Observations on the Diseases of Seamen

This is a fact which does not admit of doubt; but the manner in which the effect is here produced is a matter of conjecture. It is most probably owing to the compression and tremor of the air in consequence of its resistance to the motion of the ball. We can also conceive, that, with regard to an yielding part, such as the stomach or abdomen, a body flying with great velocity may even, for a moment, displace a portion of it by passing through the same space, without any other mechanical injury than contusion, in a manner similar to what happens to two balls in the act of collision in philosophical experiments made to illustrate the nature of elasticity; or the compressed air may even, in this case, act, as it were, like a cushion, preventing the sudden impulse and contact of the ball. This explanation furnishes a reason why the parts of the body above mentioned should be more liable to be affected by accidents of this kind than the head. Perhaps this difference may also, in part, arise from the principle laid down by Mr. Hunter, that the stomach is more essential to life, and more immediately the seat of it, than the head or any other member or organ of the body, and that an injury to this part is more immediately destructive of life than any other.

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The honourable Captain Fitzroy.

131

Colonel Markham.

132

Animals are affected by these accidents as well as men. A cow in one of the ships was killed in one of the actions in April, by a double-headed shot passing close to the small of her back.

133

Hæc formula ex Pharmacopœia Nosocomii Sti. Thomæ excerpta est.

134

Hæc formula ex Pharmacopœia Nosocomii Sti. Thomæ deprompta est.

135

Vide pag. 408.

136

Vide pag. 409. Hæc formulæ ex Pharmacopœia Nosocomii Sti.Thomæ excerpta est. sed vice confectionis Damocratis hodie obsoletæ, adhibentur confectio aromatica & opium purificatum, ratione habitâ ad portionem fingulorum adeo ut parem edant effectum ac in vetere formulâ.

137

Vide pag. 456.

138

Ex auctoritate Cl. Huck Saunders.

139

Ex auctoritate Cl. Huck Saunders.

140

Ex auctoritate Cl. Lind.

141

Vide pag. 479.

142

Vide pag. 489.

143

Ex auctoritate Cl. Heberden apud Cl. Pringle in opere suo de morbis castrensibus.

144

Hæc formula ex Pharmacopœiâ Nosocomii Sti. Thomæ, excerpta est.

145

Vice olei ricini dare licet olei amygdalæ unciam unam cum tincturæ sennæ unciâ dimidiâ. Vide Pharm. Nosoc. Sti.Thomæ.

146

Hæc formula ex auctoritate Cl. Griffiths. In periculis a me ipso factis felicissimum successum ex hoc medicamento percepi.

147

Hoc medicamentum speciatim his hæmorrhagiis accommodatum quæ ex aliquo viscere læso vi externa exoriantur quales in nave sæpius quam alicubi accidere solent, ex præcipitiis & ex corpore colliso a molimine machinarum & tormentorum. – Prodest quoque in his casibus pulvis ipecacoanhæ compositus.

148

Hæc formula ex Pharmacopœia Nosocomii Sti. Thomæ deprompta est.

149

Hæc est quam proxime formula a Cl. Mead legata Nosocomio Sti. Thomæ ubi olim munere medici functus est, & ibi ex eo tempore usque hodie feliciter in hydrope adhibita est.

150

Cl°. Huck Saunders qui dyspnœâ hydropicâ laboravit ipse, auxilio notabili erat hoc medicamentum. In talibus malis interdum summopere prodest decoctum digitalis purpureæ, ut medicus supra memoratus in suo casu compertus est. – Vid. Medical Transactions, Vol. III.

151

Vide Cl. Pringle in opere suo de morbis castrensibus.

152

Hujus doctrinæ auctor est Hippocrates, quæ restaurata est auctaque a Cl. Milman in opusculo suo de hydrope.

153

Hæc methodus medendi quæ æque efficax ac simplex est, primo excogitata fuit a Cl. Georgio Fordyce medico nosocomii Sti. Thomæ, ubi & ipse felicissimo cum successu eandem expertus sum, in muneribus meis ibi fungendis.

154