retic, and evacuant kinds.

[Footnote 4: Then resident at Lichfield, now at Derby.]

On the 25th of _July_ I was desired to meet Dr. Darwin at the lady's
house. I found her nearly in a state of suffocation; her pulse
extremely weak and irregular, her breath very short and laborious, her
countenance sunk, her arms of a leaden colour, clammy and cold. She
could not lye down in bed, and had neither strength nor appetite, but
was extremely thirsty. Her stomach, legs, and thighs were greatly
swollen; her urine very small in quantity, not more than a spoonful at
a time, and that very seldom. It had been proposed to scarify her
legs, but the proposition was not acceded to.

She had experienced no relief from any means that had been used,
except from ipecacoanha vomits; the dose of which had been gradually
increased from 15 to 40 grains, but such was the insensible state of
her stomach for the last few days, that even those very large doses
failed to make her sick, and consequently purged her. In this
situation of things I knew of nothing likely to avail us, except the
Digitalis: but this I hesitated to propose, from an apprehension that
little could be expected from any thing; that an unfavourable
termination would tend to discredit a medicine which promised to be
of great benefit to mankind, and I might be censured for a
prescription which could not be countenanced by the experience of any
other regular practitioner. But these considerations soon gave way to
the desire of preserving the life of this valuable woman, and
accordingly I proposed the Digitalis to be tried; adding, that I
sometimes had found it to succeed when other, even the most judicious
methods, had failed. Dr. Darwin very politely, acceded immediately to
my proposition, and, as he had never seen it given, left the
preparation and the dose to my direction. We therefore prescribed as
follows:

R. Fol. Digital. purp. recent. [Symbol: ounce]iv. coque ex
Aq. fontan. purae [Symbol: pound]iss ad [Symbol: pound]i. et
cola.
R. Decoct. Digital. [Symbol: ounce]iss.
Aq. Nuc. Moschat. [Symbol: dram]ii. M. fiat. haust. 2dis horis sumend.

The patient took five of these draughts, which made her very sick, and
acted very powerfully upon the kidneys, for within the first
twenty-four hours she made upwards of eight quarts of water. The sense
of fulness and oppression across her stomach was greatly diminished,
her breath was eased, her pulse became