1804. | 
feafon cf the year, as fwallows in fum- 
mer.”” The experience of thé: Reporter 
_has, upan the whole, agreed With this ob- 
a 
fervation, more efpecially as it applies to 
the poor. 
It is remarkable, however, that (with 
a fingle exception, and that was not in his 
public praétice) there has occurred to his 
notice not one cafe of genuine cholera 
fince’the appearance of Ivs laft Report. 
The fevers, ikewife, have been merely 
ephemeral. He has nct met with a foli- 
tary inftance of typhus: although’ in 
mott of the former years of his expefi- 
ence he has obferved it to prevail more 
particularly towards the conclulion of the 
iummer, when the debilitating power ot 
exceflive heat, conftautly acting during 
the preceding months, has had ts full ef- 
fect upon the conftitution. 
Acute rheumatifm appears, of late, the 
prominent epidemic; arifing, as it gene- 
rally does, from an imprudent or aeci- 
dental expolure to cold and moifture, In 
cafes of this kind, the lancet is teo wans 
tonly and i saint alien: employed 
Although by the relaxation which the ufe 
of it induces, it diminifhes for a time the 
power of painful feniation, it is apt to 
induce a dangerous, and fometimes a fa- 
tal, debility; to render the body more 
fufceptible of arelapfe; and, in a large 
proportion of inftances, after relieving 
this form of the difeafe, it gives rife to 
the chronic and more obfinate modifica. 
tions of it. 
A patient lately under the care of the 
Writer, was afflicted with a rheumatic, 
approaching to a: paralytic, affection of 
the lower extvemities ; a predifpofition to 
which was evidently brought on by an 
addigtion, for the greater part of his life, 
to the exceffive ufe of {pirituous liquors. 
It was thought right to advile him, as his 
circumftances allowed of it, to fpend the 
autumnal months at fome place on the 
coali; a prefcription with which he was 
ready to comply: as, at a former period, 
after having, from a fimilar caufe, been 
dilabled from walking many months, he 
Report of Difea/es. 
155 
had not fpent more than three weeks at 
the fea, (where at firft he was obliged to 
be carried to the machine for the fake of 
bathing) before be was fo far reftored, as 
to exercife his limbs without any pain or 
inconvenience. 
It isinfuch inftances of extreme weak- 
nefs, or premature exhauttion of the vital 
power, that marineatmo {phere and immer- 
fions exhibit a real and moft ftriking eff- 
cacy. 
Perhaps it may appear too frivolous 
and fanciful to fugeeft, that in recom- 
mending to an inval id a particular place 
of valetadinarian refort, not merely the 
purity of its. air, but the beauty of its 
neighbouring fcenery ought often to be 
taken into the account. A perfon .of 
‘aite or imagination may receive benefit 
his health “through the medium of the 
eve, as well as that of any other organ, 
In dyfpepfia, or hypochondnahis more 
efpecially, which in fome ihape or other 
confiitute a large proportion of the difeafes 
that. occur in the more luxurious and req. 
fined claffes of fociety, the habits of think. 
tng and feeling, which from education or 
accidental circumfiances have been acs 
quired, are, in general, far from being 
lutficiently attended to. In fuch cates, 
it is not from throwing drugs into the 
fomach that we are te expect effential 
advantage, fo much as from making ufg 
of ihole! means which are caiculateg to 
excite new and agreeable trains of thought, 
Intelleét is not omnipotent: bot its 
actual power over the organized inatter to 
which it is attached is much greater than 
is in general imagined. The : anatomy of 
the mind, therefore, fhould be learnt ag 
well as that of the body ; the ftudy of its 
conititution, in general, and its peculiari- 
ties, or what may be technically called 
idiofynerafics, in any individual cafe, 
ought to be regarded and attended to ag 
one of the moft eflential branches of me- 
dical education. 
Southampton row, Ruffel-/q. J. Rein, 
cu? 20, 1804. 
NEW 
ee 
