practitioners, is not to be abashed, for in his public address, he declares his determination to persevere in his laudable pursuits. The following extemporary lines were written by a reverend wag on the occasion. "The gallant Colonel, tir'd with war's alarms, To slay his English friends, and spare his Indian foes." From motives of empirical philanthropy, the Colonel, although not bred to medicine, promises, that the public shall have an opportunity of benefiting by his medicines, and his peculiar mode of treating severe maladies! Mr. Butler, (successor to Mr. Ching), being therefore a vender of patent medicines, will no doubt do his utmost in giving publicity to his remedies. One good turn certainly deserves another!! So much for Colonel John Riddel's letter! These worm destroying lozenges have not, it appears, been so successful in every instance, as in the families of the Lord Chief Baron, the Bishop of Carlisle, and Colonel John Riddel. With hasty judgment ne'er decide, In one case, the particulars of which have been lately published, it appears, if the statement be correct, they rather exceeded their operation, having, with the worms, also killed the patient. We shall give a copy of the heads of the case, and refer our readers to the spirited publication by Mr. Clayton for the particulars. "DEATH by CHING's WORM LOZENGES. "A Patent Quack Medicine, known by the Name of "CHING'S WORM LOZENGES," having lately been intruded on, and recomended to the Public, I deem it a Duty incumbent on me to declare, that the above Worm Lozenges, from the Quantity of MERCURY contained in them, are a most destructive and deadly POISON, less active, but equally capable of destroying Life, as ARSENIC. Numerous, it is to be feared, are the cases where Life has been destroyed by them, and the Cause not suspected, from the want of Medical Assistance. But the following lamentable Case, which has happened in my own Family, can be well attested by many Professional Gentlemen, and which is confirmed by an Inquest taken on View of the Body, before W. W. BOLTON, Esq. Coroner for this place, on Tuesday, the 3d instant, will, it is hoped, operate as a Caution to Parents, and others who have the Care of Children, and prevent the administering a sure Mercurial Poison, in the Form of CHING's LOZENGES, from which the most direful Effects may be apprehended. "On Sunday and Wednesday, December 4th and 7th, 1803, Ching's Worm Lozenges were administered, according to the Directions, to my unfortunate Child, (a fine Boy of Three Years Old) and on Friday the 9th, he was in a high State of SALIVATION. Medical Assistance was immediately called in, when he was pronounced in imminent Danger, from MERCURIAL LOZENGES. Remedies were immediately applied, and all the Aid that Medicines could afford resorted to, but without effect; for the Mouth ulcerated, the Teeth dropped out, the Hands contracted, and a Complaint was made, of a pricking Pain in them and the Feet, the Body became flushed and spotted, and at last Black; Convulsions succeeded, attended with a slight Delirium; and a Mortification destroyed the Face, which proceeding to the Brain, put a Period (after indescribable Torments) to the Life of the little Sufferer, on Sunday, the 1st instant, Twenty-eight Days after he had taken the Poisonous Lozenges. This shows how cautious People ought to be in administering QUACK MEDICINES. "A Coroner's Inquest being summoned, and the Evidence of the Medical Gentlemen adduced, the Jury returned a Verdict of " POISONED BY CHING's WORM LOZENGES." "THOMAS CLAYTON." HULL, JANUARY 9, 1804. In this publication also appears a letter from Mr. Samuel Slee, of London Road, St. George's Fields, dated Feb. 28th, 1804, addressed to Mr. Butler, (Successor to the late Mr. Ching), stating, that Mr. Butler has positively and repeatedly asserted, that the Lozenges in question, did not contain one single grain of Mercury, and that Mr. Butler gave his traveller an express order, that if any person suspected Ching and Butler's Lozenges to contain Mercury, to assure them, they did not contain a single particle of that deadly poison! This single case is alone sufficient to show the awful degree of responsibility a person contracts, who suffers his name to appear in a public print, in the recommendation of a nostrum. The father of the child was probably induced to give the medicine a trial, in consequence of the respectable names published at that time in the Hull paper in its favour. Here is great room for the severest animadversions, but as we have reason to believe, that those elevated characters have withdrawn their sanction, we shall defer making any other obser vation, till we have ascertained the fact. We learn, from indisputable authority, that a physician in Petersburgh, from seeing Ching's Lozenges so strongly recommended in our public papers, wrote to his correspondent in London, to send him a copy of the recipe, from the Patent Office. If a literal copy were sent, which was no doubt the case, what opinion must the Russian physicians form of the education and professional abilities of the medical gentlemen of this country? For they no doubt suppose, that a Patent is an honour conferred by government, as a reward for an important discovery. Is it any wonder then, that on the Continent we should be styled a nation of quacks and dupes ? TO THE EDITORS OF THE MEDICAL OBSERVER. Gentlemen, Worcester, Sept. 29th, 1806. In your enumeration of the articles you conceive to have been improperly introduced in the schedule of the late act of Parliament, for regulating the duties on Quack Medicines; you have omitted Soda Water. I beg leave therefore to request you will inform your readers why you deem |