GRAVEL AND STONE.

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patient's passing 1 his urine more easily when lying than in an erectposture ; from a kind of convulsive motion occasioned by thesharp pain in discharging the last drops of the urine ; and lastly,from sounding or searching with the sound, which is the onlysymptom to be depended upon.

When gravel has once formed in the pelvis of the kidneys, orelsewhere, it continues to increase by receiving on its surface newlayers of uric acid successively precipitated, of which any one maybe convinced by cutting the concretions transversely, which ena-bles us to perceive that they are almost entirely composed of con-centric layers. <,

Regimen. — Persons afflicted with the gravel or stone shouldavoid aliments of a windy or heating- nature, as salt meats, sourfruits, &c. Their diet ought chiefly to consist of such things astend to'promote the secretion of urine, and to keep the body open.Artichokes, asparagus, spinnage, lettuce, parsley, succory, purs-lane, turnips, potatoes, carrots, and radishes, may be safely eaten.Onions, leeks, and celery are, in 1 his case, reckoned medicinal.The most proper drinks are whey, butter-milk, milk and water,barley-water ; decoctions or infusions of the roots of marsh-mal-lows, parsley, liquorice, or of other mild mucilaginous vegetables,as linseed, lime-tree buds or leaves, &c. If the patient has beenaccustomed to generous liquors, he may drink gin and water nottoo strong.

Gentle exercise is proper ; but violent motion is apt to occasionbloody urine. We would, therefore, advise that it should be tak-en in moderation. Persons afflicted with the gravel often pass agreat number of stones after riding on horseback, or in a carriage ;but those who have a stone in the bladder are seldom able to bearthese kinds of exercise. Where there is a hereditary tendency tothis disease, a sedentary life ought never to be indulged. Werepeople careful, upon the first symptoms of gravel, to observe aproper regimen of diet and to take sufficient exercise, it nr'ghtoften be carried off, or at least prevented from increasing , but ifthe same course which occasioned the disease is persisted in, itmust be aggravated.

Medicine. — In what is called a fit of the gravel, which is com-monly occasioned by a stone sticking in the ureter, or some partof the urinary passages, the patient must be bled ; warm fomenta-tions should likewise be applied to the part affected, emollientclysters administered, and diluting mucilaginous liquors drank,&c. The treatment of this case has been fully pointed out underthe articles Inflammation of the Kidneys and Bladder, to which werefer.

When the preference is given to a palliative mode of treatmentof stone in the bladder, in males, instead of resorting to the opera-tion of lithotomy, lithontriptics, which retard or prevent the far-ther accumulation of calculous matter, may be had recourse to, forexample, the fixed alkali, which is not only the most powerful, but