< 35;i ) 



FARTHER REMARKS 



ON THE EFFICACY OF 



BLUE VITRIOL IN THE CURE OF DROPSY. 



[Communicated in a Letter to Dr Simmons, F. R. S. and first pub- 

 lished in the London Medical Journal for the Year 1789, vol. x. 

 page 149.] 



Edinburgh, \st March 1789. 



Agueeably to my promise, I now send you some farther 

 remarks on the cure of certain species of dropsy by blue vi- 

 triol, which I hope you will deem worthy of a place in the 

 London Medical Journal. 



From the number of fatal accidents that have happened 

 from the use of copper vessels, speculative authors have set 

 down all the preparations of that metal as virulent in their 

 effects, and of a deleterious quality ; but this depends alto- 

 gether on the substances with which the copper is combined. 

 It is indeed certain that verdigris, however formed, and taken 

 into the stomach in any considerable quantity, destroys ani- 

 mal life ; but on the other hand, cuprum ammoniacum * 

 (Pharm. Edinensis), in proper doses, has been found efficaci- 

 ous in several cases of epilepsy, and other spasmodic diseases : 

 and blue vitriol has long ago been found effectual in remov- 

 ing obstinate agues, and lately very beneficial in phthisis pul- 

 monalis. 



The last mentioned preparation I have found not only a 



* Copper combined with the volatile alkaU. 

 2 z 2 



