[ 364 ] \ 



be worthy the pen of the ableft chemifl:, and every 

 life thus refcued from their pernicious efFedls would 

 well intitle him to a civick crown. 



Rum. — The dry belly-ache, or in other words, 

 the colick of Poitou, is a prevailing difeafe in the 

 Weft-Indies, particularly among thofe who drink 

 rum. Some attribute it to the newnefs of the 

 Ipirit, others to the acid juice of the limes which 

 generally accompanies its ufe. But the former, 

 when genuine, is inadequate to the efFedl: ; the latter, 

 inftead of producing the difeafe, is found rather to 

 be a remedy. 



Dr. John Hunter^ in the year 178 1, being Ra- 

 tioned with the ,army at Spanifh-town in Jamaica, 

 finding this difeafe very prevalent amongft the 

 foldiers who drank new rum, while others who 

 abftained from it remained free, began to examine 

 clofely the liquor, and alfo the implements ufed in 

 the diftillery. The rum, in his experiments, gave 

 evident figns of an impregnation of lead. The 

 worm of the ftill, confifting of a large proportion 

 of lead, he found corroded. An acid refiduum 

 called dundeVy it feems, is added to the mixture 

 before diftillation, and partly rifes with the fpirit. 

 No wonder then that the lead was corroded by it. 

 The fpirit, in procefs of time, in a great meafure 



depofits 



