An Account of What Was Observ'd upon Opening the Corpse of a Person Who Had Taken Several Ounces of Crude Mercury Internally; And of a Plumb-Stone Lodg'd in the Coats of the Rectum. Communicated in a Letter from the Late Dr. Madden, Physician at Dublin, to Sir Hans Sloane, Bar. Pres. R. S.

X. An Account of what was observ'd upon opening the Corpse of a Person who had taken several Ounces of crude Mercury internally; and of a Plumb-Stone lodg'd in the Coats of the Rectum. Communicated in a Letter from the late Dr. Madden, Physician at Dublin, to Sir Hans Sloane, Bar. Pres. R. S. S I R, THE Internal Use of crude Mercury is become so frequent of late, that I believe it may produce some great Benefit to Mankind hereafter, if a careful Collection was made of all the extraordinary Cases relating to the good or bad Effects of this Practice. There are some Circumstances in the following Case, which were not owing to the internal Use of Mercury; yet there are many others which were undoubtedly occasioned by it. Some time ago I was present, with Dr. Robinson, and Mr. Nichols, our Surgeon-General, at the opening the Body of a Gentleman of Note in this Town, who, for several Years, had found great Difficulty in going to Stool. This Disorder increased upon him towards the latter End of his Life, and he was seized with a violent Distemper, of which I can give you no Description, having never attended him. In order to procure a Passage downward (which I suppose was a principal Complaint) he took, by the Advice of a Physician, since dead, several Ounces of crude Mercury, at different times, without any Relief, and at length died. Upon opening the Abdomen, which was very much distended, there burst forth a great Quantity of Wind, though the Guts and Stomach were not wounded. The Stomach was empty; and upon opening it we found the inner Coat very much inflamed from one End to the other. We observed in several Places of the small Guts, some scatter'd Grains of crude Mercury, and along with them we generally found a black gritty Powder, very like Æthiops Mineral, which was, without doubt, the Mercury changed into that Consistence. The Colon was distended, at its Origin, to twice the Thickness that an ordinary Man's Arm has about the Shoulder. This extraordinary Thickness extended itself about the Length of ten or twelve Inches; from hence it gradually decreased, and where it was attached to the Stomach, it had not above a third Part of that Size. It was much inflamed at its Origin, and contained at least six Quarts of liquid Excrement, in which we observed crude Mercury, and also some of the black Powder mentioned above. The Colon, where it parted from the Stomach, and diverged toward the left Kidney, adhered about about the Space of three Inches to the Omentum; and upon separating the Adhesion, we found an Abscess and Inflammation, which had communicated itself to those Parts of the Ileon, which were contiguous to the Colon. The Colon had in this Place a Perforation about three Quarters of an Inch in Diameter, and four smaller Perforations, about the Size of a Goose's Quill; through which some Excrement had passed into the Abdomen. The Coats of the Colon, as it approached the Intestinum rectum, began to grow scirrhouss, about the Space of six Inches, and the Capacity became gradually smaller. The Valves of the Colon, about this Place, were of a reddish Colour, and were more scirrhous than the other Parts of the Intestine. The Coats of the Colon, where it was continued to the Rectum, were at least half an Inch thick, and its Capacity was not above the fourth Part of the natural Size. Upon cutting the Gut horizontally hereabout, we perceived a Body which stopped the Passage, and seemed to the Touch almost of a cartilaginous Consistence. Having opened the Gut Lengthways, we found it was no more than two of the Valvulae Conniventes Coli, which were grown scirrhous, and were protruded downward into the Rectum. We also found a small Plumb-Stone in this Place, which was quite buried in the Tunica Villosa, and had made itself a Bed between the Coats of the Rectum. It had likewise formed a small Abscess, which discharged itself into the Cavity of the Pelvis, but had not any Communication with the Cavity of the Rectum. XI. Observatio Eclipseos Telluris Romæ habita in Ædibus Eminentissimi Cardinalis De-Via v. Non. i.e.d. 3 Maii, N. S. Apr. 22. V. S. MDCCXXXIV. per Didacum de Revillas, Abbat. Hieronym. R. S. S. & Andreae Celsius, R. S. S. Astron Profess. Upsal. R. S. Suec. Secr. Clarissimo Præstantissimoque Viro EUSTACHIO MANFREDIO, Didacus de Revillas, Abbas Hieronym. S. P. D. Tu æ erga me humanitatis, amorisque erga Te mei recordationem in animo tuo excitandi, Ornatißime Mansfredi, per opportunam suppeditat occasionem Solaris Deliquii Observatio, quam in jucunda, tibique jam dudum familiaris severiorum Musarum Diatriba, Ædibus nimirum Eminentissimi literatorum hominum Mœcenatis Cardinalis DE-VIA, divisis officiis una cum Doctissimo, tui-que amantissimo Andrea Celsius, Astron. Prof. Upsal. habuimus. Hanc ad Te mittendam communi con-