one night about the end of November he got her dreffings off, and lay with the ftump expofed to the cold air; in the morning I found the ftump black and dry. I dreffed it with warm foft digeftives, and covered them with the Theriaca Londinenfis: but could not get any difcharge from it, the mortification having again taken place; and reached in a few days the thick part, or middle of the foot. The fmell becoming again intolerable, the fermenting cataplafms were applied as before; and all the livid appearance, which fpread a hand's breadth above the ankle, was also covered with them; and in a few days I was thoroughly fatisfied the mortification was again ftopped; though her appetite was greatly decayed, and her ftrength much exhaufted. The cataplafms were continued till the beginning of March 1771, when the dead parts feparated about the middle of the metatarfal bones, almost as even as if they had been taken off with a faw, and were removed with the dreflings without the lofs of a tea-fpoon-full of blood. From this time the fore healed kindly, though remarkably flow; fhe began to recover her appetite and health, which the ftill retains. Since the above cafe, I have feen the good effects of fixed air, applied nearly in the fame manner, (adding fometimes a little cort. Peruv. or tinet. Thebaic. to the cataplafms) in a beginning mortification on the leg of an old gentleman, attended with fwelling and blacknefs about his foot and ankle; with a livid appearance running up the fide of his leg, and many large vefications upon the foot, which never grew any larger, nor more in number, after the fermenting cataplafms were applied; but healed, or dried up, foon ; the fwelling abated, and the blacknefs difappeared in a few days; and in a fortnight he was able to walk about, and ftill continues well. I have also used the fermentable cataplafms, with fome advantage, to fœtid foul ulcers, where I have fufpected the abforption of the fœtid matter to be prejudicial to health. Query, Is not fixed air a weak acid?-If fo, it is not furprizing that it should refift putrefaction, as all other acids have been long known to do; but its greater fluidity enabling it to penetrate further into foft bodies, and its caufticity being fo fmall, renders it both more efficacious, and more convenient for counteracting putrefaction in living bodies. The acid nature of this fluid appears from its uniting with cauftic calcareous earth, and producing thofe cryftals called dogtooth fpar. With cauftic fixed alkalies, it cryftalizes, and produces mild fixed alkalies. With cauftic volatile alkalies, it cryftalizes, and produces mild volatile alkalies: and from all these bodies it is difpoffeffed by stronger acids. It further appears to be an acid, from its diffolving the iron in chalybeate waters. I beg leave to add, that this fixed or fixable air (if a weak acid) is the moft univerfal acid in nature, as not only all limestone, chalk, marble, and marles, are replete with it; but it makes up a great part of produced on lime water exposed to the air, which is a re-production of limestone. I am, Gentlemen, with great refpect, of the compofition of all animal, Your very humble fervant, JOHN POWER USEFUL USEFUL PROJECTS. Cautions against the Burial of Per- As foon as the femblance of death Jons fuppofed Dead. S the following addrefs relates to a fubject in which every individual is interefted, the writer wishes to render the knowledge of it as general as poffible. The cuftom of laying out the bodies of the perfons fuppofed to be dead as foon as refpiration ceafes, and the interment of them before the figns of putrefaction appear, has been frequently oppofed by men of learning and humanity in this and other countries. Monf. Bruhier, in particular, a physician of great eminence in Paris, publifhed a piece, about thirty years ago, intitled, "The Uncertainty of the Signs of Death," in which he clearly proved, from the teftimonies of various authors, and the atteftations of unexceptionable witneffes, that many perfons who have been buried alive, and were providentially discovered in that ftate, had been refcued from the grave, and enjoyed the pleasures of fociety for feveral years after. But, notwithstanding the numerous and well-authenticated facts of this kind, the cuftom abovementioned remains in full force. appears, the chamber of the fick is deferted by friends, relatives, and phyficians; and the apparently dead, though frequently living body, is committed to the management of an ignorant and unfeeling nurse, whofe care extends no farther than laying the limbs ftraight, and fecuring her accustomed perquifites. The bed-cloaths are immediately removed, and the body is expofed to the air, which, when cold, muft extinguish the little fpark of life that may remain, and which, by a different treatment, might have been kindled into flame *. I am willing, however, to hope, that, fince it has of late been fo frequently demonftrated, that the vital principle may exift, where the characteristics of death, except putrefaction, are prefent, the rational part of the community are, at length, difpofed to pay fome attention to this fubject. With that hope I fhall venture to particularize a few of the cafes in which this fallacious appearance is most like to happen, and point out the mode of treatment, which, according to the beft of my judgment, fhould be refpectively adopted. In apoplectic and fainting fits, Alluding to the motto of the medal given by the Humane Society, Lateat Scintillula forfan." and and in thofe arifing from any violent agitation of mind, and also when opium or fpirituous liquors have been taken in too great a quantity*, there is reafon to believe that the appearance of death has been frequently mistaken for the reality. In thefe cafes, the means recommended by the Humane Society for the Recovery of drowned Perfons fhould be perfevered in for several hours, and bleeding, which in fimilar circumstances has fometimes proved pernicious, fhould be used with great caution. In the two latter inftances it will be highly expedient, with a view of counteracting the foporific effects of opium and fpirits, to convey into the ftomach, by a proper tube, a folution of tartar emetic, and by various other means to excite vomiting. From the number of children carried off by convulfions, and the certainty, arifing from undoubted facts, that fome who have, in ap pearance, died from that cause, have been recovered †, there is the greateft reafon for concluding, that many, in confequence of this difeafe, have been prematurely numbered among the dead; and that the fond parent, by neglecting the means of recalling life, has often been the guiltless executioner of her own offspring. To prevent the commiffion of fuch dreadful mistakes, no child, whofe life has been apparently extinguifhed by convulfions, fhould be configned to the grave till the means of recovery above recom. mended in apoplexies, &c. have been tried; and, if poffible, under the direction of fome skilful practitioner of medicine, who may vary them as circumftances shall require. When fevers arise in weak habits, or when the cure of them has been principally attempted by means of depletion, the confequent debility is often very great, and the patient * I should think myself extremely culpable, if I neglected this opportunity of cautioning parents and nurfes against the free ufe of Godfrey's Cordial. It is a ftrong folution of opium, and I am perfuaded that the fleep it produces has proved the fleep of death to thousands of children. When this poisonous cordial has been given in a dangerous dofe, and a difcovery of it is made before the power of swallowing is loft, it will be adviseable to give the child a teaSpoonful of ipecacuan wine every quarter of an hour, till the contents of the ftomach are discharged. † A remarkable fact of this kind may be found in the Ephemerid MedicoPhyf. Germ. Ann. Oct. the fubftance of which is as follows:-A girl, about feven years of age, who had been for fome weeks before troubled with a bad cough, was fuddenly feized with a fit; a phyfician was immediately fent for, who, finding that the heart and lungs had ceafed to perform their functions, that her lips and cheeks were pale, and her temples funk, concluded that life was irrecoverably loft. For the fatisfaction, however, of her afflicted parents, a clyfter was administered, and her wrifts were chafed with fpirituous water; but no fign of life appearing, the foles of the feet were ordered to be rubbed with strong brine; and the friction was continued without intermiffion three quarters of an hour; at the end of which time he began to breathe. The friction was then increased; two or three deep infpirations followed; and in a fhort time the child, who was fuppofed to be dead by the phyfician, as well as the bystanders, was, to the furprize of both, and the great joy of her parents, restored to life and health. fome fometimes finks into a ftate which bears fo close an affinity to that of death, that I am afraid it has too often deceived the byftanders, and induced them to fend for the undertaker when they fhould have had recourse to the fuccours of medicine. In fuch cafes, volatiles, eau de luce for example, fhould be applied to the nose, rubbed on the temples, and sprinkled often about the bed; hot flannels, moiftened with a strong folution of camphorated fpirit, may likewife be applied over the breaft, and renewed every quarter of an hour; and as foon as the patient is able to swallow, a teafpoonful of the ftrongeft cordial fhould be given every five minutes. The fame methods may also be used with propriety in the fmallpox when the puftules fink, and death apparently enfues; and likewife in any other acute difeafes, when the vital functions are fufpended from a fimilar cause. Even in old age, when life feems to have been gradually drawing to a clofe, the appearances of death are often fallacious. "Not many years fince, a lady in Cornwall, more than eighty years of age, who had been a confiderable time declining, took to her bed, and in a few days feemingly expired in the morning. As fhe had often defired not to be buried till fhe had been two days dead, her requeft was to have been regularly complied with by her relations. All that faw her, locked upon her as dead, and the report was current through the whole place; nay, a gentleman of the town actually wrote to his friend in the iland of Scilly, that he was deceafed. But one of those who were paying the laft kind office of humanity to her remains perceived fome warmth about the middle of the back, and acquainting her friends with it, they applied a mirror to her mouth; but, after repeated trials, could not obferve it in the leaft ftained; her under-jaw was likewife fallen, as the common phrafe is; and, in fhort, fhe had every appearance of a dead person. All this time he had not been ftripped or dreffed, but the windows were opened, as is ufual in the chambers of the deceafed. In the evening the heat feemed to increafe, and at length fhe was perceived to breathe."-See Lond. Chron. vol. iv. p. 465. It was the intention of the writer to publish a work upon this fubject, but as his various avocations will not permit him to carry that defign into execution, he thought it his duty to throw out the above hints; and if they fhould be the means of preventing one person from being laid out, or, what is more horrible, buried alive, it will afford the writer a pleafure of the nobleft kind, that arifing from the consciousnefs of doing good to his fellow-creatures. Palgrave-Place. W. HAWES. P. S. If that regard be paid to the above addrefs which the subject. of it seems to demand, and any life or lives be faved in confequence of the hints that I have thrown out, the communication of any fuch inftances of fuccefs will be efteemed a particular favour; as it will afford me the most folid pleasure, and be a fatisfactory evidence, that a man who labours to promote the interefts of humanity will be attended to by the public. The |