years of age, instead of bleeding from the arm or temporal artery, leeches were applied to the head.' The rule, as applicable to the eruptive fevers, has been ably controverted by Dr. Armstrong, in his invaluable remarks on the treatment of measles. And as it applies to typhus fever, my own experience warrants no such distinction. A reference to the Tables will show, that in several instances leeches were wholly inefficacious; while the lancet was signally successful in others of equal danger." 111. It was our intention to have fully noticed Mr. Sandwith's concluding section on "the nature of fever," which contains many ingenious observations and sound principles of pathology and practice, but we were deterred, when we looked at the long list of works still waiting for analytical review. The same reasons prevent our dwelling on some interesting papers contained in the appendices to this portion of Mr. Sandwith's work. We cannot, however, pass them over entirely. The first paper is from Mr. Thomas Sandwith, containing recollections of the epidemic, in which he observes that the writings of Sydenham, Rush, Jackson, Beddoes, Clutterbuck, and Hamilton, had in some measure prepared him against "the theories of Brown and Cullen, and the ingenious trifling of Currie." He was determined therefore never to prescribe for the name of a disease, but combat the symptoms, whatever they might be-a salutary rule of conduct he learnt from Rush. The first case that occurred to him made a strong impression on his mind. The patient had been nearly a fortnight ill with fever, and thinking the lancet was inapplicable at that late period, he had recourse to leeches and purgatives, which procured a temporary melioration of the symptoms. "At the end of the third week, however, instead of crisis, a universal trembling of the limbs and subsultus came on, and the patient died. The event of this case opened my eyes to the necessity of using the lancet, even in the advanced stages of fever; an important addition to my knowledge." 155. After relating a number of interesting cases, Mr. T. Sandwith lays down the following rule, in which we cannot entirely coincide. "We should never trust to mild measures in typhus, when the disease sets in mildly. So certain is the occurrence of inflammation in the course of typhus, if not prevented by early bleeding, that the cases in which it does not appear are but exceptions. The objections against blood-letting seldom apply to its early use; and if the fever is mild, it will make it milder." 162. Upon the whole Mr. T. S. thinks that "the modern treatment of fever is about as successful as that of inflammation." He treated 103 cases of the epidemic, of which six died. "I cannot conclude these recollections better than in the words of an eminent and honest physician, who flourished a century ago, Discoursing with Dr. White, whose papers he had perused, on a larger phlebotomy in fevers, I have,' says he, 'been long ago convinced that a considerably larger phlebotomy than in practice would be much better many times, than whole gallipots full of medicines for the patient.' Ñ. B. You will find the practices of the moderns in fever anticipated by the sagacity and courage of Dr. White. If you have not read his book, read it. The second appendix contains a very sensible communication from Mr. Dunn, surgeon, of Pickering, now of Scarbro. He informs Mr. S. that, "where bleeding was used on the first three days, he knew of no fatal case, and even when resorted to in the most hopeless cases, he means in those when the febrile action had become rooted in the system, he always found it to tranquillize and cool the patient above all other measures." Mr. Dunn almost lost his confidence in leeches, though in Scarbro, where the vascular excitement does not run so high as in the country, he generally finds them sufficient. He prefers, in general, the lancet. "With regard to your question of particular organs being affected, I must answer, that here the greatest variety prevailed. The lungs were often attacked in the later periods, but occasionally even in the earlier of the disease; from thence the pain and affliction would shift to the head, the bowels, the back, the limbs, and vice versa. One day I had to bleed the patient for tenderness of the abdomen, the next for violent pain in the head, and in the third, perhaps, or fifth, for the uneasiness of the limbs or back." 169. Children were "amazingly relieved from acute suffering by the lancet and calomel." "I once gave twenty grains of calomel to a boy divided in three doses before I could procure stools. The boy had been given up by his former attendant. When I arrived he was insensible, labouring under continued stupor; and seemed in a hopeless condition; as soon as the calomel operated he began to recover. "'* 170. * Mr. Dunn seldom prescribed less than ten grains of calomel, and even larger doses, in adults. An interested cry has been raised by some modern practitioners against the occasional exhibition of large doses of calomel in certain dangerous diseases, especially in the hotter climates of the earth, where disorganization quickly supervenes on inflammation, if not promptly counteracted. A scruple dose of calomel has therefore been looked upon with horror, as a thing unprecedented and unwarrantable. If these squeamish practitioners will turn to Sydenham's epistle to Dr. Patman, they will find that the English Hippocrates exhibited this medicine in similar doses, without any scruples at all. "Vel bis in Septimana pil. sequentes exhiberi poterint. Now if Sydenham gave the above dose twice a week in a chronic disease, Mr. Dunn never prescribed the bark as a tonic; in the febrile state he preferred the muriatic acid, and in the convalescent stages, when the lungs had been affected, he used the aqueous extract of myrrh. In Scarbro he has not found it necessary to adopt such bold measures as in the country. He finds a single bleeding at the commencement, with a cathartic and a suitable regimen generally sufficient. The 3d appendix is a short communication from Mr. W. Hardcastle, respecting the epidemic as it appeared at Newcastle. Mr. H. refers to the account published by Dr. McWhirter in the Edinburgh Journal, and avers that, as far as his own observations extended, he saw no cases of what might be termed typhus gravior. "I almost invariably found the fever accompanied with more or less of inflammatory action in the brain or chest ; in some few a tenderness in the region of the liver: affections of an inflammatory nature in the viscera of the abdomen (the liver excepted) were but rare at the onset of the complaint."` 173. To this part of the work are appended extensive tables of individual cases, exhibiting at one view the sex, age, rank in life, and place, form of fever, date of seizure, and if first visit, predominant symptoms, organ most affected, ordinary treatment, date and mode of bleeding, date of evident decline, date of convalescence, number of days sick, probable cause-general remarks. This plan we think an excellent one, especially in epidemics, where the details of a number of cases would swell out a work, and deter men from perusal. Besides impressing us with a very favourable opinion of the talents of the authors immediately concerned in the volume before us, its contents have added to our conviction that medical knowledge is attaining an immense diffusion and extent through the remotest ramifications of the profession. Works are now every day emanating from the class of general practitioners, which, a few years ago, would have been exceedingly creditable to the class of physicians. This extension of information must be productive of the most important benefits to the cause of humanity in general, and will, we trust, rapidly raise the professors of our art in their own and in public estimation. we ask where is the dreadful crime of exhibiting the same in acute diseases, where the intestinal canal is often so torpid as to be with the greatest diffi culty excited to its proper function? XV. Biographical Notice of the late Professor James Gregory. Metam properamus ad unam. DEATH, though repugnant to the hopes of the individual, and distressing to the feelings of friends and relatives, is yet one of the wisest and most beneficent appointments of an overruling Providence. The human mind cannot embrace the whole extent of misery which must inevitably ensue in this world, were man immortal, or even were the range of his existence much extended beyond the usual term. Strength would usurp power, and never let it gotalent would shoot up to an interminable height, and soon render all attempts or hopes of competition vain; of course emulation would die, and one of the main springs of human action be withdrawn for ever. Wealth would follow the unequal division of power and reputation. There would be no intermediate shades between tyranny and slavery-riches and want-learning and ignorance. Nor would the possession of power, riches, or knowledge, continue always to confer happiness or pleasure on the favoured few. Time would indubitably take away, sooner or later, the enjoyment of all, and existence would become insipid, if not burthensome. It is no argument against this, that finite man is anxious to expand the little range of life which he knows is bounded to a span, and must soon terminate. It would be totally otherwise, had he no such fear; and after he had run the same rounds for a few centuries in succession. As human reason itself, then, points out that DEATH is the great equalizer of good and evil, and furnishes the main stimulus to all human exertions, so is it equally unreasonable and unavailing to grieve when talent or learning is removed from this world, in the maturity of its growth. Every hour that it is continued beyond that period, it operates as a check on others, or robs them of their fair chance of acquiring similar distinction. This may appear a cold-blooded doctrine when viewed under the impression of local or personal feeling, but we are convinced that it is sound philosophy, and that its tendency is to reconcile us to the apparently hard lot of our nature, without checking the indulgence of any reasonable enjoyment of life. The far-famed and long-renowned University of Edinburgh has lost one of its brightest ornaments-perhaps one of its main pillars of support. What then?-Institutions must grow old as well as individuals, and ultimately share the common lot of humanity. Nor is this, according to our philosophy, to be considered as an evil, or deplored as a misfortune: far from it. The spirit of inquiry and the thirst of knowledge are principles too pervading at present, to permit the loss of any man, however transcendent his genius-or any ALMA MATER, however extensive her influence, to check, for a moment, the current of instruction now flowing through such innumerable channels. Were the sun of talent to set (which we sincerely hope will never be the case) on the banks of the Forth, it would rise on the Clyde, the Liffey, the Thames, and the Seine. Would rise, did we say? It has risen. The monopoly of knowledge is dissolved; and as privileges are extended, competition must increase, so that nothing but actual and commanding talent can now sustain the reputation, power, or wealth, of a medical university. Let the senators of the intellectual city ponder on these things. Their wisest measures cannot prevent the competition around them, nor ensure the undiminished lustre of their school. But if they allow personal influence to supersede professional merit in their future elections, they may inscribe over the portals of their college"TROJA FUIT." But our admonitions to the living must not prevent our veneration of the dead. The desire of posthumous fame is a prominent feature, a predominant principle in the human mind. When fairly earned, then, during life, it should not be withheld, although censure cannot provoke the silent dust- "Nor flattery sooth the dull cold ear of death." Dr. James Gregory was descended from an ancient family in Aberdeenshire, his father having filled a professional chair in Aberdeen, and afterward in Edinburgh. The subject of the present brief notice was born at Aberdeen in 1758, where he received the rudiments of his education. In 1766 he removed to the University of Edinburgh, and the following year was entered of Christ Church, Oxford, but soon returned to the northern metropolis. In 1773 he came to London to prosecute his professional studies, and became a pupil at St. George's Hospital. In 1774 he graduated at Edinburgh, the subject of his thesis being-" de morbis cœli mutatione medendis." During the year 1775, he was on the Continent, and visited Holland, France, and Italy. It is said that his letters from those countries to his friends at home, prove that he was feelingly alive to all the beauties of Nature, and the treasures of ancient art, there presented to his view. In 1776, at the early age of twentythree, he was appointed to the professorship of the theory of physic, which he held with distinction for twelve years; and as a text-book for his lectures, published the first part of his Conspectus Medicina Theoretica, which was completed in 1782. This work acquired a great reputation-principally, we should think, on account of the felicity of classical language in which it is written. It is to be regretted, that in the successive editions the author never endeavoured to make it keep pace with the progress of medical science; hence its value is greatly diminished to the student. The death of Dr. Cullen, in 1790, raised Dr. Gregory to the chair of practical medicine, the celebrity of which he sustained for thirty-two years. "His lectures," says his biographer, "besides their intrinsic merit as the vehicles of sound medical learning, were characterized by a richness of illustration quite unprecedented." Dr. Gregory's memory was Vol. II. No. 5. 2 F |