was rubbed in by twelve to day. In the afternoon his mind was wandering, and clear at intervals.

April 6, He had slept well during the night, and in the morning was wandering, but tranquil. Mouth very sore; appetite good; pulse weak and low, 100. The bowels being in a confined state, he was ordered a dose of Castor pil.

April 28. From the 6th instant he had continued to mend progressively; the delirium occasionally returned till the seventh of the month, when it finally disappeared. He daily improved in his health, but particularly in the appearance of the ulcerations. It seemed that the last salivation had, at length, produced the desirable change in the habit, and had conquered the disease. From that time they had ceased to be painful, and very soon were found in a healthy condition.

By the latter end of June, the ulcer on the penis, and that in the groin, were both perfectly healed; and it is fair to conclude, that the disease was radically cured, because no topical applications whatever, except dry lint, had been used, from first to last.

This man, from his long indisposition, was allowed to remain in the hospital for some time after his complaints were cured,

A Case, which proves that now and then, though perhaps rarely, the Medulla Oblongata will bear a considerable degree of pressure, without suffering any material derungement either in its structure or functions.

[With an Engraving.]

A large robust woman, about forty years of age, had been for some years cook in a family. In the winter season she was employed in the kitchen, and while exerting herself to lift a weight, she fell down in a state of insensibility. She was supposed to have been in that condition for some time, when a person, accidentally coming in, found her; she was carried to bed, and continued in the same state for some hours, and then expired. She lay apparently asleep; respiration unattended with any stertorous sound; pulse small, beating about 100. She had not been altogether insensible, for when spoken to she had made several attempts to speak, in which she failed. She once had swallowed a little medicine offered her.

This woman had apparently been in good health for several years before; but latterly had always after dinner

been

been very apt to fall asleep. She was of a sedentary habit, and very fond of reading.

EXAMINATION.

Upon opening the head, the vessels upon the pia mater were found very turgid, and were very large and numer ous. The brain more firm than usual.

The superior parietes of each hemisphere being pared, the right lateral ventricle was carefully opened, and within it was found a serous fluid tinged with blood. The plexus choroides was converted into a tuberculated structure.

The blood had passed through an opening from the left ventricle. A small coagulum was found arrested in its passage through the rupture in the septum lucidum. Within the left lateral ventricle a larger quantity of fluid, and a larger proportion of red blood, were found, than had been observed in the right. There was also a corresponding state of disease in the choroid plexus.

The fluid contents having been allowed to run off, the left corpus striatum appeared very tumid, greatly altered in colour, and of a livid hue; in two points it was lacerated, small coagula of blood were found entangled in these openings.

The striated substance of this part of the brain was now pared away, and beneath it, very near its surface, was found a very large mass of pure coagulated dark blood. The quantity of blood extravasated here was at least equal to four ounces, the whole of which had deposited itself in the medullary substance of the brain; extending of course into the anterior and posterior lobes of the cerebrum on the left side.

The internal carotid arteries were in some parts becoming opake, although they were not found ossified.

The present advanced state of physiological knowledge, has ascertained that the offices and uses of the medulla oblongata and medulla spinalis, are of so essential a nature, that while the superior parts of the brain will endure pressure, from any cause, to a considerable extent, the medulla oblongata, or medulla spinalis, cannot bear the 2least intrusion upon the space allotted to them, and that any extravasation of blood in these situations, even if only to the extent of a millet seed in bulk, proves fatal. In the progress of this examination, however, it was found that both the vertebral arteries, just above the point where they emerge from their canal in the bone, had undergone a considerable change, they were dilated so that each form

ed

ed a little aneurysmal bag, which to the feel was harder and less elastic than the other parts of the canal.

Upon the medulla spinalis these tumours must have pressed, during the period of their growth, which, from the known history of aneurysmal tumors, might have been expected to have produced the symptoms from pressure for some months before. The woman never complained, or felt any deficiency in her state of health, till the acci dental rupture of a blood vessel overwhelmed the brain, and terminated her existence,

These aneurysms in miniature were beautifully vascular upon their external surface.

Mill Street, Hanover Square, June 10, 1810,

(To be continued.)

To the Editors of the Medical and Phyfical Journal. GENTLEMEN,

YOUR Correspondent, Mr. Hume, is perfectly correct

when he observes that there is some" omission in the report" of my case of death by poison; it ought to have been written as it was originally in my Notes, thus "Three grains of the powder with nine grains of kali were boiled, &c." The green colour produced by the se cond experiment, proves that the alkali was used. It was employed also in the first, in the above-mentioned proportion; and the junction of the two fluids produced a turbid mixture or compound of a sky blue colour; which, to the best of my recollection, deposited a precipitate on standing. I very much regret that this most material omission should have made the account so confused. That similar omissions of words, though not equally important, are occasionally made by others, will be evident to Mr. Hume if he will peruse the second paragraph of his own letter, This, however, is no justification of my own carelessness. The above, I conceive to be a sufficient answer to the four first queries. In answer to the fifth, I beg leave to observe, that with respect to the degree of heat to be employed, I do not feel myself competent to give a positive opinion; but a red heat during the space of ten minutes has been recommended, in making this experiment, by an eminent physician and chemist, vide Dr. Bostock's observations

vations on detecting arsenic, Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ. April, 1809, where the following objection to the employment of dry charcoal is also to be found.

"When the dry charcoal is employed, the powder is in danger of escaping from between the plates, unless they be very closely pressed together; and when this is the case, a considerable part of it will be found unconsumed after they have been heated."

Every one must agree with Mr. Hume in the propriety paying attention, in such cases, to what is evacuated from the stomach, when an opportunity is afforded: but, upon this occasion, the patient had not any medical attendant during her illness; and when we were called to inspect the body, two days after her decease, every utensil had been cleansed. The quantity of the white powder, and the facility with which I could obtain it, made me less inquisitive on that head; not having any doubt in my own mind but that I should be able, by analysing it, satisfactorily to prove that it was the cause of her death.

I have not, at present, an opportunity of repeating any of the experiments, nor of performing any of those recommended by your Correspondent. If, however, Mr. Hume is yet of opinion that the experiments were not sufficiently decisive, and imagines that it is possible to detect the arsenic, I will with pleasure give him an opportu nity, by sending him, if he wishes it, when I return to Howden, the remaining five grains in my possession, with liberty to use it in any way he thinks most conducive to the promotion of science.

Before I conclude, I beg leave to thank him for the candour he has shewn in making his remarks; and which forms a striking contrast to the Hippancy adopted by some of your Correspondents, and which, no doubt, has frequently prevented young practitioners, like myself, from contributing their useful mite when an opportunity presented. I am, &c.

Hickham, Lancashire, June 13, 1810.

THOMAS JONES.

To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal.

GENTLEMEN,

IN page 447, of your last Number, your learned and in

genious Correspondent, Mr. Royston, is mistaken in think❤ ing his reference, on the peculiar property of ipecacuanha,

the

the first on that subject. In p. 183, of my "VIEW OF THE NERVOUS TEMPERAMENT," when narrating the symptoms, I have introduced the following fact. "The true asthma, is, perhaps, never met with, but in constitutions of great nervous irritability. Such to a certainty must be that spe cies of it, which is induced by particular smells. I knew a lady, who was always seized with asthma, whenever rad. ipecac. was pounding in the shop; so sensible was she of this effect, that it was in vain to conceal from her what was going on in the mortar." (2d Ed.)

This occurred about thirty years ago, in the lady of the physician to whom I was first a pupil; and I was twice the innocent cause of the complaint myself. I thought by her being in a remote part of the house, she could not be affected; but it was almost immediately felt; and the paroxysms lasted many hours. This lady was exquisitely ner

vous.

I have been informed of different cases almost similar: they were all women; but conceiving the observation to be a common one, I did not note them."

I am, &c.

Newcastle, June 12, 1810.

T. TROTTER, M.D.

To the Editors of the Medical and Phyfical Journal.

GENTLEMEN,

DEVIATIONS from the natural structure in the parts of man, do not lead to any immediate improvements in the practice of medicine, but they greatly tend to enlarge our knowledge of the animal economy, and may in this way be said to contribute to the advancement of the healing

art.

The Case in question, which has lately occurred to me in my practice, and which I shall now attempt to describe, is not quite so complete in its kind as I could have wished, although very different in most respects from those numerous preparations I have lately had an opportunity of seeing in the Anatomical Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.

On Monday, June 11, 1810, about ten in the morning, I was called to attend Mrs, who was in the 7th

month