The London Medical Journal accordingly ended with the eleventh volume; and the prefent Collection of Medical Facts and Obfervations is offered to the public in its ftead. The object of this new work, like that of the Journal, will be to contribute to the improvement and diffufion of medical knowledge; and, like that, it will confift of papers communicated by correfpondents, and of materials collected from the tranfactions of learned focieties and other printed works.

This method of blending original obfervations with materials collected from books feems to be the most proper for a work of this kind, which, while it ferves to excite a fpirit of inquiry, and records interesting facts, is intended to comprife accounts of every important discovery and improvement that fhall be made in medical fcience.

The great Lord Bacon, who complained with too much reason, of the few additions made to their art by the medical writers of his time*, recommended Collections of Facts and Obfervations as the best means of improving the practice of phyfict; and it is to the method of investigating philofophical truth, by induction from accurate experiments, which he fo admirably inculcated, that we are, in a great measure, indebted for that attention to facts by which medical science, in common with every other branch of natural knowledge, hath, fince the days of that truly illuftrious philofopher, been fo much improved.

There is, perhaps, hardly any well-informed perfon, engaged in the practice of phyfic or furgery, to whom opportunities do not now and then occur of adding fomething to our knowledge of dif eafes; or whofe mind, from attentive obfervation, may not lead him to fuggeft fome improvement in the modes of treating them: when it is confidered that many ingenious men may be willing to communicate the refult of their experience, in a concife and familiar form, who have not leifure or inclination to compofe a more elaborate work, the utility of a collection, like the prefent, which is open to detached facts and obfervations, on any medical subject, will, it is prefumed, be fufficiently obvious.

The editor flatters himself alfo, that by continuing, as in the Journal, to collect a part of his materials from books, he shall render an acceptable fervice to the reader. The channels of medical information are now fo numerous, and in fo many different languages, that many important obfervations probably remain for a long time unknown to perfons who are bufily employed in the practice of phyfic, and to whom, of courfe, they would be the most interefting, but who have not fufficient time or opportunity to confult the feveral works in which they are to be found.'

We fhall briefly notice fome of thofe communications in this work, which are new: fuch as are extracted from other books, have, in courfe, claimed our attention in their original ftate.

* De dignitate et augm. Scient. lib. iv. cap. 2.

+ Ibid.'

Cafe

Cafe of the Hydrophobia, with the Appearances on Diffection. By John Ferriar, M. D. Physician to the Infirmary at Manchefter.

The patient was firft feen by Dr. F. on a Friday morning, and on the next morning he died: of courfe, little knowledge can be derived from this cafe, refpecting the practice in Hydrophobia. The body was opened within four hours and a half after death:-the only appearance of disease presented itself on opening the cefophagus;

About two inches above the cardia the epidermis of the ofophagus was abraded in irregular points, and expofed an inflamed furface of a dark red colour: ftill lower, the abrasions became linear, and extended into the flomach itfelf. The edges of the epidermis, furrounding the abrasions, were unequal, and elevated. A fimilar affection was traced along the leffer curvature of the ftomach, but fainter in its progrefs to the pylorus, where it was leaft difcernible, and about which it feemed to terminate. The whole of the inflamed parts bore a ftriated appearance, darkest in the cefophagus, and lightest and more indiftinct towards the pylorus. The ftomach was half full of a dark-coloured fluid, which fmelt ftrongly of mufk.'

Some Obfervations on the Prevention and Treatment of Hydrophobia. By Mr. William Loftie, Surgeon at Canterbury.

The purport of this paper is to recommend, where practicable, that the bitten part fhould be removed by diffection, as being the only certain mode of preventing the fubfequent difeafe. The writer likewife declares himself favourable to the tonic plan of treatment, after the occurrence of the hydrophobia. In the courfe of this paper, is given a long hiftory of the method of prevention adopted by Profeffor Mederer of Fribourg, with attefted cafes of its efficacy. It confifts in

thoroughly washing the wound, firft with a folution of lunar cauftic in water, (in the proportion of 30 grs. of cauftic to a pint of water,) and afterward with warm water. If the wound has been previously fuffered to heal, it is to be opened and washed as above. The washing must be frequently repeated, and a fuppuration kept up for fome time The Profeffor writes with great confidence concerning the virtues of his prophylactic.

Cafes of the Extraction of the Cataract, with practical Remarks. as By Mr. Richard Sparrow, one of the Surgeons of the Charitable Infirmary, Dublin.

Four cafes, in which this operation was attended with fuccefs, are here related: the fubfequent practical remarks are judicious. A circumftance, relative to one of the patients, occafioned us fome merriment:

6

I had long,' fays the narrator, obferved a circumftance in this woman's cafe which puzzled me exceedingly; it was, that the could not diftinguith a letter in a book, even when affifted by the beft glaffes, though her fight was fuch as to enable her, with the naked eye, to few and make all her own cloaths, to know the hour by a clock, and, in fhort, to do molt of the offices of life with perfect eafe. I had often expreffed my furprise at this peculiarity; but it was not till last fummer that, with much feeming reluctance and mortification, the confeffed that she had never learned to read, and that he was unacquainted even with the letters of the alphabet: thus had I an explanation of a circumftance which, from the appearance of this woman's eyes, and her power of vifion in other refpects, had led me to form various conjectures relative to her peculiarity of vifion; but which, from my ignorance of the real caufe, appeared altogether inexplicable.'

Account of an Extra-uterine Conception. By Mr. William Baynham, Surgeon in Ellex County in Virginia.

This is fo extraordinary a cafe, and fo vaguely related, that, as we are promifed the particulars at large, hereafter, we we fhall now offer no obfervations on it; left we should find ourfelves, like the author of the preceding paper, reasoning on the causes of symptoms which never existed.

A Cafe of Petechia fine Febre. By Samuel Ferris, M.D. F.A.S. The complaint defcribed in this paper was, as Dr. F. obferves, feemingly very much allied in its nature to the true fcurvy; a difeafe which, under fome of its forms, perhaps occurs oftener than is fufpected. It was cured by bark, elixir of vitriol, and oranges.

Inflance of a Difeafe, to which Sauvages has given the Name of Meteorifmus Ventriculi, with Remarks. By Robert Graves, M. D. Sherborne, Dorfet.

On the 2d of February 1791, Ann Hunt, who had just entered into her fifteenth year, was affected with an uncommon, large, hard, uniform, prominent tumour or fwelling in the epigastric region, extending from the fternum to fome diftance below the umbilicus. It was of a circular form, accompanied with very little or no pain, excepting upon its being prefied; and even in that cafe, the pain excited was but inconfiderable. She perceived fome flight difficulty of breathing, upon ufing any bodily exertion, particularly that of walking; the had much thirft, yet her appetite for food remained tolerably good, no way depraved, and her belly regular, with bur little apparent lofs of flesh. No obfervable change in her countenance could be difcovered, except that it had become fomewhat of a paler colour than ufual.

The appearance of this extraordinary fwelling was first perceived in the region of the ftomach, fome time in the month of June 1790, of a fize not larger than that of a hen's egg. From this time it continued gradually to increate, till about the com

mencement

mencement of the enfuing Auguft, when the enlargement it had received in the courfe of this interval was fuch, that the whole fpace between the fternum and umbilicus became completely occupied by it. Afterwards it remained with little variation to the period of its removal.'

On the 2d of February, when the came to me, I gave her fome powders, confifting of about eighteen grains of prepared fteel, and directed one of them to be taken twice a day. She had likewife a purgative medicine, which was ordered to be taken early the next morning, compofed of a fcruple of rhubarb, and of about three grains of calomel. This powder operated brifkly and well; her ftools were of a blackish colour, and flightly offensive.

From this operation the fize of the tumour feemed no way diminished or affected. But after a continuance of the chalybeate powders only for the short space of three or four days, her fwelling was found leffened to a confiderable degree; and in a day or two afterwards was totally removed, fo that the parts, which before had been fo exceedingly hard and protuberant, became enabled to refume their natural form, fituation, and foftness. It is now upwards of two months fince he was happily relieved; nor has the experienced, as yet, the fmalleft alarm from any fign or appearance which the complaint has at all fhewn of returning again.' Cafe of a Catheter left in the Bladder, in drawing off the Urine in a Retroverfion of the Uterus. By Mr. Edward Ford.

The catheter had flipped from the hand of an operator into the bladder, where it had remained, till a fiftulous opening had been formed in the buttock, through which a fubftance was projecting; which, to Mr. Ford's aftonishment, proved to be the bulbous end of the inftrument. It could not, however, be extracted through this wound, but was removed by dilating the meatus urinarius with a blunt gorget, and introducing the forceps.

A Cafe of Imperforate Rectum. By the fame.

A fmall trocar was introduced through the obftruction, and a discharge of fæces obtained: the child, however, died. Facts Relative to Pemphigus. By Mr. R. B. Blagden, Surgeon. From two cafes happening in the fame family, the writer draws the following conclufions:

That the difeafe is contagious;

That new veficles do not, in every cafe, arife after the end of the fourth day;

That the fluid they contain does not, even in every cafe of pemphigus fimplex, appear to be of a bland nature; and

That, in fome inftances, no apparent abforption of it takes place.' Practical Obfervations on the Treatment and Caufes of the Dropfy of the Brain. By Thomas Percival, M. D. F.R.S. &c. &c.

M 4

Dr.

Dr. Percival here repeats his conviction of the fafety and efficacy of mercury in the hydrocephalus internus. He adds:

In the recital of one of the earlieft cafes in which it was employ ed, I have perhaps too much difparaged former modes of treatment, and too hastily declared my fole and exclufive truft in the internal and external ufe of mercury; for there are feveral medicinal aids, which, however infufficient in themselves to conquer this formidable difeafe, may contribute to fo happy an event, by mitigating pain and fpafm, by promoting abforption, and by increafing the ferous difcharges of the body. With thefe views I now generally prefcribe either opium, mufk, falt of hartfhorn, flowers of zinc, fquills, or blifters, in conjunction with the mercurial courfe, with which they perfectly coincide. The preference to be given to one or other of thefe remedies the circumftances of the cafe will fufficiently indicate; and it would be a falfe and unjuftifiable facrifice ro fimplicity of practice not to avail ourselves, in the treatment of fo dreadful a malady, of fubordinate means, which may prove auxiliary, and cannot counteract the falutary powers of what merits our chief reliance. In purfuing this enlarged plan, I have experienced fewer difappointments than formerly, and have derived fatif faction under it, from the confcioufnefs of no neglect or omiffion.'

Refpecting the causes of this difcafe, Dr. P. obferves, that it fometimes originates in inflammation, but that it most generally arifes from glandular obstructions, and from either local or general plenitude.

The remainder of this volume contains extracts from late publications; a catalogue of new medical books; and an index.

A fecond volume is just published.

ART. XI. Medical Botany, containing Syftematic and General Defcriptions, with Plates of all the Medicinal Plants, indigenous and exotic, comprehended in the Catalogues of the Materia Medica, as published by the Royal Colleges of Phyficians of London and Edinburgh: Accompanied with a circumftantial Detail of their Medicinal Effects, and of the Diseases in which they have been moft fuccefsfully employed. By William Woodville, M.D. of the Royal College of Phyficians, London. In Three Volumes. Vol. I. 4to. pp. 184, with 65 Plates. 13s. 6d. plain. 11. 135. coloured. Phillips. 1790.

IN

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N the preface to this volume, Dr, Woodville obferves, that, Although what may be called the herbaceous part of the Materia Medica, as now received in the British pharmacopoeias, comprises but a very inconfiderable portion of the vegetable world; yet limited as it now is, few medicinal practitioners have a distinct botanical knowledge of the individual plants of which it is compofed, though generally well acquainted with their effects and pharmaceutical ufes. But the practitioner, who is unable to distin