Internal Exhilntlon of the Acetate of Lead. 131 



had most excruciating pain in his abdnmen, and serou? dis- 

 charges frnmhis bowels— His pulse became highly iiifiani- 

 matorv. Injcciions, purges, and prepared chalk 'did not 

 relieve. In this s^tjaiion 1 ordered him to take two grains 

 of the lead every two hours. The third dose seemed To re- 

 move entirelv the inria.nination : so that in two days the boy 

 had no other conipldiiit but his blisters, which soon healing^^ 

 he was discharged tor duty. From this I conclude, that 

 the lead is wonhy oF a trial in dysentery, at lea?t after the 

 e vac u ants are used. 



When I tound the throat and oesophagus of Russel so in- 

 irrnahle, I unsuccessfully endeavoured lo procure a probang 

 and flexible tube, to introduce into his stomach. With the 

 first I could have extracted some of the brandy in his sto- 

 mach, and with the last probably the whole : so that the 

 danger, from that alcohol, which had not acted, would have 

 been removed. In all cases where poisons, such as spirits, 

 opium, &c., are swallowed, and are followed bv extreme 

 inirritability of the throat, 1 have no hesitation'in bayiny, 

 that great relief might be afforded by introducing the end of 

 some flexible tube into the stomach. By this tube much 

 vapour would escape; the bodv could be so placed as to fa-: 

 vour the running off of any fluid, or, at least, it would be 

 practicable to evacuate considerably by suction : by dilution 

 with water, and repeated evacuations, the stomachmight be 

 entirely cleansed. Indeed, my reflections on this subject 

 have iiDpressed me with the belief, that the introduction of; 

 such a tube into the stomach, for Che evacuation of poisons, 

 and into the rectuin, up to The sigmoid ilcx'ion of the colon 

 for the escape of that flatus, cau^sing colic, v/ill prove of as 

 much service to mankind as the catheter has been in the' 

 discharge of urine from the bladder. At least the practice I 

 propose in such cases is far more reasonable than washincr' 

 the stomach f<r some disorders, by means of an instrument^ 

 which, 1 observe, Heister says, was done by the elder sur- 

 geons. 



The last cases which embarrassed me, and in which lad- 

 minisiered the sugar of lead, were. those of salivation, in 

 the navy hospital under my care, I find frequent occasion 

 for the use of mercury : in many instances ilie salivation has 

 been excessive, and no mitigation of symptoms could be 

 efleeted by f)pium, sulphur, blisters, purgatives, or any me- 

 dicine that has been rccoiTnnended. I have seen death arise 

 in one instance tr(jin the salivation, and have apprehended 

 it in inanv. < 



This was leading me to lessen the frequency of mercury 

 12 ' ia 



