them as to beings of a fuperior order!" She concludes, "Alas! what is dinner to this interesting affair?---Say, rafh and inconfiderate reader, where has Richardfon wrought up a fcene like this?

ART. VI. Medical Obfervations and Enquiries, vol. vi. By a Society of Phyficians.

[Concluded from our Review of November laft.]

Cafe of a fpafmadic Inability of Deglutition, caufed (corrige cured) by Mercurial Unction. By J. H. Sequira, M. D. THIS dangerous fymptom came on after a train of ner

vous complaints. When a variety of medicines had been ineffectually exhibited, a mercurial cerate was applied to the patient's neck, and two drachms of the unguent. cærul. fort. were rubbed in for three fucceffive days; this treatment gradually reftored the power of fwallowing, and all the other fymptoms vanifhed, fays the author, as if by a charm.

The Ufe of cold Bathing in the Locked Jaw. By W. Wright,

M. D. F. R. S.

1

In this article we have an account of fix cafes, fuccefsfully treated by the external application of cold water, a practice that has, of late indeed been talked of among physicians, but is by no means eftablished. The water was forcibly thrown upon the patients, and the cold bath ordered several times a-day. Dr. Wright obferves that he has never failed to effect a cure by this method. The caufes, from which the fpafm proceeded, deferve attention. The firft patient had a ftroke of the fun. The fecond was beaten feverely about the cheeks and temples. In the third inftance the difeafe was apparently brought on by the uncommon warmth of the weather; at leaft no other caufe could be affigned. The fourth patient had the fole of his foot wounded by a rusty nail. The fifth had flept all night in the cold air. The fixth was attacked with unusual violence by the joint evil. In this country the locked jaw originates from no cause more frequently than from an extenfive burn. Will the fame practice be equally fuccefsful in thefe cafes?

Cafe of a fingular Cough, by Archibald Douglas, M. D. Incontinence of Urine, cured by the Ufe of the Flexible Catheter, by G. Mitchell.

A Letter to Dr. Fothergill on the Benefit of a refufcitated Salivation, in the Cure of certain anomalous Symptoms, from Dr. Dobfon.

A young lady took Plummer's pills in fmall doses, till a flight falivation came on, which ceafed again in a few hours, The immediately felt a fenfe of weight, fullness and uneafiness

under

under the xiphoid cartilage. These symptoms grew more and more troublesome, till at laft, when the attempted to swallow any thing, violent retchings inftantly enfued. All these fymptoms were foon removed by a free ufe of mercurials. The History of an extraordinary Affection of the Brain, in a Letter to Dr. Hunter, from Drs. Smith and Wall, and Mr. Langford.

A bony concretion connected together the dura and pia mater, and the fubftance of the brain. The mischief feemed to spring from a blow on the hinder part of the head, received many years before, "a new proof, as it is well obferved, that every blow on the head, however flight the injury may appear at the time, ought to be an object of ferious attention, and the effects ought to be obviated by reft, venæfection, medicines, and regimen.' Obfervations on the Cure of Fluxes, by fmall Dofes of Ipecacuanha, by Dr. Fothergill.

In an habitual diarrhoea depending on fome irritating acrimony of the juices, accompanied with great weakness and irritability of the bowels, Dr. F. recommends the following procefs.

"Let a grain, one and a half, or two, of Ipecac. be given in Aq. Alexit. fimp. or any other vehicle, in bed, in a morning.-This will fometimes act as an emetic, and bring up bile; fometimes it proves cathartic, and gives a few motions downwards extraordinary. In either cafe, a fmall bafon of thin gruel may be taken, gently to promote its operation.

At night an anodyne fhould be given, if there be nothing to forbid it; rather a warm and cordial one, than a fimple anodyne. Confect. Damocrat. Theriac. Androm. or Philonium, as the cafe may feem to require.

By this means an undisturbed night is generally obtained, at least the dofe of the anodyne ought to be fuch as to enfure it. The ipecacuanha may be repeated or omitted the next morning, according to its operation the preceeding day. If vehement, either upwards or downwards, omit it till the morning following; but repeat the anodyne at bed time.

"It most commonly happens, that a very few doses of these medicines, with proper attention to regimen, gradually reftrain these difcharges. And the fame procefs, at longer intervals between the dofes of ipecacuanha, generally put a stop to them, both fafely and effectually.'

He thinks the disorder has been often increased by the fame medicine adminiftered in too large dofes. He adds that strict regard must be had to the quantity of food.

Cafe of a flatulent Tumour on the Head opened and cured. By Mr. Lloyd, Surgeon.

Obfervations on the Gout. By A. Small.

These observations, which the author collected from expe

rience, in his own perfon, during a period of near thirty years, are highly deferving of attention. The following corollaries, as far as a fingle cafe can warrant general conclufions, feem to flow from the author's account of himself.

1. Gouty perfons should take as much exercise as poffible, in defiance of pain, as foon as the inflammatory ftage is over. To the neglect of this precaution the author imputes the weakness of the joints that fucceeds fits of the gout.

2. Leeches may be advantageously employed to abate inflammation.

3. Emetics may be liberally administered at the approach of the gout, with the utmost fafety.

4. The bark is of great ufe when given in the intervals of the fever, and fometimes removes the fymptoms.

5. If the part affected be expofed to the air, or wrapped only in the flightest manner poffible, the patient will escape great part of the pain ufually attending fits of the gout, nor will any bad confequence enfue.

- In thefe propofitions we can difcern nothing that is palpably abfurd or inconfiftent with the dictates of fair experience, though they lead to a practice very different from the common treatment of the gout. They are even, in many refpects analogous to the most approved method of treating inflammations. Every one who has infpected, however flightly, the hiftory of medicine, knows what fuperftitious precepts and mifchievous cautions formerly regulated the conduct of the phyfician, and in particular by what mounds and fences the accefs of cool air was for many ages prevented. It may now perhaps be only blind cuftom that wraps the gouty limb in a dozen folds of flannel.

Dangerous Effects from Eating a Quantity of ripe Berries of Belladonna, in a Letter from Mr. Brumwell.

The effects mentioned in this article are nearly the fame. with those which are already upon record, as produced by the fame caufe.

Cafe of a Feather or Pen, Twelve Inches long, which was extracted from the Oefophagus. By Mr. King of Dublin.

It was extracted by the whalebone probe, which had a thread paffed through the fpunge.

Cafe of a difeafed Kidney, in a Letter from Mr. Pearfon of Doncafter.

This diseased kidney belonged to a boy four years and a half old, and weighed fixteen pounds and a half. The ureter was obliterated.

An Inftance of the good Effects of Opium in a dangerous Cafe of Retention of Urine. By J. Pearfon, Surgeon to the Locke Hofpital.

A gonorrhæal inflammation brought on this retention of

urine

urine; and the ufual treatment affording no relief, the author was led to give opium in fuch quantity as might "very confiderably fufpend the tonic action of the moving fibres, and deprive the sphincter vefica of its contractile powers." He fucceeded compleatly in the cure.

On Cataracts. By Mr. J. Lucas, Surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary.

We doubt whether this article will supply many important additions to what has been already written on the fubject. On the Uncertainty of the Signs of Murder, in the Cafe of Baftard Children. By the late Dr. Hunter.

Every friend of humanity will rejoice at finding this most interefting topic of forenfic medicine difcuffed by a writer fo well qualified both by anatomical skill, and experience in midwifery. They will be equally pleased to hear, that of fufpected mothers, a far fmaller number than is commonly imagined is guilty of this moft enormous of all crimes. But by what process of reasoning does the author bring out this strange inference? cries the multitude, exafperated by the popular clamour of a cruel and unnatural murder? The following quotation will give the reader a pretty good infight into the ideas of Dr. Hunter. But as the fubject is of fuch general concern, we cannot but exprefs a with to fee this paper printed feparately, and difperfed as widely as poffible.

Here let us fuppofe a cafe which every body will allow to be very poffible. An unmarried woman, becoming pregnant, is striving to conceal her flame, and laying the best scheme that he can devife, for faving her own life and that of the child, and at the fame time concealing the fecret-but her plan is at once difconcerted, by her being unexpectedly and fuddenly taken ill by herfelf, and delivered of a dead child. If the law punishes fuch a woman with death for not publishing her flame, does it not require more from human nature than weak human nature can bear? In a cafe fo circumstanced, furely the only crime is the having been pregnant, which the law does not mean to punifh with death; and the attempt to conceal it by fair means fhould not be punishable by death, as that attempt seems to arife from a priuciple of virtuous fhame..

Having fhewn that the fecreting of the child amounts at most to fufpicion only, let us return to the most important queftion of all, viz. If in the cafe of a concealed birth, it be clearly made out that the child had breathed, may we infer that it was murdered? Certainly not. It is certainly a circumftance, like the laft, which amounts only to fufpicion. To prove this important truth to the fatisfaction of the reader, it may be thought fit to affert the following facts, which I know from experience to be true, and which will be confirmed by every person who has been much employed in midwifery.

1. If a child makes but one gafp, and instantly dies, the lungs will

will swim in water as readily as if it breathed longer, and had ther been ftrangled.

2. A child will very commonly breathe as foon as its mouth is born, or protruded from the mother, and in that cafe may lofe its life before its body be born; especially when there happens to be a confiderable interval of time between what we may call the birth of the child's head, and the protrufion of it's body. And if this may happen where the best affiitance is at hand, it is still more likely to happen when there is none; that is, where the woman is delivered by herfelf.

6 3. We frequently fee children born, who from circumstances in their conftitution, or in the nature of the labour, are but barely alive; and after breathing a minute or two, or an hour or two, die in fpite of all our attention. And why may not that misfortune happen to a woman who is brought to bed by herself?

4. Sometimes a child is born fo weak, that if it be left to itself, after breathing or fobbing, it might probably die, yet may be roused to life by blowing into its lungs, applying warmth and volatiles, rubbing it, &c. &c. But in the cafes which we have been confidering, fuch means of faving life are not to be expected.

5. When a woman is delivered by herself, a strong child may be born perfectly alive, and die in a very few minutes for want of breath; either by being upon its face in a pool made by the natural dif charges, or upon wet cloaths; or by the wet things over it collapfing and excluding air, or drawn clofe to its mouth and nose by the fuction of breathing. An unhappy woman delivered by herself, diftracted in her mind, and exhaufted in her body, will not have ftrength or recollection enough to fly inftantly to the relief of the child. To illuftrate this important truth, I thall give a fhort case.

A lady, at a pretty diftant quarter of the town, was taken with labour-pains in the night-time. Her nurfe, who flept in the house, and her fervants, were called up, and I was fent for. Her labour proved hafty, and the child was born before my arrival. The child cried inftantly, and fhe felt it moving ftrongly. Expecting every moment to fee me come into her bed-chamber, and being afraid that the child might be fomeway injured, if an unfkilful perfon should take upon her the office of a midwife upon the occafion, fhe would not permit the nurfe to touch the child, but kept herself in a very fatiguing pofture that the child might not be preffed upon, or fmothered. I found it lying on its face, in a pool which was made by the discharges; and fo compleatly dead, that all my endeavours to roufe it to life proved in vain.

Thefe facts deferve a ferious confideration from the public: and as I am under a conviction of mind, that, when generally known, they may be the means of faving fome unhappy and innocent women, I regard the publication of them as an indifpenfible duty. Three Cafes of Mal-conformation in the Heart. By the fame. Three very remarkable cases; they are illuftrated by a plate.

The fuccefsful Cure of a fevere Disorder of the Stomach, by milk taken in fmall quantities at once. By the fame.

This