Report of the City and Flnshiry Dispensaries. 491 



either, attendance or medicine otherwise. The few deaths 

 are perhaps the strongest proof of the advantage of medical 

 establishments of this kind, where the patients are treated 

 in the midst of their families, and where they enjoy the kind 

 and affectionate offices of the healthful. 

 . ", To contrast dispensaries with hospitals might seem in- 

 vidious; hut the dispensary has this peculiar advantage, that 

 it retains the unhappy sufferers in the bosom of their fami- 

 lies : — Judize of this, vou who have felt the miseries of part- 

 ing with those who are nearest and dearest to you, and 

 who have experienced the anxious cares and sympathies 

 of an affectionate husband or wife, of a tender parent or 

 child, in the day of distress ! — Judge of it also, ye who are 

 acquainted with the nature of the animal ceconomy ; — with 

 the influence of the mental faculties and passions over the 

 body; — with the injurious effects of depressing, and the 

 beneficial and important consequences of soothing, passions 

 in the alleviation or cure of disease*." 



Mrs. has had several children, none of whom have 



lived : — she was taken in labour jat three 1\ M. : nothing re- 

 markable occurred previous to the expulsion of the foetus, ex- 

 cept that there was a larger quantity of the liquor amnii dis- 

 charged soon after the labour commenced than is usual ; the 

 pains returned at irregular periods, from 15 to 30 minutes, 

 for 36 hours, without producing any descent of the head: the 

 pains thus became stronger, and returned at shorter intervals, 

 so as to expel the head in three quarters of an hour; the 

 shoulders and body followed soon fcy a itw more pains. 



The pulsation had ceased in the funis, but soon returned; 

 and the infant showed signs of life sufficient to encourage 

 the hope of respiration being established, the whole surface 

 of the body being changed from a livid to a florid hue. 



The inspirations became more frequent, and were attend- 

 ed with convulsive twitchings ; the motion of the heart was 

 very evident, but there was not any puUe at the wrist distin- 

 guishable ; the vital functions gradually diminished, and 

 ceased in three hours after birth. 



Introduction to Dispensary Rules and RcgaL'tR-iris. 



Dissection^ 



