73 
weaters of Aix-la-Chapelle may be imitated 
with equal facility as those of Harrowgate 
and Moffatt, by merely heating the water be- 
fore the salt is added to it.” 
Mr. Henderson may mdeed make a 
fcetid saline sulphureous liquor by means 
of this salt, but he ought to have known 
a littlé more of chemistry before he ven- 
tured to pronounce that “ it really affords 
the means of imitating the sulphurated 
snineral waters, to much greater perfec- 
tion than any precess we are yet ac- 
quainted with.” 
' The Bit Noben appears, by our au- 
thor’s account, to be an artificial prepa- 
yation, or rather perhaps a native salt, 
which has undergone some preparation. 
it purges in moderate doses, and it seems 
40 tok the medicinal virtues which one 
' would expect from a sulphureous saline 
purgative. 
With regard to the Calamus Aroma- 
ticus, we are informed that it is a very 
pure bitter, without any aromatic fla- 
vour, and sold in the Indian markets for 
a trifle; but that Dr. Bruce, though he 
Art. LIV, An Account of the Discovery of the Power.of Mineral and Acid Fg 
destroy Contagion. By Joun Jounsiont, M.D. 8vo. ! 
IN the review of M. Guyton Mor- 
veau’s treatise, in our former volume 
(page 813), we gave a short history of 
the discovery and application of the va- 
pours of mineral acids to destroy conta- 
gion, and we there mentioned that the 
merit of being the first discoverer was un- 
doubtedly due to the late Dr. James 
Johnstone of Worcester. The pamphlet 
before us is a short and satisfactory state- 
ment of the claims of Dr. Johnstone, 
given by his son Dr. John Johnstone; 
and as the value of the discovery must 
be felt by every impartial observer, and 
has been sanctioned by, a national re- 
ward to a supposed inventor, we think it 
right to state it in the author’s own 
words: 
** In 1802, the report of the committee of 
the house of commons on Dr. C. Smyth’s 
petition, tates another sentence of Dr. Lind, 
‘that a certain method of destroying jafec- 
tion in places whence persons cannot be re- 
moved, is a desideratuin not yet obtained in 
physic. Many things had been proposed and 
tried, but without effect.” . 
«« Nearly “fty years before the framing of this 
‘report of the committee. of the house of com- 
mons, a country physician ya acquired emi- 
nence by the discovery ofa certain method of 
destroying infection, which could be used 
with perfect convenience in ‘the. apartments 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, ANATOMY, &c, 
ofered an hundred guineas for a fresh 
plant of it, could not obtain one, and was 
obliged to describe it from a dried spe- 
cimen. After a Jong quotation fron} 
Prosper Alpinus, and one or two orlier 
writers, the author professes to put the 
controversy about it out of dispute, by 
giving Pomet’s drawing of a bundle of 
the calamus, together with the plant that 
furnishes it; so that it does appear that 
Mr. Henderson himself never saw the 
fresh Calamus plant, any more than Ur. 
Bruce. 1 ii ; 
As the Indian Calamus is a pure bitter 
without aroma, we can hardly agree 
with the author that it would be a very 
valuable addition to our materia medica, 
so long as we can procure gentian or 
quassia. 
It appears that a quantity of Bit No= 
ben has been imported into this country, 
but has attracted very little notice. It 
certainly more deserves a trial than many 
new medicines, even than the boasted 
Lichen Islandicus, 
ours. hy 
of the sick. In 1758, Dr. James Johnston 
published his ‘ Historical Dissertation con- 
cerning the malignant epidemical Fever of 
1756, with some Account of the malignant 
]iseases prevailing since the year 1752, ia - 
Kidderminster.’ Tn that dissertation, adopt- 
ing the theory of the day, he proposes to keep 
the air free from putrefaction by the steams 
ofvinegar; or, as a more effectual method, 
* the marine acid may be raised very easily, 
by putting a certain quantity of common salt 
into a vessel, kept heated ‘upon a chafling 
dish of coals; if to this a small quantity of 
oil of vitriol is from time to time added, the 
air will be filled with a thick white acid 
stream.’ It is fortunate for the fame of Dr. 
Johnstone, that this discovery was published 
at that time. He had used the mineral acid 
vapour to correct the contagion of putrid fever 
in his earliest practice. The advantage de- 
rived froin it became so well known in Kid- 
derminster, that the manufacturers, during 
the prevalence of fevers in that town, sponta 
neousiy placed the fuming vessels in their. 
shops ; and Dr. Johnstone continued to use 
the muriatic vapour‘in his extensive practice, 
to the last hour of his life ; yet all this would 
have availed little, had it remained a melg. 
matter of prescription. It would have beén 
neglected can weir Os rand perhaps the 
practice and discovery altogether denied. 1 
shall not dwell on these possibilities. It was’ 
published in 1758, as having been practised in 
1750; and the book attracted so much notice, 
that the whcle edition was quickly sold.” 
