104 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1750. 



from a human bladder, which for its uncommon size may deserve the notice of 

 this Society. It is of an oval shape, flatted on one side, and its surface is smooth. 

 The specific gravity plainly shews that it is of animal origin, its weight being to 

 that of water, only as 1.73 to 1. It was taken from the wife of Thomas Raisin, 

 locksmith in Bury, after her death, by Mr. Gutteridge, a surgeon of Norwich. 

 She had felt much less pain than might have been expected from so large a 

 stone; and might probably have lived much longer with it, had she not thought 

 herself well enough to attempt a journey on horseback ; for while riding she was 

 suddenly seized with violent pains, that obliged her to be taken off the horse 



education. " In 1724 he was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, of which he was afterwards 

 elected a fellow. From that time he directed his attention to the study of medicine, which he pur- 

 sued partly at Cambridge and partly in London. Having taken his degree of m. d. he practised in 

 the university for about 10 years, and during that time read every year a course of lectures on the 

 Mat. Med. In 174-6', he became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and 2 years after- 

 wards leaving Cambridge, he settled in London and was elected f. r. s. He very soon got into 

 great business, which he followed with unremitting attention above 30 years, till it seemed prudent 

 to withdraw a little from the fatigues of his profession. He therefore purchased a house at Windsor, 

 to which he used ever afterwards to retire during some of the summer months ; but returned to Lon- 

 don in the winter, and still continued to visit the sick for many years. In 1766 he recommended 

 to the College of Physicians the first design of the Medical Transactions, in which he proposed to 

 collect together such observations as might have occurred to any of their body, and were likely to 

 illustrate the history or cure of diseases. The plan was soon adopted, and 3 vols, have successively 

 been laid before the public. In 1778 the Royal Society of Medicine in Paris chose him into the 

 number of their associates." Besides his Commentaries on Diseases published after his death. Dr. H. 

 wrote several papers in the Medical Transactions, and others, in addition to the above, in the Phil. 

 Trans. He was the first who gave a clear and satisfactory account of that painful thoracic disease, 

 called angina pectoris. He died in 1801, when he was in his 91st year. 



Dr. H. possessed a liberal and enlightened mind, a sound and accurate judgment, a refined and 

 classical taste, and was endeared to all who knew him by the rectitude of his moral conduct, and 

 an uniform complacency of disposition. 



As a medical writer he ranks with the most eminent physicians which this country has ever pro- 

 duced In his Commentaries on Diseases, written and printed separately both in English and Latin — 

 in Latin which for classical purity may be compared to the latinity of Celsus himself — he has de- 

 scribed with a precision and fidelity which have never been surpassed the histories of morbid af- 

 fections ; and with a candour worthy of imitation, has told what modes of treatment he had found, 

 after long experience and diligent observation, to be beneficial and hurtful in each ; thus bequeathing 

 to posterity a work replete with practical truths, unmixed with theoretical reflexions. It may, 

 however, be remarked that he seems to have been too much prejudiced against chemical medicines; 

 and that having been disappointed in his trials of some reputed remedies in certain obstinate dis- 

 orders, he was too much inclined to doubt the possibility of their cure being effected by any kind of 

 medicines ; thus throwing a damp on further remedial exertions. "We readily admit that medical 

 enthusiasm has often proved disgraceful to the art ; on the other hand, we think that medical scep- 

 ticism may be carried to an improper length. Because there are diseases which have hitherto re- 

 sisted the action of various and even opposite remedies, we are not therefore to conclude that it is 

 hopeless to make further curative efforts. So long as the organization of parts essential to life re- 

 mains undestroyed, we ought not to despair. Nature has furnished a copious stock of meilicinaj 

 agents. It will require ages to exhaust them all. 



