I 



. SIB 



pipe in fmoaking. When the body is warm, and the pores 

 open, the tender iliin of the hps and mouth is molt difpofed 

 to receive the infeftion, which the heat, in labouring, will 

 render more aftive and apt to be communicated. A girl, 

 who had the thruth to a great degree, at this fcafon, fpread 

 the difeafe through a whole pariih, where it was not tormerly 

 kr.own." 



Contagions of this fort are not ufually communicable by 

 effluvia ; but it feems to be believed, by thofe who have 

 witnelled the progrefs of fibbens, that it may be propagated 

 without aftual contaft. Dr. Gilchrift fays, " nor is it un- 

 likely, that, in certain circumltances, the breath may be- 

 come infeftious ;" implying, however, his want of pofitive 

 evidence on the fubjeCl. But Dr. Paterfon atferts, tliat 

 " it is perfedly afcertained, that the breath of people, la- 

 bouring under the fore throat, is loaded with infeftion, and 

 communicates the difeafe, without the contatt of ulcers." 

 Beddoes' Contributions, loc. cit. 



It will be obvious, from the preceding detail of the 

 fymptoms and caufes of fibbens, that it is the refult of a 

 morbid poifon, operating firll locally, and afterwards coii- 

 ttitutionally, and producing phenomena exceedingly analo- 

 gous to thofc of the venereal difeafe. There is alfo the 

 farther analogy, as we fhall fee, that the cure is effected 

 principally, if not exchifively, by mercury : whence feveral 

 writers, and apparently Dr. Gilchrift amonq; the reft, have 

 deemed it a modification of fyphilis. It was foon dif- 

 covered, fays this writer, " to be of the venereal kind, or 

 Jie foul difeafe." Dr. Paterfon, however, has pointed out 

 -everal circumftances which mark a difference between the 

 two. In the firft place, he obferves, the venereal difeafe 

 was common in Scotland long before the fibbens appeared ; 

 and he had never been able to trace the latter to any perfon 

 affefted with fyphilis. Secondly, it is much more infetlious 

 than common fyphilis, for it feldom gets into a family with- 

 out infefting every perfon in it, and frequently ipreads 

 rapidly over a village. If the common lues were to fpread 

 in a fimilar manner, its progrefs in all large towns would be 

 truly dreadful. Thirdly, the fibbens is a more purely cu- 

 taneous or fuperficial affeftion than the common lues, for it 

 very rarely indeed occafions buboes, and almoll never affeds 

 the large bones. And, laiUy, the fibbens is much more 

 readily cured than the ordinary form of fyphilis ; for a much 

 lefs quantity of mercury removes blotches and cxtcniive 

 ulcers, than is required to cure the fecondary fymptoms of 

 fyphilis, contrafted in the ordinary manner. Its ordinary 

 commencement in the organs of deglutition, and its never 

 appearing in a primary form on the genitals, nor being pro- 

 pagated by coition, appear alfo to eilablifh a diltinftion 

 between the two maladies. 



Curf of Sibbens. — We have partly anticipated this fubjeft 

 in tiie preceding paragrapii, where we have ftated that mer- 

 cury is found to be the fpecific remedy. It appears that, 

 like fyphilis, the difeafe is perhaps never cured by the un- 

 afiifted efforts of the conllitution ; and that mercury, as in 

 the other affeftion, does not fail to cure it, except in thofe 

 deplorable cd^es, where, from the long continuance of the 

 difeafe, he£lic fymptoms have come on, and the conftitution 

 is fo broken down as to be unable to bear the remedy. 



It feems to be a well afcertained faft, too, that, of all 

 the preparations of mercury, the corrofive fublimate, or 

 oxymuriatc, is the beft adapted for the cure of fibbens ; 

 that is, it cures it more fpeedily, and with equal certainty 

 willi any other mercurial preparation. This circumftance 

 alio conftitut.s a point of dillindtlon between the two ma- 

 ladies, and may a'^ife, according to Dr. Paterfon's fiig- 

 geftion, from the fibbens being a more fuperficial or 



S I B 



cutaneous affeition than fyphilis. Dr. Gilchrift, however, 

 confiders it better to adopt the ordinary courfe of mercury, 

 though not carried to the extent of high falivation, for the 

 pi.irpole of infuring regularity by means of confinement, 

 without which, he fays, it often failed, and the fymptoms 

 returned, rendering another courfe of medicine neceflary. 

 Experience fhews, he fays, that the difeafe is proof againfl 

 all flight adminiftrations of the remedy ; that it will fooner 

 or later return with greater force, or in a worfe form ; and 

 that it is only to be eradicated by a regular courfe of medi- 

 cine, judicioufly adapted to the feveral degrees and circum- 

 ftances of the malady. 



As the extenfive propagation of the difeafe in Scotland 

 was afcribable to the uncleanly praftices which prevailed 

 among the lower clafles of the people, fuch as ufing the 

 fame utenfil? in eating and drinking, pafTing the fame pipe 

 from mouth to mouth, fleeping in the fame bed, ufmg the 

 fame towel, &c. ; fo the molt effeftual check to- the pro- 

 grefs of the malady was to be expefted from a fyltem of 

 prevention, which coiiiilled in adopting a more decent and 

 cleanly proceeding. Dr. Gilchrift recommended the per- 

 lons employed in harveit-work, each to carry with him a 

 difh, cup, knife, fpoon, and a cloth to wipe ihem with, 

 that all the party might not eat with the fame utenfils, and 

 transfer contagion to one another. He alfo llrongly urged 

 the imriropriety of admitting that common familiarity, 

 which every one claims by cuftom to kifs and fondle 

 children, and efpecially to deny it to ftrangcrs, and thofe 

 of low rank. By attending to thefe, and fimilar means of 

 prevention, the difeafe appears to have been materially con- 

 trolled, and its prevalence diminiihed. 



SIBBIKITTIN, in Geography, a town of Africa, in 

 Neola. N.lat. 12^38'. W. long. 1 1° 35'. 



SIBBO, a town of Sweden, in the province of Nyland ; 

 10 milei S.W. of Borgo. 



SIBBOLETH. See Shibboleth. 



SIBBUL, in Geography, a town of Africa, in the coun- 

 try of B.iica ; 25 miles W. of Angela. 



SIBDA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia Minor, in 

 Caria ; one of the fix towns which Alexander the Great 

 placed in dependence on that of Halicarnaffus. 



SI BELLA, in Geography, a mountain of Calabria Ultra; 

 9 mile'; E.S.E. of St. Sevcrina. 



SIBENEN, a river of Switzerland, which runs into the 

 Kander, 4 miles W. of Spietz. 



SIBENTAAL, a town of Auftria ; 8 miles W. of St. 

 Polten. 



SIBERIA, or, as it is fometimes denominated, AJtatic 

 Ruffia, \^ that part of the immcnfe territory of the Ruffian 

 empire, which lies to the E. of the Ural chain of mountains, 

 by which the empire is interlefted from N. to S. and thus 

 divided into two parts, differing from each other both as to 

 dimenlions and quality. Siberia is dcfcribed as a flat traft 

 of land of confiderable extent, declining imperceptibly to- 

 wards the Frozen ocean, and by equally gentle gradations 

 riling towards tlie fouth ; where at lall it forms a great 

 chain of mountains, conllituting the boundary of Ruflia on 

 the fide of Ciiina. The large portion of the habitable globe, 

 now diilingiiinied by the appellation of Aliatic Rufiia, ex- 

 tends from about the 37th degree E. longitude to more than 

 190" or 170*^ W. long.; and aliuming the degree in this 

 high northern latitude at 3.3 miles, the length may be com- 

 puted at 4590 geographical miles. The greatcft breadth 

 from the cape of Cevero Voftoclinoi, called in feme maps 

 Taimara, to the Altaian mountains S. of the fca of Baikal, 

 may be ellnnated at 28", or 1680 geographical miles. In 

 Britilh miles the length, at a grola computation, may be 



Hated 



