'Natural IJiatory. 409 



boiiute of ammonia, preparations of opium, and other antispas- 

 modics. In painful hardness of the goitre; leeches, and emol- 

 lient fomentations. 



The rapid disappearance of the goitre, wl>ich accompanies 

 these symptoms, shews them to be occasioned by an excess of 

 iodine : from eight to ten weeks is considered the mean time of 

 proper treatment. 



The iodine should not be administered indiscriminately in 

 all cases of goitre : some are inflammatory, and some are ac- 

 companied by a bilious disposition of the body ; in these cases, 

 leeches should be applied on the goitre, and medicines admini- 

 stered as the case requires, before the iodine be given. If 

 similar symptoms arise during the application of iodine, then 

 those indications should be attended to, and proper medicines 

 given with the iodine. 



Iodine should never be employed in cases where the patient 

 is of a gross disposition, or tending to menorrhagia, or in cases 

 where diseases of the breast threaten to, or have commenced, 

 or in slow fevers. It should also be refused to persons who are 

 nervous, delicate, and of a feeble constitution. 



Dr. Coindet then states his reasons for believing that iodine 

 may be usefully employed in cases of amenorrhoea, in chronic 

 diseases of the uterus, of indolent tumours of the lymphatic 

 glands of the breast, cases of scrophula without fever, and 

 where the enlarged glands of the neck are indolent; and con- 

 cludes by expressing a strong wish that no person will resort 

 to this remedy without the advice and observation of a physi- 

 cian. — Bib. Univ. xvi. p. 140. 



8. Medical and Physiological Prize Questions. — 1. The Royal 

 Academy of Sciences, at Paris, have proposed the following 

 prize question for 182.3: " To determine, by precise experi- 

 ments, the causes, either chemical or physiological, of animal 

 heat." It is particularly required that the heat emitted by a 

 healthy animal in a given time be ascertained, as well also as 

 the quantity of carbonic acid produced in respiration, and that 

 the heat thus produced, be compared with that occasioned by 

 the formation of as much carbonic acid from the combustion of 

 carbon. The prize will be a gold medal of 3,000 francs value. 

 The memoirs are to be sent in before July 1, 1823. 



2. The following prize subject has been announced by the 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, at Paris, for competition durino- 

 the years 1821 and 1822: "To trace the gradual develope- 

 ment of the aquatic Triton, or Salamander, through its different 

 degrees from the egg to the perfect animal, and to describe the 

 internal changes which it experiences, but principally in regard 

 to osteogany and the distribution of the vessels." 'I'h^ prize is 



