left fide, was found harder than com mon, in fome places perfectly schirrous, and the whole confiderably enlarged. It adhered to the peritoneum, and appeared jagged and gnawed in the external part of it. Under the distorted ribs there was a large preternatural cavity, which contained near two quarts of bloody water, and fome lumps of coagulated blood. On the fide of this cavity was a chamber, two inches in diameter, and in the bottom of it a paffage leading to the hepatic duct. The perforation of the biliary ducts into the duodenum was fo dilated as to admit the end of a large finger; there was not in this, or the neighbouring parts, the leaft tinge of bile; nor did it flow eafily on preffing the gall-bladder, which was diftended with thick black bile to the fize of a goofe-egg.

The Doctor fuppofes this worm to have been received into the ftomach with fome alimentary fubftance, when very fmall, to have paffed over the pylorus, entered the biliary ducts, and purfued one of the branches of them as far as it could go; then to have formed its bed, and fubfifted by fucking the blood, till the morbid state of the juices, or the external applications to the fide of the patient, made its fituation incommodious; and that then it returned through the fame paffages into the stomach again.

But the notion that worms which are found living in the human body, are firft received into the ftomach with alimentary fubftances, feems to be imbarraffed with fuch difficulties as cannot be removed.

Some of the various kinds of worms which are found in animal bodies are never found elsewhere. The moft common are the afcarides and the tenia. The afcarides are oviparous, and breed in the inteftines; the tenia is generally, if not always, found alone, and is therefore called by the French writers folitaire. Both these are peculiar to animal bodies, for any thing that has been hitherto dif. covered; and if it be fuppofed that the eggs of the afcarides are depofited on any thing received into the ftomach as food, it must be confeffed that the parent anig

mal must have subfifted in a place very different from the inteftines of a living body. It cannot be imagined, that thefe eggs can fuftain the action of the fire in any of the methods of dreffing food; they must therefore be fwallowed with fuch aliment as is taken undreffed, if fwallowed at all, and muft confequently be received with water, or fallad, or fruit. But how the egg of an animal that feems intended by nature to fubfift merely on vegetable substances, in the open air, and exposed by turns to heat and cold, and wet and dry, fhould refift the digeftive powers of the ftomach, and produce the animal alive in a place fo different from that in which it was depofited by the parent animal, directed by univerfal instinct to depofit it in the most proper nidus where the future animal would moft eafily find fubfiftence, is extremely difficult to conceive. To account for the reception of the tenia into the body by the mouth, is, if poffible, more difficult. This creature is of fo great a length at its state of maturity, that whatever were its haunts, it would easily be feen. Whether it is oviparous or viviparous, none has, I think, pretended to determine; but in either cafe all the difficulties that have been mentioned with respect to the ascarides, are aggravated with respect to this. It is however known to be of the polype kind; for if divided, each part will become a complete animal; but it will not, I believe, be pretended by any, that nature has provided for its generation no other way. It is, however, of more importance to discover how these animals may be deftroyed, than how they are produced or received, and this feems to be among the defiderate of medical art. The æthiops mineral, the powder of tin, the various preparations of fulphur, the oils and the bitters of every tribe, do not feem to produce any good effect but in proportion as they are compounded with other fubftances that have a cathartic quality, and then by clearing the inteftines they relieve the patient, till a new brood fucceeds to thofe that were carried away in the mucus and fæces which the medicine expel

led.

led. It is to be wished that fome inge. pious gentleman of the faculty would make this article his particular ftudy, efpecially as Dr Bond declares it to be his opinion, drawn from many cafes which have occured in his practice, that the diforders of the liver arife much more frequently from worms than has been generally fufpected.

Art. XI. Account of a cure by electricity, from Mr Evans, ftudent in phyfic at Philadelphia.

The patient was a girl about fourteen, who was feized with convulfion - fits, which fucceeded each other so fast, that the had near forty in twenty-four hours. After fome time they became lefs frequent, and at length fhe had intermiffons of a month; but she was then fometimes tortured with the cramp in different parts of her body, and fometimes with more general convulfions of the extremities, attended with a choaking deliquium, and almost the whole train of hysteric symptoms. These haraffed her ten years, notwithstanding all the natural functions were regularly performed, and the best medical advice taken and followed. At laft fhe had recourse to electricity. She received the first time four fhocks morning and evening; they were, fhe faid, what they called 200 ftrokes of the wheel which fill an eight-gallon bottle. On receiving the firft fhock fhe felt the fit very strong, but the second carried it off. The fame happened every time she went, till the symptoms gradually decreased, and at length entirely left her.

Art. XIII. Of a periodical blindness. By Dr Pye.

The patient was about forty years of age, and fervant to one Pye, at the wind. anill on Limehoufe wall. This man, while he was mending fome facks, juft at the going down of the fun, was fuddenly deprived of the ufe of his limbs, and his fight.

It was not, however, attended with any pain, but, on the contrary, with a fenfation of eafe and pleafure, which he defcribed by saying be found himself as if in a pleasing dose.

Hi

He was immediately carried to bed, where he continued the whole night perfectly awake, and totally blind. fight gradually returned with the ligh: of the morning, and was again perie when it was perfect day. Upon attempt ing to rife, he found the use of his limb also reftored, and went about his busi nefs in perfect health. He thus loft and recovered his fight every night and morn. ing for near two months, though his limbs were not affected, and his blindness was not attended by a pleasing sen. fation, but by a flight pain over his eyes, and a noise in his head, like the dashing of water against the shore.

After two months continuance, the disease vanished of itself, and the patient continued well from October 1754 till June 1755..

In June 1755 he was blind one night, and was also blind one night fix weeks afterwards. About fix weeks after that, at the full of the moon, he was blind the third time for one night, and continued well till the 3d of October, about four teen months from his first attack. On the eighth day of the conftant periodical re turn of his blindness, he took the quan tity of a chefnut of the following elec tuary: R cort. peruv. pulv. 3ii. Nuc.maf toft. 3 ii. Syr. e. cort. aurant. q. f. and the dofe was repeated every hour du ring ten hours. This courfe was be gun in the morning of Oct. 10. when his fight returned, and in the evening he miffed his blind fit. The bark was continued every two hours, and be miss ed his fit on the evening of Oct. 11. 12. and 13.; the dose therefore was or dered to be taken only every four hours. When the patient began to take the me

dicine he had a diarrhea, but his mo tions were regular on the 11th and 12th. On the 14th the electuary both purged and vomited him, but he was still free from his blindness. The ufual dofe of the following electuary was then order. ed every fix hours: R cort. peruv. pulv. ii. Nuc.mosch. toft. Ziii. Syr. de mecon. q. f.

On the 15th this electuary alfo purged and vomited; and the evacuations had fo weakened the patient, that he could not attend the doctor.

On the

On the 18th, 19th, and zoth, the fever increased, and the diarrhoea continued; for which it does not appear that any medicine was adminiftered. On the 20th, he was delirious, but the fight was ftill perfect. On the 21ft, the diarrhoea still continued, but the fever was fomewhat abated. This day the patient began to be deaf. On the 22d, the fever was more violent. On the 23d and 24th all the fymptoms were aggravated: and on the 25th, the patient expired, without having any return of his blindnefs.

Upon this cafe the Doctor remarks, that different opinions concerning the Nyalopes of the ancients, may be reconciled, by reducing the difeafe to the

clafs of intermittents. For then the Nyctalopes may, according to Hippobe those who fee nothing in

That mercury alone will in general cure moft venereal complaints. That farfaparilla will perhaps always cure what refifts the power of mercury. It is therefore probable, that in mercury and farfaparilla properly combined, a certain cure may be found for every venereal cafe that can happen.

The decoction is to be made in the

following manner. Put three ounces of the root into three quarts of river water, and bring it to boil in an open vesfel as foon as poffible; let it boil till the liquor is reduced to one quart, then ftrain it, and give this quantity, either warm or cold, at three dofes in twentyfour hours. A little liquorice-root may be added, to make it more palatable. It must be made fresh every other day, and what is not used the first day, must be kept in a cold cellar.

[To be continued.]

Obfervations on the HEMERALOPIA, communicated by M. Fournier, phyfician of the Hotel Dieu, at Montpellier.

HEMERALOPIA*, which may

day, night; and, according to Paulus Ægineta, and others, may be thofe who have their fight perfect in the day, and are blind by night; for the difference will confift only in the times of the approach of the disease. That which Hippocrates obferved came on in the morning; that which was observed by Ægineta came on at night.

Art. XVII. An attempt to discover the virtues of the Sarsaparilla root in the venereal difeafe. By William Fordyce, Surgeon.

This article contains an account of thirteen cafes, and fome general rules deduced from them, for ufing the farfaparilla with a probability of fuccefs.

In thefe cafes a strong decoction of the root was given to the quantity of a quart every day, and the general remarks refulting from the experiments are in

fubftance as follows.

That the farfaparilla is only to be depended upon when mercury has failed, or at least preceded the use of the decoction.

fus diurnus, and in French vue de jour, is a disease very rare, and fo little known, that when fome patients complaining of it came to the Hotel Dieu, I was obliged to form for myself a plan of its treatment. The first were three foldiers of the regiment of Brigueville, whom I did not fee till evening; when, after having examined them, without thinking of this complaint, I found they had a fever, a great pain in the head, tongue and mouth foul, ftomach full, and were tormented with inquietudes and retchings. I was going immediately to follow thefe indications, when they told me they were otherwife unfit for fervice; for they could neither perceive light, nor diftinguish objects, in the evening, nor in the morning; nor could

Hemeralops, uspάawy, dicitur de affectu oculorum oppofito z vuxlda, et haud dubie notat illum morbum, quando aliquis interdiu falpoteft. Meminit Galer. in introduct. c. 15. in tem videt, noctu vero, vel vefperi nihil videre princ. fed in feqq. non expofuit fubstant, ¿μspér Awa. Caftelli Lexicon Medicum. VOL. XIX. 4 P

they

they diftinguish, then even when the fun fhone clear, without fome confufion. I was much furprised at this account. I made them approach the great win dow of the ward, to fee if I could difcover any disorder in the globe of the eye but perceived nothing to which the cause of this phenomenon could be reafonably imputed.

For I found, 1. That their eyes were blue. 2. The anterior portion was charged with humidity. 3. The cornea had loft nothing of its tranfparency, and remained in its natural ftate. 4. That the aqueous humour was limpid, as it fhould be, and that it gave the proper extenfion to the eye, without exceeding it in any point. 5. That the pupil was more dilated than common: I obferved befides, that the actions of contraction and dilatation of the pupil were performed more flowly than ufual, that the iris was in its natural ftate and colour. 6. and laftly, The cryftalline humour was transparent, and of the fi gure it ought to be.

From all thefe confiderations I judged, that the caufe of the diforder was not in the anterior part of the eye, but in the pofterior, which we cannot examine by fight.

I imagined the ftate of the membranes of the eye to be fuch, that the rays of light could not make an impreffion ftrong enough on them, to produce vifion; and I fufpected a disorder of the retina to be the caufe of this defect.

I believed, that either the fibres of the retina mult be clogged with a grofs lymph, which circulated through them with difficulty and too flowly, or that they were relaxed by ferofities, which had diminished their elafticity in fuch a manner as to render them lefs fufceptible of the impreffion which the vifual rays excite on them. For this reafon I ordered them to be blooded in the arm; and for the other indications prescribed a vomit, and a blifter behind each ear. The next day I found them much better in all refpects; they began to diftinguish objects which they had not been able to do before, fince they were taken ill the vomit had worked well,

and there was a surprising discharge from the blifters.

Nevertheless they complained of their head being heavy and difordered; the ftomach was indeed less oppressed, but ftill they felt a weight; and the retchings were not entirely gone; but neither fo frequent, nor fo violent as be

fore.

In order, therefore, to relieve both the head and stomach, I bled them in the foot, repeated the vomit, and ordered the blifter behind the ears to be kept open.

By fuch means they were entirely freed from their complaints, and faw as well as ever; the blifters were suffered to heal; and they returned to their quarters: where, as foon as they arrived, they proclaimed the cure; which induced eight others to apply to the Hotel for relief in the fame complaints. They were cured by the fame methods; as have, fince that time, many more, to the amount of feventy.

An accident which happened to a foldier of the first regiment, confirmed me in an opinion I had formed, that the antecedent caufe of this difeafe was a fudden stoppage of perfpiration, caufed by exceffive cold. The foldier laft mentioned having been cured of an hemeralopia, in the fame manner as the others, rejoined his company, which was cantoned on the borders of Gardon; and, as he was perfectly free from complaint, he did not take fo much care of himself as he ought to have done : for, in playing with his comrades, be ing overheated, he threw off his hat and cloaths, the weather being cold and windy; and in a few moments after, could but weakly diftinguish objects; nay, at last he could not fee at all. Alarmed beyond expreffion at this mif fortune, he went to Nismes, the next town; where they told him it was all over with him, for he had two cataracts; that he muft quit the army, and undergo an operation, doubtful in its event, which they propofed to perform upon him in a little time. Being greatly af flicted with this fentence, but not entirely difcouraged, he hurried from Nifmes to this hofpital.

Here

Here I examined his eyes with great attention, found the cryftallines were not altered, and concluded they had miftaken his cafe; which I regarded as a re. turn of his hemeralopia in a higher degree than formerly, but nevertheless capable of being cured by applying the fame remedies. The fuccefs anfwered my expectation; for the young man, a few days after, went out well, enjoying all the advantages of vifion, and rejoined his regiment. Crit. Rev. O8.1757. Extracts of a paper published in the EDIN

BURGH MAGAZINE, intitled, An im-
partial examination of the act of the
Affociate fynod against the FREE
MASONS, Aug. 25. 1757. Dated,
Alloa, Oct. 25. and figned, A FREE

MASON.

This writer difapproves of our inferting the act which he examines [432.]; and poffibly fome Seceders may disapprove of our inferting these extracts. But the former ought to confider, that in fo far as his Examination is a defence of the craft, or may be a means of convincing the deluded and deluding, in fo far he muft approve of our publishing the act, because otherwife the world would not probably have been favoured

with his Examination. And the Seceder, who approves of our publishing the act, cannot confiftently object to our publifting the Free Mafon's defence. If we should not, however, be fo happy as obtain the approbation of either, our duty obliges us to deal impartially by both. To a confiderable number of perfons the act is interefting; and to others, a piece of its length, not a third of that of the Examination, will be thought worth its room as an article of history.-The extracts follow.]

I

Let it be recorded in history, to the honour of their Holinees the Affociare fynod in Scotland, That, in the year 1757, they also thundered out their tremendous ball againft FREE MASONS: whereby all their votaries are injoined to reveal every thing which under the fanction of a folemn oath they are obliged to conceal; they are thereafter to abstain from fuch focieties themselves; nor are they to entice others to enter into them.

The profeffed reafons which brought the fraternity under the Papal difplea

fure, were, That they confederated perfhew of natural honefty, in a close and fons of all religions and fects, under a infcrutable bond, and under certain ceremonies, which, by an oath taken on the Bible, they obliged them, by the imprecation of heavy punishments, to preferve with inviolable fecrecy.

Thofe urged by the Seceders as the motive of their proceedings, are, That the Mafons adminifter their oath of fecrecy, under a capital penalty, without firft declaring what the matters to be concealed are; and that fome of these things are taken from the Bible.

[The Examiner feems to be of opiẻ nion, that Papifts and Seceders are influenced by the same spirit in this matter; he is at pains to prove, that no hu man power can difpenfe with oaths; and obferves, that in a difpute concerning the juftnefs of the matter of the mafonoath, the match between a Free Mafon and a Seceder is very unequal; because the Free Mafon, while he defends the myfteries of the craft, is at every step under the awe of his oath; and therefore cannot exhibit those myfteries to view, or fubject them to examination. He takes notice, that oaths of fecrecy have become one of the neceffary hinges of government. "To them," fays he, must be afcribed the fuccefs of the greatest enterprises. Under their infiuence, the noble, the generous plan of British liberty was matured into exccution, and the purposes of Popifh tyranmy rendered abortive by the revolution."]

But it feems, [adds he], the Seceders hold it a crime to exact an oath of fecrecy, before the things required to be

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