Case V.-Master M, between one and two years of age, had been afflicted with an eruption* on his face for several months, which resisted every means that had been employed, and at length spread over his arms and legs, so that almost every part of the body was affected with it. There was a serous discharge from several parts. Two drops of the solution were directed to be given twice a-day, which were increased to three drops, and to the parts that required it a cooling liniment was applied. After pursuing this course for some time, the child got perfectly well. Case VI.-M. Young had been afflicted with the Lepra Alphos for nearly ten years. The disorder chiefly occupied the elbows and arms below, also the knees and legs. He began taking eight drops of the solution, three times a-day, on the 8th of September; and by the 19th, very little of the scaliness remained, without the assistance of warm bathing.† Case VII.-Eliz. Sloper, aged forty, had been afflicted with Lepra Vulgaris on her arms and legs fifteen years. Some of the patches were very large, and the scales very thick. She had taken a variety of medicines without any benefit, and the disorder was increasing. Sometimes she had found a little relief from warm bathing. Sept. 21.-Capt. Solut. Miner. gtt. viij. ter in die. Utet. Baln. tepid. Oct. 29.-Skin almost perfectly clean. She continued well the following May. Case VIII-Eliz. Sheen, aged twenty-nine, had been afflicted with Lepra Vulgaris about six months; her face, arms, and legs, were nearly covered with the eruption. She took eight drops of the solution three times a-day, and in six weeks the complaint entirely disappeared. N. B. It is now several months since, and the disorder has not returned. Case IX.-Miss M, about ten years of age, of a delicate habit and fair complexion, had been afflicted with Lepra Vulgaris on her arms and legs for some time; the disease had likewise affected her head, which was covered all over with dry scales of considerable thickness, assuming a honeycomb appearance. A linseed poultice was ordered to be applied to the head night and morning, which in the course of a short time removed the scales. She was directed to take six drops of the solution three times a-day, and in the course of a few weeks cured the complaint. Psoriasis diffusa. + Nevertheless, I consider warm bathing an auxiliary, as it certainly does expedite the removal of leprous eruptions. Case Case X.-A gentleman, about seventy years of age, had been afflicted with Psoriasis Scrotalis for several years; and, after having consulted several of the most eminent practitioners in London, and making use of a variety of local applications by their advice, as well as undergoing a long course of alteratives in vain, was completely relieved from the complaint by the solution. The dose was gradually in. creased to fifteen drops three times a-day. For the Medical and Physical Journal. On the MELKSHAM CHALYBEATE and SALINE APERIENT SPA, Situated near the Great London Road, about half a mile from the Town of Melksham, and twelve miles from Bath. S the following short analysis of this water, when joined to its known medicinal qualities, certainly ranks it with the saline purgative waters of Cheltenham and Leamington, it cannot be deemed improper to apprize the public of the existence of so valuable a spring in this neighbourhood. The medicinal effects of this water, clearly point out that it is a saline purgative; but its taste, although strongly saline, and greatly resembling the sea and other waters of the same description, is more unexceptionable; and, from being composed of many substances, which are combined in the great laboratory of Nature, whereby the exact balance is probably preserved under a triple, or even a quadruple alliance between the several salts contained in it, this water, like others of a similar kind, produces an aperient effect, with the smallest possible expenditure of purgative ingredients, and without that intenseness of saline impression, and that repulsion of the taste, which take place in the artificial solutions of the neutral salts. The spring rises in a field near Melksham, from nearly the top of a mound of earth, which was formed about fifty years ago of the materials which had been dug out in sinking a shaft for the purpose of seeking for coal. After penetrating to a great depth, the miners came to a very hard rock, on piercing through which, this water rushed in upon them, and was so abundant that the scheme for finding coal was entirely abandoned. The shaft was filled up with timber and earth, and the spring has ever since continued to flow above the original level of the field. At this height-it produces a pint of water in three quarters of a minute, from which circumstance it is presumed that at some depth an almost indefinite quantity of it might be obtained. eq 2 Many avoid either the trouble or expense of a journey to Chelten bam or Leamington. As many chemical as well as medical friends have kindly communicated the result of their inquiries in respect to the qualities and medicinal properties of this water, and as their opinions have been uniformly favourable to its character, and in unison with my own, I can have no hesitation in speaking with increased confidence of the advantages which must result from its use. The Melksham Spa water contains several substances, that are very active, and which determine the medical properties of many distinguished mineral waters. Its character is saline, and the quantity of saline ingredients is equal to that of the most celebrated springs. The salts contained in it are in their nature purgative, and therefore a constant effect on the bowels, is the action this medicinal water produces whenever it is taken in suitable doses. A countervailing property in this water arises from the presence of some iron, thereby precluding that debility which so often follows the use of the stronger purgatives. A moderate dose, for instance, half-a-pint, will often act strongly; two half-pints seldom fail to produce a copious effect, and a pint and a half in the course of the day has proved generally a powerful dose of physic. In doses too small to produce any action on the bowels, it passes off readily by urine, and thus it appears to combine a variety of salutary operations. The course of the water may be persevered in without interruption for a considerable length of time, even in states of apparently great debility, without producing any inconvenience to the system. The appetite is much improved by its use; it promises the happiest effects in most of the disorders of the digestive organs; and as far as its powers have been observed, it wonderfully improves all those habits of body which are the regular attendants of indigestion. It seems calculated in a superior degree to relieve and remove the bad consequences resulting from bilious obstruction, and to restore to the function of the liver in secreting bile, a due and healthy regularity. There is also a strong chalybeate spring in the same field. The eligibility of the situation is unquestionable, it being close to the neat and respectable town of Melksham, and only twelve miles from the city of Bath; and from the above experiments and observations, we may presume that an excellent preparative or auxiliary to a course of the Bath waters, may be found in the Melksham Saline Aperient. G. S. GIBBES, M.D. Laura-Place, Bath, To To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal. IN GENTLEMEN, N the Medical and Physical Journal for July last, you have given us a very interesting communication from Dr. Spark, of Ipswich, upon the advantages derived from very large doses of opium, in what Dr. S. terms spasm of the uterus; but which might, I conceive, with more propriety, be called Rigidity of the transverse fibres of the Uterus. It is common with accoucheurs to have recourse to opium for relief, in cases of this nature; but I am not aware that it has ever been given to the extent Dr. S. advises; and having lately met with two cases, in which the result of the practice he recommends has been most favorable, I beg leave, through the medium of your valuable publication, to present them to my medical brethren, together with a few observations upon the nature of such cases. Case 1st.-About six o'clock on Sunday evening, July 19th, I was called to Mrs. K. of this city, aged 19, in labor of her first child. Her pains had commenced the preceding night, and continued almost incessantly during the day. Upon examination, I found the head low down in the pelvis, the os uteri not more dilated than the circumference of a shilling, and that the pains did not appear to produce the least effect upon it. She had taken but little nourishment, had no sleep, her pulse was very feeble, and she was much exhausted. immediately gave her fifty drops of laudanum, and directed that small quantities of nourishing food should be frequently administered. At ten o'clock I called upon my patient again, and was informed by her attendants that she had slept a short time after the exhibition of the draught, and had taken freely of mutton broth; yet her strength did not appear recruited, nor her pulse improved. Her pains were still, what are termed grinding; and the dilatation of the os uteri had not made the least progress. Encouraged by Dr. Spark's practice, I repeated the laudanum in the same quantity; and directed them to send for me when they should think it necessary. About one o'clock I was again called, but the child was born before I could reach the house. The nurse informed me that Mrs. K. slept about an hour after she had taken the second draught, that she awoke much refreshed, and entirely free from pain, which had not been the case during the whole of the preceding day and night; and that she continued so for at least half an hour afterwards. The nurse, as well as the friends of the patient, assured me that she had not more than four or five strong pains before the child was born. The placenta came away in about ten minutes, and no hemorrhage followed. Case 2d.-At ten o'clock on the evening of the 8th of August, I was sent for to Mrs. H. of this city, aged 31, in labor of her first child. The head was low in the pelvis, and the os uteri but little dilated. The pains had been frequent since the morning of the 7th. In this case the patient's strength was good. Finding, upon examination during a pain, that little or no impression was made upon the os uteri, I gave her fifty drops of tincture of opium, and left her. Between twelve and one I was again called, but found not the least difference in the nature of the pains, in their continuance or effect; upon ascertaining which I gave her forty drops more of the tincture, and desired I might be called when it should seem necessary. At half after three they sent for me again, and, as I arrived at the bed-side of my patient, the head was passing the external parts. The placenta was set at liberty by the same pain which expelled the body of the child, and only required to be removed from the vagina. She informed me that she had no sleep after the second draught, but lay for some time very easy and comfortable; and when her pains returned, they increased very rapidly in strength, and were (to use her own words) in her belly, and not in her back as before. No hemorrhage ensued. I was exceedingly gratified, in both of these cases, by the effects resulting from the employment of laudanum, the use of which proved highly beneficial, and was in neither instance succeeded by any unpleasant consequences. On examination (in the first case) even at ten o'clock, not the least relaxation either of the os uteri or external parts was perceptible: on the contrary, the latter were unusually contracted, firm, and rigid, and I could not make my examination without occasioning much pain. Considering, therefore, all the circumstances, together with the size of the child, which I should have said was large, I have no hesitation in believing, judging from similar cases, that, had not a quantity of opium sufficient to have produced a decided effect upon the system been given, the passage of the head through the external parts, even after the dilatation of the os uteri, would have been slow and tedious, if effected without the assistance of the forceps. The result of the use of opium in the second case was equally striking, and I imagine no one will differ from me in thinking, that, had it not been administered, the dilatation of the os uteri, which made such little progress in so many hours, |