76 Lift o 
water*, to the ufe of Peruvian bark; 
and, in fome inftances, to a very liberal 
adminifiration of wine ; for which, in the 
cure of this fever, perhaps no adequate 
fubftitute is to be found amongft all the 
variety of the pharmacopceia. 
The prefent virulent nature of typhus 
might be clucidated by a circumftance that 
is perfona'ly interefting to the drawer-up 
of this report. Within the contraéted 
{phere of his knowledge, in London, more 
than one mevical praétitioner, in attending 
patients afflited with this difeafe, have, 
during the courfe of this laft month, fal- 
len a vitim to the fatal malignity of its 
contagion. 
One patient, a very fhort time after the 
attack of the fever, was feized with a pa- 
roxy{m of madnefs, the vielence of which 
foon put a final clofe to his exifience. It 
fhould be remarked, however, that, in 
this particular cafe, a ftrong predifpofi- 
' tion to infanity had probably been in- 
duced by various habits: of moral irre- 
gularity. When; by a life of debau- 
chery, or the corroding operation of any 
chronic paffion, the ftrugture of the 
mind has been diforganifed, there is little 
hope, from either medical or moral regi- 
men, of an entre and permanent relto- 
ration. 
The cafe of mania, noticed in the re- 
port of lJaft month, as combined with re- 
ligious fana:icilm, took place at one of 
thofe periods of life, which, in females, 
cperate fo frequently as exciting caufes of 
this difeafe. Another patient, that oc- 
curred about the fame time, became de- 

* In the cafes alluded.to, there were no 
Conveniences for the adminiftration of cold 
water, in the manner which has been re- 
commended by Dr. Currie, of Livepool, 
whote ref{peétable authority would otherwife 
have been alone fufficient to have authorifed 
the experiment. It would feem almoft im- 
proper to mention the name of that diftin- 
guifhed writer, without exprefling an admira- 
tion of his talents, and ftill more of his zea- 
Tous exertion of them in the advancement of 
medical information. He who affords in- 
dtruction to phyficians muft appear, in an emi- 
nent degree, to deferve the general gratitude 
of mankind, when it is confidered how much 
their health, a circumiftance fo eflential to 
the value of exiftence, is dependant upon the 
dill of that profeftion. 
of D ifeafes. 
[Aucuft 1, 
cidedly and violently maniacal, in confe< 
quence, as there was reafon to believe, 
of avery fevere misfortune that he had 
experienced on the day preceding the at- 
tack of his diforder. Both of thefe pa- 
tients were foon reftored to health, with. 
out any confiderable degree of medical in- 
terference. 
When mental derangement originates 
frona either of the fources that gave rife to 
the complaint in the two initances lak 
mentioned, that is, either from a phyfical 
ftate, that exifts only for a fhort period ; 
or from the fudden impreffion of an un. 
looked for calamity, an expedlation of 
cure may, perhaps, in many initances, 
be nor unveafonably entertained. 
Tn the cafes of dy{pepiia and hypochon- 
driafis, which were of very long ttanding, 
the prefcriptions of the phyfician were 
principally confined to country air, cold, 
and if poflible, fea-bathing ; and, amongft 
other things, a relpite trom the ufe of 
drugs, which, when they become, as in 
fuch inftances they too frequently do, the 
daily focd of a perfon for many years, 
cannot fail eflentially to impair the organs 
of digeftion, and thereby to aggravate, ia 
the end, thoie difeafes which they are in- 
tended, and might at firft have been cal. 
culated, to relieve. A cure may fome- 
timcs appear to be the refult of a very long 
courfe of medicine, merely becaufe a very 
long courfe of medicine allows time for 
the operation of nature, which of itfelf 
will often reftore a patient, in fpite even 
of all the remedies that are applied. By 
no means, however, is it intended to de- 
duét, in the flighteft degree, from the true 
value of pharmaceutical compofitions, 
which are allowed to be, in many in- 
ftances, highly important, and even abfo- 
Jutely neceflary, to the cure of a vait va- 
riety of diforders. 
A proof of their falutary efficacy was 
lately exivibited to one of the phyficians of 
the difpenfary, in the cafe of a patient who, 
affeted with an obitruétion of the biliary 
duéts, accompanied with the countenance 
and complexion appropriate to jaundice, 
the moft extreme dejection of fpirits, and 
nearly an entire failure of all the volun- 
tary muicles, was, in a few days, reftored 
to itrength, chearfulnefs, and the phyfiog- 
nomy of health, principally by the energy 
of mercurial preparations. w.w. 
Haiton Garden, Fuly 21. J. R. 
MAR. 
