464 
wards, fubject toa putrid fever of fuch 
pecultar malignity, as to be called the 
Kiddermintter fever. 
came known by the fuccefsful treatment 
he adopted for the cure of this dread- 
ful diforder. Inftead of bleeding and 
purging, means then in common ule, he 
recommended bark, wine, mineral acids, 
free ventilation of air, and the affufion of 
water and vinegar ; and fo prominent was 
his fuccefs, that he was immediately in- 
troduced into confiderable practice. Of 
this fever, as it appeared in 1756, he 
publifhed an account in 1758, which 
proves him to be the difcoverer of the 
power of mineral acid vapors to correét cr 
deftroy putrid febrile contagion: He or- 
ders for this puryole, vitriolic acid to be 
poured upon common falt, ina convenient 
veflel, over a proper heat. It is nota 
little fingular, that the fame means fhould 
be recommended by the eclebrated Guy- 
ton de Morveau for the fame: purpofe, 
more than twenty years after they were 
publited by Dr. Johnftone, and then be 
cricd up asa greatdifcovery! The fame 
principle has been applied {till more lately, 
and aclaim for remuneration from Par- 
liament founded upon it. 
The firft fkeitches of Dr. Johnitone’s 
phyfioleg'cal inquiry into the ufes of the 
gangtlions of ihe nerves, were publifhed in 
the sath, 57:h, and 6oth vols of the Phil. 
‘Tranf. Tey were afterwards enlarged,and 
printed feparately. In this inquiry, he 
caniiders ganglions as ‘‘Ji'tle brains, 1ub- 
ordinate fprings and refervoirs of nervous 
power,the immediate fources of the nerves 
fent to organs moved involuntarily, and 
the check or caufe which hinders our 
volitions from extending tothem. [na 
word, ganglions limit the exercife of the 
foul’s auchority in the animal ceconomy, 
and put it out of our power, by a fingle 
val.t on, to ftop the motiors of the heart, 
and in one capricious moment irrecovera- 
bly to end our lives.”” But his phyfio- 
logical refearches did not flop here:—Ina 
treatife on the Walron water, which in 
quality ftronely refembles the Chelrenham, 
he has pointed out the probable fun&ion 
of the lymphatic glands, fuppofing them 
to be organs deftined to purify, digelt, and 
animalize the matters f<le&ted and ab- 
forded by the la&teals and other lympha- 
tics, thus fi:ting them for their union with 
the blood, and the nutrition of the body. 
At Kidderminfler Dr. Johnftone conti- 
pued to act in a wide {phere of country 
practice, tiil.the death of his eldeft fon, a 
phyfeian t2ft rifing into eminence, who 
{ell a martyr to humanity in attending the 
Account of the late Dr. Fobnftenc, of Worcester. 
His name firft be-- 
{June I, 
prifoners at Worcefter, infeéted with jail- 
fever ; and the coincidence of the death of 
his deareft friend the Rev. Job Orton, 
induced him toremove to Worcefter. In 
this city, famous from the days of Dr. 
Cole, the friend of Sydenham, for its 
phyficians, he continued vigorous, active, 
and fprightly, ufeful to the community, 
and beloved by his friends, to practile, 
till a few days previous to his death. He 
had been fubje& to pulmonary complaints 
in his youth, which. had been averted by 
temperanceand caution. In his later years 
they recurred, and during the laft {pring 
he had bled himfelf rather too profufely.. 
In the laft attack, which was aggravated 
by exceflive fatigue and exertion, his weak- 
nefs was fuch as to forbid the repetition 
of more than one bleeding; and his 
ftrength gradually decayed, leaving his 
intelle&t clear and unimpaired. His death 
was a perfect euthanafia : he expired after 
a fhort and in no wife painful ftruggles 
having fat up and converfed with his 
family, till within a few hours of the 
awful change, cheerful, patient, and re- 
figned. He furvived his wife, with whom 
he lived 50 years, only two months. 
To the public, his lofs is irreparable ; 
for what can fupply the experience of more 
than half a century, a&tively employed by 
a man of the higheft order of genius, not 
in decorating theories, but purfuing in- 
ductions ? The correfpondent and friend of 
Haller, Whytt, Cullen, and Fothergill ; 
the bofom. friend of the virtuous Lyttelton 
and the pious Orton, and of many other 
wife and learned men, wha fill improve 
and adorn fociety:—the aétive and hu- 
mane phyfician, the fagacious phyfiologift, 
the recondite antiquartan—few men have 
occupied a larger {pace of profeffional utili- 
ty and private regard, than Dr. Johnftone. 
Firm and undeviating in his own moral 
carriage, his vigorous and manly mind 
was perhaps, on fome occafions, too little 
accommodating to characters and circum- 
ftances. In his temper he was cheerful, 
though fometimes hafty—in his converfa- 
tion lively and inftruétive—-in his affec- 
tions warm and attached—=in his domeftic 
relations, he was the beft of fathers, his 
whole life was a facrifice to the advantage 
of his children—in fine, as a publick or 
private man, his character has not often 
been furpafied ; and although the memory 
of his perfona] fervices cannot be foon for- 
gotten, yet has he erected a ftill more 
durable monument to his fame, in thofe 
various practical improvements of the me- 
dical art, which rank his name among the 
benefactors of mankind. 
PRO. 
