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quantity of the vital heat must be determined there, which should be difcharged with the vapours in expiration, whatever then destines more of this heat to this vifcus then can be eafily dif charged, will produce an asthma, and alfo require a moift or foggy air to breathe in, for thus the fuperfluous heat will be conveyed from the lungs. On the other hand, in fuch conftitutions as do not fupply the lungs with the needful quantity of vital heat, a dry open ferene air, on lands that are high, and where the fun abides from early through the day, is neceffary, for thus an escape of the already diminished heat is prevented. Having diftinguifhed to which of these two claffes any particular patient belongs, and feated him in the proper air, if he is of the first fort proceed with bleeding, a thin cooling and diluting diet, give frequent small doses of nitre, and at proper intervals, let purges with Glauber's falt, be worked off with plenty of warm but very thin gruel, bathing in fub-tepid baths, and blifters, will also be of ufe: but if of the fecond, the right air being chofen, order a nutritive animal diet, with generous liquors for common drink, let ferrugineous medicines, with the bark, bitters, gum Benjamin, gum ammoniacum, the warm balfams, as thofe of Tolu and Peru, be duly used.

• In both the above cafes, the natural perfpiration should be carefully fupported, and as a check thereto is the moft frequent caufe of afthmas in this country, a particular regard 1hould always be had unto it.

• Periodical afthmas give way to the bark, affifted with fuch other means as peculiar circumstances may require.

The nervous afthma admits of bleeding only, where there is a fanguine plethora; in other cafes, antifpafmodics, warm nervous medicines, opiates, and the bark, are the principal means of relief; caftor elix. paregoric. fal. C. C. with affa foetida and gum ammoniacum, and if they fail, try the bark and opium.

A fmall degree of anafarca is often attended with a greater difficulty of breathing than a confirmed afcites, fo when a fudden afthmatic fit is obferved, without any visible caufe, if there is the leaft fulness of the face (which indeed is only to be seen in fome inftances after laying down) or any appearance of an odema in the ancles or feet, the cause is undoubtedly the fame in' the lungs, and that this is the cafe will be further confirmed by the pulle being fuppreffed as the fpeedieft relief, give imme, diately of merc. dulc. gr. x. by which, as foon as it operates, the pulfe and the breaft will be relieved; this dose may be repeated after a few days.

• Vomits are usually adminiftered too foon in afthmas, expectoration should be rendered fomewhat free, and then they may be given with more fafety and greater advantage; the oxym. fcillit, and tart. emet, are esteemed the best, but Dr. Akenfide prefers, and with fome reason, the ipecacuhana, which, whether in the humoural or spasmodic kinds, he always uíes as speedily

in the fit as attending circumftances will admit, and experiences the fpeedieft relief by it; when he prefcribes the ipecac. in chronical cafes, he gives from three to five grains every, or from five to fifteen grains every other morning, according to the degree of the disease, and without regard to any particular paroxyfm, and thus continued for three, four, or fix weeks; he fays it is as useful when it only excites a nausea, as when it pukes; whence it feems, that in the relaxing quality, its virtue confifts, as used in thefe cafes. When the fpafmodic attends the humoural afthma, he prefcribes the ipecacuhana, with all defirable fuccefs. See Lond. Med. Tranfact. vol. i.

• Diuretics are peculiarly useful in an asthma attended with a cachexy, two parts of nitre, and one of fal ammoniac, given every, or every other day, fo as to pafs freely by urine, is very beneficial: but if these falts are obferved to irritate the cough, the rad. fcillæ gr. iv. ad xii. may be preferred.

• Expectorants, in the moift afthma, are important aids. Garlic is celebrated, the fquills and gum ammoniacum the most commonly used; but perhaps an extract of tobacco might be fo managed as to exceed any of the medicines now in ufe for this end; for those who are not ufed to chew tobacco, are very speedily relieved by holding it in their mouth until a fickness comes on, and then going into bed to fweat: a few repetitions of this hath totally freed the patient from a prefent paroxyfm. One of the beft general forms of expectorants is the following.

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Ab. pur. ix. m. detur. cochl. larg. freq.

To this mixture may be added as required, the elix. pareg. the oxym. fcillit. or fyr. allii.

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Diaphoretics are always fo far needful, as that the natural perfpiration fhould be fupported; but when the afthma ia produced by acrid matter, &c. repelled from the skin, they are ab folutely neceffary, being then principally to be depended on :" powders, with nitre and pulv. contrayerv. with two or three grains of camphor in each dofe. The fp. febrif. di. Clutton is excellent for this purpose, and frequent draughts of warm elderflower tea may accompany them.

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Purges fhould not be of the rougher kind, but manna with caffia, joined to fmall dofes of the tart. emet. or if the genuine can be obtained, the ol, ricini, given in a warm vehicle is the best,

• Opiates, when admitted in the humoural afthma, fhould be accompanied with expectorants, the elix. paregoric, and the pil. e ftyrace, are excellent, or if the tin&t, thebaic. is ventured on, it should be mixed with the ox. fcillit. In the fpafmodic afthma, the tinct. thebaic. hath been found neceffary even to an hundred drops, in a few hours; but in all fpafmodic complaints, opiates, mixed with purgatives, in fuch quantities as to keep the bowels lax, is the best method of administering them. • Bleeding.

Bleeding. The pulfe and heat of the body will generally beft determine when to ufe or to omit this operation, but as fometimes the maxim is, of two evils, the leaft is to be chofen. When a fudden fit is produced by an easterly wind, if it is violent, bleeding, though on other accounts not advisable, may, notwithstanding, be neceffary; in fuch inftances judgment and fagacity will be put to the trial.

Iffues fhould be made in the infide of the thigh, juft under the gartering place, for there their difcharge is ufually greater than in their back, and their trouble far less; their use is equal, be the kind of afthma what it will.

Blifters on the back are an excellent aid during the fit, and to prevent returns keep them open as long as poffible.

Variety of forms are to be feen, which are well adapted to the diforder in general, and the fymptoms in particular, in Dr. Smith's Formula Medicamentorum, and in Dr. Brookes's, and the London Practice of Phyfic.

The afthma, in fome inftances, ends in a partial palfy; in other in fome species of dropfy; fometimes, though not often, the patient is fuddenly fuffocated; this accident, when it happens, hath for its caufe, a polypus in the lungs; and inflances have occurred of its ending in an inflammation of the lungs.

See Sir John Fleyer on the afthma, Shebbeare's Theory and Practice of Phyfic, Hoffman and Pitcairn on the asthma.'

After reading many of the articles in this excellent compilation, we can affirm with truth, that it contains a more accurate account of diseases, with a more full inveftigation of the Materia Medica, and the other acceffary parts of medicine, according to the lateft improvements in the fcience, than are at present to be met with in any other work of the kind; and we therefore recommend it to the gentlemen of the faculty, not only as highly useful in itself, but as a fubftitute even to many of the moft capital volumes in the medical library.

A Register of the Trade of the Port of London. Number I. For January, February, and March, 1776. By Sir Charles Whitworth. 8vo. 25. Robinson.

IN the preface to this publication, the ingenious author gives an account of it in thefe words.

The favourable reception given to a work I lately publifhed (State of the Trade of Great Britain in its Imports and Exports), the candid allowance, that many advantages commercial and political may be drawn from it; that it must be at once agreeable to the fpeculative politician, und ufeful to the regulators and executors of commerce.-Thefe marks, I fay, of public approbation, have produced in me that effect, which,

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on a liberal mind, public approbation must ever produce, the defire of becoming more and more worthy of it.-In pursuance, therefore, of the defign I had originally formed, the following fheets have been compiled. They contain as accurate accounts as can be procured of the articles, or subject matter of the exports and imports at the port of London, arranged under their refpective countries, to or from which the goods are exported or imported. The prefent number contains an account of the exports, and imports during the three first months of last year.

It may be proper to remark that there is a chafm of two years between the tables of the value of our imports and exports, given in the State of the Trade of Great Britain, and the accounts contained in this first number; the former ending with the year 1773, and thefe beginning with the year 1776; that chafm fhall be properly fupplied in a very thort time.

It muft further be added, that the former work embraced the whole trade of Great Britain-this only the trade of the port of London: The proportion which the trade of London bears to the whole trade of the kingdom, has, I believe, been alculated at three fourths.

I shall not take up the reader's time in defcanting on the advantages which may be drawn by the manufacturer, the merchant, and even the legiflator, from thus bringing together materials fo useful to thofe, who by duty, as well as intereft, are led to promote the commerce of this country; that commerce upon which the eafe and welfare of every clafs of citizens fo effentially depends. If the utility of the work be in any degree equal to the idea I have formed of it, that utility will be better felt by the reader, than explained by the writer. In this, and in every thing else I have offered to the public, my own heart affures me that my first wish has been,

• Ut profim aliis.'

We entirely agree in opinion with this gentleman, that fuch a publication may prove very advantageous to the public, by the ufeful information to be drawn from it by the manufacturer, the merchant, and even the legiflator;' and we heartily with him health and leifure to carry it on regularly. It appears to us however, that by a small addition to the plan, its usefulness might be much increased. Here is drawn together an immenfe mafs of goods of different kinds, in which an ordinary reader is bewildered and loft: we would therefore recommend that, in future, there be affigned a column on the right hand fide of each page, to enter the value, in pounds, fhillings, and pence, of the article or articles contained in the fame line or paragraph. Thefe fums might then be added up

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for each particular place or country, and all collected together into a table at the end of the book, and the fum total of the whole there affigned. After fo many numbers are publifhed as complete a year, thefe particular tables might be collected into one general table, fetting forth the value of the imports and exports to each place. Such tables would readily fhew the relative state of the trade at all times for which they might ferve, and thereby prove of very beneficial confequence to the state.

Thoughts on General Gravitation, and Views thence arifing as to the "State of the Universe. 15. 4to. Cadell.

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HESE Thoughts, it seems, took their rise in the course of a philofophical converfation between fome gentlemen, about the beginning of the present year, who foon after committed them to writing, in order to be "communicated to their friends in the literary world, by reading them to fome, and fending copies to others; with a view of agitating and promoting an enquiry, concerning a fubject of the firft magni'tude in philofophy. With the fame laudable defign, they have now submitted them to the public, to allow the motion its full fcope.

The principal thought intended to be communicated, is that "of the extenfion of general gravitation, combined with projectile force, to all the systems of the worlds in the universe, solas to render them but parts of one immense general system, all revolving around one common center. And to establish the probability of this principle, they argue both from analogy and obfervation.

• We have seen, fay they, how projectile force is fitted to counteract the tendency of general gravitation in a small fyfftem. With regard to the earth and moon, for inftance, `then in the cafe of Jupiter and his fatellites, and in that of Saturn and his fatellites, and more generally in that of the system at large. As any of the former is but an epitome of that greater fyftem to which they belong, may not this in its turn be but a faint representation of that grand fyftem of the univerfe, round whose centre, this folar system of ours, and an inconceivable multitude of others like to it, do in reality revolve according to the law ofgravitation? Agreeable to this, our anticipations of diforder and confufion would be changed into the contemplation of an endless number of harmonious motions, all of which loudly proclaiming the sustaining hand of the Deity.

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