is a fallacy which has been established in the popular mind, in consequence of the season at which plums are ripe-the "plum season being coincident with that at which people in this country, who have been exposed to the effects of the summer's heat, are most liable to that outbreak of accumulated bile which is known as bowel complaint, or English, or British, or summer cholera. The fallacy is principally misgenerally to the real causes of a disease, which, with more or less severity, so regularly makes its appearance in this country, and thus prevents their adopting those measures of precaution which would insure them against its attacks.

The chief disorders to which the stomach is liable, have already been entered into under the head of "Indigestion ;" and such affections as cancer, perforating ulcer, spasm, &c., have been sufficiently considered in the general articles on these subjects. Blows over the region of the stomach are often serious, and may be immediately fatal.-See Blows-Shock, &c.

GASTRITIS.-Inflammation of the stomach is not a common disease in its acute form, and when it does occur, is usually the result of irritant agents, such as strong spirit, poison, &c., applied directly to the stomach itself. Fever, thirst, severe pain at the pit of the stomach, increased by pressure or by the presence of food, vomiting, especially after food has been taken, hiccup, red tongue, and, shortly, extreme depression of the system, are the usual symptoms. Leeches and poultices to the pit of the stomach, cold, sometimes iced water, or barley or gumwater, to allay thirst, and clysters, either aperient or opiate, will be the most useful remedies; but the disease is so serious in its nature, and so rapid in its progress, that it should at once, if possible, be put under regular medical treatment.

STOMACH-PUMP.-See Pump, STONE.-See Gall-stone-Urine, &c. STONE-FRUIT-generally speaking, is less digestible when eaten raw than the other descriptions of fruit; to healthy persons, however, when ripe, and consumed in moderation, it is not injurious. Plums have acquired a character for causing disorder and diarrhoea, which they scarcely deserve. Undoubtedly, with some persons they disagree, and, indeed, with all, if they are eaten immoderately or in bad condition; but that they, or fruits generally, are the cause of the regular autumnal or British cholera,

Refer to-Biliary Disorder, &c.

STONE POCK.-A name applied to hard pimples.

STOOLS.- The evacuations from the bowels, always afford important indications of the state of health; they are, therefore, generally watched by medical men in cases of illness, and as a general rule should be saved for their inspection.

In infancy, the discharges from the bowels are generally lighter coloured than they are as life advances, this, perhaps, being partly, but not altogether, due to the usual milk nourishment, which, even in adults, if taken largely, tends to give a lighter colour to the stools. In infancy, moreover, the appearance of the natural evacuations is liable to vary greatly in colour, and, especially when there is disorder, acidity, &c., to assume a green tinge, either as directly passed from the bowels, or soon after exposure to the air, even if the motion has, in the first instance, been of a yellow or orange hue. The nature of these green evacuations is scarcely satisfactorily explained; they generally, however, follow attacks of pain, with superabundant acid. As children get beyond infant life, the stools, particularly in those with light hair and complexion, are apt to become either entirely or partially of a clay-colour, evidently from deficiency of bile. In such cases, it is not uncommon for grey powder or calomel to be given, with a view of increasing the flow of bile, which these medicines certainly do, and for a few days the motions are improved in appearance; but only for a few days-they soon become as unhealthy looking as ever; the benefit derived from the mercurials was only fallacious, or worse, it was injury rather than benefit. The true cause of these claycoloured stools, in most instances, is the inability of the blood to furnish an adequate supply of the healthy bile; consequently, to stimulate the liver to secrete an increased

quantity under these circumstances, is to impoverish the blood. A course of iron tonics, with a good supply of animal food, and if need be, a little wine or malt liquor, is much more likely to bring the motions to the colour of health, permanently and beneficially. Not that an occasional dose of grey powder may not be useful, but it is not the remedy. In adult life, the stools become clay-coloured, or chalky, from a different cause or causes, the most usual being obstruction to the flow of bile.-See Jaundice--but also from deficient secretion consequent upon disease of the liver, such as occurs in drunkards. The stools may vary in consistence, being either too hard or too liquid; the former is the case in persons of costive habit, in whom the fæcal contents pass so slowly through the bowels, that their liquid components are too much absorbed.-See Costiveness. In the latter case, the too liquid condition of the motions is associated, generally, with tendency to diarrhoea.-See Diarrhea. The form of the motions may, by its peculiarity, convey important information: thus, in an enlarged state of the "prostrate" gland at the neck of the male bladder, they assume a flattened form, or they may be diminished in size by narrowing of the gut.-See Stricture. The general bulk of the stools must of course depend much upon the amount and quality of the food; inattention to this fact sometimes misleads. It is not uncommon for persons to imagine, that, so as the bowels are regularly moved once a day, they must be in a perfectly free state, forgetting, that though they may discharge a portion of their contents, they do not necessarily discharge all; and such is really the case; in old people especially, enormous accumulations of fæcal matter are apt to take place, whilst the person is under the impression, that because there is a daily stool, the bowels are periodically fully relieved. On the other hand, again, the popular impression seems to be that the bowels fulfil no other office than that of a passage for the food refuse. This fallacy has already been alluded to, under articles "Alimentary Canal," "Digestion," &c.

Various articles of food, such as the seeds and skins of fruits, will, as mentioned above, affect the appearance of the stools, and medicines do so more especially; iron, in particular, forms an inky black with the colouring matter of the bile, and as persons are often unnecessarily alarmed at the appearance, when iron is prescribed, the circumstance should be made known. Rhubarb, senna, &c., in some degree, impart their colour to the stools. Mercurials

modify them, causing an olive or deepgreen appearance, which may be kept up for a length of time, if mercurials are too continuously given. Persons are thus deceived at times, and under the idea that the motions do not become healthy, go on purging with the mercurials, which are themselves the cause of the unhealthy appearance. Other purgatives may have the same effect in a lesser degree. In unhealthy states of the system, and especially in some febrile affections, the stools become much more offensive than usual. When such is the case, the bowels generally require purging. The stools may contain blood. If this comes from the stomach, or high up in the intestinal canal, it is usually black and pitchy in appearance, and often highly offensive; stools of this kind often occur after severe bleeding at the nose when the blood has been swallowed. The blood may be fresh and clotted, either dark or florid.

See Piles. In some cases, the stools contain large quantities of mucus, simple or gelatinous-looking, or they contain matter. In all such cases, the motions should be kept for inspection, and a medical man sent for as soon as may be. In Asiatic Cholera, and sometimes in its British simulator, the stools resemble thin gruel or "rice-water.' Straining at stool may arise simply from costiveness, and therefore is probably habitual; it is, moreover, one of the chief evils of costiveness, for not only is it apt to induce rupture in the predisposed, but, in the aged, it may bring on head attacks. Straining, or, as it is called medically, "tenesmus,' occurs as a consequence of an inflamed and swollen condition of the lining membrane of the rectum-See Rectum— such as occurs in diarrhoea, &c.; there is the sensation as if the bowel was still unrelieved, and constant instinctive efforts are made to free it; they only increase the evil, and should, by an effort of the will, be desisted from, if possible. In children, straining and sitting too long when the bowels are evacuated, may cause falling down of the bowel. The custom should be corrected.

STOVES-for heating apartments, are certainly apt to prove most unwholesome substitutes for the common open fire-place, if but for the one reason, the very defective ventilation they afford, if they afford any at all; moreover, even constructed on the best principles, a stove is apt to cause a dryness of the air of an apartment, which not only causes most uncomfortable sensations, especially about the head, but is really injurious; and further, in many forms of stove, vapours of sulphur or of carburetted hydrogen are apt to escape. In any room heated by stove,

extra provision should be made, both for ventilation-See Bed-room-and for furnishing moisture to the atmosphere. Refer to Chimney. STRAINING.-See Stools. STRAMONIUM.-See Thorn Apple. STRANGULATION.-See Suffocation. STRANGURY.-See Bladder.

STRAWBERRY.-This delicious fruit must be classed with the most wholesome productions of the vegetable kingdom. It is recorded of Fontenelle that he attributed his longevity to them, in consequence of their having regularly cooled a fever which he had every spring; and that he used to say, "If I can but reach the season of strawberries." Böerhaave looked upon their continual use as one of the principal remedies in cases of obstruction and viscidity, and in putrid disorders. Hoffman furnished instances of obstinate disorders cured by them, even consumption; and Linnæus says, that by eating plentifully of them, he kept himself free from gout. They are good even for the teeth.

STRICTURE.-See Urine. STRUMA.-SCROFULA.-See Scrofula. STRYCHNINE.-See Nux Vomica. STUN.-See Brain-Concussion of. STUPE. A piece of cloth or flannel soaked in hot-water as a means of fomentation.-See Fomentation.

STUPOR.-COMA.-See Coma.
STYE.-See Eye.

STYPTICS-are applications, usually of an astringent character, which possess the power of arresting hemorrhage. The remedies classed under astringents may all be used as styptics, but many of them are not generally had recourse to as such--that is, as external arresters of bleeding: it is to these that the term styptic is applied in this article.

Oak-bark decoction, and gall-nuts in powder or infusion, which owe their efficacy to the tannin they contain, are used as external styptics, and "Ruspini's Styptic,' formerly much in vogue, is said to be a solution of tannin in spirit- -see Oak. In addition to these, matico and turpentine are styptics derived from the vegetable kingdom; also the agaric fungus popularly known as the "fuz-ball," which is frequently applied to bleeding wounds, and with apparent benefit. From the mineral kingdom many styptic applications may be derived, such as the salts of iron, especially the sulphate and muriate, the sulphates of copper and zinc, the acetate of lead, and the nitrate of silver. Cold, the actual cautery, or red-hot iron, &c., &c., are all styptic applications. See the various articles. Refer to Hemorrhage.

SUBSULTUS.-Spasmodic jerkings of the muscles, which occurs in various diseases of debility, such as fever, &c. SUCKLING.-See Children-Child-Bed -Nurse, &c.

SUDDEN DEATH.-See Death. SUDORIFIC-a promoter of perspiration or diaphoretic.-See Diaphoretic.

SUFFOCATION-is the term usually applied to the condition in which air is prevented from entering the lungs by agents which do not compress the windpipe, as they do in hanging or strangulation. The distinction being, that in the latter case, the vessels of the neck are usually compressed, and add, to the state induced in the chest, a congested condition or accumulation of blood in the brain; in the former, the effects are uncomplicated, are purely those of suffocation, or as it is called in medical language, "asphyxia." In this condition, the atmospheric oxygen being excluded from the lungs, the blood is unchanged, either partly or totally, according to the completeness of the obstruction. In this unaltered state, it passes back to the heart -see Circulation-by which it is sent with more or less activity through the arteries, and coming in contact with the nerve tissues, it acts upon them as a poison, produces convulsion, &c. The vessels of the lungs and the heart, missing their accustomed and proper stimulant, the arterial blood, gradually cease to act, and life's machinery stands still.

Suffocation is the result of such accidents as immersion in an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, or "choke damp," of drowning, of foreign bodies becoming lodged in the gullet or windpipe, of spasm. Larynx, &c., &c. As these causes of the accident are all treated of respectively, it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them here.

See

It is requisite, however, by way of caution, to notice some causes of accidental suffocation, which are sometimes fatal.

People who eat greedily, or who, as in the aged, are unable to chew their food properly, are sometimes suffocated-see Gullet

the accident, too, has sometimes followed vomiting in intoxication. A curious case of the kind is recorded, in which a man, who, after vomiting, was put to bed drunk, and shortly after found dead-suffocation having been caused by a small piece of potato skin, so fixed over the opening of the larynx as perfectly to stop the passage of air. In children, a small body like a pea or cherry-stone, accidentally drawn into the air-passages, has caused suffocation; and, very recently, a case was recorded in which a young man was killed by being forcibly