medy in the disorders of the urinary organs in the practice of de Haen, and other German physicians. A blister over the sacrum would perhaps have been a more speedy remedy, but the constant discharge of urine had produced so much cutaneous inflammation all over the lower parts of the body, as to render the application of a blister unadvisable, at least in the first instance; and as the woman was daily mending under the use of the uva ursi, I was afterwards unwilling to discontinue it. The uva ursi, as a remedy in disorders of these organs, is almost entirely fallen into disuse. It has experienced the fate of many once celebrated and fashionable articles of the Ma-, teria Medica; having at first been too highly and unjustly extolled, it has now perhaps sunk into unmerited oblivion. Lewis, in his " Experimental History of the Materia Me66 dica, says of it," In all cases that have come to my σε knowledge, it produced great sickness, and uneasiness, "without any apparent benefit, though continued for a "month." It is probable that in these cases the uva ursi was given in too large doses, for I observed no such ill effects in the doses I prescribed for Mrs. Chapman. Το toulo aib TO DR. LAMBE. * THE respect Mr. Royston feels for Dr. Lambe, cannot be lessened by any difference in opinion. A mis-statement of a fact, even from inadvertence, requires, however, some apology. In the present instance, if Mr. Royston has wrongly represented Dr. Lambe's directions with regard to the use of raw vegetable food, he has been misled by what he deemed à publication of considerable authority. Vid. Ann. Med.. Rev. vol. ii. 148. To the great object of Dr. Lambe's investigation, the relieving human nature from Carcinoma, the most dreadful of its calamities, the Medical and Physical Journal will ever open its pages with alacrity: neither will its EDITORS hold themselves justified in endeavouring to employ wit and sarcasm, for the repression of inquiry. Though they do not feel bound to approve every opinion that may come before them; yet, when the motive is the improvement of a science of undeniable utility, they hope always to be governed by a liberal regard to the feelings of an author; and by an honest desire to give a candid statement of his sentiments. * Med and Phys. Journal, No. 140, for October, 306. Violent Violent Operation of the Eau Medicinale D'Husson. For the Medical Journal: THE following instance of the violent action of a noš trum called Eau Medicinale D'Husson, is communicated to the Editors, by ROBERT ADAMS, Esq. Surgeon, Charlottestreet, Fitzroy Square. ABOUT the 18th of December last Mt. Adams was called to a person who had taken the Eau Medicinale, and who was then suffering under most alarming symptoms of its effects. The patient, a Fishmonger near St. Martin's-lane, had taken two doses of the nostrum: these produced syncope, cold sweats, extreme prostration of strength, excessive evacuations from the stomach and bowels, accompanied with a pulse scarcely perceptible, and a degree of insensibility, that indicated the approach of death. By the active employ ment of the most powerful cordials, his dissolution was, however, prevented: but he is still suffering from the opera tion of the remedy. It is proper to remark that this person was, at the time of taking the Eau Medicinale, an athletic man, subject occasionally to be disordered with regular gouty paroxysms, the disease always appearing in the extremities. When he took the medicine he had gout in his feet only, but on the 20th, two days after its administration, the disease appeared, with unusual severity, in his hands and bead. There are circumstances of great importance in this case The remedy endangered the patient's life, and his disease was seriously encreased; and now, ten months after taking the nostrum, his system remains in a state of great debility. October 17, 1810. 1. Cases of the Fever which prevails near the Drowned Lands, in Orange County, state of New York, in a letter from PETER H. COLE, House Physician to the New-York Hospital, to Dr. MITCHILL, one of the Physicians of that Institution, dated January 1st, 1810. SIR, As you requested, I transmit to you the cases of the pa tients labouring under fever from the Drowned Lands, near the Wallkill, which were received in the New-York Hospital, during the late term of your attendance. There is a peculiarity in them that, as you early observed, renders them worthy of a more distinguished place in medical history. The persons suffering under this disease have a yellowish or sallow complexion and eyes, and a certain haggard or ghastly look, very distinguishable from other maladies. These are so familiar to me, that I can, almost to a certainty, decide upon them when I meet them in the streets, These low grounds, where the patients sickened, are in the immediate vicinity of the Wallkill, From their situation, lower than the outlet of the river, they have been subjected to inundations, and are almost always wet and marshy. Their extent amounts to many thousand acres. The bottom is a fertile mould, admirably adapted to the raising of hemp.. The draining of this valuable tract, called the "Drowned Lands," has been undertaken by a company under Legislative authority. Considerable progress has already been made in the work, which, though arduous, promises great. advantage to private property, and a signal improvement of the public health., The region, however, has been famous for its unhealthi ness ever since the settlement of the country. During the hot season, copious exhalations fill the atmosphere, from solar evaporation; and then are precipitated in dense fogs, which gather during the latter part of the night, and overhang the carth until dissipated by the heat of the morning, There is something very deleterious imparted to the atmosphere from this swampy surface, and it acts noxiously upon the human body during the time of sleep between midnight and sunrise, and during the hours of waking and fasting, until they get their first meal, or the cloudiness disappears. Indeed, few constitutions can long endure its malignity. Some of the most sturdy labourers are overpowered by it in a few days; and he has stouter nerves than commonly fall to the lot (No. 141.) Kk on of man, to withstand it many weeks. The temptation of li beral pay draws to this unwholseme region a crowd of hardy labourers. As they sicken and become disabled, a new set is ready, under the same inducement, to take their places. These stand as long as their strength lasts, and in their turn, are succeeded by fresh hands. And by these means, the important and desirable work of draining the Drowned Lands, is carried on. It is proper to observe, that in addition to the high wages, are included board and lodging, with a daily allowance of about a pint of whiskey. This appears to have been entirely consumed, and many of them have been known to buy an additional quantity from the retailers. The disease which I have described cannot fail to afford instructing analogies with fevers which arise in the sea-ports. Indeed, the conclusion seems irresistable, that febrile diseases, whether arising in the interior situations, or on the sea coast, are of kindred natures; and run into each other by shades and gradations, better known to the experienced ob server in practice, than capable of being reduced to the rules of nosology. In the cases I have recorded, the facts were derived from the mouths of the persons respectively, while they were under your prescription. The general debility, the anomalous form of fever varying from the continued to the quotidian and tertian, the indications of disordered liver and spleen, the yellow hue of the skin and eyes, the occasional dropsical effusions, together with the obstinacy and violence with which the disease harassed those whom it invaded,' are matters of prominent regard in its history. If the account I give you shall afford any thing new in medical research, or shall have delineated in a way that is in the smallest degree instructive, the endemic distemper of that noted district, I shall think the pains I have taken are well rewarded. CASE I. William Holmes, Englishman, aged 37-has been four years in the United States, chiefly in Boston, as a hardware dealer. Went to the outlet to work in June, and continued to labour for six weeks, at twelve dollars a month. He la boured with a crowbar and spade, and in carrying stones. Was then seized with anorexia, nausea, headach, and pains in the back and limbs. After a week's lingering, with loss of appetite, and increasing debility, he came to New. York, by the way of Goshen and Newburgh. After a week's con tinuance in Batavia-lane, he was received into the Hospital од on the 11th August. At that time he had become so much debilitated that he could scarcely walk. His ankles were oedematous, and there was a troublesome pain in the left hypochondrium. His febrile symptoms were exceedingly anomalous, and the paroxysms; which had never been preceded by chilliness while he was in the country, assumed, sometimes, the type of a coldish stage, which terminated in a hot and sweating stage, of irregular returns, after his reception into the Hospital. He took a mercurial cathartic, was blistered over the left hypochondrium, and ordered columbo and ginger, decoct. cort. peruv. and acid sulph.; under which remedies he has gathered considerable strength. His recovery proceeded gradually, under the above remedies and occasional emetics, until the 15th October, when his mouth became affected by the use of mercurial purgatives, which removed the occasional chills, swelled feet, and pain in the left hypochondrium. He was discharged, cured, Dec. 4th. CASE II. Patrick M'Gennigal, Irishman, aged 30-has been about four years in the United States. Was at the drowned lands last year, and was taken sick after nine weeks labour, at twelve dollars a month. The form of the disease was that of a quotidian and tertian intermittent, commencing with a cold and shivering fit. Notwithstanding which, he continued labouring long enough to make up the whole of three months work, by returning to service as soon as a cessation of the disease, from time to time, would permit. After this job was over, he was troubled with the paroxysms, by inter vals, during the whole winter; sometimes escaping it for a week or more, and seized with it again. Notwithstanding all this suffering, he engaged in the employ, once more, this season, for the lure of fourteen dollars a month. He began to labour about the beginning of August: his employ was ditching, digging, and carrying earth and stone. While he was engaged in this business, he was frequently immerged in mud as high as the knees; and sometimes, when making the dam, he was in as deep as the waist. This year, he was taken sick about the 10th August. The first symptoms were a swelling of the legs and general debility, afterwards a chilliness and shivering, followed by severe hot fits. These recurred every day, for about fourteen days, when he removed to New-Windsor. There he languished for three weeks; the disease assuming the tertian type, aud finding himself rather better, got on board a sloop and came to New. York. Kk 2 |