TELA ARANE^. 



"He rested calmly till morning; and. in repeating the pill afterward, 

 he uniformly found that, though he might not actually sleep, he was not 

 only enabled but disposed to lie in one position till the morning. He ob- 

 served to me that, when he took opium, his mind was engrossed with some 

 foreign object, his attention was thereby diverted from his local pains and 

 uneasiness, but that- he was much disordered next day; that when he took 

 cobweb, of the nature of which he was ignorant, his mind was his own, 

 but the sensations of pain and uneasiness were blunted, or obliterated, in 

 a manner he did not understand, and that next day he felt no inconvenience 

 of any kind." — London, No. s Canton-Square, March 20th, iSog. 



In these early obseiT^ations by Dr. Jackson, we have the thera- 

 peutic effect of cobweb contrasted with that of opium. 



Came now into the discussion Dr. James Scott, surgeon of the 

 English Navy. From the Medical and Physical Journal, London, 

 Vol. XXII, pp. 369-370, and 371-375, we reproduce as follows: 



"Andrew Yeaman, aetat, 19, trumpeter in the Stafif-Corps, was em- 

 barked on board the ship in the late expedition against Flushing, and had 

 laboured under intermitting fever nearly a month, by which he was much 

 emaciated, and reduced to an alarming state of debility. He had been sta- 

 tioned at Hythe, where I understand intermittents are very prevalent (in 

 consequence, it is believed, of the vicinity of the Royal Military Canal), 

 and by his own accoimt had taken large quantities of bark with wine and 

 opium. Those medicines had never, in the slightest degree, shortened 

 the duration, nor diminished the severity of the paroxysms, and seemed 

 to have produced no other effect than, probably, that of preventing the 

 fever from degenerating into a more continued type, or changing its period 

 of accession. The intermissions, in this case, were most distinct, and un- 

 attended with any symptoms indicating disease, except extreme weakness, 

 and a more ghastly paleness of the countenance than I had ever witnessed. 



"As I was most anxious to give the cobweb a fair trial, I requested my 

 assistant (Mr. Farkey) to be particulary careful in observing the patient's 

 state and the effects of the remedy, both which he watched with the utmost 

 assiduity; and I feel much pleasure in adding his testimony in behalf of 

 its utility. A quantity of cobweb, not exceeding eight or nine grains, was 

 gathered from the bread-room, and made into pills; one, consisting of five 

 grains, with sufficient mucilage of gum arabic to' form it; and the other of 

 the remaining cobweb, prepared in a similar manner. The five grain pill 

 was given on an empty stomach, a little after eight o'clock in the morning 

 (being two hours previous to the expected period of accession), and the 

 oth^r at the usual hour of the paroxysm, which was not felt at all. It may 

 be proper to state, that no other medicine was given with the cobweb; and 

 it will appear, that he did not take nearly the quantity prescribed by Dr. 

 Jackson, as the ship was at sea, and I could not procure more than I have 

 mentioned. The paroxysm never returned; but a slight rigor was felt about 

 the second period from the exhibition of the cobweb, and easily yielded to 

 two grains of opium, followed by bark and sulphuric acid, which completed 

 the cure. As far as I could learn, arsenic had not been resorted to on this 

 occasion. 



"Walter Sands, Esq., purser of his Majesty's ship Camilla, has been 

 afflicted for many years with a very distressing asthma, which has proved 

 fatal to his father, and called to an early grave two beautiful and accom- 

 plished women, his sisters. As the complaint appears to be hereditary, and 

 in this gentleman to be aggravated by mal-formation of the thorax, no 

 remedies gave any permanent relief, nor did change of climate procure any 

 alleviation of symptoms. He has taken, at various times, under the direc- 

 tion of eminent physicians, the foxglove in every form,_with all other medi- 

 cines which have been recommended; and frequently in a kind of despair, 



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