Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. Pr. R. S. His Answer to the Marquis de Caumont's Letter, concerning This Stone; Translated from the Latin by Tho. Stack, M. D. F. R. S.

ceived on the Extremities of some of the Branches, are a new Proof of this Conjecture. The Stone happening afterwards to loosen itself, may have occasioned to the Patient all those Symptoms that befell him at last, and afterwards Death itself. This Opinion may appear extraordinary to able Lithotomists, and I willingly submit it to their better Understanding. Salien, Surgeon. VI. Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. Pr. R. S. his Answer to the Marquis de Caumont's Letter, concerning this Stone; translated from the Latin by Tho. Stack, M.D. F.R.S. My LORD, I Am extremely obliged for the Favour of your Lordship's Letter, and the inclosed Figure and Account of a Stone taken out of the Bladder; which is so singular, that among some Hundreds of those in my Possession, I have not any that comes near it. Once indeed I had under my Care a Gentleman between sixty and seventy Years of Age, who had extraordinary Difficulties in making Water, and an Inconvenience even beyond that; which was, that he could not sit in an ordinary Chair without suffering extremely in the Region of the Peritoneum. With the Help of lenient soft Medicines and Waters, he voided by the Urethra a Stone, which was flat in the Middle, and smooth, but had five Points, resembling the Rowel of of a Spur. The Points of the Rays were sharp, but there were no Asperities or Crystallizations on their Surfaces. It was small, so as after many Days to pass along the Urethra: But if it had not passed through the Neck of the Bladder, but remain'd in the Bladder, it would, in all Probability, have attracted Matter to all the Points or Rays, and increased in all Dimensions. It is very common, that when any extraneous solid Substance gets into the Bladder, there is either attracted to it, or adheres to and surrounds it, a tartareous calculous Concretion, which assumes the Figure of the said Body now in its Centre, as a Nucleus. There was a Soldier cut in St. Thomas's Hospital, London, for the Stone, which, when taken out, was found to cover a Musquet-bullet, that had been shot into his Bladder, where it was cover'd by a calculous Concretion. I have a silver Bodkin, which a Gentlewoman used for her Hair; and thinking with it to thrust back a Stone that was engaged in the Neck of her Bladder, it slipp'd into it, and the calculous Matter gather'd on the larger End into a Stone of an oblong Figure, and equal Thickness, of half an Inch all round the Bodkin. I have likewise a common Pin, which by some means or other had got into the Bladder of a young Woman, and was there coated all over by a calculous Matter; but having occasion'd a fistulous Ulcer in her Groin, it was discharged thence with the Matter of the Fistula. It is in this manner that Bezoars are formed: for I have the common East-India Bezoars, which are roundish, roundish, and have in their Centres the Seeds of a sort of *Acacia*, which had attracted, or was coated over by that Substance, esteem'd a great Cordial or *Alexipharmac*; while others are long, and are gather'd in Layers or Coats upon the Stalks of Vegetables. And I have one form'd round the Stone of that great Plum, which comes pickled from thence, and is called *Mango*. As to the Asperities or Prickles on the Rays, they are taken notice of, so long since as the Time of *Cornelius Celsus*, who, *Lib. VII. c. 26.* calls them *Calculi Spinosi*. It may seem very strange and paradoxical, what I can assure your Lordship is true, that the fewer the Knobs, Asperities or Prickles are on the Surface of *Calculi*, the more troublesome they are to the Persons in whose Bladders they lie. Dr. *Hickes*, a very learned Divine here, and deservedly famous for his Knowledge in Antiquities and the Northern Languages, was the most tormented with the Stone in his Bladder of any I ever knew, especially upon any Motion. He would not submit to be cut for the Distemper, upon the account of his Age, and many other Reasons; but order'd his Executors, that he should be open'd after Death, and the Stone taken out of his Bladder, put into a silver Box, and given to me, who had been his Physician for many Years, to place it in my Collection of such kind of Curiosities. What is very particular in this Stone, is, that the Protuberances and Prickles upon it were few, and at a Distance from each other. Every one of them had made a Hole in his Bladder, like a Sheath or Socket; and when, upon Motion, they were removed out of their corresponding sponding Sheaths, they hurt the Bladder in the sound Parts, and put him upon the Rack of Pain. When they are thick-set, one hinders the other from entering or wounding so deep; and perhaps gets not much farther than the Mucus which lines the Inside of the Bladder. I hope your Lordship will pardon my not answering your Letter sooner: ***By the hasty Account of several Matters of Fact and Observations that occur'd to my Memory, relating to the Subject of that very uncommon Stone, you will see, that I am very far from being able to satisfy you about its odd Figure, or say any thing better on the Causes of it, than your Lordship, or the skilful and accurate Surgeon who attended the Patient, have thought reasonable. However, by this it will appear, that I am extremely glad upon every Occasion to shew the greatest Respect, with which I have the Honour to be, My LORD, Your Lordship's Most humble and most obedient Servant, Hans Sloane.