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fent to us by Dr. Gregory, whofe cafe he " fuppofed * to be a be- 

 " ginning pemphigus," and which he faid " was plainly contagious." 

 .In a note which he fent with this woman, he fays, " I faw a boy 

 " five months ago in the fame clofe, very ill of the fame difeafe ; 

 " and I am told by the people that feveral others, chiefly children, 

 " have had the fame difeafe fince in the fame clofe." This ap- 

 peared extremely forcible, and accordingly had its due weight with 

 the ftudents. But in a day or two it appeared very evidently, 

 that the difeafe of the woman whom Dr. Gregory had fent us, 

 was merely topical. She had no fever. The veficles (which 

 were fituated under the eye and upon the eye-lid) were of a 

 pale red colour ; fome puftules filled with yellow matter ap- 

 peared upon the brow at the fame time ; and both of thefe 

 vanifhed almoft immediately after fhe came into the infirmary ; 

 fo that fhe left it in three or four days perfectly well, having 

 taken no medicine but the faline julep. This woman denied 

 to us that fhe had ever feen any one affeded with veficles : 

 and upon enquiring more particularly among different people 

 in the fame clofe, I found that they were in general very 

 unqualified to give a diftinft account of the epidemic difeafe 

 (whatever it was) with which the children had been afFefled : 

 they feemed, however, to think it neither novel nor alarm- 

 ing ; and by their defcription I fhould rather take it to have 

 been the chicken-pox, or fome fuch flight complaint, than the 

 pemphigus. I can have no doubt that the boy Dr. Gregory 



* Though the diforder of this patient appeared eventually to be of a diiferent 

 nature, yet it mufl be remembered that the approaches of moft difeafes are am- 

 biguous, and that this fuppofition by no means tends to impeach the judgment of 

 a gentleman who is equally diftinguiflied for his ikill and veracity. 



H mentioned 



