632

GRAHAM.The various articles of nourishment

we derive from the vegetable kingdom,may with propriety be divided into fiveorders, viz. 1. The different species offarina or grain, such as wheat, rye, bar-ley, oats and rice; 2. The legumes orpulse, such as pease, beans, &c. ; 3. Thevaried kinds of salads and pot herbs; ;4. All the different kinds of roots ; and5. Fruit."

GRAHAM.

The flesh of the sucking pig isreckoned a great delicacy, and is verynourishing."

WILLICH on Diet.

" The various articles of nourishmentwe derive from the vegetable kingdom,may with propriety be divided into five

’ orders, viz. 1. The different species offarina or grain, such as wheat, rye, bar.ley, oats, and rice ; 2. The legumes or

pulse, such as pease, beans, &c. ; 3. The

; varied kinds of salads and pot-herbs; ;. 4. All the different kinds of roots ; and5. Fruit."

SINCLAIR’S Codeof Health.. The flesh of the sucking pig isreckoned a great delicacy, and is alsovery nourishing."

It is desirable that every one should be so

far acquainted with medicine, as to knowhow to take care of his health, and to dispelhis minor ailments ; but’ with Dr. Grahamfor their guide, there is no fear of peoplebecoming too knowing in this respect. His

work may make them sick, it has given us a ;I

desperate headach, and since he says that" the great object of medicine is the reliefof irritation," we recommend him to buy uphis copies in circulation, and to compile nomore. His secret medicine for cancer mighthave been innoxious ; but this is more, we

are afraid, than can be said for his book.

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE MEDICAL

AND PHYSICAL SOCIETY OF CALCUTTA.

Case of Hydrophobia in a Native. By H.CAVELL, Esq.

IN April, 1822, while I was attached tothe civil station of Dinagepoor, a native wasbrought to me who had been bitten one

month and eleven days previously, by a dog,in the calf of his right leg. The wound hadhealed, though the scars were visible andhe experienced no inconvenience until threedays before I saw him, when his most ur-gent symptom was pain, which he referredto his bladder, with an inability to makemore than two or three spoonfuls of yellowcoloured urine, at any one time. The paingradually increased, and an entire incapa-;bility of swallowing either solids or fluids came on, attended by great pain in his head,his eyes looking wild and suffused, his

tongue slightly foul, his breath very offen-sive, bowels regular, pulse 76, but verywiry and labouring, his countenance indi-

cating the greatest distress. Skin natural,pain over the pubes excessive ; so much so,as frequently to make him writhe, and therewas the most exquisite tenderness on

pressure.As I was doubtful whether these symp-

toms proceeded from the bite, I determinedto try to make him swallow, and procured

some water for the purpose. He shudderedat the sight of it, and said he could not takeit. However, I repeated my request, andattempted to put the water to his mouthwhen convulsive spasms carne on. As hewas a native, and I knew more to be ope-rated upon by fear than entreaty, I orderedtwo Chuprassies with rattans to stand by,while I threatened to flog him if he did notdrink ; but I did not succeed beyond gettingthe lota to his lips, and forcing a small quan-tity of the water into his mouth, which, intlie most menacing manner, I desired him toswallow ; but his attempt was succeeded bydreadful spasms, and the water was squirtedfrom his mouth to a considerable distance.It occurred to me, that hydrophobic patientswere said to be unable to gaze at a looking-glass. I sent for one, upon the sight ofwhich lie shuddered, and turned from it in-stantly.

These circumstances convinced me that

the case before me was indeed hvdro-

phobia; and knowing that hitherto aK themeans which had been resorted to were

equally unavailing, I resolved trying bella-donna in a large dose. At 10 o’clock, -’. v.,I gave him four grains of the extract madeinto the consistence of honey, which I putupon his tongue with a spatuia, takIng carehe did not spit it out. I then sat by him tilleleven ; but as no change had taken place, Idetermined on bleeding him. On openingthe vein, the blood flowed freely. When

633

the pulse became influenced, I placed muiumb over the orifice, and checked the

bleeding till it rallied, when I permitteemore to flow. In this manner, in about arhour and half, I took away altogether 4C

’

ounces. He fainted, and remained fain a few minutes. When he recovered, l

asked him if he would drink ; he replied,Yes! and without difficulty swallowed

’

nearly half a pint of water. As he still

complained of the pain over the pubes, Idirected three drachms of opium, made intothe consistence of paste, to be rubbed into thepart, which was done in my presence. He

shortly after fell asleep for a few minutes,and at about two o’clock, p. m., voided nearlya pint of colourless urine ; and here I mustobserve, that there was no evidence (byexamination) of water in the bladder beforehe took the medicine. His pulse was quiet ;he complained of hunger, but not thirst, andwas free from pain. At three o’clock, P.m.,he awoke quite comfortably, and made halfa pint more urine, complaining still of

hunger. I ordered some chicken broth tobe made for him. At six o’clock, p. 111., hecontinued comfortable, made a good deal ofurine ; pulse was still subdued, skin cool;and he took the broth, which he swallowed ’,without difficulty. On the 19th, at eight

’’

o’clock, A. :11., nlept well through the pre-ceding night in my Bungalow, without anyunfavourable symptom : but the bowels nothaving been opened, I administered a dose of castor oil, which acted freely. At fouro’clock, P. :11., I allowed him a small quan-tity of boiled rice ; and, on the followingmorning, he left me well. This case will be considered interesting

on various accounts ; but my observationsmust be confined to the three followingpoints, namely,

First. Whether it was hydrophobia or not.Secondly. If it was, what share the bella-

donna had in its cure : and, thirdly, how farthat medicine is entitled to a future trial, onanother occurrence of the disease.

first, then, as to whether it was hydro-phobia. To me, I confess, there appearedto be only one symptom wanting to com-

plete its character, which was pain, or an

unnatural appearance in the cicatrices ofthe wound.

It is true, my patient had suffered incon-fenience three days before I saw him,which is too often sufficient to bring the dis-ease to a crisis in a European constitution ;but I cannot help suspecting, that in this,as in other active diseases, the native habitis more slowly influenced, and that to thiscause may be attributed the little progressmade during the time I have just men-tioned.

If indeed this case was not hydrophobia, Iwhat was it ? All the symptoms but one .

I

are common to the disease, namelv, the

pain which he referred to the bladder, andthe want of secretion of urine. But as thebite was in the lower extremity, and as thedisease is supposed to come OR from absorp-tion, the public, I think, will find little diffi-culty in accounting for this ; and to them Ileave this question to be decided upon. Ishall proceed to the second point, whichopens a wide field for reflection and dis-cussion-the share which belladonna had inthe cure.

It is necessary to premise, that by makingthe extract of the consistence I did, andputting it myself into his mouth, I feel con-fident that it must have been swallowed, asI did not allow the patient to spit until afterhe had taken the first quantity of water.

Admitting that he did swallow it, from thenature of the medicine it is evident that oneof two circumstances must have existed,-either that the extract was bad, which Icould not admit, as it had only a few daysprevious arrived from the General Dispen-sary ; or that it must have produced someeffect. Arguing in favour of the latter fact,in ordinary cases, the same, or even smallerdoses, would have produced great vertigo,dimness of sight, redness and tumefaction ofthe face, and more particularly of the

! tongue, which becomes too large for themouth, as is proved in many cases men-

tioned by Mr. Bailey of Harwich, in hiswork on Neuralgia.

’ In my patient, none of these symptomscame on, the only perceptible effect beingdiuretic; from which I should infer, thatthe power of the remedy was exhausted insubduing the violence of the disease, as wesee takes place in the most powerful arti-

cles of our Pharmacopoeia, as opium, arsenic,&:c. That bleeding was resorted to, doesnot take anything from the belladonna ; forwe all know how frequently, and to what anenormous extent, patients have been bled inthis disease without success. But there isone circumstance to which I would particu-larly direct the attention of the Society, asbeing, in my estimation, of peculiar import-ance in acute diseases, which is, not tyingup the arm because the patient is faint,but stopping the bleeding a few minutesuntil he recovers, when we usually find himcapable of bearing further depletion, bywhich means the pulse is often finally sub-dued, as ia the case before us. And here Imust observe, that bleeding was doubtless auseful auxiliary, probably by reducing thesystem, and consequently rendering it moresusceptible of the beneficial influence of thebelladonna. The same argument may alsobe applied to opium, which Ionly resortedto in order to relieve a local pain. The

quantity was large, but the urgency of thecase demanded urgent measures; and as

634

success ’was the result of my exertions, Ishould not perhaps, under similar circum-stances, do wrong in applying the samemeans. And this leads me, thirdly, to in-quire what claims the belladonna has to a

trial in hydrophobia. If it be true that thiswas a case of hydrophobia, and if it be alsotrue that bleeding does not cure that dis-ease, and that opium is equally powerless,it is but fair to conclude, that it ought to behad recourse to, that experience may es-tablish its value, which an individual casecannot do. One strong presuniptive causefor hope is, the known efficacy of this plantin those affections to which this awful

malady is supposed to bear relation, andamong which, authors who have written onthe subject, have classed it.

PETITION

OF THE

GRADUATES OF EDINBURGH TO THE ROYAL

COMMISSIONERS.

I will be seen from a perusal of the an-nexed petition that all is not right in the

University of Edinburgh ; and that, not-

withstanding all Dr. Duncan junior has en-deavoured to show to the contrary, its

Governors must be said to follow rather

than lead in " the march of improvement."Many of the complaints expressed in thispetition are of a very grave nature, and callfor immediate redress ; and we do not re-member to have read a document in which

the allegations are stated with more fair-

ness and temper. Of these grievances thestudents of Edinburgh have long complainedin vain, and this inattention to their re-

peated remonstrances induced them ro sub-mit their case to the Royal Commission,where it will be sure to receive that atten-

tion which it demands, supported as it is

by the signatures of the MAJORITY of theone hundred and sixty, who have just takentheir medical degrees in that school. This

is a fact which must speak loudly in theears of the Royal Commissioners ; a majorityof the one hundred and sixty come forth andboldly protest against the iniquities of theiralma mate)- ; the sure consequence of which

must be, their speedy removal. I’his Peti-

tion was got up in a way which at once be-

speaks the good sense of the graduates, andthe strength of their cause ; it was not ob-

tained by any public clamour or private in-

trigue, but from the simultaneous convic-tion that it was their duty to endeavour to

procure for their successors a removal of

the injustice done to themselves. A con-

siderable effort was made by the thingsas they are" party to prevent the reform-ers from getting a majority, but it was un-successful.

The regulations at present existing in the

College Library are absurd, unless it be

wished to exclude the students altogether;and the purchase of an admission ticket to

the Museum of Natural History, a positiveact of injustice. Since it is the property ofthe University, it should be open to all fre-

quenting the University, and not be madea bait to a course of lectures. In short,

every complaint stated by the petitioners,deserves a careful and close consideration,and we therefore strongly recommend thememorial to the attention of Lord Melrose,

and the other members of the Commission.

To the Royal Commissioners appointed to visitthe Universities (2t Scotlanrl.

T. We the undersigned graduates of theUniversity of Edinburgh, of the Session of!l827’, being aware that your Lordships andthe Gentlemen composing the Commissionhave been sitting a considerable time to re-ceive reports concerning tile governmentof this University, embrace this oppoitu-nity of laying certain grievances before youfor your consideration, and, as we hope, forredress.When the government of a literary and

scientific institution is left to individualsalmost exclusively engaged in commercuzl pzr-suits, it cannot be supposed to be very ef-ficient ; and we humbly conceive that per-sonal interest and party spirit will frequent-ly induce such persons to swerve from jus-tice in their administration, and that it the

contrary should happen, it is to be attribut.ed solely to chance. The professoor of theUniversity of Edinburgh have always beenchosen by the Lord Provost and Town Coum-cil, and the manner in which such electionsare conducted exclude all open competi.