| ‘Pe Ben] | 
ACCOUNT o¥ THe DISEASES 1x LONDON, © 
(Feb. t, 
\ From the 20th of December to the 20th of Fanuary. 
; Admitted under the Care of the Phyfcians of the Finfoury Difpenfary. 
ee 
j : No. of Ca eS. 
HEUMATISM 
e safe 
= Catarrh : ° . 48 
Chlorofis and Amenorrhe2 . u 43 
Eryfipelas =~ - ° ° 5 
Cynanche, Tonfiilarum ° : 6 
Phthifs Pulmonalis : : 13 
Hemoptyfis < . 6 
Pneumonia . 3 ° I 
Dyfeatery 3 ° . yi 
Dyarrhea d t 3 14 
Menorrhagia ‘ “ . 7 
Leucorrhea ¢ - ° 5 
Hypochondriafis . ° . 2 
Dyfpepfia. ° . . 15 
Hyfteria : . ° 6 
Epilepfia ° - 3 
Cephalia . . ~ 4 
Afthenia . v . 2 te 
Infantile Difeafes .. = 19 
Chronic Eruptions . « I 
The fubje& of rhewmatifm and catarrh 
was fufficiently defcanted upon im the re- 
port for December. Thefe difeafes ftill 
céntinue to prevail, but nothing has oc- 
curred with regard to them which either 
from its novelty or importance ean lay 
claim to any additional obfervations. 
~More cales of typhus have occurred, 
but not one under the perfonal obferva- 
tron of the reporter Has proved fatal; ex- 
cept that. of a diftreffed mother, who, after 
having nurfed feven of her children, and by 
her tender -affiduities effentially aided the 
endeavours of the phyfician, funk herfelf'a 
victim te the influence of the contagion, 
aggravated, as it. could not fail to be, by 
the combined operation of preceding la- 
bour, watchfulnefs, and maternal folici- 
tide. at 
This difeafe, if judicioufly treated, fel- 
dom in young perfons proves fatal. But 
when the vital energy has been impaired 
by age, and paiaful affeftions of the mind 
act in conjunction with a ditempered ftate 
ofthe body, neither the apotheeary’s art, 
nor the utmoft fagacity and experience of 
the phyfician, will be likely to effe&t a 
fpeedy or a radical reftoration. 
In all thofe inftances where the principle 
of life is in a ftate of juvenile vigour, and 
no organic lefion exifts, it is impoffible 
that a perfon can die of fever, untefs it 
be in confequence of the unfkilfulnefs of 
the medical attendant, or a want of fide. 
lity or accuracy in the execution of his 
preferiptionss, 
‘Cafes of amenorrhea have of fate been 
more than ufually prevalent; this, it is 
not impoffible, may in fome degree be ow- 
ing to the intenfity of cold which we have 
recently experienced. The thermometer, 
_during this laft month, has funk more than 
twenty-five degrees below the freezing 
point. Cold, from its well-known afrix- 
gent quality, 1s calculated to check every 
fpecies of hamorrage. It may appear in 
oppotition to the realonablenefs of this con- 
jecture, that cold-bathing fhould fo gene. 
rally be of {ervice to chlorotic patien's ; 
its good effects, however, ought to be at- 
tributed not to the low temperature of the 
bath, but merely to the /lock that is expe- 
rienced in plunging into it. It may be 
regarded as acting in afimilar manner with 
a fhock of ele&tricity, or any other fudden 
agitation occafioned either by violent exer- 
cife of the body, or movement of the men- 
tal affecti@as, all of which are frequently 
found to induce a fpeedy recovery from 
this difeafe. ; 
"In general, however, this complaint may 
be traced to an unnatural reftraint, which 
in the prefent morbid fate of fociery, is, 
placed, at leaft in the cafe of females, upon; 
the nioft powerful and important propen- 
fity of our’nature; a propenfity the grati- 
fication of which is not lefs efeatial to the, 
health of the individual, thamit is to the 
pefpetuity of the fpecies. a» 
Sick head-aches, which are fo common, 
in cafes of this kind, are more effeétually, 
and with lefs injury to the conftitution, 
aJleviated by gentle aperients, than by the, 
emetics which are too frequently had re- 
courfe to. The long-continued ule of 
emetics cannot fail elfentially to impair 
the tane of the ftomach, upon which the. 
health of the whole fy fem almoft entirely, 
depends. 
An epicure does not fuffer f9 much from 
toc full and luxurious a meal, as from the 
emetic which he takes afterwards, in order 
to remove its difagreeable effetts. _ 
The fame caution with regard to emeties 
ought to be prefcribed in cephalza, or any 
of the various nervous affeftions of the 
head, which in almoft every inftance may 
be traced to a difeafed condition of the 
ftomach. In his account of the life and 
writings of Swift, Lord Orrery obferyes, 
that this extvaordinary-man attributed to 
a furfeit 
