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XVI. A Letter from Dr. le Cat F. R . *5^. to 
C. Mortimer M. D. Secret . R. S. concern- 
ing the Cure of Dry Gangrenes . together 
with a Defcription of a new-invented In - 
Jlrument for the Extirpation of Tumours 
out of the Reach of the Surgeon s Fingers . 
TranJJated from the French by Ph. H. Zollman Efq-, F.R.S. 
SIR , 
Read March 9 and 1 6. O R fome Years paft. in curing 
I/48 ' 9 ‘ the dry Gangrene, I have made 
fome Progrefs, of which I think I ought to inform 
the Royal Society. 
From the Year 172 f to the Year 1733, when I fre- 
quented the Hofpitalsof Rarisg fawthata great many 
Perfons there died of a dry Gangrene, and even 
that nothing was done to them. I knew that Ampu- 
tation had been attempted in vain ; but I did not fee 
any of the Practitioners endeavour to cure that Dif- 
temper by Remedies j nor did I think that Cure im- 
pollible. I fufpected, that the Caufc of the dry Gan- 
grene was the want of a Flow of the arterial Blood 
and of the Spirits into the Part afFeCtcd : And this 
Want, as it accounts for the Deadncfs, which cannot 
mifs befalling the Parr, and the Drynefs which at- 
tends this fort of Mortification 5 whereas in the hu- 
mid Gangrene, it is chiefly the Return of the Blood 
which is hindered, and thereby the Fluids arc accu- 
mulated, that fwell and difltnd the Parr. 
Two Caufes fo oppofite muft demand alfo very 
different Cures. The Diflenfion which characterizes 
the humid Gangrene {hews the Neceflity there is for 
Scarifications 
