AND SEVERAL EMINENT PHYSICIANS, SURGEONS, AND CHEMISTS, IN AMERICA,
THE EAST AND WEST INDIES, AND ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE.

SOLD BY SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, PATERNOSTER-ROW;

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

1820.

[Price 12s. 6d. in Boards.]

LONDON-Printed by R. CLAY & Co.

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PREFACE

TO THE

FOURTH VOLUME.

FOR the very honourable and extensive Patronage this Work

has experienced, the Editors have endeavoured to evince their gratitude by labouring with the greatest diligence to collect important information, connected with its objects; and in this they flatter themselves they have succeeded to the satisfaction of every class of their Readers. In the United Kingdom, the circulation of it has greatly increased since the Editors had the honour to address their Readers on the conclusion of the Third Volume, notwithstanding the regular and irregular Quacks have been active in exerting their ingenuity to prejudice the Public against it, particularly the Traders in Draughts-a traffic which a diffusion of a knowledge of medicine, is not calculated to promote. The opposition of such men the Editors regard as highly complimentary. The Editors have also the gratification to find that the demand for the Work in France, Germany, Holland, America, and the East and West Indies, have proportionably increased, so that, at this time, with respect to number, and they trust also with respect to the importance of matter, it takes the lead of all the periodical works on Science in this Country.

The present Volume, the Editors flatter themselves, contains an account of many important discoveries and communications of great practical utility. The works-of Dr. Bateman on Typhus Fever, Mr. Mansford on Epilepsy, Mr. La Beaume on Galvanism and the Air-pump Bath, Majendie on Gravel,

Stephenson on morbid irritability of the Eye, and of Dr. Dickinson on the Yellow Fever,-the communications on the Rheumatic Inflammation of the Eye by Mr. Wardrop, on Deafness by Mr. Wright, on the Virtues of Cubebs, the antiseptic Properties of the Pyrolignous Acid, Cases of Small Pox by Mr. Gaitskell, Cases of Dropsy from inflammatory excitement of the Arterial System cured by Bleeding, on the Treatment of Epilepsy, and the Testimonies in favour of the inspissated white juice of the Garden Lettuce, Dr. Hutchinson's Tonic Mixture, on the Treatment of Scirrhous Tumours, the Stramonium in Asthma and Pulmonary Consumption, a Description of a new Cupping-glass, are highly valuable. Dr. De Sanctis's Experiments and original Observations on Galvanism, open a new field for observation and enquiry, that may prove of infinite importance to medicine, particularly in developing more clearly the nature of the galvanic fluid, and an important office of the brain and nerves in the animal economy. Of the Doctor's newly-invented galvanic apparatus, constructed on so simple a plan that the most ignorant may use it, the Editors hope to be enabled to give a description in the Fiftieth Number. The Domestic and Agricultural departments they also flatter themselves are far from being destitute of interest. When the Editors pledged themselves in their Prospectus to give an analysis of all the advertised nostrums, and to descant on their merits, they were fully aware that they were about to attack a nest of hornets. For three years this class bore the exposition of their traffic with a degree of philosophy which the Editors attributed to their conviction of the justness of their comments, and the accuracy of their chemical analyses. The philosophy of this respectable part of the community seems to be on the decline.-One proprietor of a patent medicine has summoned up sufficient courage to prosecute the Writer for a libel, and to proceed for damages for the injury he has sustained. In the prosecution of this cause, the Editors hope the worthy gentleman will persevere, for he has placed them in the enviable situation of defenders of the public.

The Editors have pleaded a justification, and the question of guilt they hope will be referred to a jury. The law of libel, as laid down by the late Lord Ellenborough, is, in many respects, a very proper one. It was never his Lordship's intention to protect unworthy conduct, or a trade evidently injurious to society, when he brought it forward; nor did the Legislature intend to deter a man from the exposition of impositions which he had detected. Whoever reflects on the truth being a libel, when it tends to render a man ridiculous, as it regards medicine, will find it an improper law, inasmuch as it militates against the best interests and welfare of the community. Opinions in medicine are not like opinions in the other professions, and the trade of remedies is very different to other trades. The opinions of medical writers, and the nostrums of quacks, are fraught with danger to life thousands have fallen victims to plausible theories, and millions to the false promises of quacks. Hence, the man who speedily and fully acquaints the public with the baneful quality of a nostrum, and the dishonest views of the proprietor, discharges an important duty to his fellow creatures.-Better one should be made the sport of his erroneous opinions and false promises, than thousands should perish. The exposure of regular and irregular Quackery, is the most unpleasant part of the duty of the Editors; they have voluntarily embarked in it, and no threats of prosecutions shall deter them from its execution.

171, Piccadilly, December 28, 1819.