Chapter IV: Part 4

I agree intirely with you, as to the use of blisters in fevers; being of opinion, that when there is no particular part obstructed or inflamed, they are of little service, and sometimes hurtful, unless perhaps towards the end, when the pulse begins to sink. Nay, in fevers, where the substance of the brain is affected, and not its membranes, I have never found any sensible benefit from blisters: and I always suspect the brain itself affected, when a fever and delirium come on without any preceding head-ach, or redness in the _tunica albuginea_ of the eyes. This kind of fever I have met with several times, and have observed it to be generally fatal.

LXXVI. _A remarkable Instance of Four rough Stones, that were discovered in an human urinary Bladder, contrary to the received Opinion; and successfully extracted by the lateral Method of Cutting for the Stone. By Mr._ Joseph Warner, _F. R. S. and Surgeon to_ Guy’s-Hospital.

[Read Feb. 23, 1758.]

THE favourable reception those few papers have met with from the Royal Society, which I have done myself the honour of addressing to them, encourages me to take the liberty of offering the following account to their consideration: and I am the more immediately induced to submit this paper to their perusal, as the fact hereafter related may possibly be not esteemed a matter of mere curiosity; since it is probable, that the inferences deduced from the history of the subsequent case, when attended to, may prove of the greatest consequence to the future ease and welfare of the patient, as well as be a means of preventing the operator from falling into such errors, as cannot fail of drawing an imputation upon his character, in the practice of one of the most capital and difficult undertakings in his profession.

It is a maxim laid down by the most judicious and best received writers upon operations in surgery, that when the surface of a stone, which has been extracted from the bladder, appears to be totally rough, it amounts to a proof of its having been there alone. But notwithstanding I admit it is from experience found, that the observation is in general well grounded, it may nevertheless appear, from the following case, that this rule is not unexceptionable: for which reason perhaps it may be thought right, that we should not be determined from circumstances only; but, on the contrary, that it is necessary for every surgeon to take such methods during the operation, as will enable him to judge with that degree of certainty, without which he cannot be enabled to do so.

The methods I would recommend are these: That after the extraction of a stone from the bladder, tho’ the whole of its surface be rough, the operator should nevertheless introduce the forefinger of his left or right hand thro’ the wound into the cavity of the bladder; by which means, if the subject be under twelve years of age, he will be enabled to come in contact with every internal part of the bladder with his finger: but if the subject be an adult, and of a corpulent habit of body, the finger, under these circumstances, not being found to be sufficiently long for the purpose, he must have recourse to a female catheter, or some other instrument that is nearly strait, quite smooth and polished, and of about nine or ten inches long; which will serve the purpose equally well, if of a proper form and thickness. This is the method I have made use of upon the like occasions of late years, without giving any great degree of pain to the patient, or considerably retarding the operation.

Since I have had the opportunity of making the following observation, as well as a prior observation something similar to this, where two rough stones were extracted by me a few years ago from a young man’s bladder of 15 years of age, I cannot help suspecting, that there may have been instances of one or more stones being left behind in the bladder at the time of operating, merely from the operator’s putting too great a confidence in this general rule. Which suspicion I am led into from having known people, who have undergone the operation of cutting for the stone, relapse into the like disorder in a short time after the healing of their wounds, attended with such symptoms, as have obliged them to submit to a second operation; when the stone, upon being extracted, has appeared of so considerable a size, as to make it suspicious, that this stone must probably have been of a much longer growth, than the short time betwixt the two operations could admit of. The maxim laid down to us by authors, of a smooth and polished stone in the bladder being never there alone, but always accompanied with one or more stones of the same kind, I know no exception to. But if this phænomenon should ever occur, the strict observance of that rule (delivered to us by judicious writers in surgery) of always searching the bladder under the like appearances, on presumption of one or more stones being left behind, cannot be attended with any future mischief to the patient, when carefully executed by the methods recommended above, and undoubtedly should always be strictly attended to. The smooth and polished appearances of the surfaces of human _calculi_ are universally supposed to arise from their rubbing one against the other; which may with reason be supposed to be the case: but I confess this inference is not satisfactory to me; since it is probable, if this was the sole cause of their smoothness, the same effect would probably be always produced, when attended with the same degree of friction. But as this may be considered as a matter of mere speculation, I refer the decision of this point to those of superior abilities.

CASE.

Mr. William Woodhams, a gentleman farmer, of a corpulent habit of body, in the 46th year of his age, now living in the parish of Udimore, within three miles of Rye in Sussex, was attacked about eight years ago with severe complaints in his loins, accompanied with an incapacity of voiding his urine without the assistance of proper medicines, which were administered to him by a neighbouring apothecary for that purpose. These medicines had the desired effect: they promoted a secretion, and an evacuation of urine; which appeared to be loaded with a considerable quantity of gravelly particles mixed with a _mucus_ of a whitish colour. In the space of three weeks he had perfectly recovered from this attack, and continued well for near five years afterwards, without any return of his complaint, except when he rode hard on horseback, or drank more freely of strong liquors than usual. At the expiration of five years he was seized with an acute fever, of which he recovered in a few weeks.

Very soon after his recovery from this illness, he began to complain of excessive pain in voiding his urine, or upon going to stool; which symptoms were so greatly increased for many months before he submitted to the operation, as to quite disable him from riding, from walking, or from using any kind of exercise. His urine, of late, was continually and involuntarily flowing from him in small quantities. He complained of great pain and soreness in his fundament, attended with a _tenesmus_. This account he delivered to me on the second day after the operation; and at the same time he very feelingly told me, that he had enjoyed but very few and short intervals of ease for the three last years, till since the operation.

On the 30th of January 1758, I cut him, at his own house in Sussex, having first prepared him for the operation in the manner, that is usual upon the like occasion. In the operation, I extracted the four stones, which I now have the honour of laying before the Royal Society. The whole surfaces of these stones appear to be rough, not having the least marks of ever having rubbed against each other during their confinement in the bladder: but yet I conjecture this must frequently have been the case, as there was no difficulty in embracing these _calculi_ with the forceps: for had they been contained in different cells or pouches in the bladder, which sometimes have been observed from dissections, this circumstance would, in all probability, have rendered it impracticable for me to have so immediately got at them, if at all.

The forceps was introduced only three times into the bladder for effecting the extraction of the three first stones, and only twice for the extraction of the fourth stone. Besides these four stones, which I have presented to the Society for their inspection, I thought it not improper to produce, at the same time, some other human _calculi_, for their further satisfaction, each of which was found single in the urinary bladders of different subjects. The surfaces of these stones may be observed to be much smoother than the surface of either of the four stones, that were extracted from Mr. Woodhams’s bladder in the operation I have just now recited; and therefore it was more reasonable to expect to find each of these stones accompanied with one or more stones in the same bladder (according to the received opinion), than it was to find more stones than one in the case of Mr. Woodhams’s, which has given rise to these observations.

But as the fact before us does of itself shew the impropriety and danger of determining from the surfaces of such extraneous bodies, perhaps it may be thought needless to enlarge upon this subject, to strengthen those precautions so reasonable to be observed in this operation. However, as I have already taken notice of the smooth and polished appearances of the surfaces of such stones, as are probably never found single in the bladder; I have produced two stones of this kind, that were extracted from the same bladder, to shew, that these stones do no more resemble those stones of Mr. Woodhams’s, than a piece of polished marble can be said to resemble a rough block of the same species.

_P. S._ I am informed, by a letter from Sussex, dated the 18th instant, that Mr. Woodhams is perfectly well in health; that the whole of his urine had passed through the urethra for the last five or six days; and that his wound will, in all probability, be soon healed.

Joseph Warner.

Hatton-Garden, February 22. 1758.

Plate _is an exact representation of the sizes and external appearances of the four rough stones described in the preceding paper_

_J. Mynde sc._]

LXXVII. _Observations on the_ Limax non cochleata Purpur ferens, _The naked Snail producing Purple. By_ John Andrew Peyssonel, _M. D. F.R.S. Translated from the_ French.

[Read Feb. 23, 1758.]

AMONG the fish we meet with in the seas of the Antilles of America, we find, that this I am going to describe will appear precious, from the beautiful purple colour it produces, in the same manner, that the cuttle-fish produces its ink, if a means could be found to procure this liquor in a sufficient quantity to render it an article of commerce. These fishes are soft, viscous, without shells, scales, or bones; are of the nature of the _polypi_, and such other kinds, without feet, fins, or any thing to supply their places. Their motion is vermicular; and, like the slugs, they wreath themselves up, and when touched make themselves quite round.

They fill up certain membranes of the body with water. Their local motion; _antennæ_, which they lengthen and contract; and a great many other properties, which they have in common with snails, slugs, and turbinated shell-fish, made me call them naked snails: and altho’ they have not the most essential qualities of snails, I thought I might give them the name; for they have no particular appellation in this country. Some call them piss-a beds, some sea-cats, and others a less modest name, _tapecon_, taken from Pliny. The Negroes and country people disagree upon this subject; and therefore I thought all their names ought to be rejected, in order to adopt a more significant one, which I have given them; and that altho’ they are without shells, a quality essential to snails, they had a right to that class by their other properties and qualities.

This fish is commonly four inches long, and two thick; of a greenish colour, spotted with black, each of which forms a circle. The under part is like that of snails, flat, with kinds of _mamillæ_, or rugosities, which are adhesive; by means of which they advance in a vermicular motion; and when touched become round, by retracting their neck and head; and afterwards protrude them considerably, according to their motion and progression, crawling upon rocks to seek their food.

The head of this animal has a flatness, or is inclinable to a square or parallelogram. On each side there are membranes or skins, which form kinds of ears; and under them others, which at times fill with water, and are then transparent. Under this thick skin there is a _cranium_, of a kind of coriaceous or cartilaginous matter; and in the _cranium_ we find the brain, which is a white substance, and very firm. At the basis of the head its oval wide mouth is placed, being above two lines long, which often discovers a white hard edge, with which he crops the fucus’s, and other sea-plants, for his nourishment.

About half an inch from the ears there are two horns, or _antennæ_, like those of some testaceous animals, which serve them for eyes; and these _antennæ_ extend and contract at will, turning to either side also. The _oesophagus_ begins at the upper and inner part of the mouth, which is a delicate long tube; near which there is another thick one, and made nearly like the colon, which leads to a bag, or the first stomach, which may be likened to the craw of a fowl: it is always filled with fucus mixed with sand. Sometimes this stomach is double, or at least lengthens itself considerably, and the aliment parts it, as it were, into two portions. After this craw, or stomach, we find another, which performs the same office with the gizzard of fowls. The membranes are thick, and are set with twelve stones, or horny pieces, of a bright yellow colour, and as transparent as fine yellow amber, ending in points like a diamond; so that the great side, or basis, is set into the membrane of the gizzard as a diamond in its socket: others differ in size, having different figures, that in acting all together they may be able to break and grind the herbs the animal feeds upon, as well by the strength of the muscle or gizzard, which puts them into action, as by the situation of these stones, assisted by grains of sand found in it, turning the whole by this trituration into a liquor. Afterwards, what was thus triturated by the power of the gizzard passes into a third belly or stomach, which is covered by a purple body, resembling the _parenchyma_ of the liver, and nearly of the same consistence: then this belly turns into a long tube, which surrounds this _parenchyma_, and is covered in like manner by a very fine membrane: it is full of a white liquor, like chyle, and goes to discharge itself into another reservoir, at the side of which is a yellowish gland, like a _pancreas_. From these two bodies or glands one of which may be called hepatic, and the other pancreatic, two conduits pass out; that of the _pancreas_ is white, the other of a blackish purple: the first conducts its chyle, condensed, into a reservoir or bladder, which may be resembled to the _receptaculum chyli_ of Pequet, and from thence passes to the fecal matter: the other conducts to a body made like the mesentery, but which is always found out of the common capacity or cavity, in which all the _viscera_ are contained; which I thus describe:

This common capacity is very large, beginning at the head and ending at the tail of the fish: it is sometimes filled with a yellowish water, and is formed by the fleshy body of the animal; which is only a membrane composed of fibres every way interwoven together, open at the top, where the organs are situated, which contain the purple juice.

There is a hollow upon the back of the animal, where the canal, filled with a reddish juice, passes out, carrying it to a fringed body like a mesentery; and it is there the purple juice is brought to perfection; and afterwards goes to a long sack lying under a kind of horny plate, not like the bone of the cuttle-fish, but like the bone of the _sepia_, or little cuttle-fish, which we call _le couteau_. This bone, or horny substance, is transparent; and is of a triangular figure, or approaching the form of a bivalve shell. On the right side it is fastened by a strong cartilaginous muscle, which binds it to the body of the animal; and on the left it is open and detached, and easy to be pulled up: then it is easy to see underneath both the mesenteric body, and the tube or reservoir of the purple juice. This bone, or horny plate, is covered by a loose membrane, which is by no means attached to it, but capable of being filled and inflated with water or wind.

The whole is covered with two membranes, which are continuations of the flesh of the fish’s body: the membranes are loose, and larger than are necessary to the bone: they are wrinkled or rumpled over one another, to cover the whole, and to defend the bone and _viscera_ from all kinds of pressure; but they are ready to stretch one from the other, and leave the parts destined for the purple juice uncovered. They begin a little under the neck, and extend, in the female animal, to the tail, which is flat; and in the male they do not go so low, but end at some distance from the tail.

The females are oviparous; for eggs are found in the grand cavity, at the side of the pancreatic body.

I have already said, that when the animal is touched, he makes himself round, and throws out his purple juice, as the cuttle-fish does his ink. This juice is of a beautiful deep colour: it tinges linen, and the tincture is difficult to get out. It remains at present to try if we can collect a sufficient quantity of this juice, and to find a means of preserving the tincture; which would then be certainly of great value: to which purpose I may apply myself.

When the fish is boiled, or put into spirits, it shrinks up, and loses two thirds of its size; because all the water, which is in the interstices of the fibres, is dissipated, and the dried fibres contract: which clearly appears from dissecting them.

Dated at Guadaloupe, 20 Mar. 1757.

Peyssonel.

LXXVIII. _New Observations upon the Worms that form Sponges. By_ John Andrew Peyssonel, _M. D. F.R.S. Translated from the_ French.

[Read Feb. 23, 1758.]

THE existence of the nests of corallines and lithophyta, and the mechanism of their polypi, made me conjecture, that it was the same with respect to sponges; that animals, nested in the interstices of their fibres, gave them their origin and growth: but I had not yet seen nor discovered the insects, nor observed their work. Sponges appeared to me only as skeletons: but I at length discovered these worms, which form sponges, in the four following species:

1. _Spongia Americana tubo similis_; The tube-like sponge of Plumier.

2. _Spongia Americana longissima funiculo similis_; The cord-like sponge of Plumier.

3. _Spongia Americana capitata et digitata_; The fingered sponge of Plumier.

4. _Spongia Americana favo similis_; The honeycomb sponge of Plumier.

These four kinds only differ in form: they have the same qualities, are made by the same kinds of worm, and what may be said of the one agrees exactly with all the rest; for I made the same observations upon them all.

They may be classed among the _spongiæ hyrcinæ_, so called by J. Bauhin, because of the roughness of their fibres, by a metaphor, from pieces covered with mud; or among those called by Pliny _tragos_, or _aphysiæ_, being foul, and difficult to cleanse; and may take the name, which Father Plumier has given them, drawn from their figure.

These four kinds of sponges are composed of hard, firm, dirty fibres, sometimes brittle; separated one from another, having large hollows, or cylindrical tubes, dispersed thro’ their substance. These tubes are smooth within. The interstices of their fibres are filled with a mucilaginous gluey matter, when the sponge is just taken out of the sea. The mucilage is of a blackish colour, soon putrifies in the water, or falls into dust when dried in the sun.

When a fresh sponge is squeezed, this mucilage comes out frothy, by the mixture of the windings of its fibres: it always issues forth with sand, or little parcels of shells crushed by the sea. These fibres, which consist of the twisted doubles of the sponge, form as it were a labyrinth filled with worms, which are easily crushed, and their juice is confused with the mucilage; but having carefully torn the sponges, and their gross fibres, I discovered the living worms, such as I shall mention hereafter.

These species of sponge commonly grow upon sandy bottoms. At their origins we perceive, as it were, a nodule of sand, or other matter, almost petrified, round which the worms begin to work, and round which they retire, as to their last seat or refuge; where I had the pleasure of seeing them play, exercise themselves, and retire, by examining them with the microscope; and I have even made my observations without its assistance.

_A Description of the Worms which form the Sponges._

The worms I found in these kinds of sponges are about one-third of a line thick, and two or three lines in length. They are so transparent, that one may discern their _viscera_ thro’ their coverings and substance: the blood may be seen to circulate, and all their parts to act. They have a conic figure, with a small black head furnished with two pincers: the other extremity is almost square, and much larger than the head. Upon the back may be seen two white streaks or fillets, as if they contained the chyle: these two canals are parallel to each other from the head to the other extremity, where they come together. In the middle, where the belly and _viscera_ ought to be placed, a blackish matter is perceivable, which has a kind of circulation: sometimes it fills all the body of the worm, sometimes it gathers towards the head, or at the other end, and sometimes it follows the motion of the animal. This vermicular motion or progression begins at the posterior extremity, and ends at the head, which is pushed, and consequently advances forward. I kept these worms alive out of the sponge, quite detached from it, more than an hour, having examined them thoroughly with a middling magnifier; for a great magnifier would be the grave of the insect.

I was surprised, after having finished my observations, when I put them near a piece of the fresh sponge, where the nests were moist, and from which I had pulled them, to see them enter into them, and disappear, being lost in the windings of the tubes. I thought to have found them again; but it was a difficult task to search for them. I crushed them, or they were themselves mashed in the tubes, which I pressed, and of which I had consequently spoiled the texture; but I could not find them; and this happened several times.

These worms have no particular lodge: they walk indifferently into the tubular labyrinth. So that, without offence to Pliny and other naturalists, I do not see, that it is in their power to dilate and contract the bodies of the sponges; which always remain in the same state of magnitude, without being any way sensible to the touch, or any other motion of the sea, nor to any other accident whatsoever, being an inanimate body; for the animal sensitive life, or whatever you will have it, belongs only to the worms, that form these bodies, and which are their dwelling-places; and which, by the slaver or juice they deposit, make the sponge increase or grow, as bees, wasps, and especially the wood-lice of America, increase their nests or cells.

These sponges, nests, or cells, are attached to some solid body in the sea. Some kinds are fixed to rocks; others, as those I am speaking of, are fastened to heaps of sand, or to pieces of petrified matter, and even upon sandy bottoms; and the sea putting in motion the sand, and the little parcels of broken shells, forces them into the holes of the sponge: there the sand binds and mixes with mucilaginous juice, and never is loosed from it but when the sponge is well dried, or with the mucilage when putrified, or in powder; and yet some part will remain, which it is very difficult to take out from the twisted canals, especially in those sponges of the _tragos_ kind, so hard to cleanse. In a word, the blood or humours, which the ancients have observed, is no other than the mucilage or juice of the substance of these worms.

Dated at Guadaloupe, 1 March, 1757.

LXXIX. _Account of an Experiment, by which it appears, that Salt of Steel does not enter the Lacteal Vessels; with Remarks. In a Letter to the Rev._ Tho. Birch, _D. D. Secr. R. S. By_ Edward Wright, _M. D._

[Read Mar. 2, 1758.]

SIR,

THO’ iron is universally allowed to be one of the most powerful medicines now in use, yet many physicians observing, that the _fæces_ of patients, who used it either in a metallic or saline form, were tinged of a black colour, have been led to think, that, in a metallic state, it could not be reduced into particles fine enough to be received by the lacteal vessels; and if taken in a saline form, that it underwent a precipitation in the intestines, by which, being reduced to an earth or calx, it was in like manner rendered incapable of making its way into the blood. But the accurate experiments, with which Signor Menghini has favoured the public in the Memoirs of the Bononian Academy[34], sufficiently prove, that the ore and filings of iron, finely levigated, enter the blood in considerable quantity; as does also the _crocus_, _calx_, or earthy part of the metal, tho’ in less proportion than the two former, which were found to act with a violent _stimulus_ on the vessels, and to have dissolved and broke the _crasis_ of the blood of different animals, that had used them for some weeks in large doses mixed with their ordinary food. Tho’ it must be allowed, that these experiments are very curious, yet the subject seems to require a further inquiry, viz. _Whether iron is capable of entering the blood in a state of solution, or under a saline form_: for, from the violent _stimulus_, as well as from the dissolution of the blood, and other symptoms brought on by the use of the ore and filings, these substances (not being properly dissolved) appear to have acted in a manner so grossly mechanical, that, whatever Signor Menghini may think, very little is to be concluded from them, with regard to the action of iron on the human body, in such cases, as indicate its use, and where a rational physician would think proper to prescribe it as a medicine.

Having read Signor Menghini’s memoir, I recollected, that in the year 1753 I had, with the assistance of two friends, made the following experiment, in order to discover, whether iron, in a saline form, is capable of entering the lacteals.

An ounce and a half of salt of steel dissolved in a sufficient quantity of water, filtrated and mixed with about a pound of bread and milk, were forced down the throat of a dog, that had been kept fasting for 36 hours. An hour after he had swallowed this mixture, having secured him in a supine posture, as is usual in such experiments, we opened the abdomen, and observed the lacteal vessels, like white threads, running along the mesentery in a very beautiful manner. Upon slitting open part of the small guts, we there found a good deal of the mixture, which appeared frothy, but without any black colour, or the least sign of the salt being precipitated; and struck a deep inky colour with infusion of galls. Tho’ the white colour of the lacteals convinced us, that they were full of chyle, yet, as it would have been impossible to have collected a sufficient quantity of it from them, we found it necessary to open the thorax, and tie the thoracic duct a little above the receptacle, which, from the ligature, soon became turgid, the animal being alive and warm, and the chyle still continuing its course towards the thoracic duct. Having cut open the receptacle, we easily collected a sufficient quantity of chyle, and immediately mixed therewith, drop by drop, infusion of galls; a very simple and easy method, by which an incredibly small quantity of salt of steel may be discovered in most liquors: but not the smallest change of colour was observed, tho’ they were rubbed together for some time, and allowed to stand several hours. Now had there been a single atom (so to speak) of the salt in so small a portion of chyle, as that used in this experiment, which was, as near as I could guess, some what less than half an ounce, it is not to be imagined, that it could have failed to discover itself by this method of trial; for upon adding one fourth of a grain of the salt, this mixture instantly became of a bright purple: and I have found, by other experiments, that the smallest quantity of salt of steel shews itself as readily in the chyle by galls, as in any other liquor of the same consistence.

This experiment (which was as fair as could have been desired), together with another observation I have made, _viz._ that neither the blood nor urine of patients, during the use of salt of steel, in the least change colour with galls, renders it more than probable, that this salt _does not enter the blood_.

As the salt was found to have undergone no change in the small guts, it appears, that it is not prevented from entering the lacteals by its being decomposed or precipitated, as has been imagined; but, on the contrary, that what renders it incapable of being received by these vessels, is its _astringency_: for the lacteals seem to be endowed with that admirable faculty of admitting such particles of pure chyle as they happen to be in contact with, and of accommodating their diameters to them, at the same time that by their natural irritability, and power of constriction they obstinately exclude such as are astringent; which, were they to enter the lacteals, would either produce dangerous obstructions in these vessels, or, if they got into the blood, would occasion polypous concretions in the larger vessels, or coagulations incapable of being transmitted thro’ the minute vessels of the lungs; the effects of which would be either sudden death, or at least inflammations and suppurations from obstructions in the pulmonary vessels; inconveniences, which nature, by precluding astringents from entering the lacteals, has carefully and wisely avoided.

Salt of steel, taken internally, must retain its astringency until it be precipitated; which can scarce ever fail to happen in the great guts, from the putrid _fæces_ they contain, which are always observed to be tinged of a black colour from the metallic basis of the salt, part of which, as it has little or no astringency, may, no doubt, enter the blood, as Signor Menghini observed of the _crocus_, which is the same substance; and we know, from the experiments of Lister and Musgrave[35], that particles much grosser than those of the white chyle, provided they be not astringent, or very acrid, are conveyed by the lacteals. But the metallic basis being separated from its acid, and thus reduced to a mere calx or earth, can scarce be supposed to have any medicinal quality whatsoever, or at least to have any share in the virtues justly attributed to salt of steel.

As this salt is not only astringent, and consequently a strengthener, but at the same time acts with a gentle _stimulus_, all its virtues (which are known to be very great in diseases, where the fluids are either viscid, cold, and phlegmatic, or dissolved and watery, from a laxity of the solids) may be accounted for from its immediate effects on the stomach and _primæ viæ_, and on the system of the solids in general by consent; which it would be needless to illustrate by similar examples, because well known to every one the least versed in medical studies. I shall therefore only beg leave, from the obvious qualities of this medicine, and from what has been observed above, to deduce the following corollaries.

1. That salt of steel has no deobstruent or aperient virtue by any immediate action, that it can possibly have on the blood, or other animal fluids, as some have imagined; but that, on the contrary, it owes this quality to its _not entering the blood_, which it would otherwise coagulate, and to _its action on the solids alone_.

2. That in diseases proceeding from a laxity of the solids, great care ought to be taken to restore and invigorate the _primæ viæ_; since a medicine (and this we may presume not the only one) whose immediate action is confined to those parts, is yet found by experience to produce so salutary effects in such diseases.

3. That as this salt does not enter the blood, and consequently cannot be in danger of too much stimulating or constricting the vessels, on which it only acts by consent, it may, in small doses, be successfully used in many cases, where it has been imagined to be hurtful, particularly in consumptions of the lungs, so frequent and fatal in this island; which are commonly attended with too great a laxity of the _primæ viæ_, and of the solids in general, tho’ they seem more immediately to proceed from a laxity and weakness of the pulmonary vessels; in which circumstances it must be of the utmost consequence to restore the tone of those principal organs of chylification, the _primæ viæ_; as good chyle not only corrects the acrimony of the blood, which in the advanced stages of consumptions so much prevails, but likewise saves a great deal of labour, which the lungs (already too much oppressed) must otherwise undergo from a crude and ill-concocted chyle. Agreeably to this we find, in the _Essays Physical and Literary_ of Edinburgh[36], two well-vouched histories of patients far gone in consumptions, with the usual symptoms of pain in the breast, cough, gross spitting of fetid matter, difficulty of breathing, hectic fits, and morning sweats, perfectly cured in a few weeks, by the use of the Hartfell-Spaw near Moffat; which, contrary to what is observed in most natural chalybeat waters, contains a fixed vitriol of iron.

These, Sir, are the few observations I had to make at present on this subject. I have taken the liberty to address them to you, in order, if you shall think proper, to be communicated to your illustrious Society; which, I hope, will continue to latest posterity those interesting researches for the advancement of every branch of natural knowlege, by which it has already acquired so much and so deserved honour; and am, with the greatest respect,

SIR,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
Edward Wright.

Strand, Feb. 28. 1758.

LXXX. _A Dissertation on the Antiquity of Glass in Windows. In a Letter to the Rev._ Tho. Birch, _D. D. Secret. R. S. By the Rev._ John Nixon, _M. A. F.R.S._

[Read Mar. 2, 1758.]

London, March 2. 1758.

Dear Sir,

I Had the honour last winter to lay before the Royal Society a few observations upon some of the curiosities found at Herculaneum, _&c._[37]. Among other articles, I just mentioned a piece of a plate of white glass; and now beg leave to inquire into the uses, to which such plates might be applied in the early age, to which this fragment undoubtedly belongs.

And here a person, who forms his ideas of ancient customs by what he sees practised in later times, may be ready to offer several conjectures; in some of which he will, probably, be mistaken; as in others he may be justified by the genuine evidences of antiquity.

And, first, It is obvious to imagine, that such plates might serve for _specula_, or looking-glasses. And, indeed, that _specula_ were anciently made, not only of metals, and some stones, as the[38] phengites, _&c._ but also of glass, may, I think, be collected from Pliny, who, having mentioned the city of Sidon as formerly famous for glass-houses, adds immediately afterwards, _Siquidem etiam specula excogitaverat_[39]. But then it is to be observed, that before the application of quicksilver in the constructing of these glasses (which, I presume, is of no great antiquity), the reflection of images by such _specula_ must have been effected by their being besmeared _behind_, or tinged _thro’_ with some dark colour, especially black, which would obstruct the refraction of the rays of light[40]. Upon these hypotheses (supposing the tincture to be given after fusion) the _lamina_ before us may be allowed to be capable of answering the purpose here assigned.

It may further be suggested, that plates of this kind might be intended to be wrought into lens’s, or convex glasses, either for burning, or magnifying objects placed in their focus. But this designation cannot be supported by proper vouchers from antiquity. On the contrary, we are informed, that the ancients used either _specula_[41] of metal, or balls[42] of glass for the former of these purposes; as it is well known, that glass was not applied to the latter, in optical uses, till the beginning of the XIIIth century[43].

However, we may with greater probability propose another use, for which the ancients might employ such plates of glass, as are now under consideration, _viz._ the adorning the walls of their apartments by way of wainscot. This I take to be the meaning of the _vitreæ cameræ_ mentioned by Pliny[44]; who intimates, that this fashion took its rise from glass being used by M. Scaurus[45] for embellishing the scene of that magnificent theatre, which he erected for exhibiting shows to the Roman people in his ædileship[46]. And we may collect from the same author[47] (what is further confirmed by his contemporary [48]Seneca), that this kind of ornament had been admitted, in his time, into chambers in houses, baths, _&c._ Whether the plates used for this purpose were stained with various colours (as mentioned above), or had tints of divers kinds applied to the back part of them, I shall not pretend to determine: but in either way they would have a very agreeable effect.

The last destination, which the obvious congruity of the thing itself, countenanced by the practice of many ages past, as well as of the present time, would induce one to ascribe to such plates of glass, is that of windows for houses, baths, portico’s, _&c._ But I am sensible, that whoever should be hardy enough to advance such an hypothesis, would be censured as an innovator, in opposing the general opinion of the connoisseurs in antiquity. These gentlemen are almost unanimous in asserting, that whenever we meet with mention made of _specularia_ in ancient writers (especially those _of_, or near _to_, the age, to which we must refer this fragment), we are to understand by that term nothing but fences made of _laminæ_, either of a certain stone called from its transparent quality _lapis specularis_[49], brought first from Hispania Citerior, and afterwards found in Cyprus, Cappadocia, Sicily, and Africa; or of another stone of the same nature, _viz._ the phengites. These, tho’ expressly distinguished from each other by Pliny[50], are yet reckoned by some moderns[51] as one and the same thing; and thought to have been nothing but a kind of white transparent talc, of which (according to Mons.[52] Valois) there is found a great quantity in Moscovy at this day.

Now that this _lapis specularis_, or phengites, was really used for windows by the ancient Romans in their houses, _&c._ cannot be denied; since (according to the opinion of the learned[53] in antiquity) this usage is mentioned by Seneca[54] among other improvements in luxury introduced in his time. But whether it was so used exclusive of other materials (particularly glass), may, I think, admit a doubt. Salmasius is of opinion[55], that nothing can be determined upon this point from the word _specular_ itself, which seems to be a generical term, equally applicable to windows of all kinds, whether consisting of the _lapis specularis_, or any other transparent substance.

And as (according to this learned writer) there is nothing in the term _specular_ itself, which hinders it from being extended to windows made of other materials besides those above-mentioned; so others imagine, that there are some intimations in ancient authors, which require, that it should actually be so extended. Thus Mr. Castells, the ingenious illustrator of the villa’s of the ancients, thinks[56], that “if this had not been the case, Palladius would not have given directions to his husbandman to make _specularia_ in the _olearium_[57], or store-room, where the olives were preserved. For it appears (says this author) from Pliny’s describing a temple[58] built of the _lapis specularis_, or phengites, as the greatest rarity in his time, and the mention Plutarch makes of a room in Domitian’s palace lined with it, that it was not common enough for husbandmen to purchase;” _viz._ in such quantities, as were required for the purposes mentioned above.

I shall not take upon me to decide upon the weight of this argument of Mr. Castells; but only observe, that if any one should be induced by it to think, that the use of glass for windows may be of much greater antiquity than is commonly allowed, or even as old as the fragment, which occasions these remarks, he may find other probable reasons to corroborate his opinion. As, first, that there seems to have been a natural and obvious transition from the practice of using glass plates for the ornamenting the walls of apartments to that of introducing light into those apartments, (as we find the _lapis specularis_ was in fact employed at the same time for both those purposes) and consequently it seems reasonable to suppose, that the latter of these applications could not be long in point of time after the former. But it appears from the authorities produced above, that the former of these usages did actually subsist in the age[59] of Pliny; and therefore before the destruction of Herculaneum, where he lost his life[60]. From whence we may draw no improbable conclusion, that the latter destination of plates of glass, (_viz._ for window-fences) did likewise precede the same event.

Give me leave to add further, that this presumptive argument in favour of the antiquity of windows made of plates of glass receives an additional force from the close relation, which must be allowed to subsist between them, and those composed of the _lapis specularis_. The former must be looked upon as an improvement upon the other, as they answered all the purposes of convenience, and at the same time were more beautiful; and being the manufacture[61] of Italy, might probably be purchased at a less expence. Upon all which accounts it seems reasonable to conclude, that one of these inventions would naturally be introductory to the other: and consequently, that as window-lights of the _lapis specularis_ began to be used within the memory of Seneca, who died[62] under Nero, about _anno Christi_ 68. (_Helvic._), the original of those of glass may have fair pretensions to a place within the period assigned in the foregoing paragraph, _viz._ some years before the destruction[63] of Herculaneum, in whose ruins the plate before us was buried.

To conclude: I need not observe to you, that all the evidence here produced to prove the usage of glass-windows to have been coæval with the fragment we are now considering, is of the conjectural kind only: for, I must confess, I have not been able to trace it up by any positive authority higher than about 200 years short of the epocha last mentioned, _viz._ to the latter end of the third century[64], when it is expresly mentioned by Lactantius in these words:--_Manifestius est, mentem esse, quæ per oculos ea, quæ sunt opposita, transpiciat, quasi per fenestras lucente vitro aut speculari lapide obductas._--De opificio Dei, cap. v.

I am,

SIR,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
J. Nixon.

LXXXI. _An Account of an extraordinary Case of the Efficacy of the Bark in the Delirium of a Fever. By_ Nicˢ. Munckley, _M. D. Physician to_ Guy’s-Hospital, _and F.R.S._

[Read April 6, 1758.]

AS the following case contains some circumstances, which are curious in themselves, and which may be of service to be known, I have thought it proper to be laid before the Society.

On Sunday the 5th of March I was sent for to a gentleman, of about 30 years of age, who had been for some days ill of a fever. I found him with a degree of heat considerably above what was natural, and with a pulse rather low, but quick, and beating, as measured by a stop-watch, about a hundred strokes in a minute. In this situation he continued, without any remarkable alteration, for the two following days; and, from the appearance of this disease, I imagined, that it would not be speedily terminated. On Wednesday, the third day of my seeing him, I found him however much better; his heat being considerably abated, and his pulse being more than twenty strokes in a minute slower than it had been the day before. On this alteration, so much in his favour, it might have been thought he was growing well, had it not been, that there was no appearance either by sweat or urine, or on the skin, by which it could be imagined the disease was perfectly judged. On this account no alteration was made in his treatment that day: but finding, the next morning, that he had slept well the preceding night, and that his pulse continued quiet, being no more than 74 strokes in a minute, he was allowed to get up in the evening, to have his bed made; and I should have thought him well, had not every appearance of a critical separation been still wanting. On this account, I thought him to be very liable to a return of his fever; and therefore, when early the next morning I was informed, that he had been without any sleep, and quite delirious, the whole night, I was not greatly alarmed, as thinking he had a feverish paroxysm, to which the bark would probably put an end. When I saw him that morning, I found him very delirious; but, to my great surprise, quite free from all kind of fever whatever; his pulse being then as calm as it had been the preceding day. In this condition he remained all that day, and the following night; nothing, that was attempted to relieve him, having done him the least service: on the contrary, his delirium increased so much, as to make it very difficult for the attendants to keep him in bed. The next morning he was much as he had been the day before; his imagination continuing greatly disturbed, and he at times laughing, and playing antic tricks, and using gestures the most opposite to his common demeanour when well; and which, tho’ the pulse had not been so perfectly quiet, had more the appearance of a _mania_, than of the delirium of a fever. In this unhappy situation, there was but one thing, which seemed likely to bring the affair to a speedy determination: this it was proper to attempt, tho’ the indications for it were very obscure, and the event perfectly uncertain. On recollecting the time of this delirium’s coming on, which was about 36 hours after the pulse had grown quiet; and perceiving, that one glass of the water, which had been made in the night, was thick, and seemed disposed to drop a sediment; there was some reason to suspect, and indeed to hope, that tho’ the pulse had been perfectly calm during the whole time of the delirium, there was something of the fever still at the bottom of this complaint. From these indications, obscure as they were, it was judged proper to make a trial of the bark; which was accordingly ordered to be taken immediately, and to be repeated every two hours. This method succeeded beyond what could have been imagined; insomuch that it was observable, even by the attendants on this gentleman, that his mind came evidently more and more to itself after every dose: and in the evening, after he had taken six drachms, his urine grew thick, and dropt a lateritious sediment; and, excepting the weakness naturally consequent on such violent emotions as he had undergone, both of mind and body, he was as well as ever he had been in his life. He hath repeated the bark at proper intervals, as is usual after intermittent fevers, and continues to this day perfectly well.

The use of the bark, in the most irregular intermittent disorders, is very happily so well known in this island, that it might perhaps have been thought needless to have recited any case merely in confirmation of this practice: and I am too well aware of the insufficiency of every thing, but a number of facts on which to found any philosophical truth, to presume to rest any thing on one single instance only. But the case above related is of so very extraordinary a kind, as to make it worthy of being mentioned, both on its own account, and for that analogy, which being found by experience to subsist between diseases, affords the surest method of reasoning on practical subjects. The two remarkable circumstances of this case are, the delirium’s coming on, and continuing, without any exacerbation of the pulse; and the bark’s proving so speedy and effectual a remedy, tho’ given at a time, when there was no appearance of any remission of the symptom, which it was intended to remove. It hath been thought, that a quick pulse is so essential to the definition of a fever, as to be a pathognomonic symptom of it. But experience is against this notion: perhaps the present case is a proof of the contrary; however this be, there have not been wanting instances, in which, towards the end of a fever, the pulse has grown quiet, without the abatement of any other symptom, and the patient hath generally lain comatose, and with the appearance of one, who hath taken a large quantity of opium. Galen, in the third book of the Presages of the Pulse, mentions this symptom, and pronounces it to be almost a fatal sign: and the same thing hath happened in more instances than one, which have come to my knowlege. May not then the above-recited case lead to this useful inquiry, Whether in fevers of every kind, when the pulse is quiet, the bark is not proper to be given, and likely to prove a remedy? In this case it proved absolutely such: and that it is at least a safe medicine in all such cases, in which any practitioner of experience or judgment would ever think of giving it, is now certainly known. For my own part, I can safely declare, that in near ten years experience of it in Guy’s-Hospital, during which time I find I have given it, on different occasions, to above five hundred patients in that house only, I never, from the most accurate observation I could make, saw it do any harm, or bring on any bad symptom, even in cases where it did not succeed according to the intention for which it was ordered; and (which I have thought worth remarking) in chronical cases, even in those, where the bark hath been by many thought the most prejudicial, when, on the coming on of an intermittent fever, the bark hath been necessary to cure this secondary disease, the original distemper hath gone on, according to the best judgment I could form of it, exactly in the same manner, as it would have done had the bark never been given.

LXXXII. _An Account of an Earthquake felt at_ Lingfield _in_ Surrey, _and_ Edenbridge _in_ Kent, _on the 24th of_ January 1758. _By_ James Burrow, _Esq., R. S. V. P._

[Read April 6, 1758.]