Of a Person who had no Ear for Music Naturally Singing several Tunes when in a Delirium. By the Rev. Dr. Doddridge at Northampton. N° 484, p. 596. A clergyman's lady, whose husband is of some eminence in the learned world, in a frenzy after a lying-in, which was quickly removed, found during the time of it such an alteration in the state and tone of her nerves, that though she never had before or since any ear for music, nor any voice, she was then capable of singing, to the admiration of all about her, several fine tunes, which her sister had learned in her presence some time before; but of which she had not then seemed to take any particular notice. A Catalogue of the Fifty Plants from Chelsea Garden, presented to the Royal Society by the Company of Apothecaries for the Year 1745, pursuant to the Direction of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. P. R. S. &c. By Joseph Miller, Apothecary. N° 484, p. 597. This is the 24th presentation of this kind, completing to the number of 1200 different plants. Continuation of an Account of an Essay towards a Natural History of Carolina and the Bahama Islands; by Mark Catesby, F. R. S. with some Extracts out of the Tenth set. By Cromwell Mortimer, Secr. R. S. N° 484, p. 599. This 10th set begins with plate 100, of the 2d vol. In this part of the work, the author, besides plants, has given us several insects, particularly some remarkable butterflies. He begins this set with the mahogany tree, the wood of which is of late years become so well known here in England, for all sorts of cabinet work, surpassing the red cedar in beauty, without having the disagreeable scent of that wood. On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Greene, late Rector of St. George the Martyr in Queen's Square, London, and one of the Prebendaries of Worcester, where he died of a Hurt received, as he was riding out in the Neighbourhood of that City. By Tho. Cameron, M. D. N° 484, p. 609. Oct. 20, about noon, Dr. Greene's horse started under him, at the waving of a ploughman's whip, and with a quick and violent jerk, turned quite short, first to the left, and then instantly, and with the same impetuosity, to the right. After galloping a few paces, the Doctor fell gently off into a hedge, without receiving any hurt from the fall. A chariot was borrowed, into which he was lifted and brought home; for after this he could never stand. At 4 that evening Dr. C. first saw him, just after he had been blooded. He was very faint, cold all over, and his pulse scarcely perceptible, though naturally very strong; the scrotum so much swelled, that the penis was quite absorbed and lost in it, and its colour a very deep red. He ordered him a glass of wine with a bit of bread, for he had ate nothing all that day. This revived him, and raised his pulse a little. He then told Dr. C. in answer to the questions he put, that the testicles were not hurt; that the twisting of the horse gave him at that instant the intolerable sense of being split asunder. Dr. C. said that a violent and sudden stroke, from the pummel of the saddle, on the os pubis, might probably give him that sensation: he replied, that it did not feel like a stroke, and still persisted in his first expression of being split asunder. A warm fomentation was ordered to be constantly applied, and 14 oz. of Glauber's salt, quickened with 2 grs. of emetic tartar, to be given in a quart of gruel. At 11 that night an emollient glyster was given, the salts having as yet done nothing. Before morning he had 6 large loose stools; but it gave him exquisite pain to be lifted on the bed-pan. Next morning, Wednesday, the swelling was increased, and the colour deeper. Dr. C. prescribed an electuary of bark and salt of amber, to prevent if possible the approaching mortification. The stale beer poultice was applied; and that evening, a fever coming on, 10 oz. of blood were taken from his arm. Next morning, Thursday, the salts were repeated without the emetic tartar, and he had 4 stools. All this while he had made no water, except about a spoonful just after he was put into the chariot. The lower part of the belly, where a distended bladder would certainly point, was not swelled, though the parts on the os pubis were very much so. The scrotum increased in bulk and bad colour every hour; and the inside of the right thigh grew very tumid, with great pain, and a very perceptible fluctuation in it. These observations convinced Dr. C. that the urine had found a way into the parts last mentioned; though indeed he could not account for it, but by supposing that the urethra had been bruised, even to laceration, between the pummel of the saddle and the os pubis. The surgeon, Mr. Russel, soon came into this opinion about the urine, but imagined the bladder must be burst. This Dr. C. could not comprehend, nor could he explain; for the bladder lies out of the reach of all external injury from the causes hitherto assigned in this case. They agreed however about 3 in the afternoon, Thursday, to make a puncture into the scrotum; from whence urine, manifest to the smell, issued pretty freely all night. Next morning, Friday, a larger opening was made in the right thigh with the same effect. The parts subsided considerably; but the pulse rising, decoctum nitrosum was given with the bark. This evening the hiccup came on, and the scrotum looked livid. Next day, Saturday, the common emulsion, with a little nitre, and the ex tract of bark with mask were ordered. But the hiccup increased, watry blisters appeared on the scrotum, the voice faultered, the head failed, and the pulse sunk. He became worse and worse, till he quietly expired on Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. On dissection, they found the scrotum and corpora cavernosa penis mortified; the ossa pubis wrenched asunder to the distance of 4 inches, and a rent in the bladder, half an inch in length, a little above the neck, and exactly in the middle where the ossa pubis join. This was a very astonishing sight, and gave quite a new idea of the case; which if any physician could have discovered without inspection, he must have had more penetration than Dr. C. pretends to. We may now, however, reason about it, with a little more certainty than before; and it seemed that the body of the horse in twisting, acted with the power of a lever, to which the suddenness of the jerk, added in some measure the force of percussion. But all this leaves us still in wonder at the effect; for Dr. Greene was a very strong large boned man, 64 years of age, and the uniting surface of the ossa pubis was considerably broader in him, than either the surgeon, or Dr. C. had ever seen in any subject. On the Difference of the Degrees of Cold marked by a Thermometer kept Within By an extract from Dr. M.'s register of the weather, is shown the state of his barometer and thermometers, for some days of the same week, in which is observed a sudden change of the temperature of the air, particularly on Thursday morning the 3d; by which may be seen the little use a thermometer is of, when kept within doors, to determine the state of the air abroad, as to heat or cold. Dr. M. had 2 thermometers filled with mercury, and of the same construction, made by the late Mr. Sisson. The one was placed without his chamber window, in a north-east position, under cover, contrived to admit a free passage of the air, but to keep off sun and rain; the other within the window, about 3 feet from the former, where the sun never falls on it; the room is constantly occupied as a bed-chamber, but had no fire in it that season. It appears that on Tuesday the 1st, at 8 in the morning, the thermometer without stood at 17 degrees above 0, or freezing point; that within at 14. At 9 at night, that without was at O, and that within at 12 above 0. So that in the space of 13 hours the former had fallen 17 degrees, the latter only 2. As the barometer had been for a good while past subject to sudden considerable variations, he suspected the severe cold on Wednesday night and Thursday morning would not continue long; accordingly, on observing the thermometer without at 4 in the morning, he found it at %, 9 degrees below the freezing point, that within at, 5 degrees above freezing point. But at 8 o'clock the same morning, he found the thermometer without at 3, 34 degrees above freezing, and that within at 4 degrees above; so that in 4 hours time, that without had risen 134 degrees, and that within had fallen 1 degree. This naturally led him to examine what signs there might be of a thaw begun, but could find none, in the snow, which was 5 inches deep, or in the post, on the windows, but within an hour it was visible enough, and before 10 the houses dropped. May not this sudden change of the temper of the air be attributed to a subterranean heat? and may not the shifting of the wind be caused, in a great measure, by the same? A Child being taken out of the Abdomen, after having lain there upwards of 16 Years, during which Time the Woman had 4 Children, all born alive. By Starkey Myddleton, M. D. N° 484, p. 617. In April 1731, Mrs. Ball, perceived that she was pregnant; and in October following, (then in the 6th month of her pregnancy) a child died in her lap of convulsions, the surprise of which occasioned a great fluttering within her, attended with a sensible motion of the child, which motion continued, though gradually weaker and weaker, for 6 or 7 days, after which she did not perceive it to move any more; but from this time she had constant pains, which appeared like labour-pains. Her midwife, for several days, expected a miscarriage; but finding herself disappointed, advised her to apply to Dr. Bamber, who after a proper examination finding sufficient indications of a dead child, ordered her some forcing medicines; on taking which about 3 times she discharged something, which the women supposed to be part of an after-birth, accompanied with a small quantity of water; in consequence of this discharge her pains ceased, but without any visible diminution of her belly. After some time she again applied to the doctor, who thought it most advisable to discontinue her medicines, and leave the affair intirely to nature. In this state she continued for about 20 months, viz. to July 1733, which was 2 years and 3 months from her first reckoning; she then again applied to Dr. Bamber, acquainting him that she was not yet delivered of the child she so long since came to consult him about, and that her pains were lately returned, and daily increased without any intermission. On examining her, he thought it proper to send her home immediately, directing her o promote her pains, by frequently supping some warm caudle, &c. by the use of which her pains became more regular, and the next day the Doctor made her a visit, and was informed she had discharged two waters, but nothing more: he then carefully examined her again, and plainly felt a child through the integuments of the abdomen, but could not give her any assistance. It was about this time that Dr. Bamber first acquainted Dr. M. with the case, and desired that he would attend her as often as occasion might require, and that he would acquaint him if any thing like labour, or other remarkable alteration should occur. Accordingly Dr. M. made her a visit, and after a proper examination, was convinced of the certainty of the Doctor's assertion. Her pains now began to abate, and she became tolerably easy; but about the latter end of Jan. 1733-4, she conceived again with child, and was delivered on the 28th of Oct. following by Dr. Bamber, who sent for Dr. M. to attend him in her labour: the Doctor soon delivered her of a fine boy, and after having brought away the placenta, he searched for the other child, which he had before felt through the integuments of the abdomen, but found it was lodged in the cavity of the abdomen, and beyond the reach of human art to relieve her. This fact every one then present was made sensible of. October 22, 1735, Dr. M. was sent for to her in her labour, but before his arrival she was delivered of a boy; but he brought away the placenta, which gave him an opportunity of examining for the other child, and found it in the same situation as formerly. October 9, 1738, Dr. M. was again sent for to her when in labour, but she was delivered of a boy before he arrived. On examining the womb, and the state of the abdomen, the child appeared just as before, without any alteration. June 17, 1741, Dr. M. was again sent for in her labour, but found her just delivered of a girl; and on examining the parts, every thing appeared as before. October 14, 1747, being greatly emaciated by constant pains, &c. she was admitted a patient in Guy's Hospital, where she died the 7th of November following, after having laboured under the distresses and uneasiness of carrying a dead child within her, in a manner loose, in the cavity of the abdomen upwards of 16 years. The day after her death Dr. M. opened her, in the presence of Dr. Nesbit, Dr. Nichols, and Dr. Lawrence, when the uterus, and the several other contents of the abdomen appeared nearly in their natural state; but on the right side within the os ilium a child presented itself, which was attached to the ilium and neighbouring membranes by a portion of the peritonæum, in which the fimbria and part of the right Fallopian tube seemed to lose itself. The child seemed no-ways putrid; but the integuments were become so callous, and changed from their natural state, that the whole seemed to resemble a cartilaginous mass, without form or distinction: the legs indeed were distinguishable, though they were much wasted and distorted. On opening the callous |