  phytolacca,  or  poke. 

But  it  has  actually  been  asked,  if  the  bad  effects  observed  from 
the  pheasants  are  produced  by  the  impregnation  of  their  flesh  with 
the  laurel,  why  does  it  not  also  poison  these  birds?  This  ques- 
tion can  easily  be  answered  by  referring  the  fact  to  a  law  which 
appears  to  be  established  through  the  scale  of  animal  creation,  by 
which  certain  articles  of  food  are  intended  for  the  support  of 
particular  animals,  while,  to  others,  they  may  be  highly  injurious. 
Every  one  acquainted  in  the  least  with  natural  history,  will  recol- 
lect instances  of  the  truth  of  this.  The  example  of  the  fish  will  be 
immediately  referred  to  as  direct;  and,  I  may  add,  the  horse  is 
killed  by  eating  hemlock,  which  affords  a  very  agreeable  nourish- 
ment to  the  hog:  although,  therefore,  the  laurel  produced  no  bad 
effect  upon  the  pheasants,  yet  the  instances  above  related  are  decided 
proofs  of  the  bad  consequences  from  eating  these  birds.  The  same 

*  The  poifonous  effeds  of  thefe  fifties  are  attributed  to  their  feeding  upon 
copper  banks,  in  the  Weft-Tndies.  Dr.  Goldfmith  (Animated  Nat.  Art. 
fifh)  notices  the  fa«5t,and  this  theory;  but  difbelieves  it,  as.he  fays,he  knows 
of  no  copper  mines  in  America.  Had  he  lived,  however,  a  few  years  longer, 
he  would  have  found  that  they  abounded  in  America,  and  were  actually 
worked  at  the  time  he  declares  his  ignorance  of  their  cxiftenee. 


164 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


peculiarity,  with  respect  to  certain  articles  of  diet,  prevails  among 
men.  Many  substances  are  deemed  delicious  by  some,  which,  ta 
others,  are  both  disagreeable  and  hurtful:  the  almond,  for  instance, 
is  commonly  esteemed  a  pleasant  fruit,  but  there  are  some  who 
will  be  thrown  into  fever,  attended  by  universal  eruption,  by 
eating  a  single  one  not  deprived  of  its  husk. 

It  is  true  that  pheasants  are  often  eaten  with  impunity,  and  I  never 
eat  more  of  them  than  during  the  very  season  when  the  above  in- 
stances occurred  of  their  bad  effects.  But  I  imagine  that  the  circum-. 
stances  under  which  they  are  commonly  used,  tend  to  diminish  their 
hurtful  properties:  For,  1.  From  their  great  delicacy,  they,  in  ge- 
neral, form  only  a  part  ot  our  meals,  and  are  mixed  with  a  large  pro- 
portion of  other  articles  of  food,  previously  taken  in,  and  which  con- 
stitute the  solid  part  of  our  repast.  The  part  of  the  pheasant  eaten 
is  thereby  involved  in  such  a  manner  as  prevents  the  direct  appli- 
cation of  it  to  the  coats  of  the  stomach,  and,  consequently,  from 
producing  the  bad  effects  that  followed  their  use  in  the  above  cases. 
The  wine  and  other  stimulating  and  diluting  liquors  taken  in, 
tend  likewise  to  counteract  and  weaken  the  effects  that  might 
otherwise  be  produced;  but  in  the  cases  I  have  related,  nothing 
else  was  eaten  except  a  trifling  proportion  of  bread,  and  nothing 
drank  but  a  glass  of  small  beer:  the  noxious  quality  of  these  birds, 
had  thus  a  greater  opportunity  of  being  exerted,  by  being  dire&ly 
applied  to  the  stomach,  and  having  nothing  to  counteract  it. 

a.  Another  circumstance  tending  to  increase  the  noxious  quality 
of  the  pheasants,  was  the  lateness  of  the  season  in  which  they 
were  eaten,  when  the  laurel  had  begun  to  vegetate,  and,  conse- 
quently, to  acquire  a  greater  degree,  of  activity  than  during  the 
intensity  of  the  winter,  when  its  powers  are  weakened  by  the  con-; 
centration  of  the  sap  in  the  root.  This  cause  operated  particularly 
in  the  last  case. 

These  facts  are  fully  sufficient  to  shew,  that  though  the  pheasant 
has  commonly  been  esteemed  an  harmless  bird,  they  ought  to  be 
eaten  with  caution;  and  suggest  the  propriety  of  a  rule  in  pre- 
scribing them  as  an  article  of  diet :  for,  as  they  are  generally 
esteemed  a  great  delicacy,  and  very  light  food,  they  may  be  wished 
for  by  convalescents;  and,  as  their  stomachs  are  in  too  highly 
excitable  state  to  take  wine  or  any  other  food  to  counteract  their 
bad  quality,  it  will  be  right  to  debar  them  from  these  birds,  and 
to  substitute  in  their  place  other  articles  of  a  less  suspicious  na-r 
ture,  and  of  easy  digestion,  as  rabbit,  partridge,  or  chicken. 


(    '65  ) 


article  nr. 


OBSERVATIONS  UPON  THE  YELLOW  FEVER,  AND 
ITS  PROXIMATE  CAUSE. 

In  a  Letter  from  Dr.  Geokge  Davidson,  dated  Fort- Royal,  Mar- 
tinique, Se/it.  20,  1796,  to  James  Mease,  M.  D.  Resident  Phy- 
sician of  tke  Port  of  Philadelphia. 

THE  Yellcv  Fever  has  again  made  its  appearance  here,  in  a 
more  violent  degree  than  I  ever  recollect  seeing  it.  The 
rainy  season,  which,  in  common,  sets  in  about  the  first  week  in 
May,  did  not  make  its  appearance  until  the  month  of  July.  June 
proved  a  very  agreeable  month;  towards  the  latter  end  we  had  re- 
markable sultry  weather.  The  thermometer, in  the  shade,  stood  lor 
several  days  at  90  deg.  at  two  P.  M.  Tnis  proved  a  prelude  to 
the  appearance  of  the  disease.  I  have  no  doubt  when  the  mer- 
cury stands  at  86  deg.  or  above  it,  for  several  days,  the  weather  be- 
ing at  the  same  time  calm,  that  exhalations  from  swamps,  and  mi- 
asmata from  putrid  vegetable  and  animal  matter, chiefly  are  capable 
of  producing  the  disease;  that,  at  the  same  time,  it  may  be  propa- 
gated by  contagion,  the  heat  and  putrefaction  still  operating:  ac- 
cordingly I  found,  that  in  several  of  the  ordnance  ships,  which  had 
arrived  from  St,  Vincent  and  Grenada,  after  the  partial  reduction 
of  those  islands,  having  the  disease  on  board,  soon  propagated  it 
to  the  other  ships,  along  side  of  which  they  were  laid  up  during 
the  hurricane  months  in  the  Carenage,  a  secure  but  unhealthy 
part  of  the  bay  of  Fort-Royal;  surrounded  on  every  side  by 
swamps,  a:;d  a  nasty  beach,  rendered  still  more  so  by  the  want  of 
a  certain  conveniency  unknown  in  a  French  island.  The  disease 
spread  rapidly  during  the  months  of  July  and  August,  and  was 
pnly  checked  by  the  plentiful  rains  which  fell  towards  the  latter 
end  of  August  and  beginning  of  September. 

To  the  history  of  the  disease  I  have  little  new  to  add.  The 
symptoms  at  the  beginning  were  more  violent  and  more  distressing 
than  in  former  years.  The  pains  were  not  confined  to  the  head, 
loins  and  calves  of  the  legs,  but  were  general,  particularly  from 
the  knees  to  the  lower  extremities,  and  from  the  elbows  to  the 
wrists,  lor  several  hours  preceding  the  attack.  A  pain,  confined 
to  the  foreheads  and  soeketts  of  the  eyes,  dimness  of  sight,  faint- 
ness  and  syncope,  generally  ushered  in  the  attack:  these  were  soon 
followed  by  a  burning  heat  over  the  whole  body,  sickness  at  sto- 
mach, pain  under  the  right  breast,  shifting  to  the  left,  anxiety  and 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


uneasiness  in  every  posture.  The  belly  was  in  general  costive; 
the  tongue,  throughout  the  whole  disease,  generally  much  covered 
with  a  slight  brown  scurf.  In  some  fatal  cases  I  have  observed  a 
singular  appearance,  a  jaggedness  tow  ards  the  edges,  and  a  deep 
furrow  in  the  centre,  the  tongue  at  the  same  time  moist.  The 
pulse  u  as  seldom  full  in  the  commencement,  but  irregular,  and  fre- 
quently intermitting;  in  many  cases  and  those  the  most  dangerous, 
it  did  not  exceed  in  lrequency  nor  strength  the  natural  state.  The 
urine  was  high  coloured  and  spare,  and  sometimes  a  suppression 
took  place.  Bloody  urine  was  a  fatal  symptom.  Deafness,  when  it 
happened  early,  was  always  a  fatal  symptom,  but,  toward  the  end, 
favourable.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  no  biie  is  ever  thrown 
up  or  down.  The  biliary  duels  appear  to  be  spasmodically  af- 
fected. 

I  have  met  with  several  cases  of  bubos,  so  called,  both  in  thtf 
groin  and  arm-pits.  Anthraces  and  carbuncles  I  have  seen  in  fouF 
or  five  cases.  The  carpenter  of  the  ship  John,  of  Pniladelphia, 
had  one  on  his  elbow,  which  discharged  several  quarts  of  blood, 
under  which  he  sunk:  two  more  appeared  upon  the  ancle  and 
instep  of  the  same  toot:  the  haemorrhage  could  only  be  restrained 
by  the  application  of  pledgits  of  vitriolic  acid  and  water. 

Several  of  my  medical  friends  have  prosecuted  dissections  at  the 
hospital:  from  these,  and  my  own  observations,  I  am  clearly  of 
opinion,  that  the  brain  is  the  principal  organ  affected,  and  that  the 
otper  affections  are  merely  symptomatic.  Wherever  other  ap- 
pearances were  met  with,  they  might  perhaps  be  traced  to  some 
prev  ious  labes  of  the  constitution,  which  determined  the  disease  to 
exert  its  effects  upon  that  weakened  organ. 

1  am  only  sorry  to  observe,  that  this  disease  often  attacked  with 
such  violence  as  baffled  every  attempt.  The  inflammatory  stage 
was  but  of  short  duration,  and  the  symptoms  of  exha  sted  ner- 
vous energy  so  soon  appeared,  that  we  were  afraid  to  use  the  lan- 
cet. The  few  cases  in  which  I  tried  it,  did  not  succeed.  Of  the 
cold  bath  used  in  the  early  stage  of  the  disease,  before  the  consti- 
tution was  materially  affected,  or  a  particular  determination  had 
taken  place,  I  have  a  high  opinion.  I  have  mentioned  the  circum- 
stances in  which  I  found  it  useful  to  Dr.  Rush  in  1794.  I  have 
lately  tried  it  in  a  protracted  case  with  great  success.  The  calomel, 
though  it  sometimes  failed,  upon  the  whole,  succeeds  best.  I 
generally  gave  in  the  beginning  the  solution  of  vitr'wlateJ magnesia^ 
joined  to  half  a  grain  tartarized  antimony,  taken  par  reprise.  It 
seldom  vomited  above  thrice,  and  purged  the  patient  plentifully. 
There  was  generally  a  torpor  of  the  lymphatic  system,  which  pre- 
vented the  action  of  the  mercury.  We  were  obliged  to  give  it  in 
large  doses  before  a  salivation  could  be  exerted.  Dr.  Chisholm, 
the  ingenious  author  of  the  treatise  upon  the  Yellow  Fever  of  Gre- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  167 


riada,  now  surgeon-general  of  the  ordnance,  has  been  with  us  here 
some  weeks,  and  we  have  attended  several  patients  together.  At 
his  request  I  have  tried  tne  mercurius  calcinatus,  in  doses  of  two 
grains,  joined  to  one  of  opium.  It  has  succeeded  in  three  cases 
within  ten  hours,  in  one  case  a  salivation  was  excited,  and  the 
patient  was  out  of  danger,  as  I  have  in  every  case  observed. 
Purging,  though  it  relieved  in  the  beginning,  did  not  contribute 
to  the  cure:  the  mercury  seemed  to  aft  by  exciting  a  different 
action  intirely,  and  I  was  obliged  to  add  opium,  to  prevent  it  going 
off  by  the  bowels.  Vomiting,  and  the  train  of  symptoms  con- 
nected with  it,  was  best  relieved  by  the  vitriolic  sther,  blistering 
the  stomach  and  purging.  I  was  told  of  one  case  of  recovery  at 
St.Lucia,  from  the  black  vomit,  by  the  patient  drinking  a  quantity 
of  sallad  oil  and  pickle.  The  head-ach  was  relieved  frequently  by 
applying  cloths  wet  in  the  solution  of  muriated  ammonia  to  the 
head  previously  shaved.  It  excited  the  mercurial  action  upon  the 
salivary  glands  in  one  case  very  suddenly. 

I  have  already  mentioned  my  experiments*  upon  the  compo- 
sition of  atmospheric  air,  which  I  have  frequently  repeated  in 
presence  of  the  late  Dr.  Charles  Webster,  of  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Saun- 
derson,  of  London,  and  Dr.  Chisholm.  I  found  an  absorption  of 
from  67  to  70  parts  in  the  100:  a  proportion  of  oxygenous  gas 
more  than  double  what  is  observed  in  Europe.  It  may,  perhaps, 
serve  to  explain  the  proximate  cause  of  fever  in  general,  and  of 
this  in  particular.  Permit  me  to  give  you  my  sentiments  upon  the 
subject.  I  have  to  apologize  for  the  haste  in  which  I  write,  and 
the  want  of  the  ornaments  of  composition  to  render  the  subject 

*  Thefe  were  communicated  in  a  former  letter,  dated  Aug.  22,  1 795* 
**  May  23.  lat.  34  deg.  30  m.  long.  64  deg.  wind  W.  moderate,  fair ;  therm.  69 
"  at  noon:  one  meafure  of  nitrous  air,  and  one  of  atmofpheric;  there  re- 
"  mained  I.  54. — May  27,  lat.  29  deg.  50  m.  long.  60  deg.  wind  N.  N.  E. 
"  moderate,  clear  and  fair;  therm.  74.  mixture  of  nitrous  and  atmofpheric 
"  airs  2, remained  1.  50, or  half  abforbed. — Lat.  23  deg.long.58  deg.  therm. 
"  78  fame.  June  20,  Trinidad;  lat.  10  deg.  20  m.  long.  62  deg.  one  mea* 
u  fure  of  nitrous  and  one  of  atmofpheric  air  mixed,  left  only  1.  34.  There 
"  was  of  courfe  66  abforbed.  I  was  aftonifhed  to  find  this  refult.  The 
"  thermometer  was  at  87,  or  nearly  fo,  three  different  days  on  which  this 
"  experiment  was  made.  Not  having  Dr.  Prieftley's  obf.  with  me  I  cannot 
"  fay  what  proportion  of  nitrogene  gas  itfelf  might  have  been  abforbed: 
"  the  abforption,  however,  was  inftantaneous:  the  water  had  not  time  to 
r  act  upon  the  gafes.  This  much  is  certain,  that  we  have  it  now  in  our 
"  power  to  account  for  the  rufting  of  mdtals,  fermentation  and  putrefac- 
"  tion,  from  the  greater  proportion  of  oxygene  in  the  air.  The  production 
"  °f  hydrogene  gas  from  the  diffolution  and  putrefaction  of  animal  and  ve- 
*'  getable  fubftances,  no  doubt  is  chiefly  accelerated  by  heat  and  moifture, 
"  and  heat  alfo  enables  the  atmofpheric  air  to  fufpcnd  the  muriate  of  foda 
K  taken  up  by  evaporation  from  the  fea,  which  has  alfo  its  (hare  in  the  pro- 
"  dudion  of  ruft." 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


more  interesting.  We  must  premise,  however,  that  the  whole  it 
nothing  morto  than  a  probable  guess;  but  I  may  lead  others  to  in* 
vestigate  the  subject,  who  are  possessed  of  more  abilities  and  lei* 
sure. 

A  question  here  occurs,  whv  is  the  Yellow  Fever  so  fatal  to 
Europeans  just  arrived,  or  people  from  cold  climates;  those  of 
a  robust  habit  of  body  and  prime  of  life?  Dr.  Rush,  in  a  con- 
versation with  me,  supposed  the  blood  of  Europeans,  newly  arrived, 
was  more  highly  oxygenated.  I  will  rather  make  another  suppo- 
sition. Europeans,  newly  arrived  from  cold  climates,  have  a  firmer 
texture  of  fibres,  cold  tending  to  brace  and  invigorate  the  body. 
Exercise  in  cold  air  braces  and  constringes  the  surface,  and  re- 
markably increases  the  appetite  and  digestive  powers;  beside  this 
connection  between  the  stomach  and  surface,  a  remarkable  con- 
nvx'tion  subsists  between  the  stomach  and  lungs.  Whatever  tends 
to  brace  the  former  increases  the  action  of  tlie  lungs,  a  greater 
quantity  or  atmospheric  air  is  taken  in,  and  a  greater  proportion 
of  oxygene  is  fixed ;  hence  the  vigour  iniused  over  the  whole  sys- 
tem; and  hence  the  vigour  and  energy  that  so  suddenly  follows 
a  lull  meal  upon  animal  food,  and  a  few  glasses  of  generous  wine. 
As  the  atmospheric  air  of  Europe  contains  but  a  small  proportion, 
comparatively,  of  oxygene  gas,  the  quantity  taken  in  and  fixed 
bears  some  proportion  to  the  necessities  ot  the  system,  and  the 
balance  is  preserved;  but  in  this  climate,  while  the  powers  of  vigo- 
rous digestion,  and  the  proportional  action  of  the  lungs  still  remain 
unimpaired,  a  much  greater  quantity  of  oxygene  is  inspired  and 
fixed  in  the  blood,  the  irritability  will  be  increased,  and  the  system 
hyperoxygenatgd ;  hence  the  predisposition  to  fever  is  formed.  In 
this  clirnatej  with  Creoles,  or  those  long  settled  in  the  country,  de- 
bilitated by  residence  under  a  vertical  sun,  the  powers  of  digestion^ 
znd  the  necessary  connection  between  the  stomach  and  lungs, 
prevent  a  greater  assimilation  of  oxygene  than  is  consistent  with 
health;  the  pores  of  the  skin  are  pervious,  and  the  caioric  general-" 
*d  is  carried  off  by  perspiration;  possessed  of  a  less  firm  texture  of 
fibres  than  Europeans,  they  are  not  so  much  disposed  to  surfer  from 
disease.  No  disease,  how  ever,  from  this  predisposition  will  follow  j 
unless  some  exciting  cause  combines,  as  the  system  will  gradually 
accommodate  itself  to  climate;  the  habit,  enervated  by  constant 
heat,  will  no  longer  preserve  its  vigour,  and  no  more  of  the 
oxygenous  principle  will  be  fixed  than  what  is  consistent  with 
health,  or  the  wants  of  the  ceconomy. 

It  is  possible,  in  this  climate,  to  preserve  a  degree  of  health  un- 
known in  the  variable  climates  of  North-America  and  Europe; 
and,  accordingly,  we  find  in  the  healtny  islands  of  St.  Kitts,  St. 
Vincents,  and  ILrbadoes,  soldiers  arrived  from  Europe,  have  re- 
mained there  lor  years,  and  enjoyed  a  degree  of  health  unknown 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


169 


in  srsy  other  part  of  the  world,  notwithstanding  their  debaucheries. 
Wherever  tne  barracks  are  in  an  airy  situation,  and  not  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  swamps,  and  the  soii  of  the  country  around  is 
loose  and  sandy,  permitting  the  rain,  as  it  falls,  to  percolate  through, 
the  air  is  cooled  by  plentitul  rains,  and  is  rendered  more  grateful 
and  refreshing;  it  is  only  in  situations  where  water  stagnates,  and 
vegetable  putrefaction  goes  on,  and  hydrogenous  gas  is  extricated, 
that  the  disease  in  question  arises.  I  formerly  remarked  to  Dr. 
Rush,  before  I  had  formed  any  hypothesis  upon  the  predisposing 
and  exciting  causes  of  fevers,  that  upon  Berkshire-hill,  St.  Vin- 
cents, the  situation  of  the  fort  and  barracks  was  to  all  appearance 
healthy,  being  a  high  ridge,  surrounded  mostly  by  the  sea,  and 
\vithout  any  neighbouring  swamps;  but  experience  convinced  us 
to  the  contrary;  for  part  ol  the  66:h  regiment  removed  from  their 
healthy  situation  upon  an  opposite  hill,  about  half  a  mile  distance, 
lost  more  of  their  men  in  a  tew  months  than  the  whole  regiment 
had  lost  in  as  many  years.  It  is  necessary  to  remark,  that  this  hill 
or  ridge  ended  in  a  high  peak,  which  it  was  necessary  to  dig  down 
60  feet,  to  give  a  broad  base  to  construct  the  necessary  buildings 
for  defence;  and  two  different  volcanic  strata,  lava,  pyrites,  Sec. 
separated  by  loam  and  vegetable  earth,  were  cut  through;  the  rain 
falling  upon  this,  was  probably  decomposed,  and  hydrogene  or 
hepatic  gas  afforded.  I  mentioned  another  singular  circumstance 
to  Dr.  Rush,  respecting  the  6th  regiment  at  Barbadoes,  which  was 
stationed  at  Kings-hill,  a  short  distance  from  town,  at  the  end  of 
j 793,  during  the  prevalence  of  the  Yellow  Fever;  there  was  d 
pond  of  brackish  water  close  to  the  barracks,  and  after  the  fever 
had  ceased  sometime,  it  was  observed  that  the  men  were  apt  to  be 
seized  afresh  alter  slight  showers;  the  pond  was  covered  with  green 
moss  or  conservae,  and  it  struck  me,  that  the  rain,  in  falling,  broke 
the  crust,  and  allowed  the  noxious  vapour  to  escape. 

Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  1  conceive  that  hydrogene  gas  is 
the  exciting  or  proximate  cause  of  fever,  modified  possibly  by 
numberless  external  and  accidental  causes;  and,  in  particular,  by 
the  state  of  the  patient,  producing  the  variety  with  which  we  meet ; 
as  intermittents,  bilious  and  nervous  remittents,  dysenteries,  &c. 
Wherever  there  is  a  labes  in  the  constitution,  the  d'^ease,  like  a 
treacherous  enemy,  attacks  the  weakest  part;  and  even  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  disease,  if  one  part  has  suffered  more  than  the  rest,  it 
concentrates  its  whole  force  upon  that  part.  Hence,  where  there 
has  been  a  retention  of  acrid  faeces,  and  the  gazeous  oxyd  of  azote 
formed,  a  constriction  of  the  surface  of  the  body  by  cold  or  wet 
will  produce  dysentery;  and,  where  the  lungs  are  previously  wea- 
kened, the  disease  will  attack  that  organ,  especially  if  the  con- 
stitution of  the  air  favours  the  attack. 

1  will  proceed  a  step  still  further  in  supposition.  I  conjecture 
Vol.  I.  No.  2.  D 


*7«  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

that  the  hydrogenous  and  nervous  gas,  or  fluid, are  the  same:  pov 
sibly  we  may  hereafter  find  that  all  the  phenomena  of  electricity 
may  deptnd  upon  the  same  principle;  that  the  accumulation  of 
hydrogene  gas  in  the  constitution  may,  in  certain  conditions, 
produce  an  excitement  of  a  pleasant  nature,  is  probable  from  the, 
remarkable  flow  of  spirits  and  hilurity  of  temper,  which  sometimes 
usher  in  the  attack  of  the  Yellow  Fever.  I  suppose,  also,  that, 
like  the  elect  rical  fluid,  it  may  even  be  accumulated  in  the  system 
without  exerting  its  effects,  until  called  into  action  by  some  ex- 
citing cause,  whether  that  be  contagion,  the  gazeous  oxyd  of  azote, 
the  sudden  application  of  cold  to  the  body;  passions  ot  the  mind; 
bodily  or  mental  fatigue.  I  suppose  the  effects  of  its  accumula- 
tion, when  called  into  action,  are  principally  exerted  upon  the  sys- 
tem of  the  biain  and  nerves;  and  that  it  is  capable,  by  the  con- 
tinuance of  its  action,  to  produce  in  that  system  a  state  of  exhaus- 
tion of  the  nervous  influence;  and  a  waste  of  oxygene.  Hence,  a 
deficiency  of  irritability,  speedy  putrefaction  from  that  cause,  dis- 
solution of  the  fluids  and  death:  hence  those  diseases  where  the 
nervous  fluid  is  suddenly  pumped  out,  terminate  soonest  in  pu- 
trefaction; for  instance,  hydrophobia,  tetanus,  and  the  disease  in 
question.  Hence  we  might  also  expect  to  find  in  bodies  interred, 
the  conversion  into  fat  irom  their  being  deprived  of  oxygene; 
hence  also  we  may  account  for  the  sudden  state  of  obesity  after 
recovering  from  this  fever. 

To  preserve  bodies  from  sudden  putrefaction,  nothing  more 
would  appear  necessary  than  to  prevent  the  waste  of  the  nervous 
fluid ;  hence  the  practice  among  fishermen  of  knocking  on  the 
head  those  salmon  which  they  wish  to  crimp. 

I  have  read  Dr.  Mitchili's  ingenious  essay  upon  Gazeous  Oxyd 
of  Azote,  and  would  allow,  that  it  has  a  great  share,  as  a  powerful 
exciting  cause,  in  rendering  the  predisponent  and  proximate  causes 
of  fever  more  active;  but  to  its  being  the  principal  agent  I  have 
strong  objections.  From  the  observations  of  Dr.  Rusn  it  appear- 
ed, that  butchers,  and  those  that  lived  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
shambles,  scavengers,  grave-diggers,  and  others  of  similar  employ- 
ments, escaped  the  Yellow  Fever  in  Philadelphia;*  I  should  sup- 
pose that  those  people  would  have  been  more  exposed  to  the  gaze- 
ous oxyd  of  azote  than  any  other  class.  Among  sailors  fed  upon 
putrescent  animal  food  during  long  voyages,  we  may  suppose  a 
great  extrication  of  this  air  takes  place ;  and  yet  fever  is  never  pro- 
duced; but  a  disease  of  an  opposite  tendency,  viz.  scurvy,  marked 
by  torpor,  and  a  want  of  excitement.  From  all  the  observations 
I  have  been  able  to  make,  or  to  collect  from  the  writings  of 
authors  upon  this  subject,  it  strikes  me  that  vegetable  putrefaction 
has  a  greater  share  in  producing  the  disease  than  animal.  It  is  well 
*  See  Dr.  Rufh's  Account  of  the  Yellow  Fever,  pp.  101,  isz. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


known,  that  in  the  putrefaction  of  animal  substances,  a  much 
greater  proportion  of  the  gazeous  oxyd  of  azote  is  extricated  than 
in  vegetable  putrefaction;  was  Dr.  Mitchill's  hypothesis  well 
founded,  the  consequences  and  deductions  would  follow  contrary 
.to  our  observation. 

There  has  been  much  difference  of  opinion  among  physicians 
respecting  the  contagious  nature  of  the  Yellow  Fever.  Some  deny 
it  altogether,  and  others  assert  that  it  .is,  in  almost  .every  instance, 
propagated  by  contagion.  I  must  declare  I  have  known  the  dis- 
ease evidently  .propagated  in  this  way;  but,  in  many  instances  it 
could  not  be  traced :  I  have  known  three  cases  of  the  fever  brought 
-on  by  persons  bathing  in  the  sea  along  side  the  vessel,  some  dis- 
tance from  the  shore;  and  neglecting  to  dry  themselves  properly 
afterwards.  The  seminia  of  the  disease  were  here  present,  and 
like  the  electrical  jar  charged,  required  onjy  the  approach  of  a 
conductor.  Upon  this  view  of  the  proximate  cause,  the  plan  of 
prevention  may  be  easily  understood,  by  a  spare  ar.d  vegetable 
diet,  to  diminish  the  tone  and  vigour  of  the  system, and  of  2he  sto- 
mach and  lungs  in  particular,  thereby  preventing  the  accumula- 
tion of  oxygene  in  the  system,  and  avoiding  all  occasional  and  de- 
bilitating causes,  especially  during  the  prevalence  of  the  epidemic; 
as  debauchery,  night  air,  and  exposure  to  the  heat  of  the  sun;  by 
removing  from  the  vicinity  of  swamps;  by  an  open  belly;  and, 
lastly,  by  exchanging  a  Low  for  a  high  situation,  where  the  atmos- 
pheric air  has  less  oxygene,  and  a  greater  proportion  of  azote.  The 
use  of  the  warm  bath  may  prove  salutary  by  opening  the  pores  of 
■the  skin.  Much  might  be  done  in  preventing  the  accumulation 
of  theoxygenous  principle,  by  such  articles  of  regimen  or  medi- 
cines as  would  fix  it.  The  good  effects  of  carbone,  as  recommend- 
ed bv  my  fellow  student  Dr.  Oilier,  of  Geneva,  in  active  hae- 
morrhages, were  probably  owing  to  its  fixing  oxygene,  and  de- 
priving the  vascular  system  of  its  irritability. 

Are  we  to  look  for  the  salutary  effects  of  mercury  in  its  taking 
off  the  irritability  of  the  system,  and  preventing  the  expenditure 
■(if  I  may  say  so)  of  the  nervous  fluid?  or  in  its  taking  off  the  de- 
termination  to  the  brain,  removing  the  engorgement  of  that  viscus, 
and  preventing  effusion,  by  exciting  a  new  action  of  the  system? 

I  have, in  general,  remarked,  that  while  elevated  situations  prov- 
ed heukh  and  salutary  to  the  whites,  who  had  removed  there  for 
the  benefit  of  a  change  of  air,  it  was  far  otherwise  with  the  ne- 
groes, most  of  whom,  in  that  situation,  laboured  under  diseases  of 
the  stomach;  the  Cachexia  Africana,  or  Mai  d'Estomac,  a  disease 
arising  from  weaker  excitrment,  or  deficiency  of  oxygene  in  the 
blood.  This  is  a  proof,  among  many  others,  that  the  system, 
worn  out  by  fatigue,  low  living,  and  violent,  long-continued  heat, 
requires  a  purer  air,  surcharged  with  oxygene,  to  produce  the  nC: 
cessary  excitement  conducive  to  health. 


(    ffc  ) 


ARTICLE  IV. 


CASE  of  an  extraordinary  DISEASE,  in  a  CHILD,  ap- 
parently SCROPHULOUS. 

By  Phineas  H edges,  Physician  at  ~Newburgh. 

TN  October,  (791, 1  was  called  to  a  child,  aged  five  years,  whose 
J[  mother,  previous  to,  or  during  her  pregnancy  with  him,  had 
been  afflicted  with  a  cough,  and  other  symptoms  of  a  phthisis  pul- 
monalis. 

She,  however,  so  far  recovered  after  her  delivery  of  this  child, 
as  to  conceive  again,  of  which  also  she  was  delivered.  But  shortly 
after  her  phthisical  complaints  increased  with  violence,  and  put  an 
end  to  her  existence  in  the  year  1 791  -  The  child  of  which  she 
■was  last  delivered,  in  consequence  of  her  death,  was  put  to  a  dry 
nurse,  under  whose  care  it  lingered  until  it  was  nine  months  old. 
Previous  to  its  death,  large  scrophulous  tumors  arose  on  each  side 
of  its  neck,  of  a  very  hard  and  unusual  consistence:  but  what 
more  immediately  contributed  to  terminate  its  existence,  was  the 
pertussis,  or  hooping-cough,  which,  at  that  time,  was  very  rife  in 
the  country.  Although  emaciated  to  an  extreme  degree,  it  had,  at 
all  times,  a  most  vigorous  (or  rather  ravenous)  appetite.  The  per- 
tussis appeared  rather  to  be  an  auxiliary  than  the  proximate  cause 
of  its  death.  Its  constitution  was  radically  infirm;  and  its  infirmi- 
ties were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  they  proceeded 
from  the  mother.  The  emaciation  was  an  evidence  that  the  glands 
of  the  mesentery,  as  well  as  those  of  the  neck,  were  tumified 
so  as  to  prevent  the  absorption  of  the  chyle  by  the  lacteals.  I 
am  convinced,  that  both  this  child,  and  the  one  who  will  be  the 
subject  of  this  paper,  inherited  a  scrophulous  disposition  from 
their  mother.  We  might  here  inquire,  first,  how  tar  the  present 
notions  of  conception  coincide  with  the  notion  ot  hereditary  dis- 
eases. Secondly,  how  far  the  present  doctrine  of  conception  agrees 
■with  the  pathology  of  the  solids.  If  (as  it  is  asserted)  man  exists 
in  miniature  in  the  male  semen,  complete  in  all  his  parts,  how  can 
a  disease  of  the  mother  affect  the  child,  except  by  vitiating  the  flu- 
ids of  the  fcetus,  and  thereby  rendering  them  unfit  to  increase  and 
support  its  solids  ?  But  if  the  placenta  is  a  secreting  or  absorbing 
organ,  secreting  or  absorbing  the  more  fine  and  healthy  part  of  the 
blood,  sucH  a  consequence  is  not  to  be  expected.  It  is  asserted* 
that  the  fcetus  of  a  mother,  labouring  under  the  venereal  disease, 
is  never  contaminated  with  that  complaint,  except  it  come  (as  it 
must)  into  contact  with  the  diseased  parts  of  the  mother  in  time  of 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


173 


delivery.  I  shall  leave  these  points  to  be  settled  by  speculative  in- 
quiries, and  pass  on  to  the  subject  of  this  narrative. — The  child  to 
whom  I  was  called  had  been  observed  suddenly  to  halt  in  his  gait, 
his  abdomen  to  enlarge,  and  his  spine  to  become  crooked.  At 
first  I  supposed  it  to  be  a  rheumatic  comprint,  originating  from 
a  strain,  or  some  accidental  injury. 

I,  therefore,  ordered  a  cathartic  and  an  emplastrum  roborr.ns  to 
his  spine,  expecting,  in  a  few  days,  the  disorder  w  ould  vanish. 

Shortly  alter  I  called  again,  and  found  his  complaints  not  in  the 
least  abated.  As  a  considerable  tumefaction  had  taken  place  in  his 
abdomen,  and  as  his  age  indicated,  I  justly  supposed  him  troubled 
with  worms.  To  clear  tne  way  for  the  operation  oi  medicine?, 
\ipon  his  original  complaint,  I  thought  it  advisable  to  empty  his 
Lowfls  of  their  extraneous,  unnatural  contents. 

I  therefore  exhibited  calomel  and  dianthus  very  successfully; 
after  the  operation  of  which  I  directed  the  use  of  iron  When 
under  this  mode  of  treatment,  I  ordertd  his  spine  to  be  frequently 
rubbed  with  a  strong  tincture  of  cantharides.  Finding  no  material 
benefit  from  this  procedure,  I  directed  the  part  to  be  rubbed  with 
spts.  tereb.  and  to  take  from  two  to  ten  drops  twice  a  day.  Soon 
finding  the  inefficacy  of  these  means,  I  applied  to  his  loins  a  large 
epispastic,  and  ordered  it  to  be  re-applied  as  soon  as  the  discharge 
should  cease-  The  discharge  was  kept  up  for  two  or  three  weeks. 
Although  the  incurvation  of  the  spine  seemed,  in  some  measure,  to 
lessen,  under  the  operation  of  epispa^ics,  I  was  confident  they 
would  not  be  sufficiently  powerful  to  remove  a  disorder  of  such  an 
obstinate  nature. 

I  therefore  resorted  to  the  exhibition  of  the  tincture  of  guiacum; 
and,  as  I  recollected  the  encomiums  passed  upon  cream  ot  tartar  by 
Dr.  Arbuthnot,  in  rheumatic  cases,  and  as  I  still  supposed  it  a 
rheumatic  affection,  I  presumed  the  exhibition  of  these  two  medi- 
cines, in  conjunction,  would  render  them  more  efficacious.  Ac- 
cordingly 1  kept  him  under  the  constant  use  of  these  remedies 
for  a  month,  increasing  the  quantity  from  day  to  day,  as  the  system 
became  habituated  to  their  use.  The  incurvation  of  the  spine 
lessenned,  the  tumefaction  of  the  abdomen  subsided,  and  appear- 
ances flattered  a  complete  cure.  But  shortly,  all  these  favomable 
symptoms  vanished,  and  he  was  soon  hurried  into  the  same  con- 
dition in  which  he  began  the  use  of  these  remedies.  The  subsi- 
dence of  the  abdomen  1  imputed  chiefly  to  the  use  of  the  cream  of 
trrtar,  because,  it  has  been  observed,  that  all  saline  substances  have 
that  effect  upon  the  swollen  beliies  of  children.  They  produce 
this  effect,  I  presume,  by  dissolving  the  tenacious  mucus  which 
often  lines  the  prima  via;  of  childien,  and  to  which  the  tumefac- 
tion of  their  bellies  may  often  be  justly  imputed. 

In  this  instance  it  might  have  been  the  soluble  effect  of  both 


t;4 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


these  substances  conjoined,  and  no  ways  peculiar  to  the  operation 
of  the  cream  of  tartar.  Notwithstanding  the  retrograde  appearance 
jof  the  symptoms,  I  had  determined  to  continue  their  use  in  a  more 
enlarged  quantity.  But  previous  to  my  laying  them  aside,  an  in- 
dolent swelling  had  arisen  in  the  most  fleshy  part  of  his  thigh, 
and,  at  that  time,  began  to  be  considerably  inflamed.  A  suspicion 
arose  in  my  mind,  that  the  stimulant  power  of  the  gniacum  would 
increase  the  pain  and  inflammation,  especially  as  the  swelling  was 
Jarge,  and  a  considerable  degree  of  fever  had  already  invadrd  the 
system.  The  tumor  had  that  albuminous,  springy,  elastic  ieel  to 
the  touch,  which  Mr.  Bell  considers  as  peculiarly  characteristic  of 
white  swellings  of  the  joints.  In  the  appearance  of  this  tumor  I 
readily  discovered  the  retrograde  staie  of  the  symptoms.  Being 
now  convinced  that  his  complaints  originated  from  a  general  scror 
phulous  diathesis,  derived  from  his  mother,  I  laid  aside  the  use  of 
all  medicine,  except  a  little  volatile  liniment,  which  I  ordered  to 
be  rubbed  on  the  tumor  to  amuse  his  friends.  I,  therefore,  wait- 
ed until  suppuration  took  place,  hoping  a  discharge  might  relieve 
the  incurvation  of  his  spine. 

In  opening  the  abscess,  a  thin,  serous  matter,  mingled  with  a 
white  curdled  substance,  was  discharged,  to  the  quantity  of  a  pint. 
Over  the  orifice  I  applied  a  plaister  of  diachylon  (as  no  other  dres- 
sings could  be  confined  to  the  part.)  The  wound  soon  put  on 
the  appearance  of  all  scrophuious  ulcers,  and  the  incurvation  of  the 
spine  rather  increased  than  lessened.  When  I  found  the  discharge 
did  not  remove  his  original  complaint,  and,  I  presumed,  the  in- 
flammation of  the  tumor  had  subsided,  I  resolved  to  make  a  ser 
cond  attempt  with  the  guiacum  and  cream  of  tartar.  I  therefore 
began  with  the  quantity  I  had  left  off  with,  and  administered  it 
from  day  to  day,  for  a  considerable  length  of  time.  By  its  use, 
the  belly  again  subsided,  the  crookedness  of  the  spine  seemed  to 
diminish,  although  not  in  that  degree  it  did  under  the  first  use  of 
these  remedies.  I,  however,  persevered  until  I  was  fully  con- 
vinced no  permanent  good  effect  could  be  expected,  for  the  tume- 
faction of  thr  abdomen,  and  the  crookedness  of  the  spine,  from 
some  hidden  cause,  had  become  as  bad  as  when  I  last  began  the 
use  of  these  remedies.  I  was  now  resolved  to  give  him  up  to 
Nature,  as  I  was  sure  his  complaints  were  too  obstinate  for  the 
present  imperfect  state  of  the  healing  art. 

He,  therefore,  continued  without  any  medical  assistance,  much 
in  the  situation  I  left  him,  until  the  winter  of  i  795,  at  which  time 
he  was  seized  with  the  hooping  cough.  In  the  interim,  between 
the  time  I  dismissed  him  and  his  taking  the  cough,  a  number  of 
tumors  arose,  which  suppurated,  and  were  opened.  From  the 
time  his  first  tumor  arose  his  pulse  beat  with  great  velocity,  so 
quick,  that  had  I  not  been  an  eye-witness,  I  must  have  presumed, 


\ 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


a  circulation  so  rapid  would  have  worn  out  any  constitution,'  and 
especially  his,  enfeebled  by  perpetual  disease. 

But,  at  all  times,  and  in  ail  circumstances,  his  appetite  was  vigor- 
ous, and,  in  most  cases,  ravenous.  When  attacked  with  the 
hooping-cough,  he  had  a  most  violent  fever,  together  with  a  dis- 
charge of  blood  from  his  lungs.  The  colour  dark,  the  consistence 
thin,  and  the  discharge  without  any  mixture  of  phlegm.  I  was 
then  confident  the  haemoptysis  proceeded  from  a  rupture  of  blood- 
vessels, and  that  his  existence  would  be  soon  terminated,  either  by 
the  then  raging  fever,  or  by  a  succeeding  phthisis  pulmonalis. 
Neither  of  these  events  happened:  for,  by  the  assistance  of  epis- 
pastics  and  lac  ammoniac,  or  rather  by  the  efforts  of  nature,  he  so 
far  recovered  as  to  limp  about  as  he  had  done  before  he  was  seized 
with  that  complaint.  The  evacuation  of  blood  from  his  lungs, 
must  not  have  proceeded  (as  I  supposed)  from  a  rupture  of  vessels : 
for,  if  a  rupture  had  taken  place,  we  could  not  reasonably  have 
presumed  it  to  have  healed  when  all  the  ulcers  on  the  surface  shew- 
ed a  disposition  to  keep  open,  in  spite  of  the  means  used  to  heal 
them.  To  the  want  of  tension  in  the  vessels,  to  a  diminution  of 
their  resisting  energy,  and  the  consequent  tenuity  of  the  blood, 
the  hemorrhage  must  be  referred.  From  the  time  the  hooping- 
cough  left  him,  until  the  summer  of  1796,  he  remained  in  a  situ- 
ation very  similar  to  what  he  commonly  had  been  from  the  first 
appearance  of  his  ulcers,  his  pulse  rapid,  and  his  appetite  vi- 
gorous. In  the  beginning  of  the  summer  1796,  another  large 
tumor  appeared,  near  two  inches  distant,  on  the  left  side  of  his 
spine,  about  in  a  range  with  the  second  dorsal  vertebra.  It 
continued  very  painful  until  it  suppurated,  and  was  opened;  it 
discharged  a  fluid  of  the  same  appearance  as  the  one  first  mentioned. 
The  curdly  appearance,  I  suspec"!,  may  be  imputed  to  a  portion 
of  the  coagulable  lymph  effused  with  the  serosity,  or  to  the  effu- 
sion and  coagulation  of  the  lymph,  strictly  so  called.  I  shall  not 
here  enter  into  the  investigation  of  this  point,  as  it  will  be  more 
properly  left  to  the  systematic. — Another  tumor,  soon  after  the 
opening  of  the  last,  appeared,  which  suppurated,  and  was  also 
opened.  Since  that  period  his  pulse  has  been  very  quick,  his  ap- 
petite still  vigorous,  and  what  is  more  remarkable,  he  voids  part 
of  his  excrements  from  the  orifice  of  the  ulcer  on  his  back,  some 
from  that  on  his  abdomen,  and  some  from  the  natural  passage.- — 
In  the  season  of  fruits,  their  seeds  were  often  observed,  in  dres- 
sing his  ulcers,  to  issue  from  their  orifices. 

And  lately  a  number  of  worms  have  been  discharged  from  the 
ulcer  situate  on  his  abdomen.  A  bystander  will  often  hear  wind 
discharged  from  the  ulcer  on  his  back.  I  introduced  a  probe  in 
the  ulcer  of  his  back  about  one  inch,  in  a  perpendicular  direction, 
and  in  that  of  his  abdomen,  two  inches  or  better,  in  a  slanting 


i;5  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

direction,  and  I  am  well  convinced,  that  the  probe  entered  the 
cavity  of  the  intestines,  both  from  the  orifice  of  the  ulcer  on  hii 
back  and  abdomen. 

When  the  probe  reached  the  spot  which  bounded  its  progress 
I  couid  sensibly  perceive  that  the  part  gave  way,  in  a  manner  that 
would  naturally  be  expected  from  the  thinness  and  looseness  of 
the  intestines.    I  was  not  able  to  introduce  the  probe  in  any  direc- 
tion so  as  to  follow  the  course  of  the  intestinal  cavity.    To  ac- 
count tor  this  phenomenon,  we  must  have  recourse  to  an  attach- 
ment of  the  intestines  to  the  inside  of  the  abdominal  cavity.  Dur- 
ing the  inflammatory  state  of  the  tumors  an  adhesion  must  have 
formed,  and  when  suppuration  had  taken  place,  the  retention  of 
the  discharge  has  given  occasion  to  a  perforation  of  the  intestinal 
cavity*    The  pus  now  discharged  is  of  the  same  colour  and  con- 
sistence with  the  discharge  of  every  scrophulous  ulcer.    The  lips 
of  the  ulcers  have  the  same  contracted,  shrinking  appearance ; 
the  circumjacent  parts  have  the  same  livid  colour;  and  every  cir- 
cumstance pertaining  to  li is  complaint  evinces  it  to  be  genuinely 
scrophulous.    To  sustain  such  accumulated  afflictions  evidences  a 
very  great  inherent  power  in  the  constitution :  for  any  constitution, 
however  robust,  must  give  way  to  the  following  grievous  symptoms, 
to  wit,  an  enlarged  abdomen,  an  incurvation,  a  recurvation  of  the 
spine,  a  perpetual  discharge  and  a  perpetual  fever,  except  it  be 
supported  by  some  inherent  power.    lour  only  of  the  vertebra? 
appear  to  be  affected.    There  are  two  prominences,  one  formed 
by  the  first  lumbar,  and  the  other  by  the  tenth  dorsal  vertebra, 
both  inclusive  making  four  vertebrae.    A  crooked  spine  in  in- 
fants has  generally  been  connected  by  writers  with  a  dtbility  of 
the  lower  extremities.    But  the  lower  extremities  of  this  patient 
are  entirely  unaffected.    The  incurvation  of  his  spine  seemed  at' 
first  to  constitute  his  only  complaint.    The  crookedness  of  his 
spine  is,  however,  most  certainly  to  be  referred  to  a  scrophulous- 
diathesis.    It  has  been  supposed  by  Mr.  Pott,  that  the  ligaments- 
interposed  between  the  different  verttbra;  of  the  spine  were  eroded,; 
thereby  rendering  the  motion  of  the  spine  stiff  and  crooked.  How 
a  scrophulous  habit  should  produce  this  effect  I  am  at  a  loss  to' 
determine,  and  still  more  to  determine  how  an  issue  or  seton 
should  restore  the  eroded  ligaments  to  their  pristine  state  and  vi*J 
gour.    If  I  was  permitted  to  oppose  conjecture  to  anatomical  fact,' 
(if  such  a  fact  is  ascertained  by  dissection)  I  should  rather  impute 
it  to  affections  of  the  ligaments,  unattended  with  any  erosion  or 
destruction  of  their  substance.    It  is  true,  that  a  loss  of  bone  and 
flesh  is  repaired  by  a  sort  of  new  growth,  calculated,  in  some  mea- 
sure, to  perform  the  office  of  the  part  destroyed.    But  I  imagine, 
when  any  intervertebral  ligament  has  been  considerably  eroded, 
no  new  generation  would  answer  the  purpose  of  restoring  the 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


functions  of  the  part :  an  immoveable  stiffness  would  remain. 
And,  I  imagine,  physicians  have  been  deceived  when  they  have 
supposed  anchyloses  of  the  joints  to  be  cured.  They  must  have 
been  instances  of  an  inspissated  synovia,  rather  than  an  erosion 
of  the  ligaments.  The  yolk  of  an  egg,  beat  up  with  water,  has 
been  a  frequent  prescription  in  these  cases.  But  can  any  one  be- 
lieve, that  rubbing  a  knee  a  few  times  with  this  medicine  would 
remove  an  anchylosis  of  that  joint,  proceeding  from  an  erosion  of 
the  ligament?  The  friction  used  in  making  the  application  may 
have  some  effect  in  exciting  the  activity  of  the  vessels,  in  slight 
stiffnesses  of  the  joints.  But  that  it  would  restore  the  ligament 
eroded,  is  too  incredible  for  me  to  believe. 

The  scrophula  has  been  treated  by  writers,  as  a  complaint  that 
always  primarily  affects  the  conglobate  or  lymphatic  glands.  On 
the  first  appearance  of  this  tumor,  I  was  not  a  little  surprised,  and 
more  especially  when  I  opened  it,  and  found  it  to  be  of  a  scrophu- 
lous  nature.  The  glands  of  the  mesentery  had  undoubtedly  been 
tumified  previous  to  the  appearance  of  this  swelling.  But  no 
external  appearance  of  a  tumor  occurring  in  the  beginning  of  his 
complaint,  gave  occasion  to  my  mistake  in  supposing  it  a  rheu- 
matic affection.  And,  indeed,  the  connection  between  an  incur- 
vation of  the  spine  and  the  scrophula,  exceeds  our  present  patho- 
logical knowledge.  From  an  incident  that  lately  fell  under  my 
observation,  lam  led  to  think,  that  a  scrophulous  affection  may 
happen  without  primarily  affecting  the  glands,  A  boy  about  four- 
teen years  of  age,  in  good  health,  of  a  temperament  indicating  a 
scrophulous  habit,  was  attacked  with  a  large  tumor  in  the  fleshy 
part  of  his  thigh,  which  continued  painful  and  inflamed  until  it 
suppurated,  broke,  and  discharged.  The  discharge  resembled  ex-r 
actly  the  discharge  of  the  patient  whose  situation  and  complaints 
I  have  thus  far  related ;  but  in  a  short  time  it  healed  up  and  left 
the  boy  in  as  good  health  as  it  found  him.  In  this  case,  no  ema- 
ciation or  symptom  appeared,  from  which  we  could  infer  an  ob- 
struction or  affection  of  the  mesenteric  glands.  And  I  am  led  to 
believe,  that  many  cases  occur  which  cannot  be  referred  to  any 
primarily  glandular  affection. 

Since  I  first  discovered  this  case  to  be  scrophulous,  I  have  never 
doubted  that  the  foundation  of  it  was  laid  in  his  original  stamina. 
Neither  has  the  novel,  unfounded  sentiment,  respecting  the  trans- 
mission of  diseases,  from  parent  to  child,  gained  my  assent.  The 
circumstances  pertaining  to  this  complaint,  all  serve'to  establish  the 
ancient  opinion.  And  I  am  firmly  persuaded,  that  an  accurate 
and  vigilant  attention  to  circumstances  will  more  surely  lead  us 
in  the  steps  of  truth,  than  consequences  drawn  from  theoretical  or 
analogical  reasonings. 

Fd.  I.  No.  2.  E 


1/8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  father  of  this  child  was  a  most  healthy  man,  and  the 
mother  too,  previous  to  her  pregnancy  with  this  and  the  child 
formerly  mentioned.  She  had  three  children  before  this,  as  healthy 
and  robust  as  any  I  ever  saw.  My  mother,  previous  to  her  mar- 
riage, was  sometime  affected  with  a  cough,  and  her  physicians 
and  others  thought  she  actually  had  a  phthisis.  She  so  far,  how- 
ever, recovered  as  to  enter  into  the  holy  estate  of  matrimony, 
and  bore  five  children  ;  two  of  which  died  with  the  scrophula,  one 
with  the  phthisis  pulmonalis,  and  myself  and  the  other  surviving 
have  been  greatly  afflicted  with  rheumatic  complaints.  Nume- 
rous instances  have  fell  within  my  observation  too  notorious  and 
circumstantial  to  be  refuted  by  the  reasonings  of  speculative  theo- 
rists. 

Before  I  close  this  narrative,  it  will  be  proper  to  mention,  that 
this  child  has  not  grown  any  since  the  first  attack  of  his  complaint; 
that  he  has,  at  times,  been  afflicted  with  rheumatic  pains  in  his 
limbs,  and  lately  with  the  most  excruciating  pains  in  his  eyes. 
How  this  disease  will  terminate  is  beyond  the  science  of  prognos- 
tics to  predict,  and  almost  beyond  conjecture  to  imagine.  That  he 
will  arrive  to  the  age  of  puberty,  (at  which  time  it  has  been  sup- 
posed the  increased  vigour  of  the  solids  often  removes  the  com- 
plaint) appears  to  me  improbable.  For  it  does  not  seem  likely, 
that  the  vessels,  when  their  growth  lias  been  so  long  interrupted, 
will  acquire  such  an  additional  degree  of  vigour  as  to  remove  the 
disorder  and  bring  him  to  the  size  of  manhood.  And  if  his  fibrei 
should  acquire  vigour  sufficient  to  eradicate  the  disease  without  in- 
creasing the  growth,  the  spine  will  remain  immoveably  incurvated, 
and  he  will  be  a  standing  spectacle  of  human  misery,  and  a  re* 
proachful  example  of  medical  impolency. 


(    i/9  ) 


ARTICLE  V. 


As  the  following  Case  of  tlie  successful  Application  of  Caustic  to  a 
Stricture  in  the  Urethra  tends,  as  far  as  a  single  FacJ  -will  go, 
toivards  settling  the  contested  Question  between  tivo  celebrated 
Writers  (Hunter  and  Bell)  in  regard  to  the  Propriety  of  that  Prac- 
tice, it  may,  perhaps,  have  some  claim  to  a  Place  in  your  Reposito- 
ry ;  if  you  think  it  toUl  pay  for  its  Page,  it  is  at  your  Service. 
From  your  Friend, 

VALENTINE  SEAMAN. 
To  the  Publishers  of  the  Medical  Repository. 

JOHN  WALL,  a  middle  aged  man,  was  admitted  into  the  New- 
York  Hospital  31st  of  10th  Blonth,  (October)  1796,  affected 
with  a  fistula  in  pei  inao,  and  an  almost  intire  obstruction  of  the  na- 
tural passage  of  his  urine,  so  that  he  could  force  out  but  a  few 
drops  by  the  urethra,  the  main  body  of  the  water  flowing  con- 
stantly and  involuntarily  through  the  opening  in  the  perina?um. 

The  complaint  having  originated  from  a  syphilitic  affection, 
which  he  had  contracted  about  twelve  months  before;  and,  not- 
withstanding he  had  been,  as  he  said,  under  the  care  of  different 
physicians  since  that  time,  whereby  he  most  probably  had  every 
venereal  taint  eliminated;  still,  to  be  clear  on  that  head,  he  was 
put  under  the  usual  mercurial  remedies. 

I  made  several  attempts,  and  finally  succeeded  once  in  passing  a 
small  bougie  beyond  the  stricture,  but  which  I  was  not  able  to  re- 
peat. All  sizes,  and  all  the  methods  generally  recommended,  were 
tried,  in  the  course  of  several  days,  to  gain  a  second  entrance  be- 
yond the  obstruction,  but  all  in  vain.  In  this  situation  a  choice 
of  but  two  means  remained,  either  to  lay  open  the  urethra  by  an 
incision  at  the  place  of  the  obstruction,  so  as-  to  permit  a  bougie 
to  pass  it,  or  to  endeavour  to  diminish  the  stricture  by  the  appli- 
cation of  caustic,  as  recommended  by  Hunter  (Treat,  on  the  Ven. 
Dis.  part  iii.  chap.  2.)  The  former  method  "  being  attended  with  so 
w  much  pain,  and  such  uncertain  success,"  as  acknowledged  by  its 
most  partial  supporter  (Bell),  determined  me  in  a  preference  for 
the  latter :  accordingly  the  guarded  tube  was  carefully  passed  up 
the  urethra  till  it  met  the  obstruction,  which  was  just  before  its 
curve,  the  plug  then  was  withdrawn,  and  the  caustic,  properly 
secured  in  the  portcrayon,  introduced,  and  kept  applied,  for  fear 
of  inducing  too  much  irritation,  only  forty  seconds.  Immediately 
upon  the  withdrawing  of  which  the  urethra  was  washed  out  by  an 
injection  of  lukewarm  water,  previously  provided  for  the  purpose. 


i8o  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


This  operation,  which  did  not  produce  any  great  degree  of 
pain  or  irritation,  was  repeated  every  second  day,  lor  four  or  five 
times,  when  the  patient  was  enabled  to  pass  his  water,  in  consi- 
derable quantities,  by  its  natural  outlet,  and  bougies,  cculd  be  in- 
troduced without  any  difficulty. 

By  the  constant  use  of  the  bougies,  which  were  gradually  en- 
larged, as  his  complaints  would  admit  of,  the  discharge  of  urine 
by  the  urethra  became  more  and  more  free,  while  that  by  the 
fibtula  diminished]  so  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  it  not 
only  intirely  stopped,  but  the  fistula  itself  closed  up,  without  any 
application  whatever  to  the  part:  and  on  the  15th  of  12th Montht 
(December)  he  was  discharged,  cured  of  both  his  complaints. 


t  m  ) 


ARTICLE  VI. 


CASE  OF  MANIA  SUCCESSFULLY  TREATED  BY 
MERCURY. 

By  E.  H.  Smith,  Physicia?i. 

]*  IfARX  MATHEWS  was  admitted  into  the  New-York  Hos, 
1VA  pital  August  16,  1 796.  Slie  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  whence 
she  had  lately  come,  and  had  been  in  America  but  a  few  weeks. 
Her  person  was  thin,  small,  and  delicate.  She  was  17  yrars  old. 
The  accounts  given  by  her  brothers,  mother,  and  herself  (since 
the  restoration  of  her  reason,)  though  quite  incomplete,  agree  in 
representing  her  as  having  always  been  a  feeble  girl;  and,  as  far 
as  I  can  comprehend  them,  subject  to  something  like  hysteria — 
though  never  with  that  disease  in  the  form  of  ht  or  convulsion. 
She  describes  it  as  a  wind  rising  up  from  her  stomach,  a  struggling 
for  breath,  a  sensation  like  swelling  of  her  tongue,  heat  in  all  her 
bodv,  and  an  universal  uneasiness.  No  more  distinct  information 
can  be  obtained  from  her  relations.  She  was  in  good  health,  from 
the  time  of  her  arrival,  till  her  present  illness. 

About  a  week  previous  to  her  being  brought  into  the  hospital, 
as  she  was  walking  in  a  field  in  the  country,  some  miles  from  town, 
she  was  suddenly  taken  insane.  She  was  carried  home  that  day, 
or  the  next,  and  her  symptoms  continued  to  increase  in  violence 
till  after  her  admission. 

Her  friends,  who  conducted  her  here,  assured  me  that  she  had 
eaten  nothing,  nor  taken  any  kind  of  nourishment  for  a  week. 
Notwithstanding,  her  efforts  were  so  violent,  that  it  was  necessary 
to  cause  her  to  be  confined  in  a  cell,  and  to  be  strait-vvaistcoated. 
In  all  this  week  nothing  had  passed  her  bowels;  but  she  voided 
urine  as  in  health.  Repeated  and  careful  attempts  were  made,  and 
for  mar  an  hour  in  my  presence,  to  administer  food,  with  no 
effect.  It  was  forced  into  her  mouth,  but  instantly  rejected.  The 
same  was  the  case  with  the  purgative  powders  which  were  direct- 
ed: and  no  exertion,  proper  to  be  made,  was  equal  to  the  injec- 
tion of  a  clyster. 

Between  the  mornings  of  the  1 6th  and  iSth,  the  patient  com- 
pletely tore  off  and  rent  apart  three  strait-waistcoats;  neither  of 
which,  probably,  could  have  been  rent  by  the  utmost  combined 
efforts  of  two  strong  men.  In  one  instance,  after  freeing  her  arm, 
she  forced  off  the  grating  of  her  cell,  leapt  into  and  ran  across  the 
yard,  jumped  into  the  washing-room,  and  drank  some  dirty  suds. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


This  was  the  first  thing  she  had  been  known  to  swallow  sinc$ 
her  disease  commenced.  Five  or  six  persons  were,  with  difficulty, 
able  to  force  her  back  to  her  cell. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  keep  her  covered,  she  went  naked.  Of 
the  indecency  of  her  nakedness  she  appeared  to  have  no  idea,  for 
she  took  no  pains  to  conceal  it.  She  disposed  herself  in  various 
and  scarcely  conceivable  attitudes;  and  continued,  for  hours,  in 
postures  which  well  persons  could  not  have  assumed,  much  less 
have  rested  in.  Meanwhile,  she  noticed  no  person,  not  even  her 
mother  or  brothers ;  but  divided  her  time  in  singing  methodistic 
hymns,  and  putting  up  short  prayers.  Yet  her  insanity  did  not 
•appear  to  have  any  connedtion  with  religious  ideas,  further  than 
the  repetition  of  these  verses  and  prayers, — to  which  she  had  proba- 
bly been  accustomed  from  her  infancy,  and  now  repealed  like  any 
tiling  else  strongly  fixed  on  the  memory.  Tnat  her  disease  did  not 
proceed  from  any  insane  religious  impression  is  evident  from  her 
never  having  expressed  any  anxiety  before,  during,  or  after  her 
iiiness.  Nor  did  she  seem  to  suffer  from  apprehension  of  any 
kind.  Her  only  uniform  exertion,  beside  that  which  has  been 
noticed,  was  to  escape,  when  the  door  of  the  cell  was  opened. 
But  hiie  shewed  no  uneasiness  to  effect  this,  when  it  was  shut;  nor 
did  she,  at  such  times,  nor  at  any  time,  endeavour  to  hurt  her  at- 
tendants and  visitants.  No  artifice  of  theirs  could  engage  her  atten- 
tion, 

Aurnist  1 8th.  She  had  now  been  eight  or  nine  days  without 
food,  and  without  a  motion  of  the  bowels;  during  which  time  she 
had  taken  no  sleep  nor  repose,  and  the  violence  of  her  efforts,  in 
singing,  &c.  was  not  sensibly  diminished.  As  the  vital  energy 
seemed  piincipally  determined  to  the  external  muscles,  leaving  the 
stomach  and  intestinal  canal,  in  particular,  in  a  state  of  apparent 
torpidity,  it  occurred  to  me  that,  notwithstanding  her  long  inani- 
tion and  violent  exeriions,  any  thing  which  would  considerably 
diminish  the  muscular  force  vould  tend  to  equalize  the  distribu- 
tion of  that  energy,  and  would  promote  a  cure.  I  was,  therefore, 
desirous  of  bleeding  her.  But  it  was  impossible  to  use  the  lancet. 
She  bent  her  arm ;  and  no  forte  could  open,  and  preserve  it  steadily 
unbent.  We  had  recourse  to  the  cupping-glasses,  which  were 
applied  to  the  occiput,  temples,  and  forehead;  and  about  six 
ounces  of  hlatk  blood  taken  away.  After  this  she  was  more  calm, 
for  some  hours,  and  willingly  took  about  a  jill  of  broth  or  gruel, 
that  was  offered  her.  From  an  expectation  that  she  would  con- 
tinue in  her  present  state,  and  an  apprehension  that  the  sudden  use 
of  much  food  would  injure  her,  the  nurse  gave  her  no  more  at 
that  time,  and  even  neglected  to  administer  the  purging  pow- 
ders that  had  been  directed.  The  patient  soon  relapsed  into  all 
her  violence,  and  opposition  to  food;  and  would  take  only  some, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


told  water,  which  she  craved,  and,  which  caused  her  to  vomit. 
She  threw  up  only  the  water. 

On  the  20th,  the  cupping  was  ordered  to  be  repeated;  but,  from 
various  delays,  was  not  performed  till  the  2zd;  when  a  small  quan- 
tity of  blood  was  taken  away,  with  no  other  effect  than  to  make 
the  patient  faint. 

23d.  No  material  alteration.  She  has  taken  no  food;  has  not 
slept;  and,  though  her  efforts  are  as  constant  as  ever,  her  strength 
is  very  much  diminished.  I  resolved  to  try  the  effect  of  saliva- 
tion; hoping  that  if  I  could  succeed  in  exciting  a  powerful  action 
in  the  absorbent  system,  it  would  divert  a  part  of  the  vital  energy 
from  the  muscles,  and  awaken  the  torpid  power  of  the  brain,  sto- 
mach and  bowels.  Three  drachms  of  strong  mercurial  ointment 
were  accordingly  rubbed  in  by  the  morning  of  the 

24th.  And  her  gums  were  now  slightly  affected.  As  this  sore- 
ness of  the  mouth  came  on  and  increased,  slit  grew  calm  and 
rational:  took  food,  purging  powders  of  jalap  and  calomel,  and 
an  injection.  She  also  had  her  cloaths  pnt  on,  and  was  removed 
on  to  a  clean  bed,  in  the  nurse's  room.  The  mercurial  friction 
was  discontinued. 

This  interval  of  reason  was  only  of  a  few  hours.  She  became 
as  violent  as  ever;  broke  every  frangible  article  in  the  nurse's 
apartment;  and  again  tore  off  her  cloaths.  She  was  re-conducted 
to  the  cell.  The  same  evening  her  cathartic  operated  freely,  and 
brought  off  large  masses  of  dark 'and  hardened  excrement. 

25th.  The  mecurial  frictions  were  renewed.  They  excited  a 
gentle  salivation,  and  brought  back  her  reason. 

26th.  This  day  she  was  removed  into  the  principal  ward  for 
women,  and  proper  medicines  and  regimen  were  directed  for  the 
restoration  of  her  strength,  which  was  very  much  impaired.  For 
several  days  she  continued  to  be  exercised  with  occasional  turns 
©f  anxiety  and  distress,  such  as  accompanied  the  recurrence  of  her 
original  complaint,  after  the  first  interval.  These  were  particu- 
larly troublesome  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  there 
was  increase  of  heat,  and  in  the  frequency  of  the  pulse.  But  $he' 
mended  gradually  till  the  7th  of  September,  when  she  was  well 
enough  to  return  to  her  family.  Several  months  after  she  applied 
to  the  hospital  for  some  trifling  complaint,  for  which  the  physi- 
cian in  attendance  did  not  think  proper  to  admit  her;  but  she  had 
not  then  suffered  any  relapse  into  insanity. 

After  the  recovery  of  this  patient,  she  said  that  she  was  sensible 
of  her  nakedness  at  the  time,  of  the  cupping,  and  some  other  cir- 
cumstances. She  attributed  her  conduct  to  witchcraft,  or  some- 
thing of  the  kind,  which  made  the  wind  in  her  stomach,  that 
she  used  to  complain  of,  ascend  into  her  head;  and  she  said  the 
.heat  of  her  body  was  so  intolerable  that  she  could  not  endure  the 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


least  covering.  But  Iier  extreme  ignorance  embarrassed  her  account 
so  much,  that  it  was  difficult  to  determine  precisely  w  hat  she  meant* 
and  how  much  she  might  be  depended  on. — Her  skin  was  never 
remarkably  hot  during  her  insanity;  but  after  the  return  of  her 
reason,  her  feet  were  affected  with  such  a  burning  heat,  that  they 
could  only  be  relieved  by  placing  them  in  cold  water;  and  she 
was  troubled  with  irregular  flushes,  over  Jier  whole  body,  for  se- 
veral days. 

T  FEEL  a  greater  interest  in  making  the  foregoing  case  public* 
as,  since  it  came  under  my  care,  I  have  learnt  that  an  insane  per- 
son, who  refused  food,  starved  to  death.  The  facts  here  related 
may,  at  least,  suggest  a  probable  resource  against  an  event  so  me* 
lancholy  to  the  friends  of  the  sufferer. 

Witn  respect  to  the  disease  of  Mary  Mathews,  which  I  have 
called  mania,  it  may  perhaps  be  questionable  whether  it  has  been 
denominated  so  with  propriety. — It  deserves  to  be  remembered, 
that  the  whole  duration  of  her  illness,  as  near  as  we  can  determine, 
was  fourteen  or  fifteen  days.  Is  it  possible  that  this  was  its  pe- 
riod) that  it  then  ceased,  from  having  completed  its  course,  o- 
that  it  was  more  easily  inclined  to  stop  at  that  time  than  another? 
Is  it  possible  that  this  is  a  variety  of  hysteria  ? — of  intermitting  fe- 
ver, which  sometimes  assumes  the  shape  of  mania,  and  to  which 
the  quotidian  exacerbation';,  after  the  insanity  was  removed,  may 
be  supposed  to  correspond  ?  Or,  is  it  possible  that  the  cause  of 
Yellow  Fever,  whatever  it  may  be,  which,  in  different  persons, 
affects  different  parts  of  the  system,  and  appears  under  almost  every 
form  of  disease,  to  whose  operation  foreigners  seem  peculiarly  lia- 
ble, and  were  so  this  year,  could  have  excited  the  mania  of  this, 
girl,  whose  period  is  that  of  many  fevers,  and  whose  cure,  suppos- 
ing it  to  have  been  effected  by  the  salivation,  is  not  hostile  to  the 
supposition  ? 

The  reader  must  determine  which,  or  whether  any  of  these 
conjectures  deserve  consideration. 


(    i8S  ) 


ARTICLE  VII. 


further  Fafts  tending  towards  an  Explanation  of  the  true  Operation 
of  ALKALIS  and  LIME  upon  other  Subst  ar.ces. 

In  a  Letter  from  Dr.  Mitchill  to  Thomas  Beddoes,  M.  D. 
dated  Nezv-Yorh,  September  15,  1797. 

WHAT  I  wrote  to  Dr.  Percival  on  the  1 7th  of  January,  1 797, 
was  an  attempt  to  reduce  the  phenomena  of  alkaline  reme- 
dies and  neutral  salts,  in  febrile  distempers,  to  a  general  principle, 
by  shewing  how  they  overcame  or  expelled  the  putrid  miasmata, 
or  the  contagion  which  induced  the  symptoms.  Since  that  time, 
when,  in  the  spring  ot  the  present  year,  it  was  agitated  among  the 
citizens  of  New-York,  whether  manufactories  ot  soap  and  candles 
generated  pestilential  air,  the  facts  which  presented  themselves  to 
my  view  led  to  a  conviction,  that  calcarious  earths,  alkaline  salts, 
animal  fats,  and  vegetable  oils,  attracted  the  matter  which  imparted 
to  the  atmosphere  its  epidemic  and  sickly  influence,  and  conse- 
quently neutralized  or  deadened  the  septic  effluvia  which  were  the 
cause  of  fevers.  (Case  of  the  manufactures,  &c.  stated  and  examin- 
ed.) And  more  recently  still,  on  considering  these  noxious  exha- 
lations, in  relation  to  soils,  manures,  and  vegetation,  it  seemed  ob- 
vious, that  lime  and  alkalis  could  repress  them;  and,  by  so  doing, 
did  purify  the  air  and  fertilize  the  land  ;  and  were  thus  serviceable 
in  agriculture,  not  by  any  septic  influence  they  possessed,  bur, 
in  a  considerable  degree,  by  neutralizing  the  septic  (nitric)  acid, 
or  acid  of  putrefaction.  (Medical  Repository,  p.  39.)  Indeed,  the 
united  force  of  the  facts  afforded  by  the  materia  medica,  by  arts 
r.:id  trades,  and  by  agriculture,  prevailed  over  all  the  former  no- 
tions I  possessed ;  and,  as  I  believed,  did  exhibit  in  evidence  too 
'  strong  to  be  resisted,  that  the  principle  I  had  laid  down  was  ground- 
ed upon  a  very  broad  induction  ol  iacts. 

Besides  the  considerations  alluded  to,  my  opinion  of  the  power 
of  lime  to  absorb,  and,  in  some  degree,  to  neutralize  the  fluids  pro- 
duced by  putrefying  animal  substances,  was  strengthened  bv  read- 
ing Graydon's  paper  concerning  the  fishes  inclosed  in  the  lime- 
stone ot  Monte  Bolca,  near  Verona.  (5  Trans,  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  p.  381.)  Here  is  a  mass,  or  part  of  a  stratum  of  cal- 
carious rock,  which  contains,  not  the  mere  impressions  or  like- 
nesses of  animals,  as  bhistic  fossils  commonly  do,  nor  pttrifaclions 
of  them,  as  is  generally  the  case  with  calcarious  rocks,  but  the 
actual  remains  of  dead  fishes,  of  their  natural  size  and 
-    Fol.  I.  No.  2.  F 


1S6  MF.DICAL  REPOSITORY. 

figure,  preserved  like  mummies,  and  so  complete  that  their 
genera  and  species  can  be  perfectly  ascertained.  The  lime,  in 
this  case,  is  penetrated  by  animal  matter,  which  seems  to  have  im- 
parted to  it  the  quality  of  emitting  a  foetid  and  unpleasant  smell 
when  scraped  or  struck.  No  analysis  that  I  know  of  has  been 
made  of  the  rock :  but  among  the  matters  with  which  it  is  charged 
are  evidently  these: — whatever  of  fixed  air  has  been  formed  by  the 
union  of  oxygene  with  carbone,  during  the  putrefaction  of  the 
fishes,  has  been  attracted  by  the  calcarious  matter,  and  consolidated 
with  it;  the  whole  of  the  water  produced  by  the  junction  of  their 
oxygene  with  hydrogene,  has  been  absorbed  by  the  porous  earth; 
all  the  oil  formed  by  the  union  of  their  hydrogene  with  carbone, 
has  been  drunk  up  in  the  same  way;  and  the  septic  acid,  formed 
by  the  combination  of  their  azote  with  oxygene,  has  likewise  be- 
come embodied  with  the  surrounding  lime.  Thus,  as  fast  as  any 
•thing  fluid  was  formed,  it  was  immediately  imbibed ;  and  as  the 
fluids  formed  by  putrel action  are  thus  combined  with  the  calcari- 
ous  stone,  the  residuary  matter  of  the  animals  is  left  in  a  dry  and 
somewhat  firm  condition,  resembling  mummies;  the  lime  having 
had,  as  it  were,  an  embalming  effect:,  or,  at  most,  having  literally 
acted  the  part  of  a  sarcophagus.  In  particular,  it  may  be  consi- 
dered, that  the  total  decay  of  the  bodies  of  the  fishes  was  pre- 
vented by  the  absorption  ot  the  water  and  septic  acid  produced 
during  the  first  stages  of  corruption. 

Yet  this  preserving  power  of  lime  is  not  peculiar  to  it,  for  it 
belongs  to  alkalis  too.  Dean  Hamilton's  experiments  on  the 
power  of  the  Jixed,  caustic,  alkaline  salts,  to  preserve  the  flesh  of 
animals  from  putrefaction  (ibid.  p.  319)  are  sufficient  of  them- 
selves to  correct  many  of  the  mistakes  we  labour  under  in  re- 
spect to  alkaline  salts  and  putrefying  bodies.  They  shew  that 
caustic  pot-ash  possesses  a  power  of  preserving  animal  flesh  from 
corruption,  fully  as  remarkable  as  the  antiseptic  power  of  caustic 
lime.  It  preserves  flesh  incorruptible,  though  it  has  been  gene- 
rally believed  caustic  alkalis  would  consume  it.  Fiesh  preserved 
in  this  way  is  so  durable,  that  after  twenty-two  years  keeping  it  re- 
mained unaltered,  when  broken,  the  parts  hung  together  by  fibres, 
and  looked  like  a  piece  of  plaister  taken  from  a  wall;  the  fibrous 
or  stringy  parts  of  the  flesh  not  seeming  to  have  been  corroded  or 
dissolved  by  the  salt. 

The  strong  antiseptic  powers,  possessed  in  so  high  a  degree  both 
by  quick-lime  and  caustic  alkalis,  must  induce  a  change  of  opi- 
nion relative  to  their  effects  upon  the  dead  parts  of  animais.  They 
are  antiseptics,  and  particularly  so,  for  this  reason,  among  others, 
that  they  attach  and  neutralize  that  great  destroyer  of  organized 
bodies,  the  septic  acid. 

Such  a  change  of  opinion  would  probably  have  happened  long 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


ago,  if  the  leading  medical  characters  in  Great-Britain  had  attend- 
ed to  a  hint  of  the  Italian  Lancisi,  and  improved  upon  it.  This 
attentive  observer  of  the  noxious  exhalations  of  the  marshes  around 
Rome,  entertained  no  doubt  of  the  efficacy  of  quick-lime  and  soda 
to  correct  pestilential  miasmata,  "  non  en:m  dub/tamus"  he  writes 
treating  of  the  tanning  of  leather,  quin  lixivium  ex  viva  calceftara- 
tum  et  kulvis  myrti  et  sod&,  quibus pelles  absterguntur  et  co?iJiunturt 

PESTIFERUM  MIASMA  POSSUNT  CORRIGERE   (De  bovilla  peste, 

par.  ii.  cap.  2).  It  is  strange  that  the  effl'tts  of  lime-w  ater,  em- 
ployed in  tanning,  to  preserve  the  hides  from  putrefaction,  has 
not  been  more  attended  to  by  philosophical  inquirers.  And  it  is 
no  less  strange  that  the  power  of  lime,  to  destroy  putrid  vapour 
(septic  acid,)  if  any  should  be  formed,  during  the  preparation  of 
the  skins,  and  thereby  prevent  the  business  from  growing  un- 
healthy, has  been  almost  intirely  overlooked,  though  the  facts  are 
.so  plain  and  palpable.  The  antiseptic  operation  of  lime  keeps 
the  pelts  from  turning  to  pestilential  air,  and  instantly  attracts  to 
itself  every  particle  of  it,  if  any  should  be  formed.  It  exercises  a 
like  power  upon  water  put  into  casks  for  mariners'  use  at  sea.  The 
good  effects  of  lime-water  in  putrid  scurvies,  and  some  other  dis- 
eases, to  which  seamen  are  liable,  have  been  so  evident,  that  Al- 
ston, in  1752,  under  a  conviction  of  its  beneficial  tendency,  re- 
commended one  pound  of  fresh,  well  burned  quick-lime,  to  be 
put  into  a  hogshead  of  water,  and  to  be  used  as  common  drink  by 
the  diseased,  and  by  way  of  prevention  for  the  healthy;  (Disser- 
tation on  Quick-lime  and  Lime-water) — and  also  to  put  some  of 
it  in  the  ship's  well,  to  prevent  the  putrid  steams  and  foul  air  rising 
Irom  thence.    (Lind  on  the  Scurvy,  p.  442). 

The  disposition  of  lime  to  preserve  animal  substances  is  further 
evinced  by  the  incrustations  and  petrifactions  so  plentifully  to  be 
found  in  taves  and  quarries  of  calcarious  earth,  and  so  frequently 
seen  in  the  collections  of  the  curious.  AU  nature  is  full  of  this 
kind  of  evidence.  There  is,  therefore,  no  necessity  of  mentioning, 
inx  detail,  the  petrified  serpents,  toads,  and  almost  all  sorts  of  crea- 
tures, that  have  been  found  embalmed  in  lime-stone. 

But,  though  alkalis  are  such  great  registers  of  putrefaction  incar- 
cases  or  their  parts,  caustic  pot-ash  produces  some  effects  upon 
the  living  human  body,  which  are  not  generally  known.  By  at- 
tending to  them,  it  will  appear,  this  latter  may  destroy  life,  though 
not  by  inducing  any  form  of  malignant  or  pestilential  disorder. 
Pursuant  to  the  law  which  provides  for  the  inspection  of  pot-ash  and 
pearl-ash  in  the  city  of  New-York,  large  quantities  of  those  articles 
are  deposited  in  the  store-houses  of  the  persons  appointed  by  the 
government  to  examine  them.  The  quantity  of  these  salts  is  so  great 
that  the  inspectors  are  obliged  to  employ  frequently  several  men  to 
assist  them,  in  the  capacity  of  clerks  and  labourers.    In  order  to 


183  Medical  repository. 


make  a  complete  inspection  of  the  alkalis,  it  has  been  oftcniimc* 
judged  necessary  to  empty  the  barrels  in  whole  or  in  part.  During, 
this  operation,  it  generally  happened  that  some  of  the  materials  flew 
about  in  the  form  of  dry  powder,  and  passed  with  the  air  into  the 
nostrils,  mouth,  throat  and  lungs  of  the  bystanders.  The  effects 
of  the  inhaled  powder  of  caustic  pot-ash  are  well  worthy  to  be 
noted.  One  of  the  inspectors  ascribed  to  it  the  purity  and  sound- 
ness of  his  teeth,  and  relief  from  the  sensation  formerly  caused  by 
an  acid  in  his  stomach.  His  decaying  teeth  ceased  to  rot  any  more 
since  he  applied  pot-ash  to  them.  But  much  more  serious  was  its 
operation  upon  the  steady  labourers.  Sneezing,  coughing,  and  im- 
peded respiration  were  among  the  first  of  its  effects.  Spitting  of 
blood  sometimes  came  on  afterwards.  The  lungs,  if  still  exposed 
to  the  saline  dust,  became  more  and  more  disordered,  the  strength 
diminished,  and, as  the  disease  increased,  the  person:  wereaffected 
as  with  a  sort  of  consumption,  and  died.  The  death  of  a  number 
of  men  that  had  worked  in  the  pot-ash  stores  is  thus  accounted 
for  by  the  inspectors.  It  has  been  common  to  have  a  considera- 
ble part  of  the  work  done  by  slaves;  for  free  labourers,  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  business,  engage  in  it  reluctantly, 
and  many  of  them  altogether  refuse  to  work  at  it.  Apprehensive 
of  the  danger  which  arises  from  starting  all  the  contents  of  every 
barrel  upon  the  floor,  the  inspectors  have  been  reduced  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  discontinuing  this  part  of  the  practice  in  some  degree. 
These  caustic  alkaline  atoms,  when  they  are  inhaled  and  dissolved 
in  the  mucus  of  the  passages,  are  thus  productive  of  a  lingering 
indisposition,  in  which  the  lungs  particularly  suffer;  but  they  have 
never  been  known  to  excite  yellow  fever,  or  any  set  of  symptoms 
that  resemble  it:  so  far  is  this  from  being  the  ca^e,  that  during  that 
epidemic  sickness  which  has  so  often  visited  the  city  of  New-York, 
I  couid  discover  no  instance  of  the  inspectors  and  their  assistants 
having  hitherto  been  infected  by  it. 

The  information  you  gave  me  in  your  letter  from  Clifton,  of 
June  15,  concerning  the  cure  of  diabetes  mellitus  by  hepatized 
ammonia,  or  by  volatile  alkali  alone,  is  very  interesting.  In  ad* 
dition  to  the  plan  I  suggest  the  propriety  of  prescribing  lime  in 
preference  to  ammoniac.  The  reason  of  my  hint  is  this:  It  is 
said  at  Schoharie,  in  the  state  of  New-York,  that  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  where  much  sugar  and  molasses  is  made  from  the  juice  of 
the  maple  tree,  (acer  saccharinum)  and  used  plentifully  by  the 
inhabitants,  diabetes  is  a  frequent  disorder.  To  get  relief  from 
the  complaint,  it  is  a  common  practice  to  take  astringents,  and 
that  the  drinking  plentifully  of  lime-water  in  addition  to  them,  often 
wrought  a  cure.  This  fact  leads  to  a  little  speculation.  The  sugar- 
making  process  is  familiar  to  many  plants.  Diabetes  seems  a 
sugar-making  operation  going  on  in  animals,  and  to  be  in  them  a 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


formidable  disease.  The  benefit  derived  from  lime  leads  to  a  sus- 
picion of  the  presence  of  the  oxalic  acid.  Ttie  Schoharie  people 
are  cured  by  lime,  and  this  probably  act-,  by  neutralizing  the  acid 
cf  sugar,  and  checking  that  morbid  action  of  the  vessels  which 
favours  the  saccharine  secretion  in  men.  Now,  from  the  known 
stronger  attraction  of  lime  for  oxalic  acid  than  ammoniac  or  other 
alkalis  possess,  is  there  not  a  good  reason  for  preferring  it?  I  wish 
you  would  mention  it  to  Dr.  Rollo. 

The  Let  now  related  is  connected  with  another  still  more  im- 
portant. The  part  of  the  country  alluded  to  is  underlaid  with  lime- 
stone and  calcarious  marie,  and  is  remarkable  for  its  freedom  from 
epidemic,  intermittent,  malignant,  and  pestilential  fevers.  This 
appears  to  be  the  case  in  Tensesee,  Kentucky,  and  all  our  Western 
Country,  where  lime  constitutes  extensive  strata.  These  disorder, 
v.  hen  they  break  out,  happen  sporadically  from  an  improper  state 
cf  the  alimentary  canal,  bad  management  about  the  house,  or  some 
such  cause.  JBut  the  universal  spread  of  such  distempers  among 
the  people  is  prevented  by  the  lime,  which  attracts  and  neutralizes 
the  septic  and  pestilential  vapours,  turning  with  them  to  calcarious 
nitre,  fertilizing  the  soil,  and  rendering  the  settlements  there 
friendly  at  once  to  animal  and  vegetable  life.  The  lime  with 
which  the  water  is  charged,  has,  when  drank,  a  like  operation  on 
the  contents  of  the  stomach  and  bowels. 

In  order  to  illustrate  the  effects  of  alkaline  substances  on  the  acid 
of  septon,  I  have  summed  up  my  ideas  in  the  following  verses, 
which  I  send  along  for  your  amusement. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  SEPTON. 

Attempted  after  the  Mannntr  of  Dr.  Darwin. 

Gnomes!  you  beheld,  with  pity  and  with  pain, 
Organic  relics  strew  the  fertile  plain: — 
Whatever  Forms,  with  vital  warmth  endued, 
Lords  of  the  earth,  or  tenants  of  the  flood; 
That  sport,  or  bask  them,  in  etherial  day, 
Or  wind  their  humble,  mine  their  darksome  way; 
Of  juicy  herb,  gay  flower,  and  piercing  root, 
With  scent  ambrosial,  or  hesperian  fruit ; — 
Subdued  by  Death,  whose  fury  nothing  spares, 
Turn  back  to  Earths,  or  change  again  to  Airs. 

You  saw  where  embryo  germs  to  being  start, 
The  brain  almost  coeval  with  the  heart: 
You  viewed,  no  less  a  miracle  indeed, 
The  pre-existing  piantule  in  the  seed: 


Putrefac- 
tion of animal 
unit  vegetable 
faMatuej. 


Excitnbi- 
litx.Jtimulus, 

f  a'i  Hement9St 
exbanftion. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Saw  their  nic:  organs,  ere  the  natal  hour, 
Acquire  a  portion  of  sensorial  Jioiuer  ; 
Alike  appear  with  irritation  fill'd, 
As  stimulus  along  their  fibres  thriil'd ; 
Excitement  springing  from  this  mutual  strife, 
To  sense  and  action  wake  unfeeling  life; 
Till,  aged  grown,  the  exhausted  fabric  drops, 
Each  function  fails,  and  every  motion  stop?.. 

Oxygen,     Man's  constitution  thus  full  well  y  e  knew, 
the  principle  From  Oxycen  its  life  and  vigour  drew; 
*f  excitabi-  Whence  tinctur'd  all  its  grosser  parts  refine, 
Iuyjfcpton,  g   nre  promethean,  energy  divine; 

the  principle  xrJ  -  l  1     •      7  j  J  L  .1 

vf  diffolu-  saw'  w     wondering  eyes  and  rare-drawn  breatn 

tion.  Infus'd  the  peccant  principle  of  death; 

Grim  Septon,  arm'd  with  power  to  intervene, 
And  disconnect  the  animal  machine  ; 
In  our  first  Patents'  breast,  the  fiend  Dismay, 
And  cherub  Hope,  contending  for  the  sway: — 
With  like  affright,  astonish'd  Nature  saw 
Giants  earth-born  dispute  celestial  law, 
Titanian  Powers  defy  the  GoD3  above, 
And  fierce  Briareus  dare  the  throne  of  Jove; — 
Thus  fair  Creation,  almost  burst  in  twain, 
When  Pan,  incens'd,  disputed  Eros'  reign; — 
So  Hercules  Lac!  nearly  swerv'd  from  truth, 
When  Vice  from  Virtue  sought  to  tear  the  youth 
Hence  Manichees,  by  twilight  Reason  view'd, 
Two  self-existent  Powers,  the  Evil  and  the  Good. — 


Effctls  of     Within  the  great  Disorganizer  lurks, 
bptonanait;  And  plans,  unseen,  his  undermining  works; 
compounds,  Insidious,  first,  with  onset  mild  assails, 

en  the  mind  t,*ii     7-7  "l 

andh  d    '  sluggishness  or  unconcern  prevails; 

producing"  Then,  mustering  thick  his  fierce  azotic  bands, 
difcafes.      More  near,  the  citadel  of  life  commands; 

With  phalanx  firm,  the  unconscious  prey  surrounds, 

And  deep  inflicts  his  unsuspected  wounds: 

Beneath  their  blows  the  sinking  powers  decay; 

The  feet  with  painful  effort  trace  their  way; 

The  feeble  arm  irresolutely  lies; 

A  dim  suffusion  clouds  the  heavy  eyes; 

Heroic  vigour  asks  a  little  rest; 

And  the  high  purpose  slumbers  in  the  breast. 

Next,  bolder  grown,  the  Jjrant,  with  a  frown, 

Bids  Scurvy  break  the  blood  and  vessels  down; 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Lepra  and  Serpigo  attacks  begin, 

And  sores  and  blotches  desolate  the  skin; 

Shews  greedy  Cancer  how  he  best  may  thrive, 

And  gorge  and  feast  on  human  flesh  alive; 

Tells  Fever,  as  in  ambuscade  he  lies, 

An  hundred  ways  to  take  us  by  surprize; 

To  Intermittent,  Plague  and  Hectic  joins, 

And  Causos,  Typhus,  Synocha  combines; 

Possessing  each,  and  all,  as  war  they  wage, 

Sporadic  force  ox  epidemic  rage: — 

— Thus,  when  of  old,  as  pious  men  believe, 

The  serpent  whisper'd  in  the  ear  of  Eve, 

The  subtle  fiend  a  fit  occasion  sought, 

With  hellish  guile,  to  poison  human  thought; 

With  winning  speech  seduced  her  easy  faith, 

And  gave  the  fruit  of  knowledge,  but  of  death: — 

No  more  the  paths  of  Innocence  she  trod, 

But,  disobedient,  turned  away  from  God; 

And  felt,  sad  recompence  of  duty  broke, 

Vengeful  Remorse,  thy  deep  and  deadly  stroke: — 

Hence  Pain,  hence  Sin,  their  wasteful  course  began; 

Thro'  all  her  offspring  vile  corruption  ran; 

And  Man,  deprav'd,  to  vice  and  error  hurl'd, 

Still  proves  the  Scjilon  of  the  moral  world. 


Anahgylf- 

in  tie  natu- 
ral, and  evil 
in  the  moral 
ivorld. 


Gnomes!  you  descry,  with  keen,  lyncean  eyes,  PmiuBUn 
The  foul  mepmik  vapours  as  they  rise;  Peft'1=n- 
Stand  bv  while  captivating  Septon  draws  tialfluids.Av 

TT  '  *  -j  I"  It"  union  uj 

Unwary  Oxygen  to  aid  his  cause;—  f  ton 

— Thus  Juno's  charms,  entrane'd,  the  thunderer  held,  0!iygCne. 

While  her  lov'd  Grecians  claim'd  the  bloody  field; — 

— Their  silent  union  gives  the  Monster  birth, 

Who  wastes  with  septic  fury  half  the  earth  ; — 

■ — Embrac'd  by  Titan,  thus,  in  days  of  yore, 

The  fifty-handed  giant  terra  bore; 

With  like  destruction,  on  the  Argive  trains, 

The  Deli  an  pair  aveng'd  their  priestess'  chains. — 

Gnomes!  your  quick  steps  his  subtle  flight  pursue, 

And  hold  the  many-changing  Fiend  in  view; 

Your  guardian  cares  his  secret  arts  betray; 

You  ope  his  dark  recesses  to  the  day; 

You  mark  his  conquests  o'er  the  leafy  race; 

'Mid  haunts  of  men  his  treacherous  foot-steps  trace; 

In  varying  shapes,  as  best  he  loves  to  pass, 

Of  heavier  acid  or  of  lighter  gas; 


ig*  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

In  all  the  same,  with  one  base  passion  fir'd, 
In  every  form,  by  hate  to  man  inspir'd; 
Whose  days  abridged,  in  solemn  warnings  shew, 
Lite  briei  in  pleasure,  still  too  long  in  woe. — 

Opnjtion      Gnomes!  to  impede  the  Demon's  deadly  course, 
of  ^Uarhus  Your  bands  celestial  marshall'd  all  their  force: 
earths,  ulU-  prom  watery  caves  where  shelly  nations  sleep, 
f",'falts>"y  From  sinuous  bays,  from  Ocean's  briny  deep, 
cl'ci  'y  isfc'  in  Your  hands  collecting  spread  thro'  every  clime, 
attrafiing     A  fair  proportion  of  attempering  Lime; 
pcflilcnrial   Thro'  all  the  space  terrestrial  Nature  owns, 
airs.  Of  Climates,  Colurcs,  Longitudes  and  Zones, 

Your  search  the  powerful  Alkalis  has  found, 
And  cast,  the  Earth's  circumference  around  ; 
The  friendly  powers  of  Metal,  Oil  and  Clay, 
With  duteous  zeal  your  just  commands  obey  ; 
With  wise  dispatch  their  various  stations  gain, 
And  guard  the  Mine,  the  Mountain,  and  the  Plain. — - 

Marflimi-  The  conflict  o'er,  behold  on  all  sides  round, 

afinata,  izfc.  Jn  neutral  chains,  the  Powers  of  Mischief  bound; 
To  lie,  unless  a  rescuing  force  appears, 
In  durance  strict,  ten  thousand  thousand  years; 
Except  where  swamAs  their  reinforcements  yield,  r 
And  light  detachments  skirmish  o'er  the  held. 

Dtr/Tqgfatifik      You  saw,  ye  Gnomes!  before  this  day  was  won, 
«/Ta!t>petr«,  Prodigious  feats  of  Chemic  valour  done; — 
tbi  aad  de-  you  saw  pOTASSA  seize  a  Septic  foe, 
Vtt  r"    His  brawny  arms  around  unclenching;  throw; 

the  alkali  rc-  ,   ■  . o  7  . 

maiiung  U-  Then,  plungd  in  flames,  as  shuddering  hosts  admi/e, 
bind.  Himself  unhurt,  consume  the  wretch  by  fire :  — 

Ufeofcrfi-  — You  saw  where  Calx  a  nitric  miscreant  found, 
carious  ni-  And  grip'd,  and  pull'd,  and  dragg'd  him  to  the  ground; 
tre  fur  ma-         tnere  expos'd  him,  suffering  day  by  day, 

To  hungry  plants  a  sweet  and  wholesome  prey : — 
GombuftloD  — You  saw,  that  time,  terrific  anger  boil, 

ofoilbyfep-  When  AQ.U a-fortis  met  with  HE  ATED  oil;  

t«ra»acid,W  Bom  vanquish'd,  falling  underneath  the  shock, 
tbeh  mutual  ^mx'A  in  blaze  and  suffocating  smoke. — 

aecompijtticti        *  ° 


TFT  UN 


I  might  go  on  to  a  greater  length  with  this  kind  of  writing,  if  I 
had  not  already  violated  the  poetical  precept,  "  Nou  fumum  ex  ful- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


r93 


e;"  therefore  the  sample  you  have  now  got  must  suffice  at  this 
time.    From  the  gaiety  of  verse,  I  return  to  the  gravity  of  prose. 

On  a  survey  ot  the  economy  of  nature,  in  respect  to  alkalis 
and  acids,  it  appears,  that,  considering  the  great  number  of  acidi- 
fiable  bases,  and  the  combination  of  these  in  such  a  vast  number 
of  cases  with  oxygene,  acids  would  predominate  and  get  the  upper 
hand  in  creation,  unless  alkaline  substances  overpowered  them, 
and  prepared  them  for  more  ready  decomposition  by  vegetation 
and  other  operations.  Thus  the  carbonic  and  septic  acids  which 
are  afforded  most  plentifully  during  many  putrefactive  processes, 
are  not  only  neutralized  by  lime,  pot-ash,  and  soda,  but  in  these 
forms  are  duly  prepared  for  decomposition  by  plants,  which,  on 
finding  the  carbonates  and  septites  of  either  ot  those  substances 
in  the  soil,  will  take  as  much  carbone,  septon  and  oxygene,  and 
of  the  earthy  and  saline  bases  with  which  they  were  blended,  as  the 
wants  of  their  constitutions  respectively  require.  And  in  doing 
this  the  health  and  life  of  animals  are  protected  against  the  dan- 
gerous attacks  of  that  redundant  acidity,  which  would  otherwise 
prevail  and  destroy  the  balance  of  powers  in  the  natural  world. 

In  hope  of  great  additional  good  to  be  derived  from  your  exer- 
tions to  establish  pneumatic  medicine,  I  conclude,  but  not  with- 
out assuring  you,  that,  &c.  &c. 

SAMUEL  L.  MITCHILL, 


Vol.  I.  Ke.  2. 


G 


(    i94  ) 


ARTICLE  VIII. 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  ABSTINENCE  AT  THE  AP- 
PROACH OF  ACUTE  DISEASES. 

By  Edward  Miller,  M.  D. 

THE  following  faft  seems  to  deserve  more  attention  than  it 
commonly  obtains. — In  a  district  of  the  United  States,  distin- 
guished for  the  prevalence  of  the  epidemic  diseases  of  summer  and 
autumn,  it  is  often  asserted,  by  sensible  and  accurate  observers, 
that  they  are  accustomed  to  obviate  the  attack  of  fevers,  apparently 
approaching,  by  rigid  abstinence  from  food.  This  abstinence,  be- 
gun as  soon  as  they  perceive  the  feelings  of  indisposition,  usually 
known  to  be  the  forerunners  of  fever,  is  continued  till  such  feel- 
ings cease,  till  appetite  is  restored,  and  generally,  indeed,  till  the 
calls  of  hunger  become  importunate.  On  different  occasions,  this 
process  is  of  various  duration;  sometimes  occupying  twenty-four, 
thirty-six,  or  even  forty-eight  hours,  according  to  the  nature  and- 
exigencies  of  the  case.  The  success  of  this  regimen  is  com- 
mended by  such  as  have  experienced  it,  in  stronger  terms  than 
it  would  be  proper  here  to  repeat,  and,  perhaps,  stronger  than 
the  reality  of  the  case  can  justify.  It  is  not,  however,  difficult  to 
perceive  that  much  fallacy  may  be  mingled  with  this  sort  of  expe- 
rience. Complaints,  similar  to  these  in  question,  are  often  tran- 
sient, when  every  attention  to  regimen  has  been  omitted.  What 
criterion  then  shall  be  resorted  to,  for  the  purpose  of  distinguish- 
ing these  fugitive  symptoms,  originating  from  indigestion  or  some 
still  more  fleeting  cause,  from  the  serious  ones,  which,  if  neglect- 
ed, will  usher  in  a  severe  disease?  This  ground  of  uncertainty  is 
freelv  admitted.  But  still  it  remains  probable,  that  there  is  much 
truth  in  the  observation,  particularly  when  we  call  to  mind  the 
number,  sagacity,  and  concurrence  of  the  observers,  the  accuracy 
of  personal  experience,  and  the  multiplied  instances  which  epide- 
mic sickness  affords  for  comparison  and  discrimination.  And  I 
am  further  inclined  to  give  credit  to  this  observation,  because  it 
appears  to  depend  upon  principles  of  the  animal  economy,  which 
are  of  great  importance,  and  admit  of  an  easy  explanation. 

Although  the  observation  above-mentioned  comes,  in  the  present 
instance,  from  a  popular  source,  the  effects  of  abstinence,  in  ob- 
viating the  approach  of  acute  diseases,  have  not  escaped  the  notice 
of  the  most  eminent  physicians.  In  the  writings  of  Hippocrates 
we  perceive  the  strong  impression  he  had  received  on  the  subject. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  19$ 

Sydenham  is  still  more  explicit.  In  his  account  of  the  continu- 
ed fever  of  the  years  1673,  1674,  and  1675,  considered  by  Dr. 
Cullen  as  a  variety  of  synocha,  or  inflammatory  fever,  it  is  as- 
serted that  he  often  cured  this,  as  well  as  other  sorts  of  fevers,  in 
the  beginning,  merely  by  directing  diluents,  and  prohibiting  every 
kind  of  aliment.  Thus  he  relieved  his  children  and  intimate 
friends  (to  use  his  own  words)  by  making  tJiem  fast  striftly  for  WUj 
V  three  days. — And,  besides  medical  authority,  we  may  aiso  ad- 
duce, in  favour  of  this  m.ode  of  preventing  diseases,  the  recom- 
mendation and  practice  of  many  men  of  letters,  who  have  adopted 
it  with  the  greatest  zeal.  The  sedentary  lives  of  such  persons,  di- 
minishing keenness  of  appetite,  and  augmenting  the  burden  of  re- 
pletion, and  their  experience  of  higher  intellectual  power  in  a 
jomewhat  diminished  degree  of  bodily  vigour,  may,  perhaps,  ac- 
count for  their  attachment  to  this  remedy.* 

The  advantages  of  total  abstinence,  at  the  commencement  of 
scute  diseases,  bear  an  evident  relation  to  the  effects  of  a  tempe- 
rate and  abstemious  diet,  during  the  prevalence  of  fatal  epidemics. 
The  long  experience  of  countries  subject  to  the  visitation  of  pes- 
tilential diseases,  and  of  several  parts  of  our  pwn  country,  under 
•the  pressure  of  recent  or  existing  calamities  of  a  similar  kind, 
places  the  benefis  of  this  diet  in  a  strong  light.  Not  only  the  cau- 
tion of  individuals,  but  the  habits  of  nations  may  be  distinguished 

*  Among  many  examples  of  literary  perfons,  who  have  praclifed  rigid 
.abftinence,  and  derived  great  benefit  from  it,  I  fhall  mention  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Campbell,  Principal  of  Maril'chal  College  and  the  Univerfity  of  Aber- 
deen, who  died  in  1795,  aged  71  years.  "  He  had,  all  his  life,  a  rooted 
*'  averfion  to  medicines.  He  got  the  better  of  evejfy  ailment,  by  a  total 
"  and  rigorous  abftinence  from  all  kind  of  fuflenance  whatever;  and  it  was 
"  not  till  he  was  attacked  by  an  alarming  illnefs,  about  two  years  before  his 
"  death,  that  lie  was  perfuaded  by  his  friends  to  call  in  medical  aid.  What 
**  nature  could  do,  (he  had  all  along  performed  well;  but  her  day  was  over, 
*  and  fomething  of  art  became  neceffary. — Then,  for  the  firfl  time,  he  own- 
"  ed  the  utility  of  medical  men,  and  declared  his  recantation  of  the  very 
"  mean  opinion  he  Jbad  formerly  entertained  of  them  and  their  art."— 
Monthly  Mag.  vol.  i.  p.  344. 

Whatever  miftakes  may  appear  in  fuch  opinions,  it  is  interefling,  in  all 
the  concerns  of  health  and  difeafes,  where  facls  and  the  unbiafled  examina- 
tion of  them  are  fo  important,  to  obferve  the  conclufions  formed  by  difcern- 
ing  men,  who  are,  at  the  fame  time,  diverted  of  the  prejudices  incidental  to 
the  medical  profeffion.  While,  on  the  one  hand,  phyflcians  poffefs  fuperior, 
advantages  in  acquiring  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  cure  of  difeafes,  on 
the  other,  they  are  peculiarly  expofed  to  certain  fources  of  error.  Syftems 
colled,  combine,  generalize  and  interpret  fa<fts;  but  they  alfo,  fometimes, 
diftort  and  mutilate  them.  Hence  the  common  fenfe  of  mankind,  and  more 
efpecially  the  difcernment  of  vigorous  minds,  is  a  neceffary  corrective  of 
that  obliquity  with  which  even  fimple  obje&s  are  fometimes  beheld  by  the 
fvftematical  devotee. 


1 


i9*  Medical  repository. 


1Q  the  comparative  exemption  from  diseases,  which  they  cierive 
from  abstemiousness.  The  French  and  Spaniards  in  the  West- 
Indies,  and  in  other  warm  climates,  avoiding  the  use  of  ardent  li- 
quors, and  retaining  their  usual  habits  of  thin  and  spare  diet,  are 
observed  remarkably  to  escape  the  dangers  incidental  to  such  si- 
tuations; while  the  British,  carrying  with  them,  wherever  they  go, 
not  only  their  plethoric  and  vigorous  habits,  but  likewise  their  na» 
tional  predilection  for  a  gross  and  stimulant  plan  of  living,  surfer 
all  the  havoc  of  those  baneful  countries.  From  every  tropical  re- 
gion similar  examples  might  be  brought ;  and  wherever  experience 
has  enforced  accommodation  to  the  inclemency  of  a  hot  climate, 
we  observe  people  relinquishing  all  such  excesses  and  grossnesse* 
of  diet  as  can  only  be  safely  indulged  in  the  higher  latitudes. 

The  importance  of  the  functions  of  the  stomach  in  the  animal 
system  explains  the  powerful  effects  of  abstinence  and  repletion. 
No  animal  can  exist  without  a  stomach.  Deprived  of  brain,  heart 
and  lungs,  the  cold-blooded  animals  have  been  observed  to  live  and 
move  for  several  hours.  The  languor  of  their  circulation,  theiroc- 
casional  exercise  of  respiration,  and  a  portion  of  excitability  singu- 
larly inherent  and  inseparable,  enable  them,  while  the  energies  of  the 
stomach  continue,  to  retain  life  without  the  aid  of  those  important 
organs.  And,  even  in  the  more  peifect  animals,  tiie  functions  of  the 
stomach  hold  so  distinguished  a  rank,  that  lire  has  remained  for  some 
time  independently  ot  almost  every  other  part  of  the  body.  The 
range  of  sympathy  which  it  possesses  with  other  parts,  remote  as 
well  as  contiguous,  is  so  extensive,  that  it  is  emphatically  stiled  the 
index  of  the  whole  system.  Besides  its  importance  as  the  principal 
organ  of  assimilation,  we  observe  a  great  number  and  variety  ot 
effects,  salutary,  morbid  or  deleterious,  produced  by  different  sub- 
stances taken  into  it,  and  operating  on  its  sensible  and  delicate  tex- 
ture. In  febrile  diseases  it  affords  some  of  the  most  interesting  and 
satisfactory  indications  concerning  their  accession,  progress,  remis- 
sion, crisis,  and  cure.*  And,  finally,  it  possesses  a  mobility,  or,  in 
other  words,  a  promptitude  to  suffer  more  defect  or  excess  of  ex- 
citement than  any  other  part  of  the  system. — Such  is  the  organ — 
such  the  powerful  changes  in  it,  and  thence  in  the  whole  system, 
which  we  propose  to  excite  by  occasionally  depriving  it  of  the  at-, 
customed  stimulus  of  aliment. 

Acute  diseases  invade  the  body  in  various  ways;  sometime 
suddenly;  oftener  by  gradual  approach:  when  sudddenly,  they 
admit  not  of  prevention  by  abstinence.  It  is  probable  much 
more  may  be  learned  by  future  observation  than  is  at  present 
known,  concerning  the  distant  approach  of  these  diseases,  ant)*, 
consequently,  the  means  of  averting  the  danger  they  produce.  In 


*  Medical  Commentaries,  vol.  iviii.  p.  94. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  197 


the  meantime,  it  would  be  fortunate  for  mankind  if  they  were 
disposed  to  avail  themselves  of  all  the  notices  of  approaching  ill- 
ness already  well  understood.  During  the  prevalence  of  epidemic 
diseases,  these  symptoms  should  be  watched  with  especial  attention ; 
as,  upon  the  proper  management  of  the  interval  between  them  and 
the  aftual  formation  of  the  disease,  the  prevention  of  the  evil,  and 
the  safety  of  the  patient  will  often  depend, 

It  would  be  no  easy  task>  nor  is  it  necessary  to  point  out  all  the 
jvmptopis  which  notify  the  approach  of  acute  diseases.  There  seems 
to  be  so  much  reason  to  ascribe  indicia!  functions  to  the  stomach, 
that  we  should  generally  look  to  that  viscus  lor  the  earliest  notices 
of  impending  mischief.  Accordingly  some  accurate  observers 
mention  a  peculiar,  disagreeable  affection  of  the  stomach,  difficult 
distinctly  to  describe,  compounded  of  nausea  and  anxiety,  as  the 
first  morbid  sensation.  Then  follow  heaviness,  lassitude,  languor, 
debility,  oppression,  restlessness,  head-ach,  or  giddiness,  pain  in 
the  back  or  limbs,  perversion  of  taste,  flatulency,  irregularity  of 
the  intestinal  discharge,  loss  of  appetite,  or  sometimes  great  keen- 
ness of  it,  low  spirits  or  unusual  vivacity,  wakefulness  or  unusually 
sound  sleep.*  When  such  symptoms  as  these  occur,  din  ing  the 
prevalence  of  an  epidemic  disorder,  or  alte:'  exposure  to  any  of  the 
known  causes  of  acute  diseases,  it  will  be  advisable  to  abstain  from 
all  aliment  for  a  proper  length  of  time,  and  if  this  step  should  be 
found  unavailing,  to  adopt  such  farther  measures  as  the  nature  of 
the  case  may  require. 

Sensations  which  precede  the  invasion  of  acute  diseases,  it  is 
well  known,  are  often  mistaken  for  symptoms  of  indigestion,  and 
treated  accordingly.  The  mischief  that  must  ensue  from  the  use 
of  ardent  spirits,  the  popular  remedy  of  indigestion,  at  the  ap- 
proach of  a  malignant  fever,  or  any  inflammatory  disease,  will  be 
readily  seen. 

All  alimentary  matter,  especially  of  the  animal  kind,  taken  at 
the  commencement  of  an  acute  disease,  is  fraught  with  mischievous, 
consequences.  The  powers  of  digestion  are  either  impaired  or 
totally  suspended.  No  assimilation  nor  nourishment  can  take 
place.  The  stimulus  of  the  food,  immediately  on  its  arrival  at  the 
stomach,  will  be  added  to  the  morbid  stimuli,  previously  operating 
with  pernicious  violence.  Tottering  under  its  present  load,  the 
5)  stem  is  forced  to  sustain  new  burdens.  But  this  is  not  the  only 
bad  effecl:  of  receiving  food  under  such  circumstances.  The  ali- 
mentary matter,  unsubdued  and  unassimilated  by  the  powers  of 
digestion,  placed  in  a  situation  where  it  must  undergo  a  rapid  and 
noxious  decomposition,  will  form  a  mass  of  corruption  and  acri-. 

*  The  ftimulii3  of  contagion  or  miafma,  in  certain  degrees  of  force,  may 
evidenriy  produce  exhilarating  and  foporific  efTeds. 


i93  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


mony,  generating  and  diffusing  its  poison  throughout  the  wholr 
tract  of  the  stomach  and  bowels.  Can  we  wonder,  after  this,  to 
hear  complaints  of  flatulency,  oppression  and  anxiety  about  the 
praccordia,  pains  in  the  bowels,  diarrhoea,  &c.  in  the  course  of 
the  disease? 

Having  thqs  stated  some  of  the  ill  consequences  of  food  received 
into  the  stomach  at  the  commencement  of  acute  diseases,  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  avoid  these  consequences  by  abstinence  or  eva- 
cuations. Much  has  been  said,  by  practical  writers,  on  the  effi- 
cacy of  emetics  exhibited  at  the  approach  of  malignant  fevers;  and 
there  is  reason  to  assent,  jn  general,  to  the  truth  of  these  asser- 
tions. But,  we  believe,  that  abstinence  may  often  be  advantage- 
ously substituted  for  emetics  or  other  evacuants  in  such  cases,  and 
as  their  effects  correspond  in  several  particulars,  and  seem  to  throw 
light  on  each  other,  we  shall  venture  to  consider  them  in  a  com- 
parative point  of  view. 

Emetics  produce  the  foil  owing  effects — thev  cmptv  the  stomach 
and  the  upper  intestines — they  accumulate  excitability  in  these  orT 
gans* — they  increase  the  action  of  the  cellular,  puhnonary  and 
cutaneous  absorbents— and  they  promote  perspiration. f 

It  will  not,  I  conceive,  be  difficult  to  demonstrate  that  absti- 
nence produces  effects  nearly  similar.  That  emptiness  is  one  of 
its  consequences,  must  be  too  obvious  to  require  proof  or  illustra- 
tion— and  that  excitability  is  accumulated  by  withdrawing,  for  a 
time,  from  any  part  of  the  living  body  its  accustomed  stimulus,  is 
likewise  a  fait  too  plain  and  simple  to  be  denied.  When  food 
and  drink  are  withheld,  no  person  will  doubt  that  the  action  of 
the  lacteal  and  lymphatic  absorbents  of  the  stomach  and  bowels  is 
proportionably  diminished;  and  it  appears  to  be  a  law  of  the  animal 

*  That  emetics  accumulate  excitability,  is  proved  by  their  often  flopping 
fpontaneous  vomiting,  by  their  ftrengthening  digeflion,  and  by  increafing 
the  action  of  the  cellular,  cutaneous,  and  pulmonary  abforbents,  during  their 
operation.    Xoonomia,  vol.  ii.  p.  57. 

f  There  are,  indeed,  other  confiderable  effects  of  emetics,  fuch  as  agita- 
tion and  compreffion  of  the  abdominal  and  thoracic  vifcera,  thereby  increaf- 
ing the  force  of  circulation  in  them,  and  promoting  their  feveral  fecretions. 
But  thefe  effects  appear  to  hold  but  little  importance  in  preventing  the  at- 
tack of  fevers. — Dr.  Darwin,  "  in  his  theory  cf  fever,  fuppofes  that  emetics, 
"  early  adminifttrcd,  fometimcs  cut  fhort  the  difeafe,  by  caufing  a  retrograde 
"  motion  of  the  lacteals,  and  a  confequent  diminution  of  the  matter  of  con- 
"  tagion.  Few  explanations  in  his  work  are  of  fo  grofs  and  mechanical  a 
"  call.  We  conjecture  that  the  blow  muft  be  given  to  the  ftomach  before 
"  the  fubtile  matter  is  abforbed  by  the  lacteals:  we  mould  not  be  furprized 
"  if  thefe  veffels  were  rendered  incapable  of  action:  and  does  it  not  appear 
"  more  confonant  to  other  parts  of  the  author's  reafoning,  to  fuppofe  that 
"  vomits,  in  thefe  inftances,  counteract  the  exhaufting  efiect  of  the  poifon, 
"  by  accumulating  the  fenforial  power  of  the  orjan?"  Sec  Analytical  Re- 
view for  Feb.  1797,  p.  139. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


economy,  that  any  diminution  of  the  action  of  these  branches  of  the 
absorbent  system  will  be  compensated  by  a  correspondent  increase 
of  energy  in  the  cellular,  pulmonary,  cutaneous,  and  other  absorb- 
ents. Proofs  of  this  fact  might  easily  be  multiplied.  The  effect 
of  fasting  in  exciting  a  very  copious  discharge  of  uriae,  in  dropsy, 
exemplified  in  the  case  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Johnson,*  as  recorded 
by  Sir  John  Hawkins,  is  directly  to  this  point.  Dr.  Rush,  who 
quotes  this  case,  informs  us  he  has  tried  the  same  expedient,  in 
dropsies,  both  in  private  practice,  and  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hos- 
pital, and  found  a  confirmation  of  the  fact.f  With  respect  to  the 
increase  of  perspiration  by  abstinence,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  more 
correct  to  say,  that  it  prepares  the  way,  or  rather  creates  a  dispo- 
sition in  the  secreting  vessels,  on  the  surface  of  the  body,  to  be  more 
powerfully  acted  on  by  diaphoretic  medicines.  This  ciass  of  medi- 
cines are  all  said  to  exert  greater  effect,  if  given  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, about  day-break,  than  at  any  other  time;  and  this  must  doubt- 
less be  ascribed  to  the  increased  excitability  of  the  whole  system, 
at  that  time,  accumulated  during  sleep.  That  a  similar  accumu- 
lation of  excitability  ensues  from  withholding  the  customary  sti- 
mulus of  food,  cannot  be  called  in  question;  and  it  is  equally  clear 
that  this  accumulation  is  especially  produced  in  the  secreting  ves- 
sels of  the  skin,  owing  to  the  well  known  sympathy  between  them 
and  the  stomach.  It  follows  then,  that  any  diaphoretic  remedy, 
and  even  very  gentle  ones-,  exhibited  in  this  condition  of  the  system, 
assisted  by  moderate  warmth,  will  act  with  increased  energy,  and 
this  augmentation  of  action  will  be  commensurate  with  the  previous 
augmentation  of  excitability.  Every  one  must  have  remarked  the 
heat  and  glow  of  the  skin,  when  any  stimulant  matter  is  taken, 
after  long  fasting;  which  exactly  corresponds  with  the  glow  and 
heat  of  the  skin  immediately  succeeding  the  action  of  vomiting. 

But,  however  useful  emetics  may  be  thought  at  the  approach  of 
fevers,  they  are  liable  to  many  exceptions.  Some  persons,  from  pe- 
culiarities of  conformation,  or  other  causes  not  well  understood, 
take  them  with  great  difficulty ;  in  many  conditions  of  the  body  the* 
are  unsafe;  and  in  many  cases  of  incipient  fever,  their  operation 
might  be  followed  by  inconvenient  or  detrimental  consequences. 

Abstinence,  the  substitute  here  proposed,  is  fitted  for  more  gene- 
ral application,  and  possesses  the  rare  advantage  of  being  adapted 
to  obviate  the  approach,  or,  at  least,  to  abate  the  violence  of  almost 
all  acute  diseases.  The  safety  of  it  can  scarcely  be  questioned  in 
any  case.  If  an  inflammatory  disease  be  coming  on,  lew  will 
doubt  the  propriety  of  total  abstinence  for  some  time,  and  a  re- 
striction to  the  mildest  diet,  when  nourishment  becomes  necessarv. 

'■  ,Life  of  Dr.  Johnfon  by  Sir  John  Hawkins,  page  409,  500. 
f  Med.  Inquiries  and  Obl'trv.  vol.  ii.  p.  180, 


TOO 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY, 


To  fevers,  which  are  the  offspring  of  miasma  or  contagion,  this 
treatment  is  equally  applicable.  These  poisons,  whatever  degrees 
of  sameness  or  variety  may  be  attached  to  thern  by  different  opi- 
nions, are  generally  supposed  to  affect  the  system,  by  a  stimulant 
operation,  and,  in  arranging  the  means  of  prevention,  may,  at  all 
events,  be  confidently  associated.  There  seems  much  ground  to 
suppose,  that  they  ordinarily  obtain  introduction  by  the  mouth, 
and,  conveyed  by  the  saliva,  soon  find  a  lodgement  in  the  sto- 
mach.* By  abstinence  that  organ  is  enabled  to  maintain  a  more 
vigorous  combat,  to  rally  all  its  forces;  and,  finally,  by  dint  of 
habit,  to  disarm  the  noxious  intruder.  By  indulging  repletion 
at  such  a  moment,  by  heaping  alimentary  upon  morbid  stimu- 
lus, the  energies  of  the  stomach  must  be  in  hazard  of  being  over- 
whelmed, of  sinking  into  indirect  debility,  and  thereby  giving 
deep  root  to  a  violent  disease.  Abstinence  is  also  one  ot  the 
most  convenient  means  of  preventing  diseases.  No  confinement  is 
necessary,  no  interference  with  the  ordinary  occupations  of  life. 
If  the  apprefensions  which  gave  rise  to  it  prove  groundless,  no> 
trouble  or  injury  is  sustained;  but  the  system,  set  free  from  an  ac- 
customed stimulus,  feels  a  lucid  interval,  not  often  experienced  by 
the  votaries  of  luxury,  and  afterwards  returns  to  the  charge  witti 
redoubled  gratification.  If  the  character  about  to  be  assumed  by 
the  disease  was  cf  a  moderate  kind,  the  abstinence  alone  we  sup- 
pose to  be  sufficient  to  strangle  it  in  the  birth;  if  more  malignant, 
and  our  easy  precaution  should  prove  insufficient,  some  advan- 
tage, and  not  a  trirling  one,  will  at  least  have  been  gained.  The 
stomach  will,  certainly,  be  in  a  better-  condition  for  the  reception 
oi  other  remedies. 

Ttiere  is  scarcely  any  disease  in  which  the  employment  of  ab- 
stinence for  some  time,  and  afterwards  of  a  mild,  cooling,  and 
spare  diet,  is  so  signally  btnefieial  as  in  catarrh.  If  the  aid  of 
ttus  simple  treatment  were  not  so  much  neglected,  we  should  not 
so  often  see  catarrh  precipitated  into  peripneumony,  or  protracted 
into  phthisis. f 

.  To  relieve  the  debilitated  state,  consequent  upon  intoxication 
with  vinous  or  spirituous  liquors,  nothing  is  better  adapted  than 
withholding,  for  some  time,  all  aliment.  This  remedy  is  the  more 
necessary,  as  acute  diseases  are  often  introduced  on  occasions  of 
intemperance,  and  a  malignant  and  fetal  character  apparently  im- 
parted to  them  from  this  cause.  In  esses  of  this  sort  particularly, 
and  probably  in  most  others,  where  abstinence  is  recommended, 
the  good  effects  of  it  will  be  increased  by  frequent  drauglrfs  of 
cold  water,  and  even  of  iced  water,  it  cautiously  used.    But  the 

*  Gardiner's  Obfervatiocs  on  the  Animal  Economy,  p.  ro^>« 
f  Medical  Obfcr variola  and  Inquiries,  vol.  iv.  p. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY 


cases  of  topical  inflammation  should  be  excepted  in  this  observa* 
tion. 

Chronical  vomitings  of  great  obstinacy  sometimes  occur,  in 
v/hich  it  is  probable  a  total  prohibition  of  food  and  drinks,  for 
some  time,  would  afford  relief,  if  any  adequate  mode  of  nourishing 
the  body,  otherwise  than  by  the  stomach,  could  be  devised.  In- 
jections and  baths  of  nutritive  fluids,  or  the  transfusion  of  blood 
from  another  animal,  would  be  most  likejy  to  answer  this  pur- 
pose. 

.  It  is  probable  that,  in  some  cases  of  fever,  the  stomach  may  be 
so  affected  by  the  virulence  of  contagion,  as  to  become  completely 
paralytic,  and  unfit  for  the  reception  of  food  or  medicines.  Ia 
such  case,  every  thing  received  by  that  organ,  if  not  pernicious, 
must  be  intirely  useless;  and,  perhaps,  the  best  means  of  restoring 
|ts  power  would  consist  in  leaving  it,  for  some  time,  in  a  state  of 
perfect  emptiness  and  quiet,  and  meanwhile  conveying  nutriment 
and  remedies  into  the  system  by  other  channels. 

In  diseases  of  great  direct  debility,  abstinence  may  frequently 
prove  an  excellent  remedy.  The  reduction  of  excitement  in  the 
stomach,  far  below  the  natural  standard,  may  often  be  necessary, 
jn  order  to  prepare  for  the  invigorating  operation  of  succeeding 
stimuli,  which  the  extensive  sympathies  of  that  organ  are  so  well 
calculated  to  propagate  over  the  whole  system. 

Two  cautions  will  obviously  occur  in  the  employment  of  this 
regimen — first,  that  constitutions  of  uncommpn  feebleness  and  deli- 
racy,  or  such  as  are  broken  by  intemperance,  or  the  decline  of 
life,  can  safely  sustain  it  only  in  a  moderate  degree — and  secondly, 
that  it  be  not  allowed,  in  the  case  of  violent  diseases,  to  usurp  the 
place,  and  Jead  to  the  neglect  or  postponement  of  more  active 
remedies.  The  approach  of  fevers  may  be  accompanied  with  such 
signs  of  malignity,  or  the  nature  of  the  prevailing  epidemic  may 
suggest  such  well-founded  distrust  of  any  apparent  mildness  of  in- 
vasion, as  to  render  abstinence  alone  too  weak,  too  dilatory,  and 
too  uncertain  for  a  moment  of  such  urgency.  Still,  however,  it 
may  be  maintained,  that  all  other  remedies  will  derive  additional 
force  and  eificacy  from  the  co-operation  of  this. 

Amongst  all  the  effects  of  emetics  and  abstinence,  at  the  ap- 
proach ot  malignant  fevers,  none  deserves  more  attention  than  the 
increased  quantity  of  excitability  which  they  collect.  The  doc- 
trine ot  the  effects  of  stimulant  powers,  applied  to  accumulated 
excitability,  is  so  luminous  and  philosophic,  rests  upon  so  broad 
a  basis,  and  is  of  such  important  and  extensive  application,  in  the 
t  onditions  both  of  health  and  disease,  that  it  can  scarcely  receive 
too  much  consideration.  Proofs  and  examples  of  this  law  of  ani- 
mal nature  are  continually  before  our  eyes.  We  observe  it  in  the 
effects  of  tiie  cold  bath— -our  eyes  experience  it  in  passin?  from  a 

Fal.  LNo.i.  H 


201  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

dark  apartment  to  the  light — and  still  more  violently  in  the  effects 
of  too  much  food  or  warmth  allowed  to  persons  previously  sub* 
jected  to  famine  or  frost.  Diseases  also  furnish  us  with  familiar 
examples  of  the  same  law,  in  the  more  powerful  effedts  of  Peru- 
vian bark  after  the  previous  exhibition  of  emetics,  and  the  re- 
doubled efficacy  of  opium  in  relieving  pain,  when  it  has  been  pre- 
ceded by  venesection  and  a  cathartic. 

On  this  grand  principle  it  is  easy  to  perceive  to  what  extent, 
and  in  what  various  degrees,  abstinence  may  be  employed  as  a 
preventive  and  a  remedy.  In  the  first  place,  it  will  diminish  ex- 
citement, and  so  far  lessen  the  amount  of  stimulant  power,  upon 
which  the  attack  of  febrile  diseases  so  universally  depends;  and, 
secondly,  by  means  of  the  excitability  thus  collected,  the  founda- 
tion will  be  laid  for  a  more  effective  and  vigorous  excitement  af- 
terwards, when  it  shall  be  found  consistent  with  safety.  At  the 
approach  of  an  acute  disease,  the  abstraction  of  a  few  meals  may 
thus  either  expel  it  altogether,  or  greatly  abridge  its  violence;  andj 
when  that  is  accomplished,  the  renovated  stimulus  of  aliment, 
so  congenial  and  salutary,  will  be  sufficient  to  complete  the  cure. 
Common  articles  of  diet  are  thus  rendered  active  remedies. 
Powerful  medicines,  in  too  large  doses,  or  unseasonably  exhibitedj 
are  converted  into  poisons.  Just  so  with  respect  to  the  mildest 
aliment;  a  certain  condition  of  the  system,  viz.  the  fasting  condi- 
tion, changes  it  into  an  active  stimulus;  and  another,  viz.  the 
starving  condition,  exalts  the  ordinary  quantities  of  food  to  a 
deadly  poison.  Arsenic  does  not  more  certainly  induce  fatal  in* 
fiammation  and  gangrene  in  the  stomach,  than  mild  food  taken  by 
a  famishing  person  in  quantity  disproportionate  to  the  collected 
excitability.  Stimulants  may  not  only  be  suited  to  the  state  of  the 
system,  but  the  system  itself  may  be  adapted,  in  this  manner,  to 
the  force  of  stimulants.  Such  a  remedy  therefore  as  abstinence, 
possessing  so  great  a  range  of  power,  so  simple  and  so  accommo- 
dating, if  it  be  not  allowed  to  supercede  many  others,  certainly 
cannot  be  despised. 

If  the  art  of  preserving  health,  and  prolonging  life,  chiefly  con- 
sist in  a  frugal  and  sparing  use  of  stimuli,  and  adapting  them  with 
caution  and  skill  to  the  fluctuating  circumstances  of  the  vital  prin- 
ciple, we  shall  surely  find  still  stronger  motives  to  apply  this  doc- 
trine at  the  approach  and  in  the  treatment  of  diseases,  when  nox- 
ious powers  of  such  preternatural  violence  invade  the  body,  baffle 
everv  remedy,  and  stimulate  it  to  death.  The  regulation  of  this 
vital  principle,  here  denominated  excitability,  the  preservation  of 
it  when  present,  and  the  restoration  of  it  when  deficient,  the  re- 
straint of  excitement  within  the  bounds  of  moderation,  the  pro- 
hibition of  all  wasteful  and  undermining  excesses,  will,  probably, 
hereafter,  at  some  more  enlightened  aera  of  medicine,  form  a  sys- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tern  of  rules  for  the  management  of  health  and  the  prevention  of 
diseases,  for  the  enjoyments  of  sense,  and  the  refinement  of  intel- 
lect, which,  instead  of  the  present  feverish  dream  of  human  life, 
will  present  a  consummation  of  improvement  and  happiness, 
which  we  now  ascribe  to  superior  beings. 

I  have  thus  undertaken  to  examine  a  noted  popular  observation, 
to  inquire  into  its  truth,  and  to  demonstrate  its  consistency  with, 
the  most  established  principles  of  the  animal  economy,  if  I  do 
not  mistake,  it  has  been  proved  that  abstinence  will  be  often  a 
complete,  generally  an  useful,  and  almost  always  a  safe  means  of 
obviating  the  approach  of  acute  diseases.  And,  in  a  word,  if  it 
were  possible  to  offer  to  mankind  a  maxim  of  universal  applica- 
tion to  the  treatment  of  incipient  fevers,  in  all  their  variations  and 
circumstances,  I  should  be  inclined  to  hazard  the  following  apho- 
rism :  W hen  symptoms,  denoting  the  approach  of  acute  diseases,  are 
discovered^  abstain,  for  a  proper  length  of  time,  from  all  aliment. 


(   2-04  ) 


..I     ......       .  I.  . 

ARTICLE  IX. 


REMARKS  ON  A  SINGULAR  CHANGE  IN  THE  HU- 
MAN LJVER  BY  PUTREFACTION. 

By  Mr.  Fourcroy. 

{  Tranflatei for  the  Medical  Repcjitory,  from  the  third  •volume  of  the  Annalis  Jt 
Chimie,  p.  120  and  feq. printed  at  Paris  in  1 789  ] 

AS  yet  we  are  but  little  acquainted  with  the  intimate  natur; 
or  composition  of  the  different  tissues  of  fibres  of  which 
the  bodies  of  animals  are  composed.  If  we  except  the  bones, 
which  have  been  pretty  well  analized  by  Scheele,  and  the  chemists 
who  have  followed  him,  the  muscular  flesh,  the  membranes,  the 
tendons,  the  ligaments,  the  pulp  of  the  brain  and  nerves,  the  pa- 
renchymatous structure  of  the  viscera,  which  have  been  regarded 
as  almost  one  and  the  same  substance,  more  or  less  elaborated, 
organized  and  animalized,are  not  really,  as  yet, understood  by  us; 
every  thing  assures  us  that  their  component  matter  is  not  the  same, 
that  the  elements  which  form  them  are  in  very  different  propor- 
tions, and  that  their  structure,  composed  of  principles  differently 
combined,  is  destined  for  different  functions.  In  attending  to 
what  an  exact  analysis  has  afforded  on  this  subject,  we  must  be 
careful  to  collect  all  the  facts  which  appertain  to  it.  I  have  al- 
ready got  together  several  of  these  facts  from  different  works. 
That  which  I  am  now  going  to  offer  is  of  a  kind  capable  of 
throwing  light  upon  the  bile  and  the  diseases  of  the  liver. 

The  late  Mr.  Poulletier  de  la  Salle,  who  had  devoted  his  life  to 
the  study  of  the  useful  sciences,  and  who  cultivated,  with  particu- 
lar success,  anatomy  and  medical  chemistry,  had  exposed  to  the 
air  a  bit  of  human  liver,  suspended  by  a  piece  of  pack-thread. 
This  bit,  without  being  destroyed  by  putrefaction,  had,  from  the 
beginning,  emitted  a  disagreeable  odour;  the  larva?  of  insects,  and 
particularly  of  the  dermestes  lardarius,  bruchus,  &c.  had  preyed 
upon  it,  until  at  last  it  became  dry  by  degrees,  and  turned  to  a 
grey  and  friable  substance.  It  had  been  thus  exposed  for  more 
than  ten  years,  and,  for  the  last  three  or  four,  it  appeared  to  un- 
dergo no  new  changes.  Mr.  Poulletier  was  desirous  of  knowing 
its  composition,  and  brought  it  to  my  laboratory  in  May,  1785. 
At  first  sight  this  bit  of  liver  would  have  been  taken  for  an  earthy 
substance,  similar  to  mineral  agaric;  but,  on  a  nearer  examina- 
tion, pieces  of  dried  membranes  were  yet  observable,  of  a  brown 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


20| 


colour,  as  well  as  vascular  strings  in  an  equal  state  of  dryness:  rub- 
bed by  the  finger,  it  felt  fat  and  soft,  like  a  sort  of  soap. 

The  examination  we  made  of  this  liver  gave  us  results  very 
different  from  those  which  its  appearance  seemed  to  announce. 

ist.  We  put  a  small  piece  of  it  upon  a  burning  coal;  it  imme- 
diately grew  soft,  emitting  the  smell  of  burning  grease;  it  presently 
melted  altogether,  puffed  up,  turned  black,  and  left  a  light  coaly 
matter,  which,  on  being  strongly  heated,  was  converted  into  white 
ashes.  This  first  experiment  satisfied  us  that  this  animal  substance 
was  not  reduced  to  a  mere  lump  of  earth,  as  its  first  appearance 
might  have  led  us  to  believe,  and  determined  us  to  analize  it  with 
greater  care. 

2dly.  Although  we  could  not  expect  to  obtain  a  very  exact  re- 
sult from  the  distillation  of  this  substance,  on  account  of  the  small 
quantity  which  we  had  to  submit  to  this  trial,  we  still  thought 
proper  to  try  half  an  ounce  in  this  way.  There  passed  first  some 
drops  of  a  white  water,  of  a  faint  smell ;  a  white  smoke,  more 
thick,  and  manifestly  oily,  very  soon  succeeded  this  first  product. 
This  vapour  condensed  into  a  white  concrete  matter,  sticking  tq 
the  neck  of  the  retort;  it  then  diffused  a  very  tainted  odour;  the 
concrete  oil  took  on  a  russet  colour,  and  a  little  carbonated  hy- 
drogene  gas  came  over.  It  appeared  that  a  great  part  of  the  liver 
had  passed  without  decomposition.  It  was  remarkable  that  the 
concrete  oil,  collected  in  the  neck  of  the  retort  and  in  the  receiver, 
had  a  lamellated  and  crystallized  appearance.  The  products  mani- 
fested neither  an  acid  nor  an  alkaline  character. 

3dly.  One  gros*  of  the  dried  liver  was  put  into  two  ounces  of 
distilled  water;  a  small  part  only  seemed  to  dissolve  in  the  water 
by  mere  heat.  This  solution  was  whitish,  and  opaque;  it  had 
somewhat  the  smell  of  soap,  and  afforded  a  great  number  of 
bubbles,  by  agitation.  Its  smell  was  faint,  and  it  turned  the  syrup 
of  violets  sensibly  green.  Lime-water,  without  sensibly  precipi- 
tating it,  rendered  its  odour  a  little  foetid.  The  portion  of  liver 
not  dissolved  by  the  water,  was  melted  by  heat,  and  crystallized  on 
cooling.    It  gave  out  a  greasy  smell,  and  was  inflammable. 

4thly.  We  treated  a  gros  of  the  dried  liver,  without  heat,  with 
an  ounce  of  the  ley  of  caustic  pot-ash;  and,  by  simply  rubbing 
in  a  mortar,  tire  alkali  appeared  to  act  very  sensibly  upon  the  sub- 
stance; there  was  disengaged  a  slight  ammoniacal  smell ;  and  the 
ley  lathered.  On  heating  this  mixture,  the  liquor  took  on  a  brown 
colour,  and  emitted  the  smell  of  heated  soap.  After  boiling  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  it  was  filtered  hot,  it  was  of  a  deep  russet  co- 
lour, and  passed  very  well  through  the  paper  employed  (Papier 
Joseph.)    On  cooling,  this  solution  turned  to  a  brown  concrete: 


*  A  gros  is  nearly  equal  to  our  drachm. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


distilled  water,  of  a  boiling  heat,  dissolved  it  wholly,  without  leav. 
ing  any  part.  The  whole  substance  of  the  liver  had  been  dissolved  by 
the  fixed  alkali,  even  the  membranous  and  fibrous  portions  we  have 
described.  The  solution  in  water  lathered  strongly  on  being  shook  ; 
on  cooling,  it  grew  turbid,  and  let  fall  some  slight  curdles  of  a 
white  colour.  Lime-water  decomposed  it,  and  precipitated  it  in 
abundance  of  curdles:  acids,  in  like  manner,  decomposed  it,  as 
well  as  the  earthy  neutral  salts.  There  was  no  doubt  that  the  al- 
kali had  dissolved  a  fat  oily  matter,  and  formed  a  homogeneous 
soap.  The  indissolubility  of  the  liver  in  water,  or  at  least  its 
trifling  solubility,  satisfied  us  that  it  consisted,  in  a  great  measure, 
of  an  oily  substance,  prone  to  concrete,  very  soluble,  by  means  of 
alkali?)  and  easily  forming  soaps  with  that  order  of  saline  substan- 
ce We  next  wanted  to  know  the  nature  of  this  oily  matter,  and 
to  determine  whether  it  was  combined  with  any  other  animal  sub- 
stance. The  following  experiment  tended  much  to  elucidate  this 
point. 

$thly.  One  gros  of  dried  human  liver,  reduced  by  the  pestle  to 
a  sort  of  gross  powder,  was  treated  with  two  ounces  of  alkohol, 
of  thirty-six  degrees  of  the  areometer  of  Mr.  Beaume.  The  ac- 
tion of  this  fluid  was  aided  by  a  moderate  heat;  after  remaining 
together  for  two  days,  the  alkohol  acquired  a  russet  colour;  and  a 
smell,  slightly  foetid,  was  added  to  that  which  it  had  been  accus-r 
tomed  to  emit.  This  liquor  was  filtered,  to  separate  the  dissolved 
portion  from  the  part  on  which  the  alkohol  had  no  action.  One 
drop  of  this  sort  of  tincture,  let  fall  into  water,  aiforded  a  very 
thick  white  cloud,  and  a  very  perceptible  precipitation.  Evaporat- 
ed from  a  china  saucer,  in  the  heat  of  a  sand-bath,  it  left  a  yel- 
lowish plate,  which  appeared,  at  first  sight,  to  be  a  resinous  matter; 
water,  however,  applied  to  this  matter,  dissolved  a  small  part  of  it, 
gave  it  a  white  colour  and  a  clotted  appearance,  which  made  it  re- 
semble grey  concreted  oil. 

The  portion  of  liver  not  dissolved  by  the  alkohol,  weighed,  af- 
ter being  dried,  half  a  gros;  the  alkohol  had,  therefore,  carried  off 
almost  the  half  of  its  weight.  Four  ounces  more  of  this  men- 
struum, applied,  at  two  separate  turns,  to  this  piece  of  liver,  dis- 
solved still  a  part  of  it:  there  remained  yet  near  twenty  grains 
undissolved;  and  we  remarked,  that  this  residue  consisted  of  the 
membranes  and  vessels  which  had  escaped  the  aclion  of  the  alkohol. 
The  parts  dissolved  by  this  liquor,  in  the  two  last  experiments,  were, 
in  all  respects,  like  the  first :  water  also  carried  off  a  small  portion 
of  colouring  and  soapy  matter.  The  substance  separated  by  wa- 
ter from  the  solution  in  alkohol,  and  precipitated  in  white  curdles, 
has  been  separately  examined;  as  it  was  this  upon  which  it  seemed 
more  particularly  necessary  to  fix  our  attention.  The  properties 
it  presented  have  led  us  to  a  conclusion  iutirely  different  from 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


207 


what  has  been  hitherto  known  concerning  animal  analysis.  We 
had  prepared  thirty-seven  grains  of  this  substance  pure,  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  part  which  is  soluble  in  water.  It  was  then  01  a 
yellowish  colour,  soft  and  greasy  to  the  touch,  like  a  concrete  oil. 
We  put  it  into  a  matrass,  which  was  immersed  in  hot  water. 
It  grew  softer,  and  intirely  melted  before  the  water  was  boiling 
hot:  when  quite  liquid,  it  had  a  yellowish  brown  colour,  and  a 
faint  smell,  like  melted  wax.  The  foetor  which  this  substance  pos- 
sessed, before  the  action  of  the  alkohol,  did  not  exist  after  its  so- 
lution in  that  liquid.  After  it  was  completely  melted  it  was  run 
into  a  china  cup,  where  it  formed  a  solid  cake,  brittle,  and  very 
smooth  on  the  side  next  the  cup.  It  broke  clean,  and  with  a  lit- 
tle snap;  and  exhibited,  in  its  inside,  a  lamellated  structure,  and 
was  manifestly  crystallized.  Hot  alkohol  dissolved  it  completely ; 
and  it  presented  all  the  properties  of  the  concrete  animal  oil, 
known,  in  commerce,  by  die  name  of  spermaceti,  with  this  dif- 
ference, that  it  was  not  so  dry,  so  white,  and  so  transparent,  as  the 
genuine  spermaceti,  and  was  easier  of  solution  in  alkohol  than 
that  animal  oil. 

6thly.  We'put  two  gros  of  the  dried  liver,  cut  into  small  bits, 
into  a  matrass,  which  was  held  in  water  heated  to  the  sixty-eighth 
degree  (185th  of  Fahrenheit)  of  Reaumur's  thermometer.  A  part 
of  the  liver  grew  soft,  and  melted.  The  portion  of  liquefied  oil, 
separated  by  squeezing,  and  hardened  by  cooling,  presented  nearly 
the  same  characters  as  that  which  had  been  dissolved  in  alkohol. 
The  only  two  circumstances  of  difference  which  we  remarked 
were:  1.  That  the  oil  pressed  immediately  from  the  liver,  was 
higher  coloured,  and  more  foetid,  than  that  which  the  alkohol  had 
taken  up.  2.  That  it  contained  a  portion  of  soap,  which,  in  the 
former  experiments,  had  been  separated  from  the  alkohol  by  the 
water. 

;thly.  This  portion  of  saponaceous  matter,  which  we  had 
looked  upon  merely  as  an  extract  in  our  first  experiments,  now 
attracted  our  attention;  it  was  certain  that  it  was  carried  off  from 
•the  dried  liver  by  the  water,  as  well  as  by  the  alkohol;  but  we 
had  as  yet  no  precise  idea  of  its  nature.  The  small  quantity  of 
■dried  liver  which  we  had  to  make  our  trials  with,  was  not  suffi- 
cient for  the  numerous  trials  requisite,  to  come  at  an  exact  know- 
ledge of  the  elements  constituting  this  soap,  nor  of  their  propor- 
tions. All  that  we  could  determine  upon  this  point  was,  that  the 
soap  appeared  to  be  formed  from  a  concrete  oil,  similar  to  that 
procured  by  pressure,  with  the  conjunction  of  ammoniac  and  so- 
da. We  even  conjectured,  that  before  this  liver  was  completely 
dried,  and  before  its  total  conversion  into  a  concrete  oily  sub- 
stance, the  oil  was,  from  the  beginning,  in  a  saponaceous  state,  in- 
timately combined  with  soda  and  ammoniac.    What  led  us  to 


MEDICAL  RL.lJUi)ITORY. 


this  conjecture  was,  that  the  portion  of  ammoniacal  soap,  uhiclj 
remained  still  in  this  piece  of  liver,  and  whose  presence  was  evi» 
duit,  both  from  the  ammoniacal  odour  extricated  by  quicklime, 
wid  from  its  solubility  in  water,  appeared  to  us  to  be  more  abun- 
dant in  the  internal  part  of  the  liver  we  examined,  where,  by  rea- 
son of  its  remoteness  from  the  suriace,  it  had  been  less  exposed 
to  the  air. 

The  facts  which  have  been  set  forth.,  as  has  been  already  men- 
tioned, were  disclosed  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  i/Sj;  they 
were  entered  in  my  journal  of  experiments^  and  I  was  waiting  for 
other  analogous  fads,  to  connect  them  with  the  collected  materi- 
als of  animal  analysis.  In  short,  they  were  looked  upon  simply  as 
a  discovery,  having  little  or  no  connection  with  any  thing  else, 
until  the  year  1786,  when  a  great  opportunity  presented  itself  of 
examining  animal  substances  buried  111  the  earth,  all  lengths  of 
time,  from  more  than  forty-two  years,  down  to  but  a  few  months, 
in  the  cavity  of  the  burying  ground  of  the  innocents. — •■ 
During  the  decay  of  these  bodies,  there  was  formed  an  oily  sub- 
stance, quite  similar  to  that  constituting  the  basis  of  the  dried  iiver, 
whose  history  has  been  related. 

The  nature  and  properties  of  these  animal  substances,  changed 
to  an  oil  resembling  spermaceti,  united  with  a  iarge  quantity  of 
ammoniae,  will  make  the  subject  of  a  memoir,  which  shall  be 
published  in  one  of  the  next  succeeding  numbers  of  the  Chemical 
Annals.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  remark,  in  this  place,  that  the 
conversion  of  the  substance  of  the  liver,  into  a  concrete  oil,  ana- 
logous to  spermaceti,  is  not  the  only  fact  of  the  kind  that  has  fallen 
under  my  observation.  A  ray  of  light  has  suddenly  illuminated 
this  part  of  the  analysis  of  animal  substances,  and  there  appears  to 
be  demonstrative  evidence  that,  in  the  progress  of  a  slow  decom- 
position of  the  dead  bodies  of  animals,  many  of  the  soft  parts  un- 
dergo a  change  similar  to  that  of  the  liver,  which  forms  the  subject 
of  tliis  memoir.  I  further  discovered,  tiiat  the  bodies  of  quadru- 
peds, and  even  those  of  men,  without  passing  through  any  real  pu- 
trid alteration,  contained  this  concrete  oily  substance,  as  the  brain 
and  vertebral  cavity  of  cetaceous  animals:  in  short,  that  in  certain 
cases,  this  oily  matter  is  more  abundant,  and  is  amassed  in  several 
cavities,  where  itolten  forms  concretions  extremely  injurious  to  the 
animal  economy.  I  shall  explain,  in  another  place,  how  {.his  fat, 
concrete  substance,  which  is  extracted,  in  such  abundance,  from 
the  bodies  of  animals  of  the  whale  kind,  differs  from  grease  or 
adipose  matter;  I  shall  endeavour  to  make  it  appear,  or  to  deter- 
mine, how  the  basis  of  the  soft  organs  of  animals  is  changed 
into  this  sort  of  oily  concrete,  and  how  ammoniac  is  formed  at 
She  same  time  in  the  bodies  of  animals. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


I  shall  here  conclude  the  history  of  the  first  class  of  facts  which 
have  presented  themselves  to  me  on  the  discovery  of  this  singular 
substance,  and  that  the  order  of  the  discoveries,  to  which  this,  as 
I  may  say,  has  conducted  me,  might  not  be  interrupted.  I  had 
thoughts  of  adding  to  this  memoir,  my  own  observations  on  the 
flaky  substance,  found  by  the  late  Mr.  Poulletier,  in  his  human 
gall-stones,  and  upon  that  of  some  concretions  in  the  gall-bladr 
der,  which  have  not,  as  yet,  been  described  by  physicians. 


Vol.  I.  No.  2. 


1 


(     2'0  ) 


ARTICLE  X. 


CASE  of  FEVER,  supposed  to  have  been  cauted'by  Exposure  to  the 
Exhalations  of putrid  Beef.  Communicated  by  Samuel  Osb  o  R.  n, 
Surgeon. to  the  Federal  Garrison  on  Governor's  Island. 

JOHN  DEMING,  a  soldier  belonging  to  this  garrison,  in  the 
latter  part  of  June  last,  was  excused  Irom  duty,  on  account  of 
a  gonorrhoea,  which,  from  long  neglect,  had  become  violent  and 
obstinate.  A  lodging  was  assigned  him  in  a  house  without  the  gar- 
rison; the  part  of  which  occupied  by  him,  previous  to  his  enter- 
ing it,  had  been  seldom  or  not  at  all  visited  for  some  time. 

On  the  first  of  July  he  was  seized  with  nausea,  rigors,  pains  in 
his  head,  back,  and  bowels,  accompanied  by  difficult  respiration; 
a  thick,  yellowish  fur  on  his  tongue,  and  quick  and  weak  pulse. 
His  venereal  discharge  ceased  on  the  first  commencement  of  these 
symptoms.  I  gave  him,  on  the  first  visit,  a  cathartic  of  jalap  and 
calomel;  after  waiting  six  hours,  and  no  evacuation  being  effected, 
an  injection  was  administered,  which  procured  a  discharge  of  a 
blackish  colour  and  extremely  foetid  smell. 

July  ad.  This  morning  I  found  him  free  from  the  pain  in  his 
bowels,  his  respiration  less  difficult,  his  pulse  more  full,  and  not 
as  frequent  as  yesterday;  his  eyes  remarkably  inflamed,  and  the 
expression  of  his  countenance  wild.  He  was  afflicted  withextreme 
thirst,  and  all  endeavours  to  assuage  it  by  oranges,  lemonade,  &c. 
were  ineffectual.  At  night  the  pain  in  his  bowels  returned,  ac- 
companied bv  extreme  heat  all  over  his  body.  He  had  stools  (by 
means  of  injections)  similar  to  those  of  yesterday.  Toward? 
midnight  he  became  more  easy. 

July  3d.  This  morning  I  iound  him  somewhat  delirious — his 
eyes  wild  and  much  inflamed,  with  a  slight  yellow  tinge  over  his 
whole  body.  He  was  now  afflicted  with  pains  in  his  bowels  more 
violent  than  before,  which  were  relieved  after  two  copious  eva- 
cuations. His  nausea,  which  had  been  incessant  to  this  time, 
now  left  him,  but  was  succeeded  by  a  distressing  hiccup.  At 
night  all  his  symptoms  were  abated,  and  he  appeared  likely  to 
have  some  rest. 

July  4th.  The  latter  part  of  the  last  night,  after  some  quiet 
sleep,  his  pains  returned  with  increased  violence,  with  sighing, 
restlessness,  repeated  and  copious  vomitings  of  a  bilious  matter, 
alternating  with  a  hiccup,  which  was  extremely  distressing;  his 
wildness  and  delirium  still  continued,  and  the  yellowness  of  his 
skin  was  much  increased. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


211 


July  $th.  This  morning  I  found  him  better,  and  greatly  re- 
freshed by  a  quiet  sleep:  at  noon  he  had  scarcely  any  fever. 

July  6th.  His  sleep  the  last  night  was  interrupted  by  intervals 
of  restlessness,  and  nausea.  In  the  morning  he  was  free  from  fe- 
ver, but  complained  of  general  uneasiness  and  want  of  rest,  which 
he  obtained  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  at  night  appeared  more 
easy,  and  likely  to  rest  well. 

Julv  7th.  ije  slept  well  the  last  night,  and  in  the  morning  I 
found  him  much  better,  and  intirely  free  from  fever.  After  this 
he  had  no  other  complaint  than  general  lassitude  and  debility,  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  disease.  . 

From  the  commencement  of  my  visits  to  this  patient,  I  was  af- 
fected, while  in  the  house  where  he  lay,  by  an  extremely  offensive 
smell,  for  which  I  was  unable  to  assign  any  other  causes  than  the 
attendants'  neglecting  to  remove  the  foetid  stools  of  the  patient, 
and  other  inattentions  to  cleanliness.  The  stench  continuing  af- 
ter careful  dilligence  had  been  used  to  obviate  the  supposed  causes, 
I  ordered  the  cellar  under  the  patient's  room  to  be  examined, 
where  were  found  three  barrels  of  beef,  in  a  state  of  extreme  pu- 
trefaction. So  exceedingly  offensive  was  the  smell  emitted  from 
this  mass  of  animal  putrefaction,  that  the  soldiers  who  were  em- 
ployed to  remove  it,  were  several  times  forced  to  desist,  for  the 
purpose  of  breathing  fresh  air,  before  they  could  accomplish  their 
design.  On  the  discovery  and  removal  of  this  putrid  beef,  which 
was  made  on  the  fourth  of  July,  and  which  immediately  struck, 
me  as  the  cause  of  my  patient's  fever,  he  gradually  mended,  and 
on  the  thirteenth  of  July,  his  venereal  discharge,  which  had  ceas- 
ed at  the  first  attack  6f  fever,  without  recurring  again  during  the 
time  of  his  confinement,  re-appeared. 

It  i8  worthy  of  resnark,  that  a  soldier,  attending  the  patient 
whose  case  is  above  related,  was,  on  the  fourth  of  July  (the  day 
when  the  putrid  beef  was  removed  from  the  cellar)  attacked  by 
the  usual  symptoms  of  yellow  fever,  but  a  powerful  cathartic  re- 
moved all  complaint  in  twenty-four  hours,  except  a  weakness, 
which  I  attributed  to  the  powerful  operation  of  the  medicine. 

It  may  be  proper  to  observe,  that  the  vomitings  noticed  as  hav- 
ing occurred  on  the  fourth  of  July,  were  excited  by  no  nauseat- 
ing medicine,  but  appeared  to  form  part  of  the  progress  of  the 
disease;  the  patient  having  been  afilicted  with  nausea,  which  had 
increased,  with  very  little  intermission,  from  the  first.  They  (the 
vomitings)  were  finally  obviated  by  the  occasional  administration 
of  Riverius'  mixture,  but  not  until  after  the  removal  of  the  pu- 
trid beef;  the  patient's  recovery,  from  that  time,  was  very  rapid. 

In  stating  the  preceding  case,  the  particular  treatment  has  been 
purposely  omitted,  that  the  facts  might  appear  more  connected 
and  precise. 

Governor's  Island^  October  I  5/^,  1 79  7. 


(    2i3  ) 


REVIEW. 


Art.  I.  Medical  Inquiries  and  Observations:  Containing  an  Ac- 
count of  the  bilious  remitting  and  intermitting  Yellow-Fever, 
as  it  appeared  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1 794.  By  Benja- 
min Rush,  M.  D.  &c.  &c. 

[Continued from  page  79.] 

IN  the  second  part  of  the  work  before  us  Dr.  Rush  proceeds 
to  deliver  his  doctrine  concerning  the  proximate  cause  of  fe- 
ver. 

In  order  to  render  more  intelligible,  and  to  establish  his  theory 
of  fever,  Dr.  Rush  premises  the  following  general  propositions. 

1.  Fevers  of  all  kinds  are  preceded  by  general  debility,  direct 
or  indirect,  as  may  be  inferred  from  their  causes.  The  causes  of 
fever,  which  act  by  inducing  direct  debility,  are  cold — the  pas- 
sions of  fear,  grief  and  despair — all  excessive  evacuation  :,  whether 
by  the  bowels,  blood-vessels,  pores,  or  urinary  passages — famine, 
or  the  abstraction  of  the  usual  quantity  of  nourishing  food. 

The  causes  which  predispose  to  fever,  by  inducing  indirect  de- 
bility, are  heat — intemperance  in  eating  and  drinking — fatigue — 
and  certain  powers  which  act  by  overstretching,  wounding,  bruis- 
ing, compressing,  burning,  &c. 

a.  Debility,  whether  direct  or  indirect,  is  always  succeeded  by 
increased  excitability,  or  a  greater  aptitude  to  be  acted  upon  by 
stimuli. 

3.  The  diminution  or  abstraction  of  one  stimulus  is  always 
followed  by  the  increased  action  of  others. 

4.  The  stimuli,  which  are  the  remote  or  exciting  causes  of  fe- 
ver, operate  on  the  system  in  a  manner  wholly  different  from  the 
ordinary  stimuli  of  health.  In  health  there  is  a  constant  and  just 
proportion  between  the  degrees  of  excitability,  excitement  and 
stimuli.  In  piedisposition  to  fever,  this  ratio  is  destroyed;  and 
hence  the  preternatural  force  of  stimuli  produces  irregular  action, 
or  a  convulsion  in  the  arterial  system. 

5.  The  stimuli,  which  induce  the  irregular  action  or  convul- 
sion of  fever,  act,  for  the  most  part,  primarily  upon  the  sanguife- 
rous, and  particularly  upon  the  arterial  system. 

6.  There  is  but  one  remote  cause  of  fever,  and  that  is  stimulus. 
Heat,  alternating  with  cold,  marsh  and  human  miasmata,  conta- 
gions and  poisons  of  all  kinds,  intemperance,  passions  of  the  mind, 
bruises,  burns,  and  the  like,  all  aft  by  a  stimulating  power  only 
in  producing  fever. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


7.  There  is  but  one  fever.  However  different  the  predisprtt. 
ing,  remote,  or  exciting  causes  of  lever,  the  unity  of  it  still  remains 
the  same. 

8.  All  ordinary  fever  being  seated  in  the  blood-vessels,  it  fol- 
lows, of  course,  that  all  those  local  affections  we  call  pleurisv,  an- 
gina, phrenitis,  internal  dropsy  ot  the  brain,  pulmonary  consump- 
tion, and  inflammation  of  the  liver,  stomach,  bowels  and  limbs, 
are  symptoms  only  of  an  original  and  primary  disease  in  the  san- 
guiferous system. 

Having  premised  these  general  propositions,  Dr.  Rush  goes 
on  to  remark,  that  a  fever'  (when  not  misplaced)  consists  in  a 
morbid  excitement  and  irregular  action  in  the  blood  vessels,  more 
especially  in  the  arteries. 

This  irregular  action  he  asserts  to  be,  in  other  words,  a  convul- 
sion in  the  sanguiferous,  but  more  obviously  in  the  arterial  system. 

That  this  is  the  case,  he  infers  from  the  strict  analogy  supposed 
to  exist  between  symptoms  of  fever,  and  convulsions  in  the  ner- 
vous system.  And  in  support  of  this  opinion,  the  analogy  is  pur- 
sued into  a  number  of  particulars,  minutely  compared,  exhibiting 
a  coincidence  and  similarity  of  phenomena  which  cannot  tail  to 
impress  the  reader. 

From  the  series  of  facts  and  analogies  now  mentioned,  Dr.  Rush 
concludes,  that  irregular  aciion,  or  a  convulsion  of  the  blood-vessels^ 
is  the  proximate  cause  of  fever.  And  his  whole  theory  of  fever 
resolves  itself  into  a  chain,  consisting  of  four  links.  1.  Predis- 
posing debility,  or  weakened  excitement  of  the  blood-vtssels. 
a.  An  increase  of  their  excitability.  3.  Stimulating  powers  ap- 
plied to  them;  and,  4.  Irregular  action  or  convulsion. 

Having  thus  delivered  his  fundamental  doctrine,  the  author 
proceeds  to  examine  how  far  it  accords  with  the  phenomena  of 
lever,  which  he  divides  into  two  kinds. 

1.  Such  as  are  transient,  and  more  or  less  common  to  all  fevers. 
These  he  calls  symptoms  of  fever,  and  proceeds  to  explain  the  pro- 
duction of  them  in  the  following  order — lassitude — cold  fit — tre- 
mors— pains  in  the  head,  breast  and  bones — vomiting  and  diarr- 
hoea— want  of  appetite,  and  costiveness — dry  skin,  or  partial 
sweats — high  coloured  and  pale  urine — suppression  of  urine- 
thirst — white,  yellow,  dry,  dark,  and  black  tongue — varieties  in 
degree  and  distribution  of  heat— and  eruptions. 

2.  The  author  proceeds  to  apply  his  theory  to  the  description  and 
explanation  of  what  he  denominates  the  different  states  of  fever. 

•  Having  maintained  that  there  is  but  one  fever,  he,  of  course, 
rejects  its  artificial  division  into  genera  and  species.  A  disease 
w  hich  so  frequently  changes  its  lormand  place  should  never  have 
been  designated,  like  plants  and  animals,  by  unchangeable  charac- 
ters.   Much  mischief  has  been  done  by  nosological  arrangements 


REVIEW. 


Of  diseases.  They  ereft  imaginary  boundaries  between  things 
which  are  of  a  homogeneous  nature.  They  degrade  the  human 
understanding,  by  substituting  simple  perceptions  to  its  more  dig- 
nified operations  of  judgment  and  reasoning. — Bat,  in  thus  reject- 
ins  the  nosologies  of  the  schools,  the  author  does  not  wish  to  see 
them  banished  from  the  libraries  of  physicians;  when  consulted  as 
histories  of  the  effects  of  diseases  only,  they  may  still  be  useful. 

Excess  in  the  force  and  frequency  of  the  action  of  the  blood- 
vessels, has  been  considered  as  the  characteristic  mark  of  what  is 
called  inflammatory  fever.  But  there  are  marks  which  indicate 
a  much  greater  excess  of  stimulus  upon  the  blood-vessels.  These 
are  preternatural  slowness,  intermissions  and  depression  in  the 
pulse,  such  as  occur  in  certain  malignant  fevers.  In  applying  his 
theory  of  fever  to  the  explanation  of  all  its  different  states,  the 
author  is  led,  by  this  view  of  its  inflammatory  state,  to  consider 
them  in  the  order  of  their  inflammatory  character,  or  according 
to  the  force  of  stimulus  which  acts  upon  the  blood-vessels.  The 
following  appears  to  be  the  usual  order  of  inflammatory  diathesis, 
presented  to  us  by  nature,  in  the  different  fevers  described  by  me- 
dical writers. 

i.  The  plague.  2.  The  yellow  fever.  3.  The  natural  small- 
pox. 4.  The  malignant  sore  throat.  5.  The  fever  from  the  al- 
ternate action  of  cold  and  heat  on  the  body,  appearing  with  the 
symptoms  of  pleurisy,  rheumatism,  tonic  gout,  internal  dropsy  of 
the  brain,  and  pulmonary  consumption.  6.  The  measles.  7.  Ca- 
tarrh from  cold,  and  influenza  from  contagion.  8.  The  common 
remitting  fever,  appearing  occasionally  with  the  symptoms  of  colic, 
dysentery,  inflammation  of  the  liver,  and  internal  dropsy  of  the 
brain.  9.  The  scarlatina,  puerperal  and  hectic  fevers.  10.  The 
jail  fever.    11.  The  common  mild  intermittent. 

This  scale  of  the  degrees  of  morbid  action  in  fevers  is  taken 
from  their  usual  symptoms.  But  these  vary  with  climate,  season, 
and  habit. 

In  pursuance  of  the  author's  plan  of  substituting  in  the  place 
of  the  usual  names  of  fevers,  certain  definite  states  which  may 
be  applied,  with  varying  circumstances,  to  them  all,  he  divides 
them, 

1.  Into  such  as  affect  the  whole  arterial  system,  with  no,  or 
but  little  local  affection.  Under  this  head  are  comprehended  the 
malignant  state  of  fever,  which  constitutes  the  highest  grade  of  in- 
flammatory diathesis.  The  gangrenous  state  of  fever,  commonly 
denominated  putrid — the  syriocJia,  or  the  common  inflammatory 
state  of  fever— the  bilious  state  of  fever — the  tyfthus  state  of  fever 
— the  ty/ihoid  state  of  fever,  inclining  more  to  typhus  than  tosyno- 
cha — the  synochoid  state  of  fever,  approaching  nearer  to  synocha — 
the  symchula  state  of  fever— the  hetlic  state  of  fever — the  intermit- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


ting  and  remitting  states  of  fever — the  sweating,  fainting,  burning, 
cold  and  chilly  states  of  fever. 

a.  The  author  proceeds  next  to  enumerate  those  states  of  fever 
in  which  there  are  local  affections,  combined  more  or  less  with  ge- 
neral fever.  The  following  belong  to  this  second  head.  The  in- 
testinal state  of  fever,  including  cholera,  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  and 
colic — the  pulmonary  state  of  fever,  including  pneumony,  true  and 
bastard,  also  catarrh  from  cold  and  contagion,  'and  chronic  pneu- 
mony, or  pulmonary  consumption — the  anginose  state  of  fever — 
the  rheumatic  state  of  fever —  the  arthritic  or  gouty  state  of  fever — ■ 
the  maniacal  state  of  fever — the  apopleclic,  Jihrenitic,  paralytic,  le- 
thargic, vertiginous,  hydrocephalic,  nephritic,  hydropic,  eruptive,  hce- 
viorrkagic,  amawrrhagic,  hemorrhoidal,  and  opthalmic  states  of  fe- 
ver. 

3.  In  the  third  and  last  place,  the  author  mentions  the  mis/ilaced 
states  of  fever.  The  periodical  pains  in  the  head,  eyes,  ears,  jaws, 
hips,  and  back,  which  occur  in  the  sickly  autumnal  months, 
and  w  hich  impart  no  fulness,  force  or  frequency  to  the  pulse,  are 
all  misplaced  fevers.  Under  this  last  head  are  included,  the  hepa- 
tic state  of  fever — the  convulsive  or  spasmodic  state  of  fever — the 
hysterical  and  hypochondriacal  states  of  fever — and  the  cutaneous  state 
of  fever. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  importance  and  difficulty  of  an  in- 
quiry into  the  proximate  cause  of  fever,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  re- 
collect the  learning,  acuteness  and  diligence,  which  have  been  often 
exerted,  and  the  little  success  which  long  attended  this  point  of 
medical  research. 

Without  going  back  to  distant  times,  it  may  be  observed,  that 
the  fruitless  labours  of  Boerhaave,  Hoffman  and  Cullen  are  in 
every  body's  recollection.  The  disquisitions,  however,  of  these 
physicians,  though  they  may  be  pronounced  unsuccessful  as  to  the 
main  object  of  inquiry,  have  not  been  intirely  without  advantage. 
If  their  discoveries  have  not  illuminated  the  paths  to  be  trodden 
by  their  successors,  at  least  their  mistakes  and  errors  have  so  pal- 
pably blocked  up  the  way,  as  to  make  it  necessary  to  shun  the 
course  they  attempted  to  pursue,  and  to  explore  a  new  route  in 
quest  of  truth. 

Among  such  as  have  more  successfully  investigated  this  subject, 
we  are  happy  to  find  the  author  of  the  present  work.  His  doc- 
trine, in  general,  is  simple,  clear,  and  well  combined;  he  has  lop- 
ped off  many  of  the  mistaken  fa£ts  of  former  writers,  and  cleansed, 
of  much  fanciful  rubbish,  the  augean  stable  of  theory;  and  he  has 
availed  himself,  in  a  judicious  manner,  of  some  important  laws  of 
the  animal  economy,  which  have  been  lately  brought  to  light. 

We  are  not  sure  that,  in  every  point,  we  clearly  comprehend 
the  meaning  of  the  author.    His  proposition,  that  u  indirect  de- 


REVIEW. 


I*  bility,  particularly  if  suddenly  induced,  is  always  succeeded  by 
increased  excitability,  or  a  greater  aptitude  to  be  acted  upon 
"  by  stimuli,"  appears  to  be  too  general  and  unqualified.  Some 
of  our  readers  may,  perhaps  not  without  reason,  doubt  the  con- 
sistency of  this' with  the  other  leading  positions.  If  it  be  admit- 
ted, that  stimuli,  in  producing  excitement,  constantly  expend  the 
principle  of  life,  or  the  excitability  (and  we  see  not  how  this  can 
be  questioned)  it  appears  difficult  to  perceive  in  what  manner 
indirect  debility,  the  effect  of  excessive  stimuli,  however  sud- 
denly induced,  can  be  attended  with  an  accumulation  of  this  same 
vital  principle. 

The  essence  of  indirect  debility  seems  to  consist  in  a  deficiency 
of  excitability.  The  suddenness  with  which  this  deficiency  may 
be  produced,  by  the  quick  and  violent  operation  of  stimuli,  can 
scarcely,  we  apprehend,  so  far  vary  the  effect,  as  to  give  counte- 
nance to  the  supposition,  that  the  excitability  is  accumulated. 

It  will  be  readily  admitted,  that  stimuli  may  often  have  a  two- 
fold effect,  or,  in  other  words,  that  expenditure  and  accumula- 
tion of  excitability  may  frequently  be  the  simultaneous  effect  of 
the  same  cause;  as  when  certain  quantities  of  alkohol,  wine  or 
opium  are  taken,  which,  at  the  same  time,  exhaust  excitability 
by  increasing  action,  and  produce  additional  supplies  of  it,  by 
their  operation  on  the  sensorium, 

From  the  ever-varying  quantities  of  stimulus  and  excitability, 
considering  them  either  in  a  distinct  or  relative  view,  a  correspon- 
dent vicissitude  in  the  degree  of  excitement  must  constantly  be  tak- 
ing place.  The  phrases,  dire  ft  and  indireft  debility,  seem  scarcely 
to  express  the  conditions  of  the  animal  system,  which  they  are  in- 
tended to  represent,  with  sufficient  accuracy  and  precision.  They 
are  so  much  calculated  to  perplex  and  mislead,  that  we  suspect 
much  of  the  obscurity  of  the  passage  under  consideration  may  be 
ascribed  to  the  author's  adopting  this  form  of  expression.  And 
while  these  phrases,  from  their  circuitousness  and  ambiguity,  stand 
in  need  of  constant  qualifications  to  guard  them  from  being  mis- 
understood, we  cannot  but  think  it  expedient  to  dismiss  them  from 
medical  language,  and  to  substitute  modes  of  expression  more  con' 
formable  to  the  simplicity  and  truth  of  the  natural  fact. 

[To  be  continued.] 


Vol.  I.  No.  2. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Art.  II.  Medicaments,  et  Precis  de  la  Methode  de  Mr.  Masdevall', 
&c.  &tr» — Tltat  is,  Prescriptions,  and  a  Sketch  of  the  Met/iodof  Mr. 
Masdevall,  Physician  of  Charles  the  Fourth,  King  of  Spain,  for  cur- 
ing all  epidemic,  putrid  and  malignant  Distempers,  Fevers  of  dif- 
ferent Kinds,  &c.  foV.  vutA  tlie  Means  of  Prevention.  Divided 
into  Paragraphs,  for  the  Use  of  Families  zulio  are  unable  to  procure 
Physicians.    New-Orleans.   Duclot.   1796.  pp.  48.  8vo. 

THIS  pamphlet,  which  is  dedicated  to  the  Baron  de  Caronde- 
let,  the  Governor  of  New-Orleans,  whose  name  appears 
in  the  correspondence  with  the  commissioner  of  the  United  States^ 
now  employed  in  running  the  disputed  territorial  line  between 
Georgia  and  the  Floridas,  is  intended  as  a  sort  of  popular  work, 
or  book  of  direction,  for  the  use  of  his  Catholic  Majesty's  sub- 
jects in  Louisiana.  The  history  of  the  directions  it  contains  is 
this;  in  the  year  1783,  while  Catalonia,  in  Spain,  was  laid  waste 
by  an  epidemic  disease,  Dr.  Masdevall  was  appointed  by  Charles 
IV.  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of  the  disorder,  and  its  method  of 
treatment,  and  report  thereupon.  It  appears  that  this  inspetlor  of 
the  epidemics  (this  was  his  title)  was  not  only  very  successful  in  his 
mission,  but  published)  in  1 786,  a  circumstantial  account  of  what 
he  had  done.  In  this  he  exhibits  the  mode  of  practice  which,  af- 
ter twenty  years  experience,  he  found  to  answer  best,  and  which 
he  thinks  preferable  to. any  that  has  been  adopted  from  the  time  of 
Hippocrates  to  the  present  day. 

Mr.  Masdevall  assures  his  readers,  that  so  far  from  having  ob- 
structions of  the  bowels  brought  on  by  following  his  method,  they 
may,  with  confidence,  expect  their  uneasy  symptoms  to  cease  on 
or  before  the  fourteenth  dayv  if  the  remedies  are  employed  early. 
He  declares  his  method  a  true  specific  against  all  fevers  of  the  pu- 
trid, malignant,  epidemic,  quotidian,  intermittent,  bilious,  purple, 
miliary,  ardent,  remittent,  and  pestilential  kinds,  particularly  those 
proceeding  from  a  putrid  air,  from  the  infectious  vapours  of  bu- 
rying-grounds,  jails  and  hospitals;  from  ships,  and  low  and  marshy 
places. 

An  abstract  from  such  a  work  as  this,  was  thought  a  proper 
publication  in  the  king  of  Spain's  American  dominions;  and,  by 
the  approbation  of  government,  grounded  upon  the  testimonials 
of  Dr.  M.'s  success,  submitted  to  the  captain-general  of  Catalonia, 
and  to  the  Count  of  Florida  Blanca,  the  pamphlet  now  before 
us  has  been  extracted  from  the  larger  work,  to  instruct  the  people 
of  Louisiana,  in  times  of  sickness,  how  to  employ  the  means 
found  to  be  so  remarkably  beneficial,  in  one  of  the  principal  pro- 
vinces of  Spain. 

The  publication  now  before  ts,  being  merely  a  manual  of  prac- 


REVIEW. 


2l9 


tice,  contains  not  any  description  of  the  country,  climate,  or  dis- 
ease, but  simplv  states  Dr.  M.'s  method  of  treating  putrid,  bilious, 
or  pestilential  fevers.  His  practice  is  simple,  and  his  remedies  few, 
in  these  formidable  diseases.  These  we  shall  particularly  lay  be- 
fore our  readers.  The  whole  of  the  internal  means  Dr.  M.  pre- 
scribes may  be  comprized  under  three  heads:  i.  His  antimo- 
nial  mixture;  2.  His  febrifuge  opiate,  or, more  properly 
speaking,  electuary;  and,  3.  His  antifebrile  clysters. 
The  use,  application,  and  directions,  relative  to  these,  make  the 
sum  of  Dr.  M.'s  discoveries. 

The  antimonial  mixture  is  ordered  to  be  made  according  to  the 
following  receipt:  take  of  viper-water  five  ounces,  emetic-wine 
one  ounce,  powdered  cream  of  tartar  one  dram ;  mix  for  use.  If 
the  viper-water  cannot  be  got,  the  water  of  carduus  benedictus, 
borrage-water,  or  poppy-water,  may  be  substituted  for  it.  As  the 
valuable  and  operative  part  of  the  remedy  is  the  antimonial  wine, 
it  may  be  employed,  indeed,  by  itself;  but  as  the  cream  of  tartar 
can  be  procured  every  where,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  adding 
that  ingredient  to  the  mixture.  The  formula  now  given,  is  adapt- 
ed to  the  ordinary  constitutions  of  the  young  and  robust.  The 
dose  is,  on  the  first  day,  a  tea-spoonful,  poured  out  after  shaking 
up  the  phial,  mixed  in  half  a  cupful  of  common  water,  of  the 
existing  temperature;  and  a  cup  of  the  same  water  is  directed  to 
be  drunk  immediately  afterwards.  An  hour  and  a  half  after  the 
first  dose,  a  bowl  of  light  broth,  perfectly  free  from  fat,  is  to  be 
drank,  or,  if  this  cannot  be  had,  some  thin  panado,  or  gruel  made 
of  Indian  meal.  An  hour  and  a  half  after  this,  another  dose  is  to 
be  taken,  after  the  manner  of  the  first,  and  in  that  way,  alternately, 
a  dose  of  the  mixture  and  a  draught  of  the  soup,  for  four  or  five 
days.  And  if  the  patient  cannot  sleep,  the  treatment  must  be  con- 
tinued during  the  night,  as  long  as  he  continues  awake. 

The  usual  operation  of  the  first  or  second  spoonful  of  the  mix- 
ture, is  to  promote  gentle  vomitings  or  stools,  or  sometimes  a 
slight  looseness,  with  comfortable  unloading  of  the  alimentary  ca- 
nal. The  succeeding  doses  will  not  purge  much  more,  but  will 
promote  perspiration  very  freely,  and  increase  the  quantity  of  urine. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that  Dr.  M.  is  very  particular 
in  proportioning  the  quantity  of  the  antimonial  to  the  age  and 
strength  of  his  patient.  By  the  help  of  this  mixture,  he  says,  if 
it  be  administered  from  the  beginning  of  the  disease,  the  fever  com- 
monly abates,  so  as  gradually  to  go  off  intirely  between  the  fifth 
and  the  eleventh  day. 

The  febrifuge  electuary  is  composed  of  a  dram  of  the  salt  of 
wormwood  (carbonate  of  pot-ash,)  a  dram  of  sal  ammoniac  (mu- 
riate of  ammoniac,)  eighteen  grains  of  tartar  emetic  (antimoniated 
tartrite  of  pot-ash,)  and  an  ounce  of  finely  powdered  Peruvian 


22o  ftlEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


bark,  made  into  an  electuary,  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  th'o 
syrup  of  wormwood,  and  is  to  be  employed,  after  the  fifth  dav 
of  the  disease,  without  delay,  if  the  symptoms  have  not  already 
abated  by  the  use  of  the  preceding  mixture.  A  sixth  part  is  to  be 
taken  at  a  dose,  mixed  with  pure  water,  and  in  conjunction  with 
the  usual  proportion  of  the  antimonial  mixture;  the  patient  drink- 
ing cool  water  afterwards  and  between  whiles.  If  the  weather  is 
very  hot,  the  drink  should  be  cold,  even  as  cold  as  ice.  He  must 
then  go  on  taking  between  the  doses  of  the  medicine  just  men- 
tioned, some  of  his  soup;  and  thus  continue  for  several  days, 
until  the  disease  relents.  If  the  symptoms  do  not  yield,  the  doses 
are  to  be  increased  in  quantity  and  frequency. 

The  anti-febrile  clyster  is  made  of  the  febrifuge  electuary  order- 
ed in  the  preceding  formula,  the  whole;  of  the  blessed  laxative 
(we  are  not  certain  what  this  laxativum  benedictum  is)  and  of 
emetic  wine  each  two  ounces;  mix  for  ingredients  of  two  injec- 
tions. Warm  water,  honey,  and  oil  added  to  these,  are  to  be  admi- 
nistered, and  the  whole  retained  in  the  body  as  long  as  possible : 
and  these  are  to  be  repeated,  according  to  the  exigency  of  the  case, 
in  greater  quantity  and  greater  frequency. 

Dr.  Masdevall  rests  the  cure  pretty  much  upon  these  remedies, 
and  rejects  the  cordials,  blisters,  caustics,  and  antidotes  of  the  vul- 
gar medical  practice.  He  also  is  opposed  to  frequent  blood-letting, 
advising  it  to  be  performed  upon  patients  of  a  sanguineous  and 
vigorous  constitution  only,  and  on  such  no  more  than  once  or 
twice,  and  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  disorder.  What  is  very 
curious  is,  that  he  considers  health  and  life  so  intirely  residing  in 
the  blood,  that  he  affirms,  upon  the  authority  of  Leviticus  xvii. 
14.  there  must  be  much  danger  in  drawing  off  that  fluid,  upon 
which  the  existence  of  life  so  materially  depends. 

In  the  course  of  the  sickness  he  allows  his  patients  as  much 
cool  water  or  lemonade  as  they  choose  to  drink;  together  with 
cherries,  water-melons,  strawberries,  and  any  other  ripe  fruits  of 
the  season;  and  he  permits  pure  chocolate,  almond  milk,  gruel, 
rice,  thin  soups,  greens,  and  a  little  good  wine  with  the  fruits. 
And  after  the  febrile  commotion  has,  by  these  means,  subsided, 
the  alimentary  canal  should  be  cleansed  by  moderate  cathartics  of 
neutral  salts. 

Such  is  the  summary  of  the  Spanish  method  of  cure  contained 
in  the  publication  of  this  celebrated  physician:  and  we  have 
thought  it  worth  the  while  to  be  the  more  particular  in  detailing 
the  practice,  because,  although  the  inhabitants  of  the  Spanish  do- 
minions, both  in  Europe  and  America,  are  subjected  to  febrile 
distempers  in  a  great  variety  of  alarming  forms,  yet  the  publica- 
tions of  their  physicians  have  rarely  reached  us,  and  we  are  therefore 
almost  wholly  uninformed  of  their  method  of  treatment;  we  had 


REVIEW. 


221 


Tdther  thought  the  practitioners  of  that  nation  had  not  published 
much  on  the  subject,  since,  in  the  malignant  fever  of  Barcelona, 
a  few  years  ago,  the  Court  of  Madrid,  as  is  related,  wrote  the  pre- 
scription;  and,  by  the  command  of  his  Most  Catholic  Majesty, 
the  physicians  were  ordered  to  adhere  to  it,  and  forbidden  to  pre- 
scribe any  thing  else !  Amidst  the  conflict  ot  opinion  on  the  pre- 
ferable mode  ot  managing  these  complaints,  the  reader  has  it  now 
in  his  power  to  judge  of  the  probable  efficacy  of  Dr.  Masdevall's 
method,  and  compare  it  with  that  recommended  by  other  prac- 
tises. From  some  paragraphs  in  the  work  before  us,  we  find  the 
phvsicians  of  Havannah  blamed  for  not  having  adopted  it,  and 
great  benefit  derived  from  the  employment  of  the  means  recom- 
mended in  the  dreadful  sickness  of  Carthagena,  described  by  Dr. 
Rodon-Bell  in  1787. 

As  to  the  prevention  of  fevers  in  epidemic  constitutions  of  the 
air,  the  author  has  said  very  little  of  any  thing  remarkable ;  though 
besides  the  common  observations  about  cleanliness,  ventilation, 
&c.  avoiding  fogs,  dews,  and  night  air,  he  recommends  to  the 
well  and  uninfected,  a  vegetable  diet  of  legumes  and  ripe  fruits, 
with  -very  little  animal  food.  He  positively  forbids  pork,  but  allow* 
a  small  quantity  of  good  wine.  The  advocates  of  temperance  and 
abstinent  regimen  in  pestilential  seasons,  have  here  another  autho- 
rity in  favour  of  that  system  of  mild  and  moderate  living  which 
it  becomes  all  prudent  persons  to  adopt  in  times  of  such  calamity 
and  danger. 


Art.  III.  Considerations  on  the  Dofirir.e  of  Phlogiston  and  the  De- 
composition of  Water.  By  Joseph  Priestley,  L.  L.  D.  F.  R.  S. 
&c.  &c.  Philadelphia.  Dobson.   1796.    Svo.  pp.  39. 

THE  worthy  and  indefatigable  author  of  the  pamphlet  before 
us,  since  his  arrival  in  America,  continues  his  chemical  la- 
bours, and  appears  as  zealous  as  ever  to  promote  the  progress  of 
science.  It  must  give  pleasure  to  every  philosophical  mind  to  find 
the  United  States  becoming  the  theatre  of  such  interesting  discus- 
sion  as  now  occupies  some  ot  the  leading  chemists  of  the  day;  for 
this  essay,  which  is  addressed  to  Messrs.  Berthollet,  De  la  Place, 
Monge,  Morveau,  Fourcroy,  and  H.?bsenfratz,  the  surviving  an- 
swers of  Mr.  Kirwan,  has  been  answered,  as  we  shall  more  par- 
ticularly observe  in  its  proper  place,  by  the  ci-devant  Minister  of 
the  French  Republic  to  the  United  States,  Adet,  just  before  his 
departure  from  Philadelphia  to  France,  in  May  last.  We  hope 
that  publications  upon  such  subjects,  by  men  of  so  much  ability, 
will  not  only  prove  on  which  side  of  the  argument  the  truth  lies, 


21Z 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY 


bnt  will  be  a  means  of  diffusing  a  taste  for  this  kind  of  philosophi- 
cal research  among  the  people  of  the  western  world.  And  we  feel 
a  degree  of  satisfaction  in  ascrihing  a  considerable  part  of  the  in- 
creasing taste  and  prevailing  fashion  for  chemical  pursuits,  in  this 
country,  within  a  year  or  two,  to  the  influence  and  example  of 
Priestley. 

Considering  that  what  he  had  observed  in  several  of  his  publi- 
cations had  not  been  duly  attended  to,  or  well  understood,  the  au- 
thor, although  he  allows  he  has  nothing  materially  new  to  advance 
on  the  subjtct,  wishes  to  make  one  appeal  more  to  the  philosophi- 
cal w  orld :  he  therefore  attempts  to  exhibit,  in  one  view,  the  more 
considerable  objections  to  the  antiphlogistic  system,  with  the  in- 
tention of  bringing  forward  the  favourers  of  the  new  doctrine  to 
the  explanation  of  these  difficulties,  by  the  aid  of  additional  fafts, 
and  more  cogent  arguments  than  have  hitherto  appeared. 

Although  the  Lavoisierian  theory  had  made  proselytes  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  philosophers  in  Europe  and  America,  and 
though  Dr.  Priestley  had  observed  his  friends  and  acquaintance 
deserting  the  standard  of  phlogiston,  not  merely  one  by  one,  but 
frequently  going  over  to  the  other  side  in  whole  troops,  he  hzs, 
never  yet  found  himself  disposed  to  change  sides  and  engage  in 
this  revolutionary  scheme.  Firm  in  his  original  persuasion,  that 
the  doctrine  of  Stahl  is  preferable  upon  the  whole,  he  adheres 
to  it  upon  principle;  professing,  at  the  same  time,  with  perfect 
candour,  his  willingness  and  readiness  to  adopt  the  sentiments  of 
his  opponents  whenever  they  shall  convince  him  he  is  wrong. 

The  controversy  seems  to  rest  here,  that  the  weight  of  evidence 
which  has  been  sufficient  to  induce  Kirwan,  Black,  Gren,  and 
many  others  of  the  phlogistic  chemists  to  adopt  the  theory  of  La- 
voisier, has  never  yet  appeared  to  Dr.  Priestley  considerable  enough 
to  influence  his  judgment,  or  gain  his  assent.  The  considerations 
which  have  induced  almost  every  other  chemist  to  favour  the  new 
system,  have  failed  to  work  a  similar  effect  upon  the  mind  of  our 
author;  and  after  the  conversion  of  the  greater  part  of  the  persons 
who  used  to  think  as  he  does,  he  calls  upon  the  advocates  of  the 
modern  opinions  to  produce,  if  they  can,  evidence  cogent  enough 
to  convince  him.  Though  this  adherence  to  a  man's  particular 
notions  has  been  termed  prejudice  by  some,  we  are  inclined  to  give 
it  a  more  gentle  appellation,  as  we  are  satisfied  there  is  a  becoming, 
and  maniy  spirit  in  refusing  to  bow  the  knee  at  the  shrine  of  au- 
thm-ity,  and  a  disposition  particularly  favourable  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  intire  truth,  when  they  upon  whom  the  burden  of  the 
proof  lies  are  compelled  to  establish  every  point  as  they  proceed, 
and  to  take  nothing  for  granted. 

The  first  class  of  Dr.  Priestley's  objections  arises  from  the  doubts, 
which  he  entertains  concerning  the  constitution  of  metals.  The 


REVIEW. 


223 


phlogistic  system  teaches  that  metals  are  compounded  of  a  certain 
earth,  or  calx,  and  phlogiston;  and  that  when  phlogiston  flies 
away,  the  splendour,  malleability,  and  ductility  of  the  metal  va- 
nishes with  it,  and  leaves  an  inert  calx  behind.  According  to  the 
antiphlogistic  doctrine  pure  metals  are  not  compounded,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  are  simfik  substances,  and  owe  their  calcixorm  state  not 
to  the  departure  of  phlogiston,  but  to  the  absorption  of  oxygene, 
or  the  basis  of  vital  air.  Our  author  denies  that  the  latter  opinion 
is  universally  true.  He  takes  quick-silver  as  an  example.  Though 
the  mercurius  precipitatus  per  se  may  be  such  a  composition,  yet 
it  is,  he  contends,  unfair  to  reason  from  this  to  all  other  calces  of 
mercury,  and  thence  to  the  calces  of  all  other  metals,  that  their 
calciform  state  is  always  derived  from  their  incorporation  with 
oxygene.  In  particular,  the  calx  which  remains  after  exposing 
turbith  mineral  to  a  red  heat,  cannot,  he  says,  be  revived  by  any 
heat,  but  may  be  completely  reduced  by  inflammable  air,  charcoal, 
iron-filings,  or  any  substances  which  contain  phlogiston.  This 
phlogiston,  he  contends,  is  necessary  to  constitute  the  calx  a  me- 
tal, in  the  present  case,  and  consequently  in  all  cases  of  mercurial 
reductions;  and  if  a  judgment  be  formed  from  the  calces  of  me- 
tals, and  from  other  circumstances,  he  says,  there  are  few,  if  any 
of  them,  that  do  not  contain  more  or  less  of  phlogiston.  He  ob- 
serves, that  both  precipitate  per  se  and  minium,  if  made  with 
proper  attention,  may  be  revived  without  yielding  any  air;  though 
this,  he  believes,  is  owing  to  their  want  of  water,  which  he  thinks 
essential  to  the  constitution  of  every  kind  of  air. 

From  the  exposure  of  iron  to  the  heat  of  a  burning  lens  in  con- 
fined air,  the  air  is  diminished,  the  metal  becomes  a  calx,  and 
something  possessing  a  strong  smell  is  emitted  from  it.  Dr.  Priest- 
ley thinks  this  is  evidence  that  iron  not  only  attracts  something, 
but  also  emits  something;  and  that  this,  which,  with  the  aid  of 
water,  forms  inflammable  air,  is  the  phlogiston  lost  by  the  iron. 
He  denies  that  the  change  wrought  in  the  confined  air  is  to  be 
fairly  ascribed  to  the  separation  and  fixation  of  its  oxygenous  por- 
tion, but  that  the  phlogisticated  air  is  produced  by  the  union  of 
the  phlogiston  of  the  iron  with  the  dephlogisticated  air:  and  what 
is  true  of  iron  in  this  case  is  true  of  the  same  metal  in  every  other 
case,  and  of  all  other  metals,  as  well  as  of  sulphur  and  phos- 
phorus. 

The  author  is  further  of  opinion,  that  during  the  dissolution  of 
metals  in  acids,  the  inflammable  air  produced  does  not  proceed 
from  the  water  decompounded,  but  from  the  phlogiston  emitted 
by  the  metal.  And  in  the  case  of  the  supposed  decomposition  of 
water  by  hot  iron,  the  inflammable  air  comes  from  the  decompo- 
sition of  the  iron,  and  not  from  hydrogene,  the  imagined  basis  of 
water. 


S24- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Dr.  P.  next  proceeds  to  examine  the  celebrated  experiments  on 
the  composition  and  decomposition  of  water.  After  all  that  has 
been  done,  and  all  that  has  been  said  on  this  interesting  subject, 
by  the  able  and  experienced  chemists,  who  have  stated  the  results 
of  their  trials  to  the  public,  he  still  maintains  the  whole  of  their 
experiments  are  very  liable  to  exception,  and  that  the  doctrine  of 
phlogiston  easily  accounts  for  all  they  have  observed.  He  admits, 
that  in  the  common  experiments  of  making  water  pass  through  a 
red-hot  iron  tube,  inflatnmable  air,  and  finery  cinder  are  formed ; 
but  he  denies  that  this  finery  cinder  is  a  mere  calx  of  iron,  formed 
from  the  union  of  the  iron  with  the  oxygene  of  the  water,  but  a 
combination  of  iron  with  water  itself;  and  favours  the  opinion, 
that  the  inflammable  air  is  formed  from  the  phlogiston  of  the  iron, 
united  to  a  portion  of  undecomposed  water,  and  not  from  hydro- 
gene,  the  pretended  radical  of  water. 

He  mentions  that  both  finery  cinder  and  massicot,  are  soluble 
in  muriatic  acid,  without  dephlogisticating  it,  as  they  ought  to  do 
if  they  contained  oxygene,  as  minium  does;  and  reasons,  that  if 
there  is  a  principle  in  inflammable  air,  which,  being  imbibed  by 
the  calx  of  a  metal,  converts  it  into  a  metallic  substance,  the  same 
principle  must  exist  in  charcoal  and  other  combustible  substances; 
that  this  is  phlogiston,  and  is  the  same  in  them  all. 

The  author  objects  to  the  correctness  of  the  grand  experiment 
for  forming  water  from  oxygenous  and  hydrogenous  gases,  and 
thinks  the  experimenters  have  suffered  themselves  to  be  deceived, 
and  have  imposed  their  deceptions  upon  the  public;  at  least  the 
experiments  made  by  himself  appear  to  him  to  be  less  liable  to 
exception,  and  afford  a  result  intirelv  different  from  that  of  the 
French  philosophers;  as  evidence  of  this,  he  affirms  roundly,  that 
when  the  electrical  spark  is  drawn  through  a  mixture  of  dephlor 
gisucated  and  inflammable  airs,  that  a  highly  phlogisticated  nitrous 
acid  is  produced,  which  acid  is  the  stronger  as  the  airs  are  more 
pure.  Though  he  allows  that  dephlogisticated  and  phlogisticated 
airs  will  constitute  nitrous  acid  too,  and,  consequently,  botii  in- 
flammable and  phlogisticated  airs  contain  the  same  principle,  phlo- 
giston. 

The  difference,  in  short,  between  Dr.  P.  and  his  opponents,  on 
this  point,  is  a  matter  of  fact,  wherein  counter-experiments  are 
brought  forward  by  each  party.  The  French  academicians  say, 
that  hydrogenous  and  oxygenous  airs,  incorporated  by  drawing 
through  them  the  electrical  spark,  turn  to  water ;  while  our  author 
(ieciares  they  combine  into  smoking  nitrous  acid.  The  parties  be- 
ing here  at  jssue,  we  suppose  further  experiments,  and  by  other 
hands  too,  must  be  made  to  settle  the  controversy  to  our  author's 
satisfaction. 

Next  foliow  four  other  objections  to  the  antiphlogistic  theory. 


REVIEW. 


The  first  is  drawn  from  the  production  of  inflammable  air  when 
finery  cinder  is  heated  with  charcoal;  the  second  is  derived  from 
the  production  of  fixed  air  or  carbonic  acid,  in  circumstances 
where  not  an  atom  of  charcoal  was  present,  and  from  tne  forma- 
tion of  it,  duiing  animal  respiration,  wherein  if  it  be  alledged  to 
be  formed  from  carbone,  then  carbone  is  but  another  word  for  phlo- 
giston ;  the  third  is  grounded  upon  the  supposed  proof,  that  azotic 
air  is  not  a  compound  of  azote  and  caloric,  but  of  phlogiston  and 
oxygenous  gas;  and  the  fourth  proceeds  from  the  persuasion  Dr. 
P.  possesses,  that  the  new  nomenclature  is  a  premature  publica- 
tion. If  it  is  intended  as  a  language  of  science,  the  facts  ought 
to  be  known,  and  the  principles  established,  before  appropriate 
names  and  terms  are  affixed  to  them.  In  this  we  agree  with  Dr. 
P.  and  are  of  opinion,  that  some  parts  of  the  nomenclature  have 
been  hastily,  some  parts  incorrectly  made  out ;  and  that  they,  at 
this  moment,  stand  in  need  of  amendment.  But  notwithstanding 
his  objections,  and  those  of  the  learned  and  scientific  Keir,  in  the 
preface  of  his  Dictionary  of  Chemistry,  we  have  no  hesitation  to 
say,  that  we  think  the  table  of  the  new  nomenclature  a  beautiful 
specimen  of  the  analytic  method,  and  an  arrangement  happily  cal- 
culated to  systematize  and  simplify  the  study  of  chemistry.  It  is 
a  great  outline  chalked,  and  if  any  of  the  strokes  are  drawn  wrong, 
they  are  the  inadvertencies  of  a  master,  who,  though  he  did  not 
give  the  last  and  finishing  touches  to  the  piece,  has  left  us,  how- 
ever, evidence  enough  that  his  design  was  a  noble  one,  and  his 
Conception  of  it  clear  and  strong. 

How  far  the  objections  of  Dr.  P.  are  capable  of  being  answered, 
will  appear  from  the  succeeding  article,  which  will  supercede  the 
necessity  of  any  further  remarks  on  our  own  part  at  present. 


Art.  IV.  Reponse  aux  Reflexions  sur  la  Doilrine  du  Phlogistique 
et  sur  la  Decomposition  de  /'  Eau  :  that  is,  Answer  to  the  Re- 
flections on  the  Dotlrine  of  Phlogiston,  and  on  the  Decomposition  of 
Water.  By.  P.  A.  Adet.  Philadelphia.  Mot  eau  De  St.  Mery. 
8vo.  1797. 

THIS  is  the  performance  we  mentioned  in  the  preceding  ar- 
ticle, as  published  by  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the 
French  Republic,  between  the  time  of  his  suspension  from  his 
public  functions,  and  his  departure  from  America;  and  we  cannot 
but  think  he  has  usefully  employed  the  interval  of  leisure  which 
the  jarring  politics  of  the  two  governments  afforded  him.  It  too 
often  happens,  that  public  ministers  are  mere  negotiators  and  poli- 
ticians, and  when  they  are  removed  from  their  places,  cease  imme- 
Fol.  I.  Ne^.  L 


226 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


diately  to  attract  or  to  deserve  public  regard.  In  Mr.  Adet  we  haVc' 
an  exception,  who  no  sooner  ceases  to  represent  his  country  in 
a  diplomatic  capacity  than  he  undertakes  to  rectify  what  appear 
to  be  errors  in  science,  and  to  establish  chemical  theory,  upon  the 
unshaken  basts  of  fact. 

Tlie  answer,  like  the  original  piece,  is  divided  into  three  chap- 
ters, in  each  of  which  Mr.  A.  replies  specifically  to  the  objections 
of  his  opponent. 

The  author,  in  the  first  chapter,  on  the  constitution  of  metals, 
considers  that  the  simplicity  of  metals,  and  their  conversion  to 
oxyds  (or  calces)  by  the  absorption  of  oxygene,  are  already  esta- 
blished upon  experiments  so  decisive  as  to  be  wholly  beyond  the 
reach  of  dispute.  The  oxydation  of  quick-silver  in  open  air,  and 
its  revification,  without  addition  in  close  vessels,  with  a  disengage- 
ment of  oxygene,  together  with  an  increase, of  its  weight  in  the 
first  case,  and  a  diminution  of  it  in  the  second,  corresponding 
to  the  weight  of  the  oxygene,  all  point  irresistibly  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  the  whole  of  the  phenomena  depended  upon  the  fixa- 
tion and  extrication  of  oxygene.  And  this  is  not  only  true  of 
mercurius  precipitatus  per  se,  but  of  the  yellow  oxyd  of  quick- 
silver, or  turbith  mineral.  He  affirms,  contrary  to  Dr.  Priestley's 
assertion,  and  on  the  authority  of  Monnet,  Buquet,  Lavoisier,  and 
Fourcroy,  that  this  very  calx  can  be  revived  without  addition,  as 
also  may  the  red  oxyd  of  quick-silver  by  the  nitrous  acid,  and 
all  the  other  mercurial  calces.  And  even  if  the  calces  required 
the  addition  of  some  substance  to  reduce  them,  this  would  be  no 
proof  of  the  existence  of  phlogiston,  for  all  that  could  be  said 
fairly,  in  that  case,  would  be,  that  the  oxygene  in  the  different 
oxyds,  adhered  to  the  metal  with  different  degrees  of  force,  and 
in  some  of  them  so  closely,  that,  not  being  capable  of  separation 
by  heat  alone,  there  is  a  necessity  of  adding  some  substance,  for 
which  the  oxygene  has  a  stronger  attraction  than  it  has  for  the 
metal. 

Mr.  A.  denies  that  there  is  any  proof  of  the  addition  of  any 
part  of  the  added  substance  (whether  carbone,  inflammable  air, 
&c.)  to  the  metal  during  its  reduction.  If  any  thing  was  added, 
it  ought  to  be  capable  of  detection  by  weig/ii,  but  the  balance 
gives  not  evidence  of  any  such  thing;  and  there  are  numberless 
cases  where  these  oxyds  are  reduced  to  metals  without  addition  of 
any  thing,  and  consequently  the  assertion,  that  phlogiston  enters 
into  the  constitution  of  metals,  is  wholly  unsupported  by  experi- 
ment. Besides,  how  can  the  reduction  of  the  nitrate  of  mercury 
be  explained  upon  the  hypothesis  of  phlogiston?  On  exposing 
this,  or  its  red  oxyd,  to  a  sufficient  heat,  a  great  quantity  of  oxy- 
gene gas  is  obtained,  and  some  azotic  air.  This  latter,  according 
to  the  antiphlogistic  doctrine,  comes  from  the  nitrous  acid,  of 


REVIEW. 


227 


■which  it  is  one  of  the  constituent  parts.  But,  as  Dr.  Priestley  says 
azotic  air  is  composed  of  oxygenous  gas  and  phlogiston,  he  must 
be  puzzled  to  explain  how  the  quick-silver,  on  its  revival,  does, 
in  this  case,-.not  take  in,  but,  on  the  contrary,  throw  out  phlogiston. 

Mr.  A.  on  the  authority  of  the  experiments  of  Van  Mons,  con- 
trary to  the  statement  of  Dr.  Priestley,  declares  the  red  oxyd  of 
mercury  to  afford  oxygene  air  on  its  reduction;  arid  declares,  from 
his  own  experience,  that  minium,  though  newly  made,  affords  a 
similar  product. 

The  writer  then  proceeds  to  the  consideration  of  the  smell 
which  iron  is  said  to  emit  while  it  undergoes  oxydation,  and  which 
is  adduced  as  proof  of  a  something  emitted  by  the  metal,  which 
something  is  termed  phlogiston;  and  this  odour,  he  thinks,  is  pe- 
culiar to  iron,  or  to  its  combination  with  oxygene,  but  observes, 
that  further  experiments  are  wanting  on  the  subject,  whether  the 
phlogistic  or  antiphlogistic  interpretation  is  attempted. 

Mr.  A.'s  refutation  of  Dr.  Priestley's  idea,  that  inflammable  air 
3s  composed  of  phlogiston  and  water  (p.  50 — 52)  appears  to  us 
very  satisfactory;  and  no  less  conclusive  his  denial,  that  the  azotic 
air,  remaining  in  close  vessels  after  the  oxydation  of  iron,  is,  as 
Dr.  Priestley  affirms,  produced  by  the  phlogiston  of  the  metal  unit- 
ed to  oxygenous  air.  Nothing  is  emitted  from  iron,  nor  from 
other  metals,  during  their  calcination;  nor  from  sulphur,  nor 
phosphorus,  during  their  combustion,  which,  by  its  union  with 
oxygenous,  can  change  it  to  phlogisticated  air. 

In  reply  to  the  objections  made  to  the  extrication  of  hydro- 
genous gas,  during  metallic  dissolutions,  from  the  water  rather 
than  from  the  metal,  Mr.  A.  has  these  remarks:  "  In  fact,  a  mcr 
"  tal,  as  it  combines  with  acids  only,  when  it  is  in  a  state  of  oxyd, 
"  and  as  it  takes  upon  itself  this  form  by  the  union  of  oxygene 
"  only,  it  must  necessarily,  as  in  the  experiments  mentioned  by 
"  Lavoisier  and  La  Place,  absorb  oxygene,  in  order  to  combine 
"  with  an  acid.  But  this  oxygene  can  be  furnished  but  by  two 
f  substances,  either  the  acid  itself,  or  the  water  which  it  contains. 

If  the  oxygene  had  been  afforded  by  the  acid,  this  would  in 
if.  part  have  been  decomposed,  and,  consequently,  would  have 
"  saturated  less  alkali  after  the  experiment  than  before.  But  since 
"  it  saturates  afterwards  as  much  alkali  as  ever,  it  is  clear  the  acid 
"  has  not  been  decomposed,  and,  consequently,  the  metal  could 
ff  have  been  supplied  with  its  oxygene  from  no  other  source  than 
u  the  decompounded  water." 

As  to  the  constitution  of  finery  cinder,  Mr.  A.  simply  remarks, 
that  it  is  a  mere  oxyd  of  iron,  in  which  the  oxygene  is  so  closely 
connected  with  the  metal,  that  the  muriatic  acid  has  not  force 
enough  to  separate  it. 

Jn  the  second  chapter,  Mr.  A.  expresses  his  surprize  that  Dr. 


tlB 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Priestley  should  raise  objections  against  the  composition  and  de- 
composition of  water,  so  often  repeated  and  verified  by  the  anti- 
phlogistic chemists;  and  observes,  that  all  the  difficulties  raised  by 
our  author  have  been  answered  already,  over  and  over  again,  ia 
the  writings  of  the  French  philosophers.  If  their  publications 
were  to  be  got  in  America,  he  should  have  but  to  turn  to  the  pas- 
sages, and  shew  how  satisfactorily  these  matters  were  explained. 
Circumstanced  as  he  is,  he  attempts  an  elucidation  of  the  subject 
without  books:  and,  i.  He  contends,  that  in  causing  water  to  pass 
through  a  red-hot  gun-barrel,  the  iron  becomes  oxydated  by  the 
oxygene  of  the  water;  and  if  this  oxyd  should  be  incapable  of  re- 
duction by  caloric  and  light  alone,  but  require  the  addiiion  of  car- 
bone  or  hydrogene,  this,  only  follows  from  the  greater  attraction 
of  the  oxygene  for  the  iron,  in  the  first  case,  and  is  owing  to  its 
departure  from  the  metalj  and  the  formation  of  carbpnic  acid  gas, 
or  water,  in  the  second.  2.  Notwithstanding  the  difference  which 
exists  between  the  black  oxyd  of  iron,  produced  by  the  decompo- 
sition of  water,  and  the  common  red  oxyd  of  the  same  metal, 
they  are  still  both  of  them  oxyds,  for  these  reasons,  that,  like 
other  oxyds,  they  both  dissolve  in  acids  without  disengaging  any 
things  and  metallic  bodies  are  incapable  of  combining  with  acids 
unless  they  are  previously  united  to  oxygene.  3.  Although  there 
is  some  difference  between  this  oxyd  and  the  common  red  oxyd, 
it  does  not  follow  that  they  are  not  both  oxyds ;  the  difference  be- 
tween the  two  being  only  owing  to  the  different  circumstances 
under  which  they  have  combined  with  oxygene. 

Mr.  A.  concludes  that  the  whole  of  Dr.  Priestly's  objections  to 
the  decomposition  of  water,  are  capable  of  complete  explanation 
without  the  phlogistic  hypothesis. 

As  to  the  composition  of  water,  our  author  considers  his  oppo- 
nent's doctrine  as  little  tenable.  He  maintains,  that  oxygenous 
and  hydrogenous  airs,  exploded  by  the  electric  spark,  form  wa- 
ter and  not  nitrous  acid,  as  Dr.  Priestley  asserts.  And  renders  it 
very  probable,  that  in  Dr.  Priestley's  experiments,  whether  he  got 
his  oxygenous  air  from  manganese,  minium  or  quick-silver,  that 
there  was  a  quantity  of  azotic  air,  afforded  by  the  oxyds  of  those 
metals,  together  with  the  oxygenous  air,  which  deceived  him,  and 
caused  the  different  results  which  he  speaks  of. 

The  formation  of  fixed  air  is  to  be  accounted  for,  from  the 
carbone  held  in  solution  by  the  hydrogenous  gas  employed  for  the 
reduction  of  the  metals. 

There  are  other  objections  which  Dr.  Priestley  might  have 
brought  forward,  which  Mr.  A.  thinks  could  have  been  as  satis- 
factorily answered,  but  for  further  particulars  he  refers  to  the  ex- 
periments of  Berthollet. 

The  third  chapter  is  allotted  to  the  consideration  of  the  remain- 


REVIEW. 

lug  objections  to  the  antiphlogistic  theory.  If  finery  cinder  is 
heated  with  charcoal,  inflammable  air  is  produced.  Charcoal  very 
commonly  contains  hydrogene;  if  so,  mere  heat  may  expel  it. — 
Where  it  is  declared,  fixed  air  was  produced  from  substances  hav- 
ing not  a  particle  of  carbone,  this  must  be  founded  in  a  mistake, 
or  a  misinterpretation  of  facls.  The  assertion  that  azotic  gas  is  a 
composition  of  phlogiston  and  oxvgenous  air,  is  combatted  with 
such  force  £nd  success  (p.  82 — ^6)  that  we  feel  a  persuasion,  as 
veil  as  Mr.  A.  that,  among  all  the  experiments  and  objections 
stated  by  Dr.  Priestley,  there  are  none  which  overthrow  the  theory 
of  the  antiphlcgistians,  or  which  invalidate  the  inferences  drawn 
from  their  experiments. 


Art.  V.  An  Inaugural  Essay  on  the  Yellow  Fever,  as  it  ajijtearei 
in  this  City  (New-York)  in  179;,  &e-  By  Alexander  Hosack, 
jun.  A.  M.  of  New-York.  New-York.  T.  and  J.  Swords. 
1797.  8vo.  pp.  40. 

THE  importance  of  obtaining  correct  ideas  of  the  nature  and 
cure  of  so  formidable  a  disease  as  the  Yellow  Fever,  from 
which  the  United  States  have  lately  suffered  so  severely,  and  which 
is  likely  to  continue  its  ravages  in  our  country,  induces  us  to  con- 
sider the  publication  before  us  with  a  greater  degree  of  minuteness 
and  attention  than  we  suppose  generally  due  to  Inaugural  Disserta-. 
tions  on  practical  subjects.  We  are  the  more  encouraged  to  an 
examination  of  this  Essay,  as  the  author  informs  us,  in  his  preface, 
that  he  has  "  confined  himself  to  what  fell  under  his  own  observa- 
"  tion,  in  his  attendance  at  the  New-York  Hospital,  and  upon  the 
"  private  practice  of  Dr.  Samuel  Bard  and  his  brother,  Dr.  David 
u  Hosack."  So  that  we  are  to  regard  it  as  a  summary  view  of 
their  experience  and  practice  in  the  fever  of  1  795. 

Mr.  Hosack  first  delivers  a  succinct  and  correct  account  of  the 
general  appearance  and  progress  of  the  disease,  not  materially  va- 
rying from  other  histories  of  it,  and  therefore  not  necessary  to  be 
quoted.  He  concurs  with  preceding  writers  in  affirming,  that 
'*  it  is  certain  that  those  who  most  indulged  in  the  use  of  ani- 
"  mal  food  and  spirituous  drinks  were  most  succeptible  of  the  dis- 
«  ease" — a  fact  that  can  scarcely  be  too  often  or  too  strongly  im- 
pressed on  the  public  mind.  But  we  do  not  think  him  equally 
correct  in  representing  the  state  of  convalescence  as  so  universally 
tedious  and  protracted.  We  are  rather  inclined  to  believe  that, 
except  in  some  very  peculiar  cases,  this  depended  chiefly  on  the 
treatment  of  the  disease.  Where  suitable  means  were  promptly 
and  freely  employed  in  the  beginning,  the  recovery,  so  far  as  our 


«30 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


experience  extended,  was  rapid;  where  they  were  long  delayed, 
or  partially  applied  at  first,  recovery  was  proportionately  slow. 

The  Predisposing  and  Exciting  Causes  are  judiciously  assigned. 
Concerning  the  fist,  however,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  use 
pf  camphor,  &c.  as  preventatives,  did  not  rather  favour  the  opera- 
tion of  the  disease,  by  exciting  a  constant  attention  to  its  progress, 
and  by  stimulating  the  absorbents  of  the  nostril:,  and  promoting 
the  ready  inhalation  of  the  morVid  effluvia,  in  places  where  they 
abounded;  and  whether  bleeding,  purging,  and  a  scanty  diet,  were 
followed  by  any  mischievous  effects.  The  current  of  popular 
opinion,  unfortunately,  ran  too  strongly  the  contrary  way.  Num- 
bers, unquestionably,  precipitated  themselves,  by  improper  induL- 
gencies,  into  those  sufferings  from  which  they  might  have  escaped 
by  the  use  of  a  diet  less  stimulant  than  ordinary,  and  a  moderate 
and  occasional  use  of  laxatives. 

From  the  consideration  of  the  exciting  cause,  Mr.  Hosack  pro- 
ceeds to  the  cure  of  yellow  fever.  This  he  treats  of  under  four 
indications — "  ist.  To  prevent  the  further  operation  of  the  poi- 
"  son  producing  the  disease,  adly.  To  procure  a  solution  of  the 
"  inflammatory  stage  of  the  fever.  5dly.  To  counteract  the  pu- 
*'  trescent  state  of  the  body,  as  described  in  the  second  stage  of 
"  the  disease.  And,  lastly,  to  restore  the  tone  of  the  system  wheu 
"  the  preceding  indications  are  accomplished." 

Under  the  first  head,  Mr.  H.  recommends  the  removal  of  the 
sick  into  pure  air,  and  a  careful  attention  to  cleanliness. 

Under  the  second  indication,  he  treats  of  bleeding,  purging,  vo- 
miting, sweating,  and  the  cold  bath ;  all  of  which  being  topics  of 
great  importance,  on  which  there  has  been  much  discussion,  and 
continues  to  be  variety  of  opinion,  we  may  be  excused  for  some 
prolixity,  especially  as  we  do  not  always  cpincide  with  Mr.  H.  ei- 
ther as  to  fact  or  reasoning. 

With  respect  to  bleeding,  Mr.  H.  remarks — "  my  observation 
"  has  been,  that  the  promiscuous  use  of  the  lancet  was  very  inju- 
•  '  rious  and  unsuccessful.  In  the  New-York  hospital  it  was  fre- 
"  quently  employed,  but  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  disease  ter- 
"  minated  fatally."  In  reply  to  this  censure  of  venacsection,  we 
may  observe,  in  the  author's  words,  that  "  the  abuse  of  a  remedy 
"  is  no  argument  against  its  use;"  nor,  we  may  add,  is  the  fatal 
event  of  the  case  in  which  it  was  used  any  propf  of  its  inutility, 
or  that  it  was  pernicious.  To  determine  on  the  propriety  or  im- 
propriety of  the  administration  of  a  proposed  remedy,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  know  not  only  that  it  has  been  used,  but  to  what  degree, 
and  under  what  circumstances.  "  The  promiscuous  use  of  the 
"  lancet" — if  by  this  is  meant  the  use  of  it  without  regard  to  cir- 
cumstance, must  undoubtedly  be  "injurious  and  unsuccessful." 
The  same  may  be  safely  predicated  of  all  other  active  remedies, 


REVIEW. 


haw  safe  and  certain  soever  in  the  hands  of  a  judicious  practi- 
tioner. The  particular  application  of  this  remark  to  the  lancet, 
therefore,  conveys  no  precise  information.  Nor  shall  we  rind  the 
argument  against  it  much  strengthened  by  what  is  said  of  its  fai- 
lure in  the  hospital,  when  the  assertion,  which  is  far  too  general, 
comes  to  be  examined.  Patients,  it  is  well  known,  were  received 
into  that  Charity  in  all  stages  of  the  disease.  In  some  instances 
they  died  before  any  efforts  could  i>e  made  for  their  effectual  re- 
lief: in  many  others,  where  there  was  but  little  reason  to  expect 
their  recovery.  In  these  circumstances,  and  when  it  is  recollected 
that  nearly  half  of  all  who  were  admitted  for  fever  fell  victims  to 
it;  that  one  of  the  gentlemen  in  attendance  never  bled,  or,  if  ever, 
very  rarely;  and  that  his  respectable  colleague,  the  present  Cli- 
nical Professor,  directed  venisection  in  not  more  than  six  or  seven 
cases,  and  in  small  quantities  in  every  instance,  from  an  apprehension 
not  then  subdued,  as  he  very  candidly  acknowledged,  of  the  con- 
sequences— an  apprehension  which  subsequent  experience  has  well 
corrected  : — Wnen  these  facts  are  recollected,  the  event  of  so  tew 
cases,  even  if  fatal,  with  so  limited  a  use  of  the  lancet,  can  hardly 
justify  the  strong  and  decisive  language  of  the  Essay  under  review. 
It  may  be  added,  that  the  practice  of  gentlemen  opposed  to  blood- 
letting, and  therlore  seldom  prescribing  it,  whose  professional  walk 
led  them  principally  among  the  more  opulent  part  of  the  com- 
munity, who  were  natives  of  the  city,  and  were  surrounded  by 
all  the  conveniencics  of  life,  and  in  whom  many  circumstances 
concurred  to  render  the  fever  comparatively  mild,  was  by  no  means 
tiie  best  opportunity  of  judging  of  the  efficacy  and  necessity  for 
this  remedy.  Among  the  emigrant  poor,  who  were  the  principal 
sufferers,  the  disease  was  far  more  ferocious.  In  their  dark  and 
dismal  receptacles,  in  the  midst  of  squalid  poverty  and  neglectful 
intemperance,  by  their  deserted  or  crowded  beds,  it  displayed  all 
its  virulence,  and  accumulated  all  its  horrors.  A  vigorous  and 
prompt  method  of  cure  was  indispensable;  and  the  oral  as  well 
as  printed  testimony  of  many  physicians  in  this  city,  who  had  the 
best  opportunities  for  observation,  should  long  since  have  remov- 
ed all  doubt  as  to  the  propriety  of  bleeding,  in  the  first  stage,  at 
least,  of  all  severe  cases  of  yellow  fever.  And  so  far  from  its  be- 
ing probable  that  the  use  of  the  lancet  was  injurious  in  those  cases 
where  Mr.  H.  saw  it  employed,  and  where  the  event  was  unfor- 
tunate, it  is  much  to  be  suspected  that  this  event  was  the  conse- 
quence of  a  too  timid  exercise  of  it,  or  of  the  subsequent  adminis- 
tration of  medicines  whose  operation  tended  to  counteract  its  ef- 
ficacy. 

Mr.  H.  having,  as  we  have  seen  above,  entered  a  caveat  against 
ven;esedion,  proceeds  to  detail  what  he  denominates  "  the  more 
w  common  and  successful  practice."    We  shall  not  stop  to  con- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


trovert  the  assertion,  that  the  method  of  cure  he  proposes  was 
"  the  most  common  and  successful,"  but  snail  rather  examine 
in  what  it  consists.    And  this  we  find  to  be, 

"  i  st.  To  procure  a  free  evacuation  from  the  bowels" — and 
for  (his  purpose  the  author  particularly  recommends  Glauber's 
salts,  "  whicn,"  he  says,  "  was  the  most  successful,  and  acquired 
"  the  greatest  reputation."  It  is,  no  doubt,  one  of  the  primary 
objects  of  the  physician  to  obtain  a  free  passage  tnrough  the  in- 
testinal canal,  in  vellow  fever;  and  to  effect  ttlis  as  gently,  and 
preserve  it  as  steadily,  as  possible;  but  we  are  wholly  ignorant  that 
the  purgative  medicine,  here  so  much  extoiled,  acquired  any  pecu- 
liar reputation,  or  was  peculiarly  successful.  We  should  not 
have  descended  to  a  criticism  so  minute,  but  that  it  seems  proper 
(without  questioning  the  author's  accuracy  of  observation)  to  cau- 
tion inexperienced  readers  not  to  rely  too  much  upon  it.  Tne 
nauseous  taste  of  Glauber's  salts*  which  often,  under  the  most  fa- 
vourable circumstances,  offends  the  stomach,  appears  to  render  them 
particularly  objectionable  in  a  disease  where  that  organ  is  so  easily 
affected,  and  where  vomiting,  by  whatever  means  excited,  is  so 
difficult  to  allay,  and  so  pernicious  in  its  effects. — The  impropriety 
of  administering  emetics  is  not  only  admitted,  but  well  stated,  by 
Mr.  H.  himself,  when  he  comes  to  consider  the  course  to  be  pur- 
sued alter  evacuating  the  bowelsj  which  is,  he  continues, 

"  2d.  To  reiax  the  surface  of  the  body,  and  induce  nee  perspi- 
n  ration."  For  this  purpose,  some,  he  says,  had  recourse  to  eme- 
tic?, a  practice  which,  as  we  have  before  remarked,  Mr.  H.  cen- 
sures, and  in  terms  that  deserve  to  be  quoted.  "  Vomiting,  in 
u  this  disease,  I  have  generally  observed  to  be  of  dangerous  ten- 
*  dency.  It  may,  perhaps,  not  be  amiss,  when  the  disease  first  dis- 
*'  covers  itself,  and  is  attended  with  much  sickness  and  vomiting, 

to  empty  the  stomach  freely,  by  means  of  an  infusion  of  cha- 
"  mom  He  flowers;  but  the  exhibition  of  emetics  I  consider  to  be 
"  highly  dangerous  and  improper.  I  believe  I  have  seen  some 
*'  cases  in  which  the  death  of  the  patient  could  be  ascribed  to  no 
**  other  cause  than  the  incessant  vomiting  brought  on  by  an  erne- 
"  tic  given  in  the  commencement  of  the  disease."  Of  this  we 
have  no  doubt;  melancholy  proof  having  been,  more  than  once, 
presented  to  our  own  eyes;  and  we  hope  this  fact,  so  well  esta- 
blished, may  have  some  influence  in  restraining  practitioners  of 
medicine  from  the  general  administration  of  emetics,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  our  own  country  fevers,  at  least,  and  emancipate  them 
from  a  servile  acquiescence  in  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Uullen,  and 
some  other  celebrated  European  writers. 

Ui  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  Sudorifics,  or  from  sweat- 
ing procured  by  art  (to  say  nothing  of  the  difficulty  of  effecting 
k  by  such  means,  while  the  violent  action  of  the  arteries  is  yet 


REVIEW. 


233 


unsubdued)  in  this  disease,  so  warmly  advised  by  Mr.  H.  we  must 
be  permitted  to  retain  our  doubts ;  not  having  seen  any  thing  our- 
selves, or  lound  much  in  ttie  writings  of  others,  to  confirm  us  in 
the  belief  of  their  utility.  Indeed,  we  much  tear  that  there  has 
been  great  misapprehension  on  this  subject  of  sweating;  but  our 
limits  do  not  permit  us  to  enter  into  the  discussion  at  present. 
We  may,  however,  observe,  that  profuse  sweats  have  been  known 
to  occur  in  yellow  fever,  without  producing  any  salutary  change 
in  ttie  patient;  an  event  which  could  scarcely  be  expected,  were 
Mr.  H.'s  notions  of  the  consequences  of  this  discharge  altogether 
as  just  as  he  seems  to  suppose. 

But  thougii  we  are  cautious  how  we  assent  to  all  the  means 
prescribed  by  Mr.  H.  we  heartily  concur  with  him  in  recommend- 
ing the  cold  bath,  or  frequent  washings  of  the  body  with  water, 
or  vinegar  and  water.  The  practice,  however,  deserves  to  be 
stated  with  more  precision  than  even  Mr.  H.  has  exercised;  be- 
cause, we  are  well  convinced,  many  and  great  evils  have  resulted 
from  an  improper  and  ill-timed  application  of  this  remedy,  and 
that  it  may  be  employed,  if  judiciously,  in  almost  every  state  of 
the  disease,  with  advantage. 

If,  in  the  first  days  of  the  fever,  cold  water  be  thrown  on  the 
patient,  we  have  observed  the  following  effects.  First,  the  pulse 
was  reduced  in  frequency  and  force;  a  general  and  pleasant  cool- 
ness was  induced  over  the  whole  system  ;  and  pain  was  very  much 
mitigated,  if  not  removed.  This  state  of  things  has  continued  for 
some  time,  greater  or  less,  according  to  the  extent  to  which  the 
cold  affusions  were  carried,  and  to  other  circumstances.  After- 
ward the  heat,  fever,  and  pain,  gradually  returned,  till,  at  length, 
they  became  more  severe  and  intolerable  than  at  first.  The  rea- 
son of  this  no  one  will  be  at  a  loss  to  conceive  who  has  perused 
the  writings  of  Brown,  Darwin,  Hunter,  and  Rush.  Where  the 
like  practice  has  been  pursued,  towards  the  clote  of  the  disease, 
we  have  never  remarked  any  more  than  a  slight  and  temporary 
return  of  warmth.  More  often  the  skin  has  continued  cold;  and 
we  have  been  certain  that  such  a  torpor  of  the  system  has  been 
induced,  as  has  aided  the  progress  of  the  disease.  On  the  con- 
trary, when,  in  the  first  days  of  the  fever,  while  the  heat  was  great, 
the  pulse  strong,  and  the  strength  ot  the  body  not  yet  reduced,  we 
have  noticed  that  a  gradual  application  o!  cool,  or  even  cold  water, 
so  that  the  whole  body  should  be  washed,  has  had  very  happy  ef- 
fects; especially  if  persevered  in,  and  frequently  repeated.  Like 
beneficial  consequences  result  from  similar  applications,  similarly 
conducted,  toward  the  close  of  the  disease,  if  the  morbid  heat  of 
the  skin  continue.  Nor  is  it  of  great  importance  whether  the  wa- 
ter be  cool  or  tepid,  if  the  patient  be  lreely  exposed  to  the  aii\ 
The  subsequent  evaporation  of  tepid  water  probably  will  not 

Fol.I.  No.  2.  M 


234 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


fall  short,  in  point  of  benefit  to  the  patient,  of  the  original  applr- 
cation  of  that  which  is  cold.  In  either  case  the  skin  is  cleansed 
of  all  unpleasant  and  unsalutary  matters;  is  refreshed  by  a  gentle 
coolness;  the  strong  pulse  of  the  first  stage  is  diminished  in  force, 
the  weak  pulse  of  the  last  stage  in  frequency ;  a  tendency  to  sleep 
is  often  induced;  and  perspiration,  or  sweating,  follows  as  the  na- 
tural and  inevitable  consequence  of  the  removal  of  the  morbid 
heat  from  the  surface  of  the  body.  That  this  is  the  fact,  whether 
the  fever  be  inflammatory  or  putrid  (to  use  the  ordinary  terms  of 
medical  writers)  is  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  those  who  have 
written  from  a  careful  attention  to  facts  happening  under  their  own 
eyes. —  But  to  proceed — When,  In  the  beginning  of  the  fever,  the 
head  or  the  stomach  is  peculiarly  affected,  at  the  same  time  that 
the  gradual  application  above  mentioned  is  made  to  the  body  gene- 
rally y  cold  may  be  particularly  applied  to  the  suffering  part,  with 
great  advantage.  In  this  case  it  should  be  constant;  and  very  cold 
water,  or  ice,  is  requisite:  to  the  shaved  head,  if  the  head  be  af- 
fected ;  and  to  the  region  of  the  stomach,  or  by  the  mouth,  if  the 
stomach. 

There  will  sometimes  occur,  pretty  early  in  the  fever,  in  feeble 
persons,  and  where  the  evacuations  have  been  considerable,  a  sud- 
den diminution  of  warmth  over  the  whole  body — chilliness,  per- 
haps, and  coldness  of  the  lower  extremities;  while  the  pain  and 
heat  of  the  head  are  the  same,  or  are  increased.  In  such  cases, 
warm  applications  to  the  feet  and  legs,  with  the  continuance  of 
cold  to  the  head,  have  never,  according  to  our  observation,  failed 
of  good  effects. 

There  is  one  situation  further  to  be  particularized,  in  which 
cold  applications  externally  are  adviseable.  When  the  inflamma- 
tory symptoms  of  the  disease  have  been  obviated  by  free  evacua- 
tion, and,  as  sometimes  happens,  things  seem  inclined  to  remain 
stationary  for  a  time,  we  believe  that  the  shower-bath  may  be  ad- 
vantageously employed,  if  not  too  long  continued.  In  this  case 
the  application  of  cold  has  a  tendency  to  accumulate  the  excita- 
bility, or  irritability,  or  sensorial  power,  by  which  the  skin  is  ren- 
dered more  sensible  to  the  impress  of  the  natural  stimuli,  and 
more  readily  resumes  its  healthy  action. 

Physicians,  in  many  instances,  have  persevered  in  cold  appli- 
cations, in  this  fever,  with  too  little  discrimination.  In  the  last 
stage  of  the  disease,  the -whole  body,  perhaps,  except  the  epigas- 
tric region,  or  the  abdomen,  will  be  cold,  the  head  much  affected 
with  delirium  or  coma,  and  cold  applications  still  persisted  in. 
In  this  situation  of  the  patient,  no  benefit,  but  much  injury,  must 
result  from  their  continuance.  Wherever  morbid  heat  is  observ- 
ed, there  they  are  proper;  but  whatever  part  of  the  system  is 
much  below  the  standard  of  healthy  heat,  requires  the  careful  ap- 


REVIEW. 


255 


plication  of  warmth.  There  is  nothing  peculiar  in  yellow  fever, 
in  this  respect,  which  should  overthrow,  or  cause  us  to  disregard, 
die  general  principle-  which  govern  us  in  the  treatment  of  disea- 
ses. And  it  is  because  some  appear  to  think,  so,  and  because  the 
consequences  of  such  a  persuasion  have  been  so  unfortunate, 
that  we  have  entered  so  largely  into  the  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject, on  the  present  occasion — as  we  hope,  neither  uselessly  nor 
impertinently. 

We  come  now  to  the  third  indication  of  cure,  which  arises 
when  the  yellow  fever  has  progressed  to  what  Mr.  H.  calls  the  se- 
cond or  putrescent  stage  of  the  disease;  from  which,  he  observes, 
few  patients  recovered. 

Without  entering  into  a  lengthy  examination  of  particulars, 
we  may  observe,  that  the  practice  recommended  in  this  stage  of 
the  disease  could  only  be  successful  in  its  mildest  form;  nor  can 
we  wonder  that  few  patients,  who  were  violently  affected,  should 
recover  by  its  means.  In  respect  to  blisters,  we  heartily  concur 
with  Mr.  H.  in  recommending  their  application  over  the  stomach, 
under  the  circumstances  he  mentions;  having  sometimes  seen 
them  arrest  vomiting  when  it  had  not  proceeded  to  very  great 
lengths;  but  we  must  regard  them,  as  an  equivocal  remedy  in  the 
advanced  stages  of  the  complaint.    Perhaps,  in  cases  where  there 

I         is  much  congestion,  and  in  the  commencement  of  the  disease,  after 

,  free  and  repeated  evacuations,  they  might  be  employed  with  more 
success,  on  the  same  principle  which  determines  their  use  in  pneu- 

!  monia.  We  are  at  a  loss,  however,  to  discover  the  reason  why 
Mr.  H  or  his  instructors,  have  so  wholly  passed  over  and  left  un- 

1  employed  the  lancet,  in  a  condition  of  the  disease  from  which, 
under  their  common  practice,  so  few  recovered;  especially  when 
Dr.  Rush,  and  other  practitioners  of  great  experience,  have  borne 

1  such  ample  testimony  in  favour  of  its  erticacy  in  restraining  those 
dreadful  vomitings  that  occur  in  the  yellow  fever.  Equally  sur- 
prizing is  it  that  no  mention  is  made  of  calomel  and  other  mer- 
curials, which  Mr.  Chisholm,  Mr.  Boag,  and  the  East  and  West- 
India  physicians  in  general,  represent  as  nearly  a  specific  in  the 

1  worst  forms  of  the  disease,  in  those  countries ;  and  which  Dr.  Rush, 
and  others  of  our  countrymen,  in  Philadelphia,  New-York,  and 
New-Haven,  have  so  successfully  administered. 

We  intirely  coincide  with  the  author  in  the  caution  against  the 
use  of  wine,  bark,  &c.  in  this  stage  (and  all  stages)  of  the  fever; 

d        and,  if  we  except  the  addition  of  spirits,  &c.  to  the  patient's  drinks 

i.        and  food,  agree  with  him  in  the  general  plan  of  diet. 

Under  the  last  indication,  for  restoring  strength  to  the  patient, 
after  the  solution  of  the  fever,  we  see  little  to  except  against,  and 
much  to  commend.    We  have  not,  it  is  true,  found  any  particu- 

k        lar  advantage  from  bark  and  wine,  even  here;  but  we  have  ob- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


served  the  best  effects  from  the  avoidance  of  meats,  and  the  spar- 
ing use  of  animal  food,  in  every  form.  The  remarks  of  Mr.  H. 
on  this  point,  are  judicious  and  just,  and  prove  him  to  have  ob- 
served with  a  degree  of  accuracy  much  to  his  credit. 

We  have  now  gone  through  with  our  examination  of  this  Essay, 
on  which  we  have  bestowed  the  more  time  and  attention,  as  we 
found  some  errors  the  more  necessary  to  be  corrected,  as  they  are 
mingled  with  interesting  truths;  and  as  the  subject  treated  of  is 
of  increasing  importance. — In  respect  to  the  cure  of  yellow  fever, 
generally  speaking,  we  seem  not  to  have  attained,  as  vet,  to  that 
clear,  decisive,  and  prompt  method,  which  shall  be  always  and 
unequivocally  sate  and  certain.  The  subject  is  still  embarrassed 
with  doubts  and  difficulties;  and  though  the  disease  seems  willing 
enough  to  afford  us  opportunities  for  observing  and  combatting  it, 
yet,  while  any  uncertainty  remains  as  to  the  best  weapons  where- 
with to  oppose  it,  the  public  are  much  indebted  to  every  person 
ivho  will  step  forward  and  promote  discussion  concerning  them. 
Nor  will  the  sincere  lover  of  truth,  and  friend  to  his  fellow  men, 
find  any  cause  for  complaint  if  those  which  are  effectual  are  con-* 
trived,  with  the  overthrow  of  all  his  own  opinions  and  specula- 
tions, however  fondly  they  may  have  been  cherished  and  ingeni- 
ously devised, 


Art.  VI.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  the  Operation  of  Pestilential 
Fluids  ujwn  the  large  Intestines,  termed  hy  Nosologists  Dysentery.  By 
William  Bay,  Citizen  of  the  State  of  New-York.  New- 
York.     T.  ami  J.  S\uo)ds.    1797.    Hvo.  pp.  109. 

"FT  is  proper  to  apprize  the  reader,  that  the  leading  principles 
of  this  Dissertation  are  founded  on  the  doctrine  of  pestilen- 
tial fluids,  which  has  been  taught,  for  some  time  past,  by  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry  in  Columbia  Coll.ge. 

In  the  introduction,  Mr.  Bay  takes  notice  of  an  erroneous 
opinion,  too  often  entertained  by  physicians,  that  diseases  arising 
from  the  exhalations  of  animal  and  vegetable  substances,  during 
corruption,  are  putrid.  Such  persons  have  not  considered  the 
antiputrescent  qualities  of  the  vapours  emanating  from  substances 
undergoing  the  putrefactive  process.  Carbonic  acid  gas,  nitric 
acid,  and  volatile  alkali,  always  extricated  in  greater  or  less  quan- 
tity during  putrefaction,  are  known  to  be  powerful  preventives 
of  corruption.  To  assert  that  the  products  of  putrefaction  pos- 
sess a  power  to  putrefy  every  thing  near  them,  would  be  just  as 
reasonable  as  to  affirm  that  the  products  of  combustion  set  fire  to 
every  thing  with  which  they  come  in  contact.    Substances  hav« 


REVIEW. 


ing  undergone  combustion  are  ever  afterwards  incombustible; 
and  bodies,  whose  connection  has  been  dissolved  by  putrefaction, 
are  ever  afterwards  antiseptic.  The  well-known  experiments  of 
Dr.  Alexander  leave  no  doubt  on  this  subject. 

Tnis  Dissertation  is  divided'into  three  chapters;  the  first  de- 
scribes the  functions  of  the  alimentary  canal;  the  second  treats 
more  particularly  of  the  disease;  and  the  third  delivers  the  doc- 
trine of  pestilential  fluids,  which  the  author  applies  to  explain 
the  phenomena  of  dysentery. 

On  the  subject  of  digestion,  the  usual  arguments  are  adduced 
to  prove,  that  trituration,  fermentation,  and  putrefaction,  possess 
no  agency  in  that  operation,  and  that  to  the  solvent  powers  of  the 
gastric  liquor  we  are  to  look  for  the  principal  cause  of  the  de- 
composition, which  aliment  undergoes  in  the  stomach.  The  ex- 
periments of  Spallanzani,  Reaumur,  Hunter,  and  Steevens,  so  far 
as  is  necessary  to  establish  this  point,  are  briefly  stated. 

The  properties  and  use  of  the  bile  next  engage  our  author's  at- 
tention. Having  exhibited  a  short  view  of  the  structure  and 
functions  of  the  liver,  he  proceeds  to  describe  the  ordinary  appear- 
ances of  the  bile,  and  the  products  it  yields  on  being  subjected 
to  distillation.  These  are  stated,  on  the  authority  of  Fourcroy, 
to  consist  of  if  a  yellow  alkaline  phlegm,  an  empyreumatic  oil,  a 
"  considerable  quantity  of  the  carbonate  of  ammonia,  an  elastic 
"  fluid  united  with  carbonic  and  hydrogene  gas,  and  the  carbonate 
«  of  soda."  Rejecting  the  opinion  of  the  agency  of  bile  in  aid 
of  digestion,  by  means  of  its  saponaceous,  blending  qualities,  he 
concludes,  "  that  the  principal  use  of  it  in  the  animal  economy, 
*4  is  to  prevent  diseases  arising  from  the  putrefaction  of  animal 
"  and  vegetable  matter."  Supposing  the  spontaneous  decompo- 
sition of  these  matters  to  yield  nitric  acid  or  azotic  oxyd,  which 
he  considers  as  the  parents  of  a  multitude  of  diseases,  he  thinks 
the  alkaline  qualities  of  the  biie  well  calculated  to  neutralize  and 
destroy  them,  fie  asserts,  that  the  blame  thrown  on  the  bile,  as 
tending  to  become  acrimonious  and  putrid,  and  thereby  generat- 
ing the  summer  and  autumnal  diseases,  is  altogether  unfounded; 
and  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  large  quantity  of  it  produced  in  the 
diseases  called  bilious,  is  a  bountiful  provision  of  nature  to  counter- 
act the  pernicious  matter  which  forms  the  real  cause  of  such  fevers. 

That  putrefaction  takes  place  in  the  feculent  matter  of  the  large 
intestines,  Mr.  Bay  concludes  from  the  existence  in  these  tubes 
of  all  the  circumstances  necessary  to  produce  this  effect,  viz.  air, 
heat,  moisture,  the  matters  most  apt  to  be  wrought  upon  by  such 
causes,  and  the  slowness  of  motion  requisite  for  their  full  opera- 
tion ;  and  also  from  the  quantity  and  quality  of  gazeous  fluids 
emitted  from  the  rectum.  Animal  diet  must,  he  thinks,  greatly 
increase  the  mischief  of  this  decomposition,  as  the  lean  part  con-* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tains  a  large  proportion  of  azote,  and  no  small  quantity  of  oxy- 
gene, the  two  principles  from  whose  union  he  apprehends  so 
much  danger.  The  fat  part,  on  the  other  hand,  chiefly  consist- 
ing of carbone  and  hydrogene,  seems  to  he  innocent. 

From  a  chemical  analysis  of  the  fares,  it  appears,  our  author 
informs  us,  that  tney  cniit  hydrogene  gas,  sulphurated  hydrogene  gas, 
Jihnsjdmated  hydrogene  gas,  carbonic  arid  gas,  and  azotic  gas.  None 
of  these  gases,  nor  any  combination  or  them  yet  known,  produce 
mischievous  effects.  Hydrogene  gas  alone  is  perfectly  innocent: 
combined  vvi;h  carbone,  it  forms  lat;  with  oxygene,  water;  with 
azote,  ammonia.  Carbonic  acid  gas  and  azotic  gas  constantly  ex- 
ist  in  the  human  constitution,  and,  in  moderate  quantity,  are  found, 
to  be  intirely  harmless. 

Having  found  these  gases  insufficient  to  produce  dysentery,  Mr. 
B.  concludes  that  a  chemical  combination  of  azote  and  oxygene, 
forming,  according  to  the  degree  of  oxygenation,  either  an  oxyd  of 
azote,  or  the  nunc  acid,  constitutes  the  morbid  cause  in  question. 
He  supposes  this  to  be  rendered  probable  by  the  animal  origin  of 
the  nitric  acid — by  the  large  quantity  of  animal  matter  taken  in 
as  food — by  the  use  of  the  faces  in  the  formation  of  nitre — by 
Pringle's  obs.rvation  of  an  acid  existing  in  the  faces — by  the  in- 
crease of  the  fcetor  of  feculent  matter,  from  the  addition  of  ni- 
tric acid,  as  ob'erved  by  Pringle — anel  by  Homberg's  facl  of  a" 
salt}  discovered  in  the  faces  of  a  man  fed  upon  coarse  bread, 
which,  when  exposed  to  fire,  detonated  like  nitre. 

The  noxious  fluid,  thus  formed  by  a  chemical  union  of  azote 
and  oxygene,  our  author  asserts,  may  be  either  generated  in  the 
large  intestines,  and  immediately  produce  dysentery  by  coming  irr 
control:  with  their  coats,  or  arising  from  the  immense  masses  of 
putrefaction,  which  overspread  so  large  a  portion  of  the  earth, 
in  the  form  of  vapour,  it  may  be  introduced  into  the  bodies  of 
men  by  the  lungs,  by  the  stomach,  or  by  the  pores  of  the  skin, 
and,  in  this  manner,  produce  the  same  disease.  This  difference, 
as  to  the  source  of  the  morbid  cause,  will  readily  account  for  the 
sporadic,  enelemic  and  epidemic  appearances  of  dysentery. 

From  the  concurring  testimony  of  a  number  of  the  most  emi- 
nent medical  writers,  the  connection  of  this  disease  with  remittent 
and  intermittent  fevers,  is  easily  evinced;  and  hence  their  origin 
from  the  same  cause  may  be  inferred  with  great  probability. 

The  means  of  preventing  the  disease  next  employ  our  author's 
attention  ;  and  these  he  refers  to  three  heads,  i.  He  enjoins  ab- 
stinence from  all  animal  food,  except  its  oils  and  fats,  whenever 
the  disease  is  prevalent;  2.  He  direfts  to  avoid  costiveness;  and, 
3.  He  orders  removal  from  an  infected  atmosphere. 

The  method  of  cure  is  distributed  into  the  three  following  in- 
dications— "  1  st.  To  remove  septic  and  feculent  matter  from  the 


REVIEW. 


alimentary  canal:  2d.  To  correct  the  vitiated  state  of  the  atmos- 
phere, or  to  remove  from  it:  3d.  To  allay  the  inflammation,  and 
the  other  injuries,  which  tne  alimentary  canal  may  have  sustained 
bv  the  original  cause  of  the  disease,  and  the  remedies  made  use  of 
to  effect  a  cure." 

The  first  indication  is  promoted  by  freely  evacuating  the  in- 
testines. For  this  purpose  the  author  recommends  carbonate  of 
pot-ash  (salt  of  wormwood),  acetite  of  pot-ash  (regenerated  tartar), 
sulphite  of  pot-ash  (vitriolated  tartar),  tartrite  ot  pot-ash  (soluble 
tartar),  tartrite  of  soda  (Rochelle  salt).  As  these  salts  are  all  de- 
compounded by  the  nitric  acid,  their  alkaline  bases  will  serve  to 
neutralize  it.  The  muriate  of  soda  {common  sea  sak)  united 
with  the  vegetable  acids,  has  been  also  much  commended.  Car- 
bonate of  pot-ash  is  directed  to  be  given  in  do.^es  of  four  grains, 
every  two  or  three  hours;  and  it  is  advised  to  combine  it  with 
jalap  or  rhubarb,  when  these  are  chosen  as  cathartics.  Oleum 
ricini  and  the  cerated  glass  of  antimony  are  also  recommended; 
and  to  relieve  the  tenesmus,  starch-clysters,  with  tincture  of  opi- 
um, are  directed  to  be  injected. 

For  the  purpose  of  cleansing  the  body  externally,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  reducing  the  temperature  when  too  much  heated,  as 
well  as  promoting  a  diaphoresis,  the  cold  bath  is  ordered  to  be 
employed. 

To  correct  the  vitiated  atmosphere  surrounding  the  patient, 
the  chamber  is  directed  to  be  ventilated  and  frequently  changed, 
the  floors  to  be  cleaned  with  alkaline  ley,  and  the  walls  to  be 
white-washed  with  lime.  The  bed-clothe's  and  body-linen  of  the 
sick  should  also  be  often  changed.  And  if  by  these  means  it  be 
not  possible  to  correct  the  vitiated  air,  it  will  become  necessary  to 
remove  the  patient  to  a  healthier  situation. 

To  accomplish  the  third  indication,  blood-letting  is  principally 
relied  on,  which  is  advised  to  be  small,  and  to  be" frequently  re- 
peated. 

The  diet  of  the  sick  is  ordered  to  consist  of  soups,  milk,  and 
vegetable  substances:  the  lean  parts  of  animals  are  forbidden. 
And,  at  the  close  of  the  disease,  the  usual  corroborant  remedies, 
such  as  bitters  and  the  Peruvian  bark,  are  recommended.* 

We  have  thus  drawn  a  brief  outline  of  this  Dissertation,  which 

*  Mr.  B.  has  omitted  to  recommend  mercury  in  his  plan  of  treatino- 
dyfentery.  In  the  more  fevere  or  protraded  cafes  of  the  difeal'e,  when  the 
ordinary  remedies  have  failed,  and  when  violent  degrees  of  inflammation  or 
ulceration  of  the  larger  inteftines  are  cither  threatened  or  fuppoicd  adhir.Hy 
to  have  taken  place,  we  know  no  remedy  fo  much  to  be  relied  on  as  calo- 
mel, combined  with  fmall  quantities  of  opium,  till  it  gently  touches  the 
mouth,  in  the  manner  dire-fted  by  Dr.  Clark.  Set  Ohferwthn,  -jn  the  Dif- 
cafes  -which  prevail  in  long  Voyages  to  hoi  Climates,  p.  340. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


contains  matter  deserving  the  serious  consideration  of  every  pra(^« 
titioner  of  medicine.  We  regret  that  oilr  limits  do  not  permit 
us  to  notice  much  of  the  reasoning  and  illustration  employed  by 
Mr.  13.  to  vindicate  and  confirm  his  principles. 

But  as  many  doubts  are  still  entertained  concerning  the  doctrine 
maintained  in  this  essay,  it  now  becomes  our  duty  u>  state  these 
with  all  possible  impartiality. 

The  acknowledged  connection  of  dysentery  with  remittent  and 
intermittent  fevers,  while  it  favours  the  opinion  ol  their  origin 
from  a  common  source,  has  been  thought  to  expose  Mr.  li.'s 
hypothesis  of  the  generation  of  the  former  disease  in  the  large 
intestines,  to  an  obvious  objection.  In  these  fevers  it  com- 
monly happens  that  bile  is  secreted  and  poured  into  the  alimenta- 
ry canal  in  large  quantity;  but  this  fluid,  from  its  strong  alka- 
line property,  is  the  direct  neutralizer  and  extinguisher  of  the 
noxious  matter  supposed  to  produce  dysentery.  How  happens  it 
then,  that,  in  such  circumstances,  the  system  should  manifest 
such  tendency  to  fall  into  dysentery,  notwithstanding  the  imme- 
diate presence  and  operation  of  so  large  a  quantity  of  its  direct 
antidote  ?  In  jaundice,  when  the  faeces  are  deprived  of  the  neu- 
tralizing benefit  of  the  bile,  and  when  co^tiveness  often  detains 
them  a  long  time  in  the  large  intestines,  exposed  to  ah  the  hazard 
of  the  evolution  of  this  poison,  dysentery  is  not  observed  to 
take  place. 

The  inlrequency  of  sporadic  dysentery  has  been  also  made  a 
ground  of  objection  to  this  doctrine.  The  circumstances  leading 
to  putrefaction  must  be  supposed  alwayc,  more  or  less,  to  exist 
in  the  large  intestines,  viz.  heat,  moisture,  air,  and  a  quantity  of 
animal  and  vegetable  matter.  The  degree  of  heat  in  ihe  intes- 
tines may  be  considered  as  nearly  at  the  same  point  in  all  seasons 
and  in  all  climates.  Indigestion,  and  other  causes  weakening  the 
assimilating  powers  of  the  alimentary  canal,  and  giving  occasion 
to  the  evolution  of  such  noxious  matters  as  the  process  of  cor- 
ruption is  apt  to  generate,  oiten  occur.  Sporadic  dysentery,  from 
this  internal  poison,  on  these  principles,  should  be  frequently  ex- 
pected; and  yet  it  is  seldom  observed,  except  where  season,  cli- 
mate, particular  stales  of  the  air,  or  other  similar  causes  exist, 
which  a;e  likely  to  furnish  the  noxious  matter  that  appears  to  gain 
admittance,  from  without,  into  the  system. 

It  has  been  likewise  objected  to  Mr.  B.'s  doctrine,  that  vari- 
ous cathartic  remedies,  and  particularly  the  sulphates  of  soda  and 
magnesia  (Glauber's  and  Epsom  salts)  have,  horn  actual  experi- 
ence, produced  equal,  it  not  superior,  good  effects  in  dysentery, 
to  the  saline  articles  that  are  decompounded  by  the  nitric  acn 
and,  on  that  account,  according  to  his  principles,  ought  to  operate 
iu  a  much  more  powerful  manner. 


REVIEW. 


In  opposition  to  the  theory  supported  in  this  essay  stand  the 
experiments  of  Dr.  Carmichael  Smyth,  who,  on  board  the  Union 
hospital-ship,  at  Sheerness,  found  the  fumes  of  nitrous  acid  a  suc- 
cessful means  not  only  of  destroying  the  offensive  smell  of  putrid 
animal  effluvia,  but  also  of  extinguishing  contagion. 

On  ground  not  very  dissimilar  rests  an  objection  drawn  from 
the  employment  of  nitrous  acid,  by  Mr.  Scott  and  others,  as  a  re- 
medy in  hepatic  and  other  diseases  of  the  abdominal  viscera,  and 
in  syphilitic  affections.  From  these  cases  it  appears  that  this  active 
substance  has  been  daily  taken,  in  considerable  quantity,  into  the  sto- 
mach, for  some  length  of  time,  and  generally  with  great  advantage. 

"  The  nitrat  of  silver,  or  lunar  caustic,  is  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Hahnemann  as  a  most  effectual  antiseptic :  he  says,  that  flesh  laid 
in  a  solution  of  one  part  of  this  nitrat  in  five  hundred  of  water,  will 
not  putrefy;  and  if,  after  being  kept  a  fortnight  in  a  strong  solu- 
tion, the  flesh  be  taken  out,  and  laid  in  a  warm  place,  it  will  be 
gradually  dried,  without  contracting  the  least  disagreeable  smell, 
will  become  very  hard,  and  will  never  breed  maggots.  He  asserts 
also,  that  water,  in  which  a  very  small  proportion  of  this  nitrat  is 
dissolved,  will  remain  perfectly  sweet,  provided  it  be  kept  from  sun- 
shine, which  would  cause  the  nitrat  to  precipitate.  The  water  is 
perfectly  innocent,  may  be  used  as  a  common  drink,  and  may  be 
peculiarly  advantageous  at  sea,  as  a  preservative  against  the  scur- 
vy."   Appendix  to  Monthly  Review,  vol.  xiv. 

The  engraver,  whose  etching  on  copper  is  performed  by  means 
of  nitrous  acid,  must  be  greatly  exposed  to  inhale,  or  otherwise  re- 
ceive, the  nitrous  gas  evaporating  from  the  plate:  yet  we  have 
never  understood  that  these  artists  experience  any  thing  like  pesti- 
lential injury  from  breathing  over  this  vapour.  Silver-smiths, 
and  some  other  workers  in  metals,  who  employ  aqua-fortis  in  their 
operations,  present  facts  of  similar  import. 

How  far  these  experiments  and  facts  should  be  admitted  to  in- 
validate the  theory  delivered  in  this  Dissertation,  we  shall  not  un- 
dertake to  decide,  but  shall  willingly  submit  them  to  the  test  of 
further  time  and  experience.  Whatever  variety  of  opinion  or 
discordancy  of  facts  may  exist  on  this  subject,  we  are  persuaded 
the  most  perfect  unanimity  will  prevail  in  considering  the  prin- 
ciples here  delivered  by  Mr.  B.  and  supported  by  so  many  pow- 
erlul  arguments,  as  highly  interesting  to  the  science  of  medicine 
and  to  the  welfare  of  mankind.  And  we  are  convinced  the  same 
unanimity  will  be  felt  in  ascribing  to  our  author  the  praise  of  dili- 
gence, ingenuity,  and  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  subject  on 
which  he  treats.  This  early  fruit  of  his  studies,  worthy  of  a  more 
aavanced  age  and  mature  experience,  leaves  us  no  room  to  doubt 
that  his  future  professional  career  will  be  honourable  to  himself, 
and  useful  to  his  country. 

Fol.  I  No.  a.  N 


242 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Art  VII.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  that  Grade  of  the  Infer-' 
tinal  State  of  Fever  known  by  the  Name  of  Dysentery.  By  fame- 
Fisher,  ot  Delaware,  (Sc.  Philadelphia.  Ormrod  and  Conrad. 
8vo.  pp.  52.  1797. 

THE  Essay  before  us  exhibits  honourable  testimony  in  favour 
of  the  ingenuity  and  industry  of  the  author.  It  may  be 
questioned,  however,  whether  hi*  speculations'bave  contributed 
any  thing  to  the  illustration  of  the  nature  of  the  disease,  or  tne 
treatment  recommended  by  him  to  its  cure,  of  which  tiie  public 
was  not  already  possessed.  Still,  as  many  sensible  remarks  and  ju- 
dicious directions  are  here  collected,  in  a  compact  form,  it  may 
not  be  an  unpleasing  nor  unuseful  task,  especially  to  the  young 
physician,  to  refresh  his  memory  by  the  perusal  of  Mr.  Fisher's 
Dissertation.  But,  when  we  have  acknowledged  that,  in  this 
point  of  view,  we  have  derived  some  pleasure  from  the  reading, 
and,  on  the  whole,  consider  this  performance  as  creditable  to  the 
writer,  we  may  be  allowed  to  offer  a  few  suggestions  to  him,  as 
matter  of  future  reflection  and  inquiry,  in  the  course  of  the  prac- 
tical application  of  those  studies  the  collegiate  pursuit  of  which 
he  has  just  concluded. 

With  respect  to  what  is  said  concerning  the  dysentery  being 
only  a  febris  introversa,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  general  line 
of  argument  pursued  here,  would  reach  to  almost  every  disease 
not  absolutely  local,  and  comprehend  the  most  opposite  states  of 
the  system.  And  it  it  be  insisted  that  this  is  the  fuel,  and  that  all 
general  diseases  are  fevers  of  various  forms  and  degrees,  we  have 
vet  to  discover  the  practical  utility  of  such  an  opinion.  The 
necessity  will  recur  as  strong  as  ever  for  particular  description  and 
careful  discrimination.  TTus  being  the  case,  it  would,  perhaps, 
be  more  useful  and  more  accurate  to  say,  that  the  state  of  the 
bowels  which  we  call  dysentery,  is  accompanied  by  fever,  or  that 
fever  constitutes  one  of  the  essential  parts  of  the  disease.  Even 
fhen  we  should  not  have  a  very  distinct  conception  of  the  fact 
•without  some  further  and  more  precise  account  of  the  nature  of 
the  fever. 

So,  in  regard  to  what  Mr.  F.  considers  as  the  remote  causes  of 
dvsenterv,  viz.  marsh-miasmata  and  contagion,  it  may  admit  of 
doubt  whether  he  has  viewed  the  subject  with  philosophic  accura- 
cy— whether  unity  of  efftct  does  not  bespeak  unity  of  cause — • 
■whether  there  is  any  specific  difference  between  the  infectious  ma- 
terial which  rises  from  marshes,  and  that  generated  in  the  intes- 
tines— and  whether  this  material,  or  principle,  or  whatever  it  may 
be  denominated,  be  not  rather  the  exciting  than  the  remote  cause  of 
dysentery. 


REVIEW. 


2  +  3 


The  old  notion  of  the  mischiefs  arising  from  the  checkage  of 
perspiration,  that  yet  surviving  offspring  or  progenitor  of  the  hu- 
moral pathoiogy,  should  not  have  found  its  way  into  a  modern 
Dissertation,  in  which  effects  ought  to  be  more  carefully  distin- 
guished from  causes. 

But  these  are,  comparatively,  slight  defects,  and  after  all  depend 
much  on  opinion.  In  the  more  material  part,  the  Cure,  Mr.  F. 
has  carefully  collected  and  arranged  the.  various  remedies  whose 
efficacy  has  been  ascertained  by  the  experience  of  his  predecessors, 
with  brief  and  general  rules  for  their  exhibition,  it  is  true,  and 
such,  perhaps,  as  future  practice  may  teach  him  somewhat  to  vary, 
but  more  correct  and  particular  than  are  often  to  be  found  in  In- 
augural Essays. 


Art.  VIII.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  the  Dysentery.  By  Co- 
lin M'-Kenxie,  of  Baltimore,  CsV.  Philadelphia.  Ormrod  and 
Conrad.    8vo.   pp.47.  1797. 

1\  (fR-  M'KENZIE  pursues  nearly  the  same  course  with  his 
XV  X  fellow -student,  Mr.  Fisher.  We  often  recognize  not 
merely  the  same  opinions,  but  almost  the  same  words,  in  either 
essay.  These  resemblances  have  probably  arisen  from  attending 
the  instructions  of  the  same  teachers,  and  from  frequent  inter- 
change of  sentiments  with  each  other.  The  mode  of  cure  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  M.  does  not  differ  materially  from  that  laid  down  by 
Mr.  Fisher. — On  the  whole,  we  think  Mr.  Fisher's  Dissertation 
deserves  the  preference. 


Art.  IX.    An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  Hydrocele.     By  Samuel 
Jones,  A.M.  &e.    Philadelphia.  U stick.  8vo.  pp.27.  1797. 

THIS  is  a  short,  but  comprehensive  and  well-written  Essay. 
We  intirely  agree  with  Mr.  Jones  in  the  opinion  that  Mr. 
Earle's  method  of  effecting  the  radical  cure  in  hydrocele,  by  injec- 
tion, is  preferable  to  any  other  yet  proposed. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Art.  X.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  the  Rheumatic  State  of  Fe- 
ver. By  Edward  North,  of  South-Carolina,  &Y.  Philadelphia. 
Woodward.    8vo.    pp.  37.  1797. 

IT  is  sufficient  to  give  the  title  of  this  Essay,  which,  relating  to 
a  very  common  disease,  and  presenting  no  new  views  of  the 
subject,  will  probably  never  be  consulted  by  the  practitioner  or 
the  theorist. 


Art.  XL  An  Inaugural  Essay  on  Dropsy,  or  the  Hydro/tic  State  of 
Fever.  By  William  Allston,  of  George-Town  (S.  C.)  &c.  Phi- 
ladelphia.   Woodward.    8vo.    pp.60.  1797. 

MR.  ALLSTON  adopts  the  theory  of  Dr.  Rush  in  respeft 
to  dropsy — a  theory  which  those  of  our  readers  who  may 
not  already  be  acquainted  with  it,  will  find  ably  developed  in  vol. 
ii.  of  that  gentleman's  Medical  Observations  and  Inquiries.  To 
the  merit  of  originality,  therefore,  the  author  of  the  present  Essay 
can  prefer  no  claim;  but  we  may  remark  that  he  has  multi- 
plied authorities,  in  favour  of  his  hypothesis,  in  a  manner  which 
displays  considerable  reading  and  reflection.  Those  who  are  ac- 
customed to  Dr.  Rush's  manner  of  treating  a  subject,  will  observe, 
that  the  pupil  has  preserved,  with  great  fidelity,  both  the  method 
and  turn  of  expression  of  the  preceptor.  This  circumstance  may 
be  a  further  recommendation  of  Mr.  A.'s  Dissertation  to  notice, 
which,  from  its  general  merit,  it  well  deserves. 


(   =45  ) 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  July,  1797, 
'  made  iy  Gardiner  Baker,  in  the  Cupola  of  the  Exchange  in 
the  City  of  New- York. 


Days 
ot  the 

Thermom.  obferved 
at 

Prevail, 
winds. 

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Mon. 

Sun-rife. 

3  P-  M 

5  M. 

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0 

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3  P.  M. 

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s 

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29  50 
29  58 

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w 

2 

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5 

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84 

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2 

29  75 

29  76 

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07 

85 

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2 

29  79 

29  78 
29  65 

7 

7° 

76 

s 

s 

2 

29  73 

8 

7° 

73 

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S  E 

2 

29  55 

29  42 

9 

71 

85 

S 

N  E 

I 

I 

29  57 

29  40 

10 

70 

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N 

S 

2 

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29  55 

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S 

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29  54 

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88 

N  W 

N  E 

2 

29  71 

29  72 

20 

74 

90 

N  E 

S 

2 

29  75 
29  81 

29  /° 

21 

76 

90 

W 

s 

2 

29  8l 

22 

73 

85 

w 

s 

•"  iK 

I 

29  78 

29  75 

23 

74 

80 

s 

s 

1 

I 

29  65 

29  63 
29  46 

24 

71 

83 

E 

S  E 

2 

29  53 

25 

74 

74 

s 

N 

2 

29  34 

29  35 

26 

70 

86 

N  W 

ft  \V 

2 

29  48 

29  58 

27 

75 

81 

S  W 

s 

1 

I 

29  70 

29  73 

28 

69 

80 

E 

N  E 

1 

I 

29  70 

29  69 

29 

70 

82 

N  E 

E 

2 

29  69 

29  71 

30 

71 

80 

E 

s  VV 

2 

29  72 

29  72 

3i 

•  71 

77 

E 

S  E 

1 

I 

29  72 

29  72 

kd    ■>  Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  July,  1  797. 
Meantemperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,        deg.  70  8  hund. 
Do.        do.  of  the         do.         at  3  P.  M.  82  5 

Do.        do.  of  the        do.       for  the  whole  month,  76  6 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  6th  and  21ft,  26  o 

Do.  do.    in  24  hours,  on  the  10th,  19  o 

Six  days  it  rained,  and  a  confiderablc  quantity  has  fallen. 
Five  days  it  thundered  and  lightned,  but  not  in  great  abundance. 
Coldeft  day  the  5th.    Warmeft  day  the  2Jlt. 


246  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  August,  1797. 


]>4y8|Thermom.  obfcrvcd 

cf  the,  at 

Prevail, 
winds. 

Clear.'  1 

Barometer  obferved 

.  Sun-rife.    2  P.  M. 

Sun-rife. 

a  P.  M. 

J  1V1.  2 

0 

•  if 

7^ 

77 

E 

N  E 

2 

29  60 

29  61 

2 

70 

75 

E 

N  E 

2 

29  65 

29  72 

3 

70 

75 

E 

E 

2 

29  77 

j  29  79 

4 

70 

7i 

E 

E 

2 

29  76 

j  29  70 

5 

7? 

80 

S  E 

S  £ 

1 

1 

29  51 

29  68 

6 

71 

73 

W 

N  VV 

1 

1 

29  71 

j  29  68 

7 

70 

79 

N 

N 

I 

1 

29  68 

29  73 

8 

71 

73 

E 

S  E 

2 

29  60 

29  42 

9 

*9 

81 

S  W 

S  W 

2 

29  45 

29  51 

1C 

6S 

73 

N  VV 

VV 

2 

29  76 

29  82 

1 1 

65 

1° 

N  E 

s 

2 

30  08 

29  90 

12 

67 

75 

S 

s 

I 

1 

29  87 

29  75 

*i 

73 

81 

s 

s  w 

Ii 

1 

29  50 

29  45 

14 

6; 

74 

w 

N  VV 

2 

2  9  53 

29  59 

15 

56 

76 

N  W 

w 

2 

29  80 

j  29  80 

16 

62 

-  1 

i  / 

2 

29  87 

|  29  88 

17 

65 

/8 

s  w 

s 

2 

29  90 

29  84 

18 

70 

79 

s 

s 

1 

1 

29  69 

29  60 

*9 

68 

81 

s 

s  w 

2 

29  35 

29  32 

20 

68 

81 

w 

S  VV 

2 

29  33 

29  41 

21 

67 

77 

N  E 

S  VV 

1 

1 

29  51 

29  53 

22 

7i 

71 

E 

E 

2 

29  57 

29  60 

23 

66 

76 

N  £ 

N  E 

2 

29  58 

29  53 

24 

67 

82 

S  W 

S  W 

2 

29  54 

29  54 

2S 

68 

77 

E 

S  E 

29  54 

29  58 

26 

7a 

73 

S 

S 

1 

1 

29  72 

29  76 

27 

66 

76 

N  W 

s  w 

2 

29  52 

29  49 

28 

66 

73 

N  W 

N  VV 

2 

29  57 

29  57 

29 

61 

74 

N  W 

VV 

2 

29  70 

29  70 

30 

64 

7i 

E 

S  E 

29  75 
29  80  i 

29  78 
29  80 

51 

67 

75 

E 

S  E 

2 

Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  August,  1  79\7_J  1  c 

jVIean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fvnrife,  deg.  67  5  hund. 

Do.       do.           cf  the           do.       at  a  P.  M.  78  6,r. ! 

Do.       do.           fcr  the  v.hcle  month  72  5 

Orcateft  monthly  range,  between  the  15th  and  24th,  26  o 

Do.                    do.     in  24  hours,  on  the  15th,  20  o 

Twelve  days  it  rained,  and  a  very  large  quantity  has  fallen. 

Seven  days  it  thundered  and  lightned,  and  there  ha«  been  a  confiderable 
quantity. 

Coldeft  day  the  Ijth.    Warmeft  day  the  24th. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  247 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  forSe/itember,  1  797- 


Days  Thermom. 
cf  the  at 
Mon.  Sun-rife. 

73 
76 
63 
63 
61 
58 
58 

57 
58 
59 
5s 
59 
60 

63 
1?  !  68 
16  1  64 

*7  I  56 
18  I  58 

'  57 
51 
56 
59 
57 
56 
58 
57 
46 

53 
58 
60 


obferved  Prevailing 


2  P.  M. 

84 
87 
76 
73 

79 
66 
66 
7° 
7r 
71 
7° 
73 
72 
80 

71 
74 
7° 
64 
64 
66 
69 
67 
72 
75 
74 

69 
62 

7i 
78 
65 


"3    Barometer  obferved  at 


winds. 

Clear. 

2 
0 

6M.  jE. 

O 

Sun-rife.,  2  P. 

M. 

s  vv 

S  VV 

I 

1 

29  72 

29 

70 

s  w 

VV 

2 

29  51 

29 

53 

N  VV 

V  vv 

I 

1 

29  60 

29 

bz 

w 

v  w 

2 

29  65 

29 

72 

w 

s  \v 

2 

29  73 

29 

73 

N  E 

2 

29  80 

29 

80 

W  E 

N 

2 

0  0 
29  bb 

29 

88 

N  E 

E 

2 

29  79 

29 

73 

N  E 

N 

I 

1 

29  82 

29 

86 

N  E 

H  E 

% 

29  91 

29 

86 

W  E 

^  E 

2 

29  79 

29 

75 

E 

N 

2 

29  70 

29 

65 

s  VV 

S  W 

29  67 

29 

65 

s  w 

s 

2 

29  OO 

29 

59 

s  w 

s  w 

2 

29  54 

29 

48 

N 

N 

2 

29  56 

29 

56 

N  E 

w 

2 

29  60 

29 

59 

E 

S  E 

I 

1 

29  55 

29 

40 

VV 

N  VV 

2 

29  27 

29 

41 

VV 

W 

2 

29  70 

29 

70 

S  E 

S  E 

I 

1 

29  70 

29 

70 

N  E 

E 

2 

29  70 

29 

70 

N  W 

E 

2 

29  64 

29 

60 

VV 

W 

2 

29  55 

29 

45 

VV 

N  VV 

2 

29  40 

29 

50 

E 

VV 

i~  I . 

1 

29  60 

29 

5o 

N 

N*  W 

2 

29  80 

29 

80 

N  VV 

N  W 

29  80 

29 

80 

s  vv 

\T 

29  79 

29 

81 

N  E 

I  E 

2 

29  97 

30 

Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  September,  I  797. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,         deg.  59  2  hund. 

Do.         do.  of  the        do.  at  2  P.  M.  71  6 

Do.         do.        for  the  whole  month,  65  4 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  2d  and  loth,  26  o 

Do.  do.     in  24  hours  on  the  29th.  SO  o 

Four  days  it  rained,  and  a  very  i'mall  quantity  has  fallen. 
Coldelt  day  the  20th.    Warnieft  day  the  ad. 


(  M  ) 


A  Table  of  Patients  admitted  into  the  Neiv-\ork  Hosjiital^  from 
the  1st  of  July  to  the  1st  of  Oftober,  1797;  shelving  the  Disease 
for  "which  each  was  received^  -with  the  Event  of  the  Case. 


MEDICAL  Patients  admitted  in  July. 


T3 

> 

-d 

Remain 

DISEASES. 

6 

under 

Refult. 

J 

(£ 

3 

Care. 

Amenorrhea 

j 

I 

Ascites 

3 

2 

i  elop. 

Diarrhoea 

1 

I 

Dysentery 

1 

I 

Dyspepsia 

5 

I 

1 

1 

Gravel 

2 

1 

Hepatitis 

1 

1 

Intermitting  Fever 

4 

3 

1 

Mania 

3 

3 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

3 

1 

1 

Rheumatism 

4 

2 

2 

Syphilis 

6 

3 

3 

Received 

43 

DURGICAL. 

Contusion 

3 

1 

1  &ie. 

Cured 

17  1 

Fracture 

1 

1 

Relieved 

2 

Scrofula 

i 

1 

Died 

3 

Ulcer  of  the  Leg 

5 

2 

3 

Eloped 

2 

Wounded 

1 

1 

Discharged 
Remain 

1 
18 

—43 

August.  Medical. 


Amenorrhea 

1 

1 

Anasarca 

1 

1 

Ascites 

3 

1 

1 

Diarrhoea 

2 

1 

1 

Dysentery 

3 

1 

1 

Dyspepsia 

1 

Gonorrhoea 

3 

1 

2 

Herpes 

1 

1 

Intermittent  Fever 

1 1 

9 

2 

Mania 

4 

4 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

1 

1 

Opthalmia 

1 

1 

Rheumatism 

3 

1 

2 

Syphilis 

6 

2 

3  &f*J 

HOSPITAL. 


bUEGICAL. 


249 


DISEASES. 


Contusion 
Fracture 
Scrofula 
Syphilis 

Ulcer  of  the  Leg 
Wounded  • 

September. 

Anasarca 

Ascites 

Debility 

Diarrhoea 

Dysentery 

Dyspepsia 

Gonorrhoea 

Intermittents 

Mania 

Opthalmia 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

Rheumatism 

Syphilis 

Typhus 

Diseased  Hip-Joint 
Fistula  Lachrymalis 
Scrofula 
Syphilis 

Ulcer  of  the  Leg 
White  Swelling 
Wounded 


Remain 
under 
Care. 


Refnlt. 


4&ie 
4 


Received 

Cured 
Died 
Eloped 
Remain 


M 


EDICAL. 


I 
I 

12 

7 
•  I 
1 

6 
3 
5 

Surgical 
1 
1 
1 

6 

•5 
2 
1 


Received 

■  Cured 
,  Relieved 
;Died 
1  Remain 


66 

53 
2, 

2 
29 

—66 


60 


26 
1 
1 

32 


-60 


SUMMAR  Y. 

Patients  received  into  the  New-York  Hospital  from  the  first  of 
July  to  the  first  of  October,  179;,  exclusive  of  those  then  re- 
maining under  care,  169 


Of  this  number  have  been  cured,  ;  .  76 

relieved,       ......  3 

died,   £ 

elojiej   4 

was  discharged,   I 

remaining  under  care,   79 


Vol.  I.  No. 


3. 


O 


-169 


(   zs°  > 


j^f  Return  of  Patients  admitted  to  the  Care  of  the  New-York  City 
Dispensary,  from  the  first  of  July  to  the  first  of  Oflober,  I  797. 

JULY.   


DISEASES. 

c 

Cured-  [ 

Arrienorrhoea 

I 

J 

Asthma 

2 

2 

Hectic  Fevei* 

I 

I 

Erisipelas 

1 

1 

Syphilis 

5 

5 

Dyspepsia 

3 

3 

Diarrhoea 

'4 

12 

Jaundice 

1 

1 

Pneumony 

3 

3 

Cough 

2 

1 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

1 

Hooping-cough 

2 

2 

Remittent  Fever 

3 

3 

Fradure 

1 

1 

Sore  Legs 

3 

3 

Quincy 

1 

1 

Opthalmia 

2 

2 

Haemoptisis 

1 

1 

Worms 

1 

Abscess 

j 

1 

Cholera 

3 

3 

Herpes 

1 

1 

Dysentery1 

1 

1 

AUGl 

Pneumony 

4 

4 

Intermitting  Fever* 

1 

1 

Syphilis 

4 

3 

Typhus 

1 

1 

Remitting  Fever 

3 

Cholera 

3 

3 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

3 

2 

Diarrhoea 

3 

3 

Menorrhagia 

i 

1 

Constipation 

i 

1 

Head-ach 

i 

1 

Sore  Legs 

3 

2 

Indigestion 

1 

1 

Dysentery 

; 

7 

Calculus 

1 

1 

Removed 

to  the 
Hofpital. 


Refult. 


Received 

Cured  50 

Relieved  3 

Died  1 


54- 


S+ 


1  Elop. 


DISPENSARY. 
AUGUST  continued. 


251 


•DISEASES. 


_  |  -a 

a  i  a 


•3  I  rt 

as!  \Q 


Removed 

to  the 
Hofpital. 


Refult. 


Opthalmia 

Abscess 

Sphacelus 

Hectic  Fever 

Epilepsy 

Burns 

Worms 

Colic 


SEPTEMBER. 


Contusion 

2 

2 

Anasarca 

3 

2 

i  u.  care 

Indigestion 

2 

2 

Scrophula 

I 

I 

Dysentery 

y 

3 

Bilious  Remittent  Fever 

3 

3 

Rheumatism 

5 

5 

Pneumony 

2 

2 

Worms 

5 
i 

5 
i 

Syphilis 

Opthalmia 

i 

i 

Intermittent  Fever 

i 

i 

Diarrhoea 

2 

Bilious  Colic 

I 

i 

Received 

Cured 

Relieved 

Died 

Hospital 

Eloped 


Received 

Cured  26 
Relieved  $ 
Under  care  1 


SUMMARY. 

Whole  number  of  Patients  admittted  into  the  New-York  City 
Dispensary  from  the  first  of  July  to  the  first  of  October,  1 797, 

1 32 

Of  this  number  have  been  cured,  117 

relieved,   9 

died,     ........  4 

eloped,        .......  1 

remains  under  care,   r 

13a 


HUGH  M'LEAN. 


(   H3  ) 


MEDICAL  NEWS. 


DOMESTIC. 

IN  the  course  of  the  late  and  present  seasons  the  Yellow  Fever 
has  been  epidemic,  with  considerable  mortality,  in  Bristol  and 
Providence,  State  of  Rhode-Island;  in  Philadelphia;  in  Baltimore; 
and  in  Norfolk,  Virginia.  Reports  have  circulated,  but  we  know 
not  with  what  foundation,  that  it  was  also  prevalent  in  Charleston, 
South-Carolina.  We  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  com- 
municate  certain  information,  that  this  disease  has  wholly  ceased 
its  ravages  at  Bristol  and  Providence;  that  there  is  every  appearance 
of  its  speedy  departure  from  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore;  and  that 
at  Norfolk  (where  the  disease  appears  to  have  originated  indispu- 
tably in  local  cases)  the  mortality  is  at  an  end.  The  Remitting 
Fever  has  renewed  its  attacks,  but  without  any  signal  mortality, 
in  Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  and  New-Milford,  Connecticut;  and 
the  Dysentery  has  been  very  rife  in  Hanover,  New-Hampshire. 
The  following  article,  from  the  last-mentioned  place,  we  have 
reason  to  believe  correct;  but  more  particular  information  is  de- 
sirable.— 

"  Hanover,  September  9,  1797.  The  following  is  an  accurate 
"  statement  of  the  number  of  inhabitants,  and  the  late  mortality, 
"  in  the  vicinity  of  Dartmouth  College: — 

"  The  whole  number  of  inhabitants,  including  members 
"  of  College,  amounts  to  about  520 

"  Number  of  people  arTeclcd  with  the  Dysentery,  about  203 

"  Died  of  Dysentery,  only  5 

"  Of  Dysentery  and  Whooping-Cough,  7 

"  Ol  Consumption  and  Dysentery,  4 

"  Without  Dysentery,  4 

"  Whole  number  of  deaths,  20 

"  Of  these  five  were  adults,  the  other  fifteen  were  children.  The 
"  ravages  made  by  the  late  sickness  are  the  more  remarkable,  as 
"  the  place,  generally,  heretofore,  has  been  esteemed  one  of  the 
"  most  healthy  places  in  the  world.  This  is  the  first  instance  of 
"  the  prevalence  of  an  epidemic." 


*54 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


A  remarkable  disease  occurred,  during  the  last  spring,  among 
the  Cats  in  London,  which  extended  itself  over  several  other 
parts  of  England.  In  three  parishes  in  London,  upwards  of  5000 
cats  are  computed  to  have  been  destroyed  by  it,  within  a  fortnight. 
The  most  common  period  of  the  disorder  is  said  to  have  been  six 
or  seven  days;  and  a  puking  of  greenish  bile,  and  delirium,  arc 
enumerated  among  the  symptoms,  of  which  we  have  seen  no  ac- 
count sufficiently  accurate  to  be  relied  on.  The  following  para- 
graph is  extracted  from  the  "  Account  of  Diseases  in  London, 
from  the  20th  of  March  to  the  20th  of  April,  1797" — published 
in  the  Monthly  Magazine  for  April  last. 

"  After  the  abatement  of  the  Epidemic  Catarrh,  a  violent  disr 
*'  ease  fell  upon  the  Cats,  by  which  many  hundreds  of  those  do- 
"  mestic  animals  perished,  The  particular  symptoms  of  their 
"  malady  I  had  not  a  sufficient  opportunity  of  ascertaining:  but 
"  from  dissections,  it  appears,  that  the  bowels  had  been  drawn  to- 
"  gether  bv  a  violent  crarnp,  or  spasmodic  constriction,  involving 
"  likewise  the  omentum,  and  preventing  any  passage.  In  some 
"  the  intestines  were  partially  red,  or  blackish;  but  in  the  greater 
"  number  of  instances,  the  contraction  and  extraordinary  twisting 
"  of  the  bowels  had  taken  place  without  any  marks  of  inflamma- 
"  tion." 

This  is  probably  the  same  disease  which  has  appeared,  among 
the  same  animals,  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  the  present 
summer  and  autumn.  Hitherto,  though  we  have  taken  some 
pains  to  this  end,  we  have  been  unable  to  trace  the  exact  progress, 
or  determine  the  precise  symptoms  of  the  disease.  In  the  hope 
of  obtaining  communications  from  our  correspondents  and  others, 
we  have  collected  together  such  information  as  has  already  been 
made  public,  and  as  has  fallen  under  our  more  immediate  ob- 
servation. 

The  cat-distemper  made  its  appearance  in  Philadelphia  in  the  lat- 
ter end  of  May  or  beginning  of  June  last;  and  is  supposed  to  have 
destroyed  not  less  than  four  or  five  thousand  cats. 

In  August  it  was  observed  among  the  cats  in  New-York. — In 
general,  the  animal  appeared  moping  and  melancholy,  without 
appetite,  thirsty,  restless,  and  inclined  to  solitude.  Numbers  died, 
alter  a  gradual  decline,  in  this  manner.  Scarcely  one  was  to  be 
seen  but  that  fooked  thin  and  weak.  In  other  instances  the  ani- 
mals were  seized  with  puking  and  delirium;  and  when  delirious, 
flew  about  the  houses  or  rooms  they  were  in,  but  without  attempt- 
ing to  injure  any  person.  Some  were  seized  with  delirium  and 
puking  only  at  the  last  of  the  disease.  Some  were  observed  to 
have  an  uncommon  flow  of  saliva.  We  know  not  that  it  was  ob- 
served whether  such  recovered. 

During  the  continuance  of  this  epidemic  in  New-York,  a  num- 


NEWS. 


ber  of  these  animals  left  the  city,  and  took  refuge  in  the  adjoining 
country  houses.  Three  arrived,  in  one  day,  at  the  house  of  a 
gentleman  who  resides  near  Corlaer's  Hook,  about  two  miles 
from  town. 

Tne  number  that  died  we  have  not  accurately  learned  ;  no  es- 
timation makes  it  less  than  three  or  tour  thousand.  • 

In  two  instances,  lap-dogs,  that  were  wont  to  play  with  the  cats, 
in  the  houses  to  which  they  belonged,  were  affected  with  a  similar 
complaint.  One  was  kilied,  near  to  death:  we  are  uninformed 
of  the  fate  of  the  other. 

The  next  public  intimation  of  the  appearance  of  the  cat-distem- 
Jier  was  from  Portsmouth,  New-Hampshire,  (if  we  recollect  right- 
ly) towards  the  end  of  August. 

Early  in  September  its  arrival  in  Boston  was  announced  in  the 
papers  of  that  town. 

The  last  account  we  hear  of  it  is  from  Albany,  in  the  beginning 
of  October. 

None  of  the  editors  of  the  public  papers,  in  either  of  these  pla- 
ces, as  far  as  we  can  discover,  have  given  any  further  information 
concerning  this  disease,  than  merely  to  notice  its  existence,  and  the 
mortality  occasioned  by  it. 

In  a  Meteorological  Journal,  accompanied  by  remarks  on  the 
diseases  of  the  season,  and  their  treatment,  which  has  been  kindly 
transmitted  to  us  by  that  curious  and  careful  observer,  Dr.  Sha- 
drack  Ricketson,  of  Dutchess  County,  we  find  the  following  re- 
marks, towards  the  close  of  his  observations  on  the  three  spring 
months.  "  It  may  not  be  wholly  foreign  or  improper  to  remark, 
"  that  horses  were  very  generally  and  severely  afflicted  this  spring 
u  ( 1 797)  with  t^le  common  distemper  in  the  glands  of  the  head 
"  and  throat ;  for,  it  has  frequently  been  observed,  that  horses 
"  and  dogs  have  been  affected  as  concomitant,  or  presaging,  epi- 
,  "  demic  or  pestilential  diseases:  but  whether  the  present,  or  some 
"  future  sickness  is  to  follow,  I  leave  for  future  observation  to 
"  determine." — In  concluding  his  remarks  on  the  weather  and 
diseases  of  the  last  summer,  Dr.  Ricketson  says,  "  In  my  last  I 
"  mentioned  that  horses  were  severely  afflicted  with  their  common 
"  disorder,  which  has  continued  to  be  the  case,  but  not  so  gene- 
"  rally;  and,  I  may  now  add,  that  dogs  have  been,  in  like  manner, 
**  violently  disordered  with  a  cough,  &c.  most  of  the  summer." 

Information  has  been  conveyed  to  us,  from  a  part  of  Connecti- 
cut, of  some  distemper  among  neat  cattle;  but  the  imperfect  state- 
ment of  facts  which  we  have  received,  and  the  expectation  of 
,  more  minute  accounts,  induce  us  to  do  nothing  more  at  present 
than  to  mention  the  fait. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


A  Richmond  (Virginia)  paper,  of  the  date  of  August  16,  1 797, 
has  the  following  paragraph.  **  For  upwards  of  a  week  past,  the 
"  inhabitants  of  this  place  have  been  astonished  with  the  appear- 
"  ance  of  vast  quantities  of  dead  fishes,  which  have  been  continually 
"  floating  down  James'  River."  Various  unsatisfactory  conjec- 
tures arc  offered  as  to  the  cause  of  this  singular  mortality. 

We  are  informed  that  a  remarkable  mortality,  we  know  not 
from  what  cause,  happened  in  the  summer  of  1795,  among  the 
Fish  in  Saratoga  Lake,  in  this  State,  (at  which  time  it  was  noticed 
that  the  water  in  the  lake  had  a  remarkable  greenish  appearance, 
with  a  thick  skim  on  its  surface) :  and  a  like  pestilential  disease  is 
said  to  have  destroyed  great  numbers,  some  years  ago,  in  a  pond 
near,  or  in,  the  town  of  Brookfield,  Slate  of  Massachusetts. 

As  connected  with  these  facts,  we  insert  an  extract  of  a  letter 
from  Mr.  George  Harries,  to  Dr.  Mitchill  (then  at  Edinburgh) 
dated  Haverford-west,  Pembrokeshire,  South-Wales,  Julv  23d, 
1786. 

"  As  Edinburgh  must  now  be  very  thin,  and  those  who  remain, 
"  most  likely  are  engaged  in  little  societies  for  the  improvement 
*'  and  entertainment  of  themselves,  during  this  idle  time  of  the 
"  year,  every  true  fact  will  probably  be  acceptable. — That  which 
"  I  am  going  to  mention  relates  to  the  poisonous  effects  of  tobac- 
"  co,  and  may  be  relied  on  as  an  undoubted  one. — An  American 
"  ship,  belonging,  I  think,  to  the  Tracey's,  of  Boston,  was  un* 
*'  fortunately  lost,  through  the  ignorance  of  the  pilot,  on  our 
"  rocks.  Her  cargo  consisted  of  tobacco,  which  floated  in  large 
"  quantities  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  impregnated  it  with 
"  its  flavour  to  a  considerable  extent.  It  proved  a  deadly  poison 
f*  to  great  numbers  of  fish;  many  of  which  were  taken  up  and 
"  tin  own  upon  the  shore  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  wreck:  it 
*'  is  not  material  what  fish : — lobsters  and  fiat-fish  were  among  the" 
"  number." 


Bennington,  (Vermont)  August  3,  1797.  A  quantity  of  purg- 
ing salts,  manufactured  from  a  spring  in  Orwell,  in  this  State,  has" 
been  exhibited  to  the  District  Medical  Society,  which  are  found 
to  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  of  the  imported  salts:  they  art 
less  nauseous,  and  are  milder  in  their  operation. 

The  following  article,  which  appeared  in  a  Boston  paper  last 
August,  has  excited  much  unsatisfactory  observation  and  inquiry. 

"  On  the  1 6th  inst.  Mr.  Merrick,  who  resides  at  Little-Cam- 
"  bridge,  discovered  a  comet,  covering  the  star  placed  at  the  in* 
"  sertion  of  the  tail  in  the  body  of  the  Little  Bear.  It  was  be* 
"  tvveen  8  and  9  o'clock  in  the  evening;  and  at  the  same  hour  on 
*'  the  17th  inst.  he  saw  it  advancing  towards  the  star  (mu)  in  the 


NEWS.  ±tf 

"  Dragon,  of  which  it  had  crossed  the  body;  having  moved  at  a 
"  rate  through  the  heavens  twice  as  rapid  as  the  moon.  On  the 
"  1 8th  and  igth  inst.  it  will  be  nearly  on  a  line  with  what  may  be 
"  called  the  pointers  of  the  Little  Bear;  and  about  eight  or  nine 

in  the  evenings  of  those  days,  if  the  weather  be  clear,  it  will  be 
"  seen  to  the  west  of  our  zenith,  and  not  very  far  distant  from 
"  it.  This  comet  at  present  has  no  tail,  but  appears  as  a  small  nc- 
"  bulous  or  cloudy  star,  of  a  round  form,  being  most  bright  to- 
"  wards  its  centre  or  nucleus." 

Since  the  publication  of  the  above  paragraph,  the  comet  has 
been  mentioned  in  the  public  papers,  from  different  parts  of  the 
continent,  as  having  been  seen  in  the  most  opposite  situations, 
and  at  irreconcilable  hours  in  the  evening.  We,  ourselves,  have 
had  opportunity  to  observe,  that  both  the  planet  Venus  and  the 
planet  Jujiiter  have  been  mistaken  for  the  comet.  And  as  the 
planet  Mercury  was  in  its  greatest  elongation  on  or  about  the 
39th  of  September,  (when  the  reports  concerning  the  comet  were 
most  prevalent)  it  is  not  impossible  that  some  of  the  observers 
may  have  had  a  glimpse  of  this  star,  a  little  after  sun-set,  and 
have  mistaken  it  also  tor  a  comet. — As  no  new  observations  have 
been  published  by  the  gentleman  who  is  represented  as  having 
originally  made  the  discovery,  the  public  have  lately  doubted  the 
reality  of  any  such  appearance,  it  would  be  doing  a  real  service 
to  science  (if  the  whole  of  what  has  been  said  about  the  comet 
be  not  a  mistake)  to  publish  such  correct  information  that  there 
may  be  no  future  misapprehensions  on  the  subject,  and  that,  if  it 
be  not  too  late,  observations  may  be  multiplied  concerning  it,  in 
various  parts  ol  the  United  States. 

The  Chemical  Museum  of  Columbia  College,  New-York,  has 
been  lately  enriched  by  an  extensive  collection  of  minerals,  the 
donation  of  Mr.  Samuel  Owens,  a  gentleman  from  Belfast  (Ire- 
land,) who  has  become  a  citizen  of  this  state. 


There  is  in  the  city  of  New-York,  at  this  time,  an  instance  of 
a  singular  monster.  A  calf,  about  seven  or  eight  months  old,  is 
now  exhibited  as  a  shew,  whose  heart  is  apparently  in  its  neck  or 
throat,  a  little  forward  of  the  brisket.  Its  pulsations  can  be  seen 
at  a  considerable  distance,  and  its  motions,  like  those  of  the  auri- 
cles and  ventricles,  very  plainly  felt.  The  best  judges  in  the  city, 
■who  have  examined  this  remarkable  creature,  are  ot  opinion,  una- 
nimously, that  this  lump,  or  tumor,  is  not  an  aneurism,  wen.  nor 
any  thing  of  those  kinds,  but  truly  the  heart.  The  calf  appears 
somewhat  lean,  but  lively,  and  in  good  health.  So  singular  a 
lusus  iiatura  is  worthy  of  being  particularly  noticed:  and  we  hope 

Vol.  I,  No.  2.  P  r 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


that  an  opportunity  will  one  day  offer  of  ascertaining  all  the  facts* 
relative  to  this  oddly-placed  heart,  by  dissection. 

The  question,  "  Is  the  Yellow  Fever  always  an  imported  dis- 
M  ease  in  these  States,  or  may  it  be  generated  in  them  by  local 
"  causes?"  has  lately  excited  much  public  and  medical  attention 
and  discussion. — Dr.  David  Hosack,  the  Professor  of  Botany  and 
Materia  Medica  in  Columbia  College,  has  lately  given  notice  to 
the  public,  that,  after  having  collected  the  material  evidence  orr 
this  subject,  he  has  given  over  the  papers  to  his  pupil,  Mr.  John 
De  Normandie  Gillespie,  who  has  chosen  this  question  as  the 
theme  of  an  Inaugural  Essay,  which  is  shortly  to  be  published. 
In  this  Essay,  we  understand,  it  is  the  expectation  of  the  author 
to  establish  the  opinion,  that  the  Yellow  Fever  is  always  an  im- 
ported disease. 

Dr.  Currie,  of  Philadelphia,  is  publishing  a  series  of  letters,  in 
support  of  the  same  doctrine,  addressed  to  Mr.  Benjamin  Wyn- 
koop,  in  the  public  papers  of  that  city;  and  Mr.  Webster,  of 
this  place,  replies  to  Dr.  Currie,  also  in  a  series  of  letters,  publish- 
ed in  the  Commercial  Advertiser,  a  paper  conducted  by  the  last- 
named  gentleman. 

We  learn  that  Professor  Barton,  of  Philadelphia,  who  has  lately 
made  a  tour  through  the  western  parts  of  the  States  of  New-York 
and  Pennsylvania,  intends  to  favour  the  public  with  a  Journal  of 
his  excursion.  This  is  the  more  desirable,  as  we  understand  that 
a  number  of  new  things  have  occurred  to  him  in  mineralogy  and 
botany,  zoology,  &c. 


FOREIGN. 

The  following  ExtraB  of  a  Letter  from  John  Marsillac,  (a  Membei 
of  the  Society)  is  translated  from  the  Journal  of  the  Philomathic 
Society,  &V.  (Bulletin  de  la  SocietePhilomatique,  &c.)  for  Oflober 
and  November,  i  792.  The  Fuels  appear  to  have  occurred  in  Eng- 
land; hut  we  have  not  observed  any  mention  of  them  in  the  English 
Jieriodical  Publications. 

u  A  peasant  of  the  county  of  Essex,  seeing  a  great  many  chil- 
"  drcn  carried  off  by  the  natural  small-pox,  was  desirous  of  inocu- 
"  lating  his  two  boys ;  one  nine,  and  the  other  twelve  years  old. 
"  Not  being  able  to  employ  a  surgeon,  he  collected  the  scabs  of  a 
"  child  then  sick  of  the  disease,  powdered  them,  and  sprinkled  the 
"  powder  upon  slices  of  bread  and  butter.    The  two  sons  ate  them, 


NEWS. 


**  and  gave  a  bit  to  the  house-dog.  They  had  a  mild  small-pox,  and 
"  got  well  without  any  remarkable  accident.  The  dog  remained 
"  sick  for  two  or  three  days,  drinking  a  great  deal,  and  refusing 
*'  to  eat;  on  the  fourth,  he  had  a  very  decided  variolous  eruption; 
"  on  the  ninth  the  pustules  were  full  ripe,  and  dried  up  and  fell 
"  off,  like  those  of  the  two  children.  An  English  author  says  he 
"  has  observed  the  same  epidemic  in  a  flock  of  sheep,  the  greater 
"  part  of  which  were  affected,  and  communicated  it  to  two  cows, 
"  one  of  which  died.  The  symptoms  that  manifested  themselves 
*'  in  these  animals,  in  the  course  of  the  disease,  were  in  every  re- 
"  spec!:  the  same  as  are  observed  in  the  human  species."  f 

A  paper,  as  we  are  informed,  has  been  read  at  one  of  the  late 
meetings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  containing  a  course  of 
.experiments  on  the  combustion  of  the  diamond.  It  has  long  been 
known  that  this  was  not  an  earthy,  but  an  inflammable  substance. 
But  it  was  not  known  until  now,  that  this  precious  gem  could  be 
converted,  by  aid  of  oxygenous  air,  into  carbonic  acid  gas.  This, 
however,  is  found  to  be  the  fact ;  and  scientific  men  are  led  to  con- 
clude this  brilliant  and  rare  substance  to  be  neither  more  nor  less 
•than  chrystalltzed  charcoal. 

ExtiacJ  of  a  Letter  from  Dr.  Beddoes  to  Dr.  Mit chill,  dated  Clifton, 
June  15,  1797. 

"  We  seem  to  have  discovered  a  sure  remedy  for  diabetes.  It 
"  has  answered  in  three  cases  of  diabetes  mellitus.  Abstinence 
"  from  vegetables,  and  a  few  drops  of  he/iatized  ammonia,  reduced 
"  the  quantity  of  urine,  in  two  cases,  with  great  rapidity.  In  one, 
"  volatile  alkali  only,  without  absolute  abstinence  from  vegetables, 
M  answered;  but  the  Hot- Well  water  (Bristol)  was  taken  in  this 
"  case,  and  could  not  be  avoided  on  account  of  the  prejudice  of  the 
"  patient. 

"  But  I  think  you  will  find  abstinence  from  vegetables,  with 
"  volatile  alkali,  either  unimpregnated  or  impregnated  with  hepa- 
"  tic  gas,  subdue  the  most  obstinate  cases. 

"  Dr.  Rollo,  of  Woolwich  Hospital,  is  going  to  publish  on 
*f  this  subject.  To  him  the  application  of  hepatized  ammonia 
"  is  due. 

"  I  have  between  2  and  £  3000*  for  my  Pneu.uatic  Hospital, 
"  which  I  shall  establish  forthwith.  The  observations  yet  made, 
"  in  this  country,  are  partly  too  few,  and  partly  too  inac<  urate." 

Dr.  Rollo's  work,  we  observe  by  the  late  London  papers,  has 
since  been  published,  in  two  vols.  8vo;  and  wc  hope  shortly  t<s 
have  the  satisfaction  of  laying  before  our  readers  a  more  detailed 
account  of  his  discoveries. 

•  Sterling. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


To  the  publication  of  Dr.  Rollo,  noticed  above,  is  annexed 
an  account  ot  experiments  by  Mr.  William  Cruikshank,  on  the 
efficacy  of  nitrous  acid  in  the  cure  ot  sy/ihilis,  agreeable  to  Mr.  Scott's 
method,  (See  Med.  Repos.  No.  I.  Append.)  which  we  understand 
are  very  favourable  to  that  remedy.  Indeed,  trials  seem  to  be 
multiplying  in  various  parts  of  Great-Britain.  Dr.  Beddoes  is  now 
printing,  or  has  already  published,  a  collection  of  "  Reports  of  the 
"  Effects  of  the  Nitrous  Acid  in  the  Venereal  Disease."  In  a  letter 
to  Dr.  Mitchill,  dsted  Aug.  22,  1  797,  inclosing  the  first  sheets  of 
the  (then)  unpublished  work,  he  says,  "  I  send  you,  by  Mr.  Garnet, 
"  a  proof  ot  the  vigour  with  which  the  experiments  on  the  anti- 
"  syphilitic  powers  ot  the  septous  acid  have  been  prosecuted  in  this 
"  country.  It  appears,  even  in  respect  to  its  certainty,  a  medicine 
"  superior  to  any  mercurial.  Nevertheless,  I  have  collected  the 
"  account  of  some  failures,  without  being  able  to  say  on  what 
"  the  difference  of  the  result  depends:  a  case  so  common  in  medi- 
"  cine." 

That  portion  of  Dr.  Beddoes'  reports  which  has  been  received, 
consists  of  twelve  cases,  in  which  the  acid  effected  a  cure  in  the 
Royal  Hospital  at  Plymouth,  reported  by  Mr.  Hammick,  jun.  a 
surgeon  in  that  establishment.  These  are  followed  by  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Beddoes  to  Dr.  Geach,  senior  surgeon  of  the  Royal  Hospital 
at  Plymouth,  whose  answer  corroborates  Mr.  Hammick's  state- 
ments. Some  further  information  is  given  on  the  subject,  in  ano- 
ther letter  from  Mr.  Hammick.  The  remainder  consists  of  five 
cases  reported  by  Mr.  Sandford,  surgeon  at  Worcester.  We  con- 
fine ourselves,  at  present,  to  presenting  a  copy  of  Mr.  Hammick's 
letter  to  Dr.  Beddoes,  which  commences  the  collection.  Should 
a  more  leisurely  examination  convince  us  that  further  extracts  will 
interest  our  readers,  and  the  subject  not  have  grown  too  common, 
we  shall  insert  some  of  the  most  valuable  papers  in  our  succtding 
numbers.    The  letter  is  as  follows.— 

"  Royal  Hospital,  Plymouth,  July  22,  1  797. 

«  Sir, 

"  I  do  myself  the  honour  of  acquainting  you  that,  in  consequence 
of  your  very  ingenious  publication  on  factitious  airs  (Parts  IV. 
and  V.)  and  your  recommendation  of  the  nitric  acid  in  syphilis,* 
I  have  been  induced  to  make  trial  of  the  medicine  in  that  disor- 
der, under  the  inspection  of  my  friend,  Dr.  Geach,  who  is  the 
senior  surgeon  of  this  hospital;  and  to  him  I  beg  leave  to  refer 
for  the  confirmation  of  the  faithful  statement  of  several  cases,  and 
the  authenticity  of  the  facts. 

*  For  the  papers  here  referred  to,- fee  the  Appendix  to  the  prefent  Nuln- 
ber  of  the  Medical  Rcpofitory. 


NEWS. 


261 


"  Further — Dr.  Geach  has  been  so  obliging,  as  to  say  he  will 
answer,  as  far  as  he  can,  any  questions  relative  to  this  subject. 

"  As  I  am  one  of  the  assistant  surgeons  under  him,  and  many  of 
the  venereal  wards  are  in  our  department,  I  nad  an  opportunity  of 
selecting  the  itsorst  venereal  cases  that  were  broughtinto  the  Royal 
Hospital.  The  cases  in  which  the  nitric  acid  has  been  given  al* 
readv  amount  to  more  than  fifty  in  number;  and  the  success  has 
fully  answered  the  character  which  has  been  given  this  newly  dis- 
covered remedy,  which  effects  a  cure,  for  the  most  part,  in  a 
short  time,  without  impairing  the  appetite,  without  requiring  any 
precise  or  particular  regimen,  or  strict  confinement,  leaving  none 
of  those  ill-consequences,  or  depredations,  that  often  follow  the 
liberal  tm  of  mercury. 

"The  nitric  acid  docs  not  affect  the  gums,  fauces,  or  intestines, 
by  exciting  vomiting,  diarrheca,  or  pain,  unless  the  medicine  be 
"swallowed  nastily,  and  in  large  draughts  at  a  time;  when  thus  taken 
I  have  known  that  it  has  produced  a  nausea,  or  mawkish,  disagreea- 
ble sensation  in  the  stomach,  and  set  the  teeth  on  edge  by  its  aci- 
dity; all  which  inconveniencies  have  been  prevented  by  enjoin- 
ing the  patient  to  drink  the  medicine  through  a  narrow  glass 
tube. 

M  Not  to  multiply  instances,  and  tire  you  with  a  long  detail,  I 
beg  leave  to  submit  to  your  inspection  and  consideration  twelve 
cases,  with  a  request  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  publish  them,  as 
they  corroborate  your  own  observation :  and  the  publication  under 
your  authority  may  extend  the  use  ot  the  nitric  acid,  in  a  disease 
so  varying,  that  few  constitutions  can  withstand  the  power  of  two 
poisons,  the  disease  and  the  mercury,  operating  at  the  same  time. 
Future  experience,  however,  must  determine,  whether  the  cures 
wrought  by  the  nitric  acid  will  be  permanent  or  not ;  but  if  it  be 
permitted  to  draw  conclusions  from  the  progress  of  the  several  ul- 
cers, the  healthy  appearance,  and  the  firmness  of  the  granulations, 
the  softness  of  the  parts,  and  the  cicatrices,  little  doubt  can  be  en- 
tertained but  that  the  nitric  acid  will,  in  a  great  measure,  super- 
cede the  use  of  mercury  in  the  venereal  disease;  and,  as  yet,  I 
have  seen  no  instances  ol  the  disorder  re-appearing  after  the  use 
of  this  medicine. 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be, 
"  Sir,  &c.  &c. 

"  STEPHEN  HAMMICK,  jun." 

Dr.  Carmichael  Smyth's  mode  of  preventing  or  stopping  con- 
tagious diseases  on  ship-board,  by  nitrous  fumigation,  is  now  gene- 
rally adopted  throughout  the  British  naw.  Tnis  discovery  has 
been  also  taken  up  lately  by  the  Court  of  Spain,  which  has  ordered 
the  translation  of  the  doctor's  treatise  into  the  Spanish  language, 


V 


-62  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

and  directed  a  similar  process  to  be  observed  in  the  Spanish  mav 
rine.  \Monthly  Magazine. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Norfolk  Chronicle  recommends  as  a 
means  to  restore  infectious  air  to  purity,  to  wet  a  cloth  of  any  kind 
in  water  mixed  with  quick-lime,  and  to  hang  the  cloth  so  steeped 
in  a  room  till  it  become  dry;  alter  which  to  renew  the  operation 
as  long  as  appears  needful.  [Ibid. 

Mr.  Nicholson,  well  known  by  his  "  Introduction  to  Natural 
41  Philosophy,"  "  First  Principles  of  Chemistry,"  &c.  has  com- 
menced the  publication  of  a  periodical  work,  entitled  "  A  Journal 
"  of  Natural  Philosophy,  Chemistry,  and  the  Arts:  illustrated  with 
"  Engravings."  I  t  is  published  monthly,  and  in  4to.  We  have  re- 
ceived the  two  first  numbers,  tor  April  and  May  last,  which  con- 
tain about  50  pages  each,  and  give  reason  to  expect  that  the  under- 
taking will  be  ably  and  spiritedly  conducted.  The  Journal  con- 
sists of  original  and  selected  essays. 

Professor  Reich,  of  the  University  of  Erlangen,  in  Germany, 
writes,  that  several  of  Dr.  Mitchill's  pieces  on  pestilential  fluids 
have  been  translated  into  German,  and  published  in  the  Literary 
Journals  of  that  country.  In  pursuance  of  Dr.  Prlitchill's  original 
idea,  this  principle  has  been  applied  to  explain  the  distempers  of 
domestic  animals,  particularly  a  very  violent  disease  which  raged 
among  the  cattle  in  Germany  last  year.  Two  tracls  have  been 
published  on  this  subject,  Reich's  Belehrung  fur  den  landman 
uber  die  Rindvielseuche  (Iniormation  tor  Farmers,  concerning  the 
very  pestilential  Distemper  among  Cattle,)  and  Albert's  Disserta- 
tion de  lu  is  Bo  villa?  origine  et  Natura,  which  we  hope  soon  to  re- 
ceive. 

From  the  similarity  of  constitution  between  man  and  quadru- 
peds, it  might  be  supposed  a  priori,  that  pestilential  fluids  would 
have  very  much  the  same  operation  on  both ;  and  this  idea  receives 
strong  confirmation  from  the  distempers  among  cats,  dogs,  hor- 
ses, and  neat  cattle,  of  which  we  have  received  information  from 
different  parts  of  the  country.  It  is  much  to  be  wished,  that 
correct  statements  of  facts,  relative  to  the  disorders  of  these  and  all 
domestic  animals,  could  be  procured,  especially  when  they  occur 
as  in  the  present  year,  both  before  and  during  the  breaking  out 
of  pestilential  diseases  among  mankind.  We  hope  our  friends  in 
the  country  will  engage  in  this  investigation,  that  we  may  be  ena- 
bled to  judge  how  tar  these  cotemporaneous  events  are  deducible 
from  the  same  principle  or  referable  to  the  same  cause. 


(    263  ) 

/ 

MEDICAL  OBITUARY. 


Died.  At  Portsmouth,  (N.  H.)  lately,  Dr.  Hall  Jackson,  art 
Eminent  physician  of  that  place.  His  death  was  occasioned  by 
his  being  thrown  out  of  his  chaise. 

At  Providence,  (R.  I.)  Dr.  Ephraim  Cumstock,  of  the  Yellow 
Fever. 

At  Jamaica,  (L.  I.)  Dr.  William  M.  Johnson,  a  native  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, but  lately  from  South-Carolina,  where  he  had  settled 
as  a  practitioner  of  medicine.  He  died  Sept.  21,  1797,  of  a  com- 
plication of  disorders,  originating  in  a  fever  contracted  in  Caro- 
lina. 

At  Philadelphia,  of  the  Yellow  Fever,  Dr.  Nicholas  Way,  Sept. 
2. — Dr.  Jacob  Thompson,  August  29. — Dr.  Samuel  Jones. — Dr. 
Annan,  Oct.  4. — Dr.  Dobel, — and  Dr.  Samuel  Pleasants,  Oct.  1 5, 

At  Baltimore,  Dr.  Edward  Johnson. 

At  Charleston,  (S.  C.)  Dr.  Prentiss,  originally  from  Massachu- 
setts. 

Foreign.  In  Swisserland,  within  the  present  year,  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Tissot,  universally  known  by  his  professional  writ- 
ings. Dr.  Tissot  survived  his  friend  Zimmerman  (whose  death 
was  noticed  in  the  first  number  of  the  Repository,)  long  enough 
to  publish  a  history  of  his  life,  which  has  since  been  translated 
into  English. 


egos? 


(    *6$  ) 


APPENDIX. 


DOMESTIC. 


Concerning  the  Use  of  Alkaline  Remedies  in  Fevers,  and  the  Analogy 
between  Septic  Acid  and  other  Poisons ;  in  a  Letter  to  Thomas 
Percival,  M.  D.  &c.  of  Manchester,  from  Dr.  Ml T chill, 
dated  New-York,  January  17,  1797. 

ONE  of  my  friends,  who  lately  returned  from  Philadelphia,  in- 
formed me,  that  sonic  time  ago  Dr.  Priestley  had  for- 
warded to  me  a  copy  of  his  "  Considerations  on  the  Doctrine  of 
*'  Phlogiston."  1  have  to  regret,  that  the  pamphlet  never  reached 
me.  Had  it  regularly  come  to  hand,  I  should  not  have  omitted 
to  acknowledge  the  favour  long  before  now.  I  have,  however, 
procured  a  copy  since,  and  perused  it  with  care.  It  pleases  me  to 
mid  him  strenuously  urging  the  supporters  of  the  antiphlogistic 
•doctrine,  to  prove  rigidly,  by  experiment,  every  thing  they  assert; 
to  repeat  doubtful  experiments  again  and  again,  and  to  reconcile 
to  iheir  system  a  number  of  facts  which  appear  to  stand  in  formi- 
dable opposition  to  it.  All  that  he  states  relative  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  metals,  to  the  composition  and  decomposition  of  water,  and 
concerning^Wy  cinder,  requires  unquestionably  further  inquiry 
and  consideration.  In  particular,  what  he  affirms  about  the  forma- 
tion of  highly  fihlogi stic ated  nitrous  acid,  by  taking  an  electric  spark 
through  a  mixture  of  dcphlogisticated  and  inflammable  airs,  is  so 
materially  different  from  what  almost  the  whole  philosophical 
world  has  of  late  allowed,  that  the  establishment  of  it  will  give  a 
new  aspect  to  things,  and  overturn  much  of  their  reasoning.  Mes- 
sieurs  BliRTHOLLET,    De   LA    PLACE,    MoNGE,  MoRVEAU, 

Fourcroy,  and  Hassenfratz,  have  now  a  fair  opportunity 
of  solving  those  dirticulties,  and  convincing  him  of  their  recon- 
cilement with  the  New  System.  For  myself,  I  am  one  of  those 
^vho,  like  Black  and  Kirwan,  changed  the  phlogistic  hypothe- 
sis tor  the  antiphlogistic  theory,  and  inought  myself  a  gainer  by 
the  bargain. 

The  inquiry,  iri  which  I  am  engaged,  concerning  the  generation 
of  pestilential  fluids,  and  their  action  upon  the' bodies  of  animals, 
has  led  me  to  examine,  to  a  Certain  extent,  the  composition  of 
saline  remedies,  and  their  probable  mode  of  operation  in  the  dis- 

Fol.  I.  No.  2.  Q 


266  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tempers  called  "  Febrile;"  and  to  trace  the  connection  and  ana- 
logy between  "  fevers,"  and  other  disorders  caused  by  venomous 
fluids.  If,  by  adopting  the  French  nomenclature,  and  by  building 
upon  facts,  which  have  been  said  to  be  firmly  established,  I  have 
been  led  into  any  mistakes,  either  of  language  or  science,  they  will, 
I  trust,  be  found  to  interfere  with  some  part  of  my  particular  rea- 
soning only,  but  not  to  militate  at  all  against  my  general  conclusion. 

If  it  is  true,  that  the  fluids  which,  combining  with  pot-ash, 
form  salt-petre,  and  with  lime,  calcarious  nitre,  are  not  of  mineral 
origin,  but  are  commonly  produced  from-  animal  substances,  or 
vegetables  that  resemble  them;  if  they  are  not  of  the  putrid  kind, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  are  highly  antiseptic  in  their  operation ;  and 
if,  at  the  same  time,  those  antiseptics  can  speedily  destroy  life  by 
inducing  the  worst  of  symptoms,  then  they  ought,  in  strictness, 
not  only  to  be  considered  as  poisons,  but  as  animal  or  vegetable 
Aoitons.  And  all  the  fevers,  as  they  are  termed,  of  the  malignant, 
putrid,  and  pestilential  forms,  are,  of  course,  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  eft'ecls  of  these  poisons  upon  the  bodies  of  animals. 
Whoever,  therefore,  falls  sick  of  a  plague,  or  a  yellow  fever,  or 
any  other  disease  of  the  same  group,  should,  in  proper  language, 
be  spokerr  of  as  poisoned,  and  treated  accordingly. 

To  him  who  has  perused  the  preceding  papers  which  I  have  pub- 
lished on  this  subject,  it  will  probably  appear,  that  the  form  which 
this  animal  poison  takes  on,  in  ordinary  cases,  is  that  of  an  oxyd  or 
acid  of  septon.  Though  it  becomes  me  here  to  observe,  that  I  like 
not  the  common  way  of  distinguishing  these  things  into  animal  and 
vegetable,  because  such  an  arrangement  has  very  little  precision  and 
correctness  in  it,  and  because  the  analysis  of  much  vegetable  matter 
shows  it  to  be  so  similar  in  its  composition  to  that  of  animal,  that, 
whatever  obvious  and  superficial  differences  may  appear  between 
the  one  class  of  bodies  and  the  other,  there  can  hardly  be  a  distinc- 
tion in  science  between  the  two.  And  the  reason  of  my  dislike 
will  farther  appear  from  what  I  shall  hereafter  observe  to  you. 

To  a  large  class  of  the  effects  of  these  poisonous  fluids,  the 
term  "  fever"  has  been  applied.  And  as  such  fevers  have  con- 
stituted a  great  part  of  human  maladies  from  the  beginning,  it 
might  be  expected  that,  by  this  time,  their  causes  would  have 
been  thoroughly  investigated,  and  their  treatment  exactly  under- 
stood; bat  this  is  far  from  being  the  case.  The  misapplication 
of  names  has  obscured  this  department  of  knowledge  with  clouds 
and  darkness.  The  discordant  opinions  of  physiologists  and  phy- 
sicians, two  of  whom  can  scarcely  be  found  to  agree,  shew,  that 
the  rays  of  science  have  hardly  begun  to  illuminate  or  organize 
this  mass  of  rudeness,  after  the  experience  of  two  thousand  years. 
I  question  much,  whether  those  venomous  or  pestilential  complaints 
are  better  understood,  or  more  successfully  treated,  than  in  the 
days  of  the  sage  of  Cos- 


APPENDIX. 


On  examining  the  history  of  medical  practice  in  "  fevers," 
that  is,  in  cases  where  those  poisonous  substances  stir  up  more  or 
less  of  commotion  in  the  heart  and  blood  vessels,  the  stomach  and 
bowels,  &c.  Sec.  it  appears  there  is  no  point  in  which  prescriben? 
so  much  agree  as  in  the  administration  of  alkaline  remedies. 
While  contention  and  strife  divide  practisers  at  consultations, 
whether  the  alexipharmic,  or  the  depleting  plan  shall  be  adopted, 
they  seldom  differ  much  about  the  administration  of  soluble  tartar, 
a  saline  mixture,  or  some  of  Mindererus's  spirit. 

As  these  remedies  enter  very  deeply  into  the  practice  of  almost 
all  parties,  and  have  long  maintained  their  reputation,  it  is  very 
jnterestingto^philosophy  and  science,  as  well  as  to  the  art  of  phy- 
sic, to  detect  the  reason  why  almost  every  body  agrees  in  the  use 
of  them,  in  some  form  or  other.  By  alkaline  remedies,  I  mean 
not  merely  the  pure  or  caustic  alkalies,  but  all  such  compounds  of 
other  bodies,  with  alkaline  bases,  as  are  capable  of  being  decom- 
posed by  the  septic  poison  or  acid  they  may  meet  with  in  the  hu.- 
man  body,  and  oi  furnishing  an  alkali  to  unite  in  such  cases  with 
these  sour  and  venomous  fluids,  and  thereby  to  saturate  them. 

From  the  clas,s  of  such  substances  as  yield  their  alkalies  to  septic 
acid,  are  taken  many  of  the  most  frequent  and  popular  remedies 
for  "  fevers;"  and  that  the  whole  of  them  may  be  exhibited  to 
view  at  once,  their  composition  understood,  their  names  rectified, 
and  their  manner  of  operating  be  explained,  I  have  thought  it  pro- 
per to  enumerate  the  greater  part  of  them  in  the  following  cata- 
logue :  I  shall  exhibit  them  wider  two  divisions,  of  salts  and  earths ; 
and  fist,  of  alkaline  salts. 

I.  POT-ASH. 

jst.  By  itself. 

Common  and  old  Names.  Scientific  Names. 

Common  Caustic,  weak  and  strong, 
Potential  Cautery, 
Sharp  Salt  of  Tartar, 
Nitrum  Fixatum, 

ad.  With  Water. 


Oleum  Tartan  per  Deliquium, 

or  Ley  of  Tartar, 
Lixivium  Saponaceum,  or 

Soap  Ley, 


Solution  of  Caustic  Pot-ash 
in  Water. 


3d.  With  fixed  Air,  or  Carbonic  Acid. 
Mild  Salt  of  Tartar,  "5 

Salt  of  Wormwood,  >  Carbonate  of  Pot-ash. 

Common  vegetable  fixed  Alkali,  &c.  ) 


Pure  or  Caustic  Pot-ash. 


a69  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


4th.  With  Acetous  Acid,  or  Vinegar. 
Regenerated  Tartar,  } 
Terra  Foiiata  Tartar!,  V  Acetate  of  Pot-ash 

Sal  Diureticus,  j 

5th.  With  Acid  of  Sulphur,  or  Vitriolic  Acid. 
Vitriolated  Tartar,  "} 

Universal  Digestive  Salt,  V     Sulphate  of  Pot-ash. 

Sal  Enixus  Paracelsi,  j 

Some  particulars  concerning  the  partial  decomposition  of  vitrio- 
lated Tartar,  by  nitrous  acid,  may  be  seen  in  Bergman's  Disser- 
tation (§  9),  where  it  is  declared,  that  after  adding  powdered  vitri- 
olated Tartar  to  diluted  nitrous  acid,  spirit  of  wine  precipitated 
a  powder  from  the  liquor,  which  proved  to  be  real  nitre. 
6th.  With  Citric  Acid. 

Effervescing  Mixture,with  Juice  of  Lemons,&c.  7  r;trafpnfPot  . 
Common  Saline  Mixture,  &c.  ]  ^itrateol Pot-ash. 

7th.  With  Sulphur. 
Hepar  Sulphuris — Liver  of  Sulphur  J^Sulphure  of  Pot-ash. 
Sal  Prunellae  ^-Sulphureo-Septite  of  Pot-ash. 
Sal  Polychrest,  7  Pretty  much  the  same  with  Sal  Prunella?, 

Salt  of  many  Virtues,  j     though  approaching  nearer  to  Pot-ashi 

8th.  With  Oil,  Fat,  Tallow,  and  Resin. 
Sapo  Tartareus,  7 

Soap  of  Tartar,  >    Terebinthinate  of  Pot-ash, 

Turpentine  Soap,  j 
Sapo  Amygdalinus, 
Almond  Soap, 
Sapo  ex  Oleo  Olivarum, 
Castile,  Venice,  or  Alicant  Soap,  \- 
Sapo  Communis, 
Tallow,  or  Slush  Soap, 
Black  Soap. 

9th.  With  Acid  of  Tartar. 
Common  Tartar,  7  Acidulated  Tartrite  of  Pot-ash,  mingled  with 
Tartarum,"  j"     Carboneand  other  foreign  matter. 

Cream  of  Tartar,  7  Acidulated  Tartrite  of  Pot-ash,  dissolved  in 
Cremor  Tartari,    J.    water,  boiled  and  skimmed. 

Systalh^TSr'  ]  Cream  of  Tartar  re-dissolvedandchrystal«ed, 

Tartarus  Tartarizatus,     '7     Neutralized  Tartarite  of  Pot-ash. 
Soluble  Tartar,  j 

roth.  With  Muriatic  Acid. 

SalFebrifugus  Sylvii    Muriate  of  Pot-ash. 


Oleates  of  Pot-ash. 


APPENDIX.  tf) 

II.  SODA, 
ist.  By  itself. 
Nitre  of  the  Ancients,  ^ 

£atron'  >    Pure,  or  Caustic  Soda, 

Natural  Fossil  Alkali,  f 

Marine  Alkali,  3 

2d.  With  Water. 

Lixivium  Natri — Solution  of  Caustic  Soda  in  Water. 

3d.  With  Carbonic  Acid. 

Mild  Natron-Soda,        7        Carbonate  of  Soda. 
Salt  of  Barilla,  j 

4th.  With  Ashes,  &p'. 

Kelp  Impure  Soda. 

5th.  With  Phosphoric  Acid. 

Phosphorated  Mineral  Alkali,      7     phosphate  of  Soda. 
Soda  Pnosphorata,  3 

6th.  With  Muriatic  Acid. 
Common  Salt,  ~i 
Sea  Salt,  >    Muriate  of  Soda. 

Culinary  Salt,  ) 

7th.  With  Boracic  Acid. 
Borax  Borate  of  Soda. 

8th.  With  Oils,  Fats,  &c. 
Various  Soaps,  &c.  Oleates,  &c.  of  Soda, 

9th.  With  Tartaric  Acid. 
Rochelle  Salt,  7 
SalRupellensis,  >     Tartrite  of  Soda. 

Soda  Tartarisata,  3 

III.  AMMONIAC. 
1  st.  By  itself. 

Caustic  Ammoniac,  7   Pure  Qr  $oUd  Amnft)  fa 

Volatile  Ammoniacal  Salt,  j 

2d,  With  Water. 
Spirit  of  Sal  Ammoniac,  } 

with  Quick  Lime,         f     Fluid  Cau$£k  Ammoniac. 
Lau  De  Luce,  ( 
Aqua  Ammoniae  Pura.  ) 

3d.  With  Carbonic  Acid. 

Mild  or  aerated  Volatile  Alkali,     \  Carbonate  0f  Ammoniac. 
Spirit  or  Hartshorn,  &c.  &c.  j 
Aqua  Volatilis  Cornu  Cervi. 


f 


*y  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

4th.  With  Acetous  Acid. 

Aqua  Ammonia?  Acetata,       ?      A  r  a 

c  1      nv/r-  a  r     Acetate  or  Ammoniac 

opint  ol  Mindererus,  j 

5th.  With  Muriatic  Acid. 
Common  Ammoniacal  Salt,         y    Muriate  of  Ammoniac. 

In  this  long  list  of  alkaline  substances,  which  enter  so  largely 
into  medical  prescriptions  jn  febrile  diseases,  I  have  intentionally 
omitted  the  combinations  of  pot-ash,  soda,  and  ammoniac,  with 
the  septous  and  septic  acids;  and  I  have  taken  no  notice  of  emetic 
tartar,  cuprum  ammoniacum,  and  some  other  alkaline  prepara- 
tions, where  the  virtue  of  the  remedy  resided  less  in  the  small 
•quantity  of  alkali  than  in  the  antimony,  copper,  or  other  substance 
with  which  the  alkali  was  united.  And  Glauber's  salt  is  omitted, 
because  the  septic  acid  cannot  decompound  it.  What  I  wish  par- 
ticularly to  observe  is  this,  that  all  the  articles  of  the  Materia  Me- 
dica  herein  enumerated,  are  either  pure  alkalies,  or  are  combina- 
tions with  other  substances,  for  which  the  alkalies  have  a  weaker 
attraction  than  for  septic  acid,  and  are  consequently  ready  to  join 
the  septic  acid  wherever  they  meet  with  it,  and  to  saturate  it. 

Secondly.    Of  Alkaline  Earths. 

I.  LIME. 
1  st.  By  itself. 
Quick  Lime,  y    Pure  or  Caustic  Lime. 

2d.  With  Water. 
Lime  Water,  y  Solution  of  Quick  Lime  in  Water. 

3d.  With  Carbonic  Acid. 
Chalk, — Creta  Preparata,  1 

Crab's  Eyes,  Prepared  Coral,      >    Carbonate  of  Lime. 
Calcined  Oyster  Shells,  &c.  J 

II.  MAGNESIA. 
1  st.  By  itself. 
Calcined  Magnesia,        y    Pure  Magnesia. 

2d.  With  Carbonic  Acid. 
Common  or  Effervescing  Magnesia,    y  Carbonate  of  Magnesia. 

These  absorbent  earths  will  also  combine  with  septic  acid  in  all 
circumstances  favourable  to  their  union,  and  constitute  septites 
of  lime  (calcarious  nitre),  and  of  magnesia,  (nitrous  magnesia.) 

If  any  of  these  substances,  whether  salts  or  earths,  are  prescrib- 
ed, and,  on  being  swallowed,  do  meet  with  septic  acid  in  the  sto- 
mach or  intestines,  the  necessary  consequence  is,  that  their  basis 
will  quit  the  weaker,  and  join  the  stronger  acid.  The  prescription 


APPENDIX. 


of  these  things  then  is,  in  fact,  under  such  circumstances,  the 
prescription  of  alkalies.  Few  of  the  prescribers,  I  believe,  calcu* 
late  how  many  alkaline  remedies  they  order  for  their  patients,  and 
fewer  still  have  any  tolerable  idea  of  their  real  manner  of  operat- 
ing. It  is  amusing  enough,  that  they,  who,  in  their  conversation, 
doubt  or  deny  the  truth  of  the  conclusions  I  have  made  concern- 
ing these  sorts  of  distempers,  are  all  the  time  in  the  habit  of  veri- 
fying them  in  their  ftraftice,  and  bearing  witness  for  them  daily  by 
their  prescriptions. 

Some  of  the  skilful  and  knowing  ones  tell  me  gravely,  I  am 
prescribing  for  a  phantom,  for  a  creature  of  my  own  imagination, 
and  that  nothing  can  be  more  remote  from  common  sense,  or  even 
probability,  than  that  a  man  should  distil  salt-petre  in  his  belly, 
and  carry  about  the  aqua-fortis  in  his  intestines.  Whence  comes 
the  nitre  in  the  alimentary  canal?  Where  is  the  stronger  acid  to 
decompose  it?  Who,  in  his  right  mind,  could  ever  think  of 
comparing  the  human  stomach  to  a  retort  ?  The  answer  to  all 
these  pretty  questions  is  very  short; — That  without  a  distilling 
process,  or  a  retort,  or  nitre,  or  a  stronger  acid,  the  stomach  and 
intestines  may  acquire  their  septic  liquids  from  the  same  sources 
whence  pot-ash  gets  them  to  form  common  salt-petre ;  that  is, 
from  the  putrid  substances,  whether  animal  or  vegetable,  which, 
in  the  first  instance,  evolve  them. 

All  that  is  now  necessary  to  show  is,  that  such  putrid  substan- 
ces do  occasionally  exist  in  the  alimentary  canal,  and  that  the  sep- 
tic fluids  are  generated  by  them.  According  to  my  judgment, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  production  of  septic  acid  in  the 
human  mouth,  from  corrupting  remnants  of  food,  of  its  opera- 
tion in  incrusting  and  corroding  the  teeth,  vitiating  the  taste, 
mingling  with  the  saliva,  nauseating  the  stomach,  &c.  (Letter  to 
Professor  Hope,  of  Edinburgh.)  And  that  the  articles  of  human 
food  may  afford  it,  appears  further  from  other  experiments.  For 
instance;  there  can  be  no  doobt  of  its  production  from  putrid 
blood,  whose  vapours,  in  Chaptal's  experiment,  were  capable 
of  converting  chalk  to  calcarious  nitre.  (Elements,  &c.  article 
Soda.)  And,  by  trials  not  more  liable  to  objection,  did  Thou- 
yENEL  prove  the  existence  of  septic  acid,  in  the  exhalations  from 
other  putrifying  animal  substances. 

The  blood  and  muscular  parts  of  animals,  thus,  by  putrifying  in 
open  air,  afford  septic  vapours,  which,  when  condensed  and  col- 
lected, turn  out  to  be  septic  acid. 

Now,  as  man  is  a  carnivorous  animal,  and  both  blood  and  mus- 
cular solids  are  frequently  taken  into  his  stomach,  wherefore 
comes  it  to  pass,  that  septic  acid  is  not  always  produced  from  a 
mass  of  dead  animal  matter  exposed  to  heat,  moisture,  and  air,  as 
the  contents  of  the  stomach  are?    They  who  are  acquainted  with 


ajt  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

the  functions  of  that  organ  know,  that  in  its  healthy  stater,  the  pu. 
tretactive  tendency  is  checked  by  the  gastric  fluid,  which  dissolves 
the  soluble  part  of  the  food,  and  makes  it  assume  a  form  exceed-? 
inglv  different  from  putridity.  It  hence  follows,  that  as  long  as 
the  Stomach  prepares  good  concoct  we  juice,  in  sufficient  quantity, 
so  long  will  the  contents  of  it  be  prevented  from  undergoing  that 
process  whereby  septic  acid  is  formed. 

But  when,  from  intemperate  drinking  of  hot  spirits,  or  of  cold 
water,  from  excessive  exercise,  or  too  great  heat,  or  from  any  other 
cause,  the  healthy  functions  of  the  stomach  are  imperfectly  per- 
formed or  intirely  cease;  then  food,  of  the  above-mentioned  kinds, 
will  corrupt  for  want  of  a  sufficiency  of  good  gastric  fluid  to  dis- 
solve or  concoct  it;  and  the  production  of  septic  fluids  will,  of 
course,  be  the  unavoidable  consequence. 

As  long,  therefore,  asaman  can  keep  up  his  digestive  powers,  so 
long  will  he  be  free  from  the  internal  causes  of  intestinal"  fevers," 
be  his  food  and  diet  what  they  may.  Whilst  the  menstruum  which 
the  stomach  prepares,  is  sufficient,  in  quantity  and  quality,  to  per- 
form its  proper  work,  so  long  will  indigestion  and  its  putrescent 
consequences  be  guarded  against.  Tnere  would  seem,  therefore, 
to  be  two  unpleasant  consequences  resulting  from  a  weakened  sto- 
mach; to  viii,  ist.  the  corruption  of  certain  articles  of  diet,  within 
that  hollow  viscus;  and,  adly,  their  immoderate  retention  in  a  part 
of  the  alimentary  tube,  possessed  of  exquisite  sensibility,  and  in- 
timately associated  with  every  part  of  the  body.  By  corruption 
and  detention,  the  food  and  morbid  humours  form  frequently  as 
foul  and  pestilential  a  collection  as  any  puddle  the  street  contains. 
Is  it  wonderful,  that  flatulency,  anorexia,  nausea,  black  vomiang, 
gastritis,  &c.  are  the  frequent  consequences? 

Is  it  not  wonderful,  considering  the  manner  in  which  American; 
live,  that  internal  distempers  from  this  cause  are  not  more  frequent 
and  deadly  ? 

This  indeed  would  happen,  had  there  not  been  a  secretory 
bowel  in  the  body  of  a  large  size,  and  important  office;  I  mean 
the  liver,  which  prepares  a  considerable  quantity  of  an  alkaline 
liquor,  the  biie,  capable  of  saturating  any  small  excess  of  acidity 
that  may  prevail  in  the  chyle,  by  its  seasonable  and  wholesome  ad- 
mixture. Tne  gall-bladder  is  remarkably  and  conveniently  pro? 
vided  with  a  residuary  portion  of  this  health-preserving  fluid, 
which  corrects,  as  far  as  it  can,  any  sourness  in  the  alimentary 
mass,  after  it  Las  undergone  the  solvent  operation  or  the  gastric 
juice. 

Truly,  this  secretion  of  the  liver,  which  some  physiologists  have 
treated  as  an  excrement,  and  others  considered  as  the  cau>e  ot  a 
vast  amount  or  "  febrile"  mischief,  appears  to  be  one  of  nature's 
grand  preventives,  or  antidotes,  ot  the  very  evils  it  has  been  acr 
cused  of  producing. 


APPENDIX. 


Mistaken  notions  have  too  long  prevailed,  to  the  shame  of  phy- 
tic, concerning  the  use  and  operation  of  the  gall.  Its  alkaline  qua- 
lities show  how  well  it  is  calculated  to  quell  a  redundant  acid  in  the 
first  passages.  The  yellowness  of  the  skin,  in  certain  pestilential 
diseases,  can  be  better  accounted  for  from  the  influence  of  septic 
acid  striking  such  a  colour  as  it  acts  upon  the  skin  than  from  the 
presence  ot  the  bile;  and  the  considerable  quantity  of  it  secreted 
in  some  of  the  cases  of  poisoning  called  fever,  shows  not  that  it 
is  the  cause  of  the  disease,  but  that  a  copious  flow  of  it  has  pre- 
vented, In  the  intestines,  the  fatal  consequences  of  much  septic 
venom  produced  tijere.  The  greenness  ot  the  bile,  in  such  cases, 
is  a  proof  of  its  mixture  with  an  acid:  and,  if  further  evidence 
is  wanted  of  its  salutary  and  preserving  power,  I  pray  you  to  exa- 
mine the  dissections  ot  bodies  dead  of  yellow  fevers,  &c.  and. 
satisfy  yourself,  that  as  far  above  and  below  the  orifice  of  the 
ductus  communis  choledochus,  as  the  biliary  fluid  extends,  so  fac 
the  duodenum  and  continuous  parts  of  intestine  are  free  from  in- 
flammation and  its  consequences.  As  to  the  artificial  discharges 
cf  bile,  provoked  by  frequent  and  injudicious  emetics  and  cathar- 
tics, 1  need  only  to  refer  you  to  Richte.r's  Observations,  (chap, 
xvii.)  where  this  secreted  humour  is  rescued  from  much  of  the 
blame  and  obloquy  that  had,  for  years,  been  uttered  against  it. 

There  would  be  great  ease  in  bringing  to  your  recollection  the 
sour  bclchings  and  vomitings,  and  a  variety  of  other  inconvenien- 
cies,  besetting  the  parts  between  the  lips  and  the  pylorus;  and  it 
would  be  just  as  easy  to  enumerate  the  dysenteric  symptoms  ex- 
cited by  the  same  morbid  cause  in  the  large  intestines,  between 
the  lower  part  of  the  jejunum  and  the  extremity  of  the  rectum, 
from  rotten  and  feculent  matter  lodged  there,  after  the  strength  of 
the  bile  was  exhausted.  But  I  fear  the  enumeration  of  all  these 
symptoms  in  detail  would  be  tedious,  since,  if  the  presence  of 
septic  acid  in  the  stomach  and  colon  is  admitted,  its  inflammatory, 
corrosive,  excoriating,  and  dangerous  effects,  will,  at  once,  be 
suggested  to  your  mind.  And  does  not  the  accompanyment  of 
dysentery  with  fevers,  both  ol  the  intermittent  and  remittent  types, 
and  their  alternations  with  each  other,  throw  great  light  upon  the 
whole  of  these  morbid  phenomena,  and  prove  them  ail  to  depend 
upon  the  same  common  cause? 

But  here  I  know  it  will  be  objected  to  me,  that  my  reasoning  is 
all  wrong.  The  old  story  of  the  alkaline /irotiurts  ot  putrefaction 
will  be  told  over,  and  acids  and  other  "  antiseptics,"  as  they  are 
called,  must  be  poured  in,  to  check  or  correct  this  alkaline  ten- 
dency which  is  held  so  peculiarly  to  attend  putrefaction.  The 
volatile  alkali,  it  ia  affirmed,  is  set  loose,  and  acids  must  be  given 
to  overpower  it. 

m  i.  No.  2.  r 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  most  valuable  and  efficacious  salts  and  earths  in  my  cata- 
logue, are  combinations  of  alkaline  bases  with  acids;  and  on 
their  decomposition  it  is  alledged  their  acid,  and  not  their  alkali, 
allays  the  troublesome  symptoms,  and  relieves  the  sick  from  their 
distress.  Peace  be  to  such  reasoners !  The  reply  to  their  objec- 
tions is  very  concise,  and  may  be  summed  up  in  few  words — that 
universally,  and  without  a  single  exception  that  I  remember,  all  acids 
have  a  stronger  eletiive  attraction  for  pot -ash  and  soda  than  for  ammo- 
niac ;  consequently  the  volatile  alkali,  if  it  existed  there,  could  not  de- 
compose a  single  neutral  salt  that  has  a  fixed  alkali  for  its  base.  Such 
persons  as  hesitate  to  take  this  declaration  upon  my  authority,  ma}', 
perhaps,  find  satisfaction  in  examining  the  first  twenty-rive  co- 
lumns ot  Bergman's  second  table  of  chemical  attractions.  And 
as  to  ammoniac,  the  advocates  for  the  alkalescency  of  putrefaction 
should  never  administer  it  at  all  in  intestinal  fevers,  as  thereby  they 
must,  upon  their  own  principles,  augment  the  disease,  and  make 
every  symptom  worse.  And  the  absorbent  earths,  lime  and  mag- 
nesia, even  in  their  aerated  forms,  must  be  wretched  prescriptions 
in  such  cases,  if  administered  only  for  the  sake  of  the  carbonic 
acid  gas  they  may  afford. 

Upon  the  whole  then,  the  gastric  liquor  and  the  gall  may  be 
considered  as  the  two  great  opposers  of  putridity  in  the  stomach 
and  small  intestines.  When  these  fail  to  perform  their  respective 
functions,  a  diet  in  which  much  septon,  or  principle  of  putrefac- 
tion prevails,  may  turn  to  the  oxyd  of  septon,  or  to  septic  acid. 
When,  in  such  cases,  the  substances  enumerated  above  are  admi- 
nistered, they  act  as  alkaline  salts ;  and  while  the  weaker  acids  are 
set  loose,  the  septic  acid  turns  them  respectively  into  septites  of 
pot-?sh.  soda,  ammoniac,  lime  and  magnesia.  If  there  is  no  sep- 
tic acid  in  the  alimentary  canal,  the  neutral  salts  in  my  catalogue 
undergo  no  decomposition,  and  exert  their  several  respective  su- 
dorific, cathartic  or  diuretic  powers  without  interruption. 

Look  now,  after  this  explanation  of  these  matters,  into  the 
books,  and  examine  what  the  febrifuges  are.  Fu  ller's  Body  of 
Prescripts,  a  work  published  near  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  by  a  Cambridge  physician,  which  lies  now  at  my  elbow, 
furnishes  several  receipts  of  this  kind,  with  comments.  He  af- 
firms ( Pharmacopoeia  Extemjioranea,  p.  63.)  "  that  a  decotlion,  made 
by  boiling  eight  scruples  of  salt  of  wormwood,  (carbonate  of  pot- 
ash) and  tour  ounces  of  white  sugar,  in  a  quart  of  water,  was  an 
effectual  medicine,  and  especially  to  be  prescribed  when  a  remit- 
ting fever  would  not  obey  the  cortex,  and  began  to  threaten  running 
over  to  the  partv  of  continual  fevers."  Salt  of  wormwood  and 
spirit  of  salammoniac  constitute  (ibid.  p.  101.)  a  considerable  share 
of  the  active  ingredients  of  the  febrifuge  draught,  "  which,"  he 
says,  "  gives  relief  in  intermitting  levers,  especially  in  such  of  them 


APPENDIX. 


as  invade  with  cruel  cold,  shivering,  shaking  fits,  that  continue 
long." — "  Red  coral  levigated  and  salt  of  iwnnvood,  with  lemon 
juice  and  cinnamon  water,  forms  a  mixture  which  wonderfully, 
•(ibid.  p.  299.)  and  almost  miraculously,  (like  a  god  in  a  machine 
as  they  say)  represseth  subversions  of  the  stomach,  and  motions  to 
.vomit.  I  have  many  times  observed,  that  in  continual  fevers,  mi- 
serably afflicting  with  anguish  at  stomach,  and  symptomatic  vo- 
miting, more  good  hath  been  done  with  this  medicine  alone,  than 
with  all  that  I  ever  could,  bv  anxious  study  and  various  trials, 
find  out."  Salt  of  wormwood  also  enters  into  the  composition 
of  his  febrifuge  powder.    /Ibid.  p.  383.) 

Riviere,  or  Riuerius,  the  French  physician,  who  practised  at 
Montpellier  above  a  century  back,  was  very  fond  ai pot-ash,  inso- 
much that  he  gave  the  name  of  "  febrifuge"  to  water  impregnated 
with  salt  of  tartar.  (Observat.  dt  Med,  C&ntur.  iv.  Obs.  97.)  His 
febrifuge  draught  (Centur.  ii.  Obs.  66.)  was  composed  of  vi- 
triolated  tartar,  (sulphate  of  .pot-ash)  in  some  decoction  of  worm- 
wood; (Cent.  i.  Obs.  54.)  and  his  method  of  restraining  vomiting 
in  malignant  fever  was,  by  administering  a  scruple  ol  the  salt  of 
wormwood  in  a  state  of  effervescence  with  lemon  juice.  (Ibid. 
Cent.  i.  Obs  15.)  Though  what  he  seems  to  have  valued  more 
than  all  his  febrifuges,  is  a  mixture  of  calomel  and  jalap,  which  lie 
describes  in  the  following  enigmatical  terms :  "  Ce  precieux  me- 
"  dicament  est  done  compose  d'un  triple  Hercule  eleve  a  la  plus 
*'  haute  noblesse  par  douze  travaux,  auxquels  est  enfin  ajoute  un 
*'  quatrieme  athlete  qui,  acheve  i'accomplissement  de  l'ouvrage." 
.(Cent,  iii-  sub  finem.)  To  mercurius  dulcis,  six  or  seven  times  sub- 
limed, he  gave  the  name  of  Calomelanos,  and  often  prescribed  it  in 
the  quantity  of  a  scruple,  with  half  the  weight  of  resin  of  jalap, 
or  scammony.  (Cent.  iv.  Obs.  97.)  What  a  confirmation  of 
modern  practice,  by  the  experience  of  the  French  physician,  often 
and  often  repeated  more  than  an  hundred  vcars  ago  ! 

There  would  be  no  difficulty  in  collecting  other  examples  of  si- 
milar practice;  and,  as  I  have  cited  an  English  and  a  French  autho- 
rity, I  shall  also  quote  the  sentiments  of  a  Scottish  writer.  Cui.- 
jlen  (First  Lines,  &c.  ^  i$3andseq.)  of  Edinburgh,  enumerates 
neutral  salts  among  those  remedies  which,  when  taken  internally, 
are  fit  to  determine  to  the  surface  of  the  body.  He  bestows  on 
them  great  praise  for  the  power  of  putting  an  end  to  the  cold  stage 
of  fever,  and  of  stopping  vomiting.  He  mentions  particularly 
the  composition  of  an  alkali,  with  the  native  acid  of  vegetables, 
and  ascribes  more  or  less  of  the  same  virtue  to  all  the  neutral  salts, 
not  excepting  the  combinations  of  ammoniac. 

Thus,  from  the  examination  of  the  causes  of  pestilential  distem- 
pers, there  is  good  reason  to  believe  thev  arise  from  septic  acid  in- 
haled from  without,  or  generated  within  the  body,  and  that  this 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


acid  istrulr  a  poison;  and  from  an  investigation  of  the  composl- 
'tion  of  a  large  class  of  the  remedies  successfully  administered  in 
such  cases,  and  their  manner  of  operating,  there  is-eqn.il  cause  to 
be  persuaded,  that  they  are  antidotes  to  this  poison,  and  are  so  by 
virtue  of  their  alkaline  qualities. 

After  all  that  has  been  stated,  I  should  however  be  more  diffr- 
dent  of  the  conclusiveness  of  the  argument  than  I  am,  if  the  ana- 
logy of  dther  poisons  did  not  give  it  powerful  collateral  support. 
And  here,  facts  from  the  north  of  Europe,  and  the  south  of  Asia, 
corroborate  the  inference  1  have  drawn,  by  their  united  force. 

There  is  a  loathsome  disease  described  by  Chevalier  Back1, 
(Van  TroIl's  Letters  on  Iceland,  Letter  24.)  Called  Elephanti- 
asis, ttktraa,or  scurvy,  which  is  known  in  Madeira,  and  the  Ferro 
Islands,  but  is  particularly  distressing  to  the  poor  inhabitants  of 
Iceland,  and  the  districts  of  Abo  and  Oesterbottn,  in  Sweden. 
It  is  caused  by  the  manner  of  life  and  diet  of  the  needy  and  wretched 
natives,  who,  besides  exposure  to  wet  and  cold,  frequently  feed 
upon  corrupted,  rotten  fish,  fish-livers  and  roc,  fat  and  train  of 
whales,  and  sea-dogs,  and  congealed  and  sour-milk,  with  little  or 
no  vegetable  provision.  One  might  guess,  with  tolerable  accu- 
racy, what  would  be  the  consequence  of  a  long  continued  diet  of 
this  sort ;  which,  to  use  the  phrase  of  the  country,  makes  those  who 
are  infected  with  it  in  its  highest  degree,  resemble  a  putrefying 
crrpse.  more  than  a  living  man.  Offensive  breath,  perpetual  thirst, 
strong  propensity  to  sleep,  and  difficulty  of  being  awakened,  short- 
ness of  breath,  want  of  animal  heat,  brown  and  blue  colour  of  the 
eyes  and  lips,  Sec.  joined  to  an  infectious  quality,  or  power  of  be- 
'ing  communicated,  in  some  circumstances,  from  person  to  person, 
shew  to  what  length  septic  mischief  may  run,  even  in  those  cold 
countries,  and  what  singular  appearances  it  may  wear. 

This  formidable  disease  has  been  cured  by  Heberden.  He 
gave  his  patients  a  little  electuary  of  Peruvian  bark  and  sassafras 
root,  kept  blisters  constantly  between  their  shoulders,  and  caused 
their  hands  and  feet  to  be  rubbed,  night  and  morning,  with  a  mix- 
ture, consisting  of  eight  ounces  of  brandy,  one  ounce  of  ley  of  tartar, 
and  tivo  ounces  of  s/iirit  of  sal  ammoniac.  A  five  months  course  of 
this  treatment  was  successful,  after  mercury,  antimony,  &c.  had 
been  tried  full  seven  years,  without  any  lasting  amendment. 

Mr.  Williams  has  made  a  statement  of  facts,  (Dissertations 
on  the  History  and  Antiquities  of  India,  miscellaneous  pieces,  No. 
xvi.)  relative  to  the  cure  of  persons  bitten  by  poisonous  serpents 
in  the  East-Indies.  It  hence  appears,  that  the  poison  of  the  cobra 
di  captllo,  and  other  snakes,  is  effectually  counteracted,  even  after 
symptoms  of  great  danger  have  come  on  by  the  external  and  inter- 
nal use  of  eau  de  luce,  or  of  caustic  volatile  alkali,  and  that  with 
surprising  quickness. 


APPENDIX. 


You,  by  tills  time,  suspect,  no  doubt,  that  other  peisons  are 
acids.  There  are,  indeed,  other  facts  tr.at  evince  the  same  thing. 
If  I  stopped  here,  you  might  justly  address  me  in  the  words  of 
Solomon,  "  Go  to  the  ant  thou  sluggard,,  consider  her  ways,  and 
be  wise."  This  insect  is  furnished  with  a  poisonous  liquid,  which 
it  infuses  into  the  wounds  it -inflicts  upon  its  enemies.  This  ani- 
mal poison  changes  the  blue  colour  of  violets  to  red,  (2  New- 
man, &c.  p.  324.)  and  forms  a  neutral  salt  with  poc-ash.  (2 
Fourcroy,  p.  824.)  And  it  is  told,  on  the  authority  of  Mr. 
Hook.,  that  the  stings  of  bees,  wash's,  and  hornets ,  likewise  emit 
liquids  of  an  acid  nature,  which  those  creatures  discharge  on  being 
irritated;  and  it  is  related,  on  the  same  evidence,  (Micrograph, 
p.  142.)  that  the  thorns  of  the  nettle  plant,  (urtica)  have  sacks, 
tontahriug  a  poisonous  fluid  at  their  bases,  and  holes  near  their 
tips,  through  which  it  is  emitted  very  much  after  the  manner  of 
the  tangs  of  serpents,  and  the  stings  of  inserts.  This  poison  will 
probably  turn  out  to  be  an  acid,  and  throw  light  upon  other  poi- 
sons called  vegetable.  Wherein  the  formic  acid  and  the  poison 
of  nettles  peculiarly  differ  from  each  other,  and  from  the  acid  of 
serpents,  and  the  acid  of  pestilence,  I  do  not  pretend  to  know. 
At  the  same  time  I  think  it  not  improbable,  that  to  whatever 
cause  their  small  degrees  of  difference  may  be  owing,  they  all 
have  (in  azotic  (sejitic)  basis,  and  the  great  traits  of  their  character 
/ire  the  same. 

Your  note  from  Manchester  of  August  6th,  1796,  together  with 
the  papers  accompanying  it,  on  the  subject  ot  the  medical  and 
municipal  regulations  adopted  in  your  great  manufacturing  town, 
were  very  acceptable  to  me.  Distempers  of  a  kind  deemed  infec- 
tious, are  now  and  then  prevalent  among  your  people,  as  well  as 
among  the  inhabitants  of  our  American  cities. 

May  "  the  sting  of  death,"  which  is  so  often  poisoned  with  an 
acid,  never  penetrate  you,  while  your  benevolence  shall  continue 
to  be  exerted  in  bettering  the  human  race — When  this  ceases, 
*  your  corruptible  may  put  on  intorruption"  (Paul  writes  like 
a  philosopher)  as  soon  as  it  pleases. 

Yours,  &c.  &.c. 


SAMUEL  L.  MITCHILL. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


FOREIGN. 


AchVitional  Account  of  tie.  Use  »f  Nitrous  Acid  in  Syjil'ilh.  &> 
J:i<bl:skedfrom  Jjijiendix,  No.  V.  to  Part  V.  of  Considerations  cm 
Factitious  Airs,  by  Thomas  Eeddoes,  M.  D.  and  James  Watt, 
Engineer. 

NOT  many  days  afier  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Scott's  paper  on  ni- 
tric acid,  the  Editor  was  consulted  on  a  singularly  obstiuate 
case  of  supposed  Lues  Venerea.  Above  ten  months  ago,  the  pa- 
tient had  slight  gonorrhoea ;  and  after  the  use  of  some  common  re- 
medies he  thought  himself  nearly  well,  when  a  small  ulceration 
appeared  on  the  »lam  -fienii.  I  am  not  informed  whether  this  ul- 
cer shewed  the  characteristics  of  chancre;  but,  by  the  advice  of 
■{in  experienced  practitioner,  he  now  took  the  mercurial  piil  night 
and  morning,  and  rubbed  in  mercurial  ointment.  This  course 
was  continued  for  near  eight  weeks  without  any  soreness  of  the 
mouth,  or  amendment  of  the  ulcer.  In  about  four  months  from 
the  first  seizure,  under  the  continuance  of  the  same  plan,  an  ulcer 
appeared  in  the  throat,  and  the  medicines  were  exhibited  more 
largely  for  six  weeks — and  he  was  at  the  end  of  this  lime  rather 
worse  than  better.  The  patient  was  now  confined  to  his  apart- 
ment, and  mercury  used  more  vigorously  in  both  ways.  In  the 
course  of  five  weeks,  the  ideer  was  reduced  to  a  third  of  its  former 
extent ;  its  pain  had  subsided,  and  the  gums  felt  slightly  sore.  Af- 
ter this  time,  the  chancre  (:)  was  in  a  fluctuating  state,  sometimes 
healing  rapidly,  and  then  spreading  to  its  original  dimensions; 
nor  was  any  farther  advance  made  towards  a  cure,  though  corro- 
sive sublimate  was  employed  alternately  with  other  preparations 
of  mercury  Eight  months  after  the  first  attack,  there  was  observed 
near  the  sore,  a  gangrenous  spot;  having  nothing  of  the  appear- 
ance of  a  spreading  venereal  ulcer,  but  exactly  such  as  is  some- 
times seen  after  long  mercurial  courses.  The  mercury  was  re- 
duced; cicuta  applied,  and  taken  with  bark  and  sarsaparilla ;  a 
grain  only  of  calcined  mercury  being  given  at  night,  with  half  a 
grain  of  opium. 

The  Editor  produced  Mr.  Scott's  paper,  and  recommended 
a  trial  of  his  method,  to  which  the  patient  and  his  friends  cheer- 
fully consented.  The  nitric  acid  was  accordingly  taken  with  per- 
severance ior  six  weeks,  and  for  a  time  to  200  drops  a  day.  Mean* 


APPENDIX.  279 

while  the  ulcer  rather  extended  than  diminished ;  its  surface  looked 
cleaner,  but  no  tendency  to  incarnation  appeared.  Immediately 
on  taking  the  acid,  no  sensation  was  felt  in  the  stomach,  cither 
pleasant  or  otherwise,  except  during  the  first,  second,  or  third 
days,  when  it  griped  a  little — No  increased  warmth  of  the  skin— 
no  effect  on  the  pulse.  The  night-sweats,  (which  were  certainly 
less  after  the  mercurv  was  reduced,  and  the  bark  and  sarsaparilla 
employed)  declined  rapidly,  alter  the  acid  was  begun  upon. 

The  acid  being  now  gradually  reduced  to  eighty  drops  a  oav, 
its  inetficacy  in  this  case  became  too  apparent.  The  ulcer  suddenly 
put  on  a  worse  appearance,  and  increased  rapidly.  Inflammation 
of  the  aonnd  part  of  the  glans,  and  a  degree  of  phymoais,  suc- 
ceeded. 

Opium,  with  bark,  has  been  since  advised,  upon  the  supposition 
that  the  ulcer  is  a  mere  ill-conditioned  ulcer,  and  now  no  longer 
of  a  venereal  nature,  whatever  it  may  have  been  before  the  em- 
ployment of  mercurial  medicines. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  RECEIVED  your  obliging  favour  on  the  day  it  was  written, 
and  perceive  by  its  manner  that  you  are  as  much  and  as  agfeeaaij 
surprized  by  the  information  Mr.  H.'s  Letter  to  me  affords,  as  I 
expected  you  would  be.  I  think  with  you  that  the  Public  ought 
to  be  made  acquainted  with  the  history  of  his  case,  together  with 
the  contents  of  his  Letter ;  and  as  I  have  personally  witnessed  what 
he  has  recorded,  I  should  have  to  accuse  myselt  of  inhumanity,  it 
I  were  to  suffer  any  personal  considerations,  that  respect  either  my 
time,  or  my  unwillingness  to  appear  so  oiten  as  a  narrator  of  un- 
common cases  in  one  pamphlet,  to  prevent  my  furnishing  you 
with  all  the  particulars  within  my  knowledge.  I  therefore  with 
cheerfulness  and  pleasure  undertake  to  give  you,  as  far  as  I  am  able, 
with  the  assistance  of  my  day-book  and  recollection,  the  account 
of  a  case  that  you  say  will  conclude  your  pamphlet,  and  make  a 
noble  conclusion."  But  as  it  may  be  asked,  how  I  came  to  be 
acquainted  with  the  effects  of  the  remedy  before  its  publication,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  for  me  to  state  that,  when  Mr.  Biggs,  your 
Printer,  furnished  me  with  the  proof-sheet  for  revision,  that  con- 
tained the  account  of  Mr.  Henderson's  case,  I  was  struck  with 
Mr.  Scott's  communication  which  occupied  the  preceding  part  of 
the  same  sheet ;  and  as  soon  as  an  opportunity  permitted,  I  in- 
formed you,  that  I  had  a  venereal  patient  under  my  care,  whose 
case  had  resisted  mercurv  in  almost  every  known  mode  ot  exhibi- 
tion, and  that  I  should  wish  to  try  the  nitric  acid  as  there  recom- 
mended, and  requested  that  I  might  be  favoured  with  your  com- 
pany when  I  visited  the  patient  tne  next  morning,  as  well  to  as- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


si-.t  me  with  your  opinion  respecting  the  appropriate  close,  &c. 
as  to  give  you  a  demonstration  of  the  case  being  aJmo.-.t  as  bad  as, 
ever  nad  been  observed  by  any  practitioner.  You  obligingly  pro- 
mised to  be  with  nic  at  nine  in  the  morning;  but  about  taut  time 
I  received  a  note  from  you,  wherein  you  informed  me  tliat  a  pro- 
fessional hindrance  would  prevent  your  being  with  me,  and  that 
upon  reconsideration  you  thought  the  reasoning  of  Mr.  Scott, 
who  refers  the  advantages  obtained  "  to  oxygenation  of  the  sys- 
tem," so  unsatisfactory,  that  you  would  advise  a  very  doubrtnl 
prognosis  to  be  given  to  the  patient,  if"  he  were  put  upon  a  trial 
of  it.  I  was  so  much  influenced  by  your  opinion,  that  I  >houid 
have  omitted  to  make  use  of  it,,  had  I  not  the  preceding^evening 
shewn  my  patient  Mr.  Scott's  account,  and  told  him  that  he.  might 
expect  a  visit  from  you  in  the  ensuing  morning.  A  man  in  tiis 
situation,  that  had  for  nearly  two  years  experienced  the  inefficacy 
«t  what  he  had  been  frequently  told  was  the  whole  of  the  known 
remedies  that  the  art  afforded,  was  not  likely  to  give  up,  the  use  of 
that  which  was  asserted  to  be  a  tried  remedy  in  another  part  of  the 
world,  tiiough  it  was  unknown  in  this;  and  although  I  made  him 
acquainted  witii  the  contents  of  your  note,  he  was  no  way  discou- 
raged, but  earnestly  petitioned  for  its  immediate  exhibition.  I 
Lave  thus  stated,  in  a  plain  and  candid  manner,  the  way  in  which 
J  was  kd  to  its  Use.  And  if  there  should  be  any  person,  who,  after 
what  has  been  said,  can  suppose  that  any  mistake  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  or  misrepresentation  of  the  facts,  can  ha,ve  happened — or 
{which  is  more  agreeable  to  believe)  if  any  gentleman  snould  wish 
to  ascertain,  in  a  more  particular  manner,  the  facts  that  preceded 
and  accompanied  trie  administration  of  a.  remedy-  of  so  much  apr 
part  1. 1  importance  in  a  disease  so  hopeless,  1  am. happy  to  say,  that 
n.v  paturai/s  very  laudable  humanity  would  induce  him  to  sink 
the  u>ii.-i<ieiutioii  oj  what  he  might  feel  iu  satisfying  such  inquiries, 
in  the  hope  oi  assisting,  by  h is  confessions,  some  unhappy  fellow 
Hiritrcr. 

On  tiie  eighth  of  February,  i  795,  I  was  requested  to  visit  Mr. 
 ,  witii  pains  ol  the  hmbs,  and  ulcers  of  the  throat  and  ton- 
si!?,  which,  from  appearances,  suspecting  to  be  a  case  of  cynanche 
maligna,  induced  im  to  prescribe  bark,  wine,  and  gargles.  That 
plat)  was  persevered  in  until  the  19th,  without  any  advantage. 
From  that  e  in  uni-nme,  conjoined  with  the  situation  of  his  pains, 
and  the  times  of  ti.cir  aggravation,  I  began  (though  my  patient 
was  married,  and  t'.e  father  of  healthy,  fine  cniidrcn)  to  suspect 
the  case  to  be  venereal;  and  after  expressing  my  suspicions,  I 
karat  from  him  that  he  had  contracted  such  a  disease  some  years 
before,  and  had  at  that  time  an  ulcer  on  the  penis;  but  that  he 
supposed  hiir.scif  perfectly  cured,  having  passed  through  a  regular 
tonrse  of  medicine  for  that  purpose:  it  was  with  difheulty  that  I 


APPENDIX. 


convinced  him  that  his  present  sufferings  were  referable  to  such  a 
cause.  However,  possessing  his  confidence,  I  prevailed  upon  him 
to  commence  a  mercurial  course,  and  he  continued  to  take,  from 
that  time  to  the  8th  of  March,  a  grain  cf  calomel,  with  an  equal 
quantity  ofuhe  ext.  papav.  three  times  a  day,  in  the  third  part  of  a 
pint  of  the  decoct,  lignor.  cum  rad.  mezerii.  On  that  day,  in  con* 
sequence  of  the  appearance  of  some  eruptions,  the  form  or  the  me- 
dicines was  exchanged  for  the  following: 
I£  Hydrarg.  Muriat.  gr.  iv. 

Aq.  cinnam.  ^  iv.  m  cap.  coch.  larg.  noct.  maneq. 
This  was  continued  until  the  27th  of  April,  and  then  a  drachm  of 
the  ung;  hydrarg,  fort,  was  ordered  to  be  rubbed  into  the  thighs 
every  night  at  bed-time,  and  the  former  medicine  omitted  on  ac- 
count or  the  eruption  having  yielded,  though  the  pains  had  in- 
creased: this,  with  the  decoction  of  the  woods  and  mezerion, 
was  continued  till  the  middle  of  June.  On  the  aoth  of  October, 
he  began  to  take  four  grains  of  the  blue  pill,  with  a  quarter  of  a 
grain  of  opium,  three  times  a  day;  and  it  was  continued,  without 
intermission,  until  the  middle  of  January,  1796.  On  the  14th 
of  that  month  calomel,  with  opium,  was  again  used  in  its  stead, 
and  continued  until  the  middle  of  February,  On  the  12th  of 
July,  he  again  commenced  its  use,  and  continued  to  take  it  until 
the  middle  of  August  last,  when  I  was  obliged,  by  the  fullest  ex- 
perience of  the  ineiricacy  of  all  the  mercurial  preparations  that  had 
been  tried,  to  again  request  him  to  desist  from  the  use  of  all  medi- 
cines, except  occasional  opiates  to  mitigate  his  pain,  which  it  had 
been  necessary  for  him  to  use  with  the  greatest  freedom  during  the 
whole  of  the  mercurial  course.  It  wilt  here  be  necessary  to  re- 
mind you,  that  when  I  first  was  called  to  his  assistance  I  found 
him  labouring  under  only  the  constitutional  or  secondary  symp- 
toms ot  the  disease;  and  as  I  did  not  keep  any  minutes  of  the  case, 
I  Caul  lot  speak  with  that  exactness  I  would  wish  of  the  particular 
effects  ol  the  different  preparations  of  mercury  that  were  exhibited. 
But  I  have  the  fullest  recoiieclion,  that  the  ulcers  of  the  throat  and 
the  affection  of  the  skin  were  removed  in  due  time  by  the  means 
that  were  adopted:  and  although  there  was  a  complete  failure  in. 
my  attempts  to  dislodge  the  poison  from  tiie  bones,  I  am  not  con- 
vinced that  the  failure  resulted  from  the  incompetency  of  the  mer- 
cury to  produce  such  an  effect — as  the  constitution  of  this  patient 
was  rendered  so  irritable  by  the  disease,  or  the  means  made  use  oL 
(or  perhaps  both)  that  I  was  never  able  to  impregnate  the  system 
with  a  sufficient  quantity  to  produce  the  desired  elfect;  though  it 
was  exhibited  with  every  precaution,  and  united  with  every  cor- 
rective that  my  judgment  could  suggest,  conjoined  with  the  ad- 
vantages of  country  air,  bark,  milk  diet,  and  the  occasional  ornis^ 

tr«(,  1,  No.  2.  '  s 


a8i 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


sion  of  all  medicines,  which,  for  a  time,  answered  so  well,  as  tc/ 
make  my  disappointment  the  greater  at  each  time  of  the  disease 
returning.  At  last,  medicine  of  almost  every  kind  failed  to  afford 
even  relief,  and  I  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  being  content 
with  the  mere  palliative  effects  of  opium  given  in  large  doses.  The 
peculiarities  of  this  case  are  however  too  common ;  and  every 
practitioner  that  is  much  engaged  in  a  large  city,  especially  if  it 
be  a  sea-port,  must  have  had  to  deplore  such  occurrences.  It  was 
my  good  fortune  to  meet  with  Mr.  Scott's  communication,  in  the 
way  before  described,  just  at  the  time  when  I  had  exhausted  my 
endeavours  to  cure  this  patient — and  when  I  say  with  him,  that 
he  was  indeed  a  "  rueful  spectacle,"  with  little  more  than  diseased 
bones  remaining,  when  he  began  the  use  of  the  nitric  acid;  and 
that  he  now  appears  in  good  health,  I  contemplate  with  astonish- 
ment the  change  that  has  been  produced :  more  especially  as  he 
was  always  labouring  under  profuse  sweats,  diarrhoea,  ptyalism, 
from  the  mercurials  that  were  exhibited,  though  they  were  so 
guarded;  and  has  now  obtained  a  cure  by  the  use  of  a  most  power- 
ful acid,  without  experiencing  even  momentary  inconvenience, 
and  in  less  time  than  would  have  been  requisite  to  remove  even 
the  mildest  svmptoms  of  the  disease  by  any  other  known  method. 
Mow  much  will  the  pleasure,  that  the  effects  here  related  have  af- 
forded me,  be  increased,  if  the  future  experience  of  my  profes- 
sional brethren  should  coincide  with  what  was  observed  in  this 
verv  melancholy  case :  and  that  it  may  prove  so  in  cases  that  are 
similar  I  entertain  the  greatest  hope,  as  the  effects  appeared  to  de- 
pend so  fully  upon  the  assigned  cause,  that  no  doubt  can  possibly 
remain  upon  my  mind  of  the  acid  being  the  true  and  only  cause 
of  the  changes  that  followed.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  poison 
had  in  this  case  observed  its  accustomed  laws,  and  after  traversing 
the  system,  and  successfully  displaying  its  character  upon  the  geni- 
tals, fauces,  and  skin,  it  had  affected  the  bones;  from  whence 
most  practitioners  have  found  it  difficult,  and  sometimes  impos- 
sible, to  dislodge  it.  Perhaps  it  may  not  be  difficult  to  conceive 
that  a  remedy,  possessing  such  chemical  power,  and  having  so 
strong  an  affinity  for  the  matter  that  analysis  tells  us  constitutes 
bone,  mav  produce  a  cure  in  this  species  of  the  disease,  and  not 
be  attended  with  equal  effects  where  only  the  soft  parts  are  affected 
by  the  poison.  That  this  stage  is  the  most  difficult  to  remove,  and 
that  it  is  often  impossible  to  accomplish  it,  I  have  before  said,  is 
known  to  most  practitioners.  May  this  remedy  supply  the  desi- 
deratum of  this  branch  of  the  healing  art,  and  the  name  of  your 
correspondent,  Mr.  Scott,  will  then  be  deservedly  remembered  by 
every  friend  of  science  and  improvement.  Why  should  it  be  so 
difficult  to  believe  the  existence  of  other  specifics  for  the  poison  in 
Europe,  when  it  is  recollected  that  the  South-sea  islanders,  and 


APPENDIX. 


seme  tribes  of  the  native  Americans,  have  found,  in  the  vegetable 
.productions  of  their  countries,  remedies  for  the  worst  states  of  the 
disease  ? 

I  have  thus  endeavoured  to  comply  with  your  request,  as  fully 
and  particularly  as  the  circumstance  of  ray  having  kept  no  minutes 
of  the  case,  will  allow  me.;  and  as  the  recollection  of  the  patient 
.will  be  long  kept  alive  by  what  he  has  suffered,  I  think  that  his 
own  letter  may  be  as  satisfactory  as  any  account  from  me  of  the 
situation  he  was  in,  when  he  first  made  use  of  the  medicine  that 
has  occasioned  his  cure.  And  ,1  can  safely  assert,  that  J  believe 
his  account  to  be  a  most  faithful  representation  of  his  situation. 
You  have  seen  it  in  his  own  writing,  and  he  has  been  taught  to 
txpecr  a  visit  from  you.  I  therefore  request  that  you  will,  at  an 
earlv  interview  with  him,  oblige  me  by  satisfying  yourself  of  the 
■whole  of  what  is  here  asserted;  and  then,  if  it  he  in  time  for  your 
pamphlet,  subjoin  your  testimony  to  that  of 

Your  sincere  servant, 
Nov.  2^,  1796.  THOMAS  BAYNTON. 

To  Dr.  BEDDOES. 


•Dear  Sir, 

PURSUANT  to  your  request  at  your  last  visit,  I  take  my  pen 
to  describe  (if  possible)  the  deplorable  conditions  and  sufferings  I 
have  endured  for  near  two  years  last  past,  and  the  almost  miracu- 
lous deliverance  therefrom,  by  your  care  and  unwearied  atten- 
tion thereto.  1  was  first  seized  with  ulcers  of  my  throat  and 

violent  pains  in  my  shins  .at  night,  that  threw  me  into  such 
perspirations,  that  for  nine  or  ten  mornings  I  was  under  the 
necessity  of  changing  my  linen  before  I  could  possibly  get  up; 
which  was  soon  followed  by  or  with  excrescences  or  nodes  from 
my  knees  almost  down  to  my  insteps,  attended  with  violent  pains 
in  my  head.  My  arms  a'so  were  attacked  with  excruciating  pains, 
where  swellings  of  a  considerable  size  made  their  appearance.  My 
knees  also  swelled,  and  the  pain  so  acute,  that  I  durst  not  move 
them  the  least  aside:  sleep  fled — nor  did  it  return  for  ten  weeks. 
And  for  twenty-two  wetks  I  could  not  bear  to  be  moved  without 
suffering  the  most  extreme  torture,  notwithstanding  your  tender 
care  to  administer  every  thing  you  could  devise  and  prescribe  for 
my  relief.  I  knew  you  perfectly  understood  my  case;  but  my 
•disease  seemed  to  baffle  the  power  of  medicine  and  every  effort. 
■Having  for  the  then  last  thirteen  weeks  lived  wholly  upon  milk, 
you  advised  me  to  discontinue  the  medicine,  in  hopes  I  might  soon 
■be  able  to  make  use  of  stronger  lood,  and  recover  a  little  strength, 


Medical  repository. 


This  treatment  had  the  desired  effect :  and  my  pains  for  som« 
time  seemed  to  abate;  but,  alas!  they  soon  returned  again!  when 
you  advised  another  course  of  medicine,  which  operated  more 
powerfully  than  it  hitherto  had  done,  and  in  a  few  months 
restored  me  so  as  to  enable  me  to  walk  from  my  lodgings  in  the 
country  to  town.  The  satisfaction  you  expressed  on  the  occa* 
sion  I  shall  never  forget,  and  with  myself  was  in  hopes  of  a 
radical  cure.  But  at  the  end  of  three  months,  my  hopes  were 
destroyed  by  a  violent  relapse,  which  soon  confined  me  to  my 
bed.  My  iegs  (if  possible)  were  worse  than  before;  for  not 
only  my  shins,  but  the  main  bones  pained  me  dreadfully.  One 
node  formed  (a  little  below  my  right  knee)  in  a  short  time 
almost  as  large  as  an  hen's  egg.  The  pains  from  my  shoulders  to 
my  fingers'  ends  1  can  scarcely  describe.  The  sinews  of  my  arms, 
thighs  and  legs,  stiff  and  contracted — my  fingers  I  could  by  no 
means  bend;  they  were  fixed  by  disease,  and  every  joint  swelled. 
The  bones  of  my  head  shared  equally  with  the  parts  I  have  describ- 
ed; and  nothing  but  death  was  expected  to  put  a  period  to  such  a 
scene  of  misery.  Added  to  this,  my  body  was  a  rueful  spectacle, 
a  mere  skeleton;  so  that  disease  had  nothing  left  but  my  vitals  for 
its  prey.  This,  Sir,  is  a  faint  description  of  the  state  and  condition 
you  found  me  in  about  three  weeks  ago,  when  you  visited  me, 
and  with  joy  in  your  countenance  told  me,  a  new  discovery  had 
been  made  of  a  medicine  that  you  had  great  hope  would  reach  my 
case;  and  with  your  wonted  goodness  of  heart  cheered  up  my 
drooping  spirits,  by  describing  to  me  its  mildness  and  efficacy  in 
•several  cases  similar  to  my  own.  Encouraged  by  this  information, 
and  relying  upon  your  judgment,  I  was  determined  to  give  it  a  fair 
trial.  I  began,  and  continued  to  take  the  quantity  as  prescribed. 
— At  the  expiration  of  seven  days  I  found  it  begin  to  operate,  as 
you  had  before  described,  by  creating  a  saliva  in  my  mouth.  On 
that  day  I  had  a  desire  to  be  lifted  from  my  bed,  and  to  sit  up  a 
little,  which  was  done  with  some  difficulty;  but  could  not  bear  my 
feet  on  the  ground,  my  knees  also  being  in  a  very  debilitated  state 
i — but  found  my  pains  greatly  abated.  I  spit  a  great  deal  the  next 
night,  which  was  very  thin,  and  not  disagreeable.  On  the  eighth 
day  my  pains  seemed  quite  gone;  and  I  requested  again  to  get  up, 
when  to  my  great  surprize  I  found  myself  capable  of  bearing  the 
weight  of  my  body  on  my  legs.  On  the  ninth  day  I  was  capable 
and  absolutely  walked  from  my  bed  to  my  chair,  the  distance  of 
six  feet,  without  assistance. — I  bespoke  a  pair  of  crutches,  but, 
thank  God,  I  never  used  them,  nor  have  had  occasion  for  them; 
for  on  the  tenth  day  I  walked  several  times  backwards  and  for- 
wards my  room  without  crutch  or  stick,  or  any  other  assistance  what- 
ever. On  the  eleventh  day  I  walked  from  one  room  to  another, 
and  finding  it  attended  with  no  extra  pain,  but  stiffness  and  weak- 


APPENDIX. 


fiess  in  mv  shin<;,  I  absolutely  walked  up  a  pair  of  stairs  of  four- 
teen or  sixteen  steps,  and  down  again.  My  appetite  was  now  re- 
stored to  an  amazing  degree*  insomuch  that  I  round  I  could  not 
continue  the  usual  quantity  of  medicine  (which  in  fac>  seemed  tJ 
have  operated  more  like  a  charm  than  a  medicine)  but  I  continue 
taking  about  three  parts  in  four  thereof  daily.  And  I  have  the 
pleasure  further  to  inform  you,  that  1  have  walked  out  several 
times,  and  yesterday  in  particular  I  walked  more  than  a  milt,  and 
was  in  hopes  to  have  surprized  you  (which  I  know  would  have 
been  an  agreeable  one)  by  paying  you  a  visit  at  your  own  house; 
but  was  informed  you  was  from  home. — Be  assured  1  shall  always 
esteem  it  a  pleasure  to  answer  any  queries  respecting  my  case,  and 
the  efficacious  operation  of  the  acid  in  so  wonderful  a  cure. 

Believe  me  to  be, 

Dear  Sir, 

Bristol,  Nov.  25,  1796. 
To  Mr.  BAYNTON. 


•  Nov.  29,  1796.  The  Editor,  in  company  with  another  person, 
met  Mr.  H.  at  Mr.  Baynton's.  Mr.  H.  by  word  of  mouth,  con- 
firmed the  preceding  statement;  and  added  a  variety  of  particulars 
respecting  his  former  and  present  state.  He  said  that  his  daily 
dose  of  colourless  strong  nitrous  (nitric)  acid  was  two  drachms, 
diluted  by  a  quart  of  water.  The  mixture  produced  no  imme- 
diate sensation  in  the  stomach.  He  was  never  griped  by  it;  and 
he  thought  it  rather  astringent;  for  he  had  no  stool  in  three  or  lour 
days  afttr  beginning  this  course,  which  was  unusual  with  him ) 
but  he  would  not  take  any  aperient  medicine,  that  nothing  might 
interfere  with  the  acid.  On  the  seventh  day  he  perceived  a  flow 
of  saliva:  on  the  eighth  the  salivation  amounted  to  a  quart;  and 
it  has  continued  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  ever  since.  There  was 
no  soreness  of  the  mouth,  or  any  of  the  feelings  which  had  for- 
merly been  produced  by  mercury.  In  two  or  three  days  after  this 
effect  on  the  salivary  glands,  he  lost  his  night  pains.  On  being 
lifted  out  of  bed,  he  was  astonished  to  find  he  could  stand  without 
support;  "whereas,"  said  he,  putting  his  hand  on  his  knee, 
*'  these  limb-:-  could  not  before  have  sustained  a  single  ounce." — 
The  nodes,  which  were  of  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg  on  the  tibia, 
and  of  which  there  were  several  on  the  back  part  of  the  humerus 
and  radius  of  one  arm,  began  to  diminish.  The  Editor,  who  had 
tins  interview  three  weeks  after  the  first  exhibition  of  the  acid, 
found  the  tibia-  rough,  but  without  excrescence;  all  the  nodes 


t-86 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


having  disappeared.  Mr.  H.'s  nose,  which  had  been  considerably 
enlarged,  was  now  of  the  natural  size.  His  hands,  which  had 
been  "  a  mishapen  mass,"  had  no  preternatural  appearance.  Be- 
fore, he  could  not  bend  any  of  his  fingers;  now  he  could  bend 
them  all,  but  the  forefinger  of  the  right  hand.  A  great  difficulty 
of  deglutition  had  disappeared  at  the  commencement  of  the  saliva- 
tion. His  general  bodily  condition  had  been  much  amended,  and 
iiis  appetite  had  become  so  keen,  that  he  could  hardly  find  time 
enough  in  the  day  tn>  eat  and  to  take  his  diluted  acid. 

This  account  fully  confirms  an  important  part  of  Mr.  Scott'g 
assertions.  And  the  effect  of  the  nitric  acid  in  the  instance  of  Mr. 
H.  furnishes  an  additional  probability  that  the  first  case  in  this 
Number  was  not  venereal,  when  the  patient  began  to  take  the  acid. 
The  result  of  that  case  goes  some  way  towards  determining  the 
Jimits  of  its  power,  which  cannot  however  be  fixed  without  a  num- 
ber of  experiments.  The  Editor  has  the  pleasure  to  add,  that  he 
has  before  him  a  letter  from  an  Accurate  medical  observer,  in 
which  he  says  that  "  he  has  used  nitric  acid  with  great  advantage 
"  in  some  cases  which  he  believed  to  be  hepatic,  and  in  one  venereal 
"  case  with  apparent  advantage." 

An  ingenious  friend  had  conjectured  from  Mr.  Scott's  paper, 
that  nitric  acid  only  renders  the  system  susceptible  of  the  mercu- 
rial stimulus.  But  Mr.  H.  took  no  mercury  between  the  middle 
of  August  and  the  second  week  in  November.  In  the  effect  too 
on  the  mouth  Mr.  H.  remarked  a  striking  difference. 

The  Editor  flatters  himself  that  to  have  ascertained  the  mild 
action  of  the  nitric  acid  ill  these  two  cases,  and  its  effect  in  check- 
ing night-sweats  in  the  first,  will,  in  all  likelihood,  prove  advan- 
tageous to  medicine  in  various  respects.  The  personal  examina- 
tion of  Mr.  H.  has  put  it  out  ot  his  power  to  doubt  of  the  utility 
of  Mr.  Scott's  practice.  He  reckons  his  success  among  the  fruits 
that  were  to  be  expected  from  the  cultivation  of  the  pneumatic 
physiology.  He  felt  from  the  first  that  his  particular  specula- 
tions were  precarious,  and  he  some  time  sinc«  gave  up  his  suppo- 
sition relative  to  the  state  of  the  system  in  consumption.  (See 
second  Edition  of  jiarts  I.  and  II.  of  Considerations.)  But  he  was 
confident  that  if  he  could  fix  the  eye  and  the  mind  of  his  medical 
contemporaries  on  those  agents,  upon  which  the  mechanism  of  life 
so  immediately  depends,  they  would  not  fail  speedily  to  acquire 
much  of  that  power,  which  the  knowledge  of  nature  confers. 

The  discovery  of  every  new  specific  (or  substance  capable  of 
correcting  given  morbid  actions  of  the  system)  affords  a  new  rea- 
son for  believing  in  the  existence  of  others.  For  some  scrophulous 
ulcers  we  seem  to  have  found  a  new  specific  in  sorrel:  for  vene- 
real and  hepatic  affections,  in  nitric  acid,  such  as  we  possessed 
before  in  mercury.    These  are  diseases,  in  themselves  not  many 


APPENDIX.  287 

degrees  less  formidable  than  cancer  and  consumption.  We  have 
analogies  enough  to  persuade  us,  that  there  is  no  le.-ion  of  organiza- 
tion, induced  by  the  powers  of  the  living  body  modified  in  one 
way,  which  the  same  powers,  differently  modified,  may  not  repair  5 
and  that,  by  dint  of  frequent  ventures,  some  happy  hand  will  draw 
from  the  lottery  of  Nature  a  remedy  for  each  of  those  diseases, 
which  at  present  most  baffle  the  physician  and  torture  the  patient. 


THE 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Vol,  I.— No.  III. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 


Mineralogical  Sketch  of  New- 
York   293 

On  the  Caufe  of  Yellow  Fever 

in  New- York  315 

Cafeof  difficult  Parturition^&c.  333 
On  a  Difeafe  among  Cattle  .  .  335 
A  Cafe  of  Canine  Madnefs  .  .  337 

REVIEW. 
Rufh'sMedical  InquiriesandOb- 

fervations,  vol.  iv.  ...-«.  .  343 
M'Lean's  Two    Lectures  on 

Combnftion   348 

Logan  on  Gypfum   350 

Peters  on  Plaifter  of  Paris  .  .  .  351 
Brown  on  Bilious  Malignant 

Fever   353 

Church  on  Camphor   356 

De  Witt  on  Oxygene   358 

Black  on  Fractures   360 

Facts,  Hints,  and  Inquiries  .  .  367 
Meteorological  Obfervations  .  373 
Table  of  Hofpital  Patients  .  .  376 
Return  of  Difpenfary  Patients  .  378 


Page. 


MEDICAL  NEWS. 

Domeftic  ,  381 

Foreign  386 

Addenda  (on  Hydrophobia)  .  390 

APPENDIX. 

DOMESTIC. 

Report  of  the  Baltimore  Board 

of  Health  395 

Letter  of  Dr.  Rufh  and  others 

to  Governor  Mifflin  405 

Letter  of  College  of  Phyficians 

of  Philadelphia  to  the  fame  .  41a 
Memorial  of  the  fame  totheLe- 

giflature  of  Pennfylvania  .  .  414 
Mitchill,&c.  on  Effects  of  Street 

Manure  416 

Hofack's  Cafe  of  Hydrocele  .  .  419 
Ricketfon  on  American  Opium  420 

FOREIGN. 

On  the  Culture  of  Opium,  .  .  424 
Bonhomme  on  Rickets  ....  427 
Hammick  on  Nitric  Acid  .  .  .  438 


NEW-  YORK: 

Printed  by  T.  &  J.  SWORDS,  Printers  to  the  Faculty  of  Phyfic  of  Colum- 
bia College,  No.  99  Pearl-ftreet. 

1798. 


The  Copy-Right  of  each  Number  of  the  Medical  Reposi 
torv  is  regularly  secured  according  to  law. 

.   M-X'r-'V.-; 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


VX ITH  the  publication  of  the  third  number  of  the  Medical  Repository 
the  Editors  deem  it  proper  to  inform  the  subscribers,  that  the  increasing 
subscription  for  the  work  renders  it  probable  that  it  will,  in  the  course 
of  a  short  time,  obtain  a  satisfactory  establishment.  The  Editors  in- 
dulge'a  hope  that  this  will  incline  those  who  already  patronize  their 
undertaking,  to  pardon  such  irregularities  in  its  distribution,  &C.  as 
may  be  perceived  hi  its  present  state  of  immaturity.  The  embarrass- 
ments of  this  kind  are  numerous,  but  are,  no  doubt,  surmountable,  and 
will  be  gradually  removed.  The  period  of  their  existence  will  very 
much  depend  on  the  encouragement  which  the  plan  shall  experience. 

As  it  is  the  design  of  the  Publishers  to  annex  a  list  of  subscribers  to 
the  present  volume,  they  will  thank  such  gentleman  as  have  received 
subscriptions  for  the  Repository,  to  return  the  names  of  the  subscribers, 
with  their  proper  address,  to  either  of  them,  or  to  the  printers,  by  the 
first  of  the  ensuing  May. 


New-York,  February  i,  1798. 


ERRATA. 

Page  3<30>  line  $l%  for  creeks  read  cracks. 
316,  line  16,  for  air  read  aid. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Vol.  I.— No.  III. 


ARTICLE  I. 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  MINER ALOGICAL  HISTORY  OF 
THE  STATE  OF  NEW- YORK. 

By  Samuel  L.  Mitchill. 

The  Commissioner  appointed  to  make  a  Tour  through  the  State  of  Kew- 
York,  in  the  Vicinity  of  Hudson's  River,  respeclfully  submits  to  the 
Society  for  pr$moting  Agriculture,  Arts,  and  Manuficlures,  the  Jol- 
/oxcing  Report : — 

IN  undertaking  the  task  assigned  to  the  Commissioner,  the  dif- 
ficulty of  collecting  and  arranging  facts,  to  form  a  report  so 
extensive  as  seemed  to  be  expected  by  the  Society,  appeared,  for  a 
time,  an  unsurmountable  obstacle.  To  make  observations  enough, 
within  the  short  duration  of  five  or  six  weeks,  to  complete  a  re- 
port of  only  tolerable  extent,  and  to  bring  them  together  with  but 
a  moderate  share  of  skill  and  accuracy,  actually  impressed  his  mind 
for  a  time  with  sentiments  of  discouragement.  Having,  however, 
accepted  the  appointment,  he  conceived  it  his  duty  to  undertake: 
something,  and  the  result  of  his  labours  he  now  offers  to  his  agri- 
cultural colleagues.  As  this  is  the  first  expedition  of  the  kind  whicli 
the  Society  has  authorized,  it  is  not  pretended  to  exhibit  a  com- 
plete view  of  every  thing  worthy  to  be  remarked  in  those  parts  of 
the  country  which  the  Commissioner  has  visited;  far  less  in  such) 
counties  as  he  has  not  examined  at  all.  He  judged  it  better  to  ex- 
ecute as  much  as  he  could,  with  fidelity  and  correctness,  than,  by- 
undertaking  too  much,  to  tincture  the  whole  mass  of  his  materials, 
with  inaccuracy  or  error.  Beginnings,  in  works  of  this  kind,  are 
always  the  most  arduous  and  difficult  parts  of  the  business.  The 
Commissioner  therefore  hopes,  the  paucity  of  materials,  and  the 
manner  ol  their  arrangement,  in  the  present  report,  may  not  iuv» 
Fol  I.  No.  3.  B 


« 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


press  the  Society  unfavourably  as  to  this  interesting  object,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  encourage  them  to  persevere  in  these  inquiries,  and,  if 
possible,  to  procure  something  like  an  annual  report  of  a  similar 
nature. 


DISCOVERY,  NAME,  AND  SETTLEMENT. 

HENRY  the  Seventh,  king  of  England,  employed  Sebastian 
Cabot,  one  of  his  subjects,  to  discover  a  north-west  passage  to 
China;  in  attempting  which,  the  navigator,  in  the  year  1497,  dis- 
covered all  the  north-east  coast  of  America,  from  Cape  Florida  to 
67!  degrees  north  latitude;  the  whole  of  which  tract  of  country, 
the  crown  of  England,  as  the  phrase  was,  became  intitled  to,  by 
right  of  discovery.    Afterwards,  in  1 584,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
hi  Englishman,  sent  two  vessels  with  people  to  effect  a  settle- 
ment, who  landed  at  a  place  since  called  Roanoke,  in  Caro- 
lina, and  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  the 
English  sovereign,  Elizabeth,  calling  it  Virginia,  in  allusion  to 
her  being  a  virgin  queen.    Then,  between  the  years  1  584  and 
1606,  many  vovages  were  made,  by  various  English  subje6ts,  to 
different  parts  of  this  north-east  coast  of  America,  who  took  pos- 
session thereof  for  the  crown  of  England,  until,  on  April  10th, 
1606,  two  companies  were  incorporated,  by  letters  patent,  from 
James,  then  king  of  England,  by  the  names  of  the  South  Virginia 
Company,  and  the  North  Virginia  Company;  the  limits  of  the 
former  being  between  thelat.  340  and  41  °,  and  of  the  latter,  be- 
tween 380  and  450;  by  virtue  of  which,  the  South  Virginia  Com- 
pany settled  themselves  first  in  the  Bay  of  Chesapeake  in  1607; 
and  the  North  Virginia  Company  made  no  lasting  settlement  until 
1620,  when  Plymouth,  in  New-England,  was  settled.    In  1608, 
Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman,  discovered  what  has  been  since 
called  Hudson's  river,  whose  mouth  is  in  about  40'  20"  N.  This 
mouth,  and  considerable  part  of  the  river,  lie  within  the  limits 
of  both  the  said  corporations.    Hudson,  witnout  licence  from  his 
sovereign,  sold  his  discovery  to  the  Dutch:  under  colour  of  which, 
the  Dutch  West-India  Company  made  settlements  on  Hudson's 
river.    Sir  Samuel  Argal,  Governor  of  the  South  Virginia  Com- 
pany, conceiving  the  Dutch  as  intruders  upon  his  territory,  drove 
them  off  in  1618. 

In  the  year  1620,  King  James  I.  gave  the  Dutch  leave  to  build 
some  cottages  on  Hudson's  river,  for  the  conveniency  of  their  ves- 
sels, bound  to  and  from  Brazil,  touching  there  for  water  and  pro- 
visions; under  which  licence  the  Dutch  settled  a  colony,  then 
called  New-Netherlands ;  which  colony  of  New-Netherlands  ap- 
pears to  have  included  all  New-Jersey  and  Hudson's  river,  and  the 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


greater  part  of  what' is  now  New-York  and  Pennsylvania,  lying 
on  both  sides  of  New-Jersey. 

Complaint  having  been  made  of  these  proceedings  of  the  DTttch, 
by  C harks  I.  to  the  States  General,  the  business  was  disowned  by 
them,  and  declared,  in  a  public  instrument,  to  be  only  a  private 
undertaking  of  the  West-India  Company  of  Amsterdam.  By  these 
people,  the  town,  then  called  New- Amsterdam  and  Manades, 
which  is  now  the  city  of  New-York,  was  begun  on  the  south-west 
of  an  island  called  Manhattens,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

After  this,  the  Dutch  nation  remained  in  possession  of  the  New 
Netherlands  until  1664,  when  Charles  II.  sent  an  armed  force  to 
dispossess  them  ;  whereupon,  on  the  27th  of  August,  in  that  year, 
the  Dutch,  on  being  summoned,  made  a  surrender  thereof  to  Sir 
Robert  Carr  and  Colonel  Nichol. 

On  the  12th  March,  1663-4,  King  Charles  II.  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  reign,  by  letters  patent  under  the  great  seal  of  England, 
gave  and  granted  to  his  brother,  James,  Duke  of  York,  his  heirs 
and  assigns,  all  Mattawacks,  now  called  Long,  or  Nassau-Island, 
all  Hudson's  river,  and  all  the  lands  from  the  west  side  of  Connec- 
ticut river,  to  the  east  side  of  Delaware-Bay,  together  with  all  royal- 
ties, and  the  right  of  government ;  by  virtue  whereof,  James,  Duke 
of  York,  became  seized  of  the  same.  Of  this  he  sold  all  that  part 
which  includes  the  present  state  of  New-Jersey,  by  lease  and  re- 
lease, dated  the  23d  and  24th  days  of  June,  1664,  to  Lord  Bar- 
clay, and  Sir  George  Carteret,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  in  as  full  a 
manner  as  he  had  received  it.  And  this  possession  of  the  English 
was  confirmed  on  the  21st  of  July,  1667,  by  the  third  article  ot  the 
treaty  of  Breda,  between  Charles  II.  and  the  States  General. 

Afterwards,  on  the  30th  of  July,  1673,  New-York  and  New- 
Jersey  were  conquered  by  the  Dutch,  during  a  war  which  was  car- 
ried on  between  their  nation  and  the  English,  under  Charles  II. 
and  the  English  government  abolished  therein.  Peace,  however, 
being  made  between  the  contending  parties,  on  the  9 — 19th  of 
February,  1673-4,  at  London,  New-York  and  New-Jersey  were 
again,  by  virtue  of  the  6th  article  thereof,  re-delivered  to  Charles  II. 

Then  the  letters  patent  were  renewed  by  him  to  the  Duke  of 
York,  for  the  before-mentioned  extent  of  country,  &c.  on  the  29th 
ot  June,  1674.  Whereupon  the  Duke  of  York,  by  lease  and  re- 
lease, dated  28th  and  29th  July,  1674,  conveyed  to  Sir  George 
Carteret,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  all  of  what  is  called  East-Jersey, 
bounded  west  by  a  strait  line  from  Barnagat  creek,  to  a  certain 
creek  on  Delaware  river,  next  below  Rancokus  kill ;  thence  up 
the  Delaware  to  the  northernmost  branch  thereof,  which  is  in  lat. 
41'  40"  N.  and  on  the  North,  by  a  strait  line  drawn  thence  to 
Hudson's  river,  in  lat.  41 ;  and,  on  the  east,  partly  bv  the  main  sea, 
and  partly  by  Hudson's  river,  with  all  the  royalties  and  appur- 


s9°  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tenances;  reserving  to  himself  (the  Duke  of  York)  all  the  other 
granted  trails,  particularly  We  it -Jersey,  which  he  held  and  go- 
verned, in  spite  of  the  claims  of  Lord  Barclay  and  his  agents,  un- 
der the  grant  of  1664,  until  1680,  when  the  matter  was  accom- 
modated between  the  assigns  of  Barclay  and  the  Duke.  The  as- 
signs of  Barclay  and  Carteret  came  to  a  division,  the  former  hold- 
ing West,  and  the  latter  East-Jersey,  in  severalty. 

The  indefinite  manner  in  which  the  New-York  patents  were 
expressed,  rendered  it  difficult  precisely  to  interpret  their  meaning. 
But  as  all  Hudson's  river  was  granted,  the  patentees,  and  their  as-, 
signs,  have  taken  possession  of  the  country  on  both  sides:  and  the 
territorial  lines  between  New- York  and  the  adjoiningstates  of  New- 
Jersey,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  and  Pennsylvania, 
have  been  matters  of  special  negociation,  survey,  and  settlement, 
so  that,  at  present,  the  state  may  be  considered  as  included  within 
the  following  lines:  — 

BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  STATE. 

THE  state  of  New-York  is  included  within  the  following  li- 
mits: that  is  to  say,  within  a  line,  beginning  a  little  to  the  west- 
ward of  a  certain  monument,  placed  by  order  of  the  British  go- 
vernment, near  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Champlain,  on  the  pa- 
rallel of  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude,  where  it  joins  the 
province  of  Lower  Quebec,  and  the  state  of  Vermont,  and  run- 
ning thence  through  the  middle  of  Lake  Champlain,  and  along 
its  deepest  channel,  westward  of  the  Isle  aux  Motte,  until,  near  the 
head  of  South-Bay,  it  comes  to  the  mouth  of  Poultney  river ;  thence 
along  the  middle  of  the  said  river  towards  its  source,  until,  at  the 
distance  of  thirty  miles  east  of  Hudson's  river,  it  travels  south- 
wardly, until  it  strikes  the  north-west  corner  of  the  state  of  Mas- 
sachusetts; thence  along  the  western  boundary  of  Massachusetts 
until  it  reaches  the  north-western  part  of  the  state  of  Connecticut; 
thence  along  the  western  frontier  of  the  same  until  it  reaches  the 
Bast-river,  or  Long-Island  Sound,  at  the  south-eastern  extremity 
of  the  town  of  Rye;  thence  along  the  margin  of  the  Sound  un- 
til it  comes  to  the  mouth  of  Haerlem  river,  near  Hell-gate,  and 
along  that  river  to  its  termination  in  the  North  river,  at  Spuyton- 
devil  inlet,  and  along  the  North  river  until  it  arrives  at  the  forty- 
first  degree  of  north  latitude  ;  and  thence  along  the  oblique  line, 
forming  the  extreme  boundary  of  the  state  of  New-Jersey,  until 
It  strikes  the  river  Delaware;  and  thence  along  the  said  river  until 
it  meets  with  the  north-eastern  corner  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania, 
in  the  latitude  of  430  N.  and  along  the  same  until  it  reaches  the  tri- 
angular gore,  or  tract  of  country,  being  on  Lake  Erie,  northward 
vi  the  Pennsylvania  patent,  and  ceded  heretofore  by  New-lork. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


to  the  United  States,  and  along  the  eastern  limit  of  the  same  un- 
til it  reaches  Lake  Erie  ;  and  thence  along  the  said  lake,  and  the 
strait  leading  the  waters  from  it,  to  lake  Ontario,  and  along  lake 
Ontario  until  it  comes  to  the  river  St.  Lawrence;  thence  down 
and  along  the  said  river  until  it  arrives  at  the  forty-fifth  degree  of 
north  latitude;  and  thence  along  that  parallel  until  it  comes  to  the 
place  of  beginning;  including  alio  the  islands  lying  along  the  coast; 
to  wit,  the  island  of  Nassau,  or  Long-Island  ;  the  island  of  Man- 
hatten?,  or  New-York  Island;  Siaten-Island,  Great  Barn-Island, 
Little  Barn-Island,  the  Brothers,  Ryker's-Island,  the  City-Island, 
Hart-Island,  Hurtleberry-Island,  Gardiner's-Island,  Shelter-Island; 
and  a  number  of  other  small  islands  and  beaches,  some  of  which 
have  human  inhabitants,  and  others  none. 


DIVISION  OF  THE  STATE,  FOR  THE  PURPOSES  OF 
AGRICULTURAL  DESCRIPTION. 

THE  sea-coast  of  New-York  is  narrow;  for  though  Long-Is- 
land presents  a  front  of  more  than  one  hundred  miles,  yet  its  shal- 
low bays,  especially  on  the  south  side,  admit  no  other  than  Hat- 
bottomed  vessels  to  come  into  them,  except  at  the  port  of  Sagg- 
Harbour,  which  lies  in  the  large  bay,  situated  between  the  two  pro- 
jections of  land,  terminated  on  the  east  by  Montauk  and  Oyster- 
pond  points.  The  distance  on  the  main  land,  from  the  Connecti- 
cut line  to  the  extreme  point  of  Morrissana,  is  about  eighteen 
miles  to  the  most  distant ;  of  the  island  of  New-York,  not  more 
than  thirty  ;  and  across  the  bay,  to  the  south-western  j^art  of  Staten- 
Island,  not  much  more  than  fifty. 

The  narrow  limits  of  this  state  on  the  Atlantic,  and  its  great  ex- 
tent toward  the  lakes,  makes  the  description  of  it  difficult,  without 
including  some  part  of  the  adjacent  states.  Transgressions  will  be 
made,  however,  not  oftener  than  a  regard  to  perspicuity  renders 
necessary.  The  state,  for  the  purposes  of  agricultural  survey,  may 
be  divided  into,  I.  Continent.  And  this  may  be  subdivided 
into,  i.  The  granite  country,  extending  Irom  the  Sound  to  the  ter- 
mination of  the  Highlands,  or  first  range  of  mountains.  2.  The 
slate  country,  beginning  where  the  granite  ends,  and  underlaying  all 
other  strata,  further  westward,  and  northward,  than  the  researches 
of  the  Commissioner  have  extended.  3.  "The  Lime-stone  country, 
spreading  in  some  places  to  considerable  extent,  and,  though  scat- 
tered in  various  parts  of  the  country,  in  large  bodies,  yet  always 
superficial,  and  bottomed  upon  shistic  or  granitical  rock.  4.  The 
Sand-stone  country,  composing  the  Kaats-kill,  or  Blue  Mountains, 
and  some  smaller  strata,  but  always  resting  upon  some  deep-laid 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


and  more  ancient  fossil  bodies.  6.  The  Alluvial  country,  consist- 
ing oi  horizontal  layers  of  clay,  loam,  sand,  turf,  anci,  generally 
Speaking,  all  such  matters  as  constitute  intervale  space  between 
mountains  and  flat-land,  along  creeks  and  rivers.  II.  Islands. 
And  these  may  be  classed  as  they  are,  i.  Prima val,  as  New-York, 
Staten-Lland,  and  the  north-side  of  Long- 1  aland  ;  or,  2.  Secondary^ 
like  the  beaches,  hassocks,  and  marshes  on  the  sea-coast,  and  all 
that  part  of  Long-Island  lying  south  of  the  spine,  or  ridge  of  hills 
which  runs  through  it  from  east  to  west.  As  we  have  had  no 
maps  of  Subterranean  Geography,  like  those  published  in  Ger- 
many, of  the  Hartz  Forest,  and  in  France,  of  the  country  around 
Paris,  it  cannot  be  expected  the  following  descriptions  of  the 
earthy  bodies,  supposed  to  constitute  the  solid  fabric  of  the  interior 
part  of  the  globe  hereabout,  will  be  perfectly  correct  and  ample. 
Yet,  however  defective  it  may  be,  the  Commissioner  feels  a  con- 
fidence of  its  accuracy  as  far  as  it  goes.  Future  inquiry  must  de- 
velope  the  rest. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CONTINENT. 

t.  The  Granitical  Tracl. 

THE  whole  extent  of  country,  from  the  boundary  of  Connec- 
ticut, along  the  shore  of  the  Sound,  to  the  entrance  of  Haerlem 
river,  is,  with  little  exception,  a  rough  and  rocky  coast.  The 
streams  of  water  that  fall  into  the  East  river,  are  small  and  not 
very  numerous;  and  the  bays,  by  which  the  land  is  divided,  are 
narrow,  and  extend  but  a  small  distance  into  the  country.  Gra- 
nitical rocks  and  stones  constitute  the  chief  mineral  productions 
hereabout ;  they  extend  to  the  North  river,  and  are  found  on 
the  west  side  ot  it,  in  the  counties  of  Bergen  and  Morris,  in  the 
state  of  New-Jersey,  where  they  form  a  large  proportion  of  the 
first  ridge  of  mountains.  The  great  chain  of  these  granitical  moun- 
tains runs  from  north-east  to  south-west,  or  nearly  so,  and  may  be 
considered  as  arising  in  that  spine  or  ridge,  which  extends  irom 
the  neighbourhood  of  King's-Bridge,  and  running  north,  a  little 
easterly,  through  the  counties  of  Westchester  and  Duchess,  on 
the  borders  of  Connecticut, divides  the  running  streams, and  sends 
those  which  arise  on  its  east  side  into  Long-Island  Sound,  and 
those  that  issue  from  it  on  the  west  into  the  Hudson.  The  Taco- 
nic  mountain,  on  the  western  part  of  Massachusetts,  is  a  part  of 
the  same  chain;  and  it  is  presumeable  there  would  be  no  great  fal- 
lacy in  the  account,  if  they  were  considered  as  terminating  in  the 
Green  Mountains  of  Vermont,  forming  there  a  connection  of 
hills  and  mountains,  extending  from  north  to  south,  almost  from 
Canada  to  the  city  of  New-York.    This  division  of  the  country 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


includes  the  whole  of  the  counties  of  Westchester  and  Orange, 
the  southern  part  of  Ulster,  and  the  southern  and  eastern  parts  of 
Duchess,  and  the  eastern  parts  of  Columbia,  Renssellaer  and 
Washington  counties. 

The  best  views  of  the  strata  of  the  granite  rocks  are  along  the 
north  side  of  the  Sound,  in  Westchester  county,  and  on  both  sides 
of  the  Hudson,  in  the  counties  of  Orange  aud  Westchester,  and 
Duchess,  as  it  passes  through  the  Highland*; 

The  tide-waters  in  the  Sound,  oftentimes  thrown  into  violent 
commotion  by  storms,  have,  in  many  places,  washed  away  every 
moveable  thing  within  their  reach,  and  made  bare  large  surfaces  of 
rocks  along  the  shore  of  the  continent.  In  many  places,  the  soli- 
dity of  the  materials  opposes  any  further  incroachments  of  the 
waves ;  but,  in  others,  the  proprietors  of  estates,  terminating  in 
promontories,  points,  and  head-lands,  of  sandy  or  loomy  earth, 
without  rock,  are  suffering  annual  waste,  by  the  undermining  and 
tumbling  down  of  their  banks.  In  these  places,  the  bare  strata  of 
rocks  exposed  to  view,  allow  their  disposition  and  structure  to  be 
accurately  observed  ;  and  the  perpendicular  cliffs,  in  various  pla- 
ces, permit  their  strata  and  composition  to  be  ascertained.  The 
rocks  which  form  the  basis  of  the  soil,  and  constitute  the  chief 
materials  of  the  mountains,  are  stratified;  and  these  strata,  like  the 
mountains  they  compose,  have  a  direction  from  north-east  to 
south-west.  These  strata  are  of  the  vertical  kind,  and  have,  in 
no  instance,  any  great  declination  toward  the  horizon. 

They  consist  cniefly  of  quartz,  feldspath,  glimmer,  schoerl  and 
garnet,  blended  together  in  a  great  variety  of  forms.  The  quartz 
is  of  three  colours;  white,  (Q.  texturu  spatosa  &  Q.  purum  Cron.) 
half-clear  (Q.  semidiaphanum)  and  reddish.  The  feldspath  is 
both  white,  (spatum  scintillans  album)  and  red,  (S.  rubrum.) — ■ 
The  glimmer  is  sometimes  colourless,  (Mica  pura)  and  some- 
times coloured,  of  a  brown  or  darkish  hue,  (M.  coloratamartialis.) 
The  schoerl  is  both  rough  (Schoerlus  figura.  indcterminata)  and 
chrystallized,  (S.  chrystallizatus)  and  its  colours  are  black  and 
greenish.  The  garnets  are  of  different  forms,  but  commonly 
either  bespatter  the  rocks  in  minute  crystals,  of  a  reddish  cast,  and 
friable  texture,  of  a  size  nearly  equalling  very  small  shot,  (gra- 
natus  martialis)  or  of  a  larger  size,  and  more  determinate  figure  ; 
they  fill  up  the  vacuities,  and  may  be  picked  out  of  the  iutersLuial 
spaces.  (G.  chrystallizatus.) 

All  these  fossils  may  be  picked  up  in  their  separate  forms,  and 
they  are  to  be  found  too  variously  compacted  and  combined  with 
each  other.  Now,  one  finds  quartz  in  large  lumps,  adhering  to 
considerable  masses  of  glimmer ;  then  connected  with  white  and 
red  feldspath,  and  then  again  with  schoerl.  Sometimes  the  schoerl 
predominates,  and  gives  a  black  colour  to  the  rocks.  Sometimes 


3oo     _r.  ,     MEDICA^  REPOSITORY. 


the  .quartz,  prevails,  and  their  colour  is  grey  or  whitish.  Again", 
lue  mica  preponderates,  aad  they  thence  acquire  a  shining  or 
glistetrtttV  appearance.  There  are  instances  too,  where  the  red 
ieki>puth  is  the  more  abundant  materia!,  forming  huge  masses  of 
ret!  granite:  according  to  the  prevalence  of  one  or  other  of  these 
ingredients-,- is"  the  rock  of  a  whitish,  grey,  reddish,  black,  or  shin- 
ing appearance.  And  as  these  are  varied  in  the  veins,  of  which 
the  strata  are  composed,  so  the  stripes,  or  streaks,  which  run  longi- 
tudinally through  the  rock,  are  diversilied ;  and  as  the  particles  com- 
bined happen  to  be  of  greater  or  smaller  size,  and  to  be  more 
or  less  intimately  commixed,  the  rocks  which  they  constitute  will 
be  proportionally  streaked  or  speckled. 

These  strata  are  sometimes  interrupted.  The  force  and  attri- 
tion of  rivers  from  the  upland,  and  of  tides  from  the  ocean,  have, 
by  degrees,  worn  down  or  torn  away,  not  merely  the  soil,  gravel, 
and  stones,  but  large  parcels  of  rocky  matter.  The  fragments  of 
these  he  thick  along  the  shores,  coves,  and  vallies,  where  they  of- 
ten appear  in  solitary  nodules,  or  piled  upon  each  other  to  a  con- 
siderable amount;  or  in  sunken  masses,  whose  summits,  though 
visible  at  extreme  ebb,  are  covered  up  at  high  water. 

The  strata  are  also  interrupted  by  creeks  and  fissures.  Some  of 
these  are  longitudinal,  or  in  the  direction  of  the  streaks  and  veins. 
Others  again  are  transverse,  and  cross  the  strata  at  a  right  or  some 
other  angle.  In  many  instances  they  wind  curiously  along, 
through  the  solid  rock  in  a  sinuous  or  serpentine  course.  Their 
width  is  from  a  quarter  of  an  inch  or  less  to  three  feet ;  and,  in 
some  rocks  there  are  spots  where  the  fissure  opens  all  of  a  sudden, 
for  a  short  distance,  to  the  width  of  a  rod.  These  cracks  are 
mostly  injected  full  of  other  matter,  though  some  of  them  are 
empi) .  The  contents  are,  generally,  a  mixture  of  quartz,  felds- 
path,  and  glimmer,  sometimes  separate,  sometimes  united  two  and 
two,  sorties  tames  all  three  agglutinated  in  large  and  coarse  masses, 
and  then  again  conglomerated  more  intimately  with  each  other. 
And  such  is  generally  the  disposition  and  structure  of  the  rocks 
along  tin"  sher.es,  and  wherever, along  the  roads,  creeks,  or  on  the 
mountain  tops,  lair  examination  can  be  made. 

The  appearances  on  both  sides  of  the  Hudson,  in  the  High- 
lands, are,  in  the  main,  very  similar  to  those  in  the  lower  country. 
The  rocks  at  Stony-Point,  Anthony's  Nose,  Fort  Montgomery, 
West-Point,  and  Constitution-Island, almost  exactly  resemble  those 
already  described.  It  must  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  chan- 
nel, worn  or  torn  by  the  river  through  these  ridges  of  granite,  ex- 
hibits much  rude  and.  picturesque  scenery;  and  that  the  rolling  olf 
of  rocks,  and  the- crumbling  down  of  hills,  by  the  operation  of 
natural  or  spontaneous  causes,  has  spread  through  this  region  more 
than  usual  irregularity  and  disorder. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


5*1 


Within  this  district  there  is  a  range  of  rocks  of  another  kind, 
which  require  particular  mention.  About  fourteen  or  fifteen 
miles  north  of  the  city  of  New-York,  the  west  bank  of  the  Hud- 
son, on  the  Jersey  shore,  becomes  higher  and  more  steep,  till,  at 
length,  it  fronts  the  stream  with  an  almost  perpendicular  face  of 
rock.  From  their  commencement,  to  the  southward  of  Closter- 
landing,  to  their  discontinuance  at  Dobb's-ferry,  and  from  then- 
beginning  again,  north  of  Tappan,  quite  to  Haverstraw,  where  they 
recede  to  the  north-west,  and  leave  the  river,  they  are  disposed 
in  vertical  strata.  Perpendicular  rents  and  splits  divide  them  into 
oblong  masses,  or  fragments,  from  top  to  bottom.  Their  height  is* 
such,  that,  from  the  top  of  them,  west  of  Philipsburgh,  an  observer 
may  see  quite  across  Westchester  county,  view  the  Sound  with  to- 
lerable distinctness,  and  terminate  the  prospect  by  the  hills  of 
Long-Island.  Their  appearance  suggests  to  the  experienced  eye, 
the  similitude  of  Basaltic  columns.  The  Commissioner  ascended 
them  in  several  places,  and  satisfied  himself  the  rocks  were  of  that 
Composition,  (w/ii/i,  tra/i,  saxum  dancmorense)  which  constitutes 
a  great  portion  of  the  figured  Basaltes.  Though  no  regular  pil- 
lars fell  under  his  observation,  either  in  climbing  aloft,  or  walking 
below,  or  examining  them  with  a  good  spying-glass,  as  he  sailed 
slowly  by  them,  yet  one  of  his  intelligent  friends  assured  him,  in 
a  conversation  afterwards,  that  he  had  seen  several  of  them  with 
regular  sides  and  angles. 

A  little  westward  of  Fredidiker-hook,  one  of  the  highest  of  the 
Basaltic  ridges,  is  a  lake  of  about  two  miles  in  circumference.  To 
those  who  are  convinced  of  the  volcanic  origin  of  basaltes,  this  ca- 
vity, now  filled  with  water,  and  inhabited  by  fishes,  may  seem  the 
extinguished  crater  of  the  burning  mountain. 

These  rocks  have  many  tokens  of  having  undergone  fusion,  by 
subterranean  fire.  In  a  number  of  places  there  is  a-  spunginess 
and  porosity  in  the  stones  resembling  slag,  and  approaching  some- 
what to  pumice.  Both  their  vertical  arrangement  and  their  insolu- 
bility in  water,  oppose  the  idea  of  their  being  placed  as  they  now 
are  by  the  agency  of  that  fluid.  Besides,  there  is  a  circumstance 
relating  to  them,  which  strikingly  exhibits  the  probability  of  their 
being  some  oi  the  most  recent  mineralogical  products  of  our  coun- 
try. This  collection  of  vertical  rocks  is  underlaid,  from  one  end  to 
the  other,  by  horizontal  strata  of  indurated  clay,  mixed  with  iron, 
or  of  clay  and  silex,  with  a  ferruginous  tinge;  and  by  sand-stone, 
coloured  reddish  by  a  martial  impregnation.  This  sand-stone,  of 
which  there  are  valuable  quarries  near  Fredidiker-hook,  is  compos- 
ed of  silicious  grit,  clay,  and  glimmer,  with  now  and  then  a  thin 
layer  of  whitish  or  bluish  clay,  or  clay  and  mica  interspersed  ;  and 
sometimes  bits  of  semi-transparent  quartz  arc  found  in  it.  On 
walking  along  the  shore,  between  the  mountain  and  the  river,  south 
Fd.  I  N«.  3.  C 


303 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


of  Haverstraw  lower  landing,  these  horizontal  strata  may  be  ob- 
served; and  large  masses  of  the  sand-stone  obtained  from  them,  in- 
tended for  the  builder's  Use,  were  si^en  by  the  Commissioner  lying 
at  the  landing.  Judging  according  to  tne  analogy  of  other  cases, 
and  the  most  probable  conclusion  that  reason  can  deduce  from  these 
appearances,  the  sand-stone  may  be  estimated  as  a  production, 
greatly  more  recent  than  the  granite  on  which  it  rests;  and  the 
w  hin  and  basaltes,  long  since  the  deposition  of  the  sand-stone  from 
water,  may  be  imagined  to  have  been  thrown  from  their  subter- 
ranean abode  in  a  melted  state,  and  to  have  cooled  aud  hardened 
in  their  present  situation. 

The  chief  occonomical  use  of  these  granitical  and  basaltic  rocks 
is,  for  laying  the  foundations  of  houses,  and  for  the  construction 
of  docks.  Great  quantities  of  stones  for  these  purposes  are  ob- 
tained from  the  quarries,  both  on  the  East  and  North  rivers,  for 
the  New-York  market.  On  farms,  they  answer  a  very  valuable 
purpose,  in  forming  stone-fences  for  inclosing  fields. 
.  As  to  metallic  substances,  excepting  the  copper-mine  a  little 
above  Newark,  on  Passaick  river,  the  chief  ores  of  consequence 
are  those  of  iron.  It  has  been  mentioned  already  how  many  of 
the  fossils  are  tinctured  with  this  metal.  By  admixture  with  clay, 
it  forms  yellow,  brown,  and  reddish  ochres,  occurring  sometimes 
in  large  veins  or  strata.  When  combined  with  clay,  in  another 
proportion,  it  forms  a  solid  cement,  and  conglutinates  quartzy 
pebbles  into  solid  masses.  When  united  with  clay  and  sulphur, 
in  yet  other  circumstances,  it  forms  yellow  or  martial  pyrites, 
some  of  which  is  durable  enough  to  preserve  its  compactness  for 
a  great  length  of  time;  while  so  loose  is  the  coherence  of  the  in- 
gredients in  other  specimens,  that  the  oxygene  of  the  atmosphere  is 
attracted  by  the  sulphur,  turning  it  to  sulphuric  acid,  and  dissolv- 
ing the  iron.  The  crystals  of  pyrites  then  lose  their  shining  and 
cubic  appearance,  the  mass  crumbles  down,  and  instead  of  a 
handsome  metallic  specimen,  nothing  is  left  but  an  efflorescence  of 
copperas  (sulphite  of  iron)  and  alum,  (S.  of  alumine)  mixed  with 
clay.  When  iron  concretes  with  thin  layers  of  clay  on  the  surface 
of  the  land,  it  causes  that  shelly  or  fiakey  appearance,  so  frequently 
met  with  in  some  parts  of  the  country.  Sometimes  it  is  found 
in  loose  masses,  which  are  chiefly  red,  brown,  or  black  oxyds,  and 
then,  again,  they  are  concretions  of  pyrites  with  quartzy  gravel. 
In  some  places  vast  collections  of  bog  ore  occur  in  low  grounds 
or  swampy  spots ;  and,  in  others,  great  quantities  of  upland  ore  are 
procured  from  the  tops  and  sides  of  mountains.  From  among  the 
granite  rocks  in  the  Highlands  in  particular,  the  inhabitants  bring 
many  tens  down  to  the  landings  on  the  Hudson:  thence  it  is  car- 
ried away  by  water,  and  forged  not  only  in  the  works  higher  up 
the  river,  but  in  those  which  are  established  in  the  eastern  states. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


This  iron  ore,  some  of  which  is  magnetical,  continues  among  the 
mountains  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  for  a  long  distance  into 
New-Jersey,  and  is  so  abundant,  that  the  works  of  Stirling,  Ring- 
wood,  Mount  Hope,  Hibernia,  Rockaway,  Sib.  have  been  sup- 
plied with  all  their  ore  from  these  internal  and  neighbouring 
sources. 

Before  quitting  this  head,  it  will  be  necessary  to"  mention  that 
amianthus,  in  various  forms,  is  found  among  the  granitical  moun- 
tains. That  which  possesses  the  longest  and  best  fibre  is  in  the 
north  and  south  chain.  Soap-rock  (Steatites,)  is  found  too  in 
some  places,  of  a  quality  fine  enough  for  the  lathe,  (lapis  ollaris.) 
The  amianthus  has  been  manufactured  into  paper,  and  the  Com- 
missioner's ink-stand  has  been  turned  out  of  a  bit  of  the  Steatites. 
Larsre  rocks  of  stellated  asbestos  sometimes  occur. 

2.  The  Shi stic  Trail. 

It  had  a  long  time  appeared  to  the  Commissioner  an  object 
of  considerable  importance,  to  examine  the  spots  on  the  Hudson, 
where  the  great  ridges  of  granite  break  off,  on  the  termination  of 
the  first  chain  of  mountains.  The  facts  to  be  ascertained  by  such 
an  examination  would,  as  he  believed,  be  of  considerable  im- 
portance, in  settling  some  dubious  points  of  geology,  and  have  a 
considerable  share  in  making  out  a  rational  theory  of  the  earth. 
He,  therefore,  landed  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  at  New-Corn- 
wall, a  little  to  the  northward  of  the  Wind-gap,  and  walked  back 
along  the  shore  below  the  bank,  quite  to  the  foot  of  Butter-hill. 
Here,  where  the  rocks  had  been  washed  bare  by  the  water,  he 
found  what  he  was  in  search  of.  The  granite  terminated  suddenly, 
and  in  some  spots  with  almost  the  perpendicularity  of  a  wall.  The 
strata  tending  from  south-west  to  north-east,  naturally  determined 
his  view  toward  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  In  looking  in  the 
diie£tion  of  the  strata,  PollepelPs-Island  lay  before  him  indirect 
range.  He  visited  and  examined  this  island,  which  he  found  little 
else  than  a  huge  mass  of  granite.  Turning  his  eye  again  to  the 
north-east,  he  observed  a  sort  of  point,  or  bluff,  on  the  Fish-kill 
side,  which,  on  being  examined,  proved  to  be  the  extreme  termi- 
nation of  the  granite  there. 

Having  thus  assured  himself  of  the  cessation  of  the  granite  at 
the  before-mentioned  bluff,  at  Pollepell's-Island,  and  at  the  northern 
part  of  the  base  of  Butter-hill,  the  Commissioner  proceeded  along 
the  shore  for  some  distance,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  to  satisfy 
himself  of  the  natural  appearances.  He  found  there  was  an  inter- 
val of  forty  rods,  or  thereabout,  between  the  termination  of  the  gra- 
nite,and  the  emcrgingof  the  trueshistus.  This  space,  between  the 
tw  o  great  masses  of  materials  consists,  of  common  sand  forming  a 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


beach,  on  which  lie  nodules  of  argillaceous  grit,  quartz,  white  and 
red  feldspath,  shistus,  concretions  of  small  stones  in  an  argillaceous 
cement,  and  iron  ore.  Just  to  the  northward  of  this  the  slate 
rocks  rise  and  form  the  margin  of  the  river.  It  is  highly  probable, 
that  the  shistus  takes  a  deep  dip,  and  underlays  the  granite,  and 
that  the  collection  of  sand  and  heterogeneous  matters  between  the 
place  where  the  latter  ends,  and  the  former  makes  its  appearance, 
is  formed  partly  by  the  alluvium  of  the  river,  and  partly  by  the 
tumbling  down  of  its  banks.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  shistic 
rocks  begin,  may  be  seen  numerous  instances  of  their  fissures  be* 
ing  injected  with  quartz.  The  friable  slate  is  broken  in  many  di- 
rections, sometimes  split  lengthwise,  sometimes  cracked  across, 
now  rent  obliquely,  and  then  divided  by  crooked  winding  and 
ragged  flaws.  These  openings  in  the  shistic  rocks  are  most  cu- 
riously and  exactly  filled,  even  to  the  most  intricate  and  minute  ra- 
mification, with  the  silicious  charge.  In  his  w  alk,  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  shistic  rocks  to  the  landing  at  Newburgh, 
there  were  frequent  verifications  of  the  same  thing  before  the 
Commissioner's  eyes. 

The  obvious  inference  from  these  facts  is,  that  in  computing  the 
age  or  duration  of  the  different  fossil  bodies,  composing  the  solid 
matter  of  the  globe,  a  priority  must  be  allowed  to  shistic  rocks, 
notwithstanding  the  very  great  antiquitv  generally  ascribed  to  the 
granitical  tribe.  It  would  seem,  that,  before  the  granite  was  formed, 
or  while  it  was  yet  soft  ?.nd  fluid,  the  slate  had  become  hard,  and, 
from  the  operation  of  various  causes,  liad  been  split  and  cracked 
in  many  directions ;  and  that,  while  the  shistic  rocks  were  yet  open 
and  gaping,  the  quartzy  substances  found  their  way  into  the  aper- 
tures, and  filled  them  with  a  jet  of  silicious  matter.  And  this 
conclusion  in  favour  of  the  older  date  of  the  shistic  rocks,  receives 
additional  force  from  the  consideration,  that  most  probably  the 
granite  is  but  a  superficial  stratum,  grounded  cn  a  shistic  bottom. 

These  slate-rocks  are  of  considerable  variety.  They  are,  in 
some  places,  exceedingly  compact,  forming  huge  masses,  or  solid 
blocks.  Then,  though  possessed  of  considerable  hardness,  they 
have  a  sort  of  scabrous  or  ragged  appearance :  in  other  spots  they 
are  of  an  exceedingly  friable  and  shattered  texture,  crumbling  easily 
to  small  pieces.  In  certain  other  situations  they  may  be  broken 
up  in  pieces  large  enough  for  building  walls  and  furnaces.  Some 
of  those  which  are  exposed  to  high  degrees  of  fire,  melt  or  soften 
enough  to  derange  the  works,  and  give  evidence  of  a  bituminous 
quality.  There  appeared  some  instances  of  shistus  that  might  do 
for  covering  houses,  and  for  slates  to  write  upon,  but  the  quanti- 
ties seemed  small,  and  the  specimens  not  very  premising.  It  is 
much  to  be  hoped,  when  the  country  is  explored  to  a  greater  depth 
that  quarries  of  slate,  fit  for  roofs  of  houses,  may  be  found. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


These  shistic  rocks  prevail  through  a  large  tract  of  country. 
They  appear  to  underlay  all  the  lime-stone  and  calcarious  earth. 
In  many  places  they  constitute  a  large  proportion  of  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson.  At  certain  places  they  emerge  from  beneath  the  soil; 
and,  in  others,  the  waters  ofcreeksand  brooks  has  laid  bare  some  of 
the  strata.  Shistic  rocks  form  the  basis  of  the  beautirul  cascade  on. 
Cornelii!b's-ki!l,aboutseven  miles  east  of  Claverack.  They  are  vi- 
sible in  the  creek,  which  runs  through  Watervleit,  a  little  north  of 
Albany.  The  Mohawk  river,  at  the  Cohos,or  GreatFalls,  is  preci- 
pitated down  a  ledge  of  shistic  rock,  and  it  continues  much  farther, 
and,  I  believe,  in  all  directions.  Even  the  Blue  Mountains,  as  will 
be  soon  shewn,  enormous  as  they  are,  stand  upon  a  basis  of  slate. 

The  inclination  of  the  shistic  strata  is  sometimes  vertical,  then 
deviating  considerably  from  the  perpendicular,  and  then  again  the 
materials  are  jumbled  together  in  all  directions. 

3.  The  Li/ue- Stone  Trafls. 

Calcarious  earth  is  found  in  great  quantity  ;  and  when  it  is 
considered  of  what  importance  it  is  to  have  plenty  of  lime-stone, 
marble,  and  marie,  in  a  country,  the  disposition  of  great  bodies  of 
these  substances,  through  various  parts  of  the  State,  must  appear  a 
happy  and  bountiful  provision  of  nature.  The  masses,  or  layers, 
of  calcarious  earth  are  every  where  superficial,  and  are  bedded  both 
on  granite  and  shistus.  There  are  some  traces  of  it  to  the  south- 
ward  of  Tarry -Town,  and  there  is  a  great  body  of  it  at  Verplanck's 
Point,  just  at  the  beginning  of  the  Highlands;  and  at  the  foot  of 
the  Donderberg,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  there  is  another  par- 
cel of  it.  On  the  north  side  of  the  Highlands,  there  is  an  exten- 
sive tract  of  it  on  both  sides  of  the  Hudson.  It  runs,  like  the  other 
great  collections  of  rocks,  from  north-east  to  south-west.  Traces 
of  it  are  to  be  found  on  the  west  side  of  the  north  and  south  chain, 
which  divides  the  waters  running  into  the  Sound  from  those  that 
empty  themselves  into  the  North  river.  The  southernmost  extent 
of  it,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  is  a  little  to  the  northward  of  the 
Great  Wappinger's  Creek;  and  on  the  west  side, about  three  miles 
above  Newburgh  landing.  The  northernmost  termination  of  it, 
on  the  west  side,  is  above  Acker's-ferry,  near  Jew's  creek;  and  on 
the  east,  a  little  to  the  northward  of  Barnegat.  It  seems  to  extend 
north-eastwardly  quite  to  the  Partition  hills,  nndso.ith-westwardlv  to 
?.  very  considerable  distance  in  the  counties  of  Ulster  and  Orange. 
There  is  a  quantity  of  it  near  the  northern  source  of  Crotoo  river. 
Much  of  this  calcarious  earth  burns  into  excellent  quick-lime. 
Some  of  it  is  mixed  with  too  large  a  proportion  ol  iiinty  matter  to 
be  capable  of  calcining  well.  Other  parcel-,  01  it  again  are  sus- 
ceptible of  being  smoothed  and  even  polished  for  oi'nunv.MUd  and 


1 


\o6  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


elegant  purposes.  There  are  some  kinds  that  are  of  a  crumbling 
and  rotten  texture,  and  others  which  possess  very  great  hardness. 
There  occurs,  in  several  places,  a  sort  of  friable  calcarious  earth, 
tit  a  white  colour,  lying  in  horizontal  strata,  and  casilv  reducible 
to  a  whitt  sand,  which  the  inhabitants  use  for  sprinkling  on  their 
house  Moors. 

Calcarious  earth  is  not  confined  to  the  very  large collections  just 
described,,  but  in  smaller  quantity,  and  loose  masses,  is  scattered 
through  the  mountains  where  the  iron-ore  abounds.  That  kind 
of  earth  which  is  used  in  the  furnaces,  to  assist  in  fluxing  and  re- 
ducing the  metal,  is  thus  distributed  about  the  country,  where  iron 
works  are  erected,  in  quantity  sufficient  for  their  use. 

But  calcarious  earth  is,  in  some  places,  filled  with  the  remains  of 
animals.  There  is  a  lump,  or  mass  of  lime-stone,  in  Columbia 
county,  about  half  a  mile  west  from  the  village  of  Claverack,  and 
of  about  eight  hundred  acres  in  extent,  which  is  remarkable  for  its 
petrifactions:  it  is  a  high  ridge,  the  margin  of  which  is,  in  some 
places,  shelving,  in  others  perpendicular,  and,  in  others,  almost 
overhanging  the  road  as  one  passes  along.  Fifty  or  sixty  rods  after 
ascending  the  crags  on  the  east  side,  the  rocks  are  curiously  figured 
all  over  their  surfaces,  with  likenesses  of  sea  shells ;  and,  on  breaking 
them  to  pieces,  their  internal  substance  is  found  to  be  composed 
principally  of  the  coverings  of  marine  animals.  Although  these 
materials  are  firmly  compacted  into  stone,  yet  their  shapes  are  of- 
ten so  intire  and  complete,  that  thfl  species  may  be  readily  distin- 
guished. But  it  is  worthy  of  particular  remark,  that  of  the  species 
there  discovered,  there  are  resemblances  of  the  shells  of  several 
marine  animals  that  are  not  known  at  present  to  be  inhabitants  of 
our  coasts  or  shores. 

This  spot  is  distant  about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  the 
ocean,  and  nearly  lour  east  from  the  fresh  water  of  Hudson'.-: 
river. 

It  is  not  intended  to  offer  many  refler'lions  on  these  curious  ap- 
pearances. Certain  it  is,  from  the  superficial  arrangement  of 
much  of  the  calcarious  matter  upon  the  globe,  and  from  the  re- 
mains of  animal  substances  which  it  apparently  contains,  much 
of  the  lime-stone  may  be  fairly  considered  as  of  more  recent  date 
than  the  granitical  and  shistic  fossils.  The  opinion  to  which 
modern  philosophy  leans,  that  all  the  calcarious  earth  in  the  world 
is  to  be  traced  back  to  the  collecting  labour  and  accumulation  of 
pnimals,  appears  doubtful ;  for  this  plain  reason,  that  if  lime  is  a 
primitive  earth,  or  elementary  substance  it,  must  have  existed,  in 
some  form  and  seme  place,  before  animals  could  have  been  fur- 
nished with  it.  A  right  consideration  of  the  matter  will  then  di- 
vide calcarious  earth  into,  i.  That  which  is  coeval  with  the  pre- 
sent mundane  system;  and,  2.  That  which  has  undergone  solution 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


307 


in  the  ocean,  and  other  water  or  fluids  of  any  sort,  and  has  been  di- 
rectly precipitated  from  them,or,after  havingenteredinto  the  struc- 
ture of  animals,  exists  now  among  their  relicks.  The  agency  of 
animals  in  manufacturing  the  first  kind  is  out  of  the  question : 
the  only  inquiry  is,  how  far  their  labours  have  been  instrumental 
in  giving  its  present  form  and  qualities  to  the  second.  The  Com- 
missioner feels  a  persuasion,  that,  though  real  exuvias  of  animals 
do  indisputably  exist  in  large  quantities,  in  many  parts  of  the 
earth,  (see  Luidii  Lythophyl.  Britann.  Ichnograph.  passim)  yet 
there  are  some  appearances,  of  shells  particularly,  which  are  of  a 
very  doubtful  and  imposing  nature.  It  has  been  said,  that  there 
is  a  natural  process,  whereby,  in  the  consolidation  of  a  rock  or 
stratum,  the  resemblance  of  a  shell  may  be  produced  where  no 
real  shell  ever  existed.  Some  observers  have  gone  so  far  as  to  de- 
clare they  have  witnessed  the  production  and  growth  of  them,  from  < 
a  microscopical  smallness  to  a  considerable  size;  and  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  particular  arrangement  and  coherence  of  the  particles, 
the  figures  of  different  species  of  testaceous  creatures  were  coun- 
terfeited. Many  of  these  supposed  exuviae  are  evidently  crystalli- 
zations. Bodies,  when  taking  upon  themselves  a  crystallized  figure, 
assume  a  greater  variety  ot  shapes  than  has  hitherto  been  ascer- 
tained, after  all  the  labour  bestowed  upon  the  subject.  It  is 
known,  that,  in  the  Cot  ham  stones  and  Florentine  marbles,  both  of 
which  are  lime-stones,  there  are  representations  of  houses,  castles, 
ruins,  trees,  rivers,  &c.  naturally  formed,  and  to  be  brought  to  view 
by  breaking  and  polishing  :  in  these  instances,  nobody  supposes 
the  objects  presented  are  genuine  petrifactions,  but  only  casual  re- 
semblances of  certain  things,  occasioned  by  the  peculiar  arrange- 
ment of  the  particles  of  the  stone.  Why,  then,  may  it  not  be  al- 
lowed, that  likenesses  of  animal  substances  may  occur  in  the  cry- 
stallizing process  by  which  many  calcarious  rocks  were  formed? 
and  in  situations  where,  in  fact,  no  animal,  or  part  of  an  animal, 
ever  existed  ? 

Shistus  underlays  the  whole  of  these  strata  and  masses  of  lime- 
stone. The  city  of  Hudson,  a  small  distance  to  the  westward  of 
the  spot  just  described,  is  partly  built  upon  this  kind  of  stone ; 
and  the  same  sort  of  slaty  material  abounds  beyond  Claverack  to 
the  eastward.  In  like  manner,  between  Poughkeepsie  and  Wap- 
pinger's  Kill,  the  spots  can  be  easily  found  where,  on  the  cessation 
of  the  lime-stone,  the  shistic  rocks  make  their  appearance  from 
below. 

4.    The  S  and- St  one  Traft. 

Besides  the  quarries  of  sand-stone  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Newark,  in  New-Jersey,  and  those  already  mentioned  as  support- 


3o8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


ing  the  basalte>,  there  are  yet  other  large  bodies  of  it  in  the  state 
ot  New-York.  The  most  considerable  of  these  lie  back  of  King- 
ston and  KaatVKi'l,  and  form  the  second  range  of  TitHftijit,  or 
the  Blue  Mountains. 

They  are  partly  in  Ulster  and  partly  in  Albany  county.  They 
are  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  on  ac- 
count of  a  blueness  or  haze  which  they  present  to  the  eye  when 
seen  from  a  distance.  They  are  likewise  called  the  Kaat'i- Kill 
Mountains,  from  a  river  of  that  name  which  issues  from  them  and 
falls  into  the  Hudson  a  little  below  Lunenberg.  They  are  consi- 
dered, and  perhaps  with  truth,  the  highest  land  in  the  State  of 
New-York;  and  though,  by  reason  of  their  remoteness,  not  visible 
by  mariners  arriving  on  the  coast,  are  however  to  be  seen  from  a 
great  distance  inland. 

They  consist  chiefly  of  sand-stone,  (lapis  arenaceus)  which  is 
grounded  upon  slate  of  a  brittle  and  shivery  texture,  (shistus  fra- 
gilis)  some  ot  which,  when  exposed  to  a  high  degree  of  heat, 
melts  and  gives  evidence  of  a  bituminous  quality  (sh  'ntus pinguis). 
The  layers  ot  this  mass  of  slate  are  of  the  vertical  kind,  or  have 
an  inclination  of  about  from  sixty  to  eighty  degrees  from  the  ho- 
rizon; though  in  some  places  their  order  is  disturbed,  and  there 
appears  to  be  an  irregular  mixture  or  jumble  of  the  materials  to- 
gether. In  some  places,  quartz  (quartzum  amorphum)  is  blended 
with  the  slate;  and  in  others,  veins  and  figures  of  the  shistus  are 
filled  up  with  it  (quartzum  granulation) . 

The  mountains  are  supported  upon  this  slaty  foundation.  The 
rocks  are  composed  of  flinty  sand,  or  grit  and  pebbles  of  various 
sorts,  conglutinated,  and  piled  up  in  vast  horizontal  strata.  The 
particles  of  grit  are  not  impalpable,  but  are  easily  distinguishable 
both  by  the  sight  and  touch,  seeming  evidently  to  have  been 
formed  by  attrition,  prior  to  their  being  consolidated  in  their  pre- 
sent lorm.  The  pebbles,  or  small  stones,  contained  in  the  rock, 
are  principally  red  and  white  quartz,  sand-stone,  and  red  ja^par 
(diaspro  rosso)  :  all  of  them  are  of  small  sizes,  roundish,  and 
smooth,  with  every  appearance  of  being  water-worn,  as  they  most 
exactly  resemble  the  nodules  lying  on  the  beaches  and  shores  of 
the  Atlantic.  Toward  the  tops  are  found  petrifactions  and  im- 
pressions of  marine  shells,  some  of  which  exist  in  an  argillaceous 
and  some  in  a  silicious  ground;  and  it  is  remarkable  of  these,  as 
well  as  of  those  found  in  the  calcareous  stone  at  Ciaverack  and  the 
flint  near  Poughkeepsie,  that  though  the  clam  and  scollop  shells 
are  very  plain,  there  are  evidences  oJ  other  animals  quite  as  easy 
to  distinguish,  which  are  not  found  existing  in  our  waters,  nor 
along  our  coasts.  The  horizontal  disposition  of  the  strata  con- 
tinues from  the  base  quite  to  the  tops  ot  the  highest  ridges,  and  a 
remarkable  sameness  prevails  throughout  the  whole.    The  water 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


fe  exceedingly  pure  and  good,  giving  no  particular  indication  of  a 
saline,  calcareous,  or  metallic  tincture;  though  it  was  said  iron-ore 
was  to  be  met  with  in  certain  valleys,  and  liine-stone  in  some  places 
entered  into  the  composition  of  the  hills. 

■  His  expectation,  when  he  set  out  upon  the  expedition,  was,  th.it 
the  mountains  were  of  the  primary  kind;  but  he  experienced  no 
small  degree  of  surprise  on  finding  all  the  facts  before  him  bear 
witness  of  the  recent  formation  of  these  huge  masses.  Every 
thing,  from  the  shistic  foundation  upward,  had  a  modern  look; 
though  without  pretending  to  determine  precisely  when  the  moun- 
tains were  erected  on  their  present  foundation,  the  beholder  cannot 
refrain  looking  back  toward  that  time,  when  the  creatures  that 
inhabited  the  petrified  shells  were  alive;  to  that  more  remote  pe- 
riod, when  the  sand  and  gravel  which  formed  the  shores  where 
they  grew,  first  acquired  their  smallness  and  rotundity;  and  to  that 
still  more  distant  aera,  when  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  after  having 
comminuted  and  smoothed  the  latter,  gave  animation  and  nourish- 
ment to  the  former. 

It  may  be  remarked,  in  general,  that  the  course  or  direction  of 
the  ledges  is,  with  variation  of  a  few  degrees,  from  north-east  to 
south-west,  in  the  secondary,  as  well  as  in  the  primary  rocks;  the 
arrangement  here  being  no  exception  to  the  general  rule  prevail- 
ing through  the  continent. 

Their  most  rugged  and  difficult  ascent  is  on  the  eastern  side, 
where  perpendicular  walls  of  different  heights,  from  five  to  fifty 
feet,  piled  within  each  other,  tier  above  tier,  constitute,  in  some 
places,  the  rocky  fabric  and  solid  support  of  the  mountains.  Their 
nakedness  is  relieved  by  a  coat  of  mosses  and  by  shrubs,  bushes 
and  capillary  plants,  springing  out  of  their  cracks  and  crevices, 
wherever  they  can  adhere  or  insert  their  roots;  as  well  as  by  the 
tall  and  stately  trees  which  cover  the  space  between  the  top  of  one 
precipice  and  the  bottom  of  the  next.  But  notwithstanding  this 
various  covering,  the  larger  divisions  of  the  rocks  can  be  seen  for 
many  miles,  rising,  as  it  were,  step  by  step,  to  the  summit.  To- 
wards the  west,  there  is  no  corresponding  structure,  but  the  land 
shelves  away  gradually  toward  Schoharie-Kill,  whose  stream  takes 
its  rise  in  the  mountains.  The  country  behind  them  is  conse- 
quently much  more  elevated  than  the  tract  between  their  foot  and 
the  Hudson;  and  by  reason  of  their  more  easy  access  from  that 
quarter,  a  number  of  the  settlers  who  were  discouraged  by  the 
eastern  aspect,  have  ventured  to  come  in  from  the  westward. 

Within  halt  a  mile  of  the  spot  where  the  waters  divide,  and  run 
both  east  and  west,  there  grow  very  large  maple-trees  (acer  sac- 
ckarinum),  whence  some  of  the  families  manufacture  considerable 
quantities  of  sugar.  A  white  pine  measured  five  yards  and  a  third 
in  circumference  (jiir.us  strobus).    A  hemlock  was  more  than. 

Vol.  I.  No.  3.  D 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


lour  feet  across  the  stump  (Jiinus  Canadensis  Linn).  A  wile? 
cherry -board  (firunus  Firgtr.iaca),  at  a  saw-mill,  was  thirty  inche* 
wide.  Spruce  trees,  of  a  size  ior  spars  and  yards  of  ship:,  are  plen- 
tiful in  the  same  neighbourhood  (Jiinus  Canadensis  dte  Roy). 

His  route  to  the  ptace  where  this  heavy  timber  grow*,  was  be- 
tween two  ponds,  or  lakes,  surrounded  by  tall  trees,  and  iringed 
with  a  green  margin.  They  contain  fishes ;  but  as  much  of  the 
water  had  evaporated  during  a  drought  which  preceded  the  jour- 
ney, they  looked  uninviting,  and  he  did  not  approach  near  enough 
to  throw  in  a  Line.  The  water  issuing  occasionally  from  these  re- 
servoirs, and  collected  from  the  rills  trickling  down  the  mountain 
sides,  forms  several  brooks,  which,  seeking,  tiieir  way  through  the 
vallies,  travel  along  pebbly  and  rocky  channels,  and, after  falling 
into  the  Kaat's-Kiil,  empty  themselves  into  the  North  River.  Two 
of  these,  as  they  cross  in  their  courses  perpendicular  masses  oi 
rocks,  produce  remarkable  cataracls. 

The  first  is  on  a  branch  of  Kaat's-Kill,  which,  after  a  pretty- 
rapid  descent  along  its  bed,  first  pitches  more  than  two  fathoms, 
and  then  running  a  few  rods  f  urther,  falls  in  a  most  beautiful  sheet 
down  a  steep,  which  measured  a  little  distance  off  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  feet.  At  no  great  distance  below,  the  water  again  falls, 
more  than  one  hundred  feet,  and  continues  descending  with  such, 
violence  and  rapidity  along  its  channel,  that  Mr.  Lane  estimates  the 
whole  descent,  within  one  quarter  of  a  mile,  to  be  four  hundred 
feet.  The  going  down  and  coming  up  the  rocks  which  form  the 
sides  of  the  valley  are  so  difficult,  that  the  bones  of  bears  and  deer  are 
said  to  be  frequently  met  with  below  them,  owing  probably  to  the 
animals,  having  descended  to  drink,  and,  not  being  able  to  return, 
starved  to  death  there.  The  face  of  the  rocks  is  worn  somewhat 
circular,  and  is  considerably  excavated  below.  The  stream  is,  of 
course,  precipitated  to  the  bottom  without  impediment,  and  very 
much  divided  into  spray  by  so  long  a  passage  through  the  air.  Be- 
tween tne  fallen  water  and  the  rock,  the  space  is  covered  with  ver- 
dure, and  the  whole  distance  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  is  beau- 
tified with  plants,  which  find  room  for  their  roots,  between  the 
crumbling  layers  and  among  the  mouldering  parts  of  the  rock. 
The  mosses,  maiden-hairs,  strawberries,  sumachs,  and  spruces, 
which  have  fixed  themselves  here,  give  to  the  scene  a  very  lively 
and  pleasant  air;  and, owing  to  the  abundant  evaporation, there  is 
so  little  heat  prevalent  at  this  place,  that  snow  remains  unmelted 
until  near  the  middle  of  June,  between  the  descending  torrent  and 
the  rock  from  which  it  is  projected.  Both  sides  of  the  valley 
through  which  the  water  hastens  away,  are  composed  of  steep  and 
lofty  rocks,  supporting  huge  trees,  chiefly  of  the  ever-green  kind; 
and  along  this  there  is  an  extensive  view  of  the  mountain  sides 
towards  the  east.  Among  the  fragments,  which,  by  the  undermm- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


,av  ot  the  water  below,  are,  from  time  to  time,  breaking  off  in 
masses  of -many  toss  weight,  and  rushing  to  the  bottom,  and  some 
-of  which  are  now  hanging  almost  in  equipoize,  just  read)  to  drop, 
the  most  luxuriantvegetation  keeps  out  of  sight  the  bare  and  dis- 
ordered appearance,  and,  in  a  good  degree,  conceals  behind  its  per- 
petual foliage,  these  ruinous  and  wreck-like  appearances  of  na- 
ture, it  luckily  happened  when  we  were  there,  the  quantity  of 
water  was  small,  but  from  the  size  of  the  logs  drifted  down,  and 
•left  by  the  subsiding  freshets  among  the  rocks  of  the  channel,  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  imagining  how  great  and  impetuous  the  flow 
must  sometimes  be,  that  could  float  such  pieces  of  timber  along, 
and  split  them  to  shivers  in  their  fall.  From  the  edge  of  the  bank, 
a  little  way  off,  where  several  large  trees  afford  a  firm  hold,  se- 
curing the  spectator  from  slipping,  a  tolerable  view  can  be  obtain- 
ed. There  is  something  in  it  exceedingly  picturesque,  which, 
under  the  pencil  of  an  artist,  would  afford  a  sketch  possessing  much 
novelty  and  peculiarity. 

The  other  cataract,  called  Minhill' s-F«lh,  is  on  the  Kaat's-KUl 
itself.  Exactly  at  the  precipice,  the  mountain  seems  to  have  been 
rent  asunder,  and,  receding  to  the  right  ami  left,  leaves  between  its 
enormous  and  craggy  piles,  a  deep  and  dreadful  opening.  This 
-takes  a  turn  toward  the  left,  and  winding  along  in  that  direction, 
-the  view  is  soon  intercepted.  From  a  point  of  elevated  rock,  a 
little  to  the  left  of  the  falls.,  the  whole  bend  is  full  in  prospect,  ex- 
•tending,  like  a  vast  amphitheatre,  from  its  commencement,  just  on 
the  right  hand,  to  its  termination,  by  the  intervening  objects  at  the 
^other  extreme.  A  border  of  hemlocks  and  pines  adorns  the  brow 
of  the  rocks;  a  like  covering,  mixed  with  laurels,  (kalmia  major,) 
and  white  cedars,  (thuj-a  oc<.ide»ialis,)  adown  the  steep,  imparts 
-to  them  perennial  greenness;  and  the  whole  distance  thence  to  the 
bottom  of  the  chasm  is  skirted  with  similar  trees  and  shrubs. 
Whether  you  look  down  or  round,  the  prospect,  though  not  ex- 
tensive, is  sublime  and  awful.  The  water  first  falls  one  hundred 
and  sixty-two  feet  perpendicular,  into  a  large  bason,  or  excavation, 
in  the  rock  below,  of  about  forty  yards  in  diameter ;  then,  issuing 
from  this  pool,  it  suffers  a  second  fall  of  eighty  feet  more,  mak- 
ing, in  the  whole,  a  descent  of  two  hundred  and  forty-two  feet,  as 
Mr.  Lane  measured  it.  To  look  down  from  the  projecting  layer 
of  stone  which  forms  the  brink,  is  too  dangerous  for  the  most 
steady  head.  His  guide,  who  would  not  suffer  such  an  experiment 
to  be  made,  caused  him  to  lie  prone  upon  the  rock,  and  then  creep 
forward,  until  the  precipice  was  fairly  before  his  eyes;  and  while 
he  was  held  thus  by  the  leet,  he  got  as  perk  ft  an  idea  as  he  could 
of  that  part  of  the  scenery.  As  this,  when  contemplated  under 
such  circumstances,  was  not  wholly  satisfactory,  and  as  it  did  not 
appear  practicable  without  a  very  fatiguing  3nd  circuitous  w  alk  to 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


descend  the  crags,  and  look  at  the  cataract  below,  he  reluctantly 
departed  without  seeing  so  much  as  he  wished.  Upon  the  whole, 
however,  it  may  be  safely  observed,  that  though  the  quantity  of 
water  is  less,  these  falls  are  more  worth  the  seeing,  than  those  of 
Passaick,  the  Cohoes,  or  the  upper  ones  of  the  Mohawk. 

On  climbing  the  highest  part,  called  the  Round-Top,  he  fre- 
quently met  with  the  paths  of  wild  animals,  in  which  the  fresh 
tracks  of  bears  and  deers  were  very  plain  to  be  seen.  As  he  as- 
cended, the  vegetable  productions  became  so  different,  that  he 
had  now  entered  a  new  climate,  for  here  the  white  and  black  birch 
(betula  alba  and  nigra) ,  swamp  sumach  (thus  vernix) ,  balsam-fir 
(fiinus  balsamea),  bass  wood  (tilia  Americana) ,  with  now  and 
then  an  oak  (quercus  nigra),  were  the  principal  trees;  though 
even  hereabout,  in  some  spots,  the  spruce  and  hemlock  grew 
plentifully,  and  among  the  underwood,  besides  the  great  and  small 
moose-bush,  grew  the  common  gooseberry  and  blackberry.  He 
had  before  observed  the  wild  raspberry  (rubus  odoratus),  and  the 
English,  or  garden  raspberry,  about  half  way  up.  The  Round- 
Top  is  a  level  spot  of  several  acres  in  extent.  It  is  very  thickly 
wooded,  and  its  chief  product,  besides  a  few  birches,  is  the  bal- 
sam-fir. This  is  generally  small,  as  are  many  of  the  trees  there-" 
about,  there  seeming  to  be  a  gradual  diminution  of  their  size  as 
you  ascend.  Among  the  balsam  trees,  the  principal  plant  of  note 
is  a  wood  sorrel,  which  he  took  to  be  the  Oxalis  tomentosa,  plen- 
tifully and  thriftily  growing. 

From  this  circumstance  of  the  top  being  not  bald,  but  thickly 
covered  with  trees,  it  is  fairly  to  be  concluded,  that  not  one  of  the 
Blue  Range  belongs  to  the  Alpine  Class  of  Mountains,  whose  charac- 
ter it  is  to  reach  what  is  termed  the  second  region  of  the  atmos- 
phere, or  at  least  so  high  that  no  trees  can  grow  erect  upon  them. 
Among  Alpine  Mountains  then,  of  which  those  of  Switzerland, 
New-Hampshire,  Lapland,  and  Peru,  are  instances,  being  such 
upon  whose  summits  either  no  tree  can  grow,  or  if  a  tree  should, 
by  accident,  be  rooted  there,  it  could  not  grow  straight  up,  but, 
weak  and  dwarfish,  would  creep  like  a  shrub  upon  the  ground, 
the  Kaat's-Kill  Ridge  has  manifestly  no  claim  to  be  enumerated. 
Besides,  the  want  of  Alpine  plants  is  another  weighty  circum- 
stance in  determining  their  moderate  elevation.  Plants  of  this 
sort  are  mostly  small,  for  they  grow  on  the  naked  hills,  exposed 
to  all  weather  and  winds ;  for  the  same  reason,  and  because 
they  usually  grow  in  a  barren  soil,  they  are  tough  and  hardy. 
IVow,  there  is  no  evidence  of  sterility  in  this  mountain  top,  nor 
were  the  saxifraga  nivalis  &  hypnoides,  rhodeola  rosea,  cerastium 
tomentosum,  sibbaldia  procumbens,  rumex  digynus,  or  any  of 
the  Alpine  plants  he  had  seen  elsewhere  in  their  native  places,  or 
that  are  to  be  met  with  in  botanical  enumerations,  to  be  found 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


here.  Nor  does  he  remember  to  have  noticed  a  single  willow 
(sa/ixj,  six  or  seven  species  of  which  are  frequent  in  high  stations. 

From  several  plates  at  and  about  the  Round-Top,  he  and  his 
companions  climbed  trees  to  enlarge  their  view  of  the  surrounding 
objects;  they,  at  last,  adopted  the  most  effectual  method  of  bring- 
ing them  in  sight,  by  cutting  down  the  trees  and  opening  an  ave- 
nue. With  some  labour  this  was  effected  on  the.  eastern  side, 
whence  a  prospect  of  the  country  between  the  mountains  and  the 
Hudson  was  obtained,  as  well  as  of  the  river  itself,  and  the  vessejg 
sailing  up  and  down  it;  and  of  the  tract  extending  eastward 
as  far  as  the  Taconick  Mountain  in  Massachusetts;  while,  from 
Kinderhook  and  beyond,  further  than  Kingston,  and  the  land 
sketching  away  southwardly  on  the  other  side  of  it,  the  eye 
comprehended  the  whole  survey.  From  this  place,  the  country 
lay  as  a  map  before  them,  and  they  took  a  bird's-eye-view  of  the 
hills,  vales,  woods  and  plantations  they  had  travelled  through  in 
their  passage  here,  which,  on  account  of  their  distance,  had  now 
lost  much  of  their  distinctness,  and,  notwithstanding  their  inequa- 
lity and  roughness,  appeared  quite  like  a  plain.  They  were  now 
above  the  region  of  clouds,  which,  condensing  below,  obscured 
the  view,  and,  for  a  time,  took  every  terrestrial  object  out  of  sight; 
but  dissolving  again,  and  from  time  to  time  breaking  away,  par- 
tial observations  could  be  got  of  the  subjacent  objects;  and  these, 
as  they  appeared  through  the  mist  and  disappeared,  afforded,  to- 
gether with  the  phenomena  of  water,  suddenly  precipitated  from 
its  solution  in  air,  and  quickly  dissolved  again,  a  curious  and 
amusing  spectacle.  There  was  novelty  in  hearing  thunder  below 
them,  and  it  was,  besides,  delightful  to  behold  from  one  spot,  so 
extensive  a  tract  of  the  most  fertile  and  populous  part  of  the 
state  of  New-York,  where  the  eye,  instead  of  expatiatmg  on  in- 
hospitable heaths  and  barren  wastes,  roves  from  one  farm  to  ano- 
ther, and  passes  from  improvement  to  improve  ment.  This  pros- 
pect will  be  greatly  enlarged  vviien  the  top  shall  be  cleared  of  its 
wood ;  but  even  at  this  time,  he  recollf  cfs  but  one  which  he  thinks 
surpassed  it.  This  was  in  the  west  high-lands  of  North-Britain. 
The  Scotch  are  very  proud  of  their  Loch-Lomond,  and  truly  the 
lake,  with  its  contained  islands,  and  neighbouring  mountains,  ex- 
hibited a  mingled  scene  of  beauty  and  sublimity.  From  the  sum- 
mit of  Ben-Lomond,  there  is  the  grandest  prospect  J  ever  enjoy- 
ed. Fortunately,  when  I  was  on  it,  the  weather  was  so  serene, 
and  the  atmosphere  so  free  from  clouds,  that  one  of, my  compani- 
ons, who  had  ascended  the  mountain  more  than  a  dozen  times,  said 
he  had  never  had  so  fair  a  day.  Southward,  the  lake,  with  its 
twenty  islands,  the  viilrge  of  Luss,  the  mansions  of  Cranistr^d- 
tion  and  Bonhiil,  and  beyond  Siv.ol let's  sumptuous  monument, 
beside  the  river  Leven,  the  town  and  castle  oi  Dunbartori,  a-.d  the 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Frith  of  Clyde,  appeared  beautifully  in  view;  further  than  theset 
Port  Glasgow,  Greenock,  the  islands  of  Bute  and  Arran,  and  the 
Craig  of  Ailsa,  together  with  a  part  of  Ayrshire  and  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  lay  fairly  displayed.  Westward,  besides  Loch-Long  and 
Loch-Fyne,  several  of  the  Hebrides,  and,  in  particular,  the  heights 
of  isla,  the  paps  of  Jura,  and  the  mountains  of  Mull,  could  be 
clearly  discerned.  Northward,  the  stupendous  Highlands,  extend- 
ing in  the  shires  of  Perth,  Ercadalbaine  and  Argyle,  away  toward 
Lochabcr  and  Inverness,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  comprehend,  af- 
forded a  sight  of  rude  grandeur  and  wild  sublimity.  Eastward, 
Lochard,  Enrick-water,  Loch-low,  the  citr  and  castle  of  Stirling, 
the  hills  of  Fifeshire,  the  river  Forth,  and  the  arm  of  the  German 
Sea,  were  plainly  seen;  and  had  there  not  been  a  portion  of  haze 
toward  the  south,  it  was  judged  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  Salisbury 
Craig,  the  Calton  and  Pentland  hills,  and  Arthur's  seat,  might 
have  been  descried. 

The  Rein-deer-moss  (lichen  rangiferinus)  was  frequently  met 
with  in  the  Blue  Mountains;  and  the  peat-moss  (sphagnum  pa?- 
lustre)  thickly  covered  the  rocks  in  the  moist  atmosphere  of  the 
tops.  The  arctic  liverwort  (lichen  arflicus)  was  very  plentiful  on 
many  of  the  rocks;  and,  in  short,  the  species  of  cryprog.-;n>ous 
plants  were  so  numerous,  that  the  Botanist  who  is  fond  of  inves- 
tigating them,  might  here  find  a  great  deal  of  employment. 

On  his  return,  he  crossed  the  High-Peak,  which,  next  to  the 
place  Ive  left,  is  the  loftiest  ridge,  and  found  it  covered  with  simi- 
lar productions.  The  balsam-firs  grow  so  frequent,  that  a  man 
cannot,  without  difficulty,  force  his  way  through  them.  From 
the  east  side  of  this,  by  cutting  away  some  trees  and  boughs,  a  no- 
ble prospect  of  the  country  was  once  more  procured. 

For  the  information  of  those  who  may  be  disposed  to  visit  these 
mountains,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  mention,  that  the  middle 
parts  are  much  infested  by  rattle-snakes  (Crctaltis  ho-nidus),  se- 
veral of  which  the  Commissioner  saw,  though  he  believes  these 
serpents  far  less  to  be  feared  than  common  rumour  allows,  being 
convinced,  both  from  his  own  experience  and  the  information  of 
others,  that  they  seldom  bite  without  provocation.  The  misfor- 
tune of  losing  some  of  the  quicksilver  through  the  leathern  bag  of 
the  barometer,  prevented  the  Commissioner's  intended  observa- 
tions with  that  instrument;  and  the  breaking  of  the  stem  of  his 
thermometer  in  travelling  through  the  thickets,  deprived  him  of 
ihe  satisfaction  of  ascertaining,  by  experiment,  the  boiling  point 
of  water,  ether  and  alcohol  on  the  mountain  tops.  The  difficulty 
of  carrying  such  instruments  on  ?.n  expedition  of  this  kind  is  exces- 
sive; yet,  it  is  hoped,  some  more  fortunate  traveller  will  succeed 
in  making  these  trials. 

(Te  he  continued.) 


ARTICLE  II. 


An  INQUIRY  into  the  Cause  of  the  Prevalence  of  the  YELLOW 
FEVER  in  New-York. 

By  Valentine  Seaman,  M.D. 

THE  following  inquiry  into  the  history  of  the  epidemic  Yel- 
low Fever  that  has  appeared  in  this  city,  at  different  times 
since  the  year  i  791,  was  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
its  most  probable  and  essential  causes.  If  I  have  succeeded,  my 
end  is  answered,  and  my  trouble  fully  compensated  ;  if  not,  i  still 
gratify  myself  with  the  thoughts  of  having  established,  with  a  con-, 
siderable  degree  of  accuracy,  facts,  that  may  be  useful  to  some, 
more  fortunate  inquirer. 

The  great  difficulty  of  coming  at  the  simple  truth,,  even  near  at 
borne,  has  made  me  cautiously  avoid  attending  to  hearsay  stories 
of  what  has  happened  abroad ;  obscured  by  their  distance,  often 
warped  by  their  relators,  and  too  generally  eagerly  caught  at  by 
their  favourers,  and  equally  neglected  by  the  adverse  party.  An 
instance  of  the  impropriety  of  giving  a  currency  to  such  fly-about 
tales,  is  glaringly  exhibited  in  William  Currie's  letters  to  Benja- 
min VVynkoop:  this  penetrating  man  having  convinced  himself, 
notwithstanding  a  bulwark  of  opposing  evidence,  (Webster's  pa- 
pers on  Bilious  Fevers,  and  Bayley's  Account  of  the  Epidemic  of 
1 795,)  impassable  by  any  body  else,  that  the  Yellow  Fever  that  deso- 
lated our  city  in  1795,  was  introduced  into  it  by  the  brigZephvr, 
One  naturally  would  conclude  from  Dr.  Currie's  account,  that  he 
had  confined  his  inquiries  merely  to  the  superficial  scum  of  newspa- 
per observations,  and  flying  reports;  but  his  subsequent  reflections 
prove  him  to  have  been  acquainted  with  what  ought  to  have  cor- 
rected his  premature  and  ungrounded  conclusions.  But  these  cir- 
cumstances, so  discordant  to  his  wishes,  it  seems  he  has  thought 
proper  not  to  attend  to,  but  rather  to  rest  his  opinions  upon  the 
slender  support  of  his  ipse  dixit  authority;  while  he  soothes  his 
feelings,  by  flying  from  the  narrow  path  of  reason  and  truth,  into 
the  unbounded  field  of  hard-strained  invective  and  feeble  scurrility. 

I  cannot,  in  this,  place,  forbear  noticing  the  different  effects  that 
opposite  opinions  have  had  on  the  subsequent  fate  of  Philadelphia 
and  New-York.  While  the  physicians  ot  the  former  place,*  I  will 

•  I  do  not  hereby  mean  to  include  all  their  phyficians,  but  only  the  majo- 
rity of  them,  aj  feveral  worthy  characters  among  them  have  rifqued  thsir 
very  reputation  at  the  flirine  of  public  welfare,  in  attempting  to  call  th; 
attention  of  that  afflicted  city  to  its  true  iuterefU. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


not  say,  "  atluated  by  some  malignant  motive,"*  as  I  can  hardly 
conceive  human  nature  capable  of  such  depravity,  have  been  flat- 
tering the  pride  and  vanity  or"  their  fellow  citizens,  with  a  notion, 
that  their  city  was  all-perfect,  and  its  situation,  in  regard  to  healthi- 
ness, beyond  amendment ;  and  that  to  keep  up  a  sharp  look-out  to 
their  neighbours  was  all  that  was  necessary;  they  have  induced 
them  to  disregard  that  attention  to  cleanliness,  which  the  terror  of 
their  fir^t  attack  had  driven  them  into;  and  hence  have  those  who 
unhappily  confided  in  their  judgments,  returned  to  their  former 
neglect  of  domestic  causes,  which  has  again  involved  them  in  a  ca- 
lamity, as  general,  and,  perhaps,  as  fatal,  in  proportion  to  the  re- 
gaining predisposed  inhabitants^  as  that  of  1793.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  learned  physicians,  as  they  have,  in  a  sneering  way,  been 
called,  of  New-York,  have  had  honesty  and  independence  enough 
to  '-peak  their  minds  freely,  and  to  let  their  fellow  citizens  know, 
that  "  without  the  air  of  putrid  effluvia,  they  need  have  110  ap- 
prehension of  a  Yellow  Fever  spreading  among  them;"  and  their 
siily  hearers,  from  being  so  weak  as  to  put  confidence  in  their  opi- 
nions, have  removed  most  of  the  suggested  causes  of  pestilence;  , 
and  hence  have  confined  the  effects  ot  the  disease,  this  year,  to  the 
narrow  limits  of  a  few  filthy  spots ;  and  the  number  of  deaths  to 
within  thirty :  notwithstanding  the  severity  of  attack,  and  malig- 
nant) of  the  complaint,  where  it  prevailed,  were  fully  equal  to  that 
of  1795. 

I  shall  not  impose  upon  the  time  of  the  reader,  with  quotations 
from  different  authorities,  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  in  proof 
of  the  particular  prevalence  of  Yellow  Fever  in  places  especially 
favouring  tne  accumulation  and  fermentation  of  putrefactive  ma- 
terals  of  some  sort  or  other;  these  facts  being  too  well  known  to 
need  recapitulation  :  but  shall  endeavour  to  trace  the  history  and 
progress  of  the  disease,  tor  the  purpose,  if  possible,  of  ascertain- 
ing us  true  cause,  as  it  nas  occurred  to  my  observation,  in  this  city 
for  several  years  past. 

In  the  autumn  of  1 791,  the  Yellow  Fever  was  considerably 
prevalent  in  a  part  of  Water-street,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Peck's- 
slip,  nottd,  at  that  time,  for  having  the  docks  near  to  it  loaded  with 
every  kind  of  filth  that  could  be  scraped  up  out  of  the  adjoining 
sli;>,  which  had  been  long  collecting  every  species  of  corruptible 
materials  that  the  citizens  wished  to  get  rid  of.  (See  also  Jonas 
Acidoms'  Iuaug.  Dissert.) 

In  1792,  at  the  season  wherein  those  complaints  mostly  prevail, 
a  long  indisposition  confined  rr.e  to  the  house,  and  prevented 

*  Curric's  charge  upon  thofe  who  dare  to  think  differently  from  him. 

f  Sy  the  remaining  prcdifpofed  inhabitants,  I  mean  to  include  only  fuch 
cf  thole  that  continued  in  town,  who  had  not  undergone  the  complaint  be- 
fc.-e,  m  a-  former  generally  i'creens  us  from  a  future  attack,  at  leaft  a  fatal  one. 


flat  6.  I. 


Plait.  1/. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  j i ; 


mv  knowing  much  about  what  was  going  on  out  of  doors,  or  of 

the  state  of  the  ci;y,  eitner  as  favouring  t;ealth,  or  threatening  dis- 
ease. However,  I  did  not  understand  that  there  was  much  alarm 
of  Yeilow  Fever  tiiac  year.    Probably  there  was  little  or  none. 

N»r,  in  1793,  was  the  alarm  of  Ytllow  Fever  heard  of  among 
ys,  excepting  from  a  few  solitary  cases  imported  from  Pniladel- 
phia,  and  which  was  lost  in  the  fate  of  the  unfortunate  individu- 
als who  had  brought  it  from  its  source,  without  the  least  injury  to 
the  healths  of  our  citizens,  either  in  the  capacity  of  friends,  nurses, 
physicians,  or  neighbours ;  none  of  these  patients,  as  far  as  I  could 
learn,  having  been  permitted  to  seat  themselves  in  places  abound- 
ing with  putrefying  substances. 

The  complaint  in  the  year  1 794,  appeared  to  such  a  degree,  as 
to  occasion  considerable  uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  many  ot  the 
citizens.  The  Committee  for  /treventing  the  introduction  of  contagious 
diseases,  met  regularly  to  establish  measures  tor  the  welfare  of 
the  city.  To  tnem,  in  a  communication  made  the  11th  of  9th 
(month  (Septemoer),  among  other  circumstances,  I  intimated  as  a 
reason  for  believing  that  it  was  supported  by  causes  within  our- 
selves, "  Tliat  most  of  the  patients  that  had  been,  or  then  were, 
r  affected  with  dangerous  fevers,  were  either  such  as  resided  in  the 
"  neigiibourhood  of  the  slips,  (which  then  were  or  lately  had  been 
ff  cleaning  out)  or  whose  employment  led  them  to  frequent  those 
"  places;  as  cartmen,  measurers,  labourers,  Sec.  at  least  such  was 
"  the  situation  of  the  cases  that  I  had  heard  or  known  of,  and 
¥  respecting  which  I  had  taken  some  pains  to  inform  myself.  I 
"  then  had,  at  that  early  part  of  the  season,  attended  four  patients; 
"  and  they  were  all  of  that  description.  Two  of  them  were  boat- 
."  men,  who  lay  at  the  New-slip;  another  lived  not  far  from  it; 

and  the  business  of  the  fourth  obliged  him  to  frequent  the  slips." 
It  was  observed,  that  during  the  very  time  that  these  persons  were 
taken  sick,  the  Mud-turtle  (as  the  machine  was  called,  the 
temporary  suspension  of  whose  operations  was  the  object  of  that 
communication)  was  performing  its  pestiferous  purgations  on  this 
filthy  slip. 

In  1795,  that  part  of  the  town  that  bore  the  chief  burthen  of 
our  calamity,  was  remarkably  distinguished  by  peculiarity  of  cir- 
cumstances and  situation  (aided  by  t  e  singular  regularity  of  our 
rains),  seemingly  well  calculated  for  the  accumulation  and  decom- 
position of  all  kinds  of  perishable  animal  and  vegetable  substances. 
(Webster's  Collection  of  Papers  on  Bilious  Fevers.) 

The  chief  prevalence  of  the  disease  in  1796,  seemed  evidently 
fixed  where,  from  our  former  experience,  we  ought  reasonably 
to  have  expected  it.  For  no  doubt,  at  that  time,  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  Whitehall,  from  the  nature  of  materials  wherewith  a 
Urge  dock  was  there  filling  UO,  aided  by  the  noisome  exhalations, 

ra,  i.  No.  1.  e 


3i8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


from  the  exposed  bottom  of  the  Exchange-slip  at  low  water,  mint 
certainly  have  been  rendered  the  most  noxious  part  of  the  city. 
(Baylev's  Letters,  Medical  Repository,  No.  I.  Appendix.) 

But  it  was  not  intircly  confined  to  that  particular  neighbourhood 
in  1796.  Four  deaths  from  the  Yellow  Fever  occurred,  during 
that  season,  within  fifty  yards  of  where  Roosevelt-strect  drain 
empties  itself  into  an  inlet  which  was  then  open  quite  up  to  the 
southerly  side  of  Water-street;  the  bottom  of  which  (S  on  plate 
If)  was  frequently  in  part  left  bare  even  at  high  water.  Every 
ebb-tide  exposed  at  least  eight  hundred  square  yards  of  its  surface, 
covered  with  the  numerous  perishable  materials,  furnished  by  the 
different  streets  of  that  crouded  part  of  the  town,  which  descend 
inio  this  common  sewer,  in  addition  to  the  other  putrid  matters 
that  such  handy  places  are  alwavs'collecting. 

One  of  tnem,  James  Callender  (marked  .1  on  plate  I.)  was 
an  Irishman,  who  had  resided  about  five  months  in  this  city,  and 
was  the  first  that  I  could  hear  of  who  had  the  disease  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood. He  died  on  the  22d  of  7th  month  (July,)  alter  a  few 
days  illness,  with  a  yellow  skin,  and  smelled  extremely  offensive, 
as  I  was  told  by  those  who  assisted  in  burying  him.  Two  others, 
of  the  above  cases,  came  under  my  own  particular  observation, 
and  were  decidedly  of  that  complaint.  Both  of  these  patients 
were  foreigners  just  arrived  from  London.  One  of  them  (.2)  I 
attended.  He  had  been  in  town  but  five  days  when  he  was  taken 
sick:  On  the  fifth  day  afterwards,  19th  of  8th  month  (August), 
he  died,  with  coffee-ground  vomitings  and  yellow  skin.  To  the 
second  (.3)1  was  called  a  few  hours  before  his  death,  to  deter- 
mine whether  he  was  a  proper  object  for  the  New-York  Hospital. 
He  had  been  more  or  less  indisposed,  from  the  second  day  after 
his  arrival,  which  was  on  the  2d  of  10th  month  (October),  but 
was  not  seriously  taken  till  the  fifth.  He  died  on  the  seventh  day 
of  his  disease,  very  yeliow,  but  I  know  not  what  was  the  nature 
of  the  matter  he  puked  up.  I  was  told  he  had  been  much  dis- 
tressed by  his  sickness  of  stomach.  The  last  (.4)  of  these  four 
patients  died  the  20th  of  9th  month  (September),  after  five  days 
illness,  with  yellow  skin  and  dark  vomiting. 

Another  person  also  died  with  this  complaint,  some  little  dis- 
tance off,  in  Cherry-street  (.5).  I  saw  him  in  the  latter  stage  of 
hi  ■  complaint,  in  conjunction  with  the  physician  who  had  attended 
him  from  the  beginning;  and  we  were  perfectly  agreed  as  to  the 
nature  of  his  disease.  He  died  the  21st  of  8th  month  (August), 
on  the  seventh  day  of  his  complaint,  with  yellow  skin. 

Besides  these  fatal  cases,  there  were  a  number  of  persons  also, 
that  were  seriously  affected  by  severe  fevers,  but  yet  recovered, 
(designated  ©  in  the  plate.)  I  attended  three  of  this  description; 
one  of  them  lived  in  a  house  built  upon  piles,  over  a  part  of  the 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


J>bove-mentioned  flat;  another  passed  a  great  proportion  of  his 
time,  during  the  day,  in  a  store  adjoining  it;  and  the  last  lived  in 
Cherry-street,  and  the  yard  of  his  house  backed  upon  Water- 
street,  about  eight  rods  distant  from  the  same  spot.  Dr.  Bor- 
rowe  informed  me,  that  he  had  also  attended  one,  at  the  corner  of 
Water  and  Roosevelt  streets,  with  the  complaint  well  marked,  and 
from  which  he,  with  difficulty,  recovered. 

There  were  several  other  cases  of  fever,  of  a  suspicious  nature, 
though  slight  and  soon  recovered  from.  Their  situations  are 
marked  (o)  on  the  plate. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  observe,  that  none,  as  far  as  I  could 
learn,  that  had  the  fever  in  1795,  suffered  with  it  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood this  year,  excepting  one  of  the  slight  cases  above-men- 
tioned :  Its  general  prevalence  the  year  before  was,  perhaps,  the 
reason  why  no  more  were  affected  about  this  spot  this  year;  their 
former  indispositions  probably  securing  them  against  a  second 
attack.  This  much  is  certain,  that  the  nine  patients  first  above- 
mentioned,  had  not  had  it  in  1795.  Indeed,  seven  oJ  them  might 
be  said  not  to  have  been  exposed  to  its  cause;  one  having  lived 
only  a  few  months  in  town,  two  having  just  come  from  Eng- 
land, one  absented  herself  from  town  in  the  sickly  season,  two 
had  lately  come  from  the  country,  and  one  that  year  lived  at  the 
Whitehall;  and  one  of  the  others  continued  in  town  for  only  a 
part  of  the  time  during  the  epidemic  of  1 795. 

Why  the  disease  did  not  become  as  general  about  the  easterly 
low  part  of  the  city  in  1  796,  as  in  the  year  before,  probably  was 
owing  to  the  removal  of  most  of  the  causes  that  were  supposed  to 
have  promoted  such  complaints.;  and  perhaps  also,  in  a  degree,  to 
not  having  such  regular  rains,  to  favour  the  deadly  operations  of 
remaining  deficiencies.  (See  Webster's  Collection  of  Papers.) 
Many  of  the  lots  in  that  part  of  the  town  had  been  filled  up;  the 
filth  and  dirt  of  the  streets  and  yacds  had  been  more  carefully 
cleared  away  ;  the  unpaved  streets,  in  general,  had  been  paved  and 
regulated,  so  as  to  prevent  any  water  from  standing  in  them ; 
and  several  of  the  slips  and  vacancies  under  the  stores  set  upon 
piles,  had  been  filled  up  with  wholesome  earth.  But,  in  this  de- 
voted spot,  partial  negle<t,  we  see,  was  followed  up  by  its  predict- 
ed, I  had  like  to  have  said  merited,  consequences. 

It  remains  to  notice  the  disease  as  it  has  shewn  itself  among  us 
this  season.  The  cases  that  have  occurred  being  too  numerous  to 
attempt  to  get  an  accurate  history  of  them  all,  and  the  want  of 
proper  marks  to  identify  it  where  it  is  slight,  if  attempted,  would, 
at  best,  leave  but  a  very  objectionable  result:  I  have  therefore 
only  noted  the  iatal  ones;  nor  do  I  think  we  need  much  to  regret 
the  omission  of  the  others,  since,  from  the  number  of  deaths,  we 
can  nearly  calculate  upon  its  degree  of  prevalence,  and  particularly 


JiO  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

since  the  proximity  of  cause  will,  most  probably,  correspond 

with  its  mortality. 

To  proceed,  ist.  William  Cnmmings,  two  days  after  having 
taken  Ms  lodgings  in  East  George-street,  was  attacked  on  the  ist 
of  9th  montli  (September),  with  chilis,  head-ach,  and  the  other 
common  symptoms  of  lever,  which  increased  in  the  night  with 
delirium,  &c.  The  next  day  many  circumstances  giving  occasion 
to  suspect  his  complaints  to  be  of  a  dangerous  nature,  he  was  car- 
ried to  the  Lazaretto,  on  Bcdlow's  islano,  where,  in  a  few  days,  I 
have  underwood,  he  died. 

2d.  Margaret  Wiggins,  in  the  same  street,  was  taken  on  the 
14th  of  the  came  month.  On  the  filth  day  of  her  disease,  accord- 
ing to  the  account  of  the  person  wiih  whom  she  lived,  she  puked 
a  black,  offensive,  ropy  matter.  Two  days  afterwards,  on  the 
morning  of  the  22d,  she  died  very  yellow,  and  with  black  effu* 
sions  about  her  breast. 

3d.   Bi  own  was  taken  the  next  day,  the  1 5th,  and  died  also 

on  the  morning  of  the  22d.  He  had  vomited,  during  his  disease^ 
much  blackish  bloody  matter,  and  was  very  yellow. 

4th.   Price,  after  having  passed  a  part  of  the  evening  of 

the  1 6th  of  9th  month  (September),  in  East  George -street,  was 
taken  in  his  return  home  at  midnight,  with  dizziness  and  lassitude, 
succeeded  by  a  chill,  followed  by  a  hot  fever,  &c.  He  died  on  the 
19th,  very  yellow  ;  he  had,  during  his  disease,  puked  a  black  matter. 

5th.  William  Templeton  sickened  on  the  1 6th,  with  chills,  &c. 
and  died  in  the  afternoon  of  the  22cl,  very  yellow. 

6th.  John  Busson  was  taken  on  the  same  day  with  Templeton. 
During  his  disease  he  puked  much:  the  nature  of  the  discharge  I 
couid  not  learn.  He  died  on  the  23d,  with  yellow  skin,  and  black- 
ness about  his  neck  and  breast. 

7th.  A  iad,  by  the  name  of  Parcells,  di^d  in  Cedar-street.  His 
mother  lived  in  Henry-street,  two  doors  from  the  corner  of  East 
George-street,  where  he  used  frequently  to  pass  his  evenings,  and 
sometimes  to  stay  the  whole  night.  He  became  sick  on  the  19th, 
of  the  complaint  of  which  he  died  on  the  23d.  According  to  the 
account  of  his  physician,  his  must  have  been  a  d  cided  case  of 
Yeilow  Fever     He  had  the  black  vomiting  and  yellow  skin. 

8th.  Seth  Fairchiid  was  taken  on  the  27th  of  9th  month  (Sep- 
tember), and  died  ont  he  2d  of  10th  month  (October),  with  black 
vomiting  and  yellow  skin. 

9th.  George  Ross  was  taken  sick  the  1  nh  of  10th  month  (Oc- 
tober), and  died  on  the  20th.  He  had  puked  a  blackish  matter. 
His  skin  was  yeilow. 

10th.  Hulshart  was  taken  on  the  12th,  and  died  on  the  1 7th 

of  10th  month  (October).  He  was  yellow,  and  had  puked,  during 
his  illness,  a  greenish  brown  matter,  and  purged  clear  biood. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  $it 


All  the  above  cases  appear  to  have  originated  in  East  George- 
street;  and  all,  excepting  Price  and  Parcclls,  resided  within  the 
fcmall  compass  of  seventeen  house?,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  street. 

nth.  On  the  13th  of  9th  month  (September),  John  Holmes, 
after  having  been  a  little  complaining  for  a  week,  according  to 
the  relation  of  his  landlady,  was  taken  with  a  chill,  succeeded 
by  a  hot  fever,  violent  head-ach,  red  eyes,  &cc.  On  the  19th  he 
was  sent  to  the  New-York  Hospital,  where  he  died  on  the  23d, 
with  a  yellow  skin,  after  having  puked  up  a  dark  brown  feculent 
looking  matter.  He  had  taken  lodgings  in  Chesnut-street  three 
days  previous  to  his  indisposition. 

iith.   Havens,  who  lay  on  board  a  vessel  at  Lynch  and 

Stoughton's  wharf,  from  the  time  of  her  arrival,  the  25th  of  8th 
month  (August),  was  taken  unwell  the  14th  of  9th  month  (Sep- 
tember), more  unwell  the  next  day,  still  more  the  day  alter,  but 
not  to  such  a  degree  but  that  he  walked  up  to  Roosevelt-strcer, 
where  he  took  lodgings.  He  was  confined  the  next  day;  on  the 
1  8th  he  was  very  veilow,  and  vomited, in  great  quantities,  a  black 
matter,  mixed  with  coagulated  blood,  almost  incessantly.  He  dis- 
charged the  same  by  stool,  and  died  in  the  night  of  the  19th. 

13th.  On  the  17th,  Samuel  Suydam,  who  resided  near  the  Ex- 
change, in  Water-street,  but  who  passed  the  greatest  part  of  his 
time,  during  the  day,  in  his  store,  a  little  to  the  east  of  Lynch  and 
Stoughton's  wharf,  in  Front-street,  was  taken  down  with  his  com- 
plaint, which  terminated  fatally,  on  the  morning  of  the  23d.  His 
physician  informs  me,  that  his  disease  appeared  to  him  to  be  a  Yel- 
low Fever  of  the  most  malignant  type.  He  had  the  black  vomit- 
ing to  a  great  degree,  and  his  skin  was  very  yellow. 

ij.th.   Kelly  (  1  of  plate  II.)  was  taken  on  the  7th  of  9th 

month  (Sept.),  with  fever,  attended  with  a  particular  determination 
to  his  head,  hot  skin,  and  great  derangement  of  his  mind.  His 
complaints  being  suspected  of  a  malignant  nature,  he  was  conveyed 
to  tlx  Lazaretto  on  the  1 3th ;  where,  a  few  days  afterwards,  he  died. 

15th.  Daniel  Wiggins,  who  lived  in  the  lower  house  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Fly-market,  (.2)  his  physician  tells  me,  was,  on 
the  20th  of  9th  month  (September),  attacked  with  a  fever,  which 
assumed  a  most  malignant  appearance,  attended  with  black  vomit- 
ings and  a  yellow  skin.    He  died  on  the  28th. 

16th.  John  Van  Deventer,  (.3)  as  the  family  informs  me,  was 
taken  on  the  20lh  of  9th  month  (September),  and  died  on  the 
29th,  with  a  yellow  skin. 

17th.  Samuel  Hitchcock,  at  the  corner  of  the  Market  and  Front- 
street,  (.4)  sickened  on  the  23d,  and  died  on  the  29th,  in  Fletcher- 
street,  where  he  had  been  conveyed  alter  he  became  unwell.  His 
f.itei;dr.nt,  in  her  simple  narrative  of  his  case,  says,  he  puked  matter 
just  like  the  grounds  ot  coffee,  but  he  was  not  yellow. 


323 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tStli.  James  Hamilton  belonged  to  the  schooner  Ellice,  whicfi 
errived  on  the  1 6th  of  9th  month  (September),  after  eight  day* 
passage  from  Richmond,  in  Virginia.  He  was  employed  in  assist- 
ing to  unload  her,  at  the  easterly  side  of  Murray's  wharf  (.5). 
lie  was  taken  sick  on  the  27th,  and  then  took  lodgings  at  the 
Crane  wharf;  where  he  died  in  the  morning  of  the  30th,  with 
pukings  of  a  greenish  matter,  and  with  a  yellow  skin. 

iqth.  T.  Comstock  resided  in  Front-street,  between  the  Market 
and  Depey  -ter-street  (.6) ;  he  was  taken  on  the  28th  of  c;th  month 
(Sept.),  and  was  afterwards  carried  to  the  New-York  Hospital; 
where  t\£  died  on  the  3d  of  the  next  month,  with  a  yeilow  skin. 

20th.  J.  Rogers  (.7)  was  taken  in  the  night  of  the  20th  of  gth 
month  (September),  with  chills  and  sickness  at  stomach,  followed 
by  a  hot  fit,  which  was  succeeded  by  a  sweating.  In  the  morn- 
ing he  was  so  well  as  to  be  about  house.  His  complaints  returned 
towards  evening,  without  a  preceding  chilliness,  and  continued, 
with  little  or  no  abatement,  till  his  death.  He  did  not  have  much 
sickness  at  stomach,  nor  great  pain  in  his  head.  The  tunica;  con- 
junctiva; of  his  eyes  appeared  bloated,  with  a  reddish  yellow  fluid: 
bis  skin  was  yellow ;  his  pulse  most  of  the  time  soft,  and  not  fre- 
quent; and  he  was  much  harrassed  with  a  very  painful  hickuping, 
with  short  intermissions,  for  about  twelve  hours  before  his  death; 
which  occurred  on  the  morning  of  the  26th. 

21st.  Abel  Beers  attended  a  store  in  Water-street  (.8).  He  was 
taken  with  chills,  pains  in  his  head,  &c.  on  the  10th  of  10th 
month  (October),  and  died  on  the  16th.  During  his  fever,  which 
regularly  remitted  every  morning,  he  was  much  deranged  in  his 
mind;  his  bowels  were  constipated,  and  stools,  procured  by  art, 
dark;  his  eyes  and  skin  became  yellowish  on  the  fourth  day;  he 
puked  a  brownish  matter  several  times  on  each  of  the  two  last  days 
of  his  illness,  and  vomited  a  great  quantity  of  blood  just  before 
his  death.  After  death,  the  skin  was  observed  to  be  universally 
yellow,  except  that  there  were  purple  effusions  about  the  neck, 
breast;  and  on  the  lower  extremities. 

22d.  EliasMowatt,  in  William-street,  died  on  the  same  day,  of 
2  fever  with  which  he  was  attacked  on  the  12th.  During  his  com- 
plaint, he  had,  several  times,  puked  a  black  matter :  he  had  some 
yellowness  about  his  neck. 

From  the  foregoing  list,  which  comprehends  all  the  deaths  from 
this  fever,  which  have  occurred  in  this  city  this  year,*  up  to  the 
present  date,  as  far  as  I  can  karn,  it  appears  that  nearly  one  half 

*  Sir.ce  -writing  the  above,  one  other  death,  and  only  one,  has  come  to  my 
knowledge,  and  the  prefent  ftcady  eoldnefs  of  the  weather  and  hardnefs  of 
the  fioft,  fee  me  intirely  to  have  checked  the  difcafe;  it  is  cot  probable  a 
finglc  cafe  of  it  exiils  in  the  city  at  this  time. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


©f  them  originated  in  a  small  part  of  East  George-street ;  and  the 
greater  part  or  the  remainder  near  about,  and  just  below  the  Fiy- 
market.  We  are,  therefore,  naturally  led  to  examine  the  situation 
of  these  afflicted  spots,  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  its  particular  pre- 
valence there.  And,  indeed,  the  southerly  part  of  Ea^t  George- 
street;  where  the  complaint  prevailed,  (if  we  can  suppose  filth  and 
putrefaction  of  any  kind  to  produce  it,)  seemed  well  prepared  for 
the  purpose.  The  street  itself,  unpaved,  was  so  rutted  and  broken 
up,  in  particular  parts,  as  effectually  to  prevent  it  from  being  kept 
dry.  Frequently,  for  some  time  after  wet  weather,  it  was  almost 
impossible  for  footmen  to  pass  through  it,  without  miring  half  shoe 
deep;  and,  at  the  best  of  times,  one  fourth  of  this  particular  part 
of  it  was  a  filthy  mud-puddle.  Besides  this,  most  of  the  houses  are 
occupied  by  several  families;  all  of  whom  have  the  yard  in  com- 
mon; and  really,  upon  inspection  of  these  places,  all  of  which 
are  lower  than  the  street,  one's  mind  is  struck  with  an  idea  that  the 
several  joint-tenants  are  not  only  determined  not  to  clear  away  the 
other's  dirt,  but  also  that  each  one  exerted  himself  to  put,  at  least% 
his  share  into  the  noisome  collection;  because  he  had  as  good  a  right 
to  make  dirt  as  his  neighbours.  Hence  these  sunken  spots  became 
a  dreadful  mass  of  garbage  and  offal  matters  of  every  kind.  Thi<, 
however,  was  not  tne  case  with  all:  One  house,  the  cellar  of  which 
contained  fourteen  persons,  men,  women,  and  children,  black 
and  white,  all  huddled  together,  having  no  yard  at  all.  But  here 
theie  was  no  loss  in  the  end;  for  what  of  every  refuse  and  excre- 
mentitious  matter  the  yard  would  otherwise  have  gained,  was  here 
thrown  into  the  open  street;  the  common  place  for  all  kinds  of 
putrefiable  substances.  But,  beside  this,  at  the  upper  part  of  this  af- 
fected portion  of  the  street,  between  four  and  five  rods  up  Lumber- 
street,  is  a  declivity  that  appears  to  crave  every  kind  of  rubbish  that 
comes  near  it;  nothing  seems  to  be  too  gross  lor  it;  even  the  night- 
man's filthy  load,  as  I  have  observed,  here  finds  a  free  reception. 

The  cause  of  the  prevalence  of  this  disease  near  the  Market, 
appeared  very  evident  upon  examining  the  spot.  The  south- 
eastern end  of  Pine-street,  (S  on  plate  II.)  lies  considerably  Lower 
than  the  dock  which  is  continued  from  it;  so  that  it  there  keeps  a 
constant  puddle  of  stagnant  filthy  water  and  mud.  But  this  is  a 
mere  trifle  in  comparison  to  its  pestilential  neighbours.  The  slips 
(S  S)  on  each  side  of  this  central  spot,  have  been  left,  during  the 
summer,  to  be  fortuitously  filled  up  by  the  free  contributions  of 
the  neighbourhood.  Hence  they  became  the  common  receptacles 
of  rubbish  and  filth  of  every  description.  I  have  seen  in  them 
the  guts  and  trimmings  of  fish,  shavings,  the  clearing  of  shops, 
mud,  that  appeared  to  have  been  the  cleaning  of  sinks,  cabbage 
leaves,  potatoe  peelings,  &c.  &c.  and  further,  to  render  this  noi- 
some collection  the  more  complete,  the  accessary  iHghtortM  Jii 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


not  fail  to  do  his  part:  more  than  once  have  I  observed  their  ful- 
some loads  exposed  in  these  places,  and  that  even  above  the  ordi- 
nary mark  of  high  water.  But  beside  all  this,  the  spaces  on  the 
annexed  plate,  marked  S  with  crosses,  particularly  that  to  the  north- 
eastwaid  of  the  dock,  ha^,  from  its  being  open  and  so  contiguous 
to  the  Market,  become  the  common  convenience  to  a  multitude  of 
people;  and  indeed  so  effectually  have  tney  bespattered  the  ground 
with  their  excrementitious  depositions,  that  it  requires  a  good 
degree  of  circumspection  in  walking  there,  to  tread  clear  01  the 
frill). 

Havens  and  Suydam  appear  to  have  taken  their  complaints  in 
an  atmosphere  contaminated  by  the  emanations  from  the  exposed 
Hit  at  the  inlet  by  Lynch  and  Stoughton's  wharf.  This  inlet,  in- 
cluding the  spaces  under  the  adjoining  buildings  on  each  side, 
which  are  set  upon  piles,  exposes  a  surface  of  mud  and  every  kind 
of  filth  that  is  constantly  gathering  in  such  places,  of  at  least  one- 
hundred  square  yards  at  low  water:  and,  as  though  it  was  Icared 
ti.it  the  parts  under  the  stores  should  not  receive  their  share  of 
what  is  so  freely  thrown  into  such  reservoirs,  several  of  the  boards 
of  the  platform  before  the  door  are  lelt  loose,  so  as  to  be  taken1 
up  at  pleasure:  and,  indeed,  the  pile  that  is  heaped  up  under  the 
opening  shews  that  it  has  well  answered  its  purpose.  Still  more 
completely  to  involve  this  dock  in  the  most  offensive  effluvia,  at 
the  end  of  it  is  affixed  a  conveniency,  erected,  it  is  true,  over  the 
water;  yet,  with  seeming  care,  such  obstructions  are  introduced 
under  it  as  to  support  great  piles  of  matters,  not  less  offensive  to 
t!ve  smell,  than  disgusting  to  the  eye.  Havens  attended  and  slept 
in  a  vessel  that  lay  at  this  very  wharf;  while  Suydam  attended  his 
store  about  eighteen  yards  from  it,  and  in  a  direction  for  the  regu- 
lar southerly  wind  to  blow  the  whole  power  of  this  loaded  atmos- 
phere upon  him. 

Rogers  lived  in  a  part  free  from  the  circumstances  attending  the 
residence  of  the  afore-mentioned  persons.  Might  he  not  have 
picked  up  his  complaint  at  the  Market? 

Beers  (.S)  spent  the  day  in  a  store  between  Beekman  and  Burling 
slips,  whicu  is  remarkable  for  backing  upon  an  inlet  in  the  form  of 
a  T,  that  opens  into  Front-street.  Tnis  place  is  unDaved,  and,  too 
much  like  many  of  the  Philadelphia  alleys,  is  bounded  by  the  backs 
and  gable  ends  of  houses,  and  by  yards,  without  a  single  house 
homing  it.  It  contains  upwards  of  200  square  yards;  one  third 
of  which,  at  the  most  moderate  calculation,  is  constantly  covered 
with  mucky  filth  of  one  sort  or  other.  It  may  be  thought  strange 
that  this  place  should  rurnish  us  with  but  one  death.  This  may 
have  been  owing  to  two  causes.  In  the  first  place,  to  its  being 
surrounded,  in  great  degree,  by  stores  that  are  only  inhabited  dur- 
ing the  day;  and  secondly,  to  most  oi  the  inhabitants  near  it  being 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


old  residents.  However,  two  other  persons,  to  my  knowledge, 
have  here  suffered  with  the  complaint,  both  of  whom  recovered. 
One,  Moses  Judah  (02),  occupied  and  slept  in  the  same  store  that 
Beers  attended:  and  the  other,  George  Burchell  (01),  resided  in  a 
house  at  the  corner  of  this  place  and  Front-street.  They  both 
had  removed  to  this  place  this  year,  and  Abel  Beers  (Judah's  ap- 
prentice) had  never  spent  a  summer  in  New-York  before. 

Holmes,  who  died  at  the  Hospital,  took  his  complaint  in  Ches- 
nut-street,  the  next  door  to  the  corner  of  Bancker-street.  This 
same  spot,  at  the  junction  of  these  two  streets,  is  unpaved  and 
sunken,  and  seems  not  only  to  solicit  the  accumulation  of  every 
thing  worthless  or  unclean,  but  also  to  forbid  the  idea  of  any  at- 
tempt to  clean  it  out,  lest  it  would  make  the  pond  the  deeper.  InT 
deed,  so  remarkable  was  this  spot,  as  to  make  me,  as  early  as  the 
7th  month  (July)  last,  request  both  of  the  Health  Commissioners 
and  the  Alderman  of  the  ward,  to  give  some  attention  to  it;  as  I 
considered  it  a  place  highly  favourable  to  the  promotion  of  Yellow 
Fever.  However,  it  was  not  amended.  Fortunately  for  the  re- 
maining inhabitants,  they  were  a  hardy  set;  most  of  them  had 
undergone  the  fiery  trial  of  1795,  in  their  families,  and  the  re- 
mainder were  old  residents  in  town,  as  I  have  been  informed,  ex- 
cepting one  person,  who  lived  the  very  next  door  to  where  this 
man  was  taken ;  but  he  luckily  had  been  several  months  of  the 
summer  out  of  town,  and  did  not  return  till  some  time  after 
Holmes  died. 

The  last  person  mentioned  as  having  died  of  this  complaint, 
resided  in  a  healthy,  cleanly  part  of  the  town :  and  how  or  where  he 
could  have  taken  his  disease  is  still  a  mystery.  Possibly  he  might 
have  received  it  at  some  one  of  the  sources  above-mentioned. 

These  circumstances,  being  well  considered  and  candidly  exa- 
mined, I  think  must  clearly  prove  to  every  unprejudiced  mind,  that 
in  this  city  there  appears  to  be  an  intimate  and  inseparable  cori- 
neftion  between  the  prevalence  of  the  Yellow  Fever,  and  the  exist- 
ence of  putrid  effluvia :  whether  it  be  septon  or  hydrogene,  or 
whatsoever  other  peculiar  principle  that  is  the  aelive  ingredient  of 
their  composition,  is  not  my  business  at  present  to  inquire  into;  nor 
shall  I  pretend  to  decide  whether  these  effluvia  alone  are  the  sole  or 
original  cause  of  the  complaint;  or  whether,  merely  like  a  smoak- 
inghot  combustible,  it  burns  only  after  having  received  a  spark  from 
elsewhere.  However,  from  some  facts,  particularly  that  from  the 
Busbridge  Indiaman,  (Annals  of  Med.  vol.  I.)  and  others  that 
might  be  brought  if  necessary,  it  seems  highly  probable,  that  such 
matters  may,  of  themselves,  sometimes  burst  out  as  it  were,  into 
actual  flame  at  some  point;  from  whence  a  general  conflagration 
may  spread  through  and  involve  the  whole  of  these  susceptible 
materials. 

Foil.  No.  3.  F 


326 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


In  1795,  fr°m  tne  inseparable  connection  observed  to  exiot  be- 
tween this  disease  and  putrid  miasmata,  I  had  strong  suspicion's 
of  their  being  its  sole  cause;  and,  indeed,  the  eyidence  then  adduced 
to  the  contrary,  by  the  advocates  of  importation,  being  so  weak  and 
ungrounded,  seemed  rather  to  support  the  idea:  however,  from 
subsequent  inquiry,  and  more  minute  information,  in  regard  to 
some  circumstances,  not  then  so  generally  known,  it  now  appears 
to  me  probable,  that  a  foreign fomites  might  at  first  have  excited  our 
pestilential  vapours  into  the  action  that  spread  such  devastation  ia 
the  most  afflicted  part  of  our  city. 

The  brig  Caroline  arrived  from  Hispaniola  on  the  ic/h  of  7th 
month  (July),  1795,  and  hauled  in  at  Dover-street  wharf  on  the 
20th;  where,  on  that  and  the  two  following  days,  she  discharged 
her  cargo.  She  had  lost  one  hand  on  her  passage,  his  symptoms 
unknown.  George  A.  Valentine,  who  attended  the  vessel  after 
her  arrival,  was  taken  ill  with  the  fever  on  the  25th  of  the  same 
month,  but  recovered.  On  the  same  day,  "  four  persons  from 
"  on  board  the  ship  William,  from  Liverpool,  which  arrived  here 
"  several  weeks  before,  (all  the  hands  having,  previous  to  that  day 
"  and  curing  the  voyage,  been  perfectly  healthy)  were  taken  ill 
y  with  fever,  attended  with  a  yellow  skin,  hemorrhagies,  vomiting 
"  of  black  matter  resembling  coffee  grounds,  &c.  and  all  died 
"  within  seven  days."  (Health  Committee's  Letter  to  the  Go- 
vernor.) It  may  be  observed,  that  this  ship  and  the  Caroline  lay 
at  opposite  sides  of  the  same  wharf,  and  that  the  people  of  both 
were  employed  on  this  wharf,  at  the  same  time,  in  unloading  their 
cargoes. 

On  the  same  day  also,  "  the  owner  of  the  ship  Connecticut^ 
"  that  had  lately  arrived  from  some  part  of  England,  and  which 
"  had  drawn  in  at  the  next  wharf,  about  the  20th  or  21st  of  this 
"  month,  was  seized  with  the  fever,  from  which  he  recovered ; 
H  and  about  the  same  time,  one  of  the  mates,  the  steward,  and  two 
"  of  the  hands,  were  seized  in  the  same  way,  and  all  died."  (Smith's 
Letter  to  Buel.) 

Benjamin  Paine,  a  custom-house  officer,  who  was  at  that  time, 
attending  the  brig  Active,  which  lay  in  the  same  slip,  was  like- 
wise attacked  on  the  25th:  he  died  on  the  30th. 

William  Fitch's  clerk,  who  was  occupied  in  a  store  on  the 
next  wharf  to  where  the  Caroline  lay,  was  taken  on  the  26th,  and 
died  a  few  days  afterwards. 

A-  Jenkins,  at  the  head  of  the  wharf,  was  attacked  on  the  30th 
or  31st,  and  died.  A  few  days  afterwards,  several  of  his  family 
were  taken  sick,  and  the  disease  began  to  spread  through  the  sur- 
rounding neighbourhood. 

The  circumstance  of  so  many  persons  being  taken  on  the  same 
dav,  fenders  it  highly  "robable,  that  some  i? "cities'  cause  of  this 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


327 


...  ease  must  have  been  introduced  by  the  Caroline;  since,  had 
the  contagion  arisen  from  the  pre-existing  circumstances  of  the 
place  alone,  it  is  not  likely  that  it  would  have  shewn  itself  in  so 
many  instances  at  the  same  time.  In  that  case,  we  should  have 
looked  for  one  to  have  been  first  taken,  from  whom  a  prin- 
ciple might  be  derived  to  stimulate  the  vapours  of  that  noxious 
neighbourhood  into  their  pestiferous  operations.  Had  the  disease, 
in  these  instances,  originated  solely  from  the  surrounding  filth,  #e 
should  not  have  expected  to  find  the  men  of  the  Connecticut,  and 
those  of  the  William,  taken  at  the  same  time;  since  the  former 
had  drawn  in  there  only  about  four  or  five  days,  whereas  the  latter 
had  lain  there  for  "several  weeks"  before  they  were  taken  sick. 

In  1  796,  the  brig  Patty,  Capt.  Snow,  from  St.  Bartholomews, 
arrived  on  the  28th  of  6th  month  (June),  and  not  July,  as  er- 
roneously stated  (probably  by  an  accident  of  the  press)  in  Dr. 
Bayley's  Letter.  (Medical  Repository,  No.  I.  Appendix.)  This 
vessel  drew  in  at  Delafield's  wharf;  which  is  the  next  to  the  dock 
that  was  then  filling  up,  and  is  adjoining  the  Exchange-slip;  and 
although  u  none  of  i/ie  crew  had  been  sick  of  a  malignant  fever ,  still 
she  might  have  brought  a  fomites  sufficient  to  set  the  putrid  mias- 
mata of  such  a  place  into  a  pestilential  action.  Jonathan  Thomp- 
son, a  shop-keeper,  who  lived  No.  24  Moore-street,  but  a  short 
distance  from  this  dock,  and  upon  which  he  was  in  the  daily  habit 
of  taking  his  walk,  became  sick  on  the  4th  of  7th  month  (July ), 
and  died  on  the  10th,  with  well  marked  symptoms  of  a  highly 
malignant  Yellow  Fever.  Capt.  Neal's  wife,  who  resided  half 
way  between  the  Exchange-slip  and  Moore-street,  in  Front-street, 
was  seized  on  the  7th,  and  died  on  the  10th.  Nathan  Strong  died 
on  the  1  7th;  from  which  time  the  disease  became  more  and  more 
general  about  the  neighbourhood  of  the  dock  that  was  filling  up, 
as  stated  in  the  letter  just  referred  to. 

The  first  person  who  died  this  year  about  the  disemboguement 
of  Roosevelt-street  drain,  if  I  am  informed  rightly,  was  James 
Callender(.i  on  plate  I.).  He  was  a  labouring  man,  who  was 
employed  somewhere  towards  the  lower  end  of  the  town;  and 
perhaps  he  was  affected  with  the  complaint  from  being  about  the 
Exchange ;  and  transported,  by  his  disease,  the  seeds  of  infection 
to  that  fertile  neighbourhood  in  which  he  lived. 

In  1797,  the  first  person  that  was  taken  sick  in  East  George- 
Street,  was  W  Cummings:  he  arrived  the  13th  of  8th  month  (Au- 
gust), in  the  sloop  Polly,  from  George-town,  South-Carolina.  One 
hand  died  on  the  passage,  and  Cummings  was  slightly  indisposed 
at  the  time  of  his  arrival,  with  what  he  supposed  an  ague  and  fever, 
but  was  not  taken  seriously  unwell  till  two  nights  after  he  had 
lodged  in  this  street.  It  may  be,  that  a  partial  principle  of  death 
lurked  in  his  system,  during  the  whole  time  after  the  death  of  his 


3&8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


comrade,  and  most  likely,  never  would  have  seriously  acted  upori 
him,  had  he  not  immersed  himself  in  this  or  some  such  like  tury- 
iostering  miasmata.  From  him  the  disease  seems  to  have  spread. 
Two  oi  his  next  door  neighbours  fell  under  its  power,  and  it  ex- 
tended itself,  as  above  related,  through  all  the  most  offensive  part 
of  this  street. 

 Kelly,  of  the  brig  Bellona,  (which  arrived  the  3d  of  9th 

month  (September),  from  Savannah,  with  all  her  hands  and  passen- 
gers in  good  health)  unfortunately  pitched  himself  within  the  noxi- 
ouseffluviaof  the  Fly-market ;  and,  still  more  certainly  to  fix  his  fate, 
lodged  in  a  room,  two  of  the  windows  of  which  opened  towards 
the  places  where  the  putrid  collections  were  gathered,  and  from 
whence  the  southerly  winds  must  have  brought  their  vapours  im- 
mediately upon  him.  He  is  the  first  that  appears  to  have  had  the 
disease  in  thai  neighbourhood;  and  perhaps  the  effluvia  arising 
from  his  body,  united  with  the  putrid  vapours  emitted  from  the 
collections  before  noticed,  tpread  the  complaint  around  this  little 
vicinity. 

Another  of  the  hands  from  the  same  vessel  j  took  up  his  quar- 
ters at  Chesnut-street;  where  he  met  wich  the  necessary  ingredi- 
ents to  bring  his  latent  poison  into  life.  He  was  afterwards  taken 
to  the  New-York  Hospital,  where  he  died.  It  may"  seem  some- 
what strange,  that  the  cause  of  disease  that  must  have  been  kin- 
dled up  at  this  spot  did  not  affect  any  of  his  neighbours;  probably, 
from  circ  umstances  already  mentioned,  they  were  proof  against  its 
operations. 

The  systems  of  the  two  persons  who  lived  at  or  near  Lynch  and 
Stoughton's  wharf,  being  richly  loaded  with  the  emissions  from 
that  offensive  spot,  might  possibly  have  catched  a  spark  of  excite- 
ment in  passing  near  the  Market. 

George  Burchell  may  have  taken  his  disease,  after  having  bceri 
immersed  in  the  effluvia  from  the  inlet  between  Burling  and  Beek- 
man  slips,  from  the  hands  of  the  same  vessel,  as  they  frequented 
his  shop  immediately  after  their  arrival.  He  probably  set  the  whole 
materials  in  action,  whence  Beers  and  judah  were  afterwards  af- 
fected. 

The  other  persons  mentioned  in  the  list  of  deaths,  mav  have 
received  the  cause  of  their  complaints  at  one  or  other  of  the  afore- 
mentioned sources. 

These  circumstances  render  it  probable  that  the  cause  of  Yellow 
Fever,  in  the  particular  parts  of  our  city,  has,  of  late,  been  set  in 
action  by  an  enlivening  spark  from  abroad.  However,  I  do  not 
consider  it  as  decidedly  determined.  It  is  possible  thatCummings, 
having  suddenly  changed  from  a  purer  air,  with  his  already  infirm 
body,  to  this  hot-bed  of  putrefaction,  may,  from  those  predispo- 
sitions, have  had  ihe-disease  created  in  him,  belore  it  had  ripened 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


in  the  todies  of  his  neighbours;  and  he  thence  may  have  intro- 
duced the  principles  of  his  complaint  to  the  surrounding  air. 

Just  arrived  from  sea,  and  of  a  profligate  habit,  Kelly  might 
thence  have  been  a  person,  more  than  any  other  about  the  mar- 
ket, prepared  for  the  deleterious  operation  of  the  putrid  vapours 
in  which  they  were  enveloped ;  and  thereby  have  bee  n  first  affected 
by  surrounding  causes  of  fever;  and,  in  turn,  may  have  imparted 
a  principle  to  the  air,  that  usuriously  repaid  it  lor  its  fatal  effects 
upon  him. 

And  although  James  Callender  worked  towards  the  lower  end 
of  the  town,  there  is  no  proof  of  his  having  brought  his  com- 
plaint, or  even  of  his  having  been  at  Whitehall.  Nor,  indeed, 
is  it  certain  that  the  Patty  imparted  any  principle  of  disease  to  the 
poisonous  vapours  of  that  neighbourhood. 

The  Caroline,  it  is  true,  lay  at  Dover-street  wharf  for  some 
days  before  the  people  thereabout  became  sick;  and  although  such 
2.  number  becoming  suddenly  sick,  at  the  S3me  time,  and  so  soon 
after  her  arrival,  render  her  very  justly  suspected,  still  it  is  pos- 
sible, that,  from  the  particular  and  similar  predisposition  of  most 
of  them,  only  one  having  been  an  old  resident,  and,  all  excepting 
three,  having  lately  come  from  the  same  place,  and  having  been 
alike  accustomed  to  the  same  habits  of  die  t,  exercise,  &c.  they  may 
have  had  the  complaint  generated  and  arrived  to  maturity  in  them 
all  at  the  same  time^  From  which  beginning,  the  disease  might 
have  been  communicated  to  the  whole  of  that  peculiarly  filthy 
part  of  our  city,  in  1795,  without  the  necessity  of  believing  that 
the  Caroline  brought  any  deleterious  principle  from  Hispaniola. 
Although  the  circumstance  of  some  of  these  people  having  lain  at 
that  place  a  much  longer  time  than  the  others,  and  others  again 
having  continued  there  during  the  whole  summer,  shew,  beyond 
a  doubt,  that  some  cause  of  the  complaint  must  have  began  to  ope- 
rate after  the  20th  of  the  month,  still  this  does  not  necessarily  de- 
volve upon  the  Caroline:  perhaps  some  particular  change  in  the 
air,*  or  some  other  peculiarity  might  have  occurred,  just  at  that 
time,  to  have  given  the  putrid  miasm  its  rankest  perfection. 

Whether  the  complaint  is  ever  generated  by  putrefaction  alone 
or  not,  still  I  am  rather  inclined  to  believe,  that,  generally,  in 
our  city,  it  has  been  set  in  action  by  an  assisting  cause  from 
abroad.  For,  did  simple  putrefaction  of  itself  give  rise  to  this 
complaint  among  us,  we  should  expect  to  find  more  or  less  of  it, 
in  that  row  of  tenements  called  Moore's  buildings,  in  the  years  of 
J  796  and  1  797.    For  although  those  buildings  are  set  upon  high 

*  It  mud,  however,  he  acknowledged,  that  no  particular  change  was  evi- 
dent in  the  temperature  of  the  air.  (See  the  Meteorological  Obfcrvations in 
my  account  of  the  Epidemic  of  1795). 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


ground,  still  they  are  upon  a  perfect  level,  and  are  the  most  crowd- 
ed with,  perhaps,  the  most  dirty  set  of  residents  of  any  in  the  city; 
and  these  chirfly  newly  arrived  Irish  people.  Still  I  cannot  learn 
that  a  single  case  of  Yellow  Fever  has  been  there  for  these  two 
years  past.  And,  I  can  hardly  believe,  that  if  a  person  with  that 
complaint  had  been  introduced  among  them  3bout  six  weeks  ago, 
but  that  he  would  have  spread  mortality  around  him. 

In  East  George-street  also,  during  the  last  year,  we  should  have 
expected  to  find,  at  least,  a  few  cases  of  the  complaint;  yet  I 
cannot,  notwithstanding  the  most  diligent  inquiry,  find  a  single 
instance.  Had  a  single  instance  occurred,  probably  it  would  have 
caused  a  general  prevalence  there.*' 

In  addition  to  this,  it  may  be  observed,  that  the  singular  filthi- 
ness  that  has  existed  in  different  parts  of  our  city,  and  particularly 
about  some  of  the  slips,  towards  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  for 
several  years  before  1791,  was  not  attended  with  any  material  in- 
uiry  to  the  health  of  those  in  its  vicinity;  at  least,  we  have  no  ac- 
count of  the  Yellow  Fever's  spreading  around  them. 

In  the  years  1792  and  1793,  the  mud  machine  was  employed 
in  clearing  out  the  docks,  the  same  as  in  the  preceding  and  the 
succeeding  years.  But  we  heard  of  no  Yellow  Fever  being  the 
consequence. 

But  that  the  simple  emanations  from  a  person  under  the  Yellow 
Fever,  without  the  joint  action  of  putrid  miasmata,  mill  not  produce 
a  like  disease  in  another  person  is  very  clear,  not  only  from  the 
jnany  facts  heretofore  adduced  in  the  accounts  of  that  disease,  as  it 
appeared  in  1795,  (see  Webster's  Collection  of  Papers)  but  also 
from  the  confirming  occurrences  that  have  happened  this  year. 
The  person  supposed  to  have  enkindled  the  disease  in  East  George - 
street,  as  well  as  the  one  at  the  Market,  were  both  conveyed  to, 
rtnd  died  at  Bedlow's  Island;  yet  none  of  the  boatmen  that  took 
?hem  there,  nor  any  of  the  attendants,  nurses,  or  those  confined 
in  the  Lazaretto  with  other  complaints,  suffered  any  indisposition 
from  them.    A  person,  as  I  am  informed,  who  took  his  complaint 

*  I  am  aware  of  an  objection  that  may  be  made  to  this  idea,  in  account- 
ing for  the  healthinefs  of  this  ftreet  it  1796;  firft,  that  the  preceding  year'g 
depopulation,  and  the  dreadful  character  that  the  ftreet  fuftained  thereby, 
probably  prevented  it  from  being  fo  crowded  as  before  and  fince  ;  and,  fecond- 
ly,  that  the  ftreet  having  been  filled  up  during  that  fummer  might  prevent  fo 
great  an  accumulation  of  filth.  In  anfwer  to  this  it  may  be  remarked,  that 
nctwithftanding  the  character  of  the  ftreet,  it  had  not  been  obfervably  more 
thinly  inhabited;  and  although  the  ftreet  was  filled  up  that  year,  yet  that 
was  done  in  the  fore  part  of  the  fummer,  and  fome  time  before  the  Cckly 
ieafon,  and  that  the  yards  were  equally  unfavourably  fituated  as  before  or 
fince;  and  that  although  the  filling  up  of  the  ftreet  might  have  had  its  ufe, 
ftill  we  can  hardly  believe  fuch  a  partial  bufinefs  would  have  produced  fuch 
an  intire  exemption  from  this  difeafe,  had  filthinefs  been  its  fole  caufe. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


33i 


at  Philadelphia,  was  also  carried  to  the  Island,  and  was  there  at- 
tended by  his  friends,  who  had  come  direftly  from  the  fresh  free 
^ir  of  the  country,  and  with  as  little  inconvenience.  Two  of  the 
patients  afore-mentioned  died  at  the  New-York  Hospital,  one 
from  the  market,  and  the  other  from  Chesnut-street;  yet  they  com- 
municated the  disease  to  no  one  there.  Parsells,  who  died  in 
Cedar-street,  infefted  no  one  in  that  neighbourhood.  Nor  did 
Suvdam  spread  any  disease  around  the  Exchange  where  he  died; 
and  Havens'  complaint  terminated  with  his  existence,  in  the  upper 
part  of  Roosevelt-street. 

To  the  foregoing  circumstances  may  be  added,  that  about  the 
same  time  that  Kelly  and  Holmes  (the  former  of  whom  is  sup- 
posed to  have  introduced  the  disease  about  the  market)  arrived 
from  Savannah,  there  also  were  several  other  arrivals  from  the 
same  place,  none  of  whose  hands,  or  passengers,  as  far  as  I  can 
learn,  suffered  with  a  like  disease;*  probably  from  their  having 
taken  more  eligible  lodgings. 

The  simple  result  of  the  foregoing  fadls  and  observations  ap- 
pears to  be, 

I.  That  the  general  cause  of  the  Yellow  Fever,  as  it  has  appeared 
in  this  city,  is  what  chemists  call  a  tertium  quid,  neither  one  thing 
aor  the  other,  but  a  result  of  the  junction  of  certain  matters  emit- 
ed  from  a  human  body,  labouring  under  such  a  disease,  with  the 
effluvia  arising  from  animal  and  vegetable  substances  in  a  state  of 
putrefaction. 

II.  That  putrid  effluvia  may  possibly,  of  themselves,  generate 
the  disease  in  persons  highly  predisposed,  and  from  whom,  by 
their  assistance,  the  fatal  epidemic  may  be  spread  through  a  neigh- 
bourhood. 

III.  That  most  probably,  the  spark  that  has  kindled  up  the  pu- 
trid vapours,  in  certain  parts  of  our  city,  into  a<5tiou,  was  originally 
introduced  from  other  places.  And, 

IV.  As  I  have  uniformly  believed,  and  repeatedly  expressed, 
u  that  no  Yellow  Fever  can  spread,  but  by  the  influence  of  Jiutrid 
"  effluvia."  (Account  of  the  Epidemic  Yellow  Fever  of  1795.) 

Hence  then,  the  grand,  the  much  agitated  "  question  of  im- 
u  portation  or  non-importation,  as  it  respects  the  health  of  a  place," 
to  use  the  words  of  Dr.  Smith,  "  sinks  into  its  merited  insignifi- 

*  This,  perhaps,  by  fome,  may  be.  thought  inaccurate,  as  one  of  the  hand* 
of  the  Shepherdefs  died  foon  after  her  arrival  here,  and,  as  was  currently- 
reported,  of  the  Yellow  Fever;  but,  from  inquiry,  I  do  not  find  that  hi* 
indifpofition  exhibited  any  marks  of  that  difeale.  He  did  not  vomit  at  all, 
at  leaft  after  he  was  on  fhore;  nor  was  he  in  any  wife  yellow;  he  being, 
when  dead,  according  to  the  expreffions  of  his  wife,  "  as  fair  a  corpfe  as 
•<ny  in  the  world." 


332 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  cance;  the  efficient  cause,  the  causa  sine  qua  von,  being  cleirly  dis- 
"  cerned  as  depending  on  local  circumstances."  (Letters  to  Buel.) 

To  depend,  therefore,  for  our  safety  from  Yellow  Fever,  upon 
the  rigours  of  our  port  laws,  or  the  vigilance  of  our  Health  Offi- 
cers, while  these  pools  of  putrefaction  are  Suffered  to  remain,  is  like 
building  a  city  with  cedar  and  pine,  and  confiding  in  the  watch  to 
secure  us  from  tire.  But  if  these  pregnant  sources  of  destruction 
are  dried  up,  we  may,  like  those  who  case  the  wooden  work  of 
their  brick-built,  tilt-roofed  houses,  with  iron,  rest  at  ease  in  our 
habitations,  equally  secure  against  the  deceitful  captain's  intru- 
sions, or  the  incautious  sailor's  blundering  into  our  ports,  in  the 
one  case,  as,  in  tne  other,  we  should  be  of  the  vile  incendiary's 
match  or  the  careless  neighboui spark.  As  the  latter  would  die 
in  their  own  combustion,  so  the  lorm^r  would  end  in  the  fate  of 
the  single  sufferers. 


To  rest  our  security  from  the  Yellow  Fever  (should  it  finally 

appear  that  it  is  alw  ays  imported)  loMj  upon  the  slight  precaution 

of  making  such  vessels,  from  the  West-Indies  and  Southern  States, 

as  mav  have,  or  may  have  had  persons  with  that  complaint  on 

board  them,  do  ten  days  or  two  weeks  quarantine,  must  certainly 

be  a  very  venturesome  business.    The  Patty  had  not  had  any  of 

her  crew  sick  with  a  malignant  fever.    The  people  of^the  Bellona. 

were  in  good  health  from  their  leaving  Savannah,  till  some  davs 

P  y  .  r 

after  they  were  in  this  city.    And  the  Polly  might  have  done  the 

usual  quarantine,  without  any  security  to  us,  as  Cummings  was 

not  seized  with  his  disease  till  seventeen  days  after  his  arrival. 

Nothing  less  than  completely  prohibiting  all  commercial  inter- 
course from  the  Southern  States  and  the  West-Indies,  during  the 
summer  and  first  fall  months,  or  (what  would,  in  the  end,  amount 
to  the  same  thing)  making  every  vessel  from  thence  do  full  qua- 
rantine, and  have  their  cargoes  unloaded  and  properly  unpacked 
and  ventilated,  before  they  are  permitted  to  come  into  our  city, 
tan  ensure  us  against  the  introduction  of  a  cause  of  the  Yellow 
Fever:  however,  these  severe  restrictions  may  be  superceded  by 
roerelv  having  ourselves  properly  prepared.  It  we  only  keep 
decently  cleanly,  it  will  be  perfectly  indifferent  to  us,  whether  a 
Carolinaman  or  a  West-Indian  should  die  with  Yellow  Fever  in 
our  city  or  in  our  harbour,  since,  then,  we  should  be  guarded 
against  any  ill  effects  from  them. 

$fW-Yorif  10th  Month,  1797. 


1 


(    333  ) 


ARTICLE  III. 


A  SINGULAR  CASE  OF  DIFFICULT  PARTURITION 
SUCCESSFULLY  TREATED. 

By  Dr.  Thomas  Archee,  of  Harford-Toiun,  Maryland. 

^Communicated  in  a  Letter,  dated  September  22,  I797,  to  bis  Brother,  Dr.  Ro- 
bert H.  Archer,  of  Baltimore;  and  by  him  tranfmitted  for  infsrtion  in  tbs 
Medical  Sepofitory.] 

ON  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  May  last,  I  was  requested  to 
visit  a  servant  woman  of  Mrs.  E  s,  who  had  been  in 

labour  four  days.    On  examination  with  my  hand  to  know  the 
situation  of  the  child,  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  os  uteri  was 
not  dilated  to  more  than  the  size  of  a  cent.  It  formed  a  thick,  rigid, 
■  cartilaginous-like  ring,  not  yielding,  nor  becoming  softened  by 
.the  pain.    The  midwife  in  attendance  informed  me,  that  the 
patient  was  in  her  30th  year;  that  at  her  15th  year,  she  had  a  pro- 
lapsus uteri,  which  was  reduced  after  it  was  washed  in  a  strong 
deco&ion  of  white-oak  bark  and  dusted  with  powdered  resin; 
that  this  was  her  first  child  ;  that  her  pains  had  been  considerably 
•forcing;  but  the  intervals  between  them  long;  and  that  the  waters 
•had  been  gradually  discharging  for  two  days.    From  this  state- 
ment of  her  situation,  I  did  not  doubt  but  her  labour  would  be 
lingering.    Her  constitution  was  robust  and  strong.    Her  pulse 
was  evidently  marked  with  symptoms  of  tension,  or  convulsive 
action.    I  let  blood  to  18  ounces,  directed  gentle  laxatives,  with 
.emollient  glysters  to  be  administered  occasionally;  oleaginous  in- 
jections into  the  vagina  and  the  vapours  of  hot  water  were  ad- 
vised, as  means  for  relaxing  the  os  tinea?.    She  took  a  dose  of 
•opium  and  stramonium  to  procure  rest,  and  remove  unprofitable 
-pains.    I  now  left  her  to  the  care  of  the  attending  midwife,  till 
•  the  following  day  in  the  evening. 

joth.  At  this  time  there  was  no  perceptible  alteration  in  the 
dilatation  of  the  os  uteri.  The  child's  head  couid  now  with  diffi- 
culty be  felt  through  the  os  uteri,  which  was  advancing  with  every 
pain,  without  dilating  in  the  least.  A  few  pains  protruded  the 
uteruf,  with  its  contents,  without  the  os  externum!  The  child  was 
now  evidently  dead,  which,  from  several  well  marked  circum- 
stances, had  taken  place  about  two  days  previous  to  the  present 
period.  I  dreaded  the  event  of  a  case  so  new  and  alarming,  and 
informed  her  mistress  there  was  scarcely  a  chance  for  her  life; 
that  it  was  possible  to  deliver  her,  but' the  consequence  of  the 
Fol.  I.  Ko.  3.  G 


33+ 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


operation  might  be  fatal  to  her.  The  distance  of  a  physician  ren- 
dered it  impossible  to  call  a  consultation.  Death  appeared  as  the 
closing  scene  of  every  plan  I  proposed;  in  fad,  her  situation  re- 
quired such  immediate  assistance,  that  there  was  scarcely  a  mo-; 
meat  for  deliberation.  To  leave  a  mass  within  the  uterus,  which 
was  hourly  becoming  more  offensive,  and  to  be  an  idle  spectator 
of  the  fatal  event  that  must  ensue,  was  depriving  her  even  of  the 
chance  which  a  doubtful  and  desperate  remedy  afforded. 

I  recollected  having  read  several  well  attested  cases,  where  the 
uterus  was  lacerated  by  its  violent  contractions  round  the  body  of 
the  child  in  parturition.  The  child  was  squeezed  partly  through 
the  aperture  into  the  abdomen ;  it  was,  however,  delivered,  and 
the  lacerated  uterus  healed  without  any  difficulty  or  even  the  oc- 
currence of  an  uncommon  symptom.  The  favourable  event  of 
these  extraordinary  cases,  determined  me  to  hazard  an  artificial 
division  of  the  neck  of  the  uterus,  (which  appeared  to  be  less 
dangerous  than  a  laceration)  to  make  room  for  the  delivery  of  the 
child.  Unknown  to  her  or  any  of  the  attendants,  except  the 
midwife,  who  held  the  candle  (for  it  was  now  night),  with  a 
common  spear-pointed  lancet,  I  made  three  incisions  in  the  neck 
of  the  womb,  which  was  very  much  distended;  each  about  two 
inches  in  length,  viz.  one  from  the  uterus  leading  towards  the  ure- 
thra; one  towards  the  perinacum;  and  the  other  towards  the  left 
labia.  The  pains  at  this  time  were  not  strong,  yet  they  were  suf- 
ficient to  expel  the  child.  After  the  incisions  were  made,  the  de- 
livery was  almost  instantaneous.  The  umbilical  cord  was  wrap- 
ped round  the  body,  arm,  and  neck  of  the  child.  The  incisions 
produced  no  pain,  neither  was  there  any  haemorrhage  followed  the 
lancet.  The  uterus,  after  the  separation  of  the  secundines,  which 
came  away  without  difficulty,  contracted  and  returned  with  but 
little  assistance  to  its  pristine  situation.  She  was  now  put  to  bed 
and  desired  to  be  kept  quiet.  I  directed  anodynes  to  be  given 
occasionally,  and  glvsters  to  be  administered  so  as  to  procure  one 
or  two  dejections  daily.  Neither  soreness,  pain,  nor  fever  follow- 
ed this  practice  more  than  would  have  happened  in  any  easy  natu- 
ral labour!  The  lochial  discharges  were  very  inconsiderable,  and 
not  at  all  offensive.  She  was  up  and  walking  about  her  room  in 
three  weeks  after  her  delivery,  and  is  now  in  perfect  health. 


(    335  ) 


ARTICLE  IV. 


Some  ACCOUNT  of  a  DISEASE  among  CATTLE,  wild  has 
Jirevailed  in  a  part  of  Connecticut. 

In  a  Letter  to  Dr.  Mitchill,  from  the  Rev.  Elijah  Parsons, 
dated  East-Haddam,  October  I  7,  1  797. 

OINCE  my  return  from  New-York,  I  have  made  particular 
1^3  inquiry  of  several  intelligent  farmers,  concerning  the  disease 
which  has,  for  ten  or  twelve  years  past,  been  so  destructive  to 
horned  cattle  in  this  vicinity,  and  now  attempt  to  answer  the 
questions  which  you  condescended  to  propose. 

Concerning  the  mineral  productions  of  the  soil,  nothing  peculiar 
can  be  observed.  We  have  here  no  fossil  bodies  except  stones, 
which  are  dug  for  the  purpose  of  fencing  inclosures.  The  soil 
is  generally  stony,  and  the  country  hilly,  better  adapted  for  graz- 
ing than  for  tillage. 

There  has  been  no  suspicion  of  any  poisonous  quality  in  the  dew 
adhering  to  the  herbage.  The  thought  is  new ;  it  has  struck  no 
one's  mind,  nor  has  it  been  imagined,  that  poisonous  plants  have 
caused  the  disease. 

It  has  rarely  destroyed  cattle  so  old  as  three  years.  In  some  in- 
stances, however,  it  has  been  mortal  to  cows,  but  never,  it  seems, 
to  oxen.  It  has  been  most  fatal  to  calves  in  autumn,  and  to  year- 
lings in  May  and  June.  Some  have  died  even  in  winter.  The 
stock  in  point  of  quality,  most  liable  to  the  ravages  of  this  dis- 
temper, are  the  largest,  most  thrifty,  and  highest  fleshed. 

The  symptoms  of  the  mortification  (for  this  is  the  vulgar  name  of 
the  disease)  are  these: — The  infected  creature  is  found  listless,  un- 
willing to  move,  and  commonly  lying  down,  which  an  hour  before 
was  feeding,  and  to  appearance  well.  A  small  spot,  which  may 
be  covered  with  a  man's  hand,  is  found  swollen,  and  soft  in  the 
leg,  shoulder,  flank,  side,  but  more  often  in  the  back,  in  the  region 
of  the  kidneys.  In  the  course  of  six,  twelve,  or  twenty-four  hours, 
life  terminates  with  little  expression  of  pain. 

I  can  give  you  no  information  of  the  appearance  of  the  intesti- 
nal canal,  for  no  carcase  has  been  dissected.  The  stench  imme- 
diately after  death  is  intolerable.  The  very  hide  is  often  left  to 
rot  with  the  carcase.  Upon  skinning,  the  swollen  spot  is  found 
to  contain  a  jelly  and  black  blood.  A  tanner  has  informed  me, 
that  w  the  hide  which  covered  the  mortified  spot  is  often  rotten; 


50  Medical  repository. 


"  and  that  he  has  a  number  every  year,  which,  after  dressing, 
"  have  a  hole  of  the  same  dimensions  with  the  swelling." 

The  cause  of  the  disease  assigned  by  our  most  discerning  farmers 
is  a  plethory ;  for  it  proves  destructive  to  cattle  after  a  change  of 
pasture,  or  fodder,  from  bad  to  good.  Many  calves  in  years  past, 
have  died  after  feeding  in  the  fields  of  grain,  or  in  rowing  in  the 
fall  of  the  year.  This  is  a  circumstance  of  which  I  was  ignorant 
when  I  saw  you. 

Accordingly — the  remedies  which  have  been  applied  are  chiefly  of 
the  preventative  kind ;  such  as  bleeding,  on  a  change  of  pasture  of  a 
better  quality,  and  care  not  to  permit  a  sudden  change,  from  bare 
feed  to  lull  bite.  After  the  appearance  of  the  disease,  many  reme- 
dies were  at  first  applied,  but  not  one  to  any  purpose;  all  remedies 
have  been  supposed  to  be  totally  ineffectual.  One  person,  how- 
ever, has  imagined  that  he  has  effected  a  cure,  in  two  or  three  in- 
stances, when  the  disease  was  taken  in  its  first  symptoms.  After 
copious  bleeding  in  the  neck,  he  informed  me,  that  he  gave  the 
animsl  his  own  blood  to  drink,  which  operated  cathartically,  and 
then  made  an  incision  in  the  swollen  spot,  took  out  the  jelly  and 
gore,  filled  the  cavity  with  rum  and  salt  j  after  which  the  recovery 
was  gradual.  In  all  other  instances,  which  were  not  numerous,  he 
informed  me,  that  this  remedy  had  done  neither  good  nor  hurt- 
Thus,  Sir,  in  the  best  manner  I  was  able,  I  have  returned  an 
answer  to  your  questions,  relative  to  the  pestilence  which  has  de- 
stroyed a  multitude  of  cattle. 

If  the  publications  you  may  by  this  time  have  received  from 
your  learned  correspondent  in  Germany,  contain  any  observations 
or  remarks  that  may  be  beneficial  in  preventing  or  counteracting 
this  great  evil,  you  will  oblige  many  in  this  quarter  by  commu- 
nicating them,  as  all  the  precautions  which  have  been  used,  are 
not  sufficient  to  put  a  stop  to  its  ravages.  May  your  philosophi- 
cal researches  continue  to  be  beneficial  to  your  country,  as  they 
sre  honourable  to  the  American  name.  I  am,  Sir,  with  esteem, 
vespect,  and  a  sense  of  obligation  for  your  politeness,  your  hurm 
ble  servant, 

ELIJAH  PARSONS. 


(    337  ) 


ARTICLE  V. 


A  Case  of  CANINE  MADNESS,  vihkh  terminated  fatally,  at 
Si'ffield,  in  Connetticut,  on  the  nth  of  NovemUr,  1  797. 

Communicated  for  the  Medical  Repository,  in  a  Letter,  (dated  Stf~ 
field,  Nov.  18,  1797^  to  Dr.  Mi tchill,  from  Dr.  Alexan- 
der Kinc. 

DR.  KING  remarks,  in  the  letter  above  referred  to,  that  this 
is  the  first  instance  of  hydrophobia  which  has  fallen  under 
his  observation,  in  a  practice  of  nearly  forty  years;  that  most  of 
the  symptoms  bear  a  great  affinity  to  the  tetanus,  some  instances 
of  which  he  has  seen;  that  the  symptom  denominated  retching  by 
him,  is,  according  to  his  belief,  peculiar  to  the  rabies  canina;  and 
that  though  he  was  not  called  to  the  boy  when  first  wounded,  yet 
he  attended  him  from  the  appearance  of  the  hydrophobic  symp- 
toms, with  particular  assiduity.  The  publishers  of  the  Reposi- 
tory have  thought  it  but  doing  justice  to  Dr.  King,  to  insert  these 
observations,  as  they  may  have  some  influence  in  elucidating  a  con- 
nection, which  has  long  been  suspected,  between  hydrophobia  and 
tetanus,  and  as  they  demonstrate  the  fidelity  of  the  author. 

«  On  Saturday  the  28th  of  October,  1  797,  James  Remington, 
a  lad  of  about  six  years  of  age,  was  on  a  visit  at  a  friend's.  When 
he  first  came  to  the  house,  he  took  notice  that  the  dog  which  be- 
longed to  the  family,  growled  at  him,  and  threatened  to  bite  him; 
which  circumstance  he  mentioned  to  some  of  the  people.  He 
escaped  for  that  time  without  any  injury;  but  soon  after,  this  lad, 
With  a  number  of  other  boys,  was  at  play  in  the  street,  at  some 
distance  from  the  house,  and  the  same  dog  had  followed  the  boys  of 
the  family  to  that  place,  and  there  fell  upon  James,  and  bit  him 
in  the  face.  The  other  boys  beat  him  off,  and  he  ran  home. 
This  adventure  put  an  end  to  their  diversion ;  and  this  lad,  with 
the  other  boys  in  company,  returned  to  the  house,  with  his  face 
wounded  and  bleeding.  When  they  approached  near  the  house, 
they  observed  the  dog  sitting  by  the  gate.  As  James  came  up,  he 
flew  at  him  again  with  great  fury,  threw  him  down,  and  wounded 
his  face  in  a  desperate  manner.  One  of  his  tusks  entered  the  lids 
of  his  right  eye,  and  rent  them  both  asunder.  Another  perforated 
the  cheek  on  the  left  side,  and  forced  out  two  of  his  teeth,  and 
lacerated  his  face  in  various  other  parts.  In  this  mangled  condi- 
tion he  was  conveyed  into  the  house,  and  assistance  immediately 


35» 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


called  in  for  his  relief.  After  washing  off  the  blood,  and  examin- 
ing the  wounds,  the  lacerated  eye-lids  were  properly  united  by  a 
suture  on  each  lid,  and  the  wounds  dressed  in  the  usual  manner. 

*'•  A  considerable  degree  of  inflammation  succeeded;  and  in  the 
space  of  about  48  hours,  both  eyes  were  intirely  closed  by  the 
*weiiing,  and  he  continued  perfectly  blind  for  some  days.  After 
the  inflammation  had  subsided,  a  good  digestion  and  pretty  free 
discharge  came  on,  which  were  encouraged  by  stimulating  diges- 
tives; 111  order,  if  possible,  to  prevent  the  effects  of  infection,  in 
case  the  clog  had  been  mad;  which  was  apprehended  by  many 
people ;  the  accident  having  excited  a  general  alarm  in  the 
neighbourhood,  particularly  in  the  family,  and  among  the  friends 
of  the  wounded  lad.  No  pains  were  spared  to  obtain  the  best 
ed vice,  as  to  the  mode  of  treatment  proper  to  be  adopted,  in  case 
of  infection.  He  was  put  on  a  mercurial  course  of  medicine; 
and  the  ung.  cctrul.  frequently  applied  to  the  parts  affected.  As 
the  inflammation  v  ent  off,  he  soon  recovered  his  appetite,  and 
with  that  his  cheerfulness  and  activity,  and  appeared  to  be  in  a 
favourable  state  of  recovery. 

"  But  on  Tuesday,  the  10th  day  after  he  was  wounded,  towards 
evening,  his  friends  observed  that  he  began  to  droop,  and  did  not 
appear  so  cheerful  and  active  as  visual.  Jn  the  night  following,  he 
was  rather  restless  and  disturbed  in  his  sleep,  and  appeared  not  to 
rest  so  quietly  as  he  had  done  before. 

"  Wednesday  (1  ith  day)  morning,  on  removing  the  dressings, 
the  wounds  were  diy  Without  any  discharge,  notwithstanding  the 
plentiful  discharge  which  appeared  on  the  dressings  the  preceding 
morning.  He  complained  of  some  pain  in  the  wounded  eye,  and 
in  his  head;  appeared  to  be  rather  dull  and  listless,  with  a  slight 
fever,  and  other  symptoms  usually  attending  an  incipient  cold; 
and  it  was  hoped  that  his  complaint  originated  from  that  source 
only.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  however,  his  attendants 
observed,  as  he  attempted  to  drink,  that  he  was  attacked  with  starting 
and  twitching,,  particularly  in  his  neck,  which  drew  his  head  back. 
On  being  asked  why  he  did  so,  he  replied  it  would  do  so,  he  could 
not  help  it.  This  symptom  alarmed  the  family,  and  they  imme- 
diately called  in  his  attending  physician,  who  observed  that  he  was 
frequently  attacked  with  sharp  darting  pains  through  his  head  and 
breast,  attended  with  spasms;  particularly  when  he  attempted  to 
drink.  He  therefore  concluded,  that  these  were  the  precursory 
symptoms  of  approaching  hydrophobia.  The  night  following  he 
was  very  restless  and  uneasy;  slept  but  little,  and  that  only  in 
short  disturbed  naps;  frequently  starting  up  in  a  fright.  These 
symptoms  increased  during  the  course  or  the  night. 

"  On  Thursday  (12th  day)  morning,  all  the  complaints  before 
enumerated  had  increased  to  an  alarming  height.    He  inclined  to 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


lie  on  the  bed,  and  chose  not  to  be  moved;  his  countenance  was 
pale,  attended  with  momentary  flushes  in  the  cheeks;  and  he  ap- 
peared in  a  state  of  general  debility,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the 
nervous  system  seemed  to  be  excited  to  the  highest  state  of  sensi- 
bility. Fearfulness,  anxiety,  and  anguish,  were  particularly  ap- 
parent in  his  countenance.  And,  indeed,  fearful  apprehensions 
seemed  to  be  a  predominant  symptom,  not  only  at  this  period,  but 
through  the  subsequent  stages  of  the  disease.  His  respiration  was 
difficult  and  laborious,  especially  in  the  return  of  the  paroxysm^; 
which  had  now  become  frequent  and  distressing.  At  each  inspi- 
ration, spasmodic  catches,  resembling  quick  and  short  sighs,  inter- 
rupted his  breath.  When  he  attempted  to  drink,  he  was  seized  with 
violent  spasms,  particularly  in  his  neck,  which  drew  his  head  back 
with  great  force,  notwithstanding  his  utmost  efforts  to  avoid  it. 
Barely  mentioning  drink  to  him  would  produce  sensible  agita- 
tions, and  hasten  the  return  of  the  paroxysm.  He  was  able  to 
swallow  a  tea-spoonful  at  a  time,  and  that  with  great  difficulty, 
which  he  would  seize  with  eagerness,  trembling  and  agitation.  He 
appeared  to  have  the  same  dread  and  aversion  to  the  wet  cloths 
which  were  used  in  fomenting  his  stomach,  as  to  drink;  and  re- 
newing them  produced  nearly  the  same  effect.  At  short  intervals 
of  ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  he  was  seized  with  violent  retching, 
consisting  of  one  effort  only  at  a  time.  This  symptom  was  sin- 
gular, and  what  I  never  before  had  noticed  in  any  disease,  (this 
being  the  first  instance  of  the  disorder  within  mv  knowledge). 
The  noise  produced  by  this  effort  was  sharp  and  shrill,  different 
from  what  is  usual  in  retchings  occasioned  by  sickness  at  stomach, 
and  appeared  to  be  the  effe£ls  of  violent  spasms  without  sickness, 
as  he  never  discharged  any  thing  from  the  stomach,  except  a  little 
wind.  But  this  exertion  seemed  to  afford  a  momentary  respite  to 
his  anxiety  and  distress;  and  he  said  he  felt  better  after  it. 

"  This  symptom  bore  some  kind  of  resemblance  to  the  sin- 
gultus, but  rather  more  like  a  retching  to  vomit;  and  attended 
him  at  different  intervals,  as  the  spasms  were  more  or  less  violent, 
through  the  course  of  the  disease.  He  would  frequently  shriek  out 
in  great  agony,  from  the  acute  darling  pains  in  his  head  and 
breast.  These  shrieks  resembled  those  of  infants  in  spasmodic 
paroxysms,  occasioned  by  worms,  &c.  commonly  called  convul- 
sion fits,  and  appeared  to  be  the  effect  of  fearful  apprehensions,  as 
well  as  of  pain.  At  this  stage  of  the  disorder,  he  often  complain- 
ed of  the  cold,  attended  with  frequent  rigors.  He  retained  the 
exercise  of  his  reason;  unless  tearfulness  might  be  supposed 
to  indicate  some  sort  of  derangement  in  the  mental  faculties.  His 
eye  which  had  not  been  wounded,  appeared  a  little  red  and  in- 
flamed. The  pupations  of  the  artery  were  about  one  hundred  in 
a  minute. 


343 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  At  this  stage  of  the  disease,  by  advice  of  several  physicians 
who  were  present,  he  was  put  on  the  use  of  opium  and  musk, 
in  large  and  repeated  doses,  particularly  of  the  former;  and  the 
-attendants  were  directed  to  keep  the  room  filled  with  the  fumes  of 
vinegar.  About  three  hours  after  taking  the  first  dose  of  thebaic 
extract,  the  spasms  in  respiration  were  rather  less  frequent,  and 
not  quite  so  hard;  the  other  symptoms  continued  in  nearly  the 
same  state. 

"  In  the  evening,  the  pulsations  were  about  one  hundred  and 
ten  in  a  minute.  He  complained  of  a  disury,  and  attempted  fre- 
quently to  make  water  without  effect.  He  inclined  rather  to  be 
up,  than  in  bed.  Tne  catching  in  respiration  was,  in  some  mea- 
sure, abated.  The  turns  of  shrieking  were  rather  more  frequent, 
attended  with  violent  agitations,  and  some  degree  of  delirium; 
particularly  during  the  continuance  of  the  paroxysms.  In  the, 
course  of  the  night  the  disury  abated ;  but,  whenever  he  attempt- 
ed to  drink,  he  was  unable  to  retain  his  urine,  and  would  call  for 
the  pot  when  they  offered  him  drink,  or  even  mentioned  it  in  his 
hearing.  This  symptom  likewise  continued  through  the  remain- 
ing progress  of  the  disease.  He  could  now  swallow  with  less  pain 
and  agitation  than  before.  He  passed  this  night  without  any  sleep 
or  rest.  About  midnight,  .the  pulsations  were  one  hundred  and 
twenty  in  a  minute. 

"  On  Friday  (13th  day)  morning,  there  was  a  sensible  varia- 
tion in  the  symptoms.  The  pulsations  fcfad  decreased  to  ninety  in 
a  minute,  with  frequent  intermissions.  '  He  refused  altogether  to 
lie  on  the  bed;  but  chose  to  continue  in  an  erect  posture.  H<: 
appeared  extremely  wild,  in  great  hurry  and  agitation,  constantly 
iii  motion,  and  continually  talking.  The  catching  in  respiration, 
had,  in  a  great  measure,  subsided;  but  the  virulent  retching  stiil 
continued.  He  could  take  liquors  with  less  terror  and  agitation. 
About  this  time  he  began  to  complain  that  his  throat  was  full, 
and  felt  sore.  At  evening  a  hoarseness  came  on.  The  pulsations 
had  fallen  to  about  eighty-five  in  a  minute,  with  frequent  inter- 
missions, and  were  now  become  exceeding  weak  and  feeble.  A 
coldness  of  the  extremities  had  been  perceptible  some  time  before, 
but  was  now  very  apparent.  He  vomited  in  the  evening,  which 
seemed  to  afford  a  momentary  relief.  He  vomited  again  in  the 
course  of  the  night.  The  matter  discharged  from  the  stomach 
was  no  way  discoloured.  '• 

"  He  had  taken  about  sixteen  grains  of  thebaic  extract,  in  the 
space  of  twenty-four  hours,  from  Thursday  morning  to  this  time; 
which  had,  in  some  measure,  moderated  the  violence  of  the  spasms, 
but  had  not  subdued  the  virulence  of  the  disease. 

"  Fearful  apprehensions,  which  had  been  constant  through  the 
variouj  stages  of  the  disorder,  now  assumed  the  most  formidable 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  341 

aspeft,  and  threatened  a  speedy  dissolution.  Foaming  at  the 
mouth,  grating  of  his  teeth,  and,  by  turns,  raving  distra&ion,  suc- 
ceeded the  other  symptoms,  and  were  among  the  last,  in  this  sad 
catalogue  of  complaints,  which,  before  morning,  put  an  end  to  his 
lite  and  suffering  together,  and  brought  relief  to  the  sympathizing 
spectators. 


Vol.  I.  No.  3. 


H 


(    343  ) 


REVIE  W. 


Art.  I.  Medical  Inquiries  and  Observations :   Containing  an  Ac- 
count, &c.    By  Benjamin  Rush,  M.  D.  &:c.  occ. 

[Continued  from  page  11  J,  and  tonduded.} 

HAVING  taken  a  hasty  survey  of  the  two  former,  we  now 
proceed  to  the  third  and  last  part  of  the  volume  before  us, 
viz.  "  A  defence  of  blood-letting  as  a  remedy  for  certain  dis- 
eases.'' 

:  As  introductory  to  the  defence  of  blood-letting  in  fevers,  Dr. 
Rush  delivers  a  general  view  of  all  the  usual  remedies  for  fever, 
in  its  ordinary  state;  which  prepares  the  way  for  comparative  ob- 
servations upon  each  of  those  set  down  under  the  head  of  eva- 
cuants. 

•  In  the  inflammatory  state  of  fever,  our  author  supposes  blood- 
letting to  be  indicated  by  the  mode  and  circumstances  or  attack, 
as  well  as  by  the  robust  habits  of  such  as  are  chiefly  subjected  to 
this  form  01  disease — by  the  proximate  cause  of  lever,  depending, 
ns  he  thinks,  on  morbid  and  excessive  action  in  the  blood-vessels 
— by  the  symptoms  of  the  early  stage,  such  as  sleepiness,  and  an 
oppressed  pulse,  delirium,  with  a  throbbing  pulse  and  great  pains 
over  the  body — by  the  rupture  of  the  blood-vessels,  arising  from 
the  quantity  or  impetus  ot  the  blood — by  tire  relief  obtained  from 
remedies  of  less  efficacy,  which  acl:  indirectly  in  reducing  the  force 
of  the  sanguiferous  system — and  by  the  great  advantages  which 
have  attended  blood-letting  in  this  state  of  fever,  when  used  sea- 
sonably and  in  due  quantity. 

.  Some  of  these  advantages  are  enumerated  by  the  author,  as  fol- 
low— blood-letting  frequently  strangles  fever,  when  used  in  its 
forming  state — it  imparts  strength  to  the  body,  by  removing  the 
pressure  of  indirect  debiiity,  and  thereby  obviating  a  disposition 
to  faint — it  reduces  the  uncommon  frequency  of  the  pulse — it  ren- 
ders the  pulse  more  frequent,  when  preternaturaily  slow — it  checks 
the  nausea  and  vomiting  which  attend  the  malignant  state  of  fever 
— it  renders  the  bowels,  when  costive,  more  easily  moved  by 
purging  physic — it  facilitates  the  action  of  mercury  in  exciting 
a  salivation — it  disposes  the  body  to  sweat  spontaneously,  or 
renders  the  operation  of  diaphoretic  medicines  more  effectual — it 
suddenly  removes  a  dryness,  and  gradually  a  blackness  from  the 
tongue — it  removes  or  lessens  pain  in  every  part  of  the  body,  and 
more  especially  in  the  head — it  removes  or  lessens  the  burning 


344 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


heat  of  the  skin,  and  of  the  stomach — it  removes  a  constant  chilli- 
ness, not  readily  y  ielding  to  other  remedies— it  checks  profuse^ 
partial,  or  unprofitable  sweats,  rendering  them  moderate,  universal, 
and  salutary — it  sometimes  checks  diarrhoea  and  tenesmus  more 
effectually  than  astringent  medicines — it  suddenly  relieves  the  in- 
tolerance of  light,  which  accompanies  many  of  the  inflammatory 
states  of  fever — it  removes  coma — it  removes  sleep — it  prevents 
effusions  of  serum  and  blood — it  pre  vents  the  chronic  diseases  of 
cough,  consumption,  jaundice,  abscess  in  the  liver,  and  all  the 
different  states  ot  dropsy,  which  so  often  follow  autumnal  fevers — 
it  prevents  the  termination  of  the  inflammatory  in  the  gangrenous 
and  chronic  states  of  fevers — it  relieves  fever,  without  allowing 
it  to  assume  those  alarming  symptoms  which  excite  constant  ap- 
prehensions of  danger  and  death — it  prepares  the  way  for  the  sue-* 
cessful  use  of  the  bark  and  other  tonic  remedies — and,  finally,  it 
tends  to  prevent  relapses. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  advantages  of  blood-letting, 
there  have  been,  Dr.  Rush  observes,  many  objections  to  it;  these 
he  enumerates,  and  endeavours  to  refute  in  the  following  order^ 
viz.  warm  weather — being  born  and  having  lived  in  a  warm  cli- 
mate— great  apparent  weakness — infancy  and  childhood — old  age 
— period  of  menstruation — pregnancy — fainting  after  bleeding — 
coldness  of  the  extremities,  and  ot  the  whole  body — sweating — 
dissolved  blood — an  undue  proportion  of  serum  to  crassamentum 
in  the  biooJ — the  presence  of  petechia?  on  the  skin — the  long  du- 
ration of  fiver — tremors  and  slight  convulsions  in  the  limbs — the 
periods  of  pleurisy  beyond  the  fiith  or  seventh  days — appearances 
of  being  worse,  after  a  first  or  second  bleeding — the  apprehension 
of  bringing  on  a  nervous,  or  the  chronic  state  of  fever — the  debi- 
litating effects  of  bleeding — the  opinion  that  bleeding  renders  the 
habitual  use  of  it  necessary  to  health  and  life — the  opinion  that 
bleeding,  more  especially  where  it  is  copious,  predisposes  to  effu- 
sions ot  serum  in  the  lungs,  chest,  bowels,  iimbs,  and  brain — and, 
lastly,  the  persuasion  that  other  evacuating  remedies  are  more  safe, 
and  equally  effectual  in  reducing  the  inflammatory  state  of  fever. 

These  objections  are  ail  limited,  explained,  or  combated,  by  Dr. 
Rush,  with  great  force  of  argument  and  authority.  He  recites 
manv  cases,  of  an  impressive  kind,  which  stronglv  confirm  his 
doctrine  on  this  subject.  We  are  sorry  the  extensive  and  detailed 
manner  of  his  reasoning  will  not  permit  us  to  follow  him. 

Our  author  proceeds,  in  the  next  place,  to  examine,  in  detail, 
those  evacuating  remedies  which  have  been  proposed  as  substi- 
tutes for  blood-letting.  They  are  vomits — purges — sudorifics — • 
salivation  and  blisters. 

Although  these  remedies  are  admitted  by  the  author,  to  be 
powerful  and  effectual  in  many  cases  of  fever,  he  cannot  allow 


REVIEW. 


34S 


thern  to  take  place  of  blood-letting;  and  he  justifies  this  opinion, 
by  stating  the  uncertainty,  inadequacy  and  slowness  of  their  ope- 
ration in  urgent  cases;  that  several  of  them  are  unsaie  and  inappli- 
cable in  many  important  instances;  that  they  are  not,  like  blood- 
letting, subject  to  the  controul  oi"  a  physician,  but  often  operate 
more  or  less  than  was  intended  by  him,  or  indicated  by  the  disease. 

Blood-letting,  on  the  contrary,  our  author  contends,  poa:oses 
great-  advantages  over  every  other  mode  of  depleting,  inasmuch  as 
it  abstracts  one  of  the  exciting  causes,  viz.  the  stimulus  of  tt;e  blood 
from  the  seat  of  fever — as  it  is  quick  in  its  operation,  and  may  be 
accommodated  to  the  rapidity  of  fever,  when  it  manifests  itself  in 
apoplexy,  palsy  and  syncope — as  it  is  intirdy  under  the  command 
of  the  physician — as  it  may  be  performed  with  the  ieast  attendance 
of  nurses  or  friends — as  it  disturbs  the  system  much  less  than  any 
of  the  other  modes  of  depleting — as  it  is  a  more  delicate  remedy 
than  most  of  the  others — as  it  produces  no  immediate  danger  to 
life — as  it  is  less  weakening,  when  used  to  the 'necessary  extent, 
than  the  same  degrees  of  vomiting,  purgir.g,  and  sweating — and 
as  it  produces  a  more  rapid  and  perfect  convalescence. 

But,  bv  the  use  of  blood-letting  in  fevers,  we  are  not,  Dr.  Rush 
ob-trves,  precluded  from  the  benefit  of  the  other  evacuating  reme- 
dies. And  there  are  cases,  in  which  the  combined  or  successive 
application  ot  them  all,  is  barely  sufficient  to  save  lite. 

Having  replied  to  the  principal  objections  to  blood-letting,  and 
stated  its  comparative  advantages  over  other  modes  of  depletion, 
the  author  next  proceeds  to  mention  the  circumstances  which 
ihouid  regulate  the  use  ot  it.    These  are, 

i.  The  state  of  the  pulse. 

The  following  states  of  the  pulse  indicate  the  necessity  of  bleed- 
ing— a  full,  frequent,  and  tense  pulse,  such  as  occurs  in  the  pul- 
monary, rheumatic,  gouty,  phrenitic,  and  maniacal  states  of  fever 
— a  full,  frequent,  and  jerking  pulse,  without  tension,  such  as 
occurs  in  the  vertiginous,  paralytic,  apoplectic,  and  hydropic  states 
of  fever — a  small,  frequent,  but  tense  pulse,  such  as  occurs  in  the 
chronic  pulmonary  and  rheumatic  states  of  fever — a  tense  and 
quick  pulse,  without  much  preternaturzl  frequency,  such  as  is 
common  in  the  Yellow  Fever — a  slow  but  tense  pulse,  such  as 
occurs  in  the  apoplectic,  hydrocephalic,  and  malignant  states  of 
fever,  in  which  its  strokes  are  from  60  to  90  in  a  minute — an  un- 
commonly frequent  pulse,  without  much  tension,  beating  from 
120  to  170  or  180  strokes  in  a  minute,  occurring  likewise  in  the 
malignant  states  of  fever — a  soft  pulse,  without  much  frequency 
or  fulness,  to  be  found  in  affections  ot  the  brain,  and  in  peripneu- 
monia notha — an  intermitting  pulse — a  depressed  pulse- — ai.r'  a\\ 
imperceptible  pulse. — The  slow,  intermitting,  depressed,  and  im- 
perceptible states  of  the  pulse  may  not  only  arise  from  congestion 


346  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

in  the  brain,  but  from  great  excess  of  stimulus  acling  upon  f lie 
heart  and  arteries.  The  slow,  uncommonly  frequent,  intermit- 
tin",  and  imperceptible  sfr.tes  of  the  pulse,  which  require  bleed- 
ing, may  be  distinguished  from  the  same  states  of  the  pulse,  which 
avite  from  direr!  dtbility,  or  an  exhausted  state  of  the  system,  and 
that  forbid  bleeding,  by  the  following  marks: — Tliev  appear  in 
the  beginning  of  a  fever — they  occur  in  the  paroxysms  of  fevers, 
whi<  li  have  remissions  and  exacerbations — they  sometimes  occur 
dtrrmg  the  whole  course  of  an  inflammation  ot  the  stomach  and 
bowels — and  they  occur  in  relapses,  after  the  crisis  of  a  fever. 

The  other  states  of  the  pulse  indicate  bleeding  in  every  stage  of 
fever,  and  in  every  condition  of  the  system. 

2.  Regard  should  be  had  to  the  character  of  the  reigning  epi- 
demic, in  deciding  upon  blood-letting. 

3.  The  coiv'itu'iion  of  the  patient,  and  his  habits  of  blood- 
letn'.vr,  should  be  considered. 

4.  Respect  should  be  had  to  the  country  or  place  from  which 
the  patient  has  lately  arrived. 

5.  The  appearance  of  the  blood,  after  bleeding,  should  be  at- 
tended to,  in  order  to  judge  of  the  propriety  of  repeating  it.  The 
author  then  describes  these  appearances,  and  arranges  them  in  the 
order  in  which  they  indicate  different  degrees  of  inflammatory  dia- 
thesis, beginning  with  the  highest.  These  are,  r.  Dissolved  blood. 
2.  Biood  of  a  scarlet  colour,  without  any  separation  into  crassa- 
mentum or  serum.  3.  Blood  in  which  part  of  the  crassamentum 
is  dissolved  in  the  serum,  forming  a  resemblance  to  the  lotura  car<- 
r.ium.  4.  Crassamentum  sinking  to  the  bottom  of  a  bowl  in  yel- 
low serum.  5.  Crassamentum  floating  in  serum,  at  first  turbid, 
afterwards  becoming  yellow  and  transparent  bv  depositing  certain 
red  and  fiery  particles.  6.  Sizy  blood,  or  such  as  is  covered  with 
a  burfy  coat. — But  it  should  be  recolledtd,  tiKit  all  these  appear- 
ances may  be  varied  by  the  circumstances  of  blood-letting. 

6.  Blood-letting  should  always  be  copious,  when  there  is  danger 
from  congestion  or  inflammation,  in  vital  parts. 

7.  What  quantity  ot  blood,  our  author  inquires,  may  be  safely 
taken  in  an  inflammatory  fever?  Supposing  a  person  of  ordinary 
size,  to  contain  between  25  and  28  pernios  of  blood,  and  that 
much  more  blood  may  be  taken  in  the  febrile  than  in  the  healthy 
state  of  the  blood-vessels,  it  is  suggested  that,  pcrhap'',  some  cases 
of  fever  may  be  found  in  which  four  or  five  pounds  of  blood  may 
be  sufficient  to  keep  up  an  equal  and  vigorous  circulation.  In 
confirmation  of  his  opinions  on  this  subject,  Dr.  Rush  mentions  a 
number  of  very  striking  cases  of  the  quantity  of  blood  which  has 
hec'n  drawn  by  design,  or  lost  by  accident.  He  produces  also 
some  surprising  instances  of  the  rapid  regeneration  ot  blood,  when 
drawn  or  lost. 


REVIEW. 


547 


In  shortj  our  author  contends,  that  bleeding  should  be  repeated, 
while  the  symptoms  first  requiring  it  continue,  even  until  tour- 
fifths  of  the  blood  in  the  body  be  drawn  away.  He  add;,  that  in 
malignant  fevers,  he  has  always  observed  the  cure  to  be  mo^t  com- 
plete^  and  the  convalescence  most  rapid,  when  bleeding  has  been 
continued  until  a  jialcness  is  induced  in  the  face,  and  the  patient  is 
able  to  sit  up  without  being  fainty. 

8.  In  Weeding,  the  quantity  at  each  time  should  be  large  or 
small,  according  to  the  state  of  the  system.  Where  the  pulse  acts 
with  force  and  freedom,  from  10  to  20  ounces  may  be  taken  at 
once;  but  in  cases  of  great  indirect  debility,  where  the  pulse  is 
depressed,  it  will  be  better  to  take  but  a  few  ounces  at  a  time,  and 
to  repeat  it  three  or  Jour  times  a  day. 

9.  Arteriotomy  would,  probably,  have  many  advantages  over 
v  enesection,  could  it  be  performed  at  all  times,  with  care  and  safety. 

10.  Our  author  supposes,  that  bleeding  irom  the  arm  may  su- 
persede any  other  mode,  in  nearly  all  cases,  except  when  iocal 
blood-letting  may  be  necessary. 

i  1.  As  to  the  proper  time  of  bleeding,  our  author  supposes  it 
mav  be  used  at  all  times,  when  indicated  by  the  pulse  and  other 
circumstances,  in  continual  fevers;  but  it  should  be  used  chieny 
in  the  paroxysms  of  such  as  intermit. 

Dr.  Rush  concludes  his  defence  of  blood-letting,  by  some  ob- 
servations on  its  usefulness  at  the  period  when  the  menses  cease 
to  flow — in  diminishing  the  pain  and  slowness  of  parturition — on 
the  probability  of  its  advantages,  if  used  with  sufficient  energy,  in 
cases  of  hydrophobia — on  its  beneficial  effects  in  the  reduction  of 
dislocations,  which  resist  the  culinary  means — and  its  efficacy  in 
preventing  palsy,  apoplexy,  cough,  colic,  and  some  of  the  other 
diseases  more  particularly  incidental  to  old  age. 

It  would  be  doing  great  injustice  to  the  author,  to  omit  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  distinguished  merits  of  this  last  part  of  his 
work.  He  treats  a  subject  ol  the  highest  practical  concern,  im- 
portant, difficult,  and  interesting,  from  a  variety  of  considerations; 
and,  we  must  add,  that,  in  our  judgment,  he  treats  it  with  pei- 
spicuityj  precision,  and  great  ability. 

We  conceive  the  author  has  perfectly  succeeded  in  establishing 
the  following  positions — that  blood-Jetting  is  a  remedy  of  indis- 
pensible  importance,  in  malignant  and  pestilential,  as  well  as  in 
many  other  kinds  of  fever — that  much  of  the  reasoning  employed 
against  it,  is  inconclusive  and  fallacious — and  that,  in  the  general 
treatment  of  fevers,  it  is  not  liable  to  produce  effects  so  hazardous 
and  detrimental  as  common  opinion  has  usually  imagined. 

From  this  declaration,  it  will  not  be  understood,  that  we  are  in- 
sensible of  the  mischief  that  may  result  from  an  indiscriminate  and 
excessive  employment  of  blood-letting,  or  from  a  hasty  and  mis- 


3*S  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

taken  application  of  the  autnor's  principles.  If  any  remeJy  can 
be  pronounced  powerful,  decisive,  and  irrevocable  in  the  chan  res 
produced  by  i:  in  the  animal  system,  it  is  assuredly  this  It  would 
be  fortunate  tor  mankind,  if  a  remedy  of  such  extensive  and  fro* 
qi:ent  application,  and  of  so  much  erricacy,  could  always  be  ad- 
ministered under  the  direction  of  a  discrete  and  sound  judgment. 
Every  person  must  deprecate  the  pernicious  mistakes,  widen  igno- 
rance, inexperience,  and  temerity  may  commit  in  this  subject. 
And,  if  it  nad  been  possible  lor  the  author  to  subjoin  restrictions 
and  cautions  still  more  clear  and  definite  than  those  he  delivers, 
we  should  have  rejoiced  to  see  them. 

In  auukion  to  wnat  we  have  more  than  once  suggested  in  the 
course  of  this  review,  it  will  be  proper  here  to  offer  a  more  explicit 
apology  for  the  cursory  notice  we  have  been  compelled,  by  the  li« 
mi:s  prescribed  to  us,  to  take  of  several  important  parts  of  tnis  work. 
Many  passages,  containing  reasonings  of  the  greatest  consequence 
to  the  author's  opinion,  admit  neither  analysis  nor  abridgment; 
2nd  such  passages  we  have  citen,  unwillingly,  been  obliged  to  pass 
over.  We  h..pe  we  have  not  mistated  the  author's  meaning  in 
any  instance;  but  if  this  should  have  happened,  through  inadver- 
tence, we  rely  on  his  liberality  to  excuse  it. 

We  take  leave,  with  respect,  of  a  performance,  from  the  perusal 
of  which  we  have  derived  so  much  instruction  and  pleasure;  and 
shall  be  happy  to  renew  our  attention  to  the  observations  concern- 
ing gout,  and  the  diseases  of  the  mind,  which  the  author  promises  to 
lay  before  the  public  at  some  future  period. 


Art.  II.  Two  Leclures  on  Combustion :  supplementary  to  a  Course  of 
Lectures  on  Chemistry,  read  at  Nassau-Hall ;  containing  an  Exami- 
nation of  Dr.  Priestley's  Considerations  on  the  Doctrine  of  Phlogis- 
ton, and  the  Decomposition  of  IVater.  By  John  Maclean,  Profes- 
sor of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  College  of 
New-Jersey.    Philadelphia.    Dobson.    1797.  8vo.  pp.  71. 

''t^HE  performance  before  us  affords  another  agreeable  instance 
i_  of  the  progress  of  chemical  discussion  in  the  United  States. 
We  feei  muih  satisfaction  in  announcing  to  our  readers  each  new 
proof  of  the  growing  taste  in  America,  for  this  kind  of  inquiry. 
Professor  Maclean  appears  to  have  meditated  a  reply  to  Dr.  Priest- 
lev,  before  he  knew  that  Mr.  Adet  was  engaged  in  a  similar  un- 
dertaking; and  that  his  examination  of  the  subject  might  be  as 
erfectual  Efi  possible,  he  seems  to  have  explained,  to  the  students 
of  Princeton  College,  in  ids  lectures,  part  of  the  substance  of  the 
pamphlet  under  consideration,  before  he  offered  it  to  the  public. 


REVIEW. 


349 


Mr.  Maclean,  in  his  answer,  follows  the  arrangement  of  Dr. 
Priestley  in  his  publication,  with  which,  we  presume,  our  readers 
aresurfidenrly  acquainted,  from  the  account  given  of  it  in  the  second 
number  of  tills  volume.  From  the  examination  of  the  first  chapter 
of  Dr.  Prieitley's  work,  on  the  Constitution  of  Metals,  our  author 
comes  to  the  following  conclusions:  to  wit.  i.  That  turbeth 
mineral  may  be  reduced  to  running  quicksilver,  by  heat  alone, 
without  addition.  2.  That  quicksilver,  revived  from  its  calces 
in  inflammable  air,  does  not  differ  at  all  from  that  recovered  by  in- 
crease of  temperature  only.  3.  Though  hot  iron  may  so  affeft  the 
air  as  to  be  smelled,  this  is  no  evidence  of  the  separation  of  phlo- 
giston from  it.  4.  Azotic  air  cannot  be  formed  from  the  union 
of  oxygene,  with  any  matter  which  hot  iron  emits.  5.  When 
iron  is  dissolved  in  the  acid  of  brimstone,  it  is  reduced  to  a  state 
resembling  that  of  the  black  oxyd.  6.  That  inflammable  air  and 
other  combustible  substances,  are  instrumental  in  reducing  metallic 
oxyds  by  tae  attraction  exerted  for  their  oxygene.  And,  lastly, 
That  the  inflammable  air,  obtained  from  water  and  hot  iron,  and 
from  iron  and  sulphuric  acid,  proceeds  not  from  the  iron,  (nor, 
we  may  add,  from  the  acid  itself)  but  from  the  decomposition  of 
the  water. 

Mr.  Maclean  next  examines  Dr.  Priestley's  second  chapter,  on 
the  Composition  and  Decomposition  of  Water;  and  sums  up  his 
Inferences,  from  examining  the  whole  of  the  faefs,  under  the  fol- 
lowing heads:  1.  The  same  substance  (oxyd  of  iron)  is  formed 
whether  the  iron  is  acred  upon  by  hot  steam,  burned  in  oxygene 
air,  or  exposed,  in  the  form  of  filings,  to  a  sufficient  heat  in  mix- 
ture with  the  red  calx  of  quicksilver.  2.  Where  the  iron  is 
oxydated  by  the  two  latter  processes,  no  hydrogene  air  is  formed, 
though  this  is  produced  plentifully  enough,  when  water  comes  in 
.contact,  with  hot  iron.  3.  The  fixed  air  sometimes  found  after 
reducing  metals  in  inflammable  air,  previously  existed  in  their 
oxyds.  4.  The  water  formed  from  the  deflagration  of  oxygenous 
and  inflammable  airs,  weighs  just  as  much  as  the  sum  of  the 
weights  of  the  two  gases.  5.  The  azotic  air  found  in  the  resi- 
duary portion  of  the  gases,  was  mixed  with  the  airs  before  com- 
bustion. 6.  The  nitrous  acid,  when  the  combustion  was  rapid, 
proceeded  from  the  union  of  azote  with  oxygene.  7.  The  expe- 
riments with  barytes  afford  no  evidence,  that  water  enters  into 
the  constitution  of  permanently  elastic  fluids.  8.  When  water  is 
acted  upon  by  red-hot  iron,  it  is  resolved  into  its  constituent  parts, 
oxygenous  and  hydrogenous  airs.  And,  o.  That  on  re-uniting  the 
bases  of  these  airs,  there  is  a  re-produ£tion  of  water. 

The  author  then  goes  on  to  offer  very  proper  and  judicious 
solutions  of  the  several  objections  contained  in  Dr.  Priestley's  third 
chapter,  in  the  course  of  which,  he  gives  his  opponent  credit  for 
FU.  I.  Nc.  3.  I 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


his  candour.  He  every  where  repels,  with  ability  and  skill,  the 
attacks  of  the  phlogistians;  and  shews  himself  well  acquainted 
with  the  subject  before  him.  The  zeal  he  has  shewn  will  be  best 
understood  from  a  perusal  of  the  work  itself:  but  the  following 
extract,  from  the  end  of  the  second  lecture,  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
confidence  with  which  the  professor  recommends  the  antiphlogis- 
tic chemistry  to  his  heaters: — "  From  the  view  which  has  been 
"  given  of  the  different  explanations  of  the  phenomena  of  com- 
"  bustipn,  it  appears  that  Becher's  is  incomplete ;  Stahl's,  though 
"ingenious,  is  defective;  the  antiphlogistic  is  simple,  consistent, 
"  and  sufficient;  while  Dr.  Priestley's,  resembling  Stahl's  but  in 
"  name,  is  complicated,  contradictory,  and  inadequate.  You, 
"  doubtless,  therefore,  will  be  inclined  to  prefer  the  antiphlogistic 
"  doctrine:  Indeed,  you  may  adopt  it  with  safety;  for,  from  being 
"  a  plain  relation  of  facts,  it  is  founded  on  no  ideal  principle,  on 
*'  no  creature  of  the  imagination;  it  is  propped  by  no  vague  sup- 
"  position,  by  no  random  conjt&ure;  it  is  dependent  upon  no- 
"  thing  whose  existence  cannot  be  actually  demonstrated;  whose 
"  properties  cannot  be  submitted  to  the  most  rigorous  examina- 
"  tion;  and  whose  quantity  cannot  be  determined  by  the  tests  of 
"  weight  and  measure." 

Upon  the  whole,  while  we  express  our  opinion,  that  Professor 
Maclean  has  acquitted  himself  reputably  in  the  present  publica- 
tion, and  meritoriously  supported  the  chemical  character  of  the 
Seminary  and  State  to  which  he  belongs,  we  would  advise  our 
readers  to  beware,  even  at  this  time,  of  too  much  positiveness, 
while  'the  experiments  of  Mrs.  Fulhame  and  Mr.  La  Marc,  now 
before  the  public,  appear  to  require  solution  upon  the  antiphlo- 
gistic theory,  and  reconcilement  with  it. 


Art.  III.  Agricultural  Experiments  on  Gypsum,  or  Planter  of  Paris  ; 
ivith  some  Observations  on  the  fertilizing  Quality  and  Natural 
History  of  that  Fossil.  By  George  Logan,  M.  D.  Philadelphia. 
Baileys.    8vo.  pp.  18.  1797. 

TN  this  short  pamphlet,  Dr.  Logan  has  related  five  experiments 
J_  made  by  himself,  on  the  operation  of  gypsum  in  agriculture, 
which,  he  thinks,  establish  the  following  facis.  First,  Tnat  there 
is  no  difference  between  European  and  American  gypsum.  Se- 
cond, That  gypsum  acts  as  an  immediate  manure  to  grass,  and 
afterwards  in  an  equal  degree  to  grain.  Third,  That  one  dressing 
will  continue  in  force  several  succeeding  crops.  These  experi- 
ments, which  occupy  eight  pages  of  this  publication,  are  the  most 
valuable  parts  of  its  contents.    The  remarks  on  the  natural  historv 


x  REVIEW. 


3Si 


pi'  <rypsum  are  superficial,  and  far  less  extensive  and  methodical, 
than  may  be  seen  in  Cronstedt's  Mineralogy,  or  almost  any  of 
the  modern  publications  on  chemistry.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  his  observations  on  calcarious  earth.  They,  however,  are  well 
calculated  to  impress  the  minds  of  those  readers  who  love  concise- 
ness, and  to  whom,  general  ideas,  conveyed  in  common  language, 
are  more  welcome  and  more  intelligible,  than  profound  scientific 
details  expressed  in  technical  terms.  And,  on  the  whole,  we  con- 
sider, that  every  cultivator,  and  especially  such  as  employ  gyp- 
sum, may  peruse  this  piece  with  advantage. 


Art.  IV.  Agricultural  Inquiries  on  Plaister  of  Paris.  Also  Facls, 
Observations,  and  Conjectures  on  that  Substance,  ivhen  a/i/ilied  as  a 
Manure,  &c.  By  Richard  Peters.  Philadelphia.  Cist  and 
Markland.     8vo.  pp.  III.  1/97. 

WITH  great  pleasure  we  announce  this  small  publication, 
which  is  intended,  as  the  author  modestly  says,  "  to  invite 
"  as  well  as  to  give  information,"  and  which  is  collected  chiefly 
from  the  practice  of  farmers  in  Pennsylvania.  The  subject  of 
manures  appears,  as  yet,  to  be  in  need  of  much  further  elucidation 
than  it  has  hitherto  received;  and  on  scarcely  any  article  of  the 
vhole  tribe  of  fertilizing  substances,  is  a  rational  theory  more 
wanted,  than  in  the  case  of  gypsum.  Mr.  Peters  has  proceeded 
in  the  proper  way  to  come  to  a  right  understanding  of  his  subject, 
by  laboriously  and  patiently  collecting,  not  only  the  facts  which 
fell  under  his  own  eye,  but  those  which  occurred  to  the  intelligent 
/armers  of  the  country  around  him. 

The  mode  adopted  to  collect  information  was  by  a  circular 
letter,  containing  about  a  dozen  queries  To  these  queries,  an- 
swers have  been  returned  by  Messrs.  West,  Frazer,  Price,  Hand, 
Curwen,  Sellers,  Duffield,  Wharton,  Roberts,  Heckewelder,  and 
bv  Mr.  Peters  himself.  So  that  the  materials  collected  are  to  be 
considered  as  the  result  of  the  agricultural  experience  of  these  re- 
spectable cultivators.  They  all  agree  in  the  vast  utility  of  gypsum 
as  a  manure  in  most  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  where  it  has  been 
tried.  It  seems  to  be  agreed  on,  that  alter  ten  or  eleven  years  use, 
the  gentlemen  still  entertain  their  good  opinion  of  it;  that  it  re- 
markably brings  to  exhausted  and  impoverished  soils;  that  one 
bushel  and  a  half,  or  two  bushels,  will  be  sufficient,  if  yearly  re- 
peated, for  clover;  that  it  will  answer  well  in  a  sandy  loam,  upon 
a  lime-stone  bottom;  that  though  it  is  serviceable  when  strewed 
in  powder,  on  growing  plants,  it  succeeds  best  in  repetition,  after 
cultivating  and  dressing  slightly  with  stable  manure,  or  witk 


35* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


ploughing  in  green  manures.  As  to  the  supposed  sterility  occa- 
sioned by  gypsum,  Mr.  Peters  observes,  that  his  own  experience 
teaches  him  it  does  not  exhaust  more  than  other  manures  do,  par- 
ticularly dung,  and  that  to  produce  its  full  effect,  it  must  have 
something  to  feed  on,  as  some  farmers  express  it;  that  is,  as  we 
suppose,  to  be  valuable  and  active,  gypsum  must  meet  with  some- 
thing in  the  soil  to  decompound  it;  and  where  this  is  wanting,  the 
plaister  of  Paris  does  no  good.  When  strewed  on  the  surface,  it 
most  remarkably  benefits  white  and  red  clover  and  most  grasses; 
though  it  did  not  appear  to  do  any  good  to  winter  grain.  It  is 
good  for  all  leguminous  plants,  buck-wheat,  flax,  hemp,  rape,  and 
oily-seeded  plants;  most  products  of  the  kitchen-garden,  and  for 
fruit-trees;  as  well  as  for  oats  and  barley,  when  sprinkled  at  sow- 
ing time  on  the  wetted  seeds.  Mr.  Peters  has  sowed  gypsum  at 
all  times  of  the  year,  and  has  found  it  answer  well,  if  strewed  over 
the  land  at  any  time  from  the  beginning  of  February  to  the  mid- 
dle of  April ;  and  he  directs  it  to  be  sowed  in  misty  weather,  to 
avoid  the  loss  of  having  it  blown  away  with  the  winds,  if  sown  in 
a  dry  time-  Some  do  not  sow  it  until  vegetation  begins,  though 
our  author  thinks  it  will  have  an  effect,  if  sowed  at  any  season. 
As  to  the  quantity  of  produce  by  the  acre,  Mr.  Peters  affirms,  he 
gets  as  much  from  gypsum  as  from  any  olher  manure ;  that  the 
hay  is  better  than  that  produced  by  dung;  that  the  cattle  waste  less 
of  it;  and  if  the  grass  is  used  for  pasture,  the  creatures  arc  much 
more  fond  of  the  plaistered  than  of  the  dunged  produce.  He  is 
satisfied  with  a  ton  and  a  half  the  acre,  at  a  cutting ;  Ik.-  mows 
twice,  and  has  a  third  growth  for  grazing  afterwards.  Its  dura- 
bility is  such,  that  though  sometimes  it  will  be  exhausted  in  one 
vear,  yet  the  effect  of  one  dressing,  of  three  or  four  bushels  to  the 
acre,  has  been  felt  for  five  or  six  years,  gradually  decreasing  in 
'its  powers,  and  seems  to  be  capable  of  prolonging  the  efficacy  of 
dung;  and  has  been  known  to  do  good,  when  sowed  repeatedly, 
and  in  small  quantities,  for  a  continuance  of  twelve  years  and 
more.  The  author  expresses  himself  with  much  propriety,  on 
the  pernicious  increase  of  weeds,  through  the  neglect  of  husband- 
men, and  thinks  the  French  gypsum  preferable,  for  agricultural 
purposes,  to  that  brought  from  Nova-Scctia.  We  believe  with 
him,  that  there  is  a  great  variety  in  the  gypsums,  and  are  of  opi- 
nion, that  in  order  to  make  the  whole  subject  well  understood, 
there  should  be  a  set  of  correct  and  well-conducted  experiments, 
on  the  actual  composition  and  relative  properties  of  the  several 
sorts  of  plaister.  But  who  that  can  be  relied  on  will  undertake 
this  inquiry  ? 

In  Mr.  Peters'  chapter  of  miscellaneous  observation?,  we  find 
many  judicious  and  excellent  practical  remarks,  and  towards  the 
clo6e  of  the  performance,  some  attempts  to  generalize  the  nume- 


REVIEW. 


353 


rous  facts  he  is  possessed  of,  into  some  tiling  of  theory.  If  he  has 
not,  however,  ventured  boldly  upon  this,  tie  has  prompted  ano- 
ther cultivator  (Dr.  Mitchill)  to  undertake  it  in  a  memoir  intend- 
ed as  a  sequel  to  Judge  Peters'  pamphlet,  and  which  mav  be  seen 
in  the  first  number  of  our  Medical  Repository,  p.  30,  where  this 
matter  is  amply  discussed.    To  this  we  rckr  our  readers. 

We  cannot  dismiss  this  work,  without  expressing  cur  high  apT 
probation  of  the  care  and  candour  which  the  author  has  shewn. 
Jt  should  be  an  example  as  well  as  an  incentive  to  other  collectors 
of  farts.  And  if  we  do  not  go  deeper  into  the  detail  of  the  con- 
tents of  this  valuable  publication,  it  is  that  we  may  induce  our 
readers  to  peruse  the  work  itself. 


Art.  V.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  the  Bilious  Malignant  Fever ^ 
read  at  a  public  Examination  in  the  Uni-.crsity  of  Cambridge,  for 
the  Degree  of  M.  B.  July  10,  1797.  -By  Samuel  Broivn,  A.  M. 
Boston.     Manning  and  Loring.     8vo.  pp.  54.  1797. 

THE  town  of  Boston,  like  most  other  sea-ports  and  places  in 
the  United  States,  where  men  croud  together,  and  make  the 
same  spot  for  a  longtime  the  place  of  their  settled  residence,  gene- 
ration after  generation,  has  experienced  something  of  the  pesti- 
lence. In  the  year  1796,  particularly,  the  distemper  was  more 
than  usually  alarming,  and  both  on  account  cf  the  violence  of  its 
attacks,  and  the  numbers  it  invaded,  became  a  subject  of  very  se- 
rious consideration.  Mr.  Brown  has  undertaken  to  describe  the 
forerunners  and  symptoms  of  this  malady,  as  well  as  to  investigate 
its  cause,  prognosis,  cure,  and  prophylaxis. 

He  observes,  that  the  scarlatina,  scarlatina  anginosa,  measles, 
dysentery,  and  cholera  morbus,  were  the  diseases  which  succes- 
sively prevailed,  and  some  of  them  with  unusual  mortality  $  until 
the  month  of  August,  when  the  more  powerful  influence  of  the 
endemic  he  describes,  converted  them  all  to  its  own  form  and  na- 
ture. This  remark,  we  consider  a  valuable  one,  r.s  it  evinces  the 
connection  ot  all  the  diseases  known  by  those  names,  with  one 
common  cause. 

Mr.  Broan  then  makes  a  digression  upon  poisons,  which  he  di- 
vides into  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral.  Animal  poisons  are 
■natural  secretions,  like  the  venom  of  the  viper,  &e.  or  morbid,  like 
syphilitic  virus,  &c.  These  are  communicated  either  in  the  state 
of  gas,  through  the  atmosphere,  as  in  fevers,  or  in  a  liquid  form, 
by  contact,  as  in  lues*  They  operate  as  stimuli  upon  the  excita- 
bility, or  sensorial  power  of  the  constitution,  and  can  produce 
therein  but  cue  ailivn  at  a  time;  and  ivhen  the  constitution  las  cx/.e- 


354 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tunic  J this,  (til  ion,  it  bccomrs  no  longer  SMf Cr-ji  tilde  of  it  afterwards.. 
We  would  here  request  Mr.  Brown  to  consider,  that  we  have  been 
recently  a  case,  where  the  human  constitution  was  under  the  ope- 
ration of  mercurial  salivation,  intermittent  fever,  and  syphilitic 
contagion,  all  at  once;  and  we  beg  him  to  remember,  that  though 
re-infections  in  plague,  yellow  fever,  &c.  are  not  very  common, 
yet  there  are  now  and  then  instances  of  their  occurrence. 

The  same  hasty  spirit  of  decision,  with  which  the  author  made 
the  preceding  unqualified  assertion,  ltads  him  next  to  observe, 
that  poisons,  measles,  and  morbific  effluvia,  are  of  too  subtle  a  na- 
ture for  chemical  analysis,  and  that  their  constituent  materials  are 
utterly  unknown.  That  they  may  be  unknown  to  him  we  shall 
not  presume  to  deny ;  but  that  the  composition  of  many  poison- 
ous substances  is  very  well  understood,  we  have  no  doubt.  Are 
not  the  various  combinations  of  quicksilver,  lead,  copper,  and  arse- 
nic, with  oxygene  and  acids,  very  w  ell  understood  r  Do  we  not 
comprehend  the  constitution  of  carbonic  acid  gas?  And  are  not  the 
various  animal  exhalations  composed  of  azote,  charged  with  vari? 
ous  degrees  of  oxygene,  well  understood,  both  synthetically  and 
analytically.3  How  then  can  the  author  affirm,  we  know  nothing 
about  them?  It  is  true,  the  precise  constitution  of  a  number  of 
them  is  as  yet  unknown,  but  it  by  no  means  appears,  that  their  na- 
ture is  too  subtile  to  be  detected.  On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Mitchill's 
ideas,  now  corroborated  by  the  very  recent  experiments  of  Mr. 
Laglefield  Smith,  shew,  at  least,  the  probability  of  the  greater  part 
of  them  having  septon  (azote)  tor  their  basis. 

Mr.  Brown  seems  half  inclined  towards  an  animalcular  hypo- 
thesis of  poisons.  We  have  heard  of  an  animalcular  hypothesis  of 
fire  and  of  electricity.  And  there  has  been  an  animalcular  account 
of  dysentery,  and  of  epidemic  fevers.  It  would  be  quite  as  easy 
to  make  an  animalcular  hypothesis  of  light,  attraction,  or  any 
thing  else. 

There  is  another  unqualified  general  remark  of  our  author, 
which  deserves  animadversion,  "  that  the  more  simple  and  homo- 

genous  a  substance  is,  the  more  powerful  and  active  it  is;"  this, 
he  says,  is  an  universal  truth.  Is  this  the  case  with  carbone,  sul- 
phur, or  hvdrogeue?  Are  acids  simple  bodies?  And  is  it  to 
their  simplicity  and  homogtneiety,  these  powerful  substances  owe 
their  aclivitv  ?  Are  quit  kbilver  cr  arsenic  active  in  proportion 
to  their  simplicity  ?  or  do  they  acquire  the!:"  stimulant  and  other 
remarkable  qualities,  by  being  compfuiided,  with  oxygene  and  acids? 
But  of  this  enough.  Mr.  Brown  <>ots  on  w  ith  the  l.istorv  of  the 
svmptoms,  in  pretty  much  the  common  form,  except  "  that  therp 
"  was  found  in  many  instances,  a forracecus  (green  as  leeks)  sub- 
"  stance,  resembling  the  settlings  or  coffee."  He  next  delivers  his 
prognosis,  and  enters  upon  the  rationale  of  the  proximate  cause. 


REVIEW. 


355 


This  he  makes  to  be  a  portion  of  the  (unknown)  morbid  eiliu- 
•vium  swallowed  with  the  saliva,  and  stirring  up  various  disorders 
in  the  alimentary  canal,  and  inducing  irregular  and  morbid  action 
in  the  abdominal  and  thoracic  viscera.    He  says,  the  "  lite  of 

the  blood  is  either  greatly  impaired  or  totally  destroyed;"  and 
thence  proceeds  to  discuss  the  questions,  whether  the  blood  is 
alive  and  organized  or  not?  what  is  life?  and  wherein  life  resem- 
bles soul?  whence  soul  is  derived?  &c.  In  doing  which,  after 
quoting  Fothergill,  Darwin,  Cullen,  and  Hunter,  ne  seems  to  us, 
to  adopt  the  metaphysical  notions  of  Swedenborg,  and  to  be  tinc- 
tured by  sentiments  imbibed  from  his  doctrine  of  influx.  Wc 
remember  when  we  looked  into  this  performance  of  the  apostle 
of  Sweden,  we  did  not  well  comprehend  it;  nor  do  we  better 
understand  the  application  of  his  opinions,  by  his  disciple,  ta 
explain  the  physiology  and  pathology  of  human  bodies.  Mr. 
Brown,  however,  with  great  propriety,  calls  the  alimentary  canal 
u  the  store-house  of  contagion."  In  his  chapter  of  predisposing 
causes,  Mr.  Brown  makes  judicious  remarks;  and  his  method  of 
cure  consists  in  lowering  the  excitement  by  depletion,  even  by 
blood-letting,  with  all  possible  speed.  He  commends  jalap  and 
calomel  very  highly  as  a  cathartic  composition,  in  the  dose  of 
twenty-five  grains  of  the  former  to  ten  of  the  latter.  After  the 
effectual  operation  of  which,  by  producing  four  or  five  discharges, 
other  purgatives,  such  as  the  sulphate  of  soda,  tartrite  of  pot-ash, 
rhubarb,  senna,  manna,  &c.  are  recommendtcL 

The  author  further  advises  the  whole  body  to  be  cooled,  by 
clothsdipped  in  cold  vinegarand  water;  and  the  like  applications  to 
be  made  to  the  head,  neck,  and  back,  when  these  are  distressed  with 
pain.  He  recommends  plentiful  dilution,  by  watery  subacid  and 
small  drinks;  and  forbids  the  use  of  food  until  after  the  crisis. 
He  directs  particular  attention  to  every  kind  of  cleanliness  and 
ventilation.  If,  notwithstanding  all  these  things,  the  excitement 
should  not  be  seasonably  abated,  but  run  into  indirect  debility  of 
the  typhoid  or  malignant  kind,  he  advises  the  tonic  and  stimulant 
plan  to  be  pursued,  but  cautions  against  the  use  of  the  diffusible 
stimuli,  which  may  exhaust  the  remaining  powers  of  the  consti- 
tution. A  few  cases  from  Dr.  Warren's  practice,  chiefly  unsuc- 
cessful, and  some  preventative  directions,  conclude  this  disserta- 
tion. 

As  a  sequel  to  it,  Mr.  Brown  has  ventured  to  criticise  some  of 
Professor  Mitchill'o  opinions  concerning  the  operation  of  septic  or 
pestilential  fluids  upon  the  human  body.  In  this  part  of  his  dis- 
sertation, Mr.  Brown  does  not  appear  to  us  to  h  ive  perfectly  com- 
prehended the  system  he  attempts  to  refute.  This  will  inore  clearlv 
be  seen,  by  a  cursory  examination  ot  seVeftU  .pieiiea  and  ob- 
jections which  successively  occur. 


356  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

Mr.  B.  asks,  why  Dr.  M.  rejects  the  idea  of  putrid  ferments  in 
trie  mass  of  fluids? — To  tnis  it  ni3y  be  replied,  that  putrid  water, 
putrid  air,  <a,c.  being  all  higidy  antiseptic,  there  is  no  evidence  of 
the  existence  ot  any  putrid  lermeiu.  Mr.  B.  inquires,  way  not 
Cm  those  diseases  which  are  so  suddenly  destructive  or  Wi^putrid? 
Answer — because  put.  iUitv  is  incompatible  with  lile,  and  conse- 
quently does  not  invade  t.ne  body  until  after  life  ceases  to  inline  nee 
it. —  Why  say  that  septon  is  antiseptic? — We  believe  that  Mr.  B. 
w  iil  be  tniticulted  to  discover  any  such  assertion  in  Dr.  M.'s  pub- 
lications. A  more  dilige.nt  examination  will  probably  shew  the 
following  statement  ot  Dr.  M.'s  doctrine  concerning  azote,  or 
*eptoi>,  (as  the  Dr.  calls  it)  to  be  accurate,  viz. — That  septon, 
■when  existing  in  too  great  quantity  in  the  animal  nerves  and 
muscles,  noes,  by  its  redundancy  or  surplusage,  give  those  living 
.parts  a  looser  tenure  or  cohesion,  and  a  tendency  to  be  disorgan- 
ized or  disconnected,  as  in  scurvy  and  in  scorbutic  fevers,  bor- 
dering on  or  approaching  to  the  malignant  and  pestilential  forms, 
but  tnat,  as  soon  as  septon  is  chemically  combined  with  oxygene, 
jt  possesses  the  properties  common  to  acids  and  the  things  vulgarly 
termed  antiseptics. — Mr.  B.  thinks  every  change  in  the  mass  of 
iiu ids  must  be  putrefactive:  Dr.  M.  on  the  contrary,  maintains 
tnat  the  fluids  in  the  blood-vessek  may  be  changed  in  an  indefinite 
number  ot  ways,  w  ithout  being  in  a  putrid  state  at  all ;  nor  will 
Mr.  B.  probably  hesitate  to  adopt  the  same  sentiment,  alter  a  more 
leisurely  and  extensive  survcv  of  the  facts  which  relate  to  the  va- 
rious states  of  that  fluid. — The  autnor  suspects  that  Dr.  M.  has 
.been  led  to  adopt  his  opinion  from  appearances.  This  is  undoubt- 
edly the  fact :  and  Dr.  M.  and  every  other  physician  would  be 
very  much  to  blame  it  he  made  up  his  opinion  in  any  other  way : 
for  what  are  the  whole  ot  the  phenomena  ot  nature  but  appearances? 
and  what  is  the  business  ox  the  man  of  science  but  to  interpret 
them  t  , 


Art.  VI.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  Camphor.    By  John  Church, 
A.  M.  Philadelphia.    Thomj.son.   8vo.  pp.70.  1797. 

FEW  articles  of  the  Materia  Medica  have  given  rise  to  more 
diversity  ot  opinion,  or  to  greater  contrariety  of  pretended 
n.cts  than  Camphor.  To  mention  these  particularly  would  be  to 
implicate  some  venerated  names  in  censure,  and  to  exhibit  such 
an  uncertain  and  conjectural  aspect  of  our  art,  as  would  neither 
be  honourable  to  medicine,  nor  to  medical  writers. 

In  prosecuting  the  natural  history  of  Camphor,  Mr.  Church  de- 
livers the  botanical  description  of  the  Laurus  Camphora,  the  tree 


REVIEW. 


357 


from  whence  it  is  generally  obtained ;  the  places  where  it  usually 
grows;  a  catalogue  of  plants  which  yield  smaller  quantities  of 
che  same  substance;  the  different  modes  of  procuring  and  manu- 
facturing it;  and  the  changes  produced  in  it  by  some  of  the  most 
noted  agents  of  chemistry. 

In  order  to  take  a  more  comprehensive  survey  of  the  operation 
of  Camphor  on  the  principles  of  organic  life,  our  author  institut- 
ed a  series  of  experiments  to  ascertain  its  effects  on  the  growth 
and  economy  of  vegetables.  From  these  experiments  it  appeared 
that,  generally,  vegetables  thrive  more  in  water  impregnated  with 
Camphor,  than  in  simple  water.  This  result,  however,  was  not  uni- 
form; for  some  died  much  sooner  in  the  camphorated,  than  in  the 
pure  water.  And  this  variety  is  ascribed  by  our  author  to  the  vio- 
lent impression  of  this  stimulus  on  the  irritable  system  ofsomeplants, 
inducing  indirect  debility  in  such  degree  as  to  terminate  in  death. 

The  experiments  on  plants  are  followed  by  an  account  of  the 
effects  of  Camphor  on  the  human  body.  *  Applied  to  any  part  of 
the  body,  where  the  cuticle  has  been  removed,  to  the  eye,  or  to  the 
internal  membrane  of  the  nose,  it  induces  a  sense  of  heat,  with 
redness  and  pain.  After  these  have  subsided,  the  irritability  of 
the  parts  is  diminished. 

When  taken  into  the  stomach,  Camphor  is  found  to  produce  the 
following  effects.  The  pulsation  of  the  heart  and  arteries  is  ren- 
dered quicker,  more  frequent,  strong,  tense  and  full;  then,  after 
a  little  time,  it  becomes  slower.  With  the  increased  frequency  of 
die  pulse,  there  is  an  augmentation  of  heat,  flushings  in  the  lace, 
&c.  Respiration  is  little  affected,  when  the  dose  has  been  mode- 
rate; but  when  very  large  doses  have  been  given  to  animals,  the 
breathing  becomes  difficult,  slow,  and  laborious. 

The  stomach  is  rendered  incapable  of  digestion  from  the  ope- 
ration of  a  large  dose  of  Camphor;  anorexia,  nausea,  and  some- 
times vomiting  take  place.  In  the  intestines,  it  sometimes  pro- 
duces cathartic  effects.  The  secretions  and  excretions  are  gene- 
rally increased,  particularly  those  of  perspiration  and  urine. 

The  mind  is  affected  by  Camphor  in  the  same  manner  as  bv 
other  diffusible  stimulants;  it  is  first  excited  to  cheerfulness  and 
gaiety;  then,  if  the  dose  be  larger,  comes  on  the  delirium  of  intoxi- 
cation, followed  by  Languor,  drowsiness  and  disinclination  to  mo- 
tion. These  several  effects  of  the  internal  use  of  this  substance 
are  supposed,  by  our  author,  to  be  clearly  deducible  from  the  nu- 
merous experiments  which  he  details  in  the  dissertation  before  us. 

Mr.  Church  relates  a  singular  and  curious  case  of  a  woman, 
who,  from  the  casual  application  of  Camphor,  as  a  remedy  for 
tonth-ach,  contracted  a  fondness  for  it  so  fascinating  and  irresisti- 
ble, that  she,  at  length,  consumed  it  in  large  quantities;  and  could 
wot  be  induced  to  relinquish  it,  by  all  the  remonstrance*  of  her 

Fol.  I.  No.  3.  K 


5S8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


friends,  or  her  own  conviction  of  its  pernicious  effects.  The  avi- 
dity with  which  stimulant-,  are  taken,  the  inclination  of  mankind 
to  abuse  them,  and  the  readiness  of  the  palate  to  sacrifice  its  most 
decided  aversions  to  their  domineering  influence,  are  strongly  illus- 
trated by  this  case.  To  persuade  men  to  abandon  indulgencies  of 
this  kind,  is  a  hopeless  task.  If  ardent  liquors  should  cease  to  be 
the  bane  ot  the  Christian,  and  opium  of  the  Mahometan  world, 
the  extensive  class  of  stimulants  would  still  afford  a  multitude  of 
substitutes,  equally  alluring  and  fatal,  as  those  iar-famed  destroyers- 
of  the  human  race. 

We  feel  great  pleasure  in  paying  our  tribute  of  acknowledge- 
ment and  respect  to  the  author  of  this  dissertation.  Not  contented 
implicitly  to  admit  the  opinions  of  some  very  distinguished  phy- 
sicians, Mr.  Church  has  inquired  for  himself,,  and  thereby  been 
enabled  to  detect  their  mistakes,  and  refute  their  reasoning.  His 
experiments  are  ingeniously  devised;  the  mode  of  conducting  them 
appears  to  be  marked  v  »  h  diligence  and  precision,  and  most  of 
his  inferences  are  legitimate  and  conclusive. 


Art.  VII.  A  Chemico- Medical  Essay,  to  explain  the  Operation  of 
Oxygene,  or  the  Base  of  filial  Air,  on  the  human  Body.  By  Benja- 
min De  Witt.    Philadelphia.  Woodward.  8vo.  pp.  3.5.  1797. 

THE  doctrines  concerning  the  operation  of  factitious  airs  on, 
the  human  body,  are  now  become  so  important,  as  to  at- 
tract much  attention  and  interest  in  every  country  where  medicine 
is  liberally  cultivate'd.  Although  still  very  imperfect,  this  subject 
discloses  a  prospect  so  expanded  and  fruitful,  in  respect  both  to 
speculation  and  practical  utility,  that  the  most  cursory  and  dis- 
passionate observer  cannot  behold  it  without  feeling  some  portion: 
of  the  enthusiasm,  which  such  a  scene  is  calculated  to  inspire.  In 
the  hope  of  possessing  these  more  simple  and  energetic  remedies, 
the  Materia  Medica  may  be  expected,  without  regret,  to  part  with 
a  huge  mass  of  ambiguous  and  inert  articles,  which  have  over- 
whelmed it  for  ages.  And  the  animal  constitution,  analized  to 
its  first  principles,  will  lend  physicians  to  employ  means  of  secur- 
ing health,  and  treating  diseases  more,  conformable  to  truth  and 
nature. 

In  the  essay  before  us,  Mr.  De  Witt,  after  stating,  in  perspi- 
cuous terms,  the  common  doctrine  of  the  composition  of  the  at- 
mosphere, proceeds  to  deliver  the  history  of  oxygene.  As  this  sub- 
stance, on  account  of  its  great  attraction  for  other  bodies,  has  never  - 
been  obtained  in  a  separate  state,  he  chiefly  treats  of  it  as  combined 
with  caloric,  which  maintains  it  in  the  form  of  elastic  fluidity ;  and, 


REVIEW. 


359 


Iri  this  state,  he  considers  it  as  employed  in  the  respiration  of  ani- 
mals, in  the  combustion  of  inflammable,  and  the  putrefaction  of 
animal  and  vegetable  substances. 

The  agency  of  oxygene,  in  the  functions  of  the  lungs,  forms 
one  of  thfc  most  interesting  objects  of  physiological  inquiry.  The 
mode  of  its  introduction  by  that  organ,  is  particularly  described 
by' our  author.  He  also  supposes,  on  the  ground  of  many  facts, 
as  well  as  the  opinion  of  several  respectable  writers,  that  large 
quantities  of  oxygene  are  absorbed  by  the  stomach  and  intestines, 
-and  also  by  the  skin. 

That  the  difference  in  the  colour  of  venous  and  arterial  blood  is 
wholly  to  be  ascribed  to  the  operation  of  oxygene,  our  author  he- 
sitates not  to  conclude.  In  attempting  to  explain  this  appearance, 
he  thinks  it  most  probably  owing  to  iron,  reduced  to  the  state  of 
red  oxyd.  He  admits,  however,  the  difficulty  of  explaining  how  so 
small  a  portion  of  iron  as  the  blood  contains,  should  diffuse  that 
florid  colour  through  so  large  a  mass  of  fluid ;  and  he  does  not  be- 
lieve, that  iron  has  so  strong  an  attraction  for  oxygene,  at  the  ordi- 
nary temperature  of  the  body,  as  to  account  satisfactorily  for  the 
instantaneous  change  which  takes  place  in  the  blood  circulating 
through  the  lungs.  The  coagulability  of  the  coagulable  lymph,  he 
.refers,  agreeably  to  the  result  of  Dr.  Beddoes's  experiments,  to  the 
operation  of  oxygene. 

The  author  proceeds  to  consider  the  influence  of  oxygene,  in 
producing  animal  heat,  as  a  stimulus  essential  to  the  action  of  the 
heart  and  arteries,  its  agency  upon  the  nerves,  brain  and  mind, 
and  particularly  as  affording  the  material  tor  the  secretion  of  the 
vital  principle  by  the  brain,  or  medullary  part  of  the  nerves,  its  use 
as  a  nutriment,  and  its  effects  on  the  fsetus  in  utero. 

In  treating  of  the  morbid  effects  of  oxygene,  the  author  adverts 
to  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Beddoes,  concerning  a  superabundance  of  it 
in  phthisical  patients — to  the  conjecture  ot  Dr  Rush,  that  an  excess 
of  it  in  the  atmosphere  may  dispose  to  epidemic  and  malignant  dis- 
eases— to  the  doctrine,  maintained  by  Dr.  Mitchill,  of  the  noxious 
effects  of  certain  combinations  of  oxygene  and  azote — and  to  the 
observations  of  Dr.  Darwin,  concerning  the  corrosive  and  fever- 
producing  qualities  imparted  by  the  oxygenous  portion  of  the  at- 
mosphere to  the  matter  of  cancer,  abscess,  small-pox,  &c. 

As  a  remedy  in  certain  diseases,  we  may  expect  much  from 
oxygene.  It  exhibits  all  the  characters  of  a  powerful  and  durable 
stimulus.  Great,  benefit,  our  author  observes,  has  been  experi- 
enced from  it  in  asphyxia,  arising  from  different  causes,  in  scurvy, 
typhus,  asthma,  cancer,  schrophula,  herpes,  hypochondriasis,  chlo- 
rosis, dyspepsia,  melancholia,  &c.  The  prospect  of  obtaining  an 
adequate  remedy  for  these  destructive  disorders,  some  of  which  are 
the  reproach  of  medicine,  and  more  especially  a  remedy  of  such 


Medical  repository. 


easy  and  agreeable  application,  will  be  consoling  to  every  friend 
of  mankind.  The  important  practical  question,  whether  oxygene, 
like  other  stimulants,  exhausts  excitability,  is  lett,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, untouched  by  our  author. 

On  the  several  points  comprehended  in  this  essay,  Mr.  De  Witt 
has  derived  his  information  from  the  most  authentic  and  respedta- 
ble  sources.  He  has,  indeed,  neither  made,  nor  proposed  any  new 
experiments;  he  has  not  inriched  the  common  doctrines  by  any 
novel  assemblage  of  facts;  nor  do  we  perceive  any  thing  in  his 
combinations  or  reasoning  that  can  be  pronounced  original.  He 
possesses,  however,  the  merit  of  having  selected  an  interesting  to- 
pic; of  presenting  the  matter,  collected  from  various  sources,  in  a 
lucid  and  natural  order;  and  of  contributing  his  exertions  to  dis- 
seminate the  knowledge  of  a  subject  far  too  little  regaided  or  un- 
derstood in  the  United  States. 


Art.  VIII.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  Fraflures,  &c.  By 
Robert  Black,  &c.  Philadelphia.  Ormrod  and  Conrad.  8vo.  pp. 
46.  1797. 

IT  is  pleasing  to  observe  the  improvements  which  are  making, 
in  our  country,  in  every  department  of  the  extensive  science 
of  medicine.  Surgery  and  Chemistry,  in  particular,  which  have 
languished,  till  very  lately,  in  a  state  of  barbarous  neglect; — the 
last  confined  to  a  few  of  the  simplest  processes  of  Pharmacy,  and 
the  first  to  the  treatment  of  the  commonest  injuries,  and  often- 
times but  partially  successful  even  in  them; — are  now  ready  to  as- 
sume their  proper  rank  among  the  subjects  of  medical  curiosity  and 
attention;  and  by  their  more  sedulous  and  enlightened  cultivation, 
promise  to  diffuse  extensively  the  blessings  of  health  and  comfort. 

In  the  essav  before  us,  we  observe  multiplied  proofs  of  vigorous 
application  to  that  branch  of  the  healing  art  which  seems  princi- 
pally to  attract  the  author's  regard.  The  praise  of  novelty  and  in- 
genuity certainly  belong  to  it.  We  wish  it  were  in  our  power  to 
commend  the  prudence  and  judgment  of  the  writer  with  equal 
freedom.  But  we  have  found  reason  to  dissent  from  several  ot  his 
opinions,  which  we  shall  examine  with  the  less  reserve,  as  we  have 
no  doubt,  that  future  experience  will  forcibly  compel  his  relinquish- 
ment of  them,  and  dispose  him,  while  he  adopts  a  more  cautious 
line  of  procedure,  to  think  favourably  of  the  liberty  now  exercised 
in  respect  to  him. 

The  observations  of  Mr.  Black  upon  the  causes  which  most 
frequently  produce  fractures,  appear  to  be  well  founded.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  muscular  action  has  a  great  agency  in  their 


REVIEW. 


361 


production,  and,  in  particular,  fractures  of  the  patella  happen,  wc 
believe,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  from  muscular  exertion  alone. 

From  the  consideration  of  the  causes  of  fractures,  Mr.  Black 
proceeds  to  lay  down  rules  for  the  treatment,  and  to  examine  that 
which  has  heretofore  been  proposed  by  other? ;  and  he  observes, 
that  "  Mr.  Pott  has  magnified  the  bent  position  in  Iractures  into  an 
"  improvement  of  more  general  utility  than  experience  would 
M  seem  to  warrant.''  It  is  not  uncommon  in  the  proposer  of  any 
improvement,  or  fancied  improvement,  to  carry  matters  to  an  ex- 
treme; and  we  fear  that  our  author  has  been  led  inadvertently  into 
the  same  error.  It  mav  be  acknowledged,  that  cases  do  some- 
times occur,  in  which  the  straight  position,  so  universally  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  Black,  may  have  advantages  over  the  bent  one; 
but,  in  general,  we  are  persuaded,  that  the  bent  position  will  not 
only  allow  us  more  easily  to  effect  a  reduction  of  the  fracture,  and 
to  retain  the  bones  in  accurate  coaptation,  but  will  also  be  at- 
tended with  fewer  untoward  symptoms.  Nor  do  we  by  any  means 
admit  the  impracticability,  in  the  bent  position,  of  using  the  sound 
limb  as  a  criterion  to  determine  whether  the  parts  are  completely 
replaced.  Supposing  the  leg  fractured,  and  placed  according  to 
Mr.  Pott's  direction,  can  there  be  any  difficulty  in  bringing  the 
well  leg  parallel  to,  and  in  contact  with  it,  to  ascertain  whether  it 
is  of  a  proper  length.1  But  this  objection  to  the  bent  position  is  of 
very  little  consequence,  because  the  necessity  of  having  recourse 
to  this  criterion  very  rarely  occurs.  In  fractures  of  the  leg,  the 
deformity  is  easily  detected.  As  long  as  it  exists)  we  may  be  cer- 
tain, that  the  limb  is  not  duly  adjusted;  and,  as  soon  as  it  is  made 
to  disappear,  wc  may  be  satisfied  that  the  bones  are  in  their  proper 
place. 

Mr.  Black  very  justly  observes,  (p.  2a.)  that  "  the  action  of 
M  muscles  forms  the  great  obstacle  to  the  reduction  of  fractures." 
But,  if  this  be  true,  does  it  not  follow  of  necessity,  that  the  more 
we  relax  the  muscles,  the  less  will  be  the  difficulty  attending  the 
reduction?  And,  is  it  not  in  the  bent  position  that  the  greatest 
number  of  muscles  are  in  a  relaxed  state  ?  The  premises  of  tiie 
author  seem  to  lead  directly  to  a  conclusion,  subversive  of  hi« 
own  doctrine.  It  is  upon  the  same  general  principle,  that  bones 
are,  with  less  difficulty,  retained  in  a  state  of  coaptation  in  the  bent 
position,  than  when  the  limb  is  straight.  For  the  simple  exten- 
sion of  a  muscle  is  a  powerful  stimulus  to  its  contractile  power; 
and  the  muscles  being  considerably  stretched,  in  the  extended  pos- 
ture of  the  limb,  they  are,  in  consequence,  constantly  endeavour- 
ing to  displace  the  fractured  bones. 

But  let  us  dismiss  reasoning  for  a  moment,  and  attend  to  facts. 

It  very  frequently  happens,  that  when  a  fracture  tjkes  place, 
the  patient  himself,  or  those  who  may  chance  to  be  immediately 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


present,  dispose  the  broken  limb  in  a  srraight  position.  When  the 
surgeon  arrives,  he  finds  his  patient  complaining  much  of  pain, 
and  the  bones  deranged.  He  immediately  attempts  to  reduce  the 
fracture;  but  his  efforts  are  unavailing,  and  he  increases  tne  pain, 
without  effecting  the  redu6tion.  The  surgeon,  then,  we  will 
suppose,  places  the  limb  in  the  bent  position.  The  first  effect 
of  this  change  of  posture  is  an  alleviation  of  the  patient's  suffer- 
ing; and  the  next  advantage  is,  that  but  little,  if  any,  difficulty 
remains  in  the  way  of  making  such  extension  as  is  necessary  to 
coaptate  the  bones.  And  thi-,  which  is  a  common  case,  is  direct 
evidence  of  the  superiority  of  the  bent  over  the  straight  position; 
and  may  be  opposed  to  those  instances  recited  by  Mr.  Black,  in 
which  the  patients  were  more  easily  managed  by  a  contrary  me- 
thod. The  only  question  to  determine  is,  which  mode  of  treat- 
ment has  been  attended  with  the  greatest  success;  and  on  this 
point,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  asserting  that  the  great  weight  of 
evidence  would  be  in  favour  of  the  bent  position. 

In  respect  to  the  posture  of  the  body,  it  may  be  easily  admitted, 
that  that  which  is  the  most  natural  and  easy  is  the  best.  But  is  a 
horizontal  position  on  the  back,  more  natural  than  lying  on  the 
side?  Do  people  most  generally  lie  extended  on  their  backs, 
when  they  sleep?  If  the  natural  position  is  that  which  is  most 
frequently  observed,  we  cannot  help  thinking,  that  lying  on  the 
side  is  quite  as  natural  as  lying  on  the  back.  But  it  is  futile  to 
contend  about  the  natural  position,  when,  in  fact,  there  is  no  such 
thing.  Every  position  is  tatiguing  when  long  continued;  and  we 
are  constantly  changing  to  obtain  ease.  When,  therefore,  it  is 
declared  by  the  author,  (p.  14.)  that  he  "  never  saw  a  patient  put 
**  on  his  side,  with  a  broken  leg,  who  did  not,  in  a  few  hours, 
"  turn  on  his  back,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  obey  the  injunctions 
"  of  his  surgeon;"  we  may  fairly  conclude  either  that  the  patients 
were  not  placed  properly  on  their  side,  or  that  the  observations  of 
the  author  have  been  extremely  limited.  For  no  surgeon,  whose 
opportunities  for  observation  have  been  ordinarily  frequent,  can 
have  failed  of  seeing  many  cases,  where  patients  remained  upon 
the  side  without  difficulty.  It  were  certainly  very  remarkable,  if 
so  much  difficulty,  as  Mr.  Black  supposes,  did  actually  exist,  that 
it  should  not  have  occurred  more  forcibly  to  the  view  of  the  prin- 
cipal modern  writers  on  surgery;  nor  is  it  credible,  that  Mr.  Pott 
himself,  with  every  allowance  lor  prejudices  in  favour  of  his  own 
treatment,  should  not,  in  this  case,  have  been  struck  by  its  so 
frequent  recurrence.  But,  admitting  that  patients  are  inclined  to 
turn  on  the  back,  they  do  this  only  to  a  certain  degree;  and  it  is 
obvious,  that  in  this  position  of  the  trunk,  the  leg  and  thigh  may 
be  bended,  so  as  to  give  the  full  effect  of  a  relaxed  state  of  the 
muscles,  and  enable  the  fractured  bones  to  be  kept  with  ease  in 


REVIEW. 


their  proper  situation:  and  there  is  this  further  advantage  in  this 
posture  of  the  limb,  that  it  enables  the  patient  to  enjoy  the  relief 
of  changing  occasionally  the  position  of  the  body  from  the  side 
to  the  back,  and  the  contrary. — Tne  unqualified  assertion  of  our 
author,  that  the  grand  objed  for  which  a  surgeon  is  employed 
would  be  defeated  if  the  patient  were  coniined  to  lie  on  his  side, 
argues  but  little  experience  on  his  part,  and  too  little  attention  to 
the  experience  of  others :  and,  so  far  from  being  a  lucky  hit,  it  is 
the  common  result  of  every  day's  practice,  with  judicious  surgeons, 
to  preserve  the  leg  straight,  after  a  fracture  has  been  treated  in  the 
bent  position. — We  admit  the  tendency  of  the  large  extensor 
muscles  of  the  foot  to  pull  the  broken  ends  of  the  bones  past 
each  other.  But  tnis  is,  most  indubitably,  a  reason  for  preterring 
the  bent  position ;  because  the  disposition  of  the  gastrocnemii  to 
contract  is  always  great  in  proportion  as  they  are  stretched;  and  it 
is  the  straight  position  which  has  this  effect :  whereas,  by  bending 
the  leg  upon  the  thigh,  those  muscles  are  relaxed,  and,  of  course, 
placed  in  a  condition  iittle  disposed  for  action.  Mr.  B.  observes, 
that  the  straight  position  affords  a  complete  antagonist  to  the  gas- 
trocnemii. But  it  should  be  a  chief  object  with  the  surgeon  to 
place  the  limb  under  circumstances  not  to  require  the  action  of 
antagonizing  powers;  and  we  apprehend  the  limb  to  be  placed 
under  those  circumstances  when  it  is  bent  and  properly  supported. 
Or  should  any  means  be  necessary  to  counteract  the  extensor 
muscles,  they  are  easily  found  in  a  splint  extended  from  the  ham 
to  the  heel,  and  a  little  below  it,  and  not  by  the  application  of  splints 
to  the  fore  part  of  the  leg.  It  certainly  was  fortunate  for  our  author 
that  ne  had  seen  so  little  advantage  derived  from  splints  applied  to 
the  fore  part  of  the  leg;  and  he  saw  all  that  could  reasonably  be 
expected.  But  he  has  cautiously  avoided  mentioning  a  splint  in 
the  opposite  situation,  because  here  it  must  obviously  have  the 
same  effect  as  placing  the  leg  upon  the  heel;  for  it  is  the  same 
thing,  whether  we  carry  the  leg  to  the  support,  or  bring  the  sup- 
port to  the  leg. — The  objection  to  splints,  because,  through  neg- 
ligence of  the  surgeon,  in  not  guarding  them  sufficiently  with  tow, 
or  some  sott  materials,  they  sometimes  produce  sores  upon  the 
ancle,  scarcely  deserves  a  consideration;  for  it  is  only  from  neg- 
lect that  they  are  ever  productive  of  this  mischief. 

In  fractures  of  the  patella,  our  author  observes,  that  "  the 
"  straight  posture  alone  is  admissible."  But  he  is  less  fortunate 
here  in  his  opinion  than  on  the  occasions  we  have  already  noticed ; 
for  experience  teaches  us,  that  the  bint  position  alone  is  admissible 
in  fractures  of  the  patella.  But  we  must  be  understood  to  mean, 
that  /'/  is  bending  the  thigh  on  the  trunk  which  h  particularly  required 
in  treating  a  fracture  of  this  bone.  Mr.  B.  remarks,  that  "  the 
"  action  of  the  extensor  muscles  of  the  leg  tenders  it  almost  iu"w 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  possible  to  keep  the  fractured  pieces  in  contact;"  and  when 
the  treatment  is  conducted  in  the  straight  position,  we  know  this 
to  be  the  case.  But  we  also  know,  that,  in  the  bent  position,  it  is 
generally  an  extreme  easy  matter  to  put  and  keep  the  broken  pie- 
ces ot  bone  in  complete  apposition.  Tiie  source  of  error,  among 
surgeons,  when  they  are  laying  down  rules  tor  the  management 
or  these  fractures,  has  been  in  their  not  considering  the  extent  of 
the  muscies  which  are  concerned.  If  all  the  extensor  muscles  had 
originated  from  the  thigh  bone,  and  gone  to  the  leg  in  the  way  in 
which  they  in  fact  now  do,  to  have  extended  the  leg  upon  the 
thigh  would  have  been  doing  all  that  was  HI  the  power  ot  art,  as 
far  as  it  regards  position.  But  there  is  one  of  the  extensor  muscles, 
and  by  much  the  most  powerlul  too,  as  it  respects  the  patella, 
which  has  its  origin  from  the  pelvis,  and  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  center  ot  motion  ot  the  hip  joint.  From  this  circum- 
stance it  is,  that  the  bent  position  is  so  necessar)  ;  because  it  is  by 
flexing  the  thigh  alone,  in  fractures  of  the  patella,  that  we  relax 
ttie  extensor  muscles  of  the  leg,  which  is  the  thing  required,  in 
order  to  enable  us  to  bring  down  and  retain  the  superior  portion 
of  fractured  bone,  in  contact  with  the  interior.  To  extend  the 
leg  upon  the  thigh  is  useful,  inasmuch  as  it  raises  the  inferior  por- 
tion of  bone;  but  it  does  nothing  more.  In  the  sound  state  of 
the  limb,  straightening  the  leg  has  a  considerable  effect  in  relax- 
ing the  extensor  muscles  ;  but  even  in  this  state,  the  flexion  of  the 
thigh  has  that  effect  in  a  much  greater  degree.  When  the  thigh 
is  much  bent  upon  the  trunk,  to  extend  the  leg  completely  is 
sometimes  productive  ot  uneasiness  in  the  course  of  the  flexor 
muscles  of  the  leg,  which  may  require  it  to  be  kept  a  little  bent 
upon  the  thigh:  and  this  may  be  allowed  of,  without  materially 
affecting  the  broken  bone;  because  the  insertion  ot  the  ligament 
of  the  patella  is  so  much  nearer  the  center  of  motion  than  the 
tendons  ot  the  flexor  mir<  Irs,  that  a  small  flexion  of  the  leg  will 
produce  scarcely  a  sensible  depression  of  the  former,  while  it  pro- 
curfs  perfect  ease  to  the  latter. 

From  these  observations,  it  necessarily  results,  that  the  bent  posi- 
tion is  to  be  preierred  in  transverse  fractures  of  the  patella;  and 
were  it  necessary,  a  number  of  cases  might  be  subjoined,  which, 
under  this  treatment,  were  attended  with  the  most  perfect  suc- 
cess— the  patients  having  as  entire  an  use  of  the  limb  after  as 
before  the  accident. 

The  length  at  which  we  have  examined  the  first  part  of  Mr. 
Black's  dissertation^  unavoidably  obliges  us  to  pass  over  a  num- 
ber of  points  ot  inferior  consequence,  and  to  hasten  to  the  con- 
sideration ot  his  second  leading  doctrine.  And  here,  for  the  same 
reason,  we  shall  tontine  ourselves  to  a  few  curiorv  remarks;  pretty 
much  in  the  ordir  of  the  author. 


REVIEW.  365 

•  A  very  large  portion  of  the  Essay  under  review,  is  devoted  to 
the  strenuous  recommendation  of  biood-letting,  in  the  various 
kinds  and  stages  of  fractures.  The  author  even  urges  recourse 
to  this  remedy,  in  every  case  where  difficulty  is  found  in  effecting 
a  reduction.  Of  the  efficacy  of  venisection,  and  of  the  propriety 
of  employing  it  more  extensively  than  is  commonly  practised,  not 
only  in  accidents  01  the  kind  now  considered,  but  in  numerous 
other  morbid  situations  of  the  human  body,  we  have  no  doubt; 
that  it  may  be  advantageously  resorted  to  in  fractures  and  luxa- 
tions ot  some  duration,  seems  as  little  questionable;  but  as  a  gene- 
"ral  practice,  and  lor  the  mere  purpose  of  inducing  relaxation,  we 
cannot  so  heartily  concur  with  Mr.  Black  in  recommending  it. 
This  gentleman's  enthusiasm  for  a  favourite  remedy,  certainly 
carries  nim  too  far,  when  it  leads  him  to  suppose  it  so  singularly 
vijtiul,  in  cases  where  bones  are  protruded  through  the  integu- 
ments; since  a  simple  incision  will  generally  afford  sufficient  room 
for  their  reduction,  at  the  same  time  that  it  disposes  the  lacerated 
integuments  more  readily  to  heal.  But,  if  this  were  not  the  fact, 
where  is  the  cruelty  of  removing  a  piece  of  bone?  an  operation 
which  excites  little  or  no  pain,  and  which  seldom  fails  of  answer* 
ing  the  purpose  of  the  operator. 

In  the  subsequent  recommendations  of  the  lancet,  for  the  re- 
moval or  prevention  of  inflammation;  and  to  prevent  mortifica- 
tion from  whatever  cause,  we  see  little  room  for  exception.  A 
longer  and  independent  exercise  of  his  profession  will,  no  doubt, 
temper  the  author's  personal  zeal;  which  will  produce  no  impro- 
per effect  on  the  minds  of  those  who  have  already  been  some  time- 
engaged  in  it.  On  those  who  prescribe  bark  and  wine,  in  case's 
of  recent  fracture,  if  such  persons  are  not  the  offspring  of  the 
author's  own  imagination,  we  fear  it  will  have  little  influence  of 
any  kind. 

With  regard  to  that  convulsive  action  of  the  muscles,  in  con- 
sequence of  fractures,  which  Mr.  Black  enumerates,  as  among  the 
events  which  demand  the  freest  use  of  the  lancet,  it  may  be  re- 
marked, that  though  instances  of  this  nature  may  and  do  occur,  in 
whio  bleeding  will  be  serviceable  and  is  indispensible;  yet  it  is 
equally  certain,  that  cases  of  this  kind  may  and  do  happen,  in 
which  no  prudent  surgeon  would  advise  it.  What  is  true  of  every 
other  remedy  is  true  of  this,  that  the  peculiar  circumstances  of 
each  case  must  determine  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  its  use, 
and  to  what  degree.  But,  were  it  true,  that  bleeding  would  re- 
move symptoms  like  these,  in  every  instance,  still  this  would  not 
be  a  sufficient  reason  for  its  exclusive  application.  It  must  first 
be  proved,  that  it  is  the  most  certain,  safe,  speedy,  and  pleasant  re- 
medy. And  how  has  it  happened  that  Mr.  Black  has  so  intirely 
overlooked  an  article  of  the  Materia  Mcdica,  so  universally  com- 

VoL  I.  No.  3.  J, 


366 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


mended,  for  the  removal  of  spasmodic  affections,  as  opium?*  Is 
he  ignorant,  that  this  alone  is  often  sufficient  to  obviate  them 
completely?  That  it  proceeds  still  more  certainly,  in  plethoric 
persons,  after  moderate  bleeding?  And  like  should  entertain  any 
doubts  on  this  point,  will  any  intelligent  and  experienced  practi- 
tioner hesitate  to  believe,  that  in  the  case  recited  by  the  author, 
(p.  29.)  a  suitable  dose  of  opium,  repeated  at  proper  intervals,  and 
preceded  by  one  or  two  small  bleedings,  would  have  succeeded  in 
vanquishing  the  convulsive  motions,  in  much  less  time,  and  with 
much  less  hazard  to  the  patient,  than  the  method  actually  adopted? 

We  shall  here  take  our  leave  of  this  Essay.  Most  of  the  re- 
maining sentiments  and  directions  are  correct  and  proper.  Some, 
it  is  true,  are  open  to  animadversion.  But,  though  we  have  dif- 
fered so  freely  and  materially  from  the  author,  relative  to  several 
of  the  most  essential  doctrines  which  he  has  delivered,  yet  we 
cannot  conclude  without  expressing  our  warm  approbation  of  the 
spirit  with  which  he  has  asserted  his  opinions,  and  our  sanguine 
expectations  of  his  future  usefulness  and  distinction. 


*  In  a  late  work  (Townfend's  Guide  to  Health,  Vol.  II.)  we  even  find 
Opium  recommended  for  another  purpofe,  for  which  our  author  fo  much 
infills  on  the  ufe  of  bleeding 

"  Mr.  Gincfla,  profeffor  of  the  College  of  Surgery  at  Madrid,"  fays  Mr. 
Townfend,  "  has  happily  difcovered,  that  opium,  'internally  taken,  and  ex- 
*'  ternally  applied,  in  ftrong  fomentations,  to  the  contracted  mufcles,  induces 
"  fuch  a  degree  of  relaxation,  as  greatly  facilitates  reduction.  In  a  memoir, 
"  prefented  to  the  infant  College,  and  which  will  be  publifhed,  he  mentions 
"  feveral  cafes  of  long  {landing,  reftored  in  this  way  by  him,  after  having 
"  wearied  the  patience  and  fruftrated  the  hopes  of  other  practitioners." — 
And,  a  few  years  ago,  a  late  practitioner  of  medicine  in  this  city,  propofed, 
cn  the  credit  of  his  own  experience,  to  effect  the  fame  purpofe,  by  Emetic^ 
given  till  their  operation  produced  univerfal  relaxation. 


(    3^7  ) 


MEDICAL  FACTS,  HINTS,  AND 
INQUIRIES. 


Fads  relative  to  that  Faculty  of  Animals  which  has  been 
called  Instinct. 


I.  The  following  fails  respecting  a  Wren,  (Motacilla  Domestica 
Linn.)  were  communicated  to  me  by  Mr.  Julius  Deming,  a  re- 
sjieftable  merchant  of  Lichfield,  Connecticut;  who  received  them 
direclly  from  the  lady  originally  observing  them. 

IN  the  spring  of  1790  or  1 791,  the  sister-in-law  of  this  gentle- 
man observed  a  wren  attack  the  martens  hi  a  box  prepared  for 
them,  and  affixed  to  her  father's  house.  After  a  short  time  they 
were  driven  from  it,  and  the  wren  took  possession,  and  began  to 
construe!:  her  nest.  Unwilling  to  lose  the  martens,  and  to  injure 
the  wren,  the  lady  made  use  of  this  expedient.  She  placed  a 
wooden  box  (of  about  the  size  of  a  gallon  bottle),  with  a  move- 
able cover,  in  which  was  a  small  hole,  in  the  adjoining  bee-house. 
Within  an  hour  after  this  had  been  done,  the  wren  deserted  the 
marten-box,  for  that  which  was  intended  for  her,  where  she  built 
her  nest,  layed  her  eggs,  hatched,  and  reared  her  young. 

While  the  wren  was  laying,  during  the  time  of  incubation,  and 
after  the  birth  of  the  young,  the  box  in  which  the  nest  was  formed, 
was  often  removed  into  the  house;  whither  the  parent-bird  always 
followed,  without  exhibiting  any  particular  marks  of  fear:  at 
least,  whatever  apprehension  she  might  have  had  originally,  was 
wholly  subdued  by  the  frequent  repetition  of  this  practice. 

When  the  young  were  pretty  well  grown,  it  was  very  interest- 
ing to  observe  the  mother  instruct  them  in  her  peculiar  song.  As 
this  process  was  thought  curious  and  singular,  it  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  others  beside  the  lady  first  mentioned;  and  all  the  cir- 
cumstances were  often  observed  by  her  friends,  as  well  as  herself, 
at  their  leisure,  in  her  father's  house. 

The  mother-bird  fixed  herself  on  one  side  of  the  opening  in 
the  box,  directly  before  her  young.  She  began  by  singing  over 
her  whole  song,  (which  is  known  to  consist  of  a  considerable 
number  and  variety  of  notes),  very  distinctly.  One  of  the  young 
then  attempted  to  imitate  her.  After  proceeding  through  a  few 
notes,  his  voice  broke,  and  he  lost  the  tune.    The  mother  immedi- 


Medical  repository. 


ately  recommenced  where  he  had  failed,  and  went  very  distinctly 
through  with  the  remainder.  The  young  bird  made  a  second  at- 
tempt, commencing  where  he  had  ceased  before,  and  continued 
the  song  as  long  as  he  was  able;  and  when  he  lost  the  note  again, 
the  mother  began  anew,  where  he  stopped,  and  completed  it. 
Then  he  resumed  the  tune,  and  finished  if.  This  done,  the  mo- 
ther sang  over  the  whole  series  of  notes  a  second  time,  with  great 
precision;  and  a  second  of  the  young  attempted  to  follow  her. 
With  him,  she  pursued  the  same  course  as  with  the  first;  and  so 
with  the  third  and  fourth.  It  sometimes  happened,  that  the  young 
would  lose  the  tune,  three,  four,  or  more  times,  in  the  same  at- 
tempt. In  which  case,  the  mother  uniformly  began  where  thev 
ceased,  and  sang  the  remaining  notes;  and  when  each  had  com- 
pleted his  trial,  she  repeated  the  whole  .strain. 

Sometimes  two  of  the  young  commenced  together.  The  mother 
observed  the  same  conduct  towards  them,  as  when  one  sang  alone. 
This  lesson  was  repeated,  day  alter  day,  and  several  times  in  a  day, 
till  all  the  young  had  perfectly  mastered  it,  and  were  full-grown-; 
and,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  it  was  observed  as  ofcen  and 
by  as  many  persons  as  knew  of  the  fact  and  had  curiosity,  and  by 
the  lady  above-mentioned,  very  frequently,  so  that  no  doubt  can 
be  entertained  of  the  fidelity  of  the  narration. 


Z.  The  follozving  relation  -.i-as  likewise  made  to  me,  l;y  Mr.  Deming^ 
the  gentleman  mentioned  as  the  communicator  of  the  preceding  falls. 

IX  the  spring  of  the  year  i  793  or  1 794,  a  male  and  female  Robin* 
buiittheirnest  in  the  weli-crotch,  behind  the  house  of  Mr.  Deming, 
nnd  but  a  few  leet  from  the  door.  Nothing  peculiar  was  observed 
in  their  demeanour,  during  the  time  of  incubation,  or  before.  After 
the  birth  of  the  young,  ttie  mother  manifested  the  most  extrava- 
gant joy  and  pride;  and  (contrary  to  what  is  believed  to  be  the 

*  T:>r<his  M~.gr atoriiu  Lir.n.  Dr.  Waterhoufe  (Morfe's  Univerfal  Geogra* 
piw.  Vol.  I.  p.  209.  Note.)  erroneoufly  fuppofes  that  our  robin  is  not  the 
turdus  migratorius  of  Lim.Teus.  It  is  true,  I  believe,  that  this  bird  is  pe- 
culiar to  America.  The  miftake  of  Dr.  Waterhoufe  probably  arcfe  from 
his  cbferving  this  bird  inferted  in  the  catalogue  by  the  came  of  robin  red- 
brcaft  (by  which  name  it  is  called  in  fome  parts  of  the  United  States,  in 
others  fimply  the  robin);  whence  he  may  have  thought  that  the  author  of 
the  catalogue  meant  to  defignate  the  Englifh  robin  red-breaft,  which  is  a 
very  different  bird,  it  is  true,  not  a  native  of  this  country,  and  is  the  Mota- 
tillu  iuLkuU  of  the  Sweedifh  Naturalilt. 


FACTS,  HINTS,  AND  INQUIRIES.  369 


peneral  practice  of  these  birds),  assumed  to  herself  the  exclusive 
right  of  feeding  them.  Arter  distributing  among  them  whatever 
she  herself  had  brought,  she  has  been  (perhaps  a  hundred  times, 
and  by  all  Mr.  Dealing's  family,)  observed  to  take  the  worms,  &c. 
from  the  bill  of  the  male,  and  distribute  them  likewise. 

When  the  young  birds  were  about  half-grown,  the  lady  of  this 
gentleman  accidentally  witnessed  the  following  singular  circum- 
stance. The  male  and  female  came  to  the  nest  with  worms.  The 
female,  as  usual,  parted  her's  among  the  young;  when  the  male 
(as  it  were,  desirous  to  assert  the  equality  of  his  rights)  made  a 
motion  to  distribute  that  which  he  had  brought.  Immediately  the 
female,  with  violent  expression  of  anger,  snapped  her  bill  together 
with  a  noise  so  uncommonly  loud,  that  it  might  have  been  heard 
some  rods,  and  the  terrified  and  submissive  husband  instantly  de- 
sisted, and  remaining  motionless,  quietly  permitted  her  to  take 
tlie  worm  from  his  bill,  and  distribute  it  herself  as  before  After 
this,  the  male  seems  never  to  have  made  a  second  attempt  to  reco- 
ver his  authority;  as  it  was  always  observed,  that  though  he 
brought  food  as  weil  as  the  female,  he  uniiormly  acquiesced  in 
her  exclusive  distribution  of  it. 

And  this  was  noticed  after  the  circumstance  above-related,  very 
many  times. 


3.  77/t?  next  set  of  fails  also  relate  to  the  Roein  (turchis  n"igr2to- 
rius)  ;  and  though  less  curious  than  the  preceding,  ter.d  still  fnrt/.cr 
to  illustrate  the  character  nf  tins  bird.  They  tvere  communicated  to 
me  by  my  father,  Mr.  Reuben  Smithy  of  Licl.feld^  Ccnneclicut. 

HE  informs  me  that  a  robin  has  annually,  for  some  years,  built 
her  nest  in  a  stately  pine-tree,  directly  before  his  window.  Two 
years  since,  her  nest  was  thrown  down,  and  the  young  devoured 
by  a  red  squirrel:  but  this  accident  did  not  prevent  the  bird  from 
returning  the  next  year,  and  the  present.  The  last  spring,  she 
began  to  construct  her  nest  as  usual;  but  before  it  was  completed, 
a  blue-jay  and  several  black-birds  frightened  her  awav,  took  pos- 
session ot  the  tree,  and  built  their  nests  in  it.  This  was  an  usur- 
pation •which  they  were  not  permitted  to  enjoy.  After  they 
were  all  shot  and  their  nests  completely  destroyed,  the  robin  re- 
turned, built  anew,  laid,  hatched,  and  reared  her  young  as  in 
former  years. 


37° 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


4.  Extrafl  of  a  Letter  from  T.  Reeve,  Esq.  ( nn  eminent  Counsellor 
in  Connecticut)  to  Mr.  R.  Smith,  of  Lichfield. 

"  AT  this  distance  of  time,  it  is  probable  that  very  many  things 
which  I  observed  respecting  the  Robin  which  I  mentioned  to 
you,  have  escaped  my  memory.  Among  many  singular  instances 
of  sagacity,  I  remarked  that  the  robin  (who  had  his  perch  in  the 
room  where  I  lodged,)  understood  me  perfectly  well  when  I  called 
in  the  morning  to  a  young  woman  who  lived  with  us,  informing 
her  that  it  was  time  to  rise.  If  it  happened  that  I  did  not  awake 
her  by  calling,  the  bird  would  fly  from  his  perch  into  her  room, 
and  alter  making  all  the  noise  in  his  power,  if  this  did  not  answer 
his  purpose,  would  get  upon  her  head,  pull  her  hair  with  his  bill, 
and  peck  her  in  the  face  till  she  awoke. 

"  It  was  certain  that  he  was  capable  of  improvement;  for,  after 
practising  for  some  time  in  the  manner  just  mentioned,  he  assumed 
the  office  of  awaking  her  himself,  whether  I  called  or  not.  About 
the  same  time  in  the  morning,  if  the  young  woman  had  not  risen, 
he  regularly  awakened  her. 

"  When  evening  came,  the  bird  perched  himself  upon  some 
chair  in  the  room  we  were,  till  we  went  to  bed ;  when  he  followed 
us  to  our  chamber,  and  flew  upon  his  accustomed  perch. — I  ob- 
served that  his  constant  practice  was  in  the  evening,  when  he 
perched  on  the  chair,  to  sing  before  going  to  sleep;  and  it  was 
as  uniformly  his  custom  to  sing,  in  the  morning  when  first  awa- 
kened. 

"  Whenever  any  of  the  family  inquired  where  Bob  (the  name  by 
which  we  called  him)  was,  he  answered,  and  continued  to  do  so  till 
it  was  certain  that  it  was  known  where  he  was;  but  if  any  stranger, 
or  person  not  belonging  to  the  family,  made  the  same  inquiry,  he 
remained  silent.  Yet,  in  that  case,  if  a  member  of  the  family  said 
to  him — Why  do  you  not  answer,  Bob?  he  replied  immediately,  and 
always  remarkably  loud." 

m.  21, 1797. 

"  P.  S.  I  forgot  to  mention,  that  a  cat  which  was  remarkable  for 
catching  birds  in  the  fields,  never  offered  to  do  any  injury  to  this 
robin." 


FACTS,  HINTS,  AND  INQUIRIES. 


371 


CONSUMPTION  AND  FEVER. 

A  patient  of  Dr.  Croswel,  of  Kaat's-Kill,  in  this  State,  died  lately 
of  phthisis  pulmonalis,  of  considerable  duration.  The  Dr.  informs 
me  that  his  patient,  after  the  pulmonary  complaint  had  proceeded 
so  far  that  a  regular  cough,  hectic,  and  expectoration  of  pus  had 
taken  place,  was  seized,  when  absent  on  a  visit  to  Connecticut,  with 
a  regular  intermittent,  which  continued  fcr  two  or  three  weeks, 
without  any  very  important  abatement  of  her  phthisical  symp- 
toms. After  the  disappearance  of  the  ague  and  fever,  the  con- 
bumptive  symptoms  increased  in  violence,  till,  in  about  six  or  seven 
months,  they  terminated  fatally. — It  is  further  to  be  remarked,  that 
the  phthisis  of  this  patient  was  supposed  to  have  been  occasioned  by 
a  severe  intermittent,  from  the  effect  of  which  her  constitution 
seemed  never  to  have  perfectly  recovered. 

Remark.  One  of  two  inferences  would  appear  to  be  naturally 
deducible  from  these  fads:  1st.  That  Mr.  Hunter's  doctrine  of  the 
incompatibility  of  the  co-existence  of  two  district  actions  in  the 
system  is  unfounded — or,  2d.  That  the  causes  of  phthisis  and  in- 
termittent are  only  different  in  degree. 


The  following  Case  of  Lumbar  Abscess,  remarkable  for  the  Cir- 
cumstances attending  the  Discharge  of  Pus,  was  communicated  bj 
Dr.  Borrowe,  too  late  for  Insertion  in  the  Body  of  the  Work. 

"  JOHN  TOOLE,  aged  twenty-eight  years,  a  stout  muscular 
man,  was  admitted  into  the  New-York  Hospital,  the  9th  De- 
cember, 1  796,  for  the  cure  of  Syphilis.  Some  considerable  time 
after  his  admission,  a  large  tumour  was  discovered  in  the  right 
groin,  or  upper  and  fore  part  of  the  right  thigh.  The  integu- 
ments were  of  a  natural  colour;  and  on  coughing,  there  was  a 
great  influx  of  matter  into  the  tumour.  From  these  circumstan- 
ces, together  with  his  complaining  of  much  pain  in  the  loins,  there 
remained  no  doubt  of  the  disease  being  a  lumbar,  or  psoas  ab- 
scess. An  operation  was  proposed,  which  he  objected  to;  and, 
by  some  mistake  of  the  house-surgeon,  he  was  discharged.  He 
was  re-admitted  the  28th  of  April,  1  797.  Some  few  days  after,  the 
contents  of  the  abscess  were  let  out,  by  a  small  puncture,  made 
with  a  common  lancet,  as  proposed  and  recommended  by  Mr. 
Abcrnethy.    The  discharge  was  large,  mild,  and  inodorous.  The 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY*. 


opening  was  carefully  closed,  and  confined  with  adhesive  plainer, 
and  a  bandage.  Eiglit  or  ten  days  alter,  the  tumour  became  pain- 
lul  and  mud)  enlarged ;  the  integuments  were  now  considerably 
inflamed;  the  patient's  strength  tailed;  he  had  frequent  chills, 
night  sweats,  ar.d  a  troublesome  cough.  The  abscess  was  again 
opened,  and  about  seven  pounds  of  green  festid  matter  discharged; 
the  puncture  was  dressed  as  before.  The  cough,  chills,  and  night 
»wcats  still  continued,  and  lie  complained  ot  grtat  debility.  He 
was  put  on  the  use  ot  bark,  wine,  and  elixir  vitriol.  Some  short 
time  after  tnc  last  operation,  the  tumour  burst,  and  discharged 
a  large  quantity  ol  dark  Icetid  pus,  whicii  was  so  extremely  acrid, 
as  to  excoriate  the  skin.  The  discharge  gradually  disappeared; — 
the  opening  healed  up; — and  he  evacuated  the  same  kind  of  mat- 
ter in  great  quantities,  with  the  urine:  this  continued  during  the 
greater  partot  the  summer.  If,  however,  became  of  a  more  mild 
nattne, and  he  passed  it  in  smaller  quantities;  his  strength  return- 
ed; the  discharge  ceased;  and,  on  the  21st  of  August,  1797,  he 
left  the  Hospital,  cured. 

It  is  now  tour  months  since,  and  he  has  not  had  any  return 
of  the  complaint;  his  health  is  much  mended,  but  the  leg  is  still 
somewhat  cedejnatous.  Did  this  discharge  of  matter,  through  the 
urethra,  take  place  in  consequence  of  a  dire<fl  communication  be- 
tween the  biauder  and  cyst  of  the  abscess  ?  Or  was  it  conveyed  to 
the  bladder  by  a  retrograde  action  of  the  absorbents.'" 


In  the  Hid  Part  of  his  "  Surgical  and  Physiological  Essays," 
{which,  I  believe,  has  not  yet  reached  America,)  Mr.  Abernethy  has 
added  a  long  Supplement  to  his  Essay  on  the  Lumbar  Abscess. 
From  this  it  appears,  that  he  "  has  lately  iound  this  species  of  ab- 
*'  scess  more  trequently  connected  with  a  disease  of  the  bone  than 
M  he  originally  believed.  In  other  casts,  he  has  found  his  practice 
"to  answer.  Eit-ch  icity,  also,  he  has  found  so  serviceable,  with 
"  occasional  tmetics,  that  he  hopes  many  of  those  abscesses  may 
"  be  dispersed  without  any  permanent  exposure  of  their  cavity." 
TM^nthlv  Review  Enkirged,  Sept.  1797  ] 

E.  H.  S. 


(    373  ) 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS/^  Oilober,  1797, 
made     Gardiner  Baker,  in  the  Cupola  of  the  Exchange  iff 
-  the  city  of  New -York. 


Thermom.  obferved 
at 

Sun-rife.  iP.M. 
58 
72 

77 
56 
62 
70 
70 
67 
62 

49 
53 
52 
55 
60 

57 
55 
60 
64 

57 
61 

55 
48 
58 
49 
51 
54 
60 

5* 
47 
44 
53 


Prevail.  1 
winds.  Clear. 
S.  r..2P.M.| 


E 
W 

vv 

s  vv 
w 

s  w 
s  w 

:  W 

w 
N  V* 
w 

s  w 

.V  E 
E 

w 
w 
w 

5  W 
V  w 
N  E 
E 
E 
W 
i  E 
W 
W 
S 
S 

s  w 

N  W 
VV 


N  E 
S  W 

w 

N  W 

w 

S  E 

s  w 

S  E 

w 

N  VV 

s 

N 
S  E 
S 

N  W 
W 

s  vv 

N  W 

N 

E 

E 
N  E 
W 

E 
N  VV 

s  vv 
s 

s  vv 

N  W 
N  VV 
VV 


Barometer  obferved  a$ 

Sun-rife 
29  90 
29  60 
29  52 
29  6 
29  45 
29  65 
29  62 

29  55 

29  35 
29  64 

29  75 
30 

30  10 
29  90 

29  74 
29  74 
29  66 
29  42 
29  65 
29  70 
29  56 
29  15 

29  43 
29  61 
29  67 
29  82 
29  82 
29  50 
29  38 
29  53 
29  71 


Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  Ofioher,  1797. 
Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,       deg.  47  6  hunj. 
Do.       do.  of  the       do.  at  a  P.  M.  57  7  ' 

Do-       d°-  of  the       do.  for  the  whole  month,  52  6 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  3d  and  30th, 
P°-  do.  in  24  hours,  on  the  17th, 

Six  days  it  rained,  and  a  very  large  quantity  has  fallen. 
Two  days  it  thundered  and  lightned. 
Coldeft  day  the  30th.    Warmcft  day  the  3d. 
Pol.  1.  JVo.  3.  M 


43 
20 


374  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  November,  1 797. 


Days 
of  the 

Thermoni.  obferved 
at 

Prevail, 
winds. 

Clear. 

>. 
■  '\j 
3 

Barometer  obferved  at 

Mon. 

Sun-rife. 

a  P. 

M. 

S.  r. 

z  P.M. 

O 
O 

Sun-rife. 

2  P.  M. 

l 

40 

r8 
5° 

vv 

s  w 

29  75 

29  77 

2 

4.0 

ft* 

29  99 

29  99 

3 

4« 

AA 
OO 

3 

S  VV 

29  96 

29  °7 

4 

40 

£ 

E 

I 

29  72 

29 

5 

At 
U2 

S 

5  E 

2 

29  1 0 

oS  8  r 

6 

40 

40 

W 

I 

I 

29  29 

29  39 

7 

34 

41 

N  VV 

N  VV 

2 

29  78 

29  75 

8 

35 

48 

w 

S  VV 

1 

I 

30 

29  97 

9 

5° 

OO 

\V 

VV 

I 

I 

29  6 1 

29  60 

10 

34 

42 

N 

S  E 

2 

30  1 

3°  5 

1 1 

4° 

44 

M  E 

N  E 

2 

30  7 

30 

12 

rQ 
58 

0 1 

S  £ 

S  E 

2 

29  62 

29  40 

*3 

5° 

rR 
58 

MW 

S  VV 

2 

29  60 

29  57 

H 

5° 

rA 
5° 

s 

VV 

I 

I 

29  34 

29  34 

»5 

34 

34 

IN 

N  E 

2 

29  56 

29  5r 

16 

20 

<?8 

2  O 

N  W 

2 

29  70 

29  7° 

J7 

21 

25 

2 

29  59 

z9  3° 

18 

ll 

29 

N 

N  VV 

2 

29  °4 

J9 

27 

34 

W 

I 

X 

29  58 

29  5° 

20 

2? 

31 

VV 

W 

2 

to  AS 

29  5s 

21 

20 

32 

5° 

vv 

N 

2 

29  5s 

29  63 

22 

3° 

53 

M  E 

N  E 

2 

29  62 

29  5° 

23 

35 

39 

N  E 

E 

2 

29  51 

29  27 

24 

3i 

34 

M  VV 

N  VV 

2 

29  45 

29  57 

25 

30 

37 

W 

W 

2 

29  54 

29  47 

26 

34 

32 

VV 

N  W 

2 

29  2S 

29  33 

27 

20 

27 

N  W 

N  VV 

2 

29  48 

29  45 

28 

22 

30 

VV 

N  W 

2 

29  45 

29  43 

29 

26 

54 

W 

N  W 

I 

I 

29  59 

29  41 

36 

24 

30 

MVVl  N  VV 

2 

29  54 

29  56 

Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  November,  1  797- 

Mean  temperature  of  trie  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,       deg.  35  16  hund. 

Do.       do.  of  the  &o.       at  2  P.  M.  42  58 

Do.       do.  for  the  whole  month,  38  87 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  3d  and  1 8th,  49  o 

Do.  do.    in  24  hours,  between  the  14th  &  l8th,    22  o 

Six  days  it  rained,  and  a  very  large  quantity  has  fallen. 
One  day  it  fnowed,  and  4  inches  have  fallen. 
Coldeft  day  the  1 8th.   Warmeft  day  the  3d. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  375 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS for  December,  iy97. 


Days  Thermom.  obfervec 

Prevail. 

Clear 

Barometer  obferved  at 

of  the  at 

winds. 

S 
0 

Mon.  Sun-rife. 

a  P.  M. 

S.  r 

.2  P.M. 

O 

Sun-rife. 

2  P.  M. 

I 

24 

2  I 

3 1 

w 

N  W 

2 

29  74 

29  75 

28 

2Q 

w 

E 

2 

29  76 

29  67 

2 

3 

2 0 

3^ 

2  r 
33 

£ 

N  E 

2 

29  67 

29  57 

A 

T 

26 
3 

26 

N  W 

N  W 

2 

29 

29  1 8 

C 
3 

1 0 

20 

vv 

W 

2 

29  63 

29  64 

6 

2 1 

27 

w 

VV 

2 

29  77 

29  77 

/ 

24. 

T 

2  7 

3  / 

vv 

W 

2 

29  Ob 

29  49 

8 

3W 

3  / 

iv 

VV 

2 

29  31 

29  29 

0 

2Q 

3  3 

vv 

N  W 

I 

29  30 

29  32 

10 

24 

T 

20 

vv 

VV 

« 

29  72 

29  80 

1 1 

2  I 

28 

vv 

VV 

2 

29  96 

29  75 

1 2 

22 
3 

^8 
3 

w 

W 

2 

29  60 

29  53 

40 

44. 

w 

N  VV 

29  bo 

29  80 

14. 

4.2 

^  fl 

*y 

n  vv; 

N  VV 

29  59 

29  5b 

I  c 

3 

2Q 

3y 

2Q 

N  E 

N  E 

29  52 

29  38 

16 

52 

24 

JT 

NVV 

N  W 

r 

29  49 

29  70 

/ 

28 

24 

OT 

E 

S  VV 

I 

29  91 

29  79 

18 

2  I 
3 

iW 

VV 

„         -  O 

29  58 

29  03 

JQ 

14 

F3 

w 

s  VV 

I 

29  90 

29  88 

20 

24 

22 
3 

s  vv 

s  w 

I 

1 

29  49 

29  34 

2  I 

c 
3 

8 

I  2 
j 

NVV 

N  VV 

2 

29  S\ 

29  64 

22 

3 

w 

VV 

29  82 

29  80 

23 

1 1 

24 

vv 

N  VV 

29  97 

29  99 

24 

12 

26 

NW 

S  W 

30  10 

30  6 

2? 

26 

34 

NVV 

N  VV 

2 

30 

29  90 

26 

36 

41 

NW 

N  VV 

I 

1 

29  60 

29  63 

27 

16 

T9 

N  E 

N  E 

2 

29  88 

29  89 

28 

1 

16 

N 

JN" 

2 

29  90 

29  82 

29 

1 1 

2? 

N 

N  E 

2 

29  92 

29  90 

30 

16 

33 

N 

s 

2 

29  93 

29  89 

31 

21 

34 

vw! 

N  W 

2 

29  94 

29  96 

Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  December,  1797. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-riie,  deg.  23  3  hund. 
Do.       do.  of  the  do.       at  2  P.  M.  30  22 

Do.       do.  for  the  whole  month,  26  62 

Greateft  monthly  range,  between  the  13th  and  28th,  43  o 

Do.  do.      in  24  hours,  20th  and  21ft,  27  O 

Three  days  it  rained,  and  a  confiderable  quantity  has  fallen. 
One  day  it  fnowed,  and  about  half  an  inch  has  fallen. 
Coldeft  day  the  28th.    Warmed  day  the  13th. 


(    376  ) 


A  Table  of  Patients  admitted  into  the  New- York  Hofital,  from 
the  1st  of  Ofiober,  1797,  to  the  1st  of  January,  1798;  iliewing  the 
Disease  for  which  each  vnas  received,  ix:ith  the  Event  of  the  Case. 


Medical  Patients  admitted  in  O  Ruber. 


DISEASES. 

.  ! 

I : 

■0 

3 

>  '"6 

2  p 

K  1 

Remain 
under 
Care. 

Refult. 

.Dysentery 

1 

1 

Intermitting  Fever 

4 

3 

I 

Enteritis 

1 

I 

Syphilis 

3 

2 

I 

Ascites 

2 

1 

I 

Rheumatism 

6 

4 

Diarrhoea 

1 

1 

Palsy 

I 

1 

Mania 

1 

Pneumonia 

1 

1 

Gonorrhoea 

3 
1 

y 

2 

■ 

Apoplexy 

1 

Anasarca 

1 

1 

Catarrh 

i 

l 

Received  4^ 

Surgical. 

Wound 

2 

! 

1 

C  u  red       1 0 

Syphilis 

: 

2 

3 

Relieved  1 

Sore  Le^s 

7 

2 

1 

3&ie. 

JJiea  1 

Catarrh 

2 

2 

h  loped  1 

Opthalmia 

1 

1 

Remain  27 

Contusion 

1 

-4< 

November. 

Medical. 

Rheumatism 

1  4 

I" 

'  3 

Anasarca 

I 

1 

2 

Diarrhoea 

2 

Pneumonia 

I 

I 

1 

Dyspepsia 

1 

1 

Gonorrhoea 

: 

ielop. 

Syphilis 

- 

- 

2 

Mania 

1 

Intermittent  Fever 

i 

1 

I 

HOSPITAL.  377 


Surgical. 

!  5' 

j  Remain 
|  under 

11 

DISEASES. 

6 

u 

Refult. 

6 

,  R 

1  Care. 

I 

Sore  Legs 

10 

2 

1 

7 

Received 

44 

Bruise 

2 

2 

Syphilis 

5 

1 

3&ie. 

Cured 

Tumor 

2 

1 

1 

Relieved 

1  ■ 

Lumbar  Abscess 

I 

1 

Died 

Fracture 

I 

I 

Eloped 
Remain 

a 

24 
—44 

December.  Medical. 

Syphilis 

6 

2 

4 

Rheumatism 

6 

2 

4 

Diarrhoea 

4 

3 

1 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

1 

1  dis. 

Ascites 

1 

1 

Pneumonia 

8 

3 

5 

Catarrh 

5 

3 

Conorrhcea 

2 

1 

1 

Amenorrhcea 

1 

Surgical. 

Sore  Legs 

10 

2 

2 

6 

Received 

58 

Frozen  Feet 

6 

6 

Syphilis 

5 

1 

4 

Cured 

16 

Fracture 

1 

1 

Relieved 

2 

Fistula  in  Ano 

1 

1 

Discharged 

1 

Burn 

1 

1 

Remain 

39 

—5? 

SUMMARY. 

Patients  received  into  the  New-York  Hospital  from  the  first  of 
October,  1 7Q7,  to  the  first  of  January,  1798,  exclusive  of  those 
then  remaining  under  care,  14.8 

Of  this  number  have  been  cured, 

relieved, 

died, 
elojicd, 
disorderly, 
remaining  under  care, 

148 


47 
4 
3 
3 
r 

90 


(    373  ) 


*f  Ret u  R  N  of  Patients  admitted  to  the  Care  of  the  New-  York  City 
Dispensary,  from  the  1st  of  Oil.  I  797,  to  the  1st  of  Jan.  1798. 


OCTOBER. 


DISEASES. 

| 

Cured. 

Reliev. 

Died. 

Removed 

to  the 
riolpital. 

Refult. 

Tumor  Mamma; 

1 

1 

Received  36 

•Hypochondriasis 

1 

Piles 

1 

[ 

Cured  31 

Venereal  Disease 

4 

3 

tu.care 

Relieved  1 

Luxation 

1 

l 

Died  1 

Rheumatism 

4 

A 

4 

Removed 

Catarrh 

2 

0 

to  the 

Pneumony 

5 

4 

1  Hos. 

T  T          '*  1 

Hospital  1 

Clap 

1 

j 

Under  care  2 

Eruption 

1 

1 

Remitting  Fever 

2 

Cough 

2 

2 

Bifid  Spine 

1 

I 

Worms 

2 

2 

Vomiting  of  Blood 

1 

1 

Indurated  Tumor 

1 

111.  care 

Small-pox  Confluent 

1 

1 

Costiveness 

1 

1 

Itch 

1 

1 

Fracture 

T 

1 

Pain  of  the  Side 

I 

i 

NOVEMBER. 

Dysentery 

I 

1 

riamiuea  i<j 

Worms 

1 

! 

Costiveness 

] 

1 

Cured  10 

Prolapsus 

I 

I 

Relieved  i 

Ulcer  of  the  Leg 

1 

I 

Died  *l 

Pain  of  the  Side 

1 

I 

—19 

Diarrhoea 

5 

3 

Scald  Head 

1 

Venereal  Disease 

3 

3 

Dropsy 

2 

2 

Small-pox 

1 

i 

Hysterics 

1 

1 

Cough 

1 

1 

Palsy 

1 

DISPENSARY. 
DECEMBER. 


379 


— I 

> 

-d 

Removed 

DISEASES. 

Z 

Cum 

U 
-/ 

Q 

to  the 
Hofpital. 

Refult. 

 — — — — ^— — — . 

Small-pox 

5 

A 
T 

I 

xnccuc,  it  ever 

i 

I 

l?on<;ii  mntinn 

'  V  I  J  J  Li  IIIL'LIVII 

4 

J.  U.  C3.FC 

1  nriifT^ct"i("»n 

2 

s  do. 

.rarturiuon 

3 

3  deliver. 

V/  f*n  fYpa  1  Tlic^**!*'** 
v  tllClCal  J-/lsttt5C 

1 

i  u.  care 

•Scald  Head 

1 

iy  *  jliil'.i  y 

1 

x.  yuuoiu  r  ever 

i  ncuiiioiiy 

1 

Flnor*  AlhiK 

-l   1  LI  VI    i  \  IUUj 

1 

Scrophula 

1 

\  u.  tare 

■riuiniiicu 

\  do. 

1 

Cured  24 

Inflammation  of  Eyes 

1 

Died  x 

Worms 

3 

Removed 

Erysipelas 

i  u.  care 

to  the 

Cough 
Catarrh 

do. 

Hospital  r 

do. 

Under  care  20 

Wound 

do. 

-46 

Canker  of  Mouth 

do. 

Rheumatism 

do. 

Chilblains 

do. 

SUMMAR  Y. 

Whole  number  of  Patients  admitted  into  the  New-York  City 
Dispensary  from  the  1st  of  Oft.  1797,  to  the  1st  of  Jan.  1798, 

101 

Of  this  number  have  been  cured,   71 

relieved,   % 

have  died,   4. 

Removed  to  the  Hospital,  ....  2 
Remain  under  care   22 


101 


39o 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


SUMMARY. 

Whole  number  of  Patients  admitted  into  the  New-York  City 
Dispensary  from  the  istof  Jan.  1797,  to  the  istof  Jan.  1798. 


Admitted,  '  462 


Cured,  ,   384. 

Die  J,                                   .   18 

Relieved,    18 

Removed  to  the  Hospital,   10 

Country,   2. 

Eloped,   3 

Disorderly,   1 

Under  care,                                   .....  26 


46* 


HUGH  M'LEAN, 

City  Dispensary ,  January  I,  I  798. 


(    3«i  ) 


MEDICAL  NEWS. 


DOMESTIC. 

TN  the  Second  Number  of  the  Repository,  we  gave  some  ac- 
JL  count  of  an  epidemic  disease  among  cats,  which  has  prevailed, 
very  extensively  in  the  United  States.  Since  the  publication  of  that 
number,  we  have  received  the  following  additional  information. 

The  cat-distemjier  appeared  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  about  the 
last  of  July  or  first  of  August,  1797,  where  it  is  supposed  to  have 
carried  off  the  greater  part  of  these  animals  in  that  city.  The 
symptoms  which  it  exhibited  there,  of  which  we  have  obtained  no 
very  satisfactory  account,  resemble  those  noticed  in  New-York. 
It  is  not  known  whether  the  disease  extended  to  the  neighbouring 
towns.  But  it  was  observed  at  Poughkeepsie,  in  this  State,  to- 
wards the  last  of  November. 

From  a  Bourdeaux  paper  of  October  24,  it  appears  that  France 
has  been  visited  by  a  similar  epidemic.  One  of  the  Health-officers 
had  opened  the  body  of  a  cat  to  discover  the  cause,  and  found  in 
it  a  knot  of  worms:  where,  is  not  mentioned,  nor  is  any  important 
information  added  to  what  is  already  known  to  us. 

Some  time  in  October  last,  the  town  of  New-Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, was  alarmed  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  hydrophobia,  or 
canine  madness,  among  the  dogs  of  that  place.  Several  persons 
are  said  to  have  been  bitten  by  dogs  supposed  to  be  mad.  The 
alarm  which  this  occasioned  was  so  considerable  as  to  induce  the 
magistrates  of  the  town  to  exert  the  authority  vested  in  them,  by 
a  law  of  the  State,  for  the  confinement  of  all  the  dogs.  This  law 
inflicts  a  penalty  of  seven  dollars  on  all  persons  suffering  their 
dogs  to  go  at  large;  and  permits  the  animals  to  be  killed,  it  seen 
abroad.  Snortly  after,  the  rabies  appeared  among  the  dogs  of  Suf- 
fifld,  another  town  of  Connecticut;  and  the  present  number  of 
the  Repository  contains  the  melancholy  history  of  a  child  who  died 
in  that  place,  in  consequence  of  the  bite  of  a  rabid  animal.  The 
magistrates  of  Suffield  have  rdso  enforced  the  statute  against  do^s. 
Similar  steps  have  been  taken  in  Hartford  and  New-Haven,  where 
this  disease  has  also  broken  out  in  the  canine  species;  and  where 
Its  extensive  prevalence  is  very  much  apprehended.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  disease  has  appeared  in  the  neighbouring  parts  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  has  proved  fatal  to  a  cjiilq  in  Wcs'.-Springfitld,  in 

Fol.  I.  No.  3.  N 


38a  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


that  State;  notwitiistanding  an  immediate  course  of  mercury  wbs 
entered  upon,  and  pursued  to  complete  salivation.  We  also  ob- 
serve by  the  newspapers,  that  several  children,  as  well  as  dogs,, 
have  been  bitten  at  Salem;  but  as  there  are  several  places  of  this 
name,  (in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New-York,  Sec.)  we  are 
uncertain  in  which  of  them  this  event  happened. 

We  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  our  readers  and  the  public,  that 
an  intelligent  and  vigilant  physician  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  is 
observing  the  progress  of  this  new  and  terrible  epidemic,  in  that 
pirt  of  tne  country;  from  whose  labours  we  hope  to  derive  correct 
and  extensive  iniormation,  on  this  very  interesting  subject. 

Dr.  Mitchill  has  received  a  letter  from'a  physician'of  New-Jer- 
sey, containing  the  following  circumstances  concerning  canine  mad- 
ness. A  dog  oelonging  to  the  physician  himself  was  affected  with, 
this  disease,  which  assumed  the  following  appearances — it  began 
witii  infhmed  eyes  and  disturbed  mind — a  spasmodic  rigidity  soon, 
invaded  one  of  the  fore  legs,  the  part  bitten,  and  gradually  pro- 
ceeded to  the  other  limbs,  and  the  trunk  of  the  body — the  symptoms 
of  hydrophobia  oid  not  appear  till  the  day  before  his  death.  Alkalies 
were  given  to  this  dog,  with  manifest  alleviation  of  thesmptoms. 

The  physician  traced  the  disease  to  the  first  dog  known  to  be 
affected  in  the  country  where  he  resides;  this  dog  had  been  feed- 
ing upon  some  putrid  dead  bodies  of  animals,  soon  after  which, 
he  was.  observed  to  be  sick,  and  to  eject  from  his  stomach  the 
matters  eaten.  This  dog  bit  two  cows  and  a  colt,  on  the  farm  to- 
which  he  belonged;  one  was  a  milch  cow, and  was  observed  about 
40  days  after  being  bitten,  to  vomit  a  greenish  matter  when  she  was 
milked,  and  this  happened  twice  before  she  turned  mad.  This  mat- 
ter, on  examination,  was  found  not  to  be  the  cud.  The  miik  was 
used  without  injury.  The  colt  was  taken  mad  about  50  days  after 
being  bitten,  and  the  other  cow  at  a  somewhat  longer  period.  The 
above  dog  took  his  route  through  Elizabeth-town,  and  proceeded 
northward  as  far  as  Second  River,  and  then  returned  to  Newark,  ' 
where  he  was  killed.  In  this  course  he  bit  many  animals,  all  of 
which  died  before  the  cows  and  colt  above-mentioned.  The  phy- 
sician also  mentions  three  cases  of  cats  bitten,  all  of  which  exhi- 
bited symptoms  of  delirium,  puking  of  greenish  bile,  &c. 

The  same  physician  has  also  collected  observations  of  farmers  in 
his  neighbourhood,  relative  to  the  difference  of  result  in  fat  and 
lean  hogs  bitten  by  a  rabid  animal.  The  fat  hogs  escaped  without 
injury,  but  on  the  lean  ones  the  poison  exerted  all  its  worst  effects. 
A  lean  hog  was  bitten  on  the  upper  part  of  one  of  the  thighs, 
which  immediately  became  violently  inflamed,  and  soon  mortified: 
this  hog  lived  but  one  day  after  the  bite,  and  remarkable  purple 
appearances  were  discovered  on  the  body  after  death.    It  is  ob- 


NEWS. 


383 


•served  also  by  the  same  gentleman,  that  among  a  number  of  anU 
mals  some  time  ago  bitten  by  mad  dogs,  none  escaped  except  one 
cow,  who  had  greedily  devoured  two  quarts  ef  common  salt. 
The  reader  will  remember  that  the  probable  usefulness  of  volatile 
alkali  in  case  of  canine  madness,  was  mentioned  in  the  Medical 
Repository,  No.  I.  p.  87.  If  any  other  cases  of  this  disease  should 
have  occurred  to  any  other  of  our  readers,  attended  with  remark- 
able circumstances,  the  communication  ot  them  is  requested. 

In  our  last  number,  we  made  mention  of  a  calf  whose  heart 
was  very  singularly  placed.  Since  then,  the  animal  having  died, 
there  has  been  opportunity  to  examine,  and  conclusively  determine 
that  it  was  really  the  heart.  By  some  misapprehension  of  the 
keeper,  the  gentleman  who  designed  to  have  made  a  minute  ana- 
tomical examination  of  the  heart  and  surrounding  parts,  was  not 
apprized  of  the  death  of  the  creature,  till  after  the  keeper  had  re- 
moved that  viscus  from  its  situation.  It  was  therefore  impossible 
to  make  such  an  examination  as  was  intended.  On  inspection, 
there  appeared  nothing  remarkable  in  the  heart  itself,  but  its, figure^ 
■which  bore  some  resemblance  to  a  work-bag,  while  that  part 
which  is  usually  denominated  the  base,  was,  in  this  instance,  the 
smallest. 


CALVIN  PHILIPS,  a  remarkable  dwarf,  has  been  exhibited 
as  an  object  of  curiosity,  to  several  thousand  spectators  in  this  city, 
during  the  course  of  last  December.  He  is  seven  years  old,  be- 
tween 26  and  27  inches  high,  and  his  weight,  as  taken  in  the 
course  of  the  last  autumn,  was  m  pounds,  including  his  clothes. 
•His  figure,  thus  diminutive,  displays  a  pleasing  and  elegant  pro- 
portion ;  and  his  face,  though  thin  and  long,  is  made  up  of  regu- 
lar and  agreeable  features,  corresponding  to  his  age  rather  than  size, 
and  indicating  a  degree  of  maturity,  in  point  of  evolution,  much 
beyond  his  years.  His  complexion  and  hair  are  light,  his  eyes 
blue,  and  his  general  aspect  delicate.  The  palms  of  his  hands  and 
soles  of  his  feet  have  acquired  much  of  the  hardness,  and  the 
former  are  a  good  deal  marked  with  the  lines,  belonging  to  adult 
age.  On  inspection  of  his  body,  undressed,  no  deformity  or  de- 
ficiency could  be  discovered;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  utmost 
completeness  and  symmetry  of  every  part.  He  is  active,  playful, 
sprightly,  and  very  irascible.  In  general,  he  is  averse  to  any  mi- 
nute examination  of  visitors;  and  is  commonly  occupied  in  the 
sports  of  children,  to  which  he  is  devoted  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
His  voice  is  shrill,  and  less  articulate  than  common  at  his  age. 
His  mental  attainments  appear  to  fall  rather  below  the  ordinary 
standard,  at  his  age. 

In  his  travels  as  a  public  spectacle,  this  dwarf  is  superintended 


Medical  repository. 

by  his  maternal  grand  parents.  Tlie  grand-father  is  a  largf  an»l 
robust  man,  aged  56  years;  the  grand-mother  is  about  the  middle 
Size,  and  aged  54.  Both  of  them  are  now  in  good  health,  and 
have  generally  been  so  throughout  their  lives.  Tiiese  persons  give 
the  following  account  of  their  grand-child. 

They  state  that  he  was  born  at  Bridgewater,  Massacnu setts,  on 
the  14th  of  January,  1  79 1 ;  that  the  father  of  the  child  is  of  the  com- 
mon size,  the  mother  rather  above  it;  the  former  24,  the  latter 
26  years  of  ag'e  when  the  child  was  born,  and  both  of  good  health 
and  sound  constitutions — that  these  parents  had  two  children  be- 
fore this  dwarf,  and  three  since,  all  of  them  healthy  and  of  usual 
size,  and  of  whom  four  still  survive — that  ail  the  circumstances 
of  gestation  and  parturition  were  natuial — that  the  child  was  so 
small  at  birth,  as  to  be  supposed  scarcely  to  weigh  two  pounds; 
his  thigh  not  exceeding  the  thickness  of  a  man's  thumb,  and  his 
whole  hand  readily  covered  by  a  cent — that  his  mother  often  car- 
ried him  in  her  bosom,  while  engaged  in  spinning — that,  notw  ith- 
standing this  diminutiveness,  he  shewed  all  the  marks  of  a  lively 
and  healthy  child,  particularly  that  of  good  appetite — that  he  was 
exempt  from  all  the  diseases  of  early  infancy,  and  has  enjoyed  good 
health  ever  since,  except  the  hooping-cough  last  spring,  which  was 
Very  favourable,  and  being  once  disordered  with  worms— that  he 
was  weaned  at  seven  months,  began  to  creep  at  nine  months,  and 
to  run  about  at  eighteen  months — that  he  got  his  first  teeth  at  ten 
r>r  eleven  months^  without  pain  or  difficulty,  and  has  since  had  the 
common  number,  two  of  which  are  alread)  shed — that,  from  the 
birth  till  two  vears  old,  he  grew  vcrv  slowly,  afterwards  more  per- 
ceptibly till  five,  and  since  that  period,  for  the  last  two  years,  has 
altogether  ceased  to  grow  ;  which  is  ascertained  by  weight,  and  bv 
the  size  of  his  clothes  worn  two  years  ago — that,  on  his  ceasing  to 
grow,  the  change  with  respect  to  the  hardness  of  the  palms  of  has 
hands  and  soles  of  his  feet,  soon  took  place — that  he  was  upwards  of 
four  years  old  when  he  began  to  speak,  and  has  rapidly  improved 
in  this  respect  within  the  last. year — that  he  never  learned  but  a 
few  letters  of  the  alphabet,  which  were  acquired  some  time  ago, 
end  r.re  now  needy  forgotten — that  since  weaning,  he  has  been 
always  ftd  upon  the  common  articles  of  diet  given  to  children;  he 
eats  moderately,  but  sufficiently;  and  is  particularly  fond  of  fruits 
and  cyder* — that  he  never  was  in  the  habit  of  drinking  any  kind 
of  distilled  liquor — that  he  sleeps  in  an  easy  and  natural  manner, 
generally  goes  to  bed  about  seven  o'clock,  and  continues  to  repose 
till  four  or  five  in  the  morning,  but  never  sleeps  in  the  day — that 
he  never  suffered  any  injury  by  blows,  fells,  or  i:ny  other  acci- 
dents— and  that,  finally,  they  are  unacquainted  with  any  cause  to 
which  his  dimunitive  size  may  be  ascribed. 

from  some  circumstances  in  his  behaviour,  it  has  been  sus* 


NEWS. 


jpected  that  he  discovers  some  degree  of  sexual  propensity;  and  it 
is  possible,  this  suspicion  may  be  thought  to  derive  countenance 
from  the  appeara-ices  of  his  face,  hands,  and  feet,  already  men- 
tioned, as  weil  as  from  the  extreme  reserve  and  obstinacy  with 
which  lie  opposed  any  minuteness  or  inspection,  while  he  was  un- 
dressed. 

It  is  difficult  to  pronounce  concerning  his  intelle6f.ua!  capacity. 
To  infer  imbecility  irom  a  few  uncertain  and  equivocal  appearan- 
ces, would  beconsistent  neither  with  reason  nor  justice.  On  account 
of  his  figure,  little  attention  has  been  bestowed  in  the  cultivation 
of  his  understanding;  the  opinion  that  his  mental  and  personal 
dimensions  were  alike  small,  has  shut  the  avenues  of  instruction ; 
and  his  situation  in  a  variety  of  respects  has  been  unfavourable  to 
improvement.  It  is  probable  his  present  more  enlarged  inter- 
course with  society,  aided  by  any  well  directed  exertions  to  edu- 
cate him,  will  soon  be  sufficient  to  ascertain  the  comparative 
powers  of  his  mind. 

We  are  happv  to  be  able  to  inform  our  readers,  that  Mr.  Web- 
ster's valuable  Letter:  to  Dr.  Currie,  will  be  collected  and  published 
by  the  author  very  shortly;  and  that  many  new,  extensive,  and. 
very  important  additions  will  be  made,  illustrative  and  confirmative 
of  the  principles  advanced,  and  ably  supported  in  the  original 
letters. 


A  new  Medical  Association  has  lately  been  formed  in  Philadel- 
phia, whose  more  particular  object:  is  to  inquire  into  and  elucidate 
the  history  and  nature  of  pestilential  diseases;  without  excluding 
attention  to  other  subordinate  objects.  This  association,  which 
takes  the  name  ol  The  Mediail  Academy  nf  Philadelphia,  design  to 
publish  the  result  of  their  labours  periodically.  Their  publica- 
tions, it  is  expected,  will  consist  of  a  semi-annual  octavo  volume; 
and  the  important  subjects  to  which  the  attention  of  the  members 
will  be  steadily  directed,  induce  us  to  believe  that  they  will  receive 
that  extensive  encouragement,  which,  from  the  reputation  of  the 
gentlemen  concerned,  we  may  confidently  pronounce  they  will 
amply  merit. 

Dr.  Arlr.m  Khun  has  resigned  the  Professorship  of  the  Practice 
of  Medicine,  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  A  successor  has 
net  hitherto  been  appointed. 

A  valuable  addition  has  been  made  to  the  store  of  medical  in- 
struction in  Philadelphia,  in  the  present  season,  by  the  institution 
of  a  regular  and  extensive  course  of  Qbitetrical  Lctfuics,  by  Dr. 
William  Dewces. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Dr.  Rush  is  preparing  for  publication,  a  fifth  volume  of  his 
"  Inquiries  and  Observations."  This  volume,  we  are  infoimed, 
is  contain  two  dissertations — on  the  Gout,  a>vi  on  Diseases  of 
ml  Mind — and  a  History  of  the  Yellow  Fever  for  1797. 

Dr.  Barton,  the  intended  publication  of  whose  Journal  of  a 
Tour  through  a  part  of  the  States  of  New-York  and  Pennsylvania, 
was  announced  in  the  second  number  of  the  Repository,  designs 
first  to  publish  a  Memoir  on  the  Bronc/iocelc,  or  on  Goitres,  as  ob- 
served in  the  State  of  New-York.  This  Memoir,  which  is  in 
great  forwardness,  may  be  speedily  expected.  Dr.  Barton's  Jour- 
nal will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing  spring  or  summer. 

We  are  informed,  that  a  work  is  soon  to  make  its  appearance, 
from  Dr.  Curric,  of  Philadelphia,  on  Bilious  Rejoining  Fevers. 

Mr.  Thomas  Brufe,  sen.  of  Ci.estertown,  Maryland,  advertises 
Patent  Instruments  for  exttaSling  teeth  in  a /lerjmndicular  direclion. 
His  advertisement  is  accompanied  with  certificates,  in  favour  of 
his  instruments,  from  Doctors  Shippen,  Wilkins,  and  Goodwin. 
From  the  known  talents  of  these  gentlemen,  there  is  great  reason 
to  expect  much  from  this  improvement  in  the  operation  of  tooth- 
drawing. 

It  appears  from  a  Charleston  paper,  that  Dr.  Ramsay  has  pre- 
sented to  the  Medical  Society  of  South-Carolina,  a  Memoir  on 
the  Autumnal  Epidemic  or  Yellow  Fever  of  Charleston.  The  op- 
portunities which  Dr.  Ramsay  must  have  had  for  observing  this 
disease,  lead  us  to  expect  that  much  valuable  information  will  be 
found  in  this  memoir.  But,  hitherto,  ve  have  not  been  able  to  learn, 
whether  it  has  been  made  public  by  the  society  or  the  author. 


FOREIGN. 

IT  appears  from  the  Foreign  Journals,  that  a  Comet  (which 
may  be  the  same  that  was  observed  in  America,  by  Mr.  Merrick. 
See  News,  Medical  Repository,  No.  II.)  has  been  seen  both  in 
France  and  England:  in  France,  by  Citizen  Bouvard,  August  14.; 
in  England,  bv  Miss  Caroline  Herschell,  and  Mr.  Lee  of  Hack- 
ney, on  the  same  night;  by  Mr.  CapcJ  Loft  and  Mr.  Walker, 
August  18,  19,  and  co ;  and  by  an  anonymous  observer,  August 
c6.  We  have  no  further  mention  cf  this  phenomenon  in  the 
United  States. 


NEWS. 


Mr.  Hodgson,  printer  of  the  Nezucdstle  Chronicle,  states,  on  the 
authority  of  a  gentleman  who  has  seen  various  experiments  made,, 
that  Mr.  Robson,  tanner,  in  Newcastle,  has  discovered  a  method, 
for  ascertaining  the  quality  of  oak  bark,  so  as  to  enable  any  person, 
to  estimate  its  intrinsic  value,  by  finding  the  real  quantity  of 
essence  it  contains,  in  a  few  hours,  without  being  deceived  by  its 
appearance.  Monthly  Magazine,  August,  1797. 

Mr.  Van  Marum,  superintendant  of  the  Teylerian  institution  at 
Haarlem,  has  discovered,  that  a  piece  of  phosphorus,  wrapped  in. 
a  little  cotton,  and  placed  under  the  receiver  of  an  air-pump,  in- 
flames spontaneously,  when  the  air  is  exhausted  to  a  certain  degree, 
and  continues  to  burn  till  it  is  consumed.  It  is  singular,  that  this 
combustion  should  commence  and  continue  in  air,  rarified  to  a 
degree  that  would  immediately  extinguish  any  other  burning  ma-i 
Serial.  Mr.  Van  Marum  explains  this  phenomenon  by  supposing, 
that  the  cotton  which  surrounds  the  phosphorus  (for  a  piece  of 
phosphorus  placed  in  similar  circumstances,  but  not  enveloped 
with  cotton,  does  not  inflame)  accumulates  the  caloric,  or  matter 
of  hear,  in  its  immediate  neighbourhood,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
the  exhalations  which  phosphorus  is  constantly  giving  out  when 
exposed  to  the  air,  can  no  longer  rise,  on  account  of  its  rarity,  and 
thus  the  temperature  is  elevated  to  the  degree  at  which  phosphorus 
combines  with  the  oxygene  of  the  atmosphere,  and  inflammation 
takes  place.  This  combustion  was  lound  to  take  place  in  air  that 
had  only  j4h  °f  tne  density  of  the  common  atmosphere.  It  is 
certainly  very  singular,  that  the  small  portion  of  oxygene  that 
could  remain  in  air  so  rarified,  should  be  adequate  to  support  the 
combustion  of  the  phosphorus;  and  that  it  was  a  real  combustion, 
is  proved  by  the  diminution  in  weight  of  the  phosphorus,  as  well 
as  by  the  quantity  of  phosphoric  acid  formed  and  found  on  the 
plate  of  the  air-pump.  [Monthly  Magazine,  Sejit.  1797. 

Account  of  certain  Memoirs  published  by  the  Polytechnic  School  at  Paris. 
Extracted  from  Nicholson's  Journal,  iVo  III. 
It  has  long  been  known,  that  the  sulphure  of  pot-ash  attract 
the  oxygene  of  the  atmosphere,  and  separates  it  from  the  azote 
with  which  it  is  combined.  Attempts  were  consequently  made  to 
construct  eudiometers  with  this  sulphure,  in  imitation  otScheele; 
but  none  of  these  gave  the  result  with  the  requisite  speed  and  accu- 
racy. Guyton  discovered,  that  by  heating  the  sulphure,  the  com- 
bination is  made  instantly.  He  therefore  advises  to  take  a  small 
retort  filled  with  water,  to  place  therein  a  small  piece  of  sulphure, 
then  to  introduce  the  air  and  heat  with  a  taper,  to  that  place  on 
which  the  sulphure  rests.  The  absorption  of  the  oxygene  is  im- 
mediately maae,  and  the  desired  result  ascertained. 


333 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


By  this  invention,  which  contributes  to  the  accuracy  and  value 
of  an  instrument  greatiy  used  in  meteorological  observations, 
Guyton  has  rendered  a  real  service  to  philosopher*. 

Gottling  had  maintained,  in  a  memoir  published  in  Gren's 
Journal,  tiiat  phosphorus  burns  in  azotic  gas,  forms  an  acid  by  tnis 
combustion,  and  does  not  burn  in  oxygenous  gas.  Berthollet 
made  several  experiments  on  the  combination  of  phosphorus  with 
different  gases.  He  found,  i.  That  the  pnosphorus  does  not  com- 
bine wim  oxvgeneat  the  ordinary  temperature,  but  requires  a  more 
elevated  temperature  to  produce  combustion,  a.  Tnat  phospho- 
rus is  soluble  in  the  azotic  gas;  and  that,  by  means  of  this  solu- 
tion, it  burns  with  oxygenous  gas  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  and 
appears  luminous  in  the  dark. 

.  By  means  of  these  experiments,  Berthollet  explained  the  extra- 
ordinary phenomena  which  Gottling,  Lemps,  and  Larnpadius  had 
observed;  and  he  imagined,  that  phosphorus  might  iSe  used  to 
measure  the  quantity  or  oxygeue  gas  contained  in  the  air  of  the 
atmosphere,  or  any  other  gas  containing  azote. 

Tiiis  new  eudiometer  has  an  advantage  over  other  instruments 
of  the  same  nature,  by  shewing  the  precise  instant  oi  the  total  ab- 
sorption of  ox ygene,  which  happens  when  no  more  white  vapour 
is  seen  in  the  clay  light,  nor  light  in  an  obscure  place;  but  it  has 
likewise  the  inconvenience  of  requiring  the  presence  oi  a  quantity 
of  azote  sufficient  to  dissolve  the  phosphorus  readiiy  beiore  its 
combination  with  oxygene. 

Clouiit  had  published  in  a  memoir,  that  the  prussic  colouring 
principle  might  be  obtained  by  passing  ammonical  gas  through 
ignited  charcoal.  The  experiments  related  by  Bonjour,  in  the 
third  cahier  of  the  Journal  of  the  Polytechnic  School,  consist 
merely  of  the  processes  he  made  use  or,  and  the  trials  he  made  in 
the  presence  of  Clouet,  to  verify  the  phenomenon  he  had  an- 
nounced, and  which,  after  a  most  careful  examination,  proved 
to  be  in  every  respect  agreeable  to  the  account  which  was  pub- 
lished. 

It  was  formerly  observed,  that  snow  preserves  the  vegetative 
power,  and  that  rain  accelerates  the  growth  of  plants  more  than 
artificial  waterings.  Hassenlratz  has  inquired,  in  his  memoir, 
into  the  cause  of  these  comparative  effects.  He  shews,  from  seve- 
iA  experiments,  that  the  preserving  power  of  snow  arises  from 
tv\  o  circumstances;  its  imperfect  conducting  power,  and  its  oxyge- 
nation. Tnis  philosopher  has  proved,  that  snow  is  water  oxyge- 
natfd  and  converted  into  the  solid  form.  He  has  also  shewn,  tnat 
r;  in  is  more  oxygenated  than  any  other  water,  and  that  a  large 
portion  of  its  good  cifec~ls  is  to  be  attributed  to  this  circumstance. 

The  Memoir  0:1  the  Arts  is  written  by  Chaussier.  Its  objtct. 
is  to  describe  the  composition  of  a  liquor  proper  to  be  substituted 


NEWS; 


anslead  of  wine  lees  in  fulling,  to  obtain  the  greatest  effect  with 
the  most  facility  and  economy. 

The  liquor  indicated  by  Chaussier,  is  a  small  quantity  of  sul- 
phuric acid.  This  acid  bath,  which  experience  has  assured  him 
may  be  used  with  invariable  success,  likewise  affords  the  advan- 
tage of  obtaining  a  very  white  colour  in  hats,  because  the  felt  does 
not  become  coloured  in  the  working. 

Mr.  Sheldrake,  truss-maker,  of  the  Strand,  London,  has  lately 
obtained  a  patent  for  several  new  invented  trusses,  which,  from 
the  account  given  of  them,  promise  to  be  of  very  great  importance 
in  removing  various  disagreeable  and  even  dangerous  deformities; 
such  as  dub  feet,  the  ivry  neck,  incurvated  spine,  &c.  An  intelli- 
gible account  of  his  trusses  cannot  be  given  without  the  aid  of 
plates;  but  such  persons  as  feel  a  particular  interest  in  this  subject, 
are  recommended  for  further  information  to  "  the  Monthly  Maga- 
zine" for  September  last.  As  an  evidence  of  their  utility,  we  sub- 
join the  following  opinion  of  Mr.  Ford,  the  respectable  author  of 
an  excellent  treatise  on  the  Disease  of  the  Hip-Joint.  It  relates 
to  the  case  of  a  child,  with  feet  very  much  distorted;  which,  hav- 
ing been  admitted  into  the  Westminster  Dispensary,  was  after- 
wards referred  to  Mr.  Sheldrake. 

"  Mr.  Ford  presents  his  compliments  to  Mr.  Sheldrake,  and  has 
**  great  satisfaction  in  seeing  the  child  of  Mr.  Wells,  who  appears 
*  to  him  perfectly  cured  of  the  distortion  in  his  feet." 

Golden- Square," 


Vol  I.  No.  3. 


Q 


39° 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


After  the  preceding  title  was  sent  to  the  press,  the  two  folloiving  articles 
•were  received from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morse,  of  Charlestown,  ( Massachu- 
setts) in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Smith.  The  first  is  a  printed  papa,  •which 
appears  to  have  been  taken  from  some  British  periodical  •work.  The 
second  is  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Dr.  John  Brickell,  of  Savannah, 
to  the  Selectmen  of  Boston.  The  want  of  lime  to  give  any  other  form 
to  these  communications ;  the  importance  of  circulating  the  earliest 
information  on  this  subject  to  those  parts  of  the  country  -which  are  most 
immediately  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  rabid  animals ;  and  the  higher 
authenticity  which  faHs  derive  from  the  signature  of  the  original  ob- 
servers; will,  we  trust,  excuse  us  both  to  Dr.  Morse  and  Dr. 
Brickell,  for  having,  in  some  degree,  deviated  from  the  line  of  cm- 
duel  they  wish  us  to  pursue,  in  respect  to  these  papers.  We  agree 
with  Dr.  Morse,  that  it  is  to  he  regretted  that  "  Dr.  Brickell 
"  had  not  left  us  to  infer  that  the  dogs  that  bit  his  patients  were 
"  really  modi"  and  that  "  if  he  had  stated  the  fad  that  they  ac- 
"  tually  died  of  the  disease,  or  that  the  animals  or  persons  bitten 
"  by  them,  and  to  whom  his  remedy  -was  not  applied,  had  actually 
"  received  the  infection,  his  communication  would  have  been  more  sa- 
"  tisfaclory." 


SYMPTOMS  OF  MADNESS  IN  DOGS. 

MR.  Meyncll,  of  Quorndon,  in  Leicestershire,  has  paid  great 
attention  to  this  disorder  among  his  dogs,  and  has  readily 
communicated  the  result  of  his  accurate  observations. 

The  first  symptom  of  canine  madness  in  dogs,  is,  I  believe,  a 
failure  of  appetite  in  a  small  degree.  I  mean,  that  the  dog  does  not 
eat  his  usual  food  with  usual  eagerness ;  though,  if  better  food  be 
offered  him,  he  may  eat  it  greedily.  A  disposition  to  quarrel  with 
other  dogs  comes  on  early  in  the  disease;  a  total  loss  of  appetite 
generally  succeeds;  though  I  have  often  seen  dogs  eat  and  lap  water 
the  day  before  their  death,  which  generally  happens  between  seven 
and  ten  days  after  the  first  symptom  has  appeared.  A  mad  dog 
will  not,  1  believe,  cry  out  on  being  struck,  or  shew  any  sign  of 
fear  on  being  threatened ;  though  he  will,  very  late  in  the  disease, 
appear  sensible  of  kind  treatment. 

I  have  never  known  a  mad  dog  shew  symptoms  of  the  disease 
in  less  time  after  the  bite  than  ten  days;  and  I  have  known  many 
instances  of  dogs  having  died  mad,  as  late  as  eight  months  after 
the  bite.  I  think  the  symptoms  generally  appear  between  three 
and  eight  weeks  after  the  bite. 

A  mad  dog,  in  the  height  of  the  disorder,  has  a  disposition  to  bite 
all  other  dogs,  animals,  or  men.    When  not  provoked,  he  usually 


ADDENDA.  39i 

uttacks  only  such  as  come  in  his  way;  but  having  no  fear,  it  is 
peculiarly  dangerous  to  strike  at,  or  provoke  him. 

Mad  dogs  appear  to  be  capable  of  communicating  the  affection 
early  in  the  disorder,  and  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  quarrel  with  or 
bite  other  dogs.  The  eyes  of  mad  dogs  do  not  look  red  or  fierce, 
but  dull;  and  have  a  peculiar  appearance,  which  is  easily  distin- 
guished by  such  as  have  been  used  to  observe  it;  but  not  easily  to 
be  described. 

Mad  dogs  never  bark,  but  occasionally  utter  a  most  dismal  and 
plaintive  howl,  expressive  of  extreme  distress;  and  which,  they 
who  have  once  heard,  can  never  forget,  so  that  dogs  may  be 
known  to  be  going  mad,  without  being  seen,  when  only  this  dis- 
mal howl  is  heard. 

Mad  dogs  do  not  foam  or  froth  at  the  mouth,  but  their  lips  and 
tongues  appear  dry  and  foul  or  slimy. 

Though  mad  dogs  generally  refuse  both  food  and  drink  in  the 
latter  stage  of  the  disorder,  yet  they  never  show  any  abhorrence 
or  dread  of  water;  will  pass  through  it  without  difficulty,  and  lap 
it  eagerly  to  the  last;  but  it  is  remarkable,  though  they  lap  water 
for  a  long  time,  and  eagerly,  and  do  not  teem  to  experience  any 
uneasiness  from  it,  yet  they  do  not  appear  to  swallow  a  single  drop 
of  it;  for  however  long  they  may  continue  lapping  it,  no  diminu- 
tion of  quantity  can  be  perceived. 

I  am  persuaded,  that  this  disorder  never  originates  from  hot 
weather,  putrid  provisions,  or  from  any  other  cause  but  the  bite; 
for,  however  dogs  may  have  been  confined,  however  fed,  or  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  heat  of  the  season,  I  never  knew  the  dis- 
order to  commence  without  being  able  to  trace  itto  that  cause;  and 
it  was  never  introduced  into  the  kennel  but  by  the  bite  of  a  mad 
dog.*  The  hair  of  a  mad  dog  does  not  stand  erect  more  than  that 
of  other  dogs.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  thing  remarkable 
in  a  mad  dog's  carrying  his  head  or  his  tail.  1  do  not  believe  that 
dogs  are  more  afraid  of  a  mad  dog,  than  they  are  of  any  other  dog- 
that  seems  disposed  to  attack  them. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  madness,  both  of  which  I  have  known 
to  originate  from  the  bite  of  the  same  dog.  Among  huntsmen, 
one  is  known  by  the  name  of  raging,  the  other  by  that  of  dumb 
madness.  In  dumb  madness  the  nether  jaw  drops,  and  is  fixed; 
the  tongue  hangs  out  of  the  mouth,  and  slaver  drops  from  it.  In 
raging  madness,  the  mouth  is  shut,  except  when  the  dog  snaps  or 
howls;  and  no  moisture  drops  from  it. 

We  have  thus  presented  to  our  readers,  in  Mr.  Meynell's  own 
words,  his  principal  remarks  respecting  the  signs  of  rabies  in  dogs. 

*  This  can  not  be  true  in  the  extent  here  fuppofed. — On  this  fuppofition, 
how  could  the  diftafe  appear  in  a  new  country?  How  could  it  originate  at 
all?    What  firft  occafioned,  may  occafion  it  a  fecond  time.  Editors. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


These,  we  apprehend,  if  properly  attended  to,  will  afford  mort 
exact  and  more  authentic  information,  than  has  hitherto  been  given 
concerning  it. 

While  they  serve  to  correct  mistaken  ideas  which  have  generally 
prevailed,  drawn  from  supposed  appearances  which  have  no 
existence,  they,  at  the  same  time,  point  out  sufficient  marks  by 
which  this  affection  in  dogs,  even  at  its  commencement,  may  be 
distinguished.  And  whenever  a  failure  of  appetite  and  an  uncom- 
mon disposition  to  quarrel  with  other  dogs  appear,  the  animal 
ihould  certainly  be  secured  as  soon  as  it  can  with  safety  be  effected. 
If  these  symptoms  be  the  first  stage  of  this  disorder,  the  dulness 
of  the  eyes,  the  want  of  barking,  and  the  dismal  plaintive  howl 
will  soon  characterize  the  disease;  and  thus  accidents  of  the  most 
dreadlul  and  melancholy  nature  may  be  prevented. 

TO  THE  SELECTMEN  OF  BOSTOX. 

ACTUATED  by  a  love  for  you  and  all  my  other  fellow  mor-. 
tals,  (children  of  the  same  parent)  I  take  the  liberty  of  commu- 
nicating a  method  of  preventing  any  bad  effects  from  the  bite 
of  a  mad  dog:  as  I  perceive,  by  the  perusal  of  newspapers, 
that  some  fatal  instances  of  hydrophobia  have  happened  in  your 
State.  The  method  is  to  wash  the  bitten  part  -with  20  or  30  kettles 
full  of  water,  poured from  the  spout  cf  the  kettles,  or  a  mug  ;  and  after- 
'wards  to  burn  the  wound  as  clee/i  as  the  bite  has  penetrated,  with  the 
end  of  a  case  knife,  or  any  other  iron  made  nearly  red-hot.  The  wash- 
ing is  to  carry  away,  from  in  and  around  the  bite,  the  saliva,  (in. 
which  the  infection  exists);  and  the  burring  is  to  extirpate  any 
infected  part.  In  washing,  I  hold  the  kettle  high  over  the  bite, 
that  the  force  of  the  descending  stream  may  act  with  the  more 
effect.  The  ancient  method  was  cutting  out  or  burning;  but  wash- 
ing escaped  them. 

I  published  the  above,  several  years  ago,  in  the  Savannah  Ga- 
7ette;  but  its  limited  circulation  prevented  it  from  being  exten- 
sively known. 

The  remedy  having  being  often  applied,  in  Georgia,  without 
once  failing,  is  a  favourable  circumstance. 

On  perusing,  some  years  ago,  the  annual  publications  of  Dr. 
Duncan,  of  Edinburgh,  which  consist  chiefly  of  medical  informa- 
tion sent  to  him,  by  men  of  science,  from  all  parts  of  the  world; 
I  observed  two  cases  reported  of  persons  bit  by  a  mad  dog,  being 
directly  carried  to  a  surgeon,  who  immediately  cut  out  the  bitten 
parts;  notwithstanding  which,  they  both  died  in  hydrophobia. 
The  doctor  subjoins  a  melancholy  question,  whether  the  infection 
is  of  a  nature  so  tenacious,  as  not  to  be  extirpated  by  any  means, 
when  a  perron  is  bitten  by  a  dog  really  mid?  and  intimates  a  sus- 


ADDENDA. 


393 


picion,  that  in  the  cases  recorded  of  people  being  bit,  and  escaping 
the  hydrophobia  by  medical  aid,  the  dogs  were  not  really  mad,  or 
had  not  the  rabies. 

Sentiments  of  this  kind,  coming  from  an  authority  so  great,  set 
me  to  thinking  on  the  subject;  and,  with  the  more  earnestness,  as 
we  were  alarmed  by  a  report  of  mad  dogs  being  in  the  State.  It 
is  observable,  that  mad  dogs  have  frequently  abundance  of  saliva 
about  their  chops,  which,  of  course,  will  be  spread  on  and  round 
their  bite — and  that  the  virus  is  in  the  saliva. 

It  therefore  occurred  to  my  thoughts,  that  the  surgeon's  knife 
(in  the  above  cases)  in  cutting,  carried  into  the  incision  part  of 
the  saliva  from  the  surface,  and  planted  anew  the  disorder,  as  the 
lancet  plants  the  small-pox,  in  inoculation. 

A  little  time  furnished  an  occasion  for  putting  my  reflections  to 
the  test.  Three  persons  were  bitten,  one  a  negro  girl  of  my  own, 
on  the  naked  foot.  I  applied  the  washing  with  all  possible  speed — 
afterwards  the  hot  iron  or  cutting,  as  they  preferred.  After  the 
lapse  of  a  length  of  time  sufficient  to  convince  me  that  they  were 
out  of  danger,  I  had  the  cure  published  in  our  Gazette,  in  which, 
however,  I  only  mentioned  washing  and  burning,  which  any  per- 
son can  apply ;  as  cutting  sometimes  requires  the  hand  of  an  ana- 
tomist. 

I  took  an  early  opportunity  of  writing  to  Dr.  Duncan  on  the 
subject;  likewise  of  making  it  known  in  London  and  other  places; 
and  sent  it  by  an  official  conveyance  to  Paris;  where  I  observe, 
the  government  had  it  published  under  the  denomination  of  a  Se- 
cret d'instruftion,  with  this  improvement,  that  <Jiirit  of  nitre  poured 
into  the  bite,  would  destroy  the  parts  as  effectually  as  burning. 

If  the  simple  and  plain  remedy  here  proposed  is  already  known 
among  you,  the  motive  which  prompted  me  to  give  this  trouble, 
will,  I  hope,  plead  my  apology;  but  if  I  should  be  instrumental 
in  averting  a  calamity  the  most  direful,  terrific,  and  humiliating; 
a  disorder  which  deranges  the  faculties  of  the  wisest,  and  converts 
the  mildest  man  into  a  fiend  in  appearance;  I  shall  feel  myself 
fully  rewarded,  in  so  far  doing  my  duty  to  my  neighbour, 

I  will  just  remark,  that  in  all  the  cases  which  have  come  under 
my  care,  the  washing  was  applied  in  less  than  an  hour  after  being 
bitten;  and  the  hot  iron  as  soon  as  possible  after.  And  without 
doubt,  the  sooner  the  applications  are  made,  the  better  is  the  chance 
of  escape. 

Should  it  be  thought  r.dviseable  to  give  this,  or  any  part  of  it, 
to  the  printer  for  publication,  my  name  need  not  be  mentioned, 
as  it  has  already  appeared  in  our  gazette  on  this  subject. 

I  am,  Gentlemen,  with  kind  wishes, 

Your  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 
Savannah,  Georgia,  Oc7.  75,  1797.  JOHN  BRICKELL. 


394 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Mv  highly  esteemed  friend  Dr.  Morse,  whose  profession  and, 
chief  pleasure  is  doing  good,  will  be  so  kind  as  to  introduce  me 
on  this  occasion,  to  the  guardians  of  the  city,  as  I  have  not  the 
honour  ol  a  personal  acquaintance  among  the  worthy  gentlemen. 

His  sincere  friend. 

JOHN  BRICKELL. 


(    395  ) 


APPENDIX. 


DOMESTIC. 


ARTICLE  I. 

The  Refiort  of  the  Commissioners  of  Health  to  the  Mayor  and  City  Coun- 
cil of  Baltimore,  consisting  of  fails  and  communications  relative  to 
the  health  of  the  city,  since  their  ajijiointment,  and  especially  during 
the  late  /irevaili/ig  sickness. 

ON  the  5th  of  June,  the  commissioners  formed  a  full  board, 
and  proceeded  to  the  business  of  their  appointment,  having 
been  previously  qualified  according  to  law  before  the  mayor. 
Tneir  office  requiring  them  to  watch  over,  and  preserve  the  health 
of  the  city,  their  first  concern  was  to  guard  against  the  introduc- 
tion of  contagious  diseases  by  importation.  For  this  purpose,  hav- 
ing appointed  Conrad  Smuil,  a  suitable  person,  to  take  charge  of 
the  hospital  on  Hawkins's-Point,  provided  a  boat  and  boatmen  to 
attend  on  the  health-officer,  and  for  keeping  up  a  communication 
between  Hawkins's-Point  and  the  city,  and  formed  regulations  for 
the  government  of  the  board — they  gave  such  directions  to  the 
health-officer  respecting  the  examination  of  all  vessels  coming  from 
beyond  the  seas,  as  appeared  necessary. 

Nothing  occurred  to  give  the  least  uneasiness  to  the  inhabitants, 
till  towards  the  latter  end  of  June,  when  Messieurs  Parkin  and 
M'Kenna,  two  young  men  who  occupied  a  warehouse  in  South- 
street,  were  near  one  time  seized  with  a  disorder  highly  inflamma- 
tory, and  which  put  a  period  to  their  existence  in  a  few  days. 
This  circumstance  occasioned  some  agitation  in  the  minds  of  the 
citizens,  and  a  report  prevailed  that  their  complaint  was  the  vel- 
low  fever,  and  had  proceeded  from  some  putrid  matter  stored,'  or 
contained  in  their  warehouse.  A  meeting  of  the  board  was  called 
on  this  subject:,  and  they  attended  personally,  with  several  of  the 
faculty,  and  examined  every  part  of  the  said  warehouse,  and  found 
noth'mg  therein  that  could  be  the  least  injurious  to  health,  it  being 
in  as  clean  and  wholesome  a  state  as  any  warehouse  in  the  citv. 
From  what  cause  their  complaint  originated,  is  not  for  them  to  say, 
but  leave  it  for  those  who  may  be  more  capable  to  determine;  yet 
no  discovery  was  ever  made  of  any  infection  having  been  caught 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


from  them.  The  board,  nevertheless,  apprehending  tfiat  there 
might  be  some  causes  existing  in  some  parts  of  the  city,  which  in 
the  course  of  the  hot  season  tnen  approaching,  migiit  prove  fatal 
to  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  if  not  removed,  concluded  to  go 
through  the  city,  east  and  west,  and  examine  every  part,  and  re- 
present to  the  mayor,  all  nuisances  and  offensive  substances  dis- 
covered by  thenij  that  the  same  might  be  removed  in  the  manner 
the  ordinances  direct. — This  disagreeable  and  laborious  task  they 
accomplished  in  about  one  week. 

Their  attention  was  then  turned  to  guard  against  the  importa- 
tion of  damaged  hides,  coffee  and  other  damaged  goods,  and  regu- 
lations were  made  concerning  them.  A  greater  strictness  was  also 
deemed  necessary  respecting  the  arrival  of  vessels  from  the  West- 
Indies.  An  order  was  therefore  published  by  the  board,  com- 
manding all  vessels  from  the  islands  to  stop  at  or  below  the  Fort 
ten  days,  and  until  permitted  by  the  health-officer  to  proceed  into 
port: — The  same  order  extended  to  vessels  coming  from  all  other 
suspected  places.  A  malignant  fever  about  this  time  prevailing  in 
Philadelphia,  occasioned  the  board  to  provide  a  house  on  the  road,  a 
small  distance  from  the  city,  to  accommodate  travellers  from  that 
place,  in  case  it  should  be  found  proper  to  stop  the  communication 
between  the  two  cities,  which,  however,  was  not  deemed  neces» 
sary. 

July  had  passed,  and  August  was  ending,  while  the  citizens  of 
West  Baltimore  enjoyed  unusual  health.  Many  nuisances  had 
been  removed,  and  some  low  and  sunken  places  had  been  filled 
up,  in  consequence  of  the  report  made  by  the  board  to  the  mayor; 
the  streets  were  also  kept  cleaner  than  usual,  and  the  healthiness  of 
that  part  of  the  city  was  a  common  topic  of  conversation.  In 
East  Baltimore,  (or  Fell's-Point)  on  the  contrary,  it  was  somewhat 
different.  A  bilious  complaint  had  early  commenced,  and  ap- 
peared gradually  progressing  to  a  worse  stage  ;  yet  no  alarm  had 
been  excited^  as  it  was  supposed  to  be  no  other  than  the  common 
.sickness  of  the  season  ;  but  the  attention  of  the  board  was  soon 
called  to  notice  more  particularly,  the  state  of  that  part  of  the  city. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  a  rumor  began  to  be  spread  in  West 
Baltimore,  that  the  sickness  at  Fell's-Point  was  somewhat  more 
than  common.  The  chairman  of  the  board  immediately  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  each  of  the  physicians  in  that  part  of  the  city, 
requesting  them  to  inform  the  board,  whether  any  case  of  conta- 
tagious  disease  had  come  under  their  notice,  and  of  the  general 
state  of  the  health  in  that  district.  Whereupon  the  following 
communications  were  received  1 — 


APPENDIX. 


397 


Mr.  ADAM  FONERDEN,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Health. 
Sir, 

I  AM  favoured  with  yours  of  this  morning,  and  hasten  to  give 
you  alt  the  satisfaction  my  judgment  and  experience  will  serve. 
Ever  since  the  third  week  in  June,  I  have  observed  in  my  district 
of  practice,  a  particular  species  of  fever  becoming  epidemic,  af- 
fecting all  ages,  sexes  and  colours;  but  more  particularly  confined 
to  that  class  of  people  who  labour  hard  and  exercise  violently  in 
the  heat  of  the  sun,  Live  intemperately,  or  who  imprudently  expose 
themselves  to  the  night  air,  by  lying  down  in  it  after  returning 
from  work. — This  is  a  very  dangerous  fever,  and  where. its  com- 
mencing symptoms  are  violent  in  degree,  almost. .certainly  fatal,  if 
not  eariy  encountered  with  powerful  remedies, u  From  the  fre- 
quent calls  we  have  in  all  directions,  it  seems  to  be  pretty  gene- 
rally diffused,  and  assumes  to  itself  the  .sole  government  of  our 
sickness.  Tne  number  of  sick,  however,  seems  stationary.  Dur- 
ing the  wet  weather  in  the  last  of  July  and  first  of  this  month, 
it  yielded  for  near  two  weeks  to  tne  dysentery,  which  has  now 
decreased,  and  the  usual  epidemic  again  prevails.  I  have  always 
been  cautious  of  exciting  any  unnecessary  alarm  in  the  city;  and 
while  the  fever  is  so  manageable,  and  the  deaths  so  inconsiderable 
to  the  number  of  sick,  I  am  strengthened  in  the  propriety  of  this 
conduct. — I  have  called  it  an  epidemic,  in  contradistinction  to  an 
imported  contagion,  and  because,  it  it  is  contagious,  it  is  in  the 
locality  of  our  atmosphere,  the  source  of  which  I  can  perceive  in 
every  ten  steps  I  take  in  our  streets;  ponds  of  stagnant  water,  and 
sinks  of  putrid  animal  and  vegetable  matters,  exhaling  perpetually 
under  a  hot  sun,  the  most  offensive  effluvia — even  our  market  and 
the  space  around  it  not  paved,  and  the  earth  constantly  covered 
with  offal  matter  thrown  away  by  the  butchers;  it  is  strikingly 
true,  that  many  of  the  sick  to  whom  I  have  been  called,  went  out 
well  in  the  morning,  and  came  home  from  market  affected  with 
the  symptoms.  The  conclusion  to  be  drawn,  then,  from  these  ob- 
servations is,  that  I  do  not  think  the  fever  infectious  individually, 
but  from  a  certain  aptitude  in  the  body  of  every  individual,  in 
this  climate,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  meeting  with  the  exciting 
causes  of  labour  and  fatigue  in  the  heat,  sudden  obstruction  of  per- 
spiration by  rain  or  night  air;  intemperance  in  drink  or  diet;  are 
thrown  into  fever,  which  fever  is  modified  by  the  predominant 
exhalations  with  which  the  atmosphere  is  loaded.  From  the  uni- 
formity of  the  symptoms  of  the  fever,  which  has  prevailed  here  at 
this  season  for  several  years  past,  and  its  correspondence  with  the 
epidemics  in  other  parts  of  the  continent,  I  think  we  may  safely 
reason  in  this  way;  und  as  the  faculty  in  different  situations  have 

Kol.  I.  M.  3.  P 


398  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

given  different  appellations  to  what  I  think  the  same  disease,  it  will 
be  thought  sufficient,  perhaps,  after  what  I  have  said,  to  enumerate 
the  symptoms.  It  attacks  suddenly,  with  violent  pain  in  the  head 
and  eyes,  back  and  limbs;  languor,  weakness,  and  sickness  at  sto- 
mach ;  great  tenderness,  heat,  and  pain  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach, 
and  over  the  region  of  the  liver,  preceded  mostly  by  a  chill: — 
sometimes  it'approaches  more  slowly  and  insidiously,  but  not  less 
dangerous;  for,  about  the  fourth  and  fifth  day,  if  timely  and  proper 
remedies  have  not  been  administered,  a  hiccup  and  vomiting  of 
blackish  matter,  like  coffee  grounds,  sometimes  mixed  with  dark- 
coloured  blood,  comes  on,  attended  with  profuse  hemorrhages 
from  the  nose,  gums,  and  intestines,  which  generally  carries  them 
off  by  the  .sixth  day.  I  have  prescribed  for  upwards  of  three  hun- 
dred in  this  fever  since  June  last,  and  I  am  sure  I  am  accurate 
when  I  say,  onk  eight  of  them  have  died;  two  only  of  whom 
■were  visited  on  the  first  day  of  their  illness,  and  in  one  of  these 
cases,  I  was  interrupted  in  mv  method  of  treatment,  and  the  other 
lay  in  a  small  and  filthy  apartment,  with  two  more  in  the  same 
complaint. 

However,  Sir,  I  am  only  one  of  five  or  six  practitioners  at  this 
end  of  the  city,  and  may,  notwithstanding  my  success,  be  too  san- 
guine, though  not  singular  in  my  opinion;  beg  leave,  therefore,  to 
refer  you  to  them  for  further  information.  I  am,  with  much  re- 
spect for  you  and  the  commissioners  of  health, 

Your  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

JOHN  COULTER. 

Baltimore,  East,  August  26,  1797. 


TO  THE  SAME. 

Sir, 

IN  answer  to  your  request,  I  inform  you  that  I  have  several 
patients  labouring  under  a  fever  of  a  highly  inflammatory  nature; 
but  when  early  application  is  made,  generally  yields  to  medicine. 
I  cannot  imagine  those  complaints  to  be  derived  from  importation ; 
neither  do  I  conceive  them  to  be  contagious  at  present:  but  dread 
the  subsequent  consequences  without  some  provision  for  the  better 
accommodation  of  the  poor  in  this  place. 

Yours,  with  the  highest  respect, 

JOSEPH  ALLENDER. 

Baltimore,  East,  August  27,  1797. 


TO  THE  SAME. 

Sir, 

OUT  of  about  twenty-one  patients  now  under  my  care,  eigh- 
teen of  them  appear  to  be  confined  by  bilious  remittent  and  inter- 


APPENDIX. 


399 


knitting  fevers;  and  I  am  happy  to  add,  that  I  have  lost  only  two 
within  these  six  or  eight  weeks  that  have  died.  In  no  case,  that 
has  come  to  my  knowledge,  has  the  disease  originated  from  con- 
tagion. I  believe  our  end  of  the  city  is  as  healthy  as  common  for 
this  season  of  the  year. 

I  am,  Sir,  with  respect, 
Your  most  obedient  servant, 

J.  JAQUITT. 

Baltimore,  East,  August  27,  1797. 


From  these  communications,  the  board  was  satisfied  that  the 
fever  in  question  was  not  individually  contagious;  and  that  there 
was  at  that  time  no  cause  of  great  alarm,  they  conceived  themselves 
warranted  to  believe,  inasmuch  as  out  of  three  hundred  patients 
under  the  care  of  Dr.  Coulter,  a  gentleman  of  undoubted  veracity, 
he  lost  only  so  small  a  number  as  eight,  from  the  third  week  in 
June  to  the  26th  of  August. 

Yet  they  did  not  cease  their  inquiries  here,  but  desirous  of  in- 
vestigating the  subject,  fully,  invited  all  the  physicians  respectively 
known  to  them  in  every  part  of  the  city,  to  meet  them  at  the  Ex- 
change, on  the  28th  of  August.  At  that  meeting  Dr.  Coulter's 
and  Dr.  Allender's  letters  were  read,  (the  other  not  being  yet  re- 
ceived) and  the  question  was  put  to  every  attending  physician, 
whether  any  case  of  contagious  or  yellow  fever  had  come  under 
their  notice,  which  (except  one  case  of  Dr.  Davidge's,  of  a 
woman  who  had  come  from  Philadelphia,  but  was  then  recovered, 
and  one  other  case  at  Fell's-Point,  thought  somewhat  suspicious 
by  Dr.  Smith)  they  individually  answered  in  the  negative.  This 
sentiment  was  further  confirmed  by  Doctors  Goodwin,  Moores, 
and  Davidge,  who,  at  the  request  of  the  meeting,  went  to  Fell's- 
Point  and  visited  a  number  of  the  sick,  as  appears  by  the  follow- 
ing report : 

Baltimore,  August  29,  1797. 

AGREEABLY  to  your  request,  we  yesterday  evening  visited  a 
number  of  sick  at  Fell's-Point,  and  are  happy  in  assuring  you  that 
we  discovered  nothing  like  a  malignant,  contagious,  or  yellow  fever : 
the  patients  we  saw,  all  laboured  under  the  common  bilious  remit- 
tent, and  will  generally  recover  with  common  attention :  we  there- 
fore can  very  confidently  say,  that  we  do  not  think  there  is  at  pre- 
sent any  cause  of  alarm. 

LYDE  GOODWIN, 
DANIEL  MOORES, 
JOHN  B.  DAVIDGE. 

The  Commissioners  of  Health, 


4oo 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  result  of  these  investigations  was,  that  the  uneasiness  and 
fears  of  the  people  began  to  abate,  it  being  generally  believed  that 
the  complaint  was  ot  the  bilious  remittent  kind ;  and  the  few 
deaths,  compared  to  the  number  of  the  sick,  inspired  a  hope,  that 
by  proper  attention  and  assistance,  the  sick  would  generally  be  re- 
stored to  health.  Matters  continued  in  this  state  until  the  2d  cf 
September,  when  the  chairman  received  a  letter  from  one  of  the 
commissioners  residing  at  Fell's-Point,  of  which  the  following  is 
an  extract : 

"  Sir, 

"  A  communication  has  been  made  to  me  from  Dr.  Allender, 
*'  advising  of  several  persons  labouring  under  a  fever,  who,  from 
*'  their  filthy  situation  and  want  of  necessaries,  must  fall  victims 
*'  to  the  disease.  Dr.  Coulter,  who  attends  my  family,  says  that 
**  the  disease  has  much  increased  within  these  two  days  past. 
*'  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have  something  more  than  com- 
"  mon  amongst  us.  I  should  be  glad  that  a  few  of  the  commis- 
*'  sioners  would  come  down  and  view  our  situation." 


The  following  morning,  five  members  of  the  board,  accompa- 
nied by  Dr.  Moores  from  the  west  part  of  the  city,  went  to  Fell's- 
Point,  and,  desirous  of  obtaining  full  information,  inquired  of  the 
respective  physicians  there  of  the  number  of  their  patients,  and 
how  many  of  them  they  thought  dangerous;  and  being  conducted 
to  the  worst  of  them,  went  into  their  houses  with  Dr.  Moores,  the 
accompanying  physician. 

The  result  of  this  further  labour  was,  that  the  disorder  had  in- 
deed spread,  yet  chiefly  among  the  poor  who  lived  in  confined 
houses;  the  number  of  deaths,  however,  as  well  as  the  number  of 
s>ick  deemed  dangerous  by  the  respective  physicians,  was  compa- 
ratively small ;  the  number  of  Dr.  Coulter's  patients,  that  were 
thought  dangerous  by  his  young  man,  was  four  or  five;  Dr.  Allen- 
der's,  three;  the  other  physicians,  not  exceeding  two.  The  attend- 
ing physician  was  still  ot  opinion,  that  as  yet  there  was  no  conta- 
gion in  the  disorder,  that  the  sick  wanted  good  nursing  more  than 
any  thing  else,  and  that,  with  proper  attention  and  care,  many 
would  recover. 

There  being  no  suitable  hospital  provided  by  the  corporation, 
to  which  the  indigent  sick  might  be  removed,  the  board  had  no 
other  alternative  than  to  afford  relief  to  those  who  needed  it,  in  the 
houses  in  which  they  lay:  they  therefore  requested  the  practising 
physicians  in  that  district,  to  inform  any  member  of  the  board  of 
such  cases,  that  their  wants  might  be  supplied;  and  whenever  such 
information  was  received,  every  necessary  relief  was  afforded. 


APPENDIX. 


40 1 


This  being  the  real  situation  in  which  the  commissioners  of 
health  found  the  Point  on  the  3d  of  September,  they  returned 
agreeablv  disappointed,  that  matters  were  not  worse;  and  as  it  was 
not  their  dutv  to  spread  useless  alarms,  but  to  afford  comfort  and 
assistance  to  the  sick  who  were  in  need,  (which  they  had  not  neg- 
lected) thev  could  not  help  feeling  a  hope,  as  Christians,  that  God, 
to  whom  all  seasons  and  times  are  alike,  would  providentially  in- 
terpose, and  arrest  the  farther  progress  of  the  disease. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  ensuing  week,  that  the  disorder  put  on 
a  more  threatening  appearance.  A  large  number  of  people  hav- 
ing collected  to  see  the  launching  of  the  frigate,  on  the  7th  of 
September,  many  of  them  getting  wet,  being  exposed  to  a  hot  and 
disagreeable  sun,  and  undergoing  considerabie  fatigue,  excited 
in  themselves  symptoms  of  the  complaint.  Hitherto  the  sickness 
was  confined  to  Fell's-Point,  but  now  several  persons  in  West 
Baltimore,  who  attended  the  launch,  were  taken  suddenly  ill,  and 
died  in  a  few  days — and  it  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  until  the 
day  after  the  launch,  the  board  of  healih  never  received  any  regular 
information  that  there  was  contagion  in  the  disease;  for  at  the 
meeting  of  the  physicians  and  commissioners  of  health,  at  the  Ex- 
change, the  former  were  requested,  that  whenever  any  case  of  a 
contagious  disorder  came  under  their  notice,  to  leave  information 
thereof  with  the  chairman  of  the  board,  and  on  the  8th  of  Septem- 
ber, and  not  before,  was  such  information  given  by  Dr.  Moores. 

In  consequence  of  this  advice,  a  meeting  of  the  board  was  im- 
mediately called,  to  consult  on  the  measure  that  no-u  became  ne- 
cessary for  them  to  adopt;  it  was  agreed,  in  the  first  place,  to  call 
a  meeting  of  the  physicians  generally,  and  ask  their  information 
and  advice;  accordingly,  a  large  number  of  the  faculty  met  on 
the  1  ith  of  September,  of  which  the  result  was  as  follows: 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  physicians  of  Baltimore,  convened  at 
u  the  house  of  Mr.  Fonerden,  by  desire  of  the  commissioners  of 
"  health,  in  order  to  suggest  the  most  effectual  means  of  obviating 
"  the  evil  effects  of  a  disease,  which  has  of  late  proved  very  fatal 
"  at  Fell's-Point,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to  recommend  to  the 
"  commissioners, 

"  That  the  causes  which  produce  the  disease,  may  be  corrected 
"  as  far  as  possible. 

"  That  all  possible  regard  may  be  had  to  cleanliness,  within  and 
*'  without  doors,  by  removing  every  thing  filthy,  putrid  and  offen- 
"  sive,  and  particularly  to  preserve  the  persons  of  the  patients 
"  from  uncleanliness. 

"  That  all  such  as  are  diseased,  and  in  a  state  that  admits  of 
"  removal,  and  whose  circumstances  incapacitate  them  from  pro- 
"  curing  the  aid  necessary,  should  have  a  proper  place  provided  for 
"  them. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  That  the  air  of  neglected  and  foul  apartments  be  corrected  by 
W  chemical  means.  f 
41  Tfeat  too  many  persons,  though  in  a  state  of  health,  be  prc- 
W  vented  from  crowding  into  the  same  apartment,  or  even  into 
**  the  same  houses. 

"  That  all  unnecessary  communication  with  infected  persons 
"  and  places  be  prevented. 

"  That  the  air  of  close  and  infected  places  be  refreshed  with 
<:  artificial  showers,  by  means  of  fire-engines. 

"  That  the  necessities  of  the  indigent,  who  are  at  present  labour- 
"  ing  under  the  disease*  should  be  relieved  until  it  may  be  con- 
*'  venient  to  remove  them." 

At  the  close  cf  this  meeting  the  chairman  requested  the  further 
advice  of  the  physicians  respecting  two  particulars:  ist.  whether 
they  thought  it  expedient  or  proper,  that  the  board  shoidd,  by  a 
publication,  advise  their  fellow-citizens  to  remove  into  the  coun- 
try; or  whether,  adly,  they  should  endeavour  to  stop  the  commu- 
nication between  the  town  and  Point — both  of  which  thev  de- 
clared to  be  improper. 

Here  it  will  be  regular  to  notice  what  was  the  duty  of  the  com- 
missioners of  health  at  this  crisis — The  ordinance  of  the  corpora- 
tion, under  which  they  were  appointed,  (page  45.)  describes  their 
duty,  and  the  means  to  discharge  it,  thus — "  They  shall  cause  all 
"  jierscns  actually  labouring  under  infectious  diseases,  and  not  otherwise 
"  provided for,  to  be  removed  to  the  hospital  at  Hawkins' s- Point,  or  else- 
"  inhere,  distant  from  the  city  at  least  three  miles  ;  and provide  for  tlx 
"  injected,  such  meats,  drinks,  bedding  and  clothing,  as  may  be  abso- 
"  latch  necessary,  or  ordered  by  the  health-officer ;  and  with  the  advice 
"  of  the  health-officer,  or  othei  practising  physician  or  physicians  whom 
"  they  may  consult,  may  take  such  further  measures  in  discharging  the 
"  trust  confided  to  them,  as  may  appear  reasonable  and  proper.'" 

Their  duty  is  seen  by  the  things  they  are  to  do.  Their  means 
are,  the  hospital  on  Hawkins's-Point,  and  2000  dollars  appropriated 
by  ordinance,  (page  103.)  for  the  health  department  for  the  pre- 
sent year.  With  respect  to  providing  for  the  poor  sick,  the  neces- 
sary comforts  and  medical  assistance  their  situation  required,  and 
promoting  cleanliness  as  far  as  their  authority  and  influence  ex- 
tended, they  did  carry  into  effect  the  advice  of  the  physicians,  and 
faithiullv  discharged  their  duty — thev  feel  a  consciousness  of  hav- 
ing neglected  none  when  applied  to  for  relief — they  did  not  shrink 
in  the  hour  of  danger,  but  visited  the  sick,  and  were  among  them 
when  their  presence  could  be  of  service. 

The  removing  the  sick  to  an  hospital,  or  a  proper  place  to  re- 
ceive them,  was  not  so  easy.  The  hour  of  difficulty  and  danger 
had  now  come,  but  no  proper  place  had  been  provided  by  the  cor- 
poration— the  hospital  on  Hawkins's-Point,  was  erected  chiefly  for 


APPENDIX. 


a  marine  purpose,  but  was  supposed  might  be  made  use  of  in  such 
an  extremity  as  this  for  the  citizens;  the  trial,  however,  was  to  be 
made — It  was  now  made,  and  being  found  impracticable  was 
abandoned.  The  opposing  difficulties  were  the  great  distance  of 
the  place,  the  length  of  time  the  passage  required,  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  getting  there  in  rough  and  boisterous  weather. 

Men  struggling  with  such  difficulties,  at  such  a  trying  time,  with 
their  funds  nearly  exhausted,  every  person  looking  up  to  them  to 
stop  the  progress  of  the  disease,  or  confine  its  limits,  was  discourag- 
ing indeed.  However,  after  considerable  search,  a  house  for  a 
temporary  hospital  was  obtained,  not  far  from  the  Point ;  to  this 
were  conveyed  such  poor  sick  as  were  not  otherwise  provided  for; 
but  the  house  being  small,  could  serve  but  little  towards  checking 
the  disease,  or  confining  its  ravages.  It  afforded,  however,  some 
comfort  and  accommodation  to  many,  who  otherwise  would  have 
suffered  extremely.  On  the  nth  ot  September,  the  hospital  was 
opened;  Dr.  Way  was  employed  to  attend  it;  and,  after  some 
trouble  and  difficulty,  five  nurses  were  provided.  We  regret  the 
necessity  that  obliged  us  to  refuse  admittance  to  some  for  whom 
application  was  made,  when  there  was  no  room;  this  may  have 
given  offence:  but  was  it  possible  for  men,  thus  circumstanced,  to 
avoid  the  censures  of  inconsiderate  or  weak  minds?  The  small- 
ness  of  the  house  constrained  us  also  to  adopt  a  resolution  not  to 
admit  people  of  colour;  they  in  like  manner  gave  umbrage:  but 
what  man  of  reason  could  conceive  it  proper  to  crowd  together 
blacks  and  whites,  in  a  house  too  small  to  contain  the  whites? 
Had  the  house  been  sufficiently  large  to  admit  all  who  applied,  and 
the  funds  in  proportion,  some  useful  lives  might  perhaps  have  been 
preserved.  The  funds,  however,  were  only  commensurate  to  or- 
dinary years,  and  without  any  extraordinary  sickness,  are  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  marine  department:  of  consequence  a  considera- 
ble debt  is  incurred  by  us.  We  know  well  that  the  corporation  is 
yet  in  its  infancy,  and  that  every  useful  institution  cannot  imme- 
diately be  adopted. 

With  respect  to  our  not  having  alarmed  the  inhabitants  and  ad- 
vised their  removal,  we  shall  only  observe,  the  ordinance  under 
which  we  acted  required,  in  extraordinary  cases,  that  "  with  the 
"  advice  of  the  health-officer,  or  practising  physician  or  physician*, 
"  we  might  take  such  further  measures  as  might  appear  reasonable 
"  and  proper."  But  when  the  physicians  of  Baltimore  were  nut 
in  a  body,  and  advised  us  not  to  take  such  a  measure,  our  path 
was  plain  before  us. 

This  plain,  unadorned  narrative  of  facts  will  enable  the  corpo- 
ration and  our  fellow-citizens  to  judge  of  our  conduct;  they  will 
hence  see  what  credit  is  due  to  newspaper  scribblers,  whose  aim  is 
to  write  themselves  into  notice  by  a  display  oi  tbdr  talents;  to 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


deal  in  exaggeration,  slander,  and  falshood,  is  not  difficult  for  such 
authors;  they  can  with  ease  make  a  common  grave-yard  of  a 
whole  district,  and  turn  a  city  into  a  deserted  wilderness.  The 
annexed  list  of  the  number  of  deaths,  from  the  ist  of  August  to 
the  nth  of  September,  both  days  inclusive,  certified  under  the 
hands  of  the  respective  clergymen  and  sextons  in  the  city,  with  the 
amount  of  the  daily  returns  from  thence  to  the  29th  of  October, 
and  the  whole  number  of  persons  that  removed  from  Fell's-Point, 
and  of  those  who  remained,  accurately  taken  from  house  to  house, 
by  persons  appointed  for  that  purpose,  will  assist  to  shew  what 
was  the  real  state  of  the  city  during  the  sickness. 

We  can  with  truth  add,  that  we  have  endeavoured  to  do  our 
duty  to  the  best  of  our  knowledge,  with  the  means  we  possessed, 
in  alleviating  the  sufferings  of  our  fellow-citizens  in  every  possible 
siiape.  II  the  services  we  have  performed  meet  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  corporation,  and  of  our  fellow-citizens,  we  are  satis- 
fied and  ask  for  no  other  reward. 

JEREMIAH  YELLOTT,  "J  O 
ADAM  FONERDEN,  § 
JAMES  EDWARDS,  3 
EMANUEL  KENT,  5 
JOSEPH  TOWNSEND,  [  3 
ELIAS  ELLICOTT,  S, 
JOHN  STEELE,  K 
THOMAS  TENANT,  *L 
JAMES  BEEMAN,  J  ft 

Baltimore,  'November  1 1797. 


Tiie  following  is  an  accurate  return  of  all  the  interments  in  the 
several  burying-grounds  in  this  city  and  precinfts,  from  the  ist 
day  of  August  to  the  1  ith  of  September  following,  including  both 
days,  as  certified  under  the  hands  of  the  respective  clergymen  and 
sextons,  viz.  Adults.  Children. 

,  .  .  97  '      74?"  J 

Total  amount  of  interments,  daily  pub-  ~\ 

lished  by  the  board,  from  the  nth  of  f      311  63 

September  to  the  29th  of  October  tol-  C    1 

lowing,  viz.  J      4°8  137 

Total  amount  of  the  number  of  persons  that  removed  from  Fell's- 
Point,  and  of  those  that  remained  during  the  sickness,  viz. 

Removed.  Remained. 
671  2°79 

This  enumeration  was  taken  from  the  Causeway  eastward,  on 
each  side  of  the  Causeway-street,  and  from  thence  all  to  the  south- 
ward thereof. 


APPENDIX. 


CORPORATION  OF  THE  CITY  OF  BALTIMORE. 

Resolved, 

That  tne  Commissioners  of  Health,  for  this  city,  since  their  ap- 
pointment, and  especially  during  the  late  prevailing  sickness,  have 
discharged  the  laborious  duties  of  their  office  with  care,  attention, 
assiduity,  and  good  faith,  and  have  a  just  claim  to  the  approbation 
and  thanks  ot  this  Corporation. 
November  20th,  iygy. 

In  the  First  Branch  of  the  City  Council,  read  and  agreed  to 
unanimously. 

HERCULES  COURTENAY,  President. 
November  20th,  i  797. 

In  the  Second  Branch  of  the  City  Council,  read  and  agreed  to 
unanimously. 

JOHN  MERRYMAN,  President. 
Approved,  November  23,  1797. 

JAMES  CALHOUN,  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Baltimore. 


ARTICLE  II. 

From  the  American  Daily  Advertiser. 
Messrs.  Claypoole, 
You  will  oblige  many  of  your  fellow-citizens  by  publishing  the  following 
Letter  from  the  Governor,  and  the  consequent  Report  of  a  number  of 
Physicians  of  this  City,  to  ivhich  the  Governor  refers,  among  other 
Documents,  in  that  part  of  his  Add)  ess  to  the  Legislature  ivhich  re- 
gards the  Health  of  the  City,  and  a  copious  supfily  of  Water  by  means 
of  Canals,  &c. 

Sir,  Philadelphia,  6th  November,  1797. 

I AM  desirous  to  obtain,  for  the  information  of  the  Legislature, 
the  most  correct  account  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  nature  of 
'.he  disease  that  has  recently  afflicted  the  city  ot  Philadelphia,  with 
a  view  that  the  most  efficacious  steps  should  be  taken  to  prevent  a 
recurrence  ot  so  dreadful  a  calamity.  I  have  requested  the  opi- 
nion of  the  College  of  Physicians  on  the  subject;  but,  as  I  under- 
stand that  you  and  many  other  learned  members  of  the  Faculty  do 
not  attend  the  deliberations  of  that  institution,  the  result  of  my 
inquiries  cannot  be  perfccYly  satisfactory  without  your  co-opera- 
FSL  I.  No.  3.  Q 


406  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tion  and  assistance.  Permit  me,  therefore,  Sir,  to  beg  the  favour 
of  you,  and  such  of  your  brethren  as  you  shall  be  pleased  to  con- 
sult, to  state,  in  answer  to  this  letter,  the  opinion  which  your  re- 
searches and  experience  have  enabled  you  to  form  on  the  important 
object  of  the  present  investigation. 

I  am,  respectfully,  Sir, 
Your  most  obedient, 
Humble  Servant, 

THOMAS  MIFFLIN. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Rush. 


Sip., 

IN  compliance  with  your  request,  the  subscribers  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  investigation  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  nature 
of  the  fever  which  lately  prevailed  in  our  city,  and  we  have  now 
the  honour  of  communicating  to  you  the  result  of  our  inquiries 
and  observations. 

We  conceive  the  fever  which  has  lately  prevailed  in  our  city, 
commonly  called  the  Yellow  Fever,  to  be  the  Bilious  Remitting 
Fever  of  warm  climates,  excited  to  a  higher  degree  of  malignity 
by  circumstances  to  be  mentioned  hereaiter. 

Our  reasons  for  this  opinion  are  as  follow : 

ist.  The  sameness  of  their  origin,  both  being  the  offspring  of 
putrefaction.  Of  this  there  are  many  proofs  in  the  histories  of  the 
Yellow  Fever  in  the  West-Indies.  Where  there  is  no  putrefac- 
tion, the  West-India  islands  enjoy  a  perfect  exemption  from  that 
disease  in  common  with  northern  climates. 

2d.  The  Yellow  Fever  makes  its  appearance  in  those  month3 
chiefly  in  wnich  the  Bilious  Fever  prevails  in  our  country,  and  is 
uniformly  checked  and  destroyed  by  the  same  causes,  viz.  heavy 
rains  and  frosts. 

3d.  The  symptoms  of  the  Bilious  and  Yellow  Fever  are  the  same 
in  their  nature.  They  differ  only  in  their  degree.  It  is  no  ob- 
jection to  this  assertion,  that  there  is  sometimes  a  deficiency  or  ab- 
sence of  bile  in  the  Yellow  Fever.  This  symptom  is  the  effect 
only  of  a  torpid  state  of  the  liver,  produced  by  the  greater  force 
of  the  disease  acting  upon  that  part  of  the  body.  By  means  of 
depleting  remedies  this  torpor  is  removed,  and  the  disease  thereby 
made  to  assume  its  original  and  simple  bilious  character. 

4th.  The  common  Bilious  and  Yellow  Fever  often  run  into 
each  other.  By  depleting  remedies  the  most  malignant  Yellow 
Fever  may  be  changed  into  a  common  Bilious  Fever;  and  by  tonic 
remedies,  improperly  applied,  the  common  Bilious  Fever  may 
be  made  to  assume  the  symptoms  of  the  most  malignant  Yellow 
Fever. 

5th.  The  common  Bilious  and  Yellow  Fevers  are  alike  conta- 


APPENDIX.  407 

gious,  under  certain  circumstances  of  the  weather,  and  of  predis- 
position in  the  body.  That  the  common  Eiiious  Fever  is  conta- 
gious, we  assert  from  the  observations  of  some  of  us,  and  from 
the  authority  of  many  physicians  who  have  long  commanded  the 
highest  respect  in  medicine. 

6th.  The  yellow  and  mild  bilious  fevers  mutually  propagate 
each  other.  We  conceive  a  belief  in  the  unity  of  these  two  states 
of  fever,  to  be  deeply  interesting  to  humanity,  inasmuch  as  it  may 
lead  patients  to  an  early  application  for  medical  aid,  and  physicians 
to  the  use  of  the  same  remedies  for  each  of  them,  varying  those  re- 
medies only  according  to  the  force  of  the  disorder.  It  is  no  objection 
to  this  opinion,  that  that  state  of  Bilious  Fever  called  the  Yellow 
Fever,  is  a  modern  appearance  in  our  country.  From  certain  revo- 
lutions in  the  atmosphere,  as  yet  observed  only,  but  not  accounted 
for  by  physicians,  diseases  have  in  all  ages  and  countries,  alter- 
nately risen  and  fallen  in  their  force  and  danger.  At  present,  a 
constitution  of  the  atmosphere  prevails  in  the  United  States,  which 
disposes  to  fever  of  a  highly  inflammatory  character.  It  began  in 
the  year  1793.  Its  duration  in  other  countries  has  been  from  one 
to  fifty  years.  It  is  not  peculiar  to  the  common  Bilious  Fever,  to 
have  put  on  more  inflammatory  symptoms  than  in  former  years. 
There  is  scarcely  a  disease  which  has  not  been  affected  in  a  similar 
way  by  the  late  change  in  our  atmosphere,  and  that  does  not  call 
for  a  greater  force  of  depleting  remedies  than  were  required  to 
cure  them  before  the  year  1793. 

7th.  and  lastly.  The  Yellow  Fever  affects  the  system  more  than 
once,  in  common  with  the  Bilious  Fever.  Of  this  there  were 
many  instances  during  the  prevalence  of  our  late  epidemic. 

The  fever  which  lately  prevailed  in  our  city  appears,  from  the 
documents  which  accompany  this  letter,  to  have  been  derived  from 
the  following  sources. 

1  st.  Putrid  exhalations  from  the  gutters,  streets,  ponds,  and 
marshy  grounds  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city.  From  some 
one  of  these  sources,  we  derive  a  case  attended  by  Dr.  Caldwell, 
on  the  9th  of  June — one  attended  by  Dr.  Pascalis,  on  the  22d  of 
Julv,  and  by  two  cases  attended  by  Dr.  Rush  and  Dr.  Physick,  on 
the  5th  and  1  cth  ol  the  same  month;  and  also  most  of  those  cases 
of  Yellow  Fever,  which  appeared  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  city, 
and  near  Kensington  bridge,  in  the  months  of  August,  September, 
and  Oftober.  We  are  the  more  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  this  source 
of  the  fever,  from  the  numerous  accounts  we  have  received  of  the 
prevalence  of  the  same  fever,  and  from  the  same  causes,  during 
the  late  autumn  in  New-York,  and  in  various  parts  of  New-Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South-Carolina,  not  only 
in  sea-ports,  but  inland  towns.  The  peculiar  disposition  of  these 
exhalations,  to  produce  disease  and  death,  was  evinced  early  in  the 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Season,  by  the  mortality  which  prevailed  among  the  cats,  and  dur-r 
ing  every  part  of  the  season,  by  the  mortality  which  prevailed  in 
many  parts  of  our  country  among  horses.  The  disease  which 
proved  so  fatal  to  the  latter  animals,  is  known  among  the  farmers 
by  the  name  of  the  yellow  water.  We  conceive  it  to  be  a  modi* 
fication  of  the  Yellow  Fever. 

2dly.  A  second  source  of  our  late  fever,  appears  to  have  been 
derived  from  the  noxious  air  emitted  from  the  hold  of  the  Snow 
Navigation,  Capt.  Linstroom,  which  arrived,  with  a  healthy  crew, 
from  Marseilles,  on  the  25th  of  July,  and  discharged  her  cargo  at 
Latimer's  wharf,  after  a  passage  of  eighty  days.  We  are  led  to 
ascribe  the  principal  part  of  the  disease  which  prevailed  in  the  south 
end  of  the  city,  to  this  noxious  air,  and  that  for  the  following 
reasons. 

1st.  The  fever  appeared  first  on  board  this  vessel,  and  in  it3 
neighbourhood,  affecting  a  great  number  of  persons  nearly  at  the 
same  time,  and  so  remote  from  each  other,  that  it  could  not  be 
propagated  by  contagion. 

2dly.  There  was  in  the  hold  of  this  vessel,  a  quantity  of  vegeta- 
ble matters,  such  as  prunes,  almonds,  olives,  caper;,  and  several 
other  articles,  some  of  which  were  in  a  state  of  putrefaction. 

3dly.  A  most  offensive  smell  was  emitted  from  this  vessel  after 
she  had  discharged  her  cargo,  which  was  perceived  by  persons 
several  hundred  feet  from  the  wharf  where  she  was  moored. 

4tbly,.  A  similar  lever  has  been  produced  from  similar  causes,  in 
a  variety  of  instances:  we  shall  briefly  mention  a  few  of  them. 

At  Tortola,  a  fever  was  produced  in  the  month  of  June,  in 
the  year  1787,  on  board  the  ship  Britannia,  Capt.  James  Welch, 
from  the  noxious  air  generated  from  a  few  bushels  of  potatoes, 
which  destroyed  the  captain,  mate,  and  most  of  the  crew,  in  a  few 
days. 

Two  sailors  were  affected  with  a  malignant  fever,  on  board 

the  ,  Capt.  Thomas  Egger,  in  the  month  of  March,  1797, 

from  the  noxious  air  produced  by  wine  that  had  putrified  in  the 
hold  of  the  ship,  one  of  whom  soon  died  alter  her  arrival  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1793,  the  Yellow  Fever  was  generated 
by  the  noxious  air  of  some  rotted  bags  of  pepper,  on  board  a 
French  Indiatnan,  which  was  carried  into  the  port  of  Bridgetown, 
by  the  British  letter-of-marque  Pilgrim.  All  the  white  men  and 
most  of  the  negroes  employed  in  removing  this  pepper,  perished 
with  the  Yellow  Fever,  and  the  foul  atmosphere  affected  the  town, 
where  it  proved  fatal  to  many  of  the  inhabitants. 

On  board  the  Busbridge  Indiaman,  a  Yellow  Fever  was  pro- 
duced in  the  month  of  May,  i  792,  on  her  passage  from  England 
'to  Madras^  which  affected  above  two  hundred  of  the  crew.    It  was 


APPENDIX. 


supposed  to  be  derived  from  infection,  but  many  circumstances 
concur  to  make  it  probable  that  it  was  derived  from  noxious  air. 
The  absence  of  smell  in  the  air  does  not  militate  against  this  opi- 
nion, for  there  are  many  proofs  of  the  most  malignant  fevers 
being  brought  on  by  airs  which  produced  no  impression  on  the 
sense  of  smelling.  This  is  more  frequently  the  case,  when  the 
impure  air  has  passed  a  considerable  distance  from  its  source,  and 
becomes  diluted  with  the  purer  air  of  the  atmosphere. 

Several  cases  are  related  by  Dr.  Lind,  in  his  treatise  upon  fever 
and  infection,  of  the  Yellow  Fever  originating  at  sea,  under  cir- 
cumstances which  forbade  the  suspicion  of  infection,  and  which 
can  only  be  ascribed  to  the  impure  air  generated  from  putrid 
vegetables. 

So  well  known,  and  so  generally  admitted  is  this  source  of  Yel- 
low Fever  in  warm  climates,  that  Dr.  Shannon,  a  late  writer  upon 
the  means  of  preventing  the  diseases  of  warm  climates,  in  enume- 
rating its  various  causes,  expressly  mentions  "  the  putrid  effluvia 
of  a  ship's  hold." 

We  wish  due  attention  to  be  paid  to  these  facts,  not  only  be- 
cause they  lead  to  the  certain  means  of  preventing  one  of  the 
sources  of  this  fever,  but  because  they  explain  the  reasons  why 
sailors  are  so  often  its  first  victims,  and  whv,  from  this  circum- 
stance, the  origin  of  the  disease  has  been  so  hastily,  but  errone- 
ously ascribed  solely  to  importation. 

The  fever  which  prevailed  along  the  shore  of  the  Delaware,  in 
Kensington,  and  which  proved  fatal  to  Mr.  Joseph  Bovvers  and 
two  of  his  family,  we  believe,  originated  from  the  noxious  air 
emitted  from  the  hold  of  the  ship  Huldah,  Capt.  William  Warner. 
This  air  was  generated  by  the  putrefaction  of  coffee,  which  had 
remained  there  during  her  voyage  from  Philadelphia  to  Hamburgh 
and  back  again. 

In  the  course  of  our  inquiries,  we  were  led  to  suspect  one  source 
of  our  late  fever  to  be  of  foreign  origin.  The  sails  of  the  armed 
ship  Hinde,  on  board  of  which  several  persons  had  died  of  the 
Yellow  Fever,  on  her  passage  from  Port-au-Prince,  and  which 
arrived  on  the  4th  of  August,  were  sent  to  the  sail-store  of  Mrf 
Moyse.  Four  persons  belonging  to  the  loft  were  soon  afterwards 
riff'ected  with  symptoms  of  a  bilious  Yellow  Fever.  We  shall 
not  decide  positively  upon  the  origin  of  the  fever  in  the^e  cases; 
but  the  following  facts  render  it  probable  that  it  was  not  derived 
from  the  persons  who  had  died  of  it  on  board  the  suspected  vessel. 
1st,  the  tails  emitted  an  offensive  smell;  sd,  three  of  the  cases  of 
the  persons  affected  in  the  sail-loft,  were  of  a  mild  grade  of  the 
fever;  3d,  the  fever  was  not  propagated  by  contagion  from  any 
one  of  them;  4th,  the  sail-loft  was  within  the  imiuence  of  the 
imMJous  air  which  was  emitted  from  the  hold  of  the  Snow  Naviga- 


4io  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

tion,  being  not  more  than  fifty  yards,  and  was  in  tiic  direction  of 
the  wind  which  blew  at  that  time  over  her.  The  extent  of  this 
air  has  not  been  accurately  ascertained,  but  many  analogies  give 
us  reason  to  believe  that  it  may  be  conveyed  by  the  wind,  in  its 
deleterious  state,  from  half  a  mile,  to  a  mile. 

In  support  of  the  opinion  we  have  delivered  of  the  origin  of 
cur  late  fever,  we  must  add  further,  that  in  that  part  of  the  city 
which  lies  between  Walnut  and  Vine  streets,  and  which  appeared 
to  be  free  from  the  effects  of  exhalation  and  the  noxious  air  of  the 
ships,  there  were  but  few  cases  of  the  fever  which  appeared  to 
spread  by  contagion,  even  under  the  most  favourable  circum- 
stances for  that  purpose. 

Having  pointed  out  the  nature  and  origin  of  our  late  fever,  we 
hope  we  snail  be  excused  in  mentioning  the  means  of  preventing 
it  in  future.    These  are, 

First,  A  continuance  of  the  present  laws  for  preventing  the  im- 
portation of  the  disease  from  the  West-Indies,  and  other  parts  of 
the  world  where  it  usually  prevails. 

Secondly,  Removing  all  those  matters  from  our  streets,  gutters, 
cellars,  gardens,  yards,  stores,  vaults,  ponds,  &c.  which,  by  putre- 
faction in  warm  weather,  afford  the  most  frequent  remote  cause 
of  the  disease,  in  all  countries.  For  this  purpose  we  recommend 
the  appointment  of  a  certain  number  of  physicians,  whose  business 
it  shall  be  to  inspect  all  such  places  in  the  city,  the  Northern  Liber- 
ties, and  Southwark,  as  contain  any  matters  capable,  by  putrefac- 
tion, of  producing  the  disease,  and  to  have  them  removed. 

Thirdly,  We  earnestly  recommend  the  frequent  washing  of  all 
impure  parts  of  the  city  in  warm  and  dry  weatner,  by  means  of  the 
pumps,  until  the  water  of  the  Schuylkill  can  be  made  to  wash  all 
the  streets  of  the  city;  a  measure  which  we  conceive  promises  to 
our  citizens  the  most  durable  exemption  from  bilious  fevers  of  all 
kinds,  of  domestic  origin. 

Fourthly,  To  guard  against  the  frequent  source  of  Yellow  Fever 
from  the  noxious  air  of  the  holds  of  ships,  we  recommend  the  un- 
lading all  ships,  with  cargoes  liable  to  putrefaction,  at  a  distance 
from  the  city,  during  the  months  of  June,  July,  August,  Septem- 
ber and  October.  To  prevent  the  generation  of  noxious  air  in 
the  ships,  we  conceive  every  vessel  should  be  obliged,  by  law,  to 
carry  and  use  a  ventilator;  and  we  recommend,  in  a  particular  man- 
ner, the  one  lately  contrived  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Wynkoop. — We 
believe  this  invention  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  and  useful 
that  has  been  made  in  modern  times,  and  that  it  is  calculated  to 
prevent  not  onlv  the  decay  of  ships  and  cargoes,  but  a  very  fre- 
quent source  of  pestilential  diseases  of  all  kinds  in  commercial 
cities. 

la  thus  deciding  upon  the  nature  and  origin  of  our  late  fever, 


APPENDIX. 


we  expect  to  administer  consolation  to  our  fellow-citizens  upon 
the  cause  of  our  late  calamity,  for,  in  pointing  out  its  origin 
to  the  senses,  we  are  enabled  immediately  and  certainly  to  pre- 
vent it.  But  while  the  only  source  of  it  is  believed  to  be  from 
abroad,  and  while  its  entrance  into  our  city  is  believed  to  be  in 
ways  so  numerous  and  insidious,  as  to  elude  the  utmost  possible 
vigilance  of  health-oificers,  we  are  led  in  despair  to  consider 
the  disease  as  removed  beyond  the  prevention  of  human  power 
or  wisdom.  It  has  been  by  adopting  measures  simitar  to  those 
we  have  delivered  for  preventing  pestilential  diseases,  that  most 
of  the  cities  in  Europe,  which  are  situated  in  warm  latitudes, 
have  become  healthy  in  warm  seasons,  and  amidst  the  closest  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  nations  and  islands  constantly  affii&ed 
with  those  diseases.  The  extraordinary  cleanliness  of  the  Hol- 
landers, was  originally  imposed  upon  them  by  the  frequency  of 
pestilential  fevers  in  their  cities.  This  habit  of  cleanliness  has 
continued  to  characterize  those  people  after  the  causes  which  pro- 
duced it  have  probably  ceased  to  be  known. 

In  thus  urging  a  regard  to  the  domestic  sources  of  the  Yellow 
Fever,  we  are  actuated  by  motives  of  magnitude  far  beyond  those 
which  determine  ordinary  questions  in  science.  Though  we  feel 
the  strongest  conviction  that  the  value  of  property,  the  increase  of 
commerce,  and  the  general  prosperity  of  our  city,  will  be  emi- 
nently forwarded  by  the  adoption  of  the  foregoing  propositions, 
yet  these  are  but  little  objects  in  our  view,  when  compared  with, 
the  prevention  of  the  immense  mass  of  distress  which  never  fails 
to  accompany  a  mortal  epidemic.  We  consider  ourselves,  more- 
over, as  deciding  upon  a  question  which  is  to  affecT:  the  lives  and 
happiness,  not  only  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  Philadelphia,  buz 
of  millions  yet  unborn  in  every  part  of  the  globe. 

We  are,  with  the  greatest  respect, 
Sir, 

Your  verv  humble  servants, 
BENJAMIN  RUSH, 
CHARLES  CALDWELL, 
WILLIAM  DEWEES, 
JOHN  REDMAN  COXE, 
PHILIP  SYNG  PHYSICK, 
JAMES  REYNOLDS, 
FRANCIS  BOWES  SAYRE, 
JOHN  C  OTTO, 
WILLIAM  BOYS, 
SAMUEL  COOPER, 
JAMES  STUART, 
FELIX  PASCALIS, 
JOSEPH  STRONG. 


(  m  ) 


ARTICLE  IIL 


From  the  American  Daily  Advertiser. 
Messrs.  Clay/took, 

Be  pleased  to  give  the  following  Letter,  from  the  Governor,  to  the  College 
of  Physicians,  with  their  Answer,  a  place  in  your  paper,  and 
oblige  I. 

January  8,  I  798. 

Sir, 

AS  I  am  desirous  to  lay  before  the  Legislature  a  statement  of 
the  circumstances  attending  the  calamity  which  has  recently 
visited  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  permit  me,  through  you,  to  re- 
quest the  aid  of  the  College  of  Physicians  in  satisfying  the  follow- 
ing inquiry : 

What  measures  ought  to  be  pursued  to  purify  the  city  from  any 
latent  infection  t  and  what  precautions  are  best  calculated  to  guard 
against  the  future  occurrence  of  a  similar  calamity? 

I  am  persuaded  the  public  spirit  and  benevolence  of  the  College 
of  Physicians,  will  induce  them  cheerfully  to  excuse,  and  to  com- 
ply with  this  request,  which  is  intended  to  establish  a  foundation 
lor  regulations,  that  may  co-operate  with  their  professional  labours 
in  preserving  to  their  fellow-citizens,  the  invaluable  blessings  of 
health. 

I  am,  with  great  esteem,  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

THOMAS  MIFFLIN. 

Germantown,  Oclober  24,  1797. 
To  Dr.  John  Redman,  President  of  the  College  of  Physicians. 


Sir, 

WE  have  duly  considered  your  letter  of  the  24th  ult.  and  shall, 
cheerfully  comply  with  the  requisitions  contained  therein. 

The  measures  to  be  pursued  for  purifying  the  city  from  any- 
latent  infection,  are  such  as  we  have  heretofore  recommended, 
viz.  A  strict  attention  to  cleanliness,  washing,  white-washing, 
and  ventilating  the  infefted  houses,  bedding,  and  cloathing,  and 
fumigating  them  with  charcoal  and  sulphur,  or  a  mixture  of  oil  of 
vitriol  and  salt-petre.  These,  with  the  frost,  we  believe,  will  be 
found  sufficient  intirely  to  destroy  any  latent  contagion. 

But  the  latter  part  of  your  inquiry,  viz.  what  precautions  are 
best  calculated  to  guard  against  the  future  occurrence  of  a  similar 


APPENDIX. 


Calamity,  is  an  object  of  such  magnitude,  as  to  demand  a  more 
particular  reply. 

We  have,  on  former  occasions,  communicated  our  sentiments 
on  this  head;  but  as  you  now  inform  us,  that  it  is  intended  to  esta- 
blish a  foundation  for  future  regulations,  we  willingly  enter  into 
the  detail,  and  though  this  will  principally  consist  of  repetition,  yet 
it  may  be  useful  to  have  our  ideas  presented  in  one  view  for  your 
consideration.  And  as  these  sentiments  have  been  more  fully  con- 
firmed by  recent  events,  we  are  again  induced  earnestly  to  recom- 
mend a  strict  adoption  of  the  measures  we  advised  in  our  commu- 
nication of  August  1 8th,  1797,  as  being  the  best  calculated  to 
guard  against  the  future  introduction  of  contagious  diseases.  We 
now  recapitulate  those  advices,  with  some  additions. 

Let  an  entire  new  health-law  be  made,  constituting  a  Board  of 
Health,  to  consist  of  five  persons,  two  of  whom  to  be  practitioners 
of  physic.  The  smallness  ot  the  number  will  ensure  responsi- 
bility and  a  constant  residence  in  the  city;  and  the  professional 
knowledge  will  be  necessary  to  assist  in  directing  the  measures  of 
the  Board.  Let  no  person  whose  private  interest  may  be  affected 
by  quarantine  laws  be  a  member  of  this  Board. 

Let  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  per  annum  be  subject  to  the 
drafts  of  the  Board,  who  shall  render  to  the  Assembly,  a  yearly  ac- 
count of  their  expenditures.  Let  this  Board  sit  daily  during  the 
months  of  July,  Aagest,  September,  and  October;  and  during 
these  months,  let  every  vessel  from  the  Mediterranean,  coast  ot 
Africa,  West-Indies,  and  continent  of  America,  to  the  southward, 
of  Florida,  perform  an  effectual  quarantine.  Let  the  cargoes  of 
suspicious  vessels  be  unloaded,  and,  with  the  vessels,  be  purified  at 
the  island. 

Let  a  resident  physician  or  health-officer  be  appointed,  who  shall 
never  be  absent  from  the  island,  during  the  above-mentioned 
months;  and  a  consulting  physician,  who  shall  reside  at  Philadel- 
phia. 

Let  the  punishment  of  a  master  of  a  vessel,  who  evades  the  law, 
by  landing  cargo,  crew,  or  passengers,  contrary  to  the  intent  and 
meaning  of  it,  be  the  same  as  for  murder  of  the  second  degree. 
Let  no  vessel  of  war  be  allowed  to  come  above  the  fort. 

Let  the  Board  of  Health  have  full  power,  with  the  concurrence 
of  the  Governor,  to  cut  off  the  intercourse  with  infected  persons 
and  places.    Let  the  long  projected  hospital  be  erected. 

Let  the  most  diligent  and  scrupulous  attention  be  given  for 
cleaning  and  watering  the  streets,  gutters,  and  wharves,  throughout 
the  city  and  liberties. 

Such  are  the  precautions  which  we  believe  best  calculated  to 
guard  against  the  future  occurrence  of  calamities  similar  to  those 
we  have  experienced.    If  further  discoveries  shall  happily  add  to 

FoL  I.  No.  1.  R 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


our  knowledge  on  this  important  subject,  we  shall  not  fail  to- 
make  such  communications  to  the  Governor  without  delay. 

By  order  ot  the  College  of  Physicians, 

JOHN  REDMAN,  President. 
Thomas  C.  James,  Secretary. 

Philadelphia,  November  J,  1797. 

To  his  excellency  Thomas  Mifflin,  Esq.  Governor  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Pennsylvania. 


ARTICLE  IV. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Com 
tnonivealth  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Memorial  of  the  College  (/Phy- 
sicians of  Philadelphia  represents: 

*^|^HAT  your  memoralists,  deeply  affected  with  the  calamities 
JL  produced  by  the  disease  which  has  recently  occurred  amongst- 
us,  are  impelled,  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  their  fellow-citizens  and 
themselves,  to  inform  you,  that  they  consider  the  laws  which  were 
enacted  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  this  city  from  malignant 
contagious  disorders,  are  very  imperfect. 

The  subject  being  of  immense  importance,  they  hope  to  be 
excused  for  stating  their  sentiments  with  respect  to  it  at  large. 

They  are  of  opinion  that  the  disease  which  produced  so  much 
mortality  and  distress  in  the  year  1 793,  was  imported  into  this  city 
from  the  West-Indies;  and  they  are  confirmed  in  this  sentiment, 
by  the  circumstances  attending  the  disease  of  this  year,  which  they 
consider  of  the  same  nature  and  derived  from  the  same  source. 

Some  of  their  most  important  reasons  for  this  opinion  are  as- 
follow: — The  disease  in  question  is  essentially  different  from  the 
fevers  that  occur  in  this  climate,  and  which  originate  from  domes- 
tic causes.  This  difference  particularly  regards  the  general  pro- 
gress of  the  symptoms,  and  the  mortality,  as  is  evident  upon  a 
comparison  of  its  history  with  that  of  the  ordinary  diseases  of  this^ 
city. 

A  disease  which  resembles  the  fever  of  1793,  and  of  this  year, 
in  many  important  points,  has  long  been  known  in  the  West-In- 
dies, and  in  those  parts  of  America  situated  between  the  tropics; 
and  in  seven  or  eight  different  instances,  in  which  a  similar  disease 
has  occurred  in  the  United  States,  in  the  course  of  this  century, 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  derived  from  those  coun- 
tries. In  most  of  the  instances,  the  original  history  of  the  disease 
contains  the  information  that  it  was  imported.    In  some  cases,  the 


APPENDIX.  415 

i;fection  can  be  traced  to  •the  imported  clothing  of  persons  who 
■died  in  the  West-Indies.  In  most  of  the  cases  where  the  importa- 
tion cannot  be  ascertained,  the  first  appearance  of  the  disease  has 
been,  as  in  the  other  instances,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  ship- 
ping, or  among  persons  connected  with  vessels. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  fever  of  this  year  are  ex- 
tremely in  point;  and  the  narrative  which  accompanies  this,  will, 
we  trust,  satisfy  you  that  it  was  imported.  The  disease  in  ques- 
tion commenced  invariably  in  our  sea-ports,  while  inland  towns, 
equally  exposed  to  the  ordinary  causes  of  fever,  escaped ;  and  in  the 
two  last  instances  of  its  occurrence  in  Philadelphia,  the  suburbs 
and  the  country  adjacent,  were  more  healthy  than  usual  at  the  same 
season ;  and  at  the  commencement  of  the  disease,  all  the  parts  of 
the  city,  excepting  the  small  spaces  to  which  it  was  confined,  were 
remarkably  healthy. 

It  exists  in  the  West-Indies,  particularly  in  time  of  war,  when 
great  numbers  of  strangers  are  to  be  found  there;  and  reference 
to  dates  will  shew,  that  in  most  of  the  instances  of  the  occur- 
rence of  the  disease  in  the  United  States,  there  has  been  war  in  the 
West-Indies. 

Your  memoralists  are  aware,  that  cases  may  be  adduced  where 
the  disease  has  occurred  in  persons  who  were  not  known  to  have 
been  exposed  to  imported  contagion;  but  such  is  the  subtile  na- 
ture of  this  power,  that  it  often  exists  unsuspected;  and  similar 
difficulties  occur  respecting  the  small-pox,  and  other  contagions, 
allowed  by  all  to  be  of  foreign  origin.  There  also  occur,  although 
very  rarely,  solitary  cases  of  malignant  remitting  fevers,  the  symp- 
toms of  which  resemble  so  much  the  disease  in  question,  that  they 
are  often  supposed  to  be  the  same;  but  there  is  this  essential  dif- 
ference, that  a  malignant  remittent  fever  has  never  been,  to  our 
knowledge,  contagious  in  this  climate. 

The  difference  of  sentiment  among  physicians,  now  so  much 
regretted,  resembles  that  which  almost  always  takes  place,  when 
the  plague  is  introduced  into  any  of  the  civilized  parts  of  Europe, 
where  it  is  not  well  known.  The  identity  of  the  disease,  its  ori- 
gin and  its  contagious  nature,  have  been  often  the  subject  of  con- 
troversy. Some  physicians  have  considered  it  as  of  domestic  ori- 
gin; but  proper  health-laws,  strictly  enforced,  have  latterly  pro- 
tected the  commercial  parts  of  Europe  from  its  ravages. 

With  these  sentiments  of  the  nature  of  the  disease,  your  memo- 
ralists cannot  but  regard  a  proper  law  respecting  the  subject,  as  a 
matter  of  the  greatest  importance ;  and  although  they  are  perfectly 
sensible  of  the  imperfection  of  the  science  of  medicine,  yet,  from 
a  conviction  that  physicians  are  the  best  informed,  as  well  as  the 
most  interested  in  the  subject,  they  approach  you  with  that  respect 
which  is  due  to  your  legislative  authority,  and  declare  their  belief, 


4i6  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

that  the  existing  health-lawsof  this  commonwealth  are  not  such 
as  are  best  calculated  to  obtain  the  desired  end,  and  that  they  ought 
to  be  improved. 

Having  lately  communicated  in  writing  to  the  Governor,  their 
ideas  respecting  the  best  methods  of  preventing  the  introduction 
of  contagious  diseases,  they  beg  leave  to  refer  you  to  that  com- 
munication. At  the  same  time  they  tender  you  their  professional 
assistance  in  framing  an  efficient  law  for  this  purpose;  and  thus 
having  performed  their  duty,  they  hold  themselves  discharged  from 
all  responsibility,  on  account  of  the  evils  which  may  arise  irom  the 
present  imperfect  state  of  the  legislative  arrangements  respecting 
this  important  subject. 

Bv  order  of  the  College, 

JOHN  REDMAN,  President. 

Attest.  Thomas  C.  James,  Secretary. 

Philadcljikia,  December  5,  1797. 


ARTICLE  V. 

From  the  Commercial  Advertiser, 
To  NOAH  WEBSTER,  Junior,  Esquire. 
Dear  Sir,  New-York,  Dec.  10,  if()J. 

THE  inclosed  account  of  the  operation  of  the  manure  collected 
from  the  streets  of  our  city,  in  increasing  the  productiveness 
of  land,  was  lately  put  into  my  hands  for  the  information  of  the 
Agricultural  Society;  and  I  have  been  directed  to  cause  it  to  be 
made  public.  The  extraordinary  crops  of  Indian  corn  afforded 
bv  it,  redound  highly  to  the  skill  and  judgment  of  the  gentlemen 
who  undertook  the  experiments.  The  subject  is  interesting  in 
several  respects.  To  our  farmers  it  must  be  peculiarly  agreeable 
to  learn  what  a  great  amount  of  grain  can  be  raised  by  proper 
management  on  a  small  piece  of  land.  To  our  Commissioners  of 
the  Health-Office,  it  must  be  no  less  welcome  intelligence,  that  the 
collected  mass  of  nuisance  which  they  are,  with  such  happy  suc- 
cess, engaged  in  removing  from  the  city,  is  convertible  by  the 
powers  of  vegetation,  from  poison  to  wholesome  articles  of  food. 
To  the  citizens  at  large,  and  particularly  to  yourself,  who  have 
explored  with  such  minuteness  and  such  extent  of  research,  the 
connection  between  these  local  and  domestic  sources  of  pestilential 
exhalations,  and  our  annual  visitations  of  endemic  distempers — 
there  must  be  high  satisfaction  in  contemplating  how  the  purity  and 


APPENDIX. 


.healthiness  of  the  towns  may  contribute  to  the  thriftiness  and 
wealth  of  the  surrounding  country — And  to  all  of  us,  it  is  matter 
of  the  utmost  moment,  to  receive  additional  proofs  of  the  power  of 
the  alkaline  qualities  of  the  lime,  pot-ash  and  soda,  thrown  out  and 
scattered  about  the  streets,  to  neutralize  the  acid  vapours  which  ex- 
cite fevers  and  plagues  among  us,  and  convert  them  into  the  richest 
of  manures;  and  thus,  by  one  operation,  clearing  the  atmosphere 
of  its  noxious  fumes,  and  preparing  nourishment  for  the  vegetable 
world. 

I  hope  one  day  to  be  able  to  add  to  these  testimonials,  the  result 
of  my  own  experiments  on  these  carbonates  and  septites  of  lime-, 
pot-ash  and  soda,  in  raising  crops  of  barley  and  wheat;  and  in  the 
mean  time  entertain  the  hope,  that  further  particulars  concerning 
the  operation  of  the  street  manure,  in  raising  Indian  corn,  will  be 
given  us  by  the  gentlemen  who  have  conducted  the  experiments 
I  send  you.  I  think  we  are  getting  on  the  right  track  of  inquiry 
about  these  matters,  and  shall  soon  be  able,  for  it  is  most  certainly 
in  our  power,  to  make  pestilence  submit  to  municipal  and  agricul- 
tural regulations.  Yours  with  much  esteem, 

SAMUEL  L.  MITCHILL,  Secretary. 

To  the  Secretary  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  New-  York. 

A  FEW  days  ago  I  saw  republished  in  the  newspapers  of  this 
city,  an  extract:  from  a  Jersey  paper,  giving  an  account  of  the  great 
fecundity  of  the  soil  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Elizabeth-Town — 
155  bushels  of  Indian  corn  in  the  ears  had  been  produced  from  an 
acre  of  land.  This  was  certainly  a  great  crop — but  this  falls  vastly 
short  of  what  may  be  gotten  off  an  equal  quantity  of  ground.  As 
an  incitement  to  the  spirit  of  emulation  and  industry  among  far- 
mers in  the  United  States,  I  shall  now  lay  before  them  a  short  ac- 
count of  the  result  of  two  crops  of  three  acres  each,  which  were 
planted  in  the  neighbourhood  of  this  city,  in  consequence  of  a 
wager  of  fifty  guineas.  In  pursuance  of  the  terms  of  this  bet, 
which  were  reduced  to  writing,  the  ground  in  which  the  crop 
stood,  belonging  to  each  party,  was  accurately  measured — and 
when  gathered,  each  crop  was  measured  by  a  person  sent  by  the 
adverse  party  for  the  express  purpose.  From  the  nature  of  the 
case  it  is  evident,  that  the  results  of  these  crops  of  corn  would  not 
iail  of  being  ascertained  with  the  utmost  attention  to  accuracy. 
One  common  measure  was  made  by  both  parties,  and  upon  shel- 
ling out  the  ears  contained  in  this  measure,  the  produce  of  each 
crop  was  as  follows: 

The  produce  of  the  crop  raised  by  Mr.  John  Stevens,  of  Ho- 
boeken.  Sum  total  of  measures  full  of  com  in  the  ear,  233I — 
A  measure  full  contained  one  bushel  and  a  half  and  one  pint  ot 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


shelled  corn;  2337  give,  consequently,  354  bushels  and  -6  quarts^ 
or  118  bushels  anil  2  quarts  per  acre. 

The  produce  of  the  crop  raised  by  Mr.  Daniel  Ludlow,  of 
Westchester,  is  as  follows: 

Total,  182  measures  of  corn  in  the  ear.  Shelled  corn  in  a  full 
measure,  1  bushel  and  a  half  and  4  quarts — which  in  182  give6 
295  bushels  and  12  quarts,  or .98  bushels  and  14  quarts  per  acre. 

These  are  truly  noble  crops,  and  do  honour  to  the  industry  and 
agricultural  skiil  of  the  cultivators;  and  as  each  of  the  gentlemen 
have  in  their  mode  of  culture  deviated  from  the  common  routine  of 
•practical  fanners,  a  short  account  of  the  process  adopted  by  each, 
cannot  fail  of  proving  useful  and  instructive  to  the  members  of 
the  Society,  and  to  every  American  farmer. 

I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  obtaining  any  minutes  from 
Mr.  L.  himself  respecting  his  crop;  but  am  informed  .that  he 
planted  his  corn  in  continued  rows,  at  about  four  feet  asunder, 
and  about  eight  inches  from  stalk  to  stalk  in  the  rows;  and  that  he 
manured  his  ground  with  200  horse-cart-loads  of  street  dirt. 

Mr.  S.  informs  me,  that  he  gave  his  ground  three  plowings  be- 
fore planting,  and  before  the  last  plowing  put  on  700  horse-cart- 
ioads  of  street  manure — That  he  planted  in  double  rows  at  $\  feet 
asunder — that  he  was  at  the  pains  of  dibbling  in  each  grain.  To 
do  which  with  expedition  and  accuracy,  he  bored  two  rows  of 
lioles  in  a  piece  of  board  of  about  four  feet  long,  so  as  to  form 
equilateral  triangles,  the  sides  of  which  were  seven  inches,  as  thus 

.  Into  these  holes  he  drove 
pegs  about  3!  inches  iong.  As  the  corn  was  dropped  into  these 
holes,  made  with  this  machine,  a  man  followed  with  a  basket  of 
rotten  dung,  with  which  he  filled  them  up.  Then  came  on  the 
carts,  out  of  which  the  rows  were  sprinkled  with  a  coat  of  street 
■manure.  During  the  season  tlie  crop  was  suckered  three  times. 
The  intervals  were  repeatedly  plowed,  and  the  rows  kept  perfectly 
clean  of  weeds,  by  hoeing  and  hand- weeding. 

But  extraordinary  as  this  crop  must  appear,  Mr.  Stevens  is  con- 
jident  that  he  should  have  had  considerably  more  corn,  had  not 
iiis  crop  suffered  very  greatly  by  a  thunder-storm,  which  laid  the 
greater  part  of  it  down  at  the  time  the  ears  were  setting. 

AGRICOLA. 


(    -M9  ) 


ARTICLE  VI. 

A Case  of  Hydrocele,  cured  by  Injeclion.   Communicated to  G .  Pear- 
son, M.  D.  by  Dr.  Da  v  id  Hosack,  of  Neiv-  York. 

[From  the  Annals  of  Medicine  for  1 796.] 

A MAN  about  forty-five  years  of  age,  of  a  full  habit  of  body, 
captain  of  a  vessel  trading  to  the  East-Indies,'  sent  for  me 
on  the  20th  of  May,  1 793,  to  examine  a  tumor  on  the  left  side  of 
his  scrotum.  Upon  inquiry,  he  told  me  he  had  first  discovered  it 
when  in  the  East-Indies,  about  six  years  since;  from  which  time 
it  had  gradually  increased  in  size,  but  without  any  injury  to  his 
general  health. 

Upon  a  careful  examination  of  the  tumor,  by  the  usual  tests  of 
hydrocele,  it  proved  to  be  that  disease;  the  testicle  itself,  which 
was  easily  felt  at  the  back  part  of  the  scrotum,  appeared  also  to  be 
much  enlarged.  Satisfied  as  to  the  nature  of  his  disease,  he  be- 
came anxious  to  have  it  removed  as  speedily  as  possible. 

He  being  an  intelligent  man,  I  described  to  him  the  different 
methods  which  had  been  employed  for  the  cure  of  it:  He  did  not 
hesitate  to  give  the  preference  to  the  one  which  would  probably 
be  the  least  painful;  that  is,  the  method  of  injection,  as  practised  at 
present  by  Mr.  Earle,  surgeon  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  iu 
whose  hands  I  have  several  times  witnessed  its  success. 

Having  ordered  his  bowels  to  be  emptied,  as  preparatory  to  the 
operation,  on  the  morning  of  the  21st,  in  presence  of  Drs.  Post, 
Hamersley,  and  Tillary,  three  eminent  physicians  in  this  city,  I 
drew  away,  by  means  of  a  trocar,  upwards  of  a  pint  of  water, 
having  the  appearance  and  smell  of  m  ine ;  the  testicle  proved  to  be 
considerably  enlarged.  I  immediately,  by  the  apparatus  employ- 
ed by  Mr.  Earle,  injected  a  mixture  of  wine  and  water,  in  the 
usual  proportion  of  two  parts  of  the  former  to  one  of  the  latter, 
until  the  scrotum  became  distended  to  the  size  it  had  acquired  be- 
fore the  operation. 

The  inje&ion  at  first  gave  him  little  or  no  uneasiness;  but  upon 
being  retained  five  minutes,  he  began  to  complain  of  pain :  I  im- 
mediately withdrew  the  liquor;  suspended  his  scrotum  by  the  assist- 
ance of  the  T  bandage ;  put  him  to  bed,  and  gave  him  fifty  drops 
of  laudanum. 

His  pain  soon  abated,  but  returned  in  the  evening,  with  con- 
siderable tumor.  I  repeated  his  anodyne  at  bed-lime,  which  gave 
him  a  comfortable  night's  rest.  On  the  2id,  his  tumor  had  in- 
creased, but  was  attended  with  very  little  pain:  From  this  time  it 
continued  to  increase  till  the  26th,  when  it  became  nearly  as  large 


•J20 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


as  before  the  operation,  attended  with  redness  and  other  symptoms 
of  inflammation.  On  the  26th,  I  ordered  him  two  ounces  of 
Glauber's  salts,  in  divided  doses,  and  a  poultice  of  bread  and 
water  to  be  applied  to  his  scrotum.  On  the  27th,  the  tumor  and 
inflammation  began  to  subside;  and,  in  the  course  of  six  days 
more,  entirely  disappeared,  except  that  the  testicle  still  remained 
much  larger  than  its  natural  size;  but  in  a  few  days,  it  also  began 
to  diminish. 

la  three  weeks  from  the  operation,  he  was  completely  freed 
from  every  symptom  of  hydrocele;  the  testicle  had  nearly  reco- 
vered its  natural  size:  he  went  about  his  business,  to  prepare  his 
vessel  lor  sea:  and  since  that  time  he  has  enjoyed  good  health, 
without  the  least  symptom  of  a  return  of  his  complaint.  I  have 
«'ilso  since  witnessed  the  same  operation  successfully  performed  by 
Dr.  Post. 


ARTICLE  VII. 

Experiments  on  the  Cultivation  of  the  Poppy-plant,  and  tlie  Method  of 
procuring  Opium,  By  Dr.  Shadrach  Ricketson,  of 

Dutchess  Country,  Ne-.u-  York. 

[From  the  American  Magazine,  pullijhed  in  Nnv-Yotlt  in  I  788.] 

OPIUM  is  the  produce  of  the papaver  somniferum  of  Linnreus, 
which,  as  a  genus,  comprehends  two  species,  viz.  I,  The 
double;  2.  the  single;  each  of  which  includes  several  varieties  as 
to  the  colour  of  the  flowers,  some  being  white,  some  red,  others 
purple  and  variegated. 

From  history  we  are  told,  that  in  the  several  provinces  of  Asia, 
it  is  the  large  white  poppy  only  that  is  cultivated  for  the  purpose  of 
collecting  opium;  but,  from  the  trials  that  I  have  made,  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  which  species  or 
variety  of  the  plant  is  cultivated  for  medicinal  use,  as  they  all  afford, 
when  tapped,  a  juice  that  is  similar  as  to  quantity,  colour,  and 
every  other  respect,  both  fresh  and  when  dried:  however,  1  have 
thoughi  that  the  large  double  species  produces  the  greatest  number 
of  heads,  and  consequently  the  greatest  quantity  of  juice  from  one 
seed  ;  but  of  this  1  have  not  yet  had  sufficient  trials  to  be  certain. 

Among  the  poppies  cultivated  with  a  view  to  make  the  present 
experiments,  I  had  some  that  had  thirty  heads  apiece,  all  of  which 
sprung  from  one  seed,  and  from  one  original  stalk. 

The  poppy  seeds  in  this  country  should  be  sown  or  planted 
about  the  middle  of  May,  in  rich  moist  ground. 


APPENDIX. 


4&x 


The  ground  should  be  formed  into  areas  of  about  four  feet  in 
v.  idth.  The  seeds  snould  be  planted  at  about  ten  or  twelve  inches 
distance  in  transverse  rows,  which  should  also  be  about  the  same 
distance  from  each  other. 

Shallow  holes  of  an  inch  depth  shorld  be  made  in  the  rows  at 
the  distance  mentioned;  the  seeds  put  in,  and  covered  over  even 
with  the  ground;  after  which  they  are  sutfered  to  remain  till  the 
plants  are  grown  about  four  inches  high,  when,  especially  if  the 
land  is  dry  and  not  fertile,  they  may  be  frequently  watered  and 
manured,  the  best  for  which  last  purpose  is  said  to  be  a  compost  of 
dung,  aslies,  and  a  nitrous  earth. 

•  They  are  said  in  the  East-Indies  to  water  them  again  profusely 
just  before  the  flowers  appear;  but  as  I  have  had  them  grow  very 
luxuriant  and  succulent  in  good  ground,  without  either  manuring 
or  watering,  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  the  advantages  arising 
from  this  last  particular,  are  not  adequate  to  the  trouble  of  doing  it. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  that  the  plants,  from  their 
first  coming  up,  should  be  kept  clean  from  weeds  and  the  like, 
which  may  be  done  with  very  little  trouble  with  a  small  hoe,  espe- 
cially if  trie  seeds  are  planted  after  the  manner  I  directed,  that  is, 
in  rows. 

Having  said  all  that  is  necessary  on  the  cultivation  of  the  plant, 
I  shall  now  proceed  to  describe  the  method  of  obtaining  its  juice, 
which,  when  inspissated  to  a  pilular  consistence,  is  called  opium. 

The  states  of  the  plants  wherein  I  have  iound  them  to  yield  the 
most  juice,  are  just  before,  in  the  time  of,  and  immediately  after 
flowering  :  the  plants  being  arrived  to  one  or  other  of  the  states 
above-mentioned. 

We  then  proceed  to  that  part  of  the  process  called  tapping, 
which  we  are  told  is  done  in  Asia,  by  making  two  or  three  longi- 
tudinal incisions  in  the  half  grown  capsules,  without  penetrating 
their  cavities,  at  sunset,  and  the  plants  suffered  to  remain  till  morn- 
ing, when  the  juice  is  to  be  scraped  off  and  worked  in  a  proper  vessel, 
in  a  moderate  heat,  till  it  becomes  of  a  pilular  consistence:  which 
method,  with  several  others,  I  have  tried,  but  none  have  ever  suc- 
ceeded so  well  with  me,  as,  in  a  sun-shining  day,  to  cut  off  the 
stalks,  at  about  an  inch  distance  from  their  flowers  or  capsules, 
And  as  soon  as  the  juice  appears,  which  it  does  at  first  equally  well 
on  the  part  of  the  stalk  cut  off  with  the  capsule  or  flower  as  on 
the  standing  part,  to  collect  it  with  a  small  scoop  or  penknife, 
the  last  of  which  I  have  found  to  answer  the  purpose  very  well. 
After  the  juice  ceases  to  appear  on  the  top  of  the  standing  stalk,  it 
should  be  cut  off  about  an  inch  lower,  when  it  will  be  found  to 
yield  almost  as  freely  as  before,  and  repeated  as  long  as  any  juice 
-ispears. 

rd.L  No.  3.  s 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  juice,  when  collected,  should  be  put  into  an  evaporating-, 
pan,  placed  in  the  sun's  heat,  and  frequently  stirred,  till  it  becomes;' 
of  a  consistence  to  be  formed  into  pills,  or  made  into  rolls  for 
keeping  or  transportation. 

The  quantity  of  opium  that  may  be  procured,  depends  very 
much  upon  the  largeness  of  our  plants,  and  the  care  used  in  col- 
lecting it.  From  one  poppy  plant,  I  have  produced  seven  grains 
of  the  inspissated  juice. 

If  any  would  choose  to  have  the  opium  freed  from  its  impuri- 
ties, it  may  easily  be  done  by  pressing  the  juice  before  it  is  evapo- 
rated through  a  linen  strainer;  but  it  pains  be  taken  according  to 
the  foregoing  directions,  I  believe  the-re  will  be  little  or  no  occa- 
sion for  it. 

Here  the  following  question  presents  itself,  viz. 
Does  the  opium  I  have  been  describing  possess  the  same  pro- 
perties as  the  Asiatic  opium? 

To  determine  which  I  made  the  following  experiments: 

Ex/tenment  i.  July  27,  1787.  At  six  o'clock  A.  M.  I  took 
one  grain  of  this  opium ;  at  seven,  breakfasted  on  chocolate  ;  at  a. 
quarter  after  seven,  I  was  called  upon  to  visit  a  patient;  I  imme- 
diately mounted  my  horse  and  rode  two  miles,  and  as  I  rode,  I 
felt  unusually  cheerful:  a  tinged  fullness  and  redness  of  my  head 
and  face,,  as  if  I  had  been  drinking  ardent  spirits,  seemed  also  ta 
attend  me. 

Nine  o'clock,  while  at  my  patient's  house,  I  felt  a  slight  sick- 
ness at  my  stomach,  accompanied  with  a  moist  sweat.  Ten 
o'clock,  the  sickness  and  sweat  continuing  to  increase,  I  set  off  for 
home,  and  on  the  way  it  just  occurred  to  me,  that  the  opium  I  had 
been  taking  was  the  cause  of  my  illness,  and  before  I  reached  home 
I  puked  up  my  breakfast,  which  gave  me  a  little  ease. 

After  I  got  home  I  was  seized  with  vertigo,  .slight  tremors, 
stupor,  attended  with  a  small  contracted  pulse,  when  I  went  to  bed;, 
ate  no  dinner;  at  about  two  o'clock  P.  M.  I  vomited  a  considerable 
quantity  of  sour  watery  fluid,  after  which  I  felt  some  easier,  and 
in  about  an  hour  afterwards,  I  had  several  violent  retchings,  and 
raised  some  bile.  Being  now  fatigued  by  the  vomiting,  &c.  I  took 
a  large  dose  of  the  antiemetic  mixture,  which,  after  a  short  sleep, 
seemed  to  give  me  remarkable  relief,  and  after  which  all  the 
symptoms  gradually  vanished.  I  perceived  my  urine  to  be  high, 
coloured :  I  had  no  stool  from  the  day  before  I  took  it  till  the 
morning  of  the  29th;  and  between  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock  of 
the  same  day,  I  had  three  or  four  liquid  stools,  accompanied  with, 
considerable  gripings. 

I  think  it  proper  to  remark,  that  during  the  above  symptoms,. 
I  had  no  uncommon  sleepiness. 


APPENDIX. 


423 


Experiment  2.  Unsatisfied  with  the  preceding  experiment,  and 
•not  knowing  whether  the  symptoms  that  I  laboured  under  were 
-solely  the  effect  of  the  opium,  August  6,  at  six  o'clock  A.  M. 
I  took  a  half  a  grain  of  the  same  kind  of  opium;  the  effects  that 
I  perceived  from  it  were,  in  the  forenoon,  a  cheerfulness,  and  in 
the  afternoon  a  loathing,  and  a  small  degree  of  sickness  at  spells. 

Experiment  3.  August  20.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
I  took  one  grain  of  the  above-mentioned  opium:  Eight  o'clock, 
-breakfasted  on  tea;  after  breakfast  I  felt  an  unconcernedness,  my 
face  felt  turgid,  and  I  had  some  slight  sickness  and  inclination  to 
vomit,  and  about  ten  o'clock  I  had  several  retchings  and  puked, 
and  half  after  ten  I  puked  again :  In  short,  I  underwent  very  much 
■the  same  series  of  symptoms  as  in  Experiment  1st.  indeed,  suffi- 
ciently so  to  confirm  me'that  the  compteints  I  laboured  under  were 
solely  the  effects  of  the  opium. 

Experiment  4.  Half  after  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  took 
a  full  grain  of  the  Asiatic  opium;  at  half  after  eight  breakfasted  on 
milk.  'I  felt  no  unusual  effects  from  it  till  about  twelve  o'clock, 
when  a  flushing  and  a  turgid  fulness  of  my  face  came  on:  dined 
•at  one  o'clock,  after  which  I  was  attacked  with  considerable  pain 
•in  my  bowels,  loathing  and  sickness,  (butrnot  so  much  as  to  puke) 
which  continued  to  remain  till  I  went  to  bed.  I  had  no  stool  thac 
•day  as  usual;  no  uncommon  sleepiness, 

Qittfritur.  Is  the  vomiting  that  occurred  after  taking  the  opium 
-to  be  imputed  and  ascribed  to  the  peculiar  effect  of  it  on  the  sto- 
mach, or  is  it  to  be  considered  as  an  effort  of  the  vis  medicatrix 
■tiatura  ? 

From  what  has  been  said,  I  think  we  may  induce  the  following 
•inferences,  &c. 

1.  That  the  poppy  plant  is  the  same  here  as  in  Asia,  and  that 
the  difference  depends  only  on  the  climate,  soil,  and  mode  of  cul- 
tivation. 

2.  That  every  species  and  variety  of  the  plant,  is  equally  capable 
of  producing  opium. 

3.  That  the  collecting  of  it  might  not  only  become  an  useful, 
but  alio  a  lucrative  business. 

4.  And  lastly,  that  the  opium  collected  here,  is  as  strong  or 
stronger  than  the  Asiatic  opium:  in  confirmation  of  which,  I  shall 
beg  leave  to  add  the  following  passage  of  a  letter  I  am  favoured 
with,  from  my  quondam  friend  and  former  master,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Anthony,  to  whom  I  gave  some  of  the  opium  of  my  own  pro- 
curing for  trial,  and  who  had  been  accustomed  to  use  opium  on 
account  of  the  rheumatism:  "  Being  in  pain  this  morning,  I  took 
"  a  grain  of  the  opium;  the  operation  appears  to  be  the  same  9s 


Medical  repository. 


■  that  (of  the  other  opium)  which  I  have  commonly  used  ;  a  grai» 
"  is  perhaps  equal  to  two  of  the  common." 

Whether  the  virtues  of  opium  reside  in  a  fixed  or  volatile  prin- 
ciple, is  a  matter  that  admit*  of  a  dk.pute:  some  late  expenmt-nts 
seem  to  favour  the  latter  opinion,  which  being  admitted,  one  rea- 
son I  think  why  the  opium  collected  here  is  stronger  than  the 
Asiatic  is,  that  the  latter  loses  greatly  of  its  strength  by  the 
long  keeping  and  transportation  which  it  undergoes. 


FOREIGN. 


ARTICLE  I. 
ON  THE  CULTURE  OF  OPIUM. 

[From  the  Annuls  of  Medicine  fur  1 796.  J 

AMONG  the  premiums  given  by  the  Society  in  London  for 
the  encouragement  of  arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce, 
lor  the  year  1 796,  is  one  of  fifty  guineas  to  Mr.  John  Ball,  of  VV'iL- 
liton,  for  the  discovery  of  his  method  of  preparing  English  opium, 
or  opium  prepared  from  poppies  reared  in  England.  This  opium 
js  attested,  by  several  physicians  who  have  made  trial  of  it,  and 
whose  letters  are  inserted,  to  be  at  least  equal  in  efficacy,  in  the 
same  dose,  to  foreign  opium.  Mr.  Ball,  in  one  of  his  letters  in 
the  correspondence  with  the  Society  on  this  subject,  assert?,  that  he 
has  no  doubt  that  the  opium  which  he  prepares  from  poppies  grow- 
ing in  his  own  garden,  may  be  afforded  at  half  the  price  of  the 
foreign  opium:  lor  that,  in  a  few  years,  we  shall  be  able  to  render 
it  from  five  to  eight  shillings  per  pound,  without  the  least  adulte- 
ration. And  I  am  of  opinion,  says  he,  that  the  more  barren 
•ground,  which  in  some  places  lets  at  from  two  to  ten  shillings  art 
acre,  will,  with  very  little  expence,  answer  for  the  growth  of 
poppies.  I  shall  take  care,  this  summer,  to  find  out  whether  any 
particular  sort  or  colour  produces  the  most  opium. 

We  shall  give  the  letter  entire,  which  contains  the  method  of 
preparing  the  English  opium. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemek, 
BY  your  secretary,  Mr.  More,  I  received  vour  resolutions  re- 
specting your  purchasing  from  me  the  mode  of  my  preparing  the 
•■ample  of  opium,  which  I  took  the  liberty  of  sending  to  yon,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  beg  the  favour  of  your  having  a  sufficient 
trial  or  its  propertie;,  which  I  find  yen  have  been  so  obliging  as 
to  have  done,  and  likewise  to  have  granted  me  the  fifty  guineas 


APPENDIX. 


«s  purchase  of  my  method  of  preparing  opium,  for  which  you  have 
mv  sincere  thanks.  I  am  exceedingly  pleased  to  find,  that  it  was 
thought  worthy  of  the  notice  of  so  honourable  and  respectable  a 
society;  and  I  am  satisfied  there  can  be  no  other  mode  of  preparing 
or  collecting  the  pure  and  genuine  opium,  than  what  follows. 

Nothing  can  be  more  simple,  or  attended  with  less  expence, 
than  the  making  or  extracting  the  pure  and  genuine  cpium  from 
the  large  poppies,  commonly  called  or  known  by  the  name  of 
Garden-poppies,  the  seeds  of  which  I  would  advise  to  be  sown  the 
latter  end  of  February,  and  again  about  the  second  week  of 
/larch,  in  beds  three  feet  and  a  half  wide,  well  prepared  with  good 
rotten  dung,  and  often  turned  and  ploughed,  in  order  to  mix  it 
weli,  and  have  it  fine,  either  in  small  drills,  three  in  each  bed,  in  the 
manner  sallads  are  sown,  and  when  about  two  inches  high,  to  thin 
them  one  toot  apart ;  or  otherwise  to  rear  them  in  beds  in  the  broadr 
cast  way,  and  thin  them  to  the  same  distance;  and  if  the  weather 
should  prove  wet  at  that  time,  those  that  are  taken  up  may  be 
transplanted;  but  I  do  not  suppose  that  the  transplanted  ones  will 
answer,  as  they  have  but  one  root,  and  require  frequent  waterings. 
Keep  them  free  from  weeds,  they  will  grow  well,  and  produce 
from  four  to  ten  heads,  shewing  large  and  different  coloured 
flowers,  which,  when  the  leaves  die  away  and  drop  off,  the  pods 
then  being  in  a  green  state,  is  the  proper  time  lor  extracting  the 
opium,  by  making  four  smail  longitudinal  incisions  with  a  sharp- 
pointed  knife,  about  one  inch  long;  on  one  side  only  of  tiie 
seed-pod,  just  through  the  scarl-skin,  taking  care  not  to  cut  to  the 
seeds.  Immediately  on  the  incision  being  made,  a  milky  fluid 
will  issue  out,  which  is  the  opium,  and,  being  of  a  glutinous  na- 
ture or  substance,  it  will  adhere  to  the  bottom  of  the  incision; 
but  some  are  so  luxuriant,  that  it  will  drop  from  the  pod  on  t lie 
leaves  underneath.  The  next  day,  if  the  weather  should  be  fine, 
and  a  good  deal  of  sunshine)  the  opium  will  be  found  a  greyish 
substance,  and  some  almost  turning  black.  It  is  then  to  be 
scraped  off  the  pods,  and,  if  any,  from  the  leaves,  with  the  edge 
of  a  knife,  or  an  instrument  for  the  purpose,  into  pans  or  pots;  and 
in  a  day  or  two  it  will  be  of  a  proper  consistence  to  make  into  a 
mass,  and  to  be  potted. 

As  soon  as  you  have  taken  away  all  the  opium  from  one  side 
of  the  pod,  then  make  incisions  on  the  opposite  side,  and  proceed 
in  the  same  manner.  The  reason  of  my  not  making  the  incisions 
all  around  at  the  first,  is,  that  you  cannot  so  conveniently  take 
away  the  opium;  but  every  person,  upon  trial,  will  be  the  best 

Children  may  with  ease  be  soon  taught  to  make  the  incisions, 
and  to  take  off  the  opium;  so  that  the  expence  will  be  found  ex- 
ceedingly trifling.    The  small  white  seeds,  in  that  state,  will  be 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


•found  very  sweet  and  pleasant,  and  may  be  eaten  without  the  lcasi 
danger;  and  it  is  the  custom  in  the  east,  to  tarry  a  plate  of  them 
to  the  table,  after  dinner,  with  other  fruits. 

I  intend,  this  year,  to  keep  apart  a  small  quantity  of  opium 
from  each  coloured  poppy,  to  find  out  if  any  one,  more  than  ano- 
ther, produces  a  greater  quantity,  or  of  greater  strength,  and  shall 
save  seeds  of  each,  to  sow  separately  the  next  spring.  I  am  of 
opinion,  that  numbers  of  inclosurts,  taken  from  hills,  in  a  south 
aspect,  with  a  very  little  expence,  may  be  brought  into  a  proper 
state  for  the  growth  of  poppies. 

I  should  think,  that  an  instrument  may  be  made,  of  a  concave 
form,  with  four  or  five  pointed  lancets,  about  the  twelfth  or  four- 
teenth part  of  sn  inch,  to  make  the  incisions  at  once,  and  likewise 
something  of  the  rake  kind,  so  that  the  three  drills,  which  I  have 
■directed  to  be  made  in  each  bed,  may  be  performed  at  the  same 
time. 

By  a  calculation  which  I  have  m?de,  supposing  one  poppy  grow- 
ing in  one  square  foot  of  earth,  and  producing  one  grain  of  opium, 
more  than  fiity  pounds  will  be  collected  from  one  statute-acre  of 
land;  but  upon  recollecting,  that  one  poppy  produces  from  three 
or  four  to  ten  heads,  and  in  each  head  from  six  to  ten  incisions 
■are  made,  and  I  am  positive,  from  many  of  them,  (I  mean  one 
incision),  the  last  year  I  took  away  two  or  three  grains;  what 
must  then  be  the  produce?  Opium  is  now  twenty-two  shilling* 
the  pound. 

I  am,  &c. 

(Signed)  JOHN  BALL. 

U'llliton,  id  June,  1 795* 

In  a  subsequent  letter,  Mr.  Ball  states,  that  the  experiment  of 
transplanting  did  not  succeed,  not  one  plant  coming  to  perfection. 
The  pods  should  be  about  the  size  of  a  walnut  before  the  incision 
is  made.  The  dried  heads  from  London,  being  three  times  as  big, 
must  afford  much  more  opium. 

In  another  subsequent  letter,  Mr.  Bail  acquaints  the  Society, 
that  double  or  semi-double  poppies  gave  more  than  twice  of  what 
is  collected  from  the  single.  One  poppy,  which  had  twenty-eiglvt 
heads,  afforded  above  thirty  grains  of  opium.  It  was  of  the  semi- 
tloubie  kind,  and  the  opium  was  of  a  better  quality  than  from 
single  head«.  The  article  closes  with  three  letters  of  testimonies, 
namely,  from  Dr.  Latham,  Dr.  Pearson,  and  Mr.  G.  Wilson,  of 
Govent-Garden,  who  all  agree,  that  the  English  is  at  least  equal 
in  its  efficacy  to  the  best  foreign  opium. 


(    427  ) 


ARTICLE  II. 

Analysis  of  a  Memoir  of  Citizen  Bonhomme,  on  the  Nature  and 
Treatment  of  Rachitis,  or  the  Rickets  * 

[From  Mr.  Nicholfons  "Journal  of  Nut.  Philos.  Cbem.  and  the  Arts .] 

O INCE  the  object  of  the  Society  of  Medicine,  in  the  offer  of  its 
|3  prizes,  is  to  bring  our  knowledge  of  the  healing  art  to  the 
greatest  degree  of  precision  and  accuracy  of  which  it  is  susceptible, 
this  company  must  necessarily  direcl  its  attention  to  the  progress 
of  the  chemical  analysis  of  animal  matters,  and  the  information 
which  sooner  or  later  it  must  atford  respecting  the  nature  and 
treatment  of  many  disorders. 

Those  disorders  which  alter  the  composition  of  the  fluids  and. 
the  consistence  of  the  solids,  are  assuredly  the  first  which  ought  to 
be  determined  by  chemical  research.  The  rachitis  is  of  this  num- 
ber. The  change  vvhich  the  bones  undergo  in  this  disorder,  has 
long  been  attributed  to  the  action  of  an  acid  on  their  substance; 
but  this  opinion  was  grounded  on  mere  supposition  and  remote 
analogy.  The  subject;  is  treated  in  a  new  manner  in  the  memoir, 
of  which  the  Society  has  directed  us  to  present  the  results;  and 
the  experiments,  as  well  as  the  observations  upon  which  the  author 
grounds  his  inferences,  present  to  our  view  matters  of  fact  suf- 
ficiently remarkable  to  afford  a  presumption  that  new  experiments 
will  confirm  their  truth.  We  announce  them  on  the  present 
occasion  with  expressions  of  doubt,  because  these  are  the  expres- 
sions which  the  wisdom  and  modesty  of  the  author  have  suggested, 
and  because  we  think  with  him,  that  facts  of  this  nature  cannot 
be  stated  as  if  fully  proved,  but  in  consequence  of  multiplied  ex- 
periments. 

The  principal  notions  which  constitute  the  basis  of  this  memoir 
are  the  following: 

1.  According  to  the  author,  the  nature  of  the  rachitic  disorder 
arises  on  the  one  hand  from  the  developtmcnt  of  an  acid  approach- 
ing, in  its  properties,  to  the  vegetable  acid>,  particularly  the  oxalic; 
and  on  the  other  from  the  defect  of  phosphoric  acid,  of  which  the 
combination  with  the  animal  calcareous  earth  forms  the  natural 
basis  of  the  bones,  and  gives  them  their  solidity. 

Whence  it  follows,  that  the  indication  resulting  from  this  pro- 
position, if  once  adopted,  would  be,  that  the  treatment  of  rachitis 
must  depend  on  two  principal  points,  namely,  to  prevent  the  dc- 

*  This  memoir  was  read  to  the  National  Society  of  Medicine  at  Pari-;. 
The  analyfis  was  made  by  Halle,  and  is  inferted  m  the  feventeenth  volume 
of  the  Anaales  de  Chlmie,  whence  this  iranlhtion  is  made. 


4iS  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

velopement  of  the  oxalic  acid,  and  to  re-establish  the  combination 
of  the  phosphoric  acid  with  the  basis  of  the  bones  to  which  they 
owe  their  solidity. 

2.  The  author  proves,  by  experiments  and  observations,  in  the 
firsc  place,  that  alkaline  lotions  of  the  parts  affected  with  rachitis 
contribute  to  their  cure;  next,  that  the  calcareous  phosphate  taken 
internally  is  really  transmitted  by  the  lymphatic  passages,  and  con- 
tributes to  ossification,  and  lastly,  that  the  internal  use  of  calca- 
reous phosphate,  whether  alone  or  combined  with  the  phosphate 
of  soda,  powerfully  contributes  to  restore  the  natural  proportions 
in  the  substance  of  the  bones,  and  accelerate  the  cure  of  rachitis. 

On  the  present  occasion  we  shall  only  collect  the  proof  of  these 
fundamental  fads,  which  form  the  absolutely  new  part  of  this' 
memoir,  in  which  the  author  has  besides  inserted  an  excellent 
abridgement  of  all  that  had  been  ascertained  before  him  on  the 
nature  of  the  bones,  the  rachitis,  and  the  treatment  of  this  dis- 
order. 

With  regard  to  the  first  parts,  the  author  endeavours  to  establish 
these  two  propositions:  i.  That  the  calcareous  phosphate  is 
wanting  in  the  bones  of  those  who  are  disordered  with  rachitis. 
2.  That  the  developement  of  oxalic  acid  is  the  cause  of  this  altera- 
tion. 

We  must  not  conceal,  that  this  ingenious  part  of  his  memoir 
contains  rather  views  than  absolute  proofs  of  the  nature  of  the 
rachitic  acid.  The  author  himself  declares,  that  he  was  not  pro- 
vided with  the  necessary  means  to  establish  an  exact  and  complete 
analysis.  He  therefore  presents  his  ideas  in  this  respect,  merely 
as  conjectures  approaching  to  the  truth. 

The  effect  of  the  action  of  acids  upon  bones,  was  before  known ; 
that  is  to  say,  that  when  deprived  of  calcareous  phosphate,  and 
reduced  to  the  gelatinous  parenchyma  which  forms  one  of  their 
elements,  they  lose  their  consistence  and  become  flexible.  Hence 
it  was  already  conjectured  by  various  physicians,  that  the  rachitis 
was  the  effect  of  a  peculiar  acid. 

A  disposition  to  acescence  in  the  first  passages  is  observable  in 
all  infants.  The  odour  which  characterizes  this  acescence  is  often 
manifest  in  their  breath,  and  even  their  perspiration.  The  bile 
corrects  this  disposition;  but  in  general  the  bile  is  wanting  in  ra- 
chitic infants.  It  does  not  colour  their  excrements,  and  the  acids 
accordingly  are  developed  in  a  very  decided  manner.  They  dis- 
turb the  circulation,  and  attack  and  soften  the  bones.  As  it  is 
by  defect  of  animalization  that  these  acids  develope  themselves,  it 
follows  that  their  character  is  analogous  to  the  fermentescible  ve- 
getable acids,  and  more  or  less  to  the  oxalic  acid;  and  that,  on  the 
contrary,  the  animal  acid  or  phosphoric  acid  ceases  to  be  formed, 
and  to  unite  with  the  animal  calcareous  earth;  whence  they 


APPENDIX. 


<kprived  of  the  principle  of  their  solidity.  This  is  the  theory  of 
Citizen  Bonhoinme. 

In  order  to  establish  this  doctrine  upon  precise  experiments,  it 
was  requisite  to  anali=e  rachitic  bones  comparatively  with  those  of 
healthy  individuals  of  the  same  age;  and  as  it  is  known  that  the 
urine  of  rachitic  subjects  deposits  a  great  quantity  of  a  substance 
of  sparing  solubility  and  earthy  appearance,  it  would  have  been 
advantageous  to  have  joined  a  complete  analysis  of  this  urine  and 
its  sediment. 

.  Citizen  Bonhomme  not  being  provided  with  the  means  sufficient 
to  make  these  analyses,  and  being  besides  of  opinion  that  such 
rachitic  bones  as  are  destroyed  by  this- malady  exist  in  a  progressive 
state  ot  change,  which  might  render  their  analysis  scarcely  sus- 
ceptible of  comparison,  limited  himselt  to  a  collection  of  some  of 
ihe  most  remarkable  phenomena  of  the  urine  of  the 'aged,  the 
adult,  and  infants  in  the  heaJthy  state,  of  infants  in  the  rachitic 
state,  and  ol  patients  alter  the  perfect  cure  of  this  disorder-  From 
these  observations  he  bzz  deduced  several  important  results. 

It  is  known  that  when  the  urine  contains  disengaged  phosphoric- 
acid,  as  happens  to  aged  ir.u*viduals,  and  in  some  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances of  the  system,  if  lime  water  be  poured  in,  there  is  a 
speedy  deposit  ion  of  calcareous  phospnate.  It  is  also  known,  that 
when  a  solution  of  the  nitrate  oi  mercury  is  poured  to  the  fresh 
urine  of  adults,  a  rose-coloured  precipitate  is  formed,  which  is  a 
phosphate  ol  mercury  produced  by  the  decomposition  of  the  phos- 
phates contained  in  the  urine.  These  two  proofs  are  therefore  ex- 
tremely proper  to  ascertain  the  presence  of  phosphoric  acid,  whe- 
ther free -or  combined,  in  a  fluid  which  in  its  natural  state  contains 
a  remarkable  proportion.  Besides  this  principle,  the  urine  depo- 
sits more  or  less  of  sediment,  either  gelatinous  or  of  an  earth}-  ap- 
pearance j  and  lastly,  by  evaporation,  a  saponaceous  and  saline 
extract,  in  greaU-r  or  less  abundance,  is  obtained  by  evaporation. 
By  means  of  these  four  methods  of  examination,  the  author  lias 
ascertained  the  following  facts: 

i.  In  the  healthy  state,  the  sediment  naturally  deposited  by  urine 
is  almost  totally  gelatinous  in  the  infant  and  the  adult,  and  in  the 
aged  individual  it  is  surcharged  with  an  abundant  sediment  of  an 
earthy  appearance  similar  to  the  earth  of  bones,  which  conse- 
quently is  calcareous  phosphate. 

z.  The  quantity  of  brown  saponaceous  saline  extract  afforded 
by  evaporation  is  greater  in  proportion  to  the  age. 

3..  Tfu;  presence  of  disengaged  phosphoric  acid,  as  shewn  by 
lime  water,  is  none  in  the  urine  of  infants,  scarcely  perceptible  iu 
that  ot  adults,  but  very  remarkable  in  that  of  old  men.  For  two 
ounces  of  tins  lasf  urine  afforded  by  this  means  ten  grains  of  phos- 
phate of  lime.  .  '  - 

Vol.  I.  No.  1.  T 


430 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


4.  The  decomposition  cf  the  phosphates  by  nitrate  of  mercury- 
is  not  seen  in  the  urine  of  infants;  an  abundant  precipitate  of  a' 
light  rose-colour  is  produced  in  this  way,  from  the  urine  of  adults;: 
and  in  that  of  old  men,  this  precipitate  is  always  of  a  grey  colour, 
and  verv  abundant. 

Hence  Citizen  Bonhomme  concludes,  that  the  phosphoric  acid, 
whether  at  liberty  or  c'ombined,  does  exist  in  the  urine  of  healthy 
individuals  in  proportion  to  the  destruction  of  the  solids  by  age, 
and  that  it  increases  with  the  age. 

With  regard  to  the  urine  of  rachitic  subjects,  the  most  remark- 
able facts  are,  1.  The  abundant  and  apparently  earthy  sediment 
it  deposits  (spontaneously)  is  different  from  that  of  old  men,  by 
its  colour,  which  is  grey  and  does  not  resembie  phosphate  of  lime, 
and  also  by  its  much  greater  quantity.  For  a  pound  of  this  urine 
let  fall  two  gros,*  whereas  the  tame  quantity  of  the  urine  of  old  meir 
deposited  only  45  grains. 

T.  The  extradt  left  by  evaporation  is  likewise  much  more  con- 
siderable than  in  other  urine.  It  is  one  third  more  in  quantity 
than  the  extract  afforded  even  by  the  urine  of  aged  persons. 

From  these  two  first  observations  it  follows,  that  the  solids  in 
rachitic  subjects  are  destroyed  with  much  more  rapidity  than  even 
in  old  men ;  and  that  they  afford  a  much  more  abundant  portion 
of  waste  to  the  urine. 

3.  The  light  deposition  occasioned  by  lime  water  in  the  urine 
of  rachitic  subjects  is  very  small  in  quantity,  brown,  gelatinous 
when  fresh,  and  pulverulent  when  dry.  It  does  not  at  all  resem- 
bLe  calcareous  phosphate. 

4.  The  deposition  formed  by  the  solution  of  mercurial  nitrate 
is  not  abundant,  neither  of  a  rose-colour,  as  in  the  urine  of  adults, 
nor  grey  like  that  of  men.  It  is  always  white,  and  consequently 
has  no  external  resemblance  to  the  phosphate  of  mercury.  The 
author  affirms  that  it  resembles  a  mercurial  oxalate. 

Lastly,  the  urine  of  the  same  rachitic  subjects,  when  cured,  ex- 
hibits again  all  the  characters  observed  in  the  urine  of  healthy- 
children. 

We  shall  not  add  to  the  reflections  of  the  author.  In  effect, 
though  these  first  observations  are  curious,  they  are  incomplete. 
We  offer  them  to  physicians  simply  as  the  elements  of  an  investi- 
gation which  it  is  of  importance  to  continue  and  bring  to  perfection. 
We  shall  therefore  proceed  to  the  curative  and  experimental  parts 
of  the  memoir. 

We  must  remark,  however,  in  this  place,  that  the  author  pre- 
sents in  his  work  a  judicious  and  methodical  exposition  of  the 
whole  treatment  of  the  rachitis  by  ether  physicians;  that  he  esti- 


•  About  two  drachms. 


APPENDIX. 


431 


•;uUes  the  value  of  each  remedy,  and  every  part  of  the  treatment, 
-from  the  circumstances  to  which  they  are  applicable,  the  degrees 
of  the  malady  in  which  they  are  to  be  admitted,  and  the  indications 
they  answer.  Setting  aside,  therefore,  every  thing  which  is  not 
peculiarly  his  own,  we  shall  in  this  place  attend  only  to  that  which 
■relates  to  the  use  and  effects  of  calcareous  phosphate  and  alkaline 
lotions. 

One  of  the  fails  which  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  esta- 
blish, was  the  transition  of  the  calcareous  phosphate  from  the  in- 
testinal passages,  into  those  of  circulation  and  secretion.  Fourcroy 
had  already  well  ascertained  that  the  serum  of  milk  contains  this 
.salt  naturally.  Vauquelin  had  proved  its  existence,  as  well  as  that 
of  pure  soda,  in  the  seminal  fluid;  but  was  it  possible  that  it  could 
•pass  unaltered  from  the  stomach  and  intestines  into  the  vessels 
which  contain  the  blood  and  lymph?  Could  it  by  this  means 
apply  itself  to  the  bones?  This  was  to  be  ascertained  by  experi- 
ments. 

The  following  are  the  experiments  by  which  Citizen  Bon- 
homme  appears  to  have  succeeded  in  proving  this  truth.  I  shall 
transcribe  his  own  words. 

"  I  caused  several  young  fowls  of  the  same  incubation  to  be  fed 
"  in  different  manners.    Some  received  the  usual  food  without 
"  any  mixture;  others  received  daily  a  certain  quantity  of  calcare- 
*'  ous  phosphate  mixed,  in  the  same  paste  as  formed  the  sup- 
"  port  of  the  others;  and  lastly,  one  of  them  was  fed  with  varia- 
"  tions  in  the  use  of  the  mixture:  the  calcareous  phosphate  was 
"  sometimes  given  and  sometimes  suspended.    When  these  fowls, 
"  after  two  months,  had  acquired  their  ordinary  growth,  1  examin- 
"  ed  and  carefully  compared  the  state  of  their  bones.    The  pro- 
"  gress  of  the  ossification  in  the  epiphyses  was  various,  according 
*'  to  the  nature  of  the  food  the  animal  had  received.    The  bones 
"  of  the  last  fowl,  which  had  received  the  phosphate  only  from 
"  time  to  time,  were  rather  more  advanced  than  the  bones  of  those 
"  which  had  been  fed  without  mixture.    The  bones  of  those  fowls 
?'  which  had  been  habitually  fed  with  the  mixture  were  evidently 
"  more  solid,  and  their  epiphyses  were  much  less  perceptible. 
"  Simple  inspection  was  sufficient  to  shew  these  differences  when 
"  the  bones  were  mixed  together. 

"  I  had  fed  several  young  fowls  of  the  same  incubation  accord- 
*£  ing  to  another  plan.  Some  were  fed  on  a  simple  paste,  without 
"  mixture;  for  others  it  was  mixed  with  pulverised  madder-root; 
"  and  a  third  composition  was  made  of  this  last  paste  and  calca- 
"  reous  phosphate.  This  was  also  given  habitually  to  other  fowls. 
"  When,  after  two  months,  I  examined  the  progress  of  ossification 
a  in  the  bones  of  these  different  animals,  I  easily  perceived  the  red 
"  traces  of  the  madder  in  the  ossified  parts  of  all  those  which  had 


Medical  repository. 


4t  used  it;  but  I  observed  that  the  ossification  was  not  more  sef-< 
*'  vanced  by  the  simple  mixture  of  this  root  than  by  the  ordinary 
*  food;  on  the  contrary,  the  bones  of  those  fowls  which  had  swaN 
"  lowed  the  phosphate  mixed  with  madder  were  much  more  solid 
»  than  the  others.  The  red  colour  served  admirably  to  distinguish 
"  the  extremities  of  the  long  bones  from  their  epiphyses.  After 
"  an  exact  comparison,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  efficacy 
*'  of  calcareous  phosphate  in  favour  of  the  progress  of  ossification. 
**  The  virtue  of  the  madder  seemed  confined  to  that  of  giving 
"  colour  to  the  ossified  jrarts." 

From  these  experiments,  it  was  natural  to  make  trial  of  calca- 
reous phosphate  in  addition  to  the  remedies  made  use  of  in  the 
treatment  of  rachitic  subjects.  Here  follows  what  the  author  him- 
self says,  after  having  spoken  of  the  exaggerated  praises  given  by 
Haen  to  the  use  of  oyster-shells  (ostracodermata)  in  the  treatment 
t)f  rachitis. 

"  Without  pretending,"  says  he,  "  to  a  result  so  brilliant  as  that 
■*'  announced  by  Haen,  I  can  affirm  that  the  calcareous  phosphate 
*'  has  succeeded  very  ivell  in  the  greatest  number  of  rachitic  sub- 
ejects  to  whom  I  have  given  it.  I  shall  not  multiply  my  ac- 
"  counts  of  successful  cases  in  this  place,  but  shall  relate  only  two 
"  remarkable  instances. 

"  The  daughter  of  Mr.  Ranchon,  watch-maker,  aged  two  years 
*'  and  a  half,  walked  with  a  feeble  and  tottering  pace,  and  the  cx- 
u  tremities  of  all  her  bones  presented  epiphyses  very  prominent. 
**  In  this  situation  she  exhibited  the  appearance  of  imperfect  rachi- 
<c  tis,  or  the  first  period  of  this  disorder.  Alkaline  lotions,  which 
**  I  immediately  advised,  were  attended  with  a  good  effect.  Her 
**  sleep  became  more  firm ;  and  as  the  first  passages  were  in  a  good 
"  state,  I  gave,  without  internal  preparation,  one  scruple  of  a  mix- 
"  rure  of  equal  parts  of  phosphate  of  lime  and  phosphate  of  soda 
"  twice  a-day.  In  the  course  of  three  weeks  her  legs  were  per- 
"  fectly  restored ;  and  this  amiable  infant  has  ever  since  had  the 
"  satisfaction  to  run  with  spirit  and  agility. 

"  A  female  infant,  of  the  name  of  Boiard,  aged  four  years,  had 
"  experienced  from  her  birth  the  most  decided  s\  mptoms  of  rachi- 
"  tis.  The  protuberance  of  the  epiphyses  ar.d  tumefaction  of  the 
"  abdomen  first  indicated  the  disease.  The  impossibility  of  sup- 
«*  poiting  herself  and  walking  at  the  usual  age  confirmed  the^e 
"  unfortunate  symptoms.  Bv  degrees  the  glands  of  the  neck  and 
"  of  the  mesentery  became  swelled;  the  teeth  were  blackened,  be- 
4;  came  carious,  and  were  not  replaced.  This  situation  became 
*'  stilt  more  afflicting  by  crises  ain  ost  periodical  at  an  interval  of 
«'  three  or  four  weeks.  At  these  afflicting  periods,  a  fever  of  con- 
"  siderrble  strength,  cardialgia,  and  even  convulsions,  particularly 
u  in  the  nighr,  were  observed.    The  termination  of  each  paroxysm 


APPENDIX. 


433 


**  was  announced  or  ascertained  by  abundant  stooh,  and  the  eva- 
"  cuation  of  urine  strongly  charged  with  an  earthy  sediment. 
M  The  imprudent  exhibition  of  a  purge  at  the  begin ning  of  one 
IS  of  these  crises  had  nearly  deprived  the  patient  of  her  life.  In 
**  this  state  it  was  that  I  beheid  her  for  the  first  time  in  the  month 
"of  January,  1 79c  The  alkaline  lotion  was  the  only  remedy 
"  the  mother  adopted  in  the  first  instance,  and  it  produced  a  re- 
"  markable  effect.  After  eight  days  the  infant  was  so  much  better 
M  as  to  be  able  to  support  herself.  The  remedy  was  then  laid 
"  aside,  and  eight  days  alterwards  the  child  was  incapable  of  stand- 
"  ing  without  iiipport.  The  use  of  the  alkaline  solution  being 
*'  renewed,  was  attended  with  the  same  success,  and  its  discon- 
"  tinuance  was  again  followed  by  the  complete  return  of  all  the 
*'  symptoms.  In  the  first  days  of  March,  the  other  remedies  I  had 
*'  advised  were  exhibited.  The  constipation  which  had  always 
"  existed  became  less,  and  the  following  crisis  was  effected  without 
"  pain.  And  at  length  the  convulsions,  the  pains,  and  the  crises 
*'  disappeared ;  but  the  impossibility  of  walking  still  remained.  At 
"  this  time,  namely,  on  the  second  of  May,  I  gave  the  child  the 
"  phosphate  of  soda  and  calcareous  phosphate  mixed  together,  in 
"  the  dose  of  hall  a  dram  twice  a-day.  At  the  end  of  the  month 
"  she  was  able  to  stand  upright,  leaning  against  a  chair,  and  the 
"  swellings  began  to  diminish.  She  continued  for  a  long  time 
H  afterwards  to  take  the  mixture  of  the  phosphates.  I  likewise 
"  gave  her  occasionally  one  grain  of  the  extract  of  bile,  prepared 
Jf  with  spirit  of  wine;  and  at  length,  in  the  month  of  July,  I  had 
1f  the  pleanirt  to  see  the  patient  run  and  play  in  the  middle  of  the 
"  street  with  the  other  children  of  her  own  age,  &c. 

"  J.  B.  Magnt,  aged  two  years  and  a  half,  appeared  strong 
"  and  well  formed.  A  general  rachitis  manifested  itself  rapidly 
t:  in  his  constitution,  without  apparent  cause.  He  soon  became 
"  incapable  of  walking,  and  his  relations  learned  from  his  plav- 
"  fellows  that  he  had  irequently  evacuated  white  and  thick  urine. 
"  Most  of  the  remedies  and  methods  proposed  by  different  authors 
"  were  made  use  of.  At  length,  discouraged  at  so  many  useless 
"  trials,  the  parents  gave  up  every  remedy,  and  the  child  remained 
<s  incapable  of  walking.  The  bones  of  the  legs  were  softened  and 
"  bent.  At  the  age  of  four  years  and  a  half,  young  Magne  had 
"  the  small-pox;  the  disorder  was  acute,  but  terminated  happirf 
"  without  any  particular  attention.  When  the  desquamation  was 
**  complete,  the  child  was  no  longer  capable  ot  supporting  himself. 
"  At  this  period  he  was  brought  hither,  and  I  was  consulted.  I 
"  observed  that  part  of  the  bones  were  so  much  softened  as  to 
"  occasion  variations  and  even  violent  pain  in  his  walk.  1  ad- 
M  vised  a  purgative,  with  alkaline  lotions  and  the  use  of  calca- 
"  reous  phosphate,  and  a  proper  regimen.    Eight  days  afterwards, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  the  whole  surface  of  the  skin  was  covered  with  an  infinity  o( 
**  small  blisters,  resembling  the  itch.  My  prescriptions  were  regu- 
«'  larly  continued,  and  in  one  month  the  solidity  of  the  bones  was 
"  entirely  secured.  .For  more  than  a  year  he  has  experienced  no 
"  relapse.  In  this  case  we  may  remark  the  inutility  of  the  usual 
"  remedies,  the  advantage  of  cutaneous  eruptions,  and  the  eificaty 
*'  of  the  treatment  I  propose." 

The  incurvated  spine,  (though  apparently  confined  to  the  ver- 
tebra:, which  bones  are  not  only  affected  with  preternatural  en- 
largement, but  frequently  also  with  caries.)  is  this  disorder,  I  say, 
to  be  regarded  as  analogous  to  rachitis,  or  at  least  to  accidental  ra- 
chitis? Both  have  been  produced  by  the  repercussion  of  cutane- 
ous eruptions.  Citizen  Bonhomme  relates  observations  in  which 
the  two  affections  are  so  combined  that  they  appear  to  form  one 
single  disorder,  varied  only  according  to  the  parts  affected.  Is  the 
use  of  calcareous  phosphnte  applicable  to  the  treatment  of  the  ver- 
tebral disease,  to  complete  and  accelerate  the  frequently  partial 
process  of  other  remedies?  The  author  thinks  that  the  following 
observation  is  conclusive  in  this  respect: 

"  At  the  end  of  the  month  of  February,  1790,"  says  this  phy- 
sician, "a  rachitic  child,  aged  eight  years  (J.  Esprit  Guinde), 
"  was  presented  to  me  in  the  General  Hospital  of  this  town.  He 
"  had  been  ior  several  weeks  among  the  patients  under  the  care  of 
"  the  surgeon.  At  the  first  moment  a  prominence  of  the  first 
"  dorsai  vertebra;  was  observed,  with  a  considerable  weakness  of 
"  the  legs.  A  large  blistering  plaister  had  been  applied  over  the 
**  commencing  gibbosity,  and  the  blister  was  kept  open  by  powder 
**  of  cantharides  for  more  than  a  month.  The  situation  of  the 
*'  infant  was  not  amended.  I  remarked  in  this  patient  all  the  cha- 
"  racters  of  the  disease  described  by  Pott.  I  concluded  that  the 
"  blister  had  produced  as  great  a  discharge  as  was  necessary,  and 
"  that  it  was  more  essential  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  rachitic 
*•  habit.  I  ordered  the  whole  of  the  spine  to  be  carefully  washed 
"  three  times  a-day  with  an  alkaline  and  aromatic  lixivium.  The 
"  phosphate  of  soda  was  mixed  with  twice  as  much  powder  of 
*'  burnt  hartshorn.  Of  this  I  j>ave  to  the  child  one  scruple  twice 
"  a-day,  in  a  spoonful  of  soup.  After  the  first  week  he  was  able 
*'  to  walk  with  assistance;  by  degrees  the  solidity  of  his  legs  was 
**  re-established,  and  the  spine  appeared  to  recover  itself.  And  at 
*'  length,  on  the  31st  of  December,  when  I  quitted  the  service  of 
"  that  hospital,  the  boy  thought  himself  sufficiently  recovered  to 
"  return  to  his  friends. 

"  Eight  or  nine  months  afterwards,  I  found  this  unfortunate 
"  child  in  another  hospital  appropriated  to  the  reception  of  scro- 
*'  phulous  patients.  From  his  answers  to  the  questions  I  proposed, 
"  I  found  that  the  treatment  of  the  month  of  December  had  not 


APPENDIX.  43£ 

*  bketi  continued  long  enough  to  destroy  the  principle  of  the  ra- 
"  chitis;  that  the  disorder  had  been,  as  it  were,  subdued  during 
"  six  months,  but  that  coarse  food  had  developed  it  again.  And 
rt  lastlv,  that  the  swelling  of  certain  glands,  and  a  diminution  of 
"  the  solidity  of  several  ribs  and  of  the  humerus  of  the  right  side, 
"  were  the  effects  of  its  renewed  activity.  I  ordered  purgatives 
"  to  be  repeated  every  eight  days,  the  alkaline  lotion,  and  the  mix- 
"  ture  of  the  phosphate  of  lime  and  soda;  in  addition  to  which  I 
"  prescribed  the  use  of  the  saponaceous  and  mercurial  pills.  The 
"  efti'cacy  of  these  remedies  was  very  sensible.  The  advances  of 
K  the  rachitic  disorder  were  stopped  ;  the  evacuations  were  kept 
"  up;  the  distortion  of  the  ribs  and  of  the  humerus  disappeared ;  but 
M  the  original  gibbosity  remained.  This  deformity,  which  could 
"  not  be  effaced,  did  not  diminish  the  pleasure  I  had  to  see  this  child 
"■perfectly  cured  after  three  months  treatment." 

In  most  of  these  observations  mention  is  made  of  alkaline  lo- 
tions and  their  beneficial  effects.  The  following  is  the  authors 
own  account: 

"  In  ordinary  cases  of  rachitis,  particularly  at  the  comment  e- 
"  ment  of  the  disorder,  it  is  of  advantage  to  use  a  simple  solution 
"  of  pot-ash  to  wash  the  p;:rts  affected.  This  solution  is  made  bv 
"  dissolving  from  half  an  ounce  to  an  ounce  of  purified  pot-ash* 
"  in  a  pound  of  distilled  or  very  pure  spring. water.  When  it  is 
"  to  be  used,  the  skin  must  first  be  rubbed  with  a  dry  cloth,  or  a 
"  piece  of  fine  flannel.  After  this  precaution,  the  diseased  extre- 
"  mities  are  to  be  washed  carefully  with  the  warm  solution,  and  at 
"  length  wiped,  so  as  to  leave  no  trace  of  moisture.  This  pracN 
"  tice  and  washing  must  be  repeated  at  least  twice  a-day.  I  can 
"  affirm,  from  repeated  trials,  that  it  will  soon  be  attended  with 
"  success. 

"  The  solution  of  pot -ash  is  not  very  costly;  nevertheless,  the 
u  habitual  and  long  continued  use  of  this  remedy  for  a  rachitic 
"  patient  in  the  second  puiod,  becomes  expensive  to  poor  parents. 
"  The  lixivium  of  wood-ashes,  which  has  been  used  for  washing 
"  fine  linen,  in  which  aromatic  plants  mav  be  infused,  becomes 
48  of  remarkable  utility  for  the  rachitic  children  of  the  poor.  I 

*  M.  Halle,  in  a  note  on  this  paffage,  obferves,  that  pure  pot-afh,  or 
the  vegetable  alkali,  is  a  mod  powerful  cauftic,  and  cannot  be  ufed  in  thefc 
proportions.  He  found  a  folution  of  only  one-eighth  part  of  the  fait  here 
indicated  was  too  ftroDg  a  lotion  for  the  Ikin  of  an  infant  which  was  very 
irritable.  Citizen  Bonhomme,  upon  inquiry  made,  acquainted  hini  that  the 
pot-afh  he  ufed  was  that  of  the  fhops,  which  is  very  far  from  being  in  a  cauf- 
tic flate.  Probably  it  nicy  be  the  lame  as  the  common  fait  of  tartar  of  moft 
of  our  fhops  in  London,  which  is  nothing  but  pot-afli  or  pearl-aih  difiolvcd 
in  water,  then  filturtd,  and  the  water  driven  off  by  evaporation.  It  accord- 
ingly retains  all  its  falinc  impurities.  N. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  have  seen  the  most  decided  success  result  from  its  use.  Several 
"  children,  who,  after  having  walked  alone,  found  a  difficulty  in, 
*'  supporting  themselves,  were  washed  two  or  three  times  a-day 
M  with  this  lixivium,  and  in  the  space  of  one  or  two  weeks  they 
"  walked  with  ease  and  agility,  &c. 

';  I  have  seen  various  instances  of  children  cured  of  their  dis- 
*'  position  to  rachitis  merely  by  washing  with  alkaline  liquids;  but 
"  in  most  cases  1  have  thought  it  necessary  to  secure  the  first  suc- 
"  cess  by  other  remedies.  When  the  rachitis  has  already  made 
f*  some  progress,  it  is  evident  that  all  the  remedies  must  be  united, 
*'  and  steadiiy  continued.    The  alkaline  lotion  is  a  remedy  the 

more  preferable,  as  it  is  not  at  all  disgusting,  and  scarcely  in  any 
"  respect  troublesome  to  children;  but  the  internal  remedies  pov 
*'  s>ess  superior  elticacy." 

II  the  fa£ls  here  announced  should  be  confirmed  by  further  ex- 
perience, plight  we  not  hope  to  obtain  similar  advantage  in  such 
other  diseases  as  attack  the  substance  of  the  bones,  and  probably 
have  more  analogy'  to  the  rachitis  than  has  been  imagined?  Such 
tux  the  sjilna  ventoja,  scrophulous  tumors  and  caries,  the  difficulties 
in  the  formation  of  the  bony  process,  after  fractures,  slowness  and 
irregularities  of  dentition,  &c.  These  questions,  highly  deserving 
of  investigation,  are  produced  by  the  author  of  tttts  memoir  as 
consequences  of  what  he  has  related.  He  likewise  communicates 
some  useful  notions  respecting  the  cases  in  which  the  other  com- 
binations of  phosphoric  acid  may  be  employed,  such  as  the  phos- 
phates of  iron  and  of  mercury,  concerning  which  experience  has. 
yet  atiorded  him  no  information. 

With  the  same  candour  and  diffidence  as  is  displayed  by  the  au- 
thor of  this  memoir,  we  present  his  experiments  as  essays  worthy 
of  the  attention  of  enlightened  physicians.  We  have  no  doubt 
hut  the  author  will  direct  his  attention  in  future  to  extend  his  proofs 
and  increase  the  degree  of  precision  and  evidence.  And  even  if 
/others  should  go  beyond  him  in  this  important  inquiry,  he  will 
nevertheless  enjoy  the  honour  of  having  begun  it. 

Let  us  conclude  this  abstract  by  a  few  reflections.  It  seems  to 
Us,  that  a  multitude  of  ideas  must  present  themselves  to  him  who 
shall  meditate  on  the  facts  here  displayed.  "Without  dwelling  on 
those  which  are  still  too  hypothetical,  the  single  fait  of  the  transi- 
tion of  calcareous  phosphate  through  the  passages  of  circulation, 
a.:d  consequently  its  solution  in  the  fluids,  and  its  application  to 
the  substance  ol  the  bones,  deserves  the  highest  attention.  The 
means  which  nature  employs  to  render  the  calcareous  phosphate 
soluble  are  well  entitled  to  the  researches  of  chemists:  without 
doubt  its  combination  with  soda  may  have  some  part  in  this  effect; 
but  it  is  not  less  important,  in  this  place,  as  a  remarkable  pheno- 
menon in  the  animal  economy,  which  is  essentially  connected  w  ith 


APPENDIX.  43? 

lAitrition,  and  the  developement  of  our  organs.    If  we  compare 
the  experiments  of  Vauqnelin  on  the  seminal  fluid,  with  those  of 
p'ourcroy  on  the  serosity  ot  milk,  and  more  especially  a  remark- 
able fact  communicated  to  us  by  this  last  chemist,  namely,  that 
the  nearer  the  milk  of  the  human  female  approaches  to  the  period 
of  parturition,  the  more  the  serosity  is  charged  with  calcareous 
phosphate;  and  the  more  remote,  on  the  contrary,  the  time  is, 
from  that  moment,  the  less  is  the  proportion  of  that  substance, 
while  the  other  nutritive  parts  of  which  it  is  composed  are  aug- 
mented in  an  inverse  ratio ;— if  we  consider  tiiat  at  the  epocha  of 
gestation  and  parturition  a  diminution  ot  solidity  takes  place  in 
all  the  articulations  of  the  mother,  and  a  relaxation  o.  the  carti- 
lages; that  fractures  of  tlie  bones  at  this  time  are  most  particularly 
slow  in  uniting  by  the  formation  of  the  callosity;  that  it  is  at  this 
very  time  of  change  in  the  osseous  system  that  the  milk  becomes 
charged  with  calcareous' phosphate,  which  it  loses  in  proportion  as 
the  infant  and  the  mother  become  more  removed- from  the  time  of 
the  birth;  so  that  the  fluids  which  contribute  most  to  the  forma- 
tion, the  growth^  and  the  nutrition  of  the  fcetus,  contain  in  them- 
selves the  essential  principle  of  so'-dicy,  the  elements  of  ossifica- 
tion; and  lastly,  that  it  is  not  till  ti lis  ossification  is  very  distinct, 
and  the  digestive  organs  of  the  infant- are  sufficiently  strengthened 
to  answer  die  purposes  and  the' work  of  animalization,  that  the 
basis  disappears  from  the  milk  of  the  mother; — we  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  acknowledge  a  particular  direction  of  nature,  by  which 
the  calcareous  phosphate  becomes  the'  matter  of  a  peculiar  secre- 
tion, essentially  ordained  to  give  'firmness  to  our  organs,  and  to 
consolidate  the  first  elements  6f  "mail. 

May  these  reflections  impart  to  medical  men  a  conviction  how 
truly  important  the  physical  sciences  may  become  to  their  re- 
searches, though  too  olten  regarded  as  merely  accessary  to  medical 
science  !  May  they  see  the  advantage  and  necessity  of  studying  the 
progress  of  nature  in  these  respects!  For'  it  is  by  these  sciences, 
and  more  especially  by  the  improvements  of  animal  analysis,  which 
are  rapidly  advancing,  that  we  may  probably  expect,  in  a  short  time, 
to  diminish  the  uncertainty  of  a  large  number  of  our  methods  of 
practice,  and,  to  speak  freely,  the  too  frequent  ambiguity  of  our 
conjectures. 


Fol.  I,  No.  3. 


U 


(   438  ) 


ARTICLE  III. 

Ctises  of  the  Anti-svfihilitic  Efficacy  of  the  Nitric  Acid,  by  Mr.  H  A  hi* 

MICK. 

[From  Dr.  Bedttoes'  Reports,  &jV.*j 

CASE  I. 

GEORGE  HALL,  a  Marine,  thirty-nine  years  of  age,  was 
received  into  the  Royal  Hospital  at  Plymouth,  on  the  seven- 
teenth day  of  April,  i  79 7,  for  a  venereal  complaint,  which  he  had 
contracted  about  three  weeks  before;  at  this  time  he  had  a  large, 
irregular,  foul  chancre  oil  the  lower  part  of  the  penis  near  the 
scrotum,  with  an  enlargement  in  the  right  groin;  had  never  taken 
any  medicine,  or  applied  any  thing  to  the  chancre  itself :  the  next 
day,  the  18th  of  April,  he  was  ordered  the  following  dvink; 

Acidi  nitrosi  diluti  drachmas  ij. 

Succi  limonis  unciam  i. 
Aquae  fontana?  libras  ii. 
M.  bibat  quotidie. 

The  ulcer  was  dressed  with  the  simple  white  ointment:  he  conti- 
nued his  drink  daily  to  the  third  of  May,  when  the  diluted  nitric 
acid  was  changed  lor  the  same  quantity  undiluted,  which  he  took, 
with  the  addition  of  syrup,  till  the  eleventh  day  of  May ;  when  his 
chancre  was  healed,  the  enlargement  in  his  groin  could  not  be  felt, 
and  in  every  respect  he  became  well:  he  was  discharged  to  quar- 
ters on  that  day  to  go  on  duty. 

N.  B.  This  man  never  took  agrain  of  mercury. 


CASE  II, 

THOMAS  HOMEWOOD,-  Seaman-,  twenty-six  years  of  age* 
was  received  into  this  Hospital  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  March, 
1797,  for  a  venereal  complaint,  which  he  had  contracted  about  a 
month  before.  He  had  taken  different  medicines  without  effect, 
for  it,  on  board;  the  appearance  of  the  disease  was  a  very  large 

*  See  Medical  Repofitory,  p.  260. 


AFPENDIX. 


439 


and  deep  chancre,  extending  all  the  length  of  the  pen's  on  the  back 
part;  a  large  and  extremely  inflamed  bubo  in  each,  groin,  with  a 
profuse  discharge  of  matter  from  the  urethra,  accompanied  with 
great  heat  in  passing  his  urine.  His  buboes  were  ordered  to  be  fo- 
mented and  poulticed  twice  a  day,  and  two  drachms  of  the  strong 
mercurial  ointment  to  be  well  rubbed  in  on  the  thighs  at  night; 
which  applications  were  continued  to  the  2d  of  April,  when  his  bu- 
boes (now  ready  to  suppurate)  were  touched  with  the  lapis  inferna- 
lis,  and  the  eschars  were  thrown  off  on  the  5th.  The  next  night  he 
used  the  friction  again,  and  continued  it  to  the  10th,  when  I  round 
him  very  weak  and  low,  with  a  violent  cough  and  much  expec- 
toration' of  thick  phlegm  streaked  with  blood,  profuse  sweats,  and 
such  extreme  debility,  as  not  to  be  able  to  raise  himself  from  his 
pillow,  attended  with  diarrhoea.  The  chancre  and  buboes  con- 
tinuing at  the  same  time  very  foul,  the  friction  was  discontinued, 
and  he  was  the  next  day  ordered  the  following  drink: 

Acidi  nitrosi  drachmas  ij. 
Syrupi  simplicis  uncias  viii. 
Aqua:  fontanac  libras  jj. 
M.  Capiat  quotidie. 

The  day  after,  finding  himself  somewhat  better,  the  drink  was 
continued,  and  from  the  above  alarming  symptoms  yielding,  and 
an  entire  alteration  taking  place  both  in  his  health  and  appearance 
of  the  ulcers,  he  took  it  to  the  10th  of  May,  when  he  complained 
the  drink  vomited  him.  The  nitric  acid  was  then  reduced  to  one 
drachm  daily,  which  he  drank  without  any  uneasy  sensation  in  his 
stomach,  and  continued  it  in  that  proportion  to  the  30th  of  May  : 
when  his  buboes  and  chancre  being  healed,  and  all  his  venereal 
complaints  entirely  gone,  the  drink  was  no  longer  used,  and  he 
was  discharged  from  the  Royal  Hospital  on  the  5th  day  of  June, 
in  order  to  join  his  ship. 


CASE  III, 

WILLIAM  FRANKLIN,  Seaman,  thirty-six  years  of  age, 
was  received  into  this  Hospital  on  the  28th  day  of  May,  1  )6ft 
ior  a  venereal  complaint,  which  he  said  had  made  its  appearance 
two  months  before;  for  which  he  had  taken  a  good  deal  of  mercu- 
rial medicines  on  board,  without  the  least  effect:  in  fact,  he  wa» 


44° 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


now,  he  said,  worse  than  at  any  former  period.  On  examining 
him,  I  found  a  bubo  which  had  suppurated  some  time,  and  ap 
peared  to  be  in  a  spreading  state;  chancres  on  the  penis;  excori- 
ations and  ulcers  extended  to  the  scrotum  and  round  the  anus 
which  gave  him  such  intense  pain,  as  to  oblige  him  to  keep  hU  bed, 
only  getting  out  once  a  day  in  order  to  have  it  made.  He  was  or- 
dered the  following  drink: 

Bt 

Acini  nitrosi  drachm,  i  ss. 
Syrupi  simplicis  uncias  viii. 
Decocli  iignorum  libras  ij. 
M.  bibat  quotidie. 

The  excoriated  parts  were  kept  clean.  He  took  this  drink  to  the 
twenty-second  day  of  June,  when  his  bubo,  chancres,  and  excori- 
ations being  healed,  and  finding  himself  in  all  respects  well,  he 
was  discharged  that  day  from  the  Royal  Hospital  in  order  to  join 
his  ship. 


CASE  IV. 

JOHN  WILLIAMS,  a  Marine,  twenty-four  years  of  age,  waj 
received  into  this  Hospital,  on  the  ist  day  of  May,  1797,  for  a 
venereal  complaint,  which  he  had  contracted  ten  days  before.  He 
had  now  enlargements  of  the  glands  in  each  groin,  and  a  chancre 
on  the  prepuce;  had  never  taken  any  medicine,  or  made  any  ap- 
plication to  it ;  the  swelling  in  his  right  groin  was  the  size  of  an 
egg,  and  the  other  in  his  left,  somewhat  smaller.  He  was  ordered 
that  day  the  following  drink : 

Acidi  nitrosi  drachmas  ij. 
Syrupi  simplicis  uncias  viii. 
Aqua  fontanae  libras  ij. 
M.  Bibat  quotidie. 

He  was  strictly  forbidden  to  apply  any  thing  to  the  groins :  he 
took  the  nitric  drink  that  day,  and  continued  it  in  the  same  pro- 
portion daily  to  the  8th  day  of  June,  when  the  indurations  were 
entirely  dispersed  (not  even  the  smaliest  hardness  to  be  felt)  and 
the  chancre  healed.  He  was  discharged  that  day,  viz.  the  8th  day 
of  June,  to  go  to  quarters. 

N.  B.  This  man  had  not  taken  any  mercury. 


THE 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Vol.  I.— No.  IV. 


Page. 

Mineralogical  Sketch  of  New- 


York  continued  445 

On  the  Bilious  Fever  and  Dy- 
fentery  at  Sheffield,  in  1796  453 

Medical  Effays,  No.  II.— On  the 
GrenadaFeverof  1793 &1794  471 

On  the  Fever'St  Jamaica,  in 
1793.  1794,  and  1795  ...  496 

On  the  Mercurial  Practice  in 
New-England  500 

On  the  Fever  at  Newbury-Port 
i.n  1796  504 

Singular  Cafes  of  Difeafe  in  In- 
fancy  507 

A  Cafe  of  the  fame  511 

On  the  Chemical  Difputes  rela- 
tive to  Phlogifton  514 

Dr.  Prieftley's  Reply  521 

On  the  Epidemics  of  Beth- 
lem,  Connecticut  523 

On  the  Climate  of  the  North- 
Weftern  Lakes,  with  Thef- 
mometrical  Gbfervations  .  .  536 

REVIEW. 

Yates  and  Maclean's  View  of 
the  Science  of  Life  531 


Page. 


Prieftley  on  Phlogifton,  P.  II.  541 
Woodhoufe's  Young  Chemift's 

Pocket  Companion  $4* 

Huger  on  Gangrene  and  Mor- 
tification  543 

Logan  on  Rotation  of  Crops  .  545 
Bordley  on  the  fame  .  .  .  .  '.  546 
Browne  on  Yellow  Fever  .  .  .  547 
Cooper  on  Stramonium  ....  550 

Stock  on  Cold  55a 

Johnfon  on  Fixed  Air  ....  553 
Proceedings  of  the  College  of 

Phyficians  of  Philadelphia  .  556 
Walker  on  Sterility  ibid 

Meteorological  Obfervations  .  557 
Table  of  Hofpital  Fatients  .  .  560 
Return  of  Difpenfary  Patients  564 

MEDICAL  NEWS. 

Domeftic  567 

Foreign  573 

Correfpondence  j8» 


NEW-  YORK: 
Printed  by  T.  &  J.  SWORDS,  Printers  to  the  Faculty  of  Phyfic  of  Colum- 
bia College,  No.  99  Pearl-ftreet. 


5Cf?  The  Cofiy-Right  of  each  Number  of  the  Medical  Reposi- 
tory is  regularly  secured  according  to  law. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


'It  was  the  dejign  of  the  Editors  to  give,  with  the  prefcnl 
Number  of  the  Repository,  a  general  Title-page,  Index, 
and  Lift  of  Subfcribers.  Two  circumftances  have  prevent- 
ed its  execution  at  this  time: — A  difappointment  in  rcfpecJ 
to  paper,  which  delayed  the  printing  till  there  was  only  time 
for  completing  this  number,  and  the  non-reception  of  the 
fubfcription-papers  from  feveral parts  of  the  country*  The 
delivery,  therefore,  of  the  Title-page,  &c.  is  neceffarily 
deferred  till  the  publication  of  the  firft  number  of  the  fecond 
volume,  which  they  will  certainly  accompany ;  and,  in  the 
mean  time,  the  Editors  once  more  requefi  that  the  names  of 
thofe  Subfcribers,  which  hitherto  have  not  been  fent  to  them, 
may  be  forwarded. 


New-York,  May  i,  1798. 


ERRATA. 

Page  460,  line  13  from  the  bottom,  for  "  more"  read  men 
Page  496  is  erroneously  marked  471. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

Vol.  I.— No.  IV. 


ARTICLE  I, 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  MINER ALOGICAL  HISTORY  OF 
THE  STATE  OF  NEW-YORK. 

By  Samuel  L.  Mitchill. 

[Continued  from  p.  314.] 

5.  The  Alluvial  Trafls. 

TTJY  the  term  alluvial,  is  understood,  not  merely  the  substances 
JJ3  brought  down  to  the  vallies,  by  the  wash  of  rivulets  and 
rains,  and  the  crumbling  to  dust  of  the  hills  and  mountains,  but 
the  matters  formed  from  the  growth  of  plants,  in  low,  swampy, 
and  intervale  spaces,  adjacent  to  lakes  and  rivers. 

And,  first,  of  the  vegetable  matter  collected  in  wet  and  marshy 
places.  This  is  frequently  of  an  inflammable  nature,  and  answers 
very  well  for  fuel.  When  used  for  burning,  it  is  called  peat  or 
turf.  If  employed  in  fertilizing  the  ground,  it  is  termed  swamp 
manure.  The  true  history  of  this  substance  has  not  been  gene- 
rally well  understood,  for  it  has  been  commonly  classed  with  mine- 
ral substances,  though  Mr.  Kirwan,  who  retains  it  in  his  mine- 
ralogy, (Elements,  &x.  Part  iii.  sp.  xi.  and  xii.)  has  removed  it 
from  the  class  of  earths,  where  it  had  been  placed  before,  to  the 
class  of  inflammables.  "  There  are,"  says  he,  "  two  sorts  of  inflam- 
"  mable  substances,  known  by  the  name  of  4  peat.'  The  first 
"  and  principal  is  of  a  brown  or  black  colour,  found  in  a  moorv 
"  ground,  and  when  fresh,  of  a  viscid  consistence,  but  hardens, 
W  by  exposure  to  the  air.  It  consists  of  clay,  mixed  with  calcare- 
**  ous  earth  and  pyrites,  and  sometimes  contains  common  salt. 
M  While  soft,  it  is  formed  into  oblong  pieces,  and  the  pyritaceoui 
"  and  stony  matters  are  separated.  When  distilled,  it  affords  wa- 
**  ter,  acid,  oil,  and  volatile  alkali,  and  its  ashes  contain  a  small 
"  proportion  of  fixed  alkali.  They  are  cither  white  or  red,  ac- 
"  cording  as  it  contains  more  or  less  ochre  or  pyrites.  It  is  found 
"  in'  Scotland,  Holland,  and  Germany.  Another  sort  is  found. 
"  near  Newberry,  in  Berkshire,     [t  contains  but  little  earth,  but 

V4.  I.  No.  4.'  B 


4+6 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


"  consists  chiefly  of  wood-branches,  twigs,  roots  of  trees,  with 
"  leaves,  grass,  straw,  and  weeds."  "  Turf,"  continues  he,  "  con- 
"  si'.ts  of  inoiikl,  interwoven  with  the  roots  of  vegetables.  When 
t!  these  roots  are  of  the  bulbous  kind,  or,  in  large  proportion,  they 
"  form  the  looser  and  worst  kind  of  turf;  but  when  mixed  with 
"  a  considerable  proportion  of  peat,  form  what  is  called  Stone- 
"  turf.  It  at  first  hardens,  but  at  last  crumbles,  by  long  expo- 
"  sure  to  the  air."  The  compilers  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britan- 
nica  (page  1896.)  have  inserted  the  following  remarks  on  this 
substance :  "  There  are  very  considerable  varieties  of  peat,  pro- 
"  ceeding  probably  from  the  admixture  of  different  minerals;  for 
"  the  substance  of  peat  is  plainly  of  vegetable  origin.  Whence  it 
<;  is  found  to  answer  for  smelting  of  ores,  and  the  reduction  of 
"  metallic  calces,  nearlv  in  the  same  manner  as  the  coals  of  wood, 
"&c." 

An  accidental  occurrence  satisfied  the  mind  of  the  Commis- 
sioner, as  to  the  particular  plant  entering  largely  into  the  consti- 
tution of  peat-bogs.  Some  time  in  the  year  1 786,  as  he  was  tra- 
velling in  the  western  parts  of  Scotland,  after  his  return  from  the 
Highlands,  in  company  with  two  of  his  friends,  they  directed, 
their  walk  on  foot  from  Greenock,  across  the  country  to  Paisley. 
During  this  excursion,  they  crossed  an  extensive  bog  of  peat  or  turf, 
not  far  to  the  westward  of  this  town;  and  there  remarked  for  the 
first  time,  that  the  uppermost  stratum  of  peat  consisted  of  small 
plants,  which,  though  dead,  were  in  a  state  of  intire  preservation. 
Their  particular  shape,  their  genus  and  species,  could  be  plainly 
distinguished.  The  principal  among  them  was  the  sphagnum pa- 
lustre,  which,  upon  examination,  constituted  almost  the  whole  of 
that  deep  and  extensive  bog.  On  examining  beds  of  turf  in  Ame- 
rica, the  same  observation  has  been  verified  by  numerous  obser- 
vations of  these  plants,  in  their  living  as  well  as  decayed  state.  He 
thinks  himself  warranted  in  conducing  the  basis  of  peat  and  turf 
to  be  the  sort  .of  moss  called,  by  Linna;us,  sphagnum  palustre, 
(Sp.  Plantar,  p.  1 570.)  "  which,"  that  author  says,  "  grows  in  the 
"  deep  bogs  and  tens  of  Europe." 

This  plant  delights  to  grow  in  wet,  low,  or  swampy  places,  and 
requires  for  its  support  a  plentiful  supply  of  water.  It  11  ill  also 
thrive  in  elevated  situations,  if  sufficiently  moistened.  For,  on 
high  mountains,  where  water  is  so  plentifully  condensed  as  to  pre- 
serve constant  wetness,  the  sphagnum  grows  vigorously.  When 
a  plantation  of  these  vegetables  is  formed  on  a  low-land  bottom, 
the  parent  plants,  after  producing  and  maturing  their  seeds,  die, 
and  form  a  soil  ior  their  offspring  to  grow  upon ;  for  as  it  has  been 
long  ago  ascertained,  that  some  vegetables  can  grow  without  being 
rooted  in  earth,  it  is  here  found,  that  dead  moss  answers  all  the 
purposes  of  a  soil  for  the  new  generation  of  moss  to  grow  upon. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


447 


DJtera  while,  this  crop  of  plants  dies,  and  adds  to  the  increase  or 
the  vegetable  matter  beneath ;  and  thus,  from  year  to  year,  the 
process  goes  on,  the  old  plants  decaying,  and  forming  a  soil  ior  the 
seeds  they  left  to  sprout  in;  until,  by  degrees,  a  bog  of  moss  be 
formed.  And  this  happens,  because  the  plant  which  had  lived  in 
water  does  not  very  speedily  corrupt  in  it,  but  continues  to  accumu- 
late layer  upon  layer.  It  hence  follows,  that  the  depth  of  the  bog 
will  be  proportional  to  the  number  of  successive  decays  of  these 
■swampv  productions,  and  to  the  circumstances  favourable  to  their 
thriftiness. 

In  its  fresh  and  living  state,  it  retains  water  like  a  sponge ;  and, 
on  account  of  its  being  so  retentive  of  moisture,  it  becomes  a  soil 
for  aquatic  plants  of  various  sorts,  which  absorb  nourishment 
from  the  water,  and  other  matters  inherent  in  the  moss.  These 
vegetables  taking  root,  growing  in  the  peat,  and  decaying  there, 
give  to  it  the  mingled  appearance  of  roots,  leaves,  stalks,  branches, 
bark,  trees,  and  other  extraneous  substances,,  so  frequently  blend- 
ed with  it. 

When  peat  is  left  to  itself,  to  grow  in  the  natural  way,  it  fre- 
quently rises  many  feet  above  the  original  surface  of  earth;  and 
the  stratum  continues  to  enlarge  and  thicken,  as  long  as  there  is 
water  enough  to  keep  the  moss  alive.  When  this  fails,  the  plants 
die,  and  the  process  stops;  for,  after  it  is  raised  considerably 
above  the  level  of  the  springs  that  feed  it,  the  rain  of  the  season  is 
neither  regular  nor  copious  enough  to  supply  the  demand  both  of 
it  and  the  plants  rooted  on  it;  they  consequently  perish.  There- 
fore, the  ditching  of  swamps  and  meadows  where  the  sphagnum 
grows,  will  drain  off  its  requisite  supply  of  water,  and  quickly  de- 
stroy it;  and  it  is  accordingly  observed,  that  where  such  low 
lands  are,  by  art,  rendered  fit  for  manuring,  pasture,  or  tillage,  the 
growth  of  peat  is  stopped,  and  a  sward  of  grasses  is  formed  above 
the  inflammable  matters,  which  isthereafter  wholly  concealed  from 
sight,  and  is  never  to  be  seen  until  after  the  sod  is  dug  away. 

As  the  peat  is  thus  formed,  layer  over  layer,  in  the  course  of 
successive  vegetations,  it  can  be  easily  explained  how  trunks  of 
trees,  fossil  wood,  and  bodies  and  bones  of  animals,  came  to  be  bu- 
ried so  deep  below  the  present  surface;  because,  at  the  same  time, 
when  the  trees  fell,  and  animals  died,  in  the  places  where  they  are 
now  found,  they  were  upon  the  top,  and,  by  the  perpetual  growth 
of  the  plants  around,  they  have,  in  many  places,  become  covered 
to  a  great  depth. 

It  there  is  any  difference  between  peat  and  turf,  it  consists  in 
the  degree  of  putrefaction,  to  which  the  former  has  been  sub- 
jected more  completely  than  the  latter;  and  has  lost,  therefore  more 
of  a  vegetable  appearance,  and  become  more  completely  divested 
of  its  organic  nature.    As  the  other  vegetables  growing  in  the 


448  Medical  repository. 

sphagnum,  have  each  of  them  somewhat  of  peculiar  qualities,  it 
must  follow,  that  /«//,  when  chemically  examined,  will  afford  a 
greater  difference  of  result,  and  this  variety  will  be  rendered  yet 
greater  by  the  mixture  of  earths,  stones,  and  other  mineral  sub- 
stances, which  the  winds  and  torrents  have  carried  among  it. 

From  ail  these  particulars  it  will  be  apparent,  that  both  turf  and 
peat,  when  pure,  ought  to  be  considered  merely  as  a  residuum  of 
decayed  vegetables.  That  the  minerals  frequently  found  in  it,  are 
foreign  and  casual  admixtures,  by  no  means  essential  to  its  na- 
ture, and  that  it  ought  not  to  be  considered  as  a  mineral  produc- 
tion, nor  classed  as  such  in  the  systems:  but  tlrat  the  clay,  marl, 
pyrites,  and  other  fossil  bodies  found  among  it,  should  be  referred 
to  their  proper  places  in  the  mineralogical  arrangement. 

On  this  subject,  there  appears  a  propriety  in  suggesting  a  few 
practical  hints.  As  wood  grows  scarce,  and  our  State  is  not 
known  to  abound  in  coal,  the  sphagnum  might  be  cultivated  for 
fuel  in  wet  grounds  and  swamps  that  now  lie  waste,  and  perhaps 
will  never  be  cultivated.  If  tiiis  should  ever  be  attended  to  as  aa 
economical  matter,  the  cultivator  should  not  suffer  cattle  to  tread 
it,  nor  foreign  plants  to  overgrow  it,  nor  w  ater  to  be  drained  from 
it;  but  clear  the  swamp  of  the  peat  as  soon  as  it  has  risen  above  the 
moistening  influence  of  the  springs,  and  be  ever  careful  to  re- 
move the  upper  paring,  containing  the  living  plants,  to  some  wet 
and  suitable  spot  for  propagation. 

But  though  the  sphagnum  has  so  much  agency  in  filling  up  wet 
and  iow  places,  it  is  by  no  means  the  only  plant  which  acts  id 
that  way.  There  are  many  other  small  and  obscure  vegetables, 
which,  by  their  number:,  add  considerably  to  the  bulk  of  matter 
accumulated  in  these  spots.  Many  of  the  grasses  taking  root,  and 
increasing  upon  such  bottoms,  form,  in  process  of  time,  bogs, 
hassocks,  or  a  sort  oi  sward,  which  contribute  no  less  to  the  di- 
versity, than  to  the  increase  of  these  swampy  productions.  When 
scrubs  and  trees,  of  various  kinds,  as  well  as  animal  plants,  gain 
r.n  establishment  in  these  soils,  the  qualities  and  appearance  of  the 
latter  undergo  additional  variation. 

In  this  way  are  many  considerable  portions  of  sand,  furnished 
with  a  covering  of  vegetable  matter,  w  ith  very  little  foreign  ad- 
mixture. But  a  more  common  case  is,  that  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  low  placer,  there  are  high  grounds  and  mountains,  trcm  which 
there  is  a  constant  descent  of  the  matters  ol  which  they  consist  to 
the  vallics. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of  the  inequalities  at  present 
existing  on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  observation  teaches,  that  the 
hills  and  mountains  are  generally  in  a  crumbling  condition,  and 
descending  gradually  to  the  plains  below.  The  chief  agents  in 
rkis  process,  which  is  incessantly  changing  the  face  cf  things,  are, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


449 


i.  The  undermining  of  waters.  2.  The  washing  of  rains  and 
•torrents;  and,  3.  The  irresistible  force  of  frost. 

The  undermining  operation  of  the  ocean  water,  is  very  evident 
on  the  south  side  of  Montauk-point,  at  the  east  end,  and  on  both 
bides  of  Cow-bay,  on  the  north  side  of  Long-Island,  and  in  many 
other  places  which  it  would  be  easy  to  enumerate.  Instances  of 
the  effecT:  of  streams  and  rivers,  in  altering  the  disposition  of  the 
solid  materials  through  which  they  run,  occur  at  Passaick  Falls, 
above  Second  River,  in  New-Jersey,  where  huge  masses  o{  rocks 
are  evidently  displaced;  at  Kaat's-Kill,  where  part  of  a  hill  has 
fallen  down ;  and  in  various  places  in  the  Blue  Mountains,  where, 
after  the  more  soft,  moveable  substances  that  had  lain  below,  have 
been  carried  off  by  the  rains  and  floods,  solid  fragments  of  the  ma- 
terials that  are  deprived  of  their  support,  tumble  down,  and  seek 
the  level  of  the  plains. 

Bv  the  force  of  waters,  descending  from  hills  and  mountains,  the 
firm  materials  forming  the  channels  and  sides  of  the  streams  are 
incessantly  wearing  away.  Sandy  and  moveable  matters,  washed 
by  rains  from  the  mountain  tops,  leave  the  more  durable  rocks  be- 
hind, in  all  their  rudeness  and  nakedness.  Every  shower  that  falls 
denudes  more  and  more  of  the  rocks,  by  carrying  down  constantly 
the  loose  materials  that  cover  them.  Each  rill  and  brook,  how- 
ever small  or  insignificant,  that  trickles  along,  labours,  with  ail  the 
force  it  possesses,  in  the  same  work  of  alteration.  Whatever  of 
earthv,  saline,  metallic,  or  inflammable,  the  soil  of  the  upland  con- 
tains, is  thus  floated  or  rolled  along  to  the  low  lands,  and  constitutes, 
with  proportional  diversity  and  niixture,  theintermontane  soil.  The 
bars  of  arenaceous  matter  off  Sandy -Hook,  where  the  Hudson 
joins  the  Atlantic,  and,  at  the  disemboguement  of  most  great  ri- 
vers, are  plain  confirmations  of  this  procedure;  as  are  the  shallows 
between  the  bays  of  Tappan  and  Haverstraw,  and  the  Overslaghs, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Albany.  The  formation  of  deep  and 
large  gulleys  on  the  side-hills  of  farms,  the  hardening  of  miry 
places,  the  filling  up  of  ponds,  the  consolidation  of  sloughs  and 
quagmires,  are  all  of  them  confirmations  of  the  reality  and  extent 
of  these  operations.  Alluvial  deposits  of  this  nature  will  neces- 
sarily be  as  various  as  are  the  ingredients  of  soil  which  thev  wash. 
Accordingly,  where  clay,  in  large  quantity,  has  been  suspended  in, 
arid  diffused  through  water,  it  has  formed  on  its  deposition  vast 
-strata,  which  underlay  great  tracts  of  level  country.  Thus,  the 
flat,  between  the  basaltic  rocks  and  Stony-point,  at  Haverstraw, 
appears  to  be  wholly  underlaid  by  argillaceous  strata,  which,  as 
tneir  edges  appear  along  the  shore,  are  not  yet  hardened  enough 
to  withstand  the  impression  of  the  walker's  foot.  Much  of  the  le- 
vel country  between  Red-Hook  and  Greenbush,  is  evidently  bot- 
tomed on  a  stratum  of  clay.    The  tract  between  Albany  and  Sche- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


neclady,  has  a  stiff  and  thick  layer  of  clay  beneath.  The  same 
remark  applies  to  the  space,  lying  for  some  miles  beyond  the  Mo- 
hawk River,  toward  the  Ball-town  Springs;  and  to  the  great  col- 
lections of  similar  earthy  matter,  lying  westward  along  the  Hat 
country,  between  the  Upper  Falls  and  Fort  Stanwix.  It  would  be 
easy  to  give  other  instances  of  extensive  strata  of  argillaceous  al- 
luvia, but  these  appear  to  be  sufficient. 

When  silicious  sand  is  the  prevailing  matter  which  the  floods 
bringdown,  then  the  soil  will  consist  chicrly  of  this,  as  in  all  the 
instances  just  enumerated,  where,  since  the  argillaceous  layers  were 
deposited,  a  stratum  of  loose  sand,  of  considerable  thickness,  has 
been  strewed  over  their  surface,  and,  in  most  places,  completely 
covers  it  up. 

Where  clay  and  sand,  instead  of  being  deposited  successively  in 
separate  layers,  as  in  these  instances,  have  subsided  from  their  wa- 
try  connection  in  mixture  with  each  other,  they  form  hams  of 
different  degrees  of  friability  or  stiffness,  as  the  silicious  or  argilla- 
ceous ingredient  happens  to  predominate.  And  this  is  by  far  the 
most  common  case  that  occurs;  the  mixtureof  clay  and  sand  form- 
ing the  rule;  and  the  occurrence  of  them  in  their  separate  states 
being  the  exception. 

If  water  4ssues  from  hills,  consisting  of  calcareous  earth,  or 
abounding  in  lime-stone,  it  follows,  from  the  known  solubility  of 
this  substance  in  that  menstruum,  that  a  portion  of  it  must,  in  such 
form,  be  conveyed  to  the  country  below.  While,  in  addition  to 
this,  whatever  portions  of  calcareous  rock  had  been  broken  off, 
and  reduced  to  a  smaliness  sufficient  to  be  moved  by  the  currents, 
will  be  dragged  down  their  channels,  and  eventually  reach  the 
plains.  In  these  ways,  the  calcareous  earth  seems  to  have  been 
deposited  in  some  mooryand  swampy  bottoms,  in  quantity  enough 
to  constitute,  with  the  other  matters  it  meets  with,  marles  of  vari- 
ous kinds  and  goodness. 

In  several  spots  along  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Mo- 
hawk, the  ferruginous  sand  which  may  be  collected  in  consider- 
able quantities,  affords  evidence  enough  of  the  abrasion  of  iron 
from  the  places  where  its  ore  abounds.  This  metai,  in  the  form 
of  o.xyd,  or  ochre,  or  sulphate,  thus  joins  itself  to  the  other  mate- 
vials  of  alluvial  strata;  or,  in  the  lorm  of  chalybeate  water,  imparts 
to  them  its  tincture  and  impregnation.  Bog-ore,  (Ferrum  Tubal- 
Caine)  has  evidently  been  deposited,  and  accumulated,  where  it 
now  abounds,  by  the  operation  of  similar  causes,  rather  than,  as 
some  ingenious  persons  liave  imagined,  from  the  decomposition  of 
organic  matter. 

Another  agent,  in  forming  these  secondary  accidental  strata,  is 
the  expansion  of  water,  as  it  consolidates  to  ice.  The  crys- 
tals, into  winch  it  shoots,  on  its  congelation,  are  so  arranged  in 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


4$i 


respect  to  each  other,  that  they  are  incapable  of  being  contained 
in  a  space  as  small  as  the  water  occupied.  On  the  withdrawing 
of  heat  to  a  certain  degree,  there  necessarily  follows  an  assumption  oi 
this  crystallized  figure  by  the  water;  and,  consequently,  an  en- 
largement of  its  volume.  The  force  which  ice  is  capable  of  ex- 
ercising, when  compressed  or  confined  in  such  circumstances, 
exceeds  all  calculation.  Nothing  appears  either  too  heavy  for  it 
to  lift,  or  too  strong  for  it  to  break.  The  time  when  it  is  parti- 
cularly a£tive  in  splitting  rocks,  and  tearing  down  the  structure  of 
mountains,  is  when,  after  falls  of  snow,  there  succeeds  a  day  warm 
enough  to  melt  it,  or  rain  in  sufficient  quantity  to  fill  the  chinks 
and  fissures.  Whenever  the  vacuities  are  thus  penetrated  by  wa- 
ter, and  a  freezing  night,  or  continuance  of  cold  weather  suc- 
ceeds, the  hardened  water  being  under  necessity  to  occupy  more 
space  than  before,  rends  the  masses  of  rocks  asunder.  If  the 
strata  between  which  it  has  insinuated  itself  are  horizontal,  it  elevates 
the  upper  ones;  if  perpendicular,  it  crouds  them  apart:  if  on  the 
side  of  a  precipice,  the  unsupported  portion,  on  the  instant  of  its 
separation,  rushes  down  with  impetuosity,  to  find  a  resting  place 
below.  Occurrences  of  this  kind  are  frequent  in  our  mountains, 
and  among  the  basaltic  rocks  in  particular.  The  noise  of  the  falling 
fragments  is  often  heard  to  a  considerable  distance.  Nor  does  the 
operation  of  frost  confine  itself  to  the  dislodgment  of  rocks  in  large 
portions.  Wherever  water  can  penetrate  the  open  texture  of  free- 
stone, or  find  its  way  among  the  bibulous  or  porous  particles  of 
calcareous  and  argillaceous  rocks,  there,  during  the  season  when 
melting  heats  are  rapidly  followed  by  hardening  colds,  the  solid 
masses  become  reduced  to  a  powdery  consistence,  and  their  sur- 
face crumbles  away  in  the  form  of  gravel,  grit,  or  sand.  The 
vestiges  of  this  process  are  so  frequent  in  the  mountains,  that  as 
the  Commissioner  saw  rock  detaching  itself  from  rock,  and  parti- 
cle receding  from  particle,  these  scenes  of  decay  and  ruin  im- 
pressed him,  in  the  strongest  manner,  of  the  revolution  which, 
even  in  his  own  time,  and  before  his  own  eyes,  the  world  is  un- 
dergoing. 

In  giving  an  account  of  the  substances  which  enter  into  the 
composition  of  these  recent  strata,  and  the  sources  whence  they 
are  derived,  the  tinclure  which  the  mineral  and  vegetable  matters 
composing  them,  receive  from  the'addition  of  animal  substances, 
must  not  be  omitted. 

These  moist  and  level  spaces  now  described,  are  exceedingly 
well  adapted  to  be  the  dwelling-places  of  animals;  plenty  of  vege- 
tables for  them  to  feed  on,  and  of  water  to  live  in,  make  many  of 
these  spots  teem  with  creeping  things.  The  speedy  death  and  re- 
novation of  many  tribes  of  these  living  creatures,  in  numberless 
swarms  and  multitudes,  however  small  the  individual  may  be, 


4Sa  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

give  an  -idea  in  the  aggregate  of  a  vast  sum  of  animal  matter.  My- 
riads ol  these,  viewless  and  unknown,  after  having  ceased  to  per- 
form the  functions  of  life,  go  into  the  common  mass  of  extrane- 
ous substances.  When  they  are  of  the  testaceous  kinds,  their  cal- 
careous coverings,  mingling  with  the  other  materials  of  the  soil, 
and  crumbling,  by  degrees,  to  dust,  constitute  shell-marl,  (Hu- 
mus Conchateus.)  Where  large  quantities  of  animal  substances 
have  decayed  in  any  spot  so  frequently,  as  that  their  relicks  form 
the  greater  part  of  the  upper  stratum  of  earth,  the  product  is  ani- 
mal-mould, (Humus  Animalis.)  If,  in  such  situations,  animals 
have  died  bemired,  or  in  any  other  way,  their  ribs  and  thighs,  dis- 
coverable by  digging,  several  feet  beneath  the  present  level  of  the 
surface,  as  at  the  Wall-Kill,  satisfy  us  of  the  reality  of  these  accre- 
tions, but  leave  us  oftentimes  doubtful  of  the  species  of  creature 
whose  bones  are  under  examination. 

(  To  be  continued.) 


(    453  ) 


ARTICLE  II. 


An  Account  of  the  BILIOUS  FEVER  and  DYSENTERY,  -which 
prevailed  in  Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  i  796. 

By  William  Buel,  Physician. 

TN  a  letter  to  Mr.  Smith,  published  in  Mr.  Webster's  Col- 
_J_  leftion  of  papers  on  the  subject  of  bilious  fevers,  I  have  given 
some  account  of  the  febrile  disorders  which  prevailed  in  Sheffield, 
in  the  years  1793,  1794,  and  1795. 

In  a  country  town,  where  the  air  is  not  rendered  insalubrious 
by  a  great  number  of  inhabitants  being  crouded  into  a  small  space, 
and  where  habits  of  indolence  and  luxury  have  not  sown  the  seeds 
of  disease,  a  sickness,  affecting  even  so  great  a  proportion  of  in- 
habitants as  that  which  prevailed  in  those  years,  is  a  rare  occur- 
rence. But  one  so  nearly  universal,  and  attended  with  so  great  a 
mortality,  as  that  winch  makes  the  subject  of  this  communication, 
is  perhaps  unequalled  in  the  annals  of  our  country. 

To  describe  the  history  of  the  sickness  which  prevailed  in  the 
•year  1 796,  with  as  much  correctness  as  the  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject deserves,  it  would  be  requisite  to  premise  a  minute  and  cir- 
cumstantial topographical  description  of  that  portion  of  country 
where  it  appeared;  a  correct:  account  of  the  disorders  which  had 
been  prevalent  in  the  preceding  years;  and  results  of  meteorological 
and  other  observations  relative  to  the  air  and  weather,  accurately 
made  for  each  of  the  preceding  sickly  years;  materials  lor  which 
I  have  to  regret  that  I  am  not  in  possession  of. 

The  necessity  for  these  things  becomes,  however,  in  some  mea- 
sure removed,  when  we  recollect  that  the  principal  cause  of  the 
sickness,  which  has  so  severely  afflicted  the  people  of  a  part  of 
Sheffield,  for  several  years  past,  admits  of  the  most  conclusive 
demonstration.  There  are  tew  points  in  Medicine,  more  firmly 
established  than  that  of  the  mischievous  effects  of  marsh  effluvia. 

I'or  an  account  of  the  sickness  of  the  preceding  years,  I  shall 
refer  to  my  letter  published  in  Mr.  Webster's  Collection,  and  shall 
attempt 

A  sketch  of  the  situation  of  that  hart  of  Sheffield,  which  was  the  scene 
of  sickness  in  I  796,  with  a  few  remarks  relative  to  the  weather  of 
that  year. 

The  part  of  the  town  in  which  the  sickness  prevailed,  is  almost 
a  ptrkct  level.    The  river  Housatonak,  whose  width  is  gene- 
rally between  thirty  and  tortv  yards,  runs  through  it  in  a  sor- 
t's/. I.  No.  4.     '  C 


454 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


pentiae  direction,  and  with  a  very  gentle  current.  Its  banks  at 
low  water,  are  from  eight  to  fifteen  feet  high ;  the  bottom,  for  the 
most  part,  is  soft  and  muddy;  and  its  depth  such  as  to  make  it 
fordable  in  but  a  few  places.  On  each  side  of  this  river,  there  is 
a  considerable  extent  of  luxuriant  meadow  ground,  whose  surface 
is  generally  overflowed  when  the  snow  melts  in  the  spring,  and 
sometimes  by  freshets,  at  other  times  in  the  year.  This  meadow 
ground  is  all  much  interspersed  with  coves  or  pools,  which  are 
left,  after  the  subsiding  ol  the  flood,  full  of  stagnant  water.  The 
water  contained  in  these  coves,  which  are,  in  (aft,  great  reservoirs 
of  animal  and  vegetable  filth,  is,  in  the  course  of  the  summer^  eva- 
porated from  some  to  dryness,  from  others  nearly  so,  and  from  all 
in  a  degree  proportioned  to  the  dryness  of  the  summer. 

Beside  the  meadows  adjoining  the  river  Housatonak,  there  are 
6everal  other  streams  which  run  through  large  tracts  of  flat  and" 
very  marshy  land.  On  one  of  these  streams  towards  the  north 
part  of  the  town,  is  the  mill-pond  which  appeared  to  be  the  com- 
mon center  of  the  sickness  in  1 796,  and  the  preceding  sickly  years. 
This  pond  overflows  a  large  tract  of  land  which  was  formerly 
covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  timber,  ^ind  other  vegetable 
productions,  and  which  are  all  now  dead  and  in  a  state  of  disso- 
lution, in  consequence  of  the  action  of  the  water  upon  them.* 
Whenever  a  dry  season  occurs,  the  water  recedes  from  almost  the 
whole  of  the  land  last  flowed,  and  leaves  the  whole  mass  of  dead 
animal  and  vegetable  substances  lying  on  its-  surface,  exposed  to 
the  action  of  a  scorching  sun. 

From  a  view  of  this  state  of  things,  it  is  not  unnatural  or  unphi- 
losophical,  to  expect  the  commencement  of  a  putrefactive  process 
upon  an  immensely  large  scale.  That  this  effect  does  in  fact  take 
place,  is  demonstrable,  not  only  by  our  reasoning  faculty,  but  by 
the  testimony  of  our  senses.  The  faetor  which  arises  from  the 
surface  of  this  drowned  land,  when  made  bare  by  dry  and  hot 
weather,  is  extremely  disagreeable  and  offensive  to  all  who  ap- 
proach its  borders.  It  is  strongly  perceptible  to  travellers  who 
pass  on  the  roads  within  its  vicinity.  The  stench  is  smelled  by  the 
inhabitants,  at  times,  even  to  the  distance  of  half  a  mile.  An  ex- 
posure to  the  effects  of  this  noxious  effluvium,  contiguous  to  its 
source,  not  unfrequently,  in  the  year  1796,  produced  immediate 
nausea  and  vomiting.    A  man  who  spent  a  few  days  at  the  house 

*  It  is  important  that  it  fliould  be  remarked  in  this  place,  that  this  pond, 
although  it  was  originally  raised  about  the  time  of  the  firft  fettlement  of  the 
town,  which  is  between  fixty  and  feventy  years  ago,  was,  when  the  dam  was 
rebuilt,  about  twelve  years  fince,  raifed  about  feven  feet  perpendicular,  by 
which  means  the  water  fpread  over  a  much  greater  extent,  of  furface,  than 
it  had  done  antecedently  to  that  time.  It  is  on  the  land  laft  flowed,  that  the 
fubftances,  to  which  I  allude,  exift. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY 


455 


•I  a  relation  of  his  residing  near  the  pond,  told  me,  that  while 
traversing  the  banks  of  the  pond  in  pursuit  of  game,  he  experi- 
enced a  stench  so  excessively  offensive,  that  it  immediately  pro- 
duced nausea  and  vomiting,  which  he  was  nqt  entirely  tree  from, 
until  he  was  attacked  with  bilious  fever,  at  his  own  house,  in  a 
very  healthy  part  of  the  town. 

I  will,  as  well  as  lam  able  from  memory,  make  a  few  remarks, 
relative  to  tire  spring  and  summer  of  1796,  which,  perhaps,  may 
not  be  totally  unconnected  with  the  sickness  of  that  year. 

■In  the  latter  part  of  spring,  when,  in  common  years,  we  have 
mild  and  pleasant  weather,  suited  to  bring  forward  the  productions 
of  the  earth,  we  this  year  had,  almost  uniformly,  cold,  cloudy, 
and  rainy  weather.  The  spring  of  course  was  very  backward. 
We  had  such  an  excess  of  rain  even  through  the  month  of  June, 
that  all  our  streams,  ponds,  coves,  and  marshes,  were  kept  very 
"full,  and  even  our  drye-t  land  was  highly  surcharged  with  water. 
But  from  the  beginning  of  July  forward,  we  began  to  suffer  from 
the  other  extreme:  we  very  seldom  had  rain,  and  Uniformly  the 
weather  was  intensely  hot,  particularly  in  the  month  of  August. 
In  all  the  latter  part  of  summer,  and  beginning  of  autumn,  the 
earth  was  not  refreshed  by  rain,  nor  the  air  by  thunder  and  light- 
ning. Indeed,  the  oldest  person  living  does  not,  perhaps,  re- 
member a  summer  in  which  there  was  so  little  thunder  and  iight- 
ning.  The  drowth  was  so  great,  that  vegetation  was  much  in- 
jured; grazing  grounds  particularly  were  parched  almost  to  perfect 
dryness.  The  springs  and  streams  were  so  much  dryed  up,  in 
many  places,  that  it  was  with  great  dirficulty  that  water  could  be 
procured  for  cactle. 

In  the  month  of  September,  we  were  almost  every  night  en- 
veloped in  thickest  fogs.''5'  Such  abundant  evaporation  of  water 
rendered  the  nights  and  mornings,  until  the  sun  had  dispersed  the 
fogs,  most  intensely  cold ;  while,  at  mid-day,  we  were  scorched  with 
an  intolerably  hot  sun. 

Mosquetoes,  which  are  always  remarkably  thick  about  the 
stagnant  waters  of  this  town,  were  this  year,  it  was  remarked, 
much  more  numerous  than  usual. 

About  the  aoth  of  September,  when  the  sickness  was  at  its 
height,  the  weather  suddenly  grew  cold  and  serene,  and  continued 

*  It  is  not  probable  that  the  caufe  of  the  peftilcnce  which  we  experienced 
invaded  in  the  form  of  fog.  The  poifon  of  marfh  effluvia  is,  probably,  too 
fubtle  for  ocular  detection.  Fogs  are,  perhaps,  no  indication  of  the  un- 
healthinefs  of  a  place :  they  as  frequently  proceed  from  pure  and  running  water, 
as  from  that  which  is  ftagnant  and  corrupt.  It  ii  probable,  however,  that 
fuch  alternation  of  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  as  the  body  is  expofed  to 
from  great, fogs,  in  hot  weather,  increafes  its  fufceptibility  of  being  operated 
upon  by  the  caufes  of  diieafc. 


40  Medical  repository. 


ruch  for  two  or  three  days.  Great  expectations  were  entertained, 
that  an  abatement  of  the  sickness  would  be  the  consequence  of 
this  alteration;  but  no  such  abatement  look  place;  people  continued 
to  be  attacked  as  frequently  as  before,  until  about  the  end  of  the 
month. 

How  much,  or  how  little,  all  of  the  circumstances  which  I 
have  related,  affected  the  sua  ceding  sickness,  I  shall  not  in  this 
place  hazard  an  opinion.  One  inference,  however,  seems  natu- 
rally to  result  from  a  conside ration  of  them;  the  keeping  up  of 
the  water  to  an  unusual  height,  over  a  large  extent  of  surface, 
covered  with  putrefying  substances,  and  the  then  sudden  with-, 
drawing  of  the  water,  and  the  consequent  exposure  of  them  to  the 
action  of  a  hot  sun,  are  circumstances  extremely  well  adapted  to 
produce  and  give  activity  to  great  quantities  of  that  pestilential 
vapour,  which  is  called  marsh  effluvia.  In  confirmation  v.  hereof, 
I  shall  attempt 

A  particular  history  cf  tits  sicklies:  of  l  796. 

On  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  July,  I  was  requested  to  visit  two 
daughters,  one  about  eight,  the  other  about  six  years  old,  of  a  Mr. 
Fairchild,  who  lived  about  half  a  mile,  in  a  south-eastern  direc- 
tion from  the  pond.  I  was  informed  that  they  had  been  taken  the  day 
before,  with  a  looseness,  which  had  increased  to  such  a  degree, 
that  the  parents  thought  it  necessary  that  it  should  be  restrained. 
I  did  not  at  first  suspect  the  disorder  to  be  dysentery.  I  had  never 
before  known  an  instance  of  that  disease  in  the  course  of  my 
practice  in  Sheffield,  which  had  been  several  years;  what  I  directed 
was,  of  course,  not  with  a  view  to  that  disorder.  The  next  day  I 
was  convinced  that  their  complaint  was  a  genuine  dysentery.  A 
day  or  two  after  the  sickening  of  the  children,  Mrs.  Fairchild  was 
attacked  with  symptoms  similar  to  theirs,  but  so  slightly,  that  she 
was  able  to  attend  to  her  children  for  two  or  three  days  afterwards. 
The  eldest  child,  who  bad  been  infirm,  died  in  about  four  days 
from  her  attack.  The  mother  and  the  other  child  recovered,  but 
not  till  after  they  had  suffered  severely  from  the  disorder.  Of  three 
or  four  persons  who  belonged  to  the  family,  none  were  in  any 
manner  affected  with  the  disorder.  Nor  were  any  of  the  nurses 
or  attendants  on  Mrs.  Fairchild's  family,  or  any  o'hers  who  had 
communication  with  them,  attacked  sufficiently  early  to  render 
their  infection  ascriba'ole  to  contagion  from  them. 

About  the  j  oth  of  the  month,  another  ciiiid,  at  seventy  or  eighty 
rods  distance  from  Mr.  Fairchild's,  and  one  at  the  distance  of  two 
miles,  we  re  taken  with  the  dysentery.  About  the  17th  or  iStf,  a 
girl,  and  roon  afterwards  several  others  in  the  family,  at  about  three 
fourths  of  a  mile  distant  from  Mr.  F.iirchild's,  and  within  a  few 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


457 


rods  of  the  pond,  were  taken.  By  the  20th,  there  were  a  number 
of  other  scattering  instances,  within  the  sickly  circle  which  I  shall 
hereafter  describe ;  and  by  the  close  of  the  month,  there  had  been 
about  twenty  persons,  the  most  of  them  children,  attacked,  and 
several  had  died. 

About  the  20th,  three  youths  of  one  family,  were  taken  at  nearly 
the  same  time,  with  febrile  symptoms,  which,  although  disguised 
at  first  by  some  peculiarities,  turned  out  to  be  bilious  fever.  From 
this  time,  instances  of  this  lever  frequently  occurred,  so  that  it  was 
apparent  both  disorders  were  endemic,  and  becoming  frequent. 
In  a  short  time,  both  prevailed  to  a  degree  truly  calamitous  and 
alarming. 

The  following  description,  together  with  a  statement  of  the 
number  of  deaths,  will  convey  some  idea  of  the  distressed  situa- 
tion of  the  people  who  dwelt  within  the  limits  of  this  ravaging 
sickness.  Let  an  imaginary  circular  line  be  described,  from  a  point 
on  the  south-eastern  side  of  the  above-mentioned  miil-pond,  whose 
radii  shall  be  one  and  one  half  mile  in  length.  This  circle  will 
embrace  about  one  hundred  families,  and  about  six  hundred  in- 
habitants. It  would  comprehend  the  whole  territory,  in  which  the 
sickness  prevailed,  with  so  much  exactness,  that  there  would  be 
considerably  short  of  ten  families  without  its  limits,  in  which  there 
■was  sickness;  there  certainly  were  not  ten  within  which  were  ex- 
empt. Of  this  number  of  inhabitants,  at  least  half  were,  in  the 
course  of  the  season,  affected  with  either  bilious  fever,  or  dysen- 
tery* The  eastern  half  of  this  imaginary  circle  was  the  most 
populous;  it  was  also  the  most  sickly.  Out  of  about  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  persons  which  it  contained,  at  least  two  hundred 
and  fifty  were  affected  with  sickness.  Of  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  who  dwelt  nearest  the  pond,  there  were  not  ten  who  escaped. 
Of  the  remaining  one  hundred  and  fifty  who  inhabited  the  western 
semi-circle,  there  were  about  fifty  affected. 

To  the  people  who  dwelt  within  this  small  description  of  ter- 
ritory, this  distressing  sickness  was  most  distinctly  confined.  They 
who  before  this  time  had  been  in  the  habit  of  knowing  but  a  few 
deaths  among  them  in  the  course  of  a  year,  now  hardly  knew  a 
day  to  pass  without  witnessing  tiie  solemnity  of  a  funeral,  some- 
times of  two  or  three  in  a  day.    Many  whole  families  were  all 

*  The  caftern  part  of  this  circle  would  extend  acrofs  the  Houfato.'iak 
river,  and  would  embrace  about  one  hundred  perfons,  who  dwelt  on  the 
taftern  fide.  It  may  become  a  qucftion,  admitting  that  marfh  effluvia  were 
the  lole  caufc  of  the  difordcrs  in  qucftion,  how  far  their  licknefs  was  alcriba- 
hle  to  the  ftagnant  water  in  and  about  the  river,  and  to  which  they  were 
contiguous,  or  to  the  diftant  and  more  productive  fource  of  the  poilon,  the 
pond.  However  this  may  be-,  the  proportion  of  fick  was  much  lefs  in  this 
part  of  the  circle,  than  in  that  about  the  pond. 


45* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


down  at  a  time,  and  some  of  them  in  the  agonies  of  death ;  some- 
times without  being  able  to  procure  a  single  person  to  perform  the 
office  of  nurse  or  attendant.  Even  after  the  closing  scene  had  past, 
it  was  with  difficulty  that  help  could  be  obtained  to  perform  the 
last  sad  offices  of  humanity. 

During  the  prevalence  of  the  bilious  fever  and  dysentery  this 
year,  there  were  no  less  than  forty-four  persons,  from  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  above  described  circle,  who  fell  a  sacrifice  to  one 
of  those  disorders.*  Of  this  number,  twelve  were  adults,  and 
thirty-two  children.  The  children,  all  except  two,  had  dysen- 
tery; the  death  of  one  ot  those  two,  whose  disorder  was  originally 
bilious  fever,  was  caused  by  an  abscess;  the  other  had  convulsion 
fits.  Among  the  fatal  cases  of  adults,  there  was  but  one  male. 
He  was  a  man  of  between  fifcy  and  sixty  years  of  age;  and  had  both 
bilious  fever  and  dysentery.  He  neglected  to  procure  any  medical 
aid,  until  he  had  been  atfe&ed  with  the  dysentery  a  week,  and 
with  bilious  fever  a  fortnight.  Even  then,  his  fust  application 
was  to  a  quack,  whose  nostrums,  he  had  the  candour  to  confess  in 
his  last  moments,  he  believed  injured  him.  After  thio  period,  his 
disorders  resisted  the  usual  remedies. 

Three  of  the  adult  females  were  women  in  a  state  of  preg- 


*  Since  writing  this  account,  I  find  two  or  three  of  the  deaths  were  ol 
■children  who  belonged  contiguous  to  a  mill-pond,  at  the  fouth  part  of  the 
town,  and  who  died  of  dyfentcry.  There  were  a  few  other  inftances  of 
dyfentcry  this  year,  as  there  had  been  of  bilious  fever  for  feveral  years  paft, 
at  the  fame  place. 

In  the  letter  to  Mr.  Smith  (referred  to  in  the  beginning  of  this  paper), 
it  is  remarked,  that  the  Fever  which  prevailed  in  Sheffield,  in  1794,  was 
principally  obfervable  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  South  Pond,  while 
that  which  prevailed  in  1795,  as  is  ufually  the  cafe,  was  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  North  Pond;  and  that,  at  that  time,  I  was  unable  to  learn  the 
caufe  of  this  diverfity  in  the  theater  of  the  difeafe,  in  thofe  two  years.  This 
I  have  fince  difcovered,  and  deem  important  enough  to  deferve  to  be  re- 
corded. 

It  appears,  on  invefligation,  that,  in  the  year  1 794,  the  waters  of  the 
South  Pond  were  drawn  off,  for  the  purpofe  of  repairing  the  dam,  or  the 
mills.  This  left  a  large  extent  of  putrefciblc  materials  bare,  and  the  pro- 
grefs  of  the  feafon  gradually  produced  thofe  morbid  exhalations  which  I 
fuppofe  to  be  the  caufe  of  Fever. — Indeed,  this  fact  fufficiently  explains  why, 
eateris  paribus,  that  p3rt  of  the  town  fhould  be  more  fickly  in  1 794  than  in 
common  years. 

Again,  I  am  perfuaded,  from  my  own  obfervation  and  the  uniform  tef- 
timony  of  others,  that  the  land  flowed  by  the  South  Pond,  is  kept  much  more 
conftantly  and  completely  covered  with  water  than  that  flowed  by  the 
North  Pond.  The  importance  of  this  difcinction  will  be  obvious  to  every 
mind  ;  and  will,  probably,  be  thought  to  go  far  towards  accounting  for  the 
difference  of  infalubrity  in  the  atmofphere  of  the  two  ponds,  in  commos 
years,  and  under  ordinary  circurnilances. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


4'59 


nancy,  and  who  died  of  bilious  fever.  Of  the  remaining  eight, 
one  was  a  very  aged  woman,  two  laboured  under  chronical  dis- 
orders, by  which  they  were  greatly  debilitated;  they  died  of  dy- 
sentery. Three  of  the  remaining  five  died  of  dysentery  compli- 
cated with  lever,  and  two  with  bilious  fever  alone.  Hence  it  will 
appear,  that  out  of  this  whole  number  of  mortal  cases,  there  were 
but  two  from  bilious  fever  alone. 

Symptoms  of  bilious  fever  rind  dysentery,  luith  some  remarks  on  the 
prognostic  in  each  disorder. 

The  symptoms  of  attack  in  bilious  fever,  differ  very  little,  ex- 
cept in  degree,  from  those  in  common  ague  and  fever.  The  pa- 
tient sometimes  has  pains  and  rigors  running  over  him,  for  several 
hours,  before  he  has  a  proper  fit  of  ague;  but  generally  a  chilli- 
ness, which  soon  increases  to  a  violent  fit  of  cold  and  shaking,  is 
one  of  the  first  symptoms.  It  is  accompanied  with  hard  pain  in 
the  head,  back,  and  limbs,  particularly  in  the  back.  The  pulse 
in  the  cold  fit,  is  low,  quick,  and  hard.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
cold  fit,  nausea,  and  not  unusually  a  bilious  vomiting,  occur.  The 
length  of  this  fit  is  uncertain;  it  lasts  from  one  to  a  number  of 
hours.  At  length  the  rigors  and  shaking  begin  to  subside,  and  the 
patient  becomes  sensible  of  great  heat  and  thirst.  The  pulse  be- 
comes full,  frequent,  and  hard,  and  sometimes  rebounding.  The 
face  is  flushed  with  redness;  the  eyes  assume  a  red,  watery,  and 
inflamed  appearance.  This  appearance  of  the  eyes;  is  usually 
proportionate  to  the  violence  of  attack,  and  the  future  force  of 
the  disorder. 

The  duration  of  the  tiot  fit  is  extremely  various,  it  lasts  Iwelve, 
twenty,  thirty-six,  and  sometimes  forty-eight  hours;  that  is,  the 
fever,  in  some  instances,  particularly  at  the  first  attack,  runs  on 
for  that  length  of  time,  without  suffering  any  abatement  that  may 
be  called  an  intermission,  or  even  remission.  It  is  true,  nature, 
in  the  course  of  the  time,  will  sometimes  seem  to  make  efforts  to 
produce  a  termination  of  the  paroxysm,  by  salutary  sweating;  a  mois- 
ture will  just  begin  to  appear,  but  will  be  suddenly  dissipated,  and 
the  fever  will  kindle  up  with  renewed  violence.  VVhen  an  effectual 
and  salutary  sweating  does  take  place,  it  is  commonly  very  pro- 
fuse, and  the  more  free  and  profuse,  the  more  perfect  is  the  relief  ob- 
tained. The  febrile  symptoms  now  gradually  abate,  and  subside 
either  partially,  so  as  to  produce  a  remission,  or,  more  perfectly, 
into  an  intermission. 

The  interval,  too,  which  succeeds,  is  of  uncertain  duration. 
The  great  irregularity  attending  the  duration  of  the  different  stages 
of  the  paroxysms,  produce,  in  different  cases,  all  the  varieties  of 
quotidian,  tertian,  double  tertian,  quartan,  and  even  some  which 


4&o 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


it  was  difficult  to  reduce  to  either  of  the  usual  distinctions  of  in- 
termittent fever.  A  regular  tertian  appeared  to  be  the  most  mild 
and  eligible  form  of  the  disorder,  and  that  in  which  it  was  the  most 
easily  managable.'  When  the  fever  was  quotidian  or  double  ter- 
tian, the  intermission  or  remission  was  too  short  to  afford  an  op- 
portunity ot  doing  much  with  the  most  important  curative  reme- 
dies. A  regular  quartan  form  was  not  frequent,  although  there 
were  some  instances  of  it. 

The  symptoms  of  disturbance  in  the  alimentary  canal,  are  a 
very  important  article  in  the  description  of  this  fever.  I  have 
mentioned  before,  that  nausea  and  bilious  vomiting  were  occur- 
rences which  frequently  took  place  towards  the  end  of  the  cold  fit. 
Indeed,  the  presence  of  a  preternatural  secretion  of  bile  is  a  never- 
failing  concomitant,  from  the  first  attack  of  the  disorder,  to  the 
termination  of  a  lingering  and  tedious  convalescence.  Symptoms 
of  flatulency  are  almost  constantly  attendant,  particularly  about  the 
time  of  the  approach  of  the  sweating  fit.  Flatulence  gives  rise  to 
great  pain  and  distention  of  the  stomach,  belchings,  and  a  sense 
of  suffocation  so  intolerable  as  apparently  to  threaten  an  immediate 
extinction  of  respiration.  The  breaking  forth  of  a  freely  flowing 
sweat  commonly  produces  relief. 

The  appearance  of  the  tongue  in  this  disorder  aff  ords  a  very  just 
indication  of  its  degree  of  violence.  In  a  mild  degree  of  it  the 
tongue  is  covered  with  a  whitish  fur,  which  is  always  moist.  When 
the  degree  of  disorder  is  somewhat  more  considerable,  the  tongue 
towards  its  point,  especially  at  the  height  of  the  paroxysm,  loses  its 
moisture,  and  the  dryness  becomes  extended  as  the  degree  of  dis- 
order is  increased.  In  a  still  higher  degree  of  violence,  a  black 
.stripe  appears,  extending  from  the  root  to  the  extremity  of  the 
tongue.  In  the  worst  cases  the  tongue  was  covered  all  over  with 
a  very  thick  black  fur,  and  remained  at  all  times  intensely  dry 
and  parched.  In  some  of  the  very  worst  cases,  it  would  be  per- 
fectly fiee  from  fur,  and  as  dry  as  a  husk.  In  the  most  violent  case 
of  this  fever  which  I  ever  saw,  although,  from  more  strength  and 
firmness  of  stamina,  it  terminated  favourably,  the  tongue  was 
from  the  beginning  entirely  free  from  fur.  It  all  the  while  had  a  red 
and  shining  aspeft,  and  was  parched,  or  rather,  as  one  would  judge 
from  its  appearance,  was  roasted,  with  a  husky  dryness.  The 
prognostic  from  a  very  black  and  dry  tongue,  was  not  that  there 
was  very  great  danger,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  state  of  the  disor- 
der in  which  this  symptom  occurred,  was  almost  certainly  manage- 
able by  proper  remedies.  One  of  the  first  signs  of  amendment 
was  the  appearance  of  a  moisture,  and  the  "  cherry-coloured  red- 
ness of  health,"  in  a  very  narrow  streak  upon  the  edge  of  the 
tongue.  This  sign  was  hardly  ever  deceptive. 
J    In  a  fever  producing  such  general  derangements  of  the  system. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


461 


it  was  not1  to  be  expected,  that  the  intellectual  functions  would 
escape  unaffected.  In  almost  all  considerable  cases,  there  was,  at 
the  neight  of  the  paroxysm,  some  degree  of  delirium,  coma,  or 
stupor.  It  was  nor  uncommon  for  a  stupid,  comatose  state  to  be 
constantly  present  for  several  days;  sometimes  to  such  a  degree,  that 
it  was  difficult  or  impossible  to  arouse  the  person.  An  imperfect 
state  of  the  senses,  particularly  of  the  sense  of  hearing,  sometimes 
took  place,  and  continued,  in  some  degree,  through  the  conva- 
lescent stage  of  the  disorder. 

So  remarkably  protracted  was  the  convalescent  stage  of  this  dis- 
ease, that  the  symptoms  thereof  require  some  consideration.  Ic 
has  been  supposed,  that  the  frequency  of  relapse  iu  this  fever, 
and  in  common  intermittent  fever,  is  occasioned  by  some  inci- 
dental extraneous  causes,  such  as  fatigue,  errors  in  diet,  exposure 
to  cold,  to  night  air,  and  the  like:  these  circumstances  undoubt- 
edly may  act  as  exciting  causes  to  relapse;  but  I  am  convinced 
that  the  most  rigid  caution  in  these  respects,  will  not  alone  secure 
persons  who  have  had  these  disorders,  from  relapse.  It  is  evident, 
that  there  is  something  in  the  nature  of  the  contagion  producing 
these  fevers,  which  disposes  it  to  operate  on  the  human  body,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  with  an  intermittent  action.  By  intermit- 
tent, I  do  not  mean  to  allude  to  the  type  of  the  fever,  but  the  pe- 
riods of  the  different  attacks.  The  system,  after  it  has  become 
habituated  to  the  contagion,  and  ceases  to  be  operated  upon  by  it  for 
a  time,  at  the  end  of  a  certain  period  loses  that  habit,  and  is  again 
excited  into  morbid  actions.  That  this  tendency  of  the  disorder 
is  owing  to  its  nature,  and  not  to  particular  remedies  made  use  of  to 
cut  it  short,  as  has  been  supposed  by  some,  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  it  takes  place,  as  well  when  the  disorder  is  suffered  to  run 
its  course,  as  when  it  has  been  shortened  by  remedies.  This  fact 
is  ascertained  by  a  very  great  number  of  instances  of  each  kind, 
both  in  bilious  fever,  and  common  intermittent,  which  have  come 
under  my  own  observation,  and  to  which,  with  a  view  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  this  fact,  I  have  given  the  most  particular  attention. 
Asa  confirmation  of  this  idea  of  the  disorder,  I  have  found  that 
the  returns  have  always  inclined  to  be  periodical,  and  even  when 
every  precaution  has  been  made  use  of,  the  relapses  have  returned 
at  regular  periods.  And,  however  inexplicable,  or  even  fanciful, 
the  idea  may  appear  to  some,  it  is  certain,  that  those  periods  are, 
ki  some  way,  affected  by  a  lunar  influence.  In  a  great  number  of 
instances,  repeated  relapses  have  taken  place,  once  in  a  fortnight, 
without  varying  in  any  instance  more  than  one  or  two  davs,  from 
the  new,  or  full  of  the  moon.  In  others,  the  intervals  would  be 
three  weeks.  But  in  all  where  I  have  observed,  there  has  appeared 
a  tendency  to  septenary  periods.  I  have  mvself  had  four  suc- 
cessive slight  attacks  of  an  intermittent,  at  almost  exact  intervals  of 

Fol.  I.  No.  4.  D 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


three  weeks.  I  have  known  persons  to  be  attacked  regularly  in; 
periods  of  two  and  three  weeks,  with  relapses  of  bilious  fever,  for 
three,  six,  and  even  twelve  months,  without  interruption. 

The  commencement  of  winter  appears  to  have  some  degree  of 
efftr~l  in  stopping  the  tendency  to  relapse ;  but  its  operation  is  not 
universal.  So  strong  is  the  tendency  ot  this  contagion,  to  have  a 
long  continued  operation  upon  the  system,  that  it  requires  many 
months,  and,  in  some  instances,  even  years,  to  eradicate  it.  I 
know  several  gentlemen  who  contracted  the  disorder  from  the 
marshes  in  the  western  part  of  the  Stsfte  of  New-York,  more  than 
two  years  since,  who  yet  experience  a  continuation  thereof  in 
occasional  febrile  attacks. 

The  symptoms  of  attack  in  a  relapse,  are  similar  to  those  of  the 
original  disorder,  but  generally  less  violent;  the  intermissions  are 
more  perfect,  and  the  disorder,  in  every  respect,  approaches  nearer 
to  the  form  and  degree  of  common  intermittent  fever.  A  relapse 
generally  terminates  in  the  course  of  a  lew  days  of  itself.  A  bilious 
vomiting  and  diarrhoea,  setm  sometimes  to  become  a  crisis  to  the 
attack.  These  symptoms,  together  with  head-ach,  appear  some- 
times to  constitute  the  disorder,  in  relapse;  fever  being  almost  in- 
tirely  absent.  Indeed,  it  is  peculiarly  apparent,  in  the  convale- 
scent stage  of  the  disorder,  that  the  biliary  secretion  is  eminently 
affected  by  the  contagious  cause.  The  face,  and  indeed  the  whole 
skjn,  is  of  a  pale,  yellow,  and  bilious  hue.  The  urine,  when  eva- 
cuated, appears  to  be  highly  surcharged  with  bile.  There  are,  at 
all  times,  evident  indications  of  a  preternatural  quantity  of  this 
fluid  in  the  stomach  and  intestines. 

The  usual  precursor  in  Dysentery,  was  a  griping  pain  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  abdomen.  This  was,  usually,  soon  followed  by 
a  continual  tenesmus,  and  some  small  and  painful  discharges  by 
stool.  It  was  not  common  for  those  who  were  attacked  with  dy- 
sentery, to  experience  chills  at  the  beginning  of  the  disease,  or  to 
be  immediately  affected  with  much  fever.  Children,  who  fre- 
quently fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  disorder  in  the  course  of  three  or 
four  days,  would,  for  several  hours  after  they  were  attacked,  con- 
tinue to  run  about  and  make  no  great  complaint;  and  adults 
would  frequently  continue  about  their  business  lor  several  days  af- 
ter they  had  frequent  dysenteric  stools. 

As  both  the  diagnostic  and  prognostic  in  dysentery  are  chiefly 
to  be  obtained  from  the  state  of  the  stools,  I  shall  endeavour  to  be 
veiy  particular  in  my  description  ot  the  various  appearances  which 
they  exhibited. 

The  most  common,  and  what  might  be  called  the  natural  dy- 
senteric stool,  was  a  smali,  whitish  mucous  discharge,  mixed  with 
streaks  of  fresh  looking  blood.  In  some  cases,  the  blood  was  en- 
tirely wanting;  this  might  be  considered  as  a  variety  in  the  natural 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


463 


form  of  the  discharge.  There  was  seldom  any  excrementitious 
matter  mixed  with  these  discharges,  unless  cathartic  medicines  had 
been  employed;  and  they  were  nearly  or  quite  free  from  any  ex- 
crementitious smell;  the  smell  of  them  was  peculiar;  but,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  disorder,  not  very  offensive.  This  state  of  the 
stools,  when  the  disease  terminated  in  health,  generally  conti- 
nued from  beginning  to  end.  As  it  began  to  abate,  the  natural 
feces  appeared  with  the  mucus,  and  the  proportion  of  mucus 
became  gradually  less,  until  it  disappeared,  and  the  stools  became 
natural.  Among  the  deviations  from  what  I  consider  the  natural 
form  of  the  dysenteric  stool,  was 

A  stool,  in  which  the  blood  was  diffused  among  the  mucus, 
tinging  the  whole  with  a  uniformlv  bloody  appearance.  This  stool 
always  indicated  an  unfavourable  state  of  the  disease.  But  when 
the  stools  were  very  liquid,  and  tinged  with:blood,  resembling  wa- 
ter, mixed  with  a  small  quantity  of  fresh  blood,  the  indication  was 
still  more  threatening.  When  the  stools  were  of  this  last  kind,  I 
believe  they  were  always  involuntary,  and  that  a  fatal  event  ensued. 

A  stool,  resembling  beef  brine,  sometimes  occurred;  this  briny 
stool  was,  in  some  cases,  of  a  liquid,  in  others,  of  a  mucous  form  ; 
either  kind  was  unfavourable,  but  not  uniformly  fatal. 

I  recollect  the  instance  of  a  stool,  in  a  child  of  five  or  six  years 
of  age,  which  was,  in  the  beginning,  pure  mucus,  free  from  any 
streaks  of  blood,  and  which  gradually  assumed  a  purulent  ap- 
pearance, until  it  looked  like  perfect  pus.  I  supposed,  in  this  case, 
that  death  was  inevitable,  but,  to  my  surprise,  the  child  recovered. 

A  greenness  sometimes  appeared  in  the  mucus;  it  was  indica- 
tive of  an  obstinate  disorder;  but  when  it  appeared  with  the  fecu- 
lent matter,  ;n  the  convalescent  stage,  the  sign  was  not  so  unfa- 
vourable. 

In  the  progress  of  the  diseas?,  an  acceleration  of  pulse  took 
place,  and  the  patient  was  affecled  with  considerable  thirst.  The 
tongue  was  covered  with  a  moist  white  fur ;  and  in  the  last  stage 
of  the  disorder,  it  sometimes  became  dry  and  black. 

The  rapid  emaciation  of  body,  and  exhaustion  of  strength, 
which  take  place  in  this  disorder,  are,  perhaps,  unequalled  in  any 
other.  Many  children  sunk  under  it  in  the  course  of  two,  three, 
and  four  days;  some  who  were  able  to  walk  about  the  house  in 
the  morning,  would  be  dead  at  night. 

The  danger  in  the  dysentery  was  proportioned  to  the  frequency 
of  the  stools,  and  to  the  deviation  of  them  from  the  natural  dvsen- 
teric  state. 

The  indications  of  approaching  death,  are  a  sinking  or  a  total 
absence  of  the  pulse  in  the  wrist;  a  coldness  of  the  extremities; 
insensibility  to  objects;  a  sinking  in  of  the  eyes;  the  eye-lids  but 
partially  closed,  and  the  eyes  so  rolled  up  as  to  discover  only  the 


AH 


Medical  repository. 


whites  of  them;  stooh  growing  excessively  foetid,  and  becoming 
involuntary;  a  hitoughing;  tossing  about  in  the  bed;  making  now 
and  then  a  forcible  expiration  resembling  sighing:  this  last  symp- 
tom is  peculiar  to  children,  and  is  an  infallible  indication  of  a, 
fatal  catastrophe.  It  was  not  uncommon  in  children,  for  con- 
vul.-ions  to  close  the  scene. 

The  circumstances  here  enumerated,  many  of.  them,  perhaps, 
indicate  nothing  more  than  an  extreme  degree  of  debility ;  but 
they  indicate  a  degree  of  debility,  which,  in  this  disorder  is  sel- 
dom recovered  from. 

The  dysentery  frequently  came  on  while  the  patient  was  affected 
with  bilious  fever.  In  this  case,  the  type  of  the  fever  soon  be- 
came obliterated,  and  the  accompanying  febrile  symptoms  were 
similar  to  those  in  original  dysentery.  The  change  of  the  fever 
into  dysentery  did  not,  however,  secure  the  patient  from  the  ten- 
dency to  relapse  so  peculiar  to  that  disorder.  But  the  convale- 
scence of  those  who  had  simple  dysentery  only,  was  generally  short,, 
and  the  recovery  perfect. 

Sometimes  the  fever  came  on  upon  the  dysentery.  The  type 
of  the  fever  was  not,  in  this  case,  easily  ascertained,  until  an  abate- 
ment of  the  dysentery  took  place;  when,  as  the  dysenteric  symp- 
toms subsided,  the  fever  would  appear  in  its  proper  form.  The 
two  disorders  appeared  to  be  complicated,  that  is,  they  both  seemed 
to  exist  at  the  same  time,  rather  than  to  act  in  alternation.  The 
fact  is  certain,  that,  in  cases  of  accession  of  dysentery  upon  the 
fever,  the  latter  disorder  always  shewed  itself  in  its  true  form  after 
the  symptoms  of  the  other  had  subsided. 

Remarks  on  the  cause  of  kilicus  fever  and  dysentery,  and  a  conside- 
ration of  the  question,  "whether  they  were  infeclious  f 

Thnt  the  stagnant  waters  in  Sheffield,  and  the  sickness  which 
prevailed  there  in  1  796,  and  the  other  late  sickly  years,  stand  in 
the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  is,  I  think,  a  position  which  no 
person  capable  of  reasoning,  can  withhold  his  assent  to,  after  ad- 
mitting, and  candidly  considering  the  facts  which  I  have  stated.  I 
am  sensible  that  new  facts  were  not  wanting  to  confirm  a  belief 
among  physicians  and  philosophers,  that  marsh  exhalations  are  a 
poison  which  most  infallibly  produces  what  are  called  bilious 
fevers.  Eut,  however  astonishing  it  may  appear,  it  is  a  fact,  that 
many  of  the  people  who  dwell  in  the  vicinity  of  the  stagnant 
waters  of  this  town,  and  even  those  who  have  been  the  greatest 
sufferers  in  the  several  sickly  years,  disbelieve  the  local  origin  of 
their  misfortunes,  and  strongly  oppose  all  attempts  to  remove  or 
lessen  the  force  of  their  cause. 

The  history  of  facts,  in  our  country,  relative  to  dysentery,  dees 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


riot  seem  to  warrant  the  conclusion,  that  that  disorder  originates- 
in  all  cases  from  the  same  cause  with  bilious  fever.  But  the 
reverse  of  that  conclusion  seems  probable,  from  the  fact,  that 
dysentery  has  frequently  prevailed  as  an  epidemic  in  places  where 
bilious  fever  was  never  known,  and  under  circumstances  where 
we  should  never  expect  the  latter  disorder.  Admitting  the  fact, 
that  bilious  fevers  universally  owe  their  origin  to  a  local  cause,  that 
disorder  can,  of  course,  be  only  endemic,  or  confined  to  a  particular 
place;  whereas  dysentery  is  many  times  most  extensively  epidemic. 

But  in  the  sickness  which  makes  the  subject  of  this  communi- 
cation, there  is  every  reason  to  ascribe  identity  of  cause  to  the 
two  disorders.  They  were  circumscribed  in  a  very  striking  man- 
ner, by  precisely  the  same  limits ;  they  both  began,  and  ceased  to 
prevail  at  the  same  time;  neither  disorder  occurred  (except  in  a 
few  instances  of  both  disorders  about  the  pond  at  the  south  part 
of  the  town),  at  any  considerable  distance  from  the  limits,  but  in 
persons  who  had  previously  resided  within  them.  There  were  in- 
stances of  both  disorders,  affecting  persons  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  who  had  resided  within  those  limits;  a  stay  of  only  one 
night  in  the  central  part  of  the  sickly  territory,  in  some  instances, 
produced  the  disorders. 

The  facts  which  I  have  stated  prove  sufficiently,  that  neither  cf 
the  disorders  were  propagated  by  specific  contagion,  at  least,  be- 
vond  certain  boundaries;  otherwise  they  must  have  extended,  for 
there  was  no  interruption  of  communication.  I  have  remarked 
before,  that  I  was  myself  convinced,  that  neither  disease  vvas> 
propagated  by  specific  contagion,  even  within  those  boundaries. 
In  all  the  casts,  which  came  under  my  observation,  of  sickness, 
without  the  limits,  and  acquired  by  a  residence  within  them,  there 
was  no  instance  of  either  complaint  being  communicated  from  the 
person  affected.  In  several  cases  of  persons  who  acquired  their 
disorder  here,  and  sickened  at  a  distance,  I  find,  from  authentic 
information,  that  the  fact  is  the  same.  I  have,  as  an  exception, 
to  mention  the  information  which  I  have  received  from  Doctor 
Orton,  of  Woodbury,  in  the  state  of  Connecticut.  The  Doctor 
relates,  that  a  young  man  of  this  town,  who,  in  the  time  of  the 
sickness  here,  went  to  Woodbury,  way,  soon  after  his  arrival  there, 
taken  down  with  dysentery,  and  in  a  few  days  ditd.  That  in 
about  six  days  alter  his  death,  a  person  in  a  neighbouring  house 
was  taken  with  the  same  disorder;  and  that,  soon  afterwards, 
all  the  children,  who  remained  in  the  vicinity,  all  the  nurses, 
one  excepted,  and  many  others,  sickened  with  it,  and  that  nine 
persons  in  the  whole  fell  a  sacrifice  to  it.  He  further  acids,  that 
at  the  time  the  young  man  was  taken  sick,  the  town  was  free 
from  any  instance  of  dysentery,  or  any  prevailing  lever.  From 
this  statement  it  results,  that  the  dysentery  was,  in  Woodbury, 


466 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


propagated  by  specific  contagion,  from  one  person  to  another, 
and  that  the  contagion  was  extremely  active.  How  can  these 
farts  be  reconciled  to  those  which  I  have  related  as  taking  place 
in  Sheffield  I  I  have  remarked  already,  that  I  was  convinced 
myself,  that  neither  the  bilious  fever  nor  dysentery  was  propagated 
by  specific  contagion,  even  within  the  sickly  territory.  As  there 
appears  to  be  a  clashing  of  facts  in  this  case,  I  will  particularize 
some  of  the  circumstances  upon  which  I  founded  mv  belief.  The 
disorder,  as  I  have  reptatediv  mentioned,  was  certainly  circum- 
scribed by  exact  iimits;  admitting  it  to  be  infectious,  it  could 
not  have  been  for  the  want  of  communication  that  it  was  not 
extended,  for  the  parts  contiguous  were  on  all  sides  populated 
and  intercourse  between  the  affected  and  well,  was  not  attempted 
to  be  interrupted.  At  the  commencement  of  the  sickness,  persons 
were  attacked  at  about  the  same  time,  at  so  great  a  distance  from 
each  otner,  as  to  remove  all  suspicion  of  their  taking  the  disorder 
one  from  another.  There  were  many  families  wh^re  one  person 
only  had  the  dysentery,  and  all  the  rest  escaped.  Those  who  were 
the  most  exposed  to  the  action  ot  the  tifiuvia  arising  from  the  sick 
and  from  their  stools,  escaped  infection  ;  while  those  who  were  free 
from  any  such  exposure,  were  attacked:  I  was  myself,  many  hours 
hi  the  day,  for  more  than  eighty  days  in  succession,  in  situations 
to  have  my  nostrils  assailed  bv  effluvia  from  the  worst  of  dysenteric 
•  stools,  but  I  escaped  the  disorder.  Other  physicians,  and  several 
nurses,  were  almost  equally  exposed,  and  without  effect.  Had  the 
dysentery  been  infectious,  within  certain  limits  in  Sheffield,  I 
should  have  supposed  a  predisposition  acquired  from  some  local 
cause,  to  be  necessary  to  give  the  contagion  action,  and  I  should 
have  considered  the  people  of  Woodbury  under  the  operation  of 
the  same  predisposition:  this,  considering  the  flatness  of  the  land 
in  Woodbury,  and  the  peculiarities  of  the  summer  and  autumn  of 
1796,  would  not  be  unphilosophkal.  But  I  will  content  myself 
•with  having  stated  the  facts,  and  shall  leave  them  unaccounted  for. 

Since  I  have  had  opportunities  of  observing  the  symptoms  of 
dysentery,  the  subject  ot  its  proximate  cause  has  arrested  somewhat 
of  my  attention.  At  a  time  when  new  theories  ot  diseases  are 
almost  daily  presented  to  the  world,  I  have  met  with  no  one  of  the 
proximate  cause  of  dysentery,  from  which  a  solution  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  that  disorder  seems  to  result.  Dr.  Cullen's  idea  of  a 
spasmodic  constriction  of  the  colon,  seems  better  adapted  to  an 
explanation  ot  colic  than  dysentery.  A  constriction,  it  is  obvious, 
does  take  place,  but  is  it  not  probable  tnat  this  constriction  is  a 
symptom,  and  not  the  proximate  cause  of  dysentery?  Why  is  it 
not  probable  that  the  principle  of  contagion,  whether  derived 
from  a  person  affected  with  the  disorder,  as  it  sometimes  is,  or. 
from  the  air,  as  I  suppose  it  was  in  the  sickness  under  considera- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tion,  acts  as  a  stimulus  upon  the  intestina  crassa,  producing  an  in- 
creased aftion  of  their  excretories,  or  perhaps  an  inverted  one  of 
their  absorbents  ?  Is  not  this  idea  analogous  to  what  takes  place 
in  small-pox,  measles,  lues,  and  many  other  diseases  which  seem 
to  depend  on  the  operation  of  contagion  upon  some  appropriate 
part?  As  a  confirmation  of  my  idea,  I  observed  that  there  was 
every  appearance  in  those  who  had  dysentery,  that  all  the  derange- 
ments which  took  place  in  the  system,  were  the  effects  of  this 
primary  affection  of  the  intestines.  What  are  the  chemical  qua- 
lities of  that  principle,  in  a  vitiated  atmosphere,  which  consti- 
tutes contagion,  or,  the  same  thing,  which  produces  these  disor- 
ders, I  leave  to  those  philosophers  to  investigate,  who,  of  late, 
appear  to  be  cultivating  this  branch  of  science,  with  a  zeal  and 
success  which  promise  great  future  benefit  to  medicine.  But  in  the 
sickly  season  which  I  have  been  describing,  I  have  abundant  rea- 
son to  believe  that  the  principle,  whatever  it  may  be,  which  pro- 
duced bilious  fever  and  dysentery,  was  the  same.  In  the  dysen- 
tery, it  operated  upon  the  lower  intestines;  in  bilious  fever,  upon 
the  stomach,  liver,  and  arterial  system.  The  modern  idea,  that 
the  affection  of  the  liver  in  producing  a  preternatural  secretion  of 
bile  is  one  of  the  effects  of  the  contagion,  and  not  the  cause  of  the 
disorder,  is  most  certainly  well  founded. 

Cure  of  bilious  fever  and  dysentery. 

After  much  additional  experience  in  the  disorder,  I  find  no  rea- 
son to  alter  my  opinion,  which  is  published  in  Mr.  Webster's 
Collection,  respecting  the  cure  of  bilious  fever.  It  consists  in 
the  use  of  purges  of  calomel  and  jalap,  in  divided  doses,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  disorder,  proportioned,  in  quantity  and  continuance, 
to  the  strength  of  the  patient,  the  force  of  the  disorder,  and  de- 
gree of  deviation  from  an  intermittent  form.  Venesection,  once 
or  more,  in  violent  cases,  or  when  there  was  any  tendency  to 
topical  affection,  was  beneficial.  I  directed  cooling,  diluent,  and 
acidulous  drinks,  until  nature  appeared  to  be  making  efforts  to 
produce  the  sweating  fit.  When  those  efforts  were  appatent,  the 
sweating  was  much  accelerated,  and  the  patient  exceedingly  re- 
lieved, by  the  use  of  small  doses  of  an  opiate,  warm  drinks,  and 
warm  applications  to  the  feet.  The  symptoms  of  flatulency, 
which  were  at  this  time  so  painful  and  distressing,  were  by  nothing 
so  well  removed,  as  opiates  joined  with  some  grateful  aromatic  oil, 
or  distilled  water. 

When  the  intermission  became  distinct,  and  in  urgent  cases, 
■where  there  was  only  a  remission,  I  exhibited  the  bark,  in  all  cases, 
unless  opposed  by  the  prejudices  of  my  patients  or  their  friends. 
I  began  the  exhibition  as  soon  as  the  sweating  fit  had  subsided,  and 


463  JVliiDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


continued  it  till  the  accesion  df  the  next  paroxysm.  From  two 
drachms  to  one  and  one  half  ounce  was  taken  in  an  intermission, 
according  to  circumstances.  A  suspension  of  the  paroxysms 
never  failed  to  be  the  consequence,  the  patient  having  no  more 
than  one,  two,  or  at  most  three  afterwards. 

That  the  bark  will  suspend  the  paroxysms  in  this  fever,  is  cer- 
tain. And,  that  a  continued  use  of  it,  or,  what  perhaps  is  better, 
an  occasional  use  of  it,  together  with  a  proper  attention  to  diet, 
the  state  of  the  stomach  and  bowels,  a  due  degree  of  exercise,  and 
the  regulation  oi  the  passion?,  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time,  will 
also  perfectly  obviate  the  tendency  to  relapse,  is  likewise  a  facl: 
of  which  I  have  not  the  least  doubt.  But  the  cases  are  extremely 
rarf:  in  which  we  can  obtain  a  proper  attention  to  either  of  the 
above  requisites  to  the  desired  effect.  It  must  be  acknowledged, 
that,  in  most  cases,  the  bark  did  but  suspend  the  paroxysms.  It 
becomes  a  question,  then,  whether,  in  mild  cases,  it  be  best  to 
cut  the  disorder  short,  or  suffer  it  to  run  its  course.  I  say  in  mild 
cases,  for  where  there  is  the  least  suspicionof  a  doubtful  event, 
the  propriety  of  using  the -bark  cannot  be  questioned.  The  ten- 
dency to  relapse  is  equally  great  when  the  lever  ceases  spontane- 
ously, as  when  cut  short  by  the  bark.  The  advantages  obtained 
by  the  use  of  it  are,  that,  increased  debility  is  prevented,  an  ex- 
emption of  a  number  of  days  from  feverx  with  its  concomitants, 
is  obtained,  and  the  danger  of  an  accession  of  threatening  symp- 
toms is  obviated.  I  know  of  no  reasons  of  equal  weight  that  can 
be  opposed  to  its  use,  even  in  mild  cases.  But  in  cases  of  danger, 
a  remedy  u >Meb  will,  almost  with  certainty,  avert  a  fatal  event, 
ought  not,  on  any  consideration,  to  be  dispensed  with.  In  cases  of 
pregnancy,  a  circumstance  rendering  the  disorder  a  very  dangerous 
one,  I  believe  an  early  exhibition  cf  bark  affords  the  greatest  chance 
of  relief,  even  when  no  more  than  a  remission  can  be  obtained. 

The  Dysentery,  especially  in  children,  it  must  be  confessed,  « 
seemed  to  defy  the  powers  of  medicine.    I  shall  make  some  re- 
marks on  the  remedies  which  I  experienced  the  use  of. 

Purges;  an  assiduous  use  of  them  in  the  early  stage  of  the  dis- 
order, was  of  the  first  importance.  A  judicious  use  of  them  in 
r.duks,  would  generally  ensure  a  favourable  event.  Those  most 
eligible,  were  Glaubers' salts,  manna,  castorcil,  senna,  and  calomel. 
Each  of  these  answered  the  purpose  in  some  cases  very  well;  but 
1  found,  after  a  thorough  purging,  at  first  with  Glaubers'  salts 
and  manna,  or  the  like,  that  repeated  doses  of  castor  oil  gave 
greater  relief  than  any  other  purgative.  An  abatement  of  the 
gripings,  tenesmus,  and  frequency  of  stools,  took  place  almost 
instantaneously  after  its  operation,  and  to  so  great  a  degree,  that 
many  of  my  patients,  after  they  had  experienced  the  effecte  of  this 
medicine,  would,  from  their  own  feelings,  determine  when  a  repe- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tition  was  required,  and  request  of  me  to  administer  it  to  them. 
Rheubarb  I  iound  to  be  a  less  eligible  purgative  in  this  disorder,  than 
those  which  I  have  mentioned :  I  therefore  soon  quitted  the  use  of  it. 

Emetics,  in  general,  did  hot  appear  to  be  of  any  particular  use. 

Ipecacuanha,  either  as  an  emetic,  purgative,  or  specific,  did  not 
appear  to  possess  any  particular  salutary  powers  in  this  disorder. 

Ripe  fruits,  the  few  that  could  be  obtained,  and  drinks  made 
from  them,  were  certainly  innocent,  and  probably  of  some  utility. 

Mucilaginous  drinks,  from  gum  arabic,  marsh  mallows,  com- 
frey,  the  bark  of  what  is  called  the  slippery  elm,  and  the  like,  I 
universally  directed,  and  1  believe  with  some  good  effect. 

Antimonials,  in  combination  with  opium,  alter  the  use  of  pur- 
gatives, were  certainly  beneficial,  particularly  in  the  advanced 
stages  of  the  disorder.  I  used  emetic  tartar,  and  antimonial  wine, 
without  being  able  to  determine  which  of  them  deserved  the  pre- 
ference. Either  of  these  medicines,  in  conjunction  with  some  of 
the  preparations  of  opium,  to  which  was  sometimes  added  cam- 
phire,  would  procure  an  abatement  of  the  frequency  of  the  stools, 
a  relief  from  pain  and  tenesmus,  and  some  sieep.  Opium  alone 
produced  no  such  effects,  and  was  sometimes  manifestly  injurious: 
it  increased  the  obstacle  to  the  evacuation  of  the  fazces,  and  of 
course  the  griping  and  tenesmus,  and  aggravated  the  symptoms  of 
fever.  I  had  no  great  experience  of  the  effects  of  cerated  glass  of 
antimony;  from  what  I  had,  and  from  the  results  of  experiments 
made  by  other  physicians,  I  am  inclined  to  doubt  its  having  any 
specific  virtues  in  dysentery. 

Clysters  of  mild  mucilaginous  substances,  produced  some  relief 
from  pain;  with  the  addition  of  laudanum,  they  were,  in  the  ad- 
vanced stage  of  the  disorder,  a  very  valuable  remedy. 

Bark  was  not  useful  in  simple  dysentery,  or  even  when  com- 
plicated with  fever,  so  long  as  the  dysenteric  symptoms  predomi- 
nated. In  the  convalescent  stage,  when  the  disorder  assumed  the 
form  of  diarrhoea,  or  when  symptoms  of  the  lever  were  present, 
it  sometimes  did  good. 

I  attempted  the  sweating  process,  recommended  by  Dr.  Mosely 
for  the  cure  of  dysentery.  But  when  the  sick  are  almost  half  of 
the  time  necessitated  to  be  out  of  bed,  and  over  the  stool,  it  is  im- 
possible to  procure  and  continue  a  salutary  sweating.  I  soon  gave 
it  up  as  impracticable. 

The  celebrated  nostrum  of  salt  and  vinegar  was  tried,  and  found, 
in  mild  cases,  to  have  a  salutary  effect ;  but  that  it  is  not'  an  in- 
fallible cure  for  dysentery,  was  incoutestably  proved  by  numerous 
experiments. 

Astringents,  of  various  kinds,  were  tried  in  all  stages  of  the  dis- 
order, but,  perhaps,  in  no  instance  with  any  good  effect. 

A  vast  multitude  of  nostrums,  of  various  kinds,  were  recom- 
mended by  quacks,  and  ofiicious  advisers,  and  frequently  with 

Vol.  I.  No.  4.  E 


I     MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


the  most  pernicious  effects.  No  disorder,  perhaps,  affords  more 
abundant  scope  for  the  exercise  oi  quackery,  than  the  dysentery. 
Generally  fatal,  beyond  all  other  disorders,  to  children,  who  are 
the  most  obnoxious  to  its  ravages,  physicians  are  diffident  in  their 
expectations  of  success.  The  people  naturally  distrust  those  who 
distrust  their  own  powers,  and  fly  to  the  quack,  who  makes  them 
positive  assurances  of  relief.  The  perturbation  of  mind,  on  such, 
occasions,  is  such,  as  to  disqualify  people  from  reasoning  and 
judging.  The  scene  passes  rapidly  off,  and  they  are  no  wiser  for 
their  melancholy  experience. 

Since  writing  a  part  of  the  above,  another  season  has  past, 
which  it  may  not  be  improper  to  give  some  account  of. 

About  the  time  of  the  coming  on  of  the  sickness  in  1 796,  and 
the  other  late  sickly  years,  the  bilious  fever  made  its  appearance 
again  this  year.  It  began  in  some  families  who  had,  subsequent 
to  the  sickness  last  year,  removed  to  situations  contiguous  to  the 
pond.  It  continued  to  attack  people,  within  die  boundaries  which 
circumscribed  the  last  year's  sickness,  until  about  the  first  of  Oc- 
tober. Those  who  had  removed  into  the  sickly  territory  since 
the  last  year's  sickness,  and  persons  who  then  escaped,  were 
chiefly  attacked.  The  former  appealed  to  be  particularly  ob- 
noxious to  the  disease.  Between  twenty  and  thirty  persons,  who 
had  removed  to  situations  contiguous  to  the  pond,  all  sickened 
with  bilious  fever,  without  a  single  exception. 

The  circumstances  of  the  season  this  year  were  not  such  as  we 
should  judge  well  adapted  to  produce,  and  give  activity  to  marsh 
exhalations.  The  mill-pond,  and  other  reservoirs  of  stagnant  wa- 
ter, were,  during  the  early  part  of  summer,  kept  pretty  uniformly 
full;  and  although  the  water  in  them,  towards  the  latter  part  of 
summer,  was  lowered,  it  was  at  no  time  very  low.  There  were, 
however,  striking  evidences  of  a  vitiated  atmosphere.  The  lat- 
ter, I  was  informed,  by  persons  who  resided  near  the  pond,  was 
perceptible  at  a  considerable  distance;  and  from  the  universality 
of  its  effects,  we  must  suppose  the  influence  of  the  poisonous 
principle  to  have  been,  in  no  small  degree,  powerful. 

There  has  been  no  instance  of  the  fatality  of  the  disorder  in  this 
town  this  year.  The  symptoms  have  been,  in  general,  less  violent 
than  thev  were  last  year ;  in  other  respecls,  perfectly  similar.  The 
fever  yielded  with  greater  facility  to  the  bark,  than  it  has  done  in 
former  years. 

Dysentery  has  not  appeared  in  any  instance. 

I  have  been  informed  of  two  persons,  not  belonging  to  this 
town,  who,  after  residing  a  few  days  in  the  sickly  territory,  sick- 
ened with  bilous  fever,  and  died  at  their  usual  places  of  residence, 
which  were  where  that  fever  has  never  been  known. 

Sheffield^  Dec.  1,  1797. 

1 


(   47i  ) 


 ARTICLE  III.  

MEDICAL  ESSJYS.—No.lL 
INTRODUCTION. 

A  Sa  principal  part  of  the  evidence  contained  in  the  following 
JLX.  Essay  has  been  already  published  by  Mr.  Webster,  in  his 
Letters  to  Dr.  Currie,  it  may  he  thought  to  require  some  apology 
from  me  for  its  introduction  in  this  place.  A  simple  statement  of 
facts  will,  probably,  be  deemed  sufficient. — The  information  from 
Mr.  Paiba  was  communicated  to  Mr.  Webster  and  me  at  the  same 
time.  The  series  of  Letters  in  which  Mr.  Webster  was  then  en- 
gaged, and  the  importance  of  the  facts  thus  obtained,  induced  him 
to  lay  them  immediately  before  the  public.  The  probability  of 
the  existence  of  still  further  proof  struck  us  both;  and  the  inquiry 
after  it,  was  relinquished  to  me.  In  executing  this  duty,  (for  such, 
under  all  the  circumstances,  I  consider  it,)  I  trust  that  some  addi- 
tional light  will  appear  to  have  been  thrown  on  this  subject;  while 
more  leisure,  and  repeated  conversations  with  Mr.  Paiba,  have 
enabled  me  to  state  every  particular  of  his  evidence  more  minutely 
and  correctly,  than  could  be  done  from  a  single  conversation — in 
which  it  was  impossible  that  some  points  of  lesser  consequence 
should  not  escape  attention. 

In  respect  to  Dr.  Chisholm,  if  it  should  be  thought  that  I  have 
spoken  too  freely  of  his  conduct,  I  have  only  to  reply,  that  the 
terms  I  have  used  are  such  as  his  conduct  appears  to  justify  ;  and 
such  as  he  cannot  complain  of,  if  the  facts  be  really  as  I  at  present 
believe  them  to  be.  But  I  have  no  quarrel  with  this  gentleman, 
and  I  shall  be  as  ready  to  withdraw  those  censures  that  I  have 
passed  upon  him,  should  he  convince  me  that  they  are  unmerited, 
as  I  have  been  free  to  advance  them;  and  in  a  manner  equally 
public.  An  honest  man  can  require  nothing  more:  and  triis  is  a 
dutv  which  every  man  owes  to  himself,  as  much  as  to  the  subject 
of  his  reprehension.  E.  H.  SMITH. 

New-York,  February,  1798. 

On  the  ORIGIN  of  the  PESTILENTIAL  FEVER,  which  fire- 
vailed  in  the  island  of  Grenada,  in  the  years  1793  and  1794. 

THE  pestilential  diseases  which,  within  a  few  years,  seem  to 
have  prevailed  with  uncommon  mortality  in  many  of  the  prin- 
cipal towns  of  the  United  States,  have  attracted  universal  atten- 


47* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


tion,  and  conferred  an  unexpected,  and  perhaps  undue  importance 
on  the  question, — "  Whether  is  the  Yellow  or  Pestilential  Fever, 
"  as  it  has  appeared  in  this  country,  since  the  year  1790,  a  disease 
w  introduced  or  imported  from  abroad,  or  one  generated  among 
"  ourselves  by  local  causes?" 

The  advocates  for  the  reality  of  importation,  in  every  instance 
of  the  prevalence  of  the  fever  within  the  United  States,  maintain, 
that  it  is  a  disease  of  specific  contagion,  the  product  of  other  cli- 
mates, and  incapable  of  being  generated  in  our  own.  In  opposi- 
tion to  this  sentiment,  many  publications  have  appeared,  in  Phila- 
delphia, in  New-York,  and  in  various  other  places,  till  the  public 
mind  has  become  almost  weary  with  the  discussion.  It  is  not 
intended  to  renew  it  at  present.  A  single  point,  only,  in  the  great 
subject,  is  meant  to  be  elucidated.  The  present  inquiry  is  limited 
to  the  examination  of  the  evidence  relative  to  a  single  instance  of 
the  prevalence  of  the  Pestilential  Fever.  ' 

The  friends  of  the  doctrine  of  foreign  derivation,  appear  to  have 
relied  on  no  authority  with  more  confidence  than  on  that  of  Dr. 
Chisholm.  It  has*  become  a  sort  of  fashion  among  them  to  refer, 
with  an  air  of  triumph,  to  his  testimony,  as  exhibited  in  his  pub- 
lication concerning  a  Pestilential  Fever  which  prevailed  in  Gre- 
nada, in  the  years  1793  and  1794,  especially  in  the  former,  and 
which  he  pretends  to  have  been  brought  thither,  in  a  ship  called 
the  Hankey,  from  the  island  of  Bulama  (or  Boullam),  on  the  coast 
of  Africa'. '  But  although,  were  this  writer's  account  of  the  origin 
of  the  disease  to  be  admitted  for  truth,  it  would  by  no  means 
decide  the  question  as  it  relates  to  the  United  States,  still,  before 
such  an  admission  is  granted,  it  is  obvious  to  inquire  to  what 
degree  of  credit  it  is  entitled;  whether  Dr.  Chisholm  has  carefully 
collected  and  displayed  all  the  facts  concerning  the  fever  in  ques- 
tion; and  whether  he  may  riot,  from  inattention,  or  ignorance,  or 
design,  have  materially  mistated  or  withheld  some  important  arti- 
cles of  information.  If  it  can  be  proved,  that  his  history  of  the 
Grenada  fever  is  erroneous  from  cither  of  these  causes,  the  argu- 
ment in  favour  of  imported  contagion  will  derive  no  assistance 
from,  what  he  has  adduced.  To  shew  that  his  account  of  the 
origin  of  that  disease  is  erroneous  a;:d  not  to  be  depended  on,  is 
the  design  of  this  essay. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1791-,  a  number  of  gentlemen  in 
England,  associated  for  the  purpose  ot  forming  a  colonial  establish- 
ment at  Bulama.*    The  general  objects  of  this  colony  were  to 

*  Erronecufly  written  Bcul'cm,  by  Dr.  Chifholm;  who  appears  to  have 
fuppofed,  that  Sierra  Leone  and  Bulama  were  near  each  other;  and  the  two 
fettlements  connected.  Into  this  inaccuracy  he  was  probably  betrayed  from 
the  fimilarity  between  the  names  of  Bulama  and  the  Ihore  oppefite  to  Sierra 
Leone,  which  is  called  the  Boulom  or  Bovllom  fhore. 


BTEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  475 

promote  civilization  and  knowledge  among  the  natives  of  Africa; 
to  effect  a  substitution  of  the  commerce  in  its  commodities,  for 
the  disgraceful  traffic  in  its  inhabitants;  and  to  dispose  the  people 
of  that  unhaopy  country  to  peace  among  themselves,  and  to  hus- 
bandry and  the  useful  arts.  Its  particular  object  was  to  raise 
cotton  for  the  Manchester  market.  Some  of  the  most  respectable 
men  in  England  engaged  in  this  plan,  either  as  simple  purchasers, 
or  proprietors  and  colonists;  and  after  a  general  meeting  of  the 
subscribers  had  elected  a  governor  and  council,  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  colony,  the  governor  and  council  appointed  the  fol- 
lowing gentlemen  as  trustees  for  the  association,  to  remain  in  Eng- 
land. 

Paul  Le  Mesurier,  M.  P.  Lord  Mayor  in  1794. 

Sir  John  Riggs  Miller,  Bart. 

Col.  James  Kirkpatrick. 

David  Scott,  Esq.  M.  P. 

Moses  Ximenes,  Esq. 

George  Hartwell,  Esq. 

The  names  of  these  gentlemen  are  inserted  here,  as  evidence  of 
the  respectability  of  the  persons  engaged  in  the  enterprize. 

The  subscribers,  or  members  of  this  association,  raised  about 
„£ooco.  sterling,  which  was  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  convex 
niencies  for  the  colony;  for  obtaining  the  territory,  meant  to  be 
occupied,  of  the  natives ;  and  for  the  purposes  of  trade  among  them. 
The  intended  colonists,  to  the  number  of  275,  men,  women,  and 
children,  exclusive  of  the  crews  of  the  ships,  were  to  be  trans- 
ported in  three  vessels;  two  of  them  (the  Calypso  and  the  Hankey, 
of  about  300  tons  each)  chartered  for  the  purpose;  the  other  a 
copper-bottomed  sloop  of  34  tons,  belonging  to  the  association. 

The  island  of  Bulama  lies  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  bay,  about 
fifty  miles  from  the  open  sea,  and  opposite  to  where  Rio  Grande, 
a  principal  river  of  Africa,  empties  itself.    The  center  of  the  island 
is  computed  be  in  eleven  degrees  north  latitude,  and  fifteen  degrees 
west  longitude  from  London:  the  place  where  the  settlement  was 
ultimately  fixed,  is  about  eleven  and  a  half  degrees  north  latitude. 
The  circumference  of  Bulama  is  estimated  at  120  miles,  extending 
from  east  to  west.    The  land  rises  gradually  from  the  shore  to 
the  middle  of  the  island,  which  is  well-wocded,  abundant  in  fine 
springs  of  water,  full  of  game  and  wild  animals  of  various  kinds, 
and  of  a  very  fertile  soil ;  being  totally,  as  far  as  yet  investigated, 
exempt  from  marshes  and  stagnant  waters,  and  from  stony  ground. 
The  tide  is  regular,  and  the  spring-tides  rise  about  16  feet.  The 
range  of  the  thermometer,  by  daily  observations,  at  noon,  for  ten 
months,  is  from  740  to  960  of  Fahrenheit;  -ind  the  medium  heat 
S50.    The  rains  commence  late  in  May,  or  early  in  June,  and 


47+ 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


continue  till  some  time  in  October  or  November.  On  the  whole, 
the  situation  is  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and  healthy  on  the  coast  of 
Africa;  though,  like  other  tropical  climates,  not  perfectly  adapted 
to  the  coiistimtiort  of  natives  of  northern  latitudes.  Surrounding 
Bulama,  but  more  particularly  between  it  and  the  open  sea,  lie 
numerous  islands  of  various  magnitude,  some  larger,  but  the 
greater  part  not  so  large,  forming  an  extensjve  Archipelago,  to 
which  jhe  Bulama  colonists  gave  the  fanciful  name  of  the  Hesjie- 
rJdes.  At  this  time  Bulama  was  uninhabited,  but  was  the  property 
of  the  Canabacs,  a  powerful,  warlike  and  ferocious  nation,  resid- 
ing on  a  neighbouring  island. 

Soon  after  the  vessels  put  to  sea,  they  were  separated  by  a 
storm;  and  the  Calypso,  after  touching  at  Teneriffe  and  Goree, 
arrived  at  Bulama,  about  the  end  of  May,  1 792,  and  near  a  fort- 
night before  the  Hankey.  The  w  hole  of  the  people  were  in 
health  when  they  sailed.  The  Calypso  lost  a  man  and  two  chil- 
dren on  the  voyage. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Calypso,  the  governor  landed  some  of  the 
people;  and  while  he  was  absent,  with  a  small  party,  to  explore 
the  island,  the  Canabacs,  mistaking  the  design  of  the  colonists, 
surprized  those  who  were  left  behind;  killed  and  wounded  a  num- 
ber; and  carried  off'  others  as  prisoners.  This  unfortunate  occur- 
rence alarmed  the  others  so  much,  that  the  governor  deemed  it 
prudent  to  sail  back  to  the  island  of  Bissao  (one  of  the  Archipe- 
lago), where  there  is  a  Portuguese  settlement.  Here  he  found  the 
Hankey  and  the  sloop,  who  had  arrived  after  touching  at  Teneriffe 
and  St.  Jago.  While  at  Bissao,  they  conciliated  the  Canabacs; 
recovered  those  who  had  been  made  prisoners;  and  from  thence 
returned  in  company  to  Bulama,  which  they  soon  after  purchased, 
together  with  the  adjacent  island  of  Areas. 

The  hurry  with  which  the  colonists  had  quitted  England,  some 
delays  created  by  the  government  at  home,  in  their  departure,  and 
their  number,  which  exceeded  what  was  at  first  expected,  prevent- 
ed their  carrying  out  with  them  many  conveniencies  essential  to  the 
commencement  of  an  establishment  like  the  one  proposed,  and 
retarded  their  arrival  till  near  the  beginning  of  the  rainy  season; 
Some  of  the  Calypso's  people  had  already  fallen  sick  when  the 
Hankey  arrived;  and  as  there  were  no  accommodations  provided 
on  shore,  both  sick  and  w  ell  were  confined  to  the  ships.  The 
rains  now  setting  in,  obliged  them  to  frame  a  sort  of  covering  to 
protect  them  from  the  weather.  In  this  confined  situation,  the 
heat  and  moisture  were  very  uncomfortable;  a  due  degree  of  clean- 
liness could  not  be  preserved;  and  the  disappointment  and  chagrin 
of  most,  with  unusual  labour,  soon  introduced  sickness.  In  the 
Calypso,  where  the  people  were  most  crow  ded,  it  was  now  most 
prevalent;  it  soon  affected  the  colonists  on  board  the  Hankey;  but 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  47$ 

it  was  not  till  a  long  time  after,  that  any  person  sickened  that 
belonged  to  the  sloop,  which  was  actively  employed,  and  con- 
tained none  of  the  intended  colonists,  but  its  own  crew,  or  such 
as  were  occasionally  on  board  to  perform  some  service  for  the  asso- 
ciation. At  length,  the  discontents  of  the  colonists  rose  to  such 
a  height,  that  the  greater  half  of  them  resolved  to  relinquish  their 
design  and  return  to  England.  Some  few  of  them  remained  for  a 
time  at  Bissao,  but  the  principal  part  set  sail  in  the  Calypso. 

The  Calypso  left  Bulama  about  the  23d  of  July,  for  Sierra 
Leone;  where  the  people  were  in  hopes  of  finding  accommoda- 
tions till  the  cessation  of  the  rains.  Their  passage  was  uncom- 
monly tedious  and  tempestuous;  many  sickened  on  the  way;  and 
two  or  three  died.  When  they  arrived  at  Sierra  Leone,  they  were 
disappointed  of  the  expected  accommodations  on  shore;  and  be- 
ing more  crowded  now  than  at  Bulama,  in  a  warmer  latitude,  the 
season  further  advanced,  with  additional  disappointments,  and 
wholly  destitute  of  occupation  to  divert  their  thoughts  from  their 
pressing  difficulties,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  sickness  on  board 
the  Calypso  increased,  and  that  a  greater  number  perished  here 
than  had  died  out  of  both  ships,  previous  to  her  departure  from 
Bulama^ 

Concerning  the  sickness  which  carried  off  the  colonists,  both 
at  Bulama,  at  Sierra  Leone,  and  on  the  home  passage  of  the  Ca- 
lypso, it  may  be  remarked  once  for  all,  that  it  was  by  no  means 
of  one  kind,  as  the  readers  of  Dr.  Chisholm  would  be  led  to  sup- 
pose. Few,  if  any,  escaped  altogether.  Some  had  regular  inter- 
mittent fever,  (which  is  the  fever  of  the  coast,)  of  various  conti- 
nuance, from  a  few  weeks  to  several  months :  others  had  a  violent 
fever,  which  terminated  favourably  or  fatally  in  one,  two,  three, 
four,  five,  or  six  days;  or  which  lingered  out,  after  its  first  vio- 
lence, as  many  weeks:  some  had  diarrhoea  and  dysentery;  and 
others  fell  martyrs  to  the  indiscreet  use  of  spirits  and  opium,  as 
preventatives:  and  all  these  varieties  happened  on  board  the  same 
ships,  without  any  obvious  difference  in  the  exposure  of  the  indi- 
viduals to  the  causes  of  disease.  Yellowness  of  the  skin  was  a 
common  appearance  in  the  sick;  and  some  of  those  who  died  at 
Sierra  Leone  had  black-vomit;  and  this  symptom  also  appeared  at 
Bulama  in  the  latter  part  of  the  season.* 

The  Calypso  left  behind,  at  Bulama,  with  the  Hankey  and  the 
sloop,  eighty-seven  persons,  viz.  forty-nine  men,  thirteen  women, 
and  twenty-five  children,  well  supplied  with  provisions.    But  be- 

*  Mr.  Paiba  informs  me,  that  a  girl  recovered  who  had  heen  very  ill  on 
their  paflage  to  Sierra  Leone.  She  had  been  l'peechlefs  feveral  days,  and 
for  three  or  four  days  apparently  dead,  after  having  had  the  black- vomit. — . 
This  I  believe  was  the  iirlt  time  that  this  I'ymptom  occurred  among  the  Bu- 
lama adventurers. 


476  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

fore  any  further  account  is  given  of  the  fate  of  this  remnant  of  the 
original  colony,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  Calypso,  the  ship  on 
board  of  which  the  sickness  commenced  and  was  most  severe,  both 
at  Bulamaand  at  Sierra  Leone,  arrived  at  London  on  the  14th  of 
November,  1792,  with  between  eighty  and  ninety  colonists;  that 
she  lost  thirteen  people  between  Sierra  Leone  and  London;  that 
five  others  died  out  of  her  after  she  arrived  at  her  moorings  in  the 
Thames;  and  yet,  that  no  disease  was  ever  propagated,  or  reported 
to  be  propagated  by  her,  in  London;  nor  do  there  appear  to  have 
been  any  obstacles  opposed  to  her  entrance,  or  to  the  landing  of 
the  people  that  came  in  her,  or  of  the  quantities  of  goods  that  they 
brought  back  with  them — though  this  ship  had  only  been  subjected, 
to  a  partial,  and  by  no  means  to  a  thorough,  cleansing,  previous 
to  her  leaving  Sierra  Leone. 

After  the  departure  of  the  Calypsoj  the  remaining  colonists  ap- 
plied themselves  with  great  assiduity,  together  with  such  of  the 
natives  as  they  could  hire,  to  the  preparation  of  accommodations 
for  themselves  on  shore.  The  difficulties  they  had  to  encounter 
were  numerous,  considerable,  and  discouraging.  Many  of  them 
were  unaccustomed  to  labour;  the  sickness  still  contimied;  they 
were  obliged  to  keep  up  a  constant  watch,  for  fear  of  their  fero- 
cious neighbours,  theCanabacs;  and  they  worked  in  the  rains  and 
heat.  During  the  whole  of  the  rains  they  had  no  breezes;  so  that 
the  weather  was  close,  sultry,  and  very  oppressive.  They  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  constructing  a  considerable  block-house, 
within  which  lodgings  were  prepared  for  such  of  the  people  as  re- 
solved to  continue  permanently  at  Bulama.  But  no  particular  dif- 
ference was  observable  between  the  condition  of  those  who  lived, 
on  shore,  and  those  who  remained  in  the  Hankey.  Some  of  the 
people  in  both  situations  were  sick ;  with  no  variations  in  the  na- 
ture of  their  complaints,  ascribable  to  the  circumstance  of  being 
out  of,  or  in,  the  vessel. 

The  official  return  of  the  acting  governor  of  the  colony,  from 
the  sailing  of  the  Calypso  till  the  22d  of  November,  when  the 
Hankey  left  Bulama,  is  as  follows : 

Men.  Women.  Child. 
Left  behind  when  the  Calypso  sailed  87        49        13  25 
Returned  from  Sierra  Leone  6         2         3         1  * 

93 

*  In  this  account  of  thofe  who  returned  from  Sierra  Leone,  Mr.  Paiba 
informs -me  that  there  is  a  fmall  miflake.  He  makes  the  number  to  have 
been  eight,  viz.  five  men,  one  woman,  one  infant,  one  fervant  boy.  The 
QiHerence  is  not  material,  as  the  reft  of  the  return  is  accurate. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY 


477 


Qf  these  there  died  26  of  fever, 

1  of  fever  and  flux, 

2  of  consumption, 
1  of  lunacy,* 
1  mortified  hand, 
1  drowned, 

1  worms, 

2  complication  of  disord.  2 

1  hooping-cough,  1 
4  disease  not  specified,     3  1 

40  23         6  11 

From  the  preceding  list  of  deaths  and  diseases  it  is  apparent, 
that  though  the  mortality  was  very  great,  it  was  not  wholly  occa- 
sioned by  fever.  It  may  be  added,  that  under  the  title  fever  are 
included  those  who  died  of  it  under  every  form;  and  whether  they 
were  hurried  into  their  graves  after  a  sickness  of  two  or  three  days, 
or  gradually  sunk  into  them  from  the  oppressive  debility  induced 
by  an  intermittent  of  several  months  continuance. 

The  time  for  which  the  Hankey  had  been  chartered  having  ex- 
pired, Captain  Coxe  prepared  to  sail  for  England;  and  with  him 
several  of  the  colonists — among  others  Mr.  Paiba  (one  of  the  coun- 
cil) and  his  lady;  making,  in  the  whole,  nineteen  or  twenty  per- 
sons; all  of  whom,  excepting  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paiba,  and  a  woman, 
were  unwell.  But  before  the  Hankey  put  to  sea,  all  the  bedding 
of  the  sick  was  thrown  overboard  or  destroyed ;  the  ship  was  wash- 
ed from  stem  to  stern,  both  above  and  below,  with  salt-water,  and 
then  with  vinegar  and  water;  and  the  purification  was  completed 
by  thoroughly  fumigating  her  with  tar,  pitch,  and  gunpowder.  In 
this  clean  condition  they  bade  farewell  to  Bulama  on  the  22d  of 
November,  1 792 ;  but  in  attempting  to  pass  through  the  channel 
near  to  the  entrance  into  the  open  sea,  in  a  dark  and  foggy  night, 
they  got  aground  on  a  sand-bank,  upon  the  north  s4de  of  the 
island  of  Formosa,  or  Warang,  belonging  to  the  Bijugas,  who  aie 
represented  as  Cannibals.  The  extreme  terror  excited  b\  this 
accident,  was  not  calculated  to  improve  the  health  of  the  people 
on  board  the  Hankey;  so  that,  when  it  became  necessary  to  take 
measures  for  their  security  and  deliverance,  only  four  men  were 
found  in  a  condition  to  do  duty,  and  all  of  these  had  intermittents. 

*  By  lunacy  here  is  not  to  be  underftooj  mania.  It  feveral  times  happen- 
ed that  perfons  who  had  been  violently  attacked  with  fever,  were  left  by  it 
in  a  Rate  of  derangement  more  like  idiocy  than  madnefs.  In  this  wretched 
condition  they  frequently  lingered  fome  months,  and  then  died.  This  the 
governor  has  denominated  lunacy.  Mr.  Paiba  believes  that  the  four  perfons 
whofe  diftafe  is  not  fpecificd,  mult  have  perifhed  in  this  miferabk  condition. 

FoL  I.  No.  4.  :  F 


4/8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


With  them,  however,  and  his  lady,  Mr.  Paiba  sat  off  in  an  open 
boat,  for  Bissao,  to  obtain  assistance  from  the  Portuguese  settle- 
ment. Thither  he  arrived,  rowing  through  rains  and  fogs,  in  a 
leaky  boat,  after  being  out  two  nights  and  a  day;  and  having 
attained  such  help  as  he  could,  returned  to  the  Hankey,  got  her 
off,  and  carried  her  back  to  Bissao.  On  the  passage  there,  eight 
persons  died  of  those  that  belonged  to  this  ship.  At  Bissao  they 
refitted;  and  the  Hankey  was  a  second  time  purified  as  completely  as 
she  had  been  before  leaving  Bulama. 

At  length,  all  things  being  ready,  the  Hankey  left  Bissao,  and 
by  fortunate  pilotage  passed  through  the  channel  without  accident, 
cleared  Cape  Roxo,  and  stood  off  to  sea.  There  were  then  on 
board,  Capt.  Coxe,  his  two  mates,  boatswain,  two  seamen,  and 
the  cabin-boy,  crew;  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paiba,  a  servant  boy  of 
theirs,  a  woman,  and  a  little  g\r\,  passengers ;  in  all  twelve  persons. 
The  little  girl  died  when  they  were  at  St.  Jago;  but,  at  this  time, 
none  of  them  were  sick,  but  with  debility  and  slight  intermhtents. 
A  circumstance  which  marks  the  time  of  their  sailing  is,  that  they 
observed  the  festival  of  Christmas,  on  this  voyage,  which  was  only 
of  five  days. 

The  Hankey  arrived  at  St.  Jago  on  the  30th  or  3 1st  of  Decem- 
ber; but,  in  attempting  to  enter,  unfortunately  got  among  the 
rocks  in  the  Bay  of  St.  Francis;  from  which  she  was  cleared,  after 
some  days,  by  the  assistance  of  two  boat-loads  of  Americans,  and 
thirty  or  forty  of  the  natives,  and  brought  into  Port  Praya.  At 
this  place  the  Hankey  continued  about  two  months.  During  this 
stav,  all  the  people  recovered  their  health,  except  the  child  who 
died,  and  Capt.  Coxe,  whose  fever  being  irregular,  and  irregularly 
treated,  he  was  sometimes  well  for  several  days  together,  and  then 
had  a  relapse  of  about  the  same  duration.  Bark  and  the  usual 
auxiliaries  never  failed  to  arrest  the  progress  of  his  fever  and  ague ; 
but,  as  is  commonly  observed,  indulgences  in  free  living,  or  in 
exertions  of  business  or  pleasure,  caused  it  to  recur. 

From  the  moment  of  the  arrival  of  the  Hankey,  till  her  depar- 
ture, no  other  person  that  belonged  to  her  was  unwell  with  any 
ailment  of  consequence;  her  crew  and  passengers  mixed  without 
suspicion,  and  with  perfect  freedom,  with  the  inhabitants  of  Port 
Praya ;  and  received  them  on  board,  where  they  had  a  number  of 
entertainments,  of  which  the  governor  of  the  island  and  several 
of  the  principal  people  partook :  nor  was  there  ever  any  sickness 
occasioned  by  all  this  long  intercourse,  or  suspected  of  being  ex- 
cited by  it.  Indeed,  no  sickness  prevailed  at  St.  Jago,  during  the 
Hankey 's  stay,  except  the  common  ague  and  fever  of  the  place. 
And,  certainly,  it  must  be  thought  very  extraordinary,  that  a  ship 
which  retained  such  deadly  infection  as  to  poison  the  whole  town 
of  St.  George  in  Grenada,  several  months  after  leaving  Bulama, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


479 


should  not  only  not  have  affected  a  single  person  at  St.  Jago,  dur- 
ing two  months  continuance  there,  and  when  a  daily  intercourse 
was  kept  up  between  her  and  the  town  of  Port  Praya,  but  should 
have  been  equally  harmless  to  two  boat-loads  of  Americans,  fresh 
from  a  northern  climate — especially  as,  were  Dr.  Chisholm's  ac- 
count to  be  received  as  truth,  the  contagion  must  be  believed  so 
active  as  to  have  destroyed  the  first  person  who  came  on  board 
after  her  arrival  at  Grenada,  and  so  diffusive  as  to  extend,  from 
vessel  to  vessel,  through  the  whole  harbour. 

When  the  Hankey  had  been  about  a  month  at  St.  Jago,  Com- 
modore Dod  arrived  there  in  the  Charon,  a  44  gun  shjp.  He  had 
been  directed  by  his  government  to  afford  such  assistance  to  the  in- 
fant colony  at  Bulama,  as  was  consistent  with  the  national  service. 
In  consequence,  he  had  previously  dispatched  the  Scorpion  sloop 
of  war,  which  was  under  his  command,  to  visit  Bulama,  and  return 
to  him  at  St.  Jago,  by  a  particular  time.  The  Scorpion  proceeded 
accordingly,  and  the  colony  was  mustered  by  Capt.  Ferris,  the 
commander,  on  the  nth  of  January,  1793. 

Mr.  Paiba  was  not  at  Port  Praya,  when  the  Charon  arrived, 
but  in  the  country.  But  he  immediately  repaired  to  town,  and 
paid  his  respects  to  the  Commodore,  to  whom  he  unfolded  his 
situation,  and  that  of  the  people  who  were  with  him,  and  requested 
such  assistance  as  the  Commodore  could  afford  them.  It  was 
soon  discovered  that  the  Hankey  would  not  be  able  to  obtain  such 
an  addition  to  her  crew,  as  would  render  it  prudent  to  attempt  to 
navigate  her  back  to  England;  and  notwithstanding  Capt.  Coxe's 
desire  to  undertake  the  voyage,  (as  his  people  were  all  well  when 
the  Charon  left  St.  Jago,)  the  Commodore  expressly  directed  him 
to  make  the  best  of  his  way  to  the  West-Indies.  The  Scorpion 
not  arriving  at  St.  Jago  by  the  time  expected,  the  Charon,  after 
a  stay  there  of  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks,  and  after  sparing  two 
seamen  to  the  Hankey,  departed  for  the  coast  of  Africa;  leaving 
an  order  for  the  Captain  of  the  Scorpion  to  furnish  her  with  two 
additional  sailors.  A  few  days  after,  the  Scorpion  came  to  Port, 
Praya;  and  having  reluctantly  complied  with  the  order,  sailed 
again,  soon  joined  the  Charon,  and  they  visited  the  several  settle- 
ments on  the  coast  in  company. 

As  much  stress  is  laid  by  Dr.  Chisholm,  on  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  Charon  and  the  Hankey,  it  is  proper  to  state  particu- 
larly, what  it  amounted  to. 

As  the  people  of  the  Hankey,  and  particularly  Capt.  Coxe, 
had  not  perfectly  recovered  their  health  when  the  Charon  arrived, 
the  surgeons  of  that  ship  were  allowed  to  visit  the  Hankey,  and 
lo  direct  what  was  proper  for  them.  But  neither  of  these  gentle- 
men were  unwell  in  consequence.  Commodore  Dod  being  a 
strict  disciplinarian,  and  beside  exceedingly  fearful  of  contagion, 


48o  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


hcver  permitted  his  people  to  go  on  board  the  Hankey,  except 
that  in  one  instance,  he  suffered  two  of  his  men  to  assist  in  some 
repairs  on  her  rigging.  But  before  tills,  and  indeed  previous  td 
any  communication  with  that  vessel,  he  had  sent  on  board  of  her 
a  quantity  of  powder;  and  the  purifications  of  Bulama  and  Bissao 
had  been  repeated. 

The  barge"  of  the  Charon,  by  the  Commodore's  strict  orders, 
had  no  other  connection  with  the  Hankey  than  simply  this; — It 
was  his  custom  to  send  it  every  morning  to  the  Hankey,  for  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Paiba,  who  usually  spent  the  day  with  him,  and  re- 
turned at  evening.  When  the  barge  came  along  side  of  the  Han- 
key, it  was  kept  waiting  till  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paiba  were  readv;  when 
they  entered  it,  and  were  immediately  carried  on  board  the  Cha- 
ron. At  evening,  they  returned  to  the  Hankey;  and  as  soon  as 
they  left  the  barge,  the  people  went  back  as  before.  So  that  the 
barge-men  never  were  in  the  Hankey;  and  ei.xepting  the  sur- 
g  'ons,  the  two  mariners  who  were  a  short  time  (part  of  one  day) 
employed  about  the  rigging,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paiba,  and  Captain 
Coxe,  who  was  three  or  four  times  in  the  Charon;  no  other  peo- 
ple, belonging  to  either  ship,  had  intercourse  or  communication 
with  the  other;  and  the  connection  with  the  Scorpion  was  still 
less,  and  of  less  duration.  Nor  was  there  ever  any  sickness  on 
board  cither  the  Charon  or  the  Scorpion,  during  their  stay  at  St. 
Jago;  and  if  any  broke  out  afterwards,  it  was  in  ajl  probability 
generated  in  those  vessels,  during  their  continuance  on  the  African 
coast,  by  the  same  causes  which  occasioned  it  in  the  Calypso  and 
the  Hankey,  and  which  so  generally  give  birth  to  it  in  ships 
which  leave  cold  for  hot  climates:  for  it  is  incredible,  if  any 
disease  were  communicable  by  the  Hankey,  that  she  should  not 
rather  communicate  it  at  first,  than  after  her  long  stay,  and  to  the 
Charon  before  her  purification,  than  just  as  the  latter  was  ready 
to  sail,  so  that  it  did  not  appear  till  after  she  had  reached  the  coast  of 
Africa.  All  these  circumstances,  therefore,  being  viewed  in  con- 
nection, there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Commodore  Dod 
was  mistaken,  in  attributing  the  disease  of  which  his  men  died,  to 
contagion  received  from  the  Hankey;  and  that  he  consulted, 
in  this  instance,  rather  his  fears  and  his  prejudices,  than  his  reason 
and  the  facts  before  him. 

The  latter  end  of  February^  or  beginning  of  March,  the  Han- 
key left  St.  Jago,  and  proceeded  for  the  West-Indies.  Her  crew 
and  passengers  were  the  same  as  before,  with  the  addition  of  two 
mariners  from  the  Charon  and  two  from  the  Scorpion — one  of 
which  last  was  unwell  when  he  came  on  board  the  Hankey,  but 
able,  at  that  time,  to  do  duty.  He  grew  more  and  more  unwell 
as  thev  proceeded,  and  actually  died  when  they  had  been  ten  or 
twelve  days  at  sea.    Capt.  Coxe,  who  was  still  unwell  when  the 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


481 


Hankey  left  St.  Jago,  recovered  his  health  before  they  reached  the 
West-Indies,  (though  he  afterwards  had  a  return  of  his  disorder,) 
and  all  the  others  were  perfectly  well,  (notwithstanding  the  hard 
duty  they  had  to  perform,)  and  continued  so. 

After  a  passage  of  nineteen  days*  the  Hankey  arrived  at  Bar- 
badoes,  where  she  remained  three  or  four  days.  While  there,  the 
people  of  the  place  came  freely  on  board,  and  those  of  the  ship 
all  went  on  shore,  and  mingled  as  usual,  with  the  inhabitants;  but 
no  disease  was  communicated,  nor  did  any  prevail  at  Barbadoes 
that  year,  like  that  which  appeared  at  Grenada.* 

From  Barbadoes,  the  Hankey  proceeded  to  St.  Vincent's,  where 
she  made  a  stay  of  a  day  and  a  half,  and  where  the  same  free  in- 
tercourse took  place  between  the  people  of  the  ship  and  of  the 
island,  that  has  been  noticed  in  respect  to  the  other.  But  no  pre- 
tence ever  was  set  up,  that  a  contagious  disease,  or  any  disease, 
was  communicated  to  the  inhabitants  in  consequence;  nor  did  the 
sickness  which  appeared  at  St.  Vincent's  the  same  year,  com- 
mence till  some  time  after  that  of  Grenada  had  become  general. 
It  was  then  conjectured,  that  the  Grenada  fever  had  been  imported 
into  St.  Vincent's;  though,  more  probably,  both  arose  from  local 
causes,  which  might  be  more  active  atone  place  than  at  the  other. 

From  St.  Vincent's,  the  Hankey  sailed  to  Grenada;  where  she 
arrived  late  in  the  month,  or  Mot  till  after  the  19th  of  March:  a 
month  after  the  time  fixed  on  by  Dr.  Chisholm.  She  entered,  as 
he  says,  into  the  Bay  of  St.  George's;  but  was  soon  alter  carried 
round  into  the  Careenage.  The  distressed  condition  of  which 
Dr.  Chisholm  speaks  in  his  account,  arose  solely  from  the  want  of 
sufficient  hands  to  navigate  the  ship,  and  the  consequent  fatigue 
of  those  on  board;  for,  at  this  time,  all,  even  Capt.  Coxe  himself^ 
were  able  to  do  duty,  and  were  in  health. 

Immediately  on  his  arrival  (in  consequence  of  a  recommen- 
datory letter  from  Commodore  Dod),  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paiba  were 
invited  about  14  miles  into  the  country,  to  the  plantation  of 
an  English  gentleman,  at  whose  house  they  resided  during  their 
continuance  in  the  island  of  Grenada.  A  circumstance  which  may 
be  considered  as  sufficient  evidence,  that  Commodore  Dod  had  no 
apprehensions  of  the  liability  of  any  person  to  contract  disease 
from  the  people  of  the  Hankey,  at  the  time  of  his  departure  from 
Si.  [ago.  As  a  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  this  supposed  opinion 
of  the  Commodore,  it  may  be  observed,  that  Mr.  Paiba  went  seve- 
ral times  on  board  of  the  Hankey,  mixed  unrestrainedly  with  the 

*  One  man  belonging  to  the  Hankey  even  remained  behind,  and  refided 
at  Barbadoes  for  fome  time — without  occafioning  any  peitilence.  His  name 
is  Curwood;  I  am  informed  he  now  lives  at  Albany,  and  will  corroborate 
all  the  material  parts  of  Mr.  Paiba's  statement. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


towns-pecple,  was  at  Dr.  Chisholm's  house,  at  the  houses  of  mo  a. 
of  the  reputable  merchants  in  St.  George's.,  and  yet,  neither  him- 
self, his  family,  the  friends  with  whom  he  resided,  nor  the  families 
with  whom  he  principally  associated,  ever  had  the  disease:  a  fact 
very  extraordinary,  were  Dr.  Cliisholm's  notions  of  the  virulence 
and  extreme  activity  of  the  contagion  supposed  to  be  introduced 
by  the  Hankey,-  well-founded. 

Still  further  to  remove  all  suspicion  respecting  this  ship,  it  is 
proper  to  remark,  that  she  had  no  cargo  on  board,  nor  any  thing 
but  her  few  stores,  and  some  gootis  belonging  to  Mr.  Paiba.  These 
goods  were  landed  at  St.  George's,  and  stored  at  the  house  of  a 
gentleman  of  that  place,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Paiba's,  (a  Mr.  Napier*), 
where  they  continued  unmolested;  and  no  member  of  Mr.  Na- 
pier's family  suffered  from  the  lever.  The  Hankey,  in  fact,  was 
in  ballast;  which  consisted  ol  green  wood,  put  on  board  at  Bulama 
or  Bissao;  and  which,  being  dry  when  she  arrived  at  Grenada, 
and  of  course  no  longer  u>elul  for  the  original  purpose,  was 
thrown  out  there,  and  sold  for  firing.  From  such  a  lading  as  this, 
the  most  inveterate  disciple  of  Dr.  Chisholm  will  hardly  expect 
to  extract  "  contagion,  pestilence,  and  death." 

From  a  comparison  of  the  preceding  narration,  with  the  history 
delivered  by  Dr.  Chisholm  concerning  the  Hankey,  the  reader 
will  probably  find  ample  room  for  doubt,  as  to  the  remaining 
statements  of  that  much-quoted  author.  The  facts  and  reasonings 
which  are  to  follow,  will  jjerhaps  succeed  in  removing  any  uncer- 
tainty which  may  yet  remain.  To  this  end,  the  reader  is  sup- 
posed to  bear  in  mind,  the  several  parts  of  Dr.  Chisholm's  pub- 
lication, as  he  proceeds  with  the  writer  in  the  present  investiga- 
tion.— It  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  exhibit  a  correct  state- 
ment of  facts  relative  to  Capt.  Remington. 

The  Hankey  had  been  at  Grenada  at  least  a  month,  and  the 
sickness  was  universally  known  to  be  in  the  town  of  St.  George, 
when  Capt.  Remington  visited  that  ship.  Luckily,  Mr.  Paiba 
was  then  on  board,  and  remembers  all  the  circumstances.  These 
are  his  words. 

"  He  (Capt.  Remington)  had  been  all  day  and  night  coming 
"  from  Grenville  Bay,  and  had  been  wet  through.  He  slept  on 
"  board  in  his  clothes;  and  went  in  an  open  boat,  the  next  day, 
"  back- to  his  ship:  enough  to  kill  any  one  in  that  climate.''t 

*  Mr.  Napier's  houfe  is  on  the  Bay-fide  of  the  town  of  St.  George. 

f  Manufcrip*  communicated  to  me  by  Mr.  Paiba,  and  now  in  my  pof- 
feiuon.  Mr.  Paiba  being  the  principal  part  of  the  time  on  fhore,  is  not 
able  pofitively  to  contradiil  the  affertions  of  Dr.  Chifholm,  concerning  the 
crew  of  the  Defiance — but  from  the  foregoing  narration;  from  what  is 
proved  reflecting  the  cafe  of  Capt.  Remington ;  and  from  what  will  be 
mentioned  hereafter  of  Dr.  Chifholm's  converi'aticn  with  Mr.  Paiba;  I  have 
no  hesitation  to  difbelieve  the  whole. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


483 


A  mistatement  of  this  fact,  so  surprizingly  gross  and  enormous 
as  that  of  Dr.  Chisholm,  unavoidably  inspires  something  more 
than  doubt  concerning  his  whole  narration.  In  this  situation,  it 
is  proper,  as  far  as  may  be  possible  at  this  distance  of  time  and 
place,  to  institute  an  inquiry  into  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
memorable  disease  that  prevailed  in  Grenada  in  the  year  1793. 

1.  The  town  of  St.  George,  in  the  island  of  Grenada,  where 
the  pestilential  disease  raged  in  1793,  is  situated  on  a  narrow  strip 
of  land,  bounded  on  one  side  by  the  Bay  of  the  same  naine,  and 
on  the  other  by  the  Careenage. 

The  Careenage  is  a  long  inlet  or  arm  of  the  sea,  running  up  on 
the  south  and  east  side  of  the  town  of  St.  George.  It  is  low;  little 
moved  by  winds ;  and  nearly  stagnant — as  the  tide  never  rises  or 
falls  there  more  than  four,  five,  or  six  inches. 

The  shore  of  the  Careenage,  on  the  town  side,  is  remarkably 
low,  narrow,  filthy,  and  crowded  by  numerous  little  buildings, 
chiefly  of  wood,  which  are  separated  only  by  lanes,  situated  on  or 
near  the  wharves,  and  inhabited  by  the  lowest  of  the  people,  ill- 
accommodated,  and  devoted  to  intoxication  and  every  species  of 
debauchery. 

At  the  head  or  east  end  of  the  Careenage,  is  a  large  marsh; 
which,  at  all  times,  but  especially  at  low  water,  sends  forth  the 
most  noisome  and  offensive  smells. 

Into  this  inlet,  vessels  are  generally  brought  to  refit  and  careen, 
and  indeed  for  protection,  as  they  are  perfectly  safe  from  the 
winds.  At  the  time  of  the  Hankey's  arrival,  it  appears  to  have 
been  unusually  crowded  with  shipping ;  and  that  ship  was  brought 
round  from  the  Bay,  into  the  Careenage,  very  soon  after  she 
reached  Grenada. 

2.  This  being  the  place  where  the  sickness  first  shewed  itself, 
and  whence  it  extended  to  the  neighbouring  parts  of  the  town,  it 
may  be  proper,  in  the  next  place,  to  examine  whether  there  was 
any  thing  remarkable  in  the  seasons  of  the  year,  which  should 
render  the  Careenage  more  than  commonly  liable  to  disease.  The 
reasons  which  the  preceding  part  of  this  essay  afford  for  not 
acquiescing  in  the  narrative  of  Dr.  Chisholm,  make  it  equally 
improper  to  receive  his  opinions  on  this  subject  without  further 
inquiry:  especially  as  the  result  of  such  inquiry  seems  to  confirm 
a  contrary  position,  and  authorize  a  conclusion,  that  the  weather 
of  1795  was  favourable  to  the  generation  and  spread  of  pestilential 
diseases  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Careenage. 

The  month  of  February  1  793,  was  generally  rainy;  which,  Dr. 
Chisholm  remarks,  "  is  an  uncommon  circumstance."  March 
and  April  were  mild,  and  more  than  half  of  May,  "  dry  and 
dusty."  During  all  this  time,  the  wind  was  easterly  and  souther- 
ly, i.  e.  was  from  the  very  points  to  blow  over  the  marshy  at  the 


484  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


head  of  the  Careenage,  into  that  part  of  the  town  which  lies 
diredtly  upon  that  inlet,  and  on  to  the  shipping  there  at  anchor. 
June,  again,  was  very  rainy:  scarcely  a  day  passed  without  rain: 
wind  still  Irom  the  south-east.  The  first  part  of  July  was  dry, 
the  latter  part  ivet,  and  the  atmosphere  foggy  and  loaded  with 
vapour.  August  was  dry — M  the  atmosphere  generally  excessively 
M  close,  sultry,  and  loaded  with  vapour.  Tne  winds  were  very 
"  variable;  but  for  the  most  part  a  calm."  The  four  following 
months  remarkably  rainy  and  tempestuous. 

Whoever  will  take  the  pains  to  compare  the  weather  of  1793, 
with  that  of  three  other  years,  as  reported  by  Dr.  Chisholm, 
cannot  but  be  struck  with  their  dissimilarity  with  that  year,  in  this 
particular.  It  is  a  fact  universally  admitted,  that  constant  wet,  or 
constant  dry  weather,  are  both  unfavourable  to  the  generation  and 
spread  of  pestilential  fevers.  It  matters  very  little,  in  respect  of 
the  health  of  those  who  live  in  its  vicinity,  whether  a  marsh  be 
completely  drained,  or  constantly  overflowed.  It  is  from  its 
humid  surlace,  exposed  to  the  action  of  heat  and  air,  that  pesti- 
lence arises.  Islow  it  will  be  observed,  in  Dr.  Chisholm's  Diary, 
that,  in  the  year  1  784,  February  and  March  were  dry;  and  April, 
May,  June,  July,  August,  September,  and  October,  were  very 
rainy.  In  1785,  February,  part  of  March,  and  all  April,  were 
dry;  May,  June,  and  July,  rainy.  August  was  chiefly  dry;  but 
September  was  wonderfully  rainy  and  tempestuous — so  that  it 
probably  destroyed  any  beginning  epidemic,  as  the  weather  con^ 
tinued  rainy  all  the  fall.  In  1786,  February,  March,  April, 
May,  and  part  of  June,  were  mostly  dry  and  pleasant.  The  re- 
mainder of  June,  July,  and  August,  were  rainy,  September,  and 
the  first  week  in  October,  remarkably  dry,  but  the  rest  of  the 
season  as  remarkably  wet  and  tempestuous. 

From  this  comparative  view  of  the  weather,  at  Grenada,  in  dif- 
ferent years,  it  appears,  that  whereas  the  seasons  in  general  are 
singularly  marked  by  long  continuance  of  very  wet,  or  very  dry 
weather,  in  the  year  1793,  after  the  preparation  of  a  dry  spring, 
they  were  distinguished  by  alternate  rains  and  dry  weather — a  suc- 
cession the  most  favourable  to  prepare  and  bring  into  action  the 
morbid  miasmata  of  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  George:  and  to  this, 
in  conjunction  with  other  causes,  enumerated  in  the  course  of  this 
Essav,  may  be  ascribed  the  peculiar  severity  of  the  Yellow  or  Pesr 
tilential  Fever  of  1793.  Even  Dr.  Chisholm  himself  acknowledges 
(p.  103)  that  "  it  had  been  urged  by  some,  that  the  disease  arose 
"  from  the  state  of  the  atmosphere;  and  that  human  contagion 
"  could  not  give  rise  to  it,  as  it  was  so  prevalent  in  distant  and 
"  distinct  places  at  the  same  time." — It  belongs  to  another  part  of 
this  paper  to  assign  the  probable  motives  ot  Dr.  Chisholm  for 
maintaining  tiiat  the  fever  wa>  imported  into  Grenada :  certain  it 


f 

MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  48g 

U  that  he  avowed  a  different  opinion  to  Mr.  Paiba,-  to  whom  he 
freely  declared  that  he  could  by  no  means  trace  the  disease  to  the 
Hankey,  and  that  he  believed  it  to  be  of  local  origin, — owing  to 
the  unhealthy  condition  of  the  Careenage,  and  to  the  particular 
prevailing  winds:  and,  to  cpnfirm  this  notion,  he  informed  Mr. 
Paiba  that  a  similar  disease,  from  the  same  cause,  though  in  a  less 
degree,  had  existed  in  St.  George's,  some  years  before, 

3.  If  the  situation  of  the  Careenage,  and  the  weather  of  the 
year  1793,  appear  to  countenance  a  different  opinion  than  that 
of  Dr.  Chisholm,  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Pestilential  Fever  of  Gre- 
nada, a  no  less  formidable  argument  may  be  deduced  from  his  own 
representations  concerning  the  time  of  its  first  appearance  in  that 
\ear.  For  in  p.  91.  the  Dr.  remarks,  that  *'  in  the  short  space  of 
f*  time  from  the  beginning  of  March  to  the  end  of  May5  200  of 
"  about  500  sailors,  who  manned  the  ships  in  the  regular  trade, 
"  died  of  this  fever."  By  this  it  appears  that  the  Fever  in  cfues- 
tion  broke  out  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  March.  The  disin- 
genuousness  of  this  author  is  particularly  evident  from  this  quota- 
tion, if  the  period  of  the  commencement  of  the  disease  be  cor- 
rectly assigned.  And  that  it  is  so,  is  probable  from  the  difficulty 
of  concealing  the  fact ;  as  there  must  have  been  thousands  of  wit- 
nesses to  the  progress  of  the  Fever.  When,  therefore,  it  was 
thought  proper  to  fix  the  odium  of  introducing  the  disease  upon  the 
Hankey  (a  project  of  which  Dr.  Chisholm  seems  originally  to 
.have  had  no  idea),  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  assign  an  earlier 
date  to  her  arrival.  Now,  that  the  Hankey  did  actually  not  arrive 
till  towards  the  latter  end  of  March,  is  verified  by  the  concurring 
testimony  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paiba,  and  of  Mr.  Bell  of  this  city, 
who  happened  to  be  in  Grensda  about  that  time,  and  was  person- 
ally acquainted  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Paiba  in  that  island.  So  that, 
if  the  disease  commenced  as  early  as  the  first  of  March,  Dr.  Chis- 
holm has  inadvertently  disproved  his  whole  account  of  its  origin; 
and  it  is  clear  that  the  Hankey  (which  did  not  arrive  till  after  the 
19th  of  March,  instead  of  February)  could  not  have  introduced 
it. 

Another  inadvertence  of  Dr.  Chisholm,  relative  to  this  point, 
is,  that  though  he  speaks  of  Captain  Remington  as  having  been 
the  first  of  all  who  were  seized  with  the  fever,  which  was  next 
communicated  to  the  crew  of  the  Defiance,  &c.  yet  he  afterwards 
(p.  223.)  details  a  case,  which  he  declares  "is-  inserted  chiefly 
"  from  the  circumstance  01  its  being  the  first  which  occurred." 
But  this  is  neither  the  case  of  Captain  Remington,  nor  of  one  of 
the  crew  of  the  Defiance;  and  if,  by  the  word  first,  it  be  suppos- 
ed that  Dr.  Chisholm  means  the  first  that  occurred  in  his  practice, 
the  evidence  may  be  demanded  of  the  truth  of  his  assertions  re- 
specting Captain  Remington  and  the  Defiancf .  with  the  circum- 

F4.  L  No.  4.  G 


486  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

stances  of  which,  it  seems,  he  was  not  personally  acquainted.— 
It  will  be  remarked)  also,  that  the  date  of  this  case  is  omitted — 
perhaps  inadvertently.* 

4.  What  is  naturally  inferrable  from  the  state  of  the  Careenage, 
the  peculiar  weather  of  1 793,  and  from  the  contradictory  asser- 
tions of  Dr.  Chisholm  himself  relative  to  the  commencement  of 
the  Grenada  Fever,  is  powerfully  corroborated  by  his  own  account 
of  the  progress  of  the  disease,  and  of  the  order  in  which  it  suc- 
cessively appeared  among  different  descriptions  of  persons.  Like 
our  own  Fevers,  it  was  mild  or  severe,  general  or  partial,  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  accumulation  or  absence  of  the  local  and  indi- 
vidual circumstances  which  favoured  its  attack  and  extension. 

It  commenced  among  sailors  lately  from  northern  climates,  and 
who  were  constantly  employed  in  the  midst  of  this  horrible  Ca- 
reenage, in  this  unlriendly  season.  A  moment's  attention  to  Dr. 
Chisholm's  enumeration  of  predisposing  causes  will  remove  any 
doubt  why  the  disease  should  first  shew  itself  in  this  place,  if  any 
doubt  be  entertained.  Numbers  of  young  men,  from  our  own 
country,  are  every  year  carried  off  by  the  operation  of  much  less 
active  causes.  "  It  must  not  remain  unconsidered,  (p.  92.)  that 
**  the  predisposition  of  the  class  of  men  among  whom  it  hap- 
M  pened,  was  very  great1.  The  sailors  were  from  the  age  of  fifteen 
"  to  fifty;  and  the  circumstances  which  appeared  to  predispose 
"  them  more  strongly  than  other  men  to  the  action  oi  the  con- 
"  tagion,  were  violent  exercise  in  the  sun;  the  immoderate  use 
"of  undiluted  new  rum;  bathing  in  a  state  of  intoxication, 
"  and  often  when  violently  heated ;  sleeping  on  deck  during  the 
"night.  Other  circumstances,  which  did  not  depend  so  much 
"  on  their  own  prudence,  no  doubt,  contributed  very  much  to 
"  give  the  disease  so  very  fatal  a  tendency :  the  damp  heat  be- 
tween decks;  the  excessive  filth  of  most  of  the  ships;  and 
"  the  uncleanly  state  of  the  persons  and  clothes  of  the  men  them- 
"  selves."  Now  what  madness  or  malignity  must  possess  a 
man  to  seek  elsewhere  for  causes  sufficient,  in  connection  with 
climate,  season,  and  the  local  situation  of  the  people,  to  breed 
the  most  terrible  of  plagues?  In  this  paragraph,  are  enumerated 
all,  and  more  than  all,  the  causes  which  operated  at  Bulama, 
in  a  situation  more  healthy ;  and  in  a  climate  and  season  no  more 
unfavourable  to  health.  Nor  need  there  be  any  surprize  excited 
by  the  superior  virulence  of  the  Grenada  fever,  to  that  which 
prevailed  among  the  colonists  at  Bulama. 

From  the  sailors  and  people  of  the  shipping  lying  in  the  Careen- 
age, the  fever  spread  itself  among  the  residents  on  the  immediate 
verge  of  this  inlet:  among  human  beings  enveloped  in  impure 


*  The  dates  of  all  the  other  cafes  are  carefully  noted. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  487 

sir,  buried  in  filth,  and  devoted  to  .prostitution  and  drunkenness: 
amid  wretched  habitations,  huddled  together,  exposed  to  the  nox- 
ious exhalations  and  noisome  effluvia  of  the  Careenage,  directed 
more  particularly  upon  them  by  easterly  winds;  and  nearly  shel- 
tered from  the  purer  breezes  of  the  open  sea,  by  a  hill  whose  steep 
ascent  conducts  into  the  principal  and  best  built  part  of  the  town. 

"  It  will  not  appear  extraordinary,"'  says  Dr.  Chisholm,  p.  94. 
"  that  the  lower  classes  of  men,  and  these  more  especially  of  loose 
"  and  debauched  manners,  should  be  the  most  subject  to  this 
"  disease;  their  greater  exposition  to  the  influence  of  infection, 
"  which  their  business  as  tradesmen  rendered  necessary,  contributed 
"  not  a  little.  But  the  description  of  men  by  far  the  most  ob- 
*'  noxious  to  this  contagion,  and  who  suffered  most  from  it,  were 
**  those  lately  arrived  from  Europe;  and  of  them,  those  who  had 
*'  never  before  been  in  a  hot  climate."* 

The  same  circumstances  occur  .in  the  United  States:  emi- 
grants, especially  those  who  are  poor,  ill-lodged,  ill-fed,  and  in- 
temperate, suffer  first;  and  next,  those  of  our  own  people  who 
most  resemble  them  in  situation  and  habits. 

After  the  appearance  and  considerable  prevalence  of  the  fever 
on  shore,  the  garrison  became  affected.  Dr.  Chisholm  lays  much 
stress  on  its  vicinity  to  the-Hankey,  and  a  consequent  supposed 
communication  between  the  soldiers  and  that  vessel.  But,  fer  the 
general  reasons  that  «xist  for  suspecting  the  testimony  of  this 
writer  relative  to  the  origin  of  the  disease,  this  opinion  does  not 
seem  deserving  of  arty  particular  credit;  especially  when  it  is  re- 
collected that  the  garrison  was  also  near  the  Careenage,  and  that 
the  disease  "  proved  fatal  only  to  recruits  who  had  lately  joined." 
.Nor  will  it  deserve  to  be  considered  as  "  a  circumstance  rather 
"  extraordinary,"  that  the  fever  should  break  out  among  "  the 
*'  detachment  of  the  Royal  artillery,"  though  "  that  corps  were 
"  quartered  in  a  situation  far  removed  from  the  focus  of  infec- 
"  tion,  "  when  the  reader  is  informed  that  the  station  of  this  de- 
tachment was  directly  upon  or  by  the  side  of  the  offensive  marsh  at 
the  head  of  the  Careenage;  that  "  the  predisposition  of  the  men  to 
"  receive  infection,  as  far  as  that  could  be  induced  by  excesses  in 
"  drinking  and  other  irregularities,  was  by  no  means  less  than  that 
"  of  the  sailors,  &c."  and  that,  though  of  those  who  had  been 
long  enough  in  the  country  to  become  seasoned  to  it  few  died ;  yet, 
of  twenty-six  new-comers,  twenty-one  fell  victims  to  the  fever. 

The  table  which  Dr.  Chisholm  has  inserted  (p.  100.)  of  the 
order  in  which  the  Pestilential  Fever  seized  on  the  different  classes 
of  persons,  or  of  the  degree  of  their  exposedness  to  the  disease  and 
to  a  fatal  termination  of  it,  perfectly  corresponds  with  what  has 


*  See  likewife  page  202,  &  fequent, 


4S8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


uniformly  been  observed  in  the  United  States,  and  is  in  all  respects 
such  as  might  rationally  be  expected,  irom  the  operation  of  those 
local  causes  which  will,  sooner  or  later,  be  generally  admitted  as 
the  originators  of  these  formidable  disorders. 

Nor  is  the  progress  of  the  disease,  in  regard  to  place,  less  evin- 
cive of  its  local  origin.  It  commenced  at  the  Careenage;  ex- 
tended over  the  adjacent  wharves;  proceeded  to  the  lanes  and 
narrow  alleys  and  streets  in  their  vicinity;  and  thence  into  the 
nearest  parts  of  the  town^  But  it  never  obtained  any  general 
prevalence  in  the  neighbouring  plantations,  nor  even  in  the 
higher,  better  built,  wealthier,  more  airy,  and  cleaner  parts  of  the 
town. 

The  situation  of  the  buildings  on  the  Careenage,  in  respect  to 
the  rest  of  St.  George,  resembles  that  of  Water-street  and  Front- 
street  in  Philadelphia,  the  ascent  from  one  to  the  other,  in  both 
cases,  being  about  equally  steep;  and  the  Bay-side  of  St.  George 
may  be  compared  to  the  North-River-side  of  New-York,  which 
has  hitherto  been  exempt  from  pestilential  diseases:  an  exemption 
of  which  it  may  perhaps  be  deprived,  at  some  future  period,  by 
increase  of  business,  and  the  erection*  of  a  few  more  streets  on 
made-ground.'  The  width  of  the  two  cities  (New-York  and  St. 
George)  is  also  about  the  same.  But)  as  in  New-York,  so  it 
will  be  remarked,  that  in  St.  George's,  those  whose  business  led 
them  to  spend  most  of  their  time  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Careenage,  were  by  no  means  safe  from  the  fever,  though  their 
houses  were  in  healthy  situations.  Still,  as  they  sickened  in  more 
pleasant  places,  and  were  in  every  respect  well-accommodated,  the 
disease  in  them  was,  as  Dr.  Chisholm  observes  (p.  93.)  "  in- 
"  finitely  milder,"  and  could  scarcely  be  called  the  same.  Yes, 
this  terrible  pestilence-was  reduced  to  an  ordinary  fever,  or  a  dis- 
ease of  common  malignancy,  when  it  happened  among  the  wealthy 
inhabitants  of  St.  George,  who  resided  in  high,  clean,  and  well- 
ventilated  parts  of  the  town.  .The  same  has  been  the  case  in 
New-York;  and  has,  in  not  a  few  instances,  led  practitioners  to 
maintain  the  existence  of  a  variety  of  fevers, -and  to  suppose  that 
the  gentle  means  which  succeeded  perfectly  in  these  mild  cases, 
were  equal  to  a  combat  with  the  most  malignant  forms  of  pes- 
tilence. But  passing  this  error  without  further  notice  at  present, 
it  is  evident,  from  several  parts  of  Dr.  Chisholm's  publication, 
that  considerable  variety  was  observable  in  the  symptoms  of  the 
fever  he  describes^  and  that  in  some  cases,  it  bore  a  sufficient 
resemblance  to  the  Yeilow  Fever  of  other  seasons,  to  incline  many 
persons  to  believe  it  not  ailogether  distinct.  "  When  this  disease 
"  first  appeared  here,  (p.  146.)  and  for  some  time  after,  the  pre- 
"  valent  opinion  was,  that  it  was  the  Yellow  Fever  of  the  West- 
'•  Indies,  engrafted  on  the  European  Tail-Fever."       In  some 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


489 


a  protracted  cases  on  shore,  and  in  some  among  the  sailors,  which 
"  might  have  been  a  combination  of  the  Pestilential  and  Yellow 
**  Fevers,  this  symptom  (a  yellow  skin)  appeared  about  the  fifth, 
"  seventh,  or  ninth  day."  With  the  reader  who  is  apprised  of  Dr. 
Chisholm's  motives  for  wishing  to  establish  a  distinction  between 
the  ordinary  Yellow  Fever  of  the  West-Indies,  and  the  Grenada 
Fever  of  1793,  these  concessions,  notwithstanding  all  the  author's 
endeavours  to  destroy  their  force,  will  have  their  due  weight. 
The  philosophical  inquirer  will  find  little  difficulty  in  conceiving 
that  a  disease,  which,  in  ordinary  seasons,  he  is  told,  is  endemic 
and  sporadic,  in  Grenada;  (Chisholm,  p.  147.)  and  **  is  evidently 
"  caused  by  marsh  effluvia,  heat,  violent  exercise  in  that,  heat, 
"  thick,  hot,  moist  atmosphere,  night  air  and  dews,  and  the  abuse 
"  of  spirituous  liquors1' — may  be  exalted  to  a  higher  degree  of 
virulence  and  activity  by  a  more  than  usual  combination  of  these 
causes,  in  a  season  favourable  to  pestilentid  disorders.  He  will 
even  derive  new  reason  for  his  conviction  on  this  point,  from  the 
assertion  (in  the  same  page)  that  the  Yellow  Fever  is  never  known 
to  be  contagious,  when  he  reflects  how  intimately  the  immediate 
sources  of  fevers  are  connected  with  those  complaints,  and  how 
remarkably  the  progressive  extension  of  .pestilence  compares  with 
the  gradual  impurification  of  the  ambient  atmosphere. 

5.  A  still  further  confirmation  of  the  opinion  meant  to  be  ad- 
vanced in  this  essay,  in  opposition  to  the  assertions  of  Dr.  Chis- 
holm, concerning  the  origin  of  the  Grenada  fever  of  1793,  may 
be  discovered  in  the  effect  which  was  produced  in  the  sick,  by 
their  removal  from  the  ships  and  low  places  where  they  first  be- 
came sick,  and  were  still  exposed  to  the  operation  of  the  original 
causes  of  the  disease.  While  they  remained  in  these  situations, 
the  pestilence  assumed  its  most  threatening  aspects,  and  all  the 
skill  of  the  physician  was  frequently  unable  to  rescue  them  from 
its  fury.  If  subdued  to  a  certain  degree,  it  yielded  but  in  the 
most  gradual  manner,  and  the  convalescence 'was  tedious  and 
protracted,  from  the  extreme  difficulty  of  generating  new  habits, 
while  the  system  was  continually  operated  on  by  the  causes  most 
powerful  to  counteract  them,  But,  when  removed  to'a  high  and 
airy  situation,  the  sick  found  an  almost  immediate  mitigation  of 
their  worst  symptoms,  and  the  return  of  health  and  strength  was 
nearly  consentaneous  with  the  disappearance  of  disease.  Were 
this  not  the  fact,  it  would  well  deserve  our  astonishment.  But 
in  what  respect  does  this  differ  from  what  is  ordinarily  observed 
in  the  commonest  and  slightest  forms  of  fever?  Who  is  ignorant 
that  the  attacks  of  an  intermittent  are  more  readilv  obviated,  when 
the  patient  leaves  the  neighbourhood  of  a  marsh,  and  fixes  him- 
self on  a  dry  and  elevated  station? 

6.  Another  circur.istance  deserving  of  attention,  is  the  obvious. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


difference  between  the  Grenada  fever,  and  diseases  of  specific 
contagion. 

It  is  true,  that  very  great  dissimilarities  are  observable  in  the 
decree  of  violence  with  which  the  small-pox  and  meazles  affect 
different  individuals;  and  that  these  diseases  are  modified  by  situa- 
tion, diet,  constitution,  cleanliness,  &c.  But  still  they  are  conta- 
gious. It  is  not  found  that,  notwithstanding  these  circumstances 
modify,  they  extirpate  or  destroy  their  contagious  property.  Who 
is  able  to  produce  an  instance  of  the  total  disappearance,  within 
a  few  week5,  of  an  epidemic  small-pox  or  meazles,  where  they 
have  not  been  driven  away  by  new  epidemics,  or  where  the  sub- 
jects of  their  attacks  were  not  exhausted,  or  had  not  been  removed 
from  their  reach  by  social  regulations? 

If  the  Grenada  fever  was  of  the  same  nature,  why  did  it  not 
extend  to  every  part  of  the  town  of  St.  George,  and  over  the 
whole  island?  What  was  there,  in  so  warm  and  equable  a  climate 
to  arrest  so  suddenly  and  totally  a  disease  of  specific  contagion? 
Wny  was  its  course  always  impeded  or  stopped  by  a  pure  air  and 
personal  cleanliness?  Why  did  it  respect  natives  more  than 
foreigners?  of  the  first,  those  whose  situations  were,  on  other  ac- 
counts, most  eligible?  of  the  last,  those  who  were  most  careful 
and  temperate?  Does  any  one  suppose  that  cither  of  the  diseases 
sbove-mentioned — that  the  small-pox  or  the  measles — would  have 
been  so  complaisant? 

The  true  causes  of  these  varieties  are  sufficiently  evident.  Men, 
in  general,  can  never  materially  change  their  climate  and  situa- 
tion, without  exposing  themselves  to  a  lonespondent  alteration  in 
their  health.  Those  who  remove  from  northern  to  southern  cli- 
mates, ,must  expect  to  experience  some  morbid  variation  of  it. 
•Its  degree  and  danger  will  depend  on  the  extent  and  suddenness 
of  the  change  01  otiroate,  and  on  the  peculiar  circumstances  of 
place  and  person,  food  and  season.  The  disease  to  which  men, 
»vho  go  from  the  higher  latitudes  of  Europe  and  America  to  the 
West-Indies,  are  commonly  exposed,  is  that  form  of  pestilence 
which  is  called  Yellow  Fever.  This  disease  is  much  more  mortal  in 
some  ycarsfthan  in  others;  being,  like  other  general  diseases,  modi- 
fied by  season,  6cC.  To  so  high  a  grade  of  pestilence,  the  natives 
or  long  residents  of  the  West-Indies  are  comparatively  seldom 
subjected  :  the  same  causes  producing,  in  persons  habituated  to 
their  influence,  the  milder  forms  of  remitting  and  intermitting 
fevers.  Individual  misconduct  {as  intemperance,  &c.)  occasion- 
ally excite,  even  in  them,  the  worst  kinds  of  fever;  and,  in  par- 
ticular seasons,  persons  ol  irregular  lives,  who  reside  in  the  midst 
of  the  accumulated  causes  of  pestilential  diseases,  fall  victims  to 
their  carelessness,  in  common  with  new-comers  from  more  tem- 
perate regions.  And  such  appear  to  have  been  the  facts  in  Gre- 
nada in  tr.e  year  i  793. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


49  < 


Viewing  the  fever  of  that  year  as  originating  in  local  causes, 
rendered  unusually  active  by  the  circumstances  of  season,  &c, 
ihere  will  be  no  difficulty  in  accounting  for  its  disappearance; 
without  the  encumbrance  of  the  objections  opposed  to  the  doctrine 
of  its  being  a  disease  of  specific  contagion.  For, 

I.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  per- 
sons peculiarly  exposed  to  the  fever,  had  either  died  of  it,  or, 
having  been  sick,  had  recovered,  and  thus  gained  an  immunity 
from  a  second  attack  for  that  year,  and  perhaps  forever. 

II.  A  large  number  of  sailors,  a  description  of  men  remarkably 
subject  to  the  disease,  were  sent  away  horn  Grenada,  about  the 
last  of  August. 

III.  But  the  most  material  circumstance,  probably,  was  the  set- 
ting in  of  violent  and  long-continued  rains;  accompanied  "  with 
"  most  vivid  lightning  and  tremendous  thunder,  and  violent 
"  squalls  from  the  south-east."  The  rain  which  commenced  so 
violently  in  September,  continued  through  the  greater  part  of 
October,  almost  all  November,  and  the  following  December. 
Here,  then,  is  discovered  a  cause  adequate  to  the  thorough  pur* 
gatian  of  an  infected  atmosphere  ;  to  the  complete  ventilation  and 
cleansing  of  filthy  streets  and  docks;  and  to  the  whplespme  over- 
flowing ot  a  pestilential  marsh. 

It  will  avail  the  advocates  of  importation  very  little  to  remark, 
that  the  course  ot  similar  fevers  in  the  United  States,  finds  iis 
only  effectual  enemy  in  cold  and  frosts.  These  obstacles  can  no,t 
operate  in  the  West-Indies,  as  they  do  not  exist  there — at  least, 
not  at  St.  George's  in  Grenada,  where  the  mean  height  of  the  ther- 
mometer is  about  80,  during  the  whole  winter.  Other  causes  of 
the  discontinuance  of  pestilential  diseases  in  that  climate,  must  be 
sought  after;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  those  above- 
assigned,  were  in  fact,  operative  and  successful  in  the  present  in- 
stance; especially  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  fever  pf  Gre- 
nada wholly  disappeared  in  the  course  of  the  tempestuous  month 
of  September,  1793.  And  hence  a  new  argumeM  against  the 
doctrine  ot  importation  may  be  derived,  as  the  difference  observa- 
ble in  the  operation  of'sitnilar  diseases  in  different  countries,  shews 
how  far  even  the  morbid  seeds  of  pestilence  are  adapted  to  the  cli- 
mate in  which  they  are  destined  to  be  sown  and  to  vegetate.  If  there 
were  not  some  variety  of  this  nature,  why  should  not  the  same 
cause  arrest  its  progress  and,  effect  its  banishment,  in  the  United 
States,  that  is  adequate  to  these  beneficial  purposes  in  the  West- 
Indies?  Nor  is  the  supposition  any  objection  to  the  moral  dis- 
positions every  where  manifested  in  the  universe.  Vice  and  suf- 
fering constantly  preserve  an  intimate  connection.  Their  sever- 
ance would  be  alike  the  signal  lor  the  overthrow  of  all  virtue,  and 
the  demolition  of  every  hope  of  happiness.    The  sources  of  pain, 


49*  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

no  more  than  the  occasions  of  vice,  are  limited  to  a  particular 
climate  and  country ;  and  they  who  wantonly  indulge  in  intem- 
perance, and  obstinately  neglect  to  remove  the  causes  of  disease, 
have  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  visitations  of  gout,  stone, 
dropsy,  and  pestilence.  With  the  amendment  of  their  own  live, 
and  the  correction  of  their  own  negligence,  their  miseries  and 
their  danger  will  disappear.  Let  them  fulfil  the  injunctions  of 
reason,  and  they  will  find  no  cause  to  inveigh  against  the  injustice 
of  heaven. 

The  principal  reasons  have  been  now  displayed  for  discredit- 
ing the  assertion  of  Dr.  Chisholm  relative  to  the  introduction  of 
the  Grenada  Fever,  into  that  island,  from  Bulama,  by  the  Hankey. 
A  few  remain  to  be  disclosed,  in  an  attempt  to  discover  the  mo- 
tives of  this  author,  for  a  misrepresentation  so  atrocious.  The-e 
will  be  stated  as  briefly  as  possible.  It  may  be  proper,  first,  to 
remark,  that  none  of  the  people  who  came  to  Grenada,  in  the 
Hankey,  were  sick  there,  at  all,  except  Capt.  Cox,  whose  inter- 
mitting fever  did  not  entirely  take  leave  of  iiim  till  after  his  final 
departure  for  Europe.* 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  expedition  to  Bulama  was  set  on, 
foot  by  an  Association  of  philanthropic  gentlemen  in  England, 
with  an  express  design  of  counteracting,  as  far  as  possible,  the  in- 
iquitous traffic  in  human  flesh;  and,  as  a  principal  means  of  ef- 
fecting this  purpose,  for  the  culture  of  those  commodities  which 
are  the  prime  articles  of  exportation  from  the  West-Indies,  more 
especially  of  cotton.  It  will  naturally  be  supposed  that  an  enter- 
prize  like  this  would  be  regarded  with  evil  eyes,  by  the  West-In- 
dia planters;  to  whose  opposition  and  intiigues  the  shameful  delay 
of  justice  in  the  British  Parliament,  is  chiefly  to  be  attributed.  With 
what  temper  Dr.  Chisholm  regarded  this  effort  of  the  friends  of 
man;  by  how  different  principles  he  was  influenced;  or,  at  least, 
how  ready  he  was  to  sacrifice  truth  at  the  shrine  of  prejudice  and 
the  wishes  of  his  West-India  patrons;  is  evident  from  his  own 
word<,  wheM  speaking  of  the  motives  which  determined  the  colo- 
nists to  embark  for  Bulama,  he  describes  them  as  "  induced  by 
*'  the  delusive  prospect  of  wealth  held  out  to  them,"  (an  indirect 
charge  on  the  benevolent  projectors,)  "  and  the  fanatic  enthusiasm 
"  for  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  &c."  Who  can  doubt  of 
the  perversion  of  his  understanding,  or  the  pliancy  of  his  faith, 
that  recollects  Dr.  Chisholm's  voluntary  declaration  to  Mr.  Paiba, 
that  he  was  convinced  of  the  local  origin  of  the  Grenada  Fever, 

*  He  arrived  at  Grenada  well;  but  from fubfequent  inattention,  and  per- 
haps irregularity  in  returning  too  haflily  to  the  indulgences  of  healthy  men, 
fuffered  frequent  relapies,  or  returns  of  the  ague;  but  was  at  no  time  dau- 
.geroufly  ill. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


493 


t&iA  lint  a  similar  disease  had  prevailed  there,  a  few  years  before, 
from  similar  causes?  Is  it  possible  to  credit  the  assertions  of  such, 
a  man  on  a  point  like  this,  when  he  is  proved  to  be  guilty  of  such 
palpable  tergiversation,  and  when  the  violent  and  atrocious  mea- 
sures employed  by  the  Grenadians  are  recollected  and  considered? 
What  they  were,  and  how  successfully  they  were  renewed  and 
seconded  in  England,  will  be  evident  from  the  following  extract 
of  a  Report  from  the  Trustees  of  the  Bulama  Association,  to  a 
meeting  of  the  subscribers,  which  the  reader  will  find  by  referring 
to  p.  159  of  Part  II.  of  an  "  Essay  on  Colonization,  &c.?'  By 
C.  B.  Wadstrom,  published  in  4to.  at  London,  in  1 794.* 

"  Having  thus  stated,"  say  the  Trustees  in  their  report,  "  the 
"  proceedings  at  Bulama,  to  the  16th  of  March,  1793,  it  is  neces- 
"  sary  to  remind  the  Association  that,  about  that  time  the  sub- 
61  scribers  here  had  several  meetings,  to  consider  what  could  be 
"  done  for  their  friends  at  Bulama,  for  whose  safety  the  want  of 
"  information  had  excited  serious  apprehension. 

"  About  the  same  time,  the  Hankey,  Capt.  Coxe,  arriving  from 
"  Grenada,  with  sugar,  cotton,  &c.  an  extravagant,  unfounded, 
*'  and  malicious  rumour  was  raised,  that  this  ship  had  brought 
ft  the  plague  from  Bulama  to  Grenada,  and  thence  to  England. 
"  It  might  easily  have  been  ascertained,  that  the  mortality  at  Gre- 
"  nada,  while  the  Hankey  was  there,  was  owing  to  one  of  those 
ff  disorders  to  which  the  West-Indian  islands  are  unfortunately 
"  subject.  But,  so  flaming  was  the  zeal  of  the  Grenadians  against 
<:  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave-Trade,  and  the  free  colony  at  Bula- 
"  ma,  that  they  employed  every  illiberal  art  to  prevent  Capt. 
<{  Coxe  from  getting  a  cargo  at  Grenada.  But  their  malice  did 
"  not  end  here :  they  sent  home  representations,  or  rather  mis- 
<{  representations,  respecting  his  ship,  which  were  so  strenuously 
*'  supported  by  the  West-Indians,  that  Government  thought  it 
"  proper  to  put  the  Hankey  under  quarantine,  and  to  have  her 
"  cargo  unloaded  and  examined,  before  it  was  brought  up  the  rivert 
"  Eiety  examination  proved  the  falshood  and  malignity  of  the  report. 
"  Yet  several  months  elapsed,  before  the  owners  could  unload 
11  their  ship.  Lightermen,  wharfingers,  and  lumpers,  all  had 
"  caught  the  West-India  Fever:  all  believed,  or  pretended  to  be- 
"  lieve,  the  imposture.  Grave  citizens  and  official  men,  were  not 
"  ashamed  to  countenance  the  wild  opinion.  Magistrates  and 
"  members  of  the  Corporation  ot  London,  were  applied  to,  for 

*  It  fhould  be  remembered  that  this  is  not  a  vague  accufation  from  a  few 
obfeure  individuals,  hut  that  the  Report  above  mentioned,  comes  from  meu 
of  the  firft  character  in  Great-Britain,  for  probity,  talents  and  information ; 
from  men  whofe  fiiuations  and  inclinations  alike  enabled  and  difpofed  them  to 
obtain  the  mo  ft  decifive  evidence  as  to  the  fadts  they  publifh — their  names 
have  already  been  infci  ted  at  page  473. 

Pol.  I.  No.  4.  II 


49+ 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY 


"  their  influence  with  government,  to  avert  the  impending  pesti*. 
"  lence.  And,  so  successfully  was  the  deception  managed,  that,  on 
"  the  famous  9th  of  November,  a  citizen  of  the  greatest  respect - 
"  ability,  then  master  of  one  of  the  first  city  companies,  forgetting 
"  that  his  sole  province  on  that  day  was  to  dispense  mirth  and  good 
"  cheer,  sent  to  the  lord  mayor  and  aldermen,  then  on  board  the 
"  city  barge,  a  representation  of  the  alarming  consequences  that 
"  would  ensue,  if  this  terrible  ship  and  her  cargo  were  not  destroy- 
"  ed !  the  alarmists  gravely  asserted  that  ail  the  Hankey's  crnu  had 
**  died,  and  that  tlte  Captain  ivas  dying.  It  is  true,  that  Capt. 
"  Coxe  had  almost  died  with  grief,  from  the  report  cruelly  circu  — 
"  lated  respecting  his  ship.  But  it  is  equally  certain,  that  not  one 
"  of  the  crew  had  died,  either  on  the  passage  from  Grenada,  or  in 
"  the  river.  The  calumniators,  however,  had  in  view  another 
"  object  than  truth ;  and  their  success  was  such  as  might  gratify 

the  most  malignant  spirits;  for  they  had  nearly  caused  the  death 
4i  of  a  man,  who  had  never  offended  them,  and  materially  hurt 
"  the  property  of  the  ship's  owners,  and,  what  must  have  been  still 
u  more  pleasing  to  them,  greatly  injured  the  Bulama  Association. 

"  The  prejudices  thus  industriously  raised  against  the  colony  at  . 
"  Bulama,  and  which,  from  the  want  of  information,  it  was  (at 
44  that  time)  impossible  to  repel,  deprived  the  trustees  of  all  hopes 
"  of  success  in  then  applying  for  a  charter.  They  preferred  wait- 
"  ing  till  the  torrent  of  malicious,  or  ignorant  clamour  had  spent 
u  itself,  and  till  time  and  undoubted  intelligence  should  confirm^ 
"  or  contradict,  the  reports.  The  prejudices  against  Bulama,  ren- 
"  dered  it  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  succour  a  colony^ 
"  then  deemed  pestilential ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  wai 
"  one  great  object  of  the  calumniators."* 

IT  is  now  time  to  close  this  Essay,  which  has  already  extended 
far  beyond  the  writer's  first  expectations.  The  mass  of  evidence 
here  collected,  to  disprove  the  authenticity  of  Dr.  Chisholm's  ac- 
count of  the  origin  of  the  Pestilential  Fever  of  Grenada,  in  1793, 
is  such  as  may  fairly  be  considered  as  conclusive.  It  is  not,  in- 
deed, to  be  expected  that  the  supporters  of  the  theory  of  imported 
contagion  will  relinquish  their  general  doctrine,  though  they 
should  fail  of  deriving  any  countenance  from  what  occurred  in 
Grenada.  The  notion  of  importation  has  been  too  long,  and  too 
confidently  maintained,  to  be  abandoned  while  a  single  colourable 
pretext  in  its  favour,  or  a  single  subterfuge  remains.  But,  it  may- 
be remarked,  in  concluding,  that  there  is  great  reason  to  believe 
that  a  well-conducted  inquiry  into  every  other  pretended  instance 


s  The  paffages  in  Italics,  are  fo  marked  in  the  original. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


49  S 


of  imported  contagion  would  terminate,  equally,  in  satisfactory 
evidence  of  local  origin ;  or,  at  least,  would  discover  abundant 
causes  for  hesitation  and  doubt  as  to  its  foreign  derivation. 

"SINCE  writing  the  preceding  Essay,  I  have  again  looked  over 

•  a  paper,  by  Dr.  Chisholm,  published  in  the  Edinburgh  Medical 
Commentaries  for  1 793,  and  intituled  "  History  of  an  Uncommon 
*'  Epidemic  Fever,  observed  in  the  Island  of -Grenada,  Zee." 

This  disease,  which  resembled  in  many  striking  particulars,  the 
Yellow  Fever  of  the  United  States,  which  it  differed  from  in 
others,  is  attributed  by  the  author  of  the  paper  to  marsh  miaj?nata, 
or  more  properly  to  local  causes;  and  there  is  every  reason  in  the 
world  for  believing  this  opinion  to  be  correct.  The  date  of  the 
occurrence  of  this  fever  is  September,  1 79 1 .  Jt  appears  to  have 
ceased  about  the  first  of  January  1792. 

The  symptoms  which  resemble  those  of  the  Yellow  Fever,  are 
the  inflammation  and  protrusion  of  the  eyes,  the  intolerable  head- 
ach,  delirium,  coma,  yellowness  of  the  skin,  rawness  and  burning 
<in  the  throat  and  stomach,  and  dark  stools.  Other  general  simi- 
larities are  observable. 

The  effects  of  various  remedies  constitute  another  strong  ana- 
logy between  this  Grenada  Fever  of  1791,  and  our  fevers,  and  the 
Grenada  Fever  of  1793.  Bark  generally  aggravated  the  symp- 
toms; bleeding  gave  relief,  and  the  blood  was  sizy;  and  mercury., 
used  to  salivation,  was  a  certain  cure. 

When  these  additional  facts  are  taken  into  view,  and  consklered 
in  connection  with  what  has  gone  before;  with  the  extensive 
■examination  which  the  subject  has  undergone  in  America;  and 
with  the  facts  and  reasonings  advanced  by  Mr.  Webster,  in  his 
letters  to  Dr.  Currie,  relative  to.geneml  contagion,  and  which  will 
receive  additional  confirmation  in  his  Treatise  soon  to  be  made 

•  public;  it  would  seem  impossible  for  any  mind,  however  subju- 
gated and  bigotted  to  former  opinions,  to  resist  the  force  of  this 
accumulated  weight  of  evidence.  And  it  certainly  deserves  to  be 
regarded  as  a  very  singular  fact,  that  a  man  who  seems  to  have 
observed  and  thought  so  correctly  as  Dr.  Chibholm  did  in  1791, 
and  who  held  such  opinions  as  he  then  professed,  should  have 
taken  ground  so  very  different  in  17.93,  and  with  so  little  shew 
of  reason  to  justify  the  change.  As  the  Medical  Commentaries 
have  a  general  circulation  in  the  United  States,  it  is  to  be  desired, 
"'cat  those  gentlemen  who  feel  themselves  interested  in  the  present 
inquiry,  should  not  neglect  to  compare  the  paper  of  Dr.  Chis- 
holm, here  referred  to,  with  his  treatise  on  the  fever  of  1793.  It 
can  scarcely  happen  that  they  do  not  find  themselves  confirmed 
in  the  belief  of  the  local  origin  of  the  diseases  of  both  years. 

March,  1798. 


(    47i  ) 


ARTICLE  IV. 


Some  Account  of  a  PESTILENTIAL  FEVER,  -which  prevailed  in 
the  Island  of  Jamaica,  in  the  years  1793,  1  794,  and  1795. 
trailed  from  a  Paper  presented  to  a  Medical  Society  in  that  island^ 
by  Dr.  James  Walker. 

THE  Paper  from  which  this  Extract  is  made,  appears  to  have 
been  read  by  the  author,  to  a  idedical  Society  at  Port  Royal ; 
which  society  had  then  lately  been  instituted,  and  originally  for 
the  purpose  of  observing  the  progress,  studying  the  nature,  and 
perfecting  the  cure  of  the  disease  to  which  it  relates. 

The  author  ascribes  the  origin  of  the  disease  to  a  ship  from 
Grenada,  which  is  supposed  to  have  introduced  it  into  Port  Royal. 
Of  this,  however,  he  offers  no  evidence;  and  subsequent  remarks 
would  induce  a  conjecture  that  he  held  a  different  opinion. 

The  first  attack  was  sudden,  and  without  any  previous  indispo- 
sition of  the  person  seized.  It  began  with  violent  head-ach,  and 
a  remarkable  throbbing  of  the  arteries;  frequently  subsiding  within 
an  hour,  and  succeeded  by  apparent  inanition,  a  low,  quick,  and 
feeble  pulse,  and  shining,  watery,  or  glassy  eves,  almost  destitute 
of  expression.  Irritability  of  the  stomach  was  a  pathagnomonic 
sign.  At  first,  nothing  was  ejected  but  the  natural  contents  of  the 
stomach;  after  repeated  efforts  and  much  straining,  mucus  and 
bile  were  thrown  up;  and  afterwards,  generally  about  the  third 
day,  a  matter  resembling  coffee-grounds,  and  sometimes  of  the 
colour,  consistence,  and  tenacity  of  tar.  Hemorrhagies  were  fre- 
quent, from  the  mouth  and  nose,  and  sometimes  from  the  axilla, 
anus,  and  vagina.  The  respiration  was  laborious;  the  languor 
and  debility  great;  and  the  fever  neither  intermitted  nor  remitted. 
Near  the  close  of  the  disease,  in  those  cases  which  terminated 
fatally,  a  yellowness  appeared  first  in  the  eyes  and  on  the  neck, 
gradually  extending  over  the  whole  bodv,  and  acquiring  a  darker 
hue.    Very  few  had  petechial  eruptions. 

The  character  of  this  fever  underwent  some  alteration  in  the 
year  1 795.  In  \  793  and  1 794,  it  never  intermitted,  and  its  dura- 
tion seldom  exceeded  five  or  six  days,  but  it  more  commonly  ter- 
minated in  two  or  three.  In  1795,  it  was  sometimes  protracted 
to  the  sixteenth  and  twentieth  day,  and  generally  to  the  ninth  and 
.tenth,  At  first,  it  was  confined  to  newly-arrived  Europeans,  such 
as  seamen,  soldiers,  and  passengers;  but  was  said  to  have  affected 
some  of  the  old  residents  of  the  interior  of  the  island  in  1 795.  Of 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


this,  however,  the  author  had  no  personal  knowledge ;  and  appears 
to  doubt,  as  he  thinks  the  disease  not  communicable  from  one 
person  to  another;  in  support  of  which  opinion  he  remarks,  that 
"  in  the  public  Hospital,  where  many  people  were  necessarily  in 
"  the  same  wards  with  numbers  in  this  fever,  neither  any  of  them) 
"  nor  of  the  attendants  upon  them,  were  infected." 

Several  dissections  were  made  by  the  author.  Nothing  wa3 
observed  in  the  brain,  further  than  that  it  appeared  less  full  of 
blood  than  is  sometimes  seen.  The  pleura,  peritonaeum,  lungs, 
pericardium,  and  intestines,  were  perfectly  natural.  No  signs  of 
fulness  or  inflammation  on  the  liver,  except  a  slight  redness  on  a 
small  portion  of  the  membranous  covering  of  the  convex  side.  A 
slight  appearance  of  inflammation  was  observable  on  the  villous 
coat  of  the  stomach.  The  gall-bladders  were  distended  with  thick 
black  bile,  of  the  consistence  of  tar,  and  some  of  the  same  sub- 
stance was  found  in  the  stomach.  The  hardness  and  tenacity  of 
this  biack  matter  was  increased  by  the  addition  of  a  solution  of 
volatile  alkali  (ammonia).  Vegetable  acid,  poured  on  another 
portion  of  the  same  tarlike  substance,  excited  considerable  effer- 
vescence, which  continued  some,  time;  after  which  the  mixture 
assumed  the  colour  and  consistence  of  healthy  bile.  Whence  the 
author  infers,  "  that  the  acrimony  of  the  disease,  or  I  the  morbid 
"  bile,  has  an  alkalescent  tendency." 

As  a  preventative,  beside  temperance  and  cleanliness,  the  author 
recommends  the  exhibition  of  mercurials;  and  seems  to  think  that 
they  may  be  advantageously  continued  even  to  the  producing  of 
a  gentle  salivation.  He  relates  one  fact,  as  connected  with  this 
point,  which,  as  it  is  curious  and  probably  little  known,  may  pro- 
perly be  given  at  length,  and  in  his  own  words.  H  A  circum- 
"  stance,  worthy  of  notice,  happened  last  war,  at  the  taking  of 
"  Fort  Omoa  on  the  Spanish  Main;  which  Dr.  Clark,  then  sur- 
"  geon  to  the  Pomona  frigate,  on  that  service,  communicated  to 
"  me.  It  may  be  in  the  recollection  of  most  of  us,  that  a  malig- 
"  nant  fever  broke  out  there,  with  the  type  of  a  marsh  fever, 
**  which  swept  away  great  numbers  of  men  from  all  the  squadron, 
"  but  was  aiso  so  fatal  on  shore,  that  the  79th  regiment  alone  lost 
"  eight  officers.  Among  the  ships  which  were  captured  in  that 
"  harbour,  one  was  loaded  with  quiclsiher,  for  the  use  of  the 
"  mines;  and  the  vessels  which  contained  it  being  broken  by  the 
"  shot  of  the  Pomona,  the  mercury  was  found  floating  in  large 
"  quantities,  and  a  number  of  men  were  sent  on  board  to  collect 
"  it';  which  they  did  with  their  hands,  by  throwing  it  into  pails 
"  or  buckets.  These  men  were  continued  in  this  employ,  during 
"  all  the  time  they  remained  there;  and  not  a  man  of  them  had  the 
"  smallest  complaint,  though  surrounded  by  disease  and  death." 
The  method  of  cure  generally  practised  at  first,  in  1 793,  con- 


498  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

listed  of  bleeding,  tooling  laxatives,  and  antimonials  in  small  and 
frequent  doses;  and,  as  the  pulse  was  observed  to  sink  very  fast, 
recourse  was  had  to  blisters,  and  the  bark.  Blisters,  the  author 
thinks,  often  relieved  the  anxiety  at  the  prccordia;  which  was  also 
f.omt  times  removed  by  opiates.  Every  preparation  of  bark  was 
rejected;  on  which  account  they  gave  it  by  injecrion;  and  as  the 
signs  of  debility  fast  increased,  administered  snake-root,  camphor, 
brandy,  and  other  stimulants,  with  elixir  vitriol,  subacid  drinks, 
ice.  &c.  This  plan  of  cure  was  very  unsuccessful.  Bleeding 
increased  the  debility;  emetics  excited  an  irritation  of  the  stomach, 
which  nothing  would  allay;  and  it  became  necessary  to  have  re- 
course to  some  more  efficient  aid.  This,  happily,  was  discovertvl 
in  mercury;  and  as  the  result  of  very  extensive  practice  in  this 
disease,  and  with  this  remedy,  the  author  lays  down,  aB  the  most 
efficacious,  the  following  method  of  cure. 

X.  Calomel  is  to  be  given  in  pill",  or  what  is  better  suspended 
in  mucilage,  [that  of  the  Maranta  or  Indian  Arrow-root  is  parti- 
cularly recommended],  at  such  intervals,  and  in  such  quantities, 
as  the  exigency  of  the  case  may  require;  observing  that,  as  the 
object  of  the  physician  is  to  procure  ptyalism  as  soon  as  possible, 
it  must  be  vigorously  pushed.  To  r  nder  this  the  more  certain, 
the  same  medicine  must  be  rubber,  into  the  gums  and  lips,  and 
mercurial  ointment  on  the  arms,  legs,  &c.  The  throat  of  the 
patient  must  be  kept  warm  with  flannels;  he  must  inhale  the 
steams  of  hot  water — irritate  the  fauces  with  stimulating  gargles, 
or  with  mandatories  of  arum,  pvrethrum,  &c.  &c.  If  by  any, 
or  all,  of  these  means  a  salivation  is  excited,  we  are  told  that  there 
are  few  instances  of  the  disease  proving  fatal;  and  not  one  has 
occurred  to  the  author.  More  commonly,  the  fever  immediately 
disappears  altogether,  or  very  much  abates,  and  yields  easily  to  or- 
dinary means. 

2.  The  pain  of  the  head  is  to  be  relieved  by  rubbing  it  with 
vitriolic  aether,  or  sliced  limes  and  salt. 

3.  The  bowels  are  to  be  kept  open  by  means  of  clysters. 

4.  The  mildest  foods  and  drinks  are  to  be  given. 

5.  The  bark  may  be  administered,  after  the  disappearance  or 
great  abatement  of  the  symptoms,  in  such  form  as  is  most  agree- 
able to  the  patient. 

6.  The  inconvenient  ptyalism  which  sometimes  continues  long 
after  the  fever  is  subdued,  Dr.  Walker  thinks  is  more  certainly 
obviated  by  blisters  to  the  back,  than  by  the  means  customarily 
employed. 

The  following  brief  notices  of  cases  in  which  mercury  was  used 
will  give  the  reader  a  more  complete  knowledge  of  the  author's 
practice. 

1.  Capt.  Stoho  tcck  504  grains  of  calomel,  and  rubbed  i»  $1 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


499 


of  mercurial  ointment,  which  produced  a  ptyalism  next  day,  and 
he  recovered. 

2.  Roberts  took  305  grains,  rubbed  into  his  gums  and  lips 

3  ii,  and  upon  his  thighs  and  groins  J  vi  of  strong  mercurial  oint- 
ment, containing  one  third  mercury :  in  five  days  was  salivated,  and 
recovered. 

5.  Kinneartook  525  grains,  rubbed  upon  his  gums  and  lips 

600,  and  ^  x  of  ointment  on  his  body,  in  eight  days:  took  acidu- 
lated bark  afterwards,  and  was  soon  perfectly  well. 

4.  Mr.  Sorely.  This  case  terminated  unfortunately.  He  took 
between  1  3  and  1400  grains  of  calomel,  and  3  vi  of  the  ointmeat 
were  rubbed  in;  he  was  also  fumigated,  and  took  some  small  do- 
ses of  turpethum  minerale;  but  without  producing  salivation,  as 
was  desired.  "  During  this  patient's  illness,  which  continued 
"  nine  days,  he  had  scarcely  any  fever,  and  no  symptom  of  dis- 
"  solved  blood,  only  about  the  seventh  day  a  few  drops  of  blood 
"  came  from  his  nose,  which  his  nurse  attributed  to  his  picking  it. 
"  He  shewed  a  little  yellow  tinge  upon  his  eyes  only  the  day  be- 
"  fore  he  died,  and  gradually  sunk  without  a  complaint,  tho'  pcr- 
"  fectly  sensible.  He  only  said  that  his  gums  were  a  little  sore; 
<'  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that  he  had  a  diarrhcea  the  first  three 
"  days,  which  probably  retarded  the  ptyalism ;  but  it  was  after- 
"  wards  necessary  to  keep  his  body  open,  daily,  by  emollient  laxa- 
"  tive  clysters."  Afterwards  Dr.  Walker  observes  of  mercury,  "  I 
have  known  it  cure  a  dysentery,  but  never  knew  it  produce  even, 
a  diarrhcea." 

Other  instances  are  noticed  of  the  successful  use  of  calomel  in. 
very  extraordinary  doses:  and  one  case  is  referred  to,  in  which  a 
gentleman  of  the  name  of  Forbes  exhibited  1600  grains  to  a  sin- 
gle patient,  and  produced  a  cure. 

Such  are  the  principal  matters  in  Dr.  Walker's  paper,  which 
appear  deserving  the  attention  of  practitioners  in  the  United  States. 
On  the  whole,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  method  of  cure 
proposed  by  this  gentleman,  in  pestilential  fevers,  one  fact  seems 
to  be  clearly  ascertained,  that  calomel  and  mercurials  in  general, 
may  be  administered  in  much  greater  quantities  than  we  have  hi- 
therto been  accustomed  to  prescribe  them,  and  if  not  with  advan- 
tage, at  least  without  injury. 


(     $00  ) 


ARTICLE  V. 


A  Letter  to  Dr.   ■  ,  in  Answer  to  his  Queries  res/iecling  the 

Introtluflion  of  the  Mercurial  Pratlice  in  the  Vicinity  of  Boston^ 
Massachusetts. 

By  Edward  A.  Holyoke,  M.  D.  of  Salem,  Massachusetts. 
Dear  Sir, 

\li  THEN,  upon  reading  some  late  English  publications,  you 
V  V  nncl  tnc  exhibition  of  mercurial  medicines  in  inflammatory- 
diseases  recommended  as  a  new  practice,  though  the  same  is  so 
common  and  frequent  in  this  vicinity;  you  naturally  inquire  how 
long  tliis  practice  has  been  in  vogue  among  us,  and  by  whom,  or 
by  what  means,  it  was  first  introduced? 

I  know  not  whether  I  shall  be  able  to  make  you  any  very  satis- 
factory answers  to  these  queries:  I  will  however  endeavour  to 
give  you  all  the  information  I  am  possessed  of. 

A  physician  from  Scotland,  who,  as  I  have  heard,  was  a  disciple 
of  the  celebrated  Pitcairn,  and  who  was  an  intimate  acquaintance 
of  some  of  the  first  practitioners  in  Boston,  and  its  neighbourhood, 
about  60  or  70  years  ago,  was  much  in  the  habit  of  administer- 
ing mercurials,  and,  as  1  have  heard,  much  promoted  their  use 
among  us,  if  he  did  not  originate  it. 

This  practice  was  much  promoted,  too,  by  the  writings  of  Dr. 
Cheyne,  then,  and  for  some  time  alter,  much  read  by  physicians 
here. 

But  what  probably  most  contributed  to  give  the  faculty  a  high 
idea  of  this  medicine,  and  to  bring  it  acquainted  with  its  virtues 
and  uses,  was  the  happy  effect  it  was  found  to  have,  in  check- 
ing the  progress  of  a  most  formidable  disease,  which  broke  out  in 
this  part  of  America  about  the  year  1734  or  1735,  and  made  cruel 
havoc,  sweeping  off  multitudes  of  children,  wherever  its  baleful  in- 
fluence extended:  I  mean  the  disease  at  that  time  called  the  throat 
distcm/ier ;  which  I  suppose  to  have  been  of  the  same  genus  with 
Dr.  Huxham's  malignant  ulcerous  sore  threat,  tho'  it  was,  I  believe, 
much  more  frequently  and  rapidly  fatal  then,  than  it  has  appear- 
ed of  late  vears  among  us,  or  than  it  has  been  at  any  time  in  Eu- 
rope. No  remedies,  we  are  told,  were  for  some  time  of  any  avail, 
to  stop  its  career,  and  almost  all  who  sickened,  died.  At  length 
recourse  was  had  to  mercurials,  as  turjiethttm  minerale  and  calomel. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


and  by  these,  aided  by  antiseptics,  Sec.  physicians  were  enabled 
to  make  some  successful  opposition  to  its  ravages.* 

It  was  natural  to  extend  the  use  of  so  efficacious  a  remedy  to 
other  disorders,  and  being  found  or  thought  useful  in  many  other 
cases,  it  became  accordingly  much  employed. 

But  at  what  period,  or  by  whomsoever  the  mercurial  practice 
might  have  been  introduced,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  this  is 
certain,  that  upwards  of  45  years  ago,  it  was  in  common  use,  in 
pleurisies,  quinsies,  inflammatory  rheumatisms,  and  other  phleg- 
masia-; with  several  gentlemen  who  were  at  that  time  of  the  first 
repute  as  physicians.  And  this  practice  was  not  only  adopted  by 
their  pupils,  but  by  many  other  practitioners  in  the  vicinity,  and 
has  not,  since  that  time,  been  wholly  laid  aside,  though  I  believe 
it  has  not  been  so  much  in  vogue  lately,  as  it  was  from  30  to  45 
years  a<ro.  The  modern  European  medical  writers,  who  are  most 
consulted  and  followed,  by  the  faculty  here,  being  totally  silent 
with  respect  to  the  exhibition  of  mercury  in  fever  and  inflamma- 
tory diathesis,  has,  I  doubt  not,  been  the  occasion  of  its  running 
into  disuse  of  late.  The  practice  has,  however,  been  still  kept 
up  by  many,  and  will  doubtless  go  on  increasing,  now  European 
writers  give  it  their  sanction. 

An  idea  that  mercurials  were  improper,  if .  not  injurious  medi- 
cines, in  inflammatory  cases  in  general,  seems  to  have  been  adopted 
by  physicians  in  Europejf  but  certainly  without  just  foundation, 
if  the  above  account  deserves  credit;  or  if  we  may  believe  several 
European  performances  lately  published;  particularly  a  paper 
written  by  Dr.  Wright,  and  inserted  in  the  7th  volume  of  Medical 
Fafls,  entitled,  Prailical  Observations  01  the  Treatment  of  acute 

*  I  remember  to  have  heard  a  little  anecdote,  which  may  be  worth  re- 
lating on  this  occafion. — A  practitioner  in  a  neighbouring  town,  of  great  re- 
pute and  extenfive  practice,  being  called  to  attend  a  young  woman  dangtr- 
oully  ill  of  this  diftempcr;  having  ordered  her,  among  other  things,  four  or 
five  grains  of  calomel,  was  aftonifhed  the  next  day  to  find  her  relieved, 
greatly  beyond  his  expectations.  Upon  inquiring  of  his  pupil,  to  whom  he 
had  given  his  directions,  whether  his  preicription  had  been  followed;  he 
found  that  his  patient  had  taken  30  grains  of  calomel,  inftead  of  four  or  five: 
to  whkh  miftake  he  attributed  the  cure.  Trom  this  time  forward,  in  very- 
dangerous  cafes,  he  ufed  the  medicine  in  much  larger  dofes  than  before. 

f  I  well  remember,  that,  about  the  year  175 — ,  Dr.  Charles  Ruffel,  a  young 
phyfician,  (who  had  been  pupil  to  a  gentleman  who  employed  mercurials  in 
his  practice  very  freely)  then  lately  returned  from  London,  where  he  had  been 
fomc  time  attending  at  a  public  Hofpital  (Guy's  or  St.  Thomas's),  informed 
me,  that  upon  his  relating  to  the  medical  gentlemen  there,  the  common  prac- 
tice in  this  part  of  America,  of  adminiftering  mercurials,  particularly  calo- 
mel, in  inflammatory  diforders,  that  they  cxpreffed  great  furprize  at  the 
account,  and  told  him  they  fhoulu  have  apprehended,  the  molt  fatal  conic- 
quences  from  fuch  a  practice. 

Kol.  I.  No.  4.  I 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Diseases,  Sec.  The  encomiums  Dr.  Wright  bestows  upon  the  ad- 
ministration of  mercury,  in  a  variety  of  acute  cases,  so  well  ac- 
cords with  our  long  experience  of  its  efficacy  and  safety,  in  this 
country,  that  every  practitioner  amongst  us,  who  has  been  in  the 
use  of  it,  will  readily  accede  to  them. 

For  my  own  part,  I  profess  myself  to  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
prescribing  this  mineral  ever  since  the  year  1 75 1  or  1752.  About, 
that  time,  pleurisies  and  peripneumonies  were  remarkably  preva- 
lent, and  might  be  called  epidemical:  the  practitioners  of  this 
place  made  free  use  of  it  at  that  time,  and,  as  we  found  its  effects 
beneficial,  have  continued  to  employ  it  in  similar  cases  ever  since. 

It  is  not  pretended,  however,  that  this  practice  is  universally 
successful,  or  that  it  is  admissible  in  all  subjects:  some  persons, 
as  experience  shows,  cannot  bear  mercury;  a  great  degree  of  de- 
bility, and  irritability,  being  the  immediate  consequence  of  its 
exhibition,  even  when  given  in  very  moderate  doses.  Others, 
from  great  tenderness  and  irritability  of  bowels,  seem  incapable 
of  admitting  a  quantity  of  the  medicine  sufficient  to  affect  the. 
system.  And  others,  from  a  certain  peculiarity  of  constitution, 
though  the  bowels  bear  it  well,  are  but  little  apt  to  be  affected  by 
it,  although  it  be  taken  freely,  and  for  a  considerable  length  of 
time.  But  so  far  as  my  recollection  serves  me,  I  have  never 
known  a  failure  in  pneumonia,  where  the  patient  began  to  take  it 
early,  could  bear  it  well,  the  mouth  became  sore,  and  a  gentle 
ptyalism  came  on  in  a  few  days. 

The  preparation  of  mercury  most  commonly  made  use  of  was 
mercurius  dulcis,  or  calomel;  in  larger  doses  joined  with  some 
purgative,  when  designed  to  act  as  a  cathartic;  and  in  smaller 
doses,  of  one  or  two  grains,  as  an  alterant,  or  when  the  intention 
was  to  affect  the  system :  and  then  it  was  frequently  combined 
with  ca.vip/wr,  and  sometimes  with  some  preparation  of  antimony, 
and  sometimes  with  small  doses  of  cjiiv.m ;  or  with  all  of  them 
together,  as  the  prescriber  judged  most  proper:  though,  in  some 
cases,  the  native  mercury,  rubbed  down  with  Terebinth,  fee.  was 
preferred. 

Beside  these,  the  turpethum  minerale  was  often  given  in  a  few 
grains  (from  one  to  four),  with  a  little  ipecac,  as  an  emetic;  than 
which  the  Materia  Medica  does  not,  perhaps,  afford  one  more  cer- 
tain or  more  efficacious;  especially  in  inflammatory  quinsies,  the 
croup,  or  generally  when  tenacious  phlegm  or  pituit  abounds  in 
the  stomach.  Small  doses,  too,  of  this  last  preparation,  as  one 
third,  or  half  a  grain,  given  in  a  little  cons,  rosar.  or  honey,  and 
repeated  at  short  intervals,  as  two  or  three  hours,  have  been  found 
to  be  most  powerfully  expectorant,  in  pneumony,  where  the  lung-, 
have  been  greatly  obstructed  and  loaded  with  viscid  phlegm :  and 
I  have  seen  a  number  of  instances,  where  patients  who  seemed  c:i 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  503 

the  point  of  suffocation,  were  snatched  from  the  jaws  of  death, 
by  a  few  doses  of  this  medicine. 

My  intention  in  this  letter,  however,  you  are  sensible,  is  not 
to  enter  into  the  mode  of  exhibiting  mercurials,  much  less  to  treat 
of  any  particular  disease;  my  design  is  merely  to  answer  your 
queries;  to  corroborate  Dr.  Wright's  practice,  by  showing  how  it 
corresponds  with  a  practice  that  has  long  been  common  among 
us  here;  and  to  show,  that,  in  this  part  of  the  country  at  least, 
the  same  medicine  has  been  successfully  employed,  certainly  for 
nearly  half  a  century,  and  probably  much  longer. 

I  am,  Sec. 
E.  A.  HOLYOKE. 

Saleitiy  December^  1 79.7. 


(    5°4  ) 


ARTICLE  VI. 


An  Account  of  the  PESTILENTIAL  FEVER  which  prevailed 
at  Ne~%obuty-Portt  State  of  Massachusetts,  in  I 796;  in  a  Letter 
to  Mr.  Smith. 

By  Dr.  Charles  Coffin. 

Sir, 

IT  gives  me  pleasure  to  find  the  plan  proposed  in  your  Address, 
undertaken  in  this  country;  and  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to 
prosecute  it  with  success.  I  should  be  happy  to  contribute  in  any 
degree  to  your  assistance. 

Respecting  the  origin  of  the  disease,  which  raged  here  in  179/', 
there  have  been  but  two  opinions.  Some  have  supposed  it  was 
generated  here;  others,  that  it  was  imported  from  the  West-Indies, 
in  a  vessel  which  arrived  in  May.  Having  never  had  an  oppor- 
tunity, till  very  lately,  of  conversing,  as  I  wished,  with  the  Captain 
himself,  I  was  not  prepared  to  state  all  the  facts  with  certainty 
relative  to  the  suspected  vessel.  The  Captain's  account  is,  that 
about  twelve  days  before  his  arrival  here,  two  of  his  men  died  on 
board  of  a  putrid  fever.  After  which  he  immediately  cleansed  the 
vessel,  by  washing  it  with  vinegar,  smoking  it  with  tar,  and  dub- 
bing the  cabin  and  steerage  fjoors.  He  threw  over  the  clothes, 
which  the  sick  had  worn,  and  their  bedding.  Their  other  clothes 
were  locked  up  in  their  chests,  and  afterwards  sent  home  to  their 
friends,  in  a  neighbouring  town,  without  communicating  any 
infection.  The  rest  of  the  crew  escaped  the  disease.  Here  it 
may  be  remarked,  that  if  the  vessel,  on  her  arrival,  had  been 
5tationed  at  some  other  part  of  the  harbour,  it  would  have  been 
conspicuous,  whether  it  brought  the  fever  or  not.  But  not  far 
from  the  wharf  at  which  it  was  unloaded,  a  great  quantity  of  fish 
had  been  dressed  for  the  West-Indies;  and  the  entrails  left  exposed 
to  the  air.  The  weather  being  uncommonly  moist  and  warm,  the 
exhalation  was  very  offensive  to  the  neighbourhood.  In  one  of 
the  houses  nearest  to  the  fish  offal,  the  three  first  persons  were 
seized  with  the  disease;  and  within  twenty  or  thirty  rods  the 
greater  number  of  its  victims  lived.  The  majority  of  those  who 
recovered,  lived  in  other  parts  of  the  town.  Most,  if  not  all,  who 
had  it  at  a  distance,  had  frequented  the  infected  neighbourhood ; 
but  did  not  communicate  the  infection  to  their  attendants.  These 
are  the  principal  facts,  from  which  the  fever's  origin  must  be  de- 
termined. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  symptoms  were  various.  Most  were  seized  with  violent 
pains  in  the  head,  loins,  stomach,  and  abdomen;  great  oppression 
upon  the  prfecordia;  nausea  and  vomiting  porraceous  matter;  great, 
sense  of  cold,  especially  in  the  extremities;  and  a  burning  heat  in 
the  intestinal  canal,  followed  with  loss  of  strength.  Others  com- 
plained more  of  pains  in  their  arms  and  legs,  with  a  general  lassi- 
tude, and  but  slight  sense  of  chilliness  or  oppression  upon  the 
praecordia.  The  pulse  in  the  robust  was,  at  the  onset,  somewhat 
hard  and  full,  but  in  most  cases  small  and  weak,  especially  in  the 
advance  of  the  disease.  The  tongue  at  first  was  generally  cover- 
ed with  a  thin,  whitish  fur,  which  afterwards  became  thick,  dusky, 
and  often  black  in  the  middle.  The  skin,  in  a  few  instances,  al- 
most retained  its  natural  appearance,  but  generally  became  sallow 
and  yellowish;  and,  in  two  or  three  cases,  of  an  orange  colour. 
An  indisposition  to  sweat,  and  some  stricture  upon  the  skin,  were 
common.  The  eyes  were  spiritless,  yellowish  and  sometimes  red. 
The  stools,  in  some,  at  the  beginning,  were  nearly  of  a  natural  co- 
lour and  consistence,  but  more  frequently  yellow;  and  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  disease,  generally  changed  to  a  bottle  green,  and  some- 
times to  the  colour  and  consistence  of  colfee  grounds.  The  urine 
was  reddish  and  turbid,  and  sometimes,  of  a  greasy  frothy  appear- 
ance. The  crassamentum  of  the  blood  taken  away  was  loose,  and 
the  serum  very  yellow.  In  the  two  first  days  there  were  irregu- 
lar exacerbations.  On  the  third  or  fourth,  the  fever  and  other 
symptoms  often  abated,  and  the  patient  felt  almost  well.  This 
mitigation  was  frequently  fallacious,  and  followed  with  vomiting 
of  black  bilious  matter,  like  coffee  grounds,  together  with  great 
soreness  of  stomach,  restlessness,  dejection,  and  delirium,  which 
issued  in  death.  Livid  spots  appeared  on  the  arms  of  some,  and 
the  extremities  of  many  were  cold  and  livid,  several  hours  before 
dissolution. 

The  method  of  treatment  was  regulated  by  the  symptoms. 
When  there  was  any  hardness  or  fullness  in  the  pulse  at  the  be- 
ginning, bleeding  was  used  with  advantage,  and  sometimes  repeated. 
Emetics  and  drastick  purges  were  found  detrimental.  Manna 
and  Glauber's  salts,  dissolved  in  tamarind  water,  were  copiously  gi- 
ven, and  with  great  effect.  The  patient's  strength  seemed  to  be 
increased  by  their  operation.  Spirit.  Nitr.  Dul.  Elix.  Camph. 
Spt.  Minder,  and  Haust.  Sal.  were  used  in  the  intervals.  In  ca- 
ses of  dejection,  languor  and  cutaneous  stricture,  blisters  upon  the 
arms  and  nape  of  the  neck  were  very  serviceable.  The  cortex, 
when  it  produced  no  tightness  in  the  breast,  was  beneficial.  The 
diet  was  oatmeal,  panado,  ripe  fruit,  salop,  &c.  The  drink  was 
lemonade,  tamarind  water,  almond  emulsion,  &c.  Clean  linen, 
and  clear  cool  air,  were  very  necessary.  Sometimes  the  heat  in 
the  stomach  and  abdomen  was  so  great,  that  linen  cloths,  dipped 


5c6 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


m  cold  vinegar,  and  applied  externally,  as  well  as  clysters  of  equai 
parts  of  cold  vinegar  and  water,  injected,  were  very  refreshing. 

Of  those  who  had  the  fever,  a  full  third  recovered.  Many 
others  were  slightly  affected,  who,  by  gentle  purges,  antiseptic  diet, 
ar.d  pure  air,  escaped.  According  to  the  list  ot  the  Committee  of 
Health,  the  number  of  those  who  died  in  town  did  not  exceed  forty ; 
and  if  all  tiiose  were  added  who  took  the  disorder  here,  and  died 
out  of  town,  it  would  not  exceed  fifty.  Some  died  on  the  fourth, 
fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  days,  and  very  few  after.  The  committee 
were  very  careful,  by  removing  nuisances,  to  promote  purity  of 
air  in  all  parts  of  the  town.  The  first  appearance  of  the  fever  was 
on  the  1 6th  of  June;  the  last  instance  of  its  fatality,  on  the  16th 
of  October,  and  the  last  but  one,  on  the  5th.  As  the  coolness  of 
the  weather  increased,  its  rage  was  mitigated,  and  gradually  ex- 
tinguished. It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  whole  number  of 
death?,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  was  greater  than  usual. 

The  above  particulars,  I  believe,  Sir,  may  be  relied  on;  and  if 
tbey  reach  the  object  of  your  polite  letter?,  it  will  afford  pleasure 
Jo  your  humble  servant, 


CHARLES  COFFIN. 


Kewbwy-Port,  Feb.  15, 


I 


(    So;  ) 


ARTICLE  VII. 


Singular  Cases  of  Disease  In  Infancy.  Communicated  in  a  Letter  to 
Dottor  James  Hamilton,  Junior,  of  Edinburgh,  by  David 
Hosack,  M.D. 

New-York,  February  20,  1798. 

THE  following  .cases  of  disease  in  infancy  I  have  several  times 
met  with  in  practice,  but  do  not  recollect  to  have  seen  de- 
scribed by  any  writer  upon  the  diseases  of  children.  Underwood 
has  given  a  sketch  of  a  disease  in  infancy,  proceeding  from  what 
he  calls  "an  imperfect  closure  of  the  foramen  ovale,"*  which  bears 
the  greatest  resemblance  to  it  of  any  thing  1  have  seen  described: 
perhaps  it  may  prove  the  same  disease;  but  as  Doctor  Underwood 
has  not  described  all  the  symptoms  which  characterise  it,  and  as 
with  him  it  has  proved  uniformly  a  fatal  disease,  1  trust  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  it,  and  the  mode  of  treatment  which  I  have 
found  successful,  will  not  be  unacceptable. 

CASE  I. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  30th  October,  1797,  I  was  sent  for  to 
visit  a  child  of  Nathaniel  Pendleton,  "Esq.  ot  this  city:  it  was  se- 
ven days  old,  of  apparently  good  constitution,  and  had  been  in  per- 
fect health  from  its  birth. 

I  was  informed  it  had  been  suddenly  taken  ill  in  the  night,  and 
that  it  awoke  with  an  unnatural  screaming,  which  was  the  first 
symptom  of  its  indisposition.  Mrs.  Pendleton  considering  its  com- 
plaints to  proceed  from  some  disorder  in  the  bowels,  gave  it  a  dose 
of  castor  oil,  which  operated  freely,  but  without  any  abatement 
of  its  symptoms:  a  drop  of  laudanum  was  then  administered,  but 
without  the  smallest  benefit:  the  child  still  continued  screaming 
every  few  minutes,  but  after  each  fit  it  was  perfectly  quiet,  and 
apparently  free  from  pain;  but  would  not  take  the  breast.  Find- 
ing no  relief  from  the  oil  or  opiate,  Mrs.  Pendleton  became  alarm- 
ed, and  early  in  the  morning  I  was  called  to  visit  it.  In  a  few  mi- 
nutes after  I  had  entered  the  room,  it  suddenly  screamed  out  two 
or  three  times.  1  at  once  perceived  that  this  was  not  the  natural 
cry  of  the  child,  and  took  a  seat  with  the  view  to  examine  its 
symptoms  more  particularly.  The  fits  of  screaming  returned 
about  every  ten  or  fifteen  minutes;  immediately  after  each  fit,  the 
countenance  appeared  natural,  both  as  to  the  complexion  and 

*  See  Difeafts  of  Children,  vol.  i.  p.  6;. 


$o3  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

composure  of  its  features,  and  the  pulses  beat  with  their  usual  fre- 
quency; but  in  the  course  of  about  five  or  six  minutes,  respiration 
became  entirely  suspended;  the  eyes  now  assumed  a  vacant  stare; 
the  countenance  changed  its  colour;  instead  of  the  natural  florid 
hue,  it  became  of  a  dark  livid  blueish  colour :  this  change  was 
first  perceived  about  the  upper  lip  and  chin,  and  was  apparent  to 
every  bystander:  the  pulses  became  less  frequent,  and  very  irre- 
gular :  in  about  eight  or  ten  minutes  the  blueness  was  extend- 
ed over  the  whole  face;  the  extremities  underwent  a  similar 
change  of  colour,  attended  with  some  coldness:  at  this  time  the 
pulses  were  scarcely  to  be  perceived:  in  a  word,  the  child,  at  this 
moment,  manifested  every  symptom  of  approaching  death.  In 
this  critical  state  of  things  it  again  suddenly  screamed,  throwing 
out  its  arms  and  legs  as  in  convulsions,  and  took  two  or  three 
violent  inspirations:  after  these  efforts,  respiration  was  again  en- 
tirely suspended ;  but,  notwithstanding,  its  circulation  was  again 
for  a  short  time  restored ;  the  leaden  colour  of  its  countenance 
disappeared,  and  its  natural  complexion,  for  the  moment,  perfectly 
returned.  These  last  favourable  symptoms  did  not  continue:  as 
before,  in  a  few  minutes,  respiration  being  entirely  suspended,  the 
countenance  became  livid  and  blue;  the  circulation  became 
slower  and  very  irregular,  and  the  extremities  lost  their  heat. 
Such  was  the  condition  of  the  child,  until  another  fit  of  scream- 
ing restored  the  respiration  for  a  moment,  which  gave  new  energy 
to  the  circulation.  I  was  now  satisfied  that  the  bowels  had  no  con- 
nection with  its  present  complaints.  Having  seen  the  disease  in 
three  other  children,  I  readily  recognized  it;  but  as,  in  all  those,  it 
proved  fatal,  I  had  not  the  smallest  expectation  of  its  recovery.  In 
those  cases  evacuations  were  first  employed,  and  afterwards  anodyne 
medicines  were  administered,  upon  the  principle  that  the  disease 
was  of  a  spasmodic  nature ;  but  as  these  remedies  were  not  attend- 
ed with  any  relief  or  advantage,  I  resolved  to  try  the  effect  of  a 
stimulant  mode  of  treatment.  Accordingly,  I  applied  a  small 
blister  upon  the  breast,  and  two  others  behind  the  ears;  cataplasms, 
composed  of  rye  meal,  vinegar  and  mustard,  to  the  soles  of  the 
feet;  bathed  its  whole  body  with  warm  brandy — afterwards, 
with  diluted  spirits  of  sal.  ammoniac;  and,  from  time  to  time,  we 
attempted  to  give  it  a  spoonful  of  wine  whey,  but  to  no  purpose, 
as  it  was  incapable  of  swallowing.  This  treatment  was  pursued 
for  two  ~or  three  hours:  in  the  beginning  it  appeared  to  promise 
relief;  the  fits  of  screaming  did  not  return  so  frequently;  respira- 
tion continued  a  longer  time,  and  the  circulation  became  more  vigo- 
rous. In  about  four  hours  the  blisters  produced  their  effect; 
upon  their  operation  we  had  great  reliance;  but  they  produced  no 
sensible  alteration  in  the  state  of  the  disease:  the  fits  still  continu- 
ed to  return  as  in  ihe  beginning,  and  with  the  same  succession  of 
symptoms  as  above  described. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  So9 

Six  hours  had  now  elapsed;  the  cries  of  the  child  became  more 
feeble;  respiration  was  suspended  for  a  greater  length  of  time  than 
in  the  commencement  of  the  disease,  and  the  circulation  became 
less  vigorous:  these,  with  the  greater  coldness  of  the  extremities, 
confirmed  us  in  our  fears  of  the  event. 

Having  frequently  employed  a  stimulating  bath,  prepared  with 
bark  and  spirits,  in  the  latter  stages  of  malignant  fevers,  and  dis- 
eases cf  great  debility,  I  determined,  as  a  last  resource,  to  give  it 
a  trial  in  the  present  case.  I  therefore  directed  four  ounces  of 
powdered  Peruvian  bark  to  be  boiled  lor  a  few  minutes,  in  about 
two  gallons  of  water;  to  this,  when  fit  for  use,  a  pint  of  Jamaica 
spirits  was  added:  when  it  was  cooled  to  a  temperature  rather 
above  that  of  the  body,  the  child  was  immersed  in  it  up  to  its 
neck;  and  to  render  the  bath  more  stimulating,  I  added,  from  time 
to  time,  a  small  quantity  ol  the  spirits  of  sal  ammoniac. 

In  a  very  short  time  a  favourable  and  very  apparent  change 
took  place;  respiration,  while  the  child  remained  in  the  bath,  was 
perfectly  restored;  the  circulation  became  vigorous  and  active;  the 
countenance  resumed  its  lively  hue;  the  eyes  recovered  their  natu- 
ral expression ;  the  power  of  swallowing  returned,  and,  in  every 
respeci,  the  child  manifested  symptoms  of  relief.  In  this  state  of 
things  we  removed  it  from  the  bath,  wrapped  it  in  warm  dry  flan- 
nels, and  put  it  to  the  breast.  To  the  great  joy  of  its  mother,  it 
returned  to  it  with  eagerness;  it  remained  composed,  and  free 
from  complaints  a  considerable  time,  perhaps  for  the  space  of  half 
an  hour.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  respiiation  became  irregular, 
and  was  again  interrupted,  followed  with  the  same  change  in  the 
circulation  and  in  the  colour  of  the  skin  as  has  already  been  de- 
scribed. The  bath  was  employed  a  second  time,  and  with  the 
same  relief  as  before.  It  now  fell  into  a  sleep,  remained  so  for  an 
hour,  breathing  freely ;  its  circulation  regular,  and  the  child,  to  all 
appearance,  freed  from  its  complaints.  At  the  end  cf  this  time, 
we  were  again  alarmed  with  the  same  distressing  symptoms  of 
screaming,  and  interrupted  respiration,  with  which  it  was  first  at- 
tacked; but  the  bath  as  readily  relieved  it  a  third  time.  As  far  as 
I  can  recollect,  it  had  two  or  three  more  paroxysms,  but  they  were 
of  shorter  duration,  returned  after  long  intervals,  and  were  uni- 
formly relieved  by  the  use  of  the  bath.  Since  that  time  the  child 
has  had  no  return  of  the  disease,  and  is  at  present  in  perfect  health. 

CASE  II. 

IN  the  month  of  December,  a  child  of  my  brother,  Doctor 
Alexander  Hosack,  was  suddenly  seized  with  the  same  disease,  and 
attended  with  precisely  similar  symptoms:  it  was  six  weeks  old, 
of  good  constitution,  and  had  been  remarkably  healthy.  I  was 
immediately  called  to  visit  it,  and  upon  entering  the  room,  was 

roj.  n  No.  4.  K 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


told  that  I  had  come  too  late,  and  that  the  child  was  dying.  At 
this  time  respiration  was  completely  suspended,  the  face  of  a  dark 
blueish  colour,  the  circulation  weak,  and  very  irregular,  and  the 
extremities  were  almost  cold.  I  instantly  directed  a  bath  to  be 
prepared  in  the  same  manner  as  I  had  done  for  Mr.  Pendleton's 
child:  in  the  mean  time,  the  disease  underwent  nearly  the  same 
change  and  succession  of  symptoms  as  were  described  in  the  pre- 
ceding case.  When  the  bath  was  prepared,  the  child  was  iuv 
mersed  in  it:  in  a  short  time,  the  respiration  became  regular:  the 
child  was  continued  in  the  bath  about  1 5  minutes,  but  was  by  no 
means  relaxed,  as  by  the  operation  of  the  bath  of  warm  water 
alone.  When  it  was  removed,  it  appeared  to  be  perfectly  relieved, 
and  remained  so  for  the  space  of  twenty  minutes,  or  half  an  hour; 
when  the  fit  returned,  but  was  of  shorter  continuance,  and  less  vi- 
olent :  the  bath  was  employed  a  second  time,  which  completely  re- 
moved all  complaint.  The  child  is  now  living,  and  in  good  health. 

AS  to  the  pathology  of  this  disease,  I  dare  scarcely  offer  a  con- 
jecture, having  yet  seen  but  five  cases  of  it:  this  much,  however, 
appears  to  me  probable,  that  during  the  suspension  of  respira- 
tion, the  blood  ceases  to  circulate  through  the  lungs,  and  passes  by 
the  former  route  through  the  foramen  ovale.  Hence  we  may  ac- 
count for  the  dark  colour  of  the  countenance,  as  occurred  in  ths 
cases  of  obstruction  in  the  pulmonary  artery  and  canalJs  arteriosus^ 
as  related  by  Dr.  William  Hunter,*  in  the  last  volume  of  the  Lon- 
don Medical  Observations  and  Inquiries,  which  tends  to  shew  the 
intimate  connection  between  life,  and  the  due  oxygenation  of  the 
blood,  by  the  process  of  respiration. 

Why  respiration  should  be  thus  suddenly  suspended,  becomes  a 
question  of  importance,  as,  in  the  solution  of  it,  the  first  cause  of 
the  disease  is  probably  to  be  found :  all  the  cases  of  it  which  I  have 
seen,  except  the  one  last  described,  have  occurred  within  the 
month;  three  of  those  within  the  first  ten  days  after  birth;  and  it 
is,  perhaps,  of  importance  10  add,  that  the  first  three  children  in 
whom  it  proved  fatal  were  of  exceedingly  delicate  constitutions. 

Another  question  relative  to  this  subject  occurs  to  me.  What  is 
the  nature  of  the  disease  which  so  frequently  proves  fatal  to  chil- 
dren bom  at  seven  months?  May  it  not  proceed  more  especially 
from  inability  in  the  organs  of  respiration,  by  which  that  function 
is  so  readily  interrupted,  and  consequently  from  a  want  of  a  due 
oxygenation  of  the  blood  ?  The  symptoms  preceding  death  are 
not  unlike  those  I  have  described,  and  would  appear  to  warrant 
the  conjecture;  but  the  cause  which  interrupts  respiration  in  a 
child  born  at  the  full  time,  and  of  apparently  good  constitution, 
is  not  so  apparent. 

*  See  vol.  vi, 


(   5"  ) 


ARTICLE  VIII. 


A  CASE  SIMILAR  TO  THOSE  WHICH  FORM  THE 
SUBJECT  OF  THE  PRECEDING  ARTICLE. 

By  E.  H.  Smith. 

TO  increase  the  scanty  sum  of  information  relative  to  a  dis- 
ease hitherto  perhaps  not  very  attentively  considered,  and 
imperfectly  understood,  is  my  inducement  for  annexing  to  Dr. 
Hosack's  paper,  the  history  of  a  case  which  is  supposed  by  us  both 
to  be  of  the  same  kind  with  the  cases  related  by  him.  Other 
practitioners,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  supply  those  deficiencies, 
which,  after  all,  will  be  no  doubt  observable  both  in  the  pathology 
and  practice. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1 796,  I  was  called  to  the  infant 
child  of  Mr.  Webb,  of  this  city.  The  child  was  not  more  than 
tiine  days  old ;  and  had,  till  that  time,  been  perfectly  well.  The 
pressing  avocations  of  Dr.  Moore,  who  was  the  family  physician, 
obliged  him  to  leave  his  patient  under  my  sole  care.  The  child 
had  been  repeatedly  convulsed,  before  I  saw  it,— which  was  about 
noon— in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  had  taken  laudanum  and 
catmint  tea,  I  believe  by  the  direction  of  the  nurse,  without  any  re- 
lief, as  the  symptoms  were  afterwards  much  aggravated — perhaps 
in  consequence.  The  convulsions  recurring,  after  short  intervals, 
and  appearing  to  increase  in  violence  every  time,  I  ordered  the 
child  to  be  placed,  up  to  the  mouth,  in  warm  water;  in  which  it 
was  held  till  the  spasms  disappeared,  and  the  colour  of  the  skin 
became  more  natural.  This  was  repeated  several  times,  without 
waiting  for  the  recurrence  of  the  fits ;  till  the  little  patient  grew 
easier,  an^.I  left  it.  The  bowels  were  now,  or  had  been  previ- 
ously, opened  by  an  injection:  so  that  there  remained  no  reason 
for  attributing  any  of  the  subsequent  symptoms  to  irregularity  of 
this  sort. 

In  about  an  hour  I  was  called  back.  The  convulsions  were 
more  violent  than  before.  The  child  was  apparently  too  far  ex- 
hausted to  give  any  scream,  or  utter  any  sound  ;  but  the  livor,  or 
dark  purple  hue,  came  on  about  the  mouth,  thence  extending 
over  the  face  and  whole  body,  and  increasing  in  depth  of  dye  as 
the  spasms  and  difficulty  of  respiration  increased, — and  attended 
with  the  motions  of  the  eyes  common  in  convulsive  cases.  The 
intervals  between  the  fits  were  now  only  of  a  few  minutes ;  so  that, 
though  a  change  was  observable  in  the  colour  of  the  skin,  as  the- 


5I2 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


convulsions  grew  less  violent  and  the  breathing  more  free,  yet  the 
skin  did  not  resume  a  healthy  colour. — I  believe  that  I  did  not  quit 
the  patient  for  an  instant,  in  more  than  four  hours.  In  this  time  it 
had  probably  i  2  or  14,  perhaps  20  of  these  fits;  the  skin  each 
time  assuming  this  remarkable  appearance,  and  in  the  manner  above 
mentioned. — As  it  was  easy  to  discover,  by  this  change  of  colour, 
when  the  fit  was  returning,  we  had  a  bath  of  hot-water  and  ardent 
spirits  at  hand,  into  which  the  child  was  immediately  placed  ; 
and  where  it  was  continued  till  the  symptoms  mitigated,  or  inter- 
mitted.— At  length,  on  the  recurrence  of  another  fit,  respiration  was 
completely  suspended :  and  neither  pulse,  nor  motion,  was  perceiv- 
able. The  skin,  too,  which  during  the  whole,  was  preternaturally 
cool,  now  felt  cold.  In  this  state  she  remained,  till  a  servant 
could  run  downstairs,  procure  me  a  quill,  bring  it  to  me,  and 
allow  me  to  prepare  it  for  my  purpose.  This  might  be  near  a  mi- 
nute. Then,  1  inflated  the  lungs  through  one  nostril — previ- 
ously closing  the  other,  and  the  mouth.  This  was  done  repeat- 
edly: imitating  natural  breathing,  by  gently  pressing  the  air  out, 
?.nd  reinflating  the  lungs,  till  regular  respiration  recommenced. — 
Similar  cessations  of  breathing,  and,  as  it  were,  of  life,  occurred  af- 
terwards; and  I  was  obliged  to  repeat  this  process  several  times,  at 
intervals  of  from  15  to  20  minutes.  At  length,  by  persevering 
in  the  application  of  heat  to  the  skin,  by  means  of  the  bath,  and  of 
T.ir  to  the  lungs,  in  the  manner  described,  the  severity  of  the  dis- 
ease was  overcome ;  the  fits  grew  lighter  and  fighter,  and  the  in- 
tervals longer  and  longer.  The  child  fell  into  a  natural  sleep 
about  sr.n-set;  and  the  next  day  had  110  other  complaint  than  de- 
bility; nor  was  any  medicine  afterwards  administered. 

It  is  important  to  observe,  here,  how  much  the  preservation  of 
life,  in  these  .cases,  will  depend  on  the  presence  of  the  physician. 
The  attendants  and  nurse,  of  the  child  in  question,  were  so  per- 
suaded of  the  inutility  of  all  endeavours  for  its  relief,  that  I  am 
convinced  that  nothing  but  my  presence  and  repeated  solicitations, 
and  even  orders,  could  have  prevailed  on  them  to  continue  their 
efforts,  cr  aid  me  in  mine,  for  its  restoration. 

WITH  recpeci  to  the  nature  of  this  diseare,  the  result  of  my 
reflections  on  it  is,  th.n  it  must  be  ranked  under  the  general  name 
of  asthma,  and  with  that  particular  species  called  cmvuhhe 
n-thnm,  by  Dr.  Darwin.  I  agree  with  Dr.  Hosack  in  attributing 
the  change  in  the  colour  of  the  skin  to  the  deficiency  of  oxygene 
in  the  blood;  to  which  deficiency,  no  doubt,  the  disagreeable 
symptoms  are  ascribable.  But  this  change,  and  these  symptoms, 
may  take  place,  as  in  the  case  of  drowned  persons,  &c.  without 
.supposing  any  unnatural  circulation  of  the  blood  through  the 
■fmamcn  ovale.    That  no  such  circulation  actually  happens,  in 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


these  cases,  more  than  in  health,  [for  we  all  know  that  this  fora- 
men is  seldom  perfectly  closed  in  early  infancy,]  appears  proba- 
ble—  i.  From  the  sudden  access  of  this  disease — 2.  From  its 
short  duration — 3.  From  its  cure.  Fg/,  i.  Were  we  to  suppose 
any  unnatural  enlargement  of  the  foramen  ovale,  we  must  suppose 
it  to  be  connate;  or,  if  not  connate,  yet  remaining  when  at  any 
time  produced.  2.  In  this  case,  the  symptoms  consequent  on 
such  a  condition  of  the  heart,  must  appear  from  the  birth,  or  con- 
tinue from  the  time  of  the  occurrence  of  this  condition.  They 
would  not  suddenly  shew  themselves  at  nine,  or  ten,  or  fourteen 
days,  or  six  weeks  after  birth,  without  any  apparent  cause;  and  ter- 
minate fatally,  or  be  completely  obviated,  in  24,  12,  or  perhaps  six 
hours.  3.  In  this  case  we  should  expect,  according  to  Under- 
wood's description,  that  all  the  symptoms  would  be  aggravated  by 
motion;  but  this  is  not  a  fact  observable  in  this  disease,  or  if  ob- 
servable, only  so  in  a  slight  degree.  4.  The  method  of  cure  is  like- 
wise unfriendly  to  such  a  supposition.  The  stimulus  of  warmth, 
or  alcohol,  or  ammoniac,  or  cantharides,  to  the  skin,  and  of  oxy- 
gene  to  the  lungs,  could  have  no  effect  on  the  structure  of  the 
heart.  And  though  it  may  be  said  that  the  blood  only  passed 
through  the  foramen  ovale,  from  inability  of  the  lungs  to  admit  its 
circulating  through  them,  yet,  it  might  be  supposed,  that  having 
once  reverted  to  its  old  course,  and  finding  it  so  easy,  it  would,  on 
any  slight  impediment  in  the  lungs,  be  likely  to  recur  to  the  fora- 
men ovale  a  second  time;  and  so  the  disease  be  a  second  time  pro- 
duced. But  I  have  heard  of  no  instance  of  this  proving  to  be  the 
case.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  been  in  the  children  of  Mr. 
Pendleton  and  Dr.  A.  Hosack ;  and  it  certainly  has  not  in  Mr. 
Webb's  child;  which  was  a  fine  healthy  girl;  and  has  ever  since 
so  continued.  And  I  may  add,  that  the  same  is  the  fact  in  rela- 
tion to  his  eldest  child,  which  w  as  born  in  Dublin,  where,  on  the 
same  day  from  its  birth,  (the  ninth)  it  suffered  in  the  same  way; 
but  was  relieved  by  means  not  known  to  me. 

I  shall  dismiss  this  hasty  consideration  of  the  subject,  with  two 
suggestions.  1.  The  probability  that  the  method  o!  cure  above 
described,  would  frequently  succeed  in  recovering  still-born  in- 
fants. 2.  That  it  may  be  worth  observing  whether  persons,  suf- 
fering the  disease  hgre  treated  of,  are  liable  to  the  asthma  in  ad- 
vanced life. 

March,  1798. 


(    5'4  ) 


ARTICLE  IX. 


Jin  Attempt  to  accommodate  the  Dis/: rites  among  the  Chemists  concerning 
Phlogiston.  In  a  Letter  from  Dr»  Mitchill  to  Dr.  Priest- 
ley, dated  \\th  Nov.  1797. 

ON  reviewing  the  state  of  philosophical  controversy,  as  carried 
on  both  in  Europe  and  America,  between  the  phlogistians 
and  t lie i r  opponents,  it  has  of  late  appeared  to  ine,  that  much  of 
the  difficulty  which  attends  the  subject,  arises,  as  in  abundance  of 
other  cases,  from  the  want  of  a  precise  language,  and  of  a  right 
understanding  of  each  other's  meaning.  This  was  so  evident  to 
rne,  in  the  present  case,  that  I  informed  my  audience  of  it  in  one 
of  my  public  lectures  in  Columbia  College;  and  added  my  belief, 
that  due  attention  to  terms,  their  application  and  use,  would  have 
great  influence  in  bringing  the  dispute  to  a  termination. 

Having  subjected  water  heated  to  the  temperature  of  steam  in  an 
eolipyle,  and  directed  'he  stream  issuing  from  it  to  the  surface  of 
r^d-hot  charcoal,  the  coal  brightened,  and  a  greater  flame  was 
observed  near  the  spot  against  which  the  steam  was  made  to  play. 
Here  was  an  occurrence  opposing  the  common  observation  of 
mankind,  that  water  will  always  extinguish  fire  by  reason  of  its 
own  incombustibility.  Water,  kept  at  or  below  a  certain  tempe- 
rature, will  extinguish  fire,  and  so  will  oil ;  but  if  water  be  raised 
to  a  heat  sufficiently  high,  it  will  also  burn,  or  undergo  decompo- 
sition like  oil.  As  far  as  I  could  judge  from  the  phenomena  be- 
fore me,  water,  in  proper  circumstances,  underwent  a  true  combus- 
tion, and  was  inflammable,  for  the  same  reason  that  oil  was,  be- 
cause it  contained  a  something  that  would  burn;  and  this  some- 
thing seemed  to  be  exactly  similar  to  that  which  made  oil  capable 
of  exhibiting  flame.  It  struck  me  instantly,  that  the  inflamma- 
bility of  the  vapour  proceeding  from  burning  fat,  from  heated 
alcohol,  from  camphor,  coal,  ether,  and  a  muititude  of  other  sub- 
stances, gave  evidence  of  their  possessing  a  principle  enabling 
•  them  to  burn  with  flame,  after  the  same  manner  that  water  did. 
If  there  was  this  similarity,  or  indeed  identity,  of  the  inflammable 
radical  among  them,  there  appeared  to  be  no  more  propriety  in 
calling  that  rzcWczXhydrogene,  than  in  terming  it  olegene,  alcohologene, 
ethertgene,  coaligaie,  &c.  To  give  the  radical  substance,  enabling 
oil,  alcohol,  ether,  and  coal,  to  burn  with  flame,  a  name  derived 
from  water,  because  it  enabled  water  to  burn  with  blaze  too,  ap- 
peared to  me  partial,  illogical,  and  wrong,  inasmuch  as  it  con- 
stantly and  unnecessarily  brought  water  and  its  properties  to  mind, 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


whenever  any  thing  was  thought  of  that  contained  hydrogene, 
And  by  this  unhappy  association,  besides  the  difficulty  which  at- 
tends the  subject  in  point  of  fact,  vastly  greater  difficulty  wa9 
made  to  surround  it  by  reason  of  the  ill-chosen  and  badly  assorted 
terms  employed  in  talking  about  it. 

I  had  entertained  no  doubt,  tor  two  years,  that  hydrogene  was 
an  improper  word  for  a  nomenclature  of  science,  and  deserved  to 
be  struck  out  of  the  list:  but  as  I  was  engaged  in  reforming  ano- 
ther article  of  that  arrangement,  I  chose  not  then  to  meddle  with, 
it.  And  I  am  glad  I  did  not;  since  the  prolonged  disputes  between 
the  parties,  afford  more  weighty  causes  for  an  alteration  of  terms 
at  this  day,  than  existed  at  any  former  time. 

The  circumstance  common  to  all  the  processes  I  have  mention- 
ed, is  "  burning  with  flame  or  blaze,"  which,  wherever  it  occurs, 
seems  to  indicate  the  presence  of  what  has  been  called  hydrogene. 
According  to  my  present  conception  of  the  matter,  this  principle 
or  substance,  common  to  so  many  bodies,  and  enabling  them  to 
undergo  inflammation,  may,  in  strict  propriety,  be  called  phlo- 
giston. I  always  thought  phlogiston  a  well-conceived  word,  and 
have  objected  to  it  not  on  account  of  the  impropriety  of  the  term 
as  such,  but  because  of  the  vague  and  unsatisfactory  way  in  which 
it  was  used.  If  a  definite  signification  can  be  affixed  to  it,  I  think 
the  adoption  of  it  will  be  still  a  great  acquisition  to  philosophical 
language,  and  have  a  tendency  to  settle  at  least  half  the  contro- 
versy which  divides  the  chemists. 

I  propose,  then,  to  expunge  hydrogene,  and  substitute  phlogiston 
in  its  place.  Phlogistca  will  thus  be  the  radical  term,  and  mean 
strictly  the  thing,  in  combustible  bodies,  which  forms  blaze  or 
ignited  vapour.  The  union  of  this  with  mere  caloric,  will  make 
phlogistons,  or  inflammable  air;  the  air  which  burns  with  blaze.  The 
combination  of  phlogiston  with  oxygene,  will  constitute  water,  or 
the  oxyd  of  phlogiston,  one  of  the  products  of  inflammation,  and,  like 
fixed  air  and  other  compounds,  formed  during  the  same  process, 
incombustible  in  common  temperatures  and  circumstances,  after- 
wards. And  the  cause  of  this  slowness  to  burn,  of  water  and  the 
other  compounds  which  combustion  furnishes,  is  owing  to  the 
large  dose  of  oxygene  with  which  they  are  charged,  "giving  them 
little  or  no  appetite  for  more.  If  the  base  be  united  to  a  yet  larger 
quantity  of  oxygene,  it  will  form  the  acid  of  phlogiston,  or  water 
soured  by  excess  of  oxygene,  as,  perhaps  (though  I  do  not  believe 
it)  in  what  is  termed  the  pyro-liguic  and  pyro-mucic  acids,  and 
perhaps  in  some  other  cases;  but  the  readiness  with  which  phlo- 
giston parts  with  its  surplusage  of  oxygene,  turns  back  to  water, 
and  preserves  itself  in  that  oxydated  form,  as  proved  by  the  opera- 
tion of  sharp  pointed  filaments  under  water,  in  effecting  the  sepa- 
ration, shews  that  Nature,  in  enabling  the  principle  of  inflamma- 


516  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

bility  to  combine  with  oxygene,  disqualified  the  latter,  in  most 
cases,  from  becoming  an  acid  with  the  former;  unless  it  should  be 
found  (and  in  this  I  have  no  faith)  that  the  formation  of  the 
native  acids  of  vegetables  is  a  process  of  this  kind.  Should  this 
latter  conjecture  turn  out  to  be  the  fact,  there  would  be  instances 
enough  of  phlogistic  and  Jib.logistous  acids. 

On  the  decomposition  of  fat  and  oil  by  fire,  it  is  known  that  a 
large  quantity  of  water  is  formed,  and  this,  probably,  bv  an  uni- 
on of  the  base  of  vital  air  with  phlogiston  or  hydrogene.  The 
likeobtains  in  the  inflammation  of  alcohol,  etherand  coal,  thephlo- 
giston  or  hydrogene  of  which  apparently  turns  to  water,  by  junc- 
tion with  oxygene.  And  the  principle,  which,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, readily  exhibits  the  blazing  appearance,  is  changed,  by  and 
during  that  operation,  to  a  something  much  more  difficult  to  in- 
flame, by  any  after-process. 

If  hydrogene,  or  phlogiston,  is  the  material  which  inflames  in 
the  substances  already  mentioned,  there  is  presumptive  evidence, 
upon  the  face  of  the  subject,  of  its  existence,  also,  in  the  common 
sulphur,  phosphorus,  zinc,  and  iron,  of  the  laboratories.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  it  is  a  necessarily  constituent  part  of  either  of  those 
bodies,  for  I  believe  they  may  exist  without  it,  or  at  least,  they  may 
be  conceived  to  exist  abstractedly  from  it.  They  therefore  stand 
very  well  in  the  nomenclature  as  simple  substances.  But  if 
these  substances,  such  as  we  commonly  get  them  after  exposure 
to  the  common  atmosphere  inordinary  temperatures,  are  taken  for 
simple  or  pure  elementary  bodies,  the  persons  who  consider  them 
so,  fall  into  a  great  mistake.  In  their  usual  forms  they  are  all  in- 
corporated with  hydrogene  or  phlogiston,  and  from  it  derive  their 
capacity  to  burn  with  flame.  This  will  be  the  more  clearly  seen 
by  considering  them  more  particularly  one  by  one. 

Of  Sulphur. 

i.  The  phlogistians  say,  sulphur  is  composed  of  phlogiston  unit- 
ed to  vitriolic  acid;  consequently,  if  any  thing  takes  away  that 
ingredient  from  the  acid,  this  will  turn  to  brimstone.  The  aOti- 
phlogistians  affirm  sulphur  to  be  a  simple  body,  uncombined  che- 
mically with  any  thing;  and  that  it  becomes  sulphuric  acid  by  junc- 
tion with  oxygene.  Now,  both  parties  have  reasoned  in  a  man- 
ner that  does  not  by  any  means  satisfy  me.  They  have  viewed 
the  combustion  of  sulphur  in  the  abstract,  rather  than  taken  it  up 
as  it  is.  The  fact  is,  that  the  acid  formed  in  the  combustion  of 
sulphur,,  is  not  the  solid  crystallized  matter,  or  the  glacial  oil  of 
vitriol,  but  a  solution  of  these  crystals  in  water.  The  existence 
of  vitriolic  acid  in  a  fluid  form,  implies  necessarily  the  co-existence 
of  water.    The  formation  of  the  water  in  the  inflammation  of  iid- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


5i7 


phur,  appears  to  have  been  passed  over  by  both  parties;  though  the 
interpretation  of  this  part  of  the  process  seems  to  me  to  furnish  the 
means  of  reconcilement.  Thus,  while  the  pure  sulphur  combines 
with  one  portion  of  oxygene  to  make  the  acid,  the  hydrogene,  or 
phlogiston,  unites  with  another  parcel  of  it  to  form  the  water  in 
which  the  acid  dissolves.  Common  brimstone,  then,  is  not  a  sim- 
ple substance,  but  is  a  Jihlogisture  of  sulphur.  And  this  is  confirm- 
ed by  the  fact,  that  where  combustion  is  restrained,  the  sulphur 
may  be  resolved  into  hepatic  gas;  the  phlogiston  turning  with 
caloric  into  inflammable  air,  and  dissolving  some  of  the  sulphur. 
The  formation  of  common  hepatic  gas  seems  to  evince  the  same 
thing;  for  while  the  pot-ash  seizes  the  sulphur,  the  hydrogene,  or 
phlogiston,  is  set  loose,  turns  with  caloric  to  hepatic  gas,  and 
snatches,  as  it  departs,  a  portion  of  the  sulphur  from  the  alkali. 
Thus  it  appears  that  the  two  systems  are  reconcilable  with  each 
other.  When  the  old  chemists  talk  of  phlogiston,  they  should 
define  it  to  be  that  thing  which  burns  with  flame,  and,  when  unit- 
ed to  oxygene,  forms  water.  When  the  new  ones  make  experi- 
ments oa  sulphur,  they  should  remember  that  the  common  ma- 
terial called  by  that  name,  is  not  the  abstract,  pure,  uncombined, 
elementary  thing  they  intend  in  their  nomenclature. 

Of  Phosphorus. 

z.  In  like  manner  the  phenomena  attending  the  inflammation 
of  phosphorus  seem  to  have  been  as  negligently  interpreted. 
Phlogiston,  added  to  phosphoric  acid,  was  said  by  some  to  con- 
stitute phosphorus;  while  oxygene,  added  to  phosphorus,  made 
phosphoric  acid,  in  the  opinion  of  others:  but. these  were  a  kind 
of  chemical  theorems,  true  only  in  the  abstract.  Experimenters 
find  that  phosphorus  burns  with  fame,  and  water  is  exhibited  dur- 
ing the  process.  All  that  needs  be  said  about  it  is,  that  in  com- 
mon circumstances  phosphorus,  though  capable  of  existing  per 
se,  has  a  very  strong  attraction  for  hydrogene  or  phlogiston,  and, 
in  ordinary  cases,  attaches  more  or  less  of  it  to  itself.  During  its 
inflammation,  a  part  of  the  oxygene,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sulphur, 
combines  with  the  phlogiston  into  water,  and  another  part  of  it 
joins  the  oxygene,  to  constitute  the  acid.  In  estimating  the  ivhole 
of  the  process,  the  candid  partizans  of  both  sides  will  allow,  that  the 
substance  under  consideration  parts  with  its  phlogiston,  and  bor- 
rows oxygene;  and  thus  water,  and  the  acid  dissolved  in  it,  are 
formed. 

Where  is  the  harm  of  owning  that  common  phosphorus  con- 
tains a  portion  of  hydrogene  united  with  it?  It  does  not  invali- 
date the  modern  theory,  but  it  shews  that  the  objections  of  the  an- 
cient doctrine  were  not  frivolous,  as  they  have,  by  some,  been 

Pel  I.  No.  4.  L 


5  =  8 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


deemed  to  be;  but,  on  the  contrary,  very  substantial,  and  not  capa- 
ble of  reconcilement,  upon  any  other  plan  that  I  know,  than  the 
one  herein  suggested. 

Of  Zinc. 

3.  Zinc  may  be  abstractedly  considered  as  a  simple  body ;  and 
with  propriety  placed  as  such  in  the  catalogue.  Commonly,  how- 
ever, it  is  presented  to  us  in  close  connection  with  hydrogene,  for 
which  its  attraction  is  so  strong  that  they  commonly  appear  in  the 
form  of  a  phlogistwe  of  zinc.  When  that  composition  is  employed 
for  experiments,  it  is  very  easy  to  conceive  how,  when  such  zinc 
is  exposed  to  a  sufficient  heat  in  an  open  fire,  the  phlogiston  dis- 
lodged, and  immediately  becoming  phlogistous  gas,  or  inflammable 
air,  shall  take  upon  itself  the  form  of  flame,  and  constitute  wa- 
ter; while  the  oxygene  combines  with  the  metal  into  a  white  ox- 
yde,  the  flowers  of  zinc.  So,  if  the  same  compound  be  dissolved 
in  sulphuric  acid,  the  phlogiston  displaced  will  turn  to  inflamma- 
ble air,  while  the  acid  and  the  zinc  form  white  vitriol.  In  this 
way  some  of  the  phlogistous  or  inflammable  gas  may  be  account- 
ed for,  as  extricated  from  the  metallic  preparation ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  I  see  no  objection  to  deriving  the  rest  of  the  great 
quantity  afforded  by  this  process,  from  the  decomposition  of  part 
of  the  water  or  oxyd  of  phlogiston.  To  accommodate  matters 
then,  the  advocates  of  the  Lavoisierian  theory  should  concede  that 
zinc,  in  common  circumstances,  is  associated  with  hydrogene  or 
phlogiston.  And  the  disciples  of  Stahl  should,  on  their  side,  al- 
low, that  zinc  cannot  be  considered  as  a  pure  metal,  while  alloyed 
or  blended  with  phlogiston,  or  any  other  foreign  ingredient.  The 
material  they  have  all  worked  upon  is  not  the  uncombined  metal, 
but  a  phlogisture  of  zinc. 

Of  Iron. 

4.  Some  sorts  of  iron  treated  by  heat  alone,  afford  phlogistous 
or  inflammable  air.  The  same  metal  may  be  made  to  burn  with 
flame ;  and  when  treated  with  sulphuric  acid,  it  affords  much  phlo- 
gistous air.  What,  then,  is  the  thing  commonly  called  iron  ?  Is  it 
a  pure  and  unmixed  substance?  Or  is  it  a  compound  of  elemen- 
tary iron  with  hydrogene  or  phlogiston?  The  facts  enumerated 
lead  conclusively  to  the  latter  opinion.  The  phlogistians  are  right, 
then,  when  they  say  common  iron  is  a  compound;  and  they  are 
right  when  they  say  the  inflammable  air  obtained  from  it  is  nearly 
pure  phlogiston.  And  the  antiphlogistians  are  justifiable  in  placing 
in  their  enumeration  of  simple  bodies,  such  a  thing  as  elementary 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Iron  is  or  may  be  imagined  to  be;  and  in  ascribing  the  production 
of  hydrogenous  or  phlogistic  gas  to  a  decomposition  of  part  of  tSe 
water.  The  compound  called  iron,'  then,  gives  out  something,  and 
takes  in  something,  in  all  the  common  processes.  And  the  modern 
chemists  should  correct  the  mistake  they  appear  generally  to  have 
fallen  into,  of  taking  it  for  granted,  that  that  was  a  simple  substance 
which  in  fact  is  a  chemical  composition  of  iron  with  hydrogene. 
And  thus  finery  cinder,  which  evidently  differs  from  hematites,  or 
any  pure  oxyd  of  iron,  may  be  a  triple  compound  of  iron,  hydro- 
gene,  and  oxygene,  which  just  about  corresponds  with  your  idea, 
that  it  consists  of  iron  and  water. 

It  will  not  follow  from  all  this,  that  because  phlogiston  or  hy- 
drogene so  generally  exists  in  combination  with  zinc  and  iron,  that 
it  must  be  an  ingredient  in  all  metals.  For  gold,  arsenic,  silver, 
platina,  mercury,  copper,  tin,  lead,  bismuth,  cobalt,  antimony, 
manganese,  are  capable  of  existing  without  it,  and  accordingly  do 
not  commonly  burn  with  flame,  nor  afford  inflammable  air  by  solu- 
tion in  acids;  though,  if  ever  they  exhibit  in  any  of  their  states, 
blaze  by  burning,  or  phlogistous  air  with  acids,  this  will  only 
evince  the  existence  of  hydrogene  in  them  in  such  cases.  Both 
parties  may  thus  allow,  that  some  metals  contain  phlogiston,  and 
some  do  not. 

Nor  will  charcoal,  as  has  sometimes  happened,  be  confounded 
with  phlogiston,  according  to  this  view  of  the  matter,  though  hy- 
drogene is  often  blended  with  it.  If  coal,  at  any  time,  affords 
inflammable  air,  this  is  no  evidence  of  the  conversion  of  that 
substance  into  phlogistous  gas,  but  merely  a  proof  that  the  coal, 
when  submitted  to  experiment,  was  combined  with  the  basis  of 
inflammable  air,  which  it  could  part  with  and  still  remain  coal; 
though,  in  that  case,  incapable  of  burning  with  flame:  but  in  a 
sufficient  exposure  to  heat  and  oxygenous  air,  taking  on,  without 
blaze,  the  form  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  It  may  be  conceded,  then, 
on  both  sides,  that  though  phlogiston  or  hvdrogene  may  exist  with 
coal,  nevertheless  coal  can  exist  without  phlogision. 

I  know  not  how  these  things  may  impress  your  mind.  They 
appear  to  me  to  go  a  good  way  towards  reconciling  the  existing 
differences.  If,  however,  I  have  in  this  deceived  myself,  I  have 
only  to  appeal  to  your  experience  and  candour.  But  at  present  I 
cannot  help  thinking  that  a  part,  at  least,  of  the  controversy  between 
Mr.  Kirwan  and  the  French  philosophers,  as  well  as  that  between 
yourself  and  Messrs.  Adet  and  Maclean,  may  thus  be  resolved. 
Nor  do  I  see  any  thing  in  Mi  s.  Fulhame's  experiments,  which  ren- 
ders the  accommodation  more  difficult. 

Your  opposition  to  the  new  doctrine  has  been  serviceable  to  the 
cause  of  science.  It  has  prevented  too  easy  and  sudden  an  acqui- 
escence in  the  novel  system  of  the  antiphlogistians,  whose  difticul- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


ties  and  paradoxes  had  been  admitted  by  many,  without  having 
bfen  subjected  to  due  examination.  You  have  prompted  mors 
vigorous  inquiry  into  these  matters  than  would  probably  other- 
wise have  been  made;  at  least,  for  myself,  I  acknowledge  your 
views  of  things  have  induced  me  to  examine  the  points  under  dis- 
cussion, with  much  more  attention  than  I  should  otherwise  have 
done.  Perhaps  even  now  my  labours  are  but  of  little  avail;  or, 
if  they  were  capable  of  bringing  about  a  coalition  of  parties,  I 
might  say  to  you,  after  all,  in  the  words  of  Prior  in  his  Alma: 

For,  Dick,  if  we  could  reconcile 

Old  Aristotle  with  Gassendus, 
How  many  would  admire  our  toil! 

And  yet  how  few  would  comprehend  us! 

I  am,  with  many  wishes  for  your  happiness,  and  thanks  for  the 
publications  you  have  from  time  to  time  favoured  me  with,  sin- 
cerely yours, 

SAMUEL  L.  MITCHILL. 


(  ^  ) 


ARTICLE  X. 


A  Leller  to  Dr.  Mitchi i.l,  in  rejily  to  the  preceding,  by  Joseph 
Priestley,  LL.  D.  &c. 

Dear  Sir, 

I Thank  you  for  your  ingenious,  and  well  intended,  attempt  to 
promote  a  peace  between  the  present  belligerent  powers  in 
chemistry;  but  I  much  fear  your  labour  will  be  in  vain.  In  my 
opinion  there  can  be  no  compromise  of  the  two  systems.  Metals 
are  either  necessarily  simple  or  necessarily  compound;  and  water 
is  either  resolvable  into  two  kinds  of  air,  or  it  is  not. 

Your  argument  to  prove  that  it  is,  I  do  not  think  conclusive. 
A  current  of  steam  is  accompanied  with  a  current  of  air,  which 
increases  the  fire ;  but  cover  the  hot  coal  with  steam,  and  it  will 
be  extinguished  as  soon  as  if  it  were  dipped  in  cold  water.  The 
steam  only  supplies  a  basis  for  the  air  into  which  the  coal  is  re- 
solvable, carrying  away  both  the  phlogiston  and  the  heat:  whereas 
the  vapour  of  oil  is  real  fuel.  When  sent  through  a  red  hot  ear- 
then tube,  it  is  converted  into  inflammable  air;  but  water,  treated 
in  the  same  manner,  is  water  still. 

My  father-in-law,  who  was  an  iron-master,  was  deceived  by  the 
experiment  of  the  eolipyle,  and  thought  to  save  the  usual  expence 
of  bellows  to  his  furnace,  by  mounting  a  large  one  over  it;  but, 
after  incurring  much  expence,  this  instrument  soon  extinguished 
his  fire. 

As  to  metals,  all  the  calces  of  all  of  them  that  I  tried,  even  that  of 
mercury,  imbibed  great  quantities  of  inflammable  air  when  they 
were  revived;  so  that  I  cannot  but  conclude  that  phlogiston  is  an 
essential  ingredient  in  their  composition. 

Till  the  antiphlogistians  can  produce  more  unexceptionable 
evidence  of  the  composition  and  decomposition  of  water,  and 
shew  that  finery  cinder,  which  they  call  oxyde  of  iron,  really  con- 
tains oxygene,  the  old  dodtrine  will  keep  its  ground;  and,  as  I  am 
well  persuaded  they  cannot  do  this,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that,  in 
a  reasonable  time,  it  will  recover  the  ground  it  has  lost,  and  be 
more  firmly  established  than  ever. 

As  I  presume  you  are  acquainted  with  Dr.  Maclean,  I  shall  be 
obliged  to  you  if  you  will  inform  me  when  he  replies  to  my  last 
pamphlet.  He  did  not  treat  me  with  the  civility  to  which  I  think 
I  am  entitled  as  a  veteran  in  the  science.    Had  he  been  the  viclo- 


£2»  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

rious  Buonaparte,  I  am  old  Wurmscr,  and  should  have  been 
treated  with  respect,  though  vanquished.  Uut  this  -Mantua  has 
not  surrendered  yet. 

1  shall  be  very  happy  to  hear  from  you  again,  and  am,  with 
much  respect, 

Dear  Sir, 

Yours  sincereiv, 

J.  PRIESTLEY. 

Jforthumherland,  January  i2,  1798. 

P.  S.  •  Dr.  Mac.le.-n  did  not,  as  the  laws  of  war  require,  ever 
send  me  a  copy  of  his  pamphlet;  and  as  I  never  saw  it  advertised, 
it  was  only  by  the  accident  of  my  son's  being  in  Philadelphia  that 
3  got  it. 


(    5=3  ) 


ARTICLE  XL 


Siine  Account  of  the  Epidemics  "which  haze  occurred  in  the  Toivn  of 
Bethlem,  Connecticut ;  from  its  Settlement  to  the  present  Time. 
Extracted from  a  Letter  to  Mr.  Smithy 

By  the  Rev.  Azel  Backus. 

YOU  have  probably  heard  that  the  clergy  of  this  State,  in  Gene- 
ral Association,  have  agreed  to  keep  an  accurate  bill  of  mor- 
tality, beginning  January  ist,  1798,  in  their  respective  parishes 
and  towns,  comprehending  age  and  disease.  When  the  General 
Association  meets  in  1799,  the  public  will  be  favoured  with  a  bill 
of  mortality,  for  the  whole  State  of  Connecticut,  and  so  on  yearly. 
This  can  be  done  with  little  trouble  by  our  profession,  and  as  it 
is  understood  that  we  keep  a  bill  not  only  for  our  particular  people, 
but  of  those  of  different  denominations  that  happen  to  fall  within 
our  local  precinds,  it  probably  will  be  quite  accurate.  If  I  can 
throw  in  my  mite  for  the  physical  happiness  of  mankind,  I  will 
cheerfully  do  it.  To  this  end,  'I  will-give  you  a  history  of  this 
place  from  its  first  settlement,  as  I  have  learnt  it  from  the  records 
ot  my  predecessor,  and  the  authentic  information  of  the  aged. 

Bethlem  lies  south  of  Lichfield ;  and  is  between  four  and  five  miles 
square.  Like  the  rest  of  Lichfield  county,  it  is  ridged  into  hills 
running  due  north  and  south.  This  little  town  contains  in  its  ter- 
ritory, six  ot  these  undulations  of  hills,  and  between  each  undula- 
tion there  is  a  perrenial  stream  of  water.  The  soil  is  very  fertile, 
and  at  present  very  much  cleared  of  its  native  wood.  Wiien 
the  late  census  was  taken  it  contained  1 500  inhabitants.  The  set- 
tlement of  the  town  began  in  1730.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Bellamy 
was  ordained  their  minister  in  1740,  there  being  then  but  24. 
families.  The  popularity  of  their  minister  soon  drew  many  other 
families  from  various  parts;  the  forests  fell;  2nd  it  became  a 
religious,  a  happy,  a  healthy,  and  prosperous  community.  In 
the  year  1748,  an  individual  built  a  dam  across  the  central  valley 
of  the  town,  in  order  to  kill  the  timber  of  a  fiat  in  the  north  part, 
containing  about  50  acres.  In  this  swamp,  producing  little  ve- 
getation, save  black  alders  and  poison  sumach,  a  pond  stood  till 
the  spring  of  1750;  when  it  was  let  out,  and,  with  its  stream,  the 
pestilence  issued,  which  carried  off  between  thirty  and  forty  of  the 
most  hale  and  robust  inhabitants.  Doctor  Bellamy,  in  his  records, 
says  it  was  a  nervous,  long,  but  very  malignant  fever,  and  that  the 
well  were  not  sufficient  to  tend  the  sick.    The  old  people  tell  me 


S24  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

that  the  neighbouring  physicians  called  it  the  plague.  Doflor 
Seih  Bird  informs  me,  that  the  symptoms  of  the  diseased  were  a 
wire  pulse,  coma  in  a  few  hours  after  being  taken,  loss  of  reason, 
and  most  generally  the  loss  of  speech  for  twenty  days  in  those  that 
recovered;  sores,  the  bigness  of  a  dollar,  on  various  parts  of  the 
body.       ,  whom  you  know,  was  sup- 
posed to  be  saved  by  pouring  boiling  liniment  into  these  morti- 
fication sores  on  his  body.  The  length  of  so  malignant  a  disease, 
says  the  doctor,  was  something  I  could  not  reduce  to  theory;  the 
facility  generally  pronounced  it  sui  generis. 

As  few  of  the  physicians,  and  still  fewer  of  the  people,  thought 
the  ponded  swamp  the  cause  of  the  disease,  ten  years  after  what 
the  old  people  call  the  first  great  sickness,  the  same  low  ground 
was  again  overflowed.  After  the  letting  out  the  water  in  1760, 
another  wasting  sickness  began  in  the  month  of  November, 
and  carried  off  about  40  inhabitants:  this  was  called  a  malignant 
pleurisy.  The  sick  generally  died  the  fourth  or  fifth  day;  some 
in  24  hours.  The  whole  town  was  afrlidted  with  a  hard  in- 
fluenza. It  was  in  this  sickness,  that  the  story  of  the  quails 
originated,  which  you  have  probably  heard.  A  man  of  un- 
doubted veracity  was  approaching  a  house  in  which  five  of  the 
diseased  lay,  and  saw  a  flock  of  quails  ffy  over  the  chimney ;  five 
of  the  quails  fell  dead,  which  were,  on  the  same  day,  seen  by 
many  persons  still  living,  and  by  the  credulous  it  was  thought 
ominous ;  but  of  the  fact  there  is  no  room  to  doubt.  There  is  also 
a  circumstance  respecting  this  last  disease  a  little  peculiar  and  dif- 
ferent from  general  theory.  By  the  record  of  mortality  it  appears 
to  have  raged  the  most  in  the  beginning  of  December.  It  you 
wish  for  more  facts  than  what  is  contained  in  this  outline,  yoa 
w  ill  please  to  apply  to  Doctor  Bird. 

Very  general  health  was  enjoyed  in  this  place,  from  1 761  to 
1789,  when  the  influenza  had  an  universal  run;  in  1791,  it  was 
repeated  with  still  greater  severity.  This  could  not  be  attri- 
buted to  the  old  box  of  Pandora,  the  pond,  which,  for  these 
twenty  years,  has  been  drained  and  reduced  to  a  meadow.  In 
1 792,  we  had  five  deaths  among  children,  by  the  cynanche 
trachealis,  vulgarly  called  bladder  in  the  throat.  In  August 
of  this  year  (that,  is  1792),  there  were  seven  or  eight  instances 
of  the  scarlatina,  but  not  mortal.  In  February,  1793,  the 
angina  maligna  attacked  our  healthiest  children  like  an  armed 
man.  Nineteen,  from  the  age  of  four  to  20,  fell  victims  to  it  in 
three  months,  but  far  the  greater  part  of  these  in  the  month  of 
March.  The  number  who  were  sick  with  it  I  cannot  tell.  It  was 
more  or  less  in  almost  'every  family,  and  few  of  the  children 
escaped  a  slight  touch  of  it.  The  disease  had  every  grade,  from 
the  slightest  indisposition,  up  to  dying  in  12  and  20  hours  from 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


5*S 


the  time  they  were  seized.  From  the  first  of  May  it  began  gra- 
dually to  decrease,  until  it  totally  disappeared  in  November. 

On  the  ioth  of  January,  1794,  the  angina  maligna,  or  canker 
rash,  reappeared :  between  this  and  the  20th  of  May  following,  we 
lost  13  under  20  years  of  age,  and  one  aged  25.  Many  who  now 
had  the  disorder,  had  had  it  in  1793.  It  was  not  so  generally- 
prevalent  as  before,  but  quite  as  malignant.  There  was  no  instance: 
where  the  disease  terminated  in  swellings  about  the  throat,  but 
they  recovered.  Many  of  the  instances  where  death  ensued,  seemed 
in  the  outset  to  bid  defiance  to  medical  skill.  Life  seemed  to  rush 
away  qua  data  Jtorta,  and  to  mock  at  medicine. 

If  you  wish  for  a  more  circumstantial  account,  you  must  in- 
quire of  our  acting  physicians.  We  have  no  certain  evidence 
that  it  was  contagious;  but  several  instances  of  the  disease  in 
families  where  there  had  been  no  communication  with  the  sick. 
I  would  observe,  however,  as  I  was  often  among  it,  I  twice  or 
three  times  had  the  sore  throat,  and  had  my  tongue  striped  with  it; 
and  often  felt  sensations,  while  in  rooms  with  the  sick,  like  the 
slight  stinging  of  bees  about  the  passages  of  the  throat.  Something 
more  than  could  be  attributed  to  sympathy,  or  the  powers  of  ima- 
gination. 


Vol.  I,  No.  4.  M 


(    5*6  ) 


ARTICLE  XII. 


SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  COUNTRY  AND  CLIMATE 
OF  THE  NORTH-WESTERN  LAKES. 

By  Major  C.  Swan,  Paymaster  to  the  Western  Army. 


Note.  TJte  following  Article  consists  of  Extracts  from  a  Letter  of 
Major  Swan,  to  Cajit.  Frye,  Commandant  of  the  Garrison  at  Go- 
vernor's Island,  who  was  so  obliging  as  to  communicate  them  to  on: 
cf  the  Editors  ;  and  they  are  new  made  public  "with  the  consent  of  the 
Autlior.  These  Extracts  are  briefly  made  from  a  Journal  kejit  by 
Major  Swan,  at  the  time;  and  are  inserted  for  the  threefold  purpose 
cf  illustrating  the  table  of  thermomelrical  observations  which  follow, 
cf  communicating  a  short,  but  authentic  view  of  a  part  of  the  North- 
Western  Territory,  and  of  inviting  further  information. 


D'Etroit,  Otlober  IO,  1 797" 

***********  *  *  *  »-**#'*'#'**»« 
*********  **  *  *  *********** 
«  fT^HIS  country  is  yet  new,  and  almost  in  a  state  of  nature, 
like  its  inhabitants.  It  is  true,  the  soil  is  extremely  rich 
and  fertile ;  and  it  is  to  a  superabundant  burden  of  vegetation,  and 
a  flat  surface  for  hundreds  of  miles  together,  producing  much  stag- 
nant water,  that  we  may  attribute  the  unvvholesomeness  of  the 
climate,  which  is  almost  certain  to  affect,  the  inhabitants  with 
bilious  complaints  every  fall."* 

******  *  **  *  ************** 
*  *  *  *  ******************** 
«  General  Wilkinson  arrived  here  in  June,  this  year;  and,  after 
making  some  prompt  arrangements  for  the  garrison,  proposed  a 
voyage  to  Michilimackinac,  and  invited  me  to  accompany  him; 
and  on  the  4th  day  of  August,  we  embarked  in  a  sloop  of  about 
70  tons  burden.    We  had  a  safe  and  pleasant  trip,  not  only  to 

*  Thefc  remarks  have  particular  reference  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
D'Etroit. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  527 

Michilimackinac,  but  even  into  Lake  Superior;  and  returned  to 
this  place,  on  the  4th  of  last  month,  highly  gratified  indeed. 

"  We  first  left  this  place,  and  traversed  Lake  Sinclair,  a  hand- 
some circular  lake,  about  twenty-five  mile  across.  We  then  pro- 
ceeded up  the  river  of  that  name,  which  is  broad  and  very  hand- 
some, for  about  forty  miles,  to  a  rapid  at  the  entrance  of  Lake 
Huron;  traversed  this  immense,  beautiful  lake,  three  hundred 
miles  long;  and  arrived,  on  the  15th  of  August,  at  the  streight 
which  unites  it  to  Lake  Michigan.  This  streight  is  broad ;  and  the 
Isle  de  Bois  BlanC,  or  white-wood  island,  Round  Island,  and  Mi- 
chilimackinac Island,  form  a  cluster  in  the  middle  of  the  streight, 
and  afford  a  romantic  and  majestic  landscape  from  the  sea.  The 
Isle  de  Bois  Blanc  is  eleven  miles  and  an  half  long,  and  from  two 
to  three  wide,  lying  parallel  to  the  two  coasts  of  the  streight,  but 
nearest  to  the  south  side.  Round  Island  is  about  three  miles  in 
circumference,  and  lies  at  the  upper  or  south-west  end  of  De  Bois 
Blanc.  The  island  of  Michilimackinac  is  circular,  and  lies  be- 
tween the  upper  end  of  De  Bois  Blanc  and  the  north-western  coast 
of  the  streight;  having  a  channel  of  about  one  mile  and  an  half 
between  it  and  De  Bois  Blanc,  and  a  channel  of  nine  miles  be- 
tween it  and  the  north-western  coast  of  the  streight.  It  measures 
seven  miles  and  three  quarters  in  circumference,  and  is  nearly  cir- 
cular. On  the  south  side  of  this  island,  there  is  a  small  bason,  of 
a  segment  of  a  circle,  serving  as  an  excellent  harbour  for  vessels 
of  any  burden,  and  for  canoes.  Around  this  bason  the  village  is 
built,  having  two  streets  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length, 
a  Roman  chapel,  and  containing  eighty-nine  houses  and  stores; 
some  of  them  spacious  and  handsome,  with  white  lime  plaistering 
in  front,  which  shews  to  great  advantage  from  the  sea.  At  one 
end,  and  in  the  rear  of  the  town,  is  an  elegant  government-house, 
of  immense  size,  and  finished  with  great  taste.  It  is  in  the  form  of 
11=5=11;  one  story  high,  the  rooms  fifteen  feet  and  an  half  in  the 
clear.  It  has  a  spacious  garden  in  front,  laid  out  with  taste;  and 
extending  from  the  house,  on  a  gentle  declivity,  to  the  water's 
edge.  There  are  two  natural  limpid  springs  in  the  rear  of  the 
house,  and  a  very  lively  grove  of  sugar-trees,  called  the  park. 
Suitable  out-houses,  stables,  and  offices  are  added;  and  it  is  en- 
riched on  three  sides,  with  beautiful  distant  prospects.  Twenty 
rods  from  the  rear,  there  is  a  sudden  and  almost  perpendicular 
ascent  of  about  a  hundred  feet  of  rock,  upon  the  top  of  which 
stands  the  fort,  built  of  stone  and  lime,  with  towers,  bastions, 
&c.  occupied  by  our  troops,  and  commanded  by  Major  Burbeck. 
About  half  a  mile  from  the  fort,  in  the  rear,  there  is  an  eminence, 
which  I  estimate  to  be  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from  the 
surface  of  the  water.  This  spot  commands  an  extensive  and  sub- 
lime view  of  the  adjacent  country.    The  fort,  the  village,  the 


$28  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


neighbouring  islands,  and  channels,  seem  prostrated  at  your  feetj 
while,  to  the  south-west,  you  look  into  the  immensity  of  Lake 
Michigan,  which  looses  itself  in  the  southern  hemisphere;  and, 
to  the  north-west,  the  great  Lake  Huron  lies  expanded  to  the 
bounds  of  the  horizon.  It  was  a  beautiful  morning  when  I  had 
this  view. 

"  This  celebrated  straight  is  the  only  key  to  the  immense,  lucra- 
tive skin-trade,  now  solely  carried  on  by  British  subjects,  from 
Montreal,  with  the  nations  of  Indians  called  the  Sautturs  or 
Chipcwas,  Sioux,  Reynards,  &c.  who  inhabit  the  water-courses 
that  fall  into  the  Mississippi  between  the  Illinois  and  the  Falls  of 
St.  Anthony.  Canoes  are  loaded  and  fitted  out  by  these  traders 
every  year,  from  Michilimackinac.  They  commonly  set  out  in 
July,  and  return  in  June,  July,  or  August,  the  year  following,  to 
Michilimackinac,  from  whence  they  started.  Here  they  are  again 
met  by  the  Montreal  canoes,  with  fresh  goods,  exchange  loading, 
and  each  return  from  whence  they  came.  The  Montreal  canoes 
penetrate  to  Michilimackinac,  by  way  of  Grand  River;  which, 
with  the  exception  of  a  small  portage,  conveys  them  to  the  northern 
point  of  Lake  Huron;  and  return  by  the  same  route.  Those 
from  Michilimackinac  penetrate  the  interior  or  Indian  country, 
by  way  of  Green  Bay,  an  arm  of  Lake  Michigan;  thence,  through 
Fox  River,  into  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributary  streams;  and  re- 
turn also  to  Michilimackinac  by  the  same  route. 

"  On  the  zzd  of  August  we  left  Michilimackinac,  and  on  the 
23d  anchored  in  the  streight  of  St.  Joseph,  which  leads  to  Lake 
Superior.  At  this  place  Nature  has  displayed  very  handsomely 
again.  The  mouth  of  the  streight  is  about  thirty  miles  wide,  but 
so  strewed  over  with  innumerable  small  circular  islands,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  obtain  a  view  in  any  direction  of  more  than  six  or 
eight  miles.  Indians  have  sometimes  been  lost  among  these 
islands,  for  weeks  together.  They  extend  into  Lake  Huron,  and 
continue  along  the  north-west  coast  of  the  lake  for  an  hundred  and 
eighty  miles,  and  are  called,  by  the  savages,  the  Meneto,  or  Devil's 
islands.  From  the  entrance  of  the  streight,  at  a  place  called  the 
Detour,  it  is  nine  miles  to  the  new  British  garrison,  built  on  the 
point  of  the  island  of  St.  Joseph,  commonly  called  tkfc  Carraboo 
island.  This  is  the  largest  in  the  streight;  being  about  twenty- 
five  miles  long,  and  from  ten  to  three  broad. 

"  On  the  23d  of  August,  we  left  the  vessel,  embarked  in  three 
canoes,  ascended  the  streight  in  what  is  called  the  canoe  channel, 
and  encamped  at  Muskito  Point. 

"  The  24th,  at  one  o'clock  P.  M.  we  arrived  at  the  Falls  of  St. 
Marie,  called  h  saut  de  St.  Marie.  These  falls  are  about  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  long,  and  half  a  tnile  wide;  the  rapid  not  vio- 
lent-; and  the  perpendicular  of  the  whole  fall  about  thirty  feet. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


529 


There  is  a  small  kind  of  village  on  the  United  States'  side,  contain- 
ing sundry  large  ware-houses,  and  a  few  decent  dwelling-houses, 
occupied  by  the  Agents  of  the  Canada  North-west  Trading  Com- 
pany.   There  is  not  a  clear  white-woman  in  the  place. 

*********  *4"  The  25th  Strained.    *  *  *  *  * 

*******  «' On  the  26th  we  set  off,  in  two  bark  canoes, 
from  the  upper  end  of  the  portage,  for  Lake  Superior,  f  *  *  * 
At  one  o'clock  F.  M.  we  entered  Lake  Superior;  looked  fairly 
into  it;  drank  of  its  waters;  ate  our  dinner;  and  put  about,  with 
a  fine  fair  wind.  We  reached  the  falls  again  at  four  o'clock  in 
the  aiternoon;  placed  experienced  guides,  with  strong  paddles,  in 
the  bow  and  stern  of  each  canoe;  hoisted  the  fifteen  stripes;  and 
launched  into  the  bosom  of  the  cataraft.  In  a  moment,  we  were 
safe  in  the  bason  at  the  bottom  of  the  falls! 

"  We  embarked  early  on  the  27th.  Having  a  strong  current 
and  fair  wind,  we  descended  in  the  ship  channel,  and  reached  the 
vessel,  at  Carraboo  Island,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

"  The  28th,  we  put  to  sea  again;  and  on  the  4th  of  September, 
at  sun-down,  reached  this  place. 

"  I  inclose  to  you,  herewith,  degrees  of  heat  which  were  ascer- 
tained by  regular  observation  with  Fahrenheit's  Thermometer, 
every  day;  by  which  you  will  perceive  that  the  temperature  of  the 
Lakes  differs  widely  from  that  of  the  Atlantic  country." 


On  comparing  the  Table  of  Observations,  which  is  annexed, 
with  observations  made  on  the  same  days  in  this  city,  the  differ- 
ence will  appear  so  remarkable,  that  the  reader  may  suspect  some 
error  in  the  instrument  made  use  of  by  Major  Swan:  and  such 
were  my  suspicions.  But,  crossing  the  East  River,  to  Governor's 
Island,  in  company  with  that  gentleman,  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1 798,  he  observed  that  the  wind,  which  we  then  felt,  and  which 
was  very  brisk,  resembled,  in  point  of  temperature,  that  which  he 
experienced  on  Lake  Huron  on  the  14th  and  15th  of  August, 
j  797;  and  added,  that  on  the  same  evening,  a  frost  affecied  the 
gardens  at  Michilimackinac  so  severely  36  to  destroy  the  greater 
part  of  the  vegetables. 

E.  H.  S. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


TABLE 

Of  the  Degrees  of  Heat  observed  on  Fahrenheit'/  Thermometer t 
from  August  \th  to  September  Qtht  i  797. 


1797. 

6  o'clock 

/i.  JV1. 

11  o'clock 
M. 

7  o'clock 
P.  M. 

Average 

Remarks,  where. 

Aug.  4. 

66 

63i 

59 
63r 

62  'r 

Lake  Sinclair. 

5- 

59 
5  Si 

66 

62  £ 

Do. 

6. 

65 

66 

62 

River  Sinclair. 

7- 

60 

67 

67 

64 

Do. 

8. 

59 

61 

61 

60 

Do. 

9- 

♦57 

62 

52 

57 

Do. 

10. 

58 

62 

61 

60 

Do. 

11. 

63 

59^ 

60 

60 

Lake  Huron. 

12. 

57 

60 

6r 

59 

Do, 

J3- 

55 

55r 

55 

55 

Do. 

14. 

50  . 

49 

47 

48 

Do. 

*5- 

45 

66 

5  + 

55 

Micliilimackinac. 

16. 

52 

70 

53 

58 

Do. 

54 

69 

60 

6r 

Do. 

18. 

52 

67 

62 

60 

Do. 

19. 

54 

64 

56 

5  8 

-j  \  ^ 
Do. 

20. 

53 

64 

58 

-  O 

58 

Do. 

21. 

62 

63 

63 

02 

Do. 

22. 

54 

61 

59 

58 

Streights  of  St.  Joseph. 

23. 

57 

65 

6o{- 

62 

Do. 

24. 

5° 

63 

6o| 

57 

Do. 

25. 

4° 

53 

49 

49 

FilU  nf  9t  Ma  rip 

26. 

46 

49 

50 

48  ' 

Lake  Superior. 

a7 

5° 

56 

49  • 

51 

Streights  of  St.  Joseph, 

28. 

40 

5° 

46 

45 

Lake  Huron. 

29. 

51 

54 

57 

54 

Do. 

JO- 

49 

57 

53 

53 

Do. 

S'- 

50 

56 

49 

5' 

Do. 

Sejit.  1 . 

48 

57 

47 

5° 

Do. 

2. 

51 

<;9 

5° 

53 

Do. 

3* 

49 

58 

5° 

52 

River  Sinclair. 

4- 

48 

56 

49 

S1 

Lake  Sinclair. 

(   53*  ) 


REVIEW. 


Art.-  I.  A  View  of  the  Science  of  Life;  on  the  Principles  established 
■  in  the  Elements  of  Medicine  of  the  late  celebrated  John  Brown  t 
M.  D.  with  an  Attempt  to  corretl  some  important  Errors  of  that  PVork. 
And  Cases  in  Illustration,  chiefly  seleffed  from  the  Records  of  their 
Praclice,  at  the  General  Hospital  at  Calcutta.  By  William  Yates 
and  Charles  Maclean.  To  which  is  subjoined,  a  Treatise  on  the 
Aclion  of  Mercury  upon  Living  Bodies,  and  its  Application  for  the 
Cure  of  Diseases  of  Indirec!  Debility.  And  a  Dissertation  on  the 
Source  of  Epidemic  and  Pestilential  Diseases;  in  which  it  is  attempt- 
ed to  prove,  by  a  numerous  Indue! ion  of  Fads,  that  they  never  arise 
from  Contagion,  but  are  always  produced  by  certain  States,  or  certain 
Vicissitudes  of  the  Atmosphere.  By  Charles  Maclean,  of  Calcutta. 
Philadelphia.     Young.    1797.  8vo.  pp.232. 

IN  considering  the  present  imperfect  state  of  Medicine,  it  must 
be  matter  of  regret,  that  so  much  yet  remains  to  be  done  in  the 
establishment  of  general  principles.  This  desirable  work  has  not 
only  been  retarded  by  the  intrinsic  difficulties  of  the  subject,  and 
the  want  of  exertion  among  physicians;  but  it  has  also  been  de- 
graded by  the  many  frivolous  and  visionary  speculations,  which 
every  where  abound  in  books  of  medicine.  If  theory,  however, 
be  restricted  to  the  legitimate  deductions  of  reasoning,  grounded 
upon  facts,  corrected  or  confirmed  by  the  results  of  sound  expe- 
rience, it  will  not  be  easy  to  prove  it  to  be  either  pernicious  or 
useless.  To  inveigh  against  theory1?  is  the  common  subterfuge 
of  indolence,  ignorance,  and  the  sinister  pretensions  of  empiri- 
cism. It  is  impossible,  without  some  degree  of  indignation,  to  hear 
physicians  asserting  that  an  animal  body,  unlike  other  parts  of 
nature,  is  governed  by  no  regular  and  immutable  laws;  that  me- 
dicine is  merely  a  conjectural  art;  that  it  can  boast  of  no  definite 
or  established  principles;  and  that  professional  ability  depends  oa 
some  rare,  intuitive,  incomprehensible  felicities  of  mental  cha- 
racter, not  reducible  to  principles,  nor  capable  of  being  taught  to 
others.  Such  assertions  are  not  only  derogatory  to  the  profession ; 
but  they  are  destitute  of  truth.  And,  perhaps,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  express  this  in  stronger  terms  than  those  adopted  by  the 
author  of  Zoonomia,  who  remarks,  that  "  there  are  some  modern 
"  practitioners  who  declaim  against  medical  theory  in  general,  not 
ff  considering  that  to  think  is  to  theorize;  and  that  no  one  can, 


53^ 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


*'  direct  a  method  of  cure  to  a  person  labouring  under  disease  with - 
'*  out  thinking,  that  is,  without  theorizing;  and  happy,  therefore,  13 
"  the  patient,  whose  physician  possesses  the  best  theory." 

Tlie  authors  of  the  work  before  us,  devote  the  first  part  to  the 
establishment  of  the  principles  which  are  to  guide  all  their  subse- 
quent reasoning  and  practice.  In  doing  this,  they  generally  follo\7 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Brunonian  system.  The  light 
they  throw  on  many  parts  of  that  system,  and  the  zeal  they  display 
still  further  to  improve  as  well  as  to  commend  it  to  public  atten* 
tion,  reflect  much  credit  on  their  ingenuity  and  diligence. 

It  would  not  consist  with  our  limits  on  this  occasion,  to  attempt 
a  critique  on  the  Brunonian  theory.  As  its  reputation,  considered 
as  a  wnolej  is  certainly  on  the  decline,  we  are  as  anxious  to  do 
justice  to  its  merits  as  to  censure  its  faults.  The  praise  of  an 
original,  profound,  and  luminous  understanding,  undoubtedly  be- 
longs to  Dr.  Brown.  It  gives  us  pleasure  to  find  his  name  en- 
rolled in  the  catalogue  of  those  illustrious  men,  who  have  extended 
the  landmarks  of  medical  science,  and  committed  the  memory  of 
their  labours  and  discoveries  to  the  gratitude  of  posterity.  We 
remember,  with  regret,  the  adversity  which  clouded  the  best  of 
his  life,  and  repressed  the  noble  elevation  of  his  mind;  and  we 
draw  a  veil  over  the  frailties  that  so  greatly  impaired  the  force 
and  shortened  the  duration  of  his  wonderful  faculties. 

But  as  the  attempt,  in  the  work  before  us,  to  revive  the  popu- 
larity of  the  Brunonian  principles,  may  possibly  fall  into  the  hands 
of  some  not  prepared  to  detect  the  mischief  which  lies  concealed 
tinder  a  specious  exterior;  it  may  not  be  improper  to  make  a  few 
remarks,  by  way  of  caution.  We  pass  over  in  silence,  the  objec- 
tions to  Dr.  Brown's  system,  arising  from  his  hypothesis  of  a  fixed 
original  stock  of  excitability,  uniformly  and  equally  distributed 
over  the  whole  system,  in  diseases  as  well  as  in  health;  his  doc- 
trine of  uniformity  in  the  operation  of  stimulants;  his  inattention 
to  the  great  range  of  the  operations  of  the  absorbent  system;  and 
his  neglect  of  the  sympathetic  associations  in  the  animal  economy, 
which  are  of  such  importance  in  explaining  many  intricate  pheno- 
mena, both  of  health  and  diseases.  These  mistakes  and  imperfec- 
tions, however  defective  they  may  render  his  system,  cannot  be 
supposed  to  lead  to  much  practical  mischief. 

Although  our  authors  adopt  the  fundamental  principles  of  Dr. 
Brown,  they  dissent  from  him  in  some  particulars.  The  princi- 
pal deviations  are  the  lollowing.  p.  They  contend  that  diseases 
of  excessive  excitement  cannot  exist;  and  that  all  those,  which 
have  been  so  called,  are  diseases  of  indirect  debility.  2.  They 
maintain  that  almost  the  whole  of  the  diseases  which  were  ranked, 
by  Dr.  Brown  and  his  followers,  among  the  diseases  of  direct  de- 
bility, are  diseases  of  indirect  debility.    3.  They  also  differ  irom 


REVIEW. 


533 


him  in  the  mode  of  applying  the  exciting  powers,  for  the  cure  of 
diseases  of  indirect  debility.  Presuming  that  our  readers  are  well 
acquainted  with  Dr.  Brown's  Elements,  we  deem  it  unnecessary 
to  specify  his  doctrine  concerning  these  topics. 

Passing  over  many  points  of  smaller  consequence,  we  cannot  dis- 
pense with  the  duty  of  remarking  on  one  leading  principle  in  Dr. 
Brown,  adopted  and  greatly  extended  by  the  authors  of  this  work. 
In  treating  diseases  of  indirect  debility,  they  state,  that  f*  As  the 
"  body  becomes  less  susceptible  of  impression,  in  the  direct  ratio  of 
"  the  excessive  application  of  stimuli,  it  follows,  that  the  force  of 
"  stimulus  to  be  applied,  in  the  cure  of  diseases  of  this  state,  should 
"  be  directly  as  the  exhaustion  of  the  excitability." — Taken  in  a 
general  and  unqualified  sense,  this  proposition  is  liable  to  the  most 
pernicious  abuses;  and  when  we  observe  the  catalogue  of  diseases 
assigned  to  this  class  of  indirect  debility,  our  attention  is  still  more 
forcibly  arrested.  Whatever  mischief  may  have  arisen  from  the 
application  of  Brunonian  principles  to  practice,  we  are  persuaded 
a  large  proportion  of  it  has  sprung  from  this  source.  If  the  ani- 
mal system  were  a  more  simple,  homogeneous  mass  of  matter, 
endowed  with  excitability  uniformly  diffused  over  the  whole,  in- 
capable of  partial  accumulation  or  exhaustion;  and  if  the  excite- 
ment resulting  from  the  application  cf  stimulants  were  consequent- 
ly equal  and  uniform  throughout  the  entire  system;  this  principle 
would  have  a  good  foundation.  But  the  reverse  of  all  this  is  found 
to  be  true.  The  animal  body  is  a  compound,  heterogeneous  and 
dissimilar  iabric,  made  up  of  very  diversified  organization,  pos- 
sessing excitability  capable  of  great  accumulation,  and,  consequent- 
ly, ot  gM  at  excitement  in  one  or  more  parts,  while  others  are  left  in 
a  state  of  proportionate  debility  from  exhaustion.  Violent  stimu- 
lants applied  to  one  part  will  excite  morbid  action  in  that  part; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  extend  this  morbid  influence  to  other  parts 
with  which  it  is  connected  by  sympathetic  association  of  motions. 
The  source  ot  excitability  (supposing  the  brain,  with  its  appen- 
dages, to  constitute  this  source),  irritated  by  such  excessive  stimu- 
lation, S'-iids  iorth  a  larger  quantity  of  this  vital  power,  which,  be- 
ing  chicrly  transmitted  to  the  morbid  parts  of  the  system,  renders 
the  action  of  such  parts  more  violent,  until  often,  through  the 
meuium  of  inflammation  and  its  consequences,  the  affected  organ 
is  rendered  unfit  for  the  purposes  of  lite.  Here,  then,  is  a  compli- 
cated disease,  whose  nature  and  treatment  cannot  be  decided  upon 
first  impressions.  If  powerful  stimuli  be  applied,  to  relieve  the 
indirect  debility  whjch  pervades  ^o  large  a  portion  of  the  system, 
the  primary  and  principal  seats  of  disease,  overwhelmed  by  such 
pressure  ot  excitement,  will  suffer  a  fatal  congestion,  effusion, 
engorgement,  extravasation,  or  gangrene.  To  restore  the  balance 
oi  the  systems,  and  to  guard  those  parts  from*  injury,  which  are 
Fol.  r.'No.  4.  N  " 


554  IVIEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

exposed  to  the  principal  stress  of  the  disease,  is  the  object  to  be 
held  in  view;  but  this  object,  we  apprehend,  will  not  often  be 
accomplished  by  powerful  stimulants.  Life  is  maintained,  and 
the  functions  of  the  system  regulated,  by  the  successive  supplies  of 
excitability  being  equal  to  its  waste  or  expenditure  in  the  perpe- 
tual operations  of  the  vascular  organization.  The  remedy  pro- 
vided by  nature,  for  the  increased  excitement  of  any  part  of  the 
system,  is  the  consequent  expenditure  of  excitability.  Excessive 
action,  if  it  can  be  safely  supported  for  the  requisite  time,  and  in 
requisite  degree,  will  gradually  wear  away  the  superabundant  irri- 
tability, and  in  this  manner  bring  down  the  system,  and  leave  it  at 
the  point  of  health.  But  how  many  fatal  occurrences  may  take 
place  in  the  course  of  this  natural  process !  Provision  is  made  by 
nature,  for  sending  a  very  large  quantity  of  blood  to  the  brain,  in 
order,  probably,  to  secrete  the  matter  of  life,  which  is  inces- 
santly consumed  by  every  moving  point  in  the  body.  A  small 
variation  of  this  quantity,  by  excess  or  diminution,  is,  on  good 
ground,  supposed  to  be  extremely  hazardous.  This  delicate,  vital 
secretion  may  be  readily  overwhelmed  by  congestion,  engorge- 
ment, or  effusion ;  modes  in  which  it  is  probable  arterial  violence 
often  proves  fatal  in  fevers,  and  which  are  indicated  by  the  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  comatose  affection,  so  frequently  observed  in 
unfortunate  cases.  But  if  the  fountain  of  life  should  escape,  the 
same  event  may  easily  be  produced  by  the  congestion,  inflamma- 
tion, and  effusion,  incidental  to  other  viscera  from  this  vascular 
tumult.  In  a  word,  it  appears  probable  that  fevers  scarcely  ever 
prove  fatal,  except  where  local  destruction  is  in  some  such  man- 
ner produced ;  which,  with  prudent  practitioners,  will  always  be 
an  objection  to  powerful  stimulants  in  cases  of  too  great  arterial 
force. 

Drunkenness  affords  a  familiar  example  of  what  Dr.  Brown  calls 
indirect  debility,  or  excessive  expenditure  of  excitability.  It  may 
serve  as  an  epitome  of  a  malignant  fever.  Like  such  a  fever,  it 
is  owing  to  a  violent  stimulus,  which  produces  more  energetic 
motions  of  the  arterial,  venous,  glandular,  and  absorbent  systems, 
great  prostration  of  strength  in  the  voluntary  motions,  staggering, 
stammering,  delirium,  apoplectic  stupor,  and  finally  great  expen- 
diture of  excitability,  from  which  the  inebriate  only  gradually 
recovers,  after  many  hours.  Nothing  but  a  more  deeply-rooted 
and  virulent  cause,  and  a  more  protracted  disease,  are  wanting  to 
render  the  resemblance  complete.  And  yet,  we  believe,  it  has 
been  seldom  proposed  to  relieve  the  indirect  debility  of  drunken- 
ness, by  strong  stimulants,  while  any  part  of  the  system  continues 
to  be  considerably  excited.  Quiet,  repose,  dilution,  cool  air, 
and,  in  some  cases,  cold  water  applied  to  the  surface  of  the  body, 
have  been  supposed  to  be  the  best  remedies.    But  in  such  a  case, 


REVIEW. 


535 


the  necessity  of  exercising  caution  in  the  use  of  stimulants  is  not 
so  evident  as  in  regard  to  the  fevers  called  malignant,  and  many 
other  diseases  of  indirect  debility,  The  operation  of  ardent  liquors 
Is  generally  transient,  and  rarely  endangers  the  organic  derange- 
ment of  the  vascular  system,  upon  which  the  fatality  of  fevers 
often  depends.  -It  is  indeed,  true,  that  when  a  fit  of  intoxi- 
cation is  over,  to  relieve  the  languor  which  always  more  or  less 
ensues,  recurrence  is  often  had  to  spirituous  drink,  and  that  for 
a  time  it  answers  the  purpose.  But  here,  before  the  repetition  of 
the  draught,  the  violent  commotion  of  the  system  has  subsided, 
and  a  universal  torpor  taken  place.  An  illustration  of  our  opi- 
nion, similar  to  this  afforded  by  drunkenness,  may  be  derived 
from  violent  exercise  or  labour,,  from  excessive  repletion,  from  the 
tumult  of  anger,  &c.  In  all  these  cases,  we  conceive,  inordinate 
excitement  should  as  much  as  possible  be  restrained,  and  every 
movement  brought  down  to  a  calm  and  natural  state.  The  evi- 
dent injurious  effects  of  ardent  liquors,  when  taken  to  support  the 
strength  of  such  as  are  addicted  to  hard  labour;  and  the  experience 
of  Europeans  in  hot  climates,  that  far  greater  exertions  can  be 
made  by  persons  who  chiefly  eat  vegetables  and  drink  water,  than 
by  those  who  live  more  freely,  appear  to  confirm  our  opinion. 

The  vital  power  or  excitability  in  animals  is  an  unique  in  nature. 
On  this  account,  it  has  been  difficult  to  call  in  the  aid  of  analogy 
to  explain  the  intricacies  which  envelope  the  subject  The  term 
excitability,  given,  by  Dr.  Brown,  to  this  principle  of  life,  has 
led,  we  believe,  to  a  number  of  mistaken  views.  It  appears  in- 
herently to  possess  a  great  degree  of  activity,  velocity,  and  vigour. 
The  name  he  has  thought  proper  to  bestow  on  it,  and  the  impression 
he  gives  of  life  as  a  forced  state,  have  made  this  principle  be  con- 
sidered as  naturally  more  passive  and  dormant,  when  unexcited  by 
stimuli,  than  a  correct  examination  of  faffs  will  warrant.  It  is 
indeed  admitted,  that  the  presence  and  application  of  certain  sub- 
stances, which  may  perhaps  more  properly  be  called  nutritive  than. 
stimulant,  are  essentially  necessary  to  the  existence  and  activity  of 
this  principle  of  animation;  just  as  oil  is  necessary  to  preserve  the 
flame  of  the  lamp,  or  oxygene  to  support  the  process  of  combus- 
tion. Animals  are  constantly  immersed  in  the  fluids  of  heat,  of 
the  atmosphere,  or  of  water;  and  alimentary  matters  are  frequently 
necessary  to  repair  the  waste  which  the  actions  of  life  are  continu- 
ally making.  But  if  a  few  articles  of  nutriment  or  sustenance, 
such  as  these,  be  granted,  which  are  of  the  first  necessity,  the  prin- 
ciple of  life  will  exert  a  preserving,  resisting,  and  recovering  power ; 
and  the  functions  of  the  system  will  proceed  with  a  degree  of  force 
and  regularity,  greater  or  less,  according  to  existing  circumstances. 
These  observations  are  made  with  the  view  of  inferring,  that  when 
the  body  is  attacked  by  a  morbid  stimulus,  if  the  excitement  can 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


be  reduced  within  certain  moderate  bounds,  the  inherent  powers 
of  the  vital  principle  will  soon  be  sufficient  to  restore  good  health. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider  another  doctrine  maintained  in 
this  work,  the  establishment  of  which  is  laboured  with  great  zeal, 
viz.    "  That  diseases  of  excessive  excitement  cannot  exist;  and 
"  that  all  those  which  have  been  so  called,  are  diseases  of  indirect 
"  debility."    This  proposition  has  so  much  the  air  of  paradox, 
that  many  will  suppose  a  serious  refutation  of  it  ought  not  to  be 
attempted.    It  is  wonderful,  that  such  a  fallacy  as  this  should  so 
far  impose  on  the  minds  of  our  respectable  authors,  as  to  induce 
them  to  deny  that  phrenitis,  pneumony,  acute  rheumatism,  small- 
pox, measles,  &:c.  are  diseases  of  excessive  excitement,  or  that  they 
should  be  treated  otherwise  than  by  stimulants.    They  suppose 
this  to  be  proved  by  the  powers  known  to  induce  those  diseases, 
and  by  the  remedies  found  most  successful  in  their  cure.  The 
three  former  of  the  diseases  just  mentioned,  they  believe  to  be 
commonly  occasioned  by  the  alternation  of  cold  and  heat ;  and,  a3 
a  high  degree  of  heat,  succeeding  the  exposure  of  the  body  to  a 
low  degree  of  coid,  will  rapidly  expend  the  excitability,  they  con- 
tend that  great  exhaustion  must  necessarily  take  place :  but  they 
forget  that  this  morbid  exhaustion  is  produced  through  the  medium 
of  morbid  or  excessive  excitement,  and  that  this  excessive  excite- 
ment, in  its  turn,  will  occasion,  for  some  time  at  least,  the  pro- 
duction of  an  excessive  quantity  of  excitability,  thereby  mutually 
increasing  each  other.  The  "  most  successful  mode  of  treatment  of 
these  diseases,  viz.  by  warmth,  small  quantities  of  opium,  wine, 
&c.  and  by  the  application  of  fomentations,  rubefaciants,  and  blis- 
ters, to  the  local  affection,"  they  suppose,  confirms  their  doctrine. 
For  the  credit  of  the  profession,  and  the  safety  of  mankind,  we 
hope  this  treatment  is  seldom  employed.    "  The  languor,  inabi- 
"  litv  to  move,  want  of  appetite,  nausea,  costiventss,  &c.  which 
"  occur  in  the;e  diseases,"  are  supposed  by  our  authors,  "  to  be 
."  evidently  incompatible  with  such  a  state  as  that  of  excessive  ex- 
"  citement."    It  is  admitted,  that,  in  this  case,  tile  muscles  of 
vciuntary  motion,  the  stomach  and  other  portions  of  the  alimen- 
tary canal,  and  perhaps  otner  parts  of  the  system,  are  exhausted 
of  their  excit^biliry,  and  extremely  weak;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
the  arterial,  venous,  glandular,  and  absorbent  systems,  are  sub- 
iected  to  the  most  excessive  and  alarming  action.    This  distinc- 
tion, unattended  to  by  Dr.  Brown,  or  the  authors  of  the  work 
before  us,  we  conceive  to  be  most  important — that  the  voluntary 
muscles  and  the  stomach,  &c.  may  be  so  weak  that  the  patient 
cannot  move  a  limb,  or  retain  a  particle  of  food;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  arterial  system  may  be  overstrained,  convulsed,  and 
iacerated  by  excessive  action.    The  violence  of  the  disease,  in 
these  cases,  concentres  the  excitement  and  excitability  in  the  vas- 


REVIEW. 


537 


cuiar  system,  leaving  the  other  parts  of  the  body  deprived  of  their 
natural  share,  and  consequently  in  a  state  of  indirect  debility. 

Mr.  Christie  has  devised  a  scheme  to  illustrate  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Brunonian  system,  which  appears  to  be  apposite 
and  ingenious.* 

The  analogy  of  a  fire  place  is  employed  for  this  purpose.  Let 
the  grate  represent  the  human  frame — the  fuel,  the  excitability — an 
imaginary  tube,  opening  into  the  grate  from  behind,  and  supplying 
fresh  fuel,  exhibits  the  source  of  the  excitability — an  air-machine, 
consisting  of  many  tubes,  leading  into  the  grate  in  front,  and  con- 
veying air,  denotes  stimuli  of  different  kinds  and  quantities — and 
the  production  of  fiame  represents  life.  If  some  of  the  air-tubes 
convey  oxvgene  gas,  they  will  denote  the  diffusible  stimuli — if 
others  convey  atmospheric  air,  these  refer  to  the  ordinary  and  per- 
manent stimuli — and  if  others  again  carry  impure  air,  these  indi- 
cate miasma,  contagion,  poisons,  &c. 

Flame,  or  fire,  denotes  life — life  is  produced  by  stimuli,  and 
continually  wastes  excitability.  A  large  quantity  of  fuel,  and  a 
small  fire,  point  out  direft  debility — a  large  fire  and  scanty  fuel, 
indirefl  debility — and  a  just  proportion  of  both,  good  health. 

Great  violence  of  the  fire  will  represent  diseases  of  excessive 
excitement;  but  in  order  to  preserve  the  resemblance  with  any 
exactness,  it  becomes  necessary  to  imagine  some  connecting  power 
between  a  violent  fire  and  an  increased,  preternatural  supply  of 
fuel;  as  certain  degrees  of  diseases  of  high  excitement  always  ex- 
tort supplies  of  excitability  preternaturally  great,  and  thus  acquire 
the  power  of  maintaining  and  increasing  their  own  violence.  Ul- 
timately, however,  in  the  progress  of  such  diseases,  this  extraor- 
dinary supply  of  excitability  will  fail;  this  violence  of  stimulation 
will  exhaust  the  whole  of  it,  and  the  flame  of  life  be  thereby  ex- 
tinguished. 

But  Dr.  Brown  and  his  followers  do  not  seem  to  have  consi- 
dered, that  the  grate  might  be  so  constituted,  as  to  be  destroyed 
by  the  violence  of  the  fire;  as  the  human  body  may  suffer  organic 
derangement  and  destru<tion  by  excess  of  excitement.  The  sim- 
ple and  uniform  material  constituting  the  grate,  contrasted  with 
the  complexity,  intricacy,  and  delicacy  of  organization  discover- 
able in  the  animal  system,  and  the  consequent  liableness  to  dif- 
ferent states  of  morbid  action  in  different  parts,  is  also  another 
ground  of  the  oversight  and  mistakes  of  the  Brunonian  theory. 
One  department  of  an  animal  body  may  invite  and  concentre  ex- 
citement of  the  most  furious  kind,  while  others  are  torpid  from 
indirect  debility.  The  stimulants  applied  to  rouze  the  torpid  parts 
miss  their  aim,  and  expend  all  their  force  in  overstraining  and 


'  Beddoes's  Preface  to  Brown's  Elements,  p.  129. 


53* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


destroying  the  vascular  organization.  A  more  natural  manage- 
ment seems  to  consist  in  closing  some  of  the  air-tubes,  and  thereby 
reducing  the  fire  within  safer  bounds;  or,  in  other  words,  to  with- 
draw a  proper  quantity  of  stimulus,  and  leave  the  system  to  regain 
its  proper  equipoise. 

The  general  principles  entertained  by  our  authors  are  also  ap- 
plied to  local  diseases.  Considering  local  inflammation  not  as  a 
disease  of  excessive  excitement,  but  of  indirect  debility,  they  con- 
tend for  the  propriety  of  stimulant  applications.  Among  other 
local  inflammations,  this  doctrine  is  extended  to  burns  and  scalds. 
A  few  fads,  out  ol  those  constantly  passing  before  our  eyes,  will 
be  sufficient  to  overthrow  all  the  reasoning  on  this  point.  The 
recollection  of  every  practitioner  in  the  United  States  will,  no 
doubt,  supply  additional  instances,  though  perhaps  none  more  re- 
markable than  the  following.  The  lady  of  the  Commandant  on 
Governor's  Island,  the  lasc  winter,  inadvertently  burned  one  of 
her  fingers,  the  whole  length,  against  an  iron.  The  surgeon  of 
the  garrison,  who  was  present,  immediately  caused  it  to  be  placed 
jn  cold  water,  which  was  frequently  supplied,  for  a  few  hours, 
with  the  entire  cure  of  the  burn.  In  the  same  season,  some  of 
the  people  of  the  garnson  were  employed  in  killing  hogs;  and  a 
large  quantity  of  hot  water  was  prepared,  as  usual,  to  scald  them. 
By  accident,  a  pailful  of  this  scalding  water  was  overthrown  on 
the  foot  of  a  soldier.  Cold  water  was  immediately  dashed  upon 
it,  and  frequently  renewed  for  half  an  hour,  when  he  was  able 
to  proceed  with  his  business.  Many  years  ago  [one  of  the  Editors 
of  the  Repository  received  the  facts  from  the  persons  concerned] 
two  brothers,  apprentices  to  a  hatter,  were  employed  in  taking 
new  hats  from  a  boiier,  and  ringing  them  out  in  a  very  large  tub 
of  cold  water.  Some  dispute  arising,  one  of  them  lifted  the  other 
by  his  arms,  and  seated  him  directly  in  the  boiler;  but  being  in- 
stantly struck  with  terror  at  what  he  had  done,  without  loosing 
his  hold,  he  again  lifted  him  from  the  boiler,  and  seated  him  in 
the  tub  of  cold  water.  The  youth  who  had  been  thus  hurried 
through  these  extremes  cf  temperature,  had  on  a  pair  of  wide 
linen  trowsers,  and  received  no  other  injury  than  a  narrow  blister, 
which  was  formed  direotly  under  the  waistband,  and  encircled  his 
body. 

In  order  to  recapitulate  and  condense  the  reasoning  employed 
on  this  intricate  subject,  which  we  cannot  but  think  very  import- 
ant in  its  influence  on  the  practice  of  medicine;  we  repeat  our 
dissent  from  Dr.  Brown's  unqualified  doctrine  of  treating  dis- 
eases of  indirect  debility  by  stimulants ;  and  the  stiii  more  extraor- 
dinary doctrine  of  the  work  now  under  review,  that  diseases  of 
excessive  excitement  cannot  exist,  and  that  such  as  have  been  so  consi- 
dered are  to  be  treated  by  stimulants, — for  the  following  reasons. 


REVIEW. 


£39 


t.  Because,  under  the  mask  of  great  indirect  debility  in  the 
muscles  of  voluntary  motion,  in  the  alimentary  canal,  and  per- 
haps in  some  other  parts  of  the  body,  violent  and  destructive  ex- 
citement may  exist  in  the  vascular,  and  especially  in  the  arterial 
system.  And,  to  relieve  the  debility,  at  the  expence  of  aggra- 
vating the  excitement,  if  it  were  even  practicable,  would  be  ta 
sacrifice  the  vascular  system  for  the  sake  of  invigorating  che  loco- 
motive muscles  and  the  alimentary  canal. 

2.  Because  Dr.  Brown  and  our  authors  do  not  appear  to  advert 
to  the  co-existent  circumstances  of  copious  production  and  waste 
of  excitability,  when  any  extensive  or  important  department  of 
the  system  is  violently  excited  by  disease.  And  this  two-fold 
operation  probably  proceeds  furthest  when  inflammation,  or  some 
other  local  derangement,  is  interposed ;  but  the  waste  eventually 
much  exceeds  the  production,  which  explains  the  universal  de- 
bility immediately  succeeding  the  solution  of  all  violent  acute 
diseases. 

3.  Because,  when  any  extensive  and  important  part  of  the  sys- 
tem, as,  for  example,  the  vascular,  is  excessively  excited,  what- 
ever stimulant  remedies  may  be  applied  to  relieve  the  deceitful 
debility  of  other  parts,  so  far  from  relieving  it,  they  will  be  in 
hazard  of  directly  adding  the  sum  of  their  stimulus  to  the  sti- 
mulus of  the  morbid  cause,  and  thereby  producing  an  aggregate 
of  the  most  violent  and  fatal  excitement. 

4.  Because,  even  if  we  suppose  the  excitement  of  the  most  ex- 
cited parts  of  a  diseased  body  to  be  so  moderate,  that  some  stimu- 
lant remedies  may  be  admissible  and  necessr.ry,  still  the  powerful 
stimuli,  recommended  by  Dr.  Brown,  must  be  liuuful;  lor  reme- 
dies of  such  force,  though  they  increase  excitement,  and  produce 
excitability  at  the  same  time,  will  always  occasion  much  useless, 
motion,  and  thereby  the  waste  of  excitability  will  always  eventually 
preponderate  the  production  of  it,  and  the  system  become  conse- 
quently more  exhausted. 

These  mistakes  of  Dr.  Brown  and  his  followers,  if  they  be  really 
so  great  as  appears  to  us,  ought  to  be  corrected.  We  think  them 
as  repugnant  to  experience  as  unfounded  in  principle.  It  is  well 
known,  that  many  physicians  have  long  conformed  their  practice 
to  these  doctrines,  and,  to  the  present  moment,  hold  the  truth  of 
them  to  be  incontrovertible.  With  what  pernicious  effects  prin- 
ciples like  these  must  approach  the  bed  of  sickness,  we  shall  not 
venture  to  inquire.  The  history  or  the  abuses  of  stimulants  would 
form,  perhaps,  as  dark  a  page  in  the  annals  of  medicine,  as  ia 
those  of  general  society. 

The  more  maturely  this  subject  is  considered,  the  more  import- 
ance will  be  attached  to  it;  and  with  the  more  propriely  will  bz 


54a  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

adopted  and  applied  to  medicine,  the  sage  advice  so  fatally  forgot- 
ten by  the  rash,  inexperienced,  and  ill-lated  Phaeton, 

Parce,  puer,  stimulis,  &  fort  iter  utere  loris. 

The  unbecoming  and  undeserved  censure,  which  the  authors 
of  this  work  have  cast  on  the  Zoonomia,  must  not  be  pa:scd  over 
in  silence.  Individual  complaints,  that  a  system  is  deficient  in 
method,  confused,  and  unintelligible,  amount  to  but  little.  Before 
we  admit  them  to  be  well-founded,  we  must  inquire  for  the  spe- 
cific form  of  the  charge.  Such  is  the  deplorable  ignorance  of  some 
of  the  Tartarian  tribes  under  the  dominion  of  Russia,  as  we  are 
told,  that  they  cannot  enumerate  beyond  three.  That  a  savage 
c-i  these  hordes  should  find  the  tables  and  reasonings  of  Euler  and 
of  Newton  confused  and  unintelligible,  couid  certainly  not  be  ad- 
mitted as  evidence  of  the  validity  of  his  objections.  Such,  in 
faff,  is  the  structure  of  some  minds,  that  they  can  form  distinct 
conceptions  only  of  the  most. naked  and  simple  propositions,  for 
the  verification  of  which  the  senses  may  be  directly  appealed  to. 
The  abstract  puzzles  and  confounds  them;  and  every  attempt  to 
explain  and  illustrate,  however  scientific  and  ingenious,  but  adds 
to  their  embarrassment,  and  augments  their  perplexity.  Mole- 
eyed,  they  descry  a  little  way  before  them  through  the  dim  glim- 
r.icring  of  twilight,  but  are  -dazzled  and  biinded  by  the  full  splen- 
dour of  the  glorious  day.  Without  pretending  that  these  remarks 
are  applicable  to  the  authors  of  the  work  under  consideration,  we 
cannot  hesitate  to  declare  our  entire  dissent  liom  the  opinion  pro- 
nounced by  them  on  the  relative  merits  of  the  Elements  of  Medi- 
cine and  the  Zoonomia.  To  elevate  the  first  above  the  last,  is  to 
prefer  the  rough,  irregular,  but  masterly  sketch,  struck  out  by 
some  sudden  eifcrt  of  untutored  genius,  to  a  design  conceived,  by 
.some  master,  with  the  boldness  of  Angelo,  and  executed  with  the 
felicity  of  Raphael — in  which,  if  all  the  parts  bear  not  e;;act  pro- 
portion to  each  other,  if  some  minutiae  are  neglected,  if  a  light 
more  glowing  falls  on  some  particular  figure;  yet  each  is  in  itself 
entire  and  perfect,  and  the  whole  forms  an  assemblage  of  beauty, 
novelty  ,  and  grandeur,  on  which  the  long  succession  of  ages  pause 
with  wonder  and  delight. 

(To  be  continued.) 

N.  B.  When  the  review  of  this  work  was  tindcftaken,  we  sujiposed 
it  to  have  been  originally  published  in  this  country,  from  the  title  and 
the  wanner  in  which  the  printer's  advertisement  is  expressed;  we  since 
ku-ve  found  this  was  a  mistake;  but  as  the  work  is  interesting)  it  has 
'Still  been  determined  to  adhere  to  the  first  design. 


REVIEW. 


541 


Art.  II.  Observations  on  the  Doclrine  of  Phlogiston  and  the  Decom- 
position of  Water.  Part  the  Second.  By  Josepih  Priestley,  LL.  D. 
F.  R.  S.  &c.  &c.  Philadelphia.  Dobson.  1797.  8vo.  pp.38. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  answer  of  Citizen  Adet,  (see 
our  Review,  No.  II.  p.  225.)  to  the  first  publication  of  Dr. 
Priestley,  (ibid.  p.  221.)  and  the  reply  of  Professor  Maclean  to 
the  same  work,  (see  our. Review,  No.  III.  p.  348.)  this  antagonist 
of  the  antiphlogistians  still  maintains  his  ground,  and  again  bids 
defiance  to  his  philosophical  adversaries.  He  contends  that  he  has 
not  yet  been  fully  and  fairly  answered,  and  calls  upon  his  oppo- 
nents for  something  more  solid  and  conclusive  than  they  have  hi- 
therto advanced;  observing,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  is  not  the 
only  person  who,  at  this  time,  adheres  to  the  doctrine  of  phlogis- 
ton: but  that  Messrs.  Crell,  Gmelin,  Westrumb,  and  Meyer  in 
Germany,  and  his  friends  of  the  Lunar  Society  at  Birmingham, 
still  maintain  it. 

Tlie  solution  of  iron  in  the  vitriolic  and  marine  acids,  appears  to 
Dr.  Priestley,  after  all  that  has  been  said,  to  be  incapable  of  ex- 
planation upon  the  antiphlogistic  plan ;  and  indeed  it  must  be 
owned,  that  some  of  his  objections  to  their  interpretation  appear 
almost,  if  not  quite,  insuperable.  If  they  are  really  capable  of 
being  answered,  the  gentlemen  who  have  undertaken  to  answer, 
have  to  answer  over  again. 

On  the  constitution  of  finery  cinder,  the  Philosopher  of  Northum- 
berland considers  the  explanations  of  his  opponents  very  incom- 
plete, and  far  from  being  satisfactory.  And  really,  when  this  pecu- 
liar substance  is  affirmed  to  be  a  mere  oxyd  of  iron,while  ex- 
periments lead  to  the  conviction  of  its  being  something  very  dif- 
ferent, we  do  not  wonder  that  Dr.  Priestley  is  dissatisfied  with  the 
account  they  have  given  of  it. 

Respecting  the  calces  of  mercury,  he  yet  declares  his  belief,  that 
inflammable  air  may  be  imbibed  by  any  calx  of  mercury;  that  the 
metal  is  revived  by  it,  and  cannot  be  revived  without  it;  and 
therefore  some  element  of  which  inflammable  air  consists,  which 
no  doubt  is  phlogiston,  is  a  necessary  component  part  of  that  metal, 
and  therefore,  he  says,  of  all  other  metals  also. 

Concerning  the  composition  and  decomposition  of  "water,  the  same 
difference  in  point  of  fact  seems  to  exist  between  the  parties,  as 
when  we  reviewed  Dr.  Priestley's  First  Part.  He  affirms,  in  op- 
position to  the  antiphlogistians,  that  with  very  pure  dephlogisti- 
cated  air,  and  a  proportion  exactly  defined  of  the  purest  possible 
inflammable  air,  he  procures  drops  of  a  stronger  niirous  acid,  than 
can  be  obtained  by  means  of  air  less  pure.  And  he  denies,  tha: 
the  azotic,  or  phlogisticated  part  of  the  atmosphere,  even  should 

roi.  1.  No.  4.  o 


54* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


any  of  this  be  present,  has  any  thing  to  do  in  producing  that  acid. 
In  this  case  ol  contradictory  experiments,  we  suppose  that  both 
ourselves  and  Dr.  Priestley  must  wait  until  we  hear  from  Mr. 
Bertholkt  and  the  other  French  chemists,  to  whom  his  first  treatise 
was  addressed. 

We  forbear  to  make  any  observations  on  the  apparent  harshness 
and  acrimony  with  which  this  controversy  has  been  conducted 
between  our  author  and  Professor  Macleans  Confident  of  the 
zeal  for  science,  and  the  spirit  of  benevolence  which  both  possess, 
we  have  no  doubt  the  exceptionable  parts  of  Mr.  Maclean's  pam- 
phlet proceeded  not  from  design  to  offend,  but  partly  from  inadver- 
trncy  and  partly  from  warmth  of  argument,  and  that  if  Dr.  Priestley 
knew  the  motives,  he  would  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  excuse  him. 

Upon  taking  a  view  of  the  whole  controversy  as  well  as  we 
are  able,  it  appears  to  us,  there  are  some  phenomena  which  the 
antiphlogistic  theory  cannot  explain;  and  that,  therefore,  Dr. 
Priestley  has' some  strong  holds,  from  which  it  will  be  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  to  drive  him.  On  the  other  hand,  the  advocates 
for  phlogiston  are  far  from  being  explicit  and  definite  enough  in 
the  meaning  of  their  term,  and  on  that  account,  seem  not  per- 
fectly to  understand  each  other,  nor  to  be  clearly  understood  by 
their  opponents. 


Art.  III.  The  Young  Chemist1  s  Pocket  Companion;  connected  "with 
a  Portable  L&boratory,  &c.  &c.  By  fames  Woodhouse,  M.  D. 
Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Phi- 
ladelphia.   Oswald,   pp.  56.   8vo.  1797. 

THE  performance  before  us  affords  a  new  proof  of  the  pre- 
valence of  a  taste  for  chemical  researches  in  the  United 
States.  And  it  is  one  of  the  circumstances  of  recommendation  to 
the  Young  Chemist's  Pocket  Companion,  that  it  is  intended  to  advance 
the  knowledge  of  that  science,  by  facilitating  the  means  of  making 
experiments,  and  of  interpreting  and  understanding  them.  So 
laudable  are  all  attempts  of  this  kind,  that  we  cannot  forbear 
thinking  the  author  has  done  service  to  his  favourite  branch  of 
philosophy,  by  the  present  publication,  which  may  induce  many 
persons  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  chemical  action 
of  bodies,  and  thus  become  able  experimenters.  Elementary  and 
practical  essays  of  this  kind,  are  highly  useful  for  initiating  begin- 
ners, and  we  are  pleased  to  find  Professor  Woodhouse  condescend 
to  collect  and  arrange  a  series  of  experiments,  calculated  to  allure 
the  mind  along  from  object  to  object,  and  beguile  it,  as  it  were, 
into  an  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  some  of  the  most  in- 
teresting phenomena  of  Nature. 


REVIEW. 


545 


The  author  has  prefixed  to  this  work,  a  catalogue  of  the  sub- 
stances and  apparatus  for  making  experiments,  contained  in  the 
portable  chest,  connected  with  it.  And  the  number  and  variety  of 
these  are  such  as  to  permit  a  great  number  of  experiments  to  be 
made.  A  collection  of  so  many  chemical  preparations,  in  so  com- 
pact and  handy  an  arrangement,  may  be  exceedingly  useful  to 
almost  every  person  who  is  fond  of  these  kinds  of  researches. 

The  number  of  detailed  experiments  which  Professor  Wood- 
house  has  given,  is  one  hundred ;  in  which  he  explains  the  proper- 
ties of  airs  or  gases,  of  alkalies,  of  acids,  of  earths,  and  of  metals. 
The  explanations  are  concise  and  generally  correct.  At  the  end 
of  the  experiments,  is  an  advertisement  of  the  Professor's  lectures, 
given  annually  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

As  the  work  is  intended  for  those  who  wish  ro  become  prac- 
tically acquainted  with  the  science  of  chemistry,  we  recommend 
it,  and  the  Portable  Laboratory,  to  the  students  and  cultivators  of 
experimental  physics;  not  doubting  that  the  younger  class  of  in- 
quirers will  be  considerably  aided  by  it,  especially  if  they  peruse 
it,  in  connection  with  such  systematical  works  as  those  of  Lavoi- 
sier, Fourcroy,  and  Chaptal. 


Art.  IV.  An  Inaugural  Dissertation  on  Gangrene  and Jlfoiti/icatioft, 
By  Francis  K.  Huger,  &c.  Philadelphia.  U stick.  1797.  pp.  31. 

THE  first  part  of  this  dissertation  is  employed  in  exhibiting  a 
detail  of  the  opinions  of  the  ancients,  on  the  subject  of  gan- 
grene and  mortification.  After  these,  we  find  a  view  of  the  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  Boerhaave,  and  his  Commentator,  Van  Swie- 
ten.  The  want  of  precision,  in  all  those  writers,  in  regard  to  the 
doctrines  of  the' vital  power,  and  its  fluctuating  states  of  accumu- 
lation and  exhaustion,  and  consequently  to  those  of  the  varied 
effects  of  stimulants,  renders  many  of  their  remarks  indistinct  and 
unintelligible. 

After  justly  expressing  his  dissatisfaction  with  such  opinions, 
our  author  proceeds  to  exhibit  and  to  adopt  the  more  correct  prin- 
ciples of  the  late  Mr.  John  Hunter. 

He  defines  gangrene  and  mortification  to  be  the  "  total  extinction 
of  sensation  and  action  in  a  part,"  or,  in  other  words,  "  the  death  of 
such  part."  And  he  supposes  it  to  be  produced  by  a  disparity  arising 
between  the  power  and  action  of  the  affected  part.  To  comprehend 
perfectly  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hunter  and  our  author,  on  this  sub- 
ject, it  will  be  necessary  to  recollect,  that  the  "  power"  of  Mr. 
Hunter  corresponds  with  the  "  excitability"  of  Dr.  Brown,  and  the 
"  sensorial  power"  of  Dr.  Darwin;  and  that  his  <!  action"  agrees 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


with  the  "  excitement,"  the  "  exertion,"  or  the  "  fibrous  contrac- 
tion" 61  the  last  mentioned  writers. 

A<ni')n  is  divided,  by  our  author,  into  healthy,  disordered,  and 

diseased.  Disordered  action,  he  states  to  be  an  action  of  restora- 
tion, tending  to  remove  or  counteract  whatever  impedes  healthy 
action;  but  diseased  action  always  tends  to  destroy  the  animal 
machine.  The  propriety  of  this  distinction  between  disordered  and 
diseased  action,  we  cannot  perceive.  Difference  in  the  degrees  of 
force  of  the  noxious  cause,  and  in  the  state  of  concomitant  cir- 
cumstances, we  are  persuaded,  produces  all  the  variety  observable 
in  morbid  action. 

According  to  our  author,  gangrene  and  mortification  are  of  two 
kinds;  one  without  inflammation,  and  the  other  preceded  by  it. 
The  former  generally  takes  place  in  persons  debilitated  by  previous 
diseases,  by  improper  modes  of  living,  or  in  persons  advanced  in 
age.  The  principal  object,  in  this  case,  should  be  to  impart 
strength  and  vigour  to  the  system.  Nutritious  diet,  the  Peruvian 
bark,  wine,  &c.  are  here  recommended.  We  are  surprized  to 
find  the  virtues  of  opium,  so  highly  praised  in  such  cases  by  Mr. 
Pott  and  other  eminent  surgeons,  intirely  passed  without  notice  by 
the  author.  But  the  caution  given  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Hun- 
ter, against  too  large  doses  of  the  stimulants  employed,  is,  in  our 
opinion,  of  great  importance. 

Of  the  second  kind  of  gangrene  and  mortification,  viz.  that  pre- 
ceded by  inflammation,  there  are,  according  to  our  author,  two 
species.  The  first  is  produced  by  the  action  of  inflammation,  ex- 
ceeding the  powers  of  the  part  to  support;  and  the  second  is  the 
consequence  of  a  specific  inflammation.  In  the  former,  the  proper 
treatment  consists  in  preserving  the  balance  between  the  powers 
and  the  action.  In  such  cases,  all  irritating  applications  are  to  be 
avoided,  and  every  exertion  made  to  moderate  the  action  of  the 
part.  This  may  be  most  speedily  accomplished  by  blood-letting, 
purging,  and  other  depleting  remedies;  and  by  preserving  the 
System  in  this  quiescent  state  by  low  diet.  When  this  disease  in- 
vades the  extremities,  would  not  compression  of  the  principal 
artery  of  the  affected  limb  be  a  powerful  means  of  arresting  the 
spread  of  the  gangrene,  till  a  sufficient  reduction  of  the  action  of 
the  whole  system  could  be  obtained?  With  the  depleting  and  other 
debilitating  remedies,  our  author  mentions  the  external  use  of  pre- 
parations of  lead  and  opium;  and  seems  to  think  thev  operate  in 
reducing  action  on  similar  ground.  But  as  the  lead  and  opium  are 
chiefly  useful,  when  the  application  of  them  succeeds  the  depleting 
remedies,  we  expected  to  find  our  author  referring  their  mode  of 
operation  to  different  principles.  And,  indeed,  according  to  the 
quotat'.cn  made  from  Mr.  Hunter,  he  appears  to  have  considered 
them  as  acting  in  a  different  manner. 


REVIEW. 


S4S 


The  second  species  of  the  latter  kind  of  this  disease  is  the  con- 
sequence of  a  specific  inflammation;  which  the  author  directs  to 
be  treated  by  remedies  suitable  to  counteract  the  peculiar  diseased 
action ;  or  by  destroying  and  separating  the  contaminated  part  from 
the  sound. 

It  seems  to  have  been  our  author's  principal  aim,  to  give  a  com- 
pendious view  of  Mr.  Hunter's  doctrine  on  this  subject.  We  re- 
gret that  he  has  not  accomplished  his  purpose  with  more  perspicu- 
ity, order  and  precision. 


Art.  V.  Fourteen  Agricultural  Experiments,  to  ascertain  the  best 
Rotation  of  Crops:  addressed  to  the  Philadelphia  Agricultural  So- 
ciety. By  George  Logan,  M.  D.  Philadelphia.  Francis  and 
Robert  Bailey.     1797.  8vo.  pp.41. 

THE  fourteen  experiments,  mentioned  in  the  title  of  this  pub- 
lication, the  account  of  which  occupies  about  one  third  of 
the  pamphlet,  appear  to  have  been  suggested  by  a  prize  question, 
proposed  by  the  Philadelphia  Agricultural  Society;  and  were  "  in- 
"  tended  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  a  rotation  of  crops  calculated 
"  to  afford, 

"  First,  the  greatest  number  of  profitable  crops ; 
"  Second,  the  greatest  quantity  of  fodder  to  winter  cattle; 
"  Third,  the  greatest  length  of  time  between  manuring  the  same 
"  field— and, 

"  Fourth,  such  a  variety  of  crops,  as  may  not  interfere  with 
"  one  another:  but,  by  coming  in  regular  succession,  may  afford 
"  the  farmer  and  his  family  the  most  constant  employ." 

This  knowledge  Dr.  Logan  supposes  himself  to  have  acquired, 
by  means  of  the  fourteen  experiments  related  at  length,  in  the  first 
part  of  his  pamphlet;  and  he  concludes  the  following  rotation  of 
crops  to  be  that  which  is  best  calculated  to  answer  the  purposes 
just  enumerated. 

"  1.  Indian  corn.  2.  Potatoes  and  flax.  3.  Wheat.  4.  Win- 
"  ter  barley,  and  after  barley,  buck-wheat,  with  clover  and  timo- 
"  thy.  5.  Clover,  two  crops  for  hay.  6.  Clover,  one  crop  for 
"  hay  and  pasture.  7.  Pasture.  8.  Wheat.  9.  Winter  barley." 

This  plan  the  author  recommends  on  the  credit  of  his  own  suc- 
cessful experience;  and  considers  as  adapted,  "  within  the  ability 
"  of  one  family,"  to  a  farm  of  "  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of 
"  land."  But  for  the  particulars  of  his  divisions  of  such  a  farm, 
of  the  proportions  for  each  crop,  and  of  the  arguments  by  which 
he  enforces  his  opinions,  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  work 


$46  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

itself.  It  will  naturally  suggest  itself  to  his  mind,  that,  as  the  rota- 
tion here  proposed,  is  proposed  with  relation  to  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania more  particularly,  some  variations  will  be  indispensible 
in  the  application  to  other  States.  Still,  the  plan  will  deserve 
consideration ;  which  we  hope  it  may  receive  from  the  intelligent 
farmer  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. 


Ast.  VI.    Shtclies  on  Rotations  of  Crops,  and  other  Rural  Matters. 

To  -which  are  annexed,  Intimations  on  Manufi<f7ure< ;  on  the  Fruits  of 
Jlgi  iculture  ;  and  on  nciu  Sources  of  Tru  'e,  interfering  -with  Producls 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  fmeign  Markets.  Philadelphia. 
Charles  Cist.  i 796.  8vo.  pp.  76. 

THIS  appears  to  be  a  new  and  enlarged  edition  of  a  pamphlet 
published  some  years  since,  but  which  we  do  not  remem- 
ber to  have  seen  much  circulated  in  America.  Its  contents  are 
multifarious  and  that  our  readers  may  be  enabled  to  form  a  bet- 
ter idea  ot  the  work,  we  shall  transcribe  the  several  titles  of  the 
author. 

I.  Of  the  English  old  Rotation  of  Crops. 
3.  English  new  Rotation  of  Crops. 

3.  Comparison  between  the  English  old  and  new  Rotations  of 
Crops. 

4.  Of  the  American  old  Rotation  of  Crops.  i 

5.  American  Fallow-Crop  new  Methods;  with  and  without  Maize. 

6.  Clover  Seed. 

7.  Bean  Drill. 

8.  Sowing  Wheat  on  Clover. 

9.  Of  Farm-yard  Manure. 

10.  Cattle  Stalls. 

II.  Barns. 

12.  Ice  Houses. 

Then  follow  Intimations  on  Manufactures,  &c. 

The  Sketches  are  illustrated  with  various  plans  and  tables;  many 
curious  and  interesting  notes  are  annexed,  partly  by  the  author,  and 
partly  by  an  agricultural  friend  in  England;  and  the  various  sub- 
jects are  apparently  discussed  with  great  practical  skill  and  good- 
sense.  The  Intimations  form  a  pleasing  part  of  the  publication, 
and  bespeak  a  mind  at  once  reflecting,  patriotic  and  ingenious. 

The  author  of  this  very  respectable  publication,  we  are  informed, 
is  John  Beel  Bordley,  Esq. 


REVIEW. 


547 


Art.  VII.  Treatise  on  the  Yellow  Fever;  shelving  its  Origin,  Curt 
and  Prevention.  By  Joseph  Browne.  New-York.  Argus-Office , 
1798.  pp.  31.  8vo. 

THERE  is  hardly  any  ppint  on  which  medical  writers  are 
more  agreed,  than  ascribing  much  of  the  epidemic  influence 
of  distempers  to  some  chemical  alteration  in  the  atmosphere.  The 
attention  of  physicians,  which  has  of  late,  in  America,  been  roused 
to  explore  the  causes  of  yellow  fever,  plague  and  pestilence,  has 
traced  these  varied  forms  of  sickness,  generally,  to  a  vitiated  con- 
dition of  the  air  which  the  people  breathe.  This  ancient  opinion, 
on  which  there  are  some  excellent  observations  in  the  works  of 
Hippocrates,  has,  until  very  lately,  been  expressed  in  terms  as  ge- 
neral and  indefinite  as  in  the  time  of  the  Greek  physician. 

Within  a  few  years,  attempts  have  been  made,  and,  we  hope, 
not  without  encouragement  and  success,  to  analize  the  atmosphere 
a  little  more  minutely  than  had  been  done  before,  and  to  refer 
morbid  phenomena  to  certain,  precise,  and  known  chemical 
changes  in  the  air.  A  number  of  writers  have  offered  the  fruits 
of  their  speculations  and  labours  to  the  public,  some  of  whose  per- 
formances we  have  noticed  in  the  progress  of  our  work.  Mr. 
Brow  ne  is  one  of  those  who  undertake  to  shew  the  exact  condi- 
tion of  atmosphere  necessary  to  produce  yellow  fever,  and  diseases 
of  a  similar  nature  and  type.  In  the  first  section  of  his  work,  he 
endeavours  to  assign  the  cause  of  yellow  fever,  which  he  makes 
to  consist  in  heat,  and  a  deficiency  of  oxygenous  air,  or,  as  he  calls 
it,  animal  vital  air ;  or  a  surplusage  of  azotic,  or,  as  he  terms  it, 
vegetable  vital  air. 

If  we  understand  Mr.  Browne  aright,  he  considers  the  atmos- 
phere chiefly  a  chemical  compound  of  these  two  airs  (p.  7.);  and 
"  when  any  portion  of  atmospheric  air  comes  in  contact  with  any 
f  *  substance  that  has  a  greater  affinity  with  either  of  its  component 
"  parts,  than  these  parts  have  for  each  other,  a  decomposition  of 
"  this  portion  takes  place,  and  a  new  union  is  formed."  (P.  9.) 
The  blood,  passing  through  the  lungs,  attracts  the  animal  vital 
air,  or  decompounds  a  portion  of  atmosphere  proportionate  to  the 
oxygene  absorbed.  By  this  means,  this  acidifying  principle  taken 
in,  overcomes  and  corrects  the  tendency  of  animal  bodies  towards 
an  alkalescent  or  putrid  state. 

He  seems  to  consider  oxygene  as  neutralizing  blood  in  the  same 
manner  that  carbonic  acid  neutralizes  lime;  and,  of  course,  "  the 
"  blood  is  less  or  more  acrid,  or  fit  for  the  purposes  of  life,  as  it  is 
"  more  or  less  neutralized  with  animal  vital  air,  which  is  the  basis 
"  of  acidity."  (P.  1  fc .)  Thus  it  happens,  that  if  the  blood  is  not 
sufficiently  oxygenated,  not  only  itself,  but  the  secretions  from  it. 


$4§  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 

become  exceedingly  alkaline  and  acrid;  particularly  the  bile, 
which,  being  secreted  irom  venous  blood,  and,  consequently,  aU 
ways  of  an  alkaiine  quality,  may  occasionally  become  so  acrid,  by 
a  deficiency  of  animal  vital  air  to  neutralize  it  and  the  heat  of  the 
season,  as  to  produce  all  forms  of  febrile  distempers,  from  fever 
and  ague  to  plague  itself.  -  f 

In  short,  whenever  there  is  not  oxygene  enough  to  saturate 
with  its  acid,  that  alkaline  humour,  the  bile,  yellow  fever  and  its 
kindred  diseases  are  brought  on  by  the  acrimony  and  putrescency 
of  the  liver.  In  consequence  of  which  Mr.  Browne  denominates 
his  animal  vital  air,  the  "  grand  corre6tor  of  putrescency." 

Such  is  the  author's  idea  of  the  cause  of  the  disease  upon  which 
he  treats.  Without  animadverting  much  upon  the  truth  or  pro- 
bability of  such  an  account,  we  should  be  glad  to  learn  from  Mr. 
Browne  the  proofs,  that  the  two  gases  forming  the  principal  part 
of  the  atmosphere,  are  ordinarily  in  a  state  of  chemical  union,  as 
we  believe  it  to  be  generally  understood  among  men  of  science, 
that  they  are  diffused  through  each  other,  but  not  chemically  com- 
bined. We  do  not  see,  as  clearly  as  our  author,  the  alkalescency 
of  the  blood,  nor,  if  we  could  see  it,  are  we  satisfied  that  alkale- 
scency denotes  putridity.  The  analogy  of  lime  and  carbonic  acid, 
adopted  to  explain  the  operation  of  oxygene  upon  blood,  and  upon 
bile,  and  the  effects  of  both,  and  particularly  the  latter,  when  de- 
prived, more  or  less,  of  animal  vital  air,  seems  to  us  very  unhap- 
pily chosen,  and  calculated  directly  to  mislead  the  mind.  Such 
remote  analogies  as  these  are  little  adapted  to  promote  the  inter- 
ests of  science. 

After  giving,  from  books,  various  accounts  of  diseases  brought 
on  by  vapours  exhaling  from  putrefying  substances,  which  Mr. 
Browne  thinks  are  illustrations  of  his  doctrine  of  a  redundancy  of 
vegetable  vital  air,  he  proceeds,  in  the  next  place,  to  treat  of  the 
cure  of  yellow  fever.  As  he  thinks  too  little  oxygene  in  the  at- 
mosphere will  not  acidify  the  blood  enough,  and  then  the  bile 
will  be  increased  in  quantity,  and  become  of  a  more  alkaline  and 
acrimonious  quality,  promoting  putrefaction,  exciting  fever  and 
ague,  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  bilious  fever,  plague,  &c.  the  primary 
object  of  the  physician  will  be  to  empty  the  contents  of  the  bowels, 
and  throw  into  the  atmosphere  an  additional  quantity  of  oxygen- 
ous air.  Without  advising  any  particular  prescription  for  accom- 
plishing the  former,  he  passes  on  to  give  an  account  of  the  decom- 
position of  nitre,  by  means  of  the  sulphuric  acid,  to  accomplish 
the  latter.  He  also  proposes  a  decomposition  of  that  neutral  salt 
by  heat  alone,  by  putting  it  into  a  retort,  and  keeping  them  in  a 
red  heat. 

As  in  the  beginning,  the  fluids  are  particularly  affected,  he  pro- 
poses to  diminish  their  quantity  by  bleeding  in  considerable  quan- 


REVIEW. 


rities,  and  to  repair  their  loss,  by  acescent  liquors  of  a  vegetable 
kind.  And  as  an  expedient  that  possibly  might  answer  in  cases 
where  it  might  be  wished  that  great  quantities  of  vitiated  blood 
could  be  drawn  off,  he  hints  at  the  practice  of  transfusion,  where- 
by good  sound  blood  from  the  veins  (he  ought  to  have  said  the 
arteries)  of  an  healthy  person  or  some  animal,  may  be  poured  into 
the  veins  of  a  patient  who  loses  a  proportionate  quantity  of  bad 
blood.  He  likewise  strenuously  recommends  keeping  up  the  per- 
spiration, but  goes  into  no  practical  details  on  the  subject,  nor  tells 
how  it  best  may  be  effected.  To  remove  non-respirable  air  from 
the  patient's  chamber  or  bed,  Mr.  Browne  proposes  a  condensing 
machine,  of  which  he  has  given  a  figure,  called  an  abstractor, 
which  may  be  useful.  And  he  judiciously  recommends  setting  a 
quantity  of  quick-lime  under  the  beds  of  persons  labouring  under 
yellow  fevers,  &c. 

Lastly,  Mr.  Browne  proceeds  to  the  method  of  preventing  th« 
disorder  of  which  he  treats.  For  this  purpose,  he  recommends 
cleanliness  of  persons,  houses,  streets,  and  docks.  He  advises 
the  planting  of  trees  to  absorb  vegetable  vital  air,  and  evolve  ani- 
mal vital  air.  He  urges  the  importance  of  a  plentiful  supply  of 
good  fresh  water,  and  affirms  the  whole  river  Brunx  could  be 
turned  from  West-Chester  county,  through  the  streets  of  New- 
York.  This  is  a  very  important  recommendation,  and  we  hope  our 
fellow-citizens  will  pay  attention  to  it. 

To  render  the  constitution  as  little  liable  to  pestilential  attacks 
as  possible,  our  author  is  of  opinion,  and  herein  we  think  him  very 
correct,  that  flesh-meats,  and  particularly  fish,  should  be  avoided 
as  food  during  the  dog-days,  as  should  likewise  spirituous  liquors; 
with  the  exception  of  beer,  cyder,  and  wine.  He  cautions  against 
going  to  houses  crowded  with  people,  as  theatres,  &c.  during  hot 
weather;  and  suggests  to  proprietors,  the  hint  of  decompounding 
nitre  in  them  at  such  times. 

With  some  force  and  much  propriety,  he  inveighs  against  the 
wretched  and  abominable  practice  of  interring  the  dead  in  vaults 
and  church-yards,  within  the  city  of  New-York,  and  directs  that 
places  of  interment  should  be  at  some  distance  from  a  city;  and 
corpses  be  covered  with  quick-lime.  And  he  glances  with  a  good 
deal  of  significancy  at  the  preposterous  method  often  employed  of 
making  vessels  on  board  of  which  persons  have  been  lately  sick, 
perform  quarantine.  Mr.  Browne's  concluding  paragraph,  is  em- 
ployed on  the  agitated  question  of  the  contagious  nature  of  yellow 
fever,  which  he  does  not  consider  in  all  cases  contagious;  yet,  in 
certain  cases,  approximating  so  near  to  it,  that  it  becomes  difficult 
to  draw  the  line,  He  seems  to  think  there  is  something  in  it  that 
looks  like  contagion,  and  that  it  is  probable  vegetable  vital  (azotic; 
sir  may  be  absorbed  and  stir  up  mischief  in  the  constitution. 
Fol.  I.  No.  4.  P 


5$o  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


We  shall  just  add,  these  pieces  of  chemical  discussion  please  us. 
We  hope  Mr.  Browne  will  pursue  the  subject.  The  field  of  in- 
quiry is  ample,  ^nd  where  there  is  sarnuch  room,  we  feel  desirous 
he  should  continue  his  labours.  The  septic  or  azotic  part  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  of  all  substances  which  contain  the  basis  of 
vegetable  vital  air,  is  peculiarly  important,  and  we  hope  its  history 
will  ere  long  be  thoroughly  investigated. 


Art.  VIII.  A  Dissertation  (Inaugural )  on  the  Properties  and  Effefls 
of  the  Datura  Stramonium,  or  Common  Thorn-  A p file  ;  and  on  its  Use 
in  Medicine.  By  Samuel  Cooper,  &c.  Philadelphia.  Samuel  H. 
Smith.    1797.  8vo.  pp.  58. 

THE  subject  of  this  dissertation  is  the  plant,  known,  in  different 
parts  of  the  United  States,  by  the  various  namesof  James- 
town-weed, French  chesnut,  stink-weed,  and  moon-weed,  or 
moon-wort. 

Mr.  Cooper  first  delivers  the  history  of  the  stramonium ;  next, 
relates  a  very  considerable  number  of  experiments,  made  with  the 
direct  intention  of  ascertaining  its  virtues;  then,  subjoins  obser- 
vations on  the  experiments  made;  and  concludes  with  some  facts 
and  remarks  on  the  use  of  stramonium  in  medicine.  In  every  part 
of  his  essay,  he  evinces  uncommon  attention,  patience,  and  fide- 
lity, fertility  of  reflection,  and  ingenuity  of  conjecture.  Indeed, 
we  have  not  often  met  with  an  inaugural  essay  which  so  fully 
merits  general  reading.  Notwithstanding,  some  defects  are  ob- 
servable. But  these  seem  rather  aseribable  to  the  limited  period 
allowed  to  the  author  for  this  novel  inquiry,  than  to  any  less  ex- 
cusable cause ; — and  these  imperfections  have  been  acknowledged 
by  himself,  with  a  degree  of  humility  beyond  what  could  fairly  be 
required  of  him.  In  the  hope  that  his  essay  will  be  widely  circu- 
lated, and  excite  others  to  investigate  such  parts  of  the  subject  as 
remain  to  be  explored,  we  shall  be  less  minute  in  our  examination 
than  its  importance  would  otherwise  deserve. 

Mr.  Cooper's  experiments  were  chiefly  limited  to  the  effects  of 
the  leaves  of  the  stramonium.  Some  facts  are  adduced  by  him, 
principally  on  the  authority  of  others,  relative  to  the  operation  of 
the  seeds,  &c.  From  the  concurrent  testimony  which  he  has 
reported,  there  remains  no  doubt  of  the  highly  stimulant  powers 
of  this  plant;  and  that,  judiciously  applied,  it  may  be  advan- 
tageously added  to  the  magazine  of  medical  agents.  The  most 
obvious  imperfection  in  the  experiments,  is  in  those  which  are  de- 
signed to  shew  the  operation  of  the  expressed  juice  of  the  plant 
on  the  vascular  and  nervous  systems,  and  on  the  various  internal 


If 


REVIEW. 


parts  of  animals.  It  is  difficult  to  determine,  from  the  entire  want 
of  comparative  trials  (as,  for  instance,  with  water),  how  much  of 
the  effects  produced  are  peculiarly  attributable  to  the  stramonium. 

The  XXXVIIth  experiment  deserves  to  be  quoted  at  length, 
as  it  exhibits  a  very  curious  and  remarkable  fact. 

Experiment  XXXVII.   (See  p.  30.) 

"  I  obtained  a  dog  that  laboured  under  periodical  twhchings 
*'  or  convulsions,  which  occurred  every  three  or  four  minutes. 
*'  He  appeared  to  be  old;  his  frame  was  emaciated,  his  counte- 
"  nance  dull,  and,  when  he  walked,  his  steps  were  slow  and  irre- 
*'  gular.  To  this  dog  I  gave  a  scruple  of  jhe  extract  of  the  leaves, 
*'  which  was  repeated  several  times.  The  effects  of  the  medicine 
e<  were  frequent  black  stools,  a  frequent  flow  of  darkish  urine, 
*'  thirst,  languor,  and  emaciation  of  the  body.  But  this  treatment 
41  did  not  diminish  his  convulsions.  I  now  remitted  the  medicine 
*'  for  several  weeks.  During  this  period  he  became  fatter,  and 
*'  more  lively  than  I  had  hitherto  seen  him.  Upon  repeating  the 
*'  medicine  in  larger  doses,  similar  effects  as  before,  but  of  a  more 
*'  violent  nature,  were  produced.  His  respiration  became  labori- 
*'  ous  and  slow;  and  his  death  soon  occurred.  Upon  opening  his 
*'  abdomen,  a  large  worm  lay  naked  to  the  view,  except  its  extreme 
8  parts,  which  were  concealed  by  the  intestines.  I  was  much 
#'  astonished,  and  much  delighted,  af  a  discovery  so  unexpe&ed  ; 
*'  and  at  once  concluded,  that  the  worm  had  been  the  cause  of  cofi- 
"  vulsion  in  the  dog.  It  was  of  a  vermilion  colour,  above  a  yard 
"  in  length,  and  nearly  an  inch  in  circumference.  Professor  Bar- 
**  ton,  so  justly  celebrated  for  his  profound  knowledge  of  the  ob- 
jects  of  nature,  is  of  opinion,  that  this  worm  is  a  new  species  of 
"  Ascaris.  He  probably  will  be  induced  to  describe  and  arrange 
*'  it  among  the  vermes. 

"  No  perforation  through  the  intestines  was  obvious ;  they  were 
*■'  full  of  a  yellowish  fluid;  but  not  any  fluid  was  found  in  the  ca- 
(;  vity  of  the  abdomen.  May  we  not  conje&ure,  that  the  worm 
"  perforated  the  intestines  upon  the  first  exhibition  of  the  stramo- 
44  nium,  which,  according  to  Dr,  Rush  and  Dr.  Fowler,  is  offen- 
*'  sive  to  worms.  The  external  surface  of  the  intestines  and  sto- 
"  mach  were  redder  than  natural.  Some  parts  of  the  intestines, 
"  and  much  of  the  mesentery,  appeared  to  be  in  a  gangrenous 
*'  state.  A  small  quantity  of  water  was  found  in  the  ventricles  of 
"  the  brain.  These  last  effects,  I  think,  may,  in  a  great  measure, 
"  be  attributed  to  the  violent  operation  of  the  medicine." 

In  the  course  of  his  observations  on  the  experiments,  which  he 
details,  Mr.  Cooper  seems  inclined  to  ascribe  to  the  thorn-apple 
the  power  of  producing  intermittent  and  remittent  fevers,  by  its 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


peculiar  exhalations.  In  this  opinion  we  can  not  concur.  Nor 
do  we  think  that  much  can  be  derived  in  its  favour,  from  the  cir- 
cumstances which  h::  mentions,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Hecke- 
welder  and  Colonel  Sargent.  The  illness  of  the  former,  and  of 
General  Putnam,  may  be  referred,  with  greater  probability  of  truth, 
to  the  circumstances  under  which  they  had  lived,  previous  to  that 
event;  and  it  will  be  a  sufficient  reply  to  the  sentiment  counte- 
nanced by  the  latter,  that  the  stramonium  delights  to  grow  in  soils 
and  situations  which  are  known  to  be  unfavourable  to  health; 
that  it  appears  to  follow  man  in  his  migrations,  and  to  his  social 
establishments ;  and  that,  though  these  fails  are  found  to  be  fre- 
quent, yet  it  does  not  alw  ays  happen  that  the  greatest  abundance 
of  vegetables  of  this  species  produce  any  bad  effects  on  the  health 
of  persons  living  in  their  immediate  vicinity. 

In  treating  of  the  medicinal  use  of  the  thorn-apple,  Mr.  Cooper 
states  several  interesting  cases,  of  the  epileptic  and  maniacal  kind, 
in  which  it  was  administered  with  some  temporary  benefit.  But, 
as  it  was  employed  in  conjunction  with  other  and  powerful  reme- 
dies, it  is  impossible  to  form  any  certain  conclusions  from  the  facts 
adduced.  The  most  important  part  of  the  practical  information, 
Iiere  presented,  is  contained  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  John  Archer,  of 
Harford-County,  Maryland.  But,  for  this,  we  must  refer  the 
reader,  as  well  as  for  a  variety  of  other  valuable  information,  to 
the  dissertation  itself;  of  which  we  can  not  take  leave  without 
again  bestowing  on  it  our  sincerest  praise. 


Art.  IX.  An  Inaugural  Essay  on  the  Effefls  of  Cold  on  the  Human 
Body.  By  John.  Edmonds  Stock,  &c.  Philadelphia.  Joseph  Gales. 
j 797.  8vo.  pp.43. 

A  MONG  those  who  are  accustomed  to  examine,  or  called 
jfx  upon  to  decide  on  the  merits  of  inaugural  essays,  there  must 
be  very  few  who  are  unapprized  of  the  nature  of  their  situation, 
whose  duty  obliges  them  to  appear  in  this  line  of  authorship.  The 
rursuits  common  to  student?,  and  the  general  embarrassments 
which  result  from  them,  each  must  have,  probably,  experienced 
in  his  turn,  and,  therefore,  be  as  able  to  estimate  the  one,  as  pre- 
pared to  compassionate  the  other.  These  sentiments,  which  so 
naturally  suggest  themselves  to  the  mind,  when  reflecting  on  this 
subject,  should  induce  me"n  not  misled  by  the  affectation  of  humi- 
lity to  lay  3side  those  needless  apologies  which,  as  in  many  similar 
productions,  form  an  unpleasing  part  of  the  essay  belore  us. '  Nei- 
ther is  it  so  generally  .true,  or,  if  true,  so  unavoidable,  that  the 
student  confine  himself  in  his  inaugural  discourse,  to  a  track 


REVIEW.  153 

beaten  plain  by  the  immemorial  passing  of  physicians.  Many 
fields  of  medical  science,  untrodden,  or  but  partially  explored, 
present  themselves  on  all  sides,  and  invite  a  survey,  in  which 
there  is  ample  room  to  expatiate  and  observe.  In  every  direction, 
subjects  of  experiment  multiply  themselves;  for  the  investigation 
of  whose  history  and  nature,  care,  patience,  and  perseverance,  are 
all  the  qualifications  that  seem  necessary  to  be  added  to  the  usual 
attainments  which  precede  graduation.  With  these,  we  have  seen 
many  useful  and  original  discoveries  effected. 

Mr.  Stock's  essay  is  intended  to  comprize,  first,  the  principal 
faffs  relative  to  the  operation  of  cold  upon  the  system,  in  a  healthy 
state;  and,  secondly,  the  application  of  the  facts,  thus  collected,  to 
the  regulation  of  its  use  as  a  remedy  in  a  morbid  state. 

The  author's  primary  intention  is  accomplished  (in  a  manner 
more  satisfactory  for  the  style  in  which  his  narration  is  clothed, 
than  for  the  order  with  which  it  is  conducted),  by  a  miscellaneous 
assemblage  of  facts  and  opinions  from  various  writers ;  which  leave 
no  distinct  impression  on  the  mind,  further  than  that  the  effects' of 
cold  are  very  considerable.  A  similar  imperfection  pervades  the 
second  part  of  his  essay;  which  rather  tends  to  direct  us  in  the  ap- 
plication of  cold,  as  a  remedy,  by  scattered  examples,  and  hetero- 
geneous opinions  of  others,  than  by  any  simple  principle,  rationally 
deduced,  and  practically  applied.  Mr.  Stock,  however,  makes 
great  use  of  the  reasonings  and  authority  of  his  celebrated  precep- 
tor, Dr.  Rush.  Hence,  and  from  his  having  collected  some  facts 
not  generally  known,  and  from  the  number  of  well-known  facts 
to  be  met  with  in  the  small  compass  of  this  essay,  it  may  deserve  to 
be  considered  as  a  publication  of  convenient  reference;  and  as  such, 
merit  to  be  recommended  to  practitioners  not  under  favourable 
circumstances  for  the  consultation  of  numerous  authorities. 


Art.  X.  An  Experimental  Inquiry  into  the  Properties  of  Carbonic 
Acid  Gas,  or  Fixed  Air ;  its  Mode  of  Operation,  Use  in  Diseases, 
and  the  most  cffeftual  Method  of  relieving  Annuals  affeiled-  by  it. 
Being  an  Inaugural  Thesis.  By  Joseph  Jokusc;:,  &V.  Philadel- 
phia.    Ustick.  1797.  pp.  50. 

THE  discoveries  made  within  a  few  years  concerning  the  con- 
stitution and  properties  of  the  aeriform  fluids,  may  justly  be 
called  the  pride  of  modern  philosophy.  The  diligence,  zeal  and 
penetration,  which  have  been  exercised  on  this  subject,  will  re- 
flect lasting  credit  on  many  of  the  inquirers;  and  the  benefits  that 
have  already,  and  are  likely  still  further  to  accrue  to  medicine, 
from  these  improvements,  must  give  pleasure  to  every  lover  of 
mankind. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  author  of  this  dissertation  distributes  his  observations  into 
three  sections.  In  the  first,  he  treats  of  the  manner  in  -which  Cat  . 
ionic  Acid  operates  on  the  animal  body.  In  the  second,  he  delivers 
the  method  of  relieving  animals  apparently  destroyed  by  Carbonic  Acid 
Gas.  And,  in  the  third,  he  speaks  of  the  use  of  Carbonic  Acid  in 
the  cure  of  diseases. 

i.  Presuming  that  the  reader  is  well  acquainted  with  the  che- 
mical constitution  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  our  author  proceeds  to. 
treat  of  the  manner  in  which  it  operates  on  the  animal  system. 
Many  philosophers  had  supposed,  that  this  gas  destroys  life  merely 
by  depriving  the  system  of  oxygene;  but  this  opinion  is  opposed 
by  facts  leading  clearly  to  a  contrary  conclusion.  The  supposi- 
tion of  its  acting  as  a  sedative  is  also  overthrown  by  arguments 
which  firmly  establish  the  stimulant  operation. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  mode  in  which  this  substance  acts  on 
the  living  body,  the  author  made  a  variety  of  experiments  on  him- 
self and  others.  Different  quantities  of  water,  more  or  less  strongly 
impregnated  with  it,  were  taken  into  the  stomach;  and  in  this  way 
it  operated  in  a  very  speedy  and  sensible  manner.  Received  by  in- 
sertion into  the  rectum,  it  produced  effects  very  observable,  but  less 
than  those  taking  place  in  the  stomach.  When  applied  to  the  skin 
under  bed -clothes,  and  afterwards,  in  a  larger  quantity  and  more 
concentrated  state,  by  the  experimenter  entering  a  brewer's  beer- 
tub,  it  operated  so  manifestly  as  to  remove  ail  doubt  of  its  force 
with  respect  to  the  skin.  Admitted  to  the  eye,  it  soon  occasioned 
severe  smarting.  In  a  puppy,  apparently  dead,  a  smalt  quantity 
injected  through  an  opening  in  the  pericardium  instantly  renewed 
the  contraction  of  the  heart.  But  in  no  mode  of  application  did 
the  author  perceive  such  sudden  and  powerful  effects  as  when  he 
inhaled  it  into  his  lungs. 

When  applied  in  the  several  modes  that  have  been  mentioned, 
and  in  moderate  quantity,  the  carbonic  acid  always  produced  a 
greater  or  less  degree  of  the  following  effects.  It  increased  the 
frequency,  fulness,  and  strength  of  the  pulse;  it  raised  the  heat  of 
the  body;  it  produced  exhilaration  of  mind ;  it  excited  throbbing 
of  the  temples;  and,  when  the  dose  was  more  considerable,  there 
took  place  great  distension  of  the  head  and  neck,  redness  and  tur- 
gescence  of  the  face,  heat,  redness  and  protrusion  of  the  eyes,  dim- 
ness of  sight,  and  tendency  to  vertigo.  If  applied  in  still  greater 
quantities,  the  effects  become  highly  deleterious:  the  breathing  is 
rendered  difficult,  laborious,  and  stertorous — the  pupils  are  much 
dilated — languor  and  coma  come  on — convulsive  twitchings  suc- 
ceed— the  pulsations  are  weak,  slow,  and  irregular — the  motion 
of  the  heart  begins  to  fail,  and  soon  entirely  ceases. 

The  similarity  of  these  effects  to  those  arising  from  excessive 
quantities  of  opium,  datura  stramonium,  ardent  spirits,  and  other 
violent  stimulants,  will  easily  be  perceived. 


REVIEW.  |& 

The  author  supposes  carbonic  acid  to  prove  fatal  to  animal  life4 
by  inducing  apoplexy.  This  he  infers  from  the  universal  excite- 
ment that  takes  place;  from  the  obvious  determination  to  the 
brain ;  from  his  own  sensations  of  plethora  about  the  head,  the 
turgescence  of  the.  neck  and  face,  the  distended  or  protruded  state 
of  the  eyes,  the  dilated  pupils,  the  coma,  and  the  laborious  and 
stertorous  respiration.  He  also  infers  it  from  the  turgid  state  of 
the  blood-vessels  of  the  brain,  and  the  effusions  of  bloody  serum 
into  the  ventricles,  in  the  dissection'  of  animals  destroyed  by  this 
poison.  And,  lastly,  from  the  paralytic  effects  which  have  been 
observed  to  arise  from  Exposure  to  less  degrees  of  it. 

2.  In  the  second  section,  the  author  goes  on  to  direct  the  method 
of  relieving  animals  apparently  destroyed  by  carbonic  acid  gas, 
Believing  that  death  is  produced  in  this  case,  "  by  the  violent  im- 
"  pression  of  a  powerful  stimulant  on  the  body,  occasioning  an 
"  affection  of  the  arterial  system,  similar  to  that  in  the  most  in- 
u  flammatory  state  of  fever,  and  a  peculiar  determination  of  the 
"  arterial  action  to  the  brain;"  the  author  prescribes  his  remedies 
on  this  ground.  He  orders  the  jugular  vein,  or  temporal  artery, 
to  be  opened,  a  proper  quantity  of  blood  to  be  drawn,  and  ice, 
snowj  or  very  cold  water,  to  be  applied  to  the  head  and  to  the 
whole  body. 

To  establish  the  propriety  of  this  practice,  on  the  ground  of 
experience,  he  adduces  a  striking  case,  thus  treated  with  success 
in  Philadelphia — the  effects  of  the  same  treatment  repeatedly  tried 
on  cats  subjected  to  this  poison — the  experience  of  the  Russians, 
and  of  the  inhabitants  of  Siberia,  in  favour  of  the  same  plan — andg 
finally,  the  analogy  of  the  successful  management  of  the  drunken 
apoplexy,  by  plentifully  dashing  cold  water  over  the  head  and  the 
whole  body. 

If  arguments  were  wanting  for  that  purpose,  we  might,  from 
the  success  attending  this  mode  of  treatment,  deduce  a  powerful 
objection  to  Dr.  Brown's  principle  of  applying  strong  stimulants 
in  cases  of  great  indirect  debility. 

3.  The  third  section  is  employed  in  exhibiting  the  uses  of  car- 
bonic acid  in  the  cure  of  diseases.  And  here  he  adduces  testimony 
of  its  efficacy  in  typhus,  in  confluent  small-pox,  in  cynanche  ma- 
ligna, in  dyspepsia,  in  the  nausea  and  vomiting  of  fevers,  in 
scurvy,  scrophula,  and  dropsy.  The  use  of  this  remedy  has  alsa> 
been  greatly  extolled  in  phthisis  puimonalis;  but  so  much  contra- 
dictory testimony  is  to  be  found  on  this  subject,  that  further  experi- 
ence is  certainly  necessary  to  adjust  a  number  of  doubtful  points. 
In  calculous  complaints,  the  efficacy  of  this  remedy  deserves  to 
be  rated  very  high;  as  the  Evidence  in  favour  of  it  comes  from  va- 
rious sources,  and  is  altogether  unquestionable.  From  its  specific 
operation  on  the  brain,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  it  would  be 


50  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


very  useful  in  melancholia,  and  depressions  of  mind.  In  worms, 
there  seems  to  be  ground  to  expect  benefit  from  it,  as  malted  and 
other  fermented  liquors  are  said  to  destroy  them.  In  obstinate 
ulcers,  scrophulous  or  scorbutic,  in  cancer,  and  in  gangrene  and 
mortification,  it  has  obtained  a  very  high  character. 

We  feel  pleasure  in  observing  that  much  useful  matter  is  to  be 
found  in  this  dissertation.  The  promises  of  the  preface,  with  re- 
spect to  novelty  and  improvement,  we  apprehend,  will  scarcely  be 
realized  in  the  perusal.  Small  faults  are,  however,  always  venial, 
when  they  are  confronted  by  substantial  merit. 


Art.  XI.  Proceedings  of  theCollege  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia, 
relative  to  the  Prevention  of  the  Introduction  and  spreading  of  Conta* 
gious  Diseases.  Philadelphia.  Dobson.  1798.  8vo.  pp.  37. 

WE  insert  this  title  principally  with  the  design  of  informing 
such  of  our  readers  as  may  be  desirous  of  possessing  the 
transactions  of  this  respectable  body  of  physicians  relative  to  this 
interesting  subject,  how  their  wishes  may  be  gratified.  The  little 
pamphlet  before  us,  corfiprizes  all  the  proceedings  of  the  College, 
in  respect  to  the  importation  of  diseases,  from  August  1793,  to 
August  1 797,  in  a  very  convenient  form;  and  composes  an  essen- 
tial p3rt  of  the  medical  discussions  which  have  arisen  since  the 
first-named  period. 


Art.  XII.  An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of  Sterility  in  both  Sixes;  with 
the  Method  of  Cure.  By  James  Walker,  M.  P.  M.  S.  &c.  Phi- 
ladelphia.   Oswald.    1  797.  8vo.  pp.  22. 

THIS  is  a  very  imperfect  and  unsatisfactory  performance;  and, 
though  short,  unnecessarily  expanded.  The  mistake,  rela- 
tive to  Noah,  (p.  1 7.)  reminds  us  of  a  question  seriously  pro- 
posed, for  forensic  disputation,  by  a  collegian,  whose  incredulity 
surpassed  his  memory — "  Whether  Noah  was  ever  in  the  whale's 
"  belly r" 


(   557  ) 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  January,  1 798, 
made  by  Gardiner  Baker,  in  the  Cujiola  of  the  Exchange,  in, 
the  City  of  New- York, 


Days.Thermom.  obferved 

Prevail. 

of  the  at 

winds. 

Mon. 

Sun-rife. 

a  P.  M. 

7  M.  2  E. 

1 

36 

37 

E 

E 

2 

31 

37 

W 

W 

3 

32 

34 

N  VV 

VV 

4 

25 

31 

N  E 

N  E 

5 

3* 

31 

N 

N 

6 

^7 

33 

N 

N. 

7 

21 

3° 

N 

N 

8 

20 

29 

N  E 

E 

9 

34 

39 

S  VV 

W 

10 

28 

36 

YV 

w 

1 1 

i5 

23 

N 

N  VV 

12 

20 

33 

W 

S  W 

i3 

28 

41 

s  w 

s  w 

i4 

30 

44 

S  E 

•  s 

i5 

37 

46 

S 

s 

16 

45 

51 

S  W 

s  w 

i7 

36 

44 

vv 

w 

18 

30 

34 

N  W 

N  VV 

19 

'5 

25 

N  W 

s  w 

20 

24 

32 

S  W 

VV 

si 

33 

42 

s  w 

w 

22 

34 

41 

S  E 

s 

23 

23 

i7 

N  E 

N  W 

24 

22 

W 

VV 

25 

24 

35 

S  W 

s  w 

26 

28 

34 

N  E 

N  E 

27 

33 

22 

N  E 

N  E 

28 

16 

20 

N  W 

W 

29 

17 

23 

N 

E 

3° 

24 

3i 

W 

W 

31 

30 

31 

N  W 

N  VV 

*g    1  Barometer  obferved  at 


0 

Sun-rife. 

3  P.  M. 

2 

29 

79 

29 

59 

1 

T 
* 

29 

47 

29 

47 

2 

29 

02 

29 

oz 

29 

70 

29 

03 

29 

22 

29 

34 

I 

29 

63 

29 

7° 

2 

30 

4 

30 

4 

I 

I 

30 

4 

29 

90 

2 

29 

40 

29 

3i 

29 

37 

29 

3* 

2 

29 

5° 

29 

45 

2 

29 

68 

29 

6S 

1 

I 

29 

79 

29 

79 

I 

I 

29 

87 

29 

87 

2 

29 

77 

29 

70 

2 

29 

40 

29 

49 

2 

29 

69 

29 

77 

2 

30 

30 

3 

30 

3 

29 

0  - 
01 

j 

29 

43 

29 

36 

29 

5° 

29 

60, 

I 

I 

29 

57 

29 

20 

I 

I 

29 

18 

29 

40 

2 

29 

70 

29 

68 

I 

I 

29 

60 

29 

47 

2 

29 

43 

29 

3i 

2 

29 

37 

29 

20 

2 

29 

38 

29 

58 

I 

r 

29 

95 

29 

95 

I 

1 

30 

2 

30 

2 

29 

93 

29 

93 

Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  January,  1  798. 
Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,         deg.  37    3  hundj 
Do.         do.        of  the  do.       at  a  P.  M.  33  16 

Do.        do.  .      of  the  do.       for  the  whole  month,   30  9 

Greateft  monthly  range  between  the  1 6th  and  24th,  38  o 

Do.  do.    in  24  hours,  between  the  22d  and  23d,  24    q  « 

Four  days  it  rained,  and  but  a  fmall  quantity  has  fallen. 
Three  days  it  l'nowed,  and  about  23  inches  have  fallen. 
'Warmed  day  the  1 6th.    Coldeft  day  the  24th. 
Tel.  I.  A'o.  4.  Q 


s;8  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  February,  i  798. 


Days.Thermom.  oblcrvcd 

1  Prevail. 

Clear 

>> 

T3 

Barometer  obferved  at 

of  the  at 

1  winds. 

Mod 

Sun-rife. 

I  jP.M. 

7  M 

E. 

U 

Sun-rile. 

2  r\  IV1« 

I 

26 

40 

w 

N  w 

I 

2(^  60 

29  57 

2 

30 

44 

s  w 

s  w 

29  50 

29  30 

3 

32 

39 

M  VV 

N  VV 

29  44 

29  57 

4 

32 

42 

s  w 

s  w 

I 

29  34 

29   I  £ 

5 

28 

28 

N  E 

N  VV 

j 

29  29 

29  50 

6 

22 

40 

s  vv 

s  vv 

I 

I 

29  53 

29  30 

7 

29 

21 

N  E 

X  E 

29  32 

29  46 

8 

O 

12 

N 

N 

29  93 

30 

9 

3 

'  5 

N 

K 

30  4 

IO 

10 

26 

X  W 

S  W 

30 

29  9r 

1 1 

28 

34 

s 

s 

29  53 

29  40 

12 

3° 

33 

•N 

N  W 

I 

2 

29  50 

29  56 

J3 

22 

26 

N  E 

N"  E 

2 

29  63 

29  59 

'4 

26 

28 

H  E 

N 

2 

29  45 

29  40 

35 

25 

28 

N'  W 

W 

2 

29  73 

29  80 

16 

21 

29 

■  W 

NT  W 

Z 

I 

29  95 

30  1 

17 

19 

23 

N  E 

N  E 

2 

30  10 

30  13 

18 

12 

24 

N 

N 

30  25 

30  28 

*9 

14 

23 

M  E 

M  E 

£ 

I 

30    *  O 

30  1 3 

so 

32 

33 

E 

E 

29  85 

29  79 

21 

33 

34 

N  E 

N  E 

2 

29  90 

29  90 

22 

34 

41 

N  W 

W 

I 

I 

29  52 

29  52. 

*3" 

32 

4° 

W 

S 

I 

I 

29  75 

29  50 

24 

33 

38 

N  E 

N  E 

2 

29  50 

29  52 

25 

33 

36 

N  E 

N 

2 

29  47 

29  39 

26 

'  33 

37 

M  \V 

V  VV 

2 

29  46 

29  50 

27 

26 

36. 

N  VV 

N  VV 

2 

29  60 

29  57 

28 

26 

37 

2N 

N 

2 

29  72 

29  72 

Results  of  Meteorological  Observations  for  February,  1798. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,  deg.  14  6  hund. 
Da.          do.       of  the          do.       at  a  P.  M.                31  8 

•        Do.  do.       of  the  do.       for  the  whole  month,    27  57 

Greateft  monthly  range  between  the  ad  and  8th,  44  o 

Do.  do.    in  24  hours,  between  the  8th  and  9th,  29  o 

Two  days  it  rained,  and  a  fmall  quantity  has  fallen. 
Five  days  it  fnowed,  and  about  fifteen  inches  have  fallen. 
Warmeft  day  the  2d.    Coldeft  day  the  8th. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY.  559 


METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  for  March,  1 798. 


Days 

Thermom.  obferved 

Prevail. 

t  lear. 

Rarnmeter  obferved  at 

ot  the 

at 

winds. 

0 

a  f .  m. 

iVIon  • 

Sun-rife. 

*  P.  M. 

6M.j 

Sun-rife. 

j 

28 

33 

E 

2 

29  OO 

29  80 

2 1 

xx 

J3 

E 

£ 

2 

29  SO 

29  27 

3 

26 

X  X 
55 

N 

W 

VV 

2 

29  70 

29  72. 

4 

**7 

s 

W 

s  w 

2 

29  70 

29  66 

29  05 

29  9^ 

5 

35 

x8 
5° 

n 

N  V; 

2 

A 
\J 

z3 

26 
3° 

M 

E 

N  E 

2 

20  7 

30  4 

7 

-7 

41 

E 

N 

2 

29  71 

29  55 

0 
0 

3° 

r  t 

5 1 

s 

W 

S  W 

2 

29  43 

29  39 

9 

27 

2  A 

34 

E 

N  E 

29  75 

29  5b 

2  O 

2 1 

i4 

g 

\V 

N  E 

29  43 

29  50 

I  I 

33 

49 

E 

5 

2 

29  52 

29  14 

2  2 

3° 

37 

N 

w 

N  W 

1 

I 

29  1.8 

29  37 

*3 

^° 

41 

W 

2 

29  52 

29  52. 

*4 

36 

A  7 

4/ 

<j 

w 

s 

1 

I 

29  53 

29  30 

J5 

A  2 

28 
5° 

3 

N  W 

2 

29  24 

29  25 

16 

26 

3U 

j  O 

N 

W 

N  W 

2 

29  47 

29  60 

1 7 

20 

4l 

w 

W 

2 

29  83 

29  6 1 

i  O 

2  1 
34 

A  O 

2 

29  70 

29  69 

19 

2.  2 

2.  c 

5 

E 

E 

2 

29  67 

29  48 

20 

2  r» 

4y 

N 

W 

N  W 

2 

29  29 

29  29 

2 1 

5W 

J  u 

E 

N  E 

2 

29  24 

20  or 

22 

26 

*r+ 

N 

W 

N  W 

2 

29 

29  29 

34 

45 

S 

w 

S 

2 

29  00 

29  63 

s4 

40 

47 

E 

E 

2 

29  43 

29  15 

25 

39 

'44 

w 

S  E 

1 

1 

28  93 

28  95 

26 

36 

49 

N 

w 

W 

2 

29  22 

29  34 

27 

45 

52 

N 

w 

N  W 

1 

I 

29  50 

29  58 

28 

37 

5i 

E 

S  E 

2 

29  89 

29  96 

29 

41 

47 

E 

E 

29  97 

29  9.7 

30 

39 

62 

N' 

E 

S 

1 

I 

29  93 

29  80 

Ji 

51 

70 

S 

S 

2 

29  76 

29  70 

Results  of  Meteorological  Ohservations  for  March,  1 798. 

Mean  temperature  of  the  Thermometer  at  fun-rife,         deg.  34  4  hund. 

Do.          do        of  the          do.       at  a  P.  M.               43  10 

Do.          do.       of  the          do.        for  the  whole  month,  38  57 

Oreateft  monthly  range  between  the  6th  and  31ft,                 47  o 

Do.                    do.     in  24  hours,  on  the  30th                   23  C 
Six.  days  it  rained,  and  a  large  quantity  has  fallen. 
"Warmeft  day  the  31ft.    Coldell  day  the  6th. 


(    S<5o  ) 


A  Table  exhibiting  the  number  of  Patients  received  into  the  New- 
York  Hospital,  in  each  month,  their  Diseases,  and  the  event  of  each 
Case. 


1798. 


DISEASES. 

Remain. 

( r  /-km  1 1  ff 

irom  mil 

Receiv. 
this 

•a 

-3 

Dif.  Dif 
and 

unucr  V^aiC* 

Medical. 

Month. 

Month. 

3 

tj 

s 

Eloped. 

lJr  1  f-  1  1  I       !  (  I  ,    1   1  J 
J                     I  >    1  1  '   '  .  J  1  -1 

7 

1 0 

4 

1 

I  £ 

■flu  1  tea 

2 

4 

1 

s 

Mania 

z 

/ 

Dyspepsia 

I 

l 

2 

Gonorrhoea 

3 

3 

Apoplexy 

I 

I 

Anasarca 

3 

1 

4 

Catarrh 

4 

3 

2 

c 

Diarrhoea 

2 

2 

Rheumatism 

1 1 

3 

6 

8 

Syphilis 

7 

9 

6 

10 

Enteritis 

1 

1 

Intermit.  Fever 

2 

Amenorrhoea 

1 

1 

Surgical. 

Fracture 

5 
6 

7 

Syphilis 

10 

3 

'3 

Sore  Leg? 

7 

2 

18 

Frozen  Limbs 

6 

1 1 

4 

I 

5  by de- 

7 

Wound 

1 

3 

sire. 

4 

Ophthalmia 

3 

3 

Contusion 

1 

1 

2 

Tumor 

1 

1 

Lumbar  Abscess 

1 

I 

Fistula  in  Ano 

1 

1 

Burn 

1 

1 

Result  for  January,  I  798. 

Remaining  from  last  month,  go 

Received  this  month,  67 

—157 

Cured,  -37 

Died,   5 

Discharged  by  desire,  5 

Under  care,  110 

 »57 


HOSPITAL.  |6t 

February,  1798. 


Medical. 

Remain, 
from  lad 
Month. 

Receiv. 

this 
Month. 

Cured. 

Died. 

Dif.  Dif. 

and 
Eloped. 

Under  Care. 

Rheumatism 

8 

I 

7 

2 

Syphilis 

IO 

4 

6 

I  elop. 

7 

Pneumonia 

12 

8 

S 

2 

13 

Mania 

7 

I 

2 

6 

Tetanus 

I 

1 

Ascites 

5 

I 

4 

r 

2 

Gonorrhoea 

I 

1 

A  via Qii  rp5i 

4 

2 

1 

1 

J-/  Y      L'L  L.>.  Kt 

j 

Oof  OfrU 

5 

3 

2 

Intermit.  Fever 

I 

1 

Diarrhoea 

2 

2 

SURGI 

C  A 

L. 

Sore  Legs 

18 

2 

3 

17 

Syphilis 

*3 

I 

0 

8 

Frozen  Limbs 

7 

3 

3 

7 

White  Swelling 

3 

3 

Hum 

1 

1 

2 

Wound 

4 

1 

3 

2 

Fracture 

7 

+ 

3 

Ophthalmia 

3 

1 

I 

1 

Contusion 

2 

Tumor 

1 

1 

Fistula  in  Ano 

j 

Result  for  February,  1 798. 


Remaining  from  last  month,     ....    i    ...  110 

Received  this  month,  31 

 141 

Cured,  52 

Relieved,  r 

Died,  4 

Discharged  by  desire,  .1 

Eloped,  1 

Under  care,   '.82 

 141 


Scs  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


March,  1798. 


DISEASES. 

Remain, 
fromlaft 

Receiv. 
this 

-c 

V 

^  [Dif.  Dif. 
m  1  and 

Under  Care. 

Medical. 

Month. 

Month. 

O 

9  1  Eloped. 

Rheumatism 

2 

1 

3 

Syphilis 

7 

1 

4 

Pneumonia 

!3 

3 

7 

Mania 

6 

1 

7 

Ascites 

2 

1 

I 

2 

(.gonorrhoea 

1 

1 

2 

Anasarca 

1 

7 

Dyspepsia 

1 

i  relic  v. 

1 

Catarrh 

5 

4 

3 

Tntft'mit  I'Pvpr 

. '  111     1  i    .  i  1  .    X  C  V  CI 

1 

1 

Diarrhoea 

2 

: 

1 

Jaundice 

•it  i 

1 

Debility 

1 

1 

.raisy 

1 

1 

SURGIC  A 

L. 

Sore  Legs 

4 

3 

1  dis. 

17 

Syphilis 

8 

3 

4 

ielop. 

6 

Frozen  Limbs 

7 

5 

2 

2  ■ 

8 

White  Swelling 

3 

3 

Burn 

2 

1 

1 

Wound 

2 

I 

2 

r 

Fracture 

3 

3 

4 

2 

Ophthalmia 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Scrophula 

1 

r 

Fistula  in  Ano 

1 

1 

Empyema 

1. 

I 

Disordered  Spine 

1 

1 

Cancer 

2 

2 

icfW/      March,  1 798. 


Remaining  from  last  month,  .'  .    .  82 

Received  this  month,    .    .    .  ,.    .  39 

— 121 

Cured,   35 

Died,     ............    .    .    .    .  2 

Incurable,   1 

Removed  to  the  Aims-House,  .........  1 

Discharged  disorderly,  1 

•  by  desire,  .    .    .    .  (Ml  2 

Elopedjr  4 

Under  care,  75 


hospital; 


SUMMARY 
For  January,  February,  and  March,  1790. 

There  remained  under  care,  of  last  Year's  Patients,  7 

January  1,  1798,  _  }  9° 

There  have  been  received,  in  the  three  last  months,  137 


Total  327 

Of  these  have  been  cured,   124 

relieved,   1 

have  died,       ►  _  L   11 

Removed  to  the  Aims-House,   1 

have  been  incurable,   1 

have  been  discharged  disorderly,   r 

have  been  discharged  by  desire,   8 

have  eloped,  *   5 

There  remain  under  care,  April  ist,   j$ 

Total  — zzy 


(   *64  ) 


^Return  of  Patients  admitted  to  the  Care  of  the  New- York  City 
Dispensary ',  from  the  1st  of  January,  to  the  1st  of  April,  1798. 


JAGUAR  Y. 


■d 

► 

Removed 

DISEASES. 

a 

u 

~i 

u 

to  the 

Refult. 

& 

= 

U 

-J 

Hofpital. 

oypnilis 

4 

4 

Received  38 

Cough 

2 

2 

Pneumonia 

4 

4 

Cured  29 

Worms 

: 

1 

Relieved  2 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

2 

2  u.  care 

Hospital  2 

Hectic  Fever 

r 

1 

Under  care  5 

Rheumatism 

1 

1 

—38 

Concussion 

2 

2 

Erysipelas 

1 

I 

Catarrh 

s 

4 

5 

Small-pox 

4 

Anasarca 

1 

1  u.  cart 

Spitting  of  Blood 

1 

1 

Sore  Legs 

3 

y  iHos. 

\  2  U.  C. 

Quinsey 

1 

1 

Abscess 

1 

1 

Jaundice 

1 

1  Hos. 

Ophthalmia 

1 

Fluor  Albus 

1 

1 

Atrophy 

1 

I 

FEBRUARY. 

Wounds 

2 

2 

Abscess 

1 

1  Hos. 

- 

Mumps 

1 

1 

Spitting  of  Blood 

1 

1 

2  Hos. 

Jaundice 

2 

Diarrhoea 

2 

2 

Indigestion 

3 

3 

Pulmonary  Consumption 

1 

1 

Burns 

i 

1 

Fluor  Albus 

i 

1 

Hectic  Fever 

1 

1  u.  care 

Catarrhal  Fever 

3 

-> 

Herpes 

1 

Small-pox 

1 

1 

Rheumatism. 

z 

2 

Anasarca 

2 

i 

1  u.  care 

DISPENSARY. 
FEBRUAR  Y  continued. 


565 


* 

[Removed 

DISEASES. 

1 

6 
'A 

Cure< 

u 
fit 

-6 

5 

to  the 
1  Hofpital. 

Refult. 

byphilis 

1 

1 

Received    3 1 

Contusion 

1 

I 

Hooping  Cough 

3 

3 

Cured  25 

Costiveness 

1 

1 

Died  1 

! 

Hospital  3 

Und.car.  2 — 31 

MARCH. 
Pulmonary  Consumption  3 

Syphilis 
Rheumatism 
Erysipelas 
Catarrhal  Fever 
Worms 
Small-pox 
Fluor  Albus 
Abscess 
Head-ach 
Herpes 
Mumps 
Dysentery 
Indigestion 
Scald  Head 
Pneumony 
Colic 


3 

1 

2 

2 

5 

3 

3 

3 

7 

7 

1 

1 

8 

8 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

3 

3 

1 

M 

iHos. 
I  u.  c. 


Received  43 


Cured 

[Relieved 
Hospital 
Under  Care  1  * 
-43 


40 
1 
z 


SUMMARY. 

Admitted,  lit 

Cured,  .    ...    f    ...  94 

Relieved,   3 

Removed  to  the  Hospital,   6 

Died,                                                          ,    -  .  t 

Under  care,  »  ,.   8 

Total  1 1* 

HUGH  M'LEAN", 


(    5°?  ) 


MEDICAL  NEWS. 


DOMESTIC. 

UNDER  this  head,  in  our  last  Number,  we  laid  before  the 
public  the  sum  of  our  information  respecting  the  madness 
then  prevalent,  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  among  Dogs.  Since 
that  time,  this  disease,  though  it  has  disappeared  from  many  places 
where  it  was  then  common,  has  shewn  itself  in  various  other 
places,  in  very  different  and  remote  districts  of  New-England. 
Much  mischief  has  been  produced  by  it.  But  our  intelligence  is 
not  sufficiently  particular  to  afford  much  satisfaction  to  the  in- 
quisitive reader.  Such  steps,  however,  have  been  taken,  as  lead 
to  an  expectation  that  no  material  facts  will  eventually  be  with- 
held. In  the  mean  time  we  shall  briefly  state  such  facts  as  have 
been  communicated  to  us. 

From  Rhode-Island  we  learn  that  one  instance  of  death,  from 
the  bite  of  a  mad  dog,  has  occurred  there,  with  all  the  symptoms 
of  hydrophobia;  and  that  another  person  was  likely  to  perish  in 
the  same  way;  and  that  a  yoke  of  oxen  had  been  destroyed  in 
consequence  of  the  bite  of  the  same  dog.  A  third  person  had 
also  been  bitten  by  this  dog,  but  had  not  yet  suffered  any  incon- 
venience from  the  accident. 

In  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts,  many  domestic  animals 
have  been  bitten  by  dogs  supposed  to  be  mad,— and  which  were 
killed  in  consequence, — but  no  injury  has  hitherto  happened  to 
the  creatures  bitten. 

In  Connecticut  the  rabies  had  first  shewn  itself,  in  the  town 
of  Berlin,  (about  twelve  miles  from  Hartford)  in  the  beginning  of 
March;  though  it  had  vanished  from  Hartford,  and  the  places  ori- 
ginally visited  by  it.  We  have  not  heard  whether  any  serious  in- 
juries have  been  sustained  there. 

In  the  neighbouring  town  of  Southington,  the  following  me- 
kncholy  accident  has  just  occurred  from  this  source.  The  ac- 
count is  copied  from  the  Connecticut  Courant  for  April  23. 

"  Hartford,  A/iril  23,  1 797.  Died,  at  Southington,  on  Sunday, 
*'  the  15th  of  inst.  April,  Levi  Woodruff,  aged  43. 

"  The  progress  and  origin  of  his  disorder  will  probably  be 
"  thought  worthy  of  being  recorded. 

"  He  felt  himself  considerably  indisposed  on  Thursday,  was 
*?  affected  with  a  pricking  pain  in  his  ear,  head-ache,  &c.  On 


563  MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


M  Friday  he  was  abroad.  At  evening,  feeling  his  indisposition  in- 
"  crease,  a  physician  was  called  in.— From  a  slight  degree  of  ky- 
"  drojthobia,  the  physician  was  alarmed  with  an  apprehension  of 
"  canine  madness;  but  having  never  heard,  though  a  near  neigh- 
"  bour,  of  the  patient's  having  been  exposed  to  be^itten,  lie  sug- 
"  gested  nothing,  at  that  time,  of  his  fears.  On  the  morning  of  Sa- 
"  turday  he  saw  him  again,  and,  observing  an  increase  of  the  same 
"  symptom,  he  suggested  the  idea  to  the  family.  It  was  then  re- 
"  collected  by  them,  that,  for  a  length  of  time,  the  patient  had  ac- 
*'  customed  a  small  dog,  belonging  to  a  neighbouring  family,  to 
"  lick  an  ulcerated  sore  -within  his  ear — that  four  weeks  previous 
"  to  that  time  the  dog  was  put  to  lick  the  sore — that  the  operation 
*'  was  more  than  commonly  painful,  and  that  a  small  breach  was 
"  made  in  the  skin  of  the  ear,  by  the  tongue  or  teeth  of  the  dog — 
**  that  the  next  day  the  dog  was  affected  with  symptoms  of  mad- 
"  Jiess,  and  the  day  following  was  killed.  No  apprehensions  of 
*'  mischief  were  entertained  at  the  time,  nor  had  it  been  thought 
of  after.  The  physician  was  now  convinced  that  the  disorder 
<*  must  have  proceeded  from  the  virus  infused  by  the  dog;  but 
*•  this  conviction  was  obtained  at  too  late  a  period  to  admit  of  an 
*'  effectual  application  of  remedies.  Through  the  whole  of  Sa- 
*'  turday  he  was  constantly  craving  water;  but  was  thrown  into 
the  most  violent  agitations  and  horror  upon  the  sight  of  it. 
"  Through  the  night  he  was  very  restless.  In  the  morning  his  dis- 
"  order  increased  to  an  height  astonishing  to  all  the  spectators. 
He  continued  in  a  most  distressed  condition  till  sun-set;  and 
"  then  expired,  in  all  the  anguish  which  ever  attends  this  most 
«'  terrible  of  human  disorders. 

"  He  appeared  to  possess  a  considerable  degree  of  reason  through 
"  the  whole  scene — was  perfectly  able  to  distinguish  and  speak  to 
"  every  acquaintance  around  him — and  was  apparently  sensible 
*'  that  his  dissolution  was  fast  approaching. 

*'  A  circumstance  peculiarly  favourable  to  his  friends  and  at- 
,l  tendants,  and  to  be  remembered  by  them  with  gratitude,  was 
u  this — that  he  shewed  no  disposition,  at  any  time,  to  do  the 
41  smallest  injury  or  mischief  to  any  person;  but  was  constant  in 
s'  expressing  the  warmest  and  most  benevolent  wishes  for  the  wel- 
M  fare  of  his  family,  and  of  his  neighbours." 

We  shall  take  leave  of  this  subject,  for  the  present,  with  insert- 
ing an  Extract  of  a  Letter  from  Dr.  Mease,  of  Philadelphia,  to  Mr. 
Smith,  under  date  of  April  3,  17.98. 

"  Probably  you  may  have  seen  an  account,  lately  re-published 
*'  in  the  newspapers,  of  the  use  of  vinegar  in  the  disease  produced 
"  by  the  bite  of  a  mad  dog.  The  same  account  was  published  in 
"  the  year  1 792 ;  and  as  I  was  then  engaged  in  writing  my  Inaugu- 
H  ral  Dissertation  on  that  subject,  I  took  pains  to  ascertain  the  truth 


NEWS. 


569 


*;  of  the  fact.  As  the  cure  by  vinegar  was  said  to  have  been  per- 
"  formed  in  Friuli,  in  Italy,  I  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Mf.  Hall,  Chap- 
"  lain  to  the  English  Factory  at  Leghorn,  and  requested  him  to 
"  inquire  into  the  circumstance  for  me;  which  he  very  kindly 
*'  did;  and,  in  a  letter  dated  the  29th  of  January,  1793,  informed 
44  me,  that  f  the  physicians  of  that  place,  and  of  Rome,  remem- 

*  bered  to  have  seen  the  account  published  in  a  Bologna  Gazette, 

*  three  or  four  years  before;  but  as  it  has  never  made  its  regular 
'  appeaxMice  before  any  medical  society  in  Italy,  it  does  not  merit 

*  attention.'  Count  Leonissa  is  the  physician  who  is  reported  to 
"  have  cured  the  patient  by  large  draughts  of  vinegar;  and  I  think 
"  it  probable,  if  he  had  been  actually  successful,  he  would  not 
"  have  omitted  to  publish  the  case  in  some  of  the  European  jour- 
"  nals;  especially  as  he  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  the  want 
"  of  system  that  exists  upon  the  subject  of  rabies,  and  that  no  re- 
"  medy,  uniformly  or  even  partially  successful,  had  before  been 
"  discovered. — As  the  disease  has  unfortunately  appeared,  of  late, 
"  in  several  instances  to  the  eastward,  and  as  many  physicians, 
*'  and  others,  may  be  induced  to  trust  to  the  vinegar,  to  the  neg- 
*'  lect  of  other  more  powerful  remedies,  probably  this  refutation 
"  of  the  reputed  success  of  that  acid  may  tend  to  save  a  life,  if  in- 
"  serted  in  your  Repository." 

As  epidemics  among  other  animals  besides  men  are  so  rife  at 
present',  we  shall  need  no  apology  for  introducing  whatever  may 
illustrate  their  history.  One  additional  fact  has  been  reported  to 
us  relative  to  the  cat- distemper.  In  Connecticut,  it  has  only  been 
observed  in  the  large  towns;  and  has  no  where,  as  far  as  we  can 
learn,  been  seen  in  country  places.  This  suggests  the  inquiry- 
How  far  has  this  been  the  fact  in  other  States?  We  wish  that  the 
medical  philosophers  of  our  country  may  not  disdain  this  species 
of  investigation. 

The  disease  among  cattle,  of  which  a  very  interesting  account 
is  given  in  our  last  number,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parsons,  has  occurred 
ill  several  other  parts  of  the  country. 

We  learn  that  the  foxes,  in  some  parts  of  Massachusetts  and 
New-Hampshire,  have  been  affected  with  a  disorder,  the  winter 
past,  which  rendered  them  an  easy  prey  to  the  hunters.  Of  the 
particular  symptoms,  we  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  correct 
account.  1 


We  are  assured  also,  that  geese,  in  some  of  the  Eastern  States, 
have  been  evidently  affected  in  a  singular  manner.  Many  have 
been  seen  to  seize  some  object  with  their  bills,  and  adhere  to  it  till 
they  died. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


The  concurrence  of  these  facts  is  curious,  and  deserves  thejtiost 
attentive  obse?vation  and  research. 


Hartford,  January  i.  As  it  has  been  unusually  healthy  during 
the  year  past,  we  have  obtained  from  the  sexton,  an  account  of  the 
deaths  which  have  taken  place  within  the  first  and  second  societies 
of  Hartford,  in  A.  D.  1 797.  These  two  societies  comprise  all  the 
town  except  the  society  of  West-Hartford.  The  whole  number 
of  deaths,  from  the  1st  of  January,  1797,  to  the  ist  oLJanuary, 
J  798,  is  59,  viz. 

.From  60  years  and  upwards, 

Between  60  and  30, 

Between  10  and  30, 

Under  10, 


Total, 

In  A.  D.  1 794,  there  died  in  the  same  limits, 
In  1795, 
In  1 796, 
in  1797, 


*3 
10 

9 
a? 

59 

1 10 
89 
75 
59 


2f em-Haven,  January  4,  1  798. 


January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

|une 


5 

July 

6 

August 

6 

September 

1 

October 

6 

November 

8 

December 

Total  58. 

Males  29.  Females  29.  Whites  52.  Blacks  6.  First  Society 
14.  White-Haven  8.  Fair-Haven  10.  Episcopal  Society  14. 
Of  neither  of  the  above  Societies  8.    Strangers  4. 


Under  a  year 
Between 


16 

6 

o 

3 

5 
6 


Between 


50  &  60 
60 — 70 
70 — 80 
80 — 90 
90—100 


1&5 
5 — 20 
20 — 30 
30—40 
40—50 

Under  1  and  above  60 — 33 

Under  1  and  above  70 — 29 

Between  1  and  60 — 25 

Between  1  and  70 — 29 
A  common  mortality  for  the  city  of  New -Haven  in  a  year  is 
60,  or  one  to  seventy  souls. 


NEWS. 


Two  fifths  of  the  deaths  are  under  five  years;  two  fifths  between 
H ve  and  sixty ;  and  one  fifth  upwards  of  sixty.  The  year  last  past, 
the  number  of  deaths  among  aged  people,  has  been  above  the 
usual  proportion. 

The  number  of  our  citizens  who  die  abroad  is  about  the  same 
as  that  of  strangers  buried  in  the  city. 

Albany,  March  a,  1798-  At  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Agriculture,  Arts,  and  Manufactures,  of  the  State 
of  New-York,  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  officers  for 
the  ensuing  year,  viz. 

Robert  R.  Livingston,  President. 

Ezra  L'Hommedieu,  Vice-President. 

John  Taylor,  Treasurer. 

Samuel  L.  Mitchill  and  Benjamin  De  Witt,  Secretaries. 
Robert  R.  Livingston,  Simeon  De  Witt,  Samuel  L.  Mitchill, 
Stephen  Lush,  and  William  S.  Johnson,  Committee  of  Publica- 
lion. 

The  annual  Address,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Session,  was 
delivered  by  Dr.  Mitchill. 

A  number  of  respectable  gentlemen,  from  different  parts  of  the 
State,  have  since  been  elected  members;  and  several  important 
communications  have  already  been  received,  and  read  belore  the 
Society — among  which  arc  Sir  John  Sinclair's  Address  to  the 
Board  of  Agriculture  of  Great-Britain,  on  the  20th  of  June,  1797; 
and  a  description  of  the  remarkable  salt  springs,  in  the  western 
part  of  our  State,  with  an  analysis  of  the  waters,  and  an  account 
of  the  salt  manufactories  at  present  established,  bv  Benjamin  De 
Witt,  M.  D.  of  Albany. 


To  the  Citizens  of  the  United  States. 
In  consideration  of  the  general  utility  that  would  result  from 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  being  enabled  to  procure,  free 
•from  expence,  an  analysis  of  any  ores  or  mineral  substances, 
"  The  Chemical  Society  of  Philadelphia,"  on  the  20th  of  June, 
1797,  passed  the  following  resolution: 
"  Resolved, 

*f  That  a  committee  of  five  members  be  appointed,  whose  busi- 
"  ness  it  shall  be  to  notify,  in  the  different  papers  of  the  United 
"  States,  and  by  circular  letters,  that  they  will  give  an  analysis  of 
"  all  minerals  which  may  be  sent  them." 

In  conformity  to  the  above  resolution  we  hereby  give  notice, 
that  we  will  analize  any  mineral  which  may  be  sent  to  us,  pro- 
vided it  be  forwarded  free  of  expence,  and  accompanied  with  an 
account  of  the  place  and  situation  in  which  it  was  found. 


57* 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Committee. 
Thomas  Smith,  No.  19,  North  Fifth-street. 
James  Woodhouse,  1  3,  Cherry-street. 
Samuel  Cooper,  1 78,  South  Front-street. 
Adam  Seybert,  191,  North  Second-street. 
John  C.  Otto,  37,  North  Fourth-street. 


Professor  Baeton  of  Philadelphia,  who  has  lately  published  * 
small  trad  on  the  Vegetable  Materia  Medica  of  our  country,  is 
preparing  for  the  press,  a  work  to  be  intituled  "  Strictures  on  the 
u  Arrangement  of  the  Materia  Medica,  adopted  by  Dr.  Darwin 
"  in  his  Zoonumia." 


Dr.  Currie  of  Philadelphia,  whose  work  on  Bilious  Fevers,  an- 
nounced in  our  last  number,  has  since  made  its  appearance,  pro- 
mises a  work  of  considerable  extent  on  the  Yellow  Fever. 


January  19,  1798.     The  American  Philosophical  Society  held 
their  annual  election  of  officers  on  the  first  Friday  of  this  inst. 
when  the  following  were  duly  chosen. 
President — the  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Vice-Presidents — Nicholas  Collin,  D.  D.  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  and 

Dr.  Caspar  Wistar. 
Treasurer— Mr.  John  Vaughan. 

Secretaries — Samuel  Magaw,  D.  D.  Dr.  Adam  Seybert,  Dr.  I. 

C.  James,  and  Mr.  Samuel  H.  Smith. 
Curators — Mr.  Charles  W.  Peale,  Dr.  Benjamin  S.  Barton,  and 

Mr.  Robert  Patterson. 
Class  of  Counsellors  for  three  years — Mr.  Jonathan  B.  Smith, 
Dr.  William  Currie,  William  Smith,  D.  D.  and  Mr.  Jonathan 
Williams,  two  years  from  January,  1 798. 

The  Lancaster  German  Paper  mentions,  that  on  Tuesday,  the 
1  tth  of  January,  1  798,  between  the  hours  of  two  and  three  in  the 
morning,  there  was  felt,  in  that  town  and  its  neighbourhood,  a  se- 
vere shock  of  an  Earthquake,  which  continued  for  several 
minutes.  The  shock  was  accompanied,  it  is  said,  with  a  biaze 
not  unlike  the  burning  of  a  chimney.  To  this  imperfect  account^ 
we  have  been  unable  to  obtain  any  additional  information. 

Dr.  Davidge,  of  Baltimore,  has  lately  published  a  small  work 
on  the  Yellow  Fever;  and  we  are  informed  that  Dr.  Potter,  of  that 
city,  designs  soon  to  publish  a  reply  to  it.  We  anticipate  much 
pleasure  and  improvement  from  the  extensive  discussions  on  thi: 
important  subject,  which  are  now  fast  spreading  through  evti/ 
part  of  our  country. 


NEWS. 


*73 


2$*  following  Article  Is  from  a  Letter,  just  received,  from  Dr.  Brie* 
kell,  of  Savannah,  -whose  Botanical  Communications  we  shall  always 
be  hajijiy  to  admit. 

"  I  here  present  you  with  a  description  of  the  Jeffersonia, 
"  one  among  the  many  anonymous  plants  which  I  have  found  in, 
"  Georgia;  and  which  I  have  named  in  compliment  to  Thomas  Jef- 
"  ferson,  our  Vice-President,  whose  great  political  and  philosophi- 
cal talents  reflect  very  high  honour  on  the  United  States;  and 
"  who,  to  his  immense  stores  of  other  knowledge,  has  added  the 
"  science  of  Botany. 

"Jeffersonia.  Pentandria,  Monogynia.  The  calyx  be- 
"  low,  five  short  oval  imbricated  leaves  corolla  monophyllous,  fun- 
u.  ncl-shaped,  on  the  receptacle,  subpentangular,  bearing  the  fila- 
"  ments  near  its  base,  its  margin  hypocrateriform,  divided  into 
**  five  round  dents  nearly  equal;  style  filiform,  shorter  than  the 
"  petal,  but  longer  than  the  stamens;  the  stigma  quadrifid;  an- 
"  thers  erect,  linear,  sagittated;  fruit  two  univalved,  carinated,  po- 
t(  lyspermous  capsules,  coalesced  at  base,  opening  on  their  tops 
"  and  contiguous  sides,  having  flat  seeds  with  a  marginal  wing. 

M  I  have  observed  one  beautiful  species,  of  this  genus,  which  I 
"  have  named  Jeffersonia  semjiervivens,  Evergreen  Jeffersonia.  It 
"  is  a  shrub  with  round  polished  twining  stems,  which  climb  up 
tl  on  bushes  and  small  trees;  the  petioles  short,  opposite;  leaves 
"  oblong,  narrow,  entire,  evergreen,  acute;  flowers  axillary,  yel- 
"  low,  having  a  sweet  odour.  The  woods  are  full  of  this  delight- 
ii  ful  shrub,  which  is  covered  with  blossoms  for  many  months  ii^ 
H  the  year." 


FOREIGN". 

Paris,  25  Vendcmiaire,  Oclcber  16. 

ASTRONOMY. — The  comet  which  I  discovered  the  27th, 
Thermidor,  at  10  o'clock,  P.  M.  at  the  National  Observatory, 
has  been  seen  the  28th  at  Padua,  by  M.  Taoldo's  nephew,  and  at 
Leipzick  by  M.  Rudiger;  at  Viviers,  on  the  29th,  by  Citizen 
riaugeig  .e;  at  Vienna,  in  Austria,  by  M.  Trattinick;  and  at 
London  by  Mr.  Walker.  It  has  been  also  seen  at  Berlin  by  M. 
Bode;  at  Bremen  by  Dr.  Olbers;  at  Bern  by  M.  Tralles;  at  Mar- 
seilles by  Citizen  Blaupain;  Citizen  Mechain  observed  it,  for  se* 
veral  days,  near  Rhodes. 

The  comet  having  passed  near  the  earth,  I  took  care  to  correct 
the  observations  of  the  parallax. — The  elements  are  calculated  ac- 
cording to  the  analvric  method  of  Citizen  Laplace.  From  my  own, 

Fd.  I.  No.  4.  S  1 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


observations,  and  from  those  of  Citizen  Messier,  I  have  drawn  the 
following  elements: 

The  instant  of  the  passage  of  the  comet  through  the  perilieliony 
the  axst  Messidor,  at  ah.  53m.  52s.  mean  middle  time  at  the  Ob- 
servatory. 

Distance  perihel.   -------  0,52545 

Hodus.  Ascendeus     -    -    -       3290  16  3511 
Perihel.  on  the  orbit    -    -    -    -    49    34  44 

Inclinat.  of  the  orbit.       -    -    -    50    35  50 
The  sense  of  the  motion  retrograde. 

BOUVARD, 

Astronomer  of  the  National  Observatory- 
[Courier  de  V  Europe. 

Paris,  3  Brumaire,  OHober  24.  The  following  article  has  ap- 
peared in  the  Journal  de  Paris 

*'  Citizen  Beauchamp,  who  arrived  at  Trelifond  on  the  26th  of 
"  June,  1797,  returned  to  Constantinople  on  the  4th  of  Septem- 
"  ber.  He  w  rites  to  Lalande,  that  he  surveyed  the  chief  points 
"  of  the  Black  Sea,  which  the  ignorance  of  the  Turks  and  the 
"  jealousy  of  the  Russians  had  hitherto  covered  with  a  veil.  He 
"  has  found  the  latitude  of  Sinope  to  be  4a  deg.  2  min.  instead 
"of  41  deg.  as  it  was  set  down  in  the  best  charts:  so  that  the 
"  breadth  of  the  Black  Sea,  believed  to  be  62  leagues,  is  only  37. 
"  So  considerable  an  error  deserved  to  be  rectified  by  so  zealous 
"  an  astronomer.  Citizen  Beauchamp  bestows  the  greatest  enco- 
"  miums  on  his  pupil,  Charles  Hyacinthe  Receveur,  who,  at  the 
"  age  of  1 8,  calculates  and  observes  in  a  surprising  manner.  They 
M  were  to  have  set  out,  on  the  20th  of  October,  for  Bagdat, 
"  from  whence  they  are  to  go  to  Mascate,  in  Arabia,  where  Citi- 
"  zen  Beauchamp  has  been  appointed  Consul." 

The  following  Articles  of  Medical  Information  are  extratled  or  abridged 
from  t  lie  id  volume  of  the  "  Annals  of  Medicine"  zt-hich  -was  not 
received  in  season  for  a  more  copious  display  cf  particulars. 
A  small  book,  in  the  Italian  language,  was  published  at  Vienna 
in  1797,  by  Count  Berchtold,  giving  an  account  of  a  successful 
method  of  cure,  in  the  plague,  which  has  been  discovered  by 
George  Baldwin,  Esq.  his  Britannic  Majesty's  Agent  and  Consul- 
General  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt.    Mr.  Baldwin  communicated 
his  plan  to  the  Rev.  Lewis  de'  Pavia,  Chaplain  and  Agent  to  the 
Hospital  called  St.  Anthony's,  at  Smyrna;  who,  after  five  years' 
experience,  pronounces  it  to  be  the  most  efficacious  remedy 
hitherto  made  use  of  for  the  space  of  twenty-seven  years,  that  the 
Hospital  has  been  under  his  management. 

The  directions  are  simply  these. — Immediately  after  a  person  is 


NEWS. 


sn 


perceived  to  be  infected  with  the  plague,  he  must  be  taken  into  a 
close  room,  and  over  a  brazier  of  hot  coals,  with  a  clean  sponge 
dipt  in  warm  olive-oil,  his  body  must  be  very  briskly  rubbed  all 
over,  for  the  purpose  of  producing  a  profuse  sweat.  During  the 
friction,  sugar  and  juniper  berries  must  be  burnt  in  the  fire,  which 
raise  a  dense  and  hot  smoke  that  contributes  to  the  effect. 

The  friction -ought  not  to  be  continued  more  than  four  minutes, 
and  a  pint  of  oil  is  enough  to  be  used  at  each  time. 

In  general,  the  first  rubbing  is  followed  by  a  very  copious  per- 
spiration, but  should  it  fail  of  this  effect,  the  operation  may  be 
repeated,  first  wiping  the  body  with  a  warm  dry  cloth;  and  in 
order  still  further  to  promote  perspiration,  the  patient  may  take 
any  warm  sudorific  drink,  such  as  elder-flower  tea,  &c. 

It  is'not  necessary  to  touch  the  eyes;  and  any  other  tender  parts 
of  the  body  may  be  rubbed  more  gently.  Every  possible  precau- 
tion must  be  made  use  of,  to  prevent  the  patient  from  taking  cold, 
such  as  keeping  covered  those  parts  of  the  body  not  directly  under 
the  operation;  nor  must  the  linen  be  changed,  until  the  perspira- 
tion has  entirely  subsided.  The  operation  should  be  repeated  once 
a-day,  till  evident  symptoms  of  recovery  begin  to  appear. 

If  there  are  already  tumors  on  the  body,  they  should  be  gently 
and  more  frequently  rubbed,  till  they  appear  to  be  in  a  state  of 
suppuration,  when  they  may  be  dressed  with  the  usual  plasters. 

The  operation  ought  to  be  begun  on  the  first  appearance  of  the 
symptoms  of  the  disease;  if  neglected  till  the  nerves  and  the  mass 
of  blood  are  affected,  or  a  diarrheea  has  commenced,  little  hopes 
can  be  entertained  of  a  cure;  but  still  the  patient  should  not  be 
despaired  of,  as,  by  an  assiduous  application  of  the  means  proposed, 
some  few  have  recovered  even  after  diarrhoea  had  commenced. 

During  the  first  four  or  five  days,  the  patient  must  observe  a 
very  abstemious  diet;  the  author  allows  only  a  small  quantity  of 
vermicelli,  simply  boiled  in  water.  Nor  must  any  thing  be  taken 
for  the  space  of  thirty  or  forty  days,  except  very  light  food;  as,  he 
says,  an  indigestion  in  any  stage  of  the  disorder  might  be  extremely 
•dangerous.  He  does  not  allow  the  use  of  wine  till  the  expiration 
of  forty  days. 

There  is  no  instance  of  a  person  rubbing  the  patient  having 
taken  the  infection.  He  should  previously  anoint  himself  all  over 
with  oil,  and  must  avoid  receiving  the  breath  of  the  infected  per- 
son into  his  mouth  and  nostrils.  The  prevention  to  be  used,  in 
all  circumstances,  is  that  of  carefully  anointing  the  body,  and  living 
upon  light  and  easy  digestible  food. 

One  of  the  most  ingenious  observations  made  by  Mr.  Baldwin, 
is,  that  among  upwards  of  a  million  of  inhabitants  carried  off  by 
the  plague,  in  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  during  the  space  of  four 
years,  he  could  not  discover  a  single  oil-man,  or  dealer  in  oil. 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


Mr.  James  M'Gregor,  surgeon  to  the  88th  regiment,  corrobo* 
fates  the  statement  given  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Smyth,  of  the  efficacy  of 
the  nitrous  acid  fumigations,  in  arresting  the  progress  of  lever:-, 
usually  denominated  contagious — such  as  the  typhus,  &c.  The 
fumigations  were  extended  not  only  to  the  Hospital,  the  clothes 
and  bedding  of  the  sick,  but  to  the  barrack-rooms;  and  the  usual 
means  of  removal,  separation,  &c.  were  employed.  The  follow- 
ing statement  exhibits  the  progress  of  the  disease,  under  this  new 
treatment. 

From  the  17th  to  the  28th  of  July,  20  cases  appeared ;  from  the 
29th  to  August  4th,  16  cases;  from  the  cthto  the  11th,  10  cases; 
from  the  12th  to  the  1 8th,  8  cases;  from  the  19th  to  the  25th,  3 
cases;  from  the  26th  to  the  1st  of  September,  2  cases;  from  the 
ad  to  the  8th,  4  cases;  and  from  the  9th  to  the  15th,  one  case  ap- 
peared. 

Out  of  sixty-six  patients,  only  the  first  died;  and  though  the 
disease  re-appeared  about  the  20th  of  October,  it  was  soon  van- 
quished by  the  same  means. 

Mr.  William  Simmons,  surgeon  at  Manchester,  in  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Duncan,  recommends  the  use  of  arsenic — prepared  in  the 
manner  directed  by  Dr.  Fowler,  (in  the  cure  of  intermittents)  and 
with  similar  precautions,  for  the  cure  of  the  hooping-cough — cn 
the  credit  of  three  years  experience  of  its  salutary  effect. 

Dr.  J.  Harness,  physician  to  the  British  fleet  stationed  in  die 
Mediterranean  in  the  autumn  of  179.6,  recommends,  in  very  strong 
terms,  the  use  of  the  gastric  fluid  of  the  graminivorous  animals,  in 
the  cure  of  very  bad  ulcers — such  as  those  in  scurvy,  gangrenous 
sores  in  typhus,  &c.  &c.  and  adds,  that  he  has  known  it  succeed  in 
more  than  a  hundred  instances  where  sphacelus  had  occurred. 

Mr.  Stephen  Hammich,  jun.  one  of  the  Assistant  Surgeons  to  the  Royal 
Hospital  at  Plymouth,  in  a  Letter  to  Dr.  Garthshore,  Physician, 
London,  gives  the  fe'lowing  Account  of  the  Benefit  obtained from  the 
e  'eternal  Use  cf  Hops,  in  the  Cure  of  large  sordid  Ulcers. 
"  Having  obtained  permission  from  Dr.  Geach,  senior  surgeon 
"  of  this  hospital,  whose  kindness  and  excellent  advice  I  experience 
kt  on  every  occasion,  to  make  trial  of  common  hops  in  those  wards 
"  which  I  attend  as  his  assistant,  I  have  now  the  satisfaction  of  de- 
"  claring,  that,  during  the  last  six  months,  I  have  seen  very  good 
™  effects  from  hops,  in  poultices  and  fomentations,  applied  to  ul- 
"  cers  of  the  worst  kind,  in  more  than  sixty  patients,  received 
*'  into  this  hospital  from  the  ships  of  war.    Some  of  the  ulcers 
"  proceeded  from   scurvy,  and  some  from  other  causes.  But 
*■  though  all  of  them  have  been  sordid,  foetid,  and  extensive,  yet 


NEWS. 


"  the  fetor  has  soon  been  corrected  by  these  applications,  and  ths 
*'  ulcers  have  ceased  to  spread. 

44  A  large  handful  of  hops  is  to  be  boiled  with  a  quart  of  water, 
M  till  a  strong  decoction  be  formed.  Oat-meal,  with  lard  or  oil, 
*'  is  then  to  be  mixed  with  the  hops  and  the  decoction,  till  the 
*<  poultice  becomes  of  a  proper  consistence.  The  poultice  is  then 
"  applied  to  the  ulcer,  without  any  intervening  lint.  But,  previ- 
"  ously  to  this  application,  the  ulcers  are  directed  to  be  well  fo- 
"  mented  with  the  decoction.  The  pain  proceeding  from  the 
*'  ulcers  is  soon  alleviated,  and  the  ulcers  themselves  soon  cease 
"  to  spread.  They  become  clean,  and  in  a  state  to  be  dressed  with 
"  lint,  or  any  soft  ointment." 

Dr.  John  Wilson,  Physician  at  Spalding,  in  Lincolnshire)  in  a  Letter 

to  Dr.  Duncan,  gives  him  the  following  Account  of  the  good  Effects 

of  the  Argentum  blitvatum,  in  Cases  of  Epilejisy. 

"  After  having  tried  the  various  means  which  are  commonly  re- 
"  commended  in  epilepsy,  without  producing  any  good  effect,  1 
"  have  lately  employed  the  argentum  nitratum,  in  doses  of  two 
"  grains  and  a  half,  three  times  a  day,  with  the  happiest  success. 
"  I  am  now  giving  it  to  a  boy  of  16,  in  that  dos  ,  without  pro- 
M  ducing  any  other  effect  on  the  system  than  a  slight  nausea.  He 
*'  has  had  no  return  of  fits  for  ten  days  past,  though  they  formerly 
"  recurred  two  or  three  times  during  the  day.  He  took  no  other 
"  medicine  whatever,  combined  with  the  argentum,  as  it  was 
«  formed  into  pills  with  bread-crumbs. 

"  I  have  met  with  seme  few  cases  of  dropsy,  arising  from  a  dis- 
"  eased  liver,  in  which  I  have  employed  the  succus  spissatus  ci* 
"  n3ra?,  with  the  best  effects,  after  many  powerful  remedies  had 
*f  failed.  It  promoted  a  flow  of  urine,  and  induced  a  gentle 
«'  perspiration  on  the  body.  The  swelling  of  the  legs  gradually  sub- 
u  sided,  and  the  abdomen  soon  after  became  of  it:,  natural  size. 
"  In  two  cases  where  I  have  employed  it,  there  has  not  been  the 
"  slightest  return  of  the  disease." 

Dr.  Mosman,  of  Bradford,  in  Yorkshire,  in  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Duncan,  gives  him  an  account  of  a  remarkable  case,  in  which 
epileptic  fits  were  arrested,  by  extending  the  jaws,  and  keeping 
the  teeth  asunder. — This  expedient  was  first  attempted,  with 
a  small  piece  of  wood,  to  keep  the  patient  (a  child)  from  biting 
his  tongue.  The  wood  was  afterwards  laid  aside,  and  the  jaws 
kept  open  by  the  fingers  of  an  assistant  forcibly  applied.  The 
fit  was  instantaneously  terminated  by  this  application  of  force  in 
opening  the  jaws;  and  upon  frequent  recurrence  afterwards, 
was  as  often  terminated  in  the  same  manner.  The  progress  of 
some  teeth  was  supposed  to  occasion  the  return  of  the  fits.  Scari- 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


fication  of  the  gum  was  resorted  to,  and  the  fits  no  more  re- 
turned. 


The  following  Observations  were  mtde  by  the  late  Air.  David  Mac- 

liesh,  during  the  Years  1 7  9  ^  and  i  796,  while  lie  was  Surgeon  t« 

the  trfth  Regiment,  then  in  the  Island  of  Corsica. 

"  1.  Relapses  into  paroxysms  of  tertian  intermittent  fevers,  as 
far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe  them  in  Corsica,  take  place, 
almost  universally,  at  intervals  of  8,  14,  2t,  or  a8  days. 

"  2.  In  cases  of  obstinate  tertian  and  quartan  agues,  which  had 
resisted  Peruvian  bark,  and  every  other  medicine  that  occurred 
to  me,  even  moderate  doses  of  arsenic,  I  have  used  opium  in 
substance,  with  the  constant  2nd  uniform  success  of  curing  every 
such  obstinate  case,  one  quartan  alone  excepted.  The  number 
5n  which  I  have  made  the  experiment  is  considerable.  After 
the  usual  evacuation  by  vomiting  and  purging,  I  have  begun 
with  doses  of  three  or  four  grains  of  pure  opium,  tbiee  hours  be- 
fore the  expc&cd  paroxysm.  For  the  second  dose,  I  gave  five  or 
six  grains;  and  I  thus  gradually  augmented  it  till  I  reached  a  dose 
of  twelve  grains,  than  which  I  have  never  given  any  larger.  I 
have  in  no  case  found  any  bad  effects  from  this  practice:  I  have 
observed  it  most  speedily  successful  when  the  Peruvian  bark  has 
failed. 

"  3.  I  have  used  the  zincum  vitriolatum  in  the  intermittents  of 
Corsica,  in  considerable  doses,  and  in  a  great  number  of  cases, 
with  remarkable  success.  I  have  also  used  crude  sal  ammoniac 
with  a  good  deal  of  success. 

"  4.  I  have,  in  forty-two  cases  of  tertian  ague,  after  the  failure 
<~.f  Peruvian  bark,  and  other  cemmon  remedies,  used  Dr.  Fowler's 
coiution  of  anenk:,  by  means  of  which  the  greatest  part  of  them 
were  cured.  The  doses  were,  at  an  average,  fifteen  drops  three 
times  a  day ;  but  sometimes  twenty  were  given.  No  bad  conse- 
quences followed  this  remedy;  which  i  therefore  think  an  useful 
one  in  obstinate  intermittent^. 


Dr.  Thomas  Garnctf,  Professor  of  Physic;,  in  Anderson's  Institution, 
Glasgow,  in  a  Letter  to  Dr.  Duncan,  gives  him  the  following  Ac- 
count of  the  Benefit  he  has  observed  from  the  oxygenated  Muriate  of 
Pot-ashx  etnjiloyed  as  a  Medicine. 

Dr.  G-arnett  had,  for  several  years,  supposed,  that  when  a  defi- 
ciency of  oxvgene  occurs  in  the  system,  that  principle  might  be 
better  supplied  by  means  of  the  oxygenated  muriate  of  pot-ash, 
than  bv  anv  other  method.  The  following  case  gave  him  oppor- 
tunity of  subjecting  his  theory  to  the  test  of  experiment. 

"  A  lady,  aged  33  years,  had  been  for  several  years  affected 
with  symptoms  of  scurvy.    Vegetable  acids,  the  elixir  of  vitriol, 


NEWS. 


and  the  cold  bath,  had  afforded  her  some  irr.perfecT:  relief. — ■ 
She  was  advised  to  inhale  oxygene  gas,  but  that  not  being  done, 
it  was  determined  to  try  the  effects  of  the  oxygenated  muriate 
of  pot-ash.  She  was  directed  to  take  three  grains  of  it,  four 
times  a  day,  in  a  little  water.  As  this  produced  no  uneasiness, 
the  dose  was  increased  to  double  that  quantity.  She  soon  found 
the  smaller  livid  spots  disappear,  and  the  larger  ones  become  less. 
The  strength  became  greater  than  for  years;  her  countenance 
grew  much  clearer,  and  she  was  able  to  take  a  good  deal  of  ex- 
ercise. Her  menstrual  discharge,  which  the  disease  had  ren- 
dered very  profuse,  became  more  natural  in  quantity. 

"  It  is  well  known,  thatabout  75  cubic  inches  of  extremely  pure 
oxygenous  gas  may  be  procured  from  100  grains  of  this  salt, 
by  means  of  heat.  The  oxygene  is  so  loosely  attached,  that  it 
is  disengaged  even  by  the  light  of  the  sun.  Would  not  this  sale 
be  an  usetul  remedy  in  typhus  ?" 

Dr.  Swediaur,  in  a  late  publication,  from  a  variety  of  argu- 
ments, endeavours  to  render  it  probable,  that  mercury,  in  curing 
the  venereal  disease,  as  a  specific  and  sure  remedy  for  syphilis,, 
acts  only  on  the  venereal  virus,  in  virtue  of  the  oxygene  which 
enters  the  different  mercurial  preparations  and  compositions. 
Among  other  particulars,  Dr.  Swediaur  mentions,  that  citizen 
Alyon,  of  the  military  hospital  Vul  de  Grace,  at  Paris,  has  read 
to  the  Society  of  Medicine,  a  paper  on  the  anti-venereal  and 
anti-psoric  powers  ot  oxygene,  which  throws  much  light  on  this 
important  subject.  Mr.  Alyon  has  particularly  employed,  ex- 
ternally,  the  super-oxvgenated  muriate  of  pot-ash,  for  the  cure 
of  chancres  and  syphilitic  ulcers,  and  has  found  the  good  effects 
from  it,  more  expeditious  and  more  certain  than  those  of  any 
mercurial  preparation. 

Dr.  Rolio's  letter  to  Dr.  Duncan,  enclosing  the  above-men- 
tioned publication  of  Dr.  Swediaur,  subjoins,  "  in  the  hospital 
*'  of  Woolwich,  we  go  on  with  the  oxygenated  muriate  of  pot- 
"  ash,  in  lues  venerea,  and  have  every  reason  to  be  satisfied  wito 
"  the  general  results.  As  yet,  we  have  not  detected  a  single  in* 
"  stance  of  relapse." 

Mr.  Bell,  author  of  the  System  of  Surgery,  &c.  has  lately  pub- 
lished a  new  edition  of  his  Treatise  on  the  Gonorrhoea  and  Lues. 
In  this  new  edition,  Mr.  Bell  opposes  his  testimony  to  that  of 
many  other  gentlemen,  respecting  the  anti-syphilitic  powers  of  the 
nitric  acid.  In  every  case  in  which  he  has  tried  it,  it  has  failed; 
and  he  now  believes  it  to  be  wholly  useless.  He  Accounts  for  the 
apparent  success  with  which  its  use  has  been  attended  in  the  hands 
of  other1;,  by  supposing  that  the  ulcers,  &c.  have  disappeared 


MEDICAL  REPOSITORY. 


during  its  exhibition,  not  from  any  efficacy  in  the  acid,  but  from 
certain  causes  not  very  w  eil  understood,  which,  he  says,  sometimes 
occasion  their  disappearance,  and  even  the  disappearance  of  bu- 
boes, whether  any  remedies  are  administered  or  not.  Mr.  Bell 
thinks  the  nitric  acid,  for  external  and  internal  purpose*,  no  better 
than  any  other  acid. 


Among  the  medical  papers  which  appear  in  this  volume,  are 
inserted  letters  from  Mr.  George  Kellic,  a  navy  surgeon,  to  his 
father,  a  surgeon  at  Leith,  relative  to  the  anti-syphilitic  powers  of 
the  nitric  acid.  They  contain  the  histories  of  five  cases,  treated 
with  this  medicine.  The  first  and  second  were  of  chancres,  and 
the  liiird  of  a  bubo,  and  were  completely  cured.  The  fourth  was  a 
constitutional  affection  of  long  standing,  together  with  a  chancre. 
Tne  last  was  cured,  but  the  first  resisted  both  the  acid  and  mercury ; 
and  the  event  of  the  case  does  not  appear.  The  fifth  case  is  also 
incomplete.  The  acid  appears  to  have  had  every  good  effect  that 
could  be  expected  from  it. 

In  this  volume  of  the  Annals  of  Medicine,  we  also  find  an  ana- 
lysis of  the  reports  on  nitrous  acid,  of  which  our  readers  will 
remember  we  gave  some  account  in  our  Number  II.  and  from 
which  we  inserted  several  cases  in  Number  III.  The  remainder 
of  the  information  contained  i<>  E>i.  Beddo^s'-^  publication,  is  not 
so  unequivocally  in  favour  of  the  acid,  as  that  which  we  have 
already  communicated.  Mr.  Baynton  reports  two  cases  in  which 
the  acid  succeeded,  after  the  failure  of  mercury;  one  where,  under 
similar  circumstances,  the  patient's  health  was  improved,  though 
the  venereal  symptoms  were  not  alleviated ;  and  one  wherein  the 
acid  produced  no  curative  effect.  Three  cases  follow,  by  Mr. 
Bowels  of  Bristol,  in  which  the  nitric  acid  effected  no  beneficial 
change.  A  Letter  from  Dr.  Girdlestone  of  Yarmouth,  informs 
Dr.  Beddoes  that  the  writer  had  seen  no  cures  produced  by  the 
remedy;  but  that  it  often  increased  the  disease.  Mercurials  ex- 
hibited id  succession,  manifested  good  effects  with  more  than  usual 
rapidity.  Dr.  Rutherford  of  Edinburgh,  reports  that  the  acid,  in 
his  trials,  has  had  various  effects :  sometimes  failing  altogether,  and 
sometimes  producing  the  most  sudden  and  happy  cures;  and  that, 
in  some  cases  where  both  mercury  and  the  acid  had  failed,  when 
separately  administered,  their  union  has  completely  obviated  tne 
disease.  Some  additional  proofs  of  the  curative  powers  of  this 
medicine  are  furnished  by  Dr.  Geach  and  Mr.  Hammick. 

The  work  of  Mr.  Cruikshank,  also  mentioned  in  our  Number 
II.  relative  to  the  Nitric  Acid,  &c.  as  remedies  in  Syphilis,  is  also 
noticed  by  the  publishers  of  the  Annals  of  Medicine.    Mr-  Cruik* 


\ 


NEWS,  58  i 

shank  made  trials  of  the  nitric,  the  oxygenated  muriatic,  and  the 
citric  acids,  and  the  oxygenated  muriate  of  pot-ash.  First,  four 
cases  are  reported  of  cures  made  by  the  nitric  acid;  these  are  suc- 
ceeded by  the  same  number  of  cases  in  which  the  oxygenated  mu- 
riatic acid  was  successful  in  producing  cures;  three  cases  follow, 
with  the  like  event  from  the  use  of  the  citric  acid ;  and  the  account 
is  concluded  with  the  relation  of  six  cases  in  which  the  oxygenated 
muriate  of  pot-ash  effected  cures.  The  quality  in  which  the  four 
several  remedies  here  tried  resemble  each  other,  is  in  the  quantity 
of  loosely-combined  oxygene  which  they  contain,  and  to  which 
Mr.  Cruikshank  attributes  the  curative  effects.  He,  however, 
differs  from  many  others,  in  referring  the  cure,  not  to  the  neutrali- 
zation of  the  syphilitic  virus  by  the  oxygene,  but  to  a  new  action 
or  disease,  supposed  to  be  excited  in  the  system  by  the  oxygene, 
with  which  the  syphilitic  action  is  unable  to  contend,  and  by 
which  it  is  conquered  and  superseded. 

Such  is  the  amount  of  the  information  contained  in  this  work, 
respecting  the  powers  of  the  new  remedies  in  the  treatment  of 
Syphilis;  and  we  can  not  help  thinking,  that  enough  has  been 
done  to  render  it  certain  that,  in  many  cases,  they  possess  extraor- 
dinary efficacy,  and  merit  a  decided  preference  to  mercurials.  At 
the  same  time,  many  interesting  points  remain  yet  to  be  cleared 
up;  and  while  any  doubt  remains,  it  is  much  to  be  wished  that 
the  practitioners  of  the  United  btates,  whose  situations  permit  it, 
would  unite  with  the  faculty  in  foreign  countries  in  this  important 
investigation,  and  throw  into  the  common  stock  the  treasure  of 
their  experience.  In  this  case,  we  should  hope  that  the  now  esta- 
blished circulation  of  the  Repository  would  point  it  out  to  them 
as  an  eligible  medium  of  public  communication;  and  to  this  end, 
we  earnestly  invite  the  practitioners  in  every  part  of  our  country 
to  institute  trials,  and  to  favour  us  with  the  results. 


Fol.  I.  Nc.  4.  T 


(  ) 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


WE  have  received  a  lengthy  letter  from  Dr.  Felix  Pafcalis  Ouviere — 
(of  whofe  Medico-Chemical  Differtation,  &c.  our  readers  will  re- 
member, we  gave  fome  account  in  our  No.  I.) — expreffive  of  his  diffatisfac- 
tion  with  our  judgment  of  his  work.  The  firft  part  of  his  letter,  confifting 
of  counfel  refpecting  the  method  incumbent  on  Reviewers,  in  our  fituation, 
to  purfue,  we  are  conflrained  to  omit,  as  unlikely  to  advance  his  interefts, 
or  the  improvement  of  our  fubferibers.  Such  parts  as  apply  more  particular- 
ly to  the  Review  in  queftion,  we  cheerfully  infert,  without  comment.  Tl^e 
public  mull  determine  between  Dr.  Ouviere  and  us. 

"  You  rcqueft  me,  firft,  to  confider  whether  aqueous  gas  can  be  formed 
under  the  8oth  degree  of  Reaumur  (212  of  Fahrenheit).  I  muft  previoufiy 
obferve,  that  the  denomination  of  aqueous  gas  which  I  make  ufc  of,  couM 
not  but  improperly  be  replaced  by  that  of  Jleam,  as  you  call  it,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  beft  dictionaries  of  your  language,  fignifies  the  '  fmoke  or  va- 
pour of  any  thing  moift  and  hot' — (Walker's  Di<5l.).  This  word,  familiar 
and  neceffary  in  any  mechanic  ufe  or  domeftic  circumftance  of  life,  is  by  far 
inefficient  to  exprefs  all  the  fcientifical  meaning  of  aqueous  gas  which,  on 
the  authority  of  Macquer,  Prieflley,  Vanhelmont,  Fourcroy,  Lavoi- 

fier,  and  Chaptal,  are  the  only  adapted  words  to  fignify  any  aeriform,  ex- 
panded and  volatile  fubftance,  refulting  from  any  kind  of  fermentation,  more 
or  lefs  charged  with  particles  difengaged  from  the  matters  it  proceeds  from. 
— The  aqueous  gas,  formed  by  the  blood  or  by  the  human  body,  is  fome- 
times  very  inflammable,  and  dangerous  to  life.  It  has,  befides,  many  other 
properties,  which  you  are,  no  doubt,  acquainted  with.  In  my  differta- 
tion I  confidered  none  of  its  component  parts,  except  the  aqueous  particles, 
becaufe,  in  the  animal  fluids,  the  lofs  of  one  only  of  their  primitive  fub- 
flances  might  be  fumcient  to  caufe  decomposition,  and  becaufe  all  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  the  blood  are  not  yet  exactly  afcertained. 

"  To  anfwer,  now,  to  your  firfb  query,  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  mention 
a  little  table,  which  you  will  find  in  Fourcroy 's  Lectures  on  Chemiftry  and 
Natural  Hiftory,  chap.  v.  It  proves  not  only  that  an  aqueous  gas  may  be 
formed  under  the  Soth  degree  of  Reaumur,  but  that  heat  from  5  to  10 
excites  putrefaction,  vegetation,  and  flow  evaporation;  from  15  to  20,  it 
accelerates  putrefaction,  vinous  fermentation;  from  25  to  30,  it  dries  up 
plants  and  vegetables  of  any  kind ;  at  45,  it  dif^ngages  effential  oil  from  cor- 
rupted animal  fubftances;  and,  at  8o,  it  is  the  fecond  degree  of  ebullition, 
in  which  water  muft  rapidly  become  an  elaftic  vapour  or  a  gas,  <kc.  The 
copious  and  infenfible  perfpiration  cifcovered,  and,  long  ago,  afcertained  by 
Sandtorius,  the  fubtile  gas  thrown  out  from  the  lungs  in  breathing,  which  our 
eyes  can  perceive  in  certain  conditions  of  the  atmofphere,  were,  Gentlemen, 
fufficient  proofs  that  the  loweft  degree  of  heat  in  the  animal  fluids  excited 
the  formation  of  a  gas;  which  will  afterwards  be  copious  at  the  expence  of 
life,  accoiding  to  the  ir.creafed  heat  of  the  atmofphere  ;  and  as  wcihave,  in 


(    583  ) 


fact,  a  fcale  of  a  thoufand  affections,  experienced  by  the  application  of  heat 
on  the  body,  under  80  of  Reaumur,  your  query  is  quite  ufelefs,  and  has  not 
the  character  of  an  objection.  The  three  or  four  following;  queftions,  de- 
rived from  the  firft,  are,  of  courfe,  involved  in  the  fame  predicament.  That 
other  of  '  the  temperature  of  the  vital  parts  being  always  the  fame,  at  all 
feafons  of  the  year,'  does  not  {rive  a  better  induction  againft  the  formation 
of  an  aqueous  gas,  by  the  excels  of  heat,  than  it  would  make  us  believe  that 
our  vital  parts,  with  their  temperature,  could  not  be  injured  by  the  appli- 
cation of  boiling  water,  of  a  red-hot  iron,  or  of  ice.  < 

"  My  fecond  diiTcrtation,  on  the  bell  ar.timonial  preparations  for  the  ufe 
of  medicine,  is  alfo  unfavourably  mentioned  in  your  Repofitory.  This  had 
no  theory  to  refute;  you  notice,  however,  I  my  more  imperfect  form  of  the 
1  common  accounts  of  the  hiftory  and  preparations  of  antimony,  than  thofe 
'  found  in  modern  books  of  chemiftry.'  Such  perfect  accounts  were  not 
Vanted  by  my  querifls.  My  talk  was  to  compare  all  the  chemical  prepara- 
tions of  antimony,  both  ancient  and  modern,  in  their  virtual  properties:  thi* 
1  performed  in  five  or  fix  pages;  and  could  not,  indeed,  fix  their  attention 
upon  any  other  preparation  but  the  tartar  emetic  (antimonated  tartritc  of 
pot-afh),  and  the  kermes  mineral  (red  fulphurared  oxyd  of  antimony). 
Your  reflection,  that  to  this  lad  I  (hew  '  the  partiality  very  commonly  pof- 
*  feffed  by  phyficians  for  a  favourite  remedy,'  fuppofes,  that  all  that  I  faitl 
about  it  did  not  altogether  ftrike  you  with  conviction.  You  fhould  have 
given  a  few  words  in  proof,  if  po.Hble,  to  put  truth  and  correctnefs  on  your 
fide." 


DOCTOR  William  Currie,  of  Philadelphia,  has  addfieffed  a  letter  to  the 
Editors  of  the  Repofitory;  iii  which  he  confide™  himfelf  improperly  treated 
by  fomc  perfonal  obfervations  of  Dr.  Seaman.  (See  Med.  Rep.  No. III. p.  3  tj.) 
The  Editors  are  forry  to  find  that  a  mifunderllanding  of  this  fort  has  arifen  ; 
nut,  at  the  fame  time,  they  are  gratified  to  obfervt  that  Dr.  Currie,  yielding 
to  the  fuggeltion  of  the  inutility  and  progrefl'.ve  irritatic::s  of  perforal  dif- 
pute,  and  the  injury  to  the  Repofitory  resulting  from  its  being  employed  as 
the  vehicle  of  individual  altercation,  has  contented  to  wave  all  reference  to 
pcrf6nalities,  and  to  reft  his  Vindication  on  the  ground  of  fact  and  argument. 
"  As  authority  for  the  afTV-rtion,  that  the  Yellow  Fever,  in  the  year  I79.T, 
vas  introduced  into  New- York  by  the  brig  Zephyr,  Dr.  Currie  remarks, 
that  "A  letter  from  the  Health  Committee  of  New- York  to  Governor  Jay, 
dated  the  8th  of  September,  contains  fuch  circumflr.nccs  refpectirg  the  brig 
ZCpliyr,  a=  rendered  it  fufficiently  probable  that  the  difcafe  was  introduced 
into  New-York  by  that  veffel;  and  a  letter  from  the  Inlpectors  of  the  Health 
Office  of  Philadelphia,  to  Governor  Mifflin",  publifhed  in  the  Federal  Ga- 
zette of  September  24th,  contains  fuch  particular  information  cn  the  ft/c- 
jeet  from  authentic  fources,  as,  in  my  opinion,  reduced  it  to  a  certainty/' 

Dr.  Currie  cannot  adopt  the  information  laid  to  be  given  by  the  Phyfir 
ciansof  New-Ycrk  to  their  fcllow-citisens,  viz.  "  Tkzt,  -without  thejrid  tf 
p-ttrid  eJ/Tnvia  they  need  have  no  apprehmjioh  of  a  jellcV)  fever  fprzci'mg  zrronr 
them-"  and  proceeds  thus — "Cut  my  experience  and  obfervatiens  con- 
vince me  that  fuch  information  cannot  be  depended  on;  for,  although  the 
contagion  by  which  the  yellow  fever  is  propagated,  operate;  with  more  cer- 
tainty, in  an  atmofphere  rendered  unlaiutary  by  the  e*halalions  of  putre- 
fying vegetable  and  animal  fubftanccs,  it  fiill  poffefTes  the  power,  though  in 
a  lels  degree,  of  producing  the  difcafe  where  there  is  no  reafon  to  fu'fpeK 


(    5^4  ) 


my  prevalence  of  fuch  effluvia,  provided  the  air  be  of  a  certain  temper;- 
ture,  and  in  a  confined  fituation.  I  had  frequent  opportunities  of  feeing 
this  verified  laft  year,  in  fituations  entirely  excluded  from  the  accefs  of 
niarfh  miafmata  or  other  exhalations  from  putrid  fubftances,  in  high  and 
dry  fituations,  in  fmall  apartments,  and  in  the  cabins  of  fhips,  from  whence 
the  free  entrance  of  the  external  air  was  prevented;  at  a  time  when  floods 
of  rain  prevented  any  exhalations  from  putrid  or  putrefying  fubftances  from 
rifing  into  the  atmofphere.  From  thefe  facts  it  appears  that  heated  air, 
without  the  aid  of  putrid  exhalations,  efpecially  when  calm,  is  fufficient  to 
render  the  contagion  active  and  to  propagate  the  difeafe  from  one  to  ano- 
ther." 

"  That  the  difeafe  was  propagated  laft  year  in  Philadelphia  by  fpecific 
contagion,  which  had  no  connection  with  the  effluvia  from  putrefying  ma- 
terials, I  am  warranted  in  afferting,  becaufe  the  air  was  preferved  cool  and 
free  from  fuch  effluvia,  by  the  attention  which  was  paid  to  the  removal  of 
all  fufpicious  fubftances,  from  whence  they  could  arife,  and  from  the  frequent 
floods  of  rain,  which  wafhed  away  every  impurity,  and  prevented  putre- 
faction, or,  if  any  putrid  effluvia  did  rife,  they  were  immediately  precipi- 
tated to  the  earth.  And  that  the  difeafe  was  propagated  by  contagion  alone, 
and  not  by  any  change  in  the  conftitution  of  the  atmofpnere,  or  any  miaf- 
mata derived  from  the  fituation,  foil,  or  condition  of  the  city,  is  indirectly 
proved  from  the  known  fads,  that  all  thofe  who  avoided  intercourfe  with 
the  infected,  their  houfes,  furniture,  cloathing,  &c.  though  daily  abroad  in 
the  open  ftreets,  elcaped  the  difeafe  without  exception;  as  well  as  all  the 
prifoners  in  the  jail  and  work-houfe,  the  penfioners  in  the  alms-houfe,  and 
the  patients  in  the  hofpital,  from  whence  all  perfons,  fufpected  of  infection, 
were  carefully  excluded."  • 

"  The  inhabitants  alfo  in  the  weft  anH  north.mcft  parrs  of  the  city  were 
exempt,  though  the  fituation  is  more  level,  and  the  ponds  of  ftagnant  water 
more  numerous,  than  in  the  part  of  the  city  where  the  difeafe  firft  appeared, 
and  became  moft  prevalent.  Thefe  facts  are  notorious,  and  can  be  attefted 
by  almoft  every  inhabitant  of  this  city." 

"  In  a  pamphlet  which  I  publifhed  the  beginning  of  the  prefent  year,  I 
have  attempted  to  demonftrate  that  the  yellow  fever,  which  has,  at  different 
times,  occafioned  fo  much  diftrefs  and  mortality  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  differs  from  the  remittent  or  bilious  fevers  of  hot  climates,  and 
not  only  in  degree,  but  in  kind." 


END  OF  VOLUME  I.