283 



caused a reduction in the proportion of the fibrin of the blood; pro- 

 duced a state exactly the opposite of that caused by inQammation— in 

 fact, caused a state of the blood exactly analagous to that existing in 

 scurvy. He therefore inferred that mercury would prove the most 

 valuable remedy in the treatment of inflammatory diseases ; and ac- 

 cordingly, in trying its effects, first in pneumonia, and afterwards 

 in other inflammatory diseases, he found, that just in proportion as 

 the mercury was absorbed, the excess of fibrin in the blood, which 

 had been produced by the inflammation, diminished, and with this 

 diminution aU the inflammatory symptoms subsided, and the cure 

 went on satisfactorily. As the object in these cases was to produce a 

 rapid absorption of the mercury, the calomel was given in such 

 small doses as not to act on the bowels (generally the fourth or the 

 sixth of a grain every hour), and in no case was it conjoined with 



opium. 



The paper was concluded by pointing out that these experiments 

 gave no countenance whatever to the doctrines of Hahneman, but 

 confirmed the truth of the adage of Hippocrates, " that contraries 

 are the cure of contraries." 



3. Extracts from a Letter from E. Blackwell, Esq., con- 

 taining Observations on the Movement of Glaciers of Cha- 

 mouni in Winter. Communicated by Professor Forbes. 



" The accessibility of the glaciers, even up to a considerable height, 

 is at this season a question of mere physical force. I have made 

 within the last few days two excursions into the region of perpetual 

 snow. The first of these was on the 6th of January, and was to the 

 summit of the glacier of Blaitiere, several hundred feet above the point 

 where I had noted the line of the neve in September and October; 

 the second was on the 13th, when I succeeded in reaching the junc- 

 tion of the glaciers of Bossons and Tacconaz, near the Grands Mu- 

 lcts. This junction is exactly at the commencement of the neve, as I 

 remarked between the months of August and October, on six diff-erent 

 occasions, when I passed there on my way to and from Mont Blanc, 

 the Dome de Goute, &c. In both these expeditions I was struck by 

 the excessive power of the sun ; the greater apparent warmth, even 

 in the shade, as compared to the valley of Chamouni ; and the sud- 

 den chill which followed sunset. There was also much less snow at 



