Qn the calcareous fubjiance tvhich is found in the excrefccnccs on the 



li?nbs of gouty perfojis, ajid commonly called Chalk-stones, tvith 



the Author s opinion refpeBing the pojjlhility of dijjolving the f alts 



found therein ; and alj'o on the cure of the Gout, by burning with 



the Moxa of the Chinefe. 



J\ Relation of mine being greatly tormented with the gout, and 

 having made an incifion in the heel of his foot, took out thence a 

 quantity of that fubftance which phyficians call Calx, or Chalk, and 

 fome of this being put into my hands, I found, upon examination, 

 that it was compofed of fmall irregular particles, refembling a heap 

 of grains of fand : viewing thefe by the microfcope they appeared 

 of a very dark colour, and each particle to be compofed of a great 

 number of oblong and tranfparent figures, which cannot better be 

 defcribed than by a parcel of cuttings of horfc-hair, with each ex- 

 tremity terminating in a point. I judged thefe to be lb flender that 

 many thoufands of them would not be fo thick as a hair of one's 

 head. I have made a drawing of thefe, in order to £hew the pro- 

 portion of their length with their thicknefs, asmaybefeen 3ii fg. iQ, 

 A, Plate XV. 1 favv many parcels of thefe particles lying in very re- 

 gular order, as at B, and though I cannot fay that they were fo dif- 

 pofcd throughout the whole fubftance, yet I believe they were ori- 

 ginally formed in regular order of two, three, four, or more of them 

 placed together. Thefe fmall pieces of gouty Chalk I not only fpread 

 about, but alfo feparated fome of the above minute component parts, 

 and I faw fome of them lie in the pofition described at B, but many 

 of them without any regular order, as at C. I alfo favv foiue of 

 them not above half, or one third part, or a quarter the length re- 

 prefentcd at A, but as reprefcnted at D ; though I do not think this 



