o avail. In the
operation of _February_ 23d, his strength was so much reduced, that
the water was not entirely removed; and on the 9th of March, before
his belly was half emptied, notwithstanding the most judicious
application of bandage, his debility was so great, that it was judged
prudent to stop. After being placed in bed, the faintness and sickness
continued; severe rigors ensued, and violent vomiting; these
vomitings continued through the night, and in the intervals he lay in
a state nearly approaching to syncope. The next day I found him with
nearly the same symptoms, but remarked that the quantity of fluid he
had thrown up was very much more than what he had taken, and that his
abdomen was considerably fallen; in the course of two or three days
more, he discharged the whole of the effused fluid; his strength and
appetite gradually returned, and he was in all respects much better
than he had been before the last operation.

Some time afterwards, his belly began to fill again, and he again
applied to me; upon an accurate examination, I judged the quantity of
fluid might then be about four or five quarts. Nature had pointed out
the true method of cure in this case; I therefore ordered him to bed,
and directed ipecacoanha vomits to be given night and morning: in two
or three days the whole of the water was removed by vomiting, for he
never purged, nor was the quantity of his urine increased; his
appetite and strength gradually returned; he never had any further
relapse, and is now an active healthy man. I must leave the reader to
make his own reflections on this singular case.

1780.

CASE XXVIII.

_January_ 11th. Captain V----, AEt. 42. Had suffered much from residing
in hot climates, and drinking very freely, particularly rum in large
quantity. He had tried many physicians before I saw him, but nothing
relieved him. I found him greatly emaciated, his countenance of a
brownish yellow; no appetite, extremely low, distressing fulness
across his stomach; legs and thighs greatly swollen; pulse quick, and
very feeble; urine in small quantity. As he had evidently only a few
days to live, I ordered him nothing but a solution of sal diureticus
in cinnamon water, slightly acidulated with syrup of lemons. This
medicine effecting no change, and his symptoms becoming daily more
distressing, I directed an infusion of Digitalis. A few doses
occasioned a copious