from the scene of action. On the attack of Dieskan's troops upon the encampment the same day, he was incessantly engaged in dressing the wounded, and administering medicine for their relief, and he was constantly exposed to the fire of the enemy, and their bullets continually whistled about his ears. Dieskan was wounded in the bladder at this time, and taken prisoner. Of this wound he ultimately died in France. Dr. Williams dressed his wound, and attended upon him while he remained in camp. He afterwards fell under the care of a French surgeon. The Baron, while at Albany, expressed his regret that he could not have the attendance of Dr. Williams, as he believed he would have cured him. In 1756, he held the office of Lieutenant Colonel in one of the regiments at Lake George.

Dr. Williams always had an extensive practice in his profession. I have often heard our aged people speak of him with great respect and love. He was the only surgeon in his day in this part of the country. His ride was very extensive; of course his practice was extremely laborious. Dr. Pynchon, of Springfield, and Dr. Mather, of Northampton, were his cotemporaries. These were the principal physicians in the old county of Hampshire, which then included the county of Berkshire. He was often called into the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, even as far as Claremont, several miles north of Charlestown, which was then called No. 4. His practice as a surgeon must have been very considerable. He procured all the important instruments which were then used in the profession. His reading must have been extensive. He sent to Europe for the most approved authors in the profession of medicine; and his miscellaneous and literary library, it is believed, was not surpassed in this section of the country. He left to his children, besides many other most valuable works, a large edition of the Universal History, and twenty or thirty volumes of the London Magazine, one of the best works then extant.

He was held in high estimation not only as a man, but as a magistrate. He held the office of Justice of the Peace under the crown, and also that of Judge of Probate, and for many years he

held the office of town clerk, and many other important offices in the town. He educated several students in the profession of medicine, who became eminent and useful physicians. He was a firm believer in the truth of the doctrines of the christian religion, but not in the dogmas, or corruptions of it. He was a member of the Rev. Mr. Ashley's church, and was on terms of friendship with him. His death was occasioned by a quick consumption, brought on by a severe cold which he caught in the discharge of his professional duties. It happened on the 28th of September, 1775, in the 58th year of his age. May his descendants emulate his virtues, and imitate his good examples.

CC

ARTICLE XII.

OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

NATURE AND TREATMENT OF

CYNANCHE TRACHEALIS.

BY CHARLES MACOMBER,
Fellow of the Society.

The disease is an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx, sometimes extending into the trachea and its ramifications. The shrill sound of the voice in this malady, resembling the sound of air passing through a brazen tube, probably arises from a spasm of the parts, not unfrequently inducing suffocation. Mere inflammation in some irritable habits may produce this suffocating spasm; but more commonly the inflammation is followed by the formation of a preternatural membrane, consisting of either mucus, or lymph, evaporated to some degree of dryness by the heat of surrounding parts. This extraordinary membrane may com

pletely line the larynx and trachea, or merely cover them in portions. In every instance, however, it must operate in some degree as an extraneous substance; by its dryness and unyielding nature must increase the inflammation and cough; and, if the disease be not arrested in its progress, must induce the suffocating and the fatal spasm. This malady is an enemy rapid in his march, and sometimes ere we can collect our scattered thoughts, will have planted his standard within the citadel of life, and have done his horrid work. A violent disease is naturally supposed to require a violent remedy. The medicinal agent, however, to be proposed as a remedy in this complaint is exceedingly mild. In truth it is no new medicine. The mode of application merely is new. The remedy is calomel, given in thick syrup, or in molasses simply, in very small and very frequently repeated doses, with the design that the fauces should for a length of time remain constantly smeared by the preparation.* The quantity of calomel administered within a limited time has been such as the patient could well bear without excessive purging. With this remedy no other medicine has usually been united, except ung. hydrargyri, applied externally to the throat. In no instance has ptyalism been produced; and,

In bad cases of croup a little of the calomel has been exhibited every half minute. The medicine has generally been given in larger quantities at first than afterward; but never in such quantities as to have a powerful and long continued action on the bowels.

404 DR. MACOMBER ON CYNANCHE TRACHEALIS.

since the writer adopted this mode of cure, though he has been situated on the sea coast, and has, within twenty years past seen numerous cases of what appeared to be cynanche trachealis, in no instance has he seen a fatal case.

A wish to produce an increased secretion of mucus from the muciparous glands of the fauces, larynx and trachea led to this mode of applying calomel. It was supposed, if the discharge of mucus from these glands could be expeditiously increased, that the mucus or lymph within the larynx would not become exsiccated in such a degree by the heat of the parts as to form the preternatural membrane, or what has been improperly called by some, the fatal membrane. In agreement with this theory the writer has frequently seen all the distressing symptoms gradually disappearing within an hour from the time of commencing the frequent exhibitions of calomel; and in a short time the disease has entirely vanished. He has not always however been thus fortunate. He has not unfrequently seen cases, in which the cough continued for a week, or longer; though it soon lost its shrillness, and indicated the presence of a loose phlegm. In these cases the calomel has been continued in quantities proportioned to the strength of the patient, and doses of some mild emetic have been exhibited, as occasion required. It may be here rationally conjectured, that the formation of the membrane had taken place, but that by the