the roots of the jatropha manihot, or bitter caffada, I determined to make trial of it. To a dog bitten in the ufual manner, five grain pills of the pepper were given, and the wounded limb was washed with an infufion of it in warm water. These pills had been repeated four times in the space of an hour, when the dog died.

"XII. A young puppy was now bitten in the ear, and exactly half a minute after the ear was cut off. The wound made by the knife bled freely. The dog continued lively for fome time, but in half an hour he began to droop, and in half an hour more died. It is obferved by Fontana, and he fufficiently well accounts for it, that, on biting the ears of animals, a drop of venom collects on the ear, at the hole made by the tooth: this was very remarkable in the experiment now related: a quantity of venom, like a large drop of yellow ferum, collected on the ear, and trickled to the ground.

"It may be proper in general to obferve, that in all thefe experiments the part bitten did not fwell nor inflame, a livid mark could be diftinguished where the tooth entered, but could be traced only for a very little way. When the wounds were fcarified, they bled little or none at all; but before death they commonly bled freely, and the fcarifications were exceedingly difcoloured.

"In all the dogs which were opened, the blood was found to be in a fluid ftate. Upon examining, after death, thofe animals which died by the poifon of the viper, the abbé Fontana commonly obferves, that he found the blood coagulated about the heart and

larger veffels. My experience has not confirmed this obfervation, which I attribute to the great difference in point of strength poffeffed by the venom of the Inake made ufe of in the preceding experiments. In thofe cafes where the poifon acted rapidly, the blood, when emptied from the vessels, fhewed no difpofition to coagulate, and feemed to be of a darker colour than natural: but in those cafes where the animals died more flowly, the blood readily coagulated on expofure to the atmosphere. It is not foreign to the prefent fubject to obferve, that while the poifon of ferpents in mingling with the blood has a strong tendency to prevent its coagulation, it on the contrary more readily coagulates in those animals who have breathed pure oxygen air *.

"Thefe experiments will perhaps ferve little other purpose than to prove the quick and deftructive operation of the poifon of this kind of ferpent, and of the inefficacy of the most celebrated remedies which have been hitherto difcovered. It is certain, however, that upon larger animals the progrefs would have been neither fo rapid nor deftructive; and upon the human body it is also probable that remedies might have been employed with greater fuccefs: for the delicacy of the human skin is very great, and the abforption of any remedy that might be applied to it extenfive and fpeedy. Dogs, we are told, do not perfpire; and it is propable that there exifts much correfpondence between the powers of abforption and perspiration.

"The little fuccefs attending the ufe of the lunar cauftic in these

expe

experiments, affords a fufficiently convincing proof, that the fnakes made ufe of by the abbé Fontana, and the one made ufe of by me, poffefs very different degrees of ftrength in their venom: there are one or two experiments where this remedy appeared to be ufed with fome effect; but I imputed it to the weakened power of the venom by ufe; and I am fully convinced that the poifon of this kind of ferpent, when it is in full vigour, is fo certainly and rapidly deftru&tive, at leaft to fmall animals, that neither the lunar cauftic, nor probably any other remedy, would arreft its progrefs. It appears that even the delay of half a minute in cutting off the car that was bitten was fatal to the animal; and it is fcarcely poffible that, to a perfon bitten by a fnake, any kind of remedy could be applied in a fhorter time. No experiment could be better calcu. lated than this laft to how the power of the venom of this kind of ferpent; for Fontana obferves,

that it is very difficult to kill either dogs or rabbits when bitten in the ears; and out of all the experiments he makes upon the ears of thefe animals, and where no attempt was made to relieve them, none of them died.

"I am therefore ftill of opinion, that the method of cure mentioned in the foregoing paper is the most rational, and the most likely to fucceed in preventing death, as well as the other bad confequences which fometimes follow the bire of a ferpeut that is not mortal. In the use of the nitric acid bath I should have much confidence: and this confidence arises from a greater experience of its powerful influence upon the human body in different difeafes: this experience will foon be communicated to the public by my friend Mr. Scott, whofe labours in the application of a moft powerful and ufeful agent in medicine, and efpecially ufeful as applied to the inhabitants of warm climates, merit the greatest praise."

"A

SERIES of obfervations and reafonings led George Baldwin, the British conful at Alexandria, to believe that friction of the bodies of perfons expofed to the plague, with lukewarm oil of olives, would be not only a prefervative againft, but an efficacious mean of removing, that malady. In order to bring his opinion to the teft of experiment, he imparted it to Father Louis of Pavia, who had fuperintended the hofpital of 1800.

Smyrna for feven and twenty years, requesting him to make a trial of this remedy: and that prieft obferved that, of all the means against the plague, employed under his infpection, this was the most useful.

"From the trials made of this remedy, there resulted a series of directions on the manner of adminiftering it, and of the regimen to be obferved during the time.

"It is not futticient barely to anoint the whole body with oil: L

it

it must also be strongly rubbed with it; and hence the word friction has been preferred to unction.

"The friction ought to be made with a clean fpunge, and a motion fo quick, that it may be over in three minutes. It fhould be made only once, on the day when the disease makes its appearance.

"If the perfpiration be not abunlant, the frictions must be repeated till the patient fwims, fo to fpeak, in his fweat; and neither his shirt nor his bed fhould be changed, till the perfpiration ceafe. This operation fhould be performed in a clofe chamber, furnified with a chafing-difh full of live coals, on which fugar or juniper berries ought, from time to time, to be strewed,

"It is impoffible to determine the time which fiquld intervene between the frictions, because a second friction cannot be made till the perfpiration has entirely ceafed; a circumftance which depends on the conftitution of the patient. Before each repetition of the friction with oil, the fweat must be wiped from the patient's body with a warm cloth. These frictions may be continued feveral days fucceffively, till a favourable change is obferved, and then they may be more flight. It is difficult to determine precifely the quantity of oil neceffary for each friction; but a pound fhould certainly be fufficient; the fresheft and pureft oil is to be preferred, and it fhould be rather lukewarm than hot. The breaft and the privities fhould be flightly rubbed; and the parts which are not under friction fhould be carefully covered, to avoid cold. If there are tumors and buboes, they fhould be gently anointed, till they are fufficiently ready for the application of emollient cataplafms, to induce fuppuration.

"The perfon who performs the frictions should before-hand anoint his body with oil; it is useless for him to rub himself; nor does it fignify whether he anoint himself with more or lefs quicknefs. It will alfo be prudent for him to obferve the ordinary precautions as to ail-fk in or cere-cloth clothes, wooden-fhoes, &c. to avoid the breath of the patient, and, above all, to preferve a great deal of courage and coolness.

"We cannot too much recommend, that the frictions be not delayed after the disease makes its appearance. The perfpirations are very much promoted by giving the patient an infufion of the flowers of the alder-tree, without any fugar.

"As to regimen, the patient may be fupported, for the first four or five days, with a foup of vermicelli, well boiled in water alone, without falt, Afterwards a small fpoonful of cherries preferved in fugar may be additionally given him fix or feven times a day; for it is to be feared that honey would be too laxative.

"When there are hopes of a cure, that is, when, after five or fix days, the patient finds himself better, he may be allowed in the morning a cup of good Mocha coffee, and a fugared bifcuit, and the number of bifcuits may be increased, as he recovers his ftrength.

"For fifteen or twenty days, the patient fhould dine and fup on rice or vermicelli, boiled in water alone, a little bread, dried raifins and preferved cherries, in greater plenty than before; and the quantity of bread, which ought to be of the beft quality, may be increased. In fummer, his foup may be made of little gourds (courges), and in winter of pot-herbs, with no other fea foning than a little oil of fweet al

mouds.

monds. In the course of the day, according to the ftate of the con. valefcent, oranges, very ripe or baked pears, or even bifcuits, may be given him, in fuch quantity, that digeftion may be eafily carried on, and his appetite never wholly fatisfied. At the end of thirty or even five-and-thirty days, his morning and evening repafts may confift of foup made of chicken, or a neck of mutton; but he fhould not be allowed to use folid meat, before the expiration of forty days, in order to avoid indigeftion, which is dangerous, and frequently accompanied with the return of buboes. "After the fortieth day, he may eat roafted or boiled veal, and may take a moderate quantity of wine; but fhould carefully avoid every thing which is of difficult digeftion. "The following are fome proofs of the efficacy of oil :

"In one year, in which the plague carried off a million of people in Upper and Lower Egypt, there was not a fingle inftance of an oil-porter being attacked with that malady*: The fame obfervation was made at Tunis; and thefe facts firft fug. gefted the idea of employing oil, both as a prefervative and as a remedy.

In 1793, two-and-twenty Venetian failors lived on a low fwamp, for the space of five-andtwenty days, with three perfons who died of the plague; but unction with oil faved all the rest of the party.

"In the fame year, three Armenian families, one of them confifting of thirteen individuals, another of eleven, and the third of nine, faved

themfelves by the fame means. They attended their infected parents, lay on the fame beds, and might be faid to hold them inceffantly in their arms; yet they efcaped the contagion.

"In 1794, a poor woman was fhut up in a chamber with thirteen perfons infected with the plague, of whom he had the care, and by means of unction he preferved herself from the contagion.

"Two perfons belonging to a family of Ragufa caught the infection in the laft mentioned year. They plunged themselves, fo to fpeak, into oil, and were exempted from all harm.

"In fhort, this practice is at prefent approved, and generally followed, at Smyrna.

"In the course of these observations we find feveral admonitions; particularly on the neceffity of immediately adminiftering the frictions to the infected. A delay of five or fix days would render them wholly ineffectual.

"A diarrhoea is regarded as a mortal fymptom: the frictions however ought not to be discontinued on that account; for four patients, who had arrived at that dangerous crifis, were nevertheless cured.

"The hofpital at Smyrna received in five years two hundred and fifty infected patients; and it may be fafely affirmed that every one of them, who were allowed proper time, and fubmitted to the above treatment, obtained a cure.

"An immenfe number have been preferved from contagion by unction, affifted by temperance.

"The little work, of which the

prefent

prefent is an abftract, is concluded by the favourable atteftations of the confuls of England, and the empire, at Smyrna; and a number of teftimonies of perfons in public employments, and of refpectable individuals, who have endeavoured to extend this method of treat

ment into every country interested in it.

"We have omitted nothing effential; and difregarding all theory, we only prefent facts, already fupported by numerous teftimonies, and which we submit anew to the test of experiment."

ANTIQUITIES.