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Carrick, they must necessarily pass by the green spot in the mountain which had appeared in his dream. A number of witnesses came forward; and the proofs were so strong, that the jury, without hesitation, found the panel guilty. It was remarked, as a singularity, that he happened to be tried and sentenced by his namesake, Sir George Caulfield, at that time lord chief justice of the King's Bench,* which office he resigned in the summer of the year 1760.

After sentence, Caulfield confessed the fact. It came out, that Hickey had been in the West Indies two and twenty years; but falling into a bad state of health, he was returning to his native country, Ireland, bringing with him some money his industry had acquired. The vessel on board which he took his passage was, by stress of weather, driven into Minehead. He there met with Frederick Caulfield, an Irish sailor, who was poor, and much distressed for clothes and common necessaries. Hickey, compassionating his poverty, and finding he was his countryman, relieved his wants, and an intimacy commenced between them. They agreed to go to Ireland together; and it was remarked on their passage, that Caulfield spoke contemptuously, and often said, it was a pity such a puny fellow as Hickey should have money, and he himself be without a shilling. They landed at Waterford, at which place they stayed some days, Caulfield being all the time supported by Hickey, who bought there some clothes for him. The assizes being held in the town during that time, it was afterwards recollected that they were both at the court-house, and attended the whole of a trial of a shoemaker, who was convicted of the murder of his wife. But this made no impression on the hardened mind of Caulfield; for the very next day he perpetrated the same crime on the road 'betwixt Waterford and Carrick-on-Suir, near which town Hickey's relations lived.

He walked to the gallows with a firm step, and undaunted countenance. He spoke to the multitude who surrounded him; and, in the course of his address, mentioned that he had been bred at a charter-school, from which he was taken, as an apprenticed servant, by William Izod, Esq. of the county of Kilkenny. From this station he ran away on being corrected for some faults, and had been absent from Ireland six years. He confessed also, that he had several times intended to murder Hickey on the road between

(* Frederick Caulfield was tried and found guilty at the Waterford assizes, before the Lord Chief Justice Saint George Caulfield, (not Sir George,) on July 25, 1759, and executed on Wednesday, the 8th of August following. See Gent. Mag for August, 1788. . ]

Waterford and Portlaw; which, though in general not a road much frequented, yet, people at that time continually coming in sight, prevented him.

Being frustrated in all his schemes, the sudden and total disappointment threw him, probably, into an indifference for life. Some tempers are so stubborn and rugged, that nothing can affect them but immediate sensation. If to this be united the darkest ignorance, death, to such characters, will hardly seem terrible, because they can form no conception of what it is, and still less of the consequences that

Yours, &c. 1787, Dec.

A. LL.

may follow.

LXXIX. Influence of particular Studies with respect to Longevity.

MR. URBAN A GENTLEMAN who has made the tour of Europe, and is a minute inquirer into the different modes of life in different countries, has observed with great attention the infuence of particular studies and pursuits on the health and long life of the professors. He finds that all, or many of those who study the more refined arts, particularly music, are in general of great age. He means those who are real admirers and artists, from true feelings of its powers to sooth and compose the mind to peace and serenity, and who have distinguished themselves by celebrated works and composi, tions. As to mere mechanical performers, their lives are in general shortened by dissipation and debauchery. Among the real admirers and composers, he gives remarkable instances in his own country, as well as Italy, Germany, and other parts, and instances the following professors and dilettanti :

Geminiani, 80 and upwards. Tartini, ditto. Antoniotto, ditto. Leveridge, 90. Mr. St. André, ditto. Corelli, 96. Handel, 75. Old Cervetto, 95 and upwards. Hasse, 86. Farinelli, 90. Faustina, 80. Dr. Creighton, 90. Alessandro Scarlatti, 87. Dr. Pepusch, 85. Rosingrave, sen. ditto. Old Tallis, ditto. Several of the Harrington family, 80, Colonel Blaythwayte, 80. The elder Bach, in Germany, 80, Sir Robert Throckmorton, with many more at this time abroad, of distinguished abilities and ages. Dr. Child, 91, Dr. Blow, 60. Dr. Holder, 82. Stanley, 70, and upwards, Dr. Arne, about 74. Keeble, about 73. Dr. Boyce, ditto. Sir John Hawkins, about 80.

He has made the same observation as to many mathematicians, Newton, Flamsteed, Leibnitz : and remarks, that all those who have pursued studies attended with controversy, or disagreeable political contentions, have either died early, or, if old, have impaired their faculties to idiotcy-Swift, Warburton, and many others. Voltaire's chearful engagements secured his longevity, as nothing rufled his complacency. And he concludes his remarks with equanimitas est sala felicitas. 1789, June.

HISTORICUS.

LXXX. Dr. Stukeley on the Gout. MR. URBAN, I HAVE just been reading Dr. Stukeley's “ Letter to Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. about the cure of the gout by oils externally applied,” third edition, 8vo. 1740. The very great success, that the Doctor asserts, from his own experience, attended this simple and easy method of treating this “opprobrium medicorum,” this cruelly tedious disease, naturally prompts me to ask any of your experienced medical friends, whether the same success has continued to attend this mode of treatment through a lapse of fifty years, a period sufficient to justly appreciate the value of any

medi, cal discovery

The Doctor repeatedly asserts, that he had frequently reduced fits of usually three or four months continuance to as many weeks; and, even during that time by these oils, had vastly alleviated the tortures of the truly pitiable podagrics. The oils were the invention of Dr. Rogers, who at that time resided at Stamford, as well as Dr. Stukeley, and whose sufferings under the disorder produced the composition so strenuously recommended. Dr. Rogers, it seems, ihought it necessary to keep the remedy a secret, and it was sold as a nostrum under the name of “ Dr. Rogers's Oils for the Gout.” We have no further hints in the letter of what they consisted, other than that they were a “composition of warm oils,” which were to be well rubbed on the parts affected, before a fire, once or twice daily, and that their effects in alleviating the pain, and shortening the fit, were wonderful.

From their effects Dr. Stukeley has, in this pamphlet, given us (at that time) a new theory of the gout. He asserts the disorder to be an effort of nature to expel from the habit a fiery venom, and that she chuses the joints as the properest parts, on account of the synovial or oil-glands there situated, that the tortures attending the fiery drop or venom might be mitigated as far as nature admits; but, by repeated attacks, the oil-glands gradually failing in their supplies, the violence of the fits generally increases, until the poor cripple's joints are in a manner burnt, dried up, and filled

up

with a chalk or lime-like matter. And hence the Doctor argues, that the artificial application of proper oils supplies the defect of nature, and, as far as possible, miti. gates the disorder. I ought to add that, along with the oils, the Doctor strongly enforces temperance, a due regard to keeping the body open, and a discreet use of opiates when the violence of the pain renders them necessary.

This is a concise, though imperfect, sketch of his theory and treatment. Those who chuse to consult his work will see it at large, and more fully stated.

This theory appears rational and deserving attention. The Doctor's plan of forming theories of diseases from the effects of remedies, rather than applying remedies on fanciful theories, seems the surer ground, and worthy the attention of medical practitioners. I know not whether any nostrum is now sold under the name of Dr. Rogers’s Oils; but

; if this sketch tends to revive an useful remedy, or is the means of alleviating the sufferings of any one, I shall rejoice; nor will a column or two of your valuable work be occupied in vain. We can scarcely live to a nobler purpose than using our best endeavours to lighten the distress of suffering humanity.

M. F.

1790, Oct.

LXXXI. Hops not so good as formerly, and a Remedy proposed. MR. URBAN,

Lynton, Jan. 21. I FIND it is an opinion in this country, that hops are not so good now as they were formerly, and that more are now required to make beer keep than were sufficient many years ago. So far I find is fact, that Sir Jonas Moore, and other writers about brewing, who lived a hundred years ago, order much fewer hops than are now generally put in ; and they say the beer will be too bitter if you put in more. I allow about half as many more as we used to do forty years since,

a

a

these parts.

but do not find more effect from them. Some old people have said, that good hops should be full of seeds : if they mean by that, large plump seeds, I believe there are hardly any such things now. I have once or twice met with a few odd ones, round, plump, and larger than white mustard ; those, I suppose, had been accidentally perfected by some male hop near them; but the common hop seeds are lean, skinny, and imperfect.

If it be true that hops are degenerated, I think it must arise from some wrong practice in cultivating them; for I suppose right management will rather tend to improve plants than make them worse. What this wrong method is, may perhaps be explained in the following manner :

In most kinds of plants there is contained, in the same blossom, a male part, which scatters dust, and a female part, which stands on the top of the seed-vessel. This is the case in fruit blossoms, cowslips, pease, and most other sorts of flowers; and the Linnæan botany divides plants into classes according to the number and situation of each of

But in some sorts of plants these two parts grow in different places on the same plant. The catkins which appear in January are the male parts of a nut-tree, and are full of dust; the female parts are scarlet threads, which come out of the top of many of the buds at the same time. The catkins soon scatter their dust, and fall off; and when the bunches of nuts appear in June, they come out of those buds which have had the scarlet threads, of which there are still some remains. The false blossoms of cucumbers and melons are the male part, the fruit blossoms are the female. Indian wheat (maize) has a reed-like top, which scatters dust, and is the male part; the ear, which is the female part, comes out at the bottom of the stalk, covered close up with leaves, to preserve the grain from insects; and many flas-like threads come out of the top of it, each of which stands at the top of the several grains of corn. So far a single plant is capable of bearing good seeds, because the male and female parts both grow out of the same root.

But there are some plants of a different kind, where the male and female parts grow upon different roots; the seeds of these will not be perfected unless a male and female plant grow near together. So the male spinach scatters its dust, and soon dies; the female lasts longer, grows larger, and bears seed. The case is the same with hemp; the male is the smallest, full of dust, and is pulled up before the fewale hemp comes to perfection, and bears its seed. Sallows

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