Seek ENe 4 
which bark is Laonmene ania to fail. This cafe is 
markable, alfo, on of its not 
that grand remedy, ce rithtanding 
tant evils of debility and old age. 
hofé writings fhew, that he had as much faith in bark as 
molt furgeons, could not acknowledge its efficacy in the 
‘inftance to which we are alluding. ‘The diftemper begins 
t the extremity of one or more of the fmall toes, and 
‘fooner or later paffes on to the. foot aon ankle, = en 
times to a part of the leg, i in former times, moft ¢ only 
7 ying the patient, in {pite of all che aid of jie and 
furge 
at he annexed defcription - the difeafe and its treatment 
is from the pen Mr. Pott, whofe furgical works are 
equally recommended by the practical knowledge which 
they contain, and by the fine animated ftyle in which they i 
are written. 
He remarks, that this cafe *¢ is very unlike to the morti- 
fication from inflammation, to that from external cold, from 
ligature, or bandage, or to that which proceeds froni any 
known and vifible caufe, and this as well in its attack as in 
its procefs. In fome few oe it makes its Ae anaes? 
with little or n pen ; but, in by much the majority of 
.thefe cafes, the patie s feel pee uneafinefs through the 
whole foot and joint of the ankle, particularly in hed night, 
even betore thefe parts fhew any mark of ‘diftemper, or be- 
fore there is any other, than a {mall difcoloured aot on the 
end of one of the little toes. 
« It generally makes its firft appearance on the infide, or 
at the extremity, of one o the {maller toes, by a {ma 
black, or blueifh fpot: from this {pet the cuticles apt 
found - des dened, and “the fin under it to be of a dark 
a 
me 
4 
6c tf ne atient has lately cut his nails, or corn, it is 
.moft frequently, though very unjuitly, fet to the account of 
fuch operation. 
_ € Its progrefs 
circomitances, is . erent ; in forme it i 
pafling from toe to toe, and from t 
ankle ; in others ie ogrefs is rapid, and horrid] 
it generally begins on the infide of each ey toe, before it 
is vifible either on its under or upper ; and when it 
makes its attack on the foot, the upper a “oe it firft thews 
its diftempered ftate, by tumefaction, chan nge of colour, 
and fometimes by vefication ; but wherever it is, one of the 
hie arks of it is a feparation or detachment of the 
euti 
in- different eae a dais oe 
and long 1 
A fex is liable to it; but for one female in whom I 
have-met withit, I think I may fay, that I have feen it in at 
leait tyvventy males. I think, alfo, that I have much more 
often found it in ae — and voluptuous, than in 
Jabouring poor; m ten in great eaters, than 
drinkers. It sane appers | to asin advanced i in 
-lifé, but is by no means peculiar old age. It is n 
bu Co) 
) have the- (ae re Sel and. sail 
arife n offificatio 
It has,-by fome, been feppofed t 
of v fer this opinion r never could find one 
foundation but mere conjecture 
«¢ The common method of’ ‘treating this diftemper is, by 
fpirituous fomentations,- cataplafms actually and potentially 
repeated cepa, obliged to 
that 
warm, by dreffings of the digeftive Lind, as they are called, 
animated with warm, pungent oils and bal fams, &c., and, m 
tetnally; by the Peruvian bark. 
t, af 
with I could fay that this, which, with litth dee 
tion, h een t fr 
quently, ore ut 
fe as no’ 
“Tam fenfible, that man ee my readers wat be fur- 
prifed at my affirming, that the Peruvian bark will not ftop 
4 mortification, a diltemper in which, for fome years, it has 
been regarded as {pecific; but I muft beg not to be mifun- 
derftood : I mean to confine e my obfervation and my objec- 
tion to this particular f{pecies of mortification, which I re- 
gard as being fui generis: and under this reitri€tion I muit 
repeat, that I have feldom, if ever, feen the bark faccefaful : 
nall other cafes, w dared it is ufed or recommended, no 
man has a higher opinion of it but, in this I cannot give 
ita praife, which it zee not deferve. 
* I believe. I may venture to fay, that : have tr oie it as 
fain, as. fully, and as varioufly as any man has or 
eve it in the largeft quantity, at “the fhortelt inter- 
or the longeft poffible {pace ; that i is, as: long as 
the paints au would permit : Es a given : bY itfelf in 
decoétion rac, and fubftan ave sake al 
thefe to ees T have joined it w ah ieee ‘EL a 
with ape ie with confect. c awe ro with volatile falts 
“6 Tam forr a rob one fs our pines medicines ae ary 
part of its fuppofed merit, but as on the one hand, its 
a in this inftance, is unjuft, and as on the oe I hope 
o add-as much to the character of another, the res medica 
well be no —— er. 
ome ago, I had a patient een under this 
se who, fom. anaes ao obftinacy, or fome other 
vin could not be prevailed on to ao bark in any form 
ate 
Kuh, t t colo 
and the difeafe feeming to adyance with fuch. hafty ides, 
that I fuppofed a very few days would determine the 
The pe in the foot and ankle was fo arte and a con- 
orning, for t! ays; at the 
fee the cer became uite = , and t 
mortified parts plainly began to feparate;.in anot 
they were all-_loofe, an 
