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must be gently purged, three or four times, as the cafe may require.

The next object we meet with in the hiftorical part of this volume, is the meteorological correfpondence of the Society, accompanied with twenty-fix large tables, which contain the obfervations of F. COTTE relative to the temperature of the air, the variations of the barometer and thermometer, the heat and cold, the winds and weather, and the reigning difeafes in 1780 and 1781. The temperature of the year in 1780 was the fame with that which was obferved in the correfpondent years of the lunar period of 19 years, viz. 1704, 1723, 1742, and 1761. The weather in 1781 was extremely warm and dry; all the productions of the earth were premature, and crops of every kind were rich and abundant. The fame temperature and the fame fecundity were observed in 1705, 1724, 1743, and 1762, the years of the lunar period of 19 years, which correfpond to the year 1781. The influence of the fmaller periods indicated by M. Toaldo were not confirmed by the obfervations of Father COTTE. Of the remaining obfervations that are contained in the historical clafs, thofe that relate to medical practice are

Obfervations on an Aperture in the Stomach. By M. GEOFFROY.-On a remarkable Alteration in the Colour of the Skin. By M. DE CHAMSERU. This is an icterical disease, of a new fpecies, in which the body of a female child, eight years old, was covered with a dark, blackish, violet colour, accompanied with other disagreeable fymptoms. It was fuppofed to proceed from a thick, viscous, fuperabundant blood, and a languid circulation. Some accidental circumftances prevented the phyfician from purfuing the treatment which the disease feemed to require. In a fimilar cafe, by attenuating the blood and augmenting the action of the fibres, the juice of antifcorbutic plants gave confiderable relief to the patient; but we have no account of a complete cure.

On a Caries which was occafioned (as appears) by a fudden Impreffion made by a Current of Air on a Perfon who was heated and almeft exhausted by hard Labour. By Meffrs. VARNIER and LA

GUERENE.

On the Diffections of two Bodies which exhibited Phenomena totally different from thofe which the Difeafes feemed to indicate. By M. HALLE. One was a fchirrous induration of the membranes of the ftomach; the other, a fingular alteration of the natural ftate of the kidneys.

A Series of Obfervations made by M. VICQ D'AZYR on different Kinds of animal Concretions; and on other Subjects. By the Same.

On a Man who had a monthly Flux of Blood, which ifued from the End of the little Finger of his right Hand. By M. CARRERE. This fingular flux was always preceded by a head-ach, which

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ceafed

ceased when the evacuation was finished. When attempts were made to fupprefs this evacuation, the fufpenfion occafioned dif orders in other parts of the body, fuch as peripneumonies, dyfenteries, and fpitting of blood, which complaints ceased when the evacuation was reftored *.

The materia medica and medical chemiftry have also furnished feveral articles for the hiftorical part of the volume before us; fuch as

Obfervations and Experiments on the Saliva, or Spittle of Horfes. By M. H. DE LA CHENAIE, Profeffor in the Veterinarian School at Paris. The nature of the faliva confidered in general -the chemical and phyfical properties of the pure faliva of the horfe the manner in which it is affected by different degrees of heat in open or clofed veffels-the action of water and faline matters on pure faliva-and the examination of the faliva taken from the mouth of the horse, and mixed with the other fluids of that cavity-all thefe points are here treated with brevity, fkill, and attention.

REPORT of the Memoir compofed by Dr. Jofeph Flores, mem- ' ber of the University of Guatimala in New Spain, which contains an account of a Specific lately difcovered in the Kingdom of Guatimala for the Cure of the Cancer, and some other Disorders frequent in that Country. This method of cure confifts in making the patient eat, during three days or longer, if the virulence and obftinacy of the cancer require it, a kind of lizard, which is common in the province of Guatimala, and which the inhabitants call lagartija. The Indians, as we learn from the Spanish memoir †, cut off the head and the tail of this reptile, and having feparated from it the entrails and the fkin, eat it raw, and even with fome feeble remains of life. This method of employing the remedy being impracticable in Europe, it would, perhaps, be worth the pains of an inventive practitioner to contrive fuch a preparation of the fubftance of this reptile, as might be tranfportable, in pills or boluffes, into our parts of the world, but to make, previously, a trial of the efficacy of fuch a preparation on a certain number of patients in the province of Guatimala. The Society obtained from Spain, by the good offices of Count de Vergennes, a certain number of the lizards of Guatimala, and alfo of those which are found in Spain, which feem to differ little, if at all, from the American lizards. Meffieurs D'Aubenton and Mauduyt have been appointed by the

This is not a ew or unknown cafe. See Lowthorp's Abridgment of the Philofophical Tranfactions, vol. iii. p. 248.-the cafe of Walter Wash from the finger, and fimilar periodical evacuations from other parts of the body.

+ Published at Guatimala, and republished at Madrid in 4to in the year 1782.

Society,

Society, to make trial of their respective virtues in cancerous and cutaneous difeafes, and alfo to comprehend in their experiments the French 1zards, which feem to differ little from those of Spain. The cafes of perfons cured of the most virulent and inveterate cancers by thefe reptiles in the province of Guati mala, are circumftantially defcribed by M. CARRERE, the Author of this report. They are very remarkable, and render further inquiries into this matter highly defirable, as they may terminate in difcoveries of great confequence to medical science and to humanity. The manner in which this remedy operates feems to confirm ftrongly the accounts which have been given of its efficacy. It promotes evacuations, more efpecially abundant fweating, and a confiderable falivation, which discharges a thick yellowish matter. Where thefe evacuations do not take place, the want of them is compenfated by an ample excretion of acrimonious and foetid urine, which contributes equally to the relief of the patient.

A LETTER from the Chevalier D'ARBALESTRIER, dated February 14, 1781, mentions the lobelia fyphilitica, a plant which grows in Canada (and which was fent to him from thence), as a moft efficacious remedy for the venereal disease. In his botanical excurfions on the Alps, he found a plant, fimilar in its appearance to that now mentioned, called phyteuma, with a decoction of which he radically cured feveral foldiers, who were in the most advanced ftage of that abominable disease. This plant is alfo remarkable for its efficacy in the cure of many chronical diforders, occafioned by a vitiated lymph.

On the deadly Effects of a Mushroom, which may be denominated Agaricus Conicus. By M. Picco, corresponding Member at Turin. We have here an account of fix perfons who were poifoned by this mushroom, of which the Author gives a particular defcription, accompanied with drawings. Four of them died in confequence of their refufal of the remedies that were offered: the other two were reftored to health. The symptoms of the disorder are here circumftantially defcribed; the cure is performed by emetics; for vomiting, excited without loss of time, is, according to our Author, the principal relief against the corrofive and foporific poifon of mushrooms, when followed by the ufe of foftening and mucilaginous fubftances to correct the impreffion made on the prima viæ, and prevent inflammation, which, in fuch cafes, generally terminates in a gangrene.

We find a remarkable poftfcript annexed to this narration, which is as follows: I have received a letter from M. J. Reycends, dated the 29th of last Auguft. He tells me, that he learned from M. ENOCH, fuperior of the Oratory in the feminary of Grenoble, that a family at Ghent, which had been poifoned by mushrooms, were cured by an infufion of pear-tree leaves,

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leaves, drank as tea, after having ineffectually tried feveral other remedies. This reminds me of the great confidence that was placed in the leaves of the wild pear-tree by the ancients, who recommended it to those who had fuffered by eating mushrooms.'

Experiments relative to the Influence of the different Plants and Grains upon the Qualities of the Bread ufed by Peasants and Farmers (in France). By the Abbé TESSIER. Though these experiments relate to the plants that grow among corn, and fome kinds of grain that are mixed with it in the barn, in a particular district (La Beauce), yet fomething analogous to this mixture may be found in other places and other countries; and therefore the experiments may prove more generally useful than they feem to be, at firft fight. The Society has been often confult ed on the epidemics, which have been fuppofed to arife from these heterogeneous mixtures. The grain or plants which, in the diftrict of Beauce, were found among wheat, rye, barley, and oats, were the hare-bell or grape- flowers; the cow-wheat; the darnel; the ray or rye grafs; tares, or vetches; also the fmut or blight, which, though mentioned as a grain, is rather a difeafe of the corn. The Abbé TESSIER defcribes concifely, yet with remarkable perfpicuity and precifion, these plants and their feeds. He has mixed their flours with one another in different ways, fometimes taking each alone, and fometimes adding to each fome leaven and the flour of good corn in certain proportions. Thefe experiments have enabled him to indicate the marks which ascertain the existence and proportion of each grain in the bread of the poorer part of the community, who are fed with the remains of the fieve, or with what is left on the threshing floor, and in the granary, when the best part of the corn is feparated from it.

The historical part of this volume is terminated by an ample table of the fpecific weight of feveral fubftances employed in medical practice, and by obfervations on the number of births, marriages, and deaths at Montpellier during the space of ten years; that is, from 1772 till 1782 inclufive,

MEMOIR S.

Mem. I. Concerning the Temperature of the Years 1780 and 1781, with an Account of the Difeafes that reigned at Paris during these two Years. By M. GEOFFROY. We have here a precife account of the ftate of the air, in each season, in each month, and its influence in producing difeafes, whofe symptoms and treatment are largely defcribed in this interefting and inAructive memoir.

Mem. II. Concerning Epidemics. By M. RAIMOND, M. D, In this memoir, remarkably for its folidity, precifion, and perfpicuity, the learned Member difcuffes the following important

queftion:

queftion: What connexion is there between epidemical diseases and other diforders which happen in the fame place, and at the fame time, and are called intercurrent and intervening? What are the complications that take place between them, and what influence ought thefe complications to have on the method of treating them? This was propofed by the Society as a prize queftion, and as the pieces given in did not prove entirely fatisfactory, the question was propofed a fecond time with a double premium, which was obtained by the Author of this memoir. An epidemic dyfentery in the fouthern provinces of France in the years 1779 and 1780, was the occafion of this queftion. In the first part of this memoir the Author endeavours to ascertain the connections and relations that fubfift between epidemical and intercurrent diseases, by their evident occafional caufes, and by their symptoms. The former are the general properties of the air, which refult from the nature of the weather, the ftate of the seasons, and the conflitution of the years, i. e. the permanence or continuance of a certain temperature (fuch as dry heat, humid cold, dry cold, or humid heat), during one or more years. The nature and characters of the latter are enumerated, in an interefting analysis of a great variety of epidemical and intercurrent difeafes, which (as the Author concludes from this analyfis) are derived from the fame caufes, The method of cure, founded in these obfervations, is the subject of the second part.

Mem. III. A medical Account of the Conflitution or Temperature of the Year 1778, together with a Hiftory of the epidemic Dysentery that reigned during the Year 1779, in the Town of Pommeraie fur Sevre, in the Lower Poitou. By M. DURAND. This piece, on the fame fubject with the preceding article, met with a favourable reception from the Society.

Mem. IV. Concerning the Topography of the Town St. Andeol, medically confidered. By M. MADIER, Correfpondent of the Society. This memoir, though but locally interefting, may, however, be of more extenfive utility, confidered as a model worthy the imitation of those who examine the fituation of places as conducive or detrimental to the health of their inhabit

ants.

Mem. V. A Differtation on the following Question: Does there really exift a miliary Fever, effential in its Principle, and diftinct from other exanthematous Fevers? and if fo, in what Habit of Body is it moft to be expected? By M. AUFAVRE, corresponding Member. In order to proceed methodically in the examination of this queftion, the Author fets out by giving a hiftory of the miliary fever, which contains an accurate defcription of that difeafe; he indicates the symptoms which precede and accompany it, and points out the different ways in which it terminates. He, afterward, mentions the perfons, confidered

with

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