245 



life, and begin with our own island; we find, that, consi- 

 dering the extent of our population, the disease is of re- 

 lative rare occurrence. So much so, that the late Mr. 

 Dease, (whose premature death we have still to deplore, 

 as a national calamity,) with all his well deserved cele- 

 brity, as a lithotomist, never operated upon more than 

 sixty. A small number indeed, when we consider, that 

 the operation is seldom, if ever, attempted in the country. 

 And why this should happen here, we shall be presently, 

 perhaps, better able to judge. 



The reverse of this occurs in the sister kingdom; and 

 the Irish student feels astonished, at the frequency of the 

 operation in all the London hospitals, though also per- 

 formed in these of the more considerable country towns: 

 and, upon enquiry, he finds, that a large proportion of 

 these patieiits come up from the cider countries of Here- 

 ford, Devon, &c. And it must naturally occur to him, 

 that the general use of fermented liquors of every kind, 

 beer, cider, perry, and factitious wines, which prevail in 

 England, renders the disease of more frequent occurrence 

 there, than with us; the great mass of our people being- 

 deprived of these luxuries. 



If we pass over to the Continent, we find our neighr 

 bouring provinces, Picardy, Normandy, and Brittany, in 

 particular, still more subject to affections of this kind: so 

 much so, that the late Mr. Dease could not give credit to 

 the extraordinary number of patients operated on, in one 

 year only, in the hospital of Rouen; though many must 

 have, of course, repaired to Paris. The same, though, in 



VOL. X. I i a lesser 



