17- Tenth CominnnlcatiQn from Dr. Thornton. 



she would tremble, and fall into a flood of tears. Her eves 

 beqame sunk and inanimate. Her colour, before extremely- 

 blooming, forsook her cheeks, and her whole complexion 

 appeared of a mahogany colour. Her bones were nearly 

 through her skin from emaciation, and she was obliged to 

 be carried in the arms of the servant from one room- to 

 another, having entirely lost all power over her limbs. She 

 was reduced to that state of lowness, that for days together 

 she would scarce notice any person, or e\'en speak. The 

 daily inquiries that were made at the house, were not whe- 

 ther this voung lady was better, but whether she was still 

 alive; and as tonic and stimulant remedies of every kind 

 had been inetTectually employed by the most skilful practi^ 

 tioncrs of the country, all of whom had pronounced to the 

 family Ijct recovery as a thing not to be looked for, she 

 was universally lamented, as a person labouring under a dis- 

 order that could not be removed. This melancholy state 

 had existed now more than thirteen years, when her bro- 

 ther*, who favoured me with the particulars of (his melan- 

 choly case, from pcru&ing ihe cures performed by vital and 

 other airs, recorded at length in vol. i. of my l^hilosophy of 

 Wedicine, as a dernier ressort applied to me for my advige ; 

 when I recommended the inhalation of the vital air. It 

 was begun September 14, 1802. P^-om the journal drawn 

 rtp by the lady, I shall beg leave to make a few extracts. I 

 had ordered two quarts of vital air mixed with fourteen or 

 fifteen of atmospheric to be inhaled daily, at two difiereiit 

 intervals. 



Ol'scrvat'ions, 



" Feel faint and Linguid after each time of inhaling; but 

 this sensation soon goes ofl', and then 1 feel refreshed. \ 

 experience a glow, and seeni as if I was lighter. 



" So pleased was I at feeling myself enlivened by this 

 quantity of vital air, that, contrary to the direction given, I 

 doubled the dose; and after the inhalation in the evening I 

 was sei'-iesl with the most dreadful coavulsive fit, which 

 lasted six hours, and I was in consequence coiifuied to my 

 bed. So convinced was I, however, that this fit, a thing 

 I had never experienced in mv life before, arose from an 

 overdose of the vital air, that 1 requested to have the pneui- 

 jnatic apparatus brought t(j niy bedside, and with difficulty 

 could persuade my frightened relations to let me try the 

 BK'dicated air again in a n)ore cautious manner. 



" The amendment was by its continuance in this way so 



• Mr. Vi'iliium Gocst, •.vinc-ni^rchanr, N.\ 14, Little Towcr-strtet. 



sireat 



