8C2 LIT 
more, months, living during this courfe on fnch things as 
l«aft countered the effed of the medicine. 
It appeared, however, ultimately, that the folvent power 
of Mrs. Steevens’s medicine was a gratuitous fuppofitton ; 
for on examining, after death, the bodies of the perlons in 
thofe very inltances, on the fuccefs of which the icvyaid 
was o-iven, it was (iifcovered that the (tones had all the 
time remained in the bladders of the patients, though they 
were fuppofed to have been voided by the gradual solu¬ 
tion of them effeded by the medicine. T he principal m- 
ftance of a fuppofed cure which was brought forward, was 
that of Mr. Gardiner. This man was examined in De¬ 
cember 1748, by able furgeons, and found to have a done 
in his bladder; after this he took Mrs. Steevens’s medi¬ 
cines for eight months without intenmkion ; and at the 
end of that time he declared himfelf free from all his ufual 
complaints; and on fearching him no (lone was perceived 
in the bladder. fyfr. Gardiner died aooiit thiec jeais af- 
terwards, and his body was opened. .Vv hen tiie bladdei 
was examined, there were found in it fix. pieternatU:al 
apertures of different fixes, the larged of which was capa¬ 
ble of admitting the end of a finger. Thefe paffages led 
to morbidly-formed lacs in the internal coat of the blad¬ 
der, which had (hielded the calculi from the touch of the 
furgeon’s fou tiding-(faff. 
The truth appears to be, according to the refult of ac¬ 
curate obfervation, that all the alkaline and ablorbent me¬ 
dicines, pot-afh, (oda, lime, magnefia, &c. and efpecially 
the alkalies, are capable of affording very material relief to 
the diftrefling feelings conneded with the prefence of cal¬ 
culi in the urinary paffages; that they operate as preven¬ 
tives of a farther increafe of the bulk and quantity of thefe 
concretions; but that they do not reach the uiinaiy 01- 
gans (after having parted the organs of the digeftion, been 
taken up by the ladeals, and mixed and circulated with 
the blood) unchanged in their chemical qualities, or in 
a fufficient quantity to produce any diminution of the 
calculi already exifting there. It is farther to be obferved, 
however, that there is one. variety of calculus found in 
the urinary pafiages, for which the alkalies and abfoi bents 
are incapable of affording any relief; as, from its chemi¬ 
cal compofition, it is altogether infoluble in thefe fub- 
ftances, even when d 1 redly 1 mmerfed 1 n them. It is a 
triple fait formed by combination with the phofphoric 
acid, and is, therefore, only to be diffolved or decompofed 
by an agent of a diredly oppofite quality to that of the 
alkalies; namely, by a mineral acid, which unites with 
the earthy and alkaline bafe. 
Dr. Hartley publifhed, in the London Gazette, the fol¬ 
lowing receipt for making a lithontriptic electuary : Take 
five pounds of Alicant foap, fhaved, and one pound of 
oyfter-fhell-lime; put them into a tin veffel, and pour 
upon them five quarts of water; make the water boil till 
the foap be perfectly diffolved in it, and then (train all 
into a glazed earthen veffel. Expofe the mafs to the air, 
itirring it every day till it becomes both mild to the take, 
and of a proper confiftence to be formed into pills, or 
long pellets, without flicking to the fingers. This may 
be expeded to happen in two or three months. If it be¬ 
comes fufficiently mild before it has acquired a due con- 
fiflence, it may be brought to this by being heated over 
the fire in a tin veffel; if it acquires too v hard a confift¬ 
ence before it is fufficiently mild, it muft be foftened 
with water. This is what the dodor calls the lithontriptic 
mafs, or eleEluary ; which he orders to be made in a tin 
veffel, becauf'e a brafs or copper one would reender it 
emetic. 
He gives another more expeditious way of making it, 
which is this: Pour two gallons of water upon a pound 
of oyfter-fhell-lime ; (fir it two or three times, and, when 
it has fallen to the bottom, pour off the clear part 
of the water. Repeat this fifteen or twenty times, or till 
the clear water, which is poured off, be almoft taftelefs; 
leaving about five pints of water upon the lime, after the 
L I T 
lafl ablution. Then pour this mixture of water and d-iiU 
cified lime upon five pounds of Alicant foap, fhaved; and 
proceed as direded in the firft receipt. The mafs, prepared 
in this manner, will he fit for ufe in a few days, or even 
immediately ; but then the dodor prefers the foregoing 
receipt, where time can be allowed for it. 
Where a perfon is fuppofed to have a large ftone in the 
kidneys or bladder, he ought to take every day as much of 
the mafs or eleduary as contains two ounces of the foap, 
unlefs his pain and provocation to make water be violent; 
in which cafe it will be proper to begin with about halt 
this quantity, and to increafe it as he can bear. The me¬ 
dicine ought alfo in this cafe to be dulcified in an extra¬ 
ordinary degree. By this medicine, the docfor thinks the 
generation of gravel, and gravel-ftones, may be entirely 
prevented. 
The inconveniences arifing from the ufe of large quan¬ 
tities of foap and lime-water, are, impaired digeftion, and, 
confequently, debility and emaciation. With the fuper- 
fluous, the necelfary acid feenis to be deftroyed. This 
effed lias not, however, followed the foda with an excefs 
of carbonic acid ; though the bitters are fufpeded, by 
long continuance, of diminifhing the tone they were in¬ 
tended to preserve. Generally (peaking, therefore, thefe 
remedies fhould not be continued long without intermif- 
fion; yet they will not foon produce a change; and a trial 
of three months is at leaft neceffary. If no benefit is then 
obtained, they fhould be relinquifhed or changed. If any 
amelioration of the fymptoms fhould be oblerved, they 
may he purfued longer; yet in no cafe, probably, beyond 
nine or twelve months, without fome intenniffion, or in- 
terpofing a warm tonic for a few weeks. 
It has been lately recommended to injed the cauftic al¬ 
kali into the bladder, diluted in any mucilaginous fluid; 
and experiments have been adduced to (how, that the 
bladder can bear, without inconvenience, a fufficient 
quantity to render the urine an adive folvent of calculus. 
On this fubjed, however, we would lay down no precife 
rule; for the bladder differs greatly in irritability in dif¬ 
ferent perfons, and it will be proper to begin with a fraall 
proportion. The plan is too obvioufly ufeful to be ne- 
gleded; and we may add, that weak vinegar, which can 
with fafety be injeded into the bladder of a horie, is found, 
from the experiments of Vauquelin and Fourcroy, an ef- 
fedual folvent for the calculus of that animal. 
LITHOPH'AGI, f. [from the Gr. Aide.;, ftone, and 
(pa.yu, to eat.J A name given to thofe who are capable of 
eating and digefting (tones ; inftances of which are given 
by Boyle, Exp. Phil. p. ii. and others. About twenty 
years ago, a man appeared in London who pretended to 
have this faculty. 
LITHOPH'ILA,yi [fo called by Dr. Swartz, from At- 
fiov piAoC, Gr. a lover of rocks, or (tones, as being an in¬ 
habitant of barren ftony places.] In botany, a genus of 
the clafs diandria, order monogynia. The generic cha- 
raders are—Calyx: perianth three-leaved; leaflets lanceo¬ 
late, (harp. Corolla: petals three, ovate-lanceolate, up¬ 
right, converging, length of the leaflets of the calyx. 
Nedary two-leaved ; leaflets oppofite, fmaller than the 
corolla, keeled, acute, upright, compreffed. Stamina: 
filaments two, awl-fhaped, upright, from the bafe of the 
germ, of the length of the nedary ; anthers rotindifh. 
Piftillum : germ roundifh, fuperior; ftyle upright, length 
of the fiamens; ftigma obtufe, emarginate. Pericarpium: 
two-celled .—EJfential CharaElcr. Calyx three-leaved; co¬ 
rolla three-petalled ; nedary two-leaved. 
1. Lithophila tnufeoides, the only fpecies known. Na¬ 
tive of Navaza, a defert ifland in the Weftern Ocean, 
Root very firmly attached to the rocks. Steins numerous, 
branched, very ftiort, thickifh; branches fet with w ithered 
whitirti feales. Leaves fmall, almoft feflile, narrower and 
embracing the Hera at their bafe, linear, obtufe, channel¬ 
led, fpreading. Flowers crowded together, whitifh, on 
axillary and terminal (talks; each flower the fize of a fmall 
