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the Syrones, in his Theatrum Insectorum, p. 266, he supposes to be applicable to the itch infect. Of the Syro Moufet fays, Animal'culum eft omnium minutiffimum, folens 'innafci cafeo, & ceræ inveteratis, & cuti 'item humanæ... Anglice mites, in caseo,

103. The London Medical Journal. Vol. IX. For the Year 1788. Part I. 8vo. RTICLE I. An Account of fome Experiments with Opium in the Cure of the Venereal Difeafe. Extracted from the Correspondence of the Military Hofpitals of France; and communicatedmine wheale wormes dicuntur, & Germa

to Dr. Simmons by J. F. Coste, M. D. fr Phyfician to the French Army.

The paper communicated by Dr. Cofte relates to fome experiments made, in the year 1785, in the Military Hofpital at Lifle in Flanders. The number of patients fet apart for thefe trials was thirty; and they were selected by a committee, appointed for the purpose, from a much larger number of venereal patients among the troops in garrison at Lifle. An accurate regifter of each cafe was kept by the committee, who vifited the patients daily during the cure. The heads of each cafe are given by Dr. Cofte, together with an account of the general refult of the experiments; but for thefe we must refer our readers to the work itself.

ART. II. An Account of the infect found in the Itch. From a Work lately published, in German, on the Etiology of that Difcafe, by J. E. Wichmann, M.D. Phyfician to His Majefty at Hanover, and Member of the Royal Society of Sciences at Goettingen, &c.

As this fubject will probably appear curious to the generality of our readers, we hall give the account of it in the words of the Editor, viz.

"That the itch is fimply a local affection of the fkin, occafioned by animalcula, has been a pretty general opinion in this country, fince the defcription given by the late Dr. Mead of the infect found in this difeafe by Bonomo. But, of those who have adopted this idea, very few, probably, have had an opportunity of convincing themselves, by their own obfervation, how far it is founded in truth; and it is certain there are many who still doubt, and even deny, the existence of the infect in queftion. It was the difference of opinion that prevails on this head, and the doubts he himself had concerning it, that induced the author of the work now before us to direct his attention to this fubject.

"The first account he met with of thefe infects was by Moufet, whofe defcription of

foliis, ligno arido, atque cera; fed in ho

nice Seuren. Ita fub cute habitat, ut actis 'cuniculis pruritum maximum loco ingeneret, præcipue manibus, vel aliis partibus 'affectis & igni admotis. Extractus acu, & 'fuper ungue pofitus, movet fe, fi folis etiam 'calore adjuvetur.... Hoc obiter eft obfervandum, Syrones iftos non in ipfis puftulis, fed prope habitare. Illorum quippe pro'prium eft non longe refidere ab humore aqueo in veficula vel puftula collecto: quo abfumpto, vel exiccato, brevi omnes inte reunt. Neque Syrones ifti funt de pedicu loruin genere; nam illi extra cutem vivunt, hi vero non.'

lowing quotation, relative to the Syrones, "In the fame work alfo he found the folfrom the writings of an Arabian physician, who flourished in the twelfth century: Sy'rones (inquit Abinzoar), Alfalat & Arab ་ dicti, funt pedicelli fubter manuum cruitimque & pedum cutem ferpentes, & puftulas ibidem excitantes aquâ plenas: tam parva animalcula, ut vix vifu perfpicaci difcerni

' valeant 2.'

in 1634, mentious the name those infects go "As Moufet, whofe work was published by among the Germans, our author's curio fity led him to examine the German writers ing able to find any thing on this fubject. In on infects before that period, but without bea work 3, however, by Hauptmanns, a phyfician at Drefden, published twenty years after Moufet's, he unexpectedly met with fomething relative to this matter. This writer mentions the animalcula he had found in Acari, or Cyrones, and by the Germans Rietthe itch, and which, he fays, are called liefen. He obferves, that, so far as he had examined them with a microfcope, they feemed to agree with the infects which are found in cheese. Our author supposes this writer to have been the first who has given a figure of the itch infect; but this figure is inaccurate, and the defcription, like the preceding accounts of it, obfcure; so that the exiftence of the infect can hardly be faid to ed till the time of Bonomo. have been clearly and fatisfactorily afcertain

Bonomo to Redi on this fubject, printed at "The Italian original of the letter + from Florence in 1683, is now extremely scarce;

"Philofophical Transactions, vol. XXIII. for the year 1702, p. 1296."

2 "Theatrum Infectorum, p. 266."

3 "Uhralten Wolkensteinischen Warmen Bad und Waffer fchatze. 8vo. Drefden, 1654.” 4" Offervazioni intorno a Pelicelli del Corpo umano dal G. Cof. Bonomo, e da lui con altre Offervazioni fcritte in una Lettera al Fr. Redi."

GENT. MAC. June, 1788.

but a Latin tranflation of it, by Lanzoni, may be found in the Mifcell. Natur. Curiof. 5. This discovery. however, did not feem to excite much attention till Dr. Mead 6 gave an account of it in the "Philofophical "Tranfactions;" and even fince that time many of the writers who have described this infect have contented themselves with copy ing the observations of Bonomo, witho t examining the matter themselves. Our author particularly mentions Bonanni 7, Schwiebe, and Baker 9, whofe defcriptions are all taken from this fource. Even fome of thofe, our author remarks, who have acquired reputation in the prefent century by microfeopical discoveries, as Leeuwenhoeck, Reaumur, and Swammerdam, have either not thought it worth their while to examine this matter, or, like many learned men now living, were perhaps unable, for want of the neceffary dexterity, to find thefe infects. It is certain, he adds, that Leeuwenhoeck 10, although he has accurately described the acari of meal, has totally omitted thofe found in the itch.

"At length the attention of physicians and

naturalifts was directed afresh to this fubje&t by the celebrated Linnæus ; and the itch infect was almost generally admitted even by those who had not feen the infect, but who relied on the authority of that great naturalist for its existence.

"After giving an account of the difcovery of these infects, our author proceeds to confider more particularly their nat ral history. The genus (Acarus) to which they belong is, he obferve, very numerous, and its different fpecies have not all of them been accurately determined. He confines his enquiries, however, to the two fpecies which are found in meal and in the itch.

"That there fhould be confufion in determining thefe fpecies, he thinks, will not be wondered at, when we are told, that even at the prefent day naturalists differ concerning their figure, and difpute whether what one fees on the head of these minute animals are to be confidered as antennæ or feet. Thus, of many naturalists, to name only a few of rank. Linnæus 12 has only tentacula: Schæffer 13 has antennæ pediformes articulate; while Baron de Geer 14 exprefly fays they have

"Obfervationes circa humani Corporis Teredinem, a Cl. Joh. Cofmo Bonomo, practico infigniffimo Liburni, una cum alijs Epiftolica hac in Exercitatione ad Eoos penes Hefperiofq. famigeratiflimum, illuftr. Francifcum Kedum, Italics Sermone Anno 1687 confcriptæ & Flo rentiæ typis impreffæ, nanc vero Latinitate donatæ a Jofepho Lanzono, Acad. Cur.—Vid. Append. ad Annum Decimum Decuriæ 2. Ephem. Med. Phyf. Nat. Cur. 4to. Norimbergæ, 1692."

6" Dr. Wichmann has inferted in his work the whole of Dr. Mead's paper on this fubject; but to reprint it here would be fuperfluous, as it may be found not only in the Philo. fophical Tranfactions, but also in Dr. Mead's Works, and in Mihles's Medical Eflays.-It may not be improper, however, to obferve, that Dr. Mead, by omitting the beginning of Bonomo's letter to Redi, has not fully stated the circumstances that led to the discovery of the infect in queftion; and has given to Bonomo the credit of observations for which we find Bonomo acknowledging himself indebted to one of his friends, whom he names. As the paffage relative to this matter, in Bonomo's letter, is curious, we fhall tranfcribe it from the Latin tranflation by Lanzoni. It is as follows: "Cafu fortuitove se mihi legendum obtulit in celebri Vocabolario dell' Aademia della Crufca ab hujus compilatoribus afferi Teredinem, qua ut plurimum fcabie infectorum cutis fcalet, in perexiguis, ac minutulis animalculis confiftere; ecce ipfifima Vocabularii verba: Pellicello i un piccol ffimo Bacolino, il quale fi genera a Rognoli in pelle e rodendo cagiona un' acutiffimo pizzicore. Idem fentire poftmodum obfervavi Jofeph. Laurentium in fua Amalthea, dum fcripfit: Acarus. Teredo. Vermiculus • exiguus fubcutaneus rodent. Pidicello, et Lic. T. Teredo, Vermis in ligno naftens: „Caries. Item azarus redons carnom fub cute; Pilicella. His itaque fic lectitatis, iterata, fedulaque experientia • forutandi prurigine tactus fum, an diétæ Teredines animalcula veré fint, ferioque confului eruditiff. Hyacinthum Ceftonium, ejus in experiendo probate fedulitatis; quæ multo ante tibi vir cl. innotuit. Maltoties ergo obfervalle mili conftanter affeveravit, mulierculas 4 propriis e scabiofis filiolis acus extremitate nefcio quid educere, quod in lævæ manus pollic ungue, alterius manus pollicis ungue compreffum, in ipfa compreflione aliquem parvum fonum facere videtur, hoc autem educi a minutioribus tuberculis fcabiofis, perfecta nondum fanie fcatentibus, vel ut vocitant immaturis; mutua quod itidem charitate inter remiges, & mancipia Balner Liburnenfis, fi fcabies infeftaret, fieri adnotavit. Inde fubdidit non fibi tamen certo conttare, an Teredines e vermiculorum cenfu forent, prompté tamen de eo eertiorem fe reddendi occafionem daturam, multis experimentis in fcabiofo quopiam, que • mtopfia infallibili incaffirmativam, vel negativam partem declinandum doceremur.' EDIT." 7 "Obferv. circa vivent. Romæ, 1699."

«Differt. de Pruritu Exanthematum ab Acaris. Lipfiæ, 1722.”
"Microfcope made easy. 8vo. London, 1743."

10" Arcana Natura detect. 4to. 1722. Epiít. 77, P. 356.”-
11 « Exanthematá viva. 4to. Upfal, 1757"

Syftem. Natur. Edit. XII.”

13" Elementa Entomologiæ. 4to. 1766,"

14 Memoires por fervis a l'hiftoire des Infectos: 1778. Tom. VIL p. 85."

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o antennæ, but two arms, with joints, which refemble those of spiders, who have likewife no antennæ.

"Another fource of confufion in the arrangement of these infects has arisen, our auther thinks, from the ambiguity of the generical character, which depends on the number of eight feet, whereas many have obferv ed only fix. Baron ce Geer, however, has explained this by thewing, that in the young acari farinæ the eighth pair is wanting. This obfervation, however, Dr. Wichmann remarks, is not new, having been made long ago by Leeuwenhoeck 15. He hisfeif, he tells us, as well as Mr. Goetze 16, in examining the acari of meal, has frequently found fome with fix, and others with eight, feet; but in thofe of cheese he has uniformly found eight.

"Linnæus, our author obferves, in his differtation already quoted, intituled, Exanth mata viv, afferts, that nurfes, when they fprinkle children under the axillæ, &c. with flour that contains acari, give them the itch; and from this infers, that the acarus of meal and that of the itch are of the fame fpecies 17. But Dr. Wichmann contends, and we believe very juftly, that the eruption which is fometimes excited in children by this means is very different from the true itch, and that it foon difappears, without any atliftance from medicine. He obferves alfo, that in the Fauna Suecico, p. 482, Lin æus, although he has there accurately d fcribed the infect found in the itch, has confounded it with the acarus of meal; and that ftill more lately, in the twelfth and laft edition of his Syftema Nature, he had fo little altered his opinion, that, after defcribing the Acarus Siro, he expreilly adds, Inter Sirones farinæ, Scabiei..

523

vix etiamnum reperi alias differentias, quam a loco petitas $?

"The German tranflator and commentator on Linnæus, Profeffor Miller, has taken occafion 19 to obferve, however, that a difference exits between the acari of cheese and thote of meal, as well as between the latter an thofe of the itch; but feveral medical writers, our author remarks, (and particularly Rofenftein, in his "Treatife on the Diseases of Children,") relying on the authority of Linnæus, that the fame animalcula are found in meal as in the itch, have afferted that flour, in which there are acari, is capa ble of communicating this difeafe. Fo this confusion of species our author attributes an affertion by Profeffor Murray 20, in his, in other refpects, judicious account of the itch, viz. that, previous to any appearance of puttules, there is always a foulnefs of the juices, and that when this foulness has got to a certain height, the acari of cheefe or meal are induced to feek a nidus in the fkin; and of course he muit fuppofe these to be of the fame fpecies as thofe of the itch.

"Profellor Pallas alfo, Dr. Wichmann obferves, has mitted to distinguish these infects properly, as he fays, Acarus fcabiei, acaro farinæ eft confanguineus 21. But Baron de Geer, he acknowledges, has very accurately difcriminated thefe fpecies, and thewn that the ac iras domefl us, (or that f ecies which is found in cheese, &c.) the ara us farinæ, and the carus fcabiei, are all very different from each other. Of the fecond of thefe fpecies he fays, Acarus (farina) oblongus al

15 Arcan. Natur. 4to. 1722. p. 356." 16" Abhandl. aus der Infectologie, p. 333. 17 "Cafeum vel farinam, diu de loco non motam, multa horum millia alere, non raro obfervamus; hinc evenit, ut, quum nutrices loco Pollinis Lycopodii, Florum Zinci, &c. infantes intertrigine laborantes farina frumenti confpergant, inguina & axilla, eadem adfperfæ, in scabien entorefcant; quod malum, fæpius curatum, idemtidem rediit, quoties farinæ adfperfio iterata fuerit, aliofque infecit infantes. Hinc Farinæ & Scabiei Acaros unam conftituere candemque fpeciem concludimus"

18 We think it righ to obferve here, that the feeming confufion on this fubject, in the writings of Linuxus, appears to have arifen from an opinion he had adopted, of the exiftence of more than one fpecies of itch; for, befides the itch which he imagined might be excited by the Acarus Sire, or that fpecies which is found in meal, he fuppofed that in another and more inveterate kind of ich, the Scabies ferina, the difeafe is occafioned by a different species of Acarus, the Acarus exulterons, which he has described with his ufual accuracy, and which is indifputably the true itch infect. This he no where confounds with the A. Sire, but expretfly fays it is a diftinct species. Thus, in the differtation (Exanthemata viria) just now quoted, we find him obferving, that In scabie terina acari ægrius inveniuntur; exemtos vero, aliam effe fpeciem (acarus exulcerans) & pedibus quatuor pofticis, corpore duplo longioribus, diftinctos.' And again, in his Sytem. Natur, immediately after the arus Siro, he places the arus exulcrans, pedibus longiffimis fetaceis; anticis duobus brevibus;' and adds, 'habitat in feabie ferina.' A fimilar division of the itch, into a mild fpecies and one more virulent, was made by the ancients. Thus Celfus (de Medicin. lib. V. cap 28), in treating of the itch (fcabies), obferves, that Quo afperior eft, quoque prurit magis, eo difficultas tollitur. Itaque eam, quæ talis eft, Græci appellant, id eft feram.

19" Linné, Natur. Syfem. Nurnberg, 1775. Part V. p. 1oco."
20 De Vermibus in Lepra obviis. 40. Goetting. 469 p. 9."
21" Diff. de Inteftis viventibus. 4to. 1765 P

EDITOR."

( quatuor

quatuor feta longiffima, plantis quatuor an'ticis fiftulatis capitulo terminatis 22.

"in fpeaking of the manner of finding thefe infects in the itch, our author obferves, that the failure of many who have fought for them has been owing to their having expected to meet with them in the larger veficles that contain a yellowish fluid, like pus; in

thefe, however, he tells us, he has never found them, but in those puftules only which are recent, and contain only a watery fluid. We must therefore, he obferves, not expect to find them in the fame proportionate number in patients who, for many months, have been afflicted with the difeafe, as in thofe in whom its appearance is recent, and where it is confined to the fingers or wrifts. The caufe of this difference with respect to the puftules, he conjectures, may be owing to the death of the infect after it has depofited its eggs.

"A fmall transparent veñcle being found, a very minute, white point, diftinct from the furrounding fluid, may be discovered, and very often even without the afliftance of a glaís; this is the infect, which may be easily taken out on the point of a needle or penknife, and when placed on a green cloth may be feen much more diftinctly, and obferved to move 23.

"The author remarks, that even before fuch a transparent veficle is formed, we may often difcover traces of the infect on the fingers or hands, in a reddish streak or furrow, which is occafioned by the acarus; and he adds, that it is even more ufual to find it in thefe furrows than in the puftules themselves. He tells us, that a friend of his at Hanover (who had the itch in a flight degree, and to whofe accurate inquiries with an excellent microscope he acknowledges himself much indebted,) found several infects in fuch furrows. Two of the longest of the furrows were about an inch in extent. They feemed to be thoroughly dry, but exhibited here and

there very minute fhining and transparent fpots. These spots, however, were not at all elevated above the furface of the fkin;

and although feveral of them were opened and examined, no infect was found in them. Thefe furrows he has obferved only on the hands and fingers, having in vain fought for them on the legs, and other parts of the

body, in his children, who had the itch in a high degree."

viewed through a microfcope, will be The appearance of these infects, when beft understood by the figures of them given in the Journal. The first of thefe figures reprefents the acarus farinæ, the fecond and the third are reprefentations of the itch infect as it appeared through Dr. Wichmann's microfcope; and the fourth is a figure of the fame infect as given by Bonomo.

From thefe figures, the body of the acarus farinæ appears to be more oblong than that of the itch infect; and the feet of the latter, it is obferved, are placed much nearer the head than in moft other fpecies of acari, and are fhorter and thicker.

(To be continued)

104. Method of Chemical Nomenclature, propofed by Meffieurs de Morveau, Lavoifier, Bertholet, and De l'ourcroy. To which is added, A new Syftem of Chemical Characters, adapted to the Nomenclature, by Meffieurs Haffenfratz and Adel, tranflated from the French, and the New Chemical Nomencla ture adopted to the English Language. By James St. John, M. D.

IT is with much pleafure that we announce this tranflation of the Memoirs of Meffieurs De Morveau, Lavoifier, Bertholet, and De Fourcroy, on a new Method of Chemical Nomenclature. Nothing was more arbitrary, or more abfurd, than the greatest part of the ancient chemical appellations. The moft extravagant whimfics and fancies were indulged. A ridiculous mystery was adopted, with the exprefs purpose gible as poffible, at least to the bulk of of rendering the fcience as little intellimankind. As philofophical inveftigation advances, and true fcience gains ground, the various abfurdities and my fterious follies of the alchemifts vanith. The gentlemen who have undertaken the prefent arduous task, which bids fair

22" Mem. pour fervir a l'Histoire des Infectes. Tom. VII. p. 94."

23 "Fabricius (Faun. Groenland. p. 221) has mentioned the dexterity of the Groenlanders in extracting this infect. Habitat,' fays he, in veficula fcabiei Groenlandorum, qui illum acu eximere fcientes, mihi miranti, ut vivum animal incedentem oftenderunt.'-- Linnæus, in defcribing it (Faun. Succic. 1194), fays, 'Habitat fub cute hominis fcabiem çautfans, ubi veficulam excitavit, parum recedit, corporis rugas fecutus, quiefcit iterum & titillationem excitat; nudis oculis fub cuticul delitefcens obfervatur ab adfueto, acu facile eximitur, 4 ungui impofitus vix movetur, fi vero oris calido halitu affetur, agilis in ungue curfitat. ;' and Baron de Geer (Mem. pour fervir a l'Hiftoire des Infectes, tom. VII.) obferves, that the infects he has had occafion to extract from itchy fores were extremely minute, not larger than a grain of common fand. At first,' fays he, when they are taken from under the epidermis, they feem to be without motion; but by degrees they begin to move their feet, and to crawl, though flowly." EDITOR."

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