TELA ARANE^. 



effectually cured by these customary and ordinarily powerful means. But 

 I shall state the case briefly, that you may be enabled to judge more cor- 

 rectly of the result. Serjeant Anderson, a respectable soldier, has been long 

 harrassed by this complaint, and though he had been treated with all care 

 and attention, there was yet no fair prospect from all the trials that had 

 been made, that the disease was to be soon overcome. I was interested 

 for the man on his own account, and I was also disappointed at the failure 

 of my own endeavours; for intermitting fever was a disease of which I had 

 had much experience, and, in accomplishing the cure of which, I had seldom 

 failed. The obstinacy of the case brought to my mind the fact which had 

 been mentioned to me by Dr. Gillespie; and as I thought myself perfectly 

 safe in giving credit to Dr. Gillespie's testimony concerning the power of the 

 cobweb, I desired that some of that substance should be carefully collected 

 from the cellars, and made into pills of five grains each. As I was desir- 

 ous to ascertain the effect precisely, and from my own observation, I ad- 

 ministered, with my own hand, one pill about two hours before I expected 

 the recurrence of the paroxysm, and two more a few minutes before the 

 r.sua! time of the paroxysm's return. The patient was ignorant of the na- 

 ture of the substance that was given to him, and thus could not be supposed 

 to be acted upon through imagination; yet the effect was perfect. The usual 

 periods past without return, or without the most remote feelings of it; and 

 though I considered the disease as cured, yet as it had been of long con- 

 tinuance, and had considerably enfeebled the powers of the constitution by 

 its continuance, I recommended a furlough on account of change of air, so 

 soon as I was satisfied that its course was completely arrested. Besides 

 Anderson there were then three others in the hospital ill of intermitting 

 fevers. These cases were also untractable; and as the success of the cob- 

 web had been so decided in the instance of Anderson, I was desirous to 

 ascertain the extent of its virtues by farther experiment in theirs. I ac- 

 cordingly admininstered, with mine own hand, a pill to each of the persons 

 alluded to, about two hours before I expected the return of the paroxysm, 

 and two more a few minutes before the time at which it had been accus- 

 tomed to return. The success was perfect in all the three. 



"A soldier of the Buflfs, recently returned from the West Indies, was 

 brought to the hospital, as having had a severe paroxysm of fever th^ pre- 

 ceding day. I have no note of what was done for him on the day on which 

 he was received; but next day, while I was visiting the patients in the ward 

 in which he lay, I observed the commencement of his paroxysm, and I per- 

 ceived it was marked by such collapse and ghastliness, that, had, I not 

 known the nature of the case, I should have been apprehensive that the 

 man was in the act of dying. I immediately gave him a cobweb pill (for 

 a dispenser of medicine attended while I visited," and cobweb pills were 

 among the hospital formulae) ; in less than a minute he was perfectly tran- 

 (Juil; he even expressed comfort and satisfaction in himself that appeared 

 unaccountable, and which I must confess surprised me, the change being 

 sudden and complete, as if from the effect of a charm. The pulse was now 

 calm and orderly; a very gentle but warm perspiration took place immedi- 

 ately, and health was instantly restored. 



"1 have thus noticed, in a cursory manner, the power of cobweb in pre- 

 venting the recurrence of the intermittent paroxysm, in allaying the irrita- 

 tions, and in suspending the course of the paroxysm when actually begun, 

 and in tranquilizinp patients who are irritable in the extreme in other con- 

 ditions of fever, viz., outrageously delirious, or otherwise agitated in body 

 and mind. I now farther add, that the trials were extended, and that per- 

 fect cures were effected in some troublesome spasmodic affections; even 

 that respite was procured in others that were fatal in themselves, and that 

 seemed to stand beyond the reach of other means. I have thus given cob- 

 web, with the most marked benefit, in cases of dry, irritating coughs, usu- 

 ally termed nervous, sometimes singly, sometimes joined, and I think ad- 

 vantageously joined, with opium. 



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