Cork Society;-cf a village shop at Greenford, in Middlesex;of what is doing to prevent scarcity and to restore plenty in this country, in which are enumerated the several exertions that were made during the last scarcity: among these is mentioned the sum of 4000l. subscribed by the members of this Society, for supplying the metropolis during the winter with corned cod and other fish; and this general observation is subjoined, applicable to all seasons of scarcity, that nothing but increase of food, or improved economy and management in the use of it, can supply the deficiency or remedy the evil;'Account of the superior advantages of dibbling wheat;-of a supply of milk for the Poor at Stockton, in the county of Dur. ham;-of a village shop at Hanwell;-of the gardens of Cottagers in the county of Cambridge, who were stimulated to peculiar exertions in raising vegetables, by a proposal of Lord Hardwicke to give small premiums to those who should appear to have taken the greatest care of their gardens ;-of the Free Chapel in West-street, St. Giles's; with observations on the beneficial tendency of such establishments for the Poor ;-of a plan for supplying bread at Exmouth;-of what has been done for the relief of the Poor at Whelford;-of the Soup-house in West-street, St. Giles's;-of a parish library for the Poor, consisting of the Cheap Repository Tracts, and others of a similar kind;-of a cottage at Shelford, Cambridgeshire ;-of a female benefit club, at Tottenham ;-of the mode of parochial relief, at and near Wendover, and at Shepton Moyne; which went on the principle of encouraging industry while it extended relief;-of the manner in which the Poor have been supplied with rice and beef at St. Alban's ;-of an establishment for the Poor at Edinburgh;-of a Sunday friendly Society for the aged Poor, at Bishop Auckland, supported by the Bishop of Durham; of the Schools of Industry at Kendal, which appear to be excellent establishments, calculated at a small expence to train up the Poor to habits of industry, order, and cleanliness, as well as to give them necessary instruction. We approve the stress which Dr. Briggs, the promoter of these institutions, lays on the first object; for in making children regular and orderly, they are most effectually initiated in the paths of virtue, Account of a supply of blankets to the Poor at Kendal ;-of the Institu tion to prevent the progress of contagious fever in the Metropolis, similar to the plan adopted at Manchester ;of the London school for indigent Blind;-of several charities at Kendal, which respected the healthiness as well as the support of the Poor; of the measures taken, during the late scarcity, for supplying the Poor with corned herrings and other cheap fish of the Harborne Penny-club for supplying poor children with clothing, and promoting decency and cleanliness; — of schools for poor children at Weston, near Bath;-of the Repository at Manchester for the benefit of persons reduced in their circumstances; and of the Institution for investigating the nature and cure of the Cancer. In addition to the above, seventeen papers in the form of Appendixes are subjoined to this volume; containing, a curious case on the 43d of Elizabeth, with the opinion of Serjeant Snigge, in the reign of James I.; the Bishop of Durham's Charge to the Churchwardens of his Diocese; Dr. Willan's description of the effects of the intemperate use of spirituous liquors; accounts of the Asylum of Maternity at Paris, and of the Moravian converts at the Cape of Good Hope; with other extracts adapted to elucidate and recommend the general object of this publication. The Members of this Society appear not to be " weary of well doing." Other reports are published by them; and of their perseverance we shall hope in due time to speak with all the respect to which such " labours of love" are intitled. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, MEDICAL, &c. Moy. Art. 16. Observations on Diarrhea and Dysentery, as those Diseases appeared in the British Army during the Campaign in Egypt in 1801. To which are prefixed a Description of the Climate of Egypt, and a Sketch of the Medical History of the Campaign. By Henry Dewar, late Assistant-surgeon to the 30th Regiment of Foot. 8vo. pp. 161. 4s. Boards. Murray. THIS author has had occasion, during his practice in Egypt, to re mark various striking instances of the connection which exists between many of the complaints originating from cold. Diarrhoea and Rheumatism occasionally occurred together, but more frequently they alternated with each other. This alternation however did not take place when the rheumatic affection was the effect of overstrained muscular exertion, or the diarrhoea was produced by any acrimony in the prima vie. Mr. Dewar also observed a similar connection between bowel complaints and pneumonia, especially when the constitution had been impaired by a former dysentery. When the system,' he informs us, was exposed in a susceptible state, to the effects of cold, symptoms of an incipient inflammation in the lungs were accompanied with uneasiness in the bowels, and, where the disease was not stopped, it terminated sometimes in pneumonia, sometimes in diarrhoea, diarrhea. In Egypt, bowel complaints were observed by the medical gentlemen, both in the French service and ours, to alternate remarkably with ophthalmia. This last disease, though it did not in general yield to the administration of purgatives, often disappeared on the patient being attacked with diarrhoea. And on the other hand, it frequently attacked a patient when a diarrhoea or a dysentery was cured. Diseases of the bowels are also well known to alternate with the different species of lichen, and other cutaneous diseases.' For the cure of diarrhoea, the author chiefly trusted to opium, chalk, Dover's powder, or alum: but he is of opinion that Army. surgeons should be provided with a great variety of astringents, in order to have a better opportunity of curing this complaint when obstinate. Mr. D.'s account of dysentery (into which he has frequently observed diarrhoea to degenerate) does not materially differ from that of other authors. In the early stages of it, purgatives were generally exhibited; or if the stomach was oppressed, emetics, so as to have the double operation of vomiting and purging. While the bowels are thus stimulated, he considers it as of most essential importance to guard against the effects of cold; and for this purpose he recommends the use of four or five folds of fine flannel, or a large piece of fleecy hosiery, to be laid over the abdomen, and over this a flannel bandage to be bound rather tight, and in a uniform manner from the groin nearly to the arm-pits and back again.'-The good effects of this bandage, which were in almost every case strongly exemplified, the author is disposed to refer to the confinement of a larger quantity of heat over that part of the body which is the seat of the disease. After a day, or a day and half of rest, purgatives were again generally administered; and thus by alternately exciting the bowels by purgatives, and allowing them to rest, using at the same time the fanuel bandage, the greater part of dysenteries in Egypt,' we are in. formed, gradually yielded. Opiates were employed to remove the tormina in the intermediate day: but, where the bandage was used, the author tells us, that they were seldom necessary. Yell Art. 17. An Inquiry into the Rot in Sheep, and other Animals, in which a Connection is pointed out between it and some obscure and obstinate Disorders in the Human Constitution. By Edward Harrison, M. D. F.R.A.S. Edin. &c. &c. 8vo. 28. Bickerstaff. 1804. The numerous opportunities enjoyed by Dr. Harrison, for making this Disease the subject of his particular observation, confirm him in an idea which he has long entertained, that the rot in sheep and other animals is the production of marsh effluvia, and therefore connected in its nature with several diseases of the human subject, which arise from a similar cause. He presents us with the following account of the phænomena and progress of this serions malady: When in warm, sultry, and rainy weather, sheep that are grazing on low and moist lands, feed rapidly, and some of them die suddenly, there is reason to fear that they have contracted the rot. This suspicion will be further increased, if a few weeks afterwards the sheep begin to shrink, and become flaccid in their loins. By pressure about the hips at this time, a crackling is sometimes perceptible. Now, or soon afterwards, the countenance looks pale, and upon parting the fleece, the skin is found to have exchanged its vermilion tint for a pale red; and the wool is easily separated from the pelt. As the disorder advances, the skin becomes dappled with yellow, or black spots. About this time, the eyes lose their lustre, and become white and pearly, from the red vessels of the tunica adnata, and eye-lids, being contracted or entirely obliterated. To this succeed-debility and emaciation, which increase continually till the sheep die; or else ascites, and perhaps general dropsy, supervene, before the fatal termination. These symptoms are rendered more severe, by an obstinate purging, which comes on at an uncertain period of the disorder. In the progress of the complaint, sheep become what the graziers call chockred, i.e. affected with a swelling under the chin, which proceeds from a fluid contained in the cellular membrane, under the throat. • In-five or six days after contracting the rot, the thin edge of the small lobe of the liver becomes of a transparent white or bluish colour, and this spreads along the upper and lower sides, according to the severity of the complaint. Sometimes it does not extend more than an inch from the margin. In severe cases, the whole peritoneum investing the liver is diseased; and then it commonly assumes an opaque colour, interspersed with dark red lines or patches. The upper part of the liver is sometimes speckled like the body of a toad, to which it is said to bear a striking resemblance: round the ductus communis choledocus, and hepatic vessels, a jelly-like matter is deposited, which varies according to the severity of the attack, from a table spoonful, or less, to five or six times that quantity. Upon boiling, the liver loses its firmness, and separates into small pieces in the water, or remains soft and flaccid. • Several graziers, and butchers, with whom I have conversed at different times, having observed that sheep are much disposed to feed during the first three or four weeks after being tainted, omit no opportunity of producing it to increase their profits When the first stage is over, flukes begin to appear in the pori biliarii, the ductus communis choledocus, and in the gall-bladder. At first, the quantity of these creatures is small; but as the disease advances, they increase, and before death are often very numerous. In the last part of the complaint, they are sometimes to be found in the stomach, as well as in the intestines and liver.' This disease, like the visceral disorders of the human body, terminates in resolution, effusion, suppuration, or schirrus. The rot, we are informed, is not confined to sheep; it affects horses, cows, asses, hogs, deer, hares, rabbits, geese, pigeons, turkies, and poultry.-Poor, clayey, and loamy lands are most subject to produce rot, because the water is apt to stagnate on them, and cannot be removed but by evaporation. Grounds which are always dry, or always under water, or such as are wet enough to preserve a continual run and circulation, have never been known to give rise to it. Dr. Harrison mentions many facts in corroboration of this statement; and and in particular he says that, when land which has been very liable, in ordinary circumstances, to produce rot, has been overflowed so as to oblige the sheep to wade for their food, this disease has not ap peared among them. A very short exposure to marsh effluvia only is necessary to give sheep the rot; for (says Dr. H.) as soon as the flood is subsided, after an accidental overflow of a brook which runs through the farm of a gentleman mentioned by the author, sheep can at any time be tainted in a quarter of an hour, while the land retains its moisture, and the weather is hot and sultry. The butchers are so well acquainted with the importance of this fact, that when my friend has disposed of any fat sheep, they are usually turned upon his rotten ground to make them thrive faster.' The most effectual method known by the author for preventing rot is judicious drainage. Information is earnestly solicited by Dr. Harrison from medical practitioners or agriculturists, relative to any disorder in the human subject or brutes that is imputable to Miasmata. Art. 18. The Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse's Foot, concisely described; with practical Observations on Shoeing; together with the Symptoms of, and most approved Remedies for, the Diseases of Horses. With Fourteen illustrative Plates. By James White, Veterinary Surgeon to his Majesty's First, or Royal Dragoons. 12mo. 48. Boards. Chapman. 1801 *. This is an useful manual, written with neatness and perspicuity, and illustrated with very tolerable coloured prints. The observations on diseases are judicious, and shew a thorough acquaintance with the subject; and the practice appears to be rational, and well-adapted to relieve the sufferings of a most valuable class of Animals. The form of this compilation is peculiarly suitable to a great number of readers who will feel themselves interested in the subject, but whose situation precludes them from the acquisition of more expensive works. Art. 19. Plain Remarks on Fever, with the View to explain the Origin and Nature of the Fever, which lately appeared in Newcastle. Addressed to the Inhabitants. By James Wood, M.D. One of the Physicians to the Infirmary, Dispensary, &c. at Newcastle. 12mo. 6d. Printed at Newcastle. Dr. Wood seems to be very anxious to prove that the fever, of which he here treats, did not arise from contagion produced in the miserable dwellings of the poor, but from that particular state of the weather, which commonly prevails at such a season, which produces more or less of debility and lays a general foundation for fever.' At the same time he thinks that unless other causes conspire, fever does not take place; for although all are exposed more or less to the weather, yet comparatively few are ever affected with fever. The present fever then does not appear to have been alone the effect of the weather; fatigue with great exertion, and local causes have com • This article has been accidentally mislaid. Yell. Fer. |