Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 4.djvu/304

 202 Penzance, were several of the acute idiopathic kind, coming on in persons of unbroken constitutions, and passing off entirely under the use of bleeding and purging. In Dr. Montgomery's Report for 1833, he says, "A greater proportion than ordinary of dropsical affections have presented themselves [anasarca 16, ascites 3, among 670 cases], in a few examples arising from inflammatory action, but for the most part originating in debility."

Hydrocele was also regarded by the resident surgeons as a disease of rather frequent occurrence; and some of the older practitioners were of opinion that it had been still more prevalent formerly. It will be seen that 17 cases are recorded in the Dispensary tables, being on the average of one annually, or 1 in 500 cases of disease, including both the medical and surgical cases.

Diabetes.—This disease (the piss-pot dropsy, as it was called by the older authors—hydrops ad matulam) rare everywhere, I must regard as not more frequent in this district, although the numbers given under this head in the Dispensary list, and also in the table, of the relative prevalence of the diseases, would seem to indicate the contrary. During my residence at Penzance, I only met with a single case; and it appears that only one other occurred at the Dispensary during the eleven years subsequent to my leaving it. I must, therefore, regard the number of six cases, entered upon the Dispensary books in three previous years, as including some, at least, of the more common cases of diabetes insipid us, an affection of a totally different kind, and generally of only temporary prevalence. All the surgeons