43^ ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS 



though he does not fpeak of it as bein"^ 

 proper for bringing on a fit of the gout ; 

 and I having feen it once myfelf perform 

 a great cure of fome extraordinary fymp- 

 toms, by producing the goun, in the cafe 

 of I. K. where I had given it inwardly as 

 a difcutient for fome fwelling on his fore- 

 head, as large as nutmegs, without fuf- 

 peding, at the time, that the patient had 

 any thing gouty about him: On thefe ac- 

 counts, 1 deterL-nined to try the hemlock, 

 to fee if there was any gout in the cale, 

 whether it would bring it to the extre- 

 mities, or, at leaft, what cfFecl:s it would 

 produce. Bat, as he had at the time, 

 befides very violent fits of the cramp in 

 his guts, a yomiting likevvife, leveral 

 times in a day, of a great deal of a pitui- 

 tous or gelatinous kind of ftuflp, whi:h 

 gave him relief from the pain, I gave 

 him a vomit. After that, I gave him a 

 dofe of rhubarb and ipercury. Then 

 1 began him with the hemlock, giving 

 one pill at bed-time, containing ^j grains 

 of the powder of the leaves of the plant ; 



but, 



