Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part I. For the year 1757. · Various
SIR,
ABOUT three weeks ago I put into your hands an extract of a letter, I had then received from Dr. Whytt, containing a postscript to his _Observations on Lord_ Walpole’_s Case_; and slightly mentioning some doubts he had then about the justness of Dr. Springsfeld’s experiments with lime-water, from some trials he himself had made, upon reading that gentleman’s curious treatise on the extraordinary lithontriptic quality of the waters at Carlsbad in Bohemia. Within these few Days, Dr. Whytt having favoured me with a full account of those experiments, I have herewith sent you his paper, in order, if you please, to lay it before the Society; which the author desires may be done, in case these observations should be judged useful. The other paper inclosed was sent me by the same hand, to be likewise presented to the Society, as a well-attested instance of the electrical power in the cure of a palsy. To the other testimonies I have subjoined what Dr. Whytt says in his letter to me, by way of strengthening the evidence. I shall only add, that since Mr. Brydone, the author of this account, has omitted telling how long the patient has continued in perfect health since the operation, it appears she must have been well for some months before the date of his paper; because, before the end of last summer, Dr. Whytt transmitted the same case to me, which I then returned, in order to have it drawn up in a fuller manner, and with other vouchers besides the gentleman, who performed the cure. The Doctor has been so good as to comply with my request, having procured a more ample account of the circumstances from Mr. Brydone, and the attestation of two ministers, besides that of the patient herself.[200] My difficulties being thus removed, I believe I may now with freedom offer this very curious case to the attention of the Society.
I am, SIR, Your most obedient humble Servant, John Pringle. _Postscript to Dr._ Whytt’_s Observations on Lord_ Walpole’_s Case_[201]. [Read Dec. 8, 1757.] “I Do not know, if it be worth while to observe, that lately, in making some experiments with different _calculi_, there was one almost as white as chalk, but of a less hard substance than the others; and which was not in the least degree dissolved or softned by being infused 20 days in oystershell lime-water, but yielded somewhat to a solution of Spanish soap in common water. From this experiment one may conclude, that it is better to prescribe both soap and lime-water for the stone, than any one of them alone; and that if one of these remedies has failed of giving relief, the other ought to be tried: for as the above white _calculus_, which yielded a little to the solution of soap, resisted lime-water; so there may perhaps be others, that are readily dissolved by lime-water, but little affected by soap. Dr. Springsfeld’s experiments with lime-water are somehow not just; for in several _calculi_ I have found the dissolving power of oystershell lime-water above eight times greater than he makes it.” _Some Observations on the lithontriptic Virtue of the_ Carlsbad _Waters, Lime-water, and Soap: In a Letter to Dr._ John Pringle, _F.R.S. from Dr._ Robert Whytt, _F.R.S. and Professor of Medicine in the University of_ Edinburgh. [Read Dec. 15, 1757.]
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