1827.] Monthly Medical Report. 101 



marily on the secretion of an acid or acrid matter by the stomach, which offends its 

 delicate nerves. Absorbents and demulcents relieve this unpleasant feeling, and the 

 subnitrate of bismuth is unquestionably a medicine of considerable efficacy in this con- 

 dition of the stomach; but its permanent cure can only be effected by those means 

 which restore the tone of the stomach, and which are available against every other 

 form of dyspeptic ailment. 



Several cases of neuralgia have lately come under the Reporter's care ; not, indeed, 

 in that aggravated form to which the term tic douloureux is appropriated, but in some 

 of its lighter and less formidable grades. Of the benefit of tonics in this kind of 

 disease, the Reporter can speak very favourably. The powder of the best crown bark, 

 in doses of twelve grains, repeated three times a day, is very efficacious. The subcar- 

 bonate of iron also, as recommended by Mr. Hutchinson of Southwell, merits in an 

 equal (perhaps even a superior) degree the confidence of the medical practitioner. 



The Reporter cannot conclude without expressing the gratification he experienced 

 from a visit, on the 6th of June last, to the Seaman's hospital-ship Grampus, moored off 

 Greenwich for the accommodation of the numerous shipping in the Thames. The order 

 and the cleanliness which prevailed in every part the facility of admission the atten- 

 tion which is paid to the peculiar habits of sailors the simplicity of the practical regu- 

 lations for the conduct of the establishment the professional skill displayed in the 

 treatment of the sick, and the content manifest in their countenances >all conspired to 

 form a gratifying picture, highly creditable to Mr. Arnot, under whose superintend- 

 ence the medical department of the hospital is placed. The scene would have beea 

 interesting, even to the common observer. On one side were seven or eight natives of 

 the South Sea Islands, one of them most curiously and beautifully tattooed, suffering 

 severely from the cold and changeableness of our climate. In a different part of the 

 ship might be seen the slender but graceful form of the Hindu. Here was the true 

 scurvy, and beside the bed a huge bowl of salad. The peculiarities in national man. 

 uers were exemplified in the different modes of amusement which the convalescents 

 were following. Such an institution deserves to be better known to the country 

 at large ; and it is in the hope of contributing to this desirable end, that the Reporter 

 has ventured to exceed the usual limits to which his communication extends. 



GEORGE GREGORY, M.D. 



8, Upper John Street, Golden Square, June 25, 182T. 



MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



REPORTS are still fortunately a mere recital of the prosperous state of the growing- 

 crops, the improved condition of live stock, and of the activity and forwardness of 

 cultivation. To compare the present luxuriant deep-green and waving masses of vege- 

 tation upon the bosom of the earth with the withered, yellow, and scanty covering; 

 which gave it such a parched, dreary, and un-English appearance during the drought 

 of last summer, forms a most delightful and exhilarating contrast. Not that the late 

 proved the most mild, and, as might be supposed, genial spring ; for the weather was 

 subject to constant vicissitudes throughout, and the occasional prevalence of the east 

 and north east winds could not fail to have, in a considerable degree, its usual effect 

 on vegetation. But this effect was not so severe and excessive as it sometimes proves : 

 the malignancy and force of the east wind was frequently tempered by an inclination to 

 its southern side; and when the winds had continued so long in an easterly direction 

 that the course of vegetation became impeded, and blight was obviously advancing, the 

 vigilant and anxious cultivator of the soil, ; at his 'uprising, exulted to find that the 

 wind had suddenly shifted to the genial west ; the incipient blight was happily arrested 

 in its course, and the healthful and growing state succeeded. These fortunate turns 

 have not failed during the spring ; and thus far lave the crops escaped. From the 



