452 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1740. 



This globe is fastened to the axis, and turns with the wheel b. c is the 

 brass cup, which polishes the glass: this is fastened to the axis, and turns with 

 the wheel d. So that the motion of this cup c is at right angles with the mo- 

 tion of the globe a. 



Of an immoderate and fatal Use of Crabs' Eyes* and other earthy Absorbents, 

 producing Calculi in the Stomach and Kidneys.'^ By J. Philip Breyne, M. D., 

 F. R. S. Addressed to Sir Hans Sloane, President of the Royal Society, &c. 

 N°459, p. 557. From the Latin. 



In this communication Dr. Breyne relates the case of Sir Robert Racket, Kt. 

 who resided in Barbadoes. He was of a robust constitution, and enjoyed very 

 good health, except that he was sometimes attacked with the gout, in conse- 

 quence of indulging too freely in wine. Another consequence of his occasional 

 intemperance was that he was troubled with cardialgia or heartburn, for the re- 

 moval of which he frequently made use of crabs'-eyes, chalk and other earthy 

 absorbents, which afforded a temporary relief; but as after some time he be- 

 came subject to a daily recurrence of this symptom (the heartburn) he con- 

 tinued taking the beforementioned absorbents in large doses every day, for a 

 number of years ; until at length they not only failed to relieve the cardialgia, 

 but brought on a most distressing sense of weight under the diaphragm, ac- 

 companied sometimes with vomiting, and most acute nephritic pains. These 

 symptoms proved fatal in 1694, when the patient was in his 56th year. 



On opening the body a great number of calculi of different sizes, and 

 branched after the manner of corals, were found in the stomach. The largest 

 and most remarkable of these ramified calculi, though the extremities of some 

 of the branches had been broken off at the time they were shown to Dr. 

 Breyne, by Mr. W. Racket, (son of the deceased, and who communicated 

 to the Doctor the particulars of this case), yet it then weighed 2 oz. 5 drs. 

 The next in size weighed 1 oz. 1 dr. The others were much smaller, from 

 the size of a poppy seed to that of a pea, and for the most part of a sphe- 

 rical shape. 



All these calculi were inveloped in the stomach in a thick slimy fluid, which 

 by drying upon paper in the air became converted into a powder, that very 

 much resembled the substance of which the aforesaid calculi were composed. 

 Nevertheless the substance of these calculi was not exactly alike in all. In the 



*» * The lapilli cancrorum, vel oculi cancrorum are stony concretions found in the stomach of 



crabs. 



f In renibus. But in the history of this case mention is made of one kidney only. 



