the use of the word puftule, which is applied indifcriminately to the puftule properly fo called, and to the vehicle or phlyctana. The difeafe is not of very frequent occurrence; but, in the few cafes which I have feen, its courfe and fymptoms have been tolerably uniform. The patients have complained of a sense of heat, and of fhooting pains through the cheft or epigastric region, attended with flight febrile fymptoms for three or four days; a few patches of papula then appeared about the breast or fhoulders, with a circumfcribed efflorefcence around them: thefe put on fpeedily a velicular appearance, and in two or three days formed a circular or oval cluster of transparent veficles, whilft other patches of papulæ continued to appear, with a certain degree of regularity, nearly in a line extending from the fternum to the fpine on one fide, fometimes like half a fash round the waift, fometimes like a fword-belt across the fhoulder. "Hac tamen perpetua lege, ut ab anteriore parte nunquam lineam albam, nunquam a postica fpinam tranfcenderent *. The veficles, which firft appeared, having become large and confluent, loft their transparency, acquired a blue or livid colour, and funk into a brown fcab. Those patches which appeared later went through the fame course, and in ten or twelve days nothing but the thin brown fcabs remained. Slight febrile fymptoms continued during the whole progrefs; but the most distressing part of the disease was an intense darting pain which came on at the close, and which was fcarcely to be allayed by the power of opium. This accords with the obfervation of Hoffman: "Inde quidem fymptomata remiferunt, excepto exquifito ardente dolore, qui tantus erat, ut nec fomnum capere, nec locum affectum contingere poffet +." The complaint is generally mild, and, I believe, harmlefs; and flight debility enfues. Gentle laxatives and diaphoretics, with occafional anodynes, feem to be the only medicines requifite to alleviate the symptoms during its course. Profeffor Callifen ‡ has given the following defcription of the disease with his ufual terfenefs: "Zona, cingulum, zofter, vocatur fpecies herpetis, quæ fub forma veficularum flavefcentium, livefcentium, juxta truncum corporis prorumpit; rare artus occupat, rariffime medium corpus tanquam cingulum circumdat ac amplectitur totum, gravi dolore urente ac febre stipata. - folis remediis internis purificantibus, demulcentibus, lenibus diaphoreticis tractandus Graviora fymptomata interdum methodum pofcant antiphlogisticam." May 31. 1805. - On * De Haen de Divis. Febr. p. 112. a case quoted hy Burserius. There is a notion, as old as Pliny, that if it completely surrounds the body, it is fatal. "Zoster appellatur, et enecat si cinxerit." Nat. Hist. lib. xxvi. cap. 11. Opera, tom. iv. cap. xiii. § 6. Syst. Chirurg. Hodiern. tom. i. p. 421. On the 24th of June, the SENATUS ACADEMICUs of the University of Edinburgh conferred the degree of Doctor in Medicine on the fol lowing Gentlemen, after having gone through the appointed examinations, and publicly defended their refpective Inaugural Differtations. As we believe that the Regulations obferved in the University of Edinburgh in promoting Candidates to the degree of Doctor in Medicine are not fufficiently known, we have tranflated the Statuta Solennia, as lately reprinted from the minutes of the University, both that the public may be enabled to judge of the refpectability of an Edinburgh degree, and that thofe at a diftance may know the conditions upon which only it can be obtained. I.-No perfon fhall be promoted to the degree of Doctor in Medicine, except on one of two stated days in every year; viz. on the 24th of June or 12th of September, or the days inmediately thereafter. II. No perfon fhall be received as a candidate, until he has ap. plied during three complete years to the study of Medicine in this or fome other univerfity, and has attended to all the branches of the fcience of Medicine; viz. Anatomy and Surgery, Chemistry, Botany, Materia Medica, and Pharmacy, Theory and Practice of Medicine, and Clinical Lectures delivered by Profeffors of Medicine on hofpital patients. III. Whoever is defirous of obtaining a degree muft deliver, before the 24th of March or 12th of June, a medical differtation, composed by himself, to fome one of the Medical Profeffors, that he may perufe it, if neceffary correct it, and affix to it a written teftimony that he has perused it, with the date when he received it. IV. Then, whoever is defirous of a degree in medicine muft communicate his intention to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine on or before the 20th of April or June, and at the fame time deliver to him his inaugural differtation, with the teftimony of the Profeffor who perufed it, to be fubjected to the confideration of the Faculty of Medicine. V. After this, he is to undergo a medical examination by the Faculty, either viva voce or in writing, that no perfon may be received as a candidate who is not well acquainted with polite literature and the science of medicine*. VI. On the 18th of May or 6th of Auguft, the candidate shall, in an examination by two Profeffors, in the prefence of the Faculty of Medicine, give a farther proof of his advancement in the various branches of medical knowledge enumerated above. VII. To the candidate, after having paffed these trials, fhall be propofed, by fome one of the Profeffors, an Aphorifm of Hippocrates, and, at the fame time, by another Profeffor, a Medical Question; the former of which explained by himself, and illuftrated by a commentary, and the latter, along with an anfwer to it, fupported by proper arguments, he shall return to the Profeffors by whom they were pro pofed In a translation of these statutes, published in the Edinburgh newspapers, by order of the Senatus Academicus, on the 8th December 1783, to this regulation the following observation is annexed: "As the Professors think themselves bound in honour not to divulge the unfavourable result of an examination, a candidate may be remitted to his studies, in this stage of his trials, without injury to his reputation or interest." pofed on the 28th of May or 11th of Auguft, and fhall defend his commentary, and anfwer before the Faculty of Medicine on the 30th of May or 18th of August. VIII.-If, by having duly fulfilled thefe conditions, the candidate fhall deferve to be promoted, he fhall receive from two of the Profeffors two hiftories of difeafes, with questions annexed to them, for the purpose of writing an illuftration of the one, and anfwers to the others. Thefe hiftories, with the illuftrations and answers, he shall deliver on the 12th of June or 1ft of September to the Profeffor who propofed them, and defend them before the Faculty of Medicine on the 15th of June or 3d of September. IX. After the candidate has been approved of at his firft examination on the 18th of May or 6th of Auguft, he fhall be permitted to fend his differtation to the prefs, and fhall deliver eight copies, accurately printed, to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, on the 15th June or 3d of September. X.-If the candidate, after having printed his differtation, fhall be approved of by the Medical Faculty at his third examination, all these proceedings fhall be reported to the Senatus Academicus by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, with whofe approbation and authority he fhall be ordered to publish his differtation, and defend it in a meeting of the University on the 24th of June or 12th of September, when, if the Senatus fhall think fit, the highest medical honours, that is, the degree of Doctor in Medicine, fhall be conferred on him with the ufual folemnities, as the reward of his diligence and ftudy. XI. To give greater folemnity to all thefe proceedings, the Faculty of Medicine fhall always meet within the Univerfity, on each of the abovementioned days, at nine in the morning. And if any candidate shall abfent himself at the hour appointed, without fufficient reafon, he shall not be permitted, on this occafion, to proceed with his trials, or obtain the degree of Doctor in Medicine. XII.-All the above-mentioned exercifes fhall be performed in the Latin tongue. Communications may be addreffed to Meff. CONSTABLE and Co. * The Second Edition of No. I. was published in May, and No. IV. POSTSCRIPT, Containing an Account of the Discovery of the Compofition of Muriatic Acid. By PROFESSOR PACCHIONI of Pifa. SINCE this Number of our Journal was completed, and indeed part of the impreflion fent to London, we have received a letter, dated 15th May 1805, from our valuable and eminent correspon dent, Fabbroni of Florence; in which he fays, "A brilliant discovery has been made by one of my friends. I have enclosed an accouut of it, which you will tranfmit to my refpectable and dear friend Kirwan, after having communicated it to the philofophers of your country through the medium of your Journal." We therefore gladly take this means, though fomewhat irregular, of complying with his requeft, and of giving to our readers the earlieft poffible notice of the difcovery alluded to, by tranflating the pamphlet in which it is announced. Lettera del Dottor FRANCESCO PACCHIONI, Profeffore di Fifica nell' Univerfita di Pifa, al chiariffimo Sig. Auditore LORENZO PIGNOTTI, Confultore et Iftoriografo Regio. "To you, my much respected friend, both on account of the fpontaneous impulse of innate kindness with which you deigned to take fo much care of my talents, fuch as they are, as to receive me among the number of your pupils, and on account of your having paved the way for my obtaining that very chair which was filled by you for many years with so much applause and honour to our country, rather than to any other perfon, fhall I give an account of a discovery which I have made and fatisfactorily verified. But thefe are not the only reasons by which my conduct is influenced. I wish, at the fame time, to fhow my gratitude towards you, and to give you a proof that I am endeavouring to render myfelf more worthy of your esteem and friendship. "It is perfectly known to you that, fince last year, on account of the premiums propofed by that excellent general and philofopher Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, for the advancement of that new and fertile branch of experimental philofophy difcovered by the celebrated Profeffor of Bologna, Galvani, and afterwards wonderfully extended by the fublime genius of Volta, I have contrived a great number of experiments, which I have performed with much care, and almost completed. Thefe experiments have revealed to me many facts, which I am collecting for a memoir to be prefented to the Societa Italiana; and have led me to a knowledge of the conftituent elements of an acid which has hitherto proved refractory to all the Сс efforts |