Difeafes of the Virgin Islands, and their Remedies. have heirs of his own, and not give his fubftance to cheats and cowards, married the girl in two days, and has now four children. Cowardice is always fcorned, and deceit univerfally detefted. I found all my friends, if not wholly alienated, A at least cooled in their affection; and the fquire, tho' he did not wholly dif card me, was much lefs fond, and often enquired when I would go to fea. I was obliged to bear his infults, and endeavoured to rekindle his kindness by affiduity and respect; but all my care was in vain, for he died without a will, B and the estate devolved to the legal heir. Thus has the folly of my parents condemned me to fpend in flattery and attendance,thofe years in which I might have been qualified to place myself above hope or fear. I am arrived at manhood without any useful art or generous fentiment, and, if the old woman fhould likewife at last deceive me, am in danger at once of beggary and ignorance. I am, &c. CAPTATOR. Obfervations concerning the Cure of most Diflempers incident to the Virgin lands in America. By an eminent Phyfician lately deceafed, many years refident in thofe iflands. INTERMITTING FEVERS. N intermitting fevers, which are (from the beginning of December to E February) epidemical in the Virgin Islands, the cold fit feldom holds, and many perfons have no cold fit at all. After a perspiration is obtained, either by nature, emetics, cathartics or fudorifics, the jefuits bark cures these ; but which of the evacuations is to precede the bark where nature fails, must be carefully confidered, it being a wrong practice (though too frequently done) to give emetics to all persons. ACUTE DISTEMPERS. 73 Acute diftempers in thefe hot countries in a fhort time prove mortal to Creolians as well as ftrangers, but more fo to the latter. The cause of which, in my opinion, is owing to the want of exercife, perspiration, and di geftion; the heat of the weather putting the fluids into fuch a fermentation, as requires great fupplies of liquids: and the only liquors they have, are chiefly ftrong wines, or spirits mix'd with acids. QUINSIES, PERIPNEUMONIES, &C. Quinties, MALIGNANT FEVERS. ONCE in eighteen or twenty years thefe iflands are attacked with malignant fevers, but particularly in the year 1737, we had the two following diftempers; Dther of which bleeding was of direful Sore throats, and bilious fevers; in ei confequence: fore throats that kill in four or five days are frequent, and in which mercurial medicines are found to be of great relief. In our island of St Chriftophers I found common emetics to do well the following medicines I gave with good fuccefs: Mercurius Dulcis fifteen grains, fena a fcruple, cream of tartar a dram. M. or, Turbith mineral fix or feven grains, lenitive electuary half a dr. or, Tartar emetic three grains, vinegar of fquills one ounce. Sometimes I gave one, fometimes another of these mediFcines tomy feveral patients. And after thefe vomits were work'd off, I obliged them to fip tea or beverages made of tamarinds or lemons, keeping them cool, and with liquid nourishment frequently refreshing and keeping up their fpirits, more especially recommending to them mulled wine, or fack whey, where it could be had. Upon a lax, opiates and reftringents are to be ufed before adminiftring the bark. Give half a dram of the bark G in fubftance mixed with fugar and water, three dofes before the fit, at one, two, and three hours diftance, as the intermiffion will allow of it. And let the intermiffion be ever fo long, I never gave above three dofes before the fit, for what was given for nine hours before I thought all loft, unless an exceffive fweating was the cafe; and then fmall dofes of fine powder of the bark fhould frequently be given through the whole intermiffion. MAN REDDITARY. 17(2.) YELLOW OR BILIOUS FEVER. THE moft mortal distemper amongst us these many years, is what is called the yellow, and by phyficians termed the bilious fever, which malady being alreaHdy fo well defcribed by Dr M'Knight, I here think needlefs to repeat; only i must take notice that thofe who have fal Perhaps had Dr Fothergill's or Dr Wall's treatment been known and tried, these mercu rais would not have been preferr'd. See vel xxi. p. 497. K 74 Method of Practice in Phyfic and Surgery in the W. Indies. len under my care and obfervation have firft been seized with a vomiting and frequent black ftools, and the 2d and 3d day they turned yellow, and the whole body had the melancholy appearance of a corpfe: a fure prognoftic of its foon being in reality fo. patient's complaining of a great illness, while he is not able to fay or know what he ails; and, on the fecond or third day, he will be obliged to take to his bed, his pulfe proving low and wandering. Bleeding and all evacuations in this A cale ought to be avoided, but the patient fhould be kept cool with plenty of liquid nourishment, and ftrong dofes of alexipharmics: and the beft ihop medicine is ten or twenty drops of compound fpirits of lavender; though what I have found far to exceed this, is fpirits of lavender half a pint, ambergreafe two drams, twelve grains of mufk or caftor therein diffolved, and add two ounces of the tincture of fnakeroot; of this mixture for the first three hours I give a tea fpoonful every half hour, abforbed in a lump of fugar, and fwallowed down gradually; afterwards, in like manner and quantity, for every two hours; and if the patient cannot poffibly of himfelf ftir or walk about, I make ufe of frictions with dry napkins or brushes, at the fame time rubbing into his feet and writs oil of lavender When timely called, the method I ufed to manage this distemper was by a decoction made of carduus, fena and cream of tartar, of which I gave my patients conftant draughts for five or fix hours; and though this provoked both vomit and ftool, yet I ever found them B the better for it. And when I apprehended the vifcera were pretty well cleanded by the above or other diluters, (which in about three hours is generally effected) then in two quarts of water, I boiled two ounces of Virginian fnake.. root, making with it rum punch in the C ordinary way; my patients being in bed, and keeping them very warm, I fweated them for at least fix hours by obliging them to drink this mixture very hot, as tea. FLUXES. FLuxes are cured by rhubarb, natural balfams and opiates, with the affiftance of feveral aftringent roots and barks peculiar to this country. 1 DRY BELLY ACHES. D A Fter hard drinking or ficknefs, peo- BURNING and CONTINUAL FEVERS. IN the hurricane months of July, Auguft, September, and October, natives and ftrangers are feized with burning and continual fevers, that in a naturalˇitate, if they recover, will come in about eight days to a crifis, when they often turn to an intermitting fever; in thefe I order the fame medicines and diet as for quinfies, and peripneumonies. NERVOUS FEVERS. We now and then meet with nervous fevers, the figns of which are, the G and oil of fcorpions. DROPSIES AND FLUXES. WE have likewife in thefe iflands drop fies, and fluxes; thefe I treat as cuf tomary in England; only in the first of thefe they require larger cathartic dofes; and in the latter, 1 ufe a great deal mote of natural balfams, and larger doses of opiates, of which I have frequently given to eight grains at a time IN In SURGERY. N fractures the bandage is not to be kept fo hard, nor the limbs confined in boxes, as is ufual in England. ULCERS AND CUTANEOUS EVILS. IN ulcers and most cutaneous diitem pers, internal medicines have little effect. The best external medicine I know of, is burnt verdigrease for a cleanfer. HERPES AND RINGWORM. FOR the herpes and ringworm (a fort of leprofy common both to blacks and whites) is an ounce of flour of fulphur, two fpoonfuls of vinegar, four spoonfuls of balfam capivi mixt. YAWS, HTHE yaws are cured (at least attempt. ed foto be) by falivation; but this is not the best method, for by this (com mon) way of practice they either frequently break out again with the fame, or rather worle ulcers. Therefore the best way to cure thefe is by external application, fweating and bathings, Virtues of the Sima-rouba-Pulmonic Machine. bathings, with the diet drink of the woods. But there are multitudes of the Negroes, who when cured of the yaws are yet much afflicted with a cancerous excrefcence on their feet: the remedy for this complaint is to apply corrofive fublimate, letting of it lie three days hard bound on the parts, which will eradicate these excrefcences, by leaving great holes on the feet and in the toes, that are healed by bafilicon and red preIH. cipitate. MR URBAN, As the Phytolacca has been fo well defcribed in your Magazine, (vol. xxi. P. 305.) I beg leave to introduce another Weft Indian drug, which is no less deServing of the public notice: The drug mean is the SIMA-ROUBA. I 75 Academy mention'd it. By the experiments I have made of it ever fince, both abroad and at home, I have always found that it cured in a very fhort time the diftempers following, viz. A 1. The most inveterate diarhoea, in Englife loofenefs, in 6 or 7 days, without relapfe. B C 2. Mitio cruenta fanguinis, vomiting or piffing blood. 3. Menfium profluvium, fluxus uteri ruber: the overflowing of the terms. 4. Fluxus albus uteri, the whites, or the white flux of the womb. 5. It is one of the most admirable remedies that was ever used in phyfick, to cure the vapours and megrim; and with just reason. For it is well known, by the difciples and readers of Hippocra tes, Galen, Mefue, Boerhaave, &c. that when the acids in the stomach are Dis the Memoirs of difipat, the patient becomes lively and brisk. This remedy fo efficacious, and juftly efteem'd, is only the root and bark of fome particular tree. After the proper NB.The great difficulty of procuring or getting notice of it before, but a gentleman has now Dany of this Sima-rouba made me omit taking any found means to get fome from abroad, what I hope will answer the character here given of it. Mr URBAN, E juices they are capable of containing, I fuppofe that Dr Juffien's great occupations in the phyfick garden at Paris prevented his making experiments to find out other virtues of the Sima-rouba, 1. M. Diore knew the property and virtues of it eleven years before the See Memoirs of the Academy of sciences, anno 1729, Paris 4°. and Amfterdam 12°, See allo Spectacle de la Nature; or Nature difşlay'd, Vol. I, Dialog. xv. of plants. I Have (VOL XXI. p. 497) on the ulcerated fore threat, and am glad to find that he recommends the receiving medicated fteams into the throat by the breath; but, I believe, he has overlooked the pulmonick machine described in your magazine, (VOL. XVI11.0.684.) If he had recollected it, I am perfuaded that he would have prefer'd it to an inverted funnel, which he recommended, for conveying the hot medicated fteam to the affected. (See VOL. XXI. part P499 E.) But there is an improvement to be made on a model given by you; for if a trumpet mouth were added, as I have done, it will be much better, Mr Arden, inventor of this machine, told me that about two years ago he was at Birmingham, when a fore throat was the general complaint there; upon which he advised the use of that machine to feveral people, who were cured by only water and rofemaHry. Since this fuccefs feveral phyficians, both at Birmingham and Derby, have tryed it, with different medicines adapted to the different difeafes of their patients, and have found it answered their expectations. Have read Dr Wall's useful differta I am yours, 76 Monstrous Birth-Electrical Experiments. Mr URBAN, Manchester, Feb. 11. Here fend you the portraiture of a remarkable child (for children they can hardly be called) born by the wife of Richard Tong of Hebus in the parish of Middleton near Manchester about 3 weeks ago. You may depend on it for a true defcription, tho not an elegant one. lam, &c. AGRICOLA. R A not out of any apprehenfion of hurt from the opium, but on account of his va pourish and difconcerted fpirits. The enfuing night he refted no better than before, nor perceived any thing extraordinary from the operation. The fame evening two young men of high fpirits and vigour, having afcended the ftand with undaunted courage, experienced the like treatment of opium full forty minutes, and would have undergone the operation a good while B longer, had not the electricity been deftroyed by the glafs growing too hot, whereby the lining diffolved. They flept quietly as ufual the enfuing night, and rofe the next morning at their wonted hour, infenfible of any good or bad effects from the electricity. EXP. II. The next may be thought C a more terrible experiment. Two ounces of corrofive fublimate were put inte a globe, and the very perfon who drew up this account, received alone the whole electricity, which having been continued twelve minutes, a young porter of about twenty-five, of a lively complexion, came into the elaboratory, and was electrifed with the other, without being informed of the thing in queftion. This fecond operation lafted thirty minutes, very bright and ftrong fparks being drawn from all parts of their bodies all this while; neither of them died, but they are both as well as before in every respect. Ꭰ They are both females, the one perfect, the other imperfect; the imperfect child adheres to the cartilago enfiformis of the perfect child by a cartilaginous fubftance 4 inches in circumference; its body is of a foft fleshy fubftance with little regularity of shape; the right arm has fingers but no thumb, the left is much fhorter and has only two fingers thereon; it has no head, neck nor clavicula, no refpiration; it has no vertebra E of the back or loins; the os facrum and os pubis imperfectly offified; the thighs, legs and feet are the most perfect parts about it, tho' the legs have only one bone each; all its joints are very rigid and ftiff; it has no anus, but paffes off its water in the natural way; its sternum is very imperfect; it is not fenfible of pain. The perfect child is a fine one, and likely to live. Continuation of the EXPERIMENTS ON F EXP. III. Cantharides being of all drugs the most likely to affect the ski, a good handful of their powder was put into a globe, and five perfons were electrifed with it all together; but, in fpight of all poffible efforts, not the least impreffion of the cantharides was felt either on the outward skin, or in any of the internal parts of their bodies. And the fuccefs was precifely the fame when another globe was employed, with powder of cantharides mixed with refinous fubftances. [To be continued.] Mr URBAN, Derby Jan. 12. HE obfervations on the bills of On VARIOUS POISONS. Gality in your Supplement put me EXPERIMENT I. Tup with a little turpentine, à globe was lined with it on the infide, and the in mind of looking upon the register which I have kept of them thefe laft 12 years, by which I find that there is an extraordinary decrease of the bu rials in these last fix years, whether it proceeds from the remarkable healthful nefs of thofe years, or from a decrease of the number of inhabitants of London, believe (in fome measure) from the late I do not pretend to determine, but I ters Christenings and Burials-Motto-Virgula Divina. ter, because there is also a decrease in L. C. A convince him of its infufficiency, and for that purpose concealed a purse of one hundred ducats under a ranunculus, : which grew by itself in a meadow, and ! bid the fecretary find it, if he could. The wand difcovered nothing, and M. Linnaeus's mark was foon trampled Lift of Christenings and Burials in the laft down by the company who were pre twelve years. fent; fo that when M. Linnæus went to finish the experiment by fetching the gold himfelf, he was utterly at a lofs where to feek it. The man with the wand affifted him, and pronounced that Bit could not lie the way they were going, but quite the contrary; fo purfued the direction of his wand, and actually dug out the gold. M. Linnæus adds, that fuch another experiment would be fufficient to make a profelyte of him. I am, &c. Years. 1740 Buried. 30811 1741 14957 1742 13751 1743 1744 14261 32169 27483 25200 20606 1745 14078 21296 Total C 1750 14548 23727 1751 14691 21028 I Mr URBAN, CURIOSUS. Am much pleased with the late attempts you have made, in your Magazine, to revive the antient art of cutting upon wood, than which, a bolder or more fpirited method of expreffion has not yet been invented, as the works of Albert Durer, Hugo de Carpi, Lucas of Leyden, Holbein, Ecman, &c. fhew. As to the antiquity of this moft ingenious art in Europe, I think it may with certainty be traced as early at leaft as the art of printing; and perhaps the firft hints of that invention might be deduced from it. I know there are fome who go ftill farther, and affirm, that Tipondent W. P. defires an explica-E the first printed books were from wood ftory, fays he, named the Recule of "the hiftoryes of Troyes, thus em"prynted, as you fee, were begonne in "onn daye, and alfo fynished in onn. "day;" which could not be done by the prefent method. In order therefore to fatisfy my own curiofity, in this matter, and to throw fome fresh lights upon it, I carefully perufed most of the books that treat of the art of printing, particularly that lately published by Mr Ames, F. R. S. and fecretary to the fociety of Antiquaries: I likewife confulted the M. Linneus, when he was upon his writings of the most eminent engravers voyage to Scania, hearing his fecretary highly extol the virtues of his divining wand, was willing to and fculptors concerning the origin of their art; but all that I could gather with respect to the point in view, wo t |