424 Experiments showing that in Hepatitis [Junk, 



and the foetal circulation cease, that moment do the thorax and 

 diaphragm .commence operation ; and if the jjlacental function 

 ceases for but a few minutes, before the mouth or nostrils get into 

 atmospheric air, the child is irretrievably gone. That thorax and 

 that diaphragm, having once begun, must continue their motion till 

 death. The first sign of death is the disappearance of respiration ; 

 and the first sign of recovery from asphyxia is a renewal of respira- 

 tion. It is not until God breathes into the nostrils the breath of life 

 that man becomes a living creature ; and no sooner does the breath 

 cease, than man becomes a mere lump of organized clay. 



Upon this view of respiration and nutrition, and upon the reci* 

 procity of their functions, or ratlier upon the subordination of nutri- 

 tion to respiration, I have formed a new theory of diseases, and more 

 rational and successful methods of cure. To enter upon this subject 

 would be encroaching in kind, as well as quantity, on your Journal. 

 That purgation is a cure for melancholia and mania, 1 in the mean 

 time take this opportunity of announcing ; both to secure to myself 

 the discovery, and the sooner to remove the most afflicting and the 

 most horrible of all the sufferings of humanity. The rationale and 

 cases shall be brought forward in detail elsewhere. I expect shortly 

 to see many who had recommended or administered a few doses of 

 physic to these diseases start forth as claimants of this discovery. . 

 I remain, very respectfully. Sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 



John Caoss. 



Article V. 



Experiments sJwwing that in Hepatitis the Urine contains no Urear. 



By Mr. C. B. Rose. 



(To Dr. Thomson.) 



SIR, Et/e, April 6, 1815. 



Permit me, through the medium of your Annals, to transmit 

 to its chemical and medical readers the knowledge of the absence of 

 urea from urine not being confined to the urine of diabetes only ; 

 for, while examining the urine of a girl labouring under a chronio 

 inflammation of the liver, I could discover no trace of urea : 

 indeed, its absence was as complete as in cases of diabetes mellitus ; 

 and I have ascertained this to be the case by a repetition of my 

 experiments on the urine in several cases of acute as well as chronic 

 inflammations of the liver. The urine operated upon in acute 

 hepatitis was rather high coloured ; in the chronic disease, it was 

 pale; its odour not so urinous; its specific gravity less than that of 

 healthy urine ; and consequently left a smaller quantity of extract 

 when evaporated. 

 Whether the above state of the urine is dependant on the 



