A Letter from Mr. Woollcombe, Surgeon at Plymouth Dock, to Dr. Huxham, F. R. S. concerning the Case of a Locked Jaw

Caution is requisite, that the beads, in sealing the bowl at top, do not adhere thereto, being thereby very liable to break in boiling, or after: likewise the rounds should not touch one the other, being liable therefrom to the same inconvenience. I have made some with three rounds, but find them not better than with two. A diagonal one may be constructed in the same manner, thence capable of being removed from place to place. I am, My Lord, Your Lordship's, And the learned Society's, Very humble and obliged servant, E. Spry. XIII. A Letter from Mr. Woollcombe, Surgeon at Plymouth Dock, to Dr. Huxham, F. R. S. concerning the Case of a Locked Jaw. Read March 7, 1765. According to your desire, I have sent you the case of the locked jaw I lately had under my care. On Saturday June 2, in the afternoon, I was sent for to a poor woman, who an hour or two before had been taken with an oppression oppression at her breast, attended with a slight pain in her side, and at the same time complained of a soreness in her jaws, and a little difficulty in swallowing; as I then took it to be only a common cold, she had fourteen ounces of blood drawn off, and some nitrous medicines sent her. Upon visiting her the next morning, I found her relieved as to her breast and side, but her jaw was fixed, and almost closed, with a very great difficulty of swallowing. Upon a further enquiry, and short reflexions, I was soon convinced, she had, that terrible symptom, a locked jaw. As this disorder is more frequently the consequence of external injuries than from internal causes, I enquired whether she had any kind of wound, or cut; and was told, that about eight days before a rusty nail had run into the bottom of her foot; and though the wound was painful for two or three days, yet it was cured by their own applications, and had been well four days before she was taken with the above complaints. I therefore examined the foot, and found it quite whole, though upon pressing the tendons of the foot she expressed a little uneasiness. I now endeavoured to relieve this terrible malady; as the blood drawn the preceding day, was of a firm texture, and her pulse full and tense, I took away fourteen ounces, which proved fizzy; and having procured some stools, gave her an anodyne of forty drops of T. Thebaica, in a very small vehicle, which she swallowed with great difficulty. I then applied a large blister to her back, but without any relief. Soon after she was seized with frequent convulsions, which for the time deprived her of her senses; and tho' in the intervals they were quite perfect, perfect, and her jaw not quite so shut, but a little might be put into her mouth by a teaspoon; yet so great were the spasms, that she never after could swallowing any thing; and in this manner she continued, with short remission of the spasms, till two o'clock the next day, Monday 4th, when death put an end to her misery. I have been since told, that an hour before she died, she could open her jaw, at which she seemed to be greatly rejoiced; but it was of a short duration, the convulsions again returning, and a universal one carried her off. Give me leave to make an observation on the case, which I submit to your better judgment. That a locked jaw should often be the consequence of an external wound, is nothing new, several cases having happened that put it beyond doubt; but that symptoms should come on after a slight contused wound that had been cured for four or five days; and make such a rapid progress, as to carry off the patient, in little more than forty-eight hours after the first appearance of the symptoms, is very remarkable. We are certainly much in the dark, in regard to the nervous system; but I think it a strong presumption, that from the first impression of the nail, the nerves were so peculiarly affected, that, though the irritation was not sufficient to hinder the external wound from healing, yet it might be sufficient to dispose them to suffer those violent agitations, which ended so fatally. On the other hand, is there any reason to conclude, that it was from an inward affection of the nervous system; the wound being well, and the woman able to walk about and manage her family matters? If the above case is worthy of your mature reflexions, it will be a great satisfaction to, SIR, Your most humble servant, Tho. Woollcombe. XIV. A Description of a beautiful Chinese Pheasant; the Feathers and Drawing of which were sent from Canton to John Fothergill, M.D. F.R.S. By Mr. George Edwards, F.R.S. Read March 7, 1765. THE Argus is a species of the pheasant, the largest of that genus yet known, being equal in size to a full-grown turkey-cock, from one of the most northern provinces of China. I take it to be a male bird, by the beautiful red skin on the fore-part of the head, and its fine blue changeable crest and neck; the females of all the different species of pheasants yet discovered having little or no gaudy colours about their heads. The beak is made like that of our pheasant, of a yellowish-white colour: the fore-part of the head, and the beginning of the throat, is covered with a fine scarlet skin, seemingly void of feathers, but is rough with a kind of grain. The irides of the eyes are orange-coloured, more yellow next the pupil, and redder