For the purpose of propitiating the favour of heaven, the alchymist stamped the figure of the cross upon the vessel, in which he expected to obtain the long sought prize that was to convert the baser metals into gold, whence the term _Crucible_ derived its origin. And when the experiments of chemistry began to be considered as the true tests of philosophical truth, the expression of “_Experimentum crucis_” was adopted to signify the highest degree of proof of which a subject is susceptible. Footnote 155: _Sydenham_ considered the occurrence of cholera, as a disease in England, to be confined to the month of August, at which time, says he, it appears as certainly as swallows in the early spring, or cuckows at the approach of summer; but he himself observed it to appear sometimes towards the end of summer, when the season was unusually warm; and that the violence of the disease was in proportion to the degree of heat. _Note. Mrs. Downing_ died in November, and _Miss Burns_, whose case is so frequently alluded to in this work, in March. Footnote 156: Youths and adults are more generally affected than children and old persons. Footnote 157: _Sydenham_ describing the violent symptoms of cholera concludes by observing, “and such like symptoms as frighten the by-standers, and kill the patient in 24 hours.” Syd. Sect. iv, c. 2. It must be remembered that _Sydenham_ is here describing an extreme case. The unfortunate _Mrs. Downing_ (see Appendix, p. 277) died in fourteen hours! Footnote 158: See the case of _Mr. Robert Turner_, poisoned by _Eliz. Fenning_, as related by _Mr. Marshall_. Footnote 159: See _Baillie’s_ Morbid Anatomy. Footnote 160: Opera Omnia Ch. iv, p. 34. Footnote 161: De Causis et Signis. Lib. 1, c. 7. Footnote 162: De Abdit. rerum Causis. Lib. ii, c. 15. Footnote 163: De Sedibus, &c. Epist. 59, n. 16. Footnote 164: Anthropolog: Forens. p. 523. Footnote 165: De Signis Veneni dati Diagnosticis, n. 8. Footnote 166: M. R. S. T. iv, p. 3, c. 8. Footnote 167: Med. Forens. p. 169. Footnote 168: Cours de Med. Leg. p. 248. Footnote 169: Nouveau Ellem. de Therapeutiq. T. 1, p. 408. Footnote 170: Med. Leg. T. 2, p. 225 Footnote 171: Med. Leg. T. ii, p. 260. Footnote 172: Œuvres de Medecine, T. 1, p. 69. Footnote 173: De Cholica Pictonum, p. 37. Footnote 174: See also _Sloane MSS._ Brit. Mus. 330: 9135. “_Venenum potest generari in corpore._” Footnote 175: Observations on Apparent Death from Drowning, &c. by _James Currie_, M.D. p. 156. Footnote 176: We are informed by _Tortosa_ (Istituzioni di Med. For. vol. ii, p. 62) that a work has been published by a celebrated physician of Verona, Rotario, in which the author attempts to establish a diagnosis by which these symptoms may be distinguished. (Opere Med. p. 116.) We have not been so fortunate as to obtain a sight of this work. Footnote 177: