the intermitting fever, is fhewn to be both dangerous and uncertain. A teafpoonful of the bark is recommended as a much better fecurity taken in the morning during the fickly feafon.This part of the Inquiry, is clofed by fome excellent remarks on the effects of ardent fpirits "upon the population and welfare of our country, and the means of obviating them."

The third part treats of "The remedies for a fit of drunkennefs," and of "fuch as are proper to prevent its recurrence, and to destroy a defire for ardent fpirits."

The author, in his concluding fection, observes, "It has been faid, that the difufe of fpirits should be gradual, but my obfervations authorize me to say, that perfons who have been addicted to them, should abstain from them fuddenly, and entirely. Tafte not,---handle not,---touch not;' fhould be infcribed upon every vessel that contains spirits in the house of a man, who wishes to be cured of the habits of intemperance."---In this excellent little moral tract it is difficult to felect where all is worthy of attention.

The Scale, called the Moral and Phyfical Thermometer, is omitted in this Edition.

AN INAUGURAL DISSERTATION On Malignant Fever; with an attempt to prove its non-contagious nature from reafon, obfervation, and experiment :---&c. &c. &c. by Stubbins Ffirth, S. H.S. M. P. a native of Salem, New-Jerfey, House Surgeon to the Philadelphia Difpenfary, &c.*---Graves---1804, 8vo. pp. 60.

This work commences with" a chronological history of the malignant fever of North America," taken from a variety of fources." An account of the weather and diseases preceding the epidemic of 1802, and of its rife, progress and termina-. tion," occupies upwards of fourteen pages, which will not well admit of an abstract.--A "defcription of the difeafe" follows.

* It might have been more generally imelligible, if this gentleman had informed us in plain English (as his affociates of the medical clafs have mostly done) that he is an honorary member of the Phindelphia Medical Society.We perceive alfo, that a change has taken place in the title of Apothecary of the Difpenfary to House Surgeon.

The author next proceeds to the " method of cure," in which, among other remedies, enemata are strongly recommended every hour or two,---" a strong infusion of tobacco has generally been preferred," and it is added, that he "never knew it fail." Having feen, however, feveral inftances in which this powerful remedy certainly produced a prejudicial effect, I must object to its too frequent use,--and at all times recommend the greatest caution.---We are not informed of the strength employed by the author.

A remedy, of late years much recommended in the plague, is highly spoken of by the author, viz. frictions with warm olive oil. From experience he speaks of it as particularly adapted to the disease in its forming ftate, or in the latter part of the first, and commencement of the second stage. It is faid, that if it "be rubbed, when warm, all over the body of the patient, and he be then wrapped in warm blankets, a most copious sweat will enfue, his pulse will be reduced in force and frequency, and the heat of the body leffened several degrees," and it is hence fuppofed to be one of the best auxiliaries to the lancet. This remedy has been adopted in the West Indiest. We should apprehend it is one, not adapted to the purfes of the poor.

Notice is taken of a new method of cure pursued by the phyficians of Saint Domingo, extracted from the first number of the "Journal des Officiers de fanté de Saint Domingue." This confifts in rubbing the body all over with fresh lime or lemon juice. Dr. Victor Bally relates a cafe of its fuccessful employment in the most aggravated form of the disease.

+ A Danish physician, of the name of Keutsch, has adopted in the Danish West-India islands, the practice of friction with oil, for the cure of fever incidental to that climate, in the fame manner as pointed out by Mr. Baldwin, with respect to the plague in Egypt. Lecters from Copenhagen ftate, that Dr. Keutsch had adopted this practice in the case of eight soldiers afflicted with the fever, fix of whom were completely cured by friction with oil, in the course of twenty-four hours. The way in which it operates is by producing profufe perspiration, and generally vomiting. Dr. Keutsch, in fome cafes, rendered the operation of the oil ftill more efficacious, by adding to it camphor.

Next in order, the author gives us the appearances on diffection, which are here fubjoined.

"The brain was generally found in a diseased state, the meninges being confiderably inflamed, the dura mater being fometimes agglutinated to the pia mater, in confequence of the increased action of the arteries thereof, the blood veffels were turgid with blood, appearing as though they had been injected, the fubftance of the brain was harder and firmer than usual, the ventricles frequently contained water, fometimes to the amount of feveral ounces; in fome cafes the rupture of a small vessel had taken place, and an effufion of blood was found between the pia and dura mater.

"The lungs in general were found of a darker colour than natural, much gorged with blood, which would not coagulate, adhesions to the pleura were common and evident marks of preceding inflammation.

"The pericardium was occafionally found inflamed, fome times containing feveral ounces of water, and in some instances covered completely by an inflammatory exudation of the thicknefs of feveral lines.

"The heart was found evidently to have experienced its share of morbid excitement. In the right auricle, the coagulable lymph has been found feparated from the other parts of the blood, in a clot by itself, and of a yellowish colour; the ventricle of the fame fide I generally found full of dark grumous blood, feldom in a state of coagulation. In the left auricle I have fometimes found the blood coagulated, when fluid in the other parts of the heart. The left ventricle I have found filled with dark grumous blood, not coagulable, but in a number of cases it was entirely empty. The fubftance of the heart has been found inflamed, the coronary veffels uncommonly turgid, and the whole exterior furface covered by an inflammatory exudation. The columna carnea I have feen more tender and easily torn than ufual, and in fine appearing as though they had been uncommonly ftimulated, thereby lofing all the affinity of cohefion, as occurs in perfons killed by lightning.

"The state of the aorta and large arterial vessels were found different from that in most other difeafes, being filled with black Auid and grumous blood, whereas in general they are found empty.

"The ftomach was always found diseased; great infiammation being obfervable throughout, and erosions of the villous coat frequent, nay, in a number of cafes whole portions thereof, of the size of a dollar, were detached and found floating in the black vomit. The blood veffels were in general very much dif tended, and in one cafe their smaller extremities filled with a fluid fimilar to the black vomit in appearance, tafte and smell.

"This inflammation was frequently continued to the small intestines, the duodenum was the most affected, but the jejunum and ilium alfo fuffered a part, nay the large intestines by no means escaped free; for I have often found them very confiderably inflamed; in many inftances difcoloured fpots were obfervable on various parts of the alimentary canal, fometimes fphacelus had extended for feveral inches on them; the spleen and pancreas were generally found in a healthy ftate; the kidnies were also in general found found, but the bladder was in a number of cafes inflamed, and in fome fo contracted, that the cavity would not hold four ounces.

"The liver was generally, I might say almost always, found in a healthy and natural state; for I do not find amongst my papers on the fubject, an account of its having been diseased but in three patients that I examined, and in two of them it had been of a chronic nature; in the other the inflammation was recent. The gall-bladder was always found in a healthy state, containing its ufual quantity of bile and of a natural colour. I have preserved fpecimens of black vomit and bile taken from the fame patient, showing the difference, which is obvious from first fight. From every circumstance I feel myself authorised to, and I do pofitively affert, that black vomit is not an altered fecretion of the liver, is not changed bile, and does not come from the liver, whatever others may affert to the contrary, and this I would prove by the following circumftances.

"First: It is never found in the gall-bladder, the hepatic, the cyftic, or the ductus colidochus communis.

"Secondly: The bile is found natural in the gall-bladder, when the ftomach is diftended with black vomit.

"Thirdly: I have found the stomach diftended with black vomit, when the pylorus valve completely obstructed all paffage from the duodenum to the ftomach, or vice versa, at the fame time the liver was perfectly free from difeafe, and the bile in the gall-bladder natural in colour, taste, and consistence.

"Fourthly: I have seen the arteries of the stomach diftended with a fluid fimilar to black vomit, and not to be diftinguished from it by any means whatever; a portion of the villous coat of the ftomach separated from its adhesion to the others, and the space filled with black vomit poured forth by the termination of the fmall arteries.

"Fifthly: Very acrid and violent poifons, producing great inflammatory action in the veffels of the ftomach, have induced them to take on the fame action that occurs in yellow or malignant fever, and to fecrete black vomit while the liver remained in a found and healthy state.

"Sixthly: In the most violent cafes of hepatitis, we never see black vomit; the patient is never affected in the fame manner as when the arteries of the stomach have taken on the action neceffary to enable them to fecrete and pour out this fluid.

"Seventhly: In yellow fever the ftomach is always, the liver fcarcely ever, found in a diseased state.

From every circumstance, therefore, I am led, nay I am forced to believe, that the black vomit is a morbid fecretion from the arteries of the ftomach, in confequence of great inflammation; that it is not confined exclufively to yellow fever, but occurs. from other causes, as fwallowing large doses of arfenic, opium, or any other very powerful incitant in fuch quantities as to produce this neceffary degree of action."

The diffections are followed by a "defcription of the black vomit" which is ejected in the third or last stages of malignant