-No.2.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1824.

SURGICAL LECTURES.

Theatre, St.-Thomas’s Hospital.Thursday Evening,

May 13.

LECTURE 65.

I shall to-night deviate frommy usual custom, and give thisevening’s Lecture from notes,the subject, of which will be

General Remarks on Syphilis’and on the use of Mercury.The symptoms of syphilis are

divided into primary and se-condary ; ; chancre and bubo

come under the former denoini-

nation, and under the latter,sore throat, eruptions, nodes,and disease of the nose ; these se-

condary symptoms are the con-

sequences of the absorption ofthe venereal poison into the sys-tem, and-its circulation throughthe blood.Some parts of the body are

incapable of being acted uponby the venereal poison, as thebrain, heart, and abdominal vis-cera ; indeed the vepereal poison

does not appear to be capable of

exercising its destructive influ-ence on the vital organs, or those

parts most essential to the wel- ’

fare and continuance of life; butthe bones, muscles, tendons, andskin, readily partake of its ma-lignant nature. As some partsof the body more readily takeon the venereal action than

others, so some individuals aremuch sooner than others infect-

ed by the venereal poison.Many men, (to their.shame be it _

spoken),make a boast of havingkept every description of femalesociety, and yet having alwaysescaped from any attacks of thevenereal disease, gonorrhoea aswell as chancre.

The time at which the second-

ary symptoms usually appearis from eight to sixteen weeksgenerally, sometimes betweenthose two periods; eight weeksmay-be taken as the earliest pe-riod, and sixteen, as the most

remote ; but in both respectsthere is a large number of

exceptions, for the secondarysymptoms are continually ap-

34

pearing, at an earlier date thanthe eighth week, and at a muchlater one than the sixteenth ; asa general remark, I may observe,that the- tenth week is the mostusual time atwhich they appear-;sometimes the appearance of the

secondary symptoms is protractedin consequence of the systemlabouring or suffering under theirritation of another disease, asdiarrhoea for- example. In my

notes, I have written down a

number of questions, and whichquestions 1 used -to be in the

habit of putting to ’myself; youshall now hear what they are,and first

Is a child liable to be affected by.

syphilis when in utero ?

Mr. HUNTER said, that a childin utero could not be infectedby this disease ; now Mr. HUN-TER was, unquestionably, a manwho possessed so much judg-ment in his profession, that hisopinions - are entitled to -the

greatest respect and attention ;he- is an authority to which weare all inclined to bow with de-

ference and submission. We

must not, however, think so

highly of his opinion in oppo-sition to facts, which we haveourselves observed, and if 11know any thing of my pro-

fession, I have seen syphilisin a child immediately after birth;therefore in this particular in-

stance, Mr. HuNTER was tiiis-

taken. Within twenty-four hoursafter their entrance into the

world, such children have thepalms of their hands, the solesof their feet, and the nates, co-

vered with copper-colourederuptions, and the nails at the

same time generally beginningto peel off ; and unless some-

thing* be done for the relief, ofthe little sufferers, they will bequickly carried off from the vio-lence of the disease ; indeed,many children do die from it, inconsequence of the true natureof the complaint. not being un-derstood by the medical prac-titioner ; in. these cases you givethe mother a quantity of mer-

cury, the influence of which is

communicated to the child,

thro.ugh the medium ofthemilk,and it becomes cured of tne sy-philitic disease.A most curious circumstance

connected with this subject, is,that a woman, when pregnant,cannot’be cured of syphilis ;-yougive mercury and cause the dis-appearance of the primary syntp- -toms, but after delivery,the secondary effects are verysoon manifested in different parts

35

of the body ; the primary symp-toms, therefore, are relieved as

quickly as usual, but it is evi-

dent that the poison is not era-dicated from the constitution, bydisease breaking forth imme-

diately after the birth of a child.I once saw a lady six months

advanced in pregnancy, having’an extensive syphilitic eruption,for which mercury was admi-

uistered, and the eruption dis-

appeared ; after this she went

her full time,but when delivered,the nates of the child, togetherwith the palms of the hands,and the soles of the feet were,covered by a genuine, syphiliticeruption. I gave the child Hy-itrarg. cum. Cret.; ; under this

treatment it manifested little

improvement.A month afterwards I saw the

mother, she had an ulceratedsore throat, and syphilis, alto-gether as well marked as in

any case I ever witnessed ; mer-cury was again given to her,when both parent and child per-fectly recovered. Since the oc-

currence of the above case, I

have witnessed several similar

ones, in each of which the se-

condary symptoms could not be

completely cured during the

pregnant state. I think, how-

ever, that a pregnant woman

may be cured of the primary-syphilitic symptoms, althoughnot of the secondary.The next question I have put

down in my notes, -is this.-- ,

Does much inflammation usu-ally attend syphilis?,

No direct answer can be givento this question, for the degreeof inflammation which attends

is proportioned to the healthy, orirritable state of the patient. In-

a healthy person the .venereal.disease is slow in its progress,and but little inflammation ac-

companies it; on the other hand,in the irritable person it is rapidin its progress, and accompaniedby considerable inflamniatoryaction ; therefore the differenceswhich characterise the syphiliticdisease in various persons do not

arise from any peculiarit3 of thepoison itself, but from the pecu-liar condition of the person on

whom it falls ; exactly similiarto what often happens in smallpox, two men receiving the in-fection from the same individual

shall have the disease, one par-, ticularly mild, while in the other,

it is of a malignant confluent kind,therefore the degree of inflam-mation or manifestations of vio ;lence which mark the course ofthe disease, are_not to be attrl..

36

buted to any peculiarity existingin the poison, but solely from theparticular condition of the infec-ted person. Although syphilisis not at first a malignant, yet itmust always be considered a se-riotts complaint, and should com-mand the most decided attention.

Though not at first- malignant,consisting- merely of chancre orbubo, it soon becomes so, unlessits chancre be checked, and its

progress will be marked by thesecondary symtoms, which I

have already described.Therefore, in answer to the

question Just now put, what Ishould say is this, one constitutionupon receiving the venereal poi-son, will have in ita considerabledegree of inflammatory action-

excited, quickly leading to thedestruction of life, whilst anotherconstitution will scarcely be in-fluenced by the reception of theVenereal poison. The next ques-tion I ask myself is;

Wheter there is any constituti-onal affection produced in sy-philitic disease?I am again compelles to say,

that that great authority, Mr.

HUNTER, is also wrong here; forhe has stated that the disease is

merely local. What, gentlemen,should I say if one of you were

to come. to me- to-morrow, stat-

ing that you had a chancre about

. eight, nine, or ten weeks ago,and ’that you had felt yourselfexceedingly indisposed, hav-ing evening exacerbations, fever,and-- sore throat; and that at-

length- your body had become.covered with a copper-colourederuption ; how can we say thatthere is no constitutional affec-tion here ; do not the eveningexacerbations which- commenceabout five o’clock, and do not

terminate till two or later in themorning, plainly show that the

disease when so far advanced isconstitutional? most certainly itis so, and can scarcely be anylong’er a matter of dispute.

.

It is not necessary that youshould study much-for the pur-pose- of- being enabled to under-. stand-. this constitutional influ-

ence; go to-morrow into the four-, wards of these hospitals, find anyman there having venereal sorethroat; you will ask him butvery few questions before youare. convinced that the constitu-tional influence has been pro-duced. The next question I haveput down is,

Wheter the matter of secondaryvenereal ulcer be infectious or not?

Mr. HUNTER said that it was

37

not so; however, for my ownpart, from what I have both

seen and heard, I should hesitatefor a considerable time before

I .could join in this assertion.

physician of my acquaintancewitnessed the following case:--a gentleman came from the coun-try in an exceedingly anxiousstate of mind, and evideritly verymuch agitated, far the purposeof consulting him, respecting aneruption which existed on thebody of his lady -;, accordinglythe doctor visited the lady, andfound the eruption to be vene-real. The doctor asked the gen-tleman how long he had beenmarried, and he replied six

months, he added, that four

months before marriage, he had

a’sore on the penis, which washealed- by local application ;three months after marriage bothhis wife and himself, had bad

sore throats, which were sooncured by taking mercury. Du-

ring’ this time, and during theexistence of the venereal erup-tions, not knowing the natureof the complaint, the coimubialIntercourse had been continued.

Now, if any dependance can beplaced upon the report of thisgentleman, the case is most de-cisive of the matter of secondaryulcers V6ii4--ca pa,- ble of propa-

gating the disease, for he had,no primary symptoms by which,the complaint could have been.communicated to his wife, as the

chancre was healed four months

previous to marriage. I do notknow, but I believe the disease,

may be communicated through,the influence of the parent’s, or,the nurs’e’s, milk. I believe thatI have. seen examples of this

description.,

Is the matter of Bubo infectious?Not as far as experiments have

gone, the matter of bubo insertedin the skin, has produced no ap-pearance of chancre - for my own -part I think there is but very

‘

little difference between the

matter of bubo, and that of com-mon absces.

Are gonorrhœa and syphilis the,

same disease?

On this point there is no diSt-culty, for any one to satisfy him-self, and he will soon be con-vinced that there are no- two

diseases in the world more de-

cidedly different. Now, gentle---men, to prove this, let a man

who has a very bad gonorrhoea,apply four or halfa dozen leeches.near the glans penis, and thendraw over the skin, so that thesores made by the leeches, may

38

be embedded in the gonorrhœalmatter ; well, gentlemen, willchancres be the consequence?will secondary symptoms ensueas consequences of the experi--ment ? No. Neither one northe

other will lse seen, and one

cannot well conceive a more

conclusive fact than this. ’

Mr. THURSTON, in 1801, madethe following experiment on a

young’ cuntab: having* gonorrhœain an excessive- degree, with

ardor urinse. Mr. T. took some

of the discharge and introducedit into the prepuce; he insertedit in two places, thus- making’two sores ; both wounds how-ever healed kindly without pro-ducing the slightest appearanceof chancre, or the most trivial

constitutional symptom. After

such experiments as these, it

Would be madness to say the

two diseases are alike ; and thosepersons who think so, entertain

wrong notions of the subject, or

unfortunately their minds maybe governed by prejudice, and

consequently are incapable ofreceiving proper impressions. Letme urge you, therefore, not to

continue to think, that gonor-rhœa and syphilis are the samedisease. The next question is

this,

Are those parts of the body which

are liable to Syphilis, subjectto other diseases similar in

appearance to syphilitic ? ?

Yes, the glans penis, for ex-ample, is subject to ulcerationfrom various causes, and the

ulcers occasionally very muchresemble chancre; this last sore,however, often possesses a spe-cific character by which its truenature can with the utmost cor-

rectness beaseertained.Altbotighyou are thus frequently enabledto determine that a sore is reallychancrous, thus capable of con-

fidently asserting’ that it is sy-

philitic, yet at the same time

there is often jreat difficulty insaying’ ’what is not so; for ex-ample, excoriations may exist onthe glans, to which syphiliticmatter may have been applied,and the poison may have enteredinto the constitution, throughthe medium of those brolcen

surfaces, without having’ time toproduce in the sores themselvesthe true syphilitic character; iftherefore a patient were to cometo you under such circumstan-ces, and after having’ had con-nection with a suspicious person,if he were to inquire of you whe-ther the sores were syphilitic ornot, you had better explain to

him what I have just stated to you; and likewise tell him, that

39

although the. ulcers- have notthen the syphilitic aspect, yetthat he may in realitybe infected,but that there has not been suf-

ficient time for the parts to as-sume their peculiarly- markedsyphilitic character ;- tell him tomake his mind easy,, watch the

appearance of the parts, let him

wateh and see the result, with-out subjecting’ himself at all

hazards to a course of mercury,fox the cure of a disease whichnever -required its employment.Mercury itself, unfortunately,produces diseases very similar,both in appearance and effect,to syphilis. I recollect at the

commencement of my studies,at these hospitals, one day ongoing round the wards with asurgeon, having been very muchsurprised to see mercury so in-

discriminately employed, and atseeing every poor emaciated

wretch continually rubbing in ;there was one individual I re-

member, in a dreadful state, whohad been using mercury for a

great length of time,-and underwhich treatment he continued

to get rather worse than better, i

in this case I took the liberty ofsuggesting the propriety of dis-continuing the mercury, whenin a short time the patient be-came- completely cured. Mer-

cury in reality, when given in-judiciously, or to excess, willsometimes produce ulcers, whicha man of little experience wouldsay were venereal. Agaia, inulcerated sore throat, a careless

‘

observer, might mistake commonulcers for venereal ones, the for-mer, however, are known to be

superficial and may generallybe removed by ordinary purga-tives, whereas the latter, are

deep with elevated edges, hav-ing the same appearance as

chancres on the penis. I recol-

lect a gentleman once comingto me, and standing before meas well as he could, " Pray,sir," said he, what do youthink is the matter with me ?"" What!" said I, " why youare poxed up to the eyes ;" see-ing him in such a state, this was

my involuntary reply, not themost elegant certainly. I told

him that he was not then in a

fit state to take mercury, beingemaciated and in a state of greatirritability, and that he hadbetter for’ a time go to the sea

side, use the warm bath, and

then return to me again.’ Sometime afterwards he did return,so much altered that I did not

know him, for he was lookingflorid, and had grown quitelusty. He told me that he had

40

come back perfectly recovered,without having taken a singlegrain of mercury; therefore,gentlemen, when you see diseasesituated in those parts liable to

syphilis, and which disease re-sembles syphilis, you should be

. particularly cautious in formingyour judgment, and take care

not to submit your patient to acourse of mercury, which will

probably render his condition athousand times worse. Before

you administer a course of mer-.cury, you should possess the mostunequivocal evidence of its being-

required ; and when you are indoubt as to the nature of those

diseases which resemble sypbi-lis, your best plan will be to ad-minister five grains of the pil.hydrarg. submur. ccanpos. omninocte et 3 viij decoct. sarsaparil.compos. two or three times in

the day; these medicines willbe found the best for the cure of

the disease upon the principleof restoring the secretions.The next question is,

Is syphilis always progressivewithout the use of Mercury. ?

The answer to it will be

found in the reply to the fol-

lowing question,Is chancre curable without the

use of Mercury?To this I reply, that mercury

is by no means necessary to

procure the healing of chancres,at least not always. Some chan-cres certainly will not heal

without mercury, and this is

more especially the case, when

they are deep seated, or of longstanding-; but, on the other

hand, when the sore is slight,, superficial, and recent, a wash’[’ composed of brandy and water,’,

or wine and water, will often’

i cause them to heal without anyother application; therefore mer-cury is by no means always ne-cessary to procure the healingof chancres ; but chancre, as de-scribed by Mr. HUNTER, and

according to his account, will

not heal without it ; it is now,

however, well known that the

position taken by Mr. HUNTER,is untenable, and that mercuryis not in every instance neces-

sary to accomplish the healing’of chancres.

On the influence of Mercury onthe Imman body? ?

-

The modus operandi of mer-cury has been supposed to be,hat of exciting in the system,ag’eneral fever which overcomesand subdues the syphiliticaction.This may or may not be true,Godonly knows. We arewellacquainted with the fact, thatmany medicines have 4 specific

41

influence over certain diseases,that they cure those diseases ;but we know nothing of the

’

peculiar mode of action on thepart of the medicine, by whichit overpowers and destroys thedisease. Would not a man be

laughed at, who attempted to

point out the manner in whichbark ewes ag’ue, or colchicum

gout? In the present state of ourknowledge, it is impossible sa-tisfactorily to account for these

phenomena ; sufficient experi-ments have not yet been made,to guide our judgment or directour minds towards a correct and

- positive conclusion. To possess

satisfactory information on thispoint may be desirable ; but Iconsider it of much more conse-

quence to know how to effectu-

ally cure a disease, and to pre-vent its return. I say, if a sur-

geon once permit the secondarysymptoms of syphilis to appear,that it is difficult to say wherethe dangerous consequences willterminate—difficult to point outwhat may prove the sequel.Gentlemen, I can tell you that

twenty years ago, it was consi-dered a great disgrace to a sur-geon to permit secondary symp-toms to appear; at that time the

great object was to effectuallycure the primary symptoms, so

as altogether to prevent the oc-currence of the secondary; un-fortunately at the present time,secondary symptoms presentthemselves to our notice and

much more frequently than 20years ago. I will tell youhow it happens ; practitionersat that period, were in the habitof giving mercury in everycase of venereal disease whe-

ther primary or secondary, andadministered the remedy with

a regularity and caution which Iwish were observed at the pre-sent day they used to exhibitthe mercury not only whilst thedisease lasted, but for some timeafter it had disappeared, and

their usual practice was to give

it, three weeks for chancre, amonth for a chancre and bubo.

and if for secondary symptoms,the remedy was continued for astill longer period : though thedisease should disappear quickly

’ after beginning’ the mercury, yetremember that it is not cured,and the medicine should be con-

tinued for the above mentioned

periods ; if the medicine be omit-ted for two or three days, youshould consider ihis as so much

lost time, and it must not be for-

gotten in the aggregate acconnt;three weeks will be generallyfound a sufficient length of time

42

for the cure of the chancre ; amonth tor chancreaud bubo ; andin case of secondary symptoms,the-patient will not be safe, un-til the expiration of five of six

weeks. Persons often go to

medical men with chancres, re-ceive from the practitioners a

box or two of pills and are thensent about their business a manhad better never visit a doctor at

all, than be submitted to such

treatment as this ;,it is often cal-culated to throw him off his

guard, may lead him to supposethat he is cured, when in rea-

lity he is not so, and may ulti-

mately terminate in the completedestruction of his constitution.

Sometimes -mercury disagreeswith the patient, then of courseyou must either discontinue it, Ior temper it by combining’ it

with some other medicine cal-culated to prevent its disturbing’the constitution, if the patientbe too irritable to talie mercury ;and should you find this to be the

case, cease for a ’while to admi-

nister it, improve the generalhealth, and its employmentmay be again resumed. I mayhere observe to you, that when

a man is in health, mercury will

generally agree with him verywell, but if feeble or irritable,,it then often induces sloughing

and severe constitutional irrita-

tion.The best form in which mer-

cury can be given is that of theblue pill, ten grains at night andten in the morning; ten at nightand ten in the morning is theutmost extent to which the dose

should be carried ; in ordinarycases ten grains at night and fivein the morning will be foundquite sufficient; should themer-cury produce diarrhaea, a quarterof a grain of opium should beadded to every five grains of theblue pill. As the compoundde-coction of sarsaparilla assists theaction of the mercury, a half a

pint of it, may be taken 2 or 3times in the course -of every day,while under the mercurial influ-

ence ; as to. rubbing in the mer-curial ointment, it is seldom done

perfectly, and is seldom ad6oedexcept where the internal exhi-bition of the medicine occasionsso much disorder. of, the stomach

and bowels, that -it cannot

be introduced into the systemany other way. About the timethat I commenced practice; (not _hospital practice) a woman men-tioned a curious circumstance to

me, which was;,thatshe had been

taking mercury, and that it had,

occasioned the salivation of her

, child, without having produced

43

any obvious etect upon herself.Another curious circumstance is,that no mercury can be found inthe blood or secretions of those

who are in a state of salivation.

I sent to Mr. ALLEN a pint ofblood taken from a salivated per-

son, I also sent him a quart ofsaliva ejected by a person -in asimilar state and also a quart of

urine, with a request that hewould subject them to the mostminute chemical analysis, for thepurpose of discovering whetherany mercury conld be detectedin either, yet not an atom could

be discovered; now you all knowthat the thousandth part of the

oxymuriate of mercury, mightbe detected in several pints -ofwater or in blood.

The last circumstance con-nected with this subject to

which I shall call your atten-

tion, is the most important ofall, and which is this, viz.Is any other medicine but mer-

cury capable of curing syphilis?Remedy, after remedy has been

sent forth to the world, as hav-

ing the power to effect this ;and now I will tell you all thatI know respecting* the matter ;Mr. ROSE, late of the Guards,now an eminent surgeon at thewest. end of the town,’ about

eight or ten ’years ago, very

laudably tried numerous inte-

resting experiments for the pur-pose of attempting to cure thevenereal disease ; also with a

view to ascertain what number

of persons would be ariected bysecondary symptoms if the mer-cury was not employed. Mr.

ROSE found that the primarysymptoms of the syphilis couldbe readily cured without the aidof mercury, and that out of

every three patients so treated,one was afflicted with syphiliticsecondary symptoms.Now, gentle,.-non, I saw Mr.

ROSE upon the subject he is a

very sensible candid man, and

upon whose experiments the ut-most reliance may be placed ;another surgeon says, that two

out of every niue, have secondarysymptoms, making one out of

every four and a half. I relyhowever upon the statement

made by Mr. ROSE. If secondarysymptoms did present themselves

they were treated without mer-cury and would disappear, wouldcome again, and again disappear ;still not being- satisfied with this,I said to Mr. Rose, 11 Now, sir, ifa gentleman were to come under

your care, what would you do,=--would you give him mercury ornot!" Mr. Rose was not like some

men, so wedded to his systenn as

44

to have his mind fettered by pre-judice, and he with much sense

replied, that he should certainlygive the patient mercury; and

gentlemen, I advise you to do thesame; I will’ not say that those

persons are dishonest who recom-mend contrary practice, but if

they had seen what I have, I amsure they would still place theirreliance in the use of mercury.Some men. are so prejudiced in fa-vour of particular remedies, thatthe strongest possible facts whichcan be brought forward in of posi-tion-to their opinions are not capa-ble of producing the slightest alte-ration, or even a transient im-

presion of their error. Now fora case in point, a gentlemanwent to a surgeon in the monthof January, showed him a- sore

upon his penis, and asked himwhat it was; " Why, chancre,"said the surgeon,

"

you must take ’’

sarsaparilla."- He went to himagain in February, telling himthat it appeared again, and onasking the surgeon what he wasto do, the surgeon replied, " youmust take sarsaparilla."—He re-peated his visit in March, stating’that although his sore had va-nished for a time, yet it had againappeared in the same situation." Well," said the surgeon, " youmust take sarsaparilla;" in June

the patient repeated his tisit,having at the time a Venereal,sore throat,together with a cop-per-coloured erruption on the

skin, and said he to the doctor," What am I to do now ?" " takesarsaparilla.;" the use of which

caused the disappearance of thesecondary symptoms, but in the

following August violent inflam-mation made its appearance inboth eyes, so that the gentlemanwas obliged to be kept in a darkroom, to be bled, purged, andkept on the lowe&t.pQsstMe diet;and notwithstanding all these’precautions, the virulence of tlieinflammation, endangered the loss,of his eyes ; at length the inflam-mation of the eyes having beensubdued, in the ensuing Sep-tember, a venereal eruption againmade its appearance on the skin;there were also pains in the bones,and a sore throat; the gentlemanagain visited his doctor, and in-quired once more what he mustdo to rid himself, of his horrible

complaints, " Why," says the

doctor very gravely, " why,you must take sarsaparilla !!"and, replied the gentleman/’ I’llbe d--d if I do, (excessivelaughter) but I will take advice,"and shortly afterwards he con-sulted me. At the time I saw

, him, he had severe paias in the

45

limbs and joints, vertereal erup--tions on the skin, and an ulcer-ated throat, he asked me whatwas his disease, and I at -oncetold him, confirmed syphilis ; hebe then detailed to me the’his-

tory I have just mentioned to you.Well, sir," said I, " adhere to

, the old Dutch motto, ’do rightand never look back,’ and giveyourself no uneasiness about thePast, as. what has happened can-not be prevented." I prescribedfor him ten grains -of blue pillnight,and, morning-, and a quar-ter of a -grain of opium to eachpill; about ten or eleven weeksafterwards, he called upon me

and his appearance had under goneso great a change that I hadentirely forgotten him; he soon (

however, informed are who .-he-‘was, and stated that he was com-

pletely restored to health. I men-tion this case to you; to show youboth the folly, and the -dangerof treating the primary symptomsof syphilis with any other remedythan mercury, and also to pointout ta -you, the dangerous conse-.quences of being prejudiced in

favour of a remedy, and which

prejudice the repeated failure ofthe remedy could not surmount.Now, if you should unfortunatelyneglect to give mercury for the

removal of primary syphilitic

symptoms, let me exhort younever -to be guilty of a similarneglect as.regards the secondary,but the moment they are‘pre-sented to your notice, that instantcommence exhibiting’ mercury,if the state of -the patient willpermit. All secondary sytiip-toms, I am positive, may be pre-vented by a few grains of bluepill judiciously given. In sayingthis, do not let me refuse thattribute which is due to the abilityand candour of Mr. ROSE, whoseexperiments were conducted in

a very judicious manner, and theirresults faithfully and honestlycommunicated to the profession.If then tmder the most favourable

circumstances, and under the

most judicious management, se-condary symptoms will appear,unless mercury be- employed, is

it right to withhold that remedyfrom those who are afflictedwith the venereal disease. Recb’l-

leot-geritlerrien- who Mr. ROSE’Spatients’ were; they were

soldiers under orders ; at the com-mand of their officers ; and what-ever reasoriable thing- they wereordered to do, they Were obligedto comply with ; you cannot ex-pect your patisdts to be so cir-

cumstanced, nor will you find themsubordinate ; considering aU thecircumstances, I strenously add

46

conscientiously ’ advise you toadopt that plan which I have so- often felt it my duty to give yonin thecourse of this lecture; I have

only one more observation to

make, which is, that syphilis Ishould be cured by a slight andnot by a violent mercurial action;continue to give it for the periodsI have already mentioned, but donot produce what is commonlytermed salivation ; it would ra-

ther prove injurious than bene-ficial.

At the conclusion of the lec-

ture there was loud and con-

tinued cheering.

CHEMISTRY.

Before we can proceed furtherin our enquiry, respecting theiiattire and application of -beat,

with any satisfaction to our-

’ selves or improvement of. our

readers, it will be necessary forus to examine some of the phe-nomena and laws connected withelectrical action ; because the

two subjects are so intimatelyblended that it will be necessaryfor us to -refer’ to several of thefacts connected with this last

subject in explanation of severalcircumstances regarding the

former. Electricity being also of

the first importance in chemicalchanges, is indispensably neces-sary to be examined by the

chemical enquirer, to enable himjustly to appreciate those changeswhich are efiected in his expe.riments, we shall therefore no-tice this subject at once.The power of electricity in

producing chemical changes,appears to be overrated in manycases, and not sufficiently valuedin others, and as one of our ob-

jects is to enable our readers to

think for themselves on the theo-retical parts of chemical science,we shall not only state our owndoctrines, the experiments onwhich they are founded, and thenew facts which develope themselves in our own particular stu-dies ; but those also which we areenabled to gather from other, andmorevaluable’quarters. We shalltrace the subject of electricitythrough its regular gradations,stopping occasionally to-pointout those parts which more im-

mediately bear on chemistryand physiology. The history ofelectricity we need not enter

into, as it may be found in almost

every work on the subject -wemay however state in passiug,that its influence is of compara-

tively-modern discovery.If a dry wine glass be rubbed