| THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 199. | 
JUNE, 1,..1810, 
[6 of VoL. 29. 
\ . . 
4 long as thofe who wxjte are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving their Opinions a Maximum of 
Influence and Celebrity, the moft extenfively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greateh Effect the 
Curiofity of thofe who Yead either for Amufement or Infruction._— JOHNSON, 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
fo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AVING at a very early age been 
i H sent to Holland, in order to qualify 
inyself for commercial pursuits, in which 
my father was engaged with that coun- 
try, and afterwards residing for several 
years in my destined capacity of a mer- 
chant at Marseilles, in the south of 
France, happy in vigorous health, and 
with a constitutional disposition of the 
mOst sanguine character, it was na- 
tural, ay rt was almost inevitable, that 
T should fall in with the luxurious 
indulgences of that delicious climate. 
Upon my subsequent return to Eng= 
Jan, I formed an intimacy scarcely less 
seductive, with some of the most hospi- 
table and convivial gentlemen-sportsmen 
in the county of Berks; wheré I spent 
some of the happiest moments of iny 
life in social and high-spirited’ enjoy- 
ment. 
This career of pleasure was however 
soon interrupted by the depredations it 
produced upon my constitution: the 
first signs of impaired. strength, and 
clouded vivacity, were soon succeeded 
by the most severe and afflicting attacks 
of spasmodic asthma, which returned at 
intervals of eight or ten days with such 
cruel violence, that all the agreeable 
anticipations of life became in a manner 
extingaished; and during the course of 
several years, I was afraid to indulge 
in the hopes of recovery from my com- 
plaint. At last, by a most fortunate 
accident, I was induced to make trial of 
an herb called stra@monium ; from which 
auspicious moment | have been restored, 
not inercly to a tolerable, but to a come 
fortable and reasonably happy, state of 
existence. 
The asthmatic paroxysm_ usually 
came on about two o’clock in the morn- 
ing, when J was suddenly surprised from 
sleep with violent convulsive heavings 
of the chest; and I was scarcely allowed 
SMontuLry Mac, No. 199, 
time to place myself upright in a chair, 
where I sat resting myself upon my 
elbows, and with my feet upon the 
ground (for I could not bear them in an 
horizontal posture,) before 1 underwent 
@ semse, as it were, of immediate suffoce.. 
tion. The fits generally continued, with 
short intermissions, from thirty-six hours 
to three days and nights successively ; 
during which time I have often, in the 
seeming agonies of death, given myself 
over, and even wished for that termina- - 
tion of my miseries. 
It was in a great measure in vain that 
I consulted the most eminent physicians. 
of the metropolis; Dr. Baillie, sir Walter 
Farquhar, Dr. Reid, Dr. Blackburne, 
Dr. Bree, and latterly Mr. Brandish, 
who was reported to have cured the duke 
of Sussex; none of these gentlemen 
afforded me any thing more than a 
transient and tantalizing relief. But here 
I must not omit my obligations to Dr. 
Reid, whose rational practice, and 
friendly attendance, afforded me the 
only consolation to be obtained under 
such an accumulation of suffering; or to 
Dr. Blackburne, and Dr. Bree, for the 
most feeling and gentlemanly manners 
and attention, An amiable friend and 
most respectable surgeon at. Hackney, 
first persuaded me to smoke the divine 
stramonium, to which I owe altogether 
my present freedom from. pain, and 
renewed capacity of enjoyment. It is 
the root only, and lower part of the stem 
of this plant, which seem to possess its 
anti-asthmatic virtue: these should be 
cut into small pieces, and put into a 
common tobacco-pipe, and the smoke 
must be swallowed, together with the 
saliva produced by the smoke; after 
which the sufferer will, in a few minutes, 
be relieved from all the convulsive heay- 
ings, and probably drop into a comfort- 
able sleep, from which- he will awake 
refreshed; and, in general, perfectly 
recovered; at least, this is the invariable 
3G effect 
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