PATHOLOGY. 
particular drugs. It is difficult to conceive irritation in 
any other light than that of di reft ftimulation, fince, when 
carried to a certain point, it always induces inflamma¬ 
tion. That irritants therefore fliould be at the fame time 
contra-ftimulants, is difficult to underftand. Whatever 
gives a violent (hock to the nervous fyftem has a tempo¬ 
rary power of diminifhing, and in fome cafes of even 
totally extingtiifhing, the vital energy. Blows on the 
ftomach, ruptures of ligaments, extenlive injuries of any 
important vifcus, are followed by a very marked condi¬ 
tion of contra-flimulus; but this peculiar affection of the 
nervous apparatus has nothing to do with the power 
which a drug may hold over the circulation. In all cafes 
of poifoning, where the coats of the ftomach are either 
chemically or phyfiologi-cally deftroyed, this ftate of con- 
tra-ftimulus precedes the acceffion of that inflammatory 
fever which accompanies the effort to caft off the flough ; 
but it by no means follows, that the collapfe is the di¬ 
vert effeft of a fpecific property in the drug adminiftered. 
Dr. Clarke (in his obfervations “ On the Climate and 
Difeafes of the South of France and Italy,” a work 
which may be fafely confulted by tbofe invalids who are 
exiled in fearch of health) has molt juftly remarked, 
that the fciepces in general, and medicine in particular, 
are upon a much more refpeftable footing in Upper Italy, 
than on the other fide of the Apennines; and the for¬ 
mer is precifely the territory of the contra-ftimulant 
praftitioners. To their bold adminiftration of power¬ 
ful remedies, the profeffion in general is largely indebted;' 
more efpecially for their more philofophic ufe of digitalis 
and of antimony, which, notwithftanding all that has 
been written in England, had not been before refcued 
from a very grofs empiricifm. The ufe of laurel-water 
and the pruflic acid is another benefit derived from this 
fource, though it is probable that the French will obtain 
the chief merit of this application of a moft deadly poi- 
fon to the purpofes of medicine. To thofe Englifti prac¬ 
titioners who have returned upon the traces of Sydenham, 
and have difentangled themfelves from the learned er¬ 
rors of the laft generation, the contra-ftimulant writers 
of Italy will prove highly interefting, by the confirma¬ 
tion they afford to views entertained at home, upon fe- 
parate and independent grounds of reafoning and obfer- 
vation. 
When the contra-ftimulant fyftem has been noticed, 
there remains but little to befaid of the ftate of medicine 
i in Upper Italy, where the merits of individuals is ren¬ 
dered lefs available by inftitutions and by combinations 
of circumftances, more or lefs fatal to all national prof- 
perity. One of the principal misfortunes attendant upon 
the political divifions of this ill-fated country is, the ef- 
tablilhment of petty univerfities, laden with obfcure 
profeflors, v.hofe exertions meet with no adequate re¬ 
ward, either in fame or money. Thefe teachers educate 
gratuitoufly, and confequently produce a greater fupply 
of praftitioners than the demand can employ. This fa¬ 
cility of inftruftion and infufficiency of remuneration 
operate to invite the lower clafl’es into the career; and, if 
perfons of more adequate pecuniary means attach them¬ 
felves to the profeffion, and are defirous of feeking edu¬ 
cation in foreign univerfities, they are reftrained by the 
reftriftive laws, which confer licenfes to praftife only on 
thofe who have graduated at hom-e. Pavia, Padua, and 
Bologna, which ftill preferve an aftonilhing zeal for fcience, 
and which afford great facilities for the Undent, would 
abundantly fuffice for the neceflities of the north of 
Italy, but municipal jealoufy operates very generally to 
exclude the fubjefts of other ftates from profiting by 
their propinquity to thefe feats of learning. Florence, 
Sienna, and Pifa, Modena, Parma, Genoa, and Turin, 
have each their fchools of medicine, all cofting the pub¬ 
lic large fum.s, and all more or lefs unequal to maintain 
profeflors of high talent or extenlive acquirements.” 
The moft recent particular we have to mention in the 
medical praftice of Italy, is the adminiftration of black 
5 $ 
pepper as a remedy for agues, by Dr. Louis Frank, firft 
phyfician to the duchefs of Parma. A man, having ter¬ 
tian fever, had been treated, without benefit, by cinchona, 
opium, and muriate of ammonia; when, after the lapfe 
of three months, he was advifed, by fome goflip, to take, 
twice a day, fix grains of whole black pepper; he rapidly 
recovered his health. Dr. Ghighini, phyfician at the 
court of Parma, being in a country where agues pre¬ 
vailed every year, more or lefs, from the influence of 
ftagnant waters, tried the efficacy of the medicine, and 
with the moft favourable refults. Dr. Frank has treated 
about 130 patients, in the greater proportion of whom 
the fever difappeared after the fecond or third paroxyfm 
from the time when the remedy was firft adminiftered. 
From fix to ten corns of the pepper (given to the patients 
as pills) were generally adminiftered twice a-day. But 
very few relapfes occurred. 
Spain and Portugal. —This is a fliort and barren 
feftion. The Spaniards have not lately been in a fitua- 
tion to cultivate the fciences, or literature of any kind. 
Long opprefled by bigoted rulers and defpotic govern¬ 
ments; ftruggling for liberty, and not knowing how 
to ufe it; and even now torn by inteftine commo¬ 
tions, while employed in the moft laudable purfuits; 
we have little information to expert from fuch a 
fource. Yet we begin to hope for better times; and 
it has given us great pleafure to be informed, that a 
medical magazine, to be publiflied every ten days, has 
been announced at Madrid, under the title of “ De- 
cadas Medico Cirurgicas.” The objerts of this periodi¬ 
cal mifcellany are—1. To inform the profeffion and the 
public of all the difcoveries and interefting farts relating 
to medicine and furgery in Spain and in foreign coun¬ 
tries. a. To give an impartial account of modern the¬ 
ories, medical dortrines, See. 3. To convey intelligence 
refpertingall endemic difeafes. 4. An account of extra¬ 
ordinary cures. 5. Mifcellaneous queries and obferva¬ 
tions ; with an analyfis of medical publications appear¬ 
ing in Spain, and of the more important ones publiflied 
in foreign nations. 
A publication of this kind, tending to invite difeuffion, 
will, we think, be of infinite fervice to the medical cauie 
in Spain. In the mean time, a very lingular retrofpertive 
decree of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Madrid has lately 
been iflued, by which every perfon prartifing pharmacy, 
or keeping a chemift’s fliop, who has not reached the age 
of 25 years, is enjoined to attend courfes of lertures at 
the Royal College up to that age, with a view to his 
being re-examined previoufly to obtaining a frelh licenfe 
to praftife. 
The following is the account given by Mr. Broughton, 
a furgeon, in his “ Letters from Portugal ,” of the mife¬ 
rable ftateof pathology in that country about theybar 1814. 
“ In my profeffional capacity, it has fallen to my lot to 
vifit the pooreft and moft diftrefted claffes ; and, miferable 
as the ftate of this order of fociety appears to be upon 
a cafual view of it, it is yet nothing when compared 
with that which is furnifhed by a more intimate acquaint¬ 
ance with its evils. Often deftitute of hofpitals, and 
without the aid of medical men, the unfortunate virtims 
linger in the moft loathfome and deplorable ftate which 
poverty and difeafe can inflirt, and are confequently 
doomed to drag out their miferable exiftence a burthen 
to their families and to themfelves. I found the little 
affiftance I was able to afford them was eagerly fought, 
and moft gratefully accepted ; and, as the intelligence 
of the opportunity of relief fpread abroad, the numbers 
of the afflirted, and the excefs to which their various dif¬ 
eafes had reached by neglert, aftonilhed me. Whenever 
I met with medical men, I uniformly found this fcience 
limited to a degree that almoft exceeds belief. Their 
ftudy is chiefly confined to the perufal of a few old au¬ 
thors, whofe prartice among us has become obfolete; and 
they have confequently few conceptions beyond the 
dogmas of the latter. The furprife they evinced at the 
furgie-al 
