FOTHERGILL. 187 late years appeared in this city, and in several parts of the nation." A disorder of this kind had lately caused much havoc, and not least among the higher orders of society. Two nephews of the Duke of Newcastle had fallen victims to it, and its progress excited great alarm. Here Fothergill found an opportunity for bringing his penetration to bear on a topic of new and imme- diate interest, and he availed himself to the ut- most of the favourable moment. He had observed that the methods of cure usually resorted to, such as bleeding, purging, and the medicines daily employed to remove inflammations, in ge- neral produced an injurious effect in this epi- demic. It was confounded in ordinary practice with the common sore throat, or inflammation of the tonsils. Our author carefully distin- guished the variety in the nature of the complaint, and in the progress of the symptoms, which were here usually of the typhoid kind, and pre- sented a disposition to gangrene in the parts affected. His practice was temperate, yet not guided by any exclusive views ; even gentle pur- gatives he found injurious, but clysters might be given, in case of constipation. A gentle emetic was often prescribed ; gargles, bark combined with the mineral acids, and various stimulants, formed the basis of the treatment. The Spanish physicians had pursued a somewhat similar plan in the visi- tations which they had experienced of this com- plaint. Fothergill uses the following expressions in summing up this subject : they will afford a specimen of his pathology. " The cause of this tendency (to putrefaction) is a putrid virus, or
