life;" and as no effect can survive its cause, thought, or the operations of the mind, must necessarily cease when the organs of sense and motion, upon which they depend for their temporary existence, lose the capacity of being acted upon by stimulating agents.

As this is the true and legitimate induction from this doctrine, it would be in vain for its advocates to pretend to deny what necessarily flows from its principles.

As the conduct and practice of every person is governed more or less by the theory which he embraces on medical as well as theological subjects, and as false theories have done irreparable injury to society in all ages, the opinion which the Reviewer entertains of the dangerous tendency of the doctrine on which he has animadverted in the preceding strictures is his inducement for thus pointing out what appears to him to be some of its most dangerous errors and imperfections, and he hopes will be considered, not only by physicians in general, but by the doctor himself, as a sufficient apology for the freedom with which he has treated it, especially as there are but few things of more importance, or more to be desired in this world, than the establishment of truth, on a subject which has the safety and welfare of mankind for its object.

III.

A singular case of the spontaneous and sudden cure of DROPSY of the lower extremities. Communicated by WILLIAM MOORE, M. D. Vice-President of the Medical Society of the County of New-York.

DEAR SIR,

New-York, August 31st, 1810.

THE case of a spontaneous cure of partial anasarca, which I mentioned to you, and which you was kind enough to request me to send you, I find recorded nearly in these words: "Mrs. S. during the latter months of her first pregnancy, became extremely unwieldy and uncomfortable from the great size of the uterus, and the enormous distension of her lower extremities. She could not walk without the greatest difficulty, and was quite unable to turn herself in bed. A few days previous to her delivery, her feet, legs and thighs, became so swoln, and the skin so pale, tense, and transparent, that they resembled sacks of water. Indeed, the swelling and tension were so great, that it was seriously apprehended, the skin of her feet or ancles would burst. Fortunately for her, her labour came on, and she was happily delivered, May 26th, 1794, of two fine boys. Both children presented naturally, and were expelled by the labour pains, as were also, in due time, the placenta. The mother was bandaged up and left tolerably comfortable. In a few hours after her delivery she began to complain of pain in the lower part of the abdomen, which was not attended to at first, as it was thought to be after-pains; but it very soon increased to such a degree as to become

almost intolerable, and was attended with great swelling and tension of the part. Upon examination it was discovered that a considerable absorption had taken place in the lower extremities, as the skin was not near so tense as before delivery; and that a great quantity of urine had been secreted, as the bladder was very much distended and extremely sore to the touch. As she had passed but very little water naturally, the catheter was immediately introduced, and upwards of two quarts were evacuated at once. This operation was performed sixteen times in the course of the ensuing week. On the third day after delivery, she passed, by means of the catheter, thirteen pounds and a half of urine.

"Finding it troublesome to introduce the catheter so frequently, and wishing to devise some method of keeping the bladder empty, that it might have an opportunity of recovering its tone, it was determined to introduce a flexible male catheter, composed of gum-elastic, and fasten it to her thigh. This was done in the evening, and it was left in all night; in the morning she was found perfectly deluged; the water had run all through her bedding and was extending itself over the floor. This expedient had the desired effect, for the swelling seemed to melt away like a snow-ball in the sun at the end of a week it had entirely subsided, her urine was diminished in quantity, her bladder had recovered its tone, and she passed her water without assistance. She very soon recovered, and both her children did well."

Thus you see, sir, that the little industrious absorbents, went to work with great alacrity as soon as the embargo

was taken off, and the port opened to give a free egress to the proceeds of their labour.

I am yours, &c.

Doctor DAVID HOSACK.

WM. MOORE.

IV.

A DISSERTATION on the effects of a poison of Fava called UPAS TIEUTE, and also on the Nux VOMICA, the BEAN of ST. IGNACE, the STRYCHNOS POTATORUM, and the VONTAC APPLE, (la pomme de Vontac,) being all of the same genus of plants as the Upas Tieuté. Extracted from a memoir presented to the faculty of Medicine of Paris, on the 6th of July, 1809, by M. DELILE, of the Institute of Egypt, Doctor of Medicine, &c. Communicated by the author to Dr. D. HoSACK, of New-York.

EXPERIMENTS made with poisons on animals, are the most effectual means of discovering what are the particular functions which suffer most from their various deleterious actions, and also of ascertaining the vital powers most capable of resisting the irritating causes.

The poisons which M. Delile has made use of in his experiments are very active and produce tetanus, a disorder often fatal, and which is known to be frequently occasioned by very different causes.

Upas Tieuté is the name of a poison called also Bohon Upas, a denomination which has been rectified by M.

Leschenault. During his residence in Java, this gentleman, who was one of the Savants, and naturalist and geographer of a naval expedition, was fortunate enough to see the upas gathered, and was the first who brought it to France. Until this time a number of strange stories had prevailed respecting the upas. The poison is a juice extracted from the roots of a small creeping shrub of the order or family of the strychnos.

To prove the phenomena of poisoning with the upas, M. Delile in concert with M. Magendie, prosector to the faculty of medicine at Paris, made a variety of experiments on living animals. Many of them were wounded with pointed pieces of wood which were imbued with the upas in the same manner as arrows are poisoned.

Fifteen grains of the upas in its dried state, killed a horse stabbed with it in the thigh, and a grain, or half a grain, applied in the same manner, was found sufficient to destroy a dog.

To prove mortal, the upas must remain a certain time in the wound. It has no effect if drawn out immediately after its introduction; and is perfectly harmless when applied in a liquid state by drops, unless injected through the cellular membrane into the flesh.

Animals wounded with the upas are seized with tetanus a few minutes afterwards. Its operation is more or less rapid, according to the age or size of the animal and the quantity of the poison. There is generally a remission after the first attack of tetanus, which is succeeded by repeated attacks which do not in the least affect either