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where he was induced to confider it (as Hales, Haller, and others had done) as the cementing principle, or the bond of union between the infenfible particles of bodies; yet, from a plaufiblė analogy, founded on the obfervations of voyagers, as well as on philofophical experiments, he was led to a falutary application of this fubftance, in the cure of the fea fcurvy, confidered as a putrid difeafe, originating from the want of this antiseptic principle in the food of feafaring perfons. He confidered that this defect might be most commodiously supplied by the exhibition of malt, or other portable fubftitutes for fresh vegetables; which are known to abound in this principle, and at the fame time to effect a fpeedy cure in this difeafe, independent of their peculiar qualities; whenever the fcorbutic had the good fortune to reach land, though even in the laft ftage of the diftemper.

Afterwards, when the method of impregnating water with fixed air was difcovered, the medical application of this fubftance was ftill farther extended, and to cafes of a very different nature. It was not only confidered as a remedy for all difeafes of a putrid kind; but likewife, in confequence of its acid quality, as a folvent for calculous concretions, or the ftone; particularly by Dr. Percival, and Dr. Saunders. The Author of the prefent Commentary, actuated by a laudable spirit of improvement, has peculiarly attended to this new fubject of the Materia Medica; and has here given us not only the refults of his trials in the difeafes abovementioned, but in others likewife, in which he was led, by analogy, to adminifter it.

The different methods by which fixed air may be admitted into the fyftem are either by exhibiting, 1. The natural mineral waters, such as thofe of Spa, Pyrmont, Seltzer, &c. that are known to contain it:-2. Water artificially impregnated with it, in the different manners defcribed by Dr. Priestley, Dr. Nooth, the Duke de Chaulnes, and others:-3. Solutions of mild alcaline falts, from which the fixed air that they naturally contain is expelled, by adding a proper quantity of lemon juice, or other acid, at, or immediately after, the time of drinking them; in the manner propofed by Dr. Hulme :-4. Wort, or other vegetable and faccharine infufions, qualified to generate fixed air in the ftomach and prima via; as recommended by Dr. Macbride:-5. Solutions of alcaline falts, previously neutralifed, or even acidulated, or fuperfaturated, by fixed air, or the mephitic acid; as propofed by Mr. Bewly.-Thefe last may either be taken fingly, on an expectation that they may be decompounded in the ftomach; or, in fome cafes, posibly to more advantage, à part of the large quantity of fixed air, with which they have been fuperfaturated, may be expelled from them, by a fubfequent draught of any acid liquor:-6. Clyfters of fimple fixed air, as recommended by Dr. Priestley :-or,

7. The fame fluid externally applied, to the lungs, for inftance, in inspiration, or to other parts morbidly affected, by means of a proper apparatus; as hath been practifed by Dr. Rotheram, Mr. Hey, Dr. Warren of Taunton, and Dr. Percival.

The Author commences his work with an account of fome experiments, made with a view to afcertain the quantity of fixed air contained in fixed and volatile alcalis, and in chalk; by expelling it from them, by means of vitriolic, acid added to them, in a large and tall vial. He found that two drachms of falt of tartar contained 28 grains of fixed air; the fame quan tity of volatile fal ammoniac contained 48 grains; and the fame quantity of chalk contained 42 grains.

The difeafes, in the treatment of which the Author gives us the refult of his own experience, refpecting the adminiftration of fixed air, as well as that of fome of his medical correfpondents, are,-Putrid fevers, small-pox and measles attended with fymptoms of malignancy, gangrene, ulcerous fore throat, fea fcurvy, cachexies and phagedenic ulcers, and the stone and gravel. He relates the various cafes fimply, without fhewing any attachment to mere hypothefis; drawing no other inferences from the fuccefsful events which occurred, than fuch as appear to be juftly deducible from each case respectively. With regard to the cafes, we must refer the reader to the work; confining ourselves, for the most part, to general observations.

Under the head of putrid fevers, in which four cafes are related, the Author declares that he has directed fixed air, both in hofpital and private practice, for a variety of patients, in fevers attended with fymptoms of putrefaction, and with fuccefs. In the fourth cafe, in particular, a train of very alarming fymptoms, attending a putrid diarrhoea, appears to have been removed in the fpace of thirty hours, by means of quickly. repeated doses of falt of tartar and lemon-juice given in the ftate of effervefcence. Some bad cafes follow of the confluent fmall-pox, gangrene, and putrid fore throat; in fome of which the fame method was fuccefsfully purfued: in others, the alcali, first neutralifed, or fuperfaturated with the mephitic acid, was em ployed. In the putrid fore throat, evident benefit was obtained by the topical application, or infpiration of fixed air, expelled. from chalk by oil of vitriol.

In a cafe of this last kind, related by Dr. Haygarth, a judicious hint occurs, refpecting the exhibition of ftrong wort, as an antiseptic; and which confifts in exciting a commencement of the fermentatory procefs, by adding a tea-spoonful of yeast to a pint of it, and placing it near the fire about an hour before it is adminiftered. Dr. Haygarth apprehends that, without fuch addition, the fpontaneous change of wort is into an acetous ftate, by which very little fixed air is evolved.'

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In the cafe of pulmonary confumptions, the Author has not met with one inftance, in his own practice, in which the patient recovered by the use of fixed air, when the disease originated from tubercles: but in cafes of abfcefs in the lungs, whether from peripneumony, or accidental injury, he has feen very falutary effects from fixed air; two inftances of which he relates.

We cannot, a priori, conceive any difeafe more likely to be removed or relieved by the ufe of fixed air, than the true fea fcurvy; had we even no other foundation for fuch an opinion than the obfervation that it peculiarly, though not indeed exclufively, affects feafaring perfons; who from their situation, as we have already in part obferved, are deprived of fuch vegetable and fresh animal food as is adapted to generate fixed air; and that a cure almost invariably en fues, when they have an opportunity of eating food that abounds in that antifeptic principle.

On this head, the Author briefly relates his own success in the exhibition of fixed air in this difeafe, particularly among the feamen at Liverpool; as likewife two extraordinary cafes communicated by Mr. Dawfon, in which the cure was effected by the mephitic julep, or fixed alcali neutralifed by the mephitic acid but as the Author had been favoured with a letter on the fubject, from the late Dr. Macbride, the ingenious propofer of the method of curing this disease by the ufe of wort, and which contains the prefent ftate of the evidence with respect to its efficacy; we fhall transcribe from it fome of his last words on this important fubject.

Dr. Macbride first mentions the favourable accounts of the efficacy of the wort experienced in the trials made of it at fea, in his Majesty's fhip Fafon, and in the Nottingham East-Indiaman, in ten cafes formerly published. He next takes notice of the fuccefs attending the exhibition of the wort on board the Queen Eaft-Indiaman; and of the abftract of the journals delivered in at the Admiralty-office, by the furgeons of the Dolphin, Swallow, and Endeavour; and of a remarkable hiflory, communicated by Dr. Fothergill, in which the efficacy of the wort was very confpicuous. A fhort account of thefe trials was publifhed in the Appendix to his Methodical Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Phyfic.-He then adds:

"Since the time of the laft-mentioned publication, I have received the journal of Mr. Skiddy, furgeon of the Intrepid man of war, on a voyage to India, in 1772; and that of Mr. Patten, furgeon of the Refolution, during her late voyage to the Southern Hemifphere, of which we have the twofold hiftory, by Capt. Cook and Mr. Forfter.

" Mr.

"Mr. Skiddy gives a very diftinct account of about twenty fcorbutic patients, though he fays there was more than double that number on his fick lift. It appears that the fhip was but fcantily provided with water, and for that reafon he could not afford more than two quarts in the day of the infufion, to fuch of the fick as stood most in need of it, and three pints to those whofe diftreffes were lefs urgent. Only two patients of the whole number could be faid to recover, while the fhip continued at fea; but all of them were kept alive, and in most, the progrefs of the disease appears to have been retarded.

With respect to the fuccefs of the wort on board the Refolution, the Public is already pretty well informed, from the two hiftories of the voyages already mentioned, and from Sir John Pringle's difcourfe annexed to Capt. Cook's account. But the furgeon's journal, in my poffeffion, is ftill more ex-' plicit and fatisfactory; for whereas Capt.. Cook makes a doubt whether the wort will cure the fcurvy in an advanced flate, at fea; the cafes in Mr. Patten's journal demonftrate that it will; and he expreffes his opinion, that the wort (if the malt be found, and the infufion properly prepared) will feldom fail to accomplish a cure, even though the fhip fhould happen to be kept out at fea; and he thinks that when it has failed, the difappointment has been owing, either to the unfoundness of the malt, inattention with respect to preparing the infufion, or not adminiftering it in fufficient quantity. There will, no doubt, however, fometimes occur fuch an untoward combination of fevere weather, fcarcity of water, bad provifions, and a crowded fhip, that even the most approved antifcorbutics, if they were to be had, muft fall fhort of their ufual effects: as seems to have been the cafe on board the Swallow, in her paffage across the Pacific Ocean; and in the Talbot Eaft Indiaman, according to Mr. Clark's account, in his book entitled, Obfervations on the Difeafes in long Voyages, to hot Climates."

For reafons which will quickly appear, we fhall quote one paffage more from this letter of Dr. Macbride's to the Author. Alluding to the ten cafes referred to above, that late ingenious philofopher, and phyfician thus feelingly expreffes himself:'

"I did imagine that thefe cafes (lix of which are fufficiently conclufive in favour of the wort) would have gone near to establish the credit of the malt infufion as an antifcorbutic; but my expectations, it feems, were rather too fanguine; fince I find they did not ferve to convince the perfon whom of all others I could have wifhed to be convinced, namely, Dr. Lind; who ftill continues to pronounce, that it is not probable a remedy for the fcurvy will ever be difcovered from a preconceived hypothefis, or by fpeculative men in the clofet.'-And he complains moreover of the mifchief done by an attachinent to delufive

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theories.' See the preface to the third edition of his Treatise on the Scurvy.

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We cannot avoid ftopping to express our furprize at such an obfervation as the foregoing, proceeding from fo intelligent a practitioner. An attachment indeed to delufive theories is certainly not to be defended: But how is the art of phyfic to be improved, or new methods of curing difeafes to be difcovered? Surely not by merely exhibiting untried fubftances at random; or without fome preconceived hypothefis; or, in other words, without reafoning on the fenfible and more obvious qualities of bodies, or those other properties difcoverable by the aid of chemistry, and applying that knowledge to the economy of the human fyftem.

With refpec to Dr. Macbride's application of the doctrine of fixed air to the cure of the fea fcurvy, Dr. Lind's obfervation is ftill further particularly exceptionable: as the efficacy of the wort in the cure, or in the mitigation of the symptoms, of that disease was not then a fubject of mere speculation; but had been rendered very probable by the refults of the trials that. had even then, been made of it.-In fact, the practical tanner might with equal juftice authoritatively pronounce on the improbability of improving the tanning art from a preconceived hypothefis,' or by fpeculative men in the clofet;' and yet, as we lately had an opportunity to fhew *, Dr. Macbride has invented not merely a fpeculative but a practical improvement in a branch of that art, in confequence of fpeculations of a fimilar kind to the prefent.

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In a matter of fuch great importance to the Public, we have thought proper to bear our teftimony againft this unedifying and disheartening obfervation of Dr. Lind's; which tends, as far as mere authority can go, to difcourage all defigned improvements in the art of medicine, though founded on the jufteft reafonings, or deduced from the most plaufible analogy: and which would induce us to reft with our arms folded, and our eyes fhut, content with our prefent inadequate refources; till Dame Fortune, in one of her liberal moods, fhall condefcend, in her own good time, to throw a remedy unexpectedly at our feet.

Soon after we had written the foregoing remarks, a paper contained in the volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions just publifhed, fell under our obfervation: and though the fpeaking of it in this place may feem premature, the contents of it are fo very appofite to the prefent fubject, that we cannot avoid anticipating, in part, our Review of that Article, by giving one quotation from it peculiarly applicable to the prefent queftion. Dr. Lind will there fee that the "fpeculative men in the clo

See our Review for June laft, p: 419:1

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