MEDICAL AND PHYSICAL JOURNAL. CONDUCTED BY SAMUEL FOTHERGILL, M.D. PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF KENT ; PHYSICIAN TO THE ASYLUM FOR FEMALE ORPHANS; AND TO THE WESTMINSTER GENERAL, AND THE WESTERN, DISPENSARIES. VOL. XXXIII. FROM JANUARY TO JUNE, 1815 MOTHES Et quoniam variant morbi, variabimus artes; LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETORS, BY J. ADLARD, 23, BARTHOLOMEW-CLOSE, AND 39, DUKE-STREET, SMITHFIELD; AND PUBLISHED BY J. SOUTER, NO. 1, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1815. THE Medical and Physical Journal. 1 OF VOL. XXXIII.] JANUARY, 1815. 66 [NO. 191, “For many fortunate discoveries in medicine, and for the detection of numerous errors, the world is indebted to the rapid circulation of Monthly "Journals; and there never existed any work to which the faculty in "EUROPE and AMERICA were under deeper obligations than to the "Medical and Physical Journal of London, now forming a long, but "invaluable series."-RUSH. an ADDRESS. THE Proprietors of the MEDICAL AND PHYSICAL JOURNAL wish not to appear ungrateful for the encouragement they have received by its increased circulation. But the first tribute of gratitude is due to their numerous correspondents, whose contributions are now so considerable as to require some management in showing impartiality to each. remark to make that communications with the name of the writer will They have one always claim a priority, and that even these will be distinguished as the subject may be of a temporary or transient nature. By attention to the latter, their Journal has now become a register for cvents which are partly forgotten, by fresh ones which arise, more interesting from their novelty. All, however, are important in a science which can only be perfected by constant observation, and by an accumulation of such facts as are with diffi culty preserved, excepting in monthly archives, because the interest that attends them is often lost by a longer delay. The editorship has never been considered a department in which economy should have any influence. To select good articles, to arrange them carefully, and even to superintend the press, is not the province of the proprietors; but, by taking the impartial advice of the most respectable part of the London Faculty, they cannot be long mistaken, and as often as they are, the same friendly assistance is always ready to direct them. To preserve a necessary uniformity in their Journal, they have been advised for the present to insert the name of only a single Editor, who has a discretionary power to avail himself of whatever assistance he may require in the various departments. 4 Some of our readers hape remarked, that the Journal is less complete as a register, by the partial omission of some articles in a periodical work, which it was formerly our custom to compress into our review. complimented for our impartiality to a rival Journal, and, if we find it the We were often general wish of our readers, shall resume our former plan. It may not be amiss on this occasion to repeat, that the Editorial has always been distinct from the Reviewing Department. Though the Editors have not shrunk from a certain degree of responsibility in whatever has appeared under their name, yet it is with pleasure they remark, that complaints of unjust severity have never, that they know of, been imputed to this Journal. They have now authority to add, that whenever an author or his friends think his work unfairly treated, his answer shall always be inserted, without any remarks which may lessen the spirit of the defence, or interrupt the attention of the reader. No. 191. For B Observations on the Case of W. O.; by R. N. STARR, Surgeon, of Barnsley, Yorkshire. ON N perusing your Journal for this month, I observed a communication signed "W. O." respecting a syphilitic or supposed syphilitic complaint he has laboured under for some time. It appears the gentleman had contracted chancres, which were succeeded by buboes; mercury had been freely used, without affecting the system; in the mean time, the chancres healed, and after a lapse of three years, the ulcers in the groin also healed, It appears after this he was affected with nocturnal pains in the arms, thighs, and legs, more particularly of the tibia, with nodes on the latter. From these symptoms, I am inclined to coincide with the opinion of the medical gentleman who attended him in his passage to England, that the disease is evidently secondary syphilis, and most likely to be relieved by mercury. I have seen several cases, the symptoms of which resembled those of this gentleman, and which all gave way to the use of mercury. I should, therefore, recommend him to consult some eminent surgeon, who will, no doubt, allow the mercury a fair trial, which, in my opinion, it has not yet had. R. N. STARR, Late Assistant-Surgeon 48th Regt. Barnsley, Yorkshire; Dec. 5, 1814. For the Medical and Physical Journal. Remarks upon the Nature of Gout, and the Action of Remedies in that Disease; by Mr. R. WALKER, of Oxford. ERCEIVING that the subject of Gout is at this time much and zealously agitated, I beg leave to anticipate, in some degree, my intended paper on this subject by the following observations. With respect to gout, I am enabled by the most convincing experience to assert, that I have ascertained to demonstration the following facts, viz. 1st, that it consists in a morbid tumour, or acrimony generated in the habit. 2dly, That the method of cure, or prevention, consists either in cutting off the source of the disease, or constantly carrying it off as fast as generated, by a convenient channel or outlet. 3dly, That, though much may be done towards cutting off or diminishing the disposition for generating this disease, by medicine and regimen, yet these means, separately or conjointly, act very imperfectly and partially in obviating or carrying off the humour or matter of gout; and, moreover, weaken and debilitate the habit of body. 4thly. 4thly, That no drug or medicine in nature possesses the power of acting specifically upon gout; but that the effects produced depend merely and entirely upon some increased secretion occasioned by such medicine; and likewise incidentally and transiently by a temporary disturbance or derangement in the habit, thus putting aside as it were, or suspending, for the time present, an impending or com menced paroxysm of gout. 5thly, That, whatever drug or composition possesses the power of effecting the required secretions, together with a sedative or anodyne quality, will be a remedy equal in efficacy to the eau medicinale, or any imitation of it. The secretions I principally allude to, are, primarily, by the skin, or perspiration; and, secondarily, by the bowels. 6thly, That the means I have pointed out, or alluded to, is an effectual and complete remedy, inasmuch as it completely obviates any future attack of gout, or if, in some instances, it should fail in this, it renders such attacks much less frequent, and, beyond all comparison, milder. 7thly, That, in order to produce the full effect to be expected from this remedy, and to regulate it so as to be free from any annoyance to the patient, requires an additional knowledge, not ordinarily known to any professional person, the particular directions for which I shall give hereafter. 8thly and lastly, That it is much to be regretted that the same good effects are not to be produced by occasionally swallowing a medicine; but which, long and adequate experience has convinced me, is never to be expected, such a remedy most probably not existing in nature. With respect to the data upon which this opinion is founded, I shall have occasion to explain hereafter, in a paper entitled "On the Nature of Diseases, and the extent of power or efficacy of Medicine over them," in which I shall attempt to define or show the actual boundary of the power of medicine upon diseases in short, in other words, to give the ne plus ultra of the medical art, founded upon fact, and reconcileable by reason. I have at this time two patients, in whom this plan of treatment has been pursued,-one in whom the gouty dia thesis showed itself most decidedly at a little past the age of thirty, by a repetition, during several years, of most violent * It may be said, and I am ready to admit, that the eau medicinale, or any medicine possessing similar powers, might act successfully by its strong sedative powers alone, as we know happens from a somewhat similar cause, by sudden danger, alarms, &c. but what will be the state of the patient if a system of this kind is to be persevered in. |