- it might be the same medicine, or at least that it possessed powers of the same kind. The Hermodactyl, the basis of the composition, was strongly recommended by Paulus Ægineta as a specific for gout; and such was its reputation, that we are told by Quincy, it had obtained the significant name of Anima Articulorum-the soul of the joints. I was further encouraged to think favourably of this medicine, from its having formed a leading article in the most celebrated gout-specifics of every age. Two of these are, Turner's gout powder, and the Vienna gout decoction, the latter of which is so strongly recommended by Behrens, in the Ephemerides Natura Curiosorum. It is likewise a fact notorious to every practitioner acquainted with the history of his profession, that this root has, at different periods, obtained considerable celebrity in the treatment of gout, though its general use has, after a time, been suspended; but that the occasional want of confidence in its powers arose less from its inefficacy than its misapplication, experience enables me to affirm.

The Hermodactyl of the shops has been considered by most writers on the Materia Medica, to be the root of the Colchicum Illyricum; but some recorded accounts of the poisonous qualities of the Colchicum autumnale, and the manner in which death had been produced by it, induced me to make my first trials with it, and my uniform success has rendered it unnecessary to make any change.

I directed a tincture to be made by infusing, for two or three days, a quantity of the fresh-sliced root of Colchicum autumnale, in proof spirits of wine, in the proportion of four ounces of the former to eight of the latter. This tincture I employed in all my first experiments; but, as the efficacious parts of the plant are soluble in water, or wine, either of these menstrua may be used; and to produce a medicine more particularly resembling the Eau Medicinale in external circumstances, it is merely necessary to use good Sherry or Lisbon. I purchased the root at Butler's, in Covent-garden, but it may be procured at all the physical herb shops; and, under the

vulgar name of Meadow Saffron, may be found in every part of England.

For medicinal purposes, a recent infusion of the fresh or dried root in water is equally efficacious. I have made extensive trials with this watery infusion, and have never been disappointed in its effects. I was led to employ the dried root, from observing its variable strength when fresh, in which it appears to be much influenced by the weather and the season of the year. After rain, it contains a large quantity of water; but, on the contrary, after much sunny weather, the watery parts of the plant are evaporated, and the active qualities more condensed.

The dose of the tincture, whether it be made with water, wine, or spirit, should be the same, and should vary according to the constitution of the patient. Upon an average, we may fix two drams, or two ordinary tea-spoonfuls, as the proper quantity for an adult.

The wine of white hellebore has been supposed by some to be the French medicine. At a very early period of the promulgation of this opinion, I spared no pains to ascertain how far it was founded in fact. I have employed hellebore in every possible form. In some cases it appeared to be possessed of efficacy; but a series of disappointments induced me to aban don it, as a medicine on which no dependance can be placed. In its mode of operation, it has some properties in common with the Colchicum, or Meadow Saffron, but in its power of curing gout it falls infinitely short of it.

It is proper to state, that my experiments have already been made in at least FORTY cases, followed by results of the most satisfactory nature, the paroxysms being always removed, and in several instances, no return of disease having taken place after an interval of several months.

JOHN WANT,

Surgeon to the Northern Dispensary, North Crescent,

Bedford square.

ORIGINAL PAPERS.

Singular Obstetric Case.-By Joseph Klapp, M. D.

RESPECTED SIR,

Philadelphia, May 6, 1815.

WITHIN the last few weeks has come under my notice, a most singular obstetric case; thinking it would be interesting to you, I have taken the liberty of transmitting you an account of it. Although the fact, unusual as it certainly is, may have no tendency to cast light upon the operations of the accoucheur, yet I believe you will admit, that it evinces, to a greater extent than any occurrence within your knowledge, the ability of the uterus to perform all its customary offices, when in an unnatural condition, or at least under the influence of a most uncommon incumbrance.

It will also serve to show that dead organic substance, may, when invested by living matter, be preserved from putrefaction, during the lengthy period of many years. May we not thence conclude, that living matter is the most effectual of all antiseptics? What can be its mode of operation? Certainly not by any vascular communication. The human monster, the subject of this communication, was almost entirely deprived of its soft parts; so much so, that on taking a view of the object, its bones are the parts which first strike the eye. Doubtless this bony mass must have at some period been covered with the usual soft parts. How have these parts been removed? Was the body so neatly dissected by the absorbents of the surrounding living parts? Was putrefaction prevented from taking place, in this long residue of a fœtus, in consequence of the air having been excluded from it by the sac in which. it was contained? Or would it not be more reasonable to conclude, that the effect was owing to the agency of both the living power, and the exclusion of the air? For my part, in answering these questions, I would not pretend to go further VOL. V. 2 Z

No. 19.

than to suggest conjecture. The subject rather leads to physiological, than practical reflections, and the difficulty of solving the questions proposed, too clearly bespeak how little we know of many of the actions of life.

Professor JAMES.

Yours affectionately,

JOSEPH KLAPP.

On the 7th of March, 1815, my attention was requested to the case of Mrs. B, residing in Second near Mary street; on my arrival I found it was supposed that labour had taken place; her pains appeared to favour that opinion, and the patient stated that her period of pregnancy had fully expired, agreeably to her calculation. Without making much further inquiry, I patiently waited for a while to remark the kind of pain with which she was affected; and not being able to convince myself that she was actually in labour, on further questioning, I was informed, that during the preceding few days, she had been afflicted with symptoms of cold, and that last night she was attacked with a diarrhoea accompanied with much pain. I began to suspect that this last might be the only complaint with which she was affected, and finding that the pulse was rather full and active, I directed ten ounces of blood to be taken from the arm, and afterwards to take thirty drops of laudanum. I left her with particular direction to send for me immediately if her indisposition should assume more the appearance of labour. The next morning I again visited her; and found her down stairs; had been relieved by what had been prescribed; rested well during the night; but the complaint of the bowels within the last few hours had returned, for which I directed the following medicine.

Of which she was requested to take two large table spoonsful every three hours, with six drops of laudanum in each dose, until relieved. At ten o'clock in the evening an immediate attendance was requested, when I found her in pretty severe labour, and was assured by the women present that she had been affected with sharp pain for several hours. On examination, per vaginam, it was perceived that the membranes had given way, and the os uteri had considerably dilated; and I found, on extending my finger in different directions with a view to discover the state of my patient, it was arrested in the posterior part of the pelvis by a hard, and somewhat round body, which, as near as I could ascertain, was situated about the brim of the pelvis, and resting directly on the sacrum. Notwithstanding the most minute examination I could not inform myself what was the nature of this substance. In size, figure, and hardness, it appeared to be very unlike any presentation which could arise from an ordinary fœtus. Its sides, or lateral parts, were so compressed as to form somewhat of a sharp edge, and excepting this particular, its general form seemed similar to that of the head of a fœtus; but I was led to believe that it could not be that part which was felt, on account of its uncommon hardness; for a mass of solid bone itself could not have given that sensation more fully; and further, its size was opposed to that idea, it not appearing to be more than four or five inches in circumference. On passing my finger over the anterior surface of this singular protuberance, I found, after passing apparently the distance of three or four inches, it suddenly diminished in size, so as to form something analogous to the neck; and when I endeavoured to extend the search farther up the uterus, my finger lodged in a confused mass of bones of different sizes, and a softer substance which felt as if it might be membrane, muscle, &c., but of their precise nature I could only conjecture. In the