THE Malverne Water much deserves encouragement, several very
extraordinary cures having been done by it lately. I propose to make
a collection of the principal, and publish them, as an appendix to my
little treatise. Amongst other remarkable instances of their great
effects are the following, which have happened this year. A poor woman,
formerly a patient in our infirmary for a fistulous ulcer in the hip,
and another in the groin, which penetrated the abdomen, has received
her cure there, tho’ she was reduced to so great a degree, as to be
thought incurable, and sent into the country on a milk-diet, _&c._ as
the last resource. The discharge from the sores was prodigiously great,
and so offensive, that she could hardly be borne in a room. The water
took off the ill smell almost instantly; the discharge soon lessened,
and grew thick and well-conditioned; her hectic symptoms went off in
proportion; and, by continuing the use of the water for five or six
months, she is cured.
A woman with a phagedenic ulcer in the cheek, throat, and nose, from
an ozæna in the hollow of the cheek-bone, received great relief this
year, in five or six weeks time; the external ulcer, which had
almost destroyed the whole cheek, being healed in that time, and the
other parts much amended. Her affairs would not permit her a longer
continuance at the well; but she continues the use of the water at
home, and finds great relief from it there. I hope another season will
complete the cure.
Mr. Parry, of Clent, had his skin cleared, and perfectly healed, in
five weeks; tho’, when he came to the well, he was covered with an
elephantiasis; for which he had tried most of the purging waters, and
sea-water, under the direction of Dr. Russell, without effect. So bad
was he, that he could not move a limb but the skin cracked, and ouzed
out a filthy sanies; and he left the mark of his body every night in
his bed. The waters have also had another very surprising effect on
him: for they have been his Helicon, and converted him into a poet; he
having written a poem on the occasion, which he shewed to Lord Foley
and Dr. Dalton.
I know a Lady, who, we had great reason to fear, had an internal
cancer, who has lately received great advantage from the use of these
waters, after other things had been tried unsuccessfully.
I could send many more instances; but the compass of a letter will not
admit of it: and I should be afraid of having tired you already, did
I not know, that it must give you pleasure to hear of its extensive
utility. I am, Sir,
Your most obliged
humble Servant,
J. Wall.
IV. _An Account of the_ Carlsbad _Mineral Waters in_ Bohemia: _In a
Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of_ Macclesfield, _President of
the R. S. by the Rev._ Jeremiah Milles, _D.D. F.R.S._
[Read Jan. 20, 1757.]
My Lord,
MR. Watson having favoured the Society with an Account of Dr.
Sprengsfeld’s treatise on the Carlsbad waters, I have taken the liberty
to submit to your Lordship some observations on the same subject, which
I made during my stay in that place; together with some specimens of
different sorts of incrustations, which are formed by those waters.
Carlsbad is a small town, situated on the confines of Bohemia, at the
distance of 14 German, or 28 French, leagues west of Prague. It is
remarkable for its warm mineral springs, which are said to have been
accidentally discovered, in the year 1370, by the Emperor Charles the
IVth, as he was hunting; from whom they received their present name of
Carlsbad, or Charles’s bath. These waters soon growing into repute,
occasioned the building of a small neat town, consisting chiefly of
houses calculated for the accommodation of the company, who frequent
this place in the summer time. There are two warm springs, which rise
in the middle of the town, very near each other: and tho’ they are
supposed to be of the same quality, yet, as one is much warmer, it
is thought likewise to be more efficacious than the other. The former
of these, called the Brudel, rises very near the bed of the small
river Tepel which runs thro’ the middle of the town, and is sometimes
overflowed by it. The water issues with great force from the bottom of
this spring, rising in a considerable body to the height of six feet
perpendicular; and would force itself much higher, if it were confined
within a narrower compass. The spring is inclosed with a square wall,
within which are fixed three wooden pipes, which convey the water from
the bottom of the spring into a reservoir; which distributes it into a
number of small troughs, communicating with the several bathing-houses,
which are built on both sides of the river for the use of the patients.
This spring is so impetuous, that they are obliged to pave and ramm
the bed of the river, lest it should force itself up in the channel:
and I observed one place on the river side, where it had burst thro’
the rock; and they had been obliged to confine it, by fastening down a
large stone on the orifice.
The water of this spring is so hot, that you cannot bear your hand in
it; and the inhabitants make use of it for scalding their pigs and
their poultry.
The water, when put into a glass, has a bluish cast, not unlike
that of an opal: and tho’ I could not discover, that in 24 hours
it had deposited the least sediment, yet there was a thin whitish
scum collected on the surface; and I observed the same in the baths,
where it was much thicker; and was of the colour, and almost of the
consistence, of a wafer. It has a salt taste when first taken from the
water, and is made use of by the inhabitants for cleaning of teeth and
scouring silver: it is called Baden Flaum.
Tho’ this water does not deposit any sediment, yet it is remarkable for
the speedy and strong incrustation of all bodies, which are put into
it. Little plaister figures are sold here, on purpose to verify the
experiment; which, tho’ perfectly white when put into the spring, are,
in eight-and-forty hours, entirely covered with a yellow incrustation.
The same effect is observed on the pipes and channels, thro’ which the
water is conveyed. If care were not taken to clean them four or five
times a year, they would be intirely choaked up; and in some parts,
where it has not been necessary to clean them so often, I have seen
them covered with an incrustation two inches thick. In surrounding
and covering these wooden pipes, they do not change the nature of the
wood; but it is observable, that they add great hardness and solidity
to it: so that it is affirmed a piece of deal will last a hundred years
in this water. The head spring is cleared out once in 30 or 40 years,
with a very great expence: at which time they are obliged to break off
all the stony incrustation, which had been made by the water since the
last cleaning; and if neglected would (as it has sometimes actually
done) choak the passages, and oblige the spring to find vent in some
other place. The incrustations formed by these waters are of different
kinds: that, which is made in the troughs and pipes, thro’ which the
water is conveyed after it comes above ground, is of a light sandy
nature, of a loose contexture, and a bright yellow. It is used by the
inhabitants as a gentle corrosive for eating off proud flesh. There is
another of a darker colour, and a much harder nature, which is found at
the very mouth of the spring, where it bursts out of the rock. There
are other sorts taken out of the subterraneous cavities of the spring
at the time it was cleaned. In what manner they are formed, is not so
easy to determine; unless there were an opportunity of observing in
what manner and direction they lie within the spring. They seem to be
an alabastrine spar, and are beautifully marked with strait veins of
different colours, which may be supposed to have received their tinge
from the different colour of the spring-water at the time when this
sediment, or rather scum, was formed upon it. They find pieces of this
kind most beautifully variegated; and some of them large enough, by
fineering to make tables: these polish very well, and are not much
inferior to jasper in appearance. It is a part of the manufacture of
the place, to work this sort of stone into snuff-boxes, cane-heads, and
sleeve-buttons.
There is likewise another sort of incrustation different from all
these, which was found some years ago, in digging for the foundations
of the new parish-church, which is about 300 yards distant from the
Brudel spring. They found there the same kind of water; but it did not
rise with so great force as in the other spring: and they discovered in
the cavities large masses of a stony concretion, which were a sort of
pisolithi, most of them in a globular, but some in an oval form, from
the smallest size to the bigness of a nutmeg; the former sort lying in
masses, the latter generally single and detached: they are perfectly
white, hard, and smooth, and appear to consist of a great number of
lamellæ formed round a small nucleus. This sort of incrustation has
been found in no other place; but there are some of a browner sort, and
more irregular shapes, which are taken out of the Brudel.
The medicinal virtues of these waters have been treated of by German
authors. They are esteemed to be particularly efficacious in removing
obstructions, and in cases of the stone and gravel; of which the
treatise lately produced to the Society contains many remarkable
proofs. They are much frequented in these and in other cases; so that
they have generally 200 persons in a season drinking the waters. The
season begins in May, and ends in August. They drink them in the
following method. They begin with a purge; and assist its operation
with ten or twelve chocolate-cups of the water, taken within five
minutes of each other. The day following they take the waters in the
same quantity, and at the same intervals, keeping themselves all the
time in a warm room; which, with the warmth of the waters, occasions
a most plentiful perspiration. This is repeated for seven or eight
days, increasing daily two or three cups of the water, till they come
to drink 25 or 30 cups a day. The operation continues from eight of
the clock in the morning till noon. Some bleed once in the middle of
the course, others not at all. After they have finished this course
of drinking, they bathe two days successively, continuing in the bath
half an hour, or longer, as their strength permits them, or their case
requires. This is the whole course; which is repeated two or three
times, or oftener, as they find necessary. The whole is concluded with
a gentle purge, tho’ the waters themselves are of a laxative nature.
There is another spring in the town of the same nature, but not so
warm, as the Brudel: it is called the Mill-spring, and is only tepid.
Those of a warm or weak constitution make use of this instead of the
other, both for drinking and bathing.
There are likewise several chalybeat springs in the neighbourhood of
Carlsbad; one at half a mile, and the other at two leagues distance
from the town. Both of them seem to resemble the water of the Pohun
spring at Spa; but are not near so strong. They do not use them
medicinally on the spot; but they are brought to Carlsbad, and sold, in
order to be drank with their wine. I am,
My Lord,
With the greatest respect,
Your Lordship’s
Most obedient humble Servant,
Jeremiah Milles.
Grosvenor-street, Jan. 19th, 1757.
V. _An Essay towards ascertaining the specific Gravity of living Men.
By Mr._ John Robertson, _F.R.S._
[Read Jan. 27, 1757.]
SOME time last autumn I had occasion to draw up a few examples on the
use of a table of the specific gravities and weights of some bodies.
Among other things, that occurred then to me, I thought it might be
useful to know the specific gravity of men. In order to make some
experiments on this subject, I got a cistern made, of 78 inches in
length, 30 inches wide, and 30 inches deep: it was constructed as near
a parallelopiped as the workman could, to prevent tedious operations in
computing the horizontal sections of the cistern by the surface of the
water. I then endeavoured to find ten persons, such as I proposed to
make the experiments withal; namely, two of six feet high, two of five
feet ten inches, two of five feet eight inches, two of five feet six
inches, and two of five feet four inches. One of each height I proposed
should be a fat man, and the other a lean one; but I could not succeed
in procuring such men; and, after waiting till near the middle of
October, I was obliged to put up with such, as would submit themselves
to the experiment at that season of the year. They were all labouring
men, belonging to the ordinary of Portsmouth yard, and, except one or
two of them, who were middling sized men, were for the most part very
thin and slim made persons. I had also provided a sliding measure to
take their heights, and scales to weigh them in. Every thing being
prepared, each man stript himself in an adjoining room, and put on
a pair of trowsers for decency’s sake: his height was first taken,
then his weight, and then he immersed (fortified with a large dram of
brandy). A ruler, graduated to inches, and decimal parts of an inch,
was fixed to one end of the cistern, and the height of the water
noted before a man went in, and to what height it rose when he ducked
himself under its surface; and of these several observations is the
following table composed.
+---+--------+-----+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
| | | |Ht. Water|Ht. Water| Water | |Weight |
|Nº.|Heights.| Wt. | before | when | raised.| |Water. |
| | | |immersed.|immersed.| |Solidity.| |
| |Ft. In. | Pds.| Inches. | Inches. | Inches.| |Pounds.|
+---+--------+-----+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
| 1| 6 02 | 161 | 19,30 | 21,20 | 1,90 | 2,573 | 160,8 |
| 2| 5 10⅜ | 147 | 19,25 | 21,16 | 1,91 | 2,586 | 161,6 |
| 3| 5 9½ | 156 | 19,21 | 21,06 | 1,85 | 2,505 | 156,6 |
+---+--------+-----+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
| 4| 5 6¾ | 140 | 19,17 | 21,21 | 2,04 | 2,763 | 172,6 |
| 5| 5 5⅞ | 158 | 19,13 | 21,21 | 2,08 | 2,817 | 176,0 |
| 6| 5 5½ | 158 | 19,09 | 21,26 | 2,17 | 2,939 | 183,7 |
+---+--------+-----+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
| 7| 5 4⅜ | 140 | 19,05 | 21,06 | 2,01 | 2,722 | 170,1 |
| 8| 5 3⅛ | 132 | 19,01 | 20,86 | 1,85 | 2,505 | 156,6 |
| 9| 5 4⅛ | 121 | 18,97 | 20,76 | 1,79 | 2,424 | 151,5 |
| 10| 5 3¼ | 146 | 18,93 | 20,66 | 1,73 | 2,343 | 146,4 |
+---+--------+-----+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
In making of these experiments, I remarked some inconveniencies, which
I did not at first advert to, and which, at that time, I could not
prevent. I intended, that each man should have got gently into the
water, immersed himself all but his head, and so have staid until the
motion of the water had ceased; then he was suddenly to have ducked
his head under, and have continued to a few seconds of time, until I
had noted the rise of the water; and, after his leaving the cistern,
another was not to go in until the water was free from motion. Could
these things have been done, as I projected, I could have recommended
the foregoing table as sufficiently complete: but I must observe, that
beside the men’s being of different sizes from what I had desired,
they were in too much haste to be dismissed (with another dram after
dressing); so that the water was not quite still when they got into
the cistern: neither could I persuade all of them to lay themselves
down gently, much less to keep their heads under water so long a time
as one second: so that, in most of the observations, the surface of
the water was far from being quite so still, as to render the measures
perfectly exact, I being obliged to catch them, as it were, by taking
the mean height between the librations. Moreover, the great area of the
cistern was no inconsiderable bar to the accuracy I expected. However,
as I do not recollect experiments of this kind any-where recorded,
these, perhaps, may give some satisfaction to such persons, who may
have the curiosity to desire some knowlege on this subject. Were I
to make any more observations of this kind, I would chuse an upright
parallelopiped, not above 18 or 20 inches in the side of the square;
into which the person should let himself down by steps nailed to the
side: for in so small an area the motion of the water would sooner
subside; neither would the librations be any thing near so large as on
a smaller surface.
One of the reasons, that induced me to make these experiments, was
a desire of knowing what quantity of fir or oak timber would be
sufficient to keep a man afloat in river or sea water, thinking that
most men were specifically heavier than river or common fresh water;
but the contrary appears from these trials: for, excepting the first
and last, every man was lighter than his equal bulk of fresh water,
and much more so than his equal bulk of sea-water: consequently, could
persons, who fall into water, have presence of mind enough to avoid the
fright usual on such accidents, many might be preserved from drowning;
and a piece of wood, not larger than an oar, would buoy a man partly
above water so long as he had spirits to keep his hold. Some things
herein advanced will perhaps more readily appear from the following
relation.
The Lords of the Admiralty have appointed, for the exercise of the
scholars belonging to the royal academy at Portsmouth, a small yacht;
wherein, during the summer months, those young gentlemen are taught
the practice of working a vessel at sea, under the directions of one
of the master-attendants, assisted by eight or ten seamen. The last
time this yacht was out, which was about the beginning of last October,
one of the scholars was ordered to heave the lead. The youth was about
thirteen years old, small of his age, and far from being fat; as he
was stepping on the gunnel, he fell over-board: the sea was rough, and
the yacht had great way; so that he was presently at a considerable
distance from the vessel. The skiff was immediately let down; but the
painter not being fast, the rope run an end, and the skiff went adrift.
One of the seamen jumpt over-board, got into the boat, brought her
along-side the vessel, took in another man, and then went after the
youth, whom they recovered, after he had been in the water more than
half an hour. The young gentleman, relating the affair, said, that as
he could swim very little, and judging he should sink if he strove
against the waves, he turned on his back, and committed himself to
their mercy. He kept himself perfectly calm; and observed, when a wave
was likely to break over him, to hold his breath, and to spurt out the
water forced into his mouth. His hat, which happened to be tied by a
piece of string to one of his coat button-holes, he often held up with
his hand, as a signal where he was. Just before the boat came up to him
he began to be faint, his eyes became dim, and he thought himself on
the verge of sinking. This youth, who, by his prudence, saved himself
from drowning, must, at that time, have been specifically lighter than
water.
VI. _An Instance of the Gut_ Ileum, _cut thro’ by a Knife, successfully
treated by Mr._ Peter Travers, _Surgeon, at_ Lisbon. _Communicated by_
John Huxham, _M.D. F.R.S._
[Read Jan. 27, 1757.]
Lisbon, August 3d, 1756.
ANtonia Josée da Costa, one of the King’s messengers, was attacked by
two men, and, after receiving two blows on the head, was stabbed with
a knife in the right hypogastric region, about three fingers breadth
above the os pubis; the external wound being larger, as the knife was
drawn obliquely towards the navel, and might be an inch and half in
length, the perforation thro’ the peritonæum about three quarters of an
inch; the intestine ileum hanging out about ten or twelve inches, and
quite pierced thro’, the wound in the gut being large enough to admit
my fore finger. After clearing the grumous blood with warm water and
Hungary water, the uninterrupted suture was made on both perforations;
then dilating the common integuments of the belly, the intestine was
reduced, leaving the ends of the two threads at the superficies of
the wound; and the external incision was sewed up by the interrupted
suture, and common dressings of lint and bandage applied. A clyster was
given him immediately after the above operation, of oil of olives, the
yolk of an egg, and warm water.
4th. This day I found he had passed in the most excruciating pains,
attended with continual vomitings: his fever very high, pulse full
and irregular: he was bled ten ounces this morning, and the like
quantity this evening. The clysters were continued thrice a day, with
a decoction of wormwood and camomile instead of the warm water, and an
anodyne mixture of mint-water, liquid laudanum, and sugar, to be taken
occasionally; also three ounces of syrup of rhubarb, with an ounce of
the fresh-drawn oil of sweet almonds, to be taken, a common spoonful
every two hours.
5th. The bleedings were continued twice this day, three ounces each
time, and the clysters were administered as yesterday. His pulse
and fever very high; he vomited some excrements; and towards night
complained of a singultus.
6th. His bleedings and clysters were continued as before. Finding his
singultus and vomiting so very troublesome, I ordered him Dr. Huxham’s
tincture of the bark; which was taken, a tea-spoonful, six times a
day, in a little mint-water; which indeed greatly relieved him: his
singultus and vomiting became less frequent.
7th. I found his skin moist, and pulse softened. I remained with him
about an hour, and found a plentiful perspiration throughout the body;
on which I omitted his bleedings: the clysters were continued; and
towards night he had a proper discharge by stool, very fœtid, and
inspissated.
8th. I found, for the first time, he had slept last night, and seemed
much in spirits: the symptomatic fever something lessened; and he had
purged last night, and this day, eight times.
9th. He had five stools; his neausea much abated; and a gentle
diaphoresis continued.
10th. The singultus ceased; his vomiting very little; his pulse low,
accelerated, and thread-like in its stroke; his purging violent; and he
greatly complained of a most acute pain of the wounded parts. A paper
of the following absorbent powders was given him every three hours in
rice-water. Crabs-eyes and red coral prepared, of each one drachm,
crude opium two grains: these were made for three doses, and given as
above.
11th. He slept well; less pain; pulse more equal; his diarrhæa much the
same.
12th. The threads, with which I had made the suture of the intestine,
came out of themselves: the wound well-conditioned; fever very little;
his diarrhæa rather increased. He sent for me in the evening, being
much alarmed, as he thought some liquids he had taken to have passed
thro’ the wounded parts.
13th. Yesterday he complained of great pains in his belly: the
discharge from his wound was laudable matter, and in good quantity.
14th. He rested well, and was seemingly well beyond expectation. His
diarrhæa still continuing troublesome, he took the hartshorn decoction,
with an addition of diascordium.
15th. I cut off the threads of the external wound, and continued
dressings of digestive in the common method.
16th. He grew visibly better each day after; and on Sept. 7th I
discharged him from any further attendance, his wound being intirely
healed over, and he is in all respects very well, free from pain, or
any inconvenience from the wound. He was kept seven and twenty days on
chicken-broth, and never admitted to use any solids during that time:
afterwards he was indulged with young chickens, &c.
VII. _An Account of a Visitation of the leprous Persons in the Isle
of_ Guadaloupe: _In a Letter to Mons._ Damonville, _Counsellor and
Assistant-Judge at_ Martinico, _and in the Office of King’s Physician
at_ Guadaloupe. _By_ John Andrew Peyssonel, _M.D. F.R.S. Translated
from the_ French.
[Read Feb. 3, 1757.]
+SIR+,
I Received the letter, which you honoured me with, and the order for
visiting the persons afflicted with the leprosy. I was sensible of the
misfortune of being ordered upon that commission: I say misfortune;
for such you will perhaps think it, when you have read this letter.
It is now about 25 or 30 years since a very particular disease shewed
itself in many persons in this island Grande Terre. Its beginning
is imperceptible: there appear but a few livid-red spots upon the
skins of the white people, and of a yellowish red upon the blacks.
These spots in the beginning are not accompanied with pain, or any
other symptom; but nothing can take them away. The disease increases
insensibly, and continues several years in shewing itself more and
more. These spots increase, and extend indifferently over the skin
of the whole body. Sometimes they are a little prominent, but flat.
When the disease makes a progress, the upper part of the nose swells,
the nostrils are enlarged, the nose becomes softened; tuberosities
appear upon the cheek-bones; the eyebrows are inflated; the ears grow
thick; the ends of the fingers, and even the feet and toes, swell;
the nails become scaly; the joints of the feet and hands separate and
mortify: ulcers of a deep and of a dry nature are found in the palms
of the hands and soles of the feet, which grow well, and return again.
In short, when the disease is in its last stage, the patient becomes
frightful, and falls to pieces. All these symptoms come on by very
slow degrees, one after another, and sometimes require many years to
shew themselves: the patient is sensible of no sharp pain; but feels
a kind of numbness in his hands and feet. These people perform their
natural functions all the while, eating and drinking as usual: and
even when the mortification has taken off the fingers and toes, the
only ill consequence, that attends, is the loss of those parts, that
drop off by the mortification; for the wound heals of itself, without
any application: but when it comes to its last period, the poor sick
persons are horribly deformed, and truly worthy of compassion.
This shocking disease is observed to have several other unhappy
characters; as, 1st, that it is hereditary, and that some families are
more apt to be seized with it than others: 2dly, that it is infectious,
being communicated _per coitum_, and also caught by keeping company
with those so diseased: 3dly, that it is incurable, or at least that
no remedy has yet been found to cure it. They have in vain tried
mercurials, sudorifics, and every other regimen used in venereal
complaints, under a notion, that this leprosy was the consequence of
some venereal taint: but, instead of being of service, these methods
rather served to destroy the patients; for, far from lessening the
disease, the antivenereal medicines unlocked the distemper, the most
dreadful symptoms appeared, and all those so treated perished some
years sooner than the others, who did not take these medicines.
A very just fear of being infected with this cruel distemper; the
difficulty of examining infected persons before the disease came to
its state; the length of time of its lying concealed, by the care
of the patients to keep it secret; the uncertainty of the symptoms,
which distinguish it in the beginning; produced an extraordinary dread
in all the inhabitants of this island. They inspected one another,
since virtue and merit had no shelter from this cruel scourge. They
called this distemper the leprosy; and consequently presented several
memoirs to the generals and intendants, laying before them all these
facts above-mentioned; their just apprehensions; the public good; the
trouble, that this distrust caused in this colony; the complaints and
hatred, that these accusations occasioned among them; the laws made
formerly against such leprous persons, and their expulsion from civil
society. They required a general visitation of all persons suspected
of this distemper, that such, as were found infected, might be removed
into particular hospitals, or into some separate places.
These memorials were sent to court, which, giving due attention to
these just representations, issued orders for the required visitations
in the most convenient manner, for the good of the public and of the
state.
In the mean time, the post of physician-botanist become vacant in the
island of Cayenne. The minister was pleased to name me for it; and
altho’ this island was much more fertile in philosophical discoveries
than all the others, he thought proper to change my destination, and
sent me to this isle Guadaloupe; and did not forget the article of the
leprosy in my instructions.
When I arrived at Martinico in 1727, Monsieur Blondel de Juvencourt,
then intendant of the French isles, communicated to me both the orders
of the court, and all the memoirs, that related to this affair. A tax
was then laid upon the Negroes of the inhabitants of the Grande Terre,
to raise a necessary fund for this visitation, thus made at the expence
of the colony; and Mons. le Mercier Beausoleil was chosen treasurer of
this fund.
Being arrived at Guadaloupe, the Count de Moyencourt, and Mons.
Mesnier, ordinator and subdelegate to this intendance, communicated
to me the order of the general and intendant. I began then to inform
myself of the necessary instructions for acquiting myself of this
dangerous commission, the disagreeable consequences of which I easily
foresaw. I had so often heard of these leprous spots, that I judged
it necessary to know, whether what was said was true: for I could not
comprehend, that a disease, which has so dreadful an end, and the
symptoms then so terrible, should continue ten or fifteen years without
any other appearance than these simple spots; which, in themselves, had
nothing very bad. I demanded an inquest to be made, in order to satisfy
myself of this fact: several surgeons, as practitioners, and several
honest inhabitants, as observers, were accordingly called together,
who all proved the same fact in this inquest; which you, Sir, may, and
must, have seen in the register of the subdelegation of this island. I
am, most sincerely,
+SIR+,
Your most humble and obedient Servant,
Peyssonel.
August 10. 1748.
RESULT _of the_ VISITATION.
1st, NONE of the patients, whom we visited, had any fever; and they
all declared, that they found no inconvenience nor pain; but, on
the contrary, eat, drank, and slept well, performing every natural
function; which was proved by their plumpness, which appeared even when
the disease was most confirmed.
2. The disease began to shew itself in the Negroes by reddish spots,
a little raised, upon the skin, being a dry kind of tetter, neither
branny nor scabbed, and without any running, but of a livid-red, and
very ill-conditioned. The Negroes sometimes bring these spots with
them from their own country. The spots are constantly found upon every
person troubled with this disease; and are in greater numbers, in
proportion as the disease grows more inveterate.
3. Among the whites the disease shews itself at the beginning by spots
of a livid violet colour, without pain; which are followed by little
watery bladders, particularly upon the legs, which burst, and leave
small ulcers with pale edges, and different in their natures from the
common ulcers.
4. In proportion as the disease increased, the hands and feet grew
larger, without any signs of inflammation; since neither redness, nor
pain, nor any oedematous appearance accompanied it; but it was the very
flesh, that increased in bulk. And this growth of the hands and feet
was not attended with any sharp pain, but only a kind of numbness.
5. This bloated state of the hands and feet was succeeded by white
deep ulcers under the skin, which became callous and insensible; and
which emitted only a clear serous matter like water, and were but
little painful. Afterwards the ends of the fingers became dry, the
nails became scaly, and, I don’t know how, they were eaten away; the
ends of the fingers dropt off; then the joints separated without pain,
and the wounds cicatrized of themselves, without the least need of
medicines. In the increase of the distemper hardnesses and lumps were
formed in the flesh, the colour became tarnished, the nose swelled,
and the nostrils grew wide: at last the nose softened like paste, the
voice became hoarse, the eyes round and brilliant, the forehead covered
with tetters and lumps, as well as the face; the eye-brows became
very large, the countenance was horrible, the breath fœtid, the lips
swelled, large tubercles were formed under the tongue; the ears grew
thick and red, and hung down; and, such was the insensibility of all
the parts, that we run pins thro’ the hands of several, without their
feeling any thing of it. In short, we were assured, that these people
perished by degrees, falling into a mortification; and the limbs dropt
off of themselves, without any considerable pain, continuing still to
perform well their natural functions.
6. These leprous people lived thus easy, if I may be allowed the
expression, for several years, even fifteen or twenty; for the disease
begins insensibly, and shews itself but very slowly.
7. Antivenereal remedies, which were ordered for almost every patient
we saw, were of no service: if they sometimes palliated some symptoms,
they very often hastened the progress of the disease: besides, we never
found the parts of generation at all infected, nor any thing, that
looked like the pox about them.
8. Some of these people had indeed particular symptoms. In some the
hair fell off; which was replaced by a finer kind: in others, worms
were found in their ulcers: want of sleep, or frightful dreams,
afflicted some; while others quite lost their voice, or it became
effeminate like that of eunuchs; and others, we found, stunk extremely.
9. Almost all of them, being desirous of concealing their disorders,
endeavored to deceive us, by alleging false excuses for the causes of
their sores and ulcers: the greater part of them pretended, that the
rats had eaten off their toes, and that burns had caused their ulcers.
These were the figures, that every where presented to us.
10. We were confirmed in our opinions by experience, supported by
verbal process, that this was the state of the diseased; that the
distemper could neither be the pox, nor the effect of an inveterate
one: that it had no symptom of that disease; but that it had every
character of what the ancients called leprosy, elephantiasis, or
such other names, as they were pleased to give it. So that we do not
hesitate to pronounce, that those infected with this disease, as we
have described it, ought to be treated as leprous persons, and subject
to the ordinances, which his majesty was pleased to issue against such
persons.
11. Again, we are well assured, from our observations, that the
distemper is contagious, and hereditary; and yet the contagion is not
so active, nor poisonous, as that of the plague, small-pox, nor even as
the ring-worm, itch, scald, and other cutaneous disorders: for, if that
were the case, the American colonies would be utterly destroyed; and
these persons so infected, mixed as they are in every habitation, would
have already infected all the Negroes, whom they come near.
12. We believe, that this contagion does not take place but by long
frequenting the company of the infected, or by carnal knowlege.
Besides, we have observed, that even such long frequenting, or
cohabiting with them, are not always sufficient to communicate the
disease; because we have seen women cohabit with their husbands, and
husbands with their wives, in the distemper, while one is sound, and
the other infected. We see families communicate and live with leprous
persons, and yet never be infected; and thus, altho’ experience, and
the information of the sick, prove the contagion, we are of opinion,
that there must be a particular disposition in people to receive the
poison of the leprosy.
13. As to what regards the distemper’s being hereditary, it is
assuredly so. We have seen intire families infected; and almost every
child of a leprous father or mother fall insensibly into the leprosy;
and yet, in several other families, we have seen some children sound,
and others tainted; the father has died of the disease, and the
children grew old without any infection: so that, tho’ it is certainly
hereditary, yet we believe it is of the same nature with those in
families troubled with the consumption, gravel, and other hereditary
distempers; which are transmitted from father to son, without being so
very regular, as to affect every one of the family.
14. We could never find out any certain rule of judging, at what age
the disease shews itself first in those, who were begotten by infected
parents: but we have, as far as we could, observed, with regard to
women or girls, that the symptoms begin with the menses, and continue
slightly till they have lain in of one or two children: but that then
more visible, and indeed more cruel, symptoms appeared. As to men, or
infants, there is no rule to know it in them.
15. For the explanation of the causes, symptoms, and what we think
the most likely means of cure, we refer to a particular dissertation.
Let it suffice here to observe, that we do not imagine, that the air,
water, or manner of living, can produce it; for we have found as many
sick in the low marshy places, as in more airy saline places: and if
many Negroes were infected in the Grand Terre, where they drink the
foul waters of ponds and lakes, we see an equal number ill in places,
where they have fresh rivers and running waters; but they may prove
proper causes for unlocking, and disposing persons to receive, the
disease.
16. We believe, and are persuaded, that the origin of this disease
among the Negroes comes from Guinea: for almost all the Negroes from
the country told us they came from thence with these reddish spots, the
first and certain signs of the distemper begun.
17. As to the infected Whites and Mulattoes of this island, we were
informed, that the disease was not known among the Whites till about 25
or 30 years ago; when, out of charity, they received a miserable object
from the island of St. Christoper’s, whose name was Clement; who, about
the year 1694, fled hither. It was the family of the Josselins, called
the Chaloupers, that protected him; which family, as also that of the
Poulins, we found infected by communication with this sick man, as old
Poulin declared to us.
It is thought, that others were infected by communication with the
Negro women, especially in the beginning, when the disease is much
concealed, at a time when they did not mistrust one another; which
is very probable, since we saw many Mulatto children, born of female
Negroes, infected and leprous.
18. However this be, this distemper has had its progress; and in this
visitation, which we made, we examined 256 suspected persons; that is,
89 Whites, 47 free Mulattoes, and 120 Negroes: among whom we found
22 Whites, 6 Mulattoes, and 97 Negroes, infected with the leprosy,
amounting to 125. There were six Whites and five Negroes more, whom
we could not visit, for reasons set forth in the verbal process. The
remaining persons, which were 131, appeared to us very sound: not that
we can answer for the consequences, especially with respect to the
children, who are the offspring of leprous persons; whether declared
such by us, or dead before the visitation, suspected of infection.
This is the opinion, declaration, and result of the visitation made
by us, the physicians and surgeon appointed for that purpose. At
Basseterre, the day above-mentioned.
PEYSSONEL.
LEMOINE.
MOULON.
A second visitation was made in October 1748.
VIII. _An Account of the late Discoveries of Antiquities at_
Herculaneum; _in an Extract of a Letter from_ Camillo Paderni, _Keeper
of the_ Herculanean Museum, _and F.R.S. to_ Thomas Hollis, _Esq; dated_
Naples, Dec. 16, 1756.
[Read Feb. 10, 1757.]
IT is probable, that the first volume of antique paintings will be
published at Easter; in which there will be fifty copper-plates, with
observations by the academy lately established here for illustrating
the antiquities.
Two volumes of the ancient papyrus have been unrolled. One treats of
_rhetoric_, and the other is upon _music_; and both are written by the
same author, Philodemus. Il Signor Canonico Mazzocchi, a very learned
gentleman of this city, is now translating them from the Greek. There
are two persons constantly employed in unrolling other volumes.
In the month of April were found two fine busts of women, the subjects
unknown. Also a young stag, of excellent workmanship, upon a base. The
height of it, from the feet to the top of the head, is three palms
and a half. Likewise its companion; but broken in many pieces; which
however I hope to restore.
In May, a small young hog.
In October, a female statue, of middling workmanship. Also a Silenus,
a palm and three inches high, standing upon a square base raised upon
three rows of steps, which are supported at the angles by lions claws.
He has a bald head, a long curled beard, a hairy body, and naked feet.
The drapery about him is loose and flowing: the fore-finger of each
hand is extended, and all the rest are closed. From his back arises a
branch above the head, where it divides into two, which, twisting their
foliage round it, fall and spread themselves below the shoulders, on
each of which a stand is placed to fix a lamp. In the middle, betwixt
the extremities of these two small branches, is a bird resembling a
parroquet. The whole of this figure is in a very good taste. All these
things above-mentioned are of bronze.
In November was discovered a beautiful marble Terminus, of Greek
workmanship, as big as the life. It is drest in a chlamys; has a young
countenance; and the head is covered with a Grecian helmet.
Many other things have also been found, as lamps, vases, and such-like,
in bronze. And we have often met with paintings. If any farther
discoveries are made, which are remarkable, you may depend on being
informed of them.
At present my time is much taken up, in a work extremely difficult and
tedious; which is this: When the theatre was first discovered, there
were found in it, among other things, several horses in bronze, larger
than the life; but all of them bruised, and broken into many pieces.
From this sad condition they are not yet restored. But his majesty
having expressed a particular desire to see that effected, if possible,
with regard to one of them, I resolved to attempt it; and accordingly
have set about it.
IX. _An Account of some Trees discovered under-ground on the Shore at_
Mount’s-Bay _in_ Cornwall: _In a Letter from the Rev. Mr._ William
Borlase, _F.R.S. to the Rev. Dr._ Lyttelton, _Dean of_ Exeter.
[Read Feb. 10, 1757.]
Ludgvan, Jan 24. 1757.
Reverend Sir,
BEING an airing the other day with Mrs. Borlase, on the sands below
my house, we perceived the sands betwixt the Mount and Penzance much
washed into pits, and bare stony areas, like a broken causey. In one
of the latter, Mrs. B. as we passed by, thought she saw the appearance
of a tree; and, upon a review, I found it to be the roots of a tree,
branching off from the trunk in all directions. We made as much haste
down to the same place in the afternoon as we could, and with proper
help to make a farther examination. I measured and drew the remains;
and about 30 feet to the west found the roots of another tree, but
without any trunk, tho’ displayed in the same horizontal manner as
the first. Fifty feet farther to the north we found the body of an
oak, three feet in diameter, reclining to the east. We dug about it,
and traced it six feet deep under the surface; but its roots were
still deeper than we could pursue them. Within a few feet distance
was the body of a willow, one foot and a half in diameter, with the
bark on; and one piece of a large hazel-branch, with its bark on.
What the two first trees were, it was not easy to distinguish, there
being not a sufficiency remaining of the first, and nothing but roots
of the second, both pierced with the teredo, or augur-worm. Round
these trees was sand, about ten inches deep, and then the natural
earth, in which these trees had formerly flourished. It was a black
marsh-earth, in which the leaves of the juncus were intirely preserved
from putrefaction. These trees were 300 yards below full-sea-mark;
and, when the tide is in, have at least 12 feet of water above them:
and doubtless there are the remains of other trees farther towards
the south, which the sea perpetually covers, and have more than 30
feet water above them. But these are sufficient to confirm the ancient
tradition of these parts, that St. Michael’s mount, now half a mile
inclosed with the sea, when the tide is in, stood formerly in a wood.
That the wood consisted of oak, very large, hazel and willow trees,
is beyond dispute. That there has been a subsidence of the sea-shores
hereabouts, is hinted in my letter to you, p. 92; and the different
levels and tendencies, which we observed in the positions of the trees
we found, afford us some material inferences, as to the degree and
inequalities of such subsidences in general; as the age, in which this
subsidence happened (near 1000 years since at least) may convince us,
that when earthquakes happen, it is well for the country, that they
are attended with subsidences; for then the ground settles, and the
inflammable matter, which occasioned the earthquake, has no longer room
to spread, unite, and recruit its forces, so as to create frequent and
subsequent earthquakes: whereas, where there are earthquakes without
proportionable subsidences, there are caverns and ducts under-ground
remaining open and unchoaked, the same cause, which occasioned the
first, has room to revive and renew its struggles, and to repeat its
desolations or terrors; which is most probably the case of Lisbon. I
am, Sir,
Your most affectionate
and obliged humble Servant,
Wm. Borlase.
X. _Experiments on applying the Rev. Dr._ Hales’_s Method of distilling
Salt-water to the Steam-Engine. By_ Keane Fitzgerald, _Esq; F.R.S._
[Read Feb. 17, 1757.]
ON reading Dr. Hale’s account of purifying salt-water, by blowing
showers of air thro’, it occurred to me, that something of the kind
might be applied with advantage to the steam or fire-engine, by
increasing the quantity of steam, and consequently diminishing the
quantity of fuel otherwise necessary.
As the strength of steam raised from boiling water is always in a
fluctuating state, and, by the best experiments hitherto made, has
never been found above ⅒ stronger, or weaker, than air; I was in doubt,
whether steam, produced by this method, would be sufficiently strong
for the purpose of the steam-engine.
I made an experiment first on a small boiler, about 12 inches diameter,
made in the shape of those commonly used in steam-engines, with a
funnel at the top, of about 1 inch diameter, for the steam to pass
thro’; the aperture of which was covered with a thin plate, fixt at
one end with a hinge, and a small leaden weight to slide on the other,
in the nature of a steel-yard, to mark the strength or quantity of
the steam. A tin pipe made for this purpose, with several small holes
towards the end, passed from a small pair of bellows, through the upper
part of the boiler, to within about an inch of the bottom. The boiler
was half filled with water, which covered the holes in the pipe about
six inches. From the best observation I was capable of making with this
machine, by blowing air thro’ the boiling water, it produced about ⅙
more steam than was produced by the same fire without blowing air thro’.
I then applied a machine of this kind to the engine at the
York-buildings water-works, the boiler of which is 15 feet diameter.
This is a patent-boiler, a section and plan of which is annexed. It
has a double concave, with a kind of door-way or passage from one to
the other, in order to let the flame pass, as it were, thro’ and round
the water; by which means there is no-where above nine inches of water
to be heated thro’, tho’ the boiler is so large; and which, by three
years experience, has been found to require ¼ less fuel, than any other
fire-engine of equal bigness.
[Illustration: _Philos. Trans. Vol. L._ TAB. I _p. 54_. _J. Mynde sc._]
I fixt a pipe of an inch and a half diameter to a pair of double
bellows three feet diameter; which pipe reached about one foot under
the surface of the water in the boiler; to the end of which are fixed
horizontally two branches, each about eight feet long, tapering from
one inch diameter to about ¼ of an inch. These branches are bent in a
circular manner, as in the plan, to answer the form of the concave,
and are perforated with small holes about four inches distant at the
thickest part, and decreasing gradually in distance, to within ¼ of an
inch, towards the small end. The reason of these branches being made
taper, and the distance between the holes decreasing to the small end,
was in order to give the greater power to the air forced by the bellows
to discharge the water lodged in such a length of pipe; and I observed
by this method, that the water was gradually forced thro’ the holes to
the end of each branch, and seemed to throw an equal quantity of air
thro’ the water.
The length of the pipe, to which the branches are fixed horizontally,
is about 18 feet to the nosle of the bellows: notwithstanding which
length, the steam, that passed thro’ the pipe into the bellows, was so
hot before the water boiled, as to force thro’ the leather: but this I
easily remedied, by fixing a brass cock of one inch and a half diameter
to the pipe, which hindered the steam from ascending, until the engine
was ready to work; and being opened, the air continually keeps it cold
until the engine has done working; then the cock must be shut again.
The bellows is worked by means of a small lever, and pullies applied
to the great lever of the fire-engine, which keeps a continual
blast whilst the engine works; the strength of which is increased or
diminished, by adding or taking off the weights on the bellows.
The effect produced, according to the best observations I could make,
was, first, a very visible alteration for the better in the working
of the engine. When the fire was stirred, as it must be every time
fuel is added, the steam generally became too fierce, which occasioned
great irregularity, and sometimes, if not watched, great damage to the
engine; and when the fire abated, the stroke became immediately much
shorter, or stopped intirely, if fuel was not soon added: whereas, by
blowing air thus thro’ the water, it keeps, with any moderate care, an
equal stroke to its full length, from the beginning to the end; and
by that means discharges a considerably greater quantity of water. A
proof of which was very evident, tho’ I could not ascertain the exact
quantity: for the engine, before this improvement, supplied but two
main pipes at once, which conveyed the water to the houses served by
them; but since could not take off the quantity of water thrown up,
part of which was obliged to be discharged into a third main.
As to the quantity of fuel, that may be saved by this method, it is
not easy to determine from any experiment on this engine, the boiler
and fire-place of which is made very different from all others, and
the quantity of fuel already thereby greatly lessened. The fire-place,
which may be said to be within the boiler, and is but barely large
enough to contain a quantity of the roundest and strongest burning
coals sufficient to work the engine, cannot in this be made less; and
consequently will not admit such a saving from this model, as from
one properly constructed for the purpose: a proof of which I made, by
trying some coals of a weaker kind, which were also cheaper; but on
trial were not strong enough to work the engine, and had therefore
been laid by. These coals answered extremely well; and, as it was a
slower-burning coal, I found the consumption, whilst they lasted, was
between two and three bushels less in every six hours, which is about
the time the engine works each day: and I am satisfied, if the person,
who attends the engine, would take the proper care, more coals could
still be saved. For at several different times, when I had the coals
exactly measured, and marked the time, I constantly found, that it
required half a bushel in the hour less than he generally used, and the
engine threw up as much water.
As this method of blowing air thro’ boiling water, in order to increase
the quantity of steam for a fire-engine, has, I believe, never before
been attempted, and produces already a very good effect, I am in hopes
it may be still further improved.
XI. _Extract of a Letter of Mr._ Abraham Trembley, _F.R.S. to_ Tho.
Birch, _D.D. Secret. R.S. Translated from the_ French.
[Read Feb. 17, 1757.]
Hague, 1 Feb. 1757.