1802.] 
It is well-known, that it has been con- 
ftantly adminiftered with advantage ina 
variety of other fpafmodic affeStions. 
A peffon, who had been, for a confide- 
rable time, tortured with the colica-pic- 
tonum, was foon reftored to comparative 
eafe, and gradually te almoft his accuftom- 
ed health, by opium rubbed upon the fur- 
face, and thus mechanically forced into 
the interior of his frame; more than one 
inftance of the beneficial effect arifing from 
this particular mode of medicinal applica- 
tion, have long fince been recorded in 
thefe Reports. 
In the treatment of difeafé, it cannot 
but appear defirable to attempt its cure 
by thole means which a& univerfally and 
impartially on the body, rather than by 
thofe which operate, although not folely, 
yet more immediately, and with peculiar 
force, upon the delicate nerves and fibres 
of the tomach. The healih, and of courfe 
comfort of man depend, in a great de- 
gree, upon the due vigour of his powers 
of digettion, which, by the inordinate and 
unfeafonable ufe of drugs, have, in too 
many in{tances, been gradually impaired, 
and, at length, irrecoverably deltroyed. 
This has been found more efpecially to 
be the cafe with chofe either tafhionable or 
plebeian hypochondriacs, who’ are incef- 
fantly having recourfe to doStors and to 
dofes, i order to relieve the exnui of in- 
dolence, or to fupport the languor of an 
effeminate and enervated conftitution. 
Such aa exiftence as their’s may, out of 
courtesy, be called life, but it poffefles none 
State of Public Affairs in November, 1802 
451 
of jife’s privileges or its bleffings.: Ta 
inftances like thefe, as well as in many 
others, draughts-and pills may appear to 
produce a good effet; but, from a pa- 
tient’s happening to get well, it by na 
means follows, that in every inftance he 
has been cured. There can be no 
doubt, that the reftoration to health 
fometimes takes place, imdependenily, or 
even in /piie, of the medical treatment, and 
not i# confequence of it. There is an ob- 
fervation in one of the works of a fenfible 
and ingenuous medical writer, which may 
appear merely a boz-mot, but in fatt 
is not entirely without foundation :— 
That ‘* there is a great deal of difference 
between a good phylician and a bad one; 
but, ina large proportion of cafes, very 
little between a good phyfician and none 
at all¥,?? 
This is not to be underftood as an ill- 
founded libel, or illiberal refletion, upon 
that department of life to which the Re- 
porter himfelf belongs. The philofophy 
of the human frame, in the vaft variety of 
its morbid and healthy conditions, he has 
long regarded as the moft dignified, the 
moft certain, and the mo(ft important, in 
the whole circle of the {ciences. But, wher 
the profefiion is mechanically purfued, 
merely as a trade, it finks into the molt 
corrupt and degrading of all commercial 
occupations. J. Reip. 
Lafi flreet, Red Lion-fquare, 
_ Nov. 25, 1802. 
* Dr. Moore’s Medical Effays, 
STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, 
In November, 1802 
= 
FRANCE. 
HE French papers have been latterly 
filled with details of the progrefs of 
the First Confal in his vifit to the fea-port 
towns. The fulfome addrefies prefented 
to him on thefe occafions, remind us of 
an anecdote of honeft Richard Cromwell. 
—Many years after his refignation of the 
Prote&torfhip, he was vifited in his retire- 
ment and obfcurity by an old friend, who, 
obferving a very large cheft in the corner 
of a himBeEt- -room, was defirous of know- 
ing its contents—** That chelt (replied 
Richard) contains the lives and fortunes 
of all the good people of Great Bxi- 
fain.” 
Many conjectures have been employed 
concerning the object of this celebrated 
perambulation. Some have imagined that 
its intention is to conciliate. the people, 
and particularly the conftituted authori- 
ties and the military ; fome have fuppofed 
that it was to acquire a more accurate 
knowledge of the {tate of public opinion ; 
fome, that its object is the reftoration of 
the French navy, and to make himfelf ac- 
curately acquainted with the ftate of the 
coaft. If, however, the journey has ori- 
ginated in any thing of real importance, 
it is probable that it is to ove point the 
attention of the Conful has been directed, 
and that his progrefs from place to place 
is intended to cover and conceal the real 
object 
