Extraordinary Cure of Lock- Jaw. 231 



then left open, they soon acquired all the good qualities of the 

 first bottle. 



The bale of coffee was now opened, and a portion of it was 

 roasted. Its flavour was found much altered : it was more bit- 

 ter, and left in the mouth a taste similar to an infusion of bark. 



The bark which produced these effects was fresh. Would 

 the cinchona of commerce produce the same effects ? This ques- 

 tion can be answered only by experiment. 



EXTRAORDINARY CURE OF LOCKJAW. 



[From the Quebec Gazette.] 



The interest of suffering humanity tending at times to excite 

 public attention, I pul>lish the following case, which even the 

 gentlemen of the faculty will not peruse with indifference. It is 

 well known v/ith how little success the medicinal art has hitherto 

 struggled with that terrible disorder known by the name of Te- 

 tanus (Opisthotonos), especially when caused by a wound. 



On the 15th of December last, Mary Saint Gelais, 19 years 

 old, a servant to Mr. Saul, fell on the glazed frost and lacerated 

 the integuments of her right knee; but the wound not appearing 

 dangerous, she continued her usual occupations. Eighteen days 

 after, although the wound appeared perfectly healed, she began 

 to complain of a stiffness in the back of her neck, ai.d a cer- 

 tain difficulty in moving her jaw; accompanied with a pain in 

 her knee, which the curing of the wound had not lieen able to 

 dispel. The pain having increased in an alarming rnanner during 

 the day, the patient uas carried in the evening to Dr. Blanchet, 

 who prescribed something for the night — Dr. Iffland being called 

 in, at Mr. Saul's desire, declared that the tetanus was then com- 

 plete. During three days he employed in a masterly manner 

 every thing that the art prescribes in such cases ; but perceiving 

 all his efforts were useless, he requested his friend Dr. P. De 

 Salles Latterriere to form a consultation. Of this, the result 

 was amputation ; to which, nevertheless, tne patient and her re- 

 lations positively refused their consent. They tlien contented 

 themselves with enlarging the wound, and dressing it with the 

 common stimulants, leaving the patient with such full conviction 

 of her apj>roacliing death, that they thought it their duty to give 

 her warning of her extreme danger, and her relations of the cer- 

 tainty of her death. 



I found the poor woman in so violent a paroxysm that her 

 whole body was bent like a bow, and sn|.>ported otdy on the back 

 of tlic head and on the heels. The jaus were so closed that it 

 was im|)ossible to introduce the blade of a knife.' 1 confess that 

 1 also tliou'^ht heron the very point of cxi)iring; yet her pulse, 

 although weak and ra])i<l, and nuich resembling such a one as 



1' -{ commonly 



