Vol. X.-No. 33. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



259 



as IK) impression can be more fatally false tliaii 

 this. Tlie united testimony of many able and dis- 

 tinguished physicians, Tvho could have no ))arty 

 or sinister objects to promote, corroborate these 

 views. We have the opinions of Doctors Rush, 

 .folinson, Bradford, and a host of others, on tlie 

 subject, long before Temperance Societies were 

 thought of. I beg leave to quote a single sentence 

 from Doct. Johnson's ' Essay on the Injliience of 

 Tropical Climates ' 



' The same principles (that is, principles which 

 he apiihed to tropical,) will apply to our ovm cli- 

 mate in the summer, and to au error in this par- 

 ticular is to be ascribed a large portion of the sud- 

 den deaths, which occur at this period and which 

 are usually ascribed to the effects of au agctit, 

 which often plays but a second part in this opera- 

 tion, that is, cold ivaler. I do not mean to deny 

 (he continues) that death occasionally happens 

 from drinking water, when the system is in a state 

 of high excitation — but this very state is the dan- 

 gerous one, aud this, in iiinetyninc cases out of a 

 hundred, is produced by spirits.' 



Setting aside, then, the gratification of a vitiated 

 and dejiraved appetite, I would ask, wliat apology 

 remains for their use ? The answer, if unswayed 

 by the love of rum, must be, no.ne. 



As to au article of diet, they are no longer to 

 be tolerated ; as au article of luxury, if there is 

 any pleasure in their use, let it be enjoyed by tlie 

 idle voluptuary, whose time or continuance in life 

 is of but little consequence ; but the time and 

 life of so useful a member of society as the indus- 

 trious farmer, are too precious to be thus trifled 

 witli, at least so thinks your humble servant, 



JNO. TOWNSEND. 

 Andover, Con. Feb. 18, ]832. 



DISEASE IN HORSES. 

 Mr Fessenden, , 



Sir — We deem it a privilege of the greatest 

 public utility, that we are permitted to exchange 

 Bentiments through the medium ofyour interesting 

 paper ; especially when confllicting opinions are 

 expressed in a friendly and charitable manner. 

 We were much gtatified by Dr Peck's statement, 

 relative to the late sickness of his horse. We have 

 experienced something of the kind amongst us ; 

 though our cases carried the ajjpearance of a pu- 

 trid type, rather than that of an inflammatory one ; 

 and the result of practice was corresjjondent. 

 For those that were bled died, and those that were 

 not generally recovered. 



Dr I'eck informs, that ' History furnishes us 

 with the accounts of severe epidemics, in which 

 several domestic animals were simultaneously af- 

 fected.' Which is really true. Witness the year 

 1711, when there was such a sweeping- mortality 

 timoug the black cattle of Europe. The writer 

 says it appeared like 'a malignant fatal fever,' and 

 there was a jilague among the jieople at the same 

 time. Also in the year 1714, the plague raged in 

 Holland among the cattle, till 300,000 diedr: and 

 the sj>otted fever ]u-evailed among the people, and 

 many died in the streets, until the magistrates 

 interfered and gave them assistance. 



Also in 1734, wlieu horses were said to be taken 

 with a fever, and on the fifth day they had twilch- 

 ings, and on the seventh and ninth they had deli- 

 riums, and on the ninth and twelfth they died 

 raging. After the first two patients, I began (saith 

 the writer,) the cure of the rest with weak dilu- 

 ents, then gave them mild laxatives, and repeated 



this course for the first 5 days. When the subsuUus 

 tendinum and light headedness apjicared, they had 

 the following powder : contrayerva, one scru|ile ; 

 radix serpentaria six grains, and camphor three 

 grains M. By which, convulsions, delirium, and 

 all dangers wore off. The fever weiit off the thir- 

 teenth or fifteenth day — no more died if this 

 course was taken. This was a fatal time among 

 age<l people, and immediately after set in the 

 cholera morbus, with convulsions, &c. 



Undoubtedly the case of Dr Peck's horse was 

 epidemical, or rather epi-ipical, if we may be 

 allowed the expression. We are told that the 

 horse had ' an obstinate and constant tendency to 

 the left, which might have been owing to unequal 

 aflections of the two hemisiiheres of the brain,' 

 which we have no disposition to dispute, but 

 permit us to say in our opinion, it may proceed 

 from a spasmodic afl'ection on the left side, or 

 greater on the left side at least, which ma^- be de- 

 monstrated by a pair of wheels and axle-tree; if 

 the wheels are of equal diameter, give them a 

 IJiopelling force, they will move in a right line ; 

 but should they be of unequal diameter, they 

 would move in circular lines. In like manner, 

 should the muscles of the legs and neck, on the 

 left side of the horse be contracted, there must of 

 course be an obstinate inclination to the left, in 

 proportion as the locomotive faculty on that side 

 was impaired. The Dr observes, it might be well 

 to start a little blood to relieve the congested or 

 gans, which we believe is generally approved of 

 by our best physicians. But permit me to inquire 

 if that does not depend on the cause .' — 

 We recollect but three cases, viz. inflammation, 

 inaction, and leutor. Inaction may depend on 

 ateny or spasm, and they, on a paucity of blood. 

 Would not bleeding, in this case, increase the 

 cause rather than remove it ? Should the inac- 

 tion depend on plethora, undoubtedly bleeding is 

 indicated. lu case of lentor, would taking a part 

 of the best blood have a tendency to remove the 

 congestion? Would not diluents (which our au- 

 thor made use of in 1734,) do better .' The Dr 

 observes, the vessels of the brain were very turgid. 

 May not this proceed from a spasm compressing 

 the other part of the vessels as the application of 

 a ligature ? 



The consideration of congested vessels, calls to 

 mind the anecdote of a man's curing a jiatient of 

 an obstinate headache, after several bleedings by 

 his attending physician bad failed. The jibysi- 

 cian asked him what he did to cure him? Why, 

 said he, what do you do when your ink is so thick 

 that it will not run ? Put in water and make it 

 more thin, said the physician. So did I give the 

 patient much water and diluents to drink, to thin 

 the blood to make make it circulate, said he. 



We have had frequent cases of typhus fever, 

 cholera morbus, &c, the season past ; and the 

 physician's bleeding had the same effect as the 

 farrier's. Of the persons who were let blood, 

 a great proportion of them died ; and those who 

 were not let blood, generally recovered. This 

 leads us to suppose that the diseases of man and 

 beast were simultaneous and typhus. Some say, 

 to assert that pains i)roceed from inflammation in 

 typhus fever, would be a contradiction in terms, 

 according to the common import of the word 

 typhus, which is derived from the Greek word 

 tuphos, signifying ostentation, or smoke without 

 fire — so that typhus signifies the appearance of 

 fever, without fever or heat. 



general ])ractice in post viurtem examinations, on 

 whatever ))arts are to be found traces of the disease, 

 to pronounce them the effect of an inflammation' 

 —but why, we are not able to say. Those daik 

 spots which appear on persons before death, call- 

 ed vib{ces,are not said to be the effects of inflam- 

 mation. ■ But, should they be found on any inter- 

 nal parts after death, they would be jirouounced 

 the effects of inflammation. 



We presume it is very difScult to distinguish 

 the effects of inflammation, from the efl'ects of 

 spasms and contusions, in post mortem examina- 

 tions. Again, are not jihysicians too prone to 

 attribute all pains to the effects of inflammation, 

 which may produce pain, so will spasms without 

 inflammation ? Therefore pain, simply considered, 

 does not indicate one more than the other, and 

 we deem it impossible to know which, without 

 taking under consideration the concomitant symp- 

 toms ; and likewise regard being had to the effects 

 of practice, for letting blood will relieve inflamma- 

 tory cases, aud stimulants will aggravate them. 

 Stimulants will relieve spasmodic cases, but blood 

 letting will aggravate them. MEDICUS. 



.Minot, Me. Feb. 15, 1832. 



SUGAR FROM POTATOES. 



I am informed that in the neighborhood of Jaf- 

 frey, N. II. there is now prejiaring an establish- 

 ment for the manufiicture of Sugar and Molasses, 

 on a large scale, from Potatoes. It is calculated 

 to pay for the potatoes their cash value there, 17 

 cents per bushel, and net a profit, above all costs 

 and expenses, of 20 cents ])er bushel. From each 

 bushel of potatoes, 7 pounds of sugar are made. 



Let the friends of the abolition of slavery and 

 the amelioration of the condition of negroes, 

 throughout the world, consider V ell, and proclaim 

 everywhere, what would be the happy result of 

 supplanting or diminishing the consumption of 

 West India sugar, which would be in some meas- 

 ure effected, if every large agricultural town in 

 New England had its sugar works. Attentive 

 observers have noticed that when prices of West 

 India produce are low, their negroes are not over 

 worked and fare better. R. P. WILLIAMS. 



Boston, Feb. 1832. 



A detail of the jirocess of making sugar from 

 potatoes, is given in Sillimau's Journal of Jan. 

 1632. It is there said that 



' A bushel of potatoes weighs about sixty pound.--, 

 and gives eight pounds of pure, fine, dry starch. 

 This amount of starch will make five pints of su- 

 gar, of the weight of nearly twelve pounds to the 

 gallon, equal to seven pounds and a half to the 

 bushel of potatoes, or a little less than a pound of 

 sugar to the pound of starch. The sugar is not 

 as sweet as the Muscovado sugar, nor is it actually 

 as sweet as its taste would indicate. 



'This sugar may be used for all kinds of do- 

 mestic purposes. It ferments with great liveliness 

 and spirit, when maiie into beer, yielding a health- 

 ful and delicious beveiagc, and on distillation, a 

 fine cider-brandy flavored spirit. It would lio\v- 

 ever be most useful in making sweetmeats, and 

 may be used upon the table in lieu of honey, for 

 which it is a good substitute. It has already be- 

 come a favorite with most jieople who have be- 

 come acquainted with it. Its taste is that of a de- 

 licious sweet, and as an article of dietit is unques- 

 tionably more healthful and less oppressive to the 

 It appears to be a I stomach, than any other sweet ever used.' 



