Alike shall hail the ftroke that ends his doom, Sweet is the meed that waits his laurell'd bier :- } MEDICAL REPORT. The illness of Mr. John Bull having been often mentioned in the newspapers, and very much mifreprefented, we are happy to have it in our power to lay before our readers the opinion of an eminent phyfician, lately called in to a private confultation. This opinion was fent in the following letter to a brother phyfician in the country, who has kindly permitted us to copy it. DEAR SIR, HA AVING now had leisure to confider the cafe of our friend, Mr. Bull, I am enabled in fome degree to comply with your requeft, although the refractory hehaviour of the patient, though not his own fault, prevented us from prefcribing. Yet, from what follows, I flatter myfelf, you will be able to comprehend the nature of his complaint. I need not tell a perfon of your eminence in the fcience, that there are no diforders which give us more plague plague than diforders of the nerves; and when I add that Mr. Bull's diforder arose from a fright, you will readily anticipate the difficulties we have to encounter in the method of cure. This fright was brought on about four years ago. He, at that time, enjoyed a conftitution which, if not altogether found, was at least, free from the viciffitudes which other perfons have to encounter, and having in 1788, attained his hundredth year, he was in remarkable spirits. His brother, Nic. Frog, had, about that time, left off his evil courfes, and was recovering ftrength very fast. John, whose benevolence you have often experienced, was quite rejoiced at this, forgot all Nic's old tricks, called him his brother, and offered to shake hands with him. How it came about, I know not; but at the time I have mentioned, John awoke one morning, after ra ther a difturbed fleep, in the most violent trepidation, his limbs fhaking, and his whole frame difordered. These fymptoms were followed by the fearlet fever, which covered his whole body. He talked of nothing but thieves, murderers, and cannibals, of eating hearts broiled on gridirons, and devouring children alive, with other fancies peculiar to a disturbed mind. His best friends endeavoured to compofe him, and affured him that there were no thieves and murderers near him; or, if there were, the fine old wooden walls he had erected round his premifes would fecure them from any attack. Unfortunately he faw every thing in a perverse light, and would listen to none of the regular faculty, but called in a tribe of quacks, fuch as may be met with frequently in the streets, and are fitter to harangue a mob on Tower-hill, than to prescribe at a patient's bed-fide. The confequence of liftening to these fellows was what might naturally be expected. Whenever a man with a good conftitution goes to quacks, they feldom leave him until they have fleeced him of all his cafe, and left him with more dangerous complaints, than they pretended originally to cure. Poor John fwal lowed lowed every thing they prescribed, though they brought him in fuch bills as at any other time would have frightened him out of his fenfes; yet he bore these impofitions with the greatest patience; and though he was every day lofing ftrength, fancied himself growing ftronger. One of his oddeft whims was, that he could walk all the way into the heart of Nic. Frog's eftate, nearly three hundred miles, although, with all his efforts, he was not able to ftir as many yards. The strength of the medicines which thefe quacks prefcribed was fuch, indeed, as no conftitution could stand against. Strong dofes of the bitter root of bellum lethale, and violent bleedings, without the fmallest use or neceffity, were their common recipes; and while they perfuaded him that all this was done to preserve his conftitution, it was vifible to every one of his friends, that they were faft undermining his conftitution, taking from him his accustomed fpirit, and relaxing his habit beyond the chance of cure. It would be quite fuperfluous to point out to you, my dear Sir, all the effects of a fyftem of quackery, as you must have met with them often in the course of your practice. But in all mine, which has been pretty extenfive, I never remember fo flagrant an instance of the mifchief arifing from quackery, as in the cafe of our poor friend Bull. To you who knew him fo well, I need not defcribe what he was, but it would melt a heart of ftone to view him as he is. Pale, emaciated and wan, he is but the ghost of his better days. His appetite is quite gone; he can fcarce get a bit of bread down, without great difficulty*; and as to wine, the cafe is much the fame. Indeed he fold a great part of his ftock of liquors, to buy thofe pernicious preparations of feel which his quacks advised, and which have proved of no more fervice to him, than the rafpings of a broomstick. Indeed, jocularly fpeaking, I don't know *This article appeared when bread was at the monftrous price of fifteen-pence the quartern loaf. but but the latter would be preferable, for John never enjoyed fuch good health, as when he could hang out the broom in the face of all his neighbours. The lofs of bufinefs fhould follow lofs of health is too common a cafe to excite furprize. It is among the worst confequences of this quackery, to which John has addicted himself, that he has almost wholly neglected his shop. He don't fell half the articles he did, and some of his wholesale cuftomers have shut their doors against him, fo that his goods may lie to rot in his warehouses. So little, however, is he affected by this, that he exclaimed one day-" D-n my shop! lo my conftitution is fafe," a circumftance which convinced me that his intellect was difturbed. What could have produced fuch derangement in a mind so found as his used to be, his friends have in vain attempted to discover. The quacks, who furround him, will answer no queftions, or if they do condefcend to tell why they prefcribe any remedy, they fpeak as if they did not wish to be understood. I accidentally met with one or two of them, and they appear, from their broken English, to be foreigners, either Germans or Swifs, I know not which. The confequences, however, of our poor friend's unhappy fituation are not confined to himself alone. His family has loft much of the refpect it commanded. Among his neighbours he is no longer looked up to as a man of confequence. While he had a fhilling left, they profefled a cordial partnership with him, but now that he cannot advance more, they affect to defpife him, and he has been for fome time in a kind of stupor, from which I have ventured to predict very alarming effects. You know, my dear Sir, that a ftupor is al ways dangerous in proportion to the length of time it lafts. Now his has lafted a very long time, and nothing feems capable of roufing him; nor, indeed, can he awake from this lethargy, unlefs his friends procure accefs to him, which at prefent is impoffible, as the whole tribe of quacks place themselves firmly round round him, and will admit nobody to fee him, who is not of their way of thinking. Such, my dear Sir, is the fituation of our friend John. You who remember him in his better days, and who prefcribed fo fuccefsfully to him fome years ago, when he fell into a dangerous diforder by drinking tea at Bofton, can best know how to appreciate his prefent fituation. I confefs I am not without hopes. I fee as yet no mortal fymptom. His conftitution is fuch as might be reftored, were we allowed to pre fcribe immediately, but the whole annals of our science cannot afford an instance of an obftinate perseverance in quackery which did not render the conftitution fo bad as to baffle the efforts of the moft experienced phyficians. His pulfe, it is faid, may yet be felt, and although a cure would probably be tedious, yet furely the object is worthy of all our skill and perfeverance. When we reflect upon his goodness of heart, his be nevolence, his courage, and the many good qualities which diftinguifhed him in former days, who but muft figh to behold his prefent depreffed, debilitated, and humiliating fituation! Who would not exult in being the means of reftoring him to his priftine health and vigour! Yes, my dear friend, let us not defpair. It may be done; but it cannot be done without an entire change of fyftem. Those who have deluded him must be removed; all veftiges even of their prefcriptions must be destroyed. The gag muft be taken from his mouth, and the film removed from his eye. He will then look back with contempt on those who have deceived him, and forward with pleafure to the happy days, when furrounded by friends only, he may enjoy long and happy life, refpected by, and refpecting his neigbour as himself. I am, dear Sir, your's, Warwick-lane, Aug. 6, 1796. GALENICUS. P. S. Should any favourable change take place, you may depend upon hearing from me. There is a vague report, that fome one has prefcribed Spanish flies to remove the lethargy. I question whether he has ftrength for it. I am averfe to more qutward applications. [Telegraph.] Cc NEW |