of the powers that exist in mankind when their natural sup port has been materially reduced, and also totally taken away. The principle of life in the torpid animals is certainly capable of being maintained by some mysterious laws quite independent of circulation, secretion, or digestion; for, according to the observation of Hunter,* a portion of food put into the stomach of one of these animals in their dormant state, will not be acted upon till the season when its customary functions are renewed, and yet it continues subject to the properties of living matter. It resists putrefaction, and possesses muscular power whenever called into action by its proper stimuli. Two circumstances in the human frame, however, I should conceive incompatible with a state of abstinence, the appearance of which would always lead me immediately to suspect imposture, the growth of the animal, and a healthy state of it. The intimate sympathy of the stomach with every part of the body, must, in every case of derangement, particularly in cessation of action, produce its correspondent effects upon the system at large; and that an animal will grow when it has no matter but air to feed upon, is quite repugnant to common sense. Reynolds has given in this tract a long and curious account of the mode in which life is supported, which, according to the notions of the times, he supposed to depend upon maintaining a regular supply of food, to repair the necessary waste from the secretions; on the preservation of natural heat; upon fermentation continuing in the blood; upon the supply of vital spirits resulting from * J. Hunter on the Animal Economy, p. 194, 5, &c.-In the hedge-hog, by the experiments of Mr. Jenner, he found that while the heat of the stomach. was at 30°, it had neither the desire nor the power of digesting food. "Spallanzani also mentions the slowness of digestion in serpents, and quotes Bomare, (Dict. d'Histoire Nat.) who gives an account of a serpent at Martinico, in whose stomach a chicken had remained for three months without being completely digested, the feathers still adhering to the skin.” Mr. Hunter doubts the truth of this in such a warm climate; but he says, that "at Belleisle, in the beginning of the winter 1761-2, I conveyed worms, and pieces of meat, down the throats of lizards, when they were going into winter quarters, keeping them afterwards in a cool place. On opening them at different periods, I always found the substances which I had introduced, and without any altera tion; sometimes they were in the stomach; at other times they had passed into the intestine; and some of the lizards that were preserved alive, voided them toward the spring, but with very little alteration in their structure."Hunter's Observations on Animal Economy, p. 195, 6. food food and fermentation; and upon sleep, which was conceived to arise from fumes ascending to the brain from ingested food. Each of these circumstances he has treated upon separately, as far as with regard to this fasting woman. The opi nions advanced are too ridiculous to mention. They appear, however, to have satisfied him as to the veracity and probability of these anomalies. Such is the danger of theorizing and endeavoring to account for every thing. Although Darwin very forcibly remarks, that to theorize is to think, yet we are too liable to think wrong, more especially on what we know but little of: indeed, it is only taking up our time in idle speculations, when it might be better employed in the observation of the things themselves. It is seeking, too often, shadows for the substance, and at the best it tends to idleness. When men can account for things, they forbear further examination; and the cases themselves, which ought to be established by incontestible evidence, are then only supported by the chimeras of their narrator. As I do not recollect any reference being made to this old and extraordinary production, I have therefore troubled you with a few extracts and remarks from it. I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Your most obedient and often obliged Servant, JOHN DUNN, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. York, July 4, 1813. P. S. When I was in the neighbourhood of Burton-uponTrent, with the Royal Cumberland militia, I remember being informed of another very extraordinary circumstance, besides that of Ann Moore, by some of the men. They assured me they had been to see a person who possessed the faculty of sight only on a Sunday. They gave me a reference to the person, which I have lost; perhaps you may learn the ticulars of this case, as far as regards its identity or fallacy, from some of your correspondents in that quarter. To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal. MRR GENTLEMEN, par R. GRANGER having thought proper to forestal the Rev. Leigh Richmond's intended statement of the second watch and subsequent exposure of the impostor Ann Moore, I trust I shall be allowed to offer a few brief * Darwin's Zoonom. Preface, p. 2. remarks remarks upon his paper which appeared in the last number of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, called an Account of the second Watch at Tutbury, in which he must permit me to say he is not quite correct, and the errors appear to me to be material. The coming publication of the Rev. Leigh Richmond may, in the opinion of some persons, render any comment unnecessary; but one or two errors being of a nature not to be noticed by that gentleman, I hope I shall not be thought intruding upon the time of your readers in bringing the subject before them once more. Mr. Granger says, "that on the tenth day the debility was so extreme as to occasion syncope, the pulse 140 and indistinct;" then in a note he says, " that it is now admitted that the illness was simulated for the purpose of exciting alarm.”. Now I would ask whether it was possible to feign (I do not like the word simulate) syncope with a pulse at 140 and indistinct? Where did he learn that delirium is always a precursory symptom of death from abstinence? Again, he says, "that on the ninth day a consultation of several gentlemen of the faculty was obtained, whose opinion was that Ann Moore was moribund!" Why use this obsolete term? The fact is, she never was in a state of syncope. On the ninth day she was evidently sinking from inanition, and the committee being alarmed, sent for Dr. Garlike that evening to visit her as soon as possible. He went over the next morning early, and found her exhibiting the usual appearances of a person in a dying state. He recommended the watch should instantly cease, and that the daughter should. be immediately sent for, which was agreed to by the com.. mittee; and the presumption is, that being left to themselves. the daughter administered some kind of nutriment to her, since in a few hours she began to revive, and the next day was nearly as well as usual. There is no proof that she swallowed any vinegar and water on the ninth day, and it is fair to presume she did not, for a spoonful of warm water was put into her mouth on the morning of the tenth, just before the watch ceased, by desire of Dr. Garlike, none of which she swallowed. Mr. Granger says she swallowed two spoonsful of milk, but does not say when, and therefore this information cannot be interesting to any one: it might be two days or a week after the watch ceased, and no one doubted that as soon as the daughter was admitted she took nourishment. In page 79 of your last Number of the Medical and Physical Journal, you say that the observations of Dr. Henderson have been the means of bringing out a complete detection of the imposture practised by Ann Moore. Now this is not correct: sorrect:-in November last, previous to the appearance of Dr. Henderson's observations, it was proposed by the Rev. Leigh Richmond that she should undergo a second watch, which she consented to, and steps were then taken, with the concurrence and advice of other gentlemen, to carry it into execution. With the sequel you and the public are acquainted. This may appear trivial, but I think it right to correct a material error, and to show that Dr. Henderson's pamphlet had not any thing further to do with the second watch and subsequent exposure than perhaps somewhat accelerating it. It seems to have been admitted by the most sceptical as to the stories of her living without food, that, as Mr. Granger says in the Edinburgh Journal, her lower extremities are in a state of paralysis. I have, however, the authority of Dr. Garlike (whose opinion agrees with my own) for stating that in his opinion her extremities never were paralytic, and that she has sensation and can move them. This opinion will probably appear in the Rev. Leigh Richmond's pamphlet. I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, JOHN WEBSTER, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London Derby, July 7, 1813. I To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal. GENTLEMEN, SHALL take the liberty of making a few remarks on a case, at page 36 of your last Number, dignified with the name of Convulsions during Labour, because no proof is adduced that this was a case of puerperal convulsions, and because I think that the prompt and decisive mode of treat ment, which your correspondent takes credit to himself for adopting, was very unsuitable to that complaint. Let us inquire what are the diagnostic symptoms of convulsions during labour? 1st. These are commonly some of the precursory symp toms, viz. giddiness or severe pain in the head; bloated or suffused countenance; vacillation of mind; temporary loss or indistinctness of vision; drowsiness, or heaviness of sight to sleep; sometimes a very slow pulse. 2dly. The immediate symptoms are those of the epileptic paroxysm. The patient suddenly loses all sensation; the muscles first become extremely rigid, and are speedily afterwards thrown into violent convulsions; the face is distorted; the is the eyes are protruded; the patient gnashes her teeth, and foams at the mouth. After this she reparoxysm over, mains in a comatose state, has stertorous breathing, and at length, except in very aggravated cases, slowly recovers her recollection. After a longer or shorter interval, a fresh attack takes place, and it is to be remarked, that a case of true puerperal convulsions very rarely happens in which there is not a repetition of the paroxysm. None of these symptoms are mentioned by your correspondent as being present in his patient's case: we are only told that during his absence she had been attacked with convulsions, and that about an hour afterwards he found "her extremities contracted and stiff, her pulse nearly gone, her breathing scarcely perceptible, and a peculiar wildness in her countenance," symptoms by no means indicative of the access of puerperal convulsions, an hour before; on the contrary, at this period after the convulsions, the pulse will be found beating with great force, and the breathing will be hard and laborious. It may be asked, if the patient mentioned at p. 36 had not puerperal convulsions, what was her case? A slight attention to the narrative will, I conceive, resolve this question. We are told that the poor woman was in a state of despondency on account of the circumstances of a former labour, in which it had been necessary to have recourse to the forceps. This state of mind just fitted her for an attack of hysteria, and this, and not puerperal convulsions, was, I conceive, her disease. Should this, however, be doubted, it will be sufficient to refer the incredulous to the prompt and decisive mode of treatment which effected the cure, viz. two tea cupfuls of a strong mixture of brandy and water. We have the authority of every old woman in the kingdom that brandy is a sovereign remedy for hysteric symptoms and faintings, but there are few practitioners who would chuse to rely upon this powerful stimulant as a means of curing puerperal convulsions. I remain, Gentlemen, July 10, 1813. Your occasional Correspondent, OBSTETRICUS. P. S. Your correspondent, Dr. Spark, p. 29, would confer a great obligation on practitioners of midwifery, particularly the younger ones, if he would point out a mode of readily distinguishing between the cases of tedious labour arising from spasmodic affection of the uterus, and those arising from rigid muscular fibre: they will, I fear, very often mistake the one for the other. Dr. S. imagines that the opium in the first case will have the happiest effects, in the |