On the Agency of Electricity in producing Combustion. 17 
direct and sudden, the mode above recommended should be 
pursued : if indirect, and in consequenee of long exposure to the 
cause, as is ordinarily the case in the effects produced by cold ; 
heat, as in this instance, should be cautiously and gradually ap- 
plied, with friction, &c. 
P.S.—My experience warrants me in asserting, that in all. 
instances of burns and scalds, which admit of the total exclusion 
of the external air, as in the mode of immersion and poulticing 
before mentioned, the best method is to omit entirely, during that 
process, any dressing to the part, although the cutis be left de- 
nuded. ; 
To this mode I attribute the complete success in the last m- 
stance, in which case much of the cuticle was entirely destroyed 
or detached by the fire; the sedative and astringent qualities 
of the saturnine preparation acting ccnjointly withthe cold, in 
constringing and closing the orifices of the cutaneous exhaling 
vessels, and thereby preventing effusion, and subsequent suppura- 
tion. It will be apparent that the powlticing is merely a modi- 
fication of the same principle as immersion, for the sake of con- 
venience, and may therefore, under particular exigencies or cir- 
cumstances, be commenced at any time. 
To Messrs. Nicholson and Tilloch. 
IV. On the Agency of Electricity in constituting the peculiar 
Gace oh tbe is P 
Properties of Bodies, and producing Combustion. By Mr. 
JoHN WEBSTER. 
Tue secondary causes which operate throughout nature are 
formed with such infinite wisdom and design, by the first great 
inscrutable cause, that it cannot excite our surprise that finite 
creatures are unable to fathom or explain these laws, or that 
there should be various hypotheses concerning them. 
Although the advancement that has been made in the chemical 
department of nature is still limited, yet enough has been done 
to show the simplicity of her laws and the generality of their 
operations. When we see principles widely diffused, we conclude 
that they are intended for great and important purposes in the 
ceconomy of nature, and that general effects are derived from 
these prevailing causes. 
Light, heat, and electricity are imponderable elements of uni- 
versal distribution, and “appear to be primary instruments in the 
hands of nature. In discovering her laws, we are more induced 
to speculate on tangible and sensible masses, than on these uni- 
versal principles. 
VoL. 43. No, 189. Jan, 1814. B We 
