Society, to make trial of their refpective virtues in cancerous and cutaneous difeafes, and alfo to comprehend in their experiments the French 1.zards, which feem to differ little from those of Spain. The cafes of perfons cured of the moft virulent and. inveterate cancers by these reptiles in the province of Guatimala, are circumftantially defcribed by M. CARRERE, the Author of this report. They are very remarkable, and render further inquiries into this matter highly defirable, as they may terminate in difcoveries of great confequence to medical science and to humanity. The manner in which this remedy operates feems to confirm ftrongly the accounts which have been given of its efficacy. It promotes evacuations, more efpecially abundant fweating, and a confiderable falivation, which difcharges a thick yellowish matter. Where thefe evacuations do not take place, the want of them is compenfated by an ample excretion of acrimonious and foetid urine, which contributes equally to the relief of the patient. A LETTER from the Chevalier D'ARBALESTRIER, dated February 14, 1781, mentions the lobelia fyphilitica, a plant which grows in Canada (and which was fent to him from thence), as a moft efficacious remedy for the venereal disease. In his botanical excurfions on the Alps, he found a plant, fimilar in its appearance to that now mentioned, called phyteuma, with a decoction of which he radically cured feveral foldiers, who were in the moft advanced stage of that abominable disease. This plant is alfo remarkable for its efficacy in the cure of many chronical diforders, occafioned by a vitiated lymph. On the deadly Effects of a Mushroom, which may be denominated Agaricus Conicus. By M. Picca, correfponding Member at Turin. We have here an account of fix perfons who were poifoned by this mushroom, of which the Author gives a particular defcription, accompanied with drawings. Four of them died in confequence of their refufal of the remedies that were offered: the other two were reftored to health. The fymptoms of the diforder are here circumftantially defcribed; the cure is performed by emetics; for vomiting, excited without loss of time, is, according to our Author, the principal relief against the corrofive and foporific, poifon of mushrooms, when followed by the ufe of foftening and mucilaginous fubftances to correct the impreffion made on the prima vie, and prevent inflammation, which, in fuch cafes, generally terminates in a gangrene. 6 We find a remarkable poftfcript annexed to this narration, which is as follows: I have received a letter from M. J. Reycends, dated the 29th of laft Auguft. He tells me, that he learned from M. ENOCH, fuperior of the Oratory in the feminary of Grenoble, that a family at Ghent, which had been poifoned by mushrooms, were cured by an infufion of pear-tree Mm 4 leaves, leaves, drank as tea, after having ineffectually tried feveral other remedies. This reminds me of the great confidence that was placed in the leaves of the wild pear-tree by the ancients, who recommended it to those who had fuffered by eating mushrooms.' Experiments relative to the Influence of the different Plants and Grains upon the Qualities of the Bread ufed by Peasants and Farmers (in France). By the Abbé TESSIER. Though these experiments relate to the plants that grow among corn, and fome kinds of grain that are mixed with it in the barn, in a particular diftrict (La Beauce), yet fomething analogous to this mixture may be found in other places and other countries; and therefore the experiments may prove more generally useful than they feem to be, at firft fight. The Society has been often confulted on the epidemics, which have been fuppofed to arife from these heterogeneous mixtures. The grain or plants which, in the diftrict of Beauce, were found among wheat, rye, barley, and oats, were the hare-bell or grape- flowers; the cow-wheat; the darnel; the ray or rye grafs; tares, or vetches; also the fmut or blight, which, though mentioned as a grain, is rather a difeafe of the corn. The Abbé TESSIER defcribes concisely, yet with remarkable perfpicuity and precifion, thefe plants and their feeds. He has mixed their flours with one another in different ways, fometimes taking each alone, and fometimes adding to each fome leaven and the flour of good corn in certain proportions. Thefe experiments have enabled him to indicate the marks which afcertain the exiftence and proportion of each grain in the bread of the poorer part of the community, who are fed with the remains of the fieve, or with what is left on the threshing floor, and in the granary, when the beft part of the corn is feparated from it. The hiftorical part of this volume is terminated by an ample table of the specific weight of several substances employed in medical practice, and by obfervations on the number of births, marriages, and deaths at Montpellier during the space of ten years; that is, from 1772 till 1782 inclufive. MEMOIR S. Mem. I. Concerning the Temperature of the Years 1780 and 1781, with an Account of the Diseases that reigned at Paris during these two Years. By M. GEOFFROY. We have here a precife account of the ftate of the air, in each season, in each month, and its influence in producing diseases, whose symptoms and treatment are largely defcribed in this interefting and inftructive memoir. Mem. II. Concerning Epidemics. By M. RAIMONd, M. D. In this memoir, remarkably for its folidity, precifion, and perfpicuity, the learned Member difcuffes the following important queftion: queftion: What connexion is there between epidemical difeafes and ether diforders which happen in the fame place, and at the fame time, and are called intercurrent and intervening? What are the complications that take place between them, and what influence ought thefe complications to have on the method of treating them? This was proposed by the Society as a prize question, and as the pieces given in did not prove entirely fatisfactory, the question was propofed a fecond time with a double premium, which was obtained by the Author of this memoir. An epidemic dyfentery in the fouthern provinces of France in the years 1779 and 1780, was the occafion of this queftion. In the first part of this memoir the Author endeavours to ascertain the connections and relations that fubfift between epidemical and intercurrent diseases, by their evident occafional causes, and by their symptoms. The former are the general properties of the air, which refult from the nature of the weather, the ftate of the feafons, and the conftitution of the years, i. e. the permanence or continuance of a certain temperature (fuch as dry heat, humid cold, dry cold, or humid heat), during one or more years: The nature and characters of the latter are enumerated, in an interefting analysis of a great variety of epidemical and intercurrent difeafes, which (as the Author concludes from this analyfis) are derived from the fame caufes. The method of cure, founded in these obfervations, is the subject of the fecond part. Mem. III. A medical Account of the Conftitution or Temperature of the Year 1778, together with a Hiftory of the epidemic Dyfentery that reigned during the Year 1779, in the Town of Pommeraie fur Sevre, in the Lower Poitou. By M. DURAND. This piece, on the same subject with the preceding article, met with a favour able reception from the Society. Mem. IV. Concerning the Topography of the Town St. Andeol, medically confidered. By M. MADIER, Correfpondent of the Society. This memoir, though but locally interefting, may, however, be of more extenfive utility, confidered as a model worthy the imitation of those who examine the fituation of places as conducive or detrimental to the health of their inhabit ants. Mem. V. A Differtation on the following Question: Does there really exift a miliary Fever, effential in its Principle, and diftinct from other exanthematous Fevers? and if fo, in what Habit of Body is it most to be expected? By M. AUFAVRE, correfponding Member. In order to proceed methodically in the examination of this question, the Author fets out by giving a history of the miliary fever, which contains an accurate defcription of that difeafe; he indicates the fymptoms which precede and accompany it, and points out the different ways in which it terminates. He, afterward, mentions the perfons, confidered with with refpect to their conftitution and method of living, who are moft liable to this disease, and fhews its remote or predisposing caufes from meteorological obfervations. Led by these previous difcuffions and obfervations to the knowledge of the original feat of the diforder, and the matter that properly conftitutes it, he maintains, that the former is the membrana adipofa or cellular fubftance, and the latter, the mucus of that membrane reduced to a state of diffolution, while the principal diffolvent of this mucus is a matter emitted by infenfible perspiration, which had long been retained in the fmall cells of the mucous membrane. This hypothefis is fupported by clinical obfervations and numerous practical facts. It is alfo by fuch facts that our Author proves the real existence of an ESSENTIAL miliary fever, while he indicates the characteristics which diftinguish it from, the other exanthematous fevers. Finally, he fhews, that in its principle it belongs to the catarrh, and that in its commencement and progrefs, it is inflammatory and putrid. Mem. VI. Concerring a Prefervative against contagious epidemical Difeafes. By M. CARRERE. This is not a new discovery, but the revival of an old one, the merit and importance of which are confirmed by new examples, and judicious obfervations. It has often been obferved in epidemical diforders, that perfons who had an habitual running or discharge, either natural or artificial, were preferved from the contagion. Our Author was the phyfician of a family in which eleven perfons were feized with an epidemical difeafe; the father alone, who had an ulcer in his leg, in a state of abundant fuppuration, efcaped the infection. A multitude of fimilar cafes are mentioned in this memoir, on the authority of the most refpectable teftimonies. Thefe have induced M. CARRERE to recommend, as equally effectual, a draining aperture, formed by a bliftering plaifter, a cautery, or a feton, which may be more efpecially neceffary to thofe who are obliged to attend or approach the perfons that labour under epidemical diforders. During a plague in the empire of Morocco, which, in the space of five weeks, carried off 85,000 perfons, a Jew phyfician, who took care of the fick, and many others, were faved from the contagion by the means of cauteries or iffues. Mem. VII. On Inoculation. By Dr. GIROD -Mem. VIII, Concerning fome Abufes that have been introduced into the Practice of Ino ulation, and the Precautions that are necessary in order to render this Operation as falutary and advantageous as poffible. By M. DE HORNE. We join together thefe two memoirs, though they are feparated by intervening ones in the volume before us. In the fift, M. GIROD relates the fuccefs of his practice in this important branch of his profeffion. In the fmall town of Millau in Rouerge, between the 20th of March and the 20th of June, 229 perfons (from the age of 8 months to 19 years) were inoculated without the lofs of one; while, at the fame time, of 234 perfons, who were attacked by the fmall-pox in the natural way, 32 died in the diforder, and feveral others fell victims to its fatal confequences. Among many interefting obfervations contained in this memoir, we cannot omit the mention of one which does peculiar honour to the candour and frankness of our Author. He obferves, that thofe who had been inoculated by the common people, without any preparation or medical attendance, went through the disorder with more fuccefs than those who were under the care of regular phyficians. This recals to our remembrance the old proverb-that too much cookery Spoils the broth; but whatever truth and wisdom there may be in this maxim, we would prefer a foup made by a cook before that which came from the hands of an oftler, ceteris paribus.. The abufes in the practice of inoculation, that are reprobated in the second memoir, are, f, the attempts to diminish the number of puftules by the ufe of myfterious remedies to enervate the force of the virus, and by diverting its courfe from the skin in order to convey it through the rectum:-2dly, A want of attention to the choice of a proper temperature of the air, equally removed from violent heat and intenfe cold.-3dly, An indifcriminate application of this practice to perfons of all ages and conftitutions.-4thly, The ufe of a variolous matter for the infertion of the fmall-pox, taken, without diftinction, from perfons of a found or vitiated conftitution.-5thly, The infertion of too great a quantity of the virus.-6thly, The neglect of a judicious preparation of the body, with feveral other abuses, for which we refer the reader to this judicious and inftructive memoir. Mem. IX. Concerning the purgative Remedies that are good for Sheep. By M. DAUBENTON. This curious memoir is well adapted to correct an error which has hitherto prevailed in the treatment of domeftic animals. It has been thought fufficient to proportion the dofes of the remedies, that are employed in the diforders of the human fpecies, to the fize of animals, without examining by proper experiments, whether these remedies operate on different kinds of animals in the fame manner as they do on the human body. Experience and obfervation have convinced M. DAUBENTON that they do not; that there is a great diverfity in their effects; and that there are remedies which operate powerfully on men, and, nevertheless, produce no fenfible effect upon animals. This confideration excited him to undertake a series of experiments in order to afcertain the effects of feveral remedies for theep, and more especially purgatives. Thefe are enumerated here, and accompanied with obfervations and |