1 breaft, which feems as if it would take their life away, if it were to increase or to continue: the moment they ftand ftill, all this uneafinefs vanifhes. In all other refpects the patients are at the beginning of this diforder perfectly well, and in particular have no fhortness of breath, from which it is totally different.' We shall only add, that, after it has continued to affect a perfon in this manner for fome time, it will become more obftinate, and will not ceafe fo readily upon ftanding still;-that it will now come on, not only when the perfon is walking, but when he is in bed, and will at length oblige him to rife every night for many months together;-that fome have been thus harraffed by it near twenty years; and that at last it kills the patient fuddenly. From a confideration of the circumftances attending it, the Author believes it to be of the convulfive kind, and that it is probably fometimes accompanied with an ulcer. Neither bleeding or any other evacuations appear to be of any service; but opiates, as in other fpafmodic diforders, give very fenfible relief; enabling those to keep their bed till morning, who had been forced to rife and fit up two or three hours every night, for feveral months. Article VII. Of the Colica Pionum. By R. Warren, M. D. Fellow of the College of Phyficians, F. R. S. and S. A. and Phyfician in Ordinary to his Majefty. In this paper is contained an accurate and minute account of the fymptoms attending and consequent to this terrible disorder, which the Author confiders, and treats, as being of the fpalmodic kind, and accordingly lays the principal ftrefs on opiates, in the cure of it. He condemns the ufe of vomits, which indeed procure a temporary relief, and feem to be indicated by the immenfe quantity of green and difcoloured matter repeatedly thrown up by them, but actually, by their irritation, promote a fucceffive flux of this porraceous bile; from the repeated evacuation of which the practitioner flatters himfelf that he is removing an offenfive matter, while in fact he is only foliciting it into the ftomach, and, by the ftimulus of the emetic, increaling the difoder. He equally difapproves the ufe of strong cathartics, and of ftimulating glyfters, which tend to increase the Stricture and fpafm of the bowels. His method of cure chiefly confifts in first cleanfing the ftomach with two or three draughts of chamomile tea. After which he exhibits an opiate every two or three hours till the pain is abated. When the pain and fickness return, as they ufually do, the chamomile tea and opium are repeated as before. This courfe is to be purfued till the third, fourth, or fifth day, or till the pain and fpafms have been removed by the opium, and the tenfion of the abdomen is gone. Then, and not before, purging purging medicines are to be exhibited; and of thefe he has always found the gentleft, fuch as the fal cathartic. or the infufion of fenna, taken in moderate dofes, and repeated- every two hours, to be the moft efficacious. The cause of this terrible diforder has been the fubject of much controverfy. The Author does not difcufs this fubject; but at the end of the article he gives an account of this disease having attacked thirty-two perfons, in the year 1752, in the late Duke of Newcastle's family, then refiding at Hanover; after their having ufed, as their common drink, a small white wine that had been adulterated with fome of the calces of lead. One died; all the rest were cured by a method nearly fimilar to that recommended in this article. Five of them have fince died of other complaints. Twenty-fix are ftill alive; and only one of the whole number has heen rendered paralytic by it. Article VIII. The Hiftory and Cure of a Difficulty in Deglutition of long Continuance, arifing from a fpafmodic Affection of the Oefophagus. By Thomas Percival, M. D. F. R. S. This cafe is nearly of the fame nature with that described by Dr. Munckley in the first volume of these Transactions. A defcription of the difeafe may be feen in our 39th vol. July 1768, page 36. Some ingenious reflections are here added on the nature of this dreadful disease, and on the most probable means of relieving it. To prevent the patient's being starved to death, in confequence of the total obftruction of deglutition, the Author, befides the use of nourishing glyfters, recommends the bathing his feet, hands, and arms, and occafionally his whole body, in new milk, broth, or other nutritive fluids: obferving that the abforption by the lymphatics of the skin is very confiderable; for that it has been found, by experiment, that one of the hands, after being well chafed, will imbibe, in a quarter of an hour, near an ounce and a half of warm water. Article IX. On Human Calculi; fhewing them to be of very different Kinds. By Ambrofe Dawfon, M. D. Fellow of the College of Phyficians. Though the Author of this paper does not mean to throw difficulties or difcouragements in the way of those who are in fearch of a folvent of the human calculus, the experiments related in it are almoft fufficient to make the most fanguine defpair of accomplishing that purpose. Among the many well known difficulties attending this attempt, it is not the leaft, that different calculi vary greatly in their properties, or in their relation to folvents, as well as in their external appearance: fo that fome which the Author found would yield to an alcaline menftruum, would not be affected by an acid one, and vice verfa; while there is reafon to fear that there are others that will too powerfully refift the action of both. From his expe T 4 riments riments it appears highly proper, before we undertake the cure of the human calculus by a folvent, that an attempt should first be made to discover the nature of the ftone with which the patient is afflicted, by making experiments on the fragments which may be caft off from it with the urine, and obferving the effects of an acid or alcaline menftruum upon them. To ufe either of these improperly, he obferves, will at least be harraffing the patient to no purpose, and may be prejudicial to him. Article X. Of the Difeafes of the Liver. By William Heberden, M. D. F. R. S. This effay contains feveral valuable remarks, both with regard to the phyfiology and the cure of biliary concretions, and other diseases of the liver and gall ducts. Article XI. Of the Nettle-rafb. By the fame. Few medical writers have condefcended to treat of this anomalous and troublesome complaint, the nature and caufe of which appear not to be fully understood. The Author here fupplies that defect, as far as he has been enabled to do it, by the obfervations which he has made upon it in the course of his practice. Article XIII. A Letter to Dr. Adee, from Dr. Lyfons. This letter contains feveral cafes, felected from many others, tending to evince the efficacy of a decoction of the inner bark of the common elm, in the cure of various cutaneous diseases. Article XIV. An Account of the noxious Effects of fome Fungi. By W. Heberden. Little has yet been done to diftinguish thofe particular species of fungi, which have a fingular power of greatly difordering the human body, from others that are wholefome and innoxious; though it is a matter of very general intereft, as fome of them are fo frequently ufed in our diet. A man and his wife, within five minutes after having eaten fome fuppofed champignons, were moft violently affected. The latter particularly totally loft her voice and fenfes, and was alternately either ftupid, or fo furious that it was neceflary fhe should be held. The man was relieved in confequence of the immediate exhibition of an emetic, which could not, in a fufficient quantity, be adminif tered to the woman, who accordingly felt fome of the effects of this poifon for a month afterwards. Thefe fungi being fhewn to Mr. Hudson, the ingenious Author of Fiora Anglica, he perceived that they were of two kinds; the first of which he judged to be, Fungus parvus pediculo oblongo, pileolo hemifphærico, ex albido luteus; and the other, Fungus minimus e cinereo albicans, tenui prælongo pediculo, paucis fubtus ftriis, of Ray's fynopfis. Whether one or both of them produced thefe violent effects, must be left to future experience. It It appears from this narrative that thefe fungi are not of an acrimonious nature, and that accordingly no good can be expected from the adminiftering to thofe who have eaten them oils or fat broths, which are properly employed for the relief of inflammatory fymptoms; but that they contain fuch a poison as disturbs the functions ufually afcribed to the nerves. A fcruple of white vitriol, the most active of all vomits, repeated two or three times, appeared to the Author to be the beft in the prefent cafe to roufe the ftupefied patients, as well as to bring up as much of the poifon as ftill remained in the ftomach. Article XVI. An Account of an improved Method of preparing Magnesia Alba. By Thomas Henry, Apothecary at Man chefter. This ufeful medicine, as fold in the fhops, is frequently extremely coarfe and ill prepared, and, which is worse, sophisticated with chalk and other fubftances, that differ greatly in their properties from true magnefia. The Author has even feen it adulterated with lime;-a fraud, as he obferves, of very dangerous tendency. The preparation of this fubftance is con fined to a few perfons, who keep their method fecret. The Author availing himself of fome hints which he obtained of the procefs used by one of the most celebrated preparers of it, at length, after repeated trials, produced magnefia equally pure, white, taftelefs, light, and impalpable, with that of Mr. Glafs," and in one respect even fuperior to it. He here difinterestedly communicates his procefs, which is an improvement of that given by Dr. Black, in his excellent paper, containing the chemical history of this fubftance, in the fecond volume of the Phyfical and Literary Obfervations of the Society at Edinburgh. One of the principal articles of improvement in the Author's process confifts in his immediately throwing the coagulum, formed on the mixing together the faturated folutions of Epfom falts and of pot-afhes, into an extremely large quantity of boiling water; by which means the vitriolated tartar, produced by the union of the alcali of the pot-ash with the vitriolic acid in the fal cartharticus, is more effectually diffolved, and its concretion. prevented, than by a dozen wafhings in hot water.--There are, however, fome other circumftances here noticed, that are abfolutely neceffary to be attended to, in order to infure the fuccefs of this delicate operation. Article XVII. Several extraordinary Inflances of the Cure of the Dropfy. Collected and communicated by George Baker, M. D. F. R. S. and of the College of Phyficians, and Phyfician in Ordinary to her Majeity. In fome difcafes the moft orthodox and rigid practitioners have been induced to relax from their principles, in gratifying the ftrong defires of their patients for forbidden fubftances; confidering confidering thefe cravings, if not evidently the mere effects of caprice, or of a depraved imagination, as a kind of inftinctive Jongings, by which nature points out, in particular cafes and conftitutions, a grateful, and, at the fame time, effectual method of cure. In the dropfy however, the natural defire for drink, although generally ftrong, uniform, and unequivocal, has been hitherto almoft univerfally regarded as a deceitful appetite, leading to certain danger and deftruction. Nevertheless, the good effects of an occafional indulgence of the appetite, even in this difeafe, and to the most unbounded extent, have been lately exemplified in fome inftances, here related, which have occurred within a fmall space of time, and nearly in the fame neighbourhood. We fhall extract the fubflance of the first of them, as a fpecimen of the reft. A farmer at Ermington in Devonshire, near 70 years of age, had a confirmed afcites, which had refifted the power of various medicines. Apparently in the laft ftage of this distemper, he determined to drink large quantities of cold water, probably with a defign to put a speedy end to his mifery. In pursuance of this refolution he drank three quarts daily during a fortnight; at the end of which the fymptoms were all aggravated, and immediate death feemed impending. Perfifting however in this courfe, in a few days afterwards an immoderate quantity of water was evacuated both by ftoo! and urine, but chiefly by the Jatter. The difcharge having continued near a week, he began to recover, and was very foon intirely freed from his disease, of which he never had a return;' but four years afterwards died of a totally different disease-an inflammatory fever. This cafe is followed by four other hiftories, the fubjects of which were cured by having recourfe to the fame defperate remedy. The collector of thefe cafes does not undertake to draw any conclufions from them. Mr. Geach of Plymouth, who communicates the third of thefe fingular hiftories, declares that for fome years paft he has not with-held drink from his dropcal patients; and Mr. Mudge of the fame place, at the close of the fourth, obferves that, in making an experiment of this kind, it is advisable to indulge the patient to the utmost extent of his appetite; adding, that a limited permiffion may be pernicious: whereas large and repeated draughts may, by means of their weight, carry themselves off, and perhaps the disease along with them. Article XVIII. The Cafe of Mr. Thomas Wood, a Miller, of Billericay, in the County of Effex. Communicated by the Same. The annals of phyfic do not, we believe, furnish such an inftance of the falutary effects of temperance, or of fo ftrict and undeviating an adherence to a fyftem of the most rigid abftemiousness, as that contained in this article. The fubject of it, after |