120 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 1757. 



4. It appears from Lord Walpole's case, that soap and lime-water, even when 

 taken in large quantities, proceed very slowly in dissolving the stone. From 

 July 1748, to the beginning of 1757, his Lordship drank 3 English pints of 

 lime-water, and swallowed for the most part an oz. of soap daily ; except from 

 April 1750 to June 1751, during which time he took only 1 pint of lime-water, 

 and one-third part of an oz of soap daily. However speedily soap and lime- 

 water may dissolve the greatest part of urinary stones out of the body, yet being 

 mixed with the aliment and humours of the stomach and guts, and afterwards 

 with the whole mass of blood, it is impossible but their force must be greatly 

 impaired before they arrive with the urine at the bladder. When therefore uri- 

 nary stones are of an uncommon hard texture, we are perhaps scarcely to expect 

 any sensible dissolution of them by the use of soap and lime-water : but when 

 they are of a softer kind, there is no reason to doubt that these medicines will in 

 time dissolve them ; and this will happen sooner or later, in proportion to the 

 hardness of the stone, to the quantity of the medicine swallowed by the patient, 

 and the exact regimen he observes as to diet. 



But however slowly soap and lime-water may proceed in dissolving the stone, 

 yet they generally give speedy relief to the patient. Lord Walpole did not take 

 these medicines in the full quantity till the end of July 1748; and in a few 

 months after he was not only greatly relieved of all his complaints, but in De- 

 cember was able to ride 1 00 miles in his coach, without finding any uneasiness 

 though the last 2 days of the journey, the horses went at a full trot. In winter 

 17 60, and spring 1751, when his lordship swallowed only one-third part of the 

 soap and lime-water, which he had been in use to take, his pains and fr^uent 

 inclination to make urine returned in a good degree : but after taking the medi- 

 cines in the full quantity, he soon became as easy as before. 

 --^It would seem, while Lord Walpole used only one pint of lime-water and one- 

 third of an oz. of soap daily, that the petrifying quality of his urine was not 

 entirely destroyed, and that the stony particles newly formed on the surface of 

 the calculi occasioned, by their roughness, the return of his painful symptoms. 

 However, when he had recourse to the medicines in a larger quantity, the pe- 

 trescent quality of his urine was not only destroyed, but this fluid seems to have 

 acquired a power of dissolving the rough stony particles deposited on the surface 

 of the calculi ; and in this way soon removed the pain, bloody urine, and frequent 

 desire to make water, on using any considerable exercise. H 



Soap and lime-water not only relieve the painful symptoms occasioned by the 

 stone, by wearing off its sharp points and rougher parts, which used to irritate 

 the tender membrane which lines the bladder ; but when this membrane has been 

 wounded or lacerated by the stone, there is nothing that will heal it more speedily 



