in preventing and curing Gangrene. 257 



The communication regards the application of blis- 

 ters, and their efficacy in arresting the progress of morti- 

 fication. Two cases have occurred in my practice dur- 

 ing the last summer, and a third was given me by a 

 respectable practitioner in this country. The first hap- 

 pened in this town, which is as follows : 



On the night of the 20th of July last, the sheriff of 

 this county being up late with his brother, who was 

 then ill of a fever, thought he discovered two men at 

 the jail, whom he suspected were about to break it, as 

 that had often been done before. 



He immediately went, with two young men, to arrest 

 them. On his approaching the jail, he called to them 

 to stand ; one of them did so ; but the other ran off, on 

 which the sheriff fired at him. The man went about a 

 hundred yards, and fell in the weeds and bushes, being 

 unable to proceed farther. When they were directed to 

 the spot by the cries of the man, they found him badly 

 wounded in the left leg by many drop-shot. He was ta- 

 ken to his lodgings, and assistance sent for. I having left 

 town to visit a patient in Wythe county, about thirty 

 miles, the attention of another gentleman was requested 

 while a messenger was dispatched for me. When I arriv- 

 ed, on the evening of the 22d, I found the patient feverish 

 and restless, with a large hot poultice extending from 

 above the knee, and enveloping the foot, as some shot: 

 had entered it, and Mere thickly scattered up as high as 

 the origin of the gemelus muscle. I immediately dis- 

 continued the poultice, bled him largely, and gave a 

 cathartic. I recommended an operation, but he would 



