cases he carried three needles also materially assist towards the beyond the seat of pain; and above desired purpose. in one case the points penetrated the cheek bone. As The ancient Mexicans used a Vapor bath which, in a degree, was peculiar to themselves, and which soon as the needles entered to this day is practised by their dethe part affected the pain scendants. ceased. ON THE VAPOUR BATH. Process of Massing-Observations on Friction-Friction and Percussion-Mexican Bath-Tamazcalli-Dr. Pocock on Turkish Baths-Franklin on Baths of Persia-Persian Baths-Baths among the Moors and Spaniards-Dry Heat preceding Vapor-Baths of Abano, &c. The process of massing, so called by the Egyptians, is in most respects the same as shampooning, as used throughout India, and in the Levant; which immediately succeeding to the baths, causes a unison of action between the muscular fibre and the surface, that occasions both a salutary and refreshing sensation; from this mechanical action over the surface, with proper application, and the necessary perseverance, considerable advantage has arisen in a va riety of instances, but its efficacy and advantage depend greatly on the dexterity and manner in which the operation is performed, which, though merely consisting of a particular mode of friction and pressure, or gentle percussion, is to be attain ed only by practice and long habit. Those whose hands are soft and smooth are best suited to this occupation, and, from practice, they become so habituated to the process, as to be enabled to continue it for a long time, and in a manner both agreeable and efficacious, producing sensations which by sympathy influence diseased action, in distant and interior parts, and assisting nature in the salutary functions of absorption and secretion, by slow but by certain and imperceptible gradations. Judicious percussion and pressure along the course of the muscles, Its form is that of " an oven, with an opening at top, and it is constructof raw bricks, the floor of the bath being somewhat convex, and lower than the surface of the earth, and, according to the Abbé Clavigero, the greatest diameter is eight feet, and the height is six feet, the entrance being sufficient to allow a man to creep into it; this, with its furnace heated from without, is the common structure of the TEMAZCALLI. "The bather, with his attendant, enter, close the door, and while he reclines on a mat, the attendant throws water on a hot porous stone, placed on the stove, from which a dense vapor arises, which he directs or drives downwards, and with a bunch of maize, or herbs made moist, gently beats the invalid, particularly on the diseased part; a copious soft sweat follows, which is continued for a longer or a shorter time according to circumstances." Doctor Pocock, in speaking of the Turkish baths, says, "one of the greatest refreshments among the Turks is in going to their bagnios; in the first large room, generally covered with a cupola, they undress, and putting on their wooden pattens, which they use also in their houses, they go into the hot room, where they are washed and rubbed with brushes and hair cloths; they rub the feet with a sort of grater made of earthen-ware, somewhat resembling the body of a bird; they make all the joints snap, even the very neck, and all down the back, which they think makes the joint supple, after this they are shaved, and go into the bath; from this place they return by a room not so hot, where they stay awhile, and thence go in to the great room, repose on a bed, smoke their pipe, take their coffee, and dress." With some variation the practice among the Persians is pretty much the same; Franklin describes the baths of Persia as large and commodious-"the bath is a large room, of an octagonal form, with a cupola at the top, through which the light and air are admitted: on the sides of this room are small platforms of wood, raised about a foot from the ground, on which the people who enter to bathe perform their devotions, a ceremony the Persians always previously observe. At the upper end of the room is a large basin or reservoir of water, built of stone, well heated by means of stoves made at the bottom, with iron gratings over them, and adjoining is another reservoir of cold water, of which the bather has his choice. "When he comes out of the hot bath, which is generally in the space of ten or twelve minutes, the people in the house stand ready to perform the operation of rubbing; and to effect this, he is laid at full length on his back, with a pillow to support his head; a brush, made of camels' hair, is then used, which completely rubs off all the dirt the body has contracted. "After rubbing sometime, they rinse the whole body several times, with several basins of warm water, and the person is reconducted to the dressing apartment, where he shifts and dresses at leisure, receiving a calian to smoke. "The Persians are much more scrupulous than in any other eastern nation in permitting foreigners to go into their baths, which, if attempted with their knowledge they prevent, as the bath, by the admission of a foreigner, would be deemed pollut ed." The Moors and ancient Spaniards used rooms and sweating chambers, formed after the manner at present practised by the American Indians, and which were filled with vapor of a very high degree of temperature, by dashing water on heated stones. In times far remote, the Spaniards introduced this practise among the Irish, and, by means of small conical buildings, rudely constructed, its use, under one form or another, has been pretty general amongst the working class of this people, up to the present time. The patient sat or stood within a small conical building, which had been previously heated, and soon after followed a general flow of perspiration. The topical application of vapor, in cases of slow parturition, still prevails, and is advantageously practised on an improved plan at present in Paris. Among some of the nothern nations, it is in use to expose the body for some time to a dry heat, previous to the admission of vapor, and then the latter is believed to have a more direct influence; this practical fact, derived from a source where science has no place, is deserving of attention, and will receive illustration as we proceed in the consideration of vapor. The hot springs of Italy and Germany are found by long experience to be of signal efficacy when used in their fluid or vaporic state. The reputation of the baths of the village of Abano, a few miles from Padua, and in the vicinity of the Euganean hills, has been long since establish ed. They rise from a tumulus in a plain, and "burst two or three co pious streams of hot water, which are capable of boiling an egg hard at their source." A modern travel ler expresses himself thus: "It is not, however, on its geological wonders that the modern notoriety of Abano principally rests. It is celebrated for its muds, which are taken out of its hot basins, and applied either generally or partially, as the case of the patient may demand. 1 "These are thrown by after having been used, and at the conclusion of the season returned to the hot fountains. where they are left till the ensuing spring, that they may impregnate themselves anew with the mineral virtues, which these are supposed to contain. ticated, which, however, must be considered as strong and convincing proofs of the superior efficacy of steam in most diseases of this character. At Carlsbad, in Bohemia, are the celebrated hot baths, first extolled into notice by Charles IV.; their degree of heat is excessive, and their efficacy is principally produced in conjunction with the use of heated rooms, while the patients drink these waters of as high a temperature, and in as large quantites as they are ca "The most obvious of those to an ignorant man, are salt and sulphur. The muds are, on being taken out, intensely hot, and must be kneaded and stirred some time, before they can be borne. When applied, an operation which very much resem-pable; a profuse exudation from the bles the taking a stucco cast, they retain their beat, without much sensible diminution, for three quarters of an hour, having the effect of a slight rubefacient on the affected part, and producing a profuse perspiration from the whole body." Thus, by the agency of this mud, either generally or topically applied, a hot vapor is produced, causing an active circulation and efflorescence on the surface, so as to produce considerable advantage in gouty, rheumatic, and paralytic affections; for, by confining the heated vapor, and retaining it immediately over the affected part, its efficacious consequences are often considerable; this, in a less degree, is the common result of our practice in the use of fomentations and cataplasms under certain circumstances, which prove useful in proportion to the heat, reducing the contained moisture into vapor on the affected part. The vapor arising from these waters being conveyed into a sudatorium, is applicable to the removal of a variety of diseases, which have been found to resist the waters as a bath, in the usual manner; and this effect, as well as that arising from the application of the mineralized muddy sediment, has raised the reputation of the baths of Abano so highly in gouty, paralytic, and every species of muscular debility, that many of the accounts would seem incredible were they not well authen skin ensues, and the relief from diseased feeling is so considerable as to promise an immediate cure, did not experience teach that the reiteration of their use, often to a protracted period, is generally required towards its completion. This latter observation is applicable to the vapor, mud, and mineral waters of Abano, which, after long and patient trials, have proved most successful, where, from a few applications at the commencement, the expected relief was by no means probable. The natural warm baths of Italy, particularly those of the ancient Baia, Tritoli, and St. Germano, are of so high a temperature as to produce vapor in considerable abundance, In the sudatories of the latter place, where there are several apartments, an exposure to the heated steam issuing from the earth produces a copious flow of perspiration, its heat being modified and moderated according to circumstances. In those of Baia, situated not far from the ancient ruins of the Emperor Nero's palace, the vapor near its source is so intensely hot, that it is not to be borne without very great inconvenience; but, under proper rule and regulation, the application of this steam to the removal of many chronic diseases, is of most signal service, and from a modern account it is manifest that the test of time has confirmed the character these sudatories have obtained. HINTS TOWARDS FORMING A PROGNOSIS From the aggregate number of patients attacked for the first time with mania or melancholia, properly treated, and put under suitable restraint within three months after the date of the first attack, seven out of ten among the poor, and more of the rich will recover. In a selection made from the aggregate number of such recent cases of mania where the patient is under fifty years of age, where the nervous energy is strong, the circulation equable, the viscera sound, the intellectual powers tolerable, and no unfavorable circumstances occur, the author does not doubt that fifteen out of sixteen may be, and have been restored to reason. Indeed, from most kinds of monomania arising from whatever cause, when no fever or bodily disease atterds the attack, not one in ten recovers. Great cerebral injury is frequently occasioned by long continued application of cold to the lower extremities; mania from this cause frequently proves fatal. When mania arises without apparent cause, as frequently occurs where it is hereditary, the ratio of recoveries is often very con sidable. From dementia he has seen but one case of recovery, and that a very recent one. Some patients recover to a certain point, remain stationary for a few weeks, and then again relapse. Maniacs again recover more slowly and less frequently from the second and third attack than the first, except it arises from occasional ebriety, fits of anger, or in half idiots. Mania tends materially to shorten life in all cases, except such as are unattended with ostensible corporeal disease.-Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journ. SO TRULY WE MET. So truly we met, and so faithful we parted, could not tell, That first look of welcome her sunny eye Or tears of compassion which blest our farewell; To meet was a favor-and to part thus, another; General bleeding, and the want of suitable restraint, render a great number of cases incurable. Most puerperal maniacs who are bled freely, die; where they survive, dementia results. Where mania is the sequel of occasional ebriety, ninety eight cases out of a hundred recover, even after repeated attacks; but if mania is the result of habitual intoxication, dementia follows. If mania is occasioned by typhus gravior, epilepsy, palsy, apoplexy, or injuries on the head, permanent recovery is rare : they often become sane and then relapse. Hereditary tendency predis 0, Cupid's two eyes are not liker each poses to relapse. When mania is produced by religious terror, or fear of punishment after death, recovery takes place as readily as from other causes of mental irritation: "but where the mind is intensely and exclusively occupied with the mysteries of religion, and the disease comes on slowly, and without fever, the patient imagining himself inspired with prophetic powers, recoveries are very rare." Our joy and our sorrow seem'd rivals in other, In smiles, and in tears, than that mo- The first was like daybreak, new, sudden, The dawn of a pleasure scarce kindled The last was that farewell of daylight More glowing and deep, as 'tis nearer Our meeting, though happy, was tinged To think that such happiness could not BOSTON, TUESDAY, DEC. 12, 1826. We acknowledge the receipt of a communication on Bronchotomy from Dr. A. TROWBRIDGE, of Jefferson co., N. Y., with a drawing of several new or improved instruments to be used in the operation. The Importance of the Sciences of Anatomy and Physiology, as Branch of General Education, &c.; a an Introductory Lecture, by DR. USHER PARSONS. Read to the Upper Classes in Brown University. In delivering these lectures Dr. Parsons has been engaged in the good work of diffusing a knowledge of the structure and economy of the human body, as a part of that inforImation which is necessary to its preservation and improvement. The Lecturer thus introduces his subject. Anatomy teaches the structure of organized substances, whether animal or vegetable. Physiology comprises a knowledge of their functions and modes of action. Commonly, howeyer, the two terms are restricted in their application to animal bodies, and in the present course of lectures our attention will be confined to the anatomy and physiology of man; though I shall, occasionally, illustrate our subject, by comparisons drawn between the structure of the human and brute species. You will be convinced of the value of such comparisons, when informed of the amount of knowledge already derived from this source. been justly inferred from the writings It has of the Greeks and Romans that they gathered nearly all their ideas of the structure of the human frame from comparative anatomy, since an accurate description of such animals, as bear the nearest resemblance to man, would be equal to their best systems of human anatomy. In speaking of the benefit of these sciences the doctor observes, very convenient, when giving a hisIn the first place, you will find it tory of your disease to a physician, to be able to call "things by their ficult to resist a disposition to smile right names. Many times, it is difat the descriptions given by patients nature of their complaints. Palpable of what they consider the seat and lated to diminish a person's respectaignorance on such subjects is calcubility, especially among strangers; and still more so, if he be understood Besides this, all persons have more to have received a college education. or less interest in knowing something enable them to guard against those of the structure of their bodies, to injuries, to which they are constantly liable, from accidents without, and disorders within. When we know precisely the part affected, when we of danger, we are shielded against know the nature and extent of the If our joints are dislocated, we evil, and the best manner of applying a remedy, and hence we are less likely to fall into the hands of natural bonesetters.-Natural bonesetters!!-a term, that to one, who has examined the structure of joints, seems as great a burlesque on comarta term, implying that some permon sense, as it is on the healing sons come into the world, possessed of a particular knowledge of the possibly be acquired by repeated and joints, more perfect forsooth than can close examination of them in a dissectingroom. I am not lawyer enough |