ERGOT OF RYE IN ABORTION AND HÆMORRHAGE.

365 ected speedy dissolution. I suggested to him a trial of the quicksilver, having once found it of service, and, as a dernier ?’essm"t, he agreed with me as to the propriety of trying its efficacy. Half a pound was accordingly given at about half past ten, A.M. ; and the stomach, as it did with every thing else that was oppressive, made desperate efforts to throw it off, but the specific gravity of the silver overcame them. At four, P.I., we

pected.

The bladder

was

healthy, but the

slightly diseased, being thickened, and apparently scirrhous. The rectum also, I should state, was slightly strictured, but presented nothing indicating the least cause

uterus

for the difficulties which were met with. The patient had for years been subject to uterine irritation, and the rectum had frequently been in a state of severe prolapse." I wish to ask the profession the following saw the patient, when free evacuation question: Provided the argentum vivum again had taken place, large masses of the silver had been exhibited earlier, might not the being perceptible in the stool. For some patient have recovered1 hours after this, great prostration of strength , Twickenham, June 9,1829. was experienced ; but, upon the gradual in- i troduction of gentle stimulants, the stomach became more quiet, and the patient exTESTS FOR THE SULPHATE OF QUININE. pressed much relief. The seconcl, third, By M. AUGUSTE DELOMEL. and fourth day after this, she appeared im1st.-The sulphate of quinine must be proving; but, on the fifth, the stomach again soluble in rectified alcohol; if it contain rejected aliment, and the pulse flagged sadly. On the sixth, (fifteen days from the date of sulphate of lime, soda, potash, magnesia, or the first complaint,) the case again became any other substance insoluble by aleobo!, adulteration will be easily detected. hopeless, and the patient lingered until the the2nd.-It is soluble in acidulated water;. following evening, when she expired. Imif there be,any stearine this solution, after by the evacuation of the bowels mediatelv acid, or any other serous subby the silver, the stoola were sufficient and margaricthese substances will remain entire, regular, proving that the difficulty in so far stance, had been surmounted. There was no and will float on the surface. 3rd.-It should give, by volatile alkali, a hernia. white precipitate, rather flaky, which is Examination of the Abdominal flisce)-a. soluble in alcohol, and which, on being exposed to a gentle heat, will consume withFrom the circumstance of two persons out leaving the least residue. having dissolved it in water, being in the room watching, in case I might to 4t]i.-After which has been added a few drops of remove any part, the head and thorax remained unexamined ; but as she was com- acid, it can be decomposed by the means of ; it must be filtered. pletely sensible until the last moment, and aandlittle volatile alkali the thoracic viscera did not appear affected, i evaporated to dryness. If sugar has. I do not think the omission was material. been introduced, it will be easily detectect " The stomach was completely empty and by the taste, or by burning the residue, smell of burnt sugar. collapsed, presenting no marks of inflamma- which will produce the London, May 18, J829. tion. No stricture of the pylorus. Duodenum and colon, with its appendices, natural, showing no traces of intussusception, and only slightly inflamed. The liver sound, ERGOT OF RYE IN ABORTION AND HÆMORindeed, particularlyfirm and healthy, and the RHAGE. gall-bladder flaccid and nearly empty ; neither did the pancreas or spleen offer more By CHARLES M. THOMPSON, Esq., M.R.C.S. Westerham. than common appearances. The omentum was particularly small, and contracted where THE efficacy of the secale cornuttirn, m attached to the stomach, with little fat, certain cases of lingering parturition, is now looking darker than usual. The whole so fully proved by experience, that it seems course of the lower intestines was filled useless to relate fresh instances of its power ; with liquid fseces, the same in appearance as but as little has hitherto been said of its was evacuated after the silver had been effects in abortion, or in haemorrhage after given, evidently proving that the obstruc- delivery, I shall take the liberty of detailing tion had yielded. With the scalpel, the two cases, which may, perhaps, appear usewhole mass was opened from the stomach to ful to the profession :the rectum, and was carefully removed from CASE 1.—Mrs. R. was delivered, May its attachments, but no stricture presented 22, after a natural labour, and for some days. itself. The peritoneum was slightly in- appeared to be doing well. On the 4th of flamed, but not more so than I have fre- June, either from imprudently moving about, quently seen it, when a little abdominal or from some other cause, she was seized

irritatioa has existed,

or

has been

even sus-

with

haemorrhage,

which increased to a

366

alarming degree during the 5th and the passage, I fancied I could feel the point, At this time her countenance was but too low down to be extracted by the blanched, pulse intermittent, voice inau- mouth. I then passed a probang, and, with dible ; yet, in spite of all the usual astrin- some considerable force, removed it from its gent remedies, the haemorrhage continued. situation into the stomach, which, when I now resolved to try the seca!e cornutum, the child appeared very much Fe’ and directed an infusion of one drachm in six lieved. I administered small doses of castor ounces of water, of which she was to take oil, with laudanum; it slept well that night, two largo spoonsful every hour. Soon after and continued perfectly easy afterwards. the second dose, severe uterine pains came On the Friday following it passed per auum, on, and, upon taking the third dose, the without either pain or difficulty, and the haemorrhage ceased ; she however took the child is perfectly well at this moment. The body of the hook measured one inch remainder of the infusion. From this peand three quarters in length, and the hook riod she recovered. CASE 2,-The subject was Mrs. H. 1 itself three quarters of an inch. had attended her about twelve months preApril 30, 1829. vious, in a miscarriage ; the case was extremely severe. She was three months advanced in pregnancy, and the mother of a large family. The haemorrhage accompanySIR HUMPHREY DAVY. ing the abortion was so violent as to place her life in the greatest jeopardy, until the Tms great chemist has been gathered to expulsion of the foetus, which was not ac. his fatliers, after a severe and procrastinated complished till the end of 43 hours. I was illness, which, if not altogether, was, in called to her, on the present occasion, on great measure, brought on by injuries occa. the morning ef the 8th June, and found her sioned to his constitution by scientific ex. fainting from the loss of blood. I ascer- periments. Me died at Geneva on the 30th tained, on inquiry, that the haemorrhage had of last month, in which city he bad arrived continued through the night, but the foetus on the 29th, accompanied by Lady Davy, was not expelled. Calling to mind the seve- and was then in a state of great suffering, rity of her former miscarriage, and finding though no immediate danger was appre. she had arrived at the same period of preg- hended. The highest honours the city was nancy, I determined, instantly, to try the capable of affording, were paid to his reo officers, and all the ergot, and an infusion of half a drachm in mains; the four ounces of water was directed to be scientific inhabitants having attended the taken in three doses, at intervals of half an funeral. hour. At the end of two hours I called to We believe Sir Humphrey Davy was a see the effect, and was delighted to find my native of Penzance, and that he was born patient in high spirits at the result, and es- in December, 1779, his age therefore was patient had done) the under fifty years. His genius is said to tolling (as the other ’ wonderful medicine." It have been originally inclined to poetry, and power of this appeared, that in five minutes after the first he is well remembered in the neighbourhood dose, pains came on, and in five minutes after of his birth-place as a verse writer, at a very the second, the feetus was expelled. From early age. Though the subsequent events this time the haemorrhage ceased, and my of his life withdrew him from the temptapatient is stronger at this moment than she tions which the art holds out to youthful was at the end of three months after her aspirants, he always retained a strong taste former miscarriaae. for literary pleasures; and when his conI shall make no comment on these cases ; tinued illness retarded his scientific purthose who have witnessed the dreadful havoc suits, he gave vent to it in various manner. made on the constitution by uterine haenaor- His lately published " Salmonia" was an rhage will duly appreciate a medicine agreeable proof of his capabilities as a litehas the power to check its violence. rary writer. Sir Humphrey was originally 12th June, 1829. bred to the medical profession, with a view to practising as a physician, and was placed under the care of Mr., afterwards Dr. TENTER HOOK SWALLOWED BY A CHILD. Bor:a:;e, of Penzance. His education with By GEORGE BOTTOMLET, Esq., M.R.C.S., that gentleman became of the most extensive Croydon. kind ; but, in a short time, the science of I was sent for, on Monday the 13th inst., chemistry engaged the whole of his atten. to visit a child sixteen months old, that had tion, and the result of a correspondence with a tenter houk in its throat. When I arrived, Dr. Beddoes on some of the properties of the blood was coming from its mouth, and it sea-weed, and a friendship which he formed appeared to be in a dyingstate, and in most with Mr. Davies Gilbert, decided the nature dreadful agony. In passing my finger down of his future career. Mr. Davy resided for most

6th.

done,

i

magistrates,

that