I will briefly state a case, and the method of treatment, which occurred to me last summer at the time of the cherry season. The mother of a young woman applied to me for her daughter, about twenty years of age, who had eaten voraciously of ripe cherries and swallowed the stones; soon after she complained of great uneasiness, pain, weight and nausea at her stomach, with tension and soreness of the abdomen, so that she was obliged to leave the place of her employment and return home, a few miles in the country. On the following day I was applied to, and ordered her an emetic of ipecac. and antim. tartariz. and a cathartic of pulv. jalap. and zingib.; the emetic to be taken immediately, and the purge a few hours after its operation, and repeated till copious evacuations by the bowels had been obtained; these had the desired effect, and in a few days she returned to her employment again perfectly well, after taking three doses of the purging physic. I enquired whether, during the operation of the emetic, she ejected from the stomach any cherry stones, but not one came up; nor did she know whether they passed per anum as the cloaca was inconvenient for observation; but that they did pass there can be no doubt, as such substances usually do pass the canal undigested. Whether the rationale medendi here pursued would have had the same good effect in Dr. Harrison's case, not being attended with convulsions, I am not sanguine enough to say, but leave it to your numerous class of pathological readers to form their own opinions upon. Another case of repletion I shal! relate from memory, (haying mislayed my notes) which fell under my inspection in the summer, 1790, while on a tour in Ireland. The history of the case was this; a boy, eight years of age, son of a labouring Irishman, having eaten great quantities of new wheat at the time of harvest which he had gleaned, until he was very ill, the parents brought him to me for advice. He was much swollen in the abdomen, face flushed, skin very hot, and painful to the touch, difficult respiration, and extremely restless, the state of his pulse I do not recollect; my attention was directed by the mother to a tumour in the posterior part of the perinæum, with the anus so much dilated that I could perceive the wheat therein, which surprised me much I paused a little; but on recollecting what the late justly celebrated Dr. Hunter had said in his lectures on the abdominal viscera, in an impressive story respecting his saving the life of an old woman, labouring under a complaint of the ball stool, by manual operation, I instantly determined on attempting evacuation by mechanical means as far and as fast as I could; for this purpose I took Case of Periodical Spasm cured by Liq. Arsenicalis. 477 took the blunt end of a silver probe and bent it, so as to form a small obtuse angle, and sometimes the handle of a teaspoon; with these I picked out the wheat as far, as I could reach, which seemed to relieve the child much, and ordered the mother to bring the child again as soon as she found the tumour again formed; which happened in a few hours. I used the same method, and at the same time gave it a purge of pulv. jalap. & scammon. c calomel. By a few repetitions of these means the boy was soon restored, and I presume his life saved. It is to be observed that the poor in Ireland see but little bread, therefore, it is not to be wondered at the child's eating so greedily and so much of such a rarity as wheat, and so impacted was it in the rectum, and swelled from the moisture of the bowels, that it was with great difficulty it could be moved. If you think these cases worthy a place in your publication, by inserting them, you will oblige your constant reader, CHARLES BATHAM, M.D. I Cowick, April 12, 1811. To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal. GENTLEMEN, BEG leave to hand yon for insertion in your valuable Journal, the following case of periodical spasm entirely subdued by the use of the liquor arsenicalis; thinking it contains some facts, which may greatly tend to establish its more frequent, but at the same time discriminate use, in most disorders where there is a regular intermission. I am, Gentlemen, Overton, Hants, 2d April, 1811. W. H. LEADBEATER. CASE. On the 30th of December, 1810, I was called in to see a young lady, aged 18, whom, I was informed, had been labouring under a hard dry cough, for a month previous to the above date; she had a trifling pain in her side, bowels regular, pulse rather low, menstruates regularly. Considering the case as nervous, I recommended a change of air, and at the same time, the following medicines. R, Mist. amygd. 3ix. tinct. opii. gutt. viii. oxym. scillæ zi. M. ft. haustus ter in die sumendus. 478 Case of Periodical Spasm cured by Liq. Arsenicalis. These medicines were continued with the bes: effect until the 5th of January following, when finding the cough entirely gone, and some degree of debility remaining, I ordered the following:-R. Decoct. cascarilla 3ix. oxym. scillæ zi. vin. ipecac. gutt. v. tinc. cardam. C. 3ss. M. ft. haust. sumat, unum ter in die. This plan pursued for a fortnight had the effect of bring ing my patient into, apparently, perfect health. On the 20th of the same month, I was sent for in immediate haste to revisit her; I found her on a bed labouring under a most vio lent spasmodic affection of nearly the whole muscular system; the spasm was so violent as to require two persons to hold her in order to prevent her throwing herself off the bed. I immediately ordered her the following mixture: R Tinc. valer. ammon. 3iij. opii. gutt. Ix. mist. moschi. 3vss. M. ft. mistura capt. coch. iij. ampla. Stia. quaque hora. In about ten hours the spasms had in a great measure `subsided; on inquiry I found it to be four or five days previous to the time of her expecting the menses. I ordered her into the warm bath, and left her for the evening, desiring she might take a cup of strong coffee occasionally, and to continue her medicine for the night The following morning I visited her and found her free from spasm, but ordered her the warm bath again, in order to accelerate the menses, this however, had not the desired effect. On the 24th instant she was again attacked with spasm, affecting the larynx only, but this in a most violent degree, so much so as to alarm every bye-stander; it did not put on the appearance of glo bulus hystericus, but exactly resembled a person in the last stage of suffocation. During the whole time, eight hours, she was frequently able to swallow barley water, which seemed to give her momentary relief. Ordered-R. Hydrarg. submuriat. gr. ss. ext. hyoscyam. gr. j. ext. conii. gr. iv. M. ft. Bolum. sumat. unum 4ta. quaque hora cum haust. sequent. R. Ammoniæ. carbonat. gr. v. conf. amygd. 3j. mist. cam phor. zix. spt. æther. C. 3ss. M. ft. haustus. After twice taking the above medicines the spasm consider. ably abated, but was not entirely removed. The warm bath was continued every evening, and the above medicines taken three times a day, until the 27th instant, when the menses appeared, which had the effect of removing every unpleasant symptom, but at the same time leaving a great degree of debility. On the 3d of February the menses having subsided, I again put her on the tonic plan, with the cascarilla draughts as before, with the addition of the pills, as follows:-R. Pilul. ferri cum myrrh. pilul. galban. C. sing. 3 j. M. ft. Pilul. xx. sumat. iij. ter in die cum haust. cascarilla. On On the 10th of February, the day fortnight, from the last period of menstruation, she was again attacked as before, with the addition of a most violent cough, resembling, as nearly as possible, the barking of a dog, every two or three minutes; this, as before, was relieved by a free use of laudanum. On the 13th instant, exactly at the same hour, she had a return of the spasm as before; this continued eight hours and then went off. It now first struck me if we could gain a regular intermission, the liquor arsenicalis might be of great service; however, I determined on seeing the case more fully established, previous to ordering it; on the 15th the spasm returned at the same hour, was more violent and of longer duration. On the 16th, 17th, and 18th, it returned regularly at the end of the twenty-four hours. The case being now so distinctly periodical, I ordered the following-R. Pulv. trag. comp. gr. v. aq. distillat. 3ix. spt. cinnam. 3j. liq arsenic. gutt. v. M. ft. haustus sumat unum ter in die, augendo dosin liq. arsenic gradatim ad guttas decem. On the 20 h the spasm returned much as usual; on the 21st it was less violent, and much shorter; the medicines were continued until the 29th, when the spasm had entirely left her; she has since menstruated without any inconvenience, and is now in perfect health. I recommended change of air through the whole, but her friends would not accede to it, under the idea that she was not able to undertake a journey. I have, within the last six months, had several cases of periodical headachs. which have always given way to the use of the liquor arsenicalis; my professional engagements have prevented my keeping an account of these cases. To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal. GENTLEMEN, I WAS much amused, as well as instructed, with the ex cellent paper of Medicus on Tobacco, inserted in a former number of your Journal; such communications are creditable to your publication, and prove highly interesting to practitioners, who, like myself, cannot command an extensive library. I did not obserye, however, that your correspondent offered any remarks on the origin of the word Tobacco, which is involved in some obscurity. Some authors have supposed that the plant derived its name from the island Tobago. Labat asserts that it was named from Tabasco, a town in New Spain. The most probable origin of the name is is from the pipe which was used in smoking being called Tobaco. The aborigines of Cuba were accustomed to celebrate a victory by a general dance, at the end of which they seldom failed to make themselves inebriated with the fumes of / tobacco. Charlevoix, in his history of St. Domingo, relates that they do not begin to smoke, till ready to fall from fatigue in dancing. They then lay some leaves of the tobacco plant, not quite dry, upon some hot embers; they then take a forked pipe in the shape of Y; the extremity of this instrument is placed amidst the smoke which ascends, and the two branches are put into the nostrils of the smoker, who very soon becomes intoxicated; and this instrument is called Tobaco. The Spaniards say Hazer un Tabaco, to signify the diversion which they take in dancing and smoking in a circle like the Americans; and it is very probable that the term Tabagie as much used by some of the old French writers, to express the feasts of savages, was thence derived. I am, Gentlemen, Very respectfully, your Friend, S. L. London, April 19, 1811. To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal. GENTLEMEN, IN your last Number, 146, there is what the writer calls a singular case of twins," which terminated more favourably than happens in general under such treatment. The case is published from laudable motives, "that others may have an opportunity to pass their opinion on it." As the first child was 66 smaller than common," it is probable its membranes were weaker than common, and the adhesion of the placenta slighter than usual, and that premature labour was the effect. That the uterus being unloaded, had ceased to act for several days. It was a fortunate circumstance that the placenta were not united, as is the case very often. Indeed if they had been united, the operator must have discovered the other child. The advice of the writer, under the circumstances he mentions, "the woman having continued well for the space of a week, without any dangerous symptoms," appears very judicious, and as the mouth of the womb was so much contracted, it was unnecessary to proceed to deliver. But this one singular case, and the practice followed in it, must not be looked on as a general rule in all cases of twins. The |