Observations on the Utility and Administration of Purgative Remedies in Several Diseases

Philadelphia: James Webster, 1818. Hardcover. 8vo. Bound in full, original, calf with morocco spine label. Boards are scuffed, and a bit bumped and rubbed at edges. Hinges and joints tight. Early former owner's signature on front free endpaper. Text block tight and remarkably bright for age. A handsome copy in good plus to very good condition. Not in G&M, but see 'Early American Medical Imprints 1668-1820' which describes (#870) an 1809 printing of 274 pages as being the first American edition, from the second Edinburgh edition. However, our copy is stated to be from the fifth Edinburgh edition, and is paginated xix, 122, [Appendix] 168, for a total of 319 pages. The Appendix consists of ten parts: the first contains tables of the old and new names of the articles of the Materia Medica and formulae of the compounded medicines, peculiar to the pharmacopoeia of the Royal Infirmary, which are mentioned in this work. In the subsequent appendices 'are given Histories of the Disease treated of in the particular Chapters to which each [appendix] refers.' Diseases discussed are typhus, scarlatina [i.e., scarlet fever], marasmus [emaciation or wasting, usually seen in infants as a sequel to acute disease], chlorosis [a form of iron deficiency anemia], vomiting of blood, hysteria, chorea [a nervous affection, marked by by muscular twitching], tetanus, and anomalous diseases.