VOL. LXXXII.J PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. IQ3 



X. Account of the Remarkable Effects of a Shipwreck on the Mariners; with 

 Experiments and Observations on the Influence of Immersion in Fresh and Salt 

 JVater, Hot and Cold, on the Poivers of the Living Body. By James 

 Currie,-\- M. D., Felloiv of the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh. 



P- 199- 



On Dec. 13, 179O, an American ship was cast away on a sand-bank, in tlie 

 opening of the river Mersey into the Irish Channel. The crew got on a part of 

 the wreck, where they passed the night ; and a signal which they made being 

 discovered next day from Hillberry Island, a boat went off, though at a great 

 risk, and took, up the survivors. The unfortunate men had remained 23 hours 

 on the wreck ; and of 14, the original number, 11 were still alive, all of whom 

 in the end recovered. Of the 3 that perished, 1 was the master of the vessel ; 

 another was a passenger who had been a master, but had lost or sold his ship in 

 America ; the 3d was the cook. The bodies of these unfortunate persons were 

 also brought off by the men from Hillberry Island, and were afterwards interred 

 in Saint Nicholas church yard. The cook, who was a weakly man, died a few 



* On consulting otlier registers kept in and near London, it appears tliat the quantity of rain col- 

 lected in the rain-gage of the r. s. is remarkably deficient. Experiments are now making to deter- 

 mine the cause of this deficiency, and, if possible, its amount. In the mean time it was thought 

 right to apprise the public of the fact, that no reliance may be placed on tliat part of the Meteorolo- 

 gical Journal, tiU further information has been obtained. — Orig. 



■\ This ingenious physician was a native of Dumfriesshire, in Scotland, where he was born in 

 1706. He entered upon the study of that profession, in which he so much distinguished himself, 

 first at Edinburgh, and afterwards at Glasgow, at which last university he took the degree of m. d. 

 Shortly afterwards he settled at Liverpool, where he enjoyed an extensive practice for more than 20 

 years. He died at Sidmouth in 1 805, of what had been deemed a common pulmonary disease ; 

 but on opening his body after death, there appeared " a great enlargement and flaccidity of the 

 heart, accompanied with a remarkable wasting of the left lung, but without ulceration, tubercle, 

 or abscess." Dr. C.'s principal work is a treatise entitled, "Medical Reports on the Effects of 

 Water, Cold and Warm, in Febrile Diseases," first published in 1797, and since re-published more 

 than once with considerable additions. The practice recommended in this treatise was first intro- 

 duced by Dr. Wright ; but like many other improved modes of treatment, it would perhaps have at- 

 tracted little notice, but for Dr. C.'s observations upon it. He has shown the utility of this practice 

 both by reasoning and facts ; and while he has displayed much ingenuity in explaining the action of 

 cold water when applied to tlie surface of the body in febrile disorders, he has at the same time 

 evinced great judgment in the directions he has given respecting the time and manner of using this 

 remedy, adding in support of the whole, a numerous collection of successful cases, furnished partly 

 by his own experience, and partly by the experience of respectable correspondents. 



Although Dr. C. was actively engaged in tlie duties of his profession, and intent upon its improve- 

 ment, yet he found time for the cultivation of polite literature. Accordingly he undertook to be the 

 biographer of that extraordinary Scottish poet Burns, and was the editor of his works, collected and 

 published after the death of Burns, for the benefit of his family ; to whom, by this act. Dr. C pro- 

 cured a very considerable pecuniary aid. For other particulars concerning the life and writings of 

 Dr. C. the reader is referred to the Month. Mag. for 1 803. 



VOL. XVII. C 



