appearances of recent dissolution. Where the child was alive, I should impute the smallness of its size either to original defect of constitutional vigor, or to retarded growth and development; and if dead, to disease, or to one of those numerous accidents to which it is perpetually exposed. It has long been known, that the fœtus in utero is subject to many of the ⚫most violent diseases. They have come into the world covered with smallpox, deformed by syphilis, and even with calculi in the urinary bladder. But it may be asked why, if the smaller fœtus were thus early deprived of vitality it did not exhibit the signs of putridity? To this interrogatory the answer is prompt. When the membranes of the ovum are entire, so as to exclude air, the process of putrefaction in the fœtus is resisted during gestation.*

My explanation of each description of the cases to which I have alluded, may, after what has been said, be comprised in a few words. Twins were conceived. At an early stage of pregnancy one of the fœtuses perished, or its evolution was interrupted. As twins are inclosed in a separate involucrum, and are nourished by different placentæ or distinct portions of the same organ, as often happens, the one fœtus may not at all be affected by circumstances which might prove mischievous or fatal to the other.

But there is still another order of cases which is occasionally summoned to sustain this hypothesis. It is asserted, that women have brought forth two full grown children at the same birth, the one white and the other black, the product of a connexion in immediate succession, with a black and a white man. I have met in my researches but with three recorded instances of this sort, and they come in a very "questionable shape." No one of the historians of these marvellous stories pretends to have witnessed such a case. They are given merely on the authority of hearsay, or popular report. As related, the cases indeed carry with them internal evidence of condemnation. There could not, under the alleged circumstances of the connexion, be a white and a black child, but one must have been a mulatto, according to the invariable result of a fruitful intercourse between the negro and white!

Smellie's Midwifery. Cases, in corroboration of this fact, are indeed familiar to every obstetrical practitioner.

But if substantiated, what would these cases avail in the present controversy? They are not instances of superfœtation. To bring them within the proper meaning of the term, it must be shown, that the children were of "very different ages and sizes." But as the reverse is stated, they can only, even if true, be classed with other examples of contemporaneous conception.

It appears to me, on the whole, that this hypothesis has not the slightest claims to our attention. It comports neither with reason, fact, nor analogy; and is repugnant to the established laws of generation, and the uniform course of nature. Philadelphia, March 25th, 1811.

ORIGINAL REVIEW.

"An Account of the remarkable Effects of the Eau Medicinale d'Husson, in the Gout. By Edwin Godden Jones, M. D. Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London, and Physician extraordinary to his Royal Highness the Duke of York." Second Edition. London.-1810. pp. 101. 12mo.

"THE Eau Medicinale was discovered about forty years " ago, by M. Husson, a military officer in the service of the "king of France. He discovered a plant, whose virtues were "before unknown, from which he prepared his medicine in "its present form."

It has been analyzed by eminent chemists in France and England, and found to be a vinous tincture of some unknown vegetable, without any portion of a mineral substance. It is sold in Paris, where only it is prepared, and in London 'in small bottles which will hold little more than two drachms by measure it is of the color and appearance of ale, but becomes brown and turbid on agitation. Its taste is nauseous and bitter, but not intensely so, nor does it leave a durable impression in the mouth, as many bitters do. Its smell partakes of that of Spanish wine, the menstruum employed, and that of the plant, its ingredient, which is the basis of the composition. It is strong and very peculiar and characteristic.

The whole bottle, mixed with more than an equal quantity of water is a full dose-to be taken on an empty stomach, at

any time of day, but night is the most convenient. Its operation may be advantageously promoted by a free use of any aromatic tea.

It happens for the most part, that in four or five hours after taking the remedy, the patient begins to experience a diminution of pain, however severe the paroxysm may be. He generally falls into a quiet sleep, and awakes in the morning, nearly or quite free from suffering; and often begins already to enjoy some returning use of the affected limb. About this time he commonly feels a considerable nausea, sometimes accompanied by vomiting, and this is followed by some bilious stools. In the mean time the paroxysm goes on diminishing; and on the third, or even on the second day, little more of it remains than a swelling or stiffness of the parts, which soon go off leaving the patient in his usual state of health.

With the diminution of pain, there is an abatement of fever and irritation, and of the action of the heart and arteries. The pulse is often reduced twenty strokes in a minute, and often more-a moderate diaphoresis takes place frequently.It also often acts as a powerful diuretic, and for many days.

This remedy is most useful when early applied. It may, however, be given at any period. It sometimes merely removes the present paroxysm—and to prevent returns of the disease it may be occasionally used in smaller doses.

The Eau Medicinale is so far a cure for the gout that by it we may almost certainly remove the paroxysms, as often and as soon as they occur; many persons by this remedy have been able to cut off the attacks of gout in their very beginning, and it is very probable, that, by employing it in doses adapted to circumstances, and by a proper regimen, even the desirable object of preventing the return of the fits may be in a great measure accomplished.

It has been dreaded that the Eau Medicinale might eventually produce the same fatal consequences, that have been attributed to the famous Portland Powder, or to other applications, which are supposed to drive it from the extremities to some vital part, but it acts not by local effects, but on the system. generally; and no instance has occurred of dangerous conse. quences from its use.

Let us hope that the composition of this remedy will not always be concealed; and that if it should continue to deserve the high reputation it has lately acquired, the time is not far distant, when the French government will, by rewarding the proprietor, obtain possession of the secret, and publish it for the general benefit of mankind.

A number of cases are given to show the efficacy of the remedy. It was first used by John Crawfurd, Esq. of Auchinames, to whom the introduction of it into England in 1808, is chiefly owing. This gentleman first heard of it at Montpelier in 1802, from Dr. Chretien, a physician of that place. A number of publications on the remedy, have appeared in France, at different intervals. Amongst the names of persons cured in London by its use, those of Sir Joseph Banks, and Major Rennell, with a number of the nobility appear.

We do not undertake to give an opinion on the value of this publication-conceiving that the most useful employment of a reviewer is to let the author tell his own tale-and leave the reader to judge of its merits. The subject is surely an important one; and when we consider how much time and talent are requisite to establish the virtues of a new medicine, it is to be hoped that the present one will not be hastily overlooked, because its composition is hitherto unknown-and more especially as we have very lately learned, that it continues to be well thought of by the most respectable London practitioners.

Biographical Notice of Dr. Osborne.

In the month of August 1808, died at his country house near Dover, William Osborne, M. D. aged 76. Dr. Osborne was born in the county of Rutland, where, after obtaining a good classical education, he received the early part of his medical acquirements under the guidance of Dr. John Fordyce, of Uppingham. After passing some years with that able instructer, he came to London, and attended the lectures of the late Dr. William Hunter, and the practice of St. George's Hospital. His industry in the pursuit of knowledge was much

assisted by a memory uncommonly retentive, and a happy art of arranging all that he read and saw, so as to be able always to produce it with great readiness when occasion required. This faculty, aided by a well regulated judgment, probably contributed, in a great degree, to that celebrity which he afterwards attained in his profession. Having finished his studies in London, he went to Paris, where he attended the practice of the Hotel Dieu, and the teachers at that time in highest estimation, particularly the celebrated accoucheur, Levret. This gave a bias to his mind, which, fortunately for the interests of mankind, led him into that department of medicine, in which he maintained for many years, as long as his health permitted, the highest character. On his return from France, he took a professional situation in the guards, and went with the regiment to Germany, in the war at the end of the last and beginning of the present reign. It is remarkable that many of the young men at that time engaged in the army, in the service of their country, rose afterwards to the highest honours, and most distinguished situations in the metropolis. At the conclusion of the war Mr. Osborne settled in London, as a surgeon; but his studies at Paris gave a bias to his mind, and led him to devote his attention to the improvement of midwifery, and the investigation of the diseases incident to women and children. A similarity of pursuits and opinions produced a connexion between him and Dr. Denman, which led to their association in a plan of opening a school in London, for teaching the principles of Midwifery on a liberal and extended scale, and rescuing the practice from ignorance and temerity. The celebrity which their lectures acquired, is a strong proof of their fitness for so laudable an undertaking; and the number of pupils from every quarter of the world, showed how well their well-earned fame was appreciated. To the combined influence of public teaching, and to the scientific publications of Dr. William Hunter, Dr. Osborne and Dr. Denman, we are indebted for many improvements in the practice of midwifery, and a better knowledge as well as a more simple and effectual treatment of the diseases of women and children. Dr. Osborne soon rose to great eminence in the practice of his profession, for which he was not more qualified by the powers of his mind, than by a