The value of any practical opinion must be decided by the suffrages of the many; but, whoever collects and records his facts with care and fidelity, renders some contribution to the advancement of the medical art.
FINIS.
MALLETT, PRINTER, WARDOUR STREET.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I am inclined to think, that during the inflammatory diathesis, a larger proportion of fibrin than natural is actually formed in the assimilating process; and it is further probable that it is not distributed as usual to the several fibrous textures of the body. In my Essay on the Blood, I have suggested this last hypothesis.
[2] See Forbes’s Translation, p. 19.
[3] In 1822, M. J. A. Legumeau de Kergarader published a Memoir “Sur l’Auscultation,” &c. in reference to gestation; and in 1824, M. J. Lisfranc, a Memoir, to show the powers of the stethoscope in enabling the surgeon to detect with greater nicety the fractures of bones. I have read these essays, which must be allowed the praise of ingenuity; and I conceive that cases may occur of each description, in which the aid of the stethoscope would be found not unimportant.
[4] I am happy to state, that an institution similar in principle to the Maison Royale de Santé, is established in London. It is called the Asylum for the Recovery of Health. It is situated in Lisson Grove. Already it has been highly patronised, and well does it deserve to grow in the favour of the public. It is supported in part by voluntary contributions, and in part by moderate weekly payments from the patients, who require, however, the ticket of a subscriber for admission.
[5] The use of white mustard is at present very popular, and, like all popular remedies, is employed too indiscriminately. Its medicinal power is not a new discovery. Cullen, in his Materia Medica, vol. ii, p 171, observes, “As much of the unbruised seeds as an ordinary table-spoon will contain does not prove heating to the stomach, but stimulates the intestinal canal, and commonly proves laxative.” Entirely with a view to determine the nature of this article as a medicine, I made an examination of the seeds in their whole state. In a few days after being digested in cold water, they became much enlarged, and the water had powerfully the smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. Submitted to distillation in a common alembic with water, the portions of the liquid which first came over possessed the taste of a weak infusion of malt, quite free from pungency. Digested in alcohol, they did not communicate strongly either smell or taste. Some seeds which had passed the alimentary canal, were found to be much swollen, and had lost some of their pungency. It is evident from these results, that the seeds, by treatment with these agents, were acted upon with difficulty in their entire state.
In the Journal de Chemie Médicale, de Pharmacie, &c. No. X. Année 1re. M. M. Henry fils et Gorot, have given an elaborate report of their chemical examination of the mustard seed, of which the following is the substance: the seeds yield by expression a fixed and a volatile oil, and the latter may be separated from the former by digestion in alcohol. The alcoholic solution when evaporated affords a solid and crystallisable substance, possessing acid properties, to which the discoverers have given the name of sulpho-sinapic acid. Sulphur, it is stated, forms a constituent element of this peculiar acid.