68 
~ Of rheumatifm and catarrh, which may 
be regarded as the epidemics of an Englith 
winter*, and to which the ill fed, ill- 
houfed, and ill-clothed peor, are, in our 
inclement and precarious climate, more 
particularly expofed, little need be faid 
now, tn addition to what has been “obferv- 
ed in former Reports, than that theie com- 
plaints, when they attack perlons in a 
needy and deftitute condition of life, are, 
in general, more {uccefsfully combated by 
the adminiftration of food and flannel, than 
by the moft powerful of all the numerous 
weapons in the arfenals of pharmacy. 
One remarkable modification of chloréa 
has occurred in a girl of nine years of age. 
Her limbs, during the time fhe is 
awake, are in conftant motion; fo far 
from being able to ftand ftill, fhe is hardly 
able to ftand at all; every mufcle of her 
face is itrangely diftorted, and her coun- 
tenance wears an ekpreffion of fingular 
horror. She frequently threws herlelf 
upon the floor, and beats her head 
violently againfi it, the effects of which 
are vifible in the fears and contufions 
which remain. She will, in tome of her 
parexyfms, thruft needles into the flefh of 
* In oppofition to invectives againft an *¢ En- 
glifh winter,” might be alleged a remark, 
which the Reporter himfelf made, during his 
" recent vifit to the metropolis of France, are- 
gion, the mildnefs and equality of whofe cli- 
mate has been, ingeneral,regarded as propitious 
to the health of the human frame, and is often, 
at,this day, prefcribed, in a particular man- 
ner, as medicinas to all diforders of the lungs. 
At the Hotel Dieu at Paris, which, during 
the few weeks of his refidence there, he 
made a point of vifiting and fludying, he was 
iturprifed to obferve, that nearly nineteen out 
of twenty amoneft the fickly tenants of that 
comprehenfive afylum of difeafe were affiict- 
ed with catarrhal or pulmonary affeions. 
his, however, may, in a great meafure, 
be accounted for, by the very imper- 
fe& protection, which the undre/s of Pa. 
ris gives to the bodies of its inhabiiants ; and 
atte’ to the cuftom, which extends impartial- 
ly toall the gradations of fociety, and to ail 
the feafons, gf the year of vifiting, ns arly 
every evening, an unnaturally peice thea- 
tre; or of Jounging or promenading noétur- 
nally in the delicious yardens, which are im- 
planted in the centre, and crowd the vicinace 
of that too luxurious and voluptuous cepital. 
oy 
Lift of Difeafis. 
[Febo ayy 
her arms, without appearing to receive 
any pain from the wounds thus inflicted. 
She is in the habit of grafping with an 
uncommon degree of eagernels and tena- 
city, any objeét which happens to be 
within her reach. Al} thefe fymptoms, 
when regarded in combination, feem to 
indicate a fuperahundance of fenfurial powe 
er, which continually requires to expend 
itfelf in mufcular motion and voluntary 
exertion. It is not at all improbable that 
the reduétion ot excitability which gradi - 
ally takes place, as life aihvancess may; 
in time, reftore this patient to that health 
which noremedies are likely, at pretent, 
completely and permanently to effect. 
A child, three years old, that exhibited 
every chavaéhorifite which ‘nofologiits i€- 
garded as. effential to hydrocephalus-in- 
lernus, was within not many days com- 
pletely cured, by the daily rubbing of 
calomel into the gums. It produced, 
what very rarely occurs in this dilealt, a 
{pecdy falivation*®. 
Such a faét, cosroborated by feveral 
others that have fallen under the eye and 
management ot the Reporter, authorile 
him to be lieve, that what is vulgarly call- 
ed water in the head, is not that dreadtul 
and invincible malady, which it has, in ge- 
neval, been reprefented to be. | 
t. Resp. 
Lofi-fireet, Red Lyon- quare. 
P.S. The Reporter has been defired to 
take this favourable opportunity of inform- 
ing the public, that the governors of the 
Finfbury Difpenfary have refolved, that 
thofe who with to guard againft the evils and 
dangers of the {mall-pex, may be inocuiated 
with the genuine cow-pox matter, at the 
Difpentfary in St. jJebn’ s Square, on Mondays, 
between twelve and one o’clock, without 
expence or letter of. recommendae teil And 
that any -perion who applies, may depend 
upon every medicinal afliftance or advice 
within the power of that- charitable inftitus 
tion, 
Be alata cd ll 
* The exactneis of this ftatement, as well 
as that of alm@it every other in thefe Reports, 
for fome time paft, may be additionally .con- 
firmed by the teitimony of Dr.Muriay, a fenfi- 
ble-and ingenious young phyfician, who, of 
late, has been in the habit of accompanying 
che waraser in hus profeilional perégrinations. 
ALPHABETICAL 
