© 
5. 
oa +6 
treme indigence, many of them cannot 
even afford a fmall fire; and thofe who 
can, feldom inhabit apartments that are fo 
sécommodated and contrived as to exclude 
the conftant intrufion of the wintry blaft, 
er to preclude the danger of ets occa- 
fional!y deluged by the fhower$ of a ftor- 
my feafon. Thefe fhivering wretches may 
often be feen fitting with their knees al- 
moft inconta@t with the grate, whillt other 
parts of their body are attacked by a 
thream of cold or damp air from an aper- 
ture in fome fhattered window in th® 
room. After being informed of fuch cir- 
cumftances as thefe, the reader will not be 
furprifed, that, at this time of the year, 
vheumatHm is fo popular a diforder. It 
#s. worthy of remark, that, amongft the 
emaciated and half-famifhed pcor of the 
metropolis, even in cafes of what would 
vulgarly be denominated acute rheuma- 
tifm, fuch &imulating corroborants as baek 
and feel have been iuccefsful, after the in- 
effectual adminiftration of ether remedies. 
But this mode of treatment would feldom 
be judicioufly applied to the rheumatic af- 
ZeCtions of the luxurious and plethoric. In 
Zuch cafes, gentle diaphoretics, fuch as 
guiacum, combinations of opium and ipe- 
eacuanha, or of Jaudanum with antimonial 
wine ; fomentations, frictions, or blifters 
applied to the parts more efpecially affeét- 
ed, and the ufe, for atime, of thofe mild 
and gentle aperients that may_ counteract 
the’ tendency to coftivenefs, which con- 
finement, and a lone continuance in the 
recumbent pofture, fo generaJly induce, 
may be confidered ag conftituting the mo 
eflential and material part of medical prae- 
tice in this difeafe. 
In addition, however, to this, it may 
be proper to remark, that, not only as one 
of the moft effectual prefervatives againft 
the attack, but alfo as-one of the moft 
hikely mean after the attack, of dedué&- 
ing trom the danger; or abridging the con- 
tinuanee, of the difeale, a complete ar- 
wtour of flannel, or cthey warm cloathing, 
from head to foot, ought to be recom- 
mended, during the winter months, to 
thofe who are conftitutionally inclined, or 
from their way of life are more than com- 
monly expofed, to rheumatic of catarrhal 
affe€lions. 
In rheumatifm, bleeding has been very 
generally had recourfe to by medical prac- 
titioners ; but not a fingle inftance~ has 
ever fallen under the eye of the reporter in 
which copious venefeétion did not do evi- 
dent injury ; and, in many inftances, he 
has been a witnefs to its almoft immedi- 
ately fatal operation, Bleeding is apt to 
Lift of Difeafes. .  * 
. [Jan. 15 
convert what is called acute rheumatifn 
into chronic, a ftate of the difeafe that is 
more tedious and more difficult of. cure, 
and, when cured, feldom ‘fails to leave be- 
hind it a lofs of ftrength, which never, 
in future life, can be completely reftored. 
Bleeding may, in thefe cafes, induce a 
temporary alleviation of violent pain, but 
~atis only by inducing that univerfal debility — 
of the powers’ of the fyitem, which de- 
duéis, in a proportionate degree, from the 
particular power of fenfation.. 
Local inflammation, fo far from beings 
as is generally fuppofed, an argument’ for 
it, conftitutes, in a majority of initances, 
one of the moft urgent objections againit 
the application of the lancet. Local inflam- 
mation implies a partial accumulation of 
that excitement which ought to be equally 
difributed over the whole frame. The 
frame in general, therefore, mul be, in 
fuch cafes, impoverifhed, and ef courfe 
will be: lefs able'to bear any artificial or 
extraordinary evacuation. ~ : 
fn a report-from the Finfbury Difpen- 
fary, which was publifhed about fifteen . 
months ago, an inftance of habitual me-_ 
lancholy was mentioned as remarkable, in 
confequence of its having immediately fuc~ 
ceeded, and of its having of courfe appa- 
rently been occafioned by, the fudden de- 
privation of fight. Biahiseh LY 
At the prefent, there is a cafe under the 
care of the reporter of a different nature, 
“in which affiiction of mind, arifing from 
a congregation of unfortunate circum= 
lances, produced, at firlt, fenfations of 
giddinefs and dimnefs, and, in no long 
time afterwards, an almoft entire lofs of 
fight, that has now continued for a confi- 
derable period. As the moral caufe of 
the difeafe ftill operates, it is not likely 
that any effential or permanent advantage 
fhould be derived from pharmaceutical af- 
fiftance ; although the tonics and ftimu. 
lants that have Hien. both locally and gee 
‘nerally applied, have decidedly fhewn a 
certain degree of falutary efficacy. 
This, although rather a curious cafe, 
can by no means appear incredible, or at 
all dificult of explanation. Mental im- 
preffions, we know, aét upon the nervous 
fytem in general, but efpecially upon that 
part of it which is more immediately in- 
firumental to the funétion of vifian. The 
appearance of the eye is in general a” 
faithful index of the ftate of the mind. 
The eye feems to_be equally aéted upon 
by all the paffions, whether of a pleafur- ~ 
able or a painful nature. J+ cannot then 
appear impoffible, that, in fome inftances, 
efpecially in thote where there happens ore 
ginally 
