1803] u's 
ACCOUNT orf tHe DISEASES in LONDON, 
From the 20th of Fune to the 20th of Fuly. 
Admitted under the Care of the Phyficians of the Finfoury Di/penfary. 
Ee 
No. of Cafes. 
Fy POCcHONDAL ASISHS su e's 
waea kt 
Epilepfia. .....--------~-------13 
Hyfteria .-...---------------- Sash 
Dyfpneea & Tullis. ..--------+-------- 25 
Afthenia & Dyfpepfia ...-.---.------- si 
Amenoithea’:--.- 2... 54.-522)5-5 4. 22 
Menorrhagia ....-- « Slo tel a ONC NAD 
Teco raed, bi o.niniuan isieigin = sit eae 3 
Heemorrhois ...------- igs Cr tu a CA ailel 15 
Morbi Cutanel..2...--------------- 25 
IMOfUe ECA a a nies ala Shaan nl aie 36 
By fome refpeCtable recorders of medi- 
eal experience it has been obferved, that, at 
moments of peculiar agitation and difmay, 
either from inteftine war, or tne approach- 
ing attack of foreign hoftility, the nume- 
rous and formidable legion of nervous di!- 
orders has almoft inftantly retired from 
our ifland. Such a faét, not ill-authenti- 
cated, muft operate as a confolation, and in 
fome meafure as a compenfation, in the pre- 
fent crifis of political affairs. But unfor- 
tunately the remark, fo faras it is juft, can 
apply folely to thofe difeafes of which the 
imagination or intellectual faculties, are 
the principal and primary fource; not to 
thofe other and more common derange- 
ments of the nervous fyftem which arife 
from: morbid conditions of the body. It 
is from thefe phyfical conditions, and not’ 
from any mental affection, that the hypo- 
chondriafis, epilepfia, and hyfteria, of the 
needy and laborious will be found in ge- 
neral to originate. 
Such cafes, of which a confiderable 
number have occurred of late, have, 
in feveral ftriking infances, been fen- 
fibly and fpeedily telieved by the ap- 
plication of the cold-bath, * which, 
Whilft it duly excites the teo fluggifh ac- 
tion of the veffels, clears away likewife 
that unwholefome filth by which their cu- 
taneous mouths are, from criminal negli- 
gence or an abject neceflity, fo frequently 
blockaded. 
* The patients of the Finfbury Difpenfary, 
upon the recommendation of either of the 
Phyficians, are allowed the privilege of ufing, 
gratuitoufly, the excellent cold-bath in Cold- 
bath-fields, Clerkenwell, 
MonrTuiy Mac. No. 104, 
Regular bathing is no lefs neceffary to 
the prefervation of health, than the truly 
cardinal virtues of temperance and exer- 
cife. To the manfions of the wealthy a 
bath ought to be confidered as an effential 
appendage ; and if inftitutions of this 
kind were generally eftablithed for the 
corporeal purification of the lower claffes, 
and the frequent.ufe of them were to be 
enforced by a decree of Government, fuch 
meafures could not fail to produce an incal. 
culable diminution of difeafe, and would 
fuperfede, in a great degree, the expentive 
neceflity of hofpitals, and all the other me- 
dicinal afylums for popular refuge and 
relief. 
It has been noticed in a former article 
that cold and tepid ablution was made ufe 
of by the Reporter in a confiderable num- 
ber of inftances, and with unvarying fuc- 
cefs, in the treatment of fcarlet-fever.—a 
To feveral cafes which have occurred 
during the laft month, the fame practice 
has been applied, and with fimilar advan- 
tage and effet. The propriety of trying 
fuch a remedy in {carlatina was fuggefed 
by the apparent analogy between that 
complaint and what, in modern language, 
is denominated typhus-fever. 
It may not be unworthy of remark, that 
between one human malady and another 
there frequently is a nearer and more effen~ 
tial affinity then is fuperficially and popu- 
larly difcerned. Notwithftanding a conf- 
derable diverfity in their fhape and com- 
plexion, there exift, in ftri€tnefs of fact, 
only two families of difeafe ; the one the 
offspring of debility, the other owing its 
origin to a ftate of exceffive excitement. 
From fuch a claffification are, of courle, 
excluded all organic injuries, or merely 
local diforders. ; 
This fimple do&rine, firt ftarted and 
promulgated by the celebrated Brown, 
throws upon the ob{cure region of medi- 
cal {cience a beam of light, which, upon 
almoft every pofflible occurrence, or {trp- 
pofable emergency, may fecurely guide 
the judgment and conduct of an experi- 
enced, careful, and difcriminating prac- 
titioner. J. Rip. 
Southampton-row, Fuly 25, 2803. 
I ALPHA 
