558 
a model to the Jews in Péland. 
lage, Jese Nahr,.,in:the vicinity. of; which, 
there are six smaller villages. of the same 
kind, most of them with Hebrew names, 
is inhabited by about fifty families. 
The late storms/and inundations haye sa- 
crificed many ‘lives at Petersburgh, and de~ 
stroyed property to. an immense amount: 
7,000 dead bodies have. been found, and 
upwards ‘of 8,000 persons are still missing. 
PERSIA. - 
Letters from Shiras announce, that on 
the 27th Chawull 1239, which answers to 
Medical Report. 
‘This vil>* 
{Jan. J, 
the month’ of! “April 1824’. there ‘had ‘been’ 
an earthquake; (which. lasted six days and 
nights without interruption, and which had 
swallowed up more than half of that unfortu- 
nate, city,,.and oyerthrew the ptherz Nearly 
all the inhabitants fell’yictims to, this, catas- 
trophe. y biodton. L.eMAG 
Kazroon, a city between Abor, Koh, and 
Shiras, was swallowed up; with ‘almost the 
whole of its inhabitants, in Consequence. of 
the same. earthquake. ‘) All the mountains 
surrounding Kazroon ‘are’ Tévelled “by it, 
and no trace of them now remains. | ...\). 
Bt 
f 
‘MEDICAL REPORT. ‘end ri | 
Rerorr of Diseases and Casuaurizs occurring in the public or private Practice of 
the Physician who has the care of the Western District of the City Dispensary. « 
HAN affections of the heart, no mala- 
dies are more formidable in their aspect 
or more diffieult in. theirmanagement ; and 
their occurrence in the practice of the Re- 
porter fas been of late especially frequent. 
Wher the: physician is summoned to dis- 
ordéts of this organ, he is immediately called 
upon, to.-put! several questions to his judg- 
ment and discernment, to get a satisfactory 
solution of which implies no inconsiderable 
demand’ ‘upon’ skill and experience. You 
have first to ascertain. whether the disorder 
in question be of the heart itself organically 
and. properly, of whether it be a mere sym- 
phatic or symptomatic expression of a dis- 
order in other parts.» It is next of the 
utmost moment to ascertain whether the 
irregularities of the organ result from a want 
of :propelling energy, from partial spasm in 
some portion of. its fibrous. structure, from 
fn undue collection of blood in some of its 
chambers, from, a species of inflammatory 
action either in its membranes or its sub- 
stance, or from a fluid poured out. into the 
pericardium or lungs. Then, again, it be- 
hoves the practitioner to investigate the 
evidence of ossification either in the blood- 
vessels or in the valves of the heart (a state 
‘of parts, by the way, very frequently con- 
nected with a gouty diathesis) ; and having 
ascertained the nature of the complaint, we 
find a further’souree of difficulty in fixing 
upon. its precise locality, and this for a very 
obyious reason—that the different compart-- 
ments of the organ exist constantly in such 
relative connexion, that one being brought 
into morbid being, the other naturally and 
necessarily. partakes .of the resulting. dis- 
turbance. . As'to practical indications, also, 
how often does it become a question of the 
most. imperative importance to: decide upon 
promptly, whether stimulus, or a subduction 
of stimulus, be the demand of the moment ; 
and inconsistent as it may at first appear, 
youoften meet’ with® cases where the fulfil- 
ment of both these indications is almost 
simultaneously-required ;» where to uige on 
the circulation to, the extremities, ,or..to 
equalize the flow of blood, is alone to pre- 
serve your patient from dropping into fhe 
arms of death; but where this measure, is 
best accomplished, in the very first instance, 
by opening a yein, and thereby soliciting the 
vital fluid away from the centre and source of 
circulation. You afterwards add foree to rée- 
quest, and in immediate succession to, blood- 
letting, rouse, excite, and support: “In this 
condition of things it is that, the carbonate 
of ammonia often so, happily tells»cas<an 
urging and sustaining power. Many deatlis 
from collapse might probably. be prevented 
by the prompt employment of this important 
medicinal ; and in gotity habits it serves, as 
the writer believes he has before intimated, 
a double purpose: for while its’ stimtlating 
agency is exercised upon the nervous. and 
fibrous, and vascular excitability, its chemi- 
cal influence, as a corrector of acidity, is 
brought at the same time efficiently te ope- 
rate upon spasms connected with, or perhaps 
actually produced by, acidities in the prime 
vie. sod bas 
All individuals who are conscious ‘of con- 
stitutional inclination to irregularities in. the 
movements of the heart, ought to’ shun 
sedulously every occasion for calling their 
passions into more than ordinary excite- 
ment; this caution is especially requisite, 
since it is those who are the subjects of 
cardiac disorder, whose mental. irritability 
is the most readily worked upon ;, but 
much more is in our power, ini respect.to 
the regulation of the mind, than some'are 
disposed to admit. Let but. the motive 
be of sufficient force, and the forée of passion 
will yield; unless insanity have deprivedus 
of the freedom of choice: and: what motive 
oughtto be more ‘alarmingly sonorous to the 
ear of conscience, than the reflection that, 
by. giving. theo mastery of» our physical: and 
moral constitution into'the hands of passion, 
we ‘rush into the embrace of disease, and. 
even of) death, with ‘a ‘sort of “suicidal “vo- 
lition! vecoo!s 7). OWINS, M. Dy 
Bedforil Row; Dec, 28, 1824. 
