ponent parts, or elfe by the coagulation and infpiflation of fome of the fluids lodged in the veffels; which laft circum• ftance, perhaps, likewife contributed its share to the hardness of the skin in the prefent cafe.

On thefe confiderations it was thought fit to put the patient into a bath of warm milk and water, and to direct her to stay in it a confiderable space of time, that the warmth • and moisture might relax and foften the hardness of her skin: but she could not bear to continue in the bath, on account of the great oppreffion and anxiety it occafioned, and becaufe the troublesome conftriction of her fkin, was much increased by it. She was therefore put to bed, and well covered with cloaths, in hopes to promote a fweat; but all was in vain, for her skin remained as hard and dry as before. However, this treatment was repeated for fix days, but on going into the bath for the feventh time, fhe was feized with convulfions in the muscles of her legs and arms. This was very unexpected, and made it neceffary to difcontinue this 'method of cure. But as it was imagined, that it was the weight and preffure of the water which gave her fo much uneafiness, a method was thought on to avoid this inconvenience, and, at the fame time, to procure for the patient the benefit that might arife from the relaxation and foftening of the fkin and pores, by the abforption of an external humidity, which was judged neceflary to the cure. Now the vapour of warm water hath a great power of infinuating itfelf into the pores, and between the fibres, of bodies; and by that means, of relaxing and foftening the hardest subftances, as is obferved in dry leather; which, fufpended in the fteam of boiling water, becomes much more soft and • pliable than if it had been immerfed for a longer time in the hot water itself. A vapour-bath was therefore ordered, ⚫ and contrived in fuch a manner, that the steam of the boiling water might entirely furround the body of the patient, or be directed to any particular part, as occafion should require. She bore the vapour without any inconvenience, and was constantly kept in bed in the intervals between the feveral applications of it. The fixth time of using this kind of bath, The began to perfpire a little, and, from day to day, the perfpiration grew more general, and at laft univerfal then the fkin began to be lefs rough, but not lefs hard; and the urine was more thin and diluted than before. Her diet was prefcribed to be of the moft foft and relaxing na ture, and principally confifted of whey. As fhe was judg ed to be of too full a habit, and as the had not the re

⚫gular

gular menftrual discharge, fhe was ordered to lose twelve ounces of blood from the foot; and it was that this evacuation might contribute to produce a general relaxation; and, by confequence, make the circulation of the blood, and other fluids, more free and eafy through their respective canals. It was surprising to fee what difficulty the furgeon found in opening the vein, on account of the hardness of the skin; infomuch that, in the operation, the lancet yielded and bent. However, at laft, it pierced the skin and the vein, but not without a good deal of pain to the patient. The blood iffued forth with great impetuofity, and the wound was fometime before it healed; but at length it formed an elevated and hard fcar.

By continuing the emollient diet and vapour bath, in about forty days the skin of her legs began to grow foft; in which part, according to the relation of the patient, the hardness ‹ last shewed itself; but, as often as she exposed herself to the fresh and cool air, the fkin, which was begun to grow foft and flexible, was obferved to grow again hard and imper• fpirable. It was therefore thought proper, towards the end • of September, to place her in a warm room, where the air was kept of an equal degree of heat. This had the defired effect: for by staying in her room, and from time to time repeating the vapour bath, and by drinking at her meals, a decoction of the woods, the perfpiration was conftant and moderate; and the softness of the fkin, which began in the legs, extended itself upwards, and was in fome degree perceptible in the arms.

、

Five months were now elapfed fince the beginning of this • treatment, when it was believed, that without some more efficacious medicine, capable by its motion, weight, figure, and divifibility, or circulating with the blood, and of penetrating into the most remote and fubtil receffes of the veffels, it would be impoffible to refolve and open the obstructions <which were formed in the vascular structure of the skin, and which, by hindering the fluids from circulating through their respective canals, had deprived them of that humidity, which nature had made neceffary for their flexibility and softness. "It was therefore thought proper to make her take small dofes of pure quick-filver; and that the mercury might the more eafily be determined to the skin, the patient was ordered to be constantly kept in a warm air, to have the furface of her body rubbed with a flannel, and to continue the use of the vapour bath. But, by way of preparation for this mercurial courfe, fhe was gently purged, and blooded a fecond time,

5

that,

that, the plenitude being diminished, the mercury might better circulate through the finest veffels. Here it is to be observed, that the furgeon, in this fecond blood-letting, did not meet with that refiftance in piercing the skin which he had experienced in the firft. The patient thus prepared, began in • December 1752, to take daily fix, and afterwards twelve grains of pure quick-filver, in a dram of caffia, drinking after it half a pint of a decoction of farfaparila. In this course fhe continued four months with chearfulness, and without any inconvenience; and within two months from the be< ginning of it, there appeared a fomewhat vifcid fweat, and the fkin grew more flexible and yielding. About the end • of March, 1753, fhe had an efflorefcence over all her skin, which by degrees grew puftular, and was very troublesome by its heat and itching. The use of mercury was then difcontinued, and fhe took no medicine but half a pint of an infufion of farfaparilla in the morning, and an emulfion of • melon and poppy-feeds in the evening; then the heat and itching abated, and the puftles fuppurated.—

About the middle of May following her fkin was quite clear of puftules, and was become perfectly foft and flexible, being capable of being moved, raised, extended, and of performing all its natural functions. This softness and flexibility of the fkin was general, except in the forehead and lips, which however afterwards recovered their natural state.

But there ftill remains an unusual degree of tenfion in some of the muscles, which lie immediately under the skin, parti⚫cularly those of the hand and radius; on which account a milk diet is prefcribed, to fupply the blood with a proper matter for filling the cells of the adipofe membrane; which membrane, by having sustained a long preffure between the difeafed fkin and mufcles, is become deprived of its mucilaginous and oily juices, defigned by nature to keep the parts foft and flexible, and to facilitate the motion of the muscles. Now when, by a fit diet, the oily and mucilaginous particles fhall again abound in the blood, they will, fince the morbid preflure of the skin is removed, be depofited in their proper cells; and by that means, it is hoped, that the affected mufcles, which every day grow lefs tenfe, will foon be reftored to their natural ftate, and that the cure will be as complete, with respect to them, as it already is with regard to the skin.'

An apology will fcarce be neceffary for the infertion of fo uncommon a cafe, notwithstanding its having been already retailed in a another publication; but, as it has extended this

article

article to a confiderable length, we must defer the account of the remainder of this volume, (which furnishes several other curious fubjects) to our next month's Review.

L

ART. XL. A Treatife of Fruit-Trees. By Thomas Hitt, Gardiner to the Right Honourable Lord Robert Manners, at Bloxholme in Lincolnshire. 8vo. 6s. Printed for the Author, and fold by T. Ofborne.

T

HIS treatise, upon a moft interefting part of horticu!ture (a fubject that has not been deemed unworthy the attention of many great men in all ages) is offered to the public with fo much modefty, that every candid reader will, we imagine, on this account, find himself ftrongly inclined to afford it a favourable reception: And to this the author is further entitled, by his industry and application; the marks of which are confpicuous through every part of his book. His observations feem to be the refult of genuine experience, aided by a folid judgment; and what further contributes to their utility is, that his directions are as eafily practicable, as they are apparently well-founded.

We fhall lay before the reader a short account of the general contents of Mr. Hitt's performance, interfperfed with a few

extracts from it.

The firft fix chapters are employed in confidering the foils proper for fruit-trees; how they may be meliorated to answer their intended purposes; how borders ought to be made for different fruits, and the feveral effects of dung, fresh earth, and falts; under which laft head he obferves, with respect to faline mixtures, fuch as lime, afhes, foot, &c. particular regard ought to be had to the quantity ufed; and relates an experiment made in an extreme dry fummer, upon a bare piece of pafture-land, out of which the cattle were all taken for want of grafs. I marked, fays he, four places with ftakes, each of which I watered nine nights fucceffively, in the following manner: the first, with fpring-water alone, to the quantity of a gallon; the fecond, with the fame quantity of water, adding an ounce of common falt; the third ⚫ and fourth with the fame quantity, mixing the water in the third place with two ounces of falt, and that in the fourth with three ounces, which produced the following effects.

The grafs in the fecond place grew more, and of a darker green, than that in in the first, in the third it grew only by fpots, for part of it was killed where the greateft quantity of

• water

water fell; and the fourth was quite brown for a greater compass than the third: by which it appeared that an ounce of falt in a gallon of water had a better effect than the water alone: ⚫ and that three ounces of falt mixed with a gallon of water was more than the grafs could immediately receive; but the fourth place in the enfuing fpring was the most fertile of them all, ⚫ which was owing to the winter's moisture diluting the falts.'

A plan of a kitchen-garden accompanies the feventh chapter, in which the feveral forts of fruit defigned for each wall are mentioned, as are, in the eight, thofe for efpaliers round the quarters.-Chapters 9. and 10. relate to aspects and fituations.-11. gives directions for building walls, and defcribes the diftance each tree fhould be allowed. What is faid on thefe heads is illuftrated by fuitable plates.

Chap. 12. contains obfervations on ftocks in general: as this is an article of more than a little importance in the raifing of fruit-trees, we shall extract our author's whole chapter on the fubject.

• What stock is moft proper for each kind of fruit ought as well to be considered and known, as what foil is most suitable to trees; for on those two things the future vigour of trees, and the goodness of fruit equally depend. The best way for those who intend to plant, is to raise their own stocks, by which they will be better affured of what they do; but if they fhould buy their trees of nursery-men, they should diligently enquire upon what stocks they were propagated.

For ftocks are, in fome measure, a fort of foil to the kinds of trees raised on them; as every part of a tree, let it be ever fo minute, forms its root upon the parts below: thus the taftes of fruits may be improved by proper ftocks, as well as by proper foils.

Perhaps it may be the opinion of fome, that all juices are changed by the pores or veffels thro' which they pass, and that all trees propagated upon any stocks whatsoever, will equally produce good fruit, admit their growth is healthful and ftrong: but, if they will give themselves the trouble to examine this point carefully, and without prejudice, they will find as confiderable a difference, with refpect to fruit, between frocks as between foils.

Their opinion indeed has fome fhew of reafon in it; for as the apricot, almond, peach, and nectarine are generally budded upon plum-ftocks, yet bear fruit of their own kind, which fhews that juices are changed by paffing thro' a small bud, and the little quantity of rind joined to it (the compass of both which is feldom above an inch in length, and the beadth about a tenth part thereof) yet, if different juices

be