or ten days, symptoms of amend ment began to manifest themselves. His appetite improved; he became stronger; pulse was less frequent. The abdominal swelling was found, by exact measurement, to be stationary; and very soon it evidently decreased, so that, at the time the dose of the tincture of kino was reduced, he was able to go some distance from home. When I first saw him after his arrival from London, I was forcibly struck with the improvement which had taken place since his departure; and, though there may be still some fluid in the abdomen, it is not, I think, unreasonable to expect that it will be altogether removed, when we reflect on what has taken place.-He has taken, since he has been under my care, every eight or ten days, at night, three grains of Calomel, and next morning half an ounce of Tinctura Rhei, to carry off vitiated and to promote healthy secretions. Forgetful, as we often are, of the powers of nature in effecting salutary changes of disease, and wishful to impute them to the agency of remedies, yet in this case it is fair to admit, I think, that the kino was of essential service. In corroboration of this opinion, I may mention that, whilst he was in London, he discontinued the kino for a time, and his belly became so tumid that he could not button his coat; but, after using the kino for sometime, it again decreased. The theory of its operation in dropsical effusions, as far as I can judge, is that, when taken into the circulating system, it acts as a tonic, promoting the contractility of the bloodvessels, without stimulating them materially to increased action, thereby preventing superabundant exhalation; by which means the absorbents remove more than what is effused. In Colonel G-'s case, by its tonic operation on the intestinal canal, the alvine discharges were diminished in frequency, but nothing like constipation was produced.. From the effect which the tincture of kino has had in controling the dropsical effusions in this case, I am induced to think that it will be found, on further trial, to be a valuable medicine in all the varieties of dropsy. When it depends on any inflammatory condition of serous membranes, or when there is much visceral disease, it is not likely that kino would be of use; yet, in Colonel G-'s case, there was considerable affection of the liver. I am not aware that kino has ever been given in such large doses, and with the same views, as in the present case. Elgin, November 17th, 1826. A Case in which Constitutional Sir,-Much has of late been. said in favor of the Extract of Belladonna as an external application, and, from its powerful effect in diminishing irritability and excessive vascular action, it has, in many cases, a fair chance, considering the attention it has lately excited, of becoming a fashionable remedy in superficial inflammations. At present its powers are apparently much overrated; for, as is the case with everything in medicine which has even a show of novelty to recommend it, many virtues are attributed to it, and its faults, if seen, are overlooked, and considered as the result of own mismanagement. The remedy will soon, however, find its proper level; and, in the hope of preventing its indiscriminate use, I am induced to relate the following case, which will be sufficient to show that, when used to abraded surfaces, the effect of the extract requires vigilant attention. creased after his retiring to bed: he had constant nausea and retching, with a burning sensation in the throat. I found him sitting up in bed, making strong and ineffectual efforts to vomit; the pulse was small and frequent; the eyes had a dull, heavy expression; the pupils were much dilated, and had little action. The mucous membrane, from the transverse palatine suture, extending down the throat as far as could be seen, was of a deep purple hue. He complained of much giddiness, with an appearance of mist before his eyes; and said that, when attempting to get out of bed, his legs had failed him. As the sense of distension was very distressing, and supposing that scarcely any digestion of the food last taken could have occurred, the muscular power of the stomach being apparently nearly lost, as nothing but a little mucus had been thrown up, I desired a strong emetic to be given to him, followed by full doses of ammonia. A considerable quantity of undigested food was soon vomited, which afforded much relief. A gentleman consulted me lately, who had been annoyed for a long time with an obstinate cutaneous affection, Psoriasis, on the fore part of his wrist; the patch was about two inches and a half in length and breadth. Having learnt that almost every means of relief, both constitutional and local, had been tried with but little benefit, and having seen the Belladonna of use in similar cases, in which no absorption was evident, I was induced to recommend its trial in this. A plaster made with one part of the extract to two of soapcerate was applied to the sore. About thirtyeight hours after its application, I was sent for, during the night, to this patient; whose countenance, on my arrival, expressed much alarm; his pulse was small and quick. He informed me that he had felt very languid during the previous day, and had taken his dinner without appetite; in the evening, he was much distressed by extreme distension of the stomach and bowels, giddiness and weight in the head, with dimness of sight. To relieve the distension of the stomach, he took a glass of brandy and water, which produced great excitement, with extreme restlessness, which in- throat. The restlessness, and burning sensation in the throat, continued more or less during the night. In the morning, but little uneasiness of the stomach remained; the mucous membrane of the throat was of a dark crimson color; the tonsils were much enlarged; the heat had, however, much diminished; the pulse was now sixtyfive, full and soft; the pupils continued dilated. The patient complained chiefly of languor and a slight dimness of sight. The bowels had acted freely.—The ammonia was continued, and a capsicum gargle used to the It is useless to occupy more time in describing the symptoms or treatment, as all the ill effects of the Belladonna had in three days completely subsided. A doubt might have existed in this case, whether the symptoms were really caused by the Belladonna, had not the patient himself settled this point beyond all question by again applying the plaster; being very anxious to get rid of his disease, and thinking that the symptoms might have arisen merely from a disordered stomach. It had not been applied many hours before the giddiness, dimness of sight, and languor, in some degree returned; but which quickly disappeared on the removal of the plaster.-London Med. and Phys. Journal. January 16th, 1827. author presumes its use to be that of attracting fish, whose well known partiality for aromatics and odorous oils, renders it probable that they are thus drawn into a position by which the alligator and crocodile can easily seize them. Died in Surry, Me., on the 24th ult., suddenly, Samuel Hills, Esq. aged 61. The circumstances at tending his death are painful in the extreme. In a word, he died a victim to the Thompsonian system of practice! He was unwell, but able at 10, A. M. to walk into the field, and give some directions. Soon after, the process so often detailed, commenced, of steaming, with the repeated use of lobelia, or Indian tobacco, Cayenne, &c. &c., and before 2, P. M., he was a corpse. Joseph York, a colored man, was on Thursday last removed from the west part of this city to Rainsford Island, in consequence of having the smallpox. He came directly from Troy, N.Y.-Vaccination is promptly going on in the street and neigh borhood.-Traveller. Nitrate of Quicksilver.--This substance is coming into notice in France, and especially in the St. Louis Hospital, as a caustic in scrofulous, syphilitic, and even cancerous ulcerations of the face and in various cutaneous eruptions, which, says the reporter, "have yielded, as if by enchantment, to the action of this new remedy.' Some cases are detailed of the nitrate, but we need not insert them here. The nitrate of mercury is a powerful escharotic, and the nitri- first number of the American Journal co oxyde of mercury has long been employed in this country as a remedial agent of great efficacy, in the unguentum hydrarg. nitricooxydi. -Journal of Foreign Medicine. Thomas Bell, M. D. has discovered that crocodiles and alligators have a gland situated near the lower jaw, which secretes a substance of a strong musky odor, and is without parallel in other animals. The The smallpox is making great ravages in Bavaria and Sweden. We make some extracts from the of Foreign Medicine, which has just The matter is well se The Massachusetts Medical Society held their annual meeting on Wednesday last. We shall notice their proceedings next week. Dictionary omitted till next week. ADVERTISEMENTS. CHARLES WHITE, 271, Washington Street, corner of Winter Street, AS received by the London packet, DICINES, & SURGEONS INSTRU. MENTS,-making, together with those in store, a complete assortment,-among them are narcotine, morphine, acetate of morphine, sulphate of morphine, solution of acetate of morphine, extract of opium deprived of morphine; emetine, iodine, hydriodate of soda, hydriodate of potash, hydriodate of mercury, hydriocianic acid, colchicum seeds and rootsi extract of elaterium, extract of belladona, extract of henbane, extract of hops, extract of hellebore, black drop, croton oil, blue pill, pneumatic nipple pumps, silver, ivory, wood, lead, glass, and gum elastic nipple shields, &c. Strict personal attendance paid to Physicians' prescriptions, and medicines delivered at any hour of the night. 6w ADAMS' PATENT, SWELLED BEAM IT BEDSTEAD. Made at 422, Washington St. Boston. T has neither screw nor lacing, and may be taken down or put up in one minute. It gives the luxury of a sacking as tight as a drumhead. The price of this bedstead is no greater, with all its improvements, than the heavy, cumbersome, oldfashioned ones.-This foundation of tranquillity and repose,-this illus tration of neatness, taste and economy, may be seen at all hours of the day, as above. April 24. JOHN BEATH'S PATENT IMPROVED TRUSSES. [R. BEATH invites those who de dangerous and distressing disease of Rupture, to call at his office, 672, Washington Street, where he is in constant attendance, to adapt his trusses to the particular case of the patient. Among the variety of trusses made by Mr. Beath, are_Patent_Elastic Spring Trusses, with Spring Pads :--Trusses without steel springs; these can be worn day and night. Improved Hinge and Pi have answered in cases where pessaries have failed. Suspensary Trusses, Knee Caps, and Common Trusses, are kept always on hand, charged at the lowest prices. Machines for remedying deformities, Artificial Legs, &c. Surgeons' Instruments and Trusses repaired at the Manufactory. We have often witnessed Mr. Beath's success, and have been personally benefited by his ingenuity.-Ed. Med. Intel. VAPOR or SULPHUR BATH can be had at any proper hour of the day, at 3, Central Court. The proper hours are before breakfast, dinner, and tea. The best time is between 11 and 2 o'clock. A portable bath may be taken to the patient's house, if ordered by the attending physician, and administered under his direction. THE NORTH AMERICAN MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL, S published quarterly, in numbers containing about 200 pages each, on the first day of January, April, July, and October. Price five dollars a year, payable in advance. Hilliard, Gray, & Co. Agents, Boston. DR. HULL'S TRUSS. HE very great superiority of this ininvented, as to convenience, ease, and comfort to the wearer, and its curative power, is shown by the testimony of reprobation of Medical Societies, but more than all by the actual cures it has performed. For a more particular description of this Truss, see the last Edition, 1826, of Thacher's Modern Practice. EBENEZER WIGHT,Apothecary, Milk Street, opposite Federal Street, has just received an assortment of Umbilical and Inguinal Trusses. March 6th. Published weekly, by John Cotton, at 184, Washington St. corner of Franklin St., to whom all communications must be addressed, postpaid.-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. Advertisements, 1 dollar a square. 1 MEDICAL INTELLIGENCER. JOHN G. COFFIN, M.D., EDITOR. THE BEST PART OF THE MEDICAL ART, IS THE ART OF AVOIDING PAIN. VOL. 5. TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1827. LIFE AND ORGANIZATION. Concluded from page 65. WHEN Vegetable or animal matter in which life is extinguished has been for some time in a state of maceration in water in a moderately warm temperature, the fluid is found to_swarm with living creatures. Because these beings appear to be produced by the infusion of vegetable or animal substances, they have received the name of INFUSORIA. Their extreme minuteness places them entirely beyond the cognizance of unassisted sense. We owe our knowledge of their existence wholly to the microscope. Of these creatures the minutest and the simplest is a transparent globule, having the form of a point. All naturalists are agreed that this minute point is an organized being. The proof that it is an animal rests on its motion, which has all the appearance of being spontaneous, and which, in the actual state of our knowledge, certainly cannot be referred to any external physical cause, or to any chemical agency. No one, we are satisfied, can contemplate its motion without being convinced that it is spontaneous. All who have made a particular study of minute animals have considered it as belonging to this class of beings, and Cuvier has placed it at the end of his animal kingdom, the bottom of the animal scale. It No. 5. forms the ultimate point, beyond which no microscopical observation has yet been able to reach. Now this moving globule possesses exactly the same form, and is of precisely the same magnitude, as the elementary globules of which the primitive tissues of the higher animals are composed. This is, indeed, most curious and wonderful. The bodies of the higher animals, as we have seen, consist of a number of tissues; these tissues we know are alive; we know also, that they are composed of globules, and it is now discovered that the simplest creature that possesses independent existence, consists of a single globule precisely similar to the myriads of globules, the combination of which constitutes the tissues of which these higher animals are formed. This moving globule is termed by Muller, the Monas Termo. It is found not only in infusions artificially prepared of vegetable and animal matter, but when the temperature is mild, in stagnant waters, both salt and fresh. Whether it be a solid globule or a vesicle, is not known. Its composition in this respect cannot be determined any more than that of the elementary globule, by any instrument we yet possess. There are beings of this class, however, which are evidently vesicular; these, of course, are larger than the Monas |