The works of John Fothergill, M.D. ...

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praetitioners in remoVing an obstinate painfuldisse ase with lese dissiculty, than by the methodshitherio employed for the purpose. The Mortas IIchiadicus, or, as it is called in this country, the Sciatica, is a distase too wel Iknown by physicians to need any description; too painsul not to require the speediest relies, and so obstinate as to resist many powersul reme

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In the coharse of my b lsiness, many cases osthis nature haVe occurret to me, and, diaring a considerable part of my time, wheneVer they OC- . CVrred, gaVe me mUch uneasiness. I soland theremedies recommended sor the cure of this dis temper of ten insufficient, at ways Low in produc

what above sorty years of age, who h ad long been contined to his bed, si oria the est edis of a lumbago imperfectly cured. The Violence of the patia Wasabaled, but he was incapable of IDOVing, or be-ing moved, frona the place he was laid, without suffering grievous torture. The part aTected was the lower part of the lumbar region, fronaside to side, acros S the lolias. His Besh was muchreduced, his appetite dec ab ed, and a severis aheat constantly attended him, the conseque iace of pain and inanition. He had been many weelis under the care os a Very able physician, vilio hadattended with much dilige iace, and prescribed,

mitti judgment, very emcactous medicines. The patient Was reduced to the neces ity of takingopiates to procure a temporary relies. He hadtaken them a considerable time, and in doses ra-ther more than moderate, though not Very large, bes ore I saw him.

Not fanding any reason to suspect either ana internal

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anternat abscesse, or a tendency to it; but that the seat of the pain Was in the tendinous paris

N Calom. DUig. gr. X. Tereb. e Chio. q. f. f. pil. X. non deau randae. Capiat j. omni nocte. . A laxative mixture Was provided, to be talienin the morning, to procure stoois, is he shouldbe costive. The opiate Was gradually omit-

ted.

Finding a grain os calomel per diem to have no

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taken without producing the common effect os mercuriat s. It surpi ised me at the time; and Ιmould by no means have proceeded to such alength, is experiment, conducted with some de gree of caution, had not ted me so far in this

particular instance. A gentieman os great eminence in chymis-

try had assured me, that he had found very good

to remove a diseasse so deeply situ aled soonerthan any other remedy, I had recourse to this medicine, and gave it in the manner above described. On refleeting, hoWever, on iis essedis, I seundcause to suspeet, that exhibiting calomel in themanner I had done, was using it in the mo1t un- certain method. Most kinds of turpentine, I belleve, are indigestibie in the human stomach; the more solid their consistence, the more dissiculi they are to be dissolved in the human body. Great part of the calomel might, theres ore, be soetaehualty Wrapped up in the Chio turpentine, thehardest and most indis lubie of the whole classiliat are used in medicine, that I apprehend a very smali proportion of the caumel ever came into action. From this consideration, I have sebdom since given mercurials made into pilis ieiththis substance, unies s where I Wanted to give the

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dere i it to be formed into pilis, with sonae substance that was ea silly dissolvable, as s me con serve or coniection. From the successi attendingiliis case, Ι determine i to malae trial of a similar processi in the Sciatica, and the event has gene ratly ansWered my Wissies. I recolle st diverscases of both sexes, and disserent ages, in Whicha processi like the sollowing has been os singularservice, after variotis other medicines and Ope rations, recommended for the cure of this com

S r. s p. h. m. Is the patia does not ab ate by the time this quantity is talien, I in creasse the dose of calomello two gratias One night, One the nexi, and thus proceed alternately. When the patra abates, the anodyne and antimonial are gradu atly les sened ; perhaps omitted eVery Other night, orwholly dropped. I have sel dona met with a ge nuine Sciatica but has yiel ded to this processi in the space of a se Weelis, and has as seidona re

turne l.

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Sa Os fio Cure of the Sciatisa.

at first was, that this kind of pains are deepseated in the most fleshy paris of the humanbody, and lo Whicli it is extrem ely dissiculi toconvey the essicacy of any medicine entire, eithergi ven internalty, or applied without That mercuri ais, of ali the medicines we are acquainted with, most certainly pervade the in-most recesses of the muscular and tendinous paris, and remove diseases Which we know have

in them their residen Ce.

orders increasse in proportion to the irritation at tending them. The anodyne, above directed, has other properties than that of an Optate merely. Lille as in Douer's famous powder, theanodyne in this composition, When duly Propor tioned, restrains the antimonial from exerting iis

usual essi cacy on the stomach and first passages, and conducts it to the remotest paris of the circulation, rendering it an Useful and emcactous medicine in many patia ut disorders. Is the disease does not yield to the dola above mentioned, I gradu alty in creasse it tili sonae litile tendernessi is perceived in the mouth ; but I haves et dona had occasion to proceed so far, or to subject the patient to any confinement, Unlesse in

patia may sasely be mitigated by this kind of

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terative, than to rish any thing sor the chanceonly of a se days speedier recovery. Formerly I have had recourse to the barii, guaiacum, the Ierebinthinate spiriis, and other usual medicines; hut seldom to the patient's benesit, Or my OWn satisfaction. Fontaneis, blisters, caustics, like-Wise, have produced as litile advantage. Os late Iliave trusted to the procesi above described, and have very seldom been dis appotnted. Bhee ling has not been mentioned, because in most of the cases I have seen, it Was Unnecessary. Physicians are seldom consulted on these cases in the beginning of the disease. In plethoric ha-b iis, this evacuation may be necessary as Weli aspurging. Those Who see the patienis early, willbe the best judges of the necessity of these eva--

Cuations.

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HERE are severat efiicaci ous remedies in the hands of physicians, whicli are ostenmade use of so late in the diseasse, that they fallinto dis race, frona being applied When nothingcould save the patient from inevitabie destruciation. of this kind, perhaps, are blisters appliedio the head . The sicli and the by standers have consented to this application, When nothingcould be of use. The patient dies, and the blis ter to the head bears the blanae, both as an illomen frona the physician, and as a barbarotas application ; when, in faet, it deserves the imputa

tion of neither. The physician, well knowing the generat prejudice against the application ofblisters to the head, misis off the proposset longerthan is right in his own judgment, through fearlest the terror excited by such a prescription, smould do as much hario as the bl ister could do good. As the danger increasses, this very blister

Medicat Observations and Inquiries, Vol. iv. p. Ιl Read November I , 1768.

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Who are On the Verge of a consumption, and thelieistic symptonas just in their insancy, to leave

prevent their dissolution. Perhaps the operation of tapping may have Undergone the same fate. Few dropsical p tienis can bear the name Without apprehensions os terror; and in deed not Without reason : sor, of the many Who undergo this operation, hoWfew are surviving instances of iis advantage lI think there is reason to suspeet, that tappinglias incurred sonae part of iis dis race, si om iisbfing delayed illi it could have no other erict

poisil,le, after I found that the quantity of waterinas sicli as could not be removed by medicines, Cithout doing great violence to the constitution. There