to produce tetanus: also, in persons already wounded, sudden alarms, or even any sudden noise that calls the attention abruptly, is liable to produce this complaint. They never allow females to be near men thus wounded, lest the mere stimulus of venereal desire should induce this dangerous complaint. As to cutting the hair and nails, they positively assert that the mere sensation of these simple and common operations has not unfrequently been productive of these dreadful consequences. The man whose case we have just mentioned was eight months without being washed, shaved, or hav-' ing had his hair or nails cut.

Gita is a disease very common among the Tonga people; but still more common among the natives of the Fiji isiands, who, from their warlike habits, are more frequently in the way of it: they adopt, however, a remedy which the Tonga people have borrowed of them, and consists in the operation of tocolo'si, or passing a reed first wetted with saliva into the urethra, so as to occasion a considerable irritation, and discharge of blood; and if the general spasm is very violent, they make a seton of this passage, by passing down a double thread, looped ove: the end of the reed, and when it is felt in the perinæum they cut down upon it, seize hold of

the thread, and withdraw the reed, so that the two ends of the thread hang from the orifice of the urethra, and the doubled part from the artificial opening in the perineum; the thread is occasionally drawn backwards and forwards, which excites very great pain, and abundant discharge of blood. The latter operation Mr. Mariner has seen performed several times; but only twice for tetanus, arising in both instances from wounds in the foot: in these cases the spasms, but particularly the convulsive paroxysms, were exceedingly violent, extending to the whole body, neck, face, trunk, and extremities: but in neither case was the jaw permanently locked, though on every accession it was violently closed for a few seconds. A native of the Fiji islands performed one operation, and Hala A'pi A'pi the other: they both happened at Vavaoo, at different times. In either case the disease came on suddenly, three or four days after the wound was received, which was from an arrow not barbed. The moment the symptoms became evident tocolosi was performed. In the short space of two hours one of them was greatly relieved, and the other in about six or eight hours. The following day the one on whom Hala Api Api ope

rated was quite well, and afterwards had no other attack; consequently the thread was withdrawn but the other on the second day was not quite free from spasmodic symptoms, and a paroxysm coming on, the seton was moved frequently, which in two or three hours gave him great relief, and he afterwards had no other attack it was thought prudent, however, to keep in the seton till the fourth or fifth day, when it was withdrawn. The effect of this operation was a considerable pain and tumefaction of the penis, but which gradually subsided (in about five or six days): the artificial openings in both cases healed spontaneously, without any difficulty.

These are the only two cases of tetanus in which this operation was performed that Mr. Mariner can speak of with certainty, having been an eyewitness of them. He heard of several others at the Hapai islands, at the island of Tonga, &c. some of which were equally fortunate. From what he has heard and seen of the success of this operation at the Tonga islands, he is disposed to believe that about three or four in ten recover by the aid of it. The Fiji islanders, however, speak of the happy effects of this singular mode of cure with much more confidence than the natives

of Tonga; but as they claim the merit of the discovery, they are probably rather too profuse in praise of it.

Tetanus is not the only disease for the cure of which the operation of tocolósi is performed: it is adopted also in cases of wounds in the abdomen, upon the mistaken notion that any extravasated blood in the cavity of the abdomen is capable of passing off by the discharge from the urethra. Mr. Mariner saw the operation performed once in this case, and, as the man was considered in a very bad state, and notwithstanding got well, the cure was attributed to this remedy. It is also performed for relief in cases of general languor and inactivity of the system; but, in such instances, they only endeavour to produce irritation by passing the reed without any thread or artificial opening the present king had it thus performed on him for this purpose; and two days afterwards he said he felt himself quite light, and full of spirits.

The natives of these islands are very subject to enlarged testicles, and for this they sometimes perform the operation of boca (castration). Mr. Mariner's limited observation on this subject does not authorize him to speak with any degree of certainty in regard to the

VOL. II.

precise nature of these tumefactions. Their mode of performing this operation is summary enough: a bandage being tied with some degree of firmness round the upper part of the scrotum, so as to steady the diseased mass, at the same time that the scrotum is closely expanded over it, an incision is made with bamboo, just large enough to allow the testicle to pass, which being separated from its cellular connections, the cord is divided, and thus ends the operation: they neither tie the cord, nor take any pains to stop the bleeding; but, if the testicle be not very large, and the epidydimis not apparently diseased, they perform the operation by dissecting it from that body with the same instrument. The external wound is kept from closing by a pledget of the bana'na leaf, which is renewed every day till the discharge has ceased, and the scrotum is supported by a bandage. A profuse hæmorrhage is mostly the consequence of this operation: it was performed seven times within the sphere of Mr. Mariner's knowledge, during his stay; to three of which he was a witness: not one of the seven died. One of these cases was that of a man who performed the operation on himself: his left testicle was greatly enlarged, being about five or six inches in dia