herence to the very cold regimen is by no means requifite, but on fome occafions may be attended with danger. Where the eruption is abundant (which, whatever may be afferted by fome practitioners, will fometimes happen, notwithstanding every precaution is ufed) I recommend confinement to the chamber, that the ease of the patient, which is now become a neceffary object, may be fully con. fuited. For though the puftules may be quite diftinct, and, with out any apparent danger, yet as each of thefe is like a little boil, all taken together must neceffarily occafion much uneafinefs and pain, especially when the patient is in motion. Under thefe circunftances, the room should be kept moderately cool, of fuch a temperature as to be agreeably warm to those who are fitting in it; for the fudden tranfition from a warm clofe room, to a cool airy one, may prove very dangerous to the patient, and is therefore not to be used, but with great difcretion, as will evidently appear from the following inftance. came better. It muft, however, be acknowledged, that her life was expofed to the most imminent danger. Extremes therefore should be cautiously avoided. I have also been called on to vifit other patients, ill of the natural fmall-pox, who from a prevailing idea that the cold regi men was proper in every stage of the difeafe, have evidently been expofed to danger, by having been injudicioufly carried out at the time the puftules were far advanced in maturation; and I have even known this improper treatment practifed in the middle of winter. If the quantity of puftules be large; if the fever, after the eruption, remains in any confi derable degree, and the skin feels stretched and painful, but more efpecially if the throat be fore, fo as to render fwallowing very difficult (which in a few inftances has happened), in fuch cafes I apply a blifter plaifter upon the very place of the arm where the incifion was made. For in fuch cafes it frequently happens that the inoculated part is the princiI was defired to vifit a woman pal feat of pain, occafioned by a who had a good fort of natural cluster of confluent puftules formfmall-pox, though very full.ed about the incifion, which feems Through the exceffive officioufnefs of those about her, who had feen the good effects, in fome cafes, of expofing the fick to the cold air, fhe was, near the time of maturation, forced out of bed, dreffed, and removed into a cool room. Here the fainted away, the puftales all funk, and the feemed expiring; but by being immediately put into bed, and taking fome cordial medicines, the puftules rofe again, and the foon be to point out the propriety of diminishing the tenfion and inflammation of the part, and discharging the acrid variolous matter, as it were from the fountain, whence the whole mifchief had its fource. The blifter plaifter I use is about the fize of an English crown-piece, and confifts of Pulv. Cantharid. This is fpread pretty thick on a foft linen rag, whofe edges are covered with fome sticking plaifter, in order the better to fix the blifter plaifter on the part. Let it be gently preffed till it fticks a little putting a small piece of lint between it and the inoculated puftule, and fuffer it to remain on about twelve hours. It will almost infallibly produce both speedy and confiderable relief. The blifter plaister being removed, the part is to be dreffed with a little Unguent. Bafilic. flav. on a pledget of lint, and the whole covered with a little cerate epulotic of the fame difpenfatory, fpread on a foft linen cloth and this cerate, I think, is always preferable to any other application that has been, or is now in common ufe for dreffing blifter plaisters. I do not know that any perfon has ever practised this method of applying blifter plaifters on the inoculated parts, except myself, and those who have received this information from me: but its effects are fo fpeedy and falutary, as to render it worthy of general ufe on fuch occafions. It likewife gives much less trouble than the application of large blifter plaif. ters, upon other parts of the body, which are not only more painful, but lefs efficacious. It is indeed attended with fo little uneafinefs, that even children feldom complain of it. may It may perhaps be imagined, that from this application, the fore afterwards become troublefome to the patient; but expe. rience is against this fuppofition; for when I have inoculated in both arms, and blistered only one, the blistered incifion has most commonly healed fooner than the other.. Under this head I have also to add, that in fome cafes, particularly of young children, it happens that the inoculated part, even early in the disease, inflames confiderably, fo as to occafion great reftleffuefs and feve, although the puftules on other parts are very few, and of a good kind; in this state I apply a common cataplafm of bread and milk to the part, which, with certainty, gives relief. Some respectable practitioners having expreffed their fatisfaction with that part of the chapter of anomalous fymptoms, &c. where the erysipelatous rafh that bad fometimes been mistaken for a confluent fmall-pox, was fhewn to be inoffenfive; I am encouraged to mention another complaint that has feveral times diftreffed me greatly, and I make no doubt has alfo occurred to others in the courfe of their practice, with what I efteem to be the cause, and best manner of treating it. Sometimes a patient who has paffed through the eruptive fever, in the ufual manner, with moderate fymptoms, and been relieved from every complaint by the eruption of a few puftules, has, after all apprehenfions of fu ture illness ceased, been unex pectedly attacked with a smart, and even alarming degree of fe ver, accompanied with great reftleffness, and very frequently in children with uncommon fits of crying. Not being able to account for this complaint from any circumftances belonging to this difeafe, P disease, I for a time attributed it to fome unknown caufe, independent of the fmall-pox; but obferv. ing that feizures of the fame kind happened in feveral inftances, my attention was excited to investi gate its true caufe, which I am now convinced originates from puftules fituated on the internal part of the mouth, or on the membranous parts of the nose or fophagus I have always treated this complaint fuccefsfully, by moderate cordials, fufficient to produce a flight perfpiration, by which means, the whole disturbance has generally been over in twenty-four hours, and no further inconvenience has been fuffered from it; this arifes from the abatement of the tenfion; for it is obferved, that the puftules on those parts, which are conftantly hot and moist, come to maturity much earlier than those on the skin.. 66 In the last paragraph of the chapter, on the confequences of this. method of inoculation, it is obferved, that firmly believe no one has ever had, or can have, the diftemper a fecond time, either in the natural way, or from inoculation." Although I am fupported in this opinion by the moft eminent Englith phyficians, yet I have found many perfons in Ruffia, who affirm, they have had the fmall-pox twice, fome even thrice. This however does not induce me to change my opinion, as it is probable, nay, more than probable, that thofe who have been entrusted with the care of perfons under eruptive diforders, have been themselves deceived, as to the nature and quality of fuch eruptions. It is not my intention to difpute this point at prefent; if however we fuppofe fome to have had the natural fmall-pox twice, this circumftance, instead of making against inoculation, is an argument in its favour, as I can with the utmost truth declare, that of the very great number of thofe I have inoculated (feveral of whom have paffed through the disease in a very flight manner), I never heard that a fingle perfon has had, or even been fufpected to have had, the fmall-pox a fecond time. The inoculated therefore feem to be more fecure than those who have had the difeafe naturally. That inftances have happened, though not in my own practice, where inoculated perfons have afterwards taken the natural small-pox, I have heard, and believe; but fo far as I have been able to discover by my enquiries, it has conftantly happened that the operator has been deceived; indeed, there was much greater ambiguity and hazard of its failing in the former method, by large incifions and the ufe of plaifters, than in the profent practice, where the whole progrefs of infection is fo plain, that an experienced practitioner can hardly. be mistaken. This, added to the certainty of infecting, are strong recommendations of the prefent practice. ANTIQUITIES. Hiftory and Antiquities of the Fortreffes and Cafles in the Ifle of Wight. From Sir Richard Worley's Hiftory of that land. OF F the fortreffes on this island, the caftle of Carifbrooke claims the first notice; not only from its antiquity, but because all lands were held of the lord, as of the caftle of Caibrooke, by the service of defending it against an enemy, whence it was called the Honour of Carifbrooke. It appears by Domesday-book to have been built by William FitzOfborne, Earl of Hereford, and the first lord of the island, foon after the Norman conqueft, and most probably at the fame time that he founded the Priory. The land on which the caftle ftands was part of the Manor of Aving gure a rectangular parallelogram, having the angles rounded*. The greatest length is from east to weft. The old caftle is furrounded by a more modern fortification, faced with stone, of an irregular pentagonal form defended by five baftions; these out-works, which are in circuit about three quarters of a mile, and encompaffed by a deep ditch, circumfcribe in the whole about twenty acres; they were added in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and are faid to have been conftructed on the fame plan as thofe of Antwerp †. On a fmall projecting ftone, on the north-eaft corner, is carved the date one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight. The entrance is on the west fide in the curtain, between two baftions, through a fmall ftone gateway: on the arch of which is the date one thou fand five hundred and ninetyeight, with the initial letters E. R. This gate leads to a fecond, of much greater antiquity, machi colated and flanked by two large round towers. It is fuppofed to *Thefe angles were taken down and rebuilt by Queen Elizabeth, as appears by the date one thoufand fix hundred and one on the fouth-eaft angle. By an Italian engineer, named Genebella, who had likewife been employed in the fortifications of that city. Oglander's MS. have been built by Lord Woodville, in the time of Edward the Fourth, his arms being carved on a stone at the top, and the rofes of York on each fide. The old gate, with its wicket of strong lattice-work, fastened with large nails at every croffing, is ftill remaining, and opens into the Caftle-yard. Entering the area, on the right hand ftands the chapel of St. Nicholas, with its enclofed cœinetery, but no fervice is now performed in it; the prefent building was erected on the ruins of an ancient chapel, endowed when Domesday-book was compiled. Over the former chapel was an armory, containing breast, back, and head-pieces for two or three troops of horse; but defenfive armour being out of ufe, they were fold by order of Lord Cadogan, when governor. Over the door is carved G. II. 1738; and by a stone tablet at the caft end we are informed that it was rebuilt during the government of Lord Lymington. Farther to wards the left hand are the ruins of fome buildings, faid to be thofe in which king Charles the First was confined; and a window is fhewn for that through which he attempted to efcape; beyond thefe are the barracks and governor's houfe; the latter contains feveral good rooms, with coved ceilings. It has occafionally been used for a military hof pital; and certainly a moie proper place, with refpect to both air and fituation, could not have been found. In the north east angle of the bafe court, on a mount raised confiderably above the other buildings, ftands the Keep, or Dun geon; its figure is an irregular polygon; the afcent to it is by feventy-two steps up the fide of the mount, and there are more within; each step is about nine inches. This multangular tower bears evident marks of great antiquity: fome of the angles are ftrengthened by walling of hewn ftone, which were probably added under Edward the Fourth, when the great gate was rebuilt. There is a well here, faid to be three hundred feet deep, but it has been partly filled up as ufeless and dangerous: the Keep commands a inoft extenfive and beau. tiful profpect, which is not confined to the island only, but takes in the New Foreft and Portfdown, with the fea intervening at dif ferent points. At the fouth-eaft angle ftands the remains of another tower, called Montjoy's Tower; the walls in fome places were eighteen feet thick; the view from it not fo extenfive as that from the Keep. The rampart between these towers is about twenty feet high, and eight feet thick, including a parapet of two feet and a half, which was carried quite round the caftie. Under a fmall building in the, caftle yard is another well, more than two hundred feet deep, whence the water for the use of the garriton was drawn by means of a large wheti, turned by an afs; this duty was for forty years performed by the fame animal, not long fince dead, who on account of his long fervices, became one of the curiofities of the place. Down this well it is ufual to drop a pin, which, after a lapfe of about three feconds of time, produces 14 |