A Relation of an Idiot at Ostend; With Two Other Chirurgical Cases. By Mr. Claud. Amijand, in a Letter to Mr. Wilson: Communicated by Mr. de la Fage

I. A Relation of an Idiot at Ostend; with two other Chirurgical Cases. By Mr. Claud. Amijand, in a Letter to Mr. Wilson: Communicated by Mr. de la Fage. Ghent, January the 30th, N.S. 1708. 'TIS now about five Weeks, since an Idiot from his Infancy died at Ostend, the place of his Birth, in the 33d Year of his Age; his Death having been preceded with twelve Days continual remitting Fever, and a considerable Tumour and Pain about the Region of the Liver. His Brother, in whose House he had been a constant Dweller, being desirous to know the Cause of it, desired Mr. Ricks, an Eminent Surgeon, (who at that time had the Cure of me) to open him; but as the Aperture was to be perform'd gratis, he put it off, and sent his Son, likewise Master Surgeon of the same City, with his Servant; who did the Work in presence of the Brother of the Deceased and a Nun, brought thither by the desire of discovering the Cause of her Spitting or Vomiting of Blood, to which this Fellow had been very liable, (as well as to bloody Stoles) for six Weeks before his Death. A large Abscess or Imposthume was found in each Lobe of the Liver, whose Bulk did far exceed the ordinary Stint. The Brother was satisfied with this Discovery, and would have had the Surgeon to seek no further; but he was persuaded, at the pressing Solicitations of the Nun, to let the Stomach be opened, which was found extremely contracted and ponderous; and indeed it was thought no Wonder, when upon upon the aperture of it, was found a Bundle of the things following, closely involved and embraced by the Stomach, viz. Nine Cart-wheel Nails, and six lesser; a large and long Iron Screw; two pair of Compasses, the the one having a Circle two Inches in Diameter; a middle-size Key; a large Iron Pin, as big as my Thumb, and 4 Inches long, with a Ring at the end on't; another of Brass, but much less; the Handle of an Iron Spring-Knife, (swallow'd as 'tis believed intire, but the sides and two pieces making up the Spring of it, found asunder; the Pegs of the Knife, tying those several pieces together, were not found;) the upper and lowermost end of a Brass Pommel, inferiorto a Sea-coal Grate, weighing nine Ounces; a broad piece of Lead weighing three Ounces and a half: the whole consisting of 28 Pieces, weighing betwixt two and three Pounds. Some of these were lost, and mightily sought for by his Brother soon after the Siege of Ostend, and the rest at different Times since; they were found all in a Bundle with the largest Ends one way, and the smallest the other; the small End of one of the large Nails was so bent, that it would have made a perfect Circle, had not the very tip of that same Nail been bent back again; this End was forked and wonderfully sharp, as were likewise the Ends of the Compasses. None of the Pieces were found polish'd, neither cou'd I find the Brass nor the Lead any ways impair'd or endamaged; but the Iron pieces were extremely corroded, especially one of the Sides of the Knife, which had lain in the Stomach about 8 Months, was eaten quite thro' in two or three places, towards the Blade's End; and three or four Nails mightily endamaged did appear as if some particular Menstruum or Dissolvent had been poured upon them, capable only to dissolve that Metal, as Aq.regalis has the Property to dissolve Gold, Sp. Nitri Silver, Vinegar Lead, leaving those other Metals joined and alienated with them un touch'd: the Lead had lain in the Stomach about eight Months, and the Brass Pin above-mentioned above twelve. It was very easy to guess at the time those different pieces of Iron had been in the Stomach, in considering how much one piece had suffered more than the other. This Observation is like to give a check to the Notion of those who believed that Oltridges did dissolve Brass and Iron by Friction only; for if so, I see little reason why the Iron Branches of the Compasses should have been found so very much worn out, and the Brass Branches not in the least impair'd. Mr. Ricks's Son, who open'd him, told me, That the Stomach had been no ways wounded or indamaged; which does not appear to me probable, when the Patient was known to have vomited and evacuated Blood by Stole for six Weeks before he dyed, as I have already mention'd. It could have been wish'd the Gullet and Guts had likewise been open'd; for 'tis plain, some of the Pieces had passed the Pylorus, as the Pegs of the Knife; and perhaps some smaller Pieces than those that were found in the Stomach, might have been forc'd thither. It's necessary to remark, That this Fellow, from his Youth, had accustomed himself to swallow large Morsels, Glutton like, and without Chewing; which, no doubt, made the Passage of the Oesophagus wider, and disposed it to give Entrance to all those Extraneous Bodies. It may be also taken notice, That this Idiot, and sometimes Mad Fellow, was never known to Seep a Wink, tho' he was often compell'd to go to Bed, and had, to incline him to Sleep, been very much harrass'd and fatigu'd before: he was always known to eat three times as much as the rest of Mankind, and when furious, to grow quiet upon the approach of Meat. Mr. Vandenheyde, another famous Surgeon of Ostend, did procure me the sight of the largest Tumour I ever yet saw, which is the second Case I have promised to describe. This Tumour is of a Schirrous Nature, springing from the Thigh-bone, somewhat tending to that of a Cancerous. It first took its rise about two Years ago, in a Child of 10 Years Old, just above the Patella, without any evident cause, and hath, notwithstanding all possible care, expanded itself so, that it now occupies the whole Thigh to the very Groin, and has extended it to above a Dutch Yard in Circumference. As it increases very much daily, it must soon exhaust the Patient's Strength. The Surgeon intends to open him, and to make, after his Death, two Draughts, the one of the Tumour, and another of what he shall discover in the Dissection; and has promised to send them both to me with a Relation, to get inserted in Dr. Raych's Observations, with the former Account: If they keep their Word, I shall take care to have them communicated to you in time. Whilst I am upon these odd Cases, I can't but take notice of a very remarkable Fracture of the Skull, we had last Campaign in our Hospital here; it was in the interior part of the Squamoso Bone, and occasioned by a Splinter of a Fellow Soldier's Piece bursting, that struck him there. Some time had pass'd, before the Accidents made us suspect a Fracture, and obliged us to make a Triangular Incision upon the Temporal Muscle; a Fissure was discover'd, which indicated the Necessity of the Trepan. It was apply'd twice, the first not making room sufficient to extract a large piece of the internal Table very much depressed. After this all the Accidents disappear'd; but twelve Days after the Operation, Rigors, cold Sweats, an intermittent Pulse, and some other Signs of an approaching Death, did make us despair of the Recovery of our Patient. He died the 15th from the Operation, and about the 20th from his Wound. His Skull was open'd, and in it three very remarkable Fissures observed. The first had, notwithstanding the Sagittal Suture, cross'd from one Parietal-Bone to the other, as far as the Coronal Suture on that side opposite to the Wound; another had gone across the Coronal Bone; and the third was on the Parietal Bone on the side of the Wound, pretty near the Sutura Squamosa; but what is most singular, is that none of these Fissures did reach that, upon which the Trepan had been applied. An Empyema was found in the Thorax, and a considerable Impolitume in the Liver. II. Jo. Keill ex Æde Christi Oxoniensis, A. M. Epistola ad Clarissimum Virum Edmundum Halleium Geometriae Professorem Savilianum, de Legibus Vi- rium Centripetarum. HAUD oblitus es, uti arbitror, Vir Clarissime, te cum nuper eflles Oxonii, Theorema, quo Lex vis centripetae, Quantitatibus finitis exhiberi posset, mecum communicatæ: Quod Theorema tibi monstravit Egregius Mathematicus D. Abrahamus De Moivre, Dixitque Dominum Isaacum Newtonum, Theorema huic simile prius Invenisse. Cum autem ejus demonstratio perfacilis fit, Eam, itemque alia de eadem re cogitata, non possum tibi non impertire. Etsi minime dubitem, quin, si idem argumentum pertractare libuisset, tu accurrimo quo polles ingenij acumine, rem omnem penitus exhauste potuisse. THEO.