The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-07-02 00:00:00

pearances in diswtion ; in several casco which he had had
an opportunity'er inspecting, ho found the brain in general
paler than natural, and no turgescence of the vessels, the
lining membrane of the alimentary canal in a state of con-
gestion. In one which died suddenly, when under restraint,
a blood-vessel was found to be ruptured internally.
The thanks of the meeting were unanimously voted to Dr.
Baird for his excellent essay.
Dr. BAIRD communicated to the meeting a case in which
the carbonate of ammonia had cured an eruption of the skin,
with blood pouring from the eruptions, which had been oc-
casioned by excessive intoxication, produced by the drinking
of new runi. _ _ _ _ _

Dr. JEFFREYS stated that he still continued to have the
same good opinion of the plant matico, in external bleeding
vessels, as he had expressed last year, and fully expected fur-
ther information upon it, and probably further supplies, by
the arrival of a family from Valparaiso, in the course of this
very month of June ; but he regretted to say, that the wife of
the gentleman being seriously ill, their return to this coun-
try is fora time postponed. The genuine plant being only to
be had in quantities from Peru, and not in Chili, renders it
difficult to obtain it. Having, however, three sources from
whom he expects aid in procuring it, he still is in anxious
hopes of further supplies, sufficient to satisfy the demands of
his professional and inquiring friends.
Dr. KENDRICK said he had last year taken up, perhaps,
too much of their time by the introduction of questions aris-
ing out of small pox and vaccination. He had since fur-
nished the members of the Branch Association with a list of
queries, and he should now be happy if any gentleman had
any remark to make, or question to ask relative to those
queries. There was one thing he wished particularly to point
out, the necessity of ascertaining, with some degree of accu-
racy, the cause of the discordancy in the reports of fatal cases
of small pox occurring after vaccination. The army reports
calculated them at 12 per cent. ; Dr. Gregory first at 10, and
now at 7 ; Rouchoux at 1 per cent. ; Villeneuve at 1 in 61 ;
the Rev. Edward Sibson, the incumbent of Ashton, who had
taken great pains to come at an accurate calculation of what
had occurred in his own district, stated that the number of
deaths did not average more than one per cent. According
to his (Dr. K.'s) own experience, only one in two hundred
and fifty terminated fatally. This was a very material differ-
ence, and he was anxious to know to what cause it was to
be attributed ; for if such reports were not founded in
truth, they did great injury to the cause of vaccination with
the public. The Ist query was, were not a number of spu-
rious cases registered as genuine ? 2d, Was there any
thing in the particular locality in which those cases occur-
red? Next, Did they arise from the severity of the prevail-
ing epidemic ? Next, Did they arise from any peculia-
rity of constitution in the individuals where the decease
proved fatal ? Another, and more important question was,
did the fatal consequeneea arise from any peculiarity in the
mode of treatment? He had heard of a number of cases at
a distance, In which the event had proved fatal, and he had
observed in all of them that one mode of treatment had been
adopted—the free evacuation of blood from the arm at the
commencement of the disease, arising probably from the
delirium with which the eruptive fever was attended, by
which the strength of the patients was so diminished as not
to carry them safely through the disease. It was his opinion
that the delirium attendant upon modified small pox was
that of celebral excitement—not celebral inflammation—and
that, therefore, bleeding was not necessary, but, perhaps,
injurious. The delirium in these cases was distinguishable,
first, by its early appearances; second, its occasional vio-
lence ' • and thirdly, by, the peculiar fcetor of the breath,
which was so remarkable as not to be mistaken.
Shortly after three o'clock the members present sat down
to a dinner embracing every luxury of the season. On the
withdrawal of the cloth the usual loyal toasts were drank
with the usual honours. " Success to the Newton branch
of the Association, and the health of Dr. Kendrick, its
founder." " Dr. Hastings the founder of the Parent Asso-
ciation," " Mr. M'Culloch, the late President," " the
Chairman and Vice-Chairman," together with hearty good
wishes for the success of the profession in Liverpool and
Manchester, together with some other toasts, equally well
adapted to the occasion, were afterwards drank. The com-
pany separated shortly after six o'clock.