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1206. Observations on the Alteration pro- 
 duced in the Air of places where a great 
 number of persons are assembled. 
 
 Trl., fr. the Memoirs of the Paris Soc. of Med., 
 
 of a paper read in 1785. With a note by i 
 Beddoes. In his ‘ Letters ’, &c., No. 1980, leaf A 2. 
 
 
 
 1980. Letters from Dr. Withering... Dr. 
 Ewart... Dr. Thornton...and Dr. Biggs... 
 together with some other papers, supple- 
 mentary to two publications on Asthma, 
 Consumption, Fever, and other diseases, by 
 Thomas Beddoes. 8°. Bristol, (1794). 
 
 Contents include: Case communicated from 
 
 | Dr. Parry; Abstract of Mr. Vauquelin’s experi- 
 ments on the liver of the ray or skate fish ; also 
 Lavoisier, no. 1206. _ 2 
 
 FROM 
 THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 SIR WILLIAM OSLER, BART. 
 OXFORD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
Let TERS 
 Dr. WITHERING, of Birmingham, 
 Dr.. EWA RT; of Bath, 
 Dr. THORNTON, otf London, 
 AND 
 Dr. BIGGS, \ate of the Ile of Santa-Cruz: 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 SOME OTHER PAPERS, 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY TO TWO PUBLICATIONS 
 
 ON 
 Asthma, Consumption, Fever, 
 
 AND OTHER DISEASES, 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS BEDDOES, M.D. 
 
 ne (GE PPI pee 
 BRISTOL: 
 PRINTED sy BULGIN anp ROSSER, BROAD-STREET: 
 
 Sold by J. Jounson, No. 72, St. Paul’s Church-Yard ; and H. Mu RAY 
 No. 92, Fleet-ftreet, London; alfo by BuiGin and 
 SuHErearn, J. Norton, J. Corti, 
 W.BrowNns,andT. Mi. -s, Bristol. 
 
 a 
 
 Piice ONE SHILLING. 
 
 
 

 
Cee 
 
 JOSEPH BLACK, M. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR of CHEMISTRY 
 In the Univerfity of Edinburgh. — 
 
 
 
 0: b+} + cermmmmmemamed ))* 4 4° 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 HAVE always, fince our firft acquaintance, found 
 gratification in avowing the refpeét I entertain for a cha- 
 raéter fo eminent as yours for genius and candour. But 
 your late adoption of Mr. Lavoisigr’s fyftem has greatly 
 added to the force of this fentiment: And the recolleétion of 
 fo fignal a proof, that neither years-nor celebrity—the bane 
 of vulgar minds—have had power to blunt your fenfibility to 
 truth, affords me greater pleafure than I fhould otherwife 
 have felt in dedicating to you the following {mall colleétion 
 of obfervatiens. | 
 Thefe obf€rvations principally relate to a fubjeét of un- 
 {peakable importance ; and one, in which our own country- 
 men are more deeply interefted than almoft any other portion 
 of the human race.—The znvariable fatality of Pulmonary 
 Confumption is among thofe notions which obfervation and 
 
 ‘reading render moft familiar to the minds of medical men. 
 
 Many other perfons are, however, by no means fully apprized 
 of this melancholy truth. For ‘‘ Catarrhs,” asa great phyfician 
 has obferved, ‘‘ are fometimes miftaken by the’ ignorant for 
 “ Confumptions ; or. defignedly called fo by the crafty. 
 ‘* Hence they are Tappofed to have been occafionally cured.” 
 Dr. Cullen ufed to mention in his leftures one inftance of 
 recovery from what he fuppofed to be a real confumption. 
 But he profeffed himfelf unable to form any conjeéture how 
 this almoft miraculous event was brought about; and of 
 courfe he could not apply it to the benefit of other patients. 
 I have heard of no other credible inftance of recovery from 
 well-afcertained confumption, except thofe mentioned in the 
 following communications; yet the different pra€titioners 
 whom | have queftioned refpeéting the refult of their expe- 
 rience muft, I fhould imagine, have feen ten or, perhaps, 
 twenty thoufand patients. It may very fafely be aflumed 
 that at leaft ninety-nine out of every hundred perfons, ill of 
 confumption, are cut off, notwithitanding the very earlie{t 
 adminiftration of the various compofitions proclaimed by ad- 
 vertifements, or of the means advifed in books, for their relief, 
 Now what fort of remedies muft thofe be, under whofe ope- 
 
 a ration 
 
 
 
¢ 
 ( 2-) 
 
 ration nineteen patients die out of twenty, or even four out 
 of five? Do they deferve the name of remedies 2 Credylity 
 might, imthts inftanee, také aleffon from the reply made toa 
 boafttul Pagan, preft; who, in order to furprife a.traveller 
 mto admiration of the power of his Deity, produced a lift of 
 the names of perfons whom He had preferved from fhip- 
 wreck, in cénfequence of the vows they had offered to Him; 
 “ very well,” {aid the traveller, ‘fo far, fo good; now Jet 
 “* me fee the lift of thofe who perifhed in fpite of their vows.” 
 If the means in ufe for the cure of confumption uniformly 
 fail, the means of prevention are alfo lamentably deficient. 
 Every body knows the difeafe to be dangerous; the figns 
 therefore that indicate its approach commonly excite alarm; 
 and, on their firft appearance, few except the needy negle& 
 to call in the aid of medicine, and many, doubtlefs, fteadily 
 purfue the dire€tions they receive. Neverthelefs, rich houfes 
 are every day difcharging into the grave viGtims to this dire 
 diféate. ae 
 Delufion of every kind will, I imagine, on calculating its 
 effeéis, be found injurious to fociety. The prevailing degree 
 of perfuafion, that Pulmgnary Confumption has been. and 
 may again ‘be cured either by quack medicines or by ‘any 
 other of the ufual means, is obvioufly produttive of two bad © 
 confequences ; 1. As it enables a moft pernicious {pecies:of 
 impoftors to fatten on the produce of fraud; and. As it 
 renders phyficians lefs a€tive in feeking, and the public lef 
 urgent in requiring, an efficacious method of treatment. Are 
 thefe evils outweighed by the common-place plea in favour 
 of deception? Of this plea, which is fugeefted fometimnes 
 by real, and fometimes by affeGted humanity, I, for my own 
 part, queflion the validity : in the firft place, becaufe I have 
 obferved phthifical patients, under full affurance of their fate, 
 fluffer lefs than others, who have only fulpeéted their danger 
 (as they feldom fail to do), and whoin confequence were agi- 
 ‘tated by inceffant viciffitudes of hope and terror ;—and, 
 fecondly, will'not every fanguine patient, however firmly 
 “convinced that the ¢rue confumption 1s inevitably fatal, per=-< 
 
 fuade himfelf that his own is not a cafe of true confumption ? 
 Such, if I know myfelf, would be my opinion, “were I a 
 difinterefted fpe€tator of thofe fcenes of domeftic mifery, 
 which Confumption is every hour producing. The defire— 
 a reafonable defire, I hope—of feeing my own proje& fully 
 and {peedily carried into executign, may render me more 
 eager to diflipate any rival delufion. But 1 am confident, 
 from the temper of the prefent age, and from feveral peculiar 
 circumflances, that it will be tried in every poffible form. 
 Patrents themfelves, or their friends for them, will foon learn 
 to 
 
 
 
Oe ae 
 
 to afk their medical attendants thefe two fimple queftions : 
 “‘ Have you had fo much favourable experience of any other 
 ** method as to advife me to truft my life toit? Do you know 
 *‘ the method, newly propofed, to be inefficacious ?’=—The 
 following teftimonies, muft alfo have the greater weight both 
 with the public and with the members of the medicgl pro- 
 feffion, as they come from perfeétly impartial and well-in- 
 forfned perfons. Many other of the moft refpettable prac- 
 titioners and improvers. of medicine have exprefied the moft 
 earneft-wifhes for the execution of the defign, as well as great 
 anxiety for further information. And were there no other 
 hope, thofe young men, to whom YOU communicate ardour 
 and information, would, I am fure, prevent this chance of 
 relieving otherwife irremediable mifery from being loft to 
 mankind. The fooner, however, its pretenfions are exami- 
 ned, the better ; in order either that the benefit may be dif 
 feminated, or, in cafe of total failure, that ingenuity. may 
 ‘ftrike off in queft of other improvements. For who. will 
 deny that the art of medicine needs improvement, while fo 
 many and fuch frequent difeafes remain incurable ? 
 
 Ehe pueumaiic pra€tice is about to be introduced into one 
 hofpital—another fource of expeétation. But. an aporo- 
 priated hofpital, under the management of an able and 
 impartial phyfician, would fooneft try this pra€tice, and 
 improve it, if it be worthy of profecution. Such an 
 eftablifhment, with rooms proper for containing modified 
 airs, might be provided for a fum which, when fet in compe- 
 tition with a {mall probability of greatly promoting the public 
 welfare, muft appear contemptible. And an individual, who 
 from inexperience of the world, fhould fuppofe mankind in 
 general, open to convition and alive to their true interefts, 
 might imagine that the attention of the opulent would infal-. 
 libly bearrefted by confiderations like the following : 
 
 ‘* Some exterminating maladies infeft, almoft exclufively, 
 ** the habitations of the indigent. But Confumption does 
 “not confine its ravages within fuch narrow limits. Nor 
 ** has wealth yet Been able to provide materials for erecting 
 “abarrer, capable of refifting its invafion. The young, 
 “ the beautiful, and ingenious are its ordinary prey —and how 
 “@ften have you to lament that it faftens upon the objeéts 
 “ot your fondeft attachment; after whofe lofs this bufy 
 ** world*will feem to yau asa cheerlefs défert 2—1 am aware 
 ‘* of the intereft which # child, confumiag by a flow decay, 
 “-muft @xcite in the bofom of a parent. Full allowance, 
 ‘‘ however, beg made for the effeét of compaflionate affec- 
 “ tion on the imagination, it will often appear, that the moft » 
 ‘amiable. individuals of a family are reaJly fingled out by 
 * Confumption. | 7 “* Self 
 
 
 
& 
 i oe 
 
 “* Self-prefervation eomes in to fecond the difates of 
 
 parental affe€tion ; for it is certain that the number of 
 
 perfons, who die of con{fumption at an advanced period of 
 life, infinitely exceeds the common computation, 
 
 “‘ In comparifon with fo unceafing and diffufiyea calamity, 
 ** how inconfiderable are the effe&is of thofe epidemical dif- 
 ** ordérs, that occafionally excite fo much conffernation 
 “ among us ? Why then hefitate to accept the aid of Science, 
 “when fhe offers agents endowed with great and peculiar 
 ~ powers, advantageous in their application, and, as there is 
 “tome reafon for fuppofing, adapted to our neceffities ? Is 
 ‘a full trial of their eficacy too expenfive ? At what rate 
 “then do you eftimate the chance of learning how to 
 * preferve trom otherwife inevitable deftru&tion thofe whom 
 “ their underflanding or difpofition may have rendered your 
 ‘* pride or your delight ? How many times a larger fum may 
 “* you have to beftow without receiving in return any chance 
 “of their prefervation ?—But you have heard the projeét 
 ** vilified. So would a Panacea be. So was the Peruvian 
 “ bark; andInoculation; and every great improvement of that 
 “€ art, from which, according to its flate, allin their turn fhall 
 *““ experience goodorharm. Befides, are you fure that thofe 
 “who pais this fentence are uninfluenced by prejudice, 
 ** pride, or the thirft of gold? Recolle& that to decry what 
 “ we do not underftand is an obvious expedient of felf-love ; 
 * confider therefore whether the information of thefe men 
 “18 fuch as may enable them to judge from analogy, or 
 “‘ whether they {peak from aétual experience: For opinion 
 “can have no folid bafe but in analogy or experience, fince 
 “‘ an intuitive perception of the powers of nature is not 
 “ among the faculties of man. Authority, equal to any that 
 “can be oppofed, is adduced in favour of the propofal. 
 “Many confiderations concur to render it plaufible. The 
 ‘* few trials, hitherto made, have anfwered beyond expec- 
 “tation. There is nothing, for example, in the authentic 
 ‘“ records of medicine fimilar to the cafe of florid confump- 
 ‘tion related in one of the following letters. The relapfes 
 ‘‘ ferve but to render more evident the conneétion betwecn 
 ** caufe and effeét. The fame obfervation applies tothe cafe 
 *« of putrid fever, related 1n another letter.” 
 
 I. flatter myfelf that the art of medicine will find great 
 refources in OXYGENE or VITAL air. Its powers, as far as 
 I have hitherto tried them, have excedded my previous 
 conceptions. But as every fubftance, worthy of being re- 
 
 arded as a medicine, muft be capable of doing much mif- 
 chief when mifapplied, I am under fome apprehenfion left 
 
 sifmanagement fhould bring this {pecies of air into difrepute. 
 Whenever 
 
 
 
EES 
 
 ‘Whenever it is adminiftered to perfons whofe conftitutions 
 are not much reduced, -nor their ftrength much impaired, 
 it fhould at firft be diluted with three times its bulk of atmof- 
 pheric air ; nor fhould this mixture be infpired above five. 
 minutes ata fitting three orfour times a-day. The fubjoined 
 cafe of epilepfy, in which its effeéts did not correfpond to 
 our wifhes, will ferve to enforce this caution. Within thefe 
 few days another confirmation of this rule has occurred to 
 me: An afthmatic patient, finding great relief from atmof- 
 pheric mixed with oxygene air, unadvifedly determined to 
 attempt to fubdue his difeafe at one attack. By largely 
 ufing oxygene air little diluted, he brought on fome fingular 
 fymptoms, but, I hope, without doing himfelf permanent 
 mifchief. I do not enter into further particulars at prefent, 
 as [ fhall probably have an opportunity of laying this cafe 
 before the public in the words of the patient himfelf. , 
 In feveral experiments with animals that had refpired 
 diluted oxygene air, I have found them upon immerfion in 
 water much more vivacious than fimilar animals that had 
 breathed atmofpheric air. Of thefe experiments I intend foon 
 to give an account, together with a;drawing and defcription 
 of a chamber-apparatus for procuring and containing elaf- 
 tic fluids, In the mean time, it were to be wifhed that a 
 number of perfons would engage in this promifing invefti- 
 gation. It might perhaps be determined, whether phthifical 
 patients vitiate the air more than perfons in health >—whether 
 althmatic patients, during a fit, vitiate it lefs, as Mr. Chaptal, 
 { think, afferts ?—An inftrument for meafuring the capacity 
 of the lungs in different people might eafily be contrived ; 
 and fuch an inftrument might pofflibly be ufeful as well as 
 curious. But heads of inquiry will occur to any one who 
 
 confiders this copious fubjeét. 
 
 ‘¢ Suppofing the proportion of ingredients in the atmof- 
 ‘* phere to be that beft adapted to the average ftate of health, 
 *‘ isit not likely that.there may be certain deviations from 
 ** this ftate, where that fluid body contains too little vital air, 
 “* and other deviations, where it Contains too much ?”” Your 
 encouragement of the inquiry, will, I hope, aflift in furnifh- 
 ing the folution of a problem, which is certainly one of 
 the moft important in phyfiology and pathology. 
 
 5 am, dear Sir, 
 
 Your affeftionate Friend, 
 
 S7 homad Ti} eddoes. 
 
 Hope-Square, Briftol Hotwells, 
 Dec, 24, 1793. | 
 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 So a To de 
 
 LETTER io Dr. Black, introductory, - - 
 
 Objfervations on the alteration produced in the Air of places 
 where a great number of perfons are affembled, ; 
 
 Letter from Dr. Withering to Dr, Beddoes, 
 
 Letter from Dr, Ewart to ditto, 
 
 Leiter from Dr. Thornton to ditto, 
 
 Extrat of a Letter from Dr, ————, - 
 
 Cafe of Dy/pnoca, approaching to Orthopnoea, letier 
 from Benjamin Biggs, M. D, - 
 
 Cafe of Epileptic Affettion, : 
 
 , Abftradl of Mr. Vauquelin’ s experiments on the 
 the Ray or Skate fifh, F - : : 
 
 Mifcellaneous Obfervations, 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 OBSERVATIONS On the Alteration produced in the Air of 
 PLACES where a GREAT NUMBER of Perfons are 
 affembled. By Mr. Lavoifier. 
 
 THIS Paper is taken fromthe Memorrs of the Paris Society 
 of Medicine, a Work that does not fall in thé way of ordinary 
 readers. Itis valuable in wtfelf, and intimately conneed with 
 the [ubject of Difeafes that may be cured, or relieved by breath- 
 ung different airs. I dm indebted for the tranflateon to the 
 kindne/s of a Friend. The chemical terms are rendered con- 
 formable to the new French nomenclature, which did not exz/t 
 in 1785, when this paper was read; and the degrees of Fah- 
 renhert's fcale are fubjiituted in the place of thofe of Reaumur, 
 but the weights and meafures are French. T 
 
 ent. 
 
 ODERN Chemifts have difcovered that, befides the 
 
 common refpirable air, there is in nature a variety of 
 fluids which agree with it in its moft obvious properties. 
 Like the air of the atmofphere, they are colourlefs, and fo 
 perfe€tly elaftic, fluid, and tran{fparent, that they would 
 e{cape the Sight and Touch, if their refiftance and the 
 poffibility of confining them, did not in many inftances 
 convince us of their exiftence. But though they bear a 
 confiderable refemblance to common atmofpheric air in 
 their external, or what may be called their phyfical qualities, 
 yet they are found to differ effentially when Chemically 
 examined ; viewed in this light, fome are difcovered to be 
 nothing more than the ordinary alkalis or acids in a ftate of 
 vapour; others are neutral fubftances of a very fingular 
 nature, and there are others again whofe properties have not 
 yet been afcertained. Accurate and profound refearches 
 into the nature of aeriform fluids, have fhewn that they are 
 indebted for theif elaftic ftate to the matter of heat, which 
 enters into their compofition: that all volatile fubftances 
 whatioever are fufceptible of Evaporation, and are tran{- 
 formed into a fpecies of air by a certain quantity of heat : 
 that the upper {urface of thé mercury in the barometer, for 
 example, being at its mean height, (or about 28 Paris inches 
 above that of the mercury in the bafon) water affumes an 
 aeriform ftate at the temperature of 912° degrees of Fahren- 
 heit's thermometer ; and Spirit of Wine at that of 75°: that 
 thefe fluids, thus rendered elaftic and aeriform, aré capable 
 of being confined under glafs bells, or other ‘receivers : that 
 they may be transferred from one veflel to another, and 
 
 A 2 fubjegted 
 
 
 
a ) 
 
 fubjeéted to all the experiments that can be made on per 
 
 manently elaftic fluids. This aeriform ftate, or that of an 
 elaftic fluid, 1s nothing therefore but a modification, and the 
 words air or gas are mere gencric expreflions charaéterifing 
 a certain clafs of bodies, but not appropriated to any particu- 
 lar {pecies. The common air of the atmofphere is confe- 
 quently only an individual of this numerous clafs. 
 
 Thefe general confiderations might induce us to confider 
 the atmofphere not as a fimple but as a compound fubftance : 
 it may be a mixture of all the various fubftances capable of 
 affuming the ftate of air at the degree of heat, amd under the 
 preflure in which we live. Experience has confirmed this 
 conjecture which was fuggefted by analogy. Chemitts 
 having ventured to analyfe the air'of our atmofphere, they 
 have fucceeded in difcovering that it confifts of about 27 or 
 28 parts in 100 of an air perfeéily fit for the purpofe of ref- 
 piration, and now known by the name of oxygene air, and 
 of 72 or 73 parts of a mephitic fluid, abfolutely incapable of 
 fupporting the combuflion of Bodies, or the refpiration of 
 Ammals, which has lately been denominated azotic air. 
 
 In the proportion juft mentioned, of 72 parts of azotic 
 air, to 28 of oxygene air, the number of cubic inches occu- 
 pied by each in a cubic foot of the common atmofphere, is 
 found to be as follows: 
 
 Oxygene air, - 484 inches, 
 
 Azotic air, . 1244 
 
 Total 1728 inches = cubic foot. 
 L have found by a number of experiments, of which I fhal! 
 hereafter give an account, that when the barometer is at the 
 herehth of 28 Paris inches, that 1s to fay, at its mean heighth, 
 and the thermometer at 52 degrees, the cubic foot of atmof- 
 pheric air weighs - - ~ - - OZ. FOS. gis 
 bn BAO 
 The weight of a cubic foot of ©xygene air is A 
 And of a crbic toot of azotic air : z i. 2 48 
 Hence it-follows that a cubic foot is compofed 
 Inches. 
 Of Oxygene air, - 484 
 Azotic,.. - - 1244 weighing 
 Total1728J | 1 3 8 
 Amongtt the different fub {tances of which the atmo {phere 1S 
 compofed, none befides oxygene airis eflential to reipiration: 
 the azotic air contributes nothing towards it: fo that, in faét, 
 any other mephitic fluid might be fubftituted in its place; 
 and, provided this fubftituted fluid pofleffes no irritating or 
 deleterious quality, and is combined with oxygene air in the 
 : proportion 
 
 
 
aN eee 
 
 proportion of 72 parts in 100, fuch a mixture would confli- 
 tute a fluid equally falutary, and re{pirable with the common 
 air of the atmofphere. 
 
 Such is the knowledge of the compofition of the air we 
 breathe, which the Science of Medicine has derived from 
 Natural Philofophy and Chemiftry. 
 
 But what are the changes produced in air thus formed in the 
 various circumftances of Life ? what.the influence of thefe 
 circumftances on the organs of refpiration ? what difeafes 
 in the Animal GEconomy may hence arife ? and what are 
 the methods of preventing or remedying them ? To an{wer 
 thefe queftions is the objeét of my prefent undertaking ; 
 and of thefe I fhall give an account to the Society from time 
 to time in different papers. 
 
 It is a fa&t which has been long known, that refpiring 
 animals live only for a given time in a given quantity of 
 atmofpheric air; they foon become faint, and fink into a 
 kindof flumber: this lumber, though compofed at firft, 1s fuc- 
 ceeded by great agitation : the refpiration becomes quick and 
 dificult ; and the animal expires in convulfions. Thefe 
 events fucceed each other with greater or lefs rapidity in 
 proportion to the quantity of air in which the animal is con- 
 fined, and in proportion to its general bulk, and to the com- 
 parative fize of its lungs: The vigour of any given animal 
 may likewife contribute fomewhat to prolong its exiftence 
 for a fhort period, but in general it. may be confidered as an 
 eftablifhed fa&, that a man cannot fubfift longer than an hour 
 in a quantity of air equal in bulk to five cubic feet. 
 
 In order to obtain an adequate idea of the fpecies o 
 injury which the air fuftains by being refpired, I introduced 
 a Guinea-pig under a glafs bell inverted upon mercury, 
 which contained 248 cubic inches of oxygene air. Ifuffered 
 the animal to remain in thefe circumftances about an hour 
 and a half; at the end of which time, I removed it, by the 
 fame way in which it had been introduced, ‘by pafling it 
 through the mercury. I did not perceive, that in either of 
 its paflages it had been in the leaft mjured, 
 
 In order to facilitate our future reafonings, I fhall fuppofe 
 that the quantity of oxygene air in which the Guinea-pig 
 was confined, amounted to a cubic foot, or to 1728 cubic 
 inches, and I fhall reduce by calculation all the refults of 
 my experiments to this flandard. 
 
 When the Guinea-pig was withdrawn from under the 
 bell, the 1728 cubic inches of oxygene air were found to be 
 reduced to 16723 ; the diminution of bulk was confequently 
 55% cubical inches; in the mean time there were formed 
 229! cubic inches of carbonic acid air, Of this faét I fatis- 
 
 A 3 fied 
 
 f 
 
 
 
C4) 
 
 fied myfelf by introducing a quantity of cauftic alkali inte 
 the bell; the air remaining after this operation was per- 
 feétly pure oxygene air. 
 
 Confidering thefe portions of air with refpe@ to their 
 weight, we fhall have for the quantities remaining under the 
 bell after the animal had been withdrawn, the following 
 proportions : OZ. grs. gIs. 
 
 Jae Oxygene air, = 1 2° 14 
 Carbonic acid air, O 215 
 1 4 162 
 
 In this experiment the air appears to be diminifhed in 
 bulk about 1-32d part: but its abfolute weight augmented : 
 hence it evidently refults, 1{t. That the air derives from the 
 lungs during the aét of refpiration, a portion of carbonic 
 acid air: But it muft be remarked that this augmentation of 
 weight which appears to be only 21,87, is in reality much 
 more confiderable than it appears to be at firft fight. The 
 experiment which I have juft related, produced no more 
 than 229} inches of carbonic acid air; now according to 
 very exact experiments which I have defcribed elfewhere, 
 100 parts of carbonic acid air in weight are compofed of 
 72 parts of oxygene air, and 28 of charcoal. The 2294 
 inches of carbonic acid air obtained in this experiment con- 
 tained therefore of grains, 
 
 | Oxygene air, . ‘ 114,84 
 
 Carbone, s 44,66 
 
 The 114,84 grains of oxygene air amount in cubic inches 
 to 229% inches ; if then no more oxygene air had been em- 
 ployed than was neceflary to form the carbonic acid air, the 
 quantity remaining after the operation fhould have been. 
 1728—2295=14983 ; it was only 1449 2-9ds. the deficiency 
 is=54 2-9ds. : 
 
 It 1s evident from this ftatement, that independantly of 
 the portion of oxygene air which has been converted into 
 carbonic acid air, another portion of that which has entered 
 the lungs has not returned in an elaftic ftate ; and it follows 
 that one of thefe two effe€ts takes place during the aét of 
 refpiration ; either that a portion of oxygene air is united 
 with the blood, or that it is’ combined with a portion of 
 inflammable air, and Compofes water. I fhall difcufs in 
 other papers the reafons which may be adduced in favour of 
 each of thefe opinions. But allowing, (which there is fome 
 reafon to do) that the latter is the preferable fuppofition, it 
 is eafy, from the above experiment, to determine the quan- 
 tity of water which is formed during refpiration, and to 
 afcertain the quantity of hydrogene extracted from the lungs. 
 Shs | ee 7 ot a tagh. 
 
 
 
af RELY 
 
 in faét, fince to produce 100 parts of water it is neceflary to 
 employ 85 parts by weight of oxygene air, and 15 of hydro- 
 gene gas, it follows that the §4 2-gds. inches of oxygene air 
 which have not been accounted for, muft have formed « ot 
 grains of water, and that 4 5-6ths. grains of inflammable air 
 have been difengaged from the lungs of the anima]. The fame 
 experiment repeated in common air, affords fimilar refilts - 
 a diminution of the bulk of the air; an augmentation of its 
 abfolute weight: a formation of carbonic acid air, and of 
 water: a difengagement of carbone, and of a {mall por- 
 tion of inflammable gas from the lungs: but the azotic 
 air which remains, and which mixes with the carbonic acid 
 air, and with the portion of oxygene air not entirely con- 
 fumed, renders the refult more complicated. At the time 
 therefore, that the refpiration of the atmofpheric air has 
 been continued as long as may be, and animals can no longer 
 remain in it, except at the rif{que of lofing their lives within 
 a few feconds, it 1s found to be compofed of nearly the fol- 
 lowing proportion in each cubic foot, I fay nearly, for great 
 variations are obfervable in thefe circumftances, and particu- 
 larly. in the quantity of carbonic acid air... A cubie foot 
 contains theretore in thefe circumftances, 
 
 OF oxygene air, - és 173 inches. 
 Carbonic acid air, 2 200 
 Azotic air, ‘ - 1355 
 
 
 
 Total 1728 
 Which gives in weight, 
 . OZ. grs. prs, 
 
 
 
 Oxygene air, = x oO 114 
 
 Carbonic acid air, - Oo 1 66 
 
 Azotic air, oie ie i oO 26 
 Total 1 
 
 I ought to take notice. that thefe refults were determined 
 by means of refpired air after it had been cooled, and had 
 depofited the fuperabundant humidity which it had acquired 
 in paffing through the lungs. Air thus exhaufted by re{pi- 
 ration, proves that the limits within which it is poffible to 
 vary the proportions of oxygene and azotic, in order to pro- 
 duce refpirable air, are not very extenfive, and that con- 
 fequently it is *no wonder that the air fhould be found 
 ienfibly injured in a great variety of circumftances. In the 
 experiment made upon the Guinea-pig confined in oxygene 
 air, which I have juft related, I perceived that the animal 
 fuffered confiderably towards the conclufion. It is how- 
 ever evident, that'in this cafe a very {mall portion. only 
 
 A 4 was 
 
 c F —— 
 eS ee =e 
 
 ——— renee 
 
 a 
 
 = a ee 
 
 | 
 | 
 | 
 
 i 
 
 LS 
 
 = 
 
 ———- 
 
 mente 
 
 eS: 
 
 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 was abfolutely vitiated, that is, converted into carbonic acid 
 air, and that there remained of oxygene air a quantity much 
 more than was neceflary to conftitute a falubrious air. This 
 circumftance had been already obferved by Dr. Prieftley, 
 but the obje&t which I propofe in this paper, required a 
 repetition of a part of his experiments. My operations were 
 generally performed upon Guinea-pigs. The oxygene air 
 which I made them breathe was nearly pure ; and did not con- 
 tain above five or fix parts of azotic air in 100 of the whole 
 portion. Now though thefe animals lived much longer 
 mn acertain quantity of this air than they would have done in 
 an equal quantity of the air of the atmofphere, they perifhed 
 long before it was completely vitiated, while another ani- 
 mal of the fame kind introduced into this vitiated air did not 
 appear, for fome time at Jeaft, to fuffer any confiderable in- 
 convenience. It was not therefore for want of refpirable 
 air that the animals perifhed; it was rather owing to fome 
 pernicious quality in the oxygene air, a proof that the ad- 
 mixture of a certain portion of azote with oxygene is required 
 to render it falubrious. M. Bucquet, whofe name at this 
 moment muft renew the public regret, aflifted me very 
 kindly in fome of thefe experiments, and we opened together 
 the animals which had fallen viétims to our refearches ; they 
 all appeared to have died of a burning fever or fome inflam- 
 matory difeafe. ‘Their mufcles, upon infpection, were found 
 to be very red; the heart livid and full of blood; efpecially 
 the right auricle and ventricle : the lungs were but little 
 inflated, but were red even externally, and gorged with 
 blood. <A truly falubrious air therefore is compofed of an 
 adéquate mixture of oxygene and azote: and it is of confe- 
 quence to refpiring animals, that this proportion, which ts 
 commonly 28 parts of oxygene to 72 of azote, fhould never 
 vary in any confiderable degree. This difference however 
 is obfervable, that when the oxygene is fuperabundant, the 
 animal only fuffers feverely : when it 1s deficient, the con- 
 equence is immediate death. Since, therefore atmofpheric 
 air f{upports life for a certain period only, and fince it be- 
 «omes the more vitiated the oftener it 1s refpired, we may 
 venture to conclude that the wholefomenefs of the air muft 
 be more or lefs diminifhed in all public places, in hofpitals, 
 and wherever a number of perfons are aflembled ; efpecialty 
 ‘f the air circulates flowly or with difficulty. I thought it of 
 fome confequence tp determine to what extent this vitiation 
 could poflibly be carried, for which putpofe I chofe the 
 toweft ward in the General Hofpital, which appeared to me 
 more crouded and unhealthy than the reft. I went thither 
 was admitted the inflant the door was opened, 
 
 at day-break, | 
 and 
 
 > 
 j 
 
 
 
ea eo 
 
 and filled two phials with the air of the room; one | filled 
 from the lower part of the room nearly on a level with the 
 floor, and the other from the upper part, or as near as poflible 
 to the cieling. The former of thefe two portions of air, or 
 that which was taken from below, was but little vitiated; it 
 contained in two portions, in bulk, 
 
 Of Oxygene air, : 25 
 Carbonic acid air, - 4 
 Azotic air, : . 71 
 
 
 
 100 Parts. 
 The air taken from the top of this ward had fuffered much 
 sreater injury. It contained, 
 
 
 
 Of Oxygene air, - - i8t 
 
 Carbonic acid air, - ot 
 
 Azotic alr, - - 79 
 
 100 
 
 Atmofpheric air taken the fame day 1n the open air con- 
 
 tained, Of Oxygene air, - 27 
 Azotic alr, = 73 
 100 
 
 I attempted the fame experiments on the air of a theatre. 
 The French comedians were at that time in the palace of the 
 Thuilleries, and 1 performed my operations in that building. 
 I chofe a day in which the number of {peétators was unufu- 
 ally great, and taking with me two phials full of water, I 
 emptied one at the top of the theatre, in a box which had 
 been kept fhut during the whole of the performance, and 
 the other at the bottom of the pit, a few moments before the 
 conclufion of the play. It is eafily conceived, that this 
 fecond part of my operation was attended with fome trouble 
 and difficulty : the leaft appearance of any thing extraordi- 
 nary, would have occafioned difiurbance in the pit, and might 
 have put a ftop to the performance. I was obliged therefore 
 to be fatisfied with coming in gently a few moments before 
 the end of the play, and placing mylelf near the centinel, 
 whom I had informed of my fcheme, emptying my phial 
 in that aukward fituation. But the air which | thus obtained 
 was taken too near the door, and the water through which 
 it paffed in order to enter the phial, muft have abforbed a 
 portion of its carbonic acid air. On this account, the ex- 
 periment did not give me any refults fenfibly different from 
 thofe made withthe external air; but *his was not the cafe 
 with the air colleéted atethe top of the theatre, ° In 100 parts 
 of this aiy there were found * 
 
 _ 
 
 OF 
 
 
 
. 
 ae 
 
 Of Oxygene air, - 21 
 Carbonic acid air, 2 
 Azotic air, : 6+ 
 
 Total 100 
 
 Whence it is evident that the quantity of oxygene air had 
 cen diminifhed in the proportion of 27 to 2f, or nearly oné 
 iourth. It is to be wifhed that thefe experiments could be 
 »eated more at large and’ with a more convenient apparatus. 
 1¢ wathing of the-air, at the time of colleéting it, fhould 
 be above all things avoided. This might eafily ‘be effeted 
 by means of tin pipes communicating from the outer to the 
 inner parts of the building, to whofe extremities fhould have 
 been previoufly fitted balloons exhaufted by the aif-pump. 
 
 In this manner it would be eafy to procure a quantity of 
 air fufficient to determine its fpecific gravity : the experi- 
 ments might alfo be condu@ed on fo large a {cale as to render 
 even minute differences very fenfible ; and they might be 
 repeated a fufficient number of times to render the inacctf- 
 racies which in all delicate experiments are unavoidable, 
 nearly evanefcent, and make them compentate one another. 
 Such experiments cannot be'well carried on except under 
 the fanétion of Government; but undoubtedly we fhould 
 derive from them valuable information with re{peét to the 
 confiruction of theatres. hofpitals, and every other building, 
 in which people affemble in great numbers. 
 
 However imperfeét my experiments may be, we may col- 
 leét by comparing them with others made on a {maller {cale, 
 under glats veffels, that the air of the atmofphere which is 
 originally compofed of only two fluids, or very nearly fo, is 
 compofed of three in all places which contain numerous 
 allemblies; in confequence of the converfion of a part of the 
 oxygene air into carbonic acid air: that thefe three fluids are 
 not mingled in equal proportions in every part of the room, 
 but on the contrary tend to arrange themfelves according to 
 their {pecific gravities: that the azotic air, as being lighter 
 and favoured by the heat which expands it, naturally mounts 
 upwards ; and thusa {pecies of circulation is produced which 
 fupplies the place of the mephitic air, which efcapes at the 
 top, with trefh air flowing in from the lower avenues. 
 
 This circulation takes place more or Jefs in every theatre ; 
 and frequently in f{pite of the architeét who dire@ed the 
 conftruttion: unlefs this was the cafe, unlefs the air was 
 thus renewed, the fpeétators would be expofed to the moft 
 fatal accidents long before the conclufion of the performance. 
 To convince ourfelves of this truth, nothing more is necef- 
 fary than to take the cxampl< of a theatre, fuppofe of 30 feet 
 
 Tong, 
 
 r 
 
 
 
( 9) 
 
 long, 25 feet wide, and go feet high. A room of thefe di- 
 menfions would be equal in bulk to 22,500 cubic feet, and 
 might contain about 100 {pettators : now fince each perfon 
 confumes, as I have mentioned above, about five cubic feet: 
 in an hour, it follows that the air of the theatre (if it were 
 not renewed) would be rendered completely mephitic in four 
 hours and a half: and it is likewife probable, that the greater 
 part of the {peétators would be ferioufly incommoded or 
 even perith before the end of that period. 
 _ The fame calculations applied to low and clofe places of 
 
 refort, of which I could mention. many initances, will ex- 
 plain how it happens that on crouded days the attention of 
 the audience cannot in fuch places be kept awake above two 
 or three howrs, where a mechanical impatience is brought 
 on by acertain uneafinefs and phyfical anxiety, of which it 
 is difficult to difcover the caufe. In fuch circumftances un- 
 fortunate is the reader to whom have been allotted the laft 
 moments of the fitting ; an intereft in his fubje€t is no longer 
 communicable to his audience: he is no longer liftened to 
 with complacency, or even with attention : and he receives 
 none of thofe tributes of applaufe or gratitude, which in more 
 favourable circumftances he had a right to expect. 
 
 When I began the prefent paper, my intention was to 
 have given fome account of the various {fpecies of injury 
 which the air is capable of receiving in the ordinary circum- 
 ftances of life. But I perceive that I have as yet done no 
 more than fketch one point in the plan which I had adopted, 
 and am obliged to refer toa fecond differtation the remarks 
 I have to make on the vitiation of the air produced by the 
 burning of lamps, wax, tapers, candles, coal, by trefh plaiter, 
 oil-painting, &c. but as this part of my work is nearly finifhed, 
 I fhall foon have it in my power to prefent it tothe Society. 
 
 There will remain to be treated of in a third paper, atmof- 
 pheric air confidered not as an elaftic fluid {ufceptible of 
 decompofition, but as a chemical agent capable of taking up, 
 in the way of folution, miafmata of various kinds. It 1s 
 fomewhat alarming to confider how often ina largeaflembly, 
 the air which each individual breathes, has paffed either 
 wholly or partly through the lungs of all thofe who are pre- 
 fent, It muft take up in each cafe exhalations more or lefs 
 putrid. But of what nature thefe exhalations are: to what 
 degree they vary in different fubjeéts : in age or youth: in 
 health or ficknefs : what difeafes we are capable of receiving 
 by this mode of communication : and what precautions may 
 be employed to neutralife or deftroy the dangerous influence 
 of thefe miafmata—there are none of thefe fubjetts which 
 may not afford ground of angles and furely there are none 
 
 of 
 
 
 
‘ 
 { 10 
 
 of more importance to the human race; Whilé every art is 
 advancing rapidly towards perfeGtion ; the art of living with 
 comfort in fociety, of preferving in health and vigour perfons 
 obiged to meet in large affemblies, of rendering cities and 
 great towns healthier, and the communication of contagious 
 diforders lefs general, is unfortunately yet in its infancy. 
 
 The immenfe labour which might be founded on this 
 important objeét, muft be undertaken by Societies of learned 
 men only ; no individual can flatter himfelf that he pofle fies 
 knowledge fufficient to complete without affiftance, a plan 
 fo complicated and extenfive ; and it is from reliance on the 
 advice, the information, and the affiflance of this Society, 
 that T have now undertaken to cultivate fome few portions 
 of this immenfe field. § 
 
 : 
 § Mr. L. has, I believe, publithed nothing further on this important fub- 
 yeét: “And his incomparable talents are, I fear, now loft to Science and 
 Humanity, 4; 3 
 
 a 
 LETTER 
 
 from Dr. WITHERING 
 To Dr. BEDDOES. 
 
 eB rp » Geereemmmamans ))* to qeq 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 Hit defign you have conceived is an important one; 
 
 the philanthropift cannot bnt be interefted in its face 
 
 ceils; the phyfician muft rejoice at the probability of learning 
 how-to cure or effentially alleviate a frequent, a cruel,-and 
 an hitherto hopelefs difeafe ; philofophers will urge you to 
 proceed, from a conviélion that fhould you: fail in your 
 higher aims; you: muft extend the boundaries of feience, and 
 throw new hght on the laws of the living machine; and 
 fhould:your endeavours ultimately be crowned with fuccefs, 
 and the moft amiable, not to fay the moft beautiful indivi- 
 duals of our {pecies, be thus {matched froma premature fate, 
 numerous private families will be indebted to you for their 
 greatelt comforts, and Society‘at large for its brighteft orna- 
 ments. Itis from fuch confiderations as thefe, as well/as at 
 your particular defire, that I now.am about to communicate 
 to you fuch obfervations, as have occurred during many 
 years’ attention to the-phthifis pulmonalis ; but I muf conz 
 
 ; fine 
 ‘% 
 
 
 
( 14. ) 
 
 fine mylelf to thofe circumftances which more immediately 
 tend to fupport or to invalidate. your opinions, otherwile i 
 should write a volume inftead of a letter. 
 
 Catarrhs, caufes of Confumpiion. 
 
 Young people themfelves, as well-as thofe who have the 
 dire&tion of them, cannot haye.it too flrongly enforced upon 
 their minds, that a cough merely the confequence of a cold, 
 ceafes of itfelf in eight or ten days; that if it continue 
 beyond that’ period; there is danger that a confumption may 
 be the confequence. Bleeding, {pare diet andthe other ufua! 
 modes of obviating inflammation fhould be immediately pur- 
 fued untill the cough fhall entirely ceafe ; and particularly 
 bleeding by leeches, or cupping on the part where any parm 
 
 {hall be felt in the chetft. 
 Caufes of Catarrhs. (Obfervations p. 156, &c.) 
 
 A fudden change from cold external air to that in a 
 heated room, is certainly a much more frequent caufe of 
 inflammatory affe€tions of the lungs, &c. than has hitherto 
 been generally fuppofed ; it is 1 believe the moft general 
 caufe, but furely it is not the only caufe of taking cold! f 
 am perfuaded that a fudden tranfition from a warm to a cold 
 apartment or to a flream of cold air, will produce this effeét. 
 We do get colds in Summer when no fires are lighted in our 
 fitting rooms, though not fo frequently asin Winter. Horfes 
 and cows get colds, though they never experience much 
 fudden change from cold to hot in the temperature of the 
 air they breathe, whillft the dog, who from the temperature 
 of the coldeft feafons inftantly on entermyg the houfe, ‘hes 
 down clofe the hotteft fires, and vice verfa,; feems little it 
 at all liable to catarrhal affe€tions. Horfes fometimes die 
 confumptive, cows often; dogs 1 belaeye never.t 
 
 Kinds of Confumptions. (Obfervations p. 112.) 
 The different kinds of confumptions fhould be better 
 diftinguifhed than they have been; not only as influencing 
 
 prognofis, but as direéting to a more fuccefsful praétice. 1 
 agree with you that patients have reaped no advantage from 
 
 the prevalent idea that moft confumptions have a {cro- 
 
 phulous origin. One fpecies you have happily named the 
 florid, and it is readily diftinguifhed. There exifts allo a 
 truly fcrophulous confamption, but it 1s arare, and not an 
 incurable difeafe, if the treatment. be properly adjufted te 
 its nature; but the treatment which I have repeatedly found 
 fuccefsful here, would only haften the florid confumption to 
 
 . B 2 its 
 7 : ' 
 
 + Ido not here Srget the epidemical contagious catarvh or influenza, te 
 which Bogs are fubpect. | WwW. We, 
 
 
 
ae ie) 
 
 its fatal termination {. When the fcrophulous confumption 
 cannot be traced by any known family difeafe; or by the 
 more obvious fymptoms in the conftitution of the patient, it 
 may fometimes be afcertained by knotted cords of lympha- ° 
 tics running down the neck, and dipping under the clavicle 
 into the chett. 
 
 Subjtance of the Lungs deftroyed. (Obfervations p. 
 
 146, letter p. 25.) 
 
 The exiftence of this fa& is not difputed, but it muft be 
 a very rare occurrence. Would not the falling in of the 
 ribs in the cafe you mention, be equally explicable on 
 the fuppofition of a caries induced in their bony fubftance 
 from a difeafe in the pleura? Or might not the increafing 
 debility &c. of the patient be alone fufficient to produce 
 fuch an appearance, which often occurs in ricketty chil- 
 dren? At one period of my life 1 had opportunities of 
 accurately examining the Lungs of many who died confump- 
 tive, but I never met with any thing like the deftruction of 
 them. It was once my intention to have given thefe obfer- 
 vations to the public, but the utility of that defign was fully 
 an{wered by the publication of the works of the late Dr. 
 Stark, becaufe nothing that I had obferved, had efcaped the 
 attentive fearches of that ingenious and indefatigable man, 
 by whofe early death fcience was deprived of one of its 
 moit a€tive votaries. 
 
 Who exempt from Confumptions, - 
 
 It is a prevalent opinion that the workmen employed 
 abeut Limekilns never become confumptive; and it is ufual 
 for the affected with the difeafe, to repair to ignited kilns to 
 | breathe 
 
 f Medical practitioners will probably be {urprifed at this paflage. Having 
 had an opportunity of converfing with Dr. Withering fince his letter was 
 written, { requefted an explanation. He informed me that the praétice he had 
 found fuccefsful in what he confiders as the truly fcrophulous Phthifis, is 
 peculiar to himfelf: he mentioned to me what it was, but defired I would 
 not anticipate the account of it he himfelf defigns to publish. 
 
 Not many weeks before his fudden death, the late Mr. Benjamin Colbourne, 
 of Bath, told me that he had difcovered a medicine which he had reafon to 
 believe not lefs efficacious in certain difeafes of the urinary paflages than his 
 aerated alkaline water is in calculus. The patients whom he had treated com- 
 plained of difficulty of retention of urine, which aften came away involuntarily 
 an {mall quantities with a fenfe of irritation.in the urethra, and was fetid and 
 alkaline, ashe fhewed me by dipping into fome of it paper tinged by litmus, 
 and afterwards reddened by an acid. The effeét of his medicine was to re- 
 move the above-mentioned diftrefling fymptoms, and to change the quality of 
 the urine, as he alfo fhewed me by the effect of the urine of another patient 
 who had been under his care for fome time, upon teft paper. “The urine of 
 this patient was diftinétly acid, and not more offenfive than ordinary urine.—- 
 His defign was to try his method in afew more cafes, and, if he was fuccefs- 
 ful, to publifh it. He had never communicated it; kam told that no account 
 ef it has been found among his papers, I hope however that further fearch 
 will difeover his preparation; otherwife the lofs to humanity will be truly 
 deplorable. TB; 
 
 
 
(23°) 
 
 breathe the vapour iffuing therefrom. This rude mode of 
 adminiftering atmofpheric air deprived of part of its Oxy- 
 gene and combined with a portion of carbonic acid, has 
 mot under my obfervation ever cured a patient, but fill I 
 am difpofed to believe that opinions generally prevalent have 
 fome fort of foundation. In looking about for the caufes 
 which promote or retard the frequency of con{fumptions, 
 different fituations and occupations become of courfe objeéts 
 of my attention; and the only clafles of men I have yet 
 oblerved exempt from the difeafe, are butchers*, and 
 makers of catgut. They both pafs much of their time amidft 
 the ftench of dead animal matter$? the latter very much fo; 
 the former live chiefly on animal food, and are much ex. 
 pofed to the inclemencies of the feafons, whilft the latter 
 live as other manufaéturers, and work under cover, in clofe 
 and rather warm buildings. Thefe people are always fleek, 
 often fat, and the rofy bloom of health adorns their cheeks. 
 Thele fatts but ill accord with our theoretical notion$ of 
 putrid difeafes, 
 
 Progre{s of Confumptions flopped. (Obf. p. 113.) 
 
 The effect of pregnancy in arreiting the progrefs of con- 
 f{umption has long been known, but it was referved for you, 
 Sir, to turn this remarkable fa& to advantage. Should your 
 idea concerning the effe& of the impeded a€tion of the dia- 
 phragm ftand its ground, the application of a compreffive 
 bandage upon the abdemen cannot fail to prefent itfelf to 
 
 . 
 
 your imagination. 
 
 But the progrefs ef confumption is alfo flopped by in- 
 fanity. This is a circumftance well worthy your attention : 
 A. young woman in the laft {tage of phthifis fuddenly became 
 furioufly infane. After three months the infanity ceafed, 
 the phthifical fymptoms returned, and fhe died ina few weeks. 
 
 A young gentleman whofe father died confumptive, con-’ 
 fulted me about a troublefoine cough, pain in his cheft, hetic 
 fever and emaciation. I had no expectation of his living, 
 but wifhed him to winter in a warmer climate : on his°re- 
 turn the folowing {pring, the phthifical fymptoms had no 
 exiltence, but there was. an unufual oddity in his manner, 
 which very fhortly fhewed itfelf in a confirmed infanity. 
 For feveral weeks he wd furious, but that ftate gradually 
 geve way to an abftraéted melancholic caft: after fome years 
 he grew more comfortable, and fo continues, butis far from 
 well.Q@. B g Diet 
 
 * Neverthelefs, I have at prefent under my carea Butcher from Wrington, 
 
 in Somerfetfhire, who has been for fome time in 4 true Confumption. He is 
 much relieved and en Zins fanguine hopes of recovery. Rs 
 i I was apprized By ¢{ufpention of Phthifis by infanity, It is noticed in 
 Cullen’s Firft Lines, have myfelf mentioned a cafe where the pneumonic 
 dymptoms and guiek pulfe of Phthifis were fufpended by anafarca, Dr. Per- 
 
 Civ: 
 e C 
 
 
 
{ 14 ) 
 Diet of the Confumptive. 
 
 Every body has feen the imefheacy of milk, fruit, and a 
 vegetable diet, with more or lefs abftinence from: fermented 
 liquors. For three fucceflive years the oppofite method was 
 surfued in a great number of cafes, by a practitioner within 
 the {phere of my obfervation. His patients were fupported 
 upon animal food, ftrong gravy broth, and porter or port 
 wine, According to the moft candid judgment I could 
 form, thefe great variations 1n diet had no effential effect upon 
 the difeafe; and then it was that my hopes of finding a cure 
 for it firkt forfook mebut you, Sir, have revived thefe hopes. 
 
 Vitriolte acid. (Obl. ps 135.) 
 
 In the florid confumption, and in hzemoptoe, the ufe of 
 this acid has been generally approved; but ] think its effeéts 
 are very problematical. The patients generally like’ the 
 medicine at firft, but I have repeatedly obferved that in a 
 few days, it las occafioned an increafe of oppreflion, a ftraigh- 
 ter cough, more heat, and if perfifted in, an haemoptoe, 
 though none had appeared before.— This alfo favours your 
 theory.|| 
 
 Carbonic acid Air. (Obf. p. 128.) 
 
 In the cafe which I faw perfeétly cured by means of this 
 air, and which I communicated to Dr. Percival many years 
 ago, the expettorated matter was very copious, and very 
 offenfive. It was with a view to corre& this feetor, and by 
 that means to diminifh the heétic fever, that I thought of di- 
 reGting its ufe. I found the patient in the fate juft now 
 mentioned, and had the fatistaGtion of feeing her cured. 
 Further and more mature obfervation has long fince con- 
 vinced me, that this was a cafe of vomica, and nota true 
 phthrits. Accordingly I took the firit fair opportunity of 
 confefling my error, as may be feen in the appendix to my 
 account of the foxgiore. But though my hopes founded on 
 this firft trial proved deceptive, Lam itil very much deceived 
 -€ the infpiration of carbonic acid air has not greatly pro- 
 longed the exifence of many truly phthifical patients. My 
 mode of ufing it 1s more effeQual than you may have fup- 
 nofed. 1 order the patient to fleep in a {mall room, take 
 care to have the chimney on on fide of the bed, and place 
 an earthen veffel which wall contain two or three gallons on 
 
 | the 
 ‘yal relates acafe where it might at firft fight appear that Phthifis was relieved 
 sr removed by hydrocephalus internus 5 but acareful perufal of the nagrativeof 
 
 5 eminent phyfictan will, 1 think, fatisfy the reader that the fymptoms of 
 she former difeale only vielded as the powers of the fenforium were gradually 
 jeftroved. (Med. Faéts and Obf. L. 13%) : eg + 
 | has fnce informed me of a cafe where Spitting of Blood 
 heft repeatedly fucceeded the ule of this acid. Hes 
 
 loDr. Withering 
 snd Striéture of the C - ae 
 +} founded, is of the greatett importance by prattice, T. Ue 
 
 apieryalou, li Weis 3 
 , 
 
 
 

 
 ( 15 ) 
 
 the oppofite fide, “on a level with the pillow. Things aré 
 fo managed, that the effervefcence goes on flowly, and con- 
 tinues for great part of the night, the vapour as it rifes'paffiag 
 over the patient’s bed. If the fick are fo ill as to be confined 
 to the houfe, the fame procefs goes‘on through the day: 
 You will probably find other aeriform fluids better adapted 
 to the cure of the difeafe, but I think you will obferve good 
 effects from this, particularly when'the expetiorated matter 
 is foetid. 
 Vapour of Gums and’ Rofins. 
 
 Many people are perfuaded that conlumptive patients have 
 found good effe&ts from inhaling the vapour of refinous or 
 gummy refinous fubftances, The powder.of thefe fubftances 
 is directed to be {prinkled upon a fire inva chafing-difh, and 
 the patient inhales the vapour as it rifes, But here a quef- 
 tion’ prefents itfelf, whether the benefit fhould be attributed 
 to. the vapour of the medicine, or to that of the burning 
 charcoal? Japanners are conftantly breathing the vapours 
 of refinous fubftances, but I never could obferve that they 
 were more or lefs fubje& to phthifis than others ; cafters of 
 fine brafs work very often die confumptive, much more fo 
 than any other fet of artifts in Birmingham. ‘They duft their 
 moulds with powdered rofin, the vapour of which: rifes 
 copioufly when the melted metal is poured in. But the 
 mifchief can hardly be attributed to this vapour, otherwife 
 the Japanners would be affeéted ; nor yet to the flowers of 
 zinc, which are copioufly diffufed through the work-{fhops, 
 becaufe the cafters of large brafs work are not peculiarly 
 liable to become confumptive. I fuppofe the Phthifis in 
 thefe inflances to be caufed by the mechanical a@tion of the 
 powdery matters which float in the air in great quantities in 
 thefe fine calting fhops, and are neceffarily taken in with the 
 breath. Whilft flints for the potteries were pounded in 
 mortars, the people fo employed univerfally died confump- 
 tive, and‘the grinders of needles now ofien experience the 
 fame fate, ** 
 
 _ Effects of Diet on Refpiration: (Letter, p. 12.) 
 
 the experiments you wath for on this fubjeét have in part 
 been made: The late Mr, Spalding, who did fo much in 
 umproving and ufing the diving-bell, was a man of nice 
 B 4 obfer'vation, 
 | Linneus, or Ullholm, mentions a very curious experiment on the pene- 
 trating quality of this powder, Quanto vitio pulors lapidofus peclus oneret, apud 
 Urfenfes Dalecarlia videre licet, qut-ex tenériori lapide arenaceo cotes fuas rotatiles 
 jfecant, ei antéannum tri 
 
 aifs } io nee ‘ ‘ alcaty 
 oth PL AIRS Chemum Phihifci plerumgue moriuntur. Buin et lapicide 
 slecrioimienfes, tantum non omnes, aut calculo pulmonum, aut phthif, aut 
 
 3 
 
 4 ye ee A 
 
 ut MO@MOPTIY » 
 i ~. 
 
 enccantur; quanquam pulois alle tenuis lapidofus adeo penetrabilrs eft et 
 
 %% 
 
 a 
 { Olas, 
 
 at ed a me ’ o > , / - c ; ' LSP . : 7 f as ; 2 ; 
 ~ <woind eee tata Seti Son officrnis ilorum pojt exattum annums 
 Mt{UOl JETUPULOS Putuerts tenuis apidoft intus continere d Preaendatur, Amoen, 
 Acad. Villy 159: 
 
 . 3By 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 16 ) 
 
 obfervation, and had he not fallen a facrifice to the negligence 
 of drunken attendants, would have thrown much additional! 
 light upon more than one branch of fcience. He particu- 
 larly informed me, that when he had eaten animal food, or 
 drank fermented liquors, he confumed the air in the bell 
 much fafter than when he lived upon vegetables, and drank 
 only water.t+ Many repeated trials had {fo convinced him 
 of this, that he conftantly abftained from the former diet 
 whilft engaged in diving. 
 Carbonic Matter. (Letter, p. 68.) 
 
 Its effe&ts upon living animals are yet but little known. 
 Many people mix it with the food of their poultry, and 
 shink it contributes to fatten them. ‘This is much in favour 
 of your opinion that it does abforb oxygene in the heat of 
 the animal ftomach. 
 
 Thefe, Sir, are fuch remarks as occurred to my mind on 
 reading your obfervations on: confumption, and refleéting on 
 the many ingenious ideas you have fuggefted. I fhall be 
 happy if they can be made fubfervient to the great caufe in 
 which you have engaged. An individual fo occupied has 
 a right to claim every afliftance which his brethren can afford 
 him: mankind have much to gain, and nothing to lofe by 
 fuch enquiries. 
 
 
 
 I remain, dear Sir, your's, 
 To 
 
 Wn. Withering. 
 Dr. Beppoes. 
 
 P.S. Inconftruéting the apparatus I have no doubt but 
 ou will contrive to ballance the air-veflel inverted in water, 
 fo that the patients may infpire perfectly at eafe. The re- 
 fiftance given to infpiration by the column of water, low as 
 it is, in Mudge’s inhaler, is fo great that even a healthy per- 
 fon cannot long perfevere in breathing through it, andl 
 havenever feen a patient ufe it fo as to draw the: air through 
 the water as its author intended fhould be done. 
 4+ Thad inferred that “the faculty of living in air of a reduced ftandard is 
 « impaired. by the influence of {pirituous ftimulants.’? This obfervation of 
 
 Mr. Spalding, which feems equally new and interefting, adds much probability 
 ‘eo the opinion. I intend to afcertain whether it. be true or not, by direé 
 
 experiments on animals. T. B. 
 
 “ 
 
 LETTER 
 
 
 
 
 
City 
 LETTER 
 From Dettor EWA RT 
 To Dr. BEDDOES. 
 
 7 +> + esmecammmmamen ))* 409 400 
 
 DEAR SIR, Batu, November 14, 1793. 
 CAN have no objeétion whatever to comply with your 
 requeft of flating to you in writing fuch of the particulars, 
 
 as my memory diftinétly retains, concerning the two cafes of 
 Phthifis Pulmonalis, in which Ihave employed the inhalation 
 of mephitic air, with feeming advantage ; and I give you 
 leave to make what ufe of them you pleafe. I am forry 
 however, that not having kept a regular journal of the cafes 
 alluded to, I muff now confine my obfervations to general 
 circumitances, and to their general refult. 
 
 I accompanied the late Hon. Col. Cathcart, when he 
 failed from England in the year 1787, on an embafly def. 
 tined for China. This Gentleman had from his infancy 
 been fubjeét to frequent and alarming pulmonary complaints ; 
 and at the period above-mentioned, being then 28 or 29 years 
 old, he was threatened by fuch ferious fymptoms of Phthifis, 
 that little hope was entertained of his recovery but from the 
 eflecis of a fea voyage to a warmer climate. There was 
 fome profpeét of this hope being realized, during the firft 
 part of the voyage; but alter pafling the Cape of Good 
 Hope we were forced into a high Southern latitude where 
 the cold was intenfe, and in which all the former fymptoms 
 of Phthifis returned upon him with redoubled violence. An 
 almoft inceflant cough, a copious expeétoration of matter, 
 judged both by its appearance and {mell to be of a purulent 
 nature, and mixed occafionally with ftreaks of blood, a fixed 
 pain in the breaft affeéting his breathing, together with a 
 rapid emaciation and heétic fever, left no doubt of the con- 
 firmed and dangerous form of the difeafe. All the common 
 remedies were employed to moderate thefe fymptoms, with 
 little or no benefit. | 
 
 I thought myfelf juftified in having recourfe to any means, 
 recommended by experience though unufed in general prac- 
 tice, that offered a poffible chance of relief in a cafe fo def. 
 perate; and I therefore determined, ‘‘ without being en- 
 lightened, I confefs, by the grateful dawn of any probable 
 theory’ on the fubjeét, to propofe the in{piring of mephitic 
 air, as mentioned on very refpeétable authority, in an appen- 
 
 dix 
 
 mS 
 > 
 
 \ 
 
 
 

 
 10 fy ee 
 LA es 
 
 rem 
 (48 ) 
 dix to ene of Dr. Prieftley’s volumes on air, to have been 
 tried in fimilar cafes, with fome degree of fuccefs. 
 
 It was impoflible to conftrué at fea fuch an apparatus as 
 might have been withed, for the purpofe of determining 
 accurately the proportions of mephitic and atmofpheric airs 
 tiled in the experiment.- Having however on board one of 
 Dr. Nooth’s glafs machines for impregnating water with 
 fixed air, I removed the upper part of it, as of noufe for my 
 purpofe, and inferted a flexible tube, which I happened to 
 have in my poffeffion, through a cork, fitted to the fuperior 
 
 orifice of the middle chamber of the machine, through which 
 
 tube I meant my patient to inhale mephitic air. I filled 
 this chamber of the machine nearly one-third full of pure 
 water, with the view of arrefling any particles of marble or 
 vitriolic acid (the ingredients I ufed to obtain fixed air) 
 which might be carried up along with the air from the lower 
 chamber. 
 
 ' After the mephitic air had continued to afcend through the 
 water, till I could perceive its peculiar odour iffuing from 
 the extremity of the flexible tube, I allowed my patient to 
 take a full infpiration of it,, and made him repeat the fame, 
 after an interval of one or two inhalations of atmo{pheric 
 air between each, for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes 
 fucceffively ; taking care always to fupply a brifk ftream of 
 mephitic air from below, by adding mere marble and vitri- 
 olic acid when wanted. This operation was renewed three, 
 
 ‘four, and fometimes five times a-day ; and no inconvenience 
 
 or unéafy feeling was occafioned by it to the patient. On 
 the contrary, he expreffed himfelf fomewhat relieved after 
 it, and wifhed to repeat it oftener than I chofe to venture. 
 The cough feemed to be rendered lefs frequent and lefs 
 violent; the matter expectorated affumed more of the con- 
 fiftence and appearance which denote laudable pus; the 
 breathing became more free; and I thought the heétic feyer 
 was fenfibly mitigated. Still however there was a progref- 
 five decay, and none of. the fymptoms were ever entirely 
 fufpended, The patient died atter ufing the mephitic air, in 
 the manner above defciibed, for fix or feven weeks, fatisfied 
 to the laft that it contributed in a confiderable degree to 
 alleviate his fufferings. It is unneceflary for me to remark 
 that before recourfe was had to this remedy, the texture and 
 even the fubftance of a preat portion of the lungs were in 
 all probability deftroyed. It may be worthy of notice, what 
 I had more than one opportunity to obferve in this cafe, 
 that the fymptoms were milder afhore, and more difpofed to 
 be troublefome at fea, although the greateft part of our voy- 
 
 age 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
( 19.) 
 
 age was within the tropics, where of courfe no expofure to 
 cold or to the common caufes which increafe the difeafe, 
 could account for the circumftance. 
 
 The other cafe in which I employed the inhalation of 
 -‘mephitic air, was that of a lady aged about 22 years ; who 
 nearly two years and a half ago, was feized in Ruffia with 
 fymptoms of a violent pleurify, after incautioufly eating iced 
 cream when over-heated. Notwithftanding bloodlettings 
 and other evacuations, the inflammatory fymptoms feem to 
 have run into a rapid fuppuration, for eight or ten days after 
 the firft attack, and after a fevere fit of coughing, almoft 
 immediate relief followed the fudden expeétoration of a large 
 quantity of what was deemed pure pus, flightly intermixed 
 with blood. But though the pain and dy{pnoea now abated, 
 {till a frequent cough and a very copious expectoration of a 
 fimilar matter to that difcharged at firft, remained ; and foon 
 her fever aflumed a heétic form. «She was in this fituation 
 recommended to come to England, but experienced no benefit 
 either from the fea voyage or from the ufe of the Briftol hot 
 waters, which fhe drank during fome months. So much of 
 her cafe I. give from her own report. From Briftol fhe came 
 to Bath in the beginning of laft January, when I firft faw 
 her, eighteen months after the commencement of her illnefs. 
 The ftate o: circumftances then was, very confiderable and 
 progrefive emaciation, an almoft conftant he&tic flufh on the 
 countenance, the pulfe always quick, with regular and {trong 
 exacerbations of fever towards evening, which again abated 
 before morning, and were fucceeded by profufe fweats; the 
 cough was very frequent, and the expeétoration fo profufe 
 as completely to wet many handkerchiefs daily.. She began 
 now to inipire mephitic air, pretty nearly in the fame man- 
 ner as Col. Cathcart had formerly done. She not only re- 
 peated, however, the inhalations from the machine oftener, 
 and continued them longer each time than was done in his 
 cafe, but even while fhe was not infpiring through the tube, 
 the machine generally remained ona table near her, emitting 
 the fixed air which was continually extricated from the mix. 
 ture of calcareous earth and vitriolic acid it contained, fo 
 that I feldom entered her apartment without perceiving me- 
 phitic fumes in a ereater or lefs degree, The apartment 
 being clofe and of no great extent, I fometimes thought it 
 prudent to have a window opened for the purpofe of clearing 
 it of thefe fumes. Particular circumftances rendered it 
 neceffary that I fhould inform the lady’s relations without 
 referve, what chance I faw of her recovery ; and in the 
 beginning of my attendance I did not hefitate to exprefs my 
 defpair of doing her any good, or of ever feeing her better. 
 
 2 such 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 { 20 ) 
 
 Such however was foon the abatement of all her fymptoms 
 under the above treatment; fo entirely for fome wecks did 
 the hectic fever difappear ; and fo evidently did fhe gain 
 during the fame period both flefh and ftrencth, that not only 
 her relations acquired new and fanguine hopes of her re- 
 covery, but I began ferioufly to flatter myfelf with a difap- 
 pointment of my prediétions, although I durft not venture 
 toavowit. The firft check given to this amendment, which 
 proceeded for four or five weeks, was occafioned by an over 
 exertion of her lately recovered ftrength, during a fatiguing 
 walk, the latter part of which was up a pretty fteep afcent. 
 AA return of pain in the breaft and dylpneea, a tinge of blood 
 in the expectoration, together with an accelerated pullfe, 
 made me have recourfe to bloodletting, blifters applied to 
 the cheft, &c. which greatly relieved thefe fymptoms, but at 
 the fame time reduced the general ftrensth. The inhalation 
 of mephitic air was interrupted during the period of this 
 frefh inflammatory attack, from 4n uncertainty how it might 
 att rather than from any obfervation of its difagreeing ; but 
 it was repeated as before, after the fymptoms of inflammation 
 had abated, and again feemed to produce the fame beneficial 
 effeéts. A fecond relapfe. however occurred fome weeks 
 afterwards from a flight indifcretion, the throwing off part 
 of her accuftomed garments. This was removed much in 
 the fame way as the former one, and the mephitic air was 
 again reforted to with fimilar fuccefs. After each of thefe 
 inflammatory attacks, and after one or two others which hap- 
 pened fubfequently, there remained for fome time a confide- 
 rable increafe of cough and expeétoration, and a permanent 
 heétic, which however gradually abated under the ufe of the 
 mephitic air: But thefe repeated relapfes from {light caufes, 
 notwithftanding the conflitution rallied aftonifhingly after- 
 wards, and foon feemed.to regain all it had loft, renewed 
 my fears that the difeafe would foon run the ufual and rapid 
 courfe of confirmed phthifis. The patient left Bath in the 
 month of May laft, to take advantage of the fummer feafon 
 for trying another voyage by fea, fill bent-on continuing the 
 inhalation of mephitic air. I defpaired of hearing much 
 longer any favourable accounts of her; but have been re- 
 peatedly and agreeably difappointed, in learning that her 
 health has fince gained initead of lofing flrength. By a 
 letter received within thefe few days from Peterfburgh, 
 where fhe has paffed the fummer, it is reported to me * that 
 fhe 1s wonderfully recovered by the Balfam of Mecca, which’ 
 fhe got from the Turkifh ambaffador.” Whether fhe has 
 all along continued the mephitic air, I cannot undertake to 
 affert; but I believe in the affirmative, from her intentions 
 9 at 
 
 Fete 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
at the time of leaving this country. To whatever caufe her 
 prefervation is owing, it is the firft cafe of fo fully formed, 
 and fo far advanced a phthifis that I have met with, in which 
 the progrefs to diffolution has been fo long reftrained, or fo 
 fuccefstully repelled. 
 
 I recommended to the parents of a young lady, who died 
 of phthifis at Briftol about a year ago, to make trial of this 
 method of exhibiting fixed air; and her father affured me 
 afterwards that he had attempted i it, but found her lungs could 
 not bear it, as it excited irritation aid coughing. From his 
 account howey er I fufpeéted that the operation was clumiily 
 
 conducted, and that the coughing was produced by a {ftream 
 of air rufhing too fuddenly from the tube into the fauces 
 without an aét of volition, Bothof my patients experienced 
 this inconvenience at rf, owing to my very impertect ap- 
 -paratus ; but after they acquired ‘the management of ‘it, no 
 - fuch irritation was excited. 
 
 I fhall be rejoic ed to hear of your purfuing t g thofe inquiries 
 on the effeéts of refpiring different kinds of air, In W hich you 
 have already difplayed fuch happy invention in theory, with 
 equal fuccefs in prattice; and fhould the expeétations fug- 
 gefted by “an ingenious hy pothefis be too fanguine, yet much 
 advantage, I truft, will arife from this application of the 
 recent difcoveries i in pneumatic chemiftry, to the improve- 
 ment of pathology and the cure of difeafes. 
 
 I remain, dear Sir, &c. 
 Tg O 
 Af ohn Cware. 
 
 ——-Accounts from Peterfburgh of a late date flate the 
 amendment of this lady to be more confiderable than I ven- 
 tured in my laft letter to reprefent it. It was her intention 
 to pais the winter in the South of Ruflia, but fhe now thinks 
 herfelf fo well as to be able to remain with impunity at 
 Peter{fburgh. The expreflions of her father in a letter to her 
 fifter are, ‘‘ She has recovered progreflively ever fince fhe 
 " retarted here, regains fiefh and ftrength, is free from fever, 
 and fuffers very little from her cough, but continues to fpit 
 
 c¢ 
 
 ‘‘ immoderately, though with eafe.” No mention is made 
 i this letter whether fhe periifts 3 in refpiring fixible air. 
 Bath, Dec. 15, 1793. Nour's, &c. o£; 
 
 C 3 LETTER 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 ae Se yee! 
 
 ( 22 ) 
 Pasa | ER 
 from Dotior THORNTON, 
 To Dr. BEDDOES. 
 
 + 9090s Qcemmnaiomn 400409 
 
 SIR,. Lonpon, December 7, 1793. 
 
 SHALL be happy at all times to communicate to you the 
 
 relult of my various trials of fa€titious air. I more readily 
 entered into your ideas, as to the change to be wrought on the 
 blood by different airs, and confequently the removal of 
 many otherwife incurable diforders, as I had formerly chofen 
 tor my thefis at Cambridge, ‘ that all animal heat arifes from 
 the decompofition of air,” or in other words, that the blood 
 in the lungs receives from the air Bxygene tn combination with 
 matter of heat :—and that in its paflage through the body, the 
 oxygene meeting with another fuperior attra€tion, forfakes 
 tne caloric ; and the matter of heat being thus difengaged, 
 
 ‘as with neutral falts whofe bafis is withdrawn from them) 
 
 ; 
 4 
 
 aflumes its well known a€tive chara€ter. 
 
 I was naturally led next to the confideration of the dif- 
 ferent mediums through which this matter of heat or caloric 
 yafles, and I found it pervade moft rapidly bodies already 
 
 i 
 {aturated with oxygene.t In local inflammations I therefore 
 forfook the old praétice, and haflily withdrawing all oil 
 applications, I fubftituted in their room the beft condu&ors 
 of heat. Having learnt from the experiments of Dr. Black, 
 the different capacities for heat in water and fteam, after long 
 exercife I always recommended warm tea, or whatever elfe 
 might produce perfpiration. 1 was:enabled to fupport the 
 remarkable heats of laft fummerin a furprifing manner by 
 wearing a fleecy hofiery waiftcoat; and fince my firft ufing 
 this under garb, | am not {fubjeét to catch cold, as formerly, 
 from viciflitudes of weather. 
 
 Four years ago 1 was at Briftol Hot-Wells, the forrowful 
 companion of a near relation, and I obferved every confump- 
 tive perfon, 1 knew there, in time {wept away by the fiant- 
 malady asDr. Darwin moft juftly calls it. Being feized my- 
 felf afterwards with every fymptom of phthifis, it was like- 
 wife recommended to me to try the Briftol waters, but that 
 my {pirits might not get depreffed, and not relifhing repeated 
 bleedings, the plan of cure then purfued, I retired to the Ifle 
 of Wight; and living chiefly on fried fifh and animal food, 
 
 * — with 
 + Is this true of all bodies, metals included ? ye 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(354 
 
 with much frefh butter, I recovered to the furprife of every 
 one. This, Sir, was previous to your new method of treating 
 that fatal difeafe, and before I could be biaffed by your theory. 
 Laft September, when I went down to Pewfey in Wilt- 
 fhire, I found my valuable and very learned friend, the‘Rev. 
 Mr. Townfend, labouring under a moft dreadful fever, fuch 
 a fever as a few years back carried off 63 of his parifhioners. 
 His tongue was black; his breath putrid; his countenance 
 funk ; feveral white {pecks were tormed about his fauces ; 
 he had the fubfultus tendinum and fingultus ; his pulfe was 
 quick and feeble... By the adminiftration of bark aud Port 
 wine every two hours, and food in the intervals, thefe alarm- 
 ing fymptoms vanifhed, but the difficulty of breathing fill 
 continued. Having opened the windows and fprinkled oxy- 
 genated wine (vinegar) like a fine dew over the apartment, 
 the thermometer fell nearly four degrees, and the effe@ of a 
 purer and colder air was fuch, that in a few moments after, 
 he breathed as he ityled it, like a fucking child, through his 
 noftrils, and generally afterwards grew compofed to fleep.* 
 Abou: ten days fince, I was called to a patient, a child 19 
 years old ; fhe had a fever, which had already attacked two 
 other perfons inthe houfe. Mr. Murdock, the father of the 
 child, told me that my medical {kill could avail but little, 
 as his child was at the point of death ; and that all he expec- 
 ted from me was in fome meafure to palliate her fufferings. 
 For three days and.as many nights every thing taken into her 
 {tomach had been rejected. During this time fhe had had no 
 fleep. Much watery liquor paffed trom her bowels, and fhe 
 had an almoft conftant defire to go to ftoal. The two latt 
 nights glyfters of mutton broth had been adminiftered. 
 When I entered the room fhe had juft been convulfed, was 
 {peechlefs, and gafping for breath. _ Her eyes were fixed and 
 funk, and furrounded with a circle of a darkifh brown colour. 
 The mufcles of the face ftill quivered. I immediately opened 
 the window, for the room had but one, and ordered the fire 
 to be put out. I removed fome peition of the flannels, with 
 which fhe was covered, and took off one blanket. I then 
 adminiilered fattitious oxygene air, and to the aftonifhment 
 of the beholders an acute pain in the left fide firft abated and 
 then altogether ceafed. . Her {peech was reftored. As the 
 leemed exhauited for want of tood, I took the white of an 
 egg, which of all nutritious fubftances I judged the leaft 
 iubje€t to corruption, and mixing it with white wine, warm 
 water, 
 * Mr. Townfhend himfelf, _the celebrated Spanith traveller, lately defcribed 
 to me the relicf he experienced from the air of his apartment, charged with 
 the fine fpray of vinegar. The language he ufed was {uch as medical prac- 
 titioners are accuftomed to hear, when the patient 1s fuddealy delivered from 
 the moit intenie pain or diftrefling anxiety. 4: 
 
 
 

 
 
 ‘ 
 
 ( 24: ) 
 
 water, cinnamon, and afterwards with calves’ {dot jelly a 
 little acidulated; I gave it her in {mall quantities, and finding 
 that it rernained, I foon after tried the bark and red'wine, 
 Op pit 1g whenever the leaft inc a to yomiting came on, 
 The child was recovering faft by this treatment, when } iome 
 
 officious female mterfered. The confequence was, that the 
 
 child was again feized with convulfions and became (peveh: 
 lefs.. But in lefs ‘than five minutes fhe was reftored by 
 breathing pure air. She is now out of danger, and doing 
 well. 
 
 That Daan cet air is an admirable cofmetic, and 
 the acquirement of colour attended with no diminution, but 
 generally with an increale of health and {pirits, I could adduce 
 many refpectable teftimonies to fhew. With ele€tricity I 
 make no doubtit will be found to be the mofteffeQual cure 
 for chlorofis.—The good and bad effeéts trom the transfufion 
 of blood (as formerly employed) may be now accounted for. 
 As the poft ison the eve of departing, I fhall detain you with 
 but one obfervation more. The caloric imparted from oxy- 
 genated blood appears to be.the ftimulus moft effential to the 
 anvindl ceconomy. It is pleafing to obferve that the power of 
 being aererty in the nervous fyflem keeps exa€t pace with 
 
 the quantity of this ftimulus generated 3 in the animal body. 
 Hence the reafon of the long life ofthe heart of fifhes, as ut 
 is called, and of all animals whofe blood is cold. What 
 advantage may be derived to the fick by inc realing or di- 
 minifhing this natural ftimulus may be éafily conceiv ed! 
 
 -I-have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 KH. ye Thornton. 
 
 
 
 LETTER 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(. 25 ) 
 Extra@ of a letter from Dr. 
 
 © +b (Cece ))* 409 aoe 
 
 
 
 
 
 HAVE lately tried. purified (hyper- oxygenated ) air in the 
 cafe of the of Mr. , the celebrated furgeon in 
 This young lady has for two years been fubjeét to 
 repeated fpafms, and has found no relief whatever from 
 medicine. She has been confiderably better fince her firft 
 breathing purified air. Yefterday, juft before fhe was to 
 imbibe it, a fpafm came on, fuch as terrified all around her. 
 She had not breathed the portion of air I judged a proper 
 dofe, when to the aftonifhment of Mr. , furgeon, the 
 fpafm ceafed.—I am daily more and more convinced of the 
 juftnefs of your ideas on confumption: I have been to 
 Haflar Hofpital to obferve the fea fcurvy.—A lady in the 
 ftate of pregnancy, whom I have juft left, is drinking vinegar, 
 which fhe could not before bear. She imagines her frequent 
 tooth-aches to proceed from the four apples the has lately fo 
 much indulged in. ~May not .the qualms in pregnancy be 
 removed by purified air ? | | 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dec. 193 1793: oe  Your'sa kes 
 
 
 
 To Dr. BEDDOES. ——, 
 
 * I receive this letter at the moment of delivering the laft parcel of MS” 
 to the Prigter. The communication was not made for the fake of publication» 
 and I have not time.to requeft permiffion and further particulars. So I muft 
 fupprefs names. But I may venture to affure the reader that he need not doubt 
 the authenticity of the accouut a moment. To fay nothing of the writer, the 
 parties mentioned in the letter are, fome of them, well known to the public. 
 From the flight intimation given of the cafe, it appears to be one of thofe ner- 
 fous affections where opium in large dofes often does fervice. T. B 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 k 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 Caje of Dy/pnoea, approaching to Orthopnoea, in a letter from 
 Benjamin Biggs, M. D. 
 
 b+ +Cecemmemes) 4 40 
 
 LT ts proper to premife that the followin case could not ai 
 the time Dr, B. was at Briftol be ee Pel to any dtfeafe 
 Sor which we have an appropriated denomination and a 
 jfinttron tn the common books of Nofology. It came neareft 
 to what is called an humoural afthma; the nodurnal 
 acceffons a difficulty of breathing did not obferve the 
 courfe of t bite of the true afthma; nor were they 
 preceded by drowfine/s, yawning and the other Symptoms 
 ufually preceding Juch paroxy/ms; nor did they, like 
 dfthmatic fits, occur from time to time, leaving the patient 
 freein the interval. Dr. B.tnfptred one part of oxygene 
 air mixed with three of atmofpheric three times a- ay at 
 Jirft, for five minutes at a time. He afterwards infpired 
 . the ‘ae mixture for twenty minutes ata time. Not- 
 withftanding the effel of this procefs on the dy/pnoea, the 
 cough and expedloration, continued much as iets 
 
 sepecd (en) 4s Gee , 
 
 DEAR SIR, OcTOBER 14, 1793. , 
 J] HAVE for near two years been fubje& to a cough with, 
 {pitting of mucus and very confiderable difficulty of 
 breathing, the attacks of which refembled afthmatic paroxy{ms 
 in coming on in the night, often after my firft fleep. They 
 very frequently obliged me to rife out of bed and walk about 
 the room... I was always forced to fleep with my head con- 
 fiderably ratfed. For thefe fymptoms I had employed various 
 antifpalmodic remedies, which afforded only relief for the 
 moment and not always that. After breathing the mixture 
 of airs you direéted, I found this difficulty of breathing much 
 relieved in three days, and before the expiration of eight 
 days, it had entirely ceafed ; and has never returned fince.* 
 Before this time, I had been fubje& to coldnefs of the ex. 
 tremities, which now’went. off. I could even fleep with 
 fewer bed-cloaths. -I had alfo a greater flow of {pirits. 
 I can hardly doubt, from my own feelings, that this kind of 
 air will be highly beneficial in that very diftrefling difeafe, 
 the afthma; and in difeafes of languor alfo. I had tried 
 various Climates, the Bath and Briftol waters, in vain; I had 
 confulted at leaft twelve phyficians in Europe, the Weft 
 Indies, and America. . Iam, &c. 
 
 ae engumin B (O46, MN. DP. 
 
 Dr. BEnDDOEs; 
 
 
 
 
 
 * This was written about three weeks after Dr. B, had ceafed to infpire the 
 mixed air. 
 
 Cafe 
 
 
 
(a 
 Cafe of Epileptic Affection. 
 
 op od D4 ase 
 
 
 
 BOUT three years ago a young man (aged 20) after an 
 
 excurfion on the heights of the Alps, during whichut 
 is probable he experienced fome terror, was feized with a fit 
 in the night. He had dreamed ot falling from a precipice, 
 There appeared evident marks of his having been ftrongly 
 convulfed. This attack was at firft confidered as the night- 
 mare; and valerian with other medicines, called nervous, 
 were in vain adminiftered. Sea-bathing difagreed with him ; 
 and cold bathing in frefh water rendered him fuddenly worle, 
 infomuch that his fits, which at firft occurred only once or 
 twice a-week, increafed to the number of 28 in 24 hours. 
 They afterwards diminifhed in frequency, and for along time 
 have not exceeded 12. in the day and night. They differ in 
 degree, if notin kind.—In the more violent, he is infenfible. 
 Thefe fits continue from one to three minutes, and he is co- 
 matofe for about ten minutes atterwards. They occur only 
 in the night.—The flighter fits occur both in the day: and 
 night, but more frequently in the hight. | He has often only 
 one or two by day, and eight or ten by night. Thete, latt 
 from 10 to 15 feconds, during which time the patient is fen- 
 fible and often fpeaks with perfeé& knowledge of what 1s 
 paffing, though fomewhat indiftinétly. ‘The inftant they-are 
 over he is quite well, “or rather relieved, If he is feized 
 while on his legs, he falls with force; many of his mufcles 
 become rigid and others convulfed. » Qn his chair, he may 
 have a fit without the knowledge of a perfon fitting in the 
 fame room. Fora long time he was continually drowly ; 
 he could neither look up to any height nor down from it ; 
 he could neither read a fingle line nor exert the {malleft effort 
 of attention, without bringing ona fit. But none of thefe 
 circumftances now affe&t him. His appetite and {pirits he 
 has always retained ; nor are his faculties impaired. 
 
 Having paffed through the hands of'many  phyficians, he 
 had exhaufted the materia medica. The laft phyfician he 
 had confulted, had conceived the defign of putting a itop to 
 his fits by large dofes of opium, adminiitered towards evening 
 and during the night. The firft two grains however of this 
 drug produced a frantic delinum, which required the aflift- 
 ance of eight perfons to fecure the patient. This flate ol 
 violent excitement or intoxication lafted 18 hours, during 
 which indeed there was no fit: but the fits were rather more 
 fevere than ufual dnring the weaknefs that followed. A 
 fubfequent trial of opium alfo failed. | 
 D 2 Soins 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 _ Some time afterwards it was fuggefted that the infpiration 
 of modified air might be ferviceable. Uponbeing confulted 
 concerning the probable fuccefs of this plan, I could give 
 little encouragement. The only hope I conceived arofe 
 from an analogy which will prefently be mentioned: Al- 
 though therefore I believed we might manage fo as not to 
 do permanent mifchief, I thought it due to the patient and 
 mytfelf to declare that the event might poflibly be to a certain 
 degree unfavourable. It is not furprifing that this confide- 
 ration fhould have been fuperfeded by the with to be de- 
 liveredfrom fo diftreffing a ftate.—-No trial having been before 
 made in a fimilar cafe with air containing either more or lefs 
 oxygene than the atmofphere, I had only analogy for my 
 guide. The following probabilities determined my choice, 
 1. Animals breathing air of too low a ftandaré fall into con- 
 vulfions. @. Thecold bath had permanently aggravated the 
 complaint ; but cold is only the abftra€tion of heat, and the ab- 
 firattion of oxygene might, I feared, be prejudicial, 3. The 
 great phyfician, who fuggetted the ufe of ajr of a reduced ftan- 
 dard in the prefent cafe, obferves in awork which will {peedily 
 be publifhed: ‘* If the excitability of the fyftem depends on 
 *‘ the quantity of oxygene abforbed by the lungs in refpi- 
 ** ration, fleeping in an atmofphere with lefs oxygene might 
 ‘‘ be of great fervice in-epileptic cafes, and in cramp, and 
 “* even in fits of the afthma, where their periods commence 
 ** frem the increafe of irritability during fleep.”” Now the 
 flighter fits in the prefent cafe came on chiefly, perhaps in 
 the proportion of 8 to 1, during fleep; and the feverer fits 
 always; and I had found that in afthma the nocturnal fits 
 were prevented by air with excefs of oxygene. This | 
 thought a ftrong analogy. 4. I believed, and it appears {till 
 probable to me, that there 1s a great difference between ten- 
 dency, to fpafm or convulfion, and ftrength in mufcles: I 
 hoped that oxygene, by ftrengthening Mr. ’s mufcles, 
 would diminith their too great mobility, 4. The patient ts 
 of that temperament, to which laxity of fibre is afcribed. 
 6. His youth was an objeétion to this mode of treatment, 
 but he was rather fat for his age, whence I inferred that he 
 had-not already an over-proportion of oxygene in his fyftem. 
 From thefe confiderations he was defired to infpire a mix- 
 ture of three parts of atmofpheric and one part of oxygene 
 air, for ten minutes on going to bed. As no effe& was per- 
 ceived, the time of infpiration was next night (Sunday night) 
 extended to twenty munutes : after which he felt an agreeable 
 clow in his chef. On Monday night at three intervals he 
 infpired for half an hour: and by way of precaution a faline 
 draught with antimonial wine was ordered for him, and his 
 ‘ diet 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 (\ 298) 
 
 diet was a little lowered. On Tuefday night he infpired for 
 about twenty minutes: on Wednefday the air was omitted. 
 On Thurfday as no fenfible effet followed, and as he patied 
 good nights and had had no fit during two of the preceding 
 days, the mixture of air was made a little fironger with oxy- 
 gene, nearly as one of this fpecies of air to two of atmof- 
 pheric : He infpired for half an hour, and felt uncomfortably 
 hot afterwards. In the morning his pulfe was 72, and of 
 natural ftrength. He coughed flightly; but found himfelf 
 very well. He had no fit during the day, and the friend 
 who accompanied him, and who had obferved him with ¢reat 
 attention ever fince the commencement ef his indi{pofition, 
 thought him fo much better than he had been for fome time 
 pait, as to write a favourable account to his diftant friends. 
 Towards night he was unufually lively, but perfeétly com- 
 pofed. This night the infpiration was omitted ; as I had ori- 
 ginally determined to interpofe an interval of feveral days, as 
 foon as any effeét, good or bad, fhould appear. He had {earce 
 lain down when he was alarmed with what I conceive from his 
 defcription to have been a ftarting of the abdominal mulcles. 
 This foon ceafed, but I found him flufhed and fomewhat 
 teverifh, with a pulfe above 100 and rather ftrong. He had 
 a {trong tendency to mufcular motion, but was eafily perfuaded 
 to lie quiet. He appeared as if a little intoxicated, and at 
 the fame time alarmed at his fituation. One of his flighter 
 fits fupervening increafed his apprehenfions, for he had con- 
 ceived fome hopes that this would prove the crifis of his 
 difeafe. As he had had no motion the preceding day, a 
 gentle cathartic was prefcribed and operated as was wifhed. 
 During the courfe of the night he had a kind of drunken 
 delirium, fimilar to that which opium had produced, only 
 far milder andaccompanied with fingular mufcular agitations: 
 The toesfometimes moving like the fingers of a perfon playing 
 onthe harpfichord, and the lower extremities being frequently 
 in action. But the motion of his arms was the moft conftant; 
 and this was of a very curious kind. It exaétly imitated the 
 geftures of a perfon who very gracefully drives a pair of 
 horfes from a phaeton. To this exercife the patient had 
 long been sicodhanned for three or four hours every morn- 
 ing, but he had lately difcontinued it for about a fortnight. 
 Thefe geftures lafted till fome time on Monday, when all 
 the other movements had fubfided. He frequently declared 
 them to be involuntary, and at breakfaft on Monday, when 
 he was quite compofed, was rather amufed with his own 
 inability to reftrain them. He had only five or fix of the 
 {lighter fits in twenty-four hours; but did not fleep till Satur- 
 day night, when he fell into a profound fleep and had the 
 
 ufual 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (¢ 30: ) 
 
 nfual number of fits with a delirious acceffion early on Sun- 
 day morning. Early on Monday morning, he had a fimuilar,- 
 but much fainter paroxyfm, which was the laft. During the 
 reft of Sunday night he flept as before very profoundly, which 
 he had alfo done in the day-time. The mufcular agitations 
 wereat this time gentler during fleep andconfined to the fingers 
 principally —The mufcles that move the joints had been fo 
 much in aétion as to produce that general ftiffnels and fore- 
 nefs which follows unufually fevere exercife. The pulfe 
 foon became feeble, and was fometimes 108. He was full 
 of apprehenfion during this whole time, but his fears gradu- 
 ally fubfided. At times he appeared to be torpid.—It 1s 
 remarkable that not only the prevailing ftate of the mind was 
 the fame during the aétion of the opium, but that it was 
 occupied by the very fame ideas on both occafions. The 
 whole effet of the opium I was mformed, totafly difappeared 
 inlefs than 4o hours; that of the oxygene air lafted 12 hours 
 longer; the excitement of thé fenfor1um was far. more vio- 
 lent and continued in the former cafe; but this was com- 
 penfated by the extraordinary mufcular agitation 1n the latter 
 café. This agitation has indeed been ina flight degree fince 
 obfervable during fleep ; a gentleman, wholately watched the 
 patient all night for the fake of making obfervations, has alfo 
 had reafon to believe that the fame apprehenfions, which he 
 exprefled during his periods of excitement, recur in his 
 dreams. In his waking hours and in other refpeéts he has 
 appeared at leaft as well as before he infpired oxygene air.— 
 I was not prepared to expect, any thing like intoxication 
 from an excefs of oxygene, efpecially as in inftances where 
 I have known more in{pired in the fame time, nothing beyond 
 a fenfation fimilar to the alertmefs of healthy children was 
 felt,—The mufcular agitations of this patient contribute to 
 render it probable that the difference of mufcular irritability 
 in different perfons partly at leaft depends on a difference of 
 oxygene in the mufcles. This phoenemenon 1s, in a 
 opinion, to be clafled with the increafed vivacity of the fy{- 
 tem in animals that have refpired air of an higher than the 
 common ftandard. The prefent cafe fhews alfo that if any 
 one {hould attempt to reftore or increafe the irritability of 
 his mufcles by vital air, he ought to conduét the procefs very 
 erhaps in this, way the progrels of old age 
 mav be arrefted: and much of that liftlefsnefs prevented, 
 which renders the decline of life fo comfortlefs and fad. 
 Excitement ufually follows the application of intoxicating 
 ftimulants more fpeedily than in thisinftance, But fuppofing 
 the mufcular movements to have arilen from the increafed 
 oxygene in the mufcular fibres, the blood 
 would 
 
 gradually ; and p 
 
 proportion of 
 
 
 
Gs FS 
 
 would take fome time to feed them with this fuperabundant 
 quantity; and perhaps the delirium was only fymptomatic 
 of the agitation ; which took place firft, and which, I am 
 certain, did not proceed from any ordinary ftimulant. The 
 patient on that day, by my defire, had even dropped his or- 
 dinary allowance (four glaffes) of wine.. Any medical infe- 
 rences that may be deducible from thefe fa&ts, the reader 
 fhall draw for himfelf, For my own part, my want of fuc- 
 cefs induces me to wifh that I had followed the fuggeftion 
 of the phyfician whofe opinion I have quoted. 
 
 What was the immediate caufe of thefe fingular mufcular 
 movements? Could they be excited by the blood, rendered 
 unufually flimulating, as it traverfed the mu{cles, rendered 
 unutually irritable—by an overcharge of oxygene ? 
 
 I have already faid‘that this cafe is now publifhed by way 
 of caution. As I am perfuaded that many fick people, har- 
 rafled by difeafe and tired of medicines, will themfelyes 
 fuggeift the trial ot elaftic fluids, I hope the caution will be 
 regarded. Thecredit of the Digitals fuffered from its bein 
 given in dofes twenty times too large: fo would that of 
 opium, mercury, and antimony, if they were now firft about 
 to be introduced into the materia medica.—N. B. It is about 
 feven weeks fince this cafe occurred, 
 
 Abfira fe 
 
 
 
\ 
 {C3 §) 
 
 Abjtrad of Mr. Vauquelin’s experiments on the liver of the 
 Ray or Skate fifh. 
 
 er> 1? oC remem ))* qeequc 
 
 HE Skate has a very large liver in comparifon with its 
 
 heart and its organ of refpiration. The liver in this 
 fith is of a very fat nature, as is well known to cooks, who 
 always obferve that it affords, upon being boiled, a great 
 deal of oil, which continues liquid in the ordinary tempera- 
 ture of the air. Of fkate’s. liver Mr. V. reduced 1 oz. 
 4% gros (drachms) by pounding jt in a mortar to a fort of 
 pap, on the furface of which were feen to float particles of 
 white oil; 40z. of cold diftilled water readily combined 
 with this pap; the mixture was whitifh, and on adding more 
 water, became as white as milk. The liquor being pafled 
 through a fine filk fieve, nothing remained behind but the 
 invefling membrane. In a few hours there appeared on this 
 emulfion, a yellowith cream like that which is feen on di- 
 luted milk or on an emulfion of almonds; it was doubtlefs 
 fome of the oil which feparates and carries up a little of the 
 parenchyma. This milky liquor is decompounded by even 
 the weakeft acids, they produce curds or coagula, which rife 
 to the furface, as when foap is decompounded by an acid.— 
 The above-mentioned cream, being fkimmed and agitated 
 long in a mortar, did not yield butter like the cream of 
 milk, but only an oil of a thicker confiftence than that which 
 was procured by heat in a fubfequent experiment. Paper, 
 on which the liver of a fkate has lain, becomes tran{parent 
 and oily.—4 oz. of liver, covered with its membrane, after 
 being bruifed, were heated flightly in a pipkin: on the firfi 
 impreffion of the heat, a coagulation took place and much 
 yellow oil feparated; the heat was applied as long as any 
 {team arofe: then the oil was paffed through fine linen, and 
 a {trong preffure applied to feparate it from the parenchyma, 
 which afterwards weighed 4 gros. 96 grains, but ftill re- 
 tained a good deal of oil; the colleéted oil weighed 1 oz. 
 7 oros. thefe together make 2°0z. 3 gros. 36 grains; hence 
 the water evaporated muft have been 1 02. 4 gros. 96 grains. 
 The 4 gros. 36 grains of parenchyma afforded, on combuttion, 
 8 grains of afhes, which proved to be phofphate of lime.—~ 
 Upon 2 gros of oil from fkate’s liver there was poured oxye 
 genated marine acid, till the acid ceafed to lofe its peculiar 
 {mel]l immediately. The oil became white like greafe, but 
 it had the duétility of wax that has been fqueezed between 
 the fingers. Mr. V. found that upon blowing on the fur-. 
 - face of this oil, twelve hours after its expreflion, a white 
 
 pellicle 
 
 
 
 - asi 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 in” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
as. 
 
 pellicle was formed; this pellicle broke into fragments; 
 which diffufed themfelves through the oil. When the oil 
 was {pread thin on glafs, it foon became denfe and opake. 
 ‘* Thefe experiments,” adds Mr. V. ‘‘ prove that fkate’s liver 
 ‘* contains above half its weight of oil completely formed. 
 © The fluidity of this fatty matter fhews the influence of the 
 very inconfiderable refpiration of this animal upon the 
 confiftence of its fubftance, and efpecially upon the charac- 
 ter of its fat. . The liver of man_and of quadrupeds fome- 
 times on being cut or torn, fhews traces of oil, but it is 
 far fhort of the quantity found in the clafs of {fwimming 
 ‘““amphibia. In certain difeafes ofthe abdomen, in difeafes 
 “of the liver, this vifcus fwells, becomes almoft white or 
 greyifh like that of the fkate, and at length grows very oily, 
 The livers of birds, ¢fpecially of geefe that are keptin a 
 warm place and fed with milk, exhibit the fame appear- 
 ance. Probably the blood, paffing through the fyftem of 
 the mefenteric, {plehic and hepatic arteries, undergoes 
 great changes ; whether, ‘as fome phyfiologifts with little 
 probability fuppofe,. it diffolves the abdominal fat, or 
 whether, as I am inclined to think, as it flowly traverfes. 
 thefe regions, the carbone it contains attraéts to itfelf all 
 the oxygene which had been only introduced among all its 
 particles as it traverfed the lungs ; and hence the blood 
 itfelf, immediately before it returns to the thorax, acquires 
 trom the fuperabundance of hydrogene an oily nature, 
 which it imparts to the organs it nourifhes. (a) ~If this 
 takes place at allin man and quadrupeds that re{pire much, 
 and in whofe velffels the circulation of the blood is ver 
 
 rapid, it ought to be far more ftriking in thofe fingular 
 animals, which are capable of living long in mud or the 
 molt offenfive mire, and which have a very limited refpi- 
 ration, fince in proportion to their fize their re{piratory 
 organs are very minute, and of courfe admit but very little 
 air; which from the flownefs of their circulation, is not 
 imparted to their whole mafs of fluids till long after it is 
 received. Hence thofe animals are all foft and cartilagi- 
 nous ; pallid and colourlefs throughout, and little fenfible 
 oralert. I attribute therefore the pre-eminence of the 
 liver in this clafs of animals to their deficiency of refpi- 
 ration; as alfo the liquid and oleaginous fubftance of 
 ‘* their brain.”—So far Mr. V.—I add 1. That if one of his 
 laft remarks be juft, oxygene in fome form or other may be 
 expeéted to cure that ftrange difeafe, the emollition of the 
 
 bones. 
 
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 (@) I intend to examine, whether the blood of the venous fyftern of the 
 abdomen, collected in the vena portarum, does not contain carbonic acid, or 
 more carbonic acid than the reft of the blood, fuppofing Fie any. V. 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii . 
 
 { 
 i ae °) 
 
 bones. 2. The whole tenour of thefe faés tends to confirm 
 the conneétion between. a certain deficiency of oxygen in 
 the human fyftem and the formation of fat. As animal 
 chemiltry is improved, the art of fattening animals will alfo 
 be rendered more cheap and expeditious.—Should opulent 
 people in general acquire a tafte for knowledge, many expe- 
 riments upon a Jarge fcale will be executed, of which the 
 refult will have a very falutary re-a€tion upon medicine and 
 phyfiology. For inftance, if fkates and other animals of this 
 clafs were long kept in refervoirs of water in conta@ with 
 oxygene air, their ftru€ture and, confequently their nature, 
 would probably undergo a great change. 3. Dr. Withering 
 has communicated to me a faét towards the confirmation of 
 my conjecture, that fat is generated at the expence of mufcle. 
 [In Portugal, where Dr. W. {pent the laft winter, hogs are 
 fed much fatter than in England. He informs me that he 
 obferved in one inftance in particular where the hog was 
 more than ordinarily fat, that there,was no mufcle on the 
 cheek, and very little on the ham. 
 
 
 
 
 
 oop bX 
 
 DS de que 
 
 
 
 In the Monthly Review for November 1793, the following 
 among many other acute remarks occurs: ‘“ It is affumed 
 “ by Dr. Beddoes that the blood of pregnant women has a 
 ‘‘diminifhed proportion of oxygene ; but pregnant women 
 “have the fame circumf{cribed fpot of fiorid acid in their 
 ‘countenances, which is apparent in heétics: if then the 
 ~ prefence of this colour be fufficient to prove an excefs of 
 ‘““ oxygene in the one cafe, it muft have the fame weight in 
 ‘ the other.” | 
 
 Undoubtedly, the theory cannot be put to a more proper 
 teft ; for, if the flufh of pregnancy and of florid confumption 
 be the fame, my opinion concerning the hyper-oxygenation 
 of the fyftem in florid confumption lofes all the fupport it 
 feemed to receive from this appearance : nor can the two 
 ftates be oppofite with re{peé to the proportion of oxygen. 
 Let obfervation therefore decide.—To me it has appeared 
 that the fixed {pot on the cheek of pregnant women 1s dark- 
 coloured in comparifon with the fine crimfon of the he&tic 
 flufh: and 1 have thought it more nearly to refemble the 
 complexion of fome elderly people, or that hue which is 
 occafioned by cold, both which | fuppofe are Owing to a 
 paralyfis or relaxation of the cutaneous capillaries, particu- 
 
 larly of the veins. ‘The varicous {wellings, vibices and livid 
 fpots in pregnancy feem to indicate a fimilar caufe. It may 
 at leaft'as a friend has fuggefted to me, deferve to be con- 
 fidered whether thefe appearances are produced folely by 
 mechanical 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 mechanical preffure. Typhus, I am informed on, good 
 authority, has fufpended confumption. This faétis perlecily 
 confiftent with my opinions. I originally expreffed the 
 moft fanguine expeétations from oxygene air in malignant 
 fevers, and the opinion has been corroborated by fatts.—It 
 may be faid, in the language of the late Mr. Hunter, that, in 
 all thefe inftances, phthifis is fulpended by a new action being 
 induced. ‘The anfwer is true, no doubt; but we ought not 
 to re{t fatisfied with it, fince it leads to nothing ufeful in 
 practice. But it would be ufetul to afcertain the nature of 
 the new a¢tion or, at leaft its caufe ; and to this my Inquiries 
 have tended. 
 
 
 
 orb 0d +(( emma)? 44 do0 
 
 
 
 { once hoped that this colle&tion would have been enriched 
 by the cafe of Dr. James Curriz of Liverpool, drawn 
 up by himfelf. Other occupations, however, have prevented 
 Dr. Currie from exeeuting his obliging intention towards 
 me. As this ingenious phyfician laboured under the moi} 
 alarming phthifical fymptoms, the obfervations he made upon 
 himfelf muft be highly interefting, and it is to be hoped 
 that he will one day make the particulars public. He has 
 favoured me with the following fummary. ‘ My cafe con- 
 “* tains nothing that feems to me applicable to your theory. 
 ‘* The fole inferences to be drawn from it are, that tn the 
 ** florid confumption a change of air froin the fea-fhore to an 
 ‘** inland and mountainous fituation is highly ufeful; and 
 ‘* that the heétic paroxy{m on its approach, may be prevented 
 *“ by the {wing, in fome inftances, and by exercife on horfe- 
 back in ftill more, to which laff, perfevered in with a de- 
 gree of pertinacity that is not common, I chiefly impute 
 ‘ my own recovery.” 
 
 sé 
 
 
 
 on +0 (eumeemmmen ))* 499 € 28 
 
 In a letter, dated Jan. 2, 1794; Dr. Thornton informs me 
 of an inftanee of great and unexpeéted relief from the exhi- 
 bition of atmofpheric air mixed with a {mall proportion of 
 hydrogen air in the laft flage of confumption. ‘ Mr. 
 ss ns’’ he fays, “ befides the ordinary fymptoms of con- 
 **fumption, had an oedematous {welling of -his feet and 
 “ ancles ; that laft fatal fymptom, a laxity ot his bowels, had 
 “even Come on, Upon being called in, I refolved upon a 
 ‘“ very cautious trial of hydrogen air, which I employed at 
 “* firft in not more than the proportion of one part of hydro- 
 ** gen air to thirty of atmofpheric air. Under this treatment, 
 ‘* to my great furprize, he has gained flrength ; the diarrhoea 
 ** ceafed and the oedematous fwelling difappeared. And it 
 “ deferves to be mentioned, that forne particular circum- 
 
 ese Ee ** fla ices 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 “ ftances having at times prevented his being fupplied with 
 * the mixed air for feveral days, he has become worle, and 
 ‘* gained ground, after infpiring it again.” Dr. T. adds at 
 the clofe of his letter this juft obfervation—* Should any 
 ‘* practitioner, bold through icnorance, do effential injury by 
 ‘an injudicious adminiitration of air, the unhappy event 
 
 would be blazed through the kingdom; and the benefit 
 “ that will otherwife probably refult to mankind from your 
 “ propofal, perhaps be excluded for ever.”’ ‘The fame chance 
 of falling into unmerited difcredit awaits every fubftance 
 endued with a¢tive properties, on its firft introdu€tion into 
 medicine, 
 
 €¢ 
 
 «1d 0-0 o(Cememmmmmemumns ))* + ¢00 
 
 
 
 LHE following communications are not noticed in the table of 
 contents, becaufe they were»received after that.table was 
 printed off. The publication of the pamphlet was delayed 
 in order for their reception. They tend to Shew that the 
 adminiftration of factitious airs in certain difeafes ws 
 SAFE and PROMISES ADVANTAGE {0 Sociely.; and 
 that the defign ought to be profecuted, which 2s all that I 
 maintain in this or any preceding publication. TY. B. 
 
 
 
 $0 «sb o(Careclieamaneiaammanan)* 40+ 400 
 SECOND LETTER from Dr. THORNTON. 
 
 > »+((cammmenpens ))* €+ ¢+e 
 
 Great Ruffel-fireet, Bloomfbury, 
 DEAR SIR, Jan, 4, 1794. 
 HAVE lately found vital air of great ufein the remoyal 
 and alleviation of certain {pafmodic difeafes, as the afthma 
 and hooping-cough. One {pafmodic cafe, that came under 
 my immediate care, deferves, I think, your particular at- 
 tention. 
 
 An amiable young lady, nearly related to fome gentlemen 
 of the firft eminence in the medical world, has been for the 
 laft two years dreadfully affli@ed with violent {pafmodic 
 feizures. Opium had been largely adminiflered, but it 
 ceafed to have the defired effe&t. Nothing gave relief but 
 water impregnated with carbonic acid air. Previous to her 
 fecond trial of breathing a purer atmofphere, a violent {paf. 
 modic feizure came on, which feemed particularly to affe 
 the diaphragm. All who were around her were alarmed. 
 Her brother-in-law inilantly urged me to adminifter the 
 medicinal air. She had fcarce breathed it three minutes, 
 when to the furprife of all who were prefent, the {pati left 
 her. It returned however with dimimifhed violence. From 
 
 daily 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
C # ) 
 
 daily breathing certain portions of this elegant, and fafe 
 remedy. (if judicioufly adminiftered), the has had. fewer 
 attacks; and. thefe lefs violent, and much fhorter in their 
 duration, 
 
 I cannot at.this time. forbear mentioning the inftance of a 
 clergyman, who laboured. under dyfpepfia. and depreffion of 
 {pirits. He had taken the tinéture of bark without experl- 
 encing much benefit... As nothing conduces more towards 
 good {pirits and.digeftion than.a clear pure air, I adminis 
 {tered the vital air;blended with atmofphberic. The load on 
 his cheft, as he called it, was removed. His appetite was 
 quickened.,. His fpirits were, raifedi even to, the piteh, I call, 
 gaiety ; and as he informed me, he felt a flrong inclination 
 to go to the play, to which he had not been this winter, and 
 he fays he is fully-convinced that no inducement could have 
 got him thither, had‘he’ not previoufly breathed a more 
 exalted atmofphere. Languor, you know, liftlefsnefs and 
 inaétivity are charaétefs of hypochondrialis ; and dyf{pepfia 
 is its frequent attendant. 
 
 Concerning the other kind of air, whofe properties are 
 diametrically oppofite to the Jaft, | am now adminiftering it 
 to a gentleman, who when he came to me, appeared greatly 
 emaciated from confumption : his cough was troublefome, 
 his voice was gone, his ancles were {welled, and a diarrhoea 
 was on him, which laft fymptom tewards the clofe of this 
 difeafe baffles the power of every known medicine. He 
 was uncommonly weak—but his appetite, as often happens, 
 was good.—As flannel frets the {kin, however the impreffion 
 may be weakened by repetition, yet as exciting the fyftem 
 without any juft reafon, I recommended it to him to change 
 his flannel for fleecy hofiery, which equally with flannel 
 abforbs the perfpiration, and as being a bad conduétor of 
 heat, hinders us from feeling any changes of the weather. 
 For milk in the morning and at night, I fubftituted patent 
 cocoa, and fome flices of cold boiled leg of pork. ILadvifled 
 tor dinner inftead of vegetables meat well done, chiefly mut- 
 ton chops, and French bread. His medicines were fuch as 
 attract oxygen, as a moderate ufe of wine, opium, and 
 almond milk, with the addition of oil of almonds, of which 
 he took a great quantity in the day. I defired him to avoid 
 whatever tended to oxygenate the blood, as ftrong exercife, 
 acids, &c. and he breathed at firft atmofpheric mixed with 
 hydrogen air. Afterwards I preferred azot, combined in a 
 certain proportion with atmofpheric air; the refult was, thefe 
 very formidable fymptoms foon difappeared, and what makes 
 me give fome fhare of credit to the air, is, that when he has 
 left off breathing it for a few days, he finds himfelf worle: 
 
 and 
 
 | 
 | 
 | 
 | 
 ) 
 
 FOYE a Sa = 
 
 - ot aed 
 
 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 and he always declares himfelf better, when he has breathed 
 it again for a few days fucceflively. I am in great hopes the 
 fequel of this cafe will prove as flattering as the commence- 
 ment. In the laft letter I wrote to you, I mentioned fome 
 cafes, in which I was about to try your medicinal airs. I anf 
 now waiting for an opportunity to employ the oxygen air, 
 for the immediate recovery of perions in fyncope.— Would 
 not this air, my dear Sir, be found of great fervice if it were 
 let loofe in mines, in churches, and in crowded rooms, but 
 more efpecially in the bathing-rooms at Bath, where great 
 faintnefs is often brought on the patient by breathing a re- 
 duced atmofphere from the extrication of azot out of -thofe 
 waters. Lam, &c. 
 
 cH. . Tfuornton. 
 
 
 
( 39 7 
 On the ufe of Yeaft in putrid fevers. By the Rev. 
 
 Edmund Cartwright. 
 
 opud«@zemmmnen))>4~ 4-0 
 A copy of this paper was firft fent to Dr. Pegge at Oxford, at 
 the Dottor’s defire. The author, afterwards hearing 
 that the communication might be acceptable to me, very 
 
 obligingly and humanely tranf{mitted it without delay, 
 
 FOB 
 St mnt eet 
 
 Aces feventeen years ago I went to refide at Brampton, 
 a very populous village near Chefterfield. I had not 
 been there many months before a putrid fever broke out. 
 Finding by far the greater part of my new parifhioners much 
 too poor to afford themfelves medical afliftance, I undertook, 
 by the help of fuch books on the fubje& of medicine as 
 happened to be in my poffeffion, to prefcribe for them. In 
 the courfe of my praétice I attended a boy about 14 years of 
 age, who was attacked by a fever: what its appearances were 
 in the firit ftage of it I forget. He had not been ill many 
 days before the fymptoms were unequivocally putrid. J 
 then adminiftered bark, wine, and fuch other remedies as 
 my books diretted. My exertions, however, were of no 
 avail; his diforder grew every day more untraétable and 
 malignant, fo that for more than a week I was in hourly ex- 
 pectation of his diffolution. Being under the neceflity of 
 taking a journey, before I fet off I went to fee him, as I 
 thought, for the laft time; not, indeed, with the flighte#: 
 degree of hope to be of fervice to him, but folely for the 
 purpofe of preparing his parents for the event of his death, 
 which I confidered as inevitable, and of reconciling them, in 
 the beft manner I was able, to a lofs which, I knew, they 
 would feel feverely. While I was in conyerfation on this 
 diftrefling fubje& with his mother, I obferved in a corner of 
 the cottage a {mall tub of wort working. The fight brought 
 to my recolleétion an experiment I had fomewhere met with, 
 of a piece of flale meat being made {weet by being fufpended 
 over a tub of wort in the like a& of fermentation, The 
 idea initantly flafhed upon my mind that yeaft might podlibl¢ 
 be of fervice to my patient: without a moment’s paufe or 
 refleétion I gave him two large {poonfuls. I then told the 
 mother, if fhe found him no worfe for what I had given 
 him, to repeat the dofe every three hours. I then took my 
 leave, fomewhat precipitately, I own; for | began to think 
 it poflible the yeaft might ferment fo violently as to bring on 
 an immediate fuffocation. I fet off upon my journey, and 
 was abfent about @ fortnight. Being told on my return the 
 ee bay 
 
 “On 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 boy was recovered, I could not reprefs my curidfity to fee 
 him immediately. Though fatigued with my journey, and 
 night was coming on, I went. direétly to where he lived, 
 which was three miles from my houfe, in a wild part of the 
 moors. I found the boy, as I had been told, perfetily well. 
 On inquiring of his mother the manner and progrefs of 
 his recovery, fhe told me, I was fcarcely ‘out of fight before 
 the boy faid to her, ‘‘ mother, I think I am getting well:” and 
 from that time he continued to mend as fait as poffible. 
 The fuccefs of this experiment determined me in every cafe 
 of fever, not obvioufly inflammatory, to adminifter yeaft, 
 not omitting at the fame time fuch other remedies as the 
 nature of the diforder might feem to call for, In the {pace 
 of two years afterwards, while I continued my refidence at 
 Brampton, 1 make no doubt I atiended nearly fifty poor 
 people in fevers of the low putrid kind. What will appear 
 fingular, 1 did not lofe one patient in‘all that time. It is to 
 be obferved, however, I had an advantage which more regular 
 practitioners have not; as my advice and remedies were ad- 
 miniftered gratis, I was ufually confulted on the firft attack 
 of the diforder, fo that its progrefs was {topped before it had 
 time to become fo dangerous as otherwife it might have done. 
 After I left Brampton I went to live in Leicefterfhire. 
 My parifhioners there being few and opulent, | dropped my 
 medical chara€ter entirely, and did not even prefcribe for 
 my own. family. Cne of my domeftics falling ill, the 
 apothecary was fent for. His complaint was a fever, which 
 in its progrefs became putrid. Having great reliance, and 
 I believe with reafon, on the apothecary’s penetration and 
 judgment, the man was left folely to his management. His 
 diforder kept daily gaining ground, till at length the apothe- 
 cary confidered him in very great danger. At laft finding 
 every effort to be of fervice to him baffled, he told me he 
 confidered it as a loft cafe, and that, in his opinion, the man 
 could not furvive four and twenty hours. On the apothe- 
 cary thus giving him up, I determined to try the effeéts of 
 yeaft. I gave him two large fpoonfuls. Recolleéting the 
 very fudden effeéi I was told it had on the firft patient I ad- 
 miniftered it to, I laid my watch upon the table, and took 
 the man’s pulle into my hand. In about ten minutes I per- 
 ceived an alteration in it fenfibly for the better. I then 
 afked the man if the medicine I had given affeé&ted him in 
 any particular manner, fuch as making him fick, difordering 
 his bowels, &c. his anfwer, which I give in his own words, 
 was ftrikingly emphatical and expreffive ; ‘‘] perceive no 
 ‘* effect it has, but to make me feel frangely light/ome.” In 
 fifteen minutes from taking the yeaft, his pulfe, though ftill 
 sah feeble | 
 
 
 
. 44 
 
 feeble, began to get compofedandeven. He then obferved, 
 that not having been out of bed for many days, it would be 
 great refrefhment to him to get up, if only for the purpofe 
 of having. his bed made. — In thirty-two minutes from his 
 taking the yeaft he was dreffed, and walking about his room: 
 At the expiration of the firft hour I gave him a dofe of bark 
 in a glafs of wine, which I. wafhed down with a quarter of a 
 pint more. Atthe expiration of the fecond hour | gave, him 
 a bafon of fago, with a good deal of lemon, wine, and ginger 
 in it; he eat it with the appetite of a man in health: in 
 another hour I repeated the yeaft : an hour afterwards I gave 
 the bark as before: at the next hour he had food of fome 
 kind or other, but what I do not now recolleét ; at the third 
 hour, which was nine o’clock at night, he had another dofe 
 of: yeaft, and then went to bed. I went to him'the next 
 morning at fix o’clock ; she told me he had had a good night, 
 and that he felt himfelf perfectly well. I, however, gave 
 him another dofe of yeaft. He then got up, and went about 
 his bufinefs as ufual. 
 
 About a. year after this, as E was riding paft a detached 
 farm-houfe at the outfkirts of the village, I obferved the 
 farmer’s daughter {tanding at the door, apparently in great 
 affli€tion.. On inquiring into the caufe of her diftrefs, fhe 
 told me her father was dying. I difmounted and went into 
 the houfe to fee him. I found him in the laft flage of a 
 putrid fever; his tongue was black, a fanious ichor was 
 oozing out of the corners of his mouth, his pulfe was {carcely 
 perceptible, and he lay ftretched out, like a corpfe, ina flate 
 of drowly infenfibility, 1 immediately procured fome yeatt, 
 which, being ftale, and confequently thick, I diluted with a 
 little warm water to make it potable, and alfo to fet it into 
 a fermentation, and poured it down his throat. I then lef¢ 
 him with little hope, as reafonably may be imagined, of his 
 recovery. I returned in about an hour and found him per- 
 feétly fenfible and able to converfe, | inquired of him the 
 effects of the medicine. The precife words he made ufe of 
 Tforget; his anfwer, however, was exactly to the fame effet 
 as the anfwer to the like quettion my fervant gave. 1 then 
 gave hima dofe of bark. He afterwards took, at a proper 
 interval, fome refrefhment, I ftaid with him till he repeated 
 the yeaft, and then left him, with dire@ions for him to be 
 treated in the fame manner‘as I had treated my fervant.. | 
 called upon him the next morning at nine o’clock. I found 
 him apparently well, walking in his garden, He wasanold 
 man, upwards of feventy, of a thin {pare habit. He was 
 alive laft year, and then nearly ninety years old, 
 
 | About 
 r i 
 
 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 About year and half ago, a gentleman’s fon, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Doncafter, was attacked by a putrid fore throat 
 andfever. Hehad been il} and in confiderable danger betore 
 I heard, which was by accident, the nature of his complaint. 
 l immediately communicated the above fats to the apothecary 
 who attended him. It happened his diforder the evening 
 before had taken a favourable turn, and confequently a 
 change of medicine would not have been juftifiable. In the 
 courfe, however, of a few days, the nurfe-maid, who waited 
 upon the child, was feized with the fame complaint, and was 
 treated in the fame manner, but with different fuccefs. The 
 apothecary then gave the yeaft. She recovered with a 
 degree of rapidity which he told me he fhould have confidered 
 4s incredible had he not beer an eye-witnefs of it. 
 
 Though the very fpeedy operation of the yeaft in all the 
 cafes 1 have enumerated may at firft fight appear fingular, 
 yet if we confider the principle upen which it operates, it 1s 
 reafonable to conclude, whatever its operation may be, it 
 mut be immediate, as it will begin to part with its fixed air 
 almoft as foon as it is receryed into the warm ftomach. 
 
 In cafes of external mortification it might be applied te 
 the part affegted, as well as given internally. It probably 
 might be found of fervice in cancers, if what Dr. Buchan 
 affirms be true, that by means of antifeptics alone he kept a 
 confirmed cancer at bay for fome years. 
 
 In corroboration of the above faéts, relative to the medical 
 virtues of the yeaft, 1 add-the following one, communicated 
 tome by Mr, Williams, a re{pectable clergyman of Pinner 
 in Middlefex, to whom I had been mentioning the fuccefs 
 with which I had adminiftered that remedy. 
 
 When a young boy he was feized with the fmall-pox, and 
 was thought in imminent danger. By the advice of an old 
 Welch clergyman, who vifited at his father’s, he drank a 
 hearty draught of beer out of the vat, the yeaft being pre- 
 vioufly beaten in. Hisbadfymptoms very foon difappeared, 
 the puftules rofe kindly, and he got through the diforder, in 
 every refpeét, inthe moft favourable manner. Mr. Williams 
 perfectly recolle&s his recovery being always fpoken of in 
 the family as owing to the prefcription of their Welch friend. 
 This event muft have happened not lefs than forty years ago. 
 
 
 
= 
 
 = Fy 2e= - 
 
 Cat 
 
 Cafe communiated by Dr. Parry, of BATH. 
 a ( eens PT 
 
 "HEN the following cafe occurred, the pneumatic 
 
 chemiftry had been reduced to no fyftematic form. 
 It had indeed long been known that blood was capable of 
 becoming red by contaét with atmofpherical air; and Dr. 
 Prieftley had found that this happened even though the fub- 
 ftance of a bladder was interpofed, and that the change was 
 moft fpeedy and confiderable when the experiment was made 
 with dephlogifticated air, But although from thefe and 
 other faéts Dr. Prieftley had drawn a very important con- 
 clufion as to the ufe of refpiration, yet the application of 
 this branch of chemif{try to phyfiology had not much occu- 
 pied the general mind. Hence it arofe that fome fymptoms 
 of the cafe which I am going to defcribe, and which was 
 preferved principally with a view to inveftigate the nature 
 of the hydrocephalus internus, were not fo minutely related 
 as they would have been had the inquiry taken a different 
 turn, or had its obje& been more general. With regard alfo 
 to the diffe€tion, a very great embarrafsment was thrown in 
 our way by a ftrange tendernefs of the patient’s friends, who 
 chofe to have a man fervant continue in the room during the 
 anatomical examination. ‘This obliged us to content our- 
 felves with what imperfe& information we could gain by 
 haftily examining the heart in fitu; and prevents my {peak- 
 ing with pofitivenefs as to the non-exiftence of a canalis 
 arteriofus, the number of the pulmonary veins, and fome 
 other circumftances. 
 
 On the whole however, this cafe, imperfect as it 1s, is one 
 of the very few in which the mal-conformation of the pul- 
 monary veffels affords a {trong prefumption that the red 
 colour of the blood is owing to the oxygen which it receives 
 during the a€t of infpiration. 
 
 The Hon. Mifs V. was firft put under my care in the 
 {pring of the year 1786. She was then between 19 and 14 
 years of age, of a placid temper, moderately tall, thin, and 
 of afmall make. The moft {triking appearance of deviation 
 from the healthy flate of the conftitution was a lividnefs or 
 bluifh purple hue, which in fome degree affected the whole 
 fkin, but was moft intenfe where the tinge of the blood ts 
 ufually moft apparent, as in the cheeks, the noftrils, the lips, 
 the ends of the fingers beneath the nails, and other fimilar 
 parts. She conftantly fuffered more or lefs of palpitation ot 
 ihe heart, irregularity of the pulfe, and hurried re{piration ; 
 and thefe fymptoms were much aggravated by any mufcular 
 exertion, though of the flighteft kind, but became extremely 
 painful in confequence of any ftronger exercife, From 
 
 2 going 
 
 
 
 a tele ee. 
 
 
 
( 44-) 
 
 going up ftairs, however gently, the livid blood became ac- 
 cumulated about the face and head, the pulfe-was accelerated 
 to 120 or 130 beats in a minute, the irregularity of pulfation 
 which I have defcribed became more apparent, and a very 
 quick and laborious refpiration was induced. At all times, 
 but more elpecially after the exertion of walking, the beating 
 of the heart was more diflindlly felt on the right than on the 
 left fide of the thorax. There was alfo this peculiarity in 
 the circulation, produced, fo far as I could find, by mufcular 
 exertion only, that the pulfation of the right carotid artery 
 was very perceptible to the touch, while that of the left was 
 extremely ob{cure; and that the number of pulfations in the 
 left radial artery was {maller than of thofe in the right ; the 
 {iroke in the former being fometimes miffed, and at other 
 times imperfeétly performed, while the corre{ponding pul- 
 fation in the latter was diflin& and ftrong. 
 
 The fymptoms of difeafe which I have defcribed came on 
 without any obvious caufe; nor could the young lady’s 
 parents afcertain at what period they had firft-been obferved. 
 This however was certain, that they had been confiderably 
 aggravated during the fix years laft preceding. 
 
 In addition to thefe complaints, Mifs V. was occafionally 
 liable to head-achs, evidently conneéted with flatulency, 
 coftivenefs, and other marks of indigeftion, which fometimes 
 went fo far as to produce ficknefs and vomiting. Emetics 
 had therefore occafionally been given; and her mother was 
 of opinion that they had, for fome time, relieved her ftomach 
 complaints, head-ach, and dy{pnoea. | 
 
 Mifs V. had never hed the catamenia. Her-appetite was 
 tolerably good, and fhe was free from cough. 
 
 On the lower part of the os frontis, about the middle of 
 the forehead, there was a tumor as large as a pigeon’s egg 
 cut through the fhortefi diameter, hard, immoveable, and of 
 the fame colour and fenfibility as the {kin near it. 
 
 I regret that 1 made no memorandum as to the heat of her 
 {kin, or the proportion which the number of refpirations bore 
 to that of her pulfe. 
 
 It required no great medical acutenefs to difcoyer that in 
 this cafe there was a confiderable deviation from the proper 
 ftru€iure of the large veffels about the heart. -1 therefore 
 apprized the friends of the patient, that nothing more could 
 be done than to alleviate fymptoms which would probably 
 one day prove fatal. Idefired that all violent exertion fhould 
 be carefully fhunned, but that gentle exercife, e{pecially on 
 horfeback, fhould be affiduoutly ufed. At the fame time 
 Mus V. was advifed to abftain from all full meals, and from 
 svery fort of food which could produce plethora or flatu- 
 
 ‘ 
 
 ency ; 
 
 
 
' 2a rs 
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 lency ; to clothe herfelf warmly, efpecially about her legs 
 and feet, and conftantly to remove coftivenefs by means of 
 an aloetic pill. To thefe meafurces was added the internal 
 ufe of {mall quantities of the Bath water. 
 
 This plan, continued more or lefs through the winter, ina 
 great degree removed the fymptoms of dy{pepfia, and fome- 
 what leflened thofe of undue circulation. 
 
 As the {pring advanced, her friends wifhed to fix on fome 
 fituation beneficial to her health, in which fhe might {pendthe 
 {ummer ; but previoufly to any decifidn on tlits fubjeét they 
 complied with my earneft requeft that they would vo to Lon- 
 don for the purpofe of confulting Mr. Hunter, fron whom, 
 in the month of April, 1787, I received the following letter. 
 
 “ DEAR: SER; 
 
 ‘ I HAD the honour to fee your patient Mifs V. There 
 is certainly either difeafe about the heart and lungs, or an 
 original bad formation of thefe parts, the laftiof which I am 
 moit inclined to believe. If the blood paffes through the 
 lungs without receiving the benefit of the air, it will come 
 back to the heart venal blood; or if it has any collateral 
 paflage into the aorta, before it pafles to the lungs, in either 
 cafe the parts where the blood is expofed will be livid; and 
 as this has.been more or lefs a fymptom ever fince fhe has 
 been born, it 1s natyral to conclude it to be owing to a natural 
 formation of parts. A cafe of that kind is publifhed in the 
 Medical Tranfaétions of the College by Dr. Pulteney, which 
 I faw, and where the fymptoms were very fimilarto Mifs V.’s, 
 only, I think, more violent. However, as I can conceive 
 difeafe, and moft probably the fcrofala, to produce fimilar 
 fymptoms, I think fhe fhould not.lofe any chance of being 
 relieved on fuch an idea. After laying ‘that every thing 
 which increafes the fymptoms fhould be avoided; and that 
 every thing which fervesto keep them quiet fhould be ftriétly 
 adhered to, I propofed her bathing in the fea-water. But it 
 fhould be made fo warm as not to give the leaft fhock at fir 
 going in; and this to be purfued according to circumftanceés. 
 
 * As this1s a cafe which, Ithink, will terminate ill, I with 
 you would take notes. of all the fymptoms; for probably a 
 time will come when the parts will be infpeéted by fome- 
 body, which will afford valuable information when attended 
 by the hiftory of the cafe. The pulfation being in one arm and 
 not always in the other at the fame time, is a Curious fa&t, &c.” 
 
 Not long after this Mifs V. went to the fea-coaft and having 
 purfued the plan which had been recommended, returned to 
 Bath in the autumn, in much the fame {late of health as when 
 fhe left it. During the beginning of the winter I faw her 
 three or four times, but found no alteration in the fymptoms. 
 
 ' Ope 
 
 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 On the 4th of January, 1787, I was fent for, and vifiting 
 her at two o’clock in the afternoon, found her lying in bed. 
 She had complained for two or three days of pain in her 
 head and fome diminution of appetite, and on the evening 
 before had been feized with vomiting, which had continued 
 more or lefs till the time I faw her. She had taken no food, 
 and had not flept during the night. What fhe had vomited 
 an hour before my vifit was fluid, flightly green, and of an 
 acid {mell. The pain of her head was not violent, nor, fo 
 far as I learnt, was it confined to any particular fpot. Her 
 tongue was flightly furred, there was no unui{ua 
 about the eyes, and her pulfe, heat, colour, an 
 feemed to be in their natural ftate. During ts 
 days immediately fucceeding, fhe had been coffive ; 
 taken at the beginning fome magnefia, which had 
 fcarcely any fenfible effect on her bowels, and | 
 lieved any of the fymptoms. She was ordered 
 fcruple of calcined magnefia every hour till it operated. 
 
 At eight o’clock I found that tour dofes of the magnefia 
 had been given without moving the bowels; but the vomiting 
 had ceafed after the firft dofe: It was faid alfo that fhe had 
 been afleep two hours, for which reafon Lady begged 
 that I would not difturb her by then going into her chamber, 
 but told me, that, previoufly to her going to fleep, Mus V. 
 had been delirious, and attempted to get out of bed. . I or- 
 dered a purgative glyfter to be injeéted, and the magnefia to 
 be continued. 
 
 Repeating my vifit at ten o’clock at night, I was informed 
 that the glyfter had been imperfeétly injected, without effett, 
 and that fhe flill continued to fleep. I begged however to 
 fee her, and found, on attempting to rouze her, that fhe was 
 almoft fenfelefs. She was not affe€ted by any noife, but 
 feemed uneafy when a candle was brought near her, and the 
 pupils were much dilated. She made an inarticulate found 
 with her voice, fat up of herfelf, and attempted to get out of 
 bed, but feemed to have no confcioufnefs of what was pafling 
 around her. Her refpiration was quick and laborious, her 
 fkin in general rather hot, her feet cold, her face pale, and 
 her pulle upwards of a hundred in a minute, extremely full, 
 hard and labouring. 3 7 
 
 By my defire Dy. Falconer was called into confultation, 
 and we met at half paft eleven at night, when all the fymp- 
 toms laft defcribed continued, but 1n a greater degree. 
 
 She was ordered to lofe four ounces of blood, to have the 
 purgative glyfter repeated, to take a draught witha few drops 
 of tinétura thebaica, to have the feet, legs and abdomen fo- 
 mented withstepid water, and atterwards finapifms applied 
 to the feet, , Previoully 
 
 } 
 
 
 
Lay 5 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( 7 
 
 Previoufly to the bleeding fhe had two fits, in which fhe 
 was convulfed in various parts of the body, and particularly 
 about the throat, as in the hyfteria, and cried out with great 
 violence. The glyfter brought away at firft a confiderable 
 quantity of hardened feces, and afterwards a copious loofe 
 ftoo]. After this evacuation and the bleeding, fhe feemed 
 fomewhat relieved with regard to her breathing and power of 
 fenfation. | 
 
 The glyfter was ordered to be repeated, and fome broth 
 occafionally given. so 
 
 Jan. 5. Eight in the morning. She had had an evacu- 
 ation from the glyfter, but had pafled a very bad night. Her 
 breathing was {till more laborious, her {kin very hot; her 
 pulfe 136 in aminute, extremely ftrong and hard; the pul- 
 {ation of the right carotid unufually full and bounding, her 
 face ftill pale, but the pupils more dilated. Now alfo, for 
 the firft time, there appeared confiderable ftrabifmus. No 
 urine had been made for upwards of twenty-four hours. 
 
 A repetition of the bleeding was ordered, and it was di- 
 re€ted that fhe fhould be putinto a tepid bath. 
 
 She was bled, and the bath employed, notwithftanding a 
 confiderable quantity of urine had previoufly been made. 
 She then feemed again eafier ; but the fymptoms foon rapidly 
 increafed, and at night fhe died. 
 
 On opening the body the following day, the cranium ap- 
 peared to be unufually hard. The {welling in the forehead 
 was found to be a tumor or thickening of the os frontis itfelf, 
 which when the fcalp was removed, was rough and of a 
 livid {potted appearance, as from divided varicofe veffels. 
 The fame rough tumor extended itfelf the infide of the cra- 
 nium; but no particular difeafe was.obfervable in the dura 
 mater lining that part, or in the portion of the cerebrum 
 immediately under it. | 
 
 The dura mater itfelf was very tough and adhered ftrongly 
 to the cranium. 
 
 The veffels of the pia mater:were extremely turgid with 
 blood. | | 
 
 A confiderable quantity of water was found in the right 
 lateral ventricle. : 
 
 On the right fide_of the thorax, the ribs were very much 
 depreffed, while thofe~ on, the left were in a natural ftate. 
 The-lungs on the le “hae 
 
 left fide were fre@ fronyadhefion and any 
 other appearance of difeafe. 
 
 : The right Ix be of the lungs 
 
 pF ing — a2 ash. clin at 
 & More than a plexus.of 
 
 was fo thin as to refembi~” atl, 
 
 membranes, it, firong te; 
 
 
 
 “ 
 
 ugetks “See, aS : 
 > the “pleura coftalis ; but 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 was free from tubercles ‘octfuppuration, The 
 
 * > . * ¥: 3 a cr ma i < a PH ‘ ¥ 
 
 right pulmonary artery yortic. to the defeé 
 Fo) a — ee 
 
 = 
 . 
 
 of the right lobe Thess t 
 
( 48 } 
 
 The heart was confiderab sly larger than natural, and the 
 coronary arteries were full of blood. 
 
 Every thing about the arch of the aorta, and the carotid 
 arteri€s, was in a natural ftate; nor was there any other 
 unusual appearance about the heart or large veffels. — 
 
 Lhe mentum was void. cf fat; but allthe vifcera of the 
 abdomen were free from difeafe. 
 
 7 OF if. 
 Ss <7 PE ea ETAL. 
 s df 
 BATH, fen. 17,1794. 
 
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 teed re ai if 
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