$5 For the London Medical and Physical Journal. Account of some Curiosities in Natural History; by JOHN HOARE, Esq. Surgeon and Apothecary. I N the month of August 1816, as some men were quarrying. stones, in the garden of Mr. John Daniell, land-surveyor of Warminster, they discovered, in the middle of a vast stratum of rock, and at nearly twelve feet from the surface, a toad and a newt. Both animals were alive, and of full size; their habitation was just large enough to contain them the interior was perfectly smooth, lined with sand, and without the smallest orifice or crack. On being exposed to the air, the colour of both animals altered, and life for a few moments was suspended: they revived, and lived for about four hours, exhibiting occasionally symptoms of pain and convulsive motions about the throat. Their mouths were glued together, insomuch that the violent strugglings which the putting them into spirits of wine occasioned did not open them, or dissolve the glutinous matter. After they were dead, with difficulty I forced open their mouths. How long they might have lived I cannot tell, but probably not long, as they continued torpid and inactive four hours after their exposure; when inconsiderately, and from their hideous appearance, I put a period to their existence by immersion in alkohol; but they struggled hard, and survived long even here. The eyes of both were perfect and sensi ble, especially the toad's, whose iris was variegated beautifully, and suffered contraction and dilatation on the application of light, as similar to the human eye. It was proved to be a water-newt, for, being left together in a pan in the open air, a storm came on, which made the newt quite lively. He exhibited signs of great antipathy to his long and close companion, and endeavoured to get out of the pan. This newt is larger than the common ones, and seeded on the back in the manner of the green lizard, with vermilion and black spots on the belly. Some medical and other gentleman, as well as myself, examined the place, and all the circumstances connected herewith. It is the decided opinion of all, that they could not possibly have had the least atmospheric air, and we are certain the stratum in which they were found was in a state of nature, unaltered ever. Near the same place, but in the stratum of sand following, (for there were alternate strata of sand and rock-stone to this depth) there were also found some shark's teeth, and also a tooth of the alligator, in a state of high preservation; likewise likewise bones, apparently the clavicle and scapula of a human subject, but I am informed they are bones of the cro codile. These, on being exposed to the air, almost imme diately pulverised. There were also found a variety of other marine substances, in a state of fossilization. The above curiosities I have in my possession. The toad and newt are preserved in spirits; but it is worthy of remark, that the cuticle of the toad which the air, on exposure, turned nearly black, is scaling off, leaving to view the original colour, which is also the colour of the rock-stones out of which they were dug. The above being a recent discovery, and of the clearest evidence, I think will prove worthy to be noticed in your department of natural history; and, as you solicited, in a late Number, materials of this nature, I feel pleasure in transmitting it to you, at the same time indulging myself with the hope that some of your intelligent readers will not fail to throw some light on this interesting branch of oryctology, and, in reference to the animals, I had almost said immortality. Dr. Wilkinson, of Bath (Philosophical Society), among other comments on the subject, remarked, that this lizard was the first ever noticed or found in this condition. This led to the communication of two lizards found in a chalk-bed, and the interesting remarks thereon, by the Rev. Mr. Powell, of Weeton Parsonage, Brandon, Suffolk. Doubtless, more cireumstances of this nature are in existence, but not made known, and, perhaps, many more are overlooked from inattention, or a want of interest in the subject. Warminster; May 27, 1817. THE For the London Medical and Physical Journal. A Case of Stone in the Bladder; related by the PATIENT. HE medicine I have used, for twenty-one months, was Adams's solvent for the stone and gravel, prepared by S. Perry, Esq. After trying it six months, and consulting him on the propriety of it, I added the use of Henry's cal cined magnesia, occasionally, with the view of correcting the acidity with which the stomach was sometimes troubled. At the end of the first-mentioned time, I was somewhat easier, in general; but had discharged no part of the stone, the presence of which had been ascertained by sounding. About this time, I had several alarming discharges of blood at at the nose; and my medical assistant pronounced the crassamentum of the blood to have been reduced. Now the use of the solvent was given up, but the magnesia was continued, but irregularly, for twenty-one months more; about which time, after a short ride, in much pain, I discharged, with some blood, a fragment of stone, convex and polished on one side, concave on the other,-in length 7-16 of an inch, in breadth 5-16, and in thickness 3-16 of an inch. Soon after this, I discharged another fragment; and, about a fortnight after, another, not much less in dimensions than the first. In the course of twelve months, about thirty were discharged, of different dimensions, from the size of the first to the smallest that could be ascertained to be a fragment, with a little mucus, containing some gritty substance, and sometimes an impalpable whitish powder. The discharges, after the first, were not accompanied by much pain, not even when a piece was detained in the urethra for three hours. And even now, in the present year, about eighteen months after the first discharge, I get rid of a small fragment occasionally, and sometimes in places where they cannot be searched for. Most of the fragments appeared to me to be composed of different lamina, and to be of the same substance as some pebbles discharged before taking the solvent, which a French surgeon, who pretended to analyze them, pronounced to be composed of uric acid and urat of ammonia. But some of them are of a darker hue, and not so firm; so that I have had, it should seem, at least two calculi broken. Indeed six months before the first fragment came away, it seemed, by the sensation and the gurgling of the urine, that the bladder contained more than one. The corners of many of the pieces were worn, it should seem, by rubbing against others. Still I carry some more, I am certain, and I think some of no small size; and the nucleus of some of the fragments, the mark of which was clearly visible in them, still remains, or was not visibly discharged. Those who know me will depend upon the truth of the above statements, and I believe there is no mistake in them. But I pretend not to say, that the solvent, which was taken regularly for twenty-one months, or that the magnesia, taken irregularly, and still continued with distilled water, was the cause of the separation of the calculi. But I took no other remedy. If the scientific physician or surgeon can shew the cause (and there must have some cause operated), I shall feel obliged by his observations and gratuitous advice. All I can say is, that, since the discharge of many frag ments, ments, I have been generally better, especially with small exercise, for which I am thankful to God. Moretonhampstead; Feb. 1, 1817. P.S. A few days after the above date, twelve fragments, of various sizes, were discharged in the course of twenty-four hours, and were found, by analyzing, to consist of uric acid. For the London Medical and Physical Journal. Dr. Alderson's Claim to Priority of Baron Larrey; by JOHN HIGSON, Esq. House-Surgeon of the General Infirmary, Hull. N your valuable Journal for last January, you have inserted a report on a Memoir read by Baron Larrey, at the Royal Institution of France, in which report the Baron is complimented on his discovery of a method of treating wounds of the chest from balls. In the third volume of your work, page 353, your readers will find a case successfully treated in the same manner, under the direction of Dr. Alderson, senior physician to this institution, in the year 1799,-so that Baron Larrey is not the inventor of a peculiar mode of treating such wounds. Hull; May 31, 1817. For the London Medical and Physical Journal. Remarks on Mr. Charnock's Paper, and Answer to L.; by A. B., M.D. Yo OUR correspondent, Mr. Charnock, in the last Number of your Journal, has not seen, probably, Dr. Murray's explanation of the active qualities of mineral waters, which are not discovered by analysis. He should also be aware that purgatives have the good effects he mentions only in visceral obstructions of any kind, or in too high action of the system, and not in real debility of the stomach or intestines, and that if this view is not accurately preserved, many a patient will be quickly sent off the stage, some instances of which I have known. Hamilton plan sometimes is carried too far also. The The sensations that Z. feels, who offers a premium for a solution of the causes of his symptoms, proceed from the state of the stomach, and the appearance of his urine from a too great an alkaline state of it. Should these primary re marks marks meet his eye, and he be desirous of my entering further into his complaints, without any view of a premium, he may signify his wish by addressing a few lines to you, which I shall inmediately see in your Journal. Newcastle-on-Tyne; COLLECTANEA MEDICA, CONSISTING OF ANECDOTES, FACTS, EXTRACTS, ILLUSTRATIONS, QUERIES, SUGGESTIONS, &c. RELATING TO THE History or the Art of Medicine, and the Auxiliary Sciences. Quicquid agunt medici, Transactions of the Medical Society of London. On Epilepsy; by JOSEPH ADAMS, M.D. Physician to the Smallpox Hospital and to the Central Dispensary, and President of the Society. [The following paper was made the subject of an anniversary oration before the Medical Society of London so long ago as the year 1806. Its form is somewhat altered; and the lapse of nine years may have corrected the author's mode of expression, but it has served to confirm his opinions.] THE ancients were more generally attentive than the moderns to one most important division of certain diseases. I mean the difference between their chronic and acute form. The Greek writers, in particular, were careful to mark this distinction in almost every disease; and modern authors, who have acquired celebrity for the accuracy of their descriptions, have not been less attentive to it. The only division which Aretæus thought it necessary to make of diseases in general, was into acute and chronic; and what remains of his labours commences with an unfortunately mutilated account of the acute epilepsy. Sydenham has not been less careful in distinguishing the acute from the chronic gout; and Mr. Hunter has done much to relieve the sufferings of advanced life by the accuracy of his distinctions between the inflammatory and the spasmodic stricture. Unfortunately, the celebrity of such names has not been sufficient to preserve these distinctions with sufficient accuracy. This is the more to be lamented, because a directly different treatment is often necessary |