7th Pills as before, As yesterday. An with four grains of eruption on the skin. calomel. Mercury At night incessant in the ointment increased stools, with violent to half an pain in the belly; ounce. Warm bath. profuse sweat. At night an ounce of mercurial ointment, with two ounces calomel. 8th Pills, ointment & Incessant stools calomel as before. with violent pain; Warm bath thrice. at night with blood. At night two ounces Extreme debility. ointment, with four of calomel. 9th Medicines of the Stools innumerable; same kind, as many extremities as could be taken. cold, pulse scarce to be felt. 10th Death at one in the morning. From a consideration of this patient’s symptoms, in comparison with the quantity of mercury taken, it most evidently appears, that it acted in no other way than as an irritating poison; affecting, with extreme violence, the already diseased intestines, and, instead of exciting the vital powers of the whole system, manifestly destroying them. Let it not be imagined, however, that this case is selected from the rest merely because it was fatal, or because it affords an opportunity of finding fault with the practice recommended in the book. It is the only one in which the mercury had a fair trial; and even here it was not very fair, as being conjoined with a great quantity of opium. In the other cases, which terminated favourably, the mercury was overpowered by such horrible doses of opium, that we cannot tell which medicine had the greatest share in the cure; besides, that in other cases the patients were allowed the free use of wine, which we all know to be a powerful stimulant and cordial; but it is not said that the poor man, whose case is above related, had a single drop of wine, or any thing else, except opium, to support him against the action of such a violent medicine.