has cured many that were incurable by that remedy. It is probable, however, that many of these cases were not genuine instances of syphilis, but rather those anomalous diseases which were formerly alluded to by Mr John Hunter, and have since been more copiously treated of by Mr Abernethy. Much mystery, however, hangs over the subject.

In the year 1801, Dr Beddoes published his "Essay on the Medical and Domestic Management of Consumption, on the Powers of Digitalis, and on the Cure of Scrophula." It was well known that consumptive coughs become more quiet in a warm apartment, but are re-excited by the cold air of a staircase; that they are of ten less troublesome during the night, when the door of the apartment is shut and the curtains drawn close around the bed, than during the day, when the patient sits in a large room and is exposed to fresh cold air in a variety of ways; that consumption is alleviated by the warmth of summer, and sometimes cured by resorting to a warm climate. The chief object of this essay, therefore, was to recommend that consumptive patients should be kept during the cold part of the year in an artificial temperature, equal to that of a warm climate; it contained several cases of consumption, in the treatment of which this was chiefly relied on. In some instances, the patients were kept in apartments secured by double doors and double windows against the outward air, and warmed throughout by stoves; in others, they were kept in apartments with cows; the bodies and the breath of the animals communicated a considerable warmth to the air, which was increased by the aid of stoves. The oddity of this latter contrivance, to which Beddoes was led by the

practice of a French physician, attracted much notice in the neighbourhood, and appeared strikingly ludicrous to those who were quick at the perception of absurdity, without having the mind to follow him through the train of thought which had led to its adoption. On the poor vulgar, it operated differently; they imagined that the cows would imbibe something unhealthy from the patients and impart it to the milk, and that they and their children would thus swallow consumption in their morning mess. They once actually collected in considerable crowds, and when the cows approached which were going on this extraordinary duty, endea voured to frighten them away by loud screaming and shouts.

This book has had a slow but a considerable influence on the practice of the profession, and few now of our ablest physicians conduct the treatment of a consumptive case without very considerable attention to artificial warmth. Consumptive patients who are not confined to their apartments during the cold seasons expe rience numberless injuries from the outward air; a breeze of wind will ruffle and agitate them, and produce a feverish flush of some continuance; every chill from the air is followed by heat and perspiration, constituting short fever fits, which slowly wear away all the strength; the cold air renders the cough more frequent; and thus, by producing a perpetual agitation of the lungs, prevents the healing of their ulcerated portions, enlarges their magnitude, and gives greater rapidity and certainty to the fatal termination. A practice of a similar nature seems to have been long practised in the West Indies. Finke (Medicinische Geographie Erstà Band, 464,) says, "that the negroes who are con

sidered consumptive are sent into the sugar houses to breathe the warm vapour, which rises in such clouds from the pans as to darken the work rooms, and that in two months they commonly recover." It is an important fact, that the attendants in these warm apartments of Dr Beddoes, who were frequently passing from the heated into the cold air, were not particular ly liable to catch cold, and that the patients themselves, on leaving their rooms to go abroad, seemed to have lost for a time their sensibility to the chilliness of the atmosphere. There are many other analogous facts which render it probable that we overrate the injuriousness of variations of temperature. A native of a tropical climate bears his first winter in Europe better than his subsequent ones. The workmen in the manufactories of crown glass, who are perpetually passing from the outward air into a temperature much above 100°, are not particularly subject to pulmonary dis ease; nor is the Russian boor, who passes from his winter hut, which, from heat and moisture, resembles a vapour bath, into an air many degrees below zero. It is probable that the prevalence of consumption in England is attributable much less to va rieties of temperature, and much more to deficiencies of clothing, than is commonly suspected; thus the Scotch have become far more liable to it since they left off the warm woollen plaid for the cotton dresses of modern times; and the Dutch, notwithstanding the inclemency of their climate and the coldness of their apartments, scarcely know what it is, an enviable ignorance, attributable to the unwieldly warmth of their clothing: consumption is no where so prevalent as among the Scotch, English,

and French, the worst clad of all the people of Europe, but enjoying a climate comparatively temperate.

There is a curious piece of private history connected with the printing of this volume, which deserves to be known, because it throws enormous light on the structure of Dr Beddoes' mind. When the manuscript was first sent to the press, the title of the book was, "A speedy and certain Cure for Pulmonary Consump tion;" as the printing proceeded, he came to a more sober estimate of the value of the new remedy, and order. ed the title to be altered to "Speedy Relief, and probable Cure for Con sumption." It was subsequently chan ged to "Probable Relief, and possi, ble Cure," &c., and at last shrunk into its present modesty of expression.

Soon after the publication of this vo lume, Dr Beddoes began the publica. tion of his popular Essays on Health; one appeared every month, and they amounted in all to eleven in number. Their object is not that of a domestic system of medicine, that is, to teach unprofessional persons how to cure diseases, but to expose to the uninstructed public the various unsuspected sources of danger to the constitution; to show them how disease advances with a slow and muffled step, for weeks and months and years, and to teach them to avert what human know. ledge is unable to cure. This is the most voluminous of all the publications of Dr Beddoes, and that too in which the powers of his mind are perhaps best exposed in all their variety and richness; but it is impossible here to follow him through its multifarious topics.

During the year 1803, Dr Joseph Frank, of Vienna, who was on a tour through several parts of Europe, call

ed on Dr Beddoes at Clifton. The account which he gives of the interview is amusing. "After visiting the infirmary, I was desirous of seeing the Pneumatic Institution. This institution was, several years ago, established by subscription; as, at that time, a flattering idea prevailed, that the application of various gases afforded particular remedies, especially in affections of the chest. Since that hope has been (at least to a considerable extent) disappointed, it is simply employed as a dispensary. From time to time, however, some pneumatic experiments are still made there. The celebrated Dr Beddoes presides over this institution with considerable zeal: indeed it is indebted to him for its origin. I was very anxious to become personally acquainted with a physician of whom such various opinions are entertained both abroad and at home. With this view I had procured several letters of introduction to him: amongst others, I was favoured with one from his father-in-law, Mr Edgeworth, with whom, and with his interesting family, I became acquainted at the house of Madame Lavoisier in Paris. Dr Beddoes does not properly live in Bristol, but in the adjoining village of Clifton. All his acquaintance had told me before hand, that I should find in Dr Beddoes a man, whose premier abord was rather repulsive. On entering his house, I gave the servant my introductory letters, that his master might be somewhat prepared, and not taken by surprise. After waiting about half a quarter of an hour, Dr Beddoes appeared with several books under his arm. The first words that he addressed to me were, Which Dr Frank are you? for there are a great many of you.' Before I could an

swer him, he laid before me, in a row, several books, all written by Franks, constantly asking as he turned them over, Is that you? Is that you? The first that met my eye, was a Materia Medica, by Solomon Frank. I protested against this being mine. Then followed some of the works which I had written in elucidation of the Brunonian system. Having now recognised me, Brown became the first topic of our conversation. We were soon agreed upon what was worthy of praise and what of censure in that system. The conversation shortly after turned upon foreign medical literature, when I soon found that Dr Beddoes reads German as well as he does English, and is intimately acquainted with all our best authors. Among all the theories applied at present to the practice of medicine, that of Reill pleases him best. Dr Beddoes, in his conversation, which grew every moment more interesting, showed the same fire and animation that are observable in his writings."

In 1808 he set on foot a course of popular lectures on anatomy. Mr Davy, as was to be expected, had removed to London, and a Mr Alcock had succeeded him. By this gentleman the principal part of the discourse was delivered, but the introductory lecture was written by Dr Beddoes. It is printed in Dr Stock's account of his life, and contains some remarkable instances of his powers of exposition.

He was now arrived at the 46th year of his age; many persons of consequence had solicited him to remove to London, and the wide field which this wealthy and immense metropolis held out to his ambition at last induced him to take their advice, and to make arrangements for his re

moval. In the summer of 1806, however, he had been seized with symp. toms of water in the chest. He was attended by Dr Stock and Dr Craufuird. As soon as he was aware of the nature of his complaint, for at first he obstinately denied it, he gave himself up as a lost man. With some difficulty his medical friends prevailed on him to consent to the application of boiling-hot water, as a means of raising a blister more sure and rapid than the Spanish fly; the symptoms, particularly the difficulty of breathing, had become so urgent as to render them unwilling to rely on so tardy and uncertain a remedy as the latter. "A napkin well heated was rolled up and forced into a pint cup, which it completely filled, leaving a convex surface rising about half an inch above the top. Boiling water was then poured on the napkin till it was thoroughly wetted; it was then hastily inverted, and held for exactly thirty seconds to the side." This application relieved him, and he began slowly to recover; but the attack seems to have somewhat diminished his activity, and he resolved to defer his removal to London, at least until the complete restoration of his strength. Dr Beddoes had, since his illness of 1806, recovered to an uncommonly good state of health, which last ed uninterruptedly till the autumn of 1808, when he was attacked by symptoms very similar to his former ones. Those which indicated disorder of the liver particularly attracted the attention of his medical attendants and himself; leeches were applied to his right side; mercurial ointment was rubbed in till it produced some soreness of the gums, and he experienced a partial and temporary relief; some degree of inflammation of the chest followed, but it yielded to appropriate re

medies, and on the 29th of November he was so far recovered as to be able to take a short journey into Wales. He returned in good spirits, and when talking about his health, expressed his conviction that his lungs were sound and vigorous. His breathing was never entirely free even in his best health, but during his late excursion he had mounted a steep Welsh hill with uncommon ease; his countenance, however, told a different tale; it was pale and fallen, and indicated strongly that all was not well within. On the 11th of December he visited a patient from home for the last time, but he still continued to give advice at his own house, and, with a few slight exceptions, seemed to enjoy his usual vigour of understanding. From the 14th of this same month, he began to suffer severely, although silently; he moved frequently from one apartment to another, to free himself from a weight and oppression in his chest, but in vain. On the 21st he felt and appeared much better, and remarked to his medical friend Mr King, " If this be not one of the lightings up before death, I am certainly better." On the 22d, in the evening, a stove was erected in his hall, and he was resolved to see it done himself; the pipe was conducted up the centre of the staircase, and he ascended to the top of the house to see it conveyed through the roof; during this exertion, his servants remarked that he was extremely feeble. The next day he was worse; at night he appeared very uneasy, and early in the morning his breathing became so difficult, that Dr Craufuird was called up to him. Some squill and foxglove were given him without relief." His medical friends left him at eight, but two hours afterwards were sent for again, and

found him much worse; the hot-water blister was now applied, but with little relief. Dr Craufuird left him again late in the morning, promising to see him again soon; Beddoes endeavoured to thank him for his kind attention, but his heart was too full; he could not speak, and the tears ran down his cheeks. At half past three in the afternoon Dr Craufuird returned to him; he was sitting up, but he had scarcely any pulse, and death was in his face. "I suppose," said he to Dr Craufuird, " you are fully aware this cannot last long?" Dr Craufuird evaded the question as well as he could, and advised him to lie down; he then conversed on a medical topic with his usual precision; his symptoms, however, became rapidly worse, and at six o'clock in the evening he died.

The body was examined by Mr John Estlin, of Bristol. The pericardium was so much enlarged, as to occupy much of the right side of the thorax; it was thickened, and had formed extensive adhesions to the lining membrane of the chest. The right lung was uncommonly large; soft, but of the natural structure; the left lung was almost obliterated; all that remained of it was a small, hard, and irregular substance, without any vestige of the natural structure of lungs; the heart was natural; the pericardium was nearly filled with a bloody fluid; the left pulmonary veins and arteries belonging to the obliterated lung, were wholly obliterated; the liver was healthy; the gall bladder was converted into a small bunch of a thick and corrugated membrane, and its duct was impervious; the stomach was large, and inflamed through its half. The dissection, however, was performed in a hasty and imperfect way, partly out of tender.

upper

ness to the feelings of Mrs Beddoes, who was in the house during the operation, and partly from an incident somewhat singular. There existed no likeness of him, and Bird the painter had been sent for to preserve one after his death; the gentlemen knew nothing of this, and when they enter ed the room, expecting to find the body ready for them, they found it sitting up in the bed, in the clothes which the doctor usually wore, the hair newly dressed, and the hand placed on a table with a book by it. The operator had been intimately acquainted with Dr Beddoes; it is not surprising, therefore, that such an incident should deprive him of his collected

ness.

Whatever his professional brethren may think of the actual accessions which the healing art has derived from the labours of Dr Beddoes, he was unquestionably the first physician of his time, Darwin only excepted, in knowledge and powers of understanding. He was complete master of Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and German; he was familiar with general literature; he was intimately acquainted with mineralogy and chemistry, and every department of professional science; he had performed the practical duties of his profession with a zeal and activity rarely equalled; and the degree in which he was gifted with the highest faculties of the understanding, is best shown by the argumentativeness and eloquence of his numerous writings. That his powers were great, no im partial person who is acquainted with all that he has done can deny; and if, in perusing his life, there appears a disproportion between the quantity of effort and that of success, it is probable that the fault lies rather in the subject than in the man; medical