stage, or than in the intervals; and finally, that the practice may be adopted in the first stage of all fevers, and probably will be found useful by surgeons in concussion of the brain. research to experience will approve of venesection in the first period of concussion of the brain. N. Amer. Med. & Surg. Jour. Professor Mott of NewYork, has recently performed the operation of passing a ligature around the common iliac artery, for the cure of aneurism. Dr. Dewees relates a case of iliac passion, successfully treated by bleeding ad deliquium, croton oil and injections; the patient passed a ball of the shape and size of a pullet's egg, together with many small stones, of an irregular shape, pretty highly polished, and of a fine brown color, resembling the seed of the tamarind; but streaked with bright yellow. The large mass consisted of layers, about the thickness of an egg shell. While we agree with Dr. Mackintosh in the belief that "Cullen's system has been a great bar to all improvement in medicine, and is the principal cause of the backward state of pathology in this country, when compared with the strides made in this department by our professional brethren in France," we are not prepared to adopt his practice of bleeding in the cold stage of intermittent fevers. It has, we know, had its advocates among many physicians of the RUSH School in the United States, but the success has not been such as to ensure our confidence, or, speaking less equivocally, to remove our fears of this plan. We remember very distinctly, before the study of medicine had engaged any portion of our time, to have heard a physician of ripened age, tell a friend, of his narrow escape from death, in consequence of his having been bled, at his own desire, during the cold stage of an intermittent fever. As regards venesection during the hot stage, we can positively aver, in opposition to the opinion of Dr. Mackintosh, that the first instance in which we made use of the lancet in intermittent fever, was during this period, with the effect of preventing a recurrence of the paroxysm. Similar success under like circumstances has at- Six tended the practice in some other cases in which we have had recourse to it. We moreover doubt very much, whether the surgeon, who unites pathological Dr. Physick has recently met with an instance of a tumor, resembling a genuine wart, occurring on the adnata; its presence caused considerable uneasiness, and after several applications to it, of the nitrate of silver, it was entirely destroyed, and has not returned. A case of intermittent, in a child of six weeks, is related by Dr. Dewees; it was cured by arsenic; the following is the prescription employed. Sol. Mineral Fowl. 3i. Aq. Font. 3 xij. drops administered every four hours. When there was any evidence of the chill coming on, three drops of laudanum were ordered to be given.-Phil. Journal, &c. sary to combine an opiate with the BOSTON, TUESDAY, AUG. 21, 1827. cathartic, in which case the latter THE respected Editor of the Eastern Chronicle, in his paper dated Gardiner, Me., Aug. 10, 1827, gives his views of the proper treatment of dysentery, to which he seems to invite our attention. We willingly embrace the occasion to make a few remarks on the subject. The first point to be settled in the physician's mind, in the treatment of this complaint, is commonly, the expediency or inexpediency of giving a cathartic. If on investigating the case it should appear that any undigested food, or other irritating materials, whose presence might have excited, or still continue the disease, are yet present in the stomach or bowels, they are to be removed from the system as the first condition of relief. How this indication can best be accomplished, must depend on the symptoms and state of particular cases. If castor oil alone, or this combined with spirit of turpentine, can be retained on the stomach and intestines till its evacuating effect is secured, probably no cathartic is more convenient, speedy or beneficial in its operation. When puking occurs, rendering it difficult to retain any purgative substance on the stomach, sulphate of magnesia, or calomel, or both, in alternate doses, will often succeed to evacuate the intestinal canal. The pain and suffering of the patient are sometimes so severe and intolerable from the commencement of the disease, that it becomes neces remedy should be increased in quantity in proportion to the quantity of anodyne administered with it. After the bowels have been sufficiently evacuated, whether spontaneously or by art, the next indication of cure is, to moderate the remain ing symptoms of the disease, and to relieve pain. In this stage of the treatment, the occurrence of a general and equable perspiration is highly beneficial, if suitably induced,— that is, if brought on without exciting too much heat, and so conducted as not to prostrate the sick. This appropriate and remedial kind of sweating may be produced by some doses of spirit of ammonia, tincture of opium and wine of ipecacuanha, in combination, accompanied with mild, mucilaginous drinks, as a decoction of sage and flaxseed, or sage and slippery elm bark, in combination. Supposing the patient to be thus, or otherwise, relieved, and to labor only under the effects of the disease, much care and discretion are requisite, particularly after severe cases, to conduct the patient through the period of convalescence to health. Success here often depends more on the discretion and selfgovernment of the invalid, than on everything else. The common errors in these cases consist in taking food with too little care in selecting the proper articles only, in taking it too early and too freely, and in the use of brandy, other stimulants and astringents. food, on the contrary, should be small in quantity, chiefly farinaceous The D of a pre and digestible, as arrowroot, rice, quiring useful knowledge for useful mutton broth, &c. purposes. If these are the actuating motives, and the real characteristics of quacks, under whatever name, profession, or disguise they may infest the community, all honest men should unite to hold them up in legible characters, so that the credulous and unenlightened portion of the people, who are first assailed and most deeply suffer, may seasonably detect and avoid them, as they would a mad dog, the smallpox, a famine, or a pestilence. The reverend Editor, in speaking of the cure of dysentery, has stepped out of his usual province and profession, but has done it with caution and candor, and abjures the idea of quackery in his profession or ours. Bad as medical quackery is, we should sincerely rejoice with Mr. Drew, if this were the only species of quackery in the community. The. ological quackery is quite as base and mischievous as any other, and one cause of the mischief is, that no pretender or impostor is ever contented to be useful in a quiet, unostentatious way. The disease to be subdued, whether physical or moral, trics, in the Berkshire Medical In must be excessive and striking, and next to desperate, in order to magnify the agent and his means in the same proportion. Hence the love of excitement and publicity, and the resort to fear as a means of governing the multitude and of turning them to good account. The motives by which quacks are impelled, always make them dangerous members of society. There is sometimes, no doubt, a portion of honest zeal in the compound impulse which drives them forward, but this is more ardent and consuming than discreet or salutary. Other motives seem to have no portion of good to soften or improve the mass of alloy. These are a love of sonal, sectarian and party influence; a disposition to impose on the credulity of the weak and unsuspecting for selfish purposes; a desire to be men of some consequence in the world without the labor of earning and deserving a fair reputation, or of ac per THOMAS GOODSELL, M. D. of Utica, N. Y., has been appointed Lecturer on Materia Medica and Obste stitution. OR, SPIRIT OF THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES. FOR AUGUST 15, 1827, UST published Written by Himself-Slavery both Unjust grim-On the Influence and Mutability PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY JOUR- EDITED BY N. R. SMITH, M. D. Tmenced in June last, and is continHE publication of this work comued monthly. Its design embraces four departments.-1. Original Essays; 2. Adversaria; 3. Analytical Reviews; 4. Abstract of Foreign Medicine. Its average contents are 50 close octavo pages, 150 quarterly. It is printed on paper of the best quality.—Its price is 3 dollars a year if paid in advance,-four if paid subsequently.-Subscribers can have the back numbers. Its conductor makes no invidious comparisons; specimens of the work are before the public: "qui invidet mi nor est." Communications to be addressed, always postpaid, to N. R. Smith, M. D., Philadelphia, 141, Spruce Street. MEDICAL LECTURES. HE public COURSE OF LECTURES will commence on the first THURSDAY in September next. Arrangements are making by which it is expected the ensuing will be more complete and satisfactory than any course of instruction which has been given in this Institution. J. P. BATCHELDER, Dean. Berkshire Med. Institution, JU EUROPEAN LEECHES. Milk, opposite Federal Street. Washington St. by John Cotton, 184 A TREATISE on the Diseases of Fe CONTENTS.--The Rod and the Stream; A Discourse of Augling-My Wife's Mother-Vicissitudes in the Life of an Actor. D. males. By William P. Dewees, M. Adjunct Professor of Midwifery in the University of Pennsylvania, &c. &c. lately published, and for sale by Wells & Lilly. Published weekly, by John Cotton, at 184, Washington St. corner of Franklin St. -The price of this paper will vary with the time of payment. If paid on subscribing, or within 3 months after, the price will be 3 dollars per annum; if paid after 3 months but within the year, it will be $ 3,50; but if not paid within the year, it will be 4 dollars. No paper to be discontinued till arrearages are paid.-All communications relating to the present or future concerns of this paper, to be addressed, always postpaid, to John G. Coffin.-Advertisements, 1 dollar a square. MEDICAL INTELLIGENCER. JOHN G. COFFIN, EDITOR. DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, AND TO THE MEANS OF PRE VOL. 5. VENTING AND OF CURING DISEASES. TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1827. snail Unwillingly to school." Shakspeare. A MORALIST, writing to improve the age, and looking with regret on the increasing effeminacy of each succeeding generation, might judiciously recommend a return to the black bread, watercresses, and Spartan fare of Lycurgus, in order to humble the pampered appetites of the youth of the present day, and to excite that manly disregard for the luxuries of the table which should ever characterise a period of life, when the mind,-naturally ardent in search of knowledge, and scorning difficulties and danger in its acquirement,-should look on food only as the means of nourishing the frame, and of enabling the body to undergo fatigue. A physician, writing on the subject of diet proper for youth, may hold the same opinions with the moralist, and, in conjunction with him, may regret the causes which have contributed to the degeneracy of the race: but it is his business to prescribe for the passing generation; and this office would be perform No. 15. ed with little efficacy were he to recommend for the palefaced, slender, waspwaisted, schoolboy dandy of this period, such rude aliments as supported the muscular, athletic youth of ancient times. It is with this impression that I commence this Essay on the diet proper for that period of life which comes between infancy and manhood. In treating the subject, it will be necessary to consider the effect of climate, and the influence of the daily habits, and of predisposition to disease, in regulating diet and I shall add a few remarks on the influence of diet in facilitating or retarding the developement of intellect. : I. Influence of Climate.-It requires little knowledge of the animal economy to be satisfied, that the diet which is adapted to one climate would prove prejudicial in another; that the strong fare of the Esquimaux could not be employed with impunity in the torrid zone; nor the rice and yegetable food of the natives of Hindostan in the Arctic circle. The moist and variable climate of the British isles requires, that the food of youth should be of a nature calculated not only to supply the ordinary waste of the frame, and administer to the growth of the body, but to impart that property to the animal solids which, in medical language, is termed tone; that is, |