Cajcs of Rachitis trented 'whh Calcafeous Phofphate. '■' a*3 



accelerate the frequently' 'parthlr procefs of other remedies ? The Author thinks that th4 

 lollowing obfervation is<;oncIu(ive in this refpect : 



" At the end of th6 month of February 1790," fays this phyfician, " a rachitic chihf, 

 aged eight years (J. Efprit Guindc), was prefcnted to me in the General Hofpital of this 

 town. He had been for feveral weeks among the patients under the care of the furgeon. 

 At the firft moment a prominence of the firft dorfal vertebrx was obferved, with a con- 

 fiderable weaknefs of the legs. A large bliftering plaifter had been applied over the com- 

 mencing gibbofity, and the blitler was kept open by powder of cantharidcs for more than 

 a month. The fituation of the infant was not amended. 1 remarked in this patient 

 all the charafters of the difeafe defcribed by Pott. I concluded that the blifter had pro- 

 <luced as great a difcharge as was necefiary, and that it was more cflential to oppofe the 

 progrefs of the rachitic habit. I ordered the whole of the fpine to be carefully w-afhed 

 three times a-day with an alkaline and aromatic lixivium. The phofphate of foda was 

 mixed with twice as much powder of burnt hartfliorn. Of this 1 gave to the child one 

 fcruple twice a-day in a fpoonful of foup. After the firft week he was able to walk with 

 affiftance ; by degrees the folidity of his legs was re-ellabliQied, and the fpine appeared to 

 recover itfelf. And at length, on the 31(1 of December, when I quitted the fervice of that 

 hofpital, the boy thought himfelf fufficiently recovered to return to his friends. 



" Eight or nine months afterwards, I found this unfortunate child in another hofpital 

 appropriated to the reception of fcrophulous patients. From his anfwers to the queftions I 

 propofed, I found that the treatment of the month of December had not been continued 

 long enough to deftroy the principle of the rachitis ; that the diforder had been as it were 

 fubdued during fix months, but that coarfe food had developed it again. And laftly, that 

 the fwelling of certain glands, and a diminution of the folidity of feveral ribs and of the 

 humerus of the right fide, were the effeils of Its renewed aftivity. I ordered purgatives 

 to be repeated every eight days, the alkaline lotion, and the mixture of the phofphate of 

 iime and foda; in addition to which I prefcribed the ufe of the faponaceous and mercurial 

 pills. The efficacy of thefe remedies was very fenfible. The advances of the rachitic dif- 

 order were flopped ; the evacuations were kept up ; the dijlortion of the ribs and cf the hu- 

 merus difappeared ! but the original gibbofity remained. This deformity, which could not 

 be effaced, did not diminifl; the pleafure I had to fee this child perfedly cured after three 

 months treatment." 



In mofl of thefe obfervations mention is made of alkaline lotions and their beneficial 

 cfFecfls. The following Is the Author's own account : 



"In ordinary cafes of rachitis, particularly at the commencement of the diforder, it is 

 of adv.-mtage to ufe a fimplc folution of pot-afh to wadi the parts affeded. This folutiou 

 Is made by diflblving from half an puiice to an ounce of purified pot-afli * In a pound of dif- 



•^ M. UiAM, in a note on this paflagc, obfofvcs, tliat pure pot-afh, or the vegetable alkali, is a moft powerful 

 Ciuftic, and cannot be ufcil iu tlicl'e prupoftions. He found a folution of only one-eighth p:irt of the fait here 

 indifaied was too flrong a lotion for tlie Ikin of an infant which wBs very irritable. Citilen Bonhomme, upon 

 inquiry made, aciiuaintcil liim that the pot-alli he '.iftd was that <if the <hop», which is very far frotn 

 being in a cauftic ftatc. Pfobably it may be the fame a; the conimmi falc of tartar of moll of our (Imps in 

 l/mion, which Ic nt)ihing but pot-alli or peail-.ifli diffolvcd in waStr, then filtered, and the water driven off by 

 .:vif»n<kuti, it aceordfngly retains all its'fiiKnc fir.prrritlt!. N. ' 



D d 2 tilled 



