Cafe of a Patient voiding Stones through a Fistula.

the body intenfe; the head-ach almost Perpetual; the pulle fmall, frequent, and irregular, with the utmost proftration of strength, and defpondency of mind; and from the putrid bilious ef. fufions into the ftomach arife nauseous bitter taste, and frequent vomiting; the refpiration is laborious, and inter rupted with deep fighs; the breath offenfive, and likewife the fwear, which is fometimes tinged with blood; the delirium almost conftant; the tongue dry and covered, as well as the teeth and lips, with a brown or black tenacious foolness;" thrush and ulcerations in the mouth and throat come on; the urine depofits a dark coloured fedi. ment; the tools are exceedingly naufeous and foetid, and blackish or bloody; the eyes almost universally feem horny or gloffy, and frequently the whites are tinged of a deep blood colour; petechiæ, like flea-bites, appear; and fometimes larger exudations of blood ör vibices; hemorrhagy from the gums*, rofe, or old ulcers come on; and a fatal hiccup often clofes the tragedy.

While the patient was languishing under the oppreffion of thefe dreadful fymptoms, the Doctor fays, a painful fenfation was excited in his breaft, while he continued attentive only to the mode of practice of other physi cians; but, as the lofs of a patient by the ufual rotine gave him pain, he determined to relieve his anxiety by a more spirited interpofition in favour of his patient, and he found, to his inexpreffible fatisfaction, that his endeavours were almost uniformly fucceísful. The principal remedies, he fays, he made afe of, befides good liquors, were Peruvian bark and cold air. By thefe I have learned, fays he, that a delirium, dypfeea, with pulse 130

* Some of these symptoms are fo fimilar to thofe attending the laft ftages of the fea feurvy, that it may be worth while to inquire whether they may not arife from the fame caufe, namely, human contagion; the officers on board thips, not being fo clotely crowded together, feldom fuffer fo feverely in long voyages as the common men. It is not improbable, therefore, but that the fea feurvy may be generated by the corruption of human effluvia, though it has hitherto been confidered as proceeding from falt provifions and fea air. Query, Whether hanging the hammocks in the fhrouds, and fleeping in the open air, in hot climates, may not be preventive of that disorder?

259

while diftinet, occurring in putrid fevers, are rendered as little tiemendous as the cominon symptoms of an intermittent, by a method of cure neither tedious nor unpleasant.

I have premised already, adds the Doctor, that the fever is afcertained to be of the putrid kind without fymp toms of inflammation; in which cafe, it may appear necellary to evacuare the putrid or accumulated effufions in the fomach and bowels, probably by an antimonial vomit, which should allo be given in fuch a manner, or with fuch additions, as may procure as many ftools as the patient can easily bear, as well as empty the ftomach by vomit ing; but where the patient has been previously much weakened, the eva. cuation is not always neceffary or fafe; and indeed the bark itself generally proves laxative, either alone, or when joined with a mineral acid. Iminediately after the intended evacuations have been produced, I commence the exhibition of the bark, without waiting for remiffions or intermiffions; a feduloirs attention to which, and to crilis in fevers, I prefume has deftroyed more than famine or Sydenham's coldt. A dry dark-coloured tongue, a dry skin, urine without fediment, defipientia, delirium, dypfacea, and continued fever, are the circumstances which have deterred physicians from using the bark. In a word, thele are the very reafons for which I would immediately give it : it promotes a mild perfpiration, produces a fediment in the urine, and diminishes the quickness of the pulfe; it removes the delirium by obviating the

+ The paffage here alluded to is probably this: "For not to mention infec tion, which fometimes communicates ftationary fevers, and furfeits, which give rife to both stationary and intercurrent fevers, the manifeft external caufe of the greater part of fevers is to be fought for hence; either a perfon hath left off his clothes too foon, or imprudently expofed his body to the cold after being heated by violent exercife; whence the pores being fuddenly clofed, and the perfpirable matter retained in the body that would otherwife have pafled through them, fuck a particular kind of fever is raifed in the blood as the then reigning general conftitution of the air, or the particular depravity of the juices, is moft inclined to produce. And, indeed, I am of opinion, that abundance more have been destroyed by this means than by the plague, fword, and famine together." Vide Sydenham's Werks, 3d edit. p. 245.

caufes

260

Dr. Lettfom's new Method of curing Fevers.

caufs which produce the fever, and effectually relieves the breathing. Such a treatmert may probably furprize the reader, but I am earnest in recommending it. In a fever, with the urgent fymptoms of putrefaction, two ounces of the bark a day is the leaft that can be depended upon. My common form, however, is to order three ounces of the powder to be boiled in a quart of water to ten ounces, which is to be run through a coarfe cloth that admits the fine powder of the bark, and this decoction is to be taken in 24 hours. In weak ftomachs I have remarked that weak decoctions fit eafier with the patient than the bark in fubftance, and thereby prove more effectual. In fome cafes a drachm of elixir of vitriol is added; it is laxative, prevenis fermentation, and is probably antife ptic. It should be a general caution that the patient pay at least a daily tribute ad cloacam, as the first evacuation will not infure us against a fieh though a lefs effusion of bilious maiter.Having difmiffed this first chief remedy in putrid fevers, the Doctor proceeds to his fecond, which is cold air.

It is with me, fays the Doctor, a general injunction to keep the patient out of bed, as is now generally recommended in the fmail-pox; and where it is not convenient to take them out of doors, the windows and doors of the chambers are ordered to be opened throughout the day, and the patient to be expofed to the current of air: the good effects of this aurora falutifera are aftonishing. This, with the free ufe of the baik, an attention to the ftate of the bowels, and fome precaution in regimen, will render a putrid, gaol hofpital, or camp fever, which are all one and the fame in the event, as familiar and eafy to cure as a common intermittent. It is almost minecetary to remark, that in cafes of this kind all animal food and broths are to be avoided, and farinacea substituted for diet. The common beverage (hould be lemonade, imperial water, acidulated liquors, apple tea, wine and water, and pure wine, particularly claret, of which the patient may be allowed from one pint to three quarts a day. Ant among thofe who have been accuftomed to malt-liquor, I advife the free

e of good fall beer, or, if agreeable, as much porter as they can drink, of which I have known patients take a pint at a draught with great refresh

ment. Such is Dr. Lettfom's method of treating putrid fevers; and, as it appeared new to us, and well fupported by a great number of cases, it is hoped that, by making it thus fpeedily and generally known, we may be the means of faving many lives. A farther ac-, count of this uteful book will be given in its proper place, as it contains a variety of cafes that are fingular and very remarkable.

The Cafe of a Patient voiding Stones through a fiflulous Sore in the Loins. without any concomitant Discharge of Urine by the fame Paffage. In a Letter to Dr. Maity, from Mr. S. F. Simmons.

E LEANOR Pilcher, the fubje&t of Vit, is about fifty-two years of age, and lives at Littlebourn, in Kent. About twenty-five years ago, the first began to complain of a pain in her back, of a difficulty in making water, and of other nephritic fymp toms, which gradually increafed. Soon after this she began to void gravel with her urine, and to pafs feveral very fmali tones; and thefe fymptoms continued to return very frequently, and with much feverity. About ten years after the first appearance of thefe complaints, a fwelling came on in the left Jumber region, which, after having been very painful for a confiderable time, fuppurated. This wound, which very foon became fiftulous, has continued open ever fince, and has constantly afforded an ichorous difcharge. It was not till December, 1772, fifteen years from the appearance of the tumour, that this discharge began to abate, and that the wound from being perfectly ealy became painful and inflamed. During all this time, the nephritic fymptoms had continued to return without any variation, the urine had constantly afforded a gravelly fediment, and feveral mail flones had patied through the meatus urinarius; but thefe concretions were now about to take a different couife. The pain in the back, which had commonly affected the left fide, became much more intenfe than ufuel, but was not attended by any of the other fymptoms, which had been the ufual fore-runners of a fit of the gravel. The discharg? from the wound was fuddenly d minished, and the pain and inflammation exceedingly increased, though the urine continued 10 país in a healthy quantity, and without difficulty. The com

plaints

Useful Obfervations on the Aurora Borealis.

plaints continued during eight days,
and then a round and smooth calculus,
weighing about twelve grains, was ex-
tracted, with fone difficulty, from the
wound. Since that time no gravel has
been voided with the urine, though ro
urine ever paffes through the wound,
and fix other paroxy ms like that I have
defcribed have taken place, in which
the fame fymptoms have occurred,
which have terminated in a fimilac
manner; fo that feven calculi have
paffed through the wound, only two
of which have been preferved, and the
leaft of them weighs fix grains. During
the intervals of thele paroxyfins the
patient enjoys a state of health and
cafe; and the orifice of the wound,
foon after exclufion of a calculus, re-
turns to its usual fize, admitting with
difficulty a common probe. This cafe,
of which I have endeavoured to give
you an accurate hiftory, appears to be
a great proof of the powers of nature.
The right kidney does not feem to be
affected; and, as no urine ever paffes
through the wound, it fhould fem as
if the fecretion by the left kidney is
destroyed; for, as no gravel is now
voided with the urine, the left ureter
is probably clofed. The cafe, however,
though a very interciting one, is not
perfe&ty fingular; for Del. champius
relates, that he faw a man who passed
feveral stones through an ab'cefs of the
Jo ns that had become fitulous. And
Tulpius, in the fourth book of his
Obfervationes Medica, gives the hif-
tory of a patient, who, after undergo-
ing much pain from a nephritic com-
plaint, which he inherited from his fa-
ther, at length pailed a flone from the
kidneys externally through the loins,
which occafioned a callous ulcer,
through which pus and urine were
perpetually flowing: neither time nor
any of the remedies employed afforded
hom any relief; but the pallage through
the loins cloting, and the matter taking
a different cour.e, an acute lever was at
Jength brought on, of which the patient
died. And the late Mr. Chfelden
oferves, that he had three patients
from whom he extracted final tones,
which had made the r way from the
kidneys to the integuments, and there
occationed an impofthumation.
cafes like thefe, though not perfectly
new, feem to deferve to be recorded as
very rare ones, especially when they
atford more interefting circumstances
than have hitherto occured

But

260

Remarks on the Aurora Borealis, by
Mr. Winn. In a Letter to Dr.
Franklin,

I

HAVE often wished that fomebody

would carefully collate a fufficient number of meteorological journals, with intent to obferve and clafs the feveral appearances in the atmoiphere before great changes in the weather, particularly before great ftorms. I am perfuaded, from my own obfervation, that, in general, fufficient indications of impending tempefts precede them a confiderable time, did we but carefully note them.

The phænomenon which I am go. ing to mention is one of thote indications which not only portend an approaching tempelt, but a certain from what quarter it will come; a circumtance that may render it of effential fervice to feamen. I believe the obfervation is new, that the Aurora Borealis is conftantly fucceeded by hard foutherly or fouth-weft winds, attended with hazy weather, and finall rain. I think I am warranted from experience to fay contar tly; for in twentythree inftances that have occurred fince 1 firit made the obfervation, it has invariably obtained. However, I beg leave to request that you will recom mend it to the notice of the Royal Society, as a matter which, when confirmed by further obfervations, and generally known, may be of more confequence than at firit appears. To fhew that it may, give me leave to recite the circumitance which first occafioned my taking notice of it. Sailing down the English Channel in 1769, a few days before the autumnal equinox, we had a remarkable bright and vivid aurora the whole night. In fhore the wind fluctuating between N. N. W. and N. W. and farther out W. N. W. defirous of benefitting by the landwind, and alfo of taking advantage of an earlier ebb-tide, I difpenfed with the good old marine adage, "Never to approach too near a weather thore, left it should prove a let-fhore," and by fhort tacks clung clofe along the English coaft. Next day the wind

veered to the S. W. and foon after to S. S. W. and fometimes W. We were then in that dangerous bay between Portland and the Start Point, and carried a preffing fail, with hopes of reaching Torbay before dark; but night came on, with thick haze and fmall rain, infomuch that we could

2,62

An Address to the Manufacturers of Great-Britain.

not have feen the land at the distance of a hip's length. The gale was now increased to a storm: in this dilemma nothing remained but to endeavour to keep off the fhore till the wind fhould change. Luckily our fhip was a tout one, and well rigged.

Reflecting, fome time after, on the circumstances of this tom, and the phænomena that preceded it, I determined to have particular attention to future aurora, and the weather that thould fucceed them; and, as I obferved above, in twenty-three inftances have found them uniform, except in degree; the gale generally commencing between twenty-four and thirty hours after the first appearance of the auroiæ. More time and obfervation will probably difcover whether the ftrength of the fucceeding gale is proportionate to the fplendor and vivacity of the aurora and the distance of time between them. I only fufpect that the more brilliant and active the first is, the fooner will the latter occur, be more violent, but of fhorter duration, than when the light is languid and dull. Perhaps, too, the colour of the aurora may be fome guide in forming a judgment of the coming gale. That which preceded the ftorm I have mentioned was exceedingly fplendid. The tempeft fucceeded it in less than twenty-four hours, was violent, but of fhort continuance." In June last, a little without foundings, we had for two nights following faint inactive auroræ ; the confequent gale was not hard, but lafted near three days: the first day attended with haze and fmall rain, the second with haze only, and the last day clear.

The benefit which this observation on the Aurora Borealis, when further confirmed, may be of to feamen, is obvious, in navigating near coafts which extend east and weft, particularly in the British Channel. They may, when warned by this phænomenon, get into port, and evade the imperding ftorm; or, by ftretching to the fouthward, facilitate their paffage by that very form which might otherwife have deftroyed them; for no winds are fo dangerous in the Channel as the foutherly and fouth-weft. In a word, fince I have made this obfervation, I have got out of the Channel, when other men, as alert, and in fatter-failing fhips, but unapprized of this circumftance, have not only been driven back, but with difficulty have efcaped Mhip,

Wieck.

Perhaps the obfervation that souther. ly gales conftantly fucceed thefe phanomena may help to account for the nature of the Aurora Borealis : my own thoughts on that fubject I shall fome time beg leave to lay before you. J. S. WINN.

To the MANUFACTURERS of GREAT-
BRITAIN.

My countrymen and friends,
you are, most of you, fenfible, by

woeful experience, that the demand for every kind of manufacture for exportation has been decreafing for these two years past, at an amazing rate; and I need not inform many of you, that this is but a beginning of evil.

The vast exports of all kinds of British manufactures to America are almost at an end; and where you will find another market is not in my power to devife.

1

It may be neceffary for you to confider by what means this calamitous change has been effected: calamitous to you, ruinous to this country, and not lefs fo to our fellow-fubjects in America.

The Scotch have a fignificant proverb, that "a midge's wing is the mother of mischief;" and fo indeed it has been lamentably verified.--- A conteft without caufe, a question about nothing, and which never ought to have been agitated, has brought us seriously to the brink of ruin.

You must have found, by direful experience, that from the time when we began thefe foolish difputes with America, trade languished: when thefe began to be forgotten, commerce revived; when the fame infatuation in our councils, that bred the misunderstanding, revived it, the reviving intercourse declined, till at length it is almoft annihilated.

It is not in your power, my friends and countrymen, to make laws; but it is much in your power to elect those who do make them: and as the acts lately paffed and now pafling the le gislative body, are the immediate caufes of your prefent and future distress, it will become you to enquire who they were that promoted or confented to laws, which have given to fatal a blow to the manufactures of Great Britain.

If, in the approaching election, you think fuch men worthy of esteem and fupport, who have precipitated this great kingdom into difgrace and mifery, choose them again: but if you think

thole

Authentic Account of the late Fête Champêtre at the Oaks. 263

thofe, who have already done fo much mischief to the community, are not to be trufted, defpife their flattery and hollow profeffions.

The time is approaching when you may, if you pleafe, at leaft change your men; and I hope there is not even a borough fo venal, that will return a single member who has voted against his country and its commerce, in promoting the difputes between this country and America.

Remember what you owe to your felves, your country, your King, to your fellow-fubjects in America, and your pofterity. You cannot then but heartily join in excluding every one from the great council of the nation, who has hewn himself an enemy to its commerce, and therein to its ftability and happiness.

A Friend to bis Country.

The following Account of the FETE
CHAMPETRE at the OAKS, in
Surry, on Thursday the 9th of June,
as it is the firft of the kind given in
England, is too curious to be omitted.

THE noble family at whofe expence

this feat was prepared, being defirous to indulge the curious in general with a fight of fome part of the rural festival, as well as the elect party who had cards of invitation, gave orders that the gate upon the Down only fhould be opened, and that the company in their fancy dreffes fhould pafs along the front lawn, by which means the curiofity of thoufands would be indulged.

The company began to make their appearance about half paft fix o'clock, and continued pouring in till paft nine. As foon as any carriage had iet down a party, and they had got within the gate which led upon the lawn, they were faJuted by French-horns placed in a retreat to obicure as not to be obferved

by the company. The front lawn foon became crowded with fancy dreffes; and the ladies, by their paftoral appearance and fimplicity, made beauty appear with additional charms, and by their elegant fancy-habits meant certainly to outvie each other in taste and magnificence.

About eight o'clock a signal was given for the company to attend the Mafque on the Back Lawn; accordingly, General Burgoyne, who was the principal manager and conductor, and for whofe fkill and abilities on the occation the greatest compliments are due, came forward, and conducted the no

bility and others, the vifitors, through the house to the voluptuous fcene on the back lawn. No fooner did the rural picture prefent itfe:f, but amazement feized the whole company; the first thing that caught their attention was the concourfe of people on each fide the road, and the branches of trees bending with the weight of heads that appeared as thick as codlings on a tree in a plentiful feafon. At the upper end of the back lawn was a molt fuperb and beautiful orangerie, or planta tion of orange-trees, intermixed with a great variety of greenhoufe plants; behind the orangerie lay concealed a capital band of mufic, under the fole direction of Mr. Barthelemon, the compofer of the mafque. On the right from the company, fwains appeared in fancy-dreffes, amufing themselves at the game of nine-pins, whilft fhepherdeffes, neatly attired, were at the fwing. On the left fide were other fwains with their bows and arrows, fhooting at a bird which had perched itfelf upon a maypole; whilft others were fhewing their agility by dancing and kicking at a tambour de bafque, which hung, decorated with ribbands, from a bough of a tree. In fhort, every rural paf time was exhibited.

In the centre of the orangerie fat Mrs. Barthelemon and Mr. Vernon, making wreaths of flowers, and continued in that employment till after the company had taken their feats upon the benches, placed in a circular form on the green. As foon as the ladies and gentlemen were thus arranged, two Cupids went round with a basket of the most rich flowers, and prefented each lady with an elegant bouquet; the gentlemen had likewife a fimilar prefent. When the Cupids had diftributed the flowers, nimble fhepherdeffes fupplied their baskets with fresh affortments. Thus, whilft the attention of the company was taken up with admiring the agility and pretty manner of thefe little attendants accomodating the nobility and others with their nofegays, they were on a fudden furprized with the harmonious found from the inftrumental band, which being conveyed to the company through the orange plantation and fhrubbery, created a moft happy and pleafing effect and which was ftill the more heightened by the company not being able to diftinguish from what quarter it came.

This fymphony, whofe fweetness of found