AN ADDRESS TO THE FREEHOLDERS OF MIDDLESEX, 'ASSEMBLED AT FREE MASONS TAVERN, IN GREAT QUEEN STREET, ON MONDAY THE XXth OF DECEMBER, MDCCLXXIX. FOR THE PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING MEETINGS TO MAINTAIN AND SUPPORT THE FREEDOM OF ELECTION. De Bello Sabino eos referre; tanquam majus ullum populo Romano bellum fit, quam cum iis, qui legum ferendarum caufa creati, nihil juris in civitate reliquerint: qui comitia, qui annuos magiftratus, qui viciffitudinem imperitandi (quod unum exæquandæ fit libertatis) fuftulerint. Liv. lib. iii. c: 39. locked in each other, and all her mufcles, thofe fubfervient to speech excepted, being affected with the fame rigidity as before. During the time of my attendance, fimilar appearances were frequently exhibited. I was informed, by the family, of many particularities in the access of the disorder, all denoting its inftantaneous effect upon the nervous system. She once was feized in my prefence while drinking tea, and became univerfally rigid, at the instant she was advancing the tea-cup to her mouth. Her tears fometimes flowed copiously, while every internal, as well as external sense, feemed intirely locked up in sleep. I will now proceed to describe the progrefs of the disorder, and the mode of treatment, before he was intrufted to my care. It appears, that for many years before the accefs of the cataleptical fymptoms, she had fuffered much from violent head-achs, particularly that fpecies of head-ach, termed clavus hystericus. Her fpirits were easily difcompofed. Her fingers, upon touching cold fubftances, would frequently lose their natural heat and feeling. Her habit of body had had been uncommonly coftive, but of late her bowels were much disturbed by every kind of laxative. Her nervous complaints were always particularly troublesome at the approach of rain, and after a fleepless night. Her diforder commenced with hysteric fits; to thefe fucceeded a delirium of feveral days continuance, attended with flight fhiverings, but no other fign of fever: the catalepfy followed next in order, which at first affected her with only fingle fits, at a week or fortnight's interval; thefe gradually advanced in ftrength and frequency, until, by her own fufferings, and her fenfibility, on account of the anxiety of her friends, fhe was reduced to the most pitiable distress. Before I faw her, fhe had been under the care of a phyfician of eminence in the country, who had attended to her cafe with fingular humanity, and had prescribed various medicines of the nervous kind; which at one time produced fo favourable an effect, as even to flatter with the profpect of a cure; but the symptoms returning with increased violence, through fresh anxiety of mind, the II. G g fame fame courfe of medicine was not attended with the fame fuccefs. Musk, opium, and bark, the latter of which did not always agree with her bowels, were found most effective. Of mufk the had taken to the amount of a drachm and a half each day. Its ufe removed a sense of chillnefs, of which the before had much complained. A few drops of laudanum at the hour of reft had also been attended with advantage. After I had tried æther-liquor anodyn. mineral. Hoffm.-ol. effent. e flor. chamæm. -ol. fuccini-extract. cicut.-rubig. chalyb. ppt.-fal fuccini-julep e camphorâ, and opium in a great variety of forms, without much advance, I found the following application had an evident good effect : R. Opii colati Camphora a drach. i. aa Emplaftr. ftomach. q. s. f. em plaft. regioni ventriculi admo vendum. Obferving the effect of this application, and reflecting upon the many tokens of de bility which her ftomach exhibited, I directed my attention to the ftrengthening of that organ, and, notwithstanding the dif couraging circumstances that had formerly attended the exhibition of the bark, determined to make another trial of its power. I chose the following form of preparation, which Dr. Whytt had found to be particularly ferviceable in hysterical complaints: R. Cort. Peruv. p. uncias duas, Cort. aurantior. a drachmas fex, aa mifce: infunde in fpir. vinof. Gallic. lb. ii, in balneo arenæ, per dies fex & cola. Finding, upon trial, that half an ounce of this tincture, the quantity directed by Dr. Whytt, though diluted with two ounces of water, was more than her ftomach would bear, I prescribed as follows: R. Aquæ puræ unciam unam cum . femiffe, Tinct. præfcript. drachmas duas, Spir. lavend. c. drachmam unam, M. f. hauft. bis die fumendus. |