I OW Removal of a Paralytic Affection 



. Postcript. 



Frojn an ounce of sulphuric acid, I practically obtain (I 

 may say without trouble) about twenty tumblers of as pleas- 

 ant drink as I could ask or wish for. 



It is a great luxury, and I have no doubt that it has beea 

 of much service to my health. The sulphate of lime here, 

 is worth six or eight times what the ground marble costs. 



Art. XVI. — Case of a Paralytic Affection, cured hy a 

 stroke of lightning. Communicated for this Journal, by 

 D. Olmsted, Professor of Chemistry in the College of 

 JVorth Carolina. 



The following case of recovery from a paralytic affection 

 by a violent stroke of lightning, was first mentioned to me 

 by a very respectable gentleman in whose hearing I had re- 

 cited the well known galvanic experiments, performed by 

 Dr. Ure, of Glasgow, on the body of a culprit. My in- 

 formant not having had opportunity to investigate the facts, 

 was so obliging as to direct me to such sources of informa- 

 tion as could be relied on ; and I have since been favoured 

 with letters from the individual himself, and from respecta- 

 ble gentlemen in his neighbourhood. Common report, as 

 usual, had represented the case in the most marvellous col- 

 ours, from which it would appear, that tottering and wrink- 

 led age being restored, in an instant, to vigorous and 

 blooming youth, was no longer a matter of fable. Accord- 

 ing to this authority, " the patient (Mr. Samuel LefFers of 

 Carteret County, N. C.) having reached a very advanced 

 age, and suffering so severely under a paralytic affection 

 that his feet were unable to support hiniv, and his face was 

 greatly distorted, acquired at once the full activity of his 

 early years, and a remarkable smoothness and beauty of 

 complexion. This complete exemption from decay and 

 infirmity, and the entire possession of his intellectual fac- 

 ulties, he had retained ever since, during a period of four- 

 teen years, which had brought him upon the verge of four- 

 score years and ten." 



Desirous to ascertain how much of this story was 

 matter of fact, I commenced a correspondence which finally 



