30 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1724. 



wounds, by incision, in the upper part of his left arm, and then appHed his 

 nostrum, and with the help of a good roller, was cured in 2 days time. Next 

 he mentions a martial styptic, which stopped bleeding incomparably, and healed 

 fresh wounds he says in 2 days time, especially if the patient took a few drops 

 inwardly. This has likewise been mentioned by Blegny near 30 years before. 



When Dr. S. was in France, he found that several trials were made there also, 

 with a styptic ball mixed with French brandy, by striking a cock through the 

 head, opening the crural-artery of a dog, or chopping off a dog's leg, &c. but 

 he found it did not amount to any thing of consequence; yet he had still a ball, 

 made above 20 years before, of filings of iron, and an equal quantity of tartar, 

 mixed well with French brandy on a marble. This, with some alteration, was 

 afterwards published by the famous Helvetius, physician to Lewis the 14th of 

 France, in a book called, Recueil des Methodes pour la Guerison des diverses 

 Maladies, which was reprinted in Holland in the year 17 10. 



The recipe for his medicinal ball, translated, is as follows : Take 4 lb. of the 

 filings of steel, and 8lb. of tartar, well powdered; mix these well together, 

 and put them in a new earthen pot, and pour on them as much French brandy 

 as will make it into a poultice. Let this stand fermenting in a cellar for 4 days, 

 and stir it between whiles. Then put it in balneo mar. and distill it s, a. with a 

 moderate fire, to draw oft" the brandy. When you find that nothing but the 

 phlegm comes over, then take it from the fire, and take out the mass, stamp it 

 very fine, that not the least lump may remain ; then mix it again as before with a 

 sufficient quantity of brandy, and put it in the cellar to ferment as before, and 

 then distill it a 2d time. This operation may be reiterated 7 or 8 times; but 

 the last time mix the mass well on a marble, and form it into 2 ounce-balls. 

 One of these balls is steeped in a pint of good French brandy, a little warmed, 

 and hung only in it by a wire, till the brandy has received the colour of the 

 ball. But if you are in haste, grate a sufficient quantity of the ball in some 

 brandy, stir it well, and you may use it that very instant. 



Doubtless the author thought, by often grinding, fermenting, and distilling 

 this mass, to comminute and subtilize its particles, so as to make it more fit to 

 contract the fibres and vessels of a wound, and to prevent stagnations of the 

 fluids, both within and without, on contusions ; but the success did not answer, 

 and therefore it was laid aside. Neither did Helvetius ever recommend it as an 

 universal styptic, astringent, or consolidating medicine, but merely in fresh 

 wounds, and that only for a first dressing, and where people lived at a distance, 

 and could not get immediate assistance from a surgeon. Besides, he makes 

 several exceptions where it should not be used; and, in general, advises it 

 where chalybeate medicines may be made use of according to experience. 



