[ 5*0 
So extraordinary a dit order did not a little dlf- 
concert the gentleman, to whofe caie the cure of it 
was committed. He judged, that it would be very 
difficult, and almoft impoffible, for him to reftore the 
patient to a perfect date of health, not only on ac- 
count of the uncommon nature of the complaint, 
but becaufe he could not learn, from the relation of 
the Tick, any proximate or remote caufe of the dif- 
eafe, by which he might be directed to the application 
of a proper and efficacious remedy. For tho’, on 
firft considering the cafe, the want of the menSlrual 
dilcharge might appear to have been the occafion of 
it ; yet as there are many women, who live in perfeCt 
health, and conceive, without ever having had this 
evacuation ; the want of it, in this cafe, could not be 
fuppos’d an adequate caufe ; and this the event after- 
wards fhew’d, Since the patient was cur’d without 
ever having had the natural difeharges of the fex. 
The indication then of cure was to be taken from 
the prefent Slate of the difeafe. The Skin was ob- 
ferv’d to have loft its natural foftnefs and flexibility ; 
was become hard, contracted, and imperfpirable. 
Wherefore it was not unreafonable to conclude, that 
the immediate caufe of fuch a morbid change was a 
preternatural contraction of the nervous or fibrous 
parts of the Skin, by which its excretory duCts and 
exhaling veffels were conStringed, and did not fupply 
a due quantity of the oily and aqueous fluids necef- 
fary to Soften and lubricate the parts. Now for want 
of thefe fluids, the coriaceous fibres of the Skin, the 
nervous papilla , the corpus mucofum , the abforbing 
and exhaling veflels, and the cuticle, could not but 
collapfe, coalefce, grow rigid, dry, firm, and hard : 
And 
