_ 
792 
addition or abstraction of heat from a 
permanently. elastic vapour does not 
seem to be capable of annihilating. it.— 
No facts have been brought forward to 
prove, that hydrogen gas possesses any 
such deleterious properties as those which 
the author ascribes to it, and if it is only 
supposed to be a part of a poisonous 
compound, we are still in the dark with 
regard to the other, and perhaps the 
most necessary ingredients. 
The exhalations or gases above-men- 
tioned, seem to be capable of producing 
simple fever, which, by exposure to * ac- 
cumulated febrilized animal .effluvia,’”’ 
are supposed to be converted into conta- 
gious fever, and thus rendered adequate 
: Art. Li. An Introduction to Electricity and “Galvanism with Cases, shewing their Ef- 
frets in the Cure of Diseases. To which i: added, a Description of Mr. Cuthbertson’s 
electrical Machine. By J.C. Carervur, Surgeon; being the Substance of Lectures deli- 
vered to his anatomical Class. 
IT is seldom that outlines of lectures 
can do more than give the reader an idea 
what the Jectures themselves would be, 
or afford some instruction to him who 
would wish to repeat the experigents 
exhibited in the lecture-room. In this 
point of view the small volume before 
us, and the plates that accompany it, may 
assist the student. The cases to which 
the author has applied electricity as a 
cure of disease, are detailed more at 
large, and with apparent accuracy and 
‘candour. Weshall give two of them. 
<« Deufness. 
«© A young lady of scrophulous habit had 
been deaf three years; she could not hear, so 
as to hold aconversation. I threw sparks 
on the mastoid process, and round the meatus 
auditorius externus, and drew them from the 
same paris of the opposite side with my fin- 
gers, twenty times a day for three weeks, 
when she could hear perfectly well, . 
«© A gentleman, aged fifty, had been: deaf 
nine months; I electrified him eight umes, 
when he recovered. 
« A gentleman had been deaf six months ; 
could not “hear me speak at a yard distance. 
I electrified him the first day twenty minutes 
(as in the first case) ;, he could now hear me 
at twenty vards distance. I continued to 
electrify fh every day for three weeks, ahd 
he gradually recovered. 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, ANATOMY, -&c. 
to propagate each other. All contagious * 
diseases are thus supposed to arise ori- 
ginally from similar causes, and the pe- 
culiar differences by which the’ various 
species of contagious diseases are disti 
guished, are conjectured to proceed fro 
accidental circiimstances, as eruptions of 
various kinds, with which the original 
simple disease ray have been combined. 
Specific contagions are thus supposed 
to be transmitted propria forma, 
<¢ —from one subject to another, on simi- 
lar principles with which hereditary diseases, 
peculiar constitution, similitude of temper 
and person, are conveyed from parents to 
children. ‘The process of previous animali-_ 
zation is equally inexplicable in both.” 
“« Opacity of the Cornea. 
7 
«« A cirl, aged six years, had an opacity of 
the cornee of both eyes, in consequence of 
the small pox, which was so considerable 
that you could not observe the pupil; she - 
could tell when a candle was brought into 
the room, but could not distinguish objects ; 
she had been in this state two years; the 
usual applications had been tried. I drew 
the aura with a wooden point from the 
parts affected ten minutes a day for fourteen. 
days, continuing the applications without an 
visible effect ; during this time the elsctri- 
city did not give any pain, but on continuing 
it the parts became very irritable, much pain 
being occasioned by the fluid. I now ob- 
served a visible alteration; the girl began to 
distinguish objects, and by the end of three 
months a cure was nearly effected. I now 
electrified the eyes occasionally, and at the 
end of six months she was perfectly reco- 
vered. I have had other successful cases of 
opake cornea, though I have been unsuc- 
cessful in many. Ihave observed that those 
opacities occasioned by the small-pox yield 
more yeadily to electricity than those occa- 
sioned by other causes,” 
We have preferred these cases, as the 
benefit received was palpable, and not 
liable to be exaggerated by any influencé 
of the patient’s imagination. ~ 
Aer. LI. Aa Essay on the Medical Application of Electricity. By Joun Biren, Eso. 
~ Surgeon Extraordinary to his Royal [Highness the Prince of Wales, aud one of the Surgeans 
. 
to St. Thomas’s Hospital. 8v0. 
THIS ‘decided testimony to the im- 
portance of electricity in the eure of dis- 
eases, Was insexted many years ago in 
Mr. Adams's treatise on electricity, and 
is now published separately. We there, 
fore only notice it to introduce an obser 
