{ $4 J 
XIX. Ninth Communication from Dr. THORNTON, Phys 
Jfician to the General Difpenfary, relative to Pneumatic 
Medicine. 
A DISEASED LIVER CURED BY VITAL AIR4 
Tue butler of Colonel Ironfide, .who had been long tefi- 
dent in India, laboured for feveral years under a well-marked 
liver complaint. He had been under the care of Dr. War- 
ten, and other phyficians, without experiencing any effential 
advantage. Colonel Ironfide, as all other means had been 
meffectual, wifhed him to try the vital air. He accordingly 
came under my care, and the fame tonics were employed as 
he had before taken; therefore I afcribe the cure to the vital 
air, which was conjoined with thefe, and which foon com- 
pletely reftored him to health; and he has continued well 
now above a twelvemonth. 
Obfervations. 
When animals placed in puré vital air were deftroyéd by 
fo powerful a ftimulus, Dr. Beddoes found the liver not 
liver-coloured, but of a florid red. We therefore can eafily 
fuppofe it to a& on this organ when given in a moderate 
Way: and as the oxyds of mercury and the nitrous acid, 
which are the beft remedies for this difeafe, ac chiefly from 
their contained oxygen, it is probable that the vital air will 
hereafter be found a fpecifié int this complaint, poffeffing fu- 
perior advantages over both thefe remedies, and will fuper- 
céde them, although it cannot be put up into two-ounce 
phials, the principal objection raifed againft it; for the airs 
can now (which originated from my fuge ican) be confined 
im barrels, and bottled off as eafily as wine: and F muft ob 
ferve, that this patient had a barrel of vital air, containing 
24 gallons, which coft him one guinea, conveyed for him to 
his mafter’s feat in the country, and a tin pneumatic appa- 
ratus for inhaling the medicinal air, which ftood him at the 
low rate of thirty fhillings ; which improvements, I truft, 
will greatly facilitate the “general application of pneumatic. 
medicine, when it wil be fure to find that level its merits 
entitle it to. ie ? 
INTEL- 
