A Letter from Mr. John Ferguson, Surgeon, to William Chiselden, Esq; Surgeon to Chelsea College, F. R. S. &c. Containing an Account of the Extirpation of Part of the Spleen of a Man

III. A Letter from Mr. John Ferguson, Surgeon, to William Chiselden, Esq; Surgeon to Chelsea College, F. R. S. &c. containing an Account of the Extirpation of part of the Spleen of a Man. SIR, Strabane, Feb. 18. 1734-5. THOUGH I have not the Honour to be known to you, I make bold to trouble you with the following Case, which lately happen'd in my Practice. I imagine it uncommon; for though you have taken the Spleen out of a Dog, without any remarkable Inconvenience; yet it has never been attempted, that I know of, in a human Body. I assure you the Affair is literally true, and, if required, could have it attested by several who were Eye-witnesses. As I believe you to be a Gentleman that is curious, and fond of any Discovery that is new, I flatter myself you will not be offended with the Freedom I now take; and that if you think this worth your Notice, you will be pleas'd to favour me with your Opinion of it, and whether you have known such a Case happen before. This will add to the Obligations I acknowledge myself under to you, for the Benefit I have already received from your Writings, which I greatly esteem, and am with the greatest Respect, Dear SIR, Your most obedient, humble Servant, John Ferguson. ON the 5th of January last, I was called to Thomas Conway, who had received a Wound with a Skane or great Knife, which went through the muscular part of his Fore-Arm, and into the Left Hypochondrium; it was 24 Hours after he had receiv'd the Wound before I saw him (living 12 Miles distant from me). I found the Spleen out at the Wound, and that what by pressing and thrusting of it with the Fingers, endeavouring to return it into its Place, which they that were about him could not accomplish, and by being so long exposed to the Air, it was quite cold, black and mortified. I consider'd that cutting away the mortified Part, must be attended with the greatest Danger, and was, to me, an unprecedented Case; yet that the Patient must inevitably die, if it was not done: I therefore made a Ligature with a strong wax'd Thread, above the unsound Part, and cut off three Ounces and a half of the Spleen: Notwithstanding the Ligature, there was a pretty large Artery that sprung with great Violence, which I immediately tied up; and, after bathing all the Parts with warm Wine, I return'd the remaining part of the Spleen into its Place, leaving the Ends of the Threads out of the Wound, to draw them away by when they should digest off, which they did on the 10th Day, and came away with the Dressings: I dress'd the Wound with Digestives, and the Abdomen was stuped twice a Day with an emollient Fomentation, and after stuping it was always malaxated with an emollient Liniment, which he told me always gave him Ease. What he most complain'd of, was that he could not make Water, for which I every Day gave him a Carminative Clyster, which kept his Belly from swelling; and and always when the Clyster came away, he got some Water made along with it: This Symptom went off on the seventh or eighth Day. He is now perfectly well recover'd, following his Business, and finds no Inconvenience from the want of the Part of the Spleen which he lost. The Wound through his Arm was also quickly cured. IV. A Letter from Benjamin Cook, F. R. S. to Peter Collinson, F. R. S.: concerning a Ball of Sulphur supposed to be generated in the Air. Newport (Isle-Wight) July 9. 1733. Dear SIR, The great Heats we have lately suffer'd, were usher'd in by a very gloomy Night of almost continual Lightning, accompanied with very loud Claps of Thunder, which, as usual, were towards the Morning follow'd by very heavy Showers of Rain. Early next Day, in a Meadow near the Sea-shore, far from any House, and where it has not been known that any Improvement has been carried on, a Husbandman found a beautiful yellow Ball lying on the Turf, which he gladly took up, in hopes it would well reward him for stooping. But it prov'd to be of Sulphur, of which it smelt uncommonly strong. It was frosted, as it were, all over with an Efflorescence of fine, shining, yellowish Crystals, which soon fell off with the lightest Touch.