122 On Gmvelhj and Calculous ConcretioTii.. 



same circumstance, contrary to uhat was generllty «np- 

 posed, the carbonated, sub-carbonated, nay, the super-car- 

 bonated, exert similar influence, though in an inferior de- 

 gree. That lime, e7ea in the small proportion it presents 

 itself to us in lime water, is a most active and safe solvent of 

 calculi of the uric acid kind, and its various combinations ; 

 as has been long since ascertained by Whyie, That, weight 

 for weight,. it exceeds even the caustic alkali in any state of 

 dilution that the latter can be applied to the living body. 

 That, finding four ounces of lime water, containing only 

 two grains three quarters, take up, or detach, seven grains 

 three quarters from a very compact calculus, we may be led 

 to suppose this may arise from its action on the aggluti- 

 nating medium, its affinity to, and energy on, animal matter 

 bejng so welt known ; and, if so, may we not expect some- 

 thing from its power on the mulberry calculus, our inost 

 formidable enemy? For, though it cannot touch the oxalate 

 of lime, it may the cementing medium, with which it pe- 

 culiarly abounds. 



For the application of these established facts to useful 

 purposes, I must refer to my surgical friends, being all now 

 possessed of the necessary degree of chemical acquirement ; 

 and I am happy to find this career already entered on by my 

 friend Mr. Crampton, vvho has favoured us with an analysis 

 of a pulmonary calculus in the Philosophical Transactions, 

 and from whose professional as well as scientific talents we 

 have every thing to expect in fulfilling (even on this occa- 

 sion) his duties as a teacher. 



Having xvow endeavoured to accomplish the chief object 

 of this essay, which was, to establish experimentally a more 

 clear and comprehensive view of the nature of these mala- 

 dies, and the /emedies employed to combat them, than we 

 hitherto possessed, I should not have trespassed further on 

 the time of the academy, were it not properly suggested, by 

 my friend Dr. Clarke, that it would be of importance to 

 ascertain how far the facts and notions, brought forward in 

 it, may stand confirmed or contradicted by the result of our 

 practical application of them in Simpson's Hospital ; an 

 establisbmcut affording the best and most extensive field of 



observ?itioni 



