45i Medical 



active influence on (lie magnetic needle, 

 and divert it from its puMition, exposing 

 it io llie action of a single pair of discs 

 of co|)|)er and zine, separatcil hy a con- 

 <tuctin>j tiody, will be suflicicnt; and 

 tlial tills simple apparntus xvili act with 

 more force than an entire pile. By this 

 simplification of the galvanic process, 

 Jie lias suspended t\\ o plates of coj)pcr 

 and zinc, separated iiy a liipiid con- 

 •factor, to a very fine Ihrend; and he 

 lias found this arraiiijemcnt compelent 

 li> j;:ive tiiem a high degree of mobility, 

 aiid to render them susceptible of obey- 

 ing or yielding to (ho action of exterior 



Report. [June I, 



agents, however feeble. Little bars, 

 strongly magnetised, presenting cither 

 of their poles to the apparatus, repulsed 

 or attracted it, imparting a rotatory 

 movement about the point of sus- 

 pension. 



Potatoes ill Bread. — JHy a large se- 

 ries of experiments, which Mr. Johm 

 Whately sonic years ago submitted to 

 the Society of Arts, it appears, that bread 

 made of erjual parts, by weight, of good 

 wheaten Hour, of starch or farina of po- 

 tatoes, and of boiled and mashed pota- 

 toes, rose ami baked well, and proved 

 of excellent quality. 



MEDICAL REPORT. 



RnpoRT o/DiSEASES anrf Casualties occurring in the public or private Practice of the 

 Physician icho has the care of the H'eslern District of the Cily Dispensary. 



"^XTHAT are the circumstances of the 

 ' ''^ system, topical-and general, under 

 a violent jjaroxysin of acute, or durinK the 

 wearing and wearying pain of clironic, 

 Jlieimialisni? and what are the most effica- 

 cious remedies in the one and the other 

 case ? 



Tliatrlienmatism is inflammation, would 

 •■ieem to be made out by some parlicniars 

 in its phenomena ; tliat it is not CDinuion 

 or mere inflanmiation, is sufEcicnily 

 f^hown by oflier of its characteristic marks. 

 For example, wliat instances have we of 

 ordinal y irritation of an inflammatory 

 liind, in which the parts are at once so 

 ticlllishly alive to the slightest touch or 

 JHOvemeut, while yon may grasp the whole 

 mcnibo." implicated a« you may the nettle, 

 or even intiict upon it violent IjIows, nor 

 only with impunity, but even with a salu- 

 tary clTect. Thus uuicii seems to be pretty 

 clear nspccting the pathology of this eti'- 

 rious coniplaint ; that its seal is prinripally 

 in that fine membtanoiis expansion which 

 lines the niu.-cles, and tiiat tlie regular 

 lil)rous action of these organs is thereby 

 interfered with ; so that pari of its pecu- 

 liarity must be referred to spasm, and 

 part to iuflauiuiation ; the membranous 

 irritation that produces the nmseulas' irre- 

 gularity, being itself the source of pain, 

 and this producing further pain by causing 

 irregular contractions in iliose innunie- 

 ralile bundles of tiLres, whose facile and 

 free, and harmonious movements, are re- 

 quired for the integrity of function. 



But how are we to atcount for chronic 

 cr long continued rheuuiati.^ni ? The term 

 iheumatism etymologically implies de- 

 fluxion ; and it has been supposed that 

 the cramps and clogs in the uioiions of an 

 old rhemnatic limb are traceable to a 

 something poured out ainong the nmscles 

 and joints during the continuance of the 

 malady iu its acute shaj)e. This, however, 

 is an erroneous theory. Dissect and care- 



fidly examine in detail all the vessels, and 

 fibrt-s, and men\btaues, in the limb of an 

 iudividiial who has died after suffering 

 from protracted rheumatism ; and, alihoiigli 

 you shall sometimes fiud partial thicken- 

 ings, you will more often meet with a 

 sort of wasting excavation, occasioned by 

 a 1 eduction of parts. The fact is, that 

 both the nervous and absorbent system 

 have more to do with the jiroduction of 

 rheumatic disorders than our theories 

 usually suppose ; and the appearances that 

 morbid dissection may display to us, are 

 in this, as iu many oiher cases, but par- 

 tially explan;\tory of actual essence. '' But 

 conic to the point," impatiently exclaims 

 the tortured victim of rbeuniatic irritation : 

 "a truce with your modes and your 

 essence.-, and tell nie how this membra- 

 nous, or muscular, or vascular, or nervous, 

 or absorbent, pain is to be got rid of? 

 Give me ease and comfort, and I will not 

 be over-nice vvi'h respect to the vaiions 

 items, either in the causing or curing 

 process." 



Iu acute iheumatism, upon its first 

 attacks it is of piime impoitance, as the 

 Reporter has moie than once stated, to 

 make a powiri'iil impression upon the 

 frame ; and this ii eflected, according to 

 his experience, v.ith more facility and 

 permanency by claterium or colchicura, 

 especially the foimer, than by profuse 

 bleedings. He has lately been attending a 

 rheumatic patient, whose cries from the 

 violence of pain were so piercing, that 

 neighbours could hear them, and in whom 

 elaterium iu the first irstauce, aud stra- 

 monium afterwards, proved of such avail, 

 that she reports of the prescriptions con- 

 taining tliese remedies, that she would not 

 part with thrm for a hundred pounds. 

 But the success of this plan, though often 

 signal, is not invariable ; and bleeding, 

 calomel with opium, eolchicum, compound 

 powder of ipecacuan, antimony, and other 

 niedicinals, 



