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Scientiflc and Medical


P"«»delJ^>.AV6'
Surgeon  General's Office
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AN
IMPROVED SYSTEM
    BOTANIC  MEDICINE,


             FOUNDED UPON'


CORRECT PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES;


          EMBRACING A CONCISE VIEW OP


    ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY;


             TOGETHER WITH AN

ILLUSTRATION OF THE NEW THEORY OF MEDICINE.

  TO WHICH IS ADDED, A TREATISE ON FEMALE COMPLAINTS,
     MIDWIFERY, AND THE DISEASES OF CHILDREN.


           ________\l
BY HORTON HOWARD.
   -----*—    /OS 171?
                   \^  8Rh&
                           I


IN THREE VOLUMES.
            VOL. I.

SECOND EDITION ; REVISED AND CORRECTED.
   COLUMBUS, OHIO:

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.

     Scott & Wright, Printers.

          1833. 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1833,
               by Horton Howard,
   In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio. 
         PREFACE

TO  THE FIRST  EDITION.
  In presenting to the public a new work, upon the very face of which
is stamped the impress of novelty and innovation, I have assumed it as
granted, that a concise history of the circumstances and motives which
led to its publication, would not only be interesting but useful to the
reader.
  From exposure in early youth, my health became much impaired, and
my constitution weakened by sickness;  insomuch that from the age of
thirteen to twenty-one, I was a  constant  prey to disease and all its
concomitant ills—its pain and anxiety—its gloomy  forbodings,  and the
repulsive prospect of a slow decay.  During this period I not only ap-
plied for medical aid to the best physicians of my native state, (North
Carolina,) but I devoted a portion of my time to the study of medicine,
in the hope of finding something to mitigate my sufferings, and also, at
the same time, of acquiring the knowledge of a useful and honorable avo-
cation for life.  Stimulated by these earnest hopes and sentiments, I
prosecuted my book studies, aided by the best physicians of my acquain-
tance, until I had acquired a competent knowledge of the practice of me-
dicine.  But alas! my fondest anticipations were but idle dreams; nei-
ther my books, nor my physicians, brought that relief—that grateful so-
lace to my sick-worn frame, which I  so ardently desired, and so anx-
iously sought from their aid!
  By these means, however, I became acquainted with the members of
the medical faculty, by which was laid the foundation of a most familiar
intercourse with the  profession, in almost all places where I have 6ince
resided.   Moreover, I became acquainted with the appalling fact, that
with all the  knowledge which I,  or the best medical practitioner pos-
sessed, and with the use of such remedies as were generally relied upon
in the treatment of disease, it would be a matter of uncertainty  whether
I should cure or kill!  With these sentiments indelibly impressed up-
on my mind, I abandoned the idea of  following a practice which could
only be pursued at the hazard of  destroying life; and which could not,
therefore, be termed, as Asclepiades styled  the patient observation of
Hippocrates, "a meditation on death;" but was absolutely an accele-
ration of its progress.  My health was  finally restored  by a  peculiar
kind of regimen which will be particularly described in my medical
work. 
IV
PREFACE.
    From these  considerations, and from these alone,  I abandoned the
  idea of following the  practice of'medicine as a profession; although I
  have practiced  very considerably among my immediate neighbors, more
  especially in sickly seasons; but for  which I have never charged, nor
  have I ever received, any compensation.
    In the summer of 1825 the bilious fever prevailed epidemically, which
  swept off numbers of my acquaintances, amongst whom I lost a lovely
  daughter,-whose death,  I have no doubt, was accelerated by bleeding;
  which, at the instance of consulting physicians, I reluctantly consented
  should be done.  Other branches of my family, as well as several of my
  neighbors, suffered by the same epidemic, all of whom recovered by the
  assistance of such medical aid as I was then capable of affording them;
  which indeed I  had reason to believe was at least equal to any that could
 have been derived from other sources.
   About the time of which I am  now speaking, or soon after, I heard
  much talk of the botanic  physicians, usually styled steam, or patent doc-
 tors; and as prejudice in the mind of the multitude often goes in advance
 of almost every  great and good work, so it was in this instance;  and
 myself with the rest, and particularly with the medical  faculty, imbibed
 prejudices the most hostile, and feelings the most  contemptuous, to-
 wards this infant institution of rational medicine.   I still very sensibly
 recollect with what supercilious disdain I then looked down, as I thought,
 from my lofty eminence,  upon the botanic practice and practitioners of
 medicine.   For however I had, with  many great physicians, felt and
 deplored the imperfections of the healing art, 1 could not for a moment
 suppose, that the improvement which it so imperiously demanded, would,
 or possibly could, originate at any other source than the fountain heads
 of medical science.
   But I was not destined long to remain the slave of my prejudices, or
 the deluded  victim of my own  blindness and  folly.  A case occurred
 during the ensuing winter  which overthrew the strong citadel of my
 prejudices, and  opened to my astonished vision new and extraordinary
 views of the healing art,  directly opposed to the opinions taught in the
fashionable schools of medicine.  A respectable neighbor of mine, was
taken very ill with a pleurisy, attended by  symptoms of obstinate  bil-
ious fever; and  as I had successfully  attended his family during  the
summer, he  called upon me in  his  own case.   I accordingly attended,
resorting to  the usual remedies administered in such cases; but finding
it a complicated  formidable case, and my business requiring my absence
from home,  I advised him to call in the best medical aid that could be
obtained, which I thought his dangerous complaint imperiously requrred.
On the morning  of the day  on which  I contemplated leaving home, I
called to see and  take leave of him,  and  to my utter astonishment
and indescribable horror, found a steam doctor preparing to take the sick
man through a process of steaming,  puking,  &c.  On seeing this, I
turned upon  my heel with the most disdainful and disgusting emotions, 
PREPACH.                          V
 with the intention of immediately leaving the house,"and the sick man
 to perish, as I supposed he probably would,rin the hands of this adven-
 turous empiric of the botanical school.   But by the earnest entreaties of
 my  sick neighbor, and the solicitations of the ignorant steam doctor, as
 I then thought him to be, I reluctantly consented to stay and witness the
 operation and effects of the new mode of curing disease wholly with bo-
 tanic medicine, aided in its effects by the use of vapor or steam.
   I then carefully examined the symptoms of the sick man, found there
 was no abatement of their violence, and waited to see the result of the
 process  to which he was, as I  thought, presumptuously submitting.
 But after the operation was completed I again examined him,  and felt
 myself astonished and confounded at the extraordinary effect which had
 been produced in so short a time.  The fever was gone, the pain of his
 side was almost removed,  the difficulty of breathing  had ceased, the
 headache had departed, and his appetite for food returned.  My'preju-
 dices, which alone had prevented me from giving this new system an
 impartial examination, were thus,  in a moment, scattered to the four
 winds of Heaven; whilst I was overwhelmed with reflections of my own
 want of liberality and consistency.
   I  had  now been an eye-witness to such sudden and  salutary effects of
 medicines as I had reason to believe were unknown to the faculty of Eu-
 rope or America.  Impressed  with these views, I came to  a  serious
 pause.   I knew full  well the inefficiency of the common means resorted
 to in the treatment of disease;  I had but a few months before, lost a be-
 loved  daughter, and had again and again seen patients languish for'
 weeks and even months, under less formidable attacks  of  disease than
 that of my neighbor, of whom I am speaking, whilst he seemed in a fair
 way to get up in a few days; which he actually did.   I felt that I owed
 a duty to myself and to my family; and that to my Maker I  was accoun-
 table for the neglect of that duty.   I paused—I reflected—I weighed the
 whole  matter seriously.   I had seen the effects of the new medicines in
 but one case;  but that was  one of virulent character, and it yielded to
 the means employed, as if they acted by a charm; I  came to the con-
 clusion that it was my duty as a man, and as a Christian, to forego all
 my  prejudices, and  avail myself of the  knowledge of these botanic
 medicines for the benefit of my own family.
   I accordingly applied to Dr.  Hance, the practitioner who had attend-
 ed my neighbor, and from him  I received the knowledge of Dr.  Thom-
 son's  System of  Medicine.   Sickness  in my own family, as well as
 amongst my neighbors and friends in distant parts of the country, soon
 afforded opportunities which confirmed my highest opinions of the new
 practice;  and I commenced, with zeal and energy, proclaiming my con-
 victions to the world.  I pursued this  course because  I believed that
mankind would be benefited by  the new system, and that it was my du-
ty to encourage its promulgation. 
VI
PREFACE.
  During  this time, however,  Dr. Thomson had become dissatisfied
with his agent, and came into this country in order to make some per-
manent arrangement for the extension of his system.   My zeal and as-
siduity in recommending his practice, had been wafted by the breath of
the people to the ears of Thomson, and he conceived the idea of com-
mitting to my care the general agency of his business.  After repeated
solicitations from him, and the most  earnest persuasions of the friends
of the  system,  I consented, with  extreme reluctance, to become his
agent.
   I almost immediately took  measures for prosecuting the business to
an extent commensurate with its usefulness; and pursued it with a vi-
gor and energy only equalled by the desire which I felt to make it use-
ful to the world.  But whilst I was thus zealously pushing the business
entrusted to my care, the jealousy  of Dr. Thomson was aroused, and I
was dismissed from the agency, at the end of about three  and  a half
years from the time of accepting the appointment.  I had, however, from
the first, seen and  deplored the imperfections of Dr.  Thomson's book,
and  the circumscribed  limits of his materia medica;  and under the in-
fluence of these impressions, I employed Dr. Hance to revise the prac-
tical part of Dr. Thomson's works, previous to their being re-printed.
But with further reflection upon  the  turbulence of his disposition, and
his self-conceit, I became satisfied that it would give him dissatisfaction,
and therefore concluded  not to publish  the  work  thus revised: and
subsequent declarations of Thomson have fully confirmed the correct-
ness of my conclusion.
   I was not satisfied, however, that  the knowledge of botanic medicine
should remain in so imperfect a  state.   Societies for its improvement
were instituted; and I endeavored to excite an emulation in the minds
of its practitioners; and took much pains to collect a knowledge of every
 improvement, and every additional  article of value, which experience
 should develope; all of which, I confidently  anticipated, would enable
 me, at some future time, to present to the world a better system of medi-
 cine than had hitherto been offered to its acceptance and approbation.
   And it is under these circumstances,  and with these views, that I
 now present to the public, in the  following work, the result of my col-
 lections and labors.  It is not pretended nor supposed that the work has
 arisen to the  acme of  perfection; but it is confidently believed that it
 will be found superior to any other  which has preceded it;  and  as such
 I commit it to that test which will decide its merits, and give its  deci-
 sion at the bar of public opinion.
    I also deem it an act of justice to the public and to myself, as well as
 to Dr. William Hance, to state  that he has assisted me in the collec-
 tion of  materials,  and in their selection and arrangement for this work.
  His zeal in the improvement of medical botany; his deep research and
  laborious investigation; his new, peculiar,  and as I conceive, correet 
PREFACE.
TH
views of the principles of medical science, the very foundation upon
which the healing art is based;, have been of great service, nay, of in-
dispensable utility to me in the preparation of the following pages.  My
time and attention for some years past have been necessarily too much
engrossed in diffusing the knowledge of the botanic system, to permit
of my devoting so much of them as seemed necessary, to the research,
investigation and consideration^of a subject so interesting to the family
of man.  And it is no more than a just tribute to  the merits of Dr.
Hance to say, that the continuance of his labors may be still more bene-
ficial to the world.  And I should feel  myself guilty of injustice to his
character and to that  confidence which the public has justly placed in
his talents, did I omit acknowledging, in this manner, that he is  more
justly entitled to the authorship of this work than myself.  True I have
been at all the trouble and expense of collecting the materials,  and pre-
paring the work for publication; in other  words, of bringing it into ex-
istence; and from time to time, have verbally or in writing, communi-
cated my views of the  various subjects  on which it treats, (which have
generally been in  accordance with his own;) and I wish it to be dis-
tinctly  understood, that it is upon these considerations alone, that I
claim the authorship  as my own.
   It may also be proper to state, that in  accordance with my  expecta-
tions in recommending the institution of botanic societies, much useful
information has been elicited; and many of my agent6, knowing that a
work of this nature was in a train of preparation, have kindly furnished
me with many valuable medical recipes, and extraordinary cases of cure.
These, with the names of those persons, so  far as their consent has
been obtained, will be given in their proper places.
   The  knowledge of  many valuable Indian remedies, have been procu-
red for this work, at considerable expense to the author.
                                          HORTON HOWARD.
   Columbus, Ohio,  3rd Month lbtk, 1832. 
          PREFACE
TO  THE SECOND  EDITION.
   In presenting the second edition of this work to the world, we im-
 prove the opportunity of tendering to the public our sincere thanks for
 the very liberal patronage  which has enabled us to dispose of the first
 large edition, in the short space of a few months.
   We shall also avail ourselves of the present  occasion to revise such
 parts as appear defective  or ambiguous.   The urgent demand for the
 work, even before it was put to press, and the increased anxiety which
 was manifested during its progress, impelled  us to use all possible des-
 patch in preparing the original manuscript;  hence, trivial errors and in-
 accuracies of language became almost unavoidable.  These, in the pre-
 sent impression, we shall endeavor to correct, as well as to make such
 other improvements as our leisure has permitted us to  devise  or our
 minds to suggest.
   The improvements in the first volume principally consist in the cor-
 rections of language; in the avoidance of unnecessary repetitions, both
 of terms and matter; and in entering more into detail upon some partic-
 ular subjects.   Those of the second, will  likewise be  mostly confined
 to emendations of language, together with  the  description and method
 of treatment of an additional number of diseases;  and  the introduction
 of a few  more cases; whilst  the materia  medica will be enriched by
 some new and valuable articles of medicine.
  Since publishing the first edition we have also become sensible of the
great propriety  of uniting to this work the volume entitled, "A  Trea-
tise on the Complaints peculiar to Females;  embracing a System of
Midwifery" &c. &c, and have accordingly done it; so that the present
edition will consist of three  successive volumes.   In that division of our
subject which will  now  constitute the third volume, besides other im-
provements, it is in contemplation to devote a  portion of it to the treat-
ment of the Diseases of Children; by which its  value will be much en-
hanced.
  In conclusion we will just observe,  that although we make no pre-
tensions to literary merit,  yet  we hope the present edition will be more
acceptable than the former, to persons who possess some taste for litera-
ture; whilst, at  the same time,  it will be substantially improved.
                                         HORTON HOWARD.
  Columbus, ±th Month 28th,  1833. 
INTRODUCTION.
   As in the following work disease will be treated in a man-
ner different from most other medical publications, at present
extant; and as it embraces some new principles, and combi-
nation of principles, peculiar to itself, we deem  it proper, as
introductory to the more important parts, to advert to some of
the objects  at which we shall aim,  and the views by which
we shall be governed in its general composition and arrange-
ment.
   Our grand leading object will be, to simplify the theory and
practice of medicine, so as to adapt both, as far as practica-
ble,  to the common capacity of families;  thereby  enabling
them, in  most cases, to become their own physicians.  The
civilized  world, at least, has been too much and too  long de-
pendent upon the professors of  medicine; and it is high time
that the prejudices which have held mankind to  this  depend-
ence, should  be broken and annihilated.  And  there are no
means by which this can be  accomplished,  but to  reduce
medical works to something more " plain, intelligible, and sys-
tematic;  showing medicine, as it ought always to have been
shown, divested of all mystery; needing for its successful ap-
plication to practice, no extraordinary powers, no  legerde-
main; nothing but common sense,  with common study and
observation."*   None  but works bearing such a character,
can becomevery popular  or useful; and a work of this de-
scription  we propose and stand pledged to give to the world.
   A very important objection to most of the hitherto publish-
ed works  on medicine, is the  too  common use  of what are
styled technical terms, by which they are rendered unintelli-
gible to families in  general.  The extensive employment of
such terms in books intended for common use, is certainly im-
proper; but as it is impossible to convey definite ideas upon
every subject treated of in medicine, without resorting to the
use of some technical terms, we shall occasionally employ
them; always, however, endeavoring to introduce them, when
practicable, in such a way that  the reader will be assisted by
the phraseology  in gathering the meaning of the word.   A
glossary will also be annexed, to which the reader may refer
when necessary.
  ♦Thomas Ewell.—Medical Companion, page 20.
2 
10
INTRODUCTION.
  We shall be the more liberal, however, in the use of tech-
nical language, because we believe it ought to be more gene-
rally understood;  and in  assigning a reason for so doing, we
need only advert to the fact just expressed,—the impossibility
of, conveying definite  ideas on medical subjects, without it.
The only reason  why people in general  are  not sufficiently
familiar with technical terms to comprehend all that is really
necessary respecting medicine, is because this necessary part
of every man's and woman's education, has been made through
the medium, or under the cloak, of science, too abstruse and
metaphysical for  the great mass of mankind to comprehend.
"Professional pride and native cupidity,*' says  a  late writer,*
"contrary to the true spirit of ju>tice and Christianity, have,
in all ages and countries, from sentiments of self-interest and
want of liberality, delighted in concealing the  divine art  of
healing disease?, under complicated names, and difficult or
unmeaning technical  phrases.  Why make a mystery," con-
tinues he, "of things which relieve the distresses and sufferings
of our fellow beings?"  .A great responsibility must certainly
be resting upon those who have been  thus  instrumental  in
concealing,  under a  dead  language, or by affected mystery,
the knowledge of any  thing so important to the world.   A
correct understanding of the best means of preventing sick-
ness and restoring health, is only second in importance to a
knowledge of the  Christian religion.   Every family has,  or
may have, a bible; and why not have a book on medicine
adapted to their capacity?
  Had physicians made  it  their business to enlighten  the
world upon this highly  important subject, instead of "darken-
ing counsel with words  without  knowledge,"  mankind un-
questionably would not only have been  familiar with all ne-
cessary technical  terms, but they would also  have  been ac-
quainted with, and known how  to employ,  the best  means
of removing  their maladies.  But  is  this  the  case?—No:
There is scarce any thing of inferior importance in the com-
mon concerns of  life, which  they are not better acquainted
with.
  It is a principal object of the following work, to  restore  to
the human family the lost knowledge of the means  of remov-
ing their maladies; which information should be as  universal-
ly disseminated as the knowledge of the bible or of religion;
and we scarcely doubt  that in time it will be  so.  The illibe-
ral part of the medical faculty, who have profited by the igno-
rance  of the people,  will, no doubt, throw  every obstacle
within their power in the way of its consummation; but we
think the day is  now dawning, which was alluded  to, as in
*Dr. Gunn, of Knoxville, Tennessee. 
INTRODUCTION.
11
prophetic vision, by the brief biographer of Dr. John Brown,
"when instruction concerning the cause of health and disease,
will be acknowledged to form a necessary part of all rational
education."  And we, at least, are satisfied that public opin-
ion, to a great extent in the United States, if not in many
parts of Europe, is in unison with this sentiment.
  "It has hitherto been the case," as the same author justly
observes, " that the faculty have contrived to  retain  a privi-
lege which the  priesthood have lost."  Only a few years
since, it was generally believed that all the concerns  of reli-
gion legitimately appertained to the clergy; and the bible,
which was regarded as  the means of salvation, was printed
in a dead language, and was considered as fitting only to be
entrusted in the hands of the priests.  They then exercised
the same despotic sway over the minds of the people, in mat-
ters of religion, that the medical  faculty now do in medicine.
But the time has arrived when the people wrill have books on
medicine  which they  can understand, and a mode of practice
which they themselves  can apply and  comprehend.   They
will no longer be obliged to go to the doctor for every dose of
medicine which the exigencies of sickness may require, any
more than they  are necessitated to go to the clergy  for a
knowledge of the scriptures or the means of salvation.
  The bible, which, with all its benefits and blessings, is with-
in the  reach of  every family, informs us that the "grace  of
God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men;v
or, in other words,  that the means of saving the immortal soul
are bestowed upon  or offered to all;  and so there is no  doubt
that the means of saving the body from pain and sickness are,
to a great extent, provided for us, without the necessity of
applying to a physician.  And a system of medicine, in ac-
cordance with these sentiments, is already before the world,
for its adoption or rejection, which many have already embra-
ced; rejoicing in the  certain confirmation of being  now re-
leased from the thraldom of medical bondage  and  scien-
tific imposition, which, for ages, has been increasing, and
seems, in this enlightened  day, to have arrived to a degree
of  oppression, only equaled, inversely, by the  superior  scien-
tific attainments of the profession.            %
   We hope it will not be supposed that these grave assertions
are lightly made; for we have ample testimony from members
of the faculty themselves, of the  gross deception  which they
are practicing on the credulity of the people.  " If you wish
to  know," says Dr. Gunn, "how much artifice is in vogue in
the science and practice of medicine, ask some physician of
eminence to give you in plain common English, the meaning
of those mysterious and high-sounding names you see plastered
on bottles, glass jars, gallipots and drawers in a drug store, 
1!2
INTRODUCTION.
 or doctor's shop."  After explaining many of those hard and
 difficult names, the same author observes: "These 1 think, are
 fair specimens of the useless technical terms and phrases with
 which the science of medicine  has been encumbered by a
 policy hostile to the interests of every community; in which
 the reader will easily distinguish, if he will look one  foot be-
 yond his nose, not only that big words and high-sounding phra-
 ses  are not  superior  wisdom, but  that  three-fourths of  the
 whole science of medicine, as now practiced and imposed up-
 on the common people,  amounts to nothing but fudge and
 mummery.  In fact, it has  always seemed to me, whenever I
 have reflected  seriously  on this subject, that all  these hard
 names of objects of common and daily contemplation, were
 originally made use of to astonish the people;  and to aid what
 the  world calls learned men, in  deception  and fraud.''''   If
 members of the faculty  write thus of their own profession,
 can they attach much censure to us  for repeating  their asser-
 tions, and enforcing them upon the attention of the world?
   In the following pages we propose taking a transient view
 of anatomy and physiology, sufficient, perhaps, to enable  the
 reader to form a general idea of the most important organs of
 the human system, and of the functions which they perform.
 It is for  the mass of mankind that  we write; and there  are
 few whose leisure or inclination will permit them to  acquire
 any considerable minute knowledge of those subjects; and,
 therefore, we have deemed it not improper to present a mere
 outline of those curious  sciences.   Persons  who wish to ob-
 tain more extensive information of this kind, may find numer-
 ous works, of perhaps equal merit, on both of these subjects,
 and each containing something peculiar to its author; to any
 of which he may refer at pleasure.
  We cannot, however, omit, in this place, noticing the popu-
 lar but delusive sentiment almost universally adopted  in civi-
 lized communities, that a knowledge of anatomy is indispen-
 sable to form an accomplished physician.  And  we might,
perhaps,  be  considered  as making  an invidious assertion,
should we charge the medical profession with  inculcating
such sentiments into the minds of the people, for the purpose
of increasing their own importance and wealth.   But we trust
 that the deceptive artifices  already noticed, will be sufficient
with the reflecting part of  community, to awaken suspicion
 at least, that such is the fact.
  We are not disposed, however, to believe  that all, or any
considerable portion of the faculty are aware of the iniquity
of such a practice; or that they are  even guilty of it.  The
selfishness of man will almost always furnish an excuse suffi-
 cient to quiet the conscience in the prosecution of whatever is
popular, especially if it be  at the same time productive  of
personal aggrandizement  or pecuniary gain. 
introduction.
13
   In order that the reader may the better  comprehend why
 anatomy is of no practical utility in the healing of disease, we
 will propound a simple question, covering the whole subject,
 and then submit a plain unsophisticated answer thereto:
   In what  (we would inquire,) does the knowledge of the
 healing art consist?
   We answer—Simply in knowing what medicines are most
 efficacious in removing  disease, and the best method of  pre-
 paring and using them.   This includes the  whole substance,
 root, body, and branch of medical science or learning.  The
 physician who possesses  this knowledge, has all that necessa-
 rily appertains to the science or art of medicine, and without
 which the most accurate anatomist could  lay no claim to the
 title of physician.
   H we suppose the  knowledge of medicine is to be acquired
 by the simple powers of reason alone, unaided by experience,
 (which, however, all will admit to be impossible,) we should
 then expect it necessary  to know upon what  it was that life
 and health,  depended; and then, wbat peculiar quality  of
 vegetable matter was best calculated to restore health, and
 the particular vegetables in which it resided.  But can anat-
 omy teach us this knowledge;  or, after becoming acquainted   *
 with suitable medicines, does it teach us how to use them?
 No: nor it never can: It is not in the nature of things for it to
 be so.
   As just observed, the powers of reason must fail, and anato-
 my being inapplicable to demonstrate the knowledge of medi-
 cine, we will inquire what presents the most rational  method
 of ascertaining the best  means of restoring health? We  pre-
 sume all will agree, that experience is the most rational,  as
 it is, indeed, the only possible method of attaining to any de-
 gree of certainty in  the knowledge of medicine.  If we  sup-
 pose ourselves divested of all knowledge of remedies suitable
 for restoring health; with disease  and death  exciting  our
 sympathies, and urging us to the employment of some means
 to relieve  the sufferings of our friends and  fellow creatures,
 we might  reasonably expect that, in our attempts to afford
 relief, we should promote the havoc of death, rather than  to
 arrest the  progress of disease.  Under such peculiar circum-
 stances, nothing but experience could remove our embarrass-
 ment, and give us the assurance, in our efforts  to relieve the
 afflictions of a fellow-man, that we were not using  an instru-
 ment of death instead of a remedy  friendly to  health  and
 life.
   We will now ask, what  advantage could the most perfect
 knowledge of anatomy afford us in the prosecution of our in-
 quiries after the means of curing disease,  when guided by
reason alone ? or what benefit could  we possibly derive from 
14                    introduction.
it, in  the progress of a more laborious experiment? None:
we answer, none!
   It is a fact avowed by medical writers, that the knowledge
not only of anatomy, but  of all the collateral branches of
medical science, affords little or no aid to the improvement of
the materia  medica.  Even chemistry, which is  the only
branch legitimately applicable to this object, is known to be
insufficient to  disclose  the medicinal qualities of vegetable
matter.  "Medical chemistry," says Dr. De Puy, "is so limi-
ted in its application to the vegetable kingdom, that notwith-
standing all  that has been, or as yet can be done, by heat and
mixture, towards separating and ascertaining those principles
of vegetables on which their active powers depend, we must
still have recourse to prescription for a knowledge of their effects
on the human system, which we  cannot  obtain, a priori, by
chemical analysis."*
   If then, those sciences considered so  essential to medicine,
afford no means of arriving at the knowledge of the most ne-
cessary part, how are we to obtain  an understanding of the
virtues of medicinal  substances, or of  their salutary effects
upon the human system?   We answer,  again, by prescribing
for, and administering them to  the  sick; in other words, by
experiment.  Let it, however, not be inferred that we suppose
a perfect knowledge of medicine can be acquired by the ex-
perience of  one individual.  No; it requires more time, and
more  sagacity, than has  ever  been allotted to one  man, to
consummate the knowledge of the healing art.  This impor-
tant science can only be perfected by collecting the experi-
ments of individuals of  different countries and climates, and
judiciously comparing their results; all  of  which  should be
confirmed again and again by further experience, before they
can be recommended with proper confidence in practice.
   " Experience," says the author just quoted, " respecting the
virtues of medicines, is necessarily slow, and sometimes de-
ceptive; hence, it is often long  before the real medicinal pro-
perties and extent of the  powers of a  remedy are correctly
ascertained."  And by whom, we  will ask, is this " expe-.
rience" acquired, and these "properties" and "powers" as-
certained?  The true answer to this inquiry is as humiliating
to the lofty pretensions of medical science, as it is degrading
to those who make  a boast  of it.   For science, mucb> as it
may have benefited the world*, by adding to the intellectual
treasures and  pleasures of man, must,  with  all its  splendid
drapery and trappings, very often yield to the experimental
knowledge of some illiterate rustic!
   Even Dr. Tiiacher declares, (in the first edition of his Dis-
*Transactions of the Phy6ioo Medical Society, New York, vol. I. p. 57. 
introduction.                   15
pensatory,) " that we are indebted to the bold enterprise of
illiterate pretenders, for some of the most potent articles "of
the materia medica."  We quote from  memory only, as  the
copy of a subsequent edition, which is before us, does not con-
tain the remark; and why the doctor should have expunged
this true observation from his valuable work, is not explained.
We are left free to  conjecture, however, that the great suc-
cess of his " noted empiric" Dr. Thomson, in wielding some of
those  " potent  articles," induced Thacher to conclude that
such an expression reflected too much honor on empiricism,
and lowered the .dignity of the medical profession.  Whether
we have conjectured aright or not, as to Dr. Thacher's  mo-
tives  in expunging the foregoing sentiments from his book,
we are satisfied that  the  world  is  indebted to  persons  un-
learned for the discovery of most of the great and valuable
principles and truths upon which the whole fabric of science
is based.
  And however humiliating it  may be  to the literary aspi-
rant,  it is  nevertheless  true, that  science  often misleads its
votary by a too fine  or subtle a  reasoning, which  the bold,
untutored experimenter avoids,  by going  without  any  cir-
cumvolutions,  to  the root or primary principle  of unknown
things.   And in so doing, he often overturns  old and long
established forms—forms that have, perhaps, been sanctioned
by the usage of ages; and which, therefore, the man of  sci-
ence dare not oppose, to arrive at some truth which the dog-
mas of science have kept  hid from its most devoted students.
  The all-essential part  of the healing art,  (and without
which this art would not exist,) consists  in  the knowledge of
the most simple, safe, and  efficacious remedies.   The  author
whom we have several times quoted informs us, that " many
of the most useful medicines  have not received a formal and
scientific introduction into the materia medica, until they have
served for a length of time in some subordinate station, and
have gradually become  distinguished  amongst the confused
group which compose the  recipe of the  vulgar."  We will
further add, that we  believe every "useful medicine has been
confined to that humble sphere to which professional [scientific]
pride  seldom stoops, and which is too frequently disregarded
by medical men as  unworthy of notice."  This is  the lan-
guage of Dr. De  Puy;  and if we may credit his testimony,
in connection with what almost all know to be facts, we shall
be satisfied that the  knowledge of  medicines has its first orU
gin with that class which  the learned are  often  pleased to
style the vulgar.  Here  it is that their virtues are originally
known and tested; and as they become  distinguished  in the
" confused group," they are often caught up by some profes-
sional character, and heralded to the world as a great disco-
   1 
16                   INTRODUCTION.
 very of his own; when, in fact, he is only the instrument of
 making its virtues more generally known, or more extensively
 useful.
   We cannot dismiss the present opportunity, without crav-
 ing the  reader's indulgence, whilst  we introduce the senti-
 ments of  Sir Gilbert Blane, M. D.  who has been said to be
 the "most learned and  classical physician of the age;"  and
 who, we may well suppose, is acquainted with his subject, as
 in his dedication he informs the reader that the volume from
 which the following extracts are made, was " the fruit of
 more than fifty years' meditation and experience, the greater
 part of which had been employed in the service of the state,"
 and in that of the king's person and family.  " Practical  me-
 dicine," says he, " seems  more indebted to the sagacity of
 those who, in  a rude state of society, discovered active  and
 useful medicines, than to  the early labors of the learned."*
 The correspondence of these ideas  with  those of De Puy, is
 too obvious to  need any comment.  Again, he says: " Physio-
 logical and pathological researches, even the  most correct,
 have had little share in suggesting active and  useful  reme-
 dies; the greater part of these having been discovered in dark
 ages by fortuitous incidents, or in more enlightened  ages  by
 analogical reasoning.'"!
  Again,  the same  author, as if he could scarcely place too
 low a value upon medical  learning, says:  "And when it is  fur-
 ther considered, what a mass of credulity and error has actu-
 ally accumulated in medicine, from the presumptuous attempt
 to grasp at" wrong "objects, and make hasty and dangerous
 applications of them to practice;  when we cast our eyes upon
 our shelves, loaded with volumes, few of which  contain any
genuine profitable knowledge, the greater part of them composed
 chiefly of matter, either  nugatory, erroneous, inapplicable, or
 mischievous, in which the dear bought grain is to be sought
 in the bushel of chaff, may it  not be questioned, whether such
 researches have not tended more to  retard and corrupt, than
 to advance and improve, practical medicine ?"J
  And what benefit, we will now candidly ask, can the know-
 ledge of anatomy afford, in prosecuting our inquiries after the
 most suitable remedies for restoring health?  The most minute
 and perfect knowledge of the organs of the system, and of the
 functions  which they perform, cannot  possibly give us an un-
 derstanding of the means of removing, with medicine,  a single
 malady.   It is truly difficult to conceive, how an acquaintance
 with the structure of the human frame can lead to the know-
 ledge of suitable remedies  to remove its diseases.  It may pos-
 sibly enable us  to know what organ or organs are diseased;
*Blane'B Medical Logic, page 159.  flbid, 188-9.  } Ibid, 179. 
INTRODUCTION.
IT
but no correspondence can be pointed out between a disease,
©r an organ diseased, and its proper remedy; for it is only by
observing the effects of a remedy, that we are enabled to point
out its adaptation to any particular complaint.
  Yet, notwithstanding this, popular opinion, strengthened by
the devices of the  faculty, requires  that a physician should
possess a knowledge of anatomy;  and it might, with equal
propriety, insist upon cooks acquiring the same knowledge, to
enable them rightly to understand the best method of remov
ing hunger.   Yet the physician in the one case, and the cook
in the other, (though the first may know how to cure disease
and the latter to remove  hunger,) cannot tell by what peculiar
means, or in what particular manner, either medicine or food
is disposed of in the human  system, to  accomplish its proper
object.   But both  may be  done, as Dr.  Samuel Thomson
very justly observes, " by an infinite variety of articles  best
adapted  to those different purposes."
  The physician, however, may remove disease, and the cook
hunger, by means not the  "best  adapted to those different
purposes," and thereby  put  to hazard the living power of the
system.  And, therefore, those kinds of food which experience
has shown to afford the  most easy, agreeable, and  natural st\r
mulus to the various organs, under  all the varying circUnv
stances of life, are always to be preferred; and "those medi-
cines," says Dr.  Thomson, "that will  open obstruction, pro-
mote perspiration,  and restore digestion, are suited to every
patient, whatever form  the  disease  assumes, and are univer-
sally applicable;" the proper  knowledge of which can  only
be acquired by experience and patient observation at the bed-'
side of the sick.
  Although a physician may possess the most perfect know
ledge of every disease  that he may be called  upon to cure,
and may be acquainted with, and be able to describe in the
most accurate  manner, every part or organ affected by the
disease, as well as to define its proper function, yet all this
does not confer upon  him a knowledge of the best means of
affording relief:  This sine qua non of the healing art, must be
acquired by personal observation, aided by the experience of
others.  Indeed a  man may possess  the greatest possible
knowledge of anatomy, and of all the collateral branches of
medical  science, and yet be a miserable physician!  Disease
arises from causes producing one general or common effect,
viz: reduction of force of the living power, and injury of the
animal machinery; and, of course, arc to be treated and cured
by remedies acting upon general principles, unaided and un-
controlled  by the science of anatomy, physiology, chimistry,
or pathology. 
18                   INTRODUCTION.
  We do not wish to be understood, however, as passing a
sweeping  condemnation  upon the study of these sciences as
being utterly useless.   We are only endeavoring to exhibit,
in its true colors, the popular prejudice which has produced
the erroneous belief that those sciences, and particularly ana-
tomy, are absolutely  necessary to make  a successful physi-
cian. An acquaintance with those  branches, like all other
general knowledge, has a tendency to expand the mind, and
enlarge our views of things—to increase the intellectual trea-
sures and pleasures of the  man; but to the physician—the
medical practitioner in the treatment of disease,—it certainly
avails nothing.  Dr. Rush was undoubtedly sensible of this,
or he could never have uttered the sentiment, that those phy-
sicians generally become the most eminent, who have soonest
emancipated  themselves  from the tyranny of the schools of
physic.  We might also add, that many of the most successful
practitioners  in our  country are self-taught, having  never
been admitted into the splendid  halls of science, and some
scarcely into  the common walks of literature.
  The impression  that the ancient physicians  were at least
as successful  as those of the present day, in the treatment of
disease, has been produced, as we believe, by good evidence;
and yet their knowledge of anatomy, as well as of the colla-
teral branches of medical science, as they are taught at the
present  time, was undoubtedly very limited and highly incon-
sistent.
  It may be contended that a knowledge of anatomy is essen-
tial to the proper understanding of pathology or the descrip-
tion  of diseases, and to the operative surgeon.  This we are
ready to admit.   But we consider pathology, in  its scientific
acceptation, as an intricate study, encumbered with a mass
of abstruse, useless lumber, of no consequence to understand;
and  if understood, inapplicable to any of the practicable pur-
poses of the healing art.
  In the practice of surgery, a knowledge of anatomy is not
only useful but essentially necessary.  But for all practical pur-
poses, as  the " illustrious Chesselden"  observes, anatomy
"needs  not many tedious descriptions nor minute dissections;
what is most worth knowing is soonest learned, and least the
subject  of disputes; while dividing and describing the parts,
more than the  knowledge of their uses requires, perplexes the
learner, and  makes the  science  dry and difficult."  These
were the sentiments of one of the most celebrated anatomists
of his age; and we have no doubt that every candid physician
and surgeon, at the present time, would, with a little reflec-
tion, accede  to their correctness. But alas! alas! the moral
feelings of many are so much depraved that  they will often, 
INTRODUCTION.
19
especially when popular opinion  is running  in  their favor,
openly encourage  or secretly connive at whatever may have
a tendency to promote  their wealth,  power, or importance,
however detrimental it  may be to the interest of society at
large!  In support of these assertions, we need  only to cite
the reader to the bitter persecutions raised against all the
great reformers of medicine, amongst whom we will only men-
tion Harvey and Brown formerly, and Thomson of the pre-
sent day.  We  wish,  for  the  honor  of humanity, that the
treatment which these eminent benefactors of the world have
met with from the medical faculty, whose errors they were
exposing, could be lost  in  oblivion:  but it cannot! It will
remain unobliterated on the page of history, as a lasting mo-
nument of the selfishness, the folly,  the baseness, and the
depravity pf the human heart!
  We wish it, however, to be  distinctly borne in mind, that
although we admit, with all its force, the fact that the know-
ledge of anatomy is necessary for the operative surgeon, yet
we as certainly know that by a proper course of medical treat-
ment, many painful and dangerous surgical  operations may
be prevented—the amputation  of many limbs, and  the exci-
sion of many  cancerous and other tumors avoided.   Indeed,
we are  morally certain, that by a more rational and correct
course of medical treatment than  has hitherto been  known to
the medical faculty, much pain, sickness and  danger may be
prevented, and many persons thereby saved  from premature
death.
  The mere man of science, perhaps, may startle at  the views
which, we are here disclosing of the inutility to the physician,
of  scientific attainments.   He may possibly conclude that we
wish  to level all distinctions of learning; demolish the halls of
science and literature, and even to deny the advantages which
have  resulted from  these sources to  the world.   But we ar-
dently disclaim  such  an intention.   To science and litera-
ture we should rejoice to see every necessary encouragement
offered, not only by private contributions, but by legislative
munificence, so long as  each is directed to its  own legitimate
object.   We do not wish to see either encouraged by en-
croaching  upon the just  rights of any class of citizens, nor
made the engine of vindictive tyranny.  Our grand design is
to strip the science or profession of medicine of all the glitter,
the show,  and the splendor so fancifully attached  to it, not
only  by the weak and credulous,  but by individuals of every
rank of society and gradation  of intellect, and exhibit it to
mankind in its true native color and simplicity.
   It  is high time that the  "pillars which support this  fabric
of false philosophy" which has so  long dazzled the eyes  of the
world, should be overthrown; although their fall might, and 
90
INTRODUCTION.
 undoubtedly would, "subvert in their ruins the time-honored
 prejudice of ages!"   The  day has certainly arrived when
 medicine, like religion, should be  placed before the face of
 the world, stripped of all its mysteries—all its absurdities, and
 professional intricacies, and appear in its genuine simplicity
 and rationality; open and undisguised before all who wish to
 examine and comprehend it.
   It may be considered perhaps by some, that our introduc-
 tion is too lengthy: we readily admit that it is unusually long;
 but we think the subjects embraced in it are of sufficient im-
 portance to justify the attention which we  have  bestowed
 upon them.  Moreover, it seemed  very proper to give a few
 of our views of the present condition of the medical profession,
 and of some of  the  prejudices which  have elevated it to its
 present standing and  influence in  and over society.  This
 appeared the more necessary, in order to present a general
 and connected view of medical science as it now exists in
 the world, which it  is essential all should inquire into and
 understand, that the impositions of regular medical quackery
 might the more  easily be detected,  and its destructive, tyran-
 nical influence be  the more certainly guarded against and
 overthrown.
   In  the  following  work we shall  endeavor  to make every
 thing plain and  systematic;  adapting it to the capacity and
 comprehension of persons of every rank and station.  We are
 well aware  of the prejudices  with which we shall have to
 contend; and that without some actual demonstration of the
 Uinocency and efficacy of our  principal medicines, but few
 will be disposed  to use them.   In cases where life and health
 are at stake, mankind are not so ready to be  trying new ex->
periments, notwithstanding all that  has been said about their
credulity and willingness to be duped.   But should our work
fall into the hands  of any who are unacquainted  with the
botanical practice, or who are distrustful of using our reme-
dies, we seriously and  candidly entreat them, if unwilling to
try them in alarming cases, to  try them in milder ones; and
we are satisfied that their salutary effects will give confidence.
Repetition will further confirm  the confidence thus acquired,
and finally give  full assurance of their vast superiority over
 every thing known in the healing art as taught in the fashion-:
 able schools of medicine. 
PART  I.
            OF ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, &c.

   As has been anticipated  in our introductory remarks, we
 shall take a cursory view of anatomy, in order that those
 whose opportunities or inclination may not permit them to
 peruse any of the voluminous works on this interesting sub-
ject, may have the means of acquiring some general  knowl-
 edge of the structure of the human frame.  We say general
 knowledge, because we shall not descend, in the least degree,
 into the  minutia of  this science; but will leave that  for the
 more curious reader to  gather from other works devoted ex-
 pressly to this object.
   Nor shall we treat of physiology in the usual  method of
 discussing that  science, either in its general principles or in
 detail; but shall endeavor to notice, with sufficient clearness,
 so much  as may be necessary to establish  the  correctness of
 our new physiological  theory  of medicine.   In doing this,
we shall attempt to  give, in detail, a comprehensive view of
what we believe to be the only correct principles upon which
the practice of medicine can be based.  We shall also treat
upon the pernicious custom  of administering poisonous medi-
cines,  and  point  out some of the  dangerous  consequences
which so often  result from the  old unsystematic method of
adapting some specific mode of treatment to every different
disease.
   In order to bring more  conspicuously into view the value
of the new physiological practice and its medicines, we shall
devote some attention to their efficacy, and arraign their mer-
its in juxtaposition with the old remedies, so that their com-
parative  merits may be  seen and understood by all who shall
give themselves the trouble to read.
   Other subjects  naturally or  incidentally connected with
this part of bur work, will also receive appropriate attention
in their proper places, whilst we shall endeavour to arrrange
the whole in what we conceive to be a systematic manner. 
CHAPTER I.
        OP MAN AS A PHYSICAL BEING OR ANIMAL.

  Man, whether we regard the materials of which he is form-
ed, or the organs by which he is constituted, is a compound
being.   He is at once composed of a variety of different ma-
terials, which are wrought  into various organs, all of which
are necessary to perfect the symmetry of the body, and sus-
tain animal life.
  This doctrine, although familiar in the walks of philosophy,
is, nevertheless, but little known to those who devote only a
small portion of time to reading.  We hope, therefore, to be
excused if we indulge for a moment in a few remarks on this
subject.
  As a physical being, man, in common with all other organ-
ized bodies, depends upon certain primary elements or mate-
rials, so blended together as to produce the different varieties
of matter of which his body is composed.  And it is upon this
wise constitution of things, that the  rich and  useful  variety
of nature depends, and without which, an uniform sameness
—an uninterrupted similarity, would pervade the whole ma-
terial world.  The elementary principles or materials of eve-
ry living or organized body, exist ready formed by the  hand
of nature;  whilst each body possesses the power or faculty of
selecting from them the proper materials and manufacturing
them into the peculiar substance of which it is composed.
   It seems most probable, in our view, that the animal crea-
tion was formed, each in its kind, perfect in all its parts; and,
at the same time endowed with the power of reproducing its
species  in a peculiar manner: whilst the vegetable tribes, we
think it equally probable, had their origin from the  seed,
which was invested with the faculty  of abstracting from the
elements the proper materials, and assimilating them togeth-
er, or manufacturing them into the particular plant which
each kind of seed was designed  to produce.
   In this chapter we shall confine ourselves solely to the con-
sideration of man as a physical being or animal; and for the
purpose of greater perspicuity  we have divided this, as we
have all the other chapters, into sections, each treating upon
some distinct part.  There may appear to be something like
repetition  in some parts  of our  arrangement; but we are
chiefly anxious to have our new physiological theory well es- 
          MATERIALS  OF WHICH MAN  IS COMPOSED.       23

tablished and understood; and  have, therefore, adopted this
plan as the one best  calculated to answer  our purpose by
bringing each part of our subject more conspicuously into
view.
                      SECTION 1.

      OF THE MATERIALS OF WHICH  MAN IS COMPOSED.

  The ancient physicians and physiologists maintained that
man, as well as all  other organized bodies, was composed  of
the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water.  This doctrine
originated with Empedocles, a  celebrated  philosopher who
flourished about four centuries before the Christian era.*
    Modern  improvements  in chimistry have, however, de-
monstrated that at least three of those substances, by the an-
cients denominated  elements, viz:  air, earth, and water, are
themselves compounds  of  elementary matter;  and hence,
modern philosophers have  transferred the  term,  elements,
from those natural  substances to which they were  formerly
applied, to the more simple materials of which these are com-
posed: denying that any thing is properly an element but the
most simple matter  to which bodies can be reduced.  Agree-
ably to  the  latest discoveries  in chimistry, twenty elements
enter into the composition of man.  Of these, eleven are solid;
two are fluid;  three are gaseous  or gases; and four inconfina-
ble.   Amongst the fluid elements, water, and amongst thein-
confinable ones, caloric or the matter of heat, are still retain-
ed; although water, if not caloric, is a compound substance,
and ought not, therefore, according to the late doctrine, to be
considered a primary element.   These remarks will also ap-
ply with equal propriety to  several other elements.
  The solid elements, as enumerated by Magendie, are phos-
phorus, sulpher, carbon, iron, manganese, potash, lime, soda,
silica or sand, and alumina or pure clay.
  The liquid elements are, muriatic acid, water;  the gaseous
are, oxygen, hydrogen, azote;  the inconfinable are, caloric,
light, and the electric and magnetic fluids.
  Different numbers and portions of the  elementary substan-
ces united together, form what are termed the proximate ma-
terials or principles of  animals.  These are, albumen, fibrin,
gelatin, mucus,the cheese-curd principle, urea, osmazome, and
the colouring matter of the blood.   There are also some oth-
ers, less distinguishable, such as  the acetic, benzoic, lactic,
formic, oxalic, and  rosasic acids; and the sugar  of milk and

        * Good's Book of Nature; New York edition, p. 86. 
24
ORGANS  BY WHICH MAN IS CONSTITUTED.
 diabetic urine; picromel, the yellow colouring matter of the
 bile, &c. &c.
   Albumen enters largely into the composition  of both  the
 solids and fluids of the animal body.  In its properties it re-1
 sembles the white of an egg, which consists almost exclusive-
 ly of albumen. It is coagulated by heat, as we see the white
 of an egg is by cooking; by which it may be distinguished
 from all other animal fluids.
   Fibrin is a principle constituent of the blood, and is the ba-
 sis of the muscles or flesh; and is therefore  one  of the most
 abundant of the animal principles.
   Gelatin exists  copiously in many of the solid parts  of the
 body, but not in any of the healthy fluids.   It  is found in
 greatest quantity  in the shin, cartilages, tendons, membranes,
 and  bones.   Gelatin is what produces the jelly after boiling
 the skin or legs of animals, and when properly prepared forms
 glue-
  As these are the principal proximate principles of the ani-
 mal  body, we  deem it unnecessary to our purpose to give any
 description of the others, as  it could be but little interesting,
 and still less an advantage to the common reader.
  Before closing the subject of this section, we think it  pro-
per to advert to the nice distinctions which modern philosophers
and chimists have  made respecting the elements of man—dis-
tinctions  which, however  correct, present no advantages  in
treating of the compound nature of the human system.  Air,
drink, and the various articles of food, are the materials which
supply the waste  of our bodies and  continue our existence,
and may therefore be very properly denominated the  proxi-
mate elements of man.   These are the substances  which
supply man  with nourishment  and growth, from the  first
moments of conception to  the period of maturity, and sustain
him  through  life.   From these proximate elements, nutri-
ment, and  whatever else is necessary to existence, are drawn;
from food after being properly prepared by the process of di-
gestion in the stomach; and from air after undergoing some
peculiar process in the lungs.
                      SECTION 2.

     OF THE  ORGANS BY WHICH MAN  IS CONSTITUTED.

  In the former  chapter we took a very brief notice of the
materials of which man is composed—of the elements, both
primary and proximate, and of some other substances, by Ma-
gendie, denominated proximate principles or materials.  We 
         ORGANS BY WHICH MAN IS CONSTITUTED.      25

must now turn our attention'to the various organs into which
these elementary substances and principles or materials are
wrought in the formation of the human system.  This is what
is properly termed  anatomy; which, in its more  general or
extensive signification, implies "the dissection or dividing of
organized substances, to expose the structure, situation,  and
uses of parts;" and is divided into  animal  anatomy or zooto-
my, and vegetable anatomy or phytotomy.  In the sense, how-
ever, in which the term  is here used, its signification extends
no farther than to the doctrine of the structure of  the human
body.  And even in this we must be very brief, only bringing
some of the most important parts of the system in review be-
fore the reader.
  The most obvious general divisions of the human body are,
the head, trunk, and upper and lower extremities; which are
covered by the common  integuments, or skin, hair, and nails.
These general divisions  are again subdivided into, or rather
composed of muscles, glands, blood-vessels, absorbents, nerves,
ligaments,  tendons, cartilages,  bones, and brain  and spinal
marrow.
  The head presents externally, the face, including the eyes,
nose, and mouth; the ears and temples.  Internally, its  con-
tents principally  are, the brain and commencement of the spi-
nal marrow and nerves.   The brain being the organ of sense
is frequently styled the grand sensorium.
  The trunk is divided into two cavities, called thorax or chest,
and abdomen or belly; which contain the thoracic and abdo-
minal viscera, consisting of lungs and heart in the thorax;  and
stomach and intestines,  liver, kidneys,  and their  various ap-
pendages, and in females the uterus or womb, in the abdomen.
The thorax and abdomen  are divided from each other by the
diaphragm or midriff, through which passes from  above, the
oesophagus or gullet, the aorta or great artery, &c; and  from
below, the vena cava or great vein, and the thoracic duct which
is formed by the union of the innumerable tubes of the lacteal
absorbents which arise from the intestines.  The thorax is also
divided into two cavities by the mediastinum; each contain-
ing one lobe or division of the lungs; whilst the heart maybe
said to occupy a third cavity.
  There are also a great number of other organs, subdivisions,
vessels and distinctions of vessels in the human system, which
in this bird's-eye view cannot be noticed; all of which have
their various and peculiar offices to perform for the purpose of
compounding the various elements  of man, and which are ne-
cessary for the preservation of his health and the  duration of
his  existence.
  There are likewise some imaginary divisions of the body,
which, as they are sometimes useful in pointing out the  loca-
      4 
26
USES OF TIIE^ORGANs.
 tion of the organs, or the seat of disease, we will here introduce.
   If we suppose two lines drawn parallel with each other, and
 transversely across the abdomen, the one about two inches
 above, and the other about the same distance below the navel,
 we then have the abdomen divided into three grand divisions.
 Then if we imagine two other perpendicular lines drawn from
 the upper transverse line downward, one on each side the navel
 at a short distance from it, we shall have thetwo lower divisions
 divided each into three regions.  The upper division also in-
 cludes three regions,viz: the central portion, which is included
 between the ends of the false ribs, is termed the epigastric re-
 gion, and on either  side are the right and left hypochondriac
 regions.  The centre of the middle division is styled the  um-
 bilical region, and on either side are the right and left lumbar
 regions.*  The middle of the lower division is the hypogastric
 region, and on each side of it is the right and left iliac regions.
  There are, therefore, nine of these regions, viz:  the Epigas-
 tric and two Hypochondriac; the Umbilical and two Lumbar;
 the Hypogastric and the two Iliac regions.t
  These different regions are generally  occupied by the prin-
 cipal viscera, in the following manner.   The stomach occu-
 pies the'principal part of the epigastric region, and a conside-
 rable portion of the left hypochondriac.   The liver fills nearly
 the whole of the right hypochondriac  region, and  extends
through the upper part of the epigastric region into the  left
hypochondriac.   The  spleen or milt is also situated in  the
left hypochondriac region.   That portion of the intestinal ca-
nal which is composed of the small intestines is generally found
in the umbilical, the hypogastric, and the iliac regions.   The
kidneys are situated in the back part of the lumbar regions.
                     SECTION 3.

              OF THE USES OF THE ORGANS.

  Having now very briefly enumerated some of the principal
organs and parts of the human system, we will  proceed as
briefly to point out some of their chief uses.
  The uses of the bones are partly to give shape, stature, and
firmness, to  the  body; supporting it erect  by the aid of the
muscles, which, in this sense, may be considered as the braces
  *Wistar's Anatomy, vol. 2.

  f Wistar's Anatomy, vol. 2.  Note.  "It is to be observed that the
lateral regions of the middle and lower divisions of the abdomen are-
named differently by different authors." 
USES OF THE ORGANS.               27
 of the living frame; partly to protect from external injury those
 parts which it is of most consequence to preserve, as the brain,
 spinal marrow, and heart; and partly for the purpose of le-
 vers for the  muscles to act upon,  whereby animal motion is
 produced.  The number of bones in the human body is esti-
 mated at two hundred and forty-eight; the head containing six-
 ty-three; the trunk fifty-three; the upper extremities or arms,
 sixty-eight, which includes the four sesamoid bones, (not al-
 ways found,) in the thumbs; the lower extremities, sixty-four,
 which also includes the four sesamoid bones, (not always found,)
 in the great toes.   Bones are chiefly composed of lime.
   The uses of the muscles are partly to perfect the form or
 symmetry of the body; but principally  and most essentially,
 to act upon the bones and thereby produce animal motion.
   The number of muscles in the human system is estimated at
 four hundred  and five, and are all in pairs excepting nine;
 the number of pairs being reckoned at one hundred and nine-
 ty-eight.
   The muscles consist of  distinct portions of flesh, termed
 fibers, which are susceptible  of contraction and  relaxation;
 upon which property the power of motion depends.   The mus-
 cles are  covered or rather surrounded by a very thin, delicate
 substance termed cellular membrane, which also in  a less dis-
 tinguishable form, surrounds every fiber; and likewise it con-
 nects the muscles together, and unites them to the skin.   The
 muscular fibers are essentially composed of the fibrin of the
 blood, which may be  ascertained by slicing lean  beef very
 thin, and digesting it in several successive portions  of water.
 By this means the soluble parts are dissolved and the fibrin is
 left, precisely similar to that obtained from the blood.
  The glands are a system of organs dispersed amongst the
 muscles  or contained in the abdomen, and are composed of
 blood-vessels, nerves and absorbents; and are designed for the
 secretion or alteration  of some peculiar fluid.   They are divi-
 ded, according to their fluid contents, into mucous, sebaceous,
 lymphatic, salival, and lachrymal glands.  The mucous glands
 secrete (that is, separate from the blood) mucus;  the  salival
 glands, saliva; the lachrymal glands, tears, &c.
   The mucous glands are situated in the nose, and all the in-
 ternal surfaces which  need  moisture,  such as the fauces or
 back part  of the mouth;   in the  throat, stomach, intestines,
 bladder,  &c.
  The sebaceous glands are situated in the face, palate, arm-
 pits, pubes, &c.  They secrete an oily or fatty substance.
  The lymphatic glands are  situated  in the  arm-pits, me-
sentary,  groin,  &c.   These glands are formed  by contor-
 tions or folds of the lymphatic vessels, and do not appear to
secrete  any kind of fluid.   They may perhaps change the 
28                USES OF the organs.
lymph in some way or other, during its passage through them.
  The salival glands are situated about the angle of the jaw,
and'root of the tongue.  Their use is to secrete saliva or spit-
tle, which is poured into the mouth by the salival ducts, most
profusely during the  act of chewing, to facilitate mastication
and digestion.
  The lachrymal glands are situated a little above the outer
angle or corner of the eyes.  Their use is to secrete the fluid
substance termed the tears, the use of which is to moisten and,
as it were, wash out any extraneous matter from the eye.
  The blood-vessels are distinguished by the names of veins
and arteries, and also include the heart.  The heart is situa-
ted nearer the left than the right side of the thorax, and is a
strong muscular body, of that class denominated  hollow mus-
cles.  This organ is generally regarded as the salient or start-
ing point of the blood, whence it is propelled through the ar-
teries to every part of the  body.  The heart is divided into
two cavities called the right and left ventricles, connected with
which, at the base or broad part, are two other  hollow mus-
cles denominated auricles, or, in more familiar language, deaf-
ears.
  The heart is the grand focus in which the blood is constantly
concentrated, and from which  it is  as constantly distributed
to  all parts  of the system; passing  twice through this organ
in making one complete revolution in the body, in the follow-
ing order, viz: The  blood as it returns from all parts of the
system, is emptied by what are termed the ascending and de-
scending vena cava, into the right auricle of the heart, and from
thence passing into the right ventricle, the contraction of the
heart propels it through the pulmonary artery into  the lungs.
From the lungs the blood, now  essentially changed, again  re-
turns through the four pulmonary veins into the left auricle,
and thence  passing into the left ventricle, the contraction of
the heart propels it through the aorta and its numerous bran-
ches to every part of the body.
   The branches of  the aorta are ramified into innumerable
Bmall vessels, a part of which, termed capillary vessels, termi-
nate  in the skin at  the  external surface,  and in  the lining
membrane of the  internal  surface of the different cavities;
whilst the residue of the extreme arterial vessels communi-
cate or unite with the veins.  Hence the arteries convey the
blood from the heart and distribute  it through all parts of the
system; and the veins convey it back again, to be thrown into
and purified by the lungs.
   The blood, after being conveyed through the extreme arte-
rial branches to every part of the body, is then received  by
the veins which every where correspond with the extreme ar-
teries, and  these  veins,  as they proceed towards  the heart, 
USES OF THE ORCANS.
29
continually intercept each other, forming tubes larger and lar-
ger, until they are all concentrated in two large trunks, cal-
led vena cava, one  of which has its branches from the head
and arms, and the other from the body and legs.   The blood
thus collected into those two veins is poured into the right
auricle, thence into the right ventricle, whence it is destined
to pass another round through the system; and thus continue
in circulation night and day, asleep or awake, during the whole
period of existence.
   The  quantity of blood in man is  estimated at from 24 to
30 pounds; but this cannot be considered as exact, because
the quantity varies from numerous causes.*             ,
   Arteries  are  distinguished  from veins  by their different
structure, and by the pulsation  which attends all but the mi-
nute  branches.   In the dead  subject the  arteries  remain
open, whilst  the veins, if empty, collapse  or  fall together.
The number of pulsations which takes place  in a minute is
influenced by the age of the individual and by disease.  They
are most frequent in infancy, and least so in old age.  At birth
they are reckoned at from 140 down to 130; at adult age, 80
to 70; at old  age, 65 to 55.   Disease generally increases the
pulse; though the reverse often  happens.   The  pulsations of
the arteries correspond exactly with the beating or contrac-
tion of  the heart.
   There  is also  another set of vessels associated  with the
veins in the circulatory function, termed lymphatics or lym-
phatic ducts.  The lymphatics  and lacteals, which  absorb
the chyle, constitute what is denominated the absorbent sys-
tem.   The  termination of the  greater number of both those
sets of vessels is in the thoracic duct.
   The existence of lymphatic vessels in the system "is known
in a general manner;  but their utility in the animal economy
has scarcely  been perceived."t   Their most apparent use,
however, is to collect from all parts of  the body, a peculiar
fluid  termed lymph, and pour it mostly into the thoracic duct,
whence it is discharged into the  left subclavian vein,  and
thence  immediately into the heart, there to mingle again
with the common mass of fluids.
   Although the termination of the lymphatic ducts is a de-
monstrable fact, yet their origin, according to some writers,
is as obscure as their utility.   Dr. Wistar, however, says that
"these tubes originate upon the  surfaces of all the cavities of
the body; and of the cellular membrane, in all the  various
parts into which it penetrates; upon the internal surface of
the stomach and  intestines; and probably upon the skin."|
   *Magendie's Physiology, p. 369, Philad. Ed. 1824.
   flb.p.277, Philad.Ed.1824.
   \Wistar's Anatomy, vol. 2, p. 370. 
30
uses of the  organs.
   As to their utility, "many  conjectures," says  Magendie,
   "equally ill-founded, have been  made  upon this subject."
   One thing, however, is certain;  these vessels take up and re-
   move something which has been carried out from the sources
   of nutrition and deposited by  the  arteries, and  returns it
   again to the heart, there to mingle with the common mass.
      The nerves have their origin in the brain and spinal mar-
   row, and are a system of  organs which "convey impressions
   to the brain from all parts of the system, and the principle of
   motion and sensibility from the brain to every part of the sys-
   tem."  But in what peculiar manner these functions are per-
   formed, has never been satisfactorily pointed  out.
      The nerves which have their origin in the brain are termed
   cerebral, and are the organs of sensation:  Those which have
   their origin in the  marrow of the spine  or  back-bone, are
   termed spinal,  and are  the organs which communicate the
   power of motion to the muscles.
     The nerves all issue in pairs;  of which the brain furnishes
   nine, and  the spinal marrow thirty or thirty-one.   It  is by
   means of those arising from the brain, that we taste, smell,
   see, hear, and feel.  When an impression is made upon any
   organ, as for instance the tongue, (the organ of taste,) the
   nerves  convey the  impression to the brain,  and  we are in-
   stantly sensible of  the impression.   The same result follows
   the impression of sound made upon the organ of hearing;  of
   odors upon  the organ of smelling;  and so of the rest.
     The  brain and spinal marrow, which, from their superior
   importance, would seem to have  claimed  earlier  attention,
   constitute together but one organ; the spinal marrow being
   only an elongation  of the substance of the brain through the
   hollow or channel of the spine or back-bone.  The brain pro-
   per, or cerebrum, is contained in the superior part of the  cavi-
   ty of the head formed for this organ.   Between the cerebrum
   and the commencement of the spinal marrow, in the lower
   and back part  of the cavity of the head,  lies the cerebellum
   or little brain, which name is given  it by anatomists only  to
   distinguish  it from  the upper and  larger portion of the  same
   organ.  The spinal marrow issues from the cerebellum, and
   passes downward through the whole length of the spine.
   From the brain and spinal marrow,  as before observed, all
   the nerves have their origin, and extend themselves into such
   a multitude of ramifications or branches, that the point of a
   pin cannot  be applied to any part  of the surface without pro-
   ducing sensation or pain.
     The  use of the brain is to receive  and make us sensible of
1   impressions made upon the organs  of sense; and is the grand
   focus and fountain of perception and sensation, ideal and cor-
   poreal.  In other words, the brain is the grand laboratory or 
USES OF TIIK ORGANS.                31
 workshop of the mind, where impressions are manufactured
 into ideas, and ideas  are compared, associated, selected, &c.
 according to the talents, taste, judgment, or  desires, of the
 individual.   But the manner in which the brain performs its
 important functions remains yet unknown.   Various theories
 have been proposed, and have been ingeniously and ably ad-
 vocated'and defended'by physiologists and metaphysicians;
 but all that has hitherto resulted  from inquiries on this ob-
 scure but interesting subject, amounts to little more than idle
 speculation.
   The lungs are situated  in that cavity of the trunk term-
 ed the thorax,  which is separated from the  abdomen by the
 diaphragm or  midriff.  The thorax is lined with a smooth,
 shining membrane, denominated the pleura, which is the seat
 of and gives  name to the disease called pleurisy.   This mem-
 brane is comparable to two distinct bags placed in the tho-
 rax, in contact  with each other; the two sides in contact form-
 ing a septun or partition from the inner edge of the spine to the
 breast-bone,  termed the mediastinum, which divides the thorax
 into two cavities.  The lungs arc  divided into two portions,
 styled lobes, one of each being suspended by the trachea or
 wind-pipe in either cavity of the thorax.
   The most  obvious, perhaps only, function of the  lungs, is
 that of respiration, which, as defined by Magendie, is that
 change of property which the blood undergoes by exposure to
 contact with the  air in  these  organs.  The more common
 name for respiration is  breathing, which consists in nothing
 more than simply inhaling the air into and expelling it from
 the lungs.
   The liver is an important organ, and supposed by some
 to be auxiliary  to the lungs in decarbonizing  the blood.  It is
 situated immediately below the midriff in the  abdomen; and
is  divided into  two unequal portions or lobes, the larger one
being situated wholly in the right hypochondriac region, and
 the smaller one partly in the same, and partly in the epigas-
 tric region.   The liver is a glandular body whose office is to
 secrete bile,  a  fluid  of vast importance in the process of di-
 gestion, and in  regulating the action of the intestines.
 '  Without stopping to inquire how the bile is secreted from
 the blood, it will be sufficient in this hasty sketch to point out
 its most important uses in digestion.   They  are:—
   1. "To separate the chyle from the chyme:  thus chyle is ne-
ver observed in the duodenum before the chyme is mixed with
the bile:  and thus it is that oil is extracted from linen by the
bile of animals.*
  ♦Oil is capable  of being mixed with bile, by which its nature is chan-
ged, perhaps in a  manner not wholly dissimilar to the process of diges-
tion. 
32                USES of the ORGANS.
  2. "By its acridity it excites the motion of the intestines:
hence the bowels are so inactive in persons with jaundice.
  3. "It imparts a yellow color  to the excrements: thus we
observe the white  color of the fceces in jaundice, in which
disease the flow of the bile into the duodenum is obstructed,
or entirely prevented.
  4. "It prevents the abundance  of mucus  and acridity in
the  intestines, &c."
  The stomach and intestines, including the oesophagus or
gullet, and mouth, constitute the alimentary canal; as it  is
through this tube that all our aliment or food passes in order
to yield its nutritious parts to the blood.
  The stomach is situated immediately below the diaphragm,
in the epigastric region.   Its use is to receive the masticated
food from the mouth,  and retain it there until the process of
digestion is so far  performed as  to render it proper for the
food to pass into  the first intestine,  called the duodenum.
The food thus partially digested is called chyme.
  The chyme being poured into the duodenum, it there meets
and combines with the bile and pancreatic juice, by which
the process of digestion  is completed.  The digested food is
now called chyle.
  The intestines are furnished almost through their whole
length with minute absorbent vessels, termed lacteals, which
take up the nutricious particles from the chyle and pour  them
into the thoracic duot.  The  grosser parts of the food which
will not serve for nourishment, or which cannot be sucked up
by  the absorbents, pass  on through the intestines, and are
at length discharged by stool.  Hence the use of the intestines
is, to furnish a lengthy tube in which to expose  the digested
food to the action of the  nutrient  vessels, for the  more conve-
nient extraction or solution of its nutricious parts.
  The contents of  the intestines are propelled through them
by  what is termed the peristaltic motion.  This motion is pro-
bably  somewhat  similar to the  motion of the oesophagus in
swallowing; and any diminution in the force, or frequency, of
it must necessarily cause costiveness of the bowels.
  Digestion is one of the most important functions performed
in the human system;  and any considerable deviation  from its
regular action, has a ruinous influence on  health.   And in
consequence of the great number of organs  concerned in the
digestive process, its operation is  liable often to be disturbed;
suffering more or less from every disease to which the human
frame is liable.  We believe that John Hunter was the first
who remarked that the stomach was the centre  of sympathy
in  the system; and of this fact there appears to be but one
 opinion with physiologists of the present day.   We have  no
 where, that  we recollect, seen any reason  assigned  for this 
DOCTRINE OF LIFE.
33
phenomenon; but we think it may be found in the association
of so many organs in the performance of one common function,
and in the mutual dependence and connection of the stomach
upon and with every other part of the system, and vice versa.
  It is only by considering the great end of the digestive pro-
cess,  that we shall be capable of fully appreciating its vast
importance in the animal economy.  By this process  our food
and drink* is prepared to yield its nutricious particles to the
blood, from which all the other fluids as well as the solids are
made, and upon which our very existence  depends.  When-
ever,  therefore,  the  digestion becomes too feeble, the living
power must also become weak;  and a long continued weak-
ness of the digestive organs must produce disease and ultimate-
ly, death!
                      SECTION 4.

OF THE POWER WHICH  KEEPS  THE  ORGANS  IN MOTION;  OR
                  THE DOCTRINE  OF  LIFE.

  Having taken a concise view of the compound nature of man,
both as to the  materials of which he is composed, and the or-
gans by which he is constituted;  and having^also briefly point-
ed out the different uses of many of the organs and parts that
we  have described; we will now turn our attention to a con-
sideration of the power that keeps the  organs in motion; which
phenomenon essentially constitutes life.
  We have shown that each organ of the system is charged
with the performance of an office or function.   Now, the per-
formance of a  function implies both an action and the power
to act; as without action there  could be no performance; and
without power to act there could be no action.  There must,
therefore, be either a power invested in, or furnished to, the
organs, by which they are enabled to act.  It is of this pow-
er we now intend to speak, and  which may be termed the
living power, vital power,  or power of life.  These terms will,
therefore, be used synonymously, and must always be under-
stood as referring to that power or principle by which the vi-
tal actions are kept up and life sustained.  We are  not sure
that we have made choice of the  best terms in the language
for  expressing in the  clearest  manner the idea of that vital
force which keeps the living machine in motion; but the most
careful consideration  which we have been able to  give the
subject has elicited in our minds nothing better.

         ♦Magendie's Physiology, p. 250, Phila. Ed. 1824.
       5 
34
DOCTRINE OF  LIFE.
   Several different theories explanatory of life or the  living
principle, have been offered to the world;  but none  of them,
we think, is so nearly correct as the one proposed by Dr. John
Brown.  By some, life has been considered as an  immediate
emanation  from the Deity.  Others have considered it as be-
ing derived from  air, fire, and light:  and some from air, and
some from fire or heat only.   Hippocrates,  and the greater
part of the ancient  philosophers were of the latter  opinion;
and Dr. Thomson, of the present day, has hit upon the same
idea.  Tourtelle,  in his work entitled the  "Principles of
Health," endeavors  by many facts and arguments to  establish
the doctrine, that heat or fire is the vital principle which an-
imates the whole living world.*
   But without stopping to controvert any of  these erroneous
theories, some of which will be more particularly noticed in
the course of this work, we will  briefly give our own views of
what constitutes the power of life, or rather of the source from
whence it is drawn.  This power is  doubtless  derived from
food, drink, and air;  the  two first received into the stomach;
the last into the lungs. There is, therefore, no power  inherent
in the organs  to keep up those actions upon which life  depends.
And in this respect, man  may be justly compared to a compli-
cated machine which is kept in  motion by  the application, in
some certain  manner, of a moving power, and which  finally
becomes worn out by continual action.
   This view of life and the animal machine, corresponds with
the proposition of Dr. Brown, "that life is [not a natural, but ]
a forced state; that the tendency of animals every moment is
to dissolution; that they are kept from it,  [not by any power
in themselves, but] by foreign powers, and even by these with
difficulty, and only for a little;  and then from the necessity
of their fate, give way to death."!  The correctness of Dr.
Brown's theory is too self-evident, as well as too generally
admitted, to be insisted upon here.   But the manner  in which
the "powers" that  give  an impulse  to the human machine,
are applied to the organs, remains undefined.   The vital pow-
er is drawn from  the air, and  from  our aliment, including
drinks, and is concentrated in all its force in the blood.J   The
various organs of the system are so constituted  as to be sus-
ceptible of impressions from this power,  which appears to be
applied to or  diffused through every part and portion of them
by the agency of the purple flood.  In fact, may we not con-
clude with  the Hebrew lawgiver, that the  blood is the  life.—
There is  certainly more  truth in this declaration of Moses,
  * Principles of Health, vol.  1, chap. 3.
  f Brown's Elements, Sec. 72.
  X Hence the impropriety of depriving the body of any portion of it&
blood. 
WASTE Or THE  POWER  OF LIFE.
35
than modern physiologists have been willing to accord to it.
Before we close this chapter, we trust that we shall have con-
clusively shown, as just now observed, that the whole vital
force or power which keeps  the animal machine in motion is
drawn from the air and from our food, and in the form or
through the agency of the  blood, is diffused  through  every
part of the system.  The blood indeed is really and absolutely
composed of the stimulant and nutricious parts of the air we
breathe and the food we eat,  by wrhich the organs are ena-
bled to perform their functions, and without which life must
instantly cease.
  As to the nature of the living power, or the peculiar mode
of its action upon the organs; whether it is a chimical agent
and  its action chimical, or whether it is something entirely
different from this, we are  not prepared positively to say; but
be it what it may, it is subject to laws peculiar to animal life.
It is, however,  a matter of little consequence,  in a medical
point of view, what is the  nature of this power, or the mode
of its action;  as all  must be sensible that without its constant
application, life must cease.   Of food and drink we can bear
the deprivation but a short  time, and of air  still shorter.—
These  are the substances from  which the power of  life  is
drawn; or, they are the stimulants which, in the healthy state,
keep the animal machine  in motion and drive us on through
life.
                      SECTION 5.

          OF  THE WASTE OF THE POWER OF LIFE.

  We have shown that the living power is not an innate nor
a self-existing power  in  the human  system; but is derived
from substances which, in their natural state, seem to bear no
relation to, or correspondence with, the living machine.  We
may also observe, that the wise Author of our existence has
so constituted the material world, that  we are under the ne-
cessity, of making some degree of bodily exertion in order to
procure a part of the  materials from which the vital power is
drawn.   These materials do not grow spontaneously, nor can
they be cultivated ready prepared for use.   Our bodies also
require  something to protect them from the inclemencies of
the weather; to which  also the Creator has  superadded a
sense of decency that requires us to keep them covered.  He
has likewise  made a share of our happiness dependent upon
bodily exercise. 
36           WASTE OF TIIF.  POWER OF LIFE.
  Now it is by the aid of the vital power that we arc enabled
to make  the exertion necessary to procure and  prepare food
for our subsistence; materials to cover our bodies, for comfort
and decency; and to do whatever else may be necessary for
health and happiness.  These exertions are the result of mus-
cular motions or actions.
  There are also internal actions carried on by the vital or-
gans, to which they are impelled by the living power; such as
respiration; the circulation of the blood and other fluids; the
digestive process; the glandular secretions; the peristaltic
motion, &c.  Now it must be evident that as the living pow-
er is not a self-existent power, but depends upon other matter
foreign to the body which it animates, it must waste and be-
come deficient, by the constant demand upon it to sustain both
bodily or muscular, and internal, organic or vital exertion.—
Likewise the fact, familiar to  all, that we are under the ne-
cessity of eating, drinking, and breathing, to supply the calls
of nature and sustain life, confirms, beyond  contradiction,
the  correctness of our proposition, that the vital power is
continually wasting  away:   And any increased excitement
of the  vital organs, or of the muscular motions, exhausts  still
more rapidly the  living power, and  proportionally  weakens
its vital force.
  The living power may  also be weakened, impaired,  and
annihilated by other means than the ordinary demands of the
system.  Any thing which has an enervating influence upon
the body produces this effect: either  by using the vital power
in excess,  or by  exerting such an injurious influence upon a
part or the whole of the living machinery, as to disqualify it
for the performance  of the proper functions.  The use of ar-
dent spirits, stimulating  the  heart  and arteries in excess,
without  adding any thing to the  living power as food, &c.
does, may be regarded as using the living  power in excess,
and, at  the same time, impairing the  tone of the organs,
whereby they are rendered incapable of performing their of-
fice.
   Eating too much; drinking too much; sleeping too much;
neglecting proper exercise; excessive indulgence in sensual
pleasures;  all produce an enervating effect upon  the system,
either by exhausting the  living power, or by preventing its
accumulation; and ought, therefore, to be shunned as danger-
ous  to health and life.
   The passions, particularly those termed the depressing ones,
 and mental exertions, indulged in to excess, waste or wear out
 the power of life and shorten existence.
   Finally, when, the organs by long  continued use, so far lose
 their tone as to  be incapable of  performing their functions;
 that is, incompetent to the task of manufacturing food, drink, 
        WASTE  OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE ORGANS.     37

and air, into the proper material  for supplying  the ordinary
waste of the living power; or of performing any other  vital
operation; we say, when the organs thus fail, life then ceases
and death closes the scene!
                      SECTION 6.

    OF THE  WASTE  OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE ORGANS.

   We have heretofore compared man to a machine which is
kept in motion by the continual application of a forcing pow-
er; and we think the comparison a good  one.   The animal,
like the inanimate machine,.wears out by continual use or
friction; both are liable to get out of order, and need repair—
both require the constant application of the moving power to
keep them in motion; and, as a necessary consequence, both
ultimately go to decay.
  But there is one very striking difference between the ani-
mal and inanimate machine.  The animal machine is so con-
stituted as  to remove by the operations  of  its own  organs,
whatever becomes  worn out by the attrition of its parts, thus
keeping it cleansed and purified; and at the same time, by
another action, supplying from the proper  source, the very
waste or loss occasioned by the removal of the worn-out mat-
ter.  For  however imperceptible may be the waste of the
organs from friction, it must nevertheless be the case.  Friction
will wear any material substance with which we are familiar;
even the continual dropping of water, it is said, will, wear a
stone.
   In addition to the waste of the organs*  by friction, they
are constantly losing something by what is termed the excre-
tions; which includes several different processes carried on by
the emunctories.  These processes remove from the body the
worn-out matter in order that the wheels of  life may not  be
encumbered with it, and also make room for the new supplies
which are constantly furnished  by nutrition and respiration.
The excretions, however, do not cease for the want  of new
supplies of nourishment; for during  either sickness, or long
fasting, the emunctories continue their functions, and often
before death takes place, reduce the body to a mere skeleton.
Thus it is by the excretory processes that the fleshy person
becomes lean, and the sick emaciated.  The excretions are—
* By this term, as here used, wc mean the whole body. 
 38       WASTE OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE ORGANS.

               I. By Cutaneous  Transpiration.

   Perspirable matter, or sweat,  is the product of cutaneous
 transpiration, the separation of which from the blood, in suit-
 able quantity, is a process of immense importance to health.
   The nutritious and stimulant parts of our food, drink, and
 air, having undergone the proper changes  and being formed
 into blood, are immediately dispersed through the system, and
 deposited in suitable portions in every organ.   Even the
 bones, hard and impenetrable as they appear to any fluid sub-
 stance, receive  a portion of the nutritious matter contained
 in the blood.  This deposit, after a time, ceases to answer the
 necessary purpose in sustaining life, when it must be removed,
 in order that its place may be supplied with fresh materials.
 It is commonly supposed that  the  matter which has thus be-
 come useless, is taken  up  by absorbing vessels and again
 thrown into the blood, by which it is conveyed to the  surface
 of the body and deposited upon the skin, either in the form
 of insensible  perspiration, or of sweat.   Cutaneous transpira-
 tion is the greatest, as well as most important excretion from
 the human system.

              2. By Pulmonary Transpiration.

  The vapor exhaled from the lungs in breathing, is the re-
 sult of pulmonary transpiration.
  This vapor is  most visible in a cold morning; and appears
 to be analagous to the perspirable fluid thrown upon the skin.
 It is deposited on the surfaces of the air cells in the lungs,
 whence it passes out during the  expulsion of the  air in
 breathing.
                       3. By Urine.

  The urine  also carries off from  the system matter which
has become useless; such as water, salts, and earths.  The
urine is separated from the blood in the kidneys, and no doubt,
like the perspiration, removes from the  system matter which
has become worn-out in  it, that  a  new supply may find room
to play its part in the active operations pf life.

               4. By the Alvine Discharges.

  The term alvine is applied to the discharges from the intes-
tines by stool.  They consist of the alimentary matter which
the lacteals do not take  up, together with a mixture of bile,
mucus, and cxcrementitious matter poured into the intestines
by the excreting  vessels that terminate  at their internal sur-
faces.  Hence we trfke the opportunity of remarking, that the 
          MEANS OF SUPPLYING THE WASTE, &C         39

vessels* which carry off the worn-out matter from the system,
are found to diverge both'ways, to the internal surface of the
intestines, and to the external surface or skin.  Now, if the
perspiration is free or uninterrupted, the determining powers
are said to be to the surface;  but if otherwise, then they are
said to be inward.
   The regular discharge of the faeces or stools, like the exact
performance of every other living function, is of the highest
importance  to health.  The regularity of the stools  depends
upon what is termed the peristaltic motion of the intestines.
If this motion be  accelerated, the digested food passes too
rapidly through the intestines, and does not  permit  the lac-
teals to absorb the whole of its nutrient and stimulant powers;
and hence debility and emaciation of the body.  It is also
sometimes the case that the intestinal exhalents, of which we
just made mention, in consequence of the determining powers
being inward, pour into  the intestines a superabundance of
fluid, causing liquid stools, which also  has a very debilitating
influence upon the body.  Liquid stools are also produced by
acrid or irritating substances being introduced into them, as
drastic purges, &c, which excite the exhalents, and induce
debility; and therefore ought, especially in typhus fevers, to
be avoided as  pernicious.
  The peristaltic motion may likewise become too slow, and
give rise to costiveness;  producing, if long continued, a train
of formidable symptoms, difficult oftentimes to remove.  Cos-
tiveness, however, is  commonly regarded as a symptomatic,
rather than  as a primary  disease.   It  is an almost constant
and never-failing attendant on dyspepsia or indigestion. But
whether it be a primary or a  symptomatic affection, its remo-.
val breaks up  a  catenation of other disagreeable symptoms,
which, if suffered to continue, are distressing to the  patient^
and highly injurious to health.
                      SECTION 7.

OF THE MEANS OF SUPPLYING THE WASTE  OF THE POWER  OF
                          LIFE.

  We have  previously anticipated the sources whence the
living power is drawn; and shall now enter more  minutely
into the subject; indulging, at  the same time, in some phy-
siological speculations illustrative of the new theory.
* Commonly called exhalents. 
40               MEANS OF SUPPLYING THE
  We shall first take notice of food and drink; as it would
seem that from these both stimulus and nourishment were
drawn.   Food is taken  into the stomach, where it partially
undergoes the  digestive process, and then  passes into the
duodenum, where the process  is finished.   The food is now
become prepared to yield to the lacteals its nutritious and sti-
mulant particles, which are poured  into the blood.  There
also appears to be a stimulus imparted to the system from the
food before even the first process of digestion can take place
in the stomach; which any one may be sensible of by observ-
ing his  feelings after a meal  which  was  preceded by keen
hunger; as he will be sensible, immediately after eating, that
his strength  and vigor are augmented. This we suppose must
be caused by what Magendie terms venous  absorption; a
phenomenon we need not here explain.
  When the digested food or chyle has become incorporated
with the blood, it is ready to impart all its stimulant qualities
to the system, and thus replenish the waste of vital power of
which we have just spoken.  Here, in the blood, the stimu-
lant matter  is carried and applied to every part and  portion
of the system, imparting life, strength and  vigor to the whole
man.
  From the air, it would seem, that  we derive a more power-
ful  and  constantly necessary  stimulus than from  food  and
drink.   We can bear the deprivation of air but for a very
limited period; of food and  drink much longer, without  de-
stroying life.
  It remains, however, to the present moment, a subject of
dispute, whether the air imparts something to the blood, or
abstracts something from it—whether it imparts a stimulus, or
abstracts a sedative.
  The venous blood, as it is termed,  or that which is returned.
by the veins from all parts of the system to the heart, previous
to i^s entrance into the lungs,  is deprived of those qualities
which fit'it for sustaining the living  power; or, as others say,
containing something which unfits it for those purposes.  But
we shall assume it  for granted, that the blood in its passage
through the system has imparted its stimulant powers to the
organs, and  returns to the lungs to obtain a new supply from
the air; without disputing, however, that it may also contain
something unfriendly to life which it is necessary to discharge
through the lungs.
  The blood in its  way to the heart, receives a quantity of
chyle from the thoracic duct, which, as  yet, remains unassi-
milated or unconverted to the  nature of the vital fluid, or of
the body which it is designed  to  support.  In  its passage
through  the heart and pulmonary artery, the chyle becomes 
WASTE OF THE POWER OF LIFE.
41
  intimately blended with the blood  which enters the lungs of
  a deep or black purple color.   Here it undergoes a highly
  important change; without which, life, in a very limited period,
  would become extinct.
   How this change in the qualities of.the blood takes place or
  is effected, has not been  satisfactorily accounted for.  It is
  known to enter  the  lungs of a dark purple or modena hue,
  "and we find it return,"  says Dr. Good, "spirited with new-
  ness of life, perfect in its elaboration, more readily disposed
  to coagulate, and  the  dead purple hue transformed into a
  bright scarlet.  What," continues he, "has the blood hereby
  lost?   How has this wonderful change been accomplished?"
   We trust that we shall be excused whilst treating upon this
  most important function of the living machine, if we dip a lit-
 tle  into  the scientific speculations of the  age; although  we
 have small hope  of settling the question upon any permanent
 basis.  Dr. Good observes, in reference to the queries just
 quoted, "These are questions which have occupied  the atten-
 tion  of physiologists in almost  all ages, and were as eagerly
 studied in the  Greek schools as in our own day.  To the pre-
 sent hour, however, they have descended in a mantle of Cim-
 merian darkness; and though the researches of a more accu-
 rate chimistry have disclosed volumes of facts heretofore un-
 known, and the ingenuity of theorists have laid hold of them,
 and applied them to an explanation of this curious*'subject in
 a great variety of hypotheses, I am afraid we are.still almost
 as much at sea as ever; and that there  is no  inquiry in the
 whole range of physiology, in a more unsatisfactory state, than
 that concerning the ventilation of the blood in the lungs."*
   The most probable hypothesis, however, which has been  of-
 fered in explanation of this bewildering subject is,  that the
 blood during its passage from the  extreme branches of the
 pulmonary arteries to the corresponding  branches of the pul-
 monary veins, in some manner or other comes in contact with
 the atmosphere inhaled  into  the numerous  air-cells of the
 lungs, the walls of which are every where invested with those
 vessels, forming a  beautiful net-work.   This contact of the'
 blood and air, produces  a mutual change in the properties of
 both; the blood imbibing the vital qualities of the air, which is
supposed to  be oxygen gas; the air abstracting the useless mor-
bid parts from the blood, thought to be carbon.
   The carbon is supposed to give to the venous blood its dark
purple color; and its abstraction  from it to  restore  it to the
scarlet hue of the arterial blood.  But the theories that have
been  started to account  for  the change of color which the
blood undergoes in its transformation from venous to arterial

 ♦Good's Study of Medicine; Class Pneumatica;  Physiological Proem.
       6 
 42              Means of supplying the

 blood; and how, in its passage through the system, the venous
 blood acquires its dark hue, are as various and unsatisfactory
 as those respecting any other part of the process of respira-
 tion.  But like many other physiological questions,  it is of
 little consequence whether it is ever rightly settled or not.
    It would seem, however, from the best investigation which
  we liave been enabled to give this subject, that the inhaled air
  actually imparts a stimulant power to the blood, the unremit-
  ted motion of which is indispensably necessary to sustain life
  from the first moments of conception to the latest period of vi-
  tal existence.  It would also appear that respiration had a di-
  rect influence upon the circulation; the quickness of one al-
  ways seeming to bear  a relative proportion to the speed  of
  the other.   One is never accelerated without the other; and
  both may be increased at pleasure by active exercise, as run-
  ning, leaping, &c.
    We  are  still further convinced  that the blood derives  a
  stimulant power from the atmosphere, by the effects which the
  system  experiences  after breathing the air of a close room
* several times over;  as by this means  its vital  or stimulant
  qualities become deficient or even totally exhausted.  Hence
  it often happens in tight rooms which are much crowded, that
  some become weak and debilitated, some sicken and  others
  faint: And  too long  confinement in this way would  produce
  death, as  it did  with the  English prisoners  confined  in the
  Black Hole at Calcutta.   By breathing the same air over and
  over again, it loses something which chimical experiment has
  proved  to be oxygen gas; this, no doubt, has been consumed
  by the process of respiration, and may, therefore, be regard-
  ed as the  vital or stimulant portion of the atmosphere.   If the
  oxygen, which becomes exhausted by breathing, has  not min-
  gled with the blood, what has become  of it?  We know that
  it is yet undecided as to the manner in which this gas is consu-
  med, though wre think it  is most reasonable to conclude that
  it is incorporated with the vital fluid.
     But  we  have, as we think,  still stronger evidence that
  'something is actually imparted by the air to the blood, during
  the process of respiration, in the fact that combustion also de-
  stroys or  consumes the stimulant qualities of the atmosphere.
   It is a  well established fact, that both these processes consume
   the oxygen of the air;  and neither can be performed without
   its presence in some proportion or other.  But although com-
   bustion, in  pure oxygen gas, goes on with increased  splendor
   and brilliancy, and by irihaling it  the vital power is momen-
   tarily excited to greater vivacity and vigor, it is nevertheless
   unfit for the purposes of respiration and support of animal life.
   This highly stimulating gas, like  rich food, requires with  it
   a portion of some  inert material to render it suitable for respi- 
WASTE OF THE POWER OF LIFE.
43
ration.  The proper mixture  for this purpose is found in at-
mospheric air, which consists of about 21 parts, by measure,
of oxygen, and 79 of nitrogen, with slight traces of carbonic
acid gas; which last, however, is not regarded as  a constitu-
ent part of the atmosphere, but as merely adventitious or ac-
cidental.  These proportions  of the  two gases are no doubt
the most suitable to health, and are found* to be the same in
all seasons and climates, and at all elevations at which it has
been tested;  and has continued without any variation  since
the composition of the atmosphere was first discovered, which
was about the year 1775.
  We are well aware of the  facts and force of the reasoning
which are adduced in support of a theory of respiration which
is opposed to the one that we have espoused; but  we do not,
deem it necessary, nor does it comport with our design, to go
into an examination of the theory or of the facts which  are
offered for its support.   We will let it suffice in this place, to
quote the sentiment of a modern writer* of high character,
who has remarked  that the deficiency of precise data prevents
the establishment of one of them in preference to the other;
but  that the arguments preponderate in favor of the one
which we have endeavored to support.
  But waiving all  theoretical reasoning, we have every thing
necessary to our present purpose,  which is io establish the
fact that respiration is  a  principal  means of supporting ani-
mal life.  We  know that the  blood in  making a complete
revolution in the  body, passes  through  the lungs; and that
there it undergoes an important—an indispensable  change,
without which life must, in a  very short time, cease.  We al-
so know that this change is^produced  by respiration—by the
air drawn into the lungs in the act pf breathing.  These facts,
we think, are certainly sufficient to establish the  proposition
that the power of life is in part drawn from the air we breathe.
And upon this source are we continually dependent day and
night, asleep or awake, during the whole period of our exis-
tence.
  Hence, too, we may learn the vast importance of breathing
a pure atmosphere, and why an.impbr,e one proves so destruc-
tive to health.   Foul air  contaminates the  blood and other
fluids, and reduces the vital  force  of the living  power, be-
cause it does not  afford the necessary supply of stimulus to
the purple flood.  It is also probable  that an impure air does
not absorb the carbon or whatever other useless or extraneous
matter with which the blood may have become charged during
its revolution through the system.
♦Tjtrnfv'r Chimistry; article Respiration. 
44
MEANS OF SUPPLYING THE WASTE
   We now indulge the hope that sufficient evidence has been
adduced to establish our proposition, that the power of life
is concentrated in all its force jin the blood.   Into this fluid
the nutrient and  stimulant portions of our food are poured,
through the thoracic duct; and into it is also transfused the
vital power derived from the air, and by it is borne and given
out to  every part of the living machine:  Or rather, perhaps
we might say, that the-nutrient  parts of our  food, combined
with the oxygen of the air, compose the blood, from which is
drawn the power that moves the human machine.
   We  feel unwilling to  close this subject without expressing
our confident belief, that it has been clearly shown, that "life
is a forced state; that the tendency of animals every moment
is to dissolution; that they are kept from it, [not by any powers
in themselves, but] by foreign powers;" that those powers are
drawn  from food, drink, and air; the last of which is more
constantly and imperiously necessary than either of the oth-
ers; and is, therefore, to be regarded  as the  most  essential
"foreign power" employed in forcing that state which is term-
ed life.
                      SECTION 8.

OF THE MEANS OF SUPPLYING THE WASTE OF THE SUBSTANCE
                     OF THE ORGANS.

  From infancy to m&ture age, there is a progressive increase
of bulk in the organs, and consequent growth of the body.—
During this stage of existence, a greater amount of matter is
deposited by the blood than is taken, up by the absorbents and
removed by the exhalents out of the system.  It will be recol-
lected that every thing intended for the nourishment or growth
of the  body  passes into the blood, from which it is supplied
to all parts of the living economy; and during the progress
from infancy to manhood, more matter is deposited by the
blood than is removed by the absorbents; whence an increase
of bulk or size of the body.
  But  even during this period, as well as through after life,
a part  of what is thus taken into the system and deposited  for
its nourishment and growth, is worn out and removed from it.
If the loss thus sustained be not speedily supplied, as in case
of sickness, or of abstinence  from food, the  body shrinks and
becomes emaciated.  The waste which is thus constantly ta-
king place can only be supplied by the daily reception of such
articles of food and drink as can be converted into a substance 
OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE ORSANS.          45
of the same kind and nature with that from which the waste
takes place.   Whilst the body is in a healthy state, the organs
possess the power of manufacturing our aliment in such^a man-
ner  as to  render it suitable for supplying, as circumstances
may require, both the growth and waste of the body.
  It is supposed that the constant change of matter which is
continually  taking place in the system,* entirely renews  the
body in the  course  of some certain period; that is, that what
now composes our bodies will, in the course of time, be entirely
removed,  and new matter  take its place.    By the ancients
this  change  and renewal of the materials of which the body
is  composed, was  conjectured to take place  once in seven
years.  That the composition of the human system is constantly
varying, admits of no reasonable doubt;  but  that the whole  >
entire body is periodically renewed, admits  of much doubt.-—
It is, however, a most curious phenomenon that so many dif-
ferent  substances  should be forming in the animal system,
such as flesh or muscle, ligament, cartilage, bone, &c,  and
at the same time be wasting away to make room for new mat-
ter.
  The  compounding and  decompounding  the materials or
proximate elements of which our bodies are composed, is un-
doubtedly, to some certain extent, continually going on within
us.   This double  process  is indispensably  necessary to our
existence; and essentially constitutes vitality or life.   It is
this  which distinguishes organic  from inorganic bodies,  and
preserves animals from putrefaction and decay; though it has
been heretofore supposed that theprinciple^of life'was the pre- .
serving power in animal matter; because at the common tempe-
rature of  the  body, putrefaction commences very soon after
death.   Vegetable substances are also subject to the  same
destructive  principle, though they are .enabled much longer
than animal bodies, to resist those laws which are forever at
war with organized nature.  But it is a well known fact, that
certain substances will preserve both animal and vegetable
matter from putrefying in  the  dead state; and why may not
the vital organs manufacture something to act upon the living
fibre in the same or some similar way?  Moreover, the organs
of the living machine are continually separating the worn-out
useless  matter  from that  which  is  sound  and serviceable;
which  certainly is an  additional means of  preventing putre-
faction  and decay.
  In one of our lectures we  advanced the idea that the effect
produced  in the vital operation of compounding  and decom-
pounding  the elements of man, was essentially what consti-
tuted the living state or condition of the body, termed life.—
This state invariably ceases whenever  the  necessary supply
of food, drink, or air is, for a  certain period, interrupted or 
46
MEANS OF SUPPLYING THE WASTE, &C
withdrawn; or whenever the organs concerned in compound-
ing and decompounding those materials become incapable  of
performing their offices.
  This view of what constitutes life, enables us to dispense
with the necessity of supposing a vital principle, principle  of
life, living principle, &c; terms which have been hitherto em-
ployed to express  our notions of the unknown something which
produces the  various phenomena  of animal existence.  We
say the necessity of supposing a vital principle, because physio-
logists have not, with all their research, been able in any other
manner,  or by any known law or mode of natural action,
satisfactorily  to account  for many of the phenomena which
are observed to be peculiar to life. The admission of a vital
principle is at best but a substitute for the ignorance of those
who employ it; for ifaccounts  for nothing—explains nothing;
but rather plunges the subject  into still greater darkness and
difficulty.
   If the human system were a mere primary or simple sub-
stance, and not a  compound one, it must then necessarily fol-
low that  in order  to produce the essential phenomenon of life,
as we have heretofore described it, a living principle must be
inherent in it.  But such a fact as this, if it existed, would be
a most singular anomaly—an unheard-of circumstance in the
works of nature!  It is of Nature's works we write; and it is
to her laws we refer every change and  every phenomenon of
the living system  as well as of  the whole material world. We
wish  however  not to be  misunderstood in assigning  these
things to the laws of nature;  we do it with all proper and
necessary deference to the Great First Cause, which crea-
ted the whole, and endowed matter with certain fixed princi-
ples or laws by which its action is governed.
   The fact must  certainly be familiar, at least to  the chimist
and philosopher,  that Q,"simpfe substance contains but one sim-
ple principle; and this, so long as it remains  insulated from
other matter, is inert and incapable of producing phenomena
of any kind whatever.   It is only by being combined with
other matter containing a  different principle, that actions
either vital or  chimical can be produced, or the operations of
nature carried on; the laws of nature being the rules which pro-
duce these actions, and  which govern them when produced.
And we  do not  see why animal bodies should be any more.
exempt  from those laws than other matter.  They are  a part
of the physical world—formed from the great mass of  ele-
 mentary materials—have  a progressive growth—a mature
 age—a  gradual  decay.   Death and decomposition close the
 scene, when they return again to the common mass. 
47
                   CHAPTER II.

                    OF ANIMAL HEAT.

  Although we have placed the terms animal heat, at the
head of this chapter, we do not wish it understood that we
think the heat of an ^animal is in any respect different from
the heat of any other body.   We use the term in common
with other writers, merely to express  the heat of animals,
without designing to distinguish animal, from any other heat.
Its  generation in the system is of vast importance  to health,
over which it exercises a most controlling  influence.   We
have, therefore,  devoted a chapter to its consideration.
                      SECTION 1.

          OF THE PRODUCTION  OF ANIMAL HEAT.

  The means by which heat is  generated in the human sys-
tem, is so obscure  that physiology has not hitherto developed,
with satisfactory certainty, the seat nor the mode of its produc-
tion.  And whether we shall be  able to suggest any thing
more conclusive, remains yet to  be tested.
  The most popular and best  defined theories, however, fix
the seat of its production in the  lungs: but the manner in
which it is there generated  remains unsettled.   By some, it
is attributed  to the  alternate changes of venous to arterial,
and of arterial to  venous blood; whilst others are disposed to
ascribe it altogether to the influence.of the nervous system.
   It would be inconsistent with our plan, to attempt  a for-
mal refutation of  those contradictory theories; and we must,
therefore, content ourselves  with a few observations in illus-
tration of our own views.
   For the secretion or formation of every other material ne-
cessary to promote the operations of the human system, an
organ or organs have been  assigned; but no organ has yet
been detected whose office  it  could rationally be suspected
was to generate heat,  a substance indispensably necessary in
the animal economy.   Indeed, from the very nature of this
invisible fluid, we should not expect that any one organ in
the system Could  be the instrument of its production.  If it 
 46            PRODUCTION OF ANIMAL HEAT.

 were the case, as some suppose, that animal heat was gener-
 ated wholly in the lungs, or any other central organ, the
 source of its production must experience a high degree  of
 heat, whilst more distant parts would be comparatively cold.
    But, in opposition to this, it is maintained that the vital or-
 gans are but very little if any warmer than other parts are;
 and it is in these we should expect to find the source of heat;
 as, indeed, it is usually attributed to the lungs.
   Heat is an inconfinable substance; and unlike all the other
 fluids which can be formed in one part of the system and con-
 veyed in proper canals or tubes to all other parts, it must be
 generated in every place where its presence is required.  If
 it were exclusively produced in the  lungs, it must  be trans-
 mitted by the blood to the extremities; but ere  this could be
 accomplished, the heat would be dissipated, because the walls
 of the arteries could not restrain its radiation.
   It will be readily inferred from what has already been said,
 that  animal heat is not generated  in any particular organ,
 but universally throughout the  system.    But how, or upon
 what principle is it produced?  This is a question which, in
 all its bearings, the utmost researches of  chimistry and physi-
 ology have not hitherto been able satisfactorily to answer.  It
 is known, however, that friction produces heat, though upon
 what principle is not understood; and amidst all the  opera-
 tions  going on in the human system, and particularly the cir-
 culation of the blood through the minute vessels which seem
 almost to compose the very fibers of the flesh, there must be
 a vast amount of friction, and, of course, a corresponding pro-
 duction of heat.
   Should any be disposed to doubt  the probability  that the
 friction of a fluid substance can produce heat, he may remem-
 ber that  the blood is an animal fluid, very different in its com-
 position, as well as physical and chimical properties, from any
other.*  Its  principal constituents are albumen and fibrin,
 two substances  which are the basis of the solids  of the body.
 Indeed the blood is the matter of which the body is composed,
 in a state of fluidity; and like the solids is susceptible of the
 influence of the living power, by which it is kept in motion.
 In becoming solid, the blood  appears to give oytt its watery
part, which goes off by the lungs  and skin, carrying with it
 those  parts of the solids which are worn out and ready to pass
away  to make room for a new and necessary supply.
  We may also observe, that every circumstance which ac-
celerates the motion of the  blood, and which of course in-
creases the amount of friction, elevates the temperature of
the body; and upon what known principle or mode of action

    * See John Hunter's celebrated Treatise on the Blood, &c. 
USE OF ANIMAL HEAT.
49
could this fact be so rationally accounted for as by attributing
it to the agency of friction? Hence a person laboring under
the effects of debility or disease, without fever, although he
may not be sensible of any reduction of animal heat, is, not-
withstanding, aware of his inability  to resist the effects of
the external  cold.   The more strong and vigorous an indi-
vidual is, the more active and energetic will be the circulation,
and  the  less will he be  affected by cold; whilst the more
weak, feeble, or debilitated he is, the more will he be  influ-
enced by this agent.
  It would seem, therefore, from what has been adduced, that
heat, in order to be uniformly diffused throughout the system,
must be equally generated in every part.   And what known
operation of the animal economy appears so likely to produce
it, as  the friction of the blood  passing through its proper ves-
sels; and particularly in its passage through the almost imper-
ceptible ones which  terminate the arteries and form the com-
mencement of the veins ?
  And now, as we have previously remarked, no organ hav-
ing been detected in  the system, whose office could rationally
be assigned to be the generation  of heat; and as from the in-
confinable  nature of this substance it could not, like the flu-
ids of the body, be conveyed from any central, or single organ,
to the remote parts of the system; and as friction appears to
be the only known process of producing heat which operates
uniformly over the whole body; we, therefore, humbly chal-
lenge physiologists for an acceptance of our theory;  at least
until  something better than any former one is offered to the
world.
                      SECTION  2.

              OF THE USE OF  ANIMAL HEAT.

  Animals, like all other organized living bodies, require a
certain portion of caloric or heat  to promote their growth
and  sustain life; and some, both  of  ancient and modern
times,  have supposed, from the important influence  which it
exercises over the animal functions, that it was really the
principle of life.  This indeed is the theory of Dr. Thomson,
whose  opinions have been so  extensively disseminated in the
United States.   But  the incorrectness  of this ancient and
exploded doctrine has been elsewhere  shown,* and will be

  * See Hance's Adidress and Lecture, delivered before the Botanic So-
ciety, Columbus, 1830. 
50
WASTE OF HEAT.
further occasionally noticed in the progress of this work; which
will supersede the necessity of dwelling upon it here.
   The most obvious uses  of animal heat appear to be that of
giving a proper consistence to the solids and fluids of the bo-
dy.  A  due quantity of it, attenuates the juices, and softens
and gives pliancy to all the vessels of the system; by which
means both the fluids and the vessels are qualified for keep-
ing up the circulation with healthful case and  regularity.—
By the softening effects of neat, the sensibility of the nervous
system is also augmented, and its influence over  the system
increased, whereby perception, both corporeal and mental, is
rendered much  more acute.
  If a sufficiency of heat be not generated in the system, the
fluids become thick and viscid; the vessels stiff and unyield-
ing; the circulation languid and feeble;  nutrition interrupted
or annihilated;  the removal of worn-out matter from the sys-
tem deranged and  checked; and  a  state  of disease ensues.
The same  result will likewise follow if the heat be by any
means reduced  or carried off too rapidly from the system;
which will take place by exposure to  cold, commonly styled
"catching cold."
  Too great a reduction of animal heat also impairs the ner-
vous influence,  preventing the prompt communication of ex-
ternal impressions to the brain, and of the power of motion to
the organs.  The mental faculties are likewise by the same
means impaired, and the living power  deprived  of its proper
influence over the living machine.
  To be sensible of these facts, it  is only necessary for an ob-
serving  person to notice his sensations with reference to these
subjects, when benumbed with cold.                 *
                      SECTION 3.

                 OF THE WASTE OF HEAT.

  The matter of heat, styled in the modern nomenclature ca-
loric, is an inconfinable substance,  passing with more or less
rapidity through, all bodies according to their  density, pene-
trating, in general, those which are most solid with more ce-
lerity than such as are more  porous.  1 fence  the  matter of
heat is never at rest, but is continually passing and repassing
through matter, seeking an equilibrium or level; as any num-
ber of bodies in contact or near to  each other,  with tempera-
tures ever so diversified, will respectively acquire the same
degree of heat; the colder bodies becoming warmer,* and the
warmer  bodies colder. 
WASTE OF HEAT.                   51
   The human body is also subject  to  the  same law; and as
heat is constantly being generated  in  its tissues, it must also
as constantly be passing off; and, indeed, for the very reason
that it is thus perpetually being removed, it must be conti-
nually generated.
   Animal heat is reduced  in  different ways, and  by various
causes:
   1. By exposure to a medium colder than our bodies.
   It is an established  fact, as just observed, that heat per-
vades all  bodies in contact alike.   This property is one of its
peculiar characteristics; it being so extremely subtle that it
cannot be confined within any limits, or by  any known sub-
stance. If we heat a rod of iron red hot, and then plunge it into
cold water, it very soon imparts its heat to the water, and both
become of equal temperature; the  iron becoming colder, and
the water warmer; or if the hot iron be laid in the open air,
the effect is the same, its temperature being soon  reduced to
that of the atmosphere.
   Just so with man, whose  temperature  is generally above
the  surrounding medium  or  air; he  is constantly losing his
heat, and at the same time as constantly generating  more to
supply the waste.  The quantity of heat lost in this way, is
always in proportion to the coldness  of the atmosphere or
medium which surrounds us; and also  depends, in  some mea-
sure, upon the state of the skin whether tense or relaxed, dry
or moist.   The knowledge of these facts  enables us  to com-
prehend how a person exposed to a current of cold air, or the
influence of any other cold substance, either externally or in-
ternally applied, loses his heat and  becomes  the subject of
disease.
   2. By the perspiration and its evaporation from the surface
of the body.
   Every fluid  contains a necessary portion of what  is  deno-
minated its caloric of fluidity; that is, a sufficient portion of
the matter of heat combined with the  fluid  to keep  it  at all
temperatures above the freezing point in a state  of  fluidity.
Hence, the separation of  fluids from the body carries off not
only the caloric of fluidity, but also the amount of heat neces-
sary to raise the fluids to the temperature of the body from
whence they are removed.
   Perspiration is thrown upon the surface, ordinarily, in the
form of an impalpable vapor, denominated insensible perspi-
ration.  This matter is constantly evaporating from the skin,
by which means an  additional quantity of caloric  or  heat is
removed from  the system.   In such climates and situations as
have a temperature  above the human system, this latter pro-
cess of abstracting the surplus heat is indispensably necessary
to existence.   Dr. Franklin was the  first  who suggested the 
52                  WASTE OF HEVT.
principle upon  which this cooling process depends.  He il-
lustrated his subject by comparing the human body to.a kind
of vessel used in some countries for cooling water.  This ves-
sel is perforated all over with a great number of minute holes,
through which the water very slowly percolates, and by  con-
tinual evaporation from the surface of the  vessel abstracts
warmth from it and from the water, which is thus made cool.
  In some hot and arid countries, water is carried upon horses
or camels, in bags exposed to the burning rays of a vertical
sun, which instead of warming the water, as might naturally
be expected, has  a contrary effect,  making it cooler than it
otherwise would be.   These bags being made of leather, are
sufficiently porous to admit the water slowly to ooze through
them, by thousands of imperceptible pores, whilst the great
heat of the sun causes a rapid evaporation from the surface of
the  bags, which removes the heat and reduces the tempera-
ture of the water.
  It is a well known fact, that water when heated  to the  boil-
ing  point  cannot, by the fiercest or most violent boiling be
made any hotter.  The more intense the heat, the more rapid is
the  evaporation; the vapor carrying off the additional heat as
fast as it is infused into the water, and thus preventing the
temperature from being increased by the most vehement fire.
We adduce this philosophical fact in illustration of the propo-
sition, that the temperature  of the human body is reduced by
the  evaporation of the perspirable fluid from its surface.
  If an evaporation could  be produced from the surface of
cold water, equal to that which takes place from water in the
state of violent boiling, it would be almost instantly converted
into ice.   To be satisfied of this, we only need imagine the
vast quantity of heat which must be removed from water when
vehemently boiling over an intense fire, the warmth of which
cannot be increased after  it has arisen to  the boiling heat.
And thus it is with the human body when exposed to the in-
fluence of a hot atmosphere; the increased evaporation from
the surface carries off the  augmented heat, and prevents its
too  oppressive accumulation.  In India, according to  some
writer, ice is actually produced by generating artificial cold,
Upon the principle of evaporation  of which we  have  been
speaking; but  the means  employed to cause the necessary
exhalation we do not now recollect.
  3. Though not in strict accordance with the "ubject of this
section, we will advert to another cause which, if it  do  ^ot
waste the heat, checks its  production in the system.
  Excitements of every kind  are necessarily followed by a
proportional languor.  Thus, long continued or violent exer-
tions waste the power of life, and must always be succeeded
by  lassitude proportioned  to the waste.  The vigor of the 
WASTE OF HEAT.
53
organs is now impaired, and their functions are more feebly
performed; the circulation becomes slow and languid, and the
generation of heat declines; whilst the liability to suffer from
exposure to cold, or to cold and dampness  conjoined, is more
than doubly increased.  Hence, persons who have labored to
exhaustion, above all others, should be careful about exposing
themselves to a current  of air, or of sleeping in cold and damp
situations.
  The exercises of the day having diminished the force or
quantity of the living power, creates  the necessity of rest to
restore it during the nigty.   Whilst asleep, the  functions are
performed in  a more slow and feeble manner, or entirely
cease; animal heat is less rapidly evolved; the  living power
accumulates; the organs recover their tone, and the whole
vital energies are concentrated, ready to meet the exigencies
of the coming day. 
51
                   CHAPTER III.

                  OF THE PERSPIRATION.

  The perspiratory excretion holds a pre-eminent influence
over the integrity of the living system.   A sudden check or
long retention of it in the body, is sure to produce more or less
serious derangement of the animal functions;  and there is no
disease, perhaps, in  which it is not in  some degree affected.
  Perspiration is  distinguished into sensible  and insensible;
but as all that makes this distinction, is the difference in quan-
tity, it is unnecessary to take any further notice of it here.
                      SECTION 1.

             OF THE SOURCE OF FERSPIRATION.

  TnE perspirable fluid or sweat is secreted from the blood,
which, by this process, is kept in a state of  purity.  Its con-
stituent parts appear to be water, an animal gas, azotic or ni-
trogen gas, the subcutaneous oil and serum of the blood.
  The organs which separate the perspirable fluid from the
blood, are the minute extremities of the cutaneous arteries; that
is, the arteries which approach the surface, and perhaps ex-
pose the  blood to  the action of the atmosphere in a manner
somewhat similar  to the lungs.  During the rounds of the cir-
culation, all the blood, no doubt, in turn, is  presented to the
cutaneous vessels which separate the useless parts and remove
them from the system.
                      SECTION 2.

               OF THE USE OF PERSPIRATION.

  The perspiratory process is one of immense  importance to
the living machine.  Its principal uses are:
  1. To remove from the system the worn-out materials which
are no longer useful; thereby cleansing and purifying the living
machine; relieving it from a mass of morbid putrefactive mat- 
            EFFECTS OF CHECKED PERSPIRATION.         55

 ter, which, if retained in the system, would be an interruption
 to the play of its organs; a source of irritation to its fibers; an
 unfailing cause of disease.   By this process the blood and all
 the other fluids are purified, and kept in a condition most con-
 ducive to sound health; and it may be justly  regarded as the
 principal natural  outlet or emunctory for the surplus matter
 which is continually accumulating in the blood.
  The removal of poisonous or other irritating extraneous mat-
 ter from the body, depends  upon this admirably calculated
 function of the human  system.  We have heretofore pointed
 out the direction  which every thing entering the body takes
 in its passage through the system.  Whatever is received into
 the stomach passes to the intestines, and thence through the
 lacteals and thoracic duct into the blood; whilst gaseous sub-
 stances, which enter by the lungs, pass  directly from  these
 organs into  the vital fluid.  Hence, solid and liquid poisons
 usually enter the  body through the  mouth and stomach; and
 gaseous ones by the lungs.  How then, when they have thus
 penetrated the system, does nature expel her internal foe?—
 If the poison be a liquid .or a solid substance taken into the sto-
 mach, the irritation of the poison, or an emetic, may immedi-
 ately produce vomiting, and throw it out before any part of it
 is sucked up by#what Magendie  styles the venous absorption
 of the stomach; and thus save the system from further ill con-
 sequences.  But  if it be a gas taken into the  lungs, or  the
 poison enters  the circulation before vomiting takes place, it
 must  then be  removed  from the system through the grand
 emunctories of the blood, the perspiratory organs; that is, it
must pass  off by perspiration.  Without  this most admirable
provision of nature to cleanse, to purify, to drain off extraneous
matter, the organs must become  incommoded or  impeded in
 their  movements,  as the wheel of a mill with back-water, or
 corroded, like the wheels of a watch with aquafortis.
                      SECTION 3.

        OF THE EFFECTS OF CHECKED PERSPIRATION.

  We have already measurably anticipated the effects of any
check given to the perspiratory  function; but still, in accor-
dance with our original design to make every thing plain, even
if we  should  hazard the charge of repetition thereby, we
shall assign a short section to its consideration.
  A failure of the perspiratory organs, in any degree, to per-
form their functions, causes a retention in the system of mat-
ter whose presence is exceedingly injurious, which must have 
56
EFFECTS OF CHECKED PERSPIRATION.
a strong tendency to run into putrefaction, whereby all th<J
fluids will become contaminated; their stimulant qualities
Weakened; and all the secretions so necessary to keep up the
vital actions of the system, will be vitiated and corrupt.
  It is asserted by almost all writers who have treated upon
this subject,  that the greatest number of diseases to which
we are liable, originate from checked perspiration; and who,
after perusing what we have  said respecting this  important
function, will not receive their testimony?  Good health  can
never be enjoyed whilst this excretion is impaired; and  hence
the propriety of washings, bathings, frictions, &c, to  soften
and relax the skin, in which are situated the organs that sepa-»
rate the perspiring fluid from the blood. 
57
                  CHAPTER  IV.

                       OF HEALTH.

  We are now to  treat upon a subject from which, setting
aside morality and religion, and those joys which are purely
intellectual, most of the pleasures of existence flow.  With-
out health, the world is little better than a gloomy solitude—a
dreary waste—a tasteless scene; and though we may be sur-
rounded by the most splendid monuments of human art—the
most cheerful and consoling friends—and a profusion of every
thing calculated  to give a relish to existence, without health
we shall find ourselves destitute of that enjoyment which their
presence might otherwise inspire.  Even the most luxurious
beauties  of nature are dimmed in the eye of the sick; the
most exquisite joys of life cease to  have their  accustomed
influence; and time,  which in  our  healthy moments passes
away almost unheeded  and unknown,  in sickness seems  to
wear out existence with its lengthened hours.
                      SECTION 1.

              OF WHAT CONSTITUTES HEALTH,

  Health, the invaluable prize and  reward of  a virtuous,
regular, and  temperate life, consists in an easy, agreeable,
harmonious action of all  the vessels,  and an exact perfor-
mance of all the functions in the human system.  Whilst this
state of the body continues, the appetite craves a suitable sup-
ply of food; digestion is regular and easy; the blood is sup-
plied  with an appropriate quantity of chyle, which nourishes,
supports, invigorates and  strengthens the body.   The secre-
tions  being dependent upon the quantity  and quality of the
blood, are healthful  and abundant; all the excretions take
place in  suitable order, thus removing from the  system the
worn-out matter, and cleansing and purifying the whole body;
promoting health, strength, vivacity and vigor.
  The restoration and preservation of health is the great end
and object of the medical  art; and when we consider its vast
importance to the world, we shall not wonder that it has been
so much studied, though we may well  be astonished that it
       8 
58         THE power which supports health.

has so little advanced.  The day of its promotion, however,
is dawned, and  already  we are permitted to bask  in  the
beams of the morning sun, which we  trust will continue to
ascend until  its  rays shall illumine  every dark maze of  dis-
ease, and enlighten the paths of the hopeless wanderers who
are in the road to death.
                      SECTION 2.

   OF THE POWER WHICH SUPPORTS OR PRESERVES HEALTH.

  The reader who has perused the  preceding chapters, and
become acquainted with our fundamental principles, will have
anticipated our views upon this subject.   It must be evident
that the preserving power of health can be nothing else than
the living power of the system exercising its full and whole-
some influence over the vital organs.   This, at least, is the
internal  power or  principle of the system, conjointly with
which are many other circumstances depending upon  the ex-
ercise  of the reasoning faculties and the influence of the
will.  These are, principally, a suitable degree of exercise
and rest; the rational indulgence of the propensities and pas-
sions; and in short, the due  observance of temperance  in
every thing which can produce either a moral or physical ef-
fect upon the system. 
59
                    CHAPTER V.

                        OF DISEASE.

   Hitherto we have  treated of  man, and considered his
 functions, and some of the relations of his functions, only in a
 state of health.
   We are now to treat of a state of the system different from
 this, and  which it is the grand object and aim of the science
 of medicine to remove.   This state of the system is termed its
 pathological or diseased state.
   Disease, when it pervades all the organs of the system, as
 in fever,  &c,  is termed general;  and when only one, or a
 part of the organs are affected, it is termed local or partial.
 Both general and  local disease is termed  primary or idio-
pathic,  when it arises independently of  any other affection;
 and sympathetic, when  in consequence of some other com-
 plaint.  When peculiar to  a certain class of persons, or a cer-
 tain  country, diseases are said to be endemic; and when the
 same disease attacks a great  number of persons  at  the same
 time, or during the same season, in a town, city, district, or
 country, it is said to be epidemic.
                      SECTION  1.

           OF THE VARIOUS THEORIES OF DISEASE.

  Since the earliest ages of medicine, theories have been pro-
gressively succeeding each other in the march of this science;
but without materially enlarging the knowledge or improving
the practice of this "divine art."  Some new truths^ however,
have resulted from each of them, which, like "beacons on the
solitudes of time," have illumined the dark path  of medical
investigation.  But those truths  that occasionally have burst
upon the world, and which for awhile captivated by their nov-
velty or beauty, have frequently been associated with so many
errors and  inconsistencies as often to produce even a distrust
of what was correct.
  In tracing the history of medicine from the infancy of its
existence down to the present moment, we find arising a suc-
cession of men whose  splendid talents and glittering theories 
60            VARIOUS THEORIES OF DISEASE.
eclipsed the glory of those who had preceded them.  Indeed
the history of this science is but the repetition of theories, the
existence, durability, and fame of which, if we  except Dr.
Brown's, depended more upon the character of their authors,
than upon any intrinsic merit in themselves.  But it does not
comport with our present design, to trace all the various theo-
ries which have been offered to the world.   Cullen, Brown,
Rush, and Thomson stand most eminent as medical theorists
in later times; and to these we shall principally confine our
observations.
  But it has been, and may very properly still be queried, what
authority is there in theories?  They have been made not on-
ly the sport of speculative writers, as a defence of some favor-
ite practice, but  also the stepping-stones to power for medical
aspirants.  It was the establishment of his own theory in op-
position  to that  of Bcerhaave, that elevated Cullen in the
medical  school at Edinburg; and it was by similar means,
that Brown  attempted to put  down Cullen; in which he
failed only for the want of more discretion.  It was a succession
of men  eminent for their hypothetical  views, that elevated
the school at the Scotch metropolis and gave it pre-eminence
over all  the colleges of  Europe; and he who will trace the
history of medicine must find that literature and speculative
science,  instead of sound practical  learning, has been the
whole cause of raising the reputation of all the schools which
at different times have been regarded as the models of the sci-
ence in  Europe.   It has been truly observed, however,  that
"theories are but the butterflies of the  day; they buzz for
awhile and then expire;  each however in its turn promising it-
self immortality."  It  is  humiliating to the proud dignity of
man, and the grandeur of his lofty mind, to find, after ages of la-
borious toil and the most critical observation, that he must still
be liable to disappointment—to see the fabric which he has
raised, sapped and overthrown.  We are constantly called to
witness medical  theorists, as Dr. Robinson very classically ob-
serves, "arising, like Roman gladiators, on the arena of com-
bat, to cut each other down;" or "to  show that a false pa-
thology  or a corrupt practice had  pervaded the system from
the origin of the science."
   The  contradictory schemes  which have been proposed as
 standards for medical practice, might  well excite language
 such as  Dr. Blane has put into the mouth of medical sceptics,
 who, he says, allege "That the history  of this pretended art
 in all ages,  so teems with the  fanciful influence of supersti-
 tious observances, the imaginary virtues of medicines; with
 nugatory, delusive, inefficient, and capricious practices; falla-
 cious and  sophistical reasonings, as to render it  little more
 than a chaos of error, a tissue of deceit unworthy of admission 
              various theories of disease.             61

among the useful arts  and liberal pursuits  of man."*  It is
certainly a most melancholy consideration that the state of
medical science should produce such reflections as these, and
yet be forced to admit that they are just.  How much indeed
is it to be wished, that the deplorable condition of that sci-
ence upon which our health and even life so much depends,
could not sooner have been improved, and thus much earlier
have  been admitted to that rank which  its great importance
claims.  In  the minds of the multitude, nay even in those of
exalted pretensions, it certainly has been classed very high;
but what must in reality  be the rank of a science which is
"beset with every species of fallacy,"! uncertainty and doubt.
  Dr. Cullen says, the autocrateia, (healing power of nature,)
which in some way or other was admitted by  every sect, had
corrupted the practice of all physicians, from Hippocrates to
Stahl.  And Dr. Brown, in the preface to his Elements of
Medicine, remarks that "fifteen years of his life, devoted to
study, had passed away without the acquisition of any advan-
tage, and without that which of all things is most agreeable to
the mind, the light of truth; and so great, so  precious a por-
tion of the fading and short-lived age of man  was lost.  This
led him," he says, "with many eminent men, and even with the
vulgar, to deplore the healing art as altogether uncertain  and
incomprehensible.  It was  only betwixt the fifteenth and twen-
tieth years  of his studies,  that, like a traveler in an unknown
country, wandering in the shades of night, after losing every
trace of his road, a very obscure gleam of light, like  that of
the first break of day, dawned upon him."  And can the  rea-
der believe  that the dawn of true medical science first burst
through the  dark bewildering gloom in which it was" enveloped,
and illuminated the philosophical mind of Dr. John Brown?
It certainly did.  But many of his medicines acted contrary
to the principles of his theory, which, together with the  fact
that the medical chairs at Edinburg were  held by his perse-
cutors, had almost extinguished the feeble light before its rays
could illuminate the distant horizon.
   We are well  aware that most authors affect to  discard the
theory of Brown; but there are no practical writers that do
not allow his principles to find their way into their own works.
   "The great  and good  Dr.  Rush," speaking of Cullen's
Nosology, said that it had led physicians to prescribe for the
names of disease, instead of their proximate cause: and who,
we will ask, can comprehend  the terrible and frequently fatal
consequences of such a perversion of science.  And, notwith-
standing the simplicity of his own theory, and the beneficial
effects which he no doubt anticipated  would result  from it,
*Blane's Medical Logic, page 12,  f Ibid, page 22. 
62
various theories of disease.
 Dr. Rush exclaims, "I am insensibly led to make an apology
 for the instability of the theories and practice  of medicine.—
 Those physicians  generally become the most eminent,  who
 have the soonest emancipated themselves from the tyranny of
 the schools of physic."*
   Examples to the same effect might be multiplied;  but the
 philanthropic mind sickens in contemplation  of the tremen-
 dous consequences resulting to the world from the false theories
 and corrupt practices which have degraded medical science,
 and pauses to inquire if it must always  remain so.  Is man-
 kind, through all time, destined to suffer under the iron scourge
 of learned empiricism?  Are first principles attainable in the
 application of medicine contrary to the other sciences?   The
 goodness of Deity responds a negative to these important in-
 terrogatories—the  recent  discoveries of Dr.  Thomson re-
 spond a negative—the experience of hundreds, nay, of thou-
 sands, in the United States, responds a negative to them also.
  The theory of Dr. Brown, from which no doubt Dr. Rush
 framed his, we are disposed to regard as more rational,  con-
 sistent and systematic, in its application to both the healthy
 and  the pathological states of the system, than any which, at
 the time of its promulgation, had been offered  to the world.
 And notwithstanding the powerful opposition  made by Cul-
 len, who was then living in the full tide of his fame, and aided
 by the whole College Faculty of Edinburg, Brown's princi-
 ples  were so well supported by rational and physiological ar-
 guments, that in a few years they spread throughout England
 and the most enlightened parts of the continents of both Eu-
 rope and America.   And it is but justice to acknowledge that
 our first favorable impressions of Dr. Thomson's theory were
 owing to  a previous acquaintance with and partiality for  Dr.
 Brown's.  We know that both these great men have erred;
 Brown is too complex, and Thomson too simple; not that we
 would condemn simplicity, however, when it comes up to na-
 ture, or prolixity when it does not exceed it.  Dr Thomson's
 theory is  superior to Brown's only in its more simple and  suc-
 cessful application  to practice; and we deem it but justice to
those celebrated  individuals, to  acknowledge that their theo-
ries are the pictures whence we drew the first rude sketches
of our own physiological  views of life, pathological ideas of
disease, and therapeutical conceptions of medicine; subjects
so intimately connected and blended in this part of our work
as to be scarcely  separable.
  Dr. Cullen, in his system,  assigns  the morbid operations
 of the body to changes in the state of the solids, induced by
 the nervous system; and to rectify those variations was, there-
* Robinson's Lectures. 
VARIOUS THEORIES OF DISEASE.
63
fore, the primary object at which he aimed in the  restoration
of health.  He held that an immaterial or vital principle su-
perintended the laws of life, which principle  he supposed to
act wisely, but to be governed at  the same time by the law
of necessity.   But here it must be  obvious  that he is defi-
cient in accounting for the origin of the living principle, as
well as  for the means by which its influence  is exerted over
the nervous system or moving powers of the body;  or the man-
ner in which morbid influences control the same powers.  His
system indeed  fails, as all  others have done, by  supposing a
power or principle which does not exist,  and then endowing
it with certain prerogatives by which to explain the opera-
tions of the living organs both in the morbid and  the healthy
state.   Without wishing to detract any thing from the fame
of our predecessors, we may be permitted to observe that there
should seem to be but little ingenuity in framing systems by
such rules; and yet we are not sure of having steered clear ot
a like imputation ourselves.   It was our grand object to  ac-
count for every principle and mode of action, both morbid and
healthy, on  the rational consideration of matter  acting  upon
matter, and  not of that which is immaterial acting upon that
which is material.   We are well aware that it may be urged
against  our  position,  that the mind which is  regarded as
immaterial,  exercises a very controling influence  over the bo-
dy.  But who cannot  readily see  that the manufacturing (if
we may be permitted to use the expression) of the mind is an
animal  function, the disturbance of which is  the real cause of
its morbid influence over the body.  We will only observe in
this place, that if we have imputed any operation either vital
or morbid to imaginary principles, instead of accounting for
it upon the fundamental doctrine just adverted to, of matter
acting upon matter, it ought to be imputed to our not haying
followed out the deductions fairly deducible from our premises;
 the only excuse for which, is a desire for brevity.
   Dr. Cullen's system, like almost all others, failed, at least
in his hands, in its application to practice.  "As a practitioner,
says Dr. Parr, who was an admirer of Cullen, "he was of-
ten feeble and indecisive; nor do his doctrines  always lead
 to the most active and successful measures."  This seems to
 be the natural fault of theorists, who depend more upon specu-
 lative notions than sound experience; and regulate their prac-
 tice rather by theoretical rules than ascertained results ot
 medicine.
   The theory of Dr. Brown refers disease to two causes, viz:
 excess or deficiency of stimuli.  Those  which arise  from an
 excess of stimuli, are said to be caused by an increase ot vigor;
 and those which arise from a deficiency of stimuli, are caused
 by debility or want of vigor.   Diseases  arising from the first 
64             various theories OF DISEASE,

cause, Dr. Brown  styled sthenic; and  from the last asthenic;
thus dividing them into two classes, and directing his means
of cure to produce contrary states of the system.
  We disagree with Dr.  Brown in his theory of disease, so
far as to  believe the distinction into two classes is unfounded
in fact, and  even inconsistent with his theory of life.   For if
we even  admit that disease may be caused by an  excess of
vigor, that  cause, the moment  diseased action takes  place,
ceases to exist; because a vigorous  and a diseased state of
the  system are incompatible with each other, and could not
possibly occur at the same time.  To say that there is an ex-
cess of vigor, is equivalent to saying that the  power of life is
in excess; a circumstance which we hold to be impossible in
a state of health, and which must be much more so in disease.
We perfectly agree with Brown in his theory of life, and so
far  in that of disease as includes the asthenic class; that is,
those depending on  debility, but no further.
  Dr. Rush's theory of life is the same with that of Brown;
and  his theory of disease varies in  nothing important.  He
considers disease as an unit; that is, he makes no general di-
vision of diseases, but accounts all a state of morbid  excite-
ment; which, like Brown, he estimates as being  either ex-
cessive or deficient.  His principle of cure is to  equalize the
excitement  by  stimulation or  depletion, according as this
may be deficient or  in excess.   Hence, we take the  liberty
of observing, that  Rush's theory is essentially the theory of
Brown,  and the practice of both, in principle, precisely the
same; whatever credit, therefore, may be ascribed  to Rush
for simplifying the theory, it is  but justice to-ascribe the ori-
gin  of it to Brown.  The theories of both these individuals,
however, appear  to fall short in accounting for the cause
which produces the two great  classes of disease in the one
theory, or the two  adverse states of morbid excitement in the
other; a chasm which the  reader will find filled up in ours.
  The recently propagated theory of Dr. Thomson, so far as
respects its application to practice, we regard as coming
nearer the truth than any which had preceded  it.  By the
aid  of this we have been enabled  to supply  some of  the de-
ficiencies of Brown, and by filling up the chasms with some-
thing of our own, and by correcting the  errors of both, we
have been enabled to give  the  world something  approaching
at least  towards a correct theory or system of medicine. In
 this, however, we  have not confined ourselves to what is sim-
 ply included within the  term medicine;—we have gone into
 an investigation of those powers which operate the living ma-
 chine, and of the secret  causes which sap the foundations of
 health and life.  We shall have briefly detailed the  hidden 
               VARIOUS THEORIES OF DISEASE.             65

 impulses which are in constant operation  in  man, both in
 health and disease, from his cradle to his grave.
   We are constrained to observe, that however short  Dr.
 Thomson's, theory or practice  may  fall of perfection, they
 have certainly done more to reform the medic  art  than  any
 thing else had previously done;  and we cannot avoid fancy-
 ing that his system will remain for ages a splendid monument
 to his memory, and of the superior power of genius  in an
 untutored mind.   He has, notwithstanding his many imper-
 fections opened the avenues which  lead to  the fundamental
 spring of true medical science, from which issues a strong
 and  limpid stream, bearing on its bosom a healing balm for
 most of the maladies  of man—the  bounteous  gifts of Na-
 ture's God.
   The  more  the  theory of Dr. Thomson, with its rational
 and  scientific  improvements, are studied and understood, the
 more their beauties will  be developed and admired;  and  the
 better we shall be enabled  to comprehend and explain many
 of the  hitherto obscure and mysterious facts  in  medicine,
 relative  to the causes, effects,  and  cure  of   disease.   Dr.
 Thomson is justly entitled to the honor of introducing into
 practice the  correct principle  of operating upon the living
 power of the  system, which he erroneously supposes is heat;
 and  from this  hint, or upon this foundation, (that is, the living
 power,) we have erected our own superstructure  which we  "are
 vain enough to imagine  may, with  perhaps some variations,
 withstand the storms and tempests of time.   The traveler up-
 on a strange road is very naturally inquiring his way of those
 he meets; and if in the  right  way, each succeeding inquiry
 confirms his previous information and  encourages  him in  the
vigorous prosecution of his journey.   Hence, we remark, that
 the accumulation of scientific, medical and physiological facts,
 instead of leading to an incessant change in practice, as false
 theories must necessarily do, will tend more and more to con-
 firm  a correct theory and  a sound practice, by establishing
them upon the immutable basis of truth.  And although  we
 do not  correspond  in  theoretical opinions with Dr. Thom-
 son,  yet we confidently trust that the more his  system is  un-
 derstood, the  stronger  will  be confirmed the true and real
first  principles* of this modern Hippocrates—this intrepid,
persevering, medical  reformer—this mocker  at  the forms,
the science, the systems, and the glory of the schools of medi-
cine.
  At one bold adventurous stroke he has scattered, like dust
in the sun-beams, all former systems ^of medicine, of which,

  * Alluding to his doctrine, that the  vital power (which he thought to
be heat,) must be increased to cure disease.
      9 
66
various theories of disease.
 like "the baseless fabric of a vision" there will not, in time,
 be left "a wreck behind."  But unlike other theorists, he first
 discovered a safe and  simple mode of  practice, and  then
 framed a theory to correspond, as he supposed, with it:  And
 hence his patients have  not suffered as those of other medical
 reformers have done, by corrupting the practice to suit some
 favorite but false theory.  For false theories, so many of them
 as have polluted medical science, could never, of themselves,
 do any injury to the sick: the bad consequences resulting from
 them have been caused  by the attempts of physicians to adapt
 their practice to an erroneous theory.   "And how many cru-
 el and premature deaths, how many impaired and debilitated
 constitutions,  have  paid for the folly of theories!—follies
 which have almost always been fascinating.   The study of a
 system is more  easy than the invest! gatian of nature, and in
 practice  ft seems to smooth every difficulty."
   We are not disposed, however, to condemn the practice of
 theorizing; it has its usefulness, and when employed for ex-
 plaining the known  operations of nature, or the effects of ob-
vious causes, is highly useful.  In the investigations of nature
the reasoning mind is prone to adopt some theoretical system
to account for what  it  otherwise cannot comprehend or ex-
plain.  But so often have the finest wrought, and apparently
consistent theories of medicine failed  in their application to
practice, that many physicians now affect to  discard, in every
form, theoretical reasoning as a basis of medical practice.—
These failures may principally  be attributed to two causes,
viz:—the want of some correct principle, starting point, or
data, to reason  or theorize from; and of medicines which act
in unison with theory and the laws of animal life.   It  was
principally from the latter cause that Brown's theory failed
in its application to  practice.
   The theorist  who has  some correct data—some  certain
starting point—some positive principle to guide him, may go
on successfully with his investigations; but without these to
reason from and guide him through the dark mazes of  uncer-
tainty which he is about to explore, his utmost advancement
will  only serve eventually  to make the gloom more visible.—
The discovery of facts,  which the most  impenetrable dark-
ness cannot  prevent from occasionally bursting upon  him,
instead of serving as beacons to  guide him forward in the
path of investigation, only serve to admonish him that he is
 entering deeper and deeper into a labyrinth; and at best, can
 answer no other purpose than as way-marks by which he may
 wind his way out.   Whilst he who is guided and sustained
 in the progress of his inquiries  by established laws or prin-
 ciples, finds new light bursting upon him with every advance,
until he arrives at the full splendor of meridian day.  When 
              various theories of disease.             67

the mind is satisfied by conclusive evidence, that it has started
from a  positive  point with established laws  for its guide,
in search of some interesting  or important desideratum, it
pursues the object with  energy, and  recurs to it with pleas-
ure:  but if it be  not sustained by these encouraging consid-
erations, the employment becomes insipid.  And although so
many attempts at systcmizing the operations of nature have
failed, we nevertheless consider the disposition of the human
understanding to theorize and systemize, as a strong  proof
that it is the only  rational method of properly understanding
the phenomena of animated nature.
   We attribute all things  to the creative energies of a su-
premely intelligent Great First Cause, who, as  He com-
prehended all things, must rationally  be supposed to have op-
erated upon some fixed immutable principle; and would con-
sequently have established some certain rules or laws for the
government of the matter which He created, under all its va-
rying circumstances,  situations, shapes, and forms.   Indeed,
every natural change which we see taking place in  the crea-
tion, is in obedience to the laws with which God has endowed
matter;  and he who would  be a correct theorist, must study
those laws and  understand them, or he will unquestionably
be misled.   Dr. Thomson, we conceive, has given  a clue
which, if properly studied and pursued, will lead to  a correct
knowledge of the laws of animal life.  The origin and per-
fection of a theory in so intricate and important  a depart-
ment as that of medical science in all its bearings, is a task
of too great magnitude to be accomplished during the short-
lived  age of  a single  man.   But Dr.  Thomson has done
more by his discoveries than  any other man  of the present
age, to reform  the abuses of medicine, both in theory and
practice; and by these  we have largely profited. The theo-
ries of Brown and Rush have  been stripped of their ambi-
guities, and we confidently believe the foundation is laid up-
on which will be built a superstructure perfect in all its parts.
 And we feel constrained, in this place, to lay down  as a gen-
 eral Tule for investigating the laws and operations of nature,
 that every fact, circumstance, and principle should be made
to harmonize into a perfect system.
   If the facts and principles  elicited cannot  be consistently
 systemized, we should consider it  as an evidence that  we
 either have not  a knowledge of all  the facts or of the true
 principles, or that we are reasoning falsely from correct data.
   Dr. Thomson's theory  is briefly  this:—That life is heat;
 and cold is death;  or in other words, that heat is the vital
 principle which keeps the organs in motion; which was also
 a common belief amongst the%ancients, and may likewise be 
68
IAUSE OT DISEASE.
found in some respectable modern works.*   He regards food
as the fuel—the stomach as the fire-place—and digestion as
the process which consumes the fuel, by which means the fire
is kept  up and the whole body warmed, ju-t as  the room or
house is warmed by the fuel consumed in the fire-place:  And
hence he argues, that the more food well digested  in  the stom-
ach, the more  heat  and nourishment throughout the system.
He considers disease as being  caused  by cold  or a  failure in
the necessary  supply of heat,  which produces  obstruction in
the system.   In  other words, he  compares  disease to a battle
between heat and cold; heat being the principle of life, and
cold the principle of death.   Consequently, if the heat be vic-
torious, health will be restored; but if  cold prevail, death is
the certain result.  His practice, therefore, is to direct his rem-
edies to produce a state of the  system adverse to  death; or in
other language, to assist the heat to overpower the cold.
  As we feel no disposition to enter into any  controversy in
this place, we forbear pointing out the defects of Dr. Thom-
son's theory; and shall leave this as well as our own, for the
reader to glean from our physiological observations throughout
this part of our work, and to a  brief recapitulation which will
be found at the conclusion.
                      SECTION  2.

                 OF THE CAUSE OF DISEASE.

   Our theory admits of referring disease to but one proximate
cause,  viz: diminished energy of the  vital force or power of life.
   No pathologist, if we except Dr. Thomson, has heretofore re-
duced the cause of all diseases to a single point. Dr. Brown re-
ferred them to two causes, the one being in direct opposition to
the other; whilst Rush seemed to approach something nearer
to our own; but then again in prescribing the mode  of treat-
ment his theory resolved itself into the same principles with
Brown.   Dr. Rush called disease an unit;  it was morbid  ex-
citement, and so far he might be esteemed as correct.   He
regarded the excitement as being sometimes deficient;  so  far
correct;  sometimes in excess; here his theory virtually and
in fact, became  Brown's.
   Disease may be produced by a great many remote or predis-
posing causes; but the knowledge of these affords no indica-
tions of cure, and is, therefore, of little value excepting to ena-
  * See Tourtelle's Principles of Health.  Dr. Cullen also approach-
es this doctrine. 
                TRUE DEFINITION OT DISEASE.             69

 ble us to guard against their future influence.   For what ad-
 vantage could it be to, the physician to know whether a fever
 was caused by exposure to cold, by fatigue, by marsh miasma,
 or  by contagion?  Would he  accommodate his treatment to
 either of those causes; or would he not rather adapt it to the
 complaint he wished to cure?   The answer must be obvious.
   The remote causes are those  that produce the proximate
 cause, which is the same in all  cases.   Remote causes  may
 also be called exciting causes, as they are the  agents which
 excite the disease.  Amongst these may be enumerated great
 bodily fatigue, or violent muscular exertion; want of natural
 rest; severe evacuations; intemperance in eating ordrinking;
 long fasting; too close application to study; excessive grief,
 fear or anxiety; unwholesome diet; breathing an impure air;
 the application of poisonous matter to the body,  either in a
 gaseous, vaporous, liquid, or solid state, &c. &c.  The effects
 of these agents and circumstances,  are uniformly the same,
 only varying in degree; that is, if they amount to the production
 of  disease, they do it by  diminishing the energy of  the vital
 force;  they debilitate and depress the living power which
 keeps the organs in healthy motion.
  A vitiated atmosphere  either does not afford a  sufficient
 stimulus to the blood, or imparts something deleterious to it;
 and hence the origin of epidemics.  The application of cold
 to the body appears powerfully to reduce the vital force, and
 is a most  common and prolific source of disease.   In short,
 whatever has a tendency to enervate the body or weaken its
powers, necessarily diminishes  the vital or living energy, and
gives rise to every complaint to which human nature  is liable;
varying its effects according to the predisposition, habits of
life, peculiar employment, or the idiosyncrasy of the individual.
                      SECTION 3.

            OF THE TRUE DEFINITION OF DISEASE.

   The task which we have here imposed upon ourselves, the
reader may perhaps think insipid, visionary, uninteresting, or
useless.  He may also, in the end, think it only a repetition in
substance of the preceding section.   But we  trust, however,
that if we do not convey any new ideas by this discussion, we
may present old ones in a different view.   We shall at least
have the privilege of making some remarks wjuxh the caption
of the preceding section seemed to render improper to intro-
duce there, and by these means increase the rational eviden-
ces of the correctness of our physiological theory or system of 
70              TRUE DEFINITION OF DISEASE.

medicine.  Perhaps we may also excite some interest in the
minds of those who are disposed to  investigate the science of
medicine, especially that part of it termed pathology or the
doctrine of disease.  The pathological state of the system has
furnished a fruitful theme for the mind and the pen, since the
first origin of medicine.
  But what is disease?  that formidable enemy to man—that
many headed monster—that insidious serpentine  foe—that
fell destroyer, (without respect to age, sex, or circumstances)
of the human family, which shows itself under so many dif-
ferent appearances and names; and which, under all its dif-
ferent aspects and transformations, deceives the "very elect;"'
that is, those who have elected  themselves* to the  exclusive
responsibility of detecting and destroying the deceptive, wily
enemy of the health of mortal man.
  It may be inferred that thi- enemy is not health; but this
answers not the inquiry.   Every  person knows that disease
is "any alteration from a slate of  perfect  health:" and yet,
singular as it may appear, this is perhaps as good a definition
as has hitherto been given in the professed works of science.
We are often called, in  those publications, to witness a for-
midable array of name*, causes, symptoms, forms, and effects
of diseases, and to trace them through all  the  various  parfs,
tissues and organs, from those which terminate in health, aided
by  the simple powers of nature alone, to those which, in defi-
ance of medicine, terminate in death.   But all this does not
explain to us the real nature  or essential  character of that
monster which, under so many different characters and dis-
guised names, is liable every moment  to sap the foundations
of health and human life.
   All agree, however, both learned and unlearned, in confer-
ring upon this insidious  foe, under all  its different characters
and names, one general appellation by which they distinguish
it under all its different  forms and  transformations;  which
general appellation is disease.  And if physicians could fully
divest themselves of their prejudices, they would be enabled
to contemplate  disease, under all  its  various and apparently
contradictory modifications,  as essentially the same.   We
  * For this sentiment we would refer the reader to the laws of every
State and Nation in which the Faculty could succeed in procuring their
enactment, which secure to them the exclusive prerogative of'practicing
the healing art.   It is certainly an impeachment of both the professional
and moral character of the profession thus to entrench themselves be-
hind the bulwarks of the law, instead of meeting their competitors on
the open field of fair and honorable competition.   \Vc may add, however,
that since the publication of the former edition of this work, the legis-
lature of this state (Ohio) has, by an act of magnanimous independence,
repealed the oppressive medical laws. 
EFFECTS OF DISEASE, &C.
71
learned, when in our youth, from the writings of Dr. Buchan,
that he did not regard disease as being composed of a single
symptom, but  as an  assemblage of variously differing symp-
toms; and that the same symptoms, in modified forms, attend
many different complaints:—That the different names given to
disease generally originate from some one or more of the most
prominent symptoms.   Thus, when heat, violent agitation or
motion of the blood, head-ache, &c, predominate, the disease
is called fever; which is again distinguished, by peculiar symp-
toms, into different kinds of fever; and so of many other com-
plaints.  These different symptoms are only to be separately
regarded as the evidence of a more severe suffering or affec-
tion of particular organs, than of other parts of the system.
Hence, when a cause sufficient to produce disease is present,
the malady will assume such a character as the peculiar state
of the organs, or the idiosyncrasy of the person may chance to
give it.  It might also be observed,, that different deleterious
substances, when applied to the living organs, produce pecu-
liar and different effects.  This may be owing to the nature
or composition of the different tissues making them more sus-
ceptible of morbid impressions from one substance  than from
another.   It is well known, at least, that the application of
particular deleterious substances to the animal organs, pro-
duces the same general effects in similar organs of every indi-
vidual; though the  effects may, and  commonly do, vary in
their details.  Hence the origin of all contagious and epide-
mic complaints.
   And however  a malady may affect any particular organ or
set«of organs, or the whole system, it must be produced by a
diminished energy of those "powers" alluded to by Dr. Brown j
the continual application of which  is  indispensably necessary
to keep up a healthy action of all  the  organs, and thus pre-
serve the living state.  Symptoms are nothing more than  the
effects of disease, and not the  disease  itself:  they are the  evi-
dences of a diseased state of the system.
    We now think the reader will  be able to  perceive  that
disease is, in reality, synonymous with  its  cause—diminished
energy of the vital power, which, as we have previously shown>
sustains and preserves life.
                      SECTION 4.

   OF THE EFFECTS OF DISEASE, PARTIAL AND  ULTIMATE.

  The first sensible effects of disease generally are, lassitude,
weariness, debility, mental despondency, confusion of ideas, 
72
EFFECTS OF DISEASE,  &C.
 pains in some parts of the body, the pulse is slow and feeble;
 there is often a general torpor or lethargy; sometimes restless-
 ness or great anxiety; mental imbecility or perfect insanity;any
 or all of which symptoms are certain indications of the dimin-
 ished energy of the power of life.  And as this power conti-
 nues to diminish, some  one or more of the attendant  symp-
 toms  become aggravated; though sometimes at the very on-
 set they are at their height. Such attacks are always attended
 with a corresponding prostration of the vital power, and a pro-
 portionate degree of danger.
   The living power  continuing to decline, causes the func-
 tions to become still more irregular; the secretions are com-
 monly more or less diminished;  the excretions are generally
 impaired, though some  of them  may be accelerated; the or-
 gans lose more  and more their tone; all  of which diminishes
 still further and faster the living power of the system.  These
 maybe regarded  as the partial effects of disease: They are
 the symptoms or evidences of its existence, and of the organ
 or organs affected by it; of the nature of the affection; and of
 the violence or mildness of it.  Hence we become sensible of
 the too common error of prescribing for the name, that is, the
 effect, instead of the cause of disease.
  If the power of nature fails, and  the virtue of medicine
 proves  unavailing, the  vital force  becomes  weaker  and
 weaker; the tone of the  organs moreand more impaired; the
 living  functions languish;  the flame of life grows feeble and
 dim; the extremities become  cold  and rigid; the eyes fixed
 in their sockets; the vital organs become incapable of per-
 forming their office, and the power of life is worn out,—ex-
hausted,—annihilated,—and death, the ultimate effect of dis-
ease, closes the  scene! 
73
                   CHAPTER  VI.

                       OF MEDICINE.

   The state of the system which constituted the subject of the
 preceding chapter, indicates the necessity of something to re-
 pair the  wasted energies of life,  and restore the tone of the
 enfeebled organs.  And it seems almost instinctive in man, as
 in many of the inferior animals, to seize upon and appropriate
 some of the productions of nature to this purpose.
   There is  nothing of a sublunary nature, in which man  is
 more deeply interested than  in  the knowledge of the  best
 means which a beneficent Creator has furnished for the resto-
 ration  of his creatures' health.  But how far the popular prac-
 titioners of medicine, of the present or preceding ages, have
 been acquainted with those means, is a matter of both interest-
 ing and profitable  inquiry.
   Substances properly termed medicines,  must act in unison
 and harmony with the laws of nature or  animal life.   This
 seems such a self-evident proposition, that it is  greatly to be
 wondered how  physicians could have been led to adopt ideas
 so much  at variance with it.  For it is  a generally received
 opinion,  not only  by  physicians but by th'e bulk of mankind,
 that whatever possesses not the power of doing much harm, can
 do but little  good.  In other words, what possesses  the power,
 in a high degree,  of restoring health, also possesses in  a  pro-
 portionate degree the power of destroying life!   Or, to make
 the idea still plainer, if need be, the most powerful medicines
 are the most powerful poisons.
   The learned and  highly gifted  Dr.  S. Robinson, says of
 medical poisons, "It  would seem a solecism in language, the
 bare combination  of  these terms; but  such is the fact—poi-
 sons, the most violent and destructive, have been denominated
 the most valuable medicines."
   It is indeed a sorrowful truth, that the most active and po-
 tent articles used by the Faculty as medicines, and upon  which
 they place  their principal reliance, are known  and acknow-
 ledged to be, in an eminent degree, destructive  to  life—sub-
 versive of the very laws which they are intended to promote.
 How such substances as these could ever obtain credit as medi-
 cines, seems to  be  among the anomalies  of human nature, and
 bids defiance alike to reason «nd the dictates of prudence and
common sense. 
74
MEDICINE.
   Dr. Thomson first submitted to the world the self-evident
 proposition, that food and medicine must harmonize with each
 other.   They  often, says he, "grow in  the same field, and
 may be gathered by the same hand."  There  must be a per-
 fect correspondency and congruity between food and  medi-
 cine, as both  are intended alike  to have  a  beneficial and
 healthy influence upon the system—the one  to  continue  a
 healthy action, the other to restore it when lost; but both, on
 the same principle  or  by the  same mode of action—food by
 constantly supplying its portion of the living power in health,
 and medicine hy furnishing the same  in disease.
   It is too inconsistent for belief, "that life  and death can
 spring from the same source;" or in other words, "that the poi-
 son which  destroys health, can restore it."   Health  and dis-
 ease, and even the whole catalogue of diseases, only comprise
 a difference in  the force of the living power, and  a different
 condition of the organs  upon  which  this power acts.  How
 absurd then, when the  living power is weakened and the tone
 of the organs  impaired,  to administer such articles as are
 known to produce the same effects upon the healthy system,
 and which must, in  disease, increase  the very  disorders they
 are intended to counteract!
  A correct  knowledge of proper medicinal substances can
 only be learned from experience and a close  observation of
 nature.  The opportunities for drawing lessons of instruction
 from both  these sources, and  the qualification for profiting
 thereby, were  eminently enjoyed by Dr. Thomson; and un-
 born millions will yet  have cause to bless  that  Providence
 which  raised him up  and sustained him in a most arduous
 struggle to establish his improvements in the world.  When
 his  enemies and persecutors  shall have been long mouldered
 into dust, and their names and memories eternally forgotten,
 the name of Samuel Thomson  shall "stand as a splendid bea-
 con on  the solitudes of  time, to point  the traveler the road to
 glory."
  It will be readily perceived that our indications of cure will
 lead to the general employment  of stimulants and tonics, which
 must be of a nature readily to be assimilated or converted in-
 to the same material with the organs which they are intended
 to affect, or upon which they are designed to act;  otherwise
 their influence is not in harmony with the laws  which govern
 animal life.  Hence, we think it obvious that remedial agents
 must be drawn from the vegetable kingdom; because no mine-
ral substance, however  it may have been changed by the la-
bor of the  chimist, can be assimilated  by the living organs.
Admitting these ideas,  (and we think  few wrill deny  them,)
what becomes of the boasted discoveries and  remedies of the
famous Paracelsus, who first applied chimistry to develope 
MEDICINE,
75
the remedial resources of the mineral kingdom.  He, to be sure,
is now denounced as a miserable quack; but it cannot be de-
nied that he was the author of medical chimistry,'the  value
and success of which is  now  so highly  appreciated  by the
medical Faculty.  And what is the result of all the pretended
improvements of mineral preparations which have been so per-
severingly studied since the days of Paracelsus, by the wisest
and best of men?  Nothing but refinements in error;  improve-
ments of the means which have, from that day to this, inter-
rupted the  march of true medical science.
  It is not denied that the  vegetable kingdom furnishes some
of the most potent and terrible poisons with which we are ac-
quainted; but we are under no more  necessity of employing
these for medicine than we are for food.    The rich stores of
nature furnish a great  variety of vegetable matter, only  a
small portion of which is proper  for food; and that is such as
experience has  taught us is agreeable to nature or the laws of
health and  life.   The same may  be said of medicine ;  and
ought long  ago to have been enforced upon its students, and
upon mankind, with imperishable emphasis.  But simple and
self-evident  as is this proposition, it was reserved  for  Dr.
Thomson, and our own day, to declare that poisons, in every
form, and under all circumstances, are improper remedies, be-
cause they  are  deleterious to health and life.   It had escaped
the cunning of the wise; the penetration of the prudent; the
researches of the learned;  and the wisdom of philosophers, for
four thousand  years, but to manifest  itself to an illiterate stu-
dent of nature;  as almost all  other great and important facts
have come  to the world through similar channels.
  The fact  that the vegetable world furnishes some  of the
most active and fatal poisons, instead of arguing, as some have
urged, against  the  propriety of drawing upon that kingdom
for our remedial resources furnishes strong evidence in favor of
it   Nothing but vegetable matter, or the product of it,  can be
assimilated; that is,  made to answer the  purposes of nourish-
ment.   It inherently possesses an active principle by which it
produces its effects whether good or bad; and if it furnishes the
most active poisons, it should also, by analogical reasoning, yield
the most active medicines:  Because,as has been observed ot
antimony, by Dr. Coxe, "all the metallic  preparations are un-
certain, as it  depends entirely upon  the state of the stomach,
whether they have no action at all, or operate with dangerous
violence."   The same remarks apply with equal force to all
the metals as  they possess no  power of action in themselves,
but depend upon the state of the organs.   On the other hand,
vegetables possess a principle in themselves,  by which they
are  always capable of producing an effect upon the system.
And no instance, perhaps, has ever been recorded,  in  which 
76       MEDICINES USED BY THE MEDICAL FACULTY.

the application of vegetables, whether as medicines or poi-
sons, did not produce their peculiar and specific effects, unless
they were impaired by age or from other causes.
  We repeat again,  that  the vegetable  kingdom furnishes,
either directly or indirectly, all our food; and why not all our
medicine?  Or did a beneficent Creator place the means of
sustaining our bodies in health, upon the surface of the earth
within our immediate grasp,  and the means of restoring our
health when sick, within its bowels?  Impossible!  The good-
ness of Deity could not do this—could not suffer this!  So it
follows, that whether we consult the nature of man, of disease,
or of Deity, the evidence and the result are irresistable that
the vegetable  kingdom alone furnishes the proper remedies
for relieving our maladies.
  The subject of this chapter will now be examined more in
detail.  And we hope to be pardoned for again  refering to
repetitions, and asking the reader's indulgence for any thing
of this nature which might be thought censurable.  It seems
necessary in new works, which treat  subjects in  an unusual
manner, or which embrace principles not generally admitted,
to take every opportunity of exhibiting facts  and arguments
in every way and form that have a tendency to produce  con-
viction in the mind of  the reader.
                      SECTION 1.


     OF THE MEDICINES USED BY THE MEDICAL FACULTY.


  The materia medica, as it  is technically styled, has been
destined to  undergo as many revolutions as the theories of
medicine have done;  and has more often been attempted to
be pruned of useless, inefficient articles; whilst others of more
destructive character or dangerous powers, have  been added
to it.
  Various  writers have taken much  pains to contrive what
each conceived to be the most suitable arrangement of  the
articles composing the materia medica.   Some have classed
them according to their natural resemblance; others accord-
ing their real or supposed virtues;  others according to their
active  constituent principles; whilst others  have arranged
them in alphabetical order.   Each of these arrangements
has its peculiar advantage as well as defect; but as we claim
no affinity  with them in practice, we shall pass as lightly as
possible over this subject. 
MEDICINES UPUD BY THE MEDICAL FACULTY.      77
  The articles composing the materia medica have been ar-
ranged, by Murry, as follows, viz:—
A.  General stimulants.

           a.  Diffusable.

           b.  Permanent.
B.  Local stimulants.
C.  Chimical remedies.
D.  Mechanical remedies.
 (Narcotics,
 (Antispasmodics.
 (Tonics,
 (Astringents.
 r Emetics,
  Cathartics,
  Emmenagogues,
  Diuretics,
^ Diaphoretics,
  Expectorants,
  Sialagogues,
  Errhines,
  Epispastics.
  Refrigerants,
  Antacids,
  Lithontriptics,
  Escharotics.
  Anthelmintics,
  Demulcents,
  Diluents,
  Emollients.
  In these different classes is included  upwards of two hun-
dred articles; amongst which, from sixty to eighty are accoun-
ted poisonous.  In the whole  number, however, not more than
forty or fifty, it is affirmed by Dr. Ewell,  are needed in prac-
tice; though others enumerate eighty or a hundred, and some
still more.   But of the lowest number mentioned, but little
over half, perhaps, are in constant daily  use.  The chief of
these are—
  Of the class of Diffusable Stimulants—Brandy, Ether, Cam-
phor, Opium, Hemlock or Sicuta, Digitalis or Foxglove, &c.
  Of the Permanent Stimulants, are ranked as Tonics—Mer-
cury or Quicksilver, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Arsenic, Cinchona or
Peruvian bark, Columbo root, Gentian root, &c.
   Of those  ranked  as Astringents—Oak bark, Tormentil,
Kino, &c;  also, Lead, Zinc, Copper, Iron, &c.
   Of the class of Emetics—Ipecacuanha, and Emetic Tartar.
   Of the class of Cathartics—Calomel, Jalap,  Aloes, Gam-
boge, Rhubarb, Senna, Castor oil, Salts, &c.
   Of Emmenagogues—Castor, Iron, Mercury, Bark, &c.
   Of the class of Diuretics—Potash, and its different prepa-
rations, Digitalis, Squills, Cantharides or Spanish flies, &c.
   The  remaining  classes comprehend many of the articles
just named,  as well as others which it is deemed unnecessary
to enumerate. 
78
                       SECTION 2.

 OF THE EFFECTS OF SOME OF THE FOREGOING MEDICINES ON THE
                      ANIMAL ECONOMY.

   Having exhibited a method of classifying medicines which,
 from  its simplicity, is perhaps most popular, and enumerated
 some  of the articles embraced in a few of these classes, mere-
 ly for the purpose of  giving the common reader a  brief idea
 of the language and arrangements of the fashionable works on
 the materia medica, we now turn our attention to the considera-
 tion of the effects which some of them produce upon the hu-
 man system.  In doing this we shall confine ourselves to such
 as are known to be most dangerous; without wishing to be un-
 derstood, however, as  believing that every article of the mate-
 ria medica possesses dangerous powers, or condemning  all as
 useless or inert.   Many articles, especially of the  classes of
 tonics and astringents, are  safe and valuable medicines;  but
 it cannot be so said of all.
   It is desirable that mankind,  even if they persist in using,
 by direction of physicians, the different popular preparations
 of Antimony, Arsenic, Foxglove, Hemlock, Nightshade, Nitre,
 Opium, Quicksilver, &c. should understand the true nature
 and  effects of those poisonous drugs; and then if they become
 sufferers thereby they may be sensible of the  cause of their
 suffering.    By the symptoms arising from the accidental or
 intentional taking of any of those articles, whether as a medi-
 cine or for self-destruction, (which will hereafter be  detailed,)
 most persons of observation  may determine with considerable
 certainty, what kind of poison has been administered or taken.
 The general mode of treatment will be found in a succeeding
 part of the work.
   It is also worthy of special remark, that many articles used
 in the  old practice of  medicine, although they  may scarcely
 be regarded as poisonous, act in so partial a manner upon the
 system as to.be often attended with danger.   Thus we see
 that certain remedies  act upon the  stomach, or upon the in-
 testines;  others are supposed to act specifically upon  the liver;
 others  upon the absorbent system; others upon the bloodves-
sels or circulatory system;  others upon  the kidneys; others
upon the skin; and others upon the uterine system.   Now, it
is well  known that in certain diseased states of some of these
organs, many medicines, which otherwise would be considered
useful,  are to be regarded as  highly dangerous and even  fatal.
  Our  remarks apply with still greater propriety to such  arti-
cles  as are acknowledged to be poisonous.  And how  often
have physicians been heard to lament  the impropriety of ad-
ministering the best medicines to remove the principal malady, 
          EFFECTS OF THE FORKGOIN« MEDICINES, &C.       79

  because some peculiar affection or circumstance indicated that
  dangerous  or even fatal consequences might result from it;
  an unerring indication that the remedy would act contrary to
  the laws of nature in that case, and  therefore improper or
  unsafe  in all  others.   The remedies  of Nature's own pro-
  viding,  act upon general beneficial principles; and  the best
  medicine which the peculiar symptoms of any case indicate,
  may be administered with confidence,  because there need be
  no fear of doing harm.   The medicine which is not a, friend
  to the system in the worst case of disease, must be an enemy
  to it in  all.  And how it ever entered the minds of physicians
  that such articles as we are about  turning our attention  to,
  could be useful as medicines, is beyond conception, and affords
  but an additional example of the proneness of the human heart
 to err in despite of reason and common sense.
   Antimony.  This metal is procured from mines in Hungary,
 Transylvania, Germany, France and England.  Tradition says,
 that Basil Valentine, a German monk, gave it to some hogs,
 which, after purging, it very  much fattened; and thinking it
 might produce the same  effect on man, gave it to his brother
 monks, who all died in the experiment; whence  the name,
 antimony, is derived from anti-monk.
   "The  antimonial metal," says Dr. Thacher, "is  a medi-
 cine of the greatest power of any known substance;  a quan-
 tity too minute to be sensible  in the most delicate balance, is
 capable of producing violent effects, if taken dissolved, or in a
 soluble state."   [ Dispensatory p. 392. ]  But, notwithstanding
 its extraordinary powers, a vast amount of it  is used as medi-
 cine; particularly in the forms of James' Powders, and Emetic
 Tartar.
   The baneful effects of antimony in  its crude or metallic
 state, have not, to our recollection, been detailed by  any au-
 thor whose  works we have perused, or had access to;  but
 those attending the exhibition of tartar emetic, the  most com-
 mon form of its administration, have more frequently been no-
 ticed.
   For children, emetic tartar is unsafe:  "when great debility
 of the system is present, even a small dose has been known to
 prove fatal."  "As an emetic, it is chiefly given in the begin-
 ning of fevers and febrile diseases;  but when  great debility
 is present, and in the advanced stages  of typhoid fever, its
 use is improper, and even sometimes fatal."  "In larger doses,
 this salt  is capable of acting as a violent poison."   [Hooper's
Dictionary—Art. "Antimonium Tartarizatum."]
  Dr. Robinson says, "Tartar emetic, as has been found after
death, produces the most deleterious effects upon the stomach;
 and yet is given to  remove disease,  and called an excellent
 remedy;  but is now denounced by those who are disposed to 
80         EFFECTS OF THE FOREGOING MEDICINES

purge the materia medica,—as may be seen in the Transac-
tions of the Royal Society, for  1811-12."   Tartar emetic
even externally applied, produces powerful  effects.  By its
corrosive qualities it destroys warts if applied to them in pow-
der or dissolved in water.  Another property which it  also
has, when rubbed on the skin, is that of producing a crop of
pustules very like to the small pox;  and with this view it is
used for rheumatism, white swelling, &c.
  "The preparations of antimony," says Orfila, "are often
administered carelessly, because  no danger  is thought  to at-
tend their use.  Experience, however, proves that tartar eme-
tic, if it does not excite vomiting, may produce death when
given in the quantity of a few grains: instances, indeed, have
occurred, in which an extreme prostration and  debility have
succeeded the administration of a single grain of this poison,
when it has  occasioned no evacuation.   Sometimes, on the
contrary, and particularly in infants, it  excites vomiting so
copious and painful, as to require an immediate  arrest."—
"Mixed with lard and other substances," says the same author,
" and applied as an irritant to the surface of the body, tartar
may produce poisoning and death!"
   To show the great uncertainty and danger  attending the
employment, not  only of antimony, but of all other metallic
medicines, we will introduce, before leaving this subject, the
following  quotation  from Coxe's Dispensatory, 3d edition,
page 171: "All the metallic preparations are uncertain, as it
entirely depends  on the state  of the stomach, whether they
have no action at all, or operate with dangerous violence."
   Arsenic.  This destructive metal exists in great abundance
in the mineral kingdom, combined with almost all the other
metals.  It is found principally in Italy, Hungary, Germany,
and the United States.  In the town of Warwick, New York,
there is a huge vein of this metal in a mountain range, suffi-
cient, it is said by a traveler, to  poison the  whole  world.   It
exists here in that condition  or state of  combination, termed
arsenical pyrites, or arsenical iron.  [See Hooper's Dictionary,
 art. "Arsenic."]
   Arsenic is used in various arts, as well as in medicine, being
 prepared  in a variety of different ways.   The presence  of
 arsenic in iron, in a very small proportion,  has a very perni-
 cious effect, rendering the  iron  brittle  when  at a red heat.
 The preparation of arsenic which most frequently proves de-
 structive  to human life, is denominated, in the modern nomen-
 clature, arsenious acid.
    Arsenious  Acid,  also  called white  arsenic,  and by the
 chimists, oxide of arsenic, but more  commonly known  by the
 name of ratsbane, acts upon  the human system as a deadly
 poison, in quantities so minute as to be insensible to the taste 
On the animal economy.
81
 when diffused in water or other vehicles, by which it has
 Often been given with  criminal intentions  and most  fatal
 effects.
   Arsenic has  long  been used externally in the treatment of
 cancerous affections in the form of plasters and pOwder; and
 in either way is a burning, pungent  caustic,  possessing very
 dangerous powers.  "Arsenic," says Thacher, " has long been
 known to be the basis of  the  celebrated cancer powder.  It
 has been  sprinkled in substance upon the ulcer; but this me-
 thod  of using it is excessively painful and extremely danger-
 ous;  fatal effects haVe been produced by its absorption.   This
 fact  I have known in  several  instances, when Davidson's
 agents, and others, have undertaken to draw out cancers, when
 the patient would absorb enough of this poison, which seating
 upon the lungs, caused  death by consumption, in the course
 of one year."
  Arsenic has been much  used in this country, in agues or in-
 termittent fevers, under the name of Fowler's solution, or
 Ague drops; and also, according to the testimony of Dr. Dun-
 can,  in Great Britain.  And "though the most violent of mi-
 neral poisons, arsenic, according to Murry, equals, when pro-
perly  administered, the first medicines in the  class of tonics."
 "Such are the  powers of this medicine, that  two grains of it
 are often sufficient to cure an intermittent that has continued
 for  weeks."  [Thacher.]   But  let the intolerable morbid feel-
 ings;  the  shocking depression of spirits; the  more or less se-
 rious  affections  of the lungs;  and  the many  other aches and
 pains, tell at what expense such cures have been often pur-
 chased.
  So  deadly is  the effect of arsenic, that " in mines it causes
 the destruction  of numbers who explore them;  and " the fumes
 are so deleterious to  the lungs, that the  artist ought to be on
 his  guard to prevent  their inhalation by the mouth; for ifthev
 be mixed and swallowed with the saliva, effects will take place
 similar to  those which follow its introduction into the stomach
 in its saline or solid state; namely, a sensation of a piercing,
 gnawing, and burning kind, accompanied with an acute  pain
 in the stomach  artd  intestines which are violently contorted;
 convulsive vomiting; insatiable thirst, from the parched and
 rough state of the tongue and throat.  Hickup, palpitation of
 the heart, and a deadly oppression of the breast, succeed next;
 the matter ejected by the mouth as well as the stools, exhibit-
 ing a black, foetid, and putrid appearance; at length, with the
 mortification of the bowels, the pain subsides, and death ter-
 minates the sufferings of the patient."
  "Arsenious sulphurets," says Coxe, "are much used by pain-
 ters, but  these  advantages are not able to compensate for its
 bad effects*" "The  property which it possesses of being solu- 
82         EFFECTS OF THE luRiuOIWG liiEDiCi^En

ble in water, increases and facilitates its destructive power;
and it ought to be proscribed in commerce, by the strict law
which prohibits the sale of poisons to unknown persons.  Ar-
senious acid is every day the instrument by which victims are
sacrificed, either by the hand of wickedness or imprudence.
It is often mistaken for sugar; and these mistakes are attend-
ed  with  the most  dreadful consequences.   The symptoms
which characterize this poison are, a great constriction of the
throat; the teeth set on edge; and the mouth strongly heated;
an involuntary spitting, with extreme  pains  in  the stomach,
vomiting of glareous and bloody matter, with cold sweats and
convulsions.
  "On dissection, the stomach  and  bowels  are found to be
inflamed,  gangrenous, eroded, and  the blood is fluid.   Soon
after death, livid spots appear on the surface of the body, the
nails become blue, and often fall off along with the hair, the
epidermis separates, and the whole body becomes speedily pu-
trid.  When the quantity is so very small as not to prove fatal,
tremors, palsies, and lingering hectics succeed."
  "The symptoms produced by  a dangerous  dose of arsenic,"
says Dr. Black, "begin to appear in a quarter of an hour, or
not much longer, after it is taken.  First—sickness and great
distress at stomach, soon followed by thirst, and burning heat
in the bowels.  Then  come on violent vomiting and severe
colic  pains, and excessive and painful purging.  This brings
on faintings, with cold sweats, and other signs of great debil-
ity.   To this succeed painful cramps, and contractions of the
legs and thighs,and extreme weakness, and death."  "Simi-
lar results," adds Dr. Akerly,  "have  followed the incautious
sprinkling of scirrous ulcers  with powdered  arsenic, or the
application of arsenical plasters."
   Orfila, in  his work  on  poisons, describes the symptoms
which follow  the taking of this powerful poison somewhat
more in  -detail; though it is not to be understood that the
whole of them are to be met  with at the same time,  in the
same subject.  His account is as follows:  "An austere taste
in the mouth; frequent ptyalism; continued spitting; constric-
tion of the pharynx and cesophagus; teeth set on edge;  hick-
ups;  nausea;  vomiting of brown or bloody  matter; anxiety;
frequent fainting fits; burning  heat at the prcecordia; inflam-
mation of the lips, tongue, palate, throat, stomach; acute pain
of stomach, rendering the mildest  drinks intolerable; black
stools of  an indescribable foe tor; pulse frequent, oppressed,
 and irregular, sometimes slow and unequal;  palpitation of the
heart; syncope; inextinguishable thirst; burning sensation over
 the whole  body, resembling a consuming  fire; at times  an
 icy coldness;  difficult respiration; cold sweats; scanty urine,
 of a  red or bloody  appearance; altered expression of counte- 
ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.
83
nance;  a livid circle round the eye-lids, swelling and itching
of the whole body, which becomes covered with livid spots, or
with a miliary eruption; prostration of strength; loss of feel-
ing, especially in the hands and feet;  delirium, convulsions,
sometimes accompanied with an insupportable priapism; loss
of hair,  separation of the epidermis; horrible convulsions, and
death!"
  "Many attempts have been  made to  introduce arsenic into
medical practice;  but as it is known to be one of the  most vio-
lent poisons, it is probable that the fear of its bad effects may
deprive society of the advantages it might afford in this way."
Experience  has,  however, taught us  that these "attempts"
have been but too successful in introducing this  demoniac arti-
cle  into medicine; and many, as might rationally have been an-
ticipated, have fallen  victims  to this destructive mineral;—
nay, to that reprehensible, inconsistent, and diabolical infatu-
ation which  has led physicians to the erroneous and life-de-
stroying conclusion, that any substance known  to be a potent
poison, must likewise be a powerful medicine.   It seems  im-
possible that a rational being, in  his sober senses, could, by
any process  of  reasoning, arrive  at such a fatal conclusion;
and the most charitable apology that can be offered for this
destructive paradox is, that physicians have adopted a wrong
or perverse theory.
  Copper—Cuprum;  so  named from the Island of Cyprus,
whence it was formerly brought.  This metal abounds in con-
siderable  quantity; and is found in the greatest abundance in
England,  Sweden, Spain,  and  North and South America.   It
is used in the manufacture of a variety of cooking utensils;
and, from its poisonous quality, has often been  known to pro-
duce death.   "Great care," says Thacher, "ought  to be ta-
ken that acid liquors, or even water designed for internal use,
be not suffered to stand long in vessels made of copper; oth-
erwise they will dissolve so much of it, as will give them very
dangerous properties.
  Brass, which is an alloy of  copper and zinc, is also liable,
though in a less degree, to the same objection  as copper, and
is much employed in the manufacture of cooking utensils.
The best  brass is composed of four parts of copper and one
of zinc.
  The efiects of copper "when taken into the stomach, are
highly deleterious and often  fatal.   It particularly affects the
primae vise, exciting excessive nausea, vomiting, colic pains,
and purging, sometimes of blood, or, though more rarely, ob-
stinate constipation.  It  also produces  agitation of the mind,
headache, vertigo, delirium; renders the pulse small and weak,
the countenance pale, and causes  fainting, convulsions, para-
lysis, and  apoplexy.—[ Thacher.] 
84         EFFECTS OF THE FOREGOING MEDICINES

  "Verdigris, and other preparations of copper, act as viru-
lent poisons, when introduced in very small quantities into the
stomachs of animals. A few grains are sufficient for this effect.
Death is commonly preceded by very decided nervous disor-
ders, such as convulsive movements, tetanus, general insensi-
bility, or a palsy of the lower extremities."—[Hooper.]
  "But although copper be thus dangerous, some preparations
of it are in certain cases  used with great advantage, both in-
ternally and externally."— [Thacher.]   Internally, it is  used
as a tonic, and externally, as a caustic.
  Mercury—Quicksilver,  This metal, or the ores which con-
tain it, abounds most plentifully in China, Hungary, Spain,
and South America;  and of all the metals employed as medi-
cine, is the one most extensively used;  "there being scarcely
a disease against which some of its preparations  are not ex-
hibited."
  Mercury is frequently found in  the earth in a fluid form,
sometimes so  pure as not  to  need  refining, when it is called
virgin quicksilver; but more often it is mixed with other sub-
stances, in the form of ore.  The most usual state in  which it
exists in mines, is a sulphureous ore of a red color, called na-
tive cinnabar.  " The  people  who  work in  the  quicksilver
mines soon die; when first affected they are  seized with tre-
mors, after which salivation comes  on, their  teeth  drop out,
and pains of the whole body, particularly of the bones, seize
them."
  Quicksilver was originally used in the treatment of eruptive
diseases; and it is owing to its success in those complaints that
it was first employed in  the venereal disease. "In the times
immediately following this disease, practitioners only attempt-
ed to employ this remedy with timorous  caution, so that of
several of their formulas, mercury scarcely composed a fourth
part, and few cures were effected.   On the other  hand, empi-
rics who noticed the little efficacy of these small doses, ran into
the opposite extreme, and exhibited mercury in such large
quantities, and with such little care, that most of their patients
became suddenly attacked with the most violent salivations,
attended with dangerous consequences.   From these two very
opposite modes of practice,  there orginated such  uncertainty
respecting what could  be expected  from mercury, and such
fears of the consequences which might result from its employ-
ment, that every plan was eagerly  adopted which offered the
least chance of cure without having recourse to this mineral.
  "A medicine, however, so powerful, and whose salutary ef-
fects were seen by attentive practitioners, amid all its incon-
veniencies, could not sink into oblivion.  After efforts had been
made to discover a  substitute for it, and it was seen how little 
ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.              85
 confidence those means deserved on which the highest praises
 had been  lavished, the attempts to discover its utility were
 renewed.   A medium was pursued, between the too timid
 methods of those physicians  who. had first administered it,
 and the inconsiderate boldness of the empirics.   Thus the
 causes from which both parties failed were avoided; the cha-
 racter of the medicine was revived in a more  durable way,
 and from this period its reputation has always been maintained.
   " It was about this epoch that mercury began to be inter-
 nally given: hitherto it had only been externally  employed,
 which was done in three manners.   The first was in the form
 of liniment, or ointment;  the  second, as  a plaster; and the
 third, as a fumigation.  Of the three methods just described,
 only the first is at present much in use, and even this is very
 much altered.  Mercurial plasters are now only used as topi-
 cal discutient  applications to tumors and indurations.   Fumi-
 gations, as anciently managed, were liable to many objec-
 tions, particularly from its not  being possible to regulate the
 quantity of mercury to be used, and from the effect of the va-
 por on the  organs of respiration frequently occasioning trem-
 bling, palsies, &c.  Frictions with ointment have always been
 regarded as the most efficacious mode of administering mer-
 cury."—[Hooper's Dictionary.]
   It may be observed, however, that the submurias hydrargyra,
 or calomel, and the  pilula hydrargyra, or blue pill, are the
 preparations of quicksilver  in most common use at the pre-
 sent time.
   Mercury, as an article of medicine, is probably more exten-
 sively used than almost any other article of the materia me-
 dica; and  hence  mankind have suffered more from  its de-
 structive powers, than from all the other poisonous drugs that
have disgraced the science of medicine.  In bilious and other
 fevers, which have so universally and fatally prevailed in the
 United  States, calomel has been regarded as almost the only
 evacuant of the bowels to be depended upon;  and by most
 practitioners it has been considered necessary in malignant
 cases of fever, and in many other obstinate complaints, to ad-
 minister a quantity sufficient  to produce salivation.   And
when it is  wished  to procure  this loathsome discharge very
speedily, the direful remedy is applied externally, in the form
of mercurial ointment, at the same time that it is administered
internally,  in  the form of calomel or pills.  The  disastrous
effects of this "incendiary" practice, have  left fearful monu-
ments of its destructive character, in every city, town, village,
and hamlet in the United States; and, in fact, in every civil-
ized country where  fashion and folly have been allowed to
triumph oyer the  dictates of common sense, and mercurial 
86         EFFECTS OF THE FOREGOING  MEDICINES

medicines permitted to assume the place of the more salutary
productions of the life-preserving vegetable kingdom.
  So  extensively,  indeed, have  morcurial medicines spread
their ravages amongst mankind, that it has become an impor-
tant "part of the physcian's study, to learn to designate and
remove the maladies which are caused by them."*  Mercury
is the most general evacuant belonging to the materia medica;
whilst its different preparations are  made  .to  answer no less
than ten different indications in the treatment  of  disease.
And notwithstanding the almost universal employment of mer-
cury,  in the treatment of nearly or  quite  every disease, " it
is to be regretted," says the  work just quoted, " that for the
want  of a more precise knowledge of the peculiar properties
of mercury, and  the modes of its operation, writers have not
yet assigned to it an appropriate place  among the curatives
of disease, nor agreed upon such general principles for its ad-
ministration as will enable the best judgment  to use, without
sometimes abusing it; and," continues  the same writer, "is
not mercury by many rather given as a specific, or for symp-
toms of disease for which  they know not what to give?"
  "Practitioners," says Dr. Hamilton,  "prescribe, on every
trifling occasion,  calomel  or the  blue  pill: thus, calomel is
now almost the universal opening medicine recommended  for
infants and children; and a course of the blue pill is  advised,
without any discrimination, for the cure of trifling irregulari-
ties of the digestion in grown persons."  To show the wretch-
ed  consequences  of this  indiscriminate employment of mer-
cury, we need only refer  to Hooper's Dictionary.  "Many
courses of mercury," says he, "would kill the patient if the
medicine were only given internally, because it proves hurt-
ful  to the stomach and intestines when given in any  form, or
joined to the greatest correctors."   It " often produces pains
like those of rheumatism, and  nodes of a  scrofulous nature;"
" and occasionally attacks the bowels,  and causes violent
purging, even of blood."  "At other times, it is suddenly  de-
termined to  the  mouth, and  produces  inflammation, ulcera-
tion, and an excessive flow of saliva."  The teeth also become
loose, and mortification  sometimes succeeds, and terminates
in  the destruction of the gums, lips, cheeks, &c.
   In addition to  these dreadful local affections, mercury often
 produces a more general effect, which is termed, the mercu-
 rial disease.
    "It is characterized  by great depression of strength; a
 sense of anxiety  about the praecordia;  irregular action about
  * Preface to the American edition of Dr. Hamilton's Observations on
the Use and Abuse of Mercurial Medicines, by Ansel W. Ives, M. D, 
                ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.               87

tbe heart; frequent sighing; trembling, partial or universal;
a small, quick, and sometimes intermitting pulse;  occasional
vomiting; a pale, contracted countenance; a sense of cold-
ness;  but the tongue is seldom furred, and  neither the natu-
ral nor vital functions are much disturbed." "In this state, a
violent or sudden exertion of muscular power, will sometimes
prove fatal."
   It may possibly be thought that we are devoting too much
time to  the consideration of this single article; but when we
take only a hasty survey of the general and immense  extent
of its horrible desolations, we are ready to think a  volume too
small for a faithful portraiture of the heart-sickening picture.
The subject of intemperance has enlisted the energies of hun-
dreds, nay, thousands, who have portrayed in glowing colors
the disastrous effects of  this voracious monster, preying upon
the vitals of the human race; opposed too, as it is, by tbe mor-
al sense of the  people, the  dogmas of physicians, and the pre-
cepts  of the gospel.  But  the career of calomel  instead of
being opposed by any .of those barriers which resist the pro-
gress of immorality, is encouraged by a class of  men whose
authority is  only equalled by the subserviency of  the  people
to.submit to their dictates.
   The propriety of comparing the  effects  of mercury  with
those  of intemperance, very probably may excite some  emo-
tions in the minds of many who have not given the subject a
careful  consideration.   But we  only request of these to re-
flect that calomel is prescribed in some form or other in almost
every family which adheres to the poisonous practice of med-
icine; and although an  individual  may be subjected to its
deadly  effects  but  once in his life, he may never after be
free from its morbid influence.  Indeed, we do not doubt that
the protracted insupportable  languor and indescribable feel-
ings of despondency which  often succeed a course of mercury,
have driven many  an  individual to intemperance if not to su-
icide, for that relief which may be  prized  higher than life.
We are  not dealing in fables, nor fanciful tales of romance;
our subject is one in which the whole civilized world has  a
deep interest; and we feel  it to be a serious duty  to do all in
our power to eradicate those prejudices which, through igno-
rance, have been implanted in the human heart.
  The depredations which mercury has committed upon health
and life since  its first  introduction into  practice, demand
that it should be placed in  its native garb before  the eyes of
the world.   Too much suffering, and misery, and waste of hu-
man life, have  resulted- from the use of calomel, for those
who are acquainted with  its real character to remain idle
spectators of its mighty march; walking with gigantic strength
through the world, and sweeping, with its  baneful breath, 
 88         EFFECTS OF THE FOREGOING MEDICINES

 thousands and tens of thousands from the stage of usefulness^
 and the great theatre of life!
    "Among  the numerous poisons,"  says  Dr. Hamilton,
 "which have been used for the cure or alleviation of diseases,
 there are few which possess more active, and of course, more
 dangerous powers, than mercury.    Even the simplest and
 mildest forms of that mineral exert a most extensive influence
 over the human frame; and  many of its chimical preparations
 are so deleterious, that in the smallest doses they speedily de-
 stroy life."  "When the effects of mercury upon the human
 body are accurately investigated and duly considered, it can-
 not fail to appear, that infinite injury must accrue from its
 use in many cases."—[Hamilton, pages 1, 3.]
   In treating  of the  effects of mercury, Dr. Hamilton ob-
 serves:—"Preparations of  mercury, exhibited  either inter-
 nally or externally for any length of time, increase in general
 the action of the hear£ and  arteries, and produce salivation,
 followed  by emaciation and debility, with an extremely irri-
 table state of the whole system.
   " These effects of mercury are expressly mentioned, or virtu-
 ally admitted, by every  author, ancient or modern, who has di-
 rected its use; and it must appear very extraordinary, that
 their full influence should have been hitherto misunderstood,
 or at least  not sufficiently regarded."
   " The first effect enumerated, is an increased action  of the
 heart and arteries," which "is attended with the most obvious
 of the circumstances which  arise from inflammation.  Blood
 drawn from the arm of the most delicate  and debilitated in-
 dividual, subjected to a course of mercurial medicines^ exhib-
 its the same buffy crust with blood drawn from a person  labor-
 ing under pleurisy."—[Hamilton, pages 4, 5, 6.]
   " There is reason to believe, that the inflammatory diathe-
 sis induced by mercury may continue for a very considerable
 length of time after the mercury has been laid aside, and with-
 out any manifest signs.  When individuals in this state are sub-
jected to accidental exposure to cold, or indulge in irregular-
 ity of living, a violent and anomalous indisposition takes place,
 which is apt to terminate fatally, or to occasion a broken state
 of health."
  "Salivation, or an excessive and unusual flow of saliva, in*
 general follows the increased action of the heart and arteries,
 and is preceded by a certain metallic  taste in  the mouth, and
 is attended with a peculiar odour of the breath different from
 what is ever perceived  in any natural state of disease."   " In
 some cases, besides the ordinary ulceration of the gums, and
 loosening and final separation of the teeth, the tongue, move-
 able palate, &c. swell  and ulcerate  to  a frightful degree."—
 [Hamilton, pages 10,1L] 
                  OP THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.               89

   "Delicate individuals,especially females,generally experi-
 ence after a course of mercury, various modifications of dis-
 ordered feelings, communicating the idea of imaginary disea-
 ses, which unfit them for the duties of life, and render exist-
 ence a burden.   Among the anomalous complaints arising
 from this cause, may be enumerated, impaired or capricious
 appetite for food,  with all the ordinary symptpms of indiges-
 tion, particularly  retchings  in the morning, and flatulency—
 disturbed sleep, with frightful dreams; impaired or depraved
 vision; frequent aches and pains in different parts of the body;
 occasionally such  sudden failure of strength, as if just dying,
 and at other times violent palpitations of the heart, accompa-
 nied  with difficulty of breathing.  Along with all these com-
 plaints, there is such a wretchedness  of look, with such a dis-
 position to brood  over  their miserable  feelings, that it  is
 extremely difficult to persuade the relations or attendants of
 the patient that there is no serious indisposition."
   Dr. Falconer says, "that among other ill effects, [of mer-
 cury] it tends  to produce tremors and paralysis, and not un-
 frequently incurable mania.  I have myself seen repeatedly
 from  this cause, a kind of approximation to these  maladies,
 that embittered life to such  a degree, with a shocking depres-
 sion of spirits, and  other nervous  agitations  with which  it
 was accompanied, as to make it more than  commonly proba-
 ble, that many of the suicides which disgrace our  country,
 were occasioned by the intolerable  feelings that result from
 such a state of the nervous  system."   Dr. Hamilton adds,
 " to the truth of these remarks every  unprejudiced  physician
 who has been in extensive practice must bear testimony."—
 [Hamilton, pages 13, 14, 15.]
  It is also worthy of particular notice, that the disastrous
 effects of mercury  do not depend  upon  the quantity taken;
 "it is notorious that the very smallest quantities of  mercury
 have suddenly proved injurious.  Thus, in a lady who had had
 such small doses of the  blue pill,  combined with opium, for
 three  nights successively, that the whole quantity amounted
 to no  more  than five grains of the mass,  salivation began on
 the fifth day,  and notwithstanding every attention, the gums
 became swelled to an enormous degree, bleeding ulcers of the
 mouth and fauces took place, and  such extensive irritability
 and debility followed, that for nearly  a whole  month her life
 was in the utmost jeopardy.  Every  practitioner must have
 met with similar cases.
  "Another common consequence of a very small dose of mer-
 cury is an excessive bowel complaint.  In many individuals,
 a permanent irritability of the stomach and intestinal canal
has followed the accidental exhibition of a few grains of calo-
 mel."
       12 
90         EFFECTS OF THE FOREGOING MEDICINES

  "Dr. Falconer mentions, that he once saw a dropsy of the
breast produced by the use of a mercurial remedy for a red-
ness in the face, which it effectually removed, but  instantly
produced a dropsy of the chest, terminating in death.   Dr.
Blackall has recorded similar  cases."—[ Hamilton, pages
BO, 21.]
  Dr. Hamilton also records one case, and Dr. Ives another,
Which "seem  to prove, that mercury may remain inert for a
considerable  time in the habit, and afterwards by some inex-
plicable circumstance, may become active."—[p. 21.J  We
have also seen at least one similar case.   And that it does re-
main in the systems of most or all persons whose constitutions
have only been slightly affected by it, without breaking forth
in its peculiar and virulent form, can  be attested by almost
every individual who has undergone the process of salivation.
Such persons are commonly premonished of stormy weather,
by the pains "like those of rheumatism," or as often expressed,
"pains in the bones," and soreness of the flesh.   In some, the
glands of the mouth and the throat become swelled, upon every
exposure to wet or cold.
  It may be thought, perhaps, that enough evidence has been
adduced from the writings  of those whose profession it is to
use the poisonous preparations of mercury, to satisfy the most
partial, that its use ought not to  be admitted as a medicine;
but as the prejudice in its favor is so deep rooted and strong,
and  its destructive consequences so general and terrible,  we
cannot acquit ourselvei without selecting something more
from the great mass of testimony  to be met with at every step
of our inquiries upon this important subject.
  Dr. Hamilton, in speaking of persons who appeal to their
own experience as a direct proof of the great utility of calo-
mel, in certain cases, remarks, "But if those persons could at-
tend impartially to the effects of that medicine, they would find
that its immediate operation is severe, and that it is  follow-
ed for some time by  uncomfortable feelings, and by an unu-
sual susceptibility of derangement of the stomach and bowels."
—[Hamilton,p. 79.]
  Again; "It  disorders the digestive powers of the  stomach;
and in debilitated persons, the frequent employment of it sinks
the strength and provokes hemorrhoids.
  "From  what has been stated in  the preceding pages,  re-
specting the injurious effects of all the preparations of mercury,
and especially of calomel, upon  some constitutions  and  the
impossibility of distinguishing  those  individuals to whom that
mineral, in every form, is apt to prove noxious, it  must be evident
that no physician can  calculate, with any degree of certainly, on
the safe operation of mercurial purgatives ; and no preparation of
mercury can be administered without the risk of some consequences 
                 ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.              91

ensuing, which could neither be intended nor expected."—[Hamil-
ton, pages, 105, 106, 107.]
   Were these facts less familiar to us than they are, we might
pause, after quoting sentiments such as the foregoing, to in-
dulge in those feelings of astonishment, which must involun-
tarily force themselves upon the mind of him who meets with
them for the  first time.   But we are so much accustomed to
the most  glaring inconsistencies  in most  matters relative to
medicine, that we long since ceased  to wonder at the contra-
dictions of theory and practice.  The  reader must  recollect
that our quotations are from authors who themselves use the;
article they condemn.
   But we are not done yet: We must beg a little longer in-
dulgence, whilst we introduce a few more quotations, touch-
ing this important subject, i In an  Appendix to the work of
Dr. Hamilton, we find some remarks to our purpose, written
by Dr. A. W. Ives, a respectable practitioner of  New York.
   "It is true," says Dr. Ives, "that those who have most zeal-
ously recommeded this medicine, have  not denied the danger
and  uncertainty  of its operation; still they appear rather to
have labored to give it the character of a specific, than to es-
tablish  general principles which  would reconcile the discre-
pancy of their theory and practice.   'Could  a line be drawn,'
says Dr. Warren, 'between the diseases in which it is preju-
dicial, and those  in which it is advantageous; and could the
mode of administration be accurately prescribed much of that
mischief which has originated from this most active class of
medicines might be avoided, and many a constitution  saved.
from ruin.'  But this is a knowledge which we can never hope
to attain,  and even if it were  attainable, what would be the
avail?   There is a diversity  in  the character of the  same
diseases, arising from a difference in the circumstances or con-
dition of the patients, which forbids the expectation that the
science of medicine will be ever so perfected, and the labors
of the physician so simplified, that a medicine can be safely
prescribed for a name.  It will continue to be the province of
the physician to establish general principles from facts, and
to mete out from these such  particulars as may be suitable to
the multifarious character and symptoms of disease; and until
some general  principles  shall  be settled  for the  better regu-
lation of the mercurial practice in fevers, however extensive
and popular it may be, it will continue to be empirical."—
[ Hamilon, p. 192.]
   Dr.  Ives remarks, that there is the closest analogy in the
operation  of animal poison and mercury:  "Both," says he,"so
far contaminate  the circulating fluids as to keep up a per-
manent excitement for a considerable  length of time; for as
their properties can be destroyed by no antidote,  their effects 
 92         EFFECTS OF THE FOREGOING MEDICINES

 will continue till they are carried out of the system by its
 emunctories."—[p. 196.]   "Nor does mercury, as has often
 been contended, possess the properties of a tonic; so far from
 increasing the  tone of the  muscular fiber, or the excitability
 of the nervous system, it diminishes both, in a direct ratio to the
 irritation which it excites."—[p. 204.] And "it is yet a ques-
 tion of dispute, whether more lives have  been prolonged by a
 timely salivation, than have been lost by the  unsuccessful use
 of mercury, to  the exclusion of other means.'—[p. 208.]
   Dr.  Barnwell,  after describing  the effects of mercury ex-
 hibited in the  first stages of inflammation of the liver, says
 "these  are the effects, which we have seen  invariably take
 place, from the abuse of mercury, in the early stages of disase;
 so that we are  not more certainly convinced of the  poisonous
 effects of arsenic, than of those mercurials given in  the acute
 stages  of this disease."
   The testimony of Dr. Reece is also very strong against the
 use of mercury.  "We know not, says he, whether we have
 most reason to hail the discovery of mercury as a blessing, or
 regard it as a curse; since the diseases it entails are as numerous
 as those which it cures.  Our best informed dentists declare
 that they can clearly witness the progress of the use of mer-
 cury, in the increasing diseases and decay of the teeth. There
 are serious  objections, also, to  other articles of the metallic
 world; antimony,  iron, and  arsenic, are  dangerous  remedies
 in the hands of the ignorant; and mankind,  perhaps, in the
 aggregate, would be benefited by their expulsion from medi-
 cal practice."
  If any should inquire why mercury is  still used in medical
 practice,  when its direful effects are so well known, the an-
 swer must be sought  from  several sources.  "The  facility,"
 says Dr. Hamilton, "with which calomel can be exhibited to
 patients who are reluctant to take whatever has the semblance
 of a drug, is probably the chief motive  for this unfortunate
 prejudice in favor of so  hazardous  a  remedy;"  and this he
very justly reprobates as a sacrifice of "conscience to conve-
 nience."—[page 111.]  And Dr. Ives observes—"there is no
inconsistency so extravagant that it cannot be supported by
 precedent, and  no hypothesis so absurd, that it cannot be de-
 fended by books."  It may  also be  added, that as the  study
 of books is more easy to most men than the investigation of
 nature, practitioners have generally  been willing to practice
 under the protection of some great name, rather than attempt
 to reform the abuses ofmedicine.
  "Had the injurious effects of calomel been hid  from the rest
 of the profession, and known only to the author,"  says Dr.
 Hamilton, "some apology might be offered for the pertinacity
 with which that medicine is still prescribed^ but so far is this 
ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.              98
 from being true, that it may be  confidently asserted, that no
 medical man of competent knowledge and observation would
 administer calomel  as a  purgative, in a hundred instances,
 without being convinced of its injurious tendency.  Of this,
 innumerable proofs  could be  cited."—[page  109.]  And "it
 cannot be a want of deference to the distinguished advocates
 of the mercurial practice, to distrust the soundness of their de-
 ductions, when they are not only opposed by the acknowledg-
 ed principles of medical philosophy, but by the judgment of such
 men as Robert Jackson and  Dr. Lind.  To these might be
 added numbers of the most celebrated physicians of England,
 France, and America, all of whom from clinical observation,
 have decided against the practice of resting the issue of febrile
 diseases on the constitutional operations of mercury."—[Ham-
 ilton, Appendix, pages 191, 192.]
   Those who have made themselves acquainted with the de-
 solating consequences resulting from the use of mercury, will
 not  wonder that so much  space has been allotted to its con-
 sideration.  Men  of the  greatest experience have devoted
 much  time and  attention to its  consideration; the chief of
 whom are Pierson,  Mathias, Trotter, Carmichael, and
 Hamilton, whom we have so often quoted, and whose experi-
 ence and observation have enabled him to make a correct es-
 timate of the dangerous powers of mercury.   He, however,
 supposes that "notwithstanding all the hazards resulting from
 the use of mercury, there can  be no doubt that it has certain
 medicinal virtues, the most remarkable of which is the power
 of curing the diseases occasioned by the syphilitic virus."
   In the venereal disease, he  thinks this is  the only remedy
 which  can with  certainty be depended upon;  but this senti-
 ment can  only be tolerated on "the principle of necessity"
 growing out of the circumstances by which he was surround-
 ed.  He knew of "no other equally efficacious medicine."—
 Fortunately, however, for the world, medicines are now known
 which  are not only  far more efficacious  than  mercury in ve-
 nereal complaints, but in all others; besides being at the same
 time free from all risk and danger.
  Lead—Plumbum.   This metal is found in almost all coun-
 tries; and is particularly abundant in the western and north-
 western parts of the United States.   It is but seldom used as
 an internal remedy; but is often applied externally to inflamed
 surfaces, wounds, scrofulous sores, and inflamed eyes.   Inter-
 nally it is employed  "in some  extreme cases of hemorrhagy
from the lungs and bowels, and uterus," as a styptic or astrin-
gent; but  owing to its poisonous qualities,  it is exhibited in
very small doses, and that but seldom by prudent practitioners.
All the preparations of lead are deadly poisons. 
94         EFFECTS OF THE FOREGOING MEDICINES

  Lead is often used for sweetening cider or wines which have
become sour; but this is a very reprehensible practice, and is
only resorted to by unprincipled dealers in the article, for mo-
tives of pecuniary gain.   The effect of drinking cider or wine,
impregnated with any preparation of lead, is the same as those
arising from the taking of it any other way.
  "The colic of painters, and that formerly prevalent in cer-
tain counties of England, from the lead used in cider presses,
show the very deleterious operation of this metal, when habit-
ually introduced into the system in the minutest quantities at
a time.  Contraction of the thumbs, paralysis of the  hands, or
even of the whole extremities,  have not unfrequently super-
vened."
  The symptoms of poisoning from lead are thus graphically
described in the Book of Health:  "Constriction in the throat,
pain in the stomach, obstinate, painful, and frequently bloody
vomiting."  Dr. Thacher, in his Dispensatory, says "its ef-
fects on the body are emaciation, violent colics, paralysis, tre-
mors, and contractions of the limbs;  as they generally come
on gradually, the cause is sometimes overlooked until it be too
late.   Poisoning from lead is occasioned,  either from liquors
becoming impregnated with it, by being improperly kept in ves-
sels lined with that metal, or to which lead has been criminally
added to correct its acidity; or  among manufacturers, who
work much with lead, as painters  and plumbers, and who are
not sufficiently attentive to avoid swallowing it."
  "A dreadful disease," says Dr. Thomas, "of a similar nature
with the colic under consideration, (colica pictonum, or dry
bellyache) and caused by the destructive fumes of melted lead,
is known to be  very prevalent among those who are employed
in smelting or preparing this metal, and is said to attack even
those who live near the furnaces."
   Speaking of  the  acetite or  sugar  of lead,  Dr.  Thacher
says, "Like the other preparations of lead, this  is a violent
poison."   "The internal use of it, notwithstanding the enco-
miums some have been rash enough to bestow upon it, is en-
tirely to be rejected."
   The subcarbonate of lead, or white lead "is sometimes em-
ployed medicinally, in form of powder or ointment, to children
whose skin is fretted.  It should, however, be cautiously used,
 as there is great reason to believe that complaints of the bowels
 of children originate from this source."
   Niter—JYitrate of Potash—Salt Peter.  This article is pret-
 ty  extensively used, "in numerous disorders.  Its virtues are
 those of a refrigerant and diuretic."   It also promotes insen-
 sible perspiration in fevers.  "This powerful salt, when inad-
 vertently taken in too large quantities, is one of the most fa- 
ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.
95
tal poisons.   There are several attested cases on record, and
some recent instance; might  be added, in  which from half
to a  whole ounce of sail peter, has occasioned violent vomiting,
convulsions, swelling, and other  painful symptoms in persons,
who by mistake had swallowed it in a dissolved state, instead
of glauber or similar salts."—[ Thachers Dispensatory.]   "In
large doses, such as an ounce,  taken at one time, it produces
the mo;t dreadful symptoms, constant vomiting, purging, mix-
ed with blood, convulsions and death."—[ Coxe's Dispensatory,
p. 445.] "I  have found from a  series of practical experiments,
for many  years, that salt peter has the most certain and dead-
ly effect upon the human system, of any drug that is used as
medicine.   Although the effects  produced by it are not so
immediately fatal as many others, yet  its whole  tendency is
to counteract the principles of life and destroy the operation
of nature.  Experience has taught me that it  is the most
powerful enemy to health, and that it is the most difficult op-
ponent to encounter, with any  degree of success, that I have
ever met with."'—[Xew Guide to Health,p. 26,27.]
   Opium.   This is the inspissated juice of the white poppy,
or papaver  somniferum.   The  best opium is brought from
Turkey;  and a very inferior kind from the East Indies.  It
may also  be made from the common poppy  of this country.
The Turks  have the  same kind  of fondness for it, that the
people of this country have for  tobacco and ardent spirits.
   Opium is exhibited as a narcotic, to procure sleep, and as
an anodyne to assuage pain.  It is  also used as  an antispas-
modic, and  to restrain diarrhoea.  Indeed, there  are few dis-
eases in which this powerful article is not employed, either in
substance, as in pills, or in  tincture, as in laudanum.   A still
weaker preparation of  it  is  to be  found  in the paragoric
elixer.
   The specific action of opium on the living system, by which
it produces its peculiar effects, has been the subject of the
keenest controversy amongst  medical men.    Some affirm it
to be a powerful stimulant, and others, that it is a direct sed-
ative.  To our view, it  is very clear, that its most important
effects are sedative.  It appears to possess but very little, if
 any power, directly to remove the cause of any disease what-
 ever.   It produces sleep—removes pain—relieves spasm—
and checks diarrhoea; but it does it by destroying sensibility.
 It renders  the living fiber insensible  to the  stimulus of the
 causes which give rise  to tho-c peculiar states or conditions
 of disease; and its debilitating effects are well known to ail
 who have taken large quantities to remove spasm, or cure the
 lock-jaw.   But as this, like all other violent-poisons, is fast
 running its popular career, and is disused in the new practice 
 96        EFFECTS OF TilK FOREGOING MEDICINES

 of medicine, it"is unnecessary to dwell  longer upon this con-
 troversy.
   "Opium taken into the  stomach in a large dose, gives rise
 to confusion of head  and vertigo.   The powers of all stimu-
 lating causes  to make impressions on the body are diminished;
 and even at times, and in situations, when persons would nat-
 urally be awake, sleep is irresistibly induced.  In still larger
 doses, it acts in the same manner as the narcotic poisons, giv-
 ing rise  to vertigo, head-ache, tremors, delirium, and convul-
 sions; and these terminating in a state  of stupor, from which
 the person  cannot be roused.   This stupor is accompanied
 with  slowness of the pulse, and with stertor in breathing, and
 the scene is terminated in  death, attended with the  same ap-
 pearances as  take  place in an apoplexy."—[Thacher's Dis-
pensatory.]
   "It is  a melancholy consideration, that opium is frequently
 resorted  to for the  horrid  purpose  of self-destruction.  The
 alarming symptoms induced by it, are vomiting, delirium, stu-
 por, deep and  difficult breathing, convulsions, and death."—
 [ibid.]
   Digitalis Purpurea—Foxglove.  This potent vegetable,
when taken into the stomach, produces aimost powerful sed-
ative  effect upon the circulation, decreasing the general irri-
tability of the system, whilst the action of the absorbents is
 said to be accelerated.   It has been highly recommended in
consumptions, palpitations  of the heart, asthma, dropsy, &c.
for which cases it has been often employed.
   "Of all the narcotics, digitalis  is  that  which diminishes
most  powerfully the actions  of the system;  and  it does so
without  occasioning any previous  excitement.   Even in a
moderate dose, it diminishes the force and frequency of the
pulse, and in a large  dose, reduces it  to a great  extent, as
from seventy beats  to forty or  thirty-five in a minute, occa-
sioning at the  same time vertigo, indistinct vision, violent and
durable sickness, with vomiting.  In still larger quantity, it
induces convulsions, coldness  of the body, and insensibility,
symptoms which have sometimes terminated fatally."
   "The  administration of this  remedy  requires to  be  con-
ducted with much caution.  Its effects do not immediately ap-
pear; and when the doses  are  too  frequent, or too quickly
augmented, its action is concentrated  so as to produce  fre-
quently the  most violent symptoms.— [Hooper's Dictionary.]
   Dr. Withering,  who  first  employed the digitalis in  the
treatment of dropsy, Jays down  certain explicit rules  for  its
administration; referring to these, Dr. Thacher, in  his Dis-
pensatory, says, " without the strictest attention to which, no
practitioner should prescribe this powerful and singular medi- 
ON THE ANIMAL ECONO.UV.
97
cine."   Dr. Thacher further adds, " Such are the active
and virulent qualities of this plant, that it ought not to be en-
trusted to the direction of the inexperienced practitioner; nor
resorted  to, without due attention to the state of the system;
and when administered, its peculiar effects should be discrim-
inated with the utmost vigilance and  precision.   Dr. Rand
relates for admonition, one melancholy example of the fatal
effects of digitalis, in a man, who having experienced relief
from  its  use, adventurously exceeded the  extent enjoined by
his physician."  And well may cautions  and admonitions be
given in regard to the use of an article possessing such influ-
ence' over the  sanguiferous system.   What else could be ra-
tionally  expected, than that if it possessed the power,  in a
moderate dose, of reducing the pulse  from  seventy to thirty-
five, a larger dose would  check it altogether.  It is also poi-
sonous when applied to wounds or sores.*
   Hemlock—Cicuta.  " This is a large bi ennial umbelliferous
plant, which grows  very  commonly about the  sides of fields
and hedges, and in moist  places.   The root is white, long, of
the thickness of the finger, contains when young a milky juice,
and resembles both in size and form, the carrot.   In spring it
is very poisonous, in harvest  less so.  The stalk is three, four,
and often six feet high, hollow, smooth, and marked with red
or brown spots.  The leaves are large, and of a dark green
color, having a faint disagreeable smell, resembling the urine
of a  cat.   The seeds are inferior in strength.   The whole
plant is  a virulent poison, but varying much in strength accor-
ding to  circumstances.  When taken in an over dose, it pro-
duces vertigo, dimness of sight,  difficulty of speech, nausea,
putrid eructations,  anxiety, tremors, and  paralysis of  the
limbs; to which may be added, dilatation of the pupils, deliri-
um, stupor, and convulsions."—[Thachcr's Dispensatory.] •
  " Prussic Acid—Hydrocyanic acid.   It  was but lately that
 this substance became known in its simple separate state; and
 still later that it was introduced  into medicine.  Prussic acid
 is most  readily obtained from  the pigment called Prussian
 blue; but it is  also  made from some  vegetable  productions,
 such as  the bitter kernals of the drupaceous fruits, particular-*
 ly the peach.   It is used  in pulmonary complaints, especially
 whooping cough, consumption, asthma, &c.
   The  Prussic acid is said to be the  most  violent of all  poi-
 son.  "Scharinger, a professor at Vienna, spread a certain
 quantity of it upon his naked arm, and died a little time there-
 after."   "When a rod dipped into this acid is put in contact
 with the tongue of an animal, death ensues before the rod can
 be withdrawn.  If a bird be held a moment  over  the  open
 —V"-------------■                  '
                      * Orfila on Poison.
         13 
9$        medicines used in botanic practice.

mouth of a vial containing prussic acid, it dies."—[Hooper'f
Dictionary.]
   There are many other poisonous articles used as medicines
by the medical Faculty; but we have perhaps dwelt sufficient-
ly long  upon this subject.   In describing the  nature  and ef-
fects of medical poisons, we have  preferred quoting the lan-
guage of those whose avocation it is to use them, rather than
condense the facts into a narrower compass in words of our
own;  as it must be admitted that they, to the  exclusion of all
others, are better acquainted with their destructive tendencies
and fatal effects.  Most individuals, however, can call to mind
cases  which they have either  seen or experienced, cofirming
the statements which  we have made respecting the violent
and dangerous character of many articles in common use by
the Faculty.
   But our limits admonish us to leave a subject which calls
up in  imagination,  the pale,  emaciated, and  frightful visage
of some acquaintance,  neighbor, tender  child, or endeared
companion, who has fallen a victim to the destructive powers
of those poisonous articles, falsely gilded  with the  name  of
medicine; the fearful effects of which have been accumula-
ting for the last fifty years  with the most ruinous consequen-
ces; yea, we might  truly say, with more fatal and appaling
violence, in  some portions of the globe, than pestilence, fa-
mine, or the sword!
                     SECTION  3.

     OF THE MEDICINES USED IN THE BOTANIC PRACTICE.

  The articles composing the  botanical materia  medica, are
few in number compared with those which have been  admit-
ted into the older works of this character.  But however few
may be the articles, they are very ample, comparatively speak-
ing, in their power to restore health.  New and valuable rem-
edies are also developing themselves to the industrious enter-
prise of Botanical Practitioners in  every section of our coun-
try; and there  is  good reason to hope that a few years of care-
ful observation, will put the world in  possession of the  means
of curing almost every  malady to which the human frame is
liable.  It is ardently to be wished, however, that every indi-
vidual engaged  in  this  noble  work  of improvement,  might
adopt the utmost simplicity  in the rules which he  may pre-
scribe for conducting his investigations, as well as his  obser-
vations on the  result.
  The following  classification of remedies has been  adopted
in conformity with the New Physiological Theory, as well for 
MEDICINES USED IN BOTANIC PR\CTICE.        99
its simplicity and perspicuity, as from a firm conviction of its
approaching nearer the truth than any other which has here-
tofore been proposed:—
  A.  General Stimulants.
           1.  Diffusable.     Lobelia.
B.
    2. Permanent.

Tonics.
 'Cayenne, (African.;
 I Red Pepper, (Common.)
 | Black Pepper,
 Ginger, &c.

rBayberry,
 Beth or Birth root,
                  Sumach,
1. Astringent.   <j Red Raspberry,
                  Witch Hazel,
                  Hemlock Bark,
                 ^Blackberry root, &c.
                 f Golden Seal,
                 1 Poplar Bark,
2. Bitter.       ^ Unicorn Root,
C  Local Stimulants.
1.  Cathartics.
Balmony,
2. Diuretics.
3. Rubefacients.
Columbo Root, &c.
 (Butternut,
 I Black Root,
■i Mandrake,
 | Rhubarb,
 1^Castor Oil, &c.
 I Spirits of Turpentine,
 I Sumach Leaves,
"4 Button Snake Root,
 | Virginia Snake Root,
 1^ Elder Bark, &c.
  Cayenne,
 'Red Pepper,
 i Oil of Hemlock,
  Brandy, &c.
   This classification goes much farther than was ever contem-
plated by the great prototype of the Botanical school,  Dr.
Thomson, who sums up the fundamental principles of the heal-
ing art, in the terms, hot, rough, and bitter—stimulants, as-
tringents, and bitters.  We may be too prolix in this classifi-
cation; but are fully satisfied that we have been enough so,
and better that it be abridged than enlarged.
   To all who are desirous of improving  the materia medica,
we would most seriously recommend the  greatest circumspec- 
100        MEDICINES CSED IN UOTANIC PRACTICE.

don in making experiments with, and the adoption of new arti-
cles.  Human life is of too much importance to be lightly tri-
fled  with; and therefore nothing should be done at random,
nor any thing hazardous attempted.  In  selecting any new
article, a preference should always be given to those which,
when chewed in the mouth, do not  dry  up the  saliva.   Even
astringents,  although their  most obvious and characteristic
effect is  to  harden the muscular  fiber, and give it a firmer
tone, ought not to be  of that arid nature that many articles
of this class  are, drying up the  juices  of the mouth,  and of
course,  of the whole  system.  Medicines of every kind and
nature, to act upon the organs  in a healthful manner, must
neither accelerate nor impede the passage of any of the fluids
beyond what the laws of life require; and such as have a ten-
dency to impede the passages,  ought, above all others, to be
admitted with caution.
   Although astringents, when chewed, contract the mouth
and produce  a sensation of roughness, as any one acquainted
with the term at once will know, yet there are articles  which
possess this property in a considerable  degree, without mate-
rially affecting  the  passage of the fluids.  Any person,  by
tasting different astringent articles, may satisfy himself of the
truth of this remark.   And it is laid down as a general max-
im, by Dr. Thomson, that not only astringents but articles of
every other class, should be tested by  the same rule.   This
criterion for ascertaining an important quality in all medi-
cinal substances,  we  regard as original  with  Dr.  Thom-
son,  and  consider it  as being founded upon correct medical
and physiological principles that ought never to be disregard-
ed in selecting a remedy.
   As it is not pretended that this work contains, or that the
 present knowledge of medicine embraces, all the most valua-
 ble articles of medicine which  a  beneficent Creator has be-
 stowed upon the world; but that many,  very  many, remain
 yet to be discovered, it may not be amiss to suggest some
 other general rules to be observed in the experiments and in-
 vestigations relative to this important subject:
    1. Every substance used as a medicine, ought to act in uni-
 son and harmony with the laws  of nature, and not contrary to
 them.  Medicines of this character are always safe, and uni-
 versally applicable.   2. If they do this,  they will, instead of
 prostrating  the strength of the patient, have a tendency to
 restore it.   All medicines  and means whatever, which, in
 their effects upon the system,  weaken the power of life and
 produce debility, ought to be rejected as improper.   3. Any
 article which produces unnatural actions in the system, either
 increasing or checking  the secretions or excretions beyond
 what health requires, ought also to be rejected.   It is gene- 
             EFFECTS OF BOTANIC MEDICINES, &C.         101

 rally variations of these actions from a healthy standard, which
 constitute, or rather attend, disease;  the object of cure is to
 restore  a healthy  action.  4.  By^ all means  avoid  articles
 known to be poisonous, especially in small quantities.  They
 always pervert the very order which we wish to restore—the
. harmony of nature.  5. Endeavor to ascertain to which class
 the adopted article belongs; and that, although it may be pe-
 culiarly adapted to some particular disease, it is not deleteri-
 ous in any.  This  is a desideratum, we  think, attainable  in
 medicine.
                      SECTION 4.

  OF THE EFFECTS OF BOTANIC MEDICINES UPON THE ANIMAL
                        ECONOMY.

  Capsicum Annuum—Cayenne Pepper.  This article, if con-
sidered with reference to the extent of its powers and univer-
sal applicability to  the cure of disease, may be regarded as
one of the most valuable articles of  the materia medica.  It
is unquestionably  the purest and strongest stimulant of which
we have any knowledge, and is therefore the best article that
we possess for increasing the vital energy of the system.
  Cayenne possesses none of the narcotic properties of ardent
spirits or opium, nor is its stimulant effect upon the system
followed by that debility and prostration which always suc-
ceed  the administration of brandy or opium.  Its operation
upon the tissues of the body, does not consist in affecting the
irritability of the  living  fiber, but in imparting a sound and
healthy stimulus to the vital organs.   It strengthens substan-
tially and durably the living power of the animal machine, and
should therefore almost always be employed in practice.
  Lobelia Inflata—Emetic Herb.  This simple herb, for the
variety and extent of  its curative powers,  stands unrivalled
amongst botanic remedies.   It acts as an emetic, antidote to
poisons, diffusable stimulant, and expectorant.   Its stimulant
powers, however, are of such a nature as to be soon exhausted;
and hence it is necessary to support it by something of a more
durable character.   Cayenne is admirably adapted to this pur-
pose,  and should generally be administered with  the lobelia,
as well as before and after its operation.
  As all the articles composing our materia medica must ne-
cessarily be treated upon more  explicitly  hereafter, we will
therefore let the brief notice  of the  two articles  just named
suffice;  and  close this section with  a few  remarks  upon the
general effects of approved botanic remedies. 
102           EFFECTS OF BOTANIC MEDICINES
   The reader will recollect, that in  a preceding section, we
 took a view of the effects of what have emphatically been de-
 nominated the "heroic medicines"—effects so destructive and
 appalling, that one might rationally conclude they ought, long
 since, to have been consigned to  that oblivion  which their
 dangerous powers richly merit; and into which,in time, they
 no doubt will be plunged.
   But in surveying the  thousands of subjects upon which the
 Botanic  practice has been tried, we find not one solitary case
 of that  permanent loss of  appetite—that mournful dejection
 of spirit—that sinking of the soul, and loathing of life, which
 often follows a course of the severe medicines of the old prac-
 tice.
   The new remedies, says Professor Robinson, in  his excel-
 lent Lectures, "possess  an energy which  seems to communi-
 cate new life to  the system,  and renovate the feeble, fainting
 powers of nature." We have often remarked to persons whom
 we were instructing, that  the  botanic remedies upon which
we are treating,  acted in unison  and harmony with the laws
 of animal life, as much so  as  our food.   This may be consi-
 dered by many, no doubt, as the wild  hallucination  of an ex-
 travagant enthusiast.   But we can cheerfully submit to those
 who have had the most ample experience of the effects of our
 botanic remedies, whether this assertion is not more consist-
 ent with truth than it is to regard calomel, and all the poison-
 ous articles of the materia medica, as valuable medicines.  "A
 remedy," says Robinson, "worse than the disease, is no remedy;
 it may hold the  rank by prescription; but it is an authority
 as unhallowed as the tyranny of eastern despots."  But calo-
 mel, arsenic,  &c, have  thus held their rank, and been  pre-
 scribed  for the sick, and their  disastrous powers at  the same
 time deplored, by the best men who have  ever adorned the
 walks of medical science.
  The objections of the advocates of poisonous medicines, to
the proposition that our remedies act in harmony with the
laws of life, have been mostly answered in a former  chapter;
but there is one of which no special notice  has been taken.
It is objected to  our proposition, that vomiting is contrary to,
or a reversion of,  the  laws  of nature; because in a healthy
state, vomiting never  takes place.   This objection, however,
is  more  specious than  solicj; for, although it may be a fact,
that vomiting does not  take place in a healthy state, yet it
often arises spontaneously, and thus affords relief, in a dis-
eased state.   Hence we may observe,  that although vomiting
may not occur spontaneously only in disease,  it is in accord-
ance with a law  of nature, which only acts in certain condi-
tions of  the  system; but always  with a healthy intention.
Now, is  there any thing paradoxical in supposing that some- 
UPON THE ANIMAL  ECONOMY.            103
 thing not inimical to the laws  of life might be discovered,
 which would assist nature in performing this operation; aid
 her in doing what she herself would do, were she capable?—
 We anwer with confidence, no!
   Vomiting  then  is perfectly consistent with the laws of na-
 ture or animal life; and a medicine has been discovered, en-
 tirely innocent and harmless, which exactly corresponds with
 that law, and may be administered with impunity to both sexes,
 and  all ages  and conditions of life.   Indeed, it  must follow,
 that if these  medicines act in unison and harmony with the
 laws of life, there can be no disease  of any name or nature,
 whether of young or old—male or female, but what it is pro-
 per to administer it; and, if it be done seasonably and perse-
 veringly, it must have a good effect.  Here no time need be lost
 in hesitating what remedy to prescribe—no anxiety about
 ambiguous symptoms—no objections to giving the best remedy
 because of peculiar circumstances, situations or  habits of life
 of (he patient.   These medicines, acting in harmony with na-
 ture's laws, may be promptly administered  in all cases; and
 the more violent and dangerous the  symptoms—the more na-
 ture's laws are perverted or disturbed—the greater the neces-
 sity for applying the best and most powerful remedies.
   An acquaintance of ours, formerly a surgeon in the United
 States'  army, and who is enjoying at this time a highly re-
 spectable  character in private life, observed to us, as a rea?on
 for abandoning  the practice of  medicine, that when  he was
 called  to  the best friend he had in the world, and was exer-
 cising his  best skill and judgment to relieve him  of his mala-
 dies, with all his anxiety and solicitude, he was still involved
in uncertainty whether he should kill or cure.  What a most
deplorable picture does this frank, honest, and disinterested
confession exhibit of the old practice of medicine? But dip
 ferent, far different from this must be the feelings of him, who
has become fully acquainted with the botanic practice. He
goes forth in the noble work of healing the sick, with the fullest
 confidence in the power, the innocency, and the efficacy of his
medicines; being confirmed beyond all  doubt, that if he can
do no good, he will at least do no hurt.
   It is perfectly incredible to those unacquainted with the new
 practice, the facility with which a healthy action is often in
 the very worst cases restored to  the  exhausted organs  of the
system.  Most persons have witnessed the secondary effect of
 opium administered in large quantities, as is often the case in
spasms and convulsions; the extreme dullness,  lassitude, head-
ache, and  debility, continuing for several days.  And who has
not become familiar with the morbid  effects of calomel—the
pale, contracted countenance; the  intolerable languor; the
 great depression of strength; the insupportable  anxiety, so 
104
EFFECTS OF BOTANIC  MEDICINES
often following through life, those  who have  unfortunately
been made the subjects of experiment with this mischievous
article?  But nothing of this, says Dr. Robinson, is ever  "wit-
nessed in the exhibition of the botanic remedies; but, on the
contrary, a degree of animation and desire for food, which, to
myself, was perfectly astonishing; and  I presume must be  to
every one who perceives it for the first time.   It was so con-
trary to what I had ever before witnessed,  and especially in
the same patient, who  had taken medicine for years before,
and  always with the  loss of appetite, that I could not, without
sinning against my own soul, withhold my testimony and ap-
probation."
  How often have individuals, after  a course of botanic  medi-
cines, reiterated the expression, " I feel like a new creature."
The animating and  invigorating power of medicines which
display their remedial effects in restoring a healthy action to
the system, must if persisted in, sooner or later, produce con-
sequences well calculated to call forth from the poor dispirited
Valetudinarian such  an impressive  ejaculation.  The happy
consequences resulting from the "use of these  medicines, are
frequently so sudden and  unexpected to those unacquainted
with their powers, that their expressions have often given evi-
dence 6f the extacy and transport of their feelings.  Indeed,
what can be more ravishing to the mind  of  any individual,
than feeling his maladies  yield to medicine;  and especially,
when he has, for years, been on the verge of the tomb; weigh-
ed down by a wearisome* depression of mind, and unceasing
pain, perhaps without even the hope of relief; or of another,
who has been violently seized with some  acute and painful
malady which is  threatening him with certain and sudden dis-
solution?  They  only can know, who have been thus unex-
pectedly snatched from the confines of eternity.
   We hope to  be  excused in once more introducing to  the
reader, a quotation from the learned and talented Dr. Robin-
son, whose glowing language, and excellent observations, we
 take a pleasure, on  every suitable occasion, of borrowing:
" Were  I to recount,'* says he, " the incalculable advantages
 of this new system, it might astonish the ignorant, and admon-
 ish  the wise; while  both would  be drawn into an extensive
 field of remark  and meditation."  " This botanic medicine
 purifies  the blood, restores the tonic power of the fibers, and
 of the stomach and  digestive organs; reanimates the whole
 frame; rouses the animal spirits, and acts, as  it has been said
 to act, in  harmony with life, in support of health, and in op-
 position to disease." 
105
                      SECTION 5.

           OF THE  HEALING POWER  OF NATURE.

  Various terms have been adopted by different physicians,
since the days of Hippocrates, to designate this power or prin-
ciple, almost  universally allowed by medical writers to exist.
Some, however, whose lofty, aspiring minds disdained the idea
of admitting  that nature performed any part in the curing of
disease, have denied its existence.   Such  an admission, they
think, would be detracting too much from the high pretensions
of the professors of medicine.   The physician's skill must
have more credit than the admission' of such a power would
accord to it:  his study and learning, and profound knowledge
of the human system and of medicine, must have more respect
and deference paid  to them than  to suspect that nature has
any thing to do with curing disease.   Nature, to use the vul-
gar expression of a professor of medicine, "must be kicked out
of doors," and the boasted controller of her laws, assume her
place, and dictate her operations.
  Hippocrates bestowed upon the healing power of nature,
the name of autocrateia, but in modern times it has assumed
the more comprehensive appellation  of vis medicatrix naturoz;
yet this has no advantages, even amongst  the learned, over
the  plain, simple, and intelligible terms adopted at the head
of this section.  The idea of such a principle or power, in the
animal economy, whether true or false, has descended from
the "Grecian luminary," and is not only found in the schools
of medicine,  but in the mind of the multitude, at the present
hour.  From the supposition of  a healing power in nature,
and perhaps other circumstances conjoined, it is  probable has
arisen an idea of the efforts of nature; a doctrine with which
many modern writers have become entangled.   A fever, for
instance, is said to be an effort of nature to throw off morbific
matter from the system, and thus restore the patient's health.
This appears eminently  to have been  the idea of Hippo-
crates and Sydenham.
   " Dr.  Cullen,"  observes Robinson, " says, the increased
action of the heart and arteries, which takes place in the hot
stage of fever, has long been considered as an effort of nature
to  repel disease, by physicians; and the cold stage, also, as
an effort of the same power.  In this sedative state, nature is
concentrating her powers, to that formidable resistance against
the enemy, which she displays  in the strong paroxysm of fe-
ver; for it has been observed, that the paroxysm is always in
proportion to the force of the chill."
   Such  ideas as these, are more becoming the age of fiction
and romance, when every thing mysterious was attributed to
        14 
106
HEALING power of nature.
 the influence of its peculiar deity;  when the gods were per-
 sonified, and the passions deified, than they are of the enlight-
 ened age of Dr. Cullen.   This doctrine looks too much like
 the infancy of science, when the operations of life  were attri-
 buted to a perceptive or sentient principle of which the mind
 was totally unconscious, to be adopted at this day, when it is
 admitted that the operations  of nature are to be assigned to
 causes consistent with the effects produced.
   But admitting that fever is an effort of nature to relieve
 herself of some noxious matter, a proposition  pretty  gene-
 rally adopted by physicians,  and how does  the fashionable
 practice of treating fevers correspond with it?  The common
 custom is to bleed, blister, physic, and starve the patient, and
 dose him with niter and other refrigerants, for the avowed pur-
 pose of cooling the fever. The new French practice is to bleed
 and starve the patient, when, as Broussais remarks, the disease
 will soon burn out of itself.  If fever be an effort of nature to
 expel hurtful matter from the system, or if it be a violent ac-
 tion of the living power to repel the assault of disease, it would
 certainly be more consistent to promote this action,  or  assist
 this effort, than it is  to retard or countervail it, by cold seda-
 tive medicines, whose sole  effect consists in allaying  the heat
 and excitement of fever.
   It is very evident  from the view which has been  taken, that
 the theory and practice of physicans, in febrile complaints, are
 at variance with each other.  If their theory be correct, their
 practice is inconsistent; and if their practice be right, their
 theory is erroneous.   The fact is, that both are incorrect.
   In  order to prevent any misconceptions  of  what we have
 already written upon the subject, as well as to enable  the
 reader to fully understand what follows, we will give what,
 from every consideration, we deem a correct definition of  the
 term nature.  There is scarcely any term in medicine, or any
 other science, the meaning  of which is so  vague, or illy un-
derstood in general,  as  this;  notwithstanding its almost uni-
 versal use, both by the learned and the ignorant.
   We speak  of the works of nature—the operations of nature
 —laws of nature—efforts of nature, as if nature  were an ani-
mate, percipient, and rational being, capable of creating mat-
ter, of making laws for its government, and, if  necessity re-
quire, to make extraordinary exertions  or  efforts to prevent
those laws from being infringed or broken.  But  without tak-
ing up more time in multiplying remarks upon this subject, we
will come directly to the explanation of the  term as we use
 and understand it,  and as we think it ought always to be un-
 derstood in medicine, when applied to the human system.
   It will be recollected, that we have endeavored in a former
chapter,  to show that life is a forced state; that it  is kept up 
                HEALING POWER OF NATURE.            107

 in the  living system, by the application of a foreign power;
 and, that this power, in its nature or qualities, is and must be
 a stimulant.  Because every article or  substance, having the
 power  to support  the living system, does it  by a stimulant or
 forcing operation.   Now, nature is the susceptibility of the liv-
 ing organs or fibers of the human body, to be acted upon by
 stimulants, whether in health or disease; as disease must be
 cured  by  stimulants, as well as health and life supported by
 them.  Now the susceptibility of the living fibers of being
 acted upon, and the capability of stimulants to act upon them,
 is derived  from certain principles innate in both; or which, as
 we might say, is naturally inherent in  them.   These princi-
 ples, as they govern, limit or extend this action, may aptly be
 termed the law of nature.   Therefore, the laws of nature are
 those rules, principles,  or laws, which  govern  the action or
 effects of stimulants upon  the living  system; and the opera-
 tions of nature may be defined, the effects of those principles,
 both in the stimulants and  the  living fiber, mutually acting
 upon each  other.
   From this view  of the subject, which we  deem  to be  cor-
 rect, nature must be passive, acting only as she is acted upon
 by other agents: And, effort, always implying activity in the
 agent by which the effort is  made, cannot, with any propriety
 be applied to passive nature.
   But,  although we thus  deny the propriety of considering
 disease  as an effort of nature, and from this denial may be also
 implied a denial of the healing power  of nature, or vis medica-
 trix natum of the  schools, yet we have an unwavering confi-
 dence in a power or principle equivalent to it, but susceptible
 of a different, and  we conceive more correct explanation, in
 accordance with our doctrine of passive nature.
   It is obvious, that in disease, the natural healthy stimulant
 powers  are  measurably cut off, particularly the food, and the
 organs being impaired are not capable of properly applying
 those which remain; hence the body becomes emaciated,  and
 the strength fails.   In this  situation there is, therefore, less
 power to act upon  and stimulate  nature  to increased exertion
 or effort, to repel or throw off disease.  Moreover, if it were
 by an effort of nature that diseases were cured,  this  event
 could happen  only at the very onset, as  it must be admitted
 that nature's power to make an effort is then at its zenith,  and
 is  growing weaker and weaker as disease progresses.
   But instead of such a hypothesis as this,  it appears  much
 more rational to conclude that the system of man is so consti-
 tuted by the Author of his existence, that every disease pro-
duces an effect which is  calculated to remove the cause by
which it was produced.   And why should any be startled at
this?  The  Creator of all  things could as  easily implant  thia 
108            HEALING POWER OF NATURE.

quality or principle in the constitution of man, as to make
him susceptible of being acted  upon by stimulants: and most
surely there is as much necessity for the one as the other.
  Without this wise provision  of the heneficent Creator, who
in all things has an eye to the happiness and preservation of
his  creatures, every individual who becomes diseased, must,
without the aid of medicine, undoubtedly die.  It is from this
constitution of the human system, that all  the indications of
curing disease can only with correctness be drawn; it is upon
this  only that  the  practice of medicine can be  rationally
founded; upon this alone can it securely stand and be sustain-
ed.   It was correctly remarked by one of the  fathers of  the
healing art, that it is only by watching nature, by what criti-
cal evacuation she cured disease, that we should be  enabled
to assist her in restoring  health.  This fundamental principle
of the healing art was laid down by Hippocrates, followed by
Sydenham, and more  recently, by Fordyce, in the treatment
of fever.
  Sydenham observes of Hippocrates,  "this sagacious  ob-
server found  that  nature  alone terminates distempers,  and
works a cure with the assistance of a few simple medicines,
and sometimes even without any medicines at all."  These ob-
servations  are founded upon facts familiar with all; as every
one must know that persons oftentimes recover from slight in-
dispositions,  and sometimes even from serious ones, without
the  aid of any kind of medicine whatever.   And this arises
not  from the  efforts of nature,  but  from the effects of the dis-
ease having a certain tendency to remove the  cause which
produced it.   And thus  it is, that art steps in and assists in
promoting those salutary operations which  the powers of life
are, from some cause or other, incapable of accomplishing:
or, by art, these effects may be accelerated, and brought about
much sooner than they would  be by  the ordinary, unassisted
operations of nature.
   We may observe that nature's  method  of terminating a
paroxysm  of fever is  by perspiration; and this is an  effect
produced by the disease, which may be accelerated by the
 use of suitable medicines which act  in unison with  the laws
 of life;  for both  the  hot  and the sweating stages  of fever
 are the effects of those  laws with  which Deity  has  en-
 dowed our constitutions, for supplying the deficiency of  liv-
 ing power, which is the cause  of fever as of all other  diseases,
 and for removing from our systems the worn out morbid mat-
 ter retained in them in consequence of this deficiency.   But
 we shall treat more particularly upon this  subject, under the
 head of fever.
    What  is technically termed a phlegmon, a name applied
 to boils and other common swellings inclined to suppuration, 
HEALING POWER OF NATURE.            109
may be noticed in illustration of the  theory which we have
advanced.   In  cases of  this kind, we are often  able, at the
commencement of them, by promoting the natural healthy
actions of the system, to disperse, or scatter them as the com-
mon phrase is.   But  if this cannot  be done, they will go on
and suppurate, break, and discharge the matter,  and heal up
sound again.  All this may, and often does take place, unas-
sisted by art; but these effects may  he accelerated by the use
of such means  as experience has proved to be efficacious in
similar cases.   Thus we apply poultices to promote suppura-
tion;  and when this has properly taken  place, we employ the
lancet, or some sharp instrument, to open the abscess  to per-
mit the matter  or pus to make its escape.   Yet  all this, in
most cases, would take place through  the agency of that law
of preservation implanted in the human system, without any
aid from art.  The suppuration would go on and the abscess
open, and a cure be  effected without human  interposition;
and, therefore, to  promote these  effects is considered the true
indication  of cure which may  be  accelerated  by suitable
means.  And it ought to be considered by all rational beings,
as a blessing arising from the benignant provision of our Cre-
ator, that he has not only constituted us so that our pains may
be mitigated, but also provided the  means of assuaging  and
shortening  them.
  We will mention one more complaint by way of illustration
of the proposition that the indications of cure are,  with the
greatest certainty, to be drawn from  nature.  In  consump-
tion, the most prominent symptoms are a cough and expecto-
ration of matter from the lungs.  This is nature's method of
relieving the lungs, which is the principal organ affected in
this most fatal  complaint; and  who would think  of adminis-
tering such medicines, or using such means, as would be cal-
culated directly to check this necessary evacuation? On the
contrary, it is the settled practice to promote the expectora-
tion by all suitable means.
  It is not, however, pretended that we  are possessed  of the
knowledge of pointing out by what particular means nature
frees herself from all the maladies which she  is subject to.
Many  of them are not terminated by  any very marked or
prominent symptom;  and, in our inquiries upon this subject,
we ought to use much judgment in discriminating  those symp-
toms or effects  which are  really critical, from those that are
merely the evidence of diseased action.  Thus, the cold stage
of fever, and the pain in the head and back, and  the dryness
of the skin attending both the cold and hot stages, are  not to
be regarded as critical symptoms or salutary effects;  they are
merely evidences of diseased action, and the indications of cure 
no
HEALING POWER OF NATURE.
 are to use means to produce a contrary state of the system. The
 hot and the sweating stages are to be considered as critical,
 because it is by these that we expect relief from the torpidity,
 coldness, and oppression of the first stages of fever.  And thus
 we might  go  on and multiply the distinctions between  the
 symptoms which we have termed critical, and those which
 are regarded merely as evidence of diseased action; but what
 we have given is sufficient.
   Now it may appear  from the foregoing remarks, that we
 disapprove of the terms, healing power of nature, and efforts
 of nature, because by using these  expressions, we convey the
 idea of power and activity in a passive agent.  Nevertheless,
 with the definition which we have given of the word nature,
 the terms, healing power  of nature, will be in no danger of
 misleading the mind; and is, moreover, perhaps as near being
 correct as any thing in the language.   But the  expression,
 efforts of nature, seems to us  so far from the  facts, that it
 ought to be expelled from books, and something more appro-
 priate adopted  in its stead.  It should be a rule in all science,
 to adopt terms which express the precise idea we wish to con-
 vey; or, if no term in the  language will fully and completely
 do this, adopt  one which  comes nighest, with  such qualifica-
 tions as will convey the exact  sense.   But we trust  we  have
 been actuated by higher motives, than merely criticising up-
 on language.   The explanation of what we believe to be a
 correct theory, is very intimately blended with whatever
 there may be of criticism in our remarks.  And this we con-
 ceive to be of importance no  farther than  it may be instru-
 mental in preparing the mind to adopt a more  rational prac-
 tice of medicine;  and to do this, especially with professional
 men, it became necessary to  improve  every means in  our
 power; for as Dr. Cullen says, "it is well known to have hap-
 pened at all times, that of the  persons who apply to science,
 the greatest part implicitly receive the doctrines delivered
 by their masters; which having once imbibed, adhere to them
 with a degree of bigotry that opposes every attempt towards
 innovation and improvement."—[Professor Cullen's Treatise of
 the Materia Medica, vol. I,page  13.]
  We will now take leave of  this  subject after remarking,
 that with regard to drawing the indications of cure from each
 particular disease, so little is known that not much reliance
 can be placed upon it in common, and perhaps but little  ever
 can  be, excepting in a few complaints.   The grand  indica-
tions of cure upon which our greatest  dependence  must be
placed, are drawn from physiological and a few pathological
facts; and upon these general indications, with a few more
local ones, we rest the success of the new practice of medi- 
                HEALING POWER OF NATURE.             H'1

cine;  with the firmest convictions that in the common discre-
tion of most families, it will be found a great blessing, and
infinitely more beneficial than the old practice of mineral
poisons, with all  its splendid trappings of literature and sci-
ence. 
112
                  CHAPTER VII.

OF SOME OF THE INDICATIONS WHICH IT IS CONSIDERED NECES-
      SARY TO ANSWER IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE.

  In the former edition of this  work we distributed the pre-
sent subject into two chapters,  each including several appro-
priate sections, the object of which was to exhibit a  compara-
tive view of indications regarded as necessary in both the old
and the new practices of medicine.   This arrangement also
seemed to afford the best means of bestowing upon  each sub-
ject, that attention which the merits of either appeared to re-
quire.
  But as  the  arrangement in the first edition  apparently in-
volved a repetition, we determined to connect the considera-
tion of similar subjects under their proper heads; thus making
the number of chapters one less in the present than in the for-
mer edition.
  For the benefit of those who may not have had the oppor-
tunity of learning from medical works, the sense in which the
term indication is employed, we subjoin examples of its appli-
cation:—In case of nausea, vomiting is the  indication neces-
sary to be answered, because nausea mostly arises  in conse-
quence of a foulness of the  stomach, which indicates the pro-
priety of an  emetic  to cleanse it.   When a dryness  of the
skin prevails, diaphoretics  and the vapor bath are indicated,
to  promote perspiration, &c.   These examples we  think are
sufficient to enable any reader to understand the  meaning of
the term.
                      SECTION 1.

                      OF VOMITING.

  Satisfactory indications of the propriety of vomiting  pa-
tients, in the treatment of disease, must have presented them-
selves in the infancy of medicine.  The sudden and sensible
relief which must very early have been observed  to  follow
spontaneous vomiting, could not have failed  to arrest the at-
tention of the primitive race of man, and induce them to seek
the means of producing it artificially, so soon as the least at-
tention whatever was paid to medicine. 
VOMITING.                      113
   With regard to the propriety of artificial vomiting, there is
perhaps little difference of opinion amongst physicians; some,
however, approving of recourse to it much more frequently than
others.  But generally, medical writers are more united upon
this  point, than upon any  other indication of cure whatever.
And this correspondence of sentiment we regard as of much
importance in strengthening our own views of this matter,
however little we may respect their opinions on many other
subjects.  Vomiting, we are  satisfied, is a  true indication of
cure in most if not all cases of disease;  but the emetics com-
monly employed by the Faculty we disapprove of for reasons
which have been stated in a former chapter.
   Dr. Cullen remarks, that "when the contents of the sto-
rfiach may be supposed to be in a morbid state, and noxious to
the stomach itself, or to the  whole system, there  can be no
question or doubt about the propriety of vomiting, except in
a few cases," &c.
   Now we are convinced both by reason and observation, that
there can scarcely be any case of disease of a serious nature,
in which the contents of the stomach do not become vitiated,
and, therefore, "noxious" to the whole system.  John Hunter
established the proposition that the stomach was the center
of sympathy, to which all physiologists since his time have
uniformly assented.  It is from this organ that the system re-
ceives its nourishment, which is derived from food and drink;
and  from this obvious circumstance, an intimate connection
and association of feeling  might rationally be expected to ex-
ist between this organ and all other parts of the body.  Now
as any organ of the system is liable to become diseased or in-
capable of performing its  healthy functions, whereby it also
becomes disqualified for receiving and appropriating to legiti-
mate use, its proper proportion of nourishment, it would hence
seem necessary that the stomach should be, as it were, appri-
sed of this state of the organ  or organs, so that the diseased
part may  not be overburthened with an excess of nutriment
which it could not dispose of.
   Whether we have adopted the most happy mode of expres-
sing our ideas, wrc  cannot, of course, decide; but that such a
sympathy between distant parts  and the stomach does exist,
may be demonstrated  by the  most familiar occurrences.  We
may daily witness the loss of appetite from the slightest causes;
such  as rheumatic pains or other diseases of the extremities,
and upon trifling indispositions of various kinds;  and hence
the origin, in all probability, of the popular disposition of as-
cribing the cause of all diseases to the stomach.
   That such a  connection and association of feeling as we
have been endeavoring to describe, does exist, admits of no
doubt; and is  rationally to be ascribed to the intimate syropa-
       15 
114                    VOMITING.
thy which  is acknowledged to subsist between the stomach
and all other parts of the system.  The celerity and the cer-
tainty with which impressions are conveyed from the most
distant parts of the  stomach, is  frequently illustrated by  the
familiar occurrence of severely wounding the finger or  hand,
which  will often almost instantaneously produce  sickness at
the stomach,  and  sometimes vomiting.  On the other  hand,
extreme nausea weakens the muscular  powers;  as a person
suffering from this distressing symptom, though otherwise in
the enjoyment of good health, is instantly rendered nearly un-
able to move  or stand.
  There is also another intimate  association of sympathies, to
which  allusion has heretofore been made, (of which the sto-
mach  is the center,) in the organs and process of digestion.
There is no function performed in the human system in  which
so many organs are  concerned as in that of preparing our food
for the  accomplishment of its final purposes in  the animal
economy.   Hence it  would seem necessary that a common
sympathy  should exist between  them; and the stomach and
intestine next to it, being the focus in which the energies of
all the others meet, it is hereby constituted the  center of an
organic sympathy, differing from the common sympathies which
exist between other parts of the system.
   Hence  we infer from the general view which has been ta-
ken of the intimate connection  of the digestive  organs, and
the astonishing sympathy which  exists between each of these
and the stomach, and between  the stomach and  every other
part of the animal  machine, that no serious  case of disease
could occur in  any  organ or  part of the system, without pro-
ducing a decided influence upon the stomach.  And this ne-
cessarily being an unhealthy one, must injure the  tone  of this
organ, and vitiate its contents so as to become noxious to the
whole system.
   We  may likewise  further remark, that the animal fluids,
notwithstanding the system may be diseased, are continually
accumulating in the stomach; but not being appropriated to
the purposes of health, are vitiated, and the noxious  matter
is  thus increased in  this important  organ.  From all these
 facts  and arguments, we are constrained to the conclusion
 that vomiting is indicated in every disease of a violent or ob-
 stinate nature, to which the human frame is liable.  And up-
 on the same assumption of facts, the conclusion is irresistable
 that vomiting ought often to be  repeated until a healthy ac-
 tion is so far restored that the stomach is capable of perform-
 ing its healthy functions; because, until this state of the sto-
 mach occurs, its contents are liable, from the causes just sta-
 ted, continually to become vitiated and injurious to the ani-
 mal organs,  as our own experience has repeatedly confirmed. 
VOMITING.                     H5
 And whoever has had occasion to vomit a patient six or eight
 times in the same number, or twice the number of days, and
 has observed foul vitiated matter of nearly the same appear-
 ance and quality discharged at each time, as we have  done;
 and repeated  the same process on many different patients,
 with the same appearance and good  effect, will, doubtless,
 with us conclude, that vomiting is indicated in all violent cases,
 and may, with propriety and  safety be often repeated until a
 healthy  action is restored to the system.
   We are well aware that the sentiments of most medical wri-
 ters, on this subject, are at variance with those which we have
just advanced.   They disapprove of the frequent exhibition
 of emetics because "it weakens the tone of the stomach."
 This is undoubtedly the effect  of  such unnatural emetics as
 are in  fashionable use; but with such as act in harmony with
 the laws  of animal life, as we believe the lobelia inflata does,
 no such effect is to be apprehended.  This article may be ad-
 ministered for many days in  succession to produce vomiting,
 with a continual improvement  of the health, and of the sto-
 mach in particular, as we can testify both from personal ex-
 perience and practical observation in a great many cases.
   An  opinion has  obtained  very  extensive credence in the
 world, that vomiting is of but  little utility if bile be not largely
 thrown off".  This, however, like many other ideas connected
 with the healing art, is very  erroneous.  It is  a common
 notion with people generally, as well as with physicians, from
 whom, of course, the people derive the idea, that the bile
 in most complaints accumulates in the stomach, and there act-
ing as  a  cause of disease, must be removed as a preliminary
 step towards restoring health.  Hence it is very naturally con-
cluded, that unless an emetic throws out bile  in large quanti-
 ty, it will do little or no good.  We are convinced, however,
both by experience  and observation, that the  ejection of bile
 from the stomach, is not often necessary or even healthful.
  Dr. Cullen says that emetics not only evacuate the stomach,
 but that "the duodenum with a portion of the jejunum, may
 be, and commonly is, evacuated at the same time."  He also
 goes further, and says it is probable that it is brought not on-
 ly from  the duodenum, but "even from the gall bladder and
 biliary ducts."   A valve is placed at the pylorus or outlet of
 the stomach for the purpose of preventing the contents of the
 intestines from entering the  stomach.   The bile,  therefore,
cannot enter the stomach, unless some  violent convulsion for-
ces this valve open.   The vomiting of bile must therefore be
attributed in  general  to the violent convulsive action of the
 emetic by which the  vomiting  is  produced;  and its ejection
 from the  stomach ought not to be regarded as a necessary ob-
ject. 
116                   VOMITING.
   We are satisfied beyond ail doubt that  an emetic which
 acts in harmony with the laws of nature, as all medicine ought
 to do, will rarely produce an evacuation of bile.  Such cir-
 cumstances will only occur when there is an increased morbid
 secretion of this fluid; which will be found to be far less sel-
 dom the case than at present is generally supposed;  and when
 it is, it cannot, in our opinion, be considered so much the
 cause as the effect of disease.  But whenever an increased se-
 cretion of bile  does take  place, and,  as a neces:-ary  conse-
 quence, a large  quantity of it is poured into the duodenum,
 spontaneous vomiting may produce an evacuation of it from
 or through the stomach.   Under such circumstances as these,
 we should of course expect that the operation of the mildest
 emetic, with the unnatural quantity of bile pressing upon the
 valve, would force the bile into the stomach from whence it
 must necessarily be thrown by the process of vomiting.  There
 appears to be no  reasonable probability, indeed scarcely a
 possibility, that bile ever enters the stomach only at the time
 of vomiting; and we think that wrhen an evacuation of  bile
 pretty uniformly attends the operation of an emetic, it should
 be regarded as  conclusive  evidence that such emetic acts con-
 trary to the laws of life.   No animal fluid ought ever to be
 ejected from the system until it has performed the office for
 which it was designed, unless it has become corrupt and unfit
 to perform its  office;  and then nature should be the judge
and point  to its removal by some unerring  indication before
an officious interference of art is attempted.   And even then
we must follow precisely the course of nature, removing the
offensive matter by the same channels that she does; as man
is so constituted that the natural operations of the system, in
health or disease, can  with no more propriety be turned from
the proper channel than the regular operations of the nicest
machinery.
  The simple operation  of vomiting, independent of any ef-
fect which the medicine may produce upon the system, some
physicians have supposed to be useful to health, "by its exci-
ting the activity of the  stomach itself, and by agitating, as
vomiting does, the whole body."  But although vomiting may
be in some degree useful in this way, yet  its principal good
effects  must be regarded as arising from the cleansing the sto-
mach of its morbid contents, and from its universally stimulant
effect over the whole system.  This last is especially the case
in vomiting with the lobelia and some other vegetable emetics-
Even in haemorrhagies, particularly bleeding at the lungs, vom-
iting has been recommended and resorted to with success.*

 *See Cullen's Materia Medica, vol. II. pp, 32*, «29.  Phila. Ed. 1812. 
VOMITING.                     117
   We consider the indications which  require the exhibition
 of emetics, much more frequently occurring, and far more
 readily distinguished, than those requiring the administration
 of cathartics;  and, therefore, emetics  ought more generally
 to be resorted  to.  We know full  well that in this we are at
 variance with  the  established principles and usages of the
 Faculty.   But we are in pursuit of truth, and care not whither
 we go, so that we are led by her unerring light.  We are deeply
 and seriously sensible of the high responsibility which we have
 taken upon ourselves in attempting to revolutionize the whole
 practice of medicine; and nothing but  what we believe to be
 truth shall be permitted to burthen our pages.  We also know
 that we may, with some color of truth, be charged with recom-
 mending a practice at  variance with our  theory; but if there
 be any thing of this character discoverable, we wish it to be
 imputed to the right cause—the want of medicines which act
 in unison with  our theory.  If our  theory is correct, it will be
 a useful hint for those who  may attempt to improve the prac-
 tice.  We shall endeavor, with suitable cautions^ guard the
 reader, wherever there may appear the slightest ground to
 apprehend danger.  The  result we must leave to be tested
 by the criticisms of the learned, or the  experience  of the mul-
 titude.
   But to return to our  subject.  It may be remembered that
 the stomach,  although the process of digestion is commenced
 and partly performed  there, acts principally as  a receptacle
 for our food; which, whilst it remains there, gives out  none
 of its nutritious particles for the support of the body.  It is in
 the intestines that the finish is given to the digestive process;.
 and in them  the nutrient portions of our  food are separated
 from the more  gross particles which pass off by stool.  It is
 true, that  food, almost  as soon as taken into the  stomach, im-
 parts an energy to the whole system; but this effect, it is con-
 ceived,  arises in  part from the immediate stimulus which the
 stomach receives from the food; and is instantly communicated
 to the other parts of the system by sympathy, as we have pre-
 viously pointed  out how the intimate  association of feeling:
 existed between the stomach and other  parts of the body.
  As just observed, the important process of digestion is fin-
 ished in the intestines,  when the food is immediately exposed
 to the action of the innumerable lacteal  absorbents which take
 up the nutritious particles and pour  them into the blood-ves-
 sels which distribute them  to all parts  of the body.  Now, it
must be evident, with but little reflection, that if the stomach
contains any foul or noxious matter, as  it  unquestionably does
 in most or all cases of severe  illness,  the  evacuation  of it
 downward  must be attended with the hazard of being absorb-
ed and contaminating the blood; thus creating a new source 
118                    VOMITING.
of irritation to the already disordered  system.  The morbid
contents of the stomach passing through the intestines, as they
undoubtedly must, if not thrown off by vomiting, and being
taken into the blood, must certainly have a powerful tendency
to poison the whole mass of fluids, and thus derange or  de-
stroy the peculiar organization which is necessary to continue
life.   For however the humeral pathology may at this day be
regarded as being exploded, it is certainly a fact that the flu-
ids hold an important influence over  the solids; and  those
who  look for the cause of disease solely in the derangement or
organic lesion of the  solids, may, as we  think, expect disap-
pointment.
  Assuming it as granted, that the principal  or most essential
purpose of the somach is a  receptacle for the food; and that
the nutritious parts are not absorbed by the stomach and con-
veyed directly to the blood; and further, that nature herself
is often so operated upon by the noxious matter formed or re-
ceived into the stomach as to eject it spontaneously, and thus
prevent its passage through the intestines, where it would be
absorbed and scattered like wildfire through the system;  and
when to all this we add the debilitating effects of the cathar-
tics in most  common use, the conclusion  seems irresistible
that  emetics are more often indicated,  and  should  more fre-
quently be used than  cathartics.
  Vomiting when  produced by proper  emetics,  especially
with any of the preparations of lobelia, not  only cleanses the
stomach of whatever  may be useless or noxious, and little if
any thing more, but it also  does it  without inducing that per-
manent prostration of  strength which so uniformly follows the
employment  of active  purgatives.  And   to husband  the
strength of the  sick, not only by rejecting the use'of such  me-
dicines as have a manifest and direct tendency to weaken the
power of life, but by  employing such  as have the  power of
restoring the already  lost energy of the  system, should be a
rule never to be lost sight of in the practice of medicine,  and
cannot therefore be too often  repeated,  nor too strongly en-
forced.  We do not, however, pretend to  claim  that  every
article which we shall hereinafter recommend, acts upon those
principles; but  we know that the rule which we have  laid
down  is founded upon  correct data,  and  ought to be  uni-
versally adopted. , There are many articles  of food  that  will
satisfy hunger,  which, notwithstanding, are unwholesome; and
so there may be articles of medicine that will cure disease,
which we know are  not  perfectly safe  and salutary.   We
would, therefore, most  strenuously and seriously recommend
that every article of the materia medica be tried by the afore-
said rule, and every thing of a debilitating nature rejected. 
119
                      SECTION 2.

                       OF PURGING.

  Although it  is found useful  to resort to purgative  medi-
cines in the treatment of disease, it is not so  uniformly bene-
ficial  as vomiting, nor are  its indications so readily to be dis-
tinguished as are those of the latter operation; and from this
circumstance, as  well as from their decidedly injurious effects
when improperly employed, we cannot but recommend cau-
tion in  their administration.  The dangerous consequences
of the indiscriminate use of cathartics has, within a few  years,
perhaps become more apparent, than at former periods; though
their  debilitating effects have always been  known  and ac-
knowledged.
  " The administration of catharthics is rendered improper by
inflammation of the stomach or intestines, or  tendency to it;
and by much debility."  Purging, next  to letting blood, di-
minishes the living  power more suddenly and permanently
than  does the fulfilment of any other indication which the
fashionable practice of medicine imposes  upon its patients.
Instances have sometimes occurred in which the administra-
tion of an active purgative has produced such a prostration of
the vital power  that  death soon ensued;  evidently more in
consequence of the  debility thus induced, than from the effects
of the disease.  This has been the case in a high degree in the
spotted fever or cold plague, which ravaged many  parts  of the
United States with such frightful mortality, at different peri-
ods a few years since.
  " Cathartics, especially the  more powerful  ones, require to
be administered  with  caution, even in diseases wrhere they
are indicated by peculiar circumstances, particularly any ten-
dency to inflammation or extreme debility; also during preg-
nancy,  immediately after  delivery, during  the flow of the
menses, and in those liable to hcemorrhoidal affections."  "The
too frequent use  of them induces wasting of the body, and
sometimes renders the intestines morbidly irritable, so that
purging is easily excited, whilein other habits it renders them
more  torpid, and induces costiveness."*
  We are satisfied  from reasoning and observation, as it is
also an  acknowledged fact, that stimulating any of the organs
or sets of organs of the animal system, beyond the ordinary
bounds established by the original constitution of the animal
machine, has a direct and  invariable tendency to injure the
healthy tone of the organ or organs thus subjected to the un-
natural excitement, by which they become incapable of per-

         * Thacher's Dispensatory, article "Cathartics." 
120                     PURGING.
forming their  functions!- and the whole  system is rendered
liable sooner or later to suffer in consequence thereof.  Thus,
when the intestines are repeatedly stimulated by active  pur-
gatives, they  lose their tone, and  become either "morbidly
irritable," or "torpid;"  and hence  incapable of performing
their healthy functions.   And,  therefore, we think it an
incontrovertible rule, that  if a certain number of  purgings
produce any given degree of irritability or  torpidity,  then
half that  number will produce either of  those states propor-
tionably; though probably not a mean arithmetical proportion;
for it is most likely that each successive purging produces an
increased bad effect over the one  immediately preceding it
throughout  the  whole series necessary  to accomplish  any
given degree of either irritability or tepidity.  And so it will
follow, that  one single purging  must have a bad effect,  pro-
portionally less however, than the one which immediately fol-
lows it in any  series.
  It will be readily understood, wc suppose, that our remarks
on purging  are general, and apply  only to the  cathartics in
common use, and of  these,  more particularly to such as are
active  or  drastic in  their operation, because their certain ef-
fect upon the human system is to prostrate its power.  Could
any thing be discovered which would act as a purgative with-
out weakening the power pf life, or injuring the tone of the
intestines, its exhibition would much more often be admissible
than any of the purgatives now  in common use.   And consid-
ering the goodness of Deity in providing  for all our wants in
the most exuberant manner whilst in  a state  of health, how
can we but  believe that  he has  been as  provident for us in
sickness; and  in the  rich stores of nature furnished something
to relieve every ill to which  human nature is liable.  We have
the authority of the  eminent Dr.  Rush  for this sentiment,
and we are  firmly convinced of its truth.
  "After bewailing  the defects and disasters  of medical sci-
ence, Dr. Rush consoled himself with the animating prospects
of that hope which he often proclaimed  from his desk,  that
the day would arrive, when medical knowledge should have
attained to that apex of perfection, that it would he able to
remove all the diseases of man, and leave not for  life a sin-
gle outlet, a single door of retreat, but old age; for such is
my confidence, said he,  in the benevolence of Deity, that he
has placed on  earth remedies for all the maladies of man.   I
remember still, with a thrill of love and  gratitude, to  that
admired and venerable professor, with what enthusiasm and
transport, and prophetic vehemence, he used to pronounce
that sentiment at the close of his lectures."*
* Robinson—Lecture 1. 
puAgin6.
121
    The new French schools of medicine seem to have ful-
 ly  espoused the doctrine that purgatives  ought to be ex-
 punged  from medical  practice.  "None but blind humor-
 ists could have established those barbarous indications consis-
 ting in the expulsion of bile, rilucus, saburrhal  obstructions,
 and other matter by which they thought the body infected.
 Without  examining the  conditio* of  the  viscera, or consider-
 ing that the tissues, whose action is impaired, should  alone be
 attended to.  Let  candid physicians compare the results of
 this (the new French) method in the various kinds of gastro-
 enteritis* with those obtained by that perturbating, incendia-
 ry, or evacuating treatment so generally employed in fevers*
 and let them decide. It is at tie bed side that the physiologi-
 cal doctrine is most constancy triumphant."!   In another
 place, the  same author,  in  apparent reference to the use of
 purges in fever, calls them "sanguinary remedies," "keeping
 up  or exasperating the disease, at the same  time that" the
 physician "was attempting to  supply nature with tue means
 of returning victorious from* a conflict in which she experi-
 enced a  greater resistance from the  treatment than from the
 disease."^
  We are of the opinion, however, after all that has been or
 can be said with regard to the injurious consequences result-
 ing from the use of purgatives, that a large portion of  the evils
 have arisen from the use  of improper medicines;  and we are
 not aware that any discovery has yet been made of a cathartic
 which is certainly known  to act in harmony with the laws of
 life*  Should any  one be fortunate enough to detect such a
 remedy, and communicate it to the world, he will deserve the
 lasting gratitude of the human family.
  The common practice of exhibiting purgative medicines as
 a remedy for costivCness is highly reprehensible.   The cause
of this complaint is a loss of tone in the intestines; and, as has
 previously been shown,  the frequently  repeated use of such
 medicines increases the difficulty, or it  may eventually pro-
duce the opposite state, morbid irritability.  The true indica-
 tion in constipation of the bowels is the use of stimulating bit-
 ter and laxative tonics.
  The only case in which we coriceive purgative medicines
 are very obviously indicated  is in a common looseness of the
 bowels or diarrhoea, and in most cases of spontaneous purg-
 ings.   But even these have been and can be, no doubt, cured
 again and again, by  the use of general  stimulants,  such as
cayenne,  alone, or combined with astringent tonics, with the

  * The new French name for fever; or rather the local disease which
 they suppose is the cause of fever.
  f Begin's Therapeutics, page 183.  \ Ibid. p. 23,24. 
122                     PURGING.
 happiest effect.   We have the authority of Dr. Cullen* fof
 believing that purgatives produce an afflux of the blood to
 the internal parts, thus drawing  the determining powers in-
 ward, and checking perspiration.   If this be the fact, it is
 evident that the use of purgative medicines must be injurious
 in many cases of disease; and in fevers might even justify the
 strong language of Begin, which we have quoted in this sec-
 tion.
   There is another objection to  the  use of purgatives, con-
 nected with their debilitating effects, worthy of being noticed.
 Their operation, it is said, "extends to the whole length of
 the alimentary canal, from the upper orifice of the stomach to
 the lower extremity of the rectum," and consequently "serve
 to evacuate the stomach."t  If this  be true, what could be
 anticipated  from purging but pernicious consequences to the
 system already laboring  under debility and the effects of a
 retention of the worn-out matter retained in consequence.of
 checked perspiration, which attends the greater number of dis-
 eases, and particularly  those in which purgatives  are most
 frequently administered?   The noxious matter which, as has
 been  shown, more or less exists in the stomach, in most cases
 of disease, is carried  by purgatives down through the  intes-
 tines, and exposed to  the action  of  the  lacteal absorbents,
 which take it up  and transfer it to the blood-vessels, whence
 it is spread through every part of the economy to poison and
 deprave it.   And if there be any wholesome food in the sto-
 mach, this is as likely as the noxious matter to be carried out
 before it is suitably prepared, and  being hurried on through
 the intestines, cannot afford that nourishment which it ought
 to;  and moreover debilitates and  weakens the tone of the
 stomach by thus prematurely  hurrying out its contents.    #
  The contents of the intestines are  also hurried  off in the
 same  premature manner, not allowing time for the lacteals to
 absorb  all the  nutritious or  stimulating particles from the
 chyle which is destined to be  submitted to their action.   The
 sudden abstraction of so much matter from the intestines as is
 often  removed by powerful purges, produces much debility
 merely by the loss of so much bulk, the mere magnitude of
 which, by keeping the intestines properly distended, seems to
be of  much importance in the  animal economy in some way or
other.   A modern writer, (Ewell,) advises persons laboring
under severe diarrhoea to be careful not to encourage or allow
 of too great discharges  at one  time, as fatal consequences
 have resulted in such cases from the want of proper care.
  Thus we may see that  every effect produced  immediately
upon the intestinal canal by purges is productive of injury;

        * CtriLEN's Materia Medica, vol. 2, pages 349—'£0.
        t Ibid. vol. 2, pages 345—'46. 
BLEEDING.
123
and therefore their use ought, as a" general  rule, to be dis-
pensed with.  A natural action of the intestines is what is
wanted, which may generally be procured by the use of gen-
eral stimulants and tonics, and by ther'aid of injections or
clysters, of which more will be said hereafter.
                      SECTION  3.

                       OF BLEEDINC.

   Blood letting is resorted to for the purpose of reducing the
quantity of blood, and removing inflammation.  It has also
been supposed by the vulgar, and countenanced, if not be-
lieved in, by  enlightened physicians,  that blood letting was
indicated by a  vitiated state of the blood, and that the bad
blood could be drawn out by bleeding,  and the good left in
the veins.  We cannot attach importance enough to such an
idea, however, to take the trouble to confute it.
   The custom of blood letting has long been used in medical
practice; and, although it has often been the means of remo-
ving the acute pain attending violent inflammation, as in pleuri-
sy, yet it is sure to produce permanent debility, from which the
patient slowly recovers;  and many instances are  known and
recorded in which very alarming and even fatal consequences
have ensued, either immediately or within a few hours or days.
There are no means used  for the cure or alleviation of disease,
by which the vital power  can be so suddenly or permanently
reduced as by bleeding;  and consequently, none by which so
much mischief is likely to be done.   It has been asserted by a
late writer, that, during a certain  period, more persons per-
ished by the lancet,  than by "war, pestilence, and famine."
Even Dr. Rush, who might be considered an honor and an
ornament to any country or age,has been accused, and no doubt
justly, with destroying liis parents by the pernicious practice of
blood letting.  His treatment of yellow fever, which was severe
purging and copious  bleeding, it was declared by Dr. Currie,
could, "not fail of causing death!"  Indeed, the certain ten-
dency of letting blood, according to the  new physiological
theory, must be to assist disease to accelerate the fatal period,
because  it prostrates the living powers.   The blood is the vi-
tal stream  whence the whole animal system  is nourished and
sustained, in disease as well as health; and in proportion to the
reduction of  its  quantity must be its morbid  effects upon the
system, and its debilitating influence over the vital functions.
   The knowledge of these physiological facts must unhesita-
tingly lead us, a priori, to detest the "incendiary" custom, so 
124                     bleeding.
universally adopted,  0? wasting  the vital fluid  in all inflan*
mations, and in many ca?cs of fever.  Such practice can only
be tolerated in the absence of the knowledge of more ration-
al and better means; but the ignorance which leads to such
a suicidal course—a. course so contrary to the best establish-
ed principle? of physiology, ought to receive no kind of coun-
tenance, respect, or toleration from enlightened men.
  "The question of  the morbid  effects of the loss of blood,"
says Dr. Hall, uappears tome not to have sufficiently enga-
ged the attention either of the physiologist or practical  physi-
cian; yet to both they offer objects of inquiry of great in-
terest and importance."*  The  work from which this quota-
tion is made, is probably the first ever published principally
devoted to this important part of medical practice; and the
accurate details of a variety  of cases, and the relation of ma-
ny disastrous consequences resulting from blood letting, very
clearly evince the author's close  attention to  the subject upon
which he treats.   It is a work which could not fail to be in-
teresting  to everv medical practitioner, and especially to such
as are in the habit of indiscriminate repeated bleedings.
   The  same author, in speaking of the remote morbid  effects
of loss of blood, says, "of the  more obvious and striking effects
of  loss of blood, or those of reaction,5 are such as to suggest
the idea of increased power and energy of the system, and of
increased action of  its organs,  and to lead to  an erroneous
and dangerous employment or repetition of the lancet, when
a directly opposite mode of treatment is required: while  the
state of actual but protracted sinking frequently resembles a
state of oppression of the brain,  or of congestion of the lungs,
so accurately, as to prompt  the  unwary practitioner to a still
more suddenly fatal use of the lancet."—[page 12.]   Again
he observes:  "That the effects  do not correspond  with the
measure, or even a comparative measure, of loss of blood in
different subjects.  Sometimes there is no reaction.  At other
times the reaction is excessive and even violent.  In a third
instance we may  be surprised by  the sudden accession of a
sinking state, or even of the symptoms of immediate dissolu-
tion."—[page 13.]
   The observations of Dr. Hall are but fatal premonitions of
 the disastrous  effects of the lancet in the most experienced
 hands; whilst the aggregate amount of mischief which has
 arisen from this pernicious practice  in the  hands of all who
 have been dabbling with it, is, and must forever remain, be-
 yond the reach of human calculation.
  * Researches principally relative to the morbid and curative effects of
loss of blood; by Marshall Hall, M. D. page 11. 
BLEEDING.
125
  The immediate effects of the loss of blood, as slated by Dr.
Hall, are, syncope, convulsions, delirium, coma, and sudden
dissolution.
  Cases of syncope or fainting from the loss of blood, are fa-
miliar to every one who has often witnessed the operation of
blood letting.   '-From this state the  system  usually recovers
itself spontaneously, if the cause by which the  syncope was
induced be discontinued. The  principle by means of which
this recovery is effetced,  may, without involving any hypothe-
sis, be denominated reaction."*
  Convulsions stand next after fainting in frequency of recur-
rence, "and are most apt to occur in children, and in case of
the slow and excessive detraction of blood."t  "A physician
aged thirty-four, became  affected with inflammation of the la-
rynx.  He was bled freely on two successive mornings at his
own instance.  In the afternoon of  the second day, the dis-
ease being unsubdued, he was  bled a third time, placed  in a
rather inclined position  upon a sofa.  The  blood was al-
lowed to flow until thirty-four ounces were taken.  He then
suddenly  fell  upon the floor violently  convulsed;  and he re-
mained for some time afterwards in such a state  of syncope
as to render his recovery very doubtful; being carried to bed,
however, and  cordials being administered, he slowly recover-
ed."  "A very  intelligent  surgeon in the neighborhood of
London, in bleeding a clergyman to the extent of twenty oun-
ces, whose idiosyncrasy in this respect was  not known,  was
compelled to remain with him during the whole of that  day;
and notwithstanding frequent recourse to brandy, continued
long apprehensive  for the patient's life."f
  "Delirium occurs as  an immediate, as mania  occurs  as a
more remote, effect of loss of blood.
  "A young  man, aged thirty, had lost much blood from the
arm and by leeches, and under the influence of a brisk purga-
tive, fell into complete syncope; instead of laying him recum-
bent, his ignorant friends kept him in the erect position du-
ring an hour and a half, and thus protracted the state of deli-
quium during the whole  of this period.||  He was found  per-
fectly colorless and senseless, and affected with rattling in the
breathing.  Being laid  down, he made a convulsive effort to
expectorate, and the blood rushed into his cheeks; in half an
hour he began to recover, opened his eyes, and complained of
deafness; the pulse was frequent.  The rattling gradually
subsided, and he gained  a degree of warmth under the influ-
ence of brandy and fomentations.

  * Loss of Blood, page 17.    f Ibid.   f Loss of Blood, page 18.
  || It ought to be borne in mind in all cases where lo6s of blood produ-
ces any unpleasant or alarming symptom, that the patient should be laid
immediately in a horizontal  position. 
1*2G                     BLEEDING.
   44 To these phenomena succeeded severe rigor, followed by
 great heat of skin, constant delirium, with continued though
 diminished deafness.  The delirium did not cease during the
 night. On the following morning it was only occasional, and
 the deafness slight.   This state was followed by numbness of
 the feet and legs, and great fear of choaking on going to sleep.
 The patient gradually recovered.
   "Another patient fell and hurt his back.  On three succes-
 sive  days he  was freely bled from the arm and by cupping,
 and purged.  On the evening of the third day he was  again
 bled.  This was followed by faintness, sickness and  retching,
 and much  affection of the head.
   "I saw this patient very early on the following  morning.
 There was great pallor, tinnitus aurium,  with  intolerance of
 noises, and of light,  and sighing breathing.  To these symp-
 toms succeeded great hurry and alarm of mind, with extraor-
 dinary noises and visions,  delirium,  weeping, and  sighing.
 At length, continued delirium  supervened, and finally wore
 out the patient."*
   "It is important to remark, that delirium may occur even
 from the loss of a very small quantity of blood,  in those cases
 in which there is what I have ventured to term  an intolerance
 of loss of blood; or, in other words, great susceptibility  to its
 effects, "t
   With regard to a state of coma or lethargic drowsiness, Dr.
 Hall remarks:  "We may be  called to patients so perfectly
 comatose, immediately after blood letting or haemorrhage, that
 we may be in doubt for a time whether the case be not apo-
 plexy."t
  A state of coma or sleepiness is peculiar to children; and,
 according  to  Dr. Hall, may  arise not  only  from  the  ex-
 haustion attendant  on  blood letting, but from exhaustion
 occasioned by other  means, and particularly  purging,  and
 often from  spontaneous diarrhoea.  In  his remarks  upon the
 use of blood-letting in the treatment of the diseases of infancy
 and  childhood, he says:  " This tender age is  far  more lia-
 ble than later years, both to the insidious, and the sudden,
 fatal effects of loss of blood; it therefore requires to be viewed
 with still greater care and watchfulness."||
  Of cases of sudden dissolution from the loss  of blood, Dr.
 Hall gives a number of instances, in different parts of his in-
 teresting work.  He copies from the London Lancet, vol. xi.
 p. 94, the case of a man who had fallen from a scaffold, and
 received  an injury about  the thorax.  As this case is too
lengthy for insertion verbatim, we will abridge it by confining
 ourselves to the most important particulars, and the final result..
  *Loss of blood, pages 19, 20.
  fLoss of blood, pages 20, 21.  J Ibid, page 22.  ||Ibid, page 166. 
BLEEDING.
127
   This patient, immediately on entering the hospital, was
 bled to eighteen ounces, and at noon of the same day lost
 twenty ounces more, which gave him relief;  the  blood exhi-
 biting a decidedly inflammatory character.   Next morning,
 having  passed an  indifferent night, and the  pulse quick, he
 again lost eighteen ounces of blood, which was again repeated,
 in similar quantities,  at  noon and night.  The blood drawn
 this day had  not the slightest appearance of inflammation.
   The following morning he appeared much better;  talked
 cheerfully with a friend, and expressed himself free from pain.
 The pulse was small and jerking, but very compressible.  In
 this situation, the patient was ordered to lose  eighteen  ounces
 more of the vital fluid, from the supposition that the state  of
 the  pulse indicated inflammation, instead of resulting from the
 exhaustion of repeated  bleedings.   " The dresser, however,
 perceiving what effect even the loss of a few ounces had, de-
 sisted from drawing any more.  Abouttwo hours subsequently,
 Mr.  Lawrence saw the patient, and  concurred with  Mr.
 Lloyd, as to the propriety of the further abstraction of blood;
 they therefore directed twenty  ounces more to be drawn.—
 The pulse after this time became a mere flutter, and the man
 only survived a few hours!"*
   Dr. Hall gives many other cases of dissolution, evidently
 from exhaustion by blood letting; but this one will suffice to
 close the dark catalogue of the work of death from this incen-
 diary practice.  Similar cases might  be added  from other
 sources, and there is no doubt that most physicians of  exten-
 sive  business who have addicted  themselves to this fatal prac-
 tice, might, after reading Dr. Hall,  call to mind  cases in
 which they had evidently contributed to the work of devasta-
 tion  and death;  though at the time, they might have been
 perfectly unconscious of contributing to  such fatal result.
   When we take a physiological and pathological view of the
 blood, we shall certainly be astonished that more lives than is
 apparent, have not been lost by  blood letting.
   We have elsewhere noticed the fact, familiar to every phy-
siological student, that the blood is the medium through  which
 the system receives all its nourishment; and, indeed, the  whole
vital power is  undoubtedly concentrated in this fluid.  After
it has received the nutritious  parts of our food from the intes-
tines, and the stimulant principle from the air in the lungs, it
traverses the whole body, for the purpose of supplying to all
parts the portion of nourishment and stimulus necessary for
promoting the functions of life. This distribution of nutriment
and stimulus is more necessary in disease than in health;  be-
cause disease is the result of  a deficiency of the vital power,
■* Loss of blood, page 24. 
128
BLEEDING.
and which, when uninterrupted, keeps all the organs in vigor-
ous action and healthy tone.  Moreover, it yet remains to be
proved, that nature produces  an exuberance of the purple
flood any more than of flesh or muscle, even in the best state
of health; and in disease, there are certainly  fewer materials
from which to form an exuberance of blood, or even to furnish
a requisite supply for the ordinary purposes ot life.
   How injurious then must it be to the system, already suffer-
ing from the abstraction of vital stimulus, to abridge the very
means which are provided to replenish and sustain its wants,
by wantonly wasting the vital  fluid?  By  diminishing  the
quantity of blood, the whole system, even the minutest fiber,
suffers a diminution of nutrition and vital power.  Even the
mental energies must suffer, because the  organs of the mind,
in common with all others, are sustained by  the same means
and from the same source.   Thus it may be seen, that although
the sick patient may possess  the same capacity for compre-
hending ordinary matters, he is incapable of abstruse reason-
ing or profound thought.   Indulging  in any thing of this na-
ture is sure  to  injure his health, and should therefore  be
avoided.
   It may be  said that plethora and inflammation furnish pa-
thological facts capable of overturning all the theoretical rea-
soning which  has been, or can  be advanced.  We are well
aware that theory must always yield when it comes in conflict
with  experimental facts.   But we  are  equally well aware,
that even experience, under the influence of a false theory,
has often made wrong impressions upon the mind, and led to
a  corresponding error in practice.  Thus we see in cases of
plethora or apparent fulness of blood, that the abstraction of
a  part of it appears to afford relief;  but at the same time it
produces a degree of permanent debility, and in some instan-
ces has occasioned death.  In inflammation too, bleeding of-
ten affords relief to the most urgent symptoms of pain; but in
this, as in plethora, permanent debility is  induced; and in
some  cases repeated bleedings which appear  necessary to
subdue the violent symptoms, terminate in death.  Instances
of this kind might be multiplied.
   Both these states of the system may be relieved and cured
by a simple process, with perfect safety and far more certainty
than by letting blood.   The means employed will possess the
advantage of acting  in  harmony with the laws of life.   Of
these  means we shall speak more particularly hereafter.
   It has been urged in favor of blood letting, that it is indi-
 cated by the natural operations of the system.  But admitting
this reasoning with all the force that can consistently be at-
 tached to it, and it argues nothing in favor of using the lancet.
 We allude to bleeding at  the nose, which often relieves the 
BLISTERING.                    129
headache.   Epistaxis, or bleeding at the nose, is principally,
if not wholly, caused  by an over  determination  of blood to
the head, and  is produced mechanically, by inordinate pres-
sure upon the tender fibers of the vessels, causing them to burst.
But this mechanical force rupturing the vessels and giving
vent to the restrained fluids, cannot be considered as  harmo-
nizing with the laws of nature, because these never exert me-
chanical violence sufficient to  injure the most delicate fiber
or excite the most susceptible nerve.  If the practice of blood
letting received any  countenance from  spontaneous haemor-
rhage  from  the nose, bleeding ought only to be  encouraged
from that organ, and in such complaints as bleeding from the
nose relieves.  But even spontaneous bleeding from this organ,
if of frequent recurrence in the same subject, ultimately in-
duces a weakly state of the body.
                       SECTION 4.

                      OF BLISTERING.

   The application of epispastics or blistering plasters, is con-
sidered to be indicated in many cases of pain and inflamma-
tion, and in fevers of the typhoid type, to  " communicate a
stimulus  to the whole, system, and raise the vigor of the circu-
lation."*
   The most common article in use for producing a blistered
surface,  is the powder  of  the cantharis, or blistering fly.
There is  no doubt that the application of blistering plasters
often removes pain and inflammation, and may also affect the
general circulation;  but this may be done as well without pro-
ducing a blister as with, and save  all the  painful and dis-
agreeable consequences of the ulcer which succeeds a blister.
The principle upon which this relief is obtained seems not to
be well understood, it  being  attributed to the pain it excites
in one case, and the inducing a different kind of action in the
other; in the one case removing pain, and in the other,morbid
action or inflammation.
  The facts are, that in all cases of pain and inflammation, or
in any other case in  which blisters afford relief, there is want
of sufficient action in the vessels of the affected part.  Pain,
we consider in all cases, an evidence of obstruction, and is al-
ways an attendant upon active inflammation.  The obstruc-
tion  to the  free passage of the fluids through the vessels, is
what causes the pain.  Now, how the "exciting one pain" or
17
♦Hooper's Dictionary. 
130                    BLISTERING.
obstruction can "relieve another,"* seems to be  beyond  the
reach of philosophy to  comprehend or account for satisfacto-
rily.  The only thing that approximates towards satisfying our
mind, is to suppose the flies to act as a stimulus which removes
the obstruction that causes the pain and inflammation; whilst
the pain and  inflammation caused by the flies is to be consi-
dered as arising from the too great stimulant power of the flies,
or their stimulating in  an unnatural manner.   Because what-
ever stimulates the system,  either generally or partially, in
unison with the laws of nature, will not produce blisters.
   Moreover, it is agreed  upon all hands that the evacuation
of fluid which takes place from a blister, is too inconsiderable
to have any  influence in removing  disease.   It must, there-
fore, do it by opening the obstruction which causes the pain
and inflammation.  Fain, according*to our theory, is princi-
pally caused by an obstruction to the passage of the fluids
through the painful part; and hence we infer that the Span-
ish flies afford relief by stimulating  the diseased vessels into
higher action, whilst the vesicatory  or blistering process pro-
duces no good effect whatever.
   All the good consequences resulting from the application of
a blister plaster may be obtained from  a strong preparation of
vinegar or brandy and cayenne pepper, without the protract-
ed painful suffering consequent on the ulceration of blisters.
The cayenne is a powerful stimulant, producing a very sensi-
ble pungent effect wherever applied  to the skin; and so  far as
our own experience goes, always affords relief in cases where
we had reason to expect blisters could have been  useful.
   Thus we think it manifest  that it is not by "inducing an ac-
tion  of a different kind in the same  or a neighboring part,"
that a morbid operation is corrected;  nor does the " exciting
one pain"  ever "relieve another;" but it  is,  we confidently
affirm, by  removing the  obstruction and restoring a healthy
action, that pain and  inflammation  are removed.  It is true,
 that  where a morbid action exists, the inducing of a different
 action, providing that  be a healthy  one, is correct physiologi-
 cal doctrine; but this does not appear to be the principle upon
 which the Spanish flies have heretofore been  supposed to
 operate.   Indeed it would seem that it had never entered the
 minds of physicians that a  diseased action could, by salutary
 medicines, be changed at once into a healthy one;  but must
 first be altered to some other unhealthy action, and   then,
 by the  powers of nature, restored to  proper order.   We
  must confess  that we have little partiality for, or confidence
  in, remedies that act upon  this principle.  We want  medi-
  cines and means which exercise a direct influence  upon the
^Thacher's Dispensatory, page 109. 
STARVING.
131
diseased  organ,  and  without  any circumvolutions restore a
healthy action in the unsound part.
  The practice of exciting blisters with the Spanish flies is
objectionable on other accounts besides the protracted sore-
ness which they produce.   Their use "is often followed by a
stranguary, accompanied with thirst and feverish heat."*
  Dr. Hillary, an English physician, is not so modest as Dr.
Thacher, in  his remarks on  the effects  of  cantharides, or
Spanish flies, as they are more commonly denominated.  He
says, "I have long observed that blisters are too frequently,
and too often improperly  used, as they are now so much in
fashion."  "It is very probable, that we have  no one  remedy
in all the materia medica, that is so frequently abused, and so
often improperly applied," "not only in too many cases, where
they cannot possibly give any relief, but too often where they
must unavoidably increase the very  evil which they are in-
tended to  remove or relieve.  How often do we see them ap-
plied, and sometimes several of them, by pretended dabblers
in physic, not only where there are no indications for apply-
ing them, but where the  true indications are against their
application; as, in  the beginning of most  fevers,  and espe-
cially those  of  the inflammatory and of the putrid kind,
where, in the first, the stimulus of the acrid salts of the can-
tharides, which pass into the blood, must unavoidably increase
both the stimulus and the momentum of the blood, which were
too great before, and so render the fever inflammatory, and
all its symptoms worse.
  "And it is well known that the cantharides contain a great
quantity of  alkaline, semi-volatile salts, which pass into the
blood, though  they are applied externally; and attenuate, dis-
solve, and hasten and increase its putrefaction, which is also
confirmed by  the putrid  alkaline  acrimony which they pro-
duce in the urine, with the heat and stranguary, which it gives
to the urinary passages."
                      SECTION 5.

                      OF STARVING.

  The practice of starving is very common to nearly all clas-
ses of physicians, but it is  most peculiar to the new French
schools of medicine.  In some severe cases they push the ful-
fillment of this indication to its utmost limit; stopping only at
the confines of starvation.   "The first indication," says Be-
* T.hacher's Dispensatory, page 284. 
132                    STARVING.
 gin, "in acute or chronic gastritis, [which term he appears to
 use as he does gastro-enteritis, as synonymous with fever] is
 abstinence."  And, "in many cases, the physician is placed
 between the  fear  of exasperating the disease by  allowing
 food, and the danger of causing, by a longer abstinence, the
 stomach to become irritated by a continued absence of the
 materials it requires."   "The call of the patient cannot be a
 safe guide for the physician."*
   The fashionable mode of treating disease by the administra-
 tion of such remedies as  are inimical  to the laws of animal
 life, as we  have shown that the greater number upon which
 physicians  of  the old school place their principal dependence
 do, no doubt renders it improper to  take food; although the
 appetite of the famishing patient might even require it.   The
 hostile remedies, perverting the very  order which  they are
 intended to restore, make it improper to gratify the calls of
 nature, because, in this perverted order of the vital laws, the
 organs are  not in a  state or capacity to properly manufacture
 and appropriate to their legitimate purpose  the materials
 which exhausted nature craves.
   But when the system  is  under the  influence of  remedies
 which act in harmony with the laws of  animal life—remedies
 which are hostile to disease and death, and  which are calcu-
 lated to restore to harmony that discord of the animal  func-
 tions which is the effect of all disease; we say, when the hu-
 man  system is under   the influence  of such remedies  as
 these, the calls of nature for food and  drink ought always to
 be gratified.  True, a factitious appetite may occur, which
 may need restraining; and the same precautions may be ne-
 cessary during the convalescence from  fever and other acute
 diseases, when the appetite becomes too strong for the im-
 paired tone of the  organs; but who is there so deficient in
judgment that cannot, with a little  reflection,  regulate the
 quantity to suit the state of the stomach?
   The desire for food and drink, being the result of that in-
 stinctive feeling, common to the whole animal creation, by
 which the individual is preserved, ought always to be gratifi-
 ed; taking special  care, however, to  distinguish between the
 morbidly insatiable appetite which is sometimes met with in
 some complaints, or the too greedy one of convalescents, and
 the natural calls of the living powers for something to sustain
 its operations.
* Begin's Therapeutics, vol. I. pages 172,173- 
133
                      SECTION 6.

                      OF INJECTIONS.

   The employment of injections or clysters appears to be of
very ancient origin; having been learned, as is said, from the
Ibis, a bird worshiped by the Egyptians "from the services it
did in devouring great numbers of serpents, which  they ob-
served injured by their stench when dead, as much as by their
bite when alive."*   This bird is said to be  similar  to  our
king-fisher, and when sick was perceived to inject with its
long bill the water of the Nile into its  fundament, whence
the people of Egypt are said to have learned the use of clys-
ters in curing disease.!
   The great value of injections, however, seems in general
but imperfectly appreciated even by the medical Faculty, ex-
cepting in a very few diseases.   And in these they are com-
paratively of little  use, from their being usually  composed of
inert materials.   The most predominant  idea is  that clysters
are only indicated  by an  obstinately costive state of the in-
testines; and  in ordinary cases of this kind,  it matters little
what enters into their composition.  But in diarrhoea, dysen-
tery, fevers, and all general and violent complaints, and in all
diseases of the bowels, medicines highly useful  in removing
the disease may and ought to be introduced  into the system
in this manner.   The  employment of medicated injections
stimulates the intestines and muscles concerned  in the expul-
sion of  the faeces; whereby, in costive habits, the necessary
daily evacuation of excrementitious matter from the intestines
is accomplished without the aid of injurious laxatives or more
debilitating purgatives.
  The great importance of injections to promote the regular
daily dejection of the fieces, particularly in fevers, and espe-
cially those of the  typhoid type, ought  to  be indelibly im-
pressed upon the mind of every individual,  and particularly
those who have the care  of the sick.   None, perhaps,  but
those who have made a profession of medicine, or who are
well experienced in nursing, can be aware of the high impor-
tance to the sick of having regular stools.   And in no way
can they be so cheaply,  expeditiously, and advantageously
procured as by the use of clysters.  The great relief which is
very often and readily obtained in this way, will far more than
compensate the sufferer and his or her sympathizing friends
who may have to administer them, for all the seeming indeli-
cacy attending this invaluable mode of exhibiting medicine.

  * Smith's Treatise on Fever, page 375. f Langius, lib. H,ep.  11. 
134
INJECTIONS.
  In cases of drowning, or of suspended animation from an>
other cause, we have no doubt that injections of warm stimu-
lating medicines would be of more consequence in restoring
animation than any  thing else that could be advised.  The
intestines are known to be the most susceptible of any organ
within the immediate reach of medicine.   Moreover, it is
said, that in drowning, the intestines exhibit traces of vitality
after life has disappeared from every other part of the system.
If these propositions are correct, and physiology and pathology
we think will confirm them, it must be evident that stimula-
ting injections, by warming and exciting  the intestines, are
admirably adapted to resuscitate persons apparently dead from
drowning.
  It was the remark of Dr. Thomson, who has the chief mer-
it of introducing clysters into extensive  use, that " they are
perfectly  safe in all  cases, and better that they be used ten
times when not needed, than once neglected  when they are.
In many violent cases, particularly w7here there is danger of
mortification [of the intestines,] patients may be relieved by
administering medicine in this way, when there would be no
chance in any other.   I do, therefore, most  seriously advise
that these considerations be always borne in mind; and that
this important way of giving relief be never neglected."*
  In the complaints  peculiar to infants and  children, injec-
tions are  peculiarly  serviceable.   From  the nature of the
food of infants, and  the too common  indulgence of children
in unripe fruit  and other unwholesome trash,  their complaints
mostly arise from derangements of the intestinal canal.  The
irritation of teething is also another fruitful source of derange-
ment of  the intestinal functions.   In all these cases, injec-
tions are found to  be peculiarly serviceable.
  A modern author! speaking of the use of medicines in this
way, says " Glysters are of the highest  importance in the
practice of medicine; and many  are lost by the neglect of
this  invaluable mode  of administering  remedies.   Were I
confined to one remedy for the cure of disease, I should choose
glysters.  They arc not only safe, but highly useful in every
disease in its forming stage.   In dysentery,  and many other
diseases, no physician can  aequit  his conscience for an omis-
sion of this remedy.   Every family should have an apparatus
for this purpose, and view it  as a matter of the highest im-
portance to keep it in clean complete order."  It is, perhaps,
unnecessary to add, that we fully concur in the  sentiments
contained in this quotation.   We would, however go further
 than Dr. Jameson, and say, not only in the  forming, but  in
 every stage of disease, clysters are of the highest utility. And
* New Guide to Health.       f ®r- Jameson. 
USE OF THE VAPOR BATH.
135
with him we feel it  our duty to enforce  the  propriety,  nay,
the necessity of every family's  having a syringe,  that  they
may be provided for all occasions  of emergency.  In cases
where medicine or food  cannot be swallowed, either from a
diseased state of the oesophagus, from spasm,  as in hydropho-
bia, or in case  of suspended animation, both  food and medi-
cine may be introduced into the system by injection, by which
means life may often be prolonged, and  the chances  of  cure
multiplied.
  Dr. Jameson  further remarks, "if they,  (clysters)  are so
beneficial, why so childishly  neglect their use  because, to
those  unaccustomed to them, they seem indelicate; but what
has delicacy to do with matters which jeopardize human life?
Much of the indelicacy, however, attending the former meth-
od of administering injections with  a bladder and pipe,  may
be avoided by the use of  a pewter syringe.  This convenient
and useful instrument, after being charged, must be placed
under the bed clothes, and the patient can introduce the pipe,
when  the attendant can throw up the contents of the syringe
and withdraw it from the bed, without any exposure of the
patient whatever.
                      SECTION ?.

     OF VAPORIZING, OR THE USING OF THE VAPOR BATH.

  The importance to health, of the vapor bath, although ve-
ry early known and often recommended, has been much neg-
lected in most civilized communities, until within a few years
Dr. Thomson and his agents have given such  an impulse to
rublic  feeling in the United States  that it appears likely
once more to be extensively adopted in medical practice. It
seems astonishing indeed  that this available and ever useful
means of mitigating disease, should have been so nearly aban-
doned.  It is attributable, however, to the same cause which
ever has and perhaps ever will prevail in the walks of refine-
ment, by which society is driven from the paths of nature into
the vain  pursuit of  some  artificial phantom, as a substitute
for the more substantial and  less expensive gifts of Nature's
God.
  It has heretofore been shown that disease is a failure of the
vital power Of the system;  and hence when this takes place,
a degree of languor or sluggishness  of the animal functions
ensues;  the secretions  and excretions  do not progress with
suitable activity; perspiration especially is  retarded, which
adds an additional source of irritation to the diseased organs. 
 136              USE OF THE VAPOR BATH.

 As a necessary consequence  the  animal fluids become thick
 and viscid, and of course cease to circulate with the requisite
 facility through the minute capillary vessels, which increases
 the load and oppression of the already weakened struggling
 energies of life.
   Hence the surface of the muscles, and of all the internal
 viscer"a, are insufficiently moistened with the fluids which soft-
 en and lubricate their surfaces that they may glide over each
 other easily and smoothly without too much friction; and, fur-
 thermore, the thickened  juices,  although they continue to
 flow sluggishly on, do not pass through  the vessels in that
 agreeable  manner that they do in health.  The pain  and
 soreness of the flesh;  the headache; the lassitude; the debili-
 ty, and the often  extreme aversion to muscular  exertion or
 motion, some part, or the whole of  which symptoms so uni-
 formly usher in an attack of fever, the most universal com-
 plaint of the human family, may readily be  traced to such a
 state of the system as  we have described.
   Now the application of heat, in  any form, to the human sys-
 tem, it is well known, acts as a powerful stimulus; but applied
 in vapor or steam, is admitted to be far more penetrating and
 efficient than it is in any other manner.  It adds vigor to the
 living power, and penetrates and  relaxes the constricted ves-
 sels; stimulates the organs; attenuates or thins the various fluids,
 and thus promotes the secretions and excretions; whence the
 muscles and  viscera are again properly lubricated; perspira-
 tion returns;  the worn-out morbid matter is removed, and all
 the functions of life are again performed with healthy activi-
 ty, and health and vigor assume their empire over the frail and
complicated tabernacle of man.
  Heat and  moisture, that is, vapor or steam, applied to  the
surface of the body, is both emollient and anodyne.  It  re-
laxes the rigidity of the skin and external parts, in all cases
of fever and inflammation; and, in cases of broken or disloca-
ted bones, cloths wrung out of hot  water and applied as hot as
 can be borne, will relax the muscles so that the bones may be
replaced, if done soon after the accident, almost without pain.
And in cases  of the most excruciating pain, indicating, as the
old practitioners would judge, the use'of opium or the lancet,
the proper use of the vapor bath will afford the most sudden,
efficient, and permanent relief.  It procures this kind of relief
because it  acts upon  physiological principles; removing the
cause, and restoring a healthy action.   The cause of pain, as
we have before observed,  is generally an obstruction in the
painful part, excepting cases where pain is produced by sympa-
thy.   The application of heat and  moisture, as we just  re-
marked, penetrates the system; relaxes  the constricted ves-
sels; attenuates the fluids, and enables the living power to 
                 USE OF THE VAPOR BATH.              137

perform its office, and thus relieves in a mode  which opium
nor bleeding can never do.   Hence  too, the pain  and sore-
ness; the headache and stupor;  the  lassitude  and debility;
and the sluggishness of the fluids, which characterize the first
onset of fever, are removed on the same principles.
  The usefulness of vapor or steam, is not confined in its appli-
cation  to the skin.   In painful inflammatory affections of the
lungs, attended with internal soreness and difficulty  of breath-
ing, inhaling the warm vapor of vinegar and water, affords the
most grateful  relief.  The same thing is also useful in bad
cases of sore throat of every description.
  To the foregoing, we also beg leave to introduce the testi-
mony of others in  favor of the vapor bath.  The  Domestic
Encyclopedia,  on the subject of baths, says, "We allude to
the sweating or vapor baths, which," in Russia, "are used by
persons of every rank and age; in  almost every disorder, be-
fore and after a journey, hard work, &c.   These are frequent-
ed at least once a week, or as often as possible, whether in a
state of health or sickness.  The extraordinary degree of heat
produced  by the evaporation of water thrown upon  red hot
stones  in a close room, raises the thermometer to 146 or 168
degrees; the  latter of which numbers is a degree  of heat con-
siderably above that  which melts  wax, and only twelve de-
grees below that for boiling spirits of wine.  In such a bath,
the Russians lie naked on a bench, and continue there, not-
withstanding a profuse perspiration, sometimes for two hours,
occasionally pouring hot water over their bodies; thus, some,
with a view to promote perspiration, and completely open the
pores,  are first rubbed, and then gently flagellated  with leafy
branches of birch, while others wash their  bodies with  warm
or cold water, and all of them at length plunge over head in
a large tub of water.  Many, however, rush out almost dis-
solved in  sweat,  and either throw themselves immediately
from the bath room into the adjoining river, or in winter roll
themselves in snow during the most piercing cold,  without
suffering any inconvenience, and probably with advantage; for
we understand that rheumatisms are scarcely known in Rus-
sia; and there is great reason to attribute this exemption to
the use of the vapor bath."   By exciting an unusual degree of
perspiration, they (vapor baths) promote cleanliness,  while they
render the skin soft and smooth.
   Dr. Thomas, in  treating of the means of curing  rheumatism,
 recommends a warm, or a tepid bath, according to circumstan-
 ces.   "Both remedies, however, may," he says, he thinks, "be
 considered of inferior value in the cure of rheumatism,  when
 compared with the topical, and sometimes general  use of hot
 water in the form of  vapor.  Whenever the joints are very
 rigid, and the pain upon motion exquisitely severe, or where
        18 
138               USE of the vapor bath.

the muscles have become contracted and almost paralytic;
and indeed, in all protracted cases of the disease of the hip
joint, lumbago, or sciatica, the vapor of hot water, locally and
properly applied, will seldom fail, in conjunction with other
proper topical applications, to  prove  a  safe and  successful
remedy."  "A vapor bath, constructed agreeable to the plan
advised by the honorable Basil  Cochrane, or in the Russian
manner, would be a great acquisition in  all infirmaries and
hospitals."*
  Speaking of the mode of applying hot water  in the obsti-
nate complaints just named, Dr. Thomas observes, "A large
boiler, with a pipe affixed to it,  forms a simple apparatus.
With this, the parts affected may be steamed for about half an
hour at a time, repeating the process two or three times  a
day."t   Yes kind reader, credulous or incredulous, Dr. Tho-
mas, an eminent medical practitioner of the old school of medi-
cine, who has practised in both  hemispheres, and in different
climates, having, as he says, "obtained  an  insight into the
practice of physicians of both Russia and Sweden, during a
residence in the capitals of those empires," and an "experi-
ence of upwards of forty years," unhesitatingly  recommends
what, in the Botanic practice, is considered  as an empirical
and dangerous custom.  And Dr.  Thomas recommends this
terrible operation of steaming, not only topically but  gener-
ally, and considers it preferable to the warm  bath, which "fre-
quently renders the patient hot  and restless."  "Now the ad-
vantage," says Dr. Thomas, "of the vapor  bath, (steaming)
is, that perspiration takes place at a much lower temperature
in it than the other."   In the warm bath, "when the exhal-
ents are ready to yield their contents, the surrounding medi-
um, (water) presses upon the cuticle,  and in  some measure
prevents the flow of perspiration  which it had brought upon
the surface: on the contrary, in the vapor bath the heat be-
ing applied to the body in an aeriform state, unites with  the
insensible perspiration  as it arises  by the exhalents, conden-
ses upon the surface, and drops from the body by its own
weight, meeting with no resistance from the elastic vapor."!
  We deem it unnecessary to say more with  regard to  the su-
periority of vapor bathing over immersion in warm water, as
but little reflection will, we think, convince any philosophical
mind of the fact.  But we will take the liberty of introdu-
cing a few remarks from the writings of W.  Tooke, which
were the result of  several years observation of the good ef-
fects of vapor bathing amongst  the Russians.

        * Modern Practice of Physic: article, "Rheumatism."
        \ Ibid.           \ Ibid. 
                  USE OF THE VAPOR BATH.              139

   "It is not to be doubted," says Tooke, "that the Russians
 owe their  longevity,  their robust state  of health, their little
 disposition  to certain mortal diseases, and their happy and
 cheerful temper mostly to  these baths,  though climate,  ali-
 ment, and  habits of living, likewise contribute their share.
 The great Lord Chancellor Bacon, and  other sagacious  ob-
 servers of  nature, and of mankind, have lamented and cer-
 tainly not  without cause, that this  bathing has fallen into
 disuse among the modern nations of Europe,  and justly wish
 the practice back again, in all our towns and villages.   In
 fact, when we consider that  the old physicians so early in-
 troduced into their practice this remedy of nature's own in-
 vention, and employed  it  with such great success;  when we
 recollect that Rome for five hundred years together, had no
 physicians  but only their baths, and that to this day a multi-
 tude  of  nations cure almost all their  maladies merely by
 baths; we  cannot avoid regarding the dismission of them as
 the epocha of a grand revolution, which has been wrought in
 the physical state  of  the human race, in our quarter  of  the
 world.   The natural  perspiration, the most important of all
 excretions, must naturally  go on better in a body constantly
 kept soft by bathing.    A great number of impurities which
 privily lay in us the train  to tedious and dangerous distem-
 pers, arc timely removed ere they poison the blood and jui-
 ces.   All exanthematic diseases are abated by bathing, con-
 sequently then the  small pox; and if this dreadful disorder be
 actually less fatal in Russia than in other countries, this phe-
 nomenon need not be attributed to any  other cause than the
 vapor  baths."
   Nor is the employment of the vapor  bath  confined exclu-
 sively to the Russians.  It is used by other nations of Europe,
 and particularly in the vicinity of Naples, where they have
 natural vapor baths, the vapor being supplied from hot springs
produced by the volcanoes  with which that country abounds.
 Other parts of Europe likewise abound with baths, the vapor
 of which is supplied by hot springs.
   Artificial vapor bathing has also been used in most, if  not
 all, the nations of the  European Continent as well as in Eng-
 land;  and the aborigines of America have been in the habit,
 from time immemorial, of employing the vapor bath to assist
 in curing their maladies; and they still continue it at the pre-
 sent time.
   Carver, in  the  history of his travels among  the Indians
during the  years 1766, '67, and '68, in treating of their dis-
 eases,  says—" The disorder to which they are most subject
is  the  pleurisy; for  the removal of which, they apply their
grand  remedy and preservative against the generality of their
complaints, sweating.   The manner in which they construct 
140              usn of Tin: vapor bath.
                                                     «

their stoves for this purpose is as follows:—They fix several
small poles in the ground the tops of which they twist togeth-
er, so as to form a rotunda: this frame they cover with ^kins
or blankets, and lay them on with so much nicety that the air
is kept from entering through any  crevice; a small place be-
ing only left just  sufficient to creep in at, which is immediate-
ly after closed.   In the middle of this confined building  they
place  red hot stones, on which  they pour water till a steam
arises  that produces a great degree of heat.  This causes an
instantaneous perspiration which they increase as they please.
Having continued in it for some time,  they immediately has-
ten to the nearest stream and plunge into the water; and after
bathing therein  for about half a minute,  they  put on  their
clothes, sit down and smoke with great composure, thoroughly
persuaded that the remedy will prove efficacious."  "They of-
ten," continues Carver, "make use of this sudorific method
to refresh themselves, or to prepare their minds for the  man-
agement  of any business that requires uncommon deliberation
and sagacity."
  We have also before us a letter from Caleb Atwater,
Esq. whose opportunities for making observations amongst the
Indians have been very extensive, in which he gives a some-
what  more particular account of the Indian method of steam-
ing,which he learned amongst them during the years 1796,'97,
and '98.   It may also be proper to state that this letter is in
reply  to one addressed by ourselves to him, requesting any in-
formation in his power to give, respecting the treatment of dis-
ease and the remedies peculiar to the Indian natives.
  His account coincides with  that of Carver, respecting
their  method of steaming, and further adds, that the  bath-
room  is constructed  inside  of the wigwam  previously made
tight and warm.   In the center of the bath-room a small hole is
dug in the earth, into  which water is poured and a red hot
stone is put into it;  the patient in the mean time being pla-
ced in the room and drinking  of  a  warm tea prepared from
the Seneka snake root, including  both the roots and tops.—
"One stone after another is thrown  into the water, and  a co-
pious  steam  produced around  the  sick person," and "after
steaming sometime  in this way, the patient is taken  from his
bath-house and plunged into a stream of running water, al-
ways near the wigwam.   This bathing in  cold  water  occu-
pies but a minute or two  at most, after which  the patient
drinks some of his warm tea, and sits a short time in the bath-
 room again in which the steam is renewed.  Then he is pla-
 ced in a warm bed, prepared for him, where he lays in a state
 of gentle perspiration for  some time."  "So far as I now re-
 member," continues he, "in every case where these remedies
 were  thus applied,  during the first three days of a fever, it 
COLD BATHING.
141
was cured."  " Instead of the hole in the earth, a sap-trough
was sometimes used for the water and heated stones."
  This mode of steaming is precisely similar, in principle at
least, and very nearly so in practice, with that employed in
Russia; it is the same as is practised by the greater part of
the American Indians, and adopted  by Dr. Samuel Thomson,
and approved, used, and recommended by ourselves.
                      SECTION  8.

                    OF  COLD BATHING.

   The usefulness of the cold bath; both in preventing and
 curing disease, has been known and acknowledged from time
 immemorial.  The employment  of it was  so highly esteemed
 in ancient times, that amongst the oriental nations, and parti-
 cularly the Jews, bathing was a part of their ritual ordinances.
   The custom of cold bathing,  however,  like that of vapor
 bathing,  has  very much fallen  into disuse: though it has re-
 tained its sway in the United States, far beyond that of vapor
 bathing.   The  cold, like the vapor bath, may be  advanta-
 geously used either topically or generally.   As a topical appli-
 cation it  is useful in some cases of headache and rheumatism;
 in all  cases of sprains and local inflammation; in wounds, and
 particularly in cases of burns and scalds.  In the last cases it is
 one of the most grateful and efficient applications which can
 be applied.  It immediately allays the most intense pain; and
 by renewing the application as  often as the  pain recurs, the
 inflammation attendant  upon such accidents may be entirely
 removed, and very frequently when applied  seasonably, blis-
 tering will be completely prevented.
   Cold bathing is resorted  to as a general application in ar-
 dent fevers;  in some kinds of rheumatism; in relaxation of the
 cutaneous vessels;  in nervous debility,  and a great variety of
 complaints,  for which purpose thousands  of persons annually,
 both in Europe and America, resort to the mineral springs and
 to the sea, according to the nature of the disease or the fancy
 of the patient.  Cold bathing is a powerful tonic and bracer
 of the system, and  may be advantageously resorted to in a
 great many cases;  but as an indication of cure peculiar to the
 new physiological practice of medicine, it is very highly bene-
 ficial, and extensively used.  It is employed in all cases, after
 the vapor bath, in the simplest form, by pouring upon the pa-
 tient  in a high state of perspiration, a  quantity of water pro-
• portioned to his age, size, strength, or other circumstances, 
142                  COLD BATHING.
   This practice is  viewed by most individuals unacquainted
 with the new system of medicine, with astonishment and even
 terror.   This, however, is what might be readily expected; it
 being so directly opposed to the popular ideas, in this country,
 respecting t,he means of promoting health.   But in Russia, as
 well as amongst the American  Indians, (as has already been
 noticed,) the practice  of  cold bathing, or washing with cold
 water, after producing a  high  degree of perspiration in the
 vapor bath, is a common thing;  being resorted to on many im-
 portant occasions, and  in Russia by all classes of society.  In
 the quotation from the Domestic Encyclopedia, which we gave,
 in treating of vapor bathing, the  reader may have observed,
 that it is  there stated, that  the Russians rush out of the bath
 room, almost dissolved  in  sweat, and either throw themselves
 into an adjoining river, or, in winter, roll themselves in snow,
 during the most piercing cold, without suffering any inconve-
 nience, and probably with advantage.   We will only add,
 that the advantage  is more than probable; as it is very im-
 probable that such  an apparently daring practice  would be
 continued unless the beneficial  effects of it  were appreciable
 and  incontrovertible.
  The testimony of Dr. Thomas also confirms the statement
 in the Encyclopedia as to  the practice  of cold bathing whilst
 in a high state of perspiration.   "During my stay," says he,
 "at Petersburgh, I observed that many of the Russians threw
 themselves immediately from the bath room into the adjoining
 river.  In the winter they roll themselves in snow, in a frost
 often or more degrees of Reaumur's  thermometer."  Dr.
 Thomas says nothing as to the  good or bad effects of this in-
 trepid practice; but it is fair to presume that he observed no
 bad consequences to follow it.  But, for the proof of its inno-
 cency, we need not refer  the reader to the Encyclopedia, to
 Dr. Thomas, nor to the Russians.  The same practice has been
 very successfully and extensively brought into notice by Dr..
 Thomson; and by his agents  and other Botanic practitioners
 introduced into every State in the Union.
  After the patient  has passed through the operation of vapor
 bathing and perspired profusely, as is generally necessary in
all bad cases in order to throw out from the system the mor-
bid accumulation which has  taken  place in  consequence of
the want of vital energy to carry off the worn-out, superfluous
matter through the  proper emunctories,  and more especially
when, in addition to vapor bathing, an emetic has been pre-
scribed, the skin, and even  the whole body, is relaxed; and the
patient sometimes feels weak, faint or languid..  The applica-
tion  of cold water always removes these symptoms wholly or
m part, and leaves the patient in the  enjoyment of a warm,, 
COLD BATHING.                   X43
 pleasant, glowing sensation over the whole body, as delight-
 some as unexpected to those unacquainted with this healthful
 practice.  And in all cases of immoderate sweating, whether
 caused by artificial means, or arising from a laxity of the cu-
 taneous vessels, cold affusion produces  the happiest  effects.
 The tonic and contractile powers of cold water, brace  and
 strengthen the perspiratory vessels, as well as every other part
 of the system.  The nervous and sanguiferous systems, upon
 the equable action  of which, health so  much depends, parti-
 cularly receive a powerful impulse; and nature, always ready
 to profit by every favorable circumstance, assisted  by the
 strength  which she  derives from this new impulse, secures, so
far as she is able, what has thus been gained. 
Hi
                 CHAPTER  VIII.

       OF THE THEORY OP FEVER AND INFLAMMATION.

  The theory of fever and'inflammation has been a fruitful
theme for the physiologist to dwell upon, without any  thing
hitherto being elicited which could bear the test of investiga-
tion.  Nor can it be astonishing that theories should be un-
settled and uncertain, so long as the practice remained  unim-
proved, contradictory and inconsistent.   Theories, to be sure,
are but the butterflies of the  day, and may generally be said
to be at variance with correct experience and sound practice;
yet, in some measure conformably with custom, and also in con-
formity with  the new physiological doctrine and practice, we
deem it not out of place to throw together a few theoretical
hints upon fever and inflammation.
                      SECTION 1.

                        OF FEVER.

  Whether we regard fever as a disease of more universal pre-
valence than  any other whatever, or as being the most proli-
fic outlet to human life, it must be considered as claiming pre-
eminent attention, both in a physiological and practical point
of view.  The following observations  on this subject, from
the pen of Dr. Hosack, being so much in unison with our own,
we take the liberty of transcribing them into our  pages:
   " From the earliest period to the present day," says he,
"the subject of fever, more than any other disease to which
the human frame is liable, has received the attention of phy-
sicians.   Yet, looking into our obituaries, we find that fever
and febrile diseases still constitute the great  outlets of human
life, and are at this day almost as fatal as they were in the time
of Sydenham, who calculated that fevers, properly so called,
make up nearly two-thirds  of the diseases which prove fatal to
 mankind, and that eight out of nine of all  who die, are cut off
 by febrile complaints.  However minutely, therefore, we may
 be acquainted with the symptoms of fever in its various forms
 and stages;  however extensive may be our  knowledge of its
 predisposing and exciting causes, we certainly are very defi- 
FEVER.
145
cient in our acquaintance with the proximate cause of fever,
or its treatment would be more distinctly defined in its various
stages, than it appears  to  be in  any of the great practical
works that have fallen under  our notice.  Whence, then, has
arisen the discordant, and,  we may almost say, the empirical
practice, that fills the pages of the best writers on fevers, and
that are even to  be found in the truly valuabe works of  Boer-
haave, Cullen, Fordyce, Wilson, and others?  We answer,
it is in a great degree ascribable  to the local views of the
animal economy to which some  of these writers have been
limited by their  own hypothesis, and which practitioners, re-
lying upon the authority of great names, have hastily adopted."
   What a deplorable picture is here exhibited of the imper-
fections of that science in which we have, above all others,
the deepest interest.  In the foregoing quotation may be con-
templated the sentiments of an eminent physician of the old
school, who is intimately acquainted with the inconsistencies
of the common mode of treating fevers, and which he very
justly attributes  to the local views of practitioners, and their
deficient knowledge of the  proximate cause of this most fatal
complaint; in short, to the want of a correct theory from which
to deduce sound principles, upon which alone a rational prac-
tice can  be founded.
   We have, in general terms, pointed out the proximate cause
of fever, in our definition of  disease; but  as the  complaints
comprised under the common appellation of fever, in  conse-
quence of their universal prevalence and great mortality, have
given rise to many  hypothetical theories, we propose  briefly
to point out what we believe  to be the cause  of that cate-
nation or chain  of symptoms  which  constitutes this fatal ma-
lady.  And although we may occasionally advert to preceding
theories, we shall not attempt in this place any thing like  a
review of any of them.
   It will have been perceived that  we attribute the cause of
all disease *to a diminished  energy of the living power, which
may be regarded as  a condition of the body nearly analogous
with Dr.  Cullen's " sedative powers  applied to the nervous
system, which  diminishing the energy of the brain, thereby
produce  a debility in the whole of the  functions."  Dr. Cul-
len, as it would seem, had no definite  idea of the manner in
which those sedative powers  were applied, and therefore left
a  very important part, the very starting point, of his theory
unexplained;  and seized upon the effects, instead of the cause
of fever, whereon to build  his theory.   This indeed has al-
most always been the point from which theorists have strayed
by looking  forward at the  result, instead of backward at the
cause of what they  wish to explain.   Although we have here-
tofore pointed out the origin of the living power, we will here 
146                      FEVER.
 repeat, that it is drawn from food, drink, and air; the vital
 organs being so constituted as to act upon these materials in
 such manner as to abstract the vital stimulus from them, and
 this stimulus in turn acting upon the organs and enabling them
 to perform their functions.   Hence a failure of this stimulus,
 from any cause whatever, constitutes disease, which is modified
 by a great number of circumstances; whence arise the almost
 infinite variety of symptoms by which all the  various  diseases
 are distinguished.
   Now if we trace Dr. Cullen's "diminished energy of the
 brain" back to its cause, we shall find that debility or dimin-
 ished energy of the living  power is the first  effect produced
 upon the system by the exciting causes of fever.  But we do
 not therefore agree with Cullen that this diminished energy
 of the brain, or more properly of the living power, produces a
 spasm of the extreme vessels,- because we have  no evidence
 that such spasm does exist.  These vessels are no doubt con-
 tracted; but simple contraction  does not constitute spasm.
 We are unable to perceive, in ordinary cases of fever, the
 slightest traces of  spasmodic affection of these vessels.  Nei-
 ther do we agree with  Dr.  Cullen, that "debility proves  an
 indirect  stimulus to the sanguiferous system;"  because  the
 idea of debility operating as a stimulus is utterly incompatible
 with itself; at least it explains nothing in a physiological or
 satisfactory manner.  But we believe that this effect follows,
 and that all the beneficial consequences  which  Dr.  Cullen
 attributes to  the "intervention of the cold stage, and spasm
 connected with it," are produced upon philosophical princi-
 ples which are susceptible of a satisfactory explanation.   We
 must confess, however, that some parts of the Cullenian sys-
 tem are nearer correct than  any other heretofore offered to the
world.
  We have said that every disease was caused by something
 which, in its operation upon the system, produced debility.
We may also observe that similar causes produce,"in  general,
a similar effect;  that is, any  known  cause of disease being
applied to any number of persons who  are susceptible of  its
influence, commonly produces the same disease in all.  This
position is exemplified in contagious and epidemic diseases.
  In contagious complaints, as measles or small pox, the con-
 tagious matter being applied to any number of persons liable
to be affected by it, produces the same  disease, in modified
forms, on all.  And just so in epidemics; they  arise from a
vitiated condition of the atmosphere, to which all being alike
exposed, every person who is susceptible of its morbid im-
pressions, is affected in the same or nearly a similar manner.
  Now the human system is so  constituted that the  greater
number of debilitating agents when applied to the body, act 
FEVER.
147
 upon the organs in such a manner as to produce a train of
 symptoms so nearly uniform as to receive the general name of
 fever.  And it would seem most natural that this should be
 the case; for fever is a disease, to adopt the language of For-
 dyce, "that affects the whole system; it affects the head and
 trunk of the body,  and the extremities;  it affects  the circu-
 lation, the absorption, and the nervous system; it affects  the
 skin, the muscular fibers, and the membranes; it affects the
 body, and likewise the mind.   It is, therefore, a disease of the
 whole system, in every kind of sense.   It does not, however,
 affect the various parts of the system uniformly and equally;
 but, on the contrary, sometimes one part is much affected in
 proportion to the affection of another part."*   This being the
 case, wre are enabled to perceive that almost every debilita-
 ting power applied to the system will produce a fever, whilst
 the surrounding circumstances,  peculiarity of constitution, or
 the nature of the debilitating  agent, give the disease that par-
 ticular character which distinguishes one form of fever from
 another.
   We do not mean, however, by the terms debilitating agents
 or debilitating powers, that something is actually applied to
 the body which directly weakens the living power.  This ef-
 fect may be produced in various ways;  as for instance, by fa-
 tigue or over exertion; by the application, absorption,  or in-
 halation of  a poisonous substance which  may destroy either
 immediately or remotely the tone of the vital organs and thus
 prevent them from performing their functions, and in various
other ways.
  The greater  number of debilitating agents, therefore, pro-
ducing one common effect upon most of the organs of the sys-
 tem, or upon the living power, a corresponding disease of the
whole system is the consequence.   And to this circumstance
 may be  attributed  the  more universal prevalence of  fever
 than of any other one disease, as every debilitating agent ap-
plied to the body acts as an exciting cause.   Hence we find
an increased speed or excitement of the  pulse and heat, or
what'is  termed fever, attending almost all complaints.
  There are eminent theorists, however,  who disagree with
 Dr. Fordyce, and maintain that fever is essentially a local
disease;  saying that the appearances which have led to the
conclusion that it is general are fallacious;  contending that
the  universal  derangement  of  the system,  is referable to
diseased action in a single organ.  The principal champions
for this theory  are Clutterbuck  and  Broussais.  "There
is," says Dr. Smith, "a perfect accordance in the doctrine
of these two celebrated and rival theorists, respecting the na-
* Dissertation on Fever, page 16. 
148
FEVER.
ture of fever; both are agreed that it is an affection of the
solids of the body, and that  its essence consists in inflamma-
tion; both are agreed that that inflammation is strictly local,
being seated in a single organ; but in determining which that
organ  is,  there is an entire discrepancy in their opinions.
  "According to Dr. Clutteriji ck, the organ universally af-
fected in every variety  of idcopathic  fever is  the brain."
"Broussais, on the contrary, contends that the primary and
essential  seat of inflammation  in fever is the  mucous mem-
brane of the stomach, or of the intestines,  or both, but  espe-
cially the former, and that, therefore, the proper designation
of it is gastro-enteritis."*
  Another opinion as to the seat of fever, has lately sprung
from the London Fever Hospital, which has given rise to  an
elaborate treatise by Dr. Smith, from which we just quoted.
Actual examination by dissection after  death, in every fatal
case at that  Hospital, has enabled him to decide that not only
the stomach and intestines, but also the lungs and  brain, were
in a state of inflammation.   He, however, lays it down  as an
invariable fact, that the first indications of fever "are clearly
traceable to the nervous system:  that the disorder of the func-
tions of the brain and spinal cord with which the attack al-
ways commences, demonstrates that these organs form the pri-
mary seats of the malady."t
  If Dr. Smith's proposition  be  correct, that a disturbance of
the brain and spinal marrow is  the invariable primary  affec-
tion in fevers, and we think  all  experience goes to confirm it,
then it follows that the nervous  influence must  be in  some
measure impaired over the whole system.   And here the facts
and observations of Dr. Smith  apparently, in  some degree,
confirm the views of Cullen, "that the remote causes of fever,
are certain sedative powers  applied to  the nervous system."
But it must be remembered that the nervous system, like every
other set of  organs in the human body, is dependent for its
power  and influence over  the other organs, upon the power
of life, which as we have shown, is concentrated in the blood.
The diminished  energy of this power must therefore be  fol-
lowed by a proportionate  debility of the nervous influence
over the whole system, whether it produce fever or any  other
complaint.  Now if the nervous energy reside in a fluid, as
is most commonly supposed,  the  brain  and spinal cord must
perform the  office of a gland, by which the nervous fluid is
secreted or separated from the blood, and through the agency
of the nerves is transmitted to every part of the  body.
  From this view of the subject, we may readily comprehend
how the application  to the  body of any of  the debilitating
* Smith's Treatise on Fever, page* 36, 37.    f lb. page 345. 
FEVER.
149
powers which produce fevers,  affect the nervous system, and
through  it the whole body; which  is acknowledged by all
classes of theorists to be sooner or later the case in all febrile
complaints.  The specific  effects  thus produced, constitute
that peculiar train of symptoms so readily recognized, though
difficult to define, which, from the very infancy of medicine,
has received the name of fever, and which is derived from
the almost universally attendant symptom of increased heat
over the whole body.'
  Let us now examine the symptoms and the  effects, actual
or apparent, connected with fever.
  In tracing this disease from its origin  to its termination,
we find it to consist of a certain train of events, succeeding
each other in a certain manner.*   The order of occurrence
of these events is  determined by  the symptoms, which are
nothing more than  the sensible and visible effects or signs of
disease.
  Dr. Currie supposes that the first operation  of the  remote
cause producing fever, is debility of a peculiar kind.t This
is in almost exact accordance with  Cullen: but we do not
agree with these authors, that this debility produces a spasm of
the capillary vessels of the surface, because, as we have else-
where observed, none of the spfecific characteristics of spasm
are proved to be present.   But most  certain it is that these ves-
sels, in  ordinary  fevers, are  contracted either as a direct or
remote effect of the diminished  energy of the  living power,
debility being only  the symptom or  evidence  that  the power
of life is weakened.   The contracted state of those vessels,
however,  is most probably  the effect of impaired nervous in-
fluence, which extends not only to the capillary vessels of the
surface but to the whole sanguiferous system, and even to the
entire body.
  Writers have recorded facts sufficient to show, what all ex-
perience confirms, that there is actually  a shrinking of the
whole body,  and particularly  of the capillaries and arteries
near the surface, in all cases of fever.   All  authors agree
that the skin is constricted or contracted; and some even as-
sert that this constriction extends, as just observed, through-
out the  whole substance of the body.  The larger arteries
near the surface which can be felt, fthe radial at the wrist,
for instance.,) are evidently  to the feel lessened in their size
from what they are in a state of health.   Fordyce also says
that the whole secretory system throughout the  body secretes
a smaller quantity  of fluids in fever than in  health.  The
kidneys, the bladder,  the  mucous  glands, the exhalants, all
appear to  be constricted; and also  the vessels  which furnish
♦Smith's Treatise on Fever.    f Modern Practice of Physic. 
150                      fever.
 the fluids that lubricate the surfaces of the muscles, appear
 contracted; because a wound or an ulcer, in any part of the
 body, becomes dry during an attack of fever.*
   The direct natural consequence of debility, whether it be
 of that kind which authors have supposed  peculiar to fever,
 or any other,  is to reduce the motion of the blood  or pulse;
 and accordingly  we find a small low pulse always attending
 the onset of fever.  This slowness of the circulation and lan-
 guor of all the other animal functions,  caused by the dimin-
 ished influence of the living power, lessens the production of
 animal  heat, whence arises the chilliness and coldness which
 usually  precedes the hot stage of fever.  The idea always as-
 sociated with  the  application of a  sedative to the system is,
 that of producing a diminished activity of the vital functions;
 and this term  is actually used by Cullen to designate that pe-
 culiar debility which he thinks produces fever.   There is in-
 deed a dullness, a languor, a lassitude, attending the attack of
 fever that must justify the conclusion that heat, let it be pro-
 duced in any way that has  perhaps ever been suggested,
 is not generated  in  the usual quantity that it is in  health.
 The living power  is beyond all question diminished, and hence
 the vital functions throughout the whole system must propor-
 tionally  fail, and the healthful quantity of heat cease to be
 produced.  We would by no means however pretend  to say
 that the nervous sensibility was not in some manner depraved,
 so that the feelings of the patient were not somewhat deceptive
 to himself as to the actual difference between  the amount of
 heat generated in health and in the cold stage of fever.  But
 in accounting  for the production of heat  upon the principle of
 friction, as we have done, or upon any other, there can be no
 doubt that the generation of it must be checked, which ac-
 counts, as just observed, for the chilliness and coldness of the
 first stages of fever.
   It may  be objected to this hypothesis, that coldness is by
 no means an  unfailing precursor of fever;  but that  the hot
 stage often comes on with no other premonition than a sense
 of languor and debility, without any sensation of coldness or
chilliness whatever.  We do  not regard this, however, as an
 objection  of much weight, as it is  an  admitted  fact  that all
 general  rules  have some exceptions; and  we are confident
 that but few cases, if any, occur of primary fever in which, if
 the patient carefully  attended to his feelings, he would not be
 sensible of some degree of chilliness.  Hectic fevers, as well
 as those arising  from inflammations  and  the  irritation  of
 worms,  may occur without  any preceding chill; but these
facts do not, we conceive, militate against the general propo-i

                    * Fordycb, page 33. 
rKVER.
L»I
sition that fevers, properly so called, are preceded by dimin-
ished heat.   The production of this necessary material in the
human system, as we have shown, is a mechanical rather than
a chimical operation; and there  are  certain  states of the
nervous system frequently occurring in which the patient com-
plains of coldness when to the feel of a by-stander, or by the
thermometer, there appears no diminution of heat whatever.
On the  contrary, there are other states of the nervous system
in which the patient complains of increased heat, of which
there is no other evidence than his own morbid sensations.
We mention these facts,  which have been recorded by differ-
ent writers, only to show  that the feelings of the sick are not
unerring indications of the true  condition of the  patient.
Therefore, although a patient may not  be sensible of any di-
minution of heat, it does not nevertheless follow that its pro-
duction is not diminished.  For if the  process of  its  genera-
tion is interrupted or impeded, which  must evidently be the
case in  the languor, slow respiration, sluggish  circulation of
the fluids on the attack of fever, its production must be retard-
ed whether the patient be sensible of it or not.
  So great a depression of the vital power has sometimes ta-
ken place during the cold stage of fever, as to cut  the patient
off at once;  though instances  of this  kind are  quite rare.
Such occurrences would no doubt more often happen, were it
not for that wonderful provision for our preservation by which
disease produces such an  effect upon the system as to remove
the cause that gave rise  to it;  in  other words, by which dis-
ease is constituted its own physician.   Indeed if we were not
under the influence of a principle like this, every person ta-
king a chill must expire  in it, unless relieved by medicine;
and  in fact, the same remarks will apply with equal force to
all other complaints.   We are well aware that physicians
have  attributed-this rousing of the system from its depressed
state, to the vis medicatrix naturaz, or the efforts of nature;  as
if nature were a sentient power, or being, capable of perceiv-
ing the  inroads of disease and of arming and strengthening
herself for the combat.   Such an idea  is certainly more be-
fitting the  fictitious imagery of a romance than the grave
philosophy of a treatise on medicine.
  The whole phenomena may no doubt be explained on phi-
losophical principles, modified, however, by the  different situ-
ation of living from dead matter.   All  the varieties of matter
were formed by a Supremely Intelligent Being, and each kind
endowed with certain principles which, in combination, and
under certain circumstances, produce certain peculiar effects;
and the effects of disease may as rationally be attributed  to
the action of matter upon matter as the heat of combustion to
the action of oxygen upon fuel.   We have heretofore shown
that  life and organization were  the  effects of the  varioui 
153                      FEVER.
proximate elements of man acting upon each other under the
influence of laws peculiar to animal  life;  and the effects of
disease may be attributed  to a somewhat similar action indu-
ced by  a failure of the living  power  caused  by either the
abstraction or superaddition of something  necessary or unne-
cessary  to  the elements  of  health, and by which the living
harmony is disturbed, and may eventually be annihilated in
death.
  With these views, and  from these premises, we  will pro-
ceed  to point out,  so far  as  we are capable, the natural cau-
ses, intimate relation with, and  dependence upon each other,
of the principal events or phenomena of fever.   We may not,
however, be able in a manner satisfactory to every  one, to
suggest the true cause or to  point out the proper relative con-
nection of these events; nor do we expect to  steer clear of
all former hypotheses; but we  trust  that  the rule which we
have  laid  down  by which all phenomena whether of the liv-
ing or dead, or of the healthy or unhealthy  states, may be
tried, will bear, though perhaps with some modifications, the
severest test of scrutiny and of time.
   We have remarked  heretofore that  the cause of fever, as
of all other disease, was a  failure or  diminished energy of
the living power, the consequent effect of which is a diminish-
ed secretion of the animal fluids;  contraction of the  body and
all its vessels,* particularly of the glands and minute capillary
vessels of the skin; languor in all the vital functions; with
commonly a cold sensation over the whole  surface of the body.
From this  depression the vital organs must be aroused, or the
living power will  be destroyed and the career of life be clo-
sed forever.   And this very check of the  secretions and ex-
cretions, and this very contraction of the body and its vessels,
the natural result of diminished vital energy, produces anoth-
er effect by which those very effects  themselves are removed.
In consequence of the check given to the secretions and excre-
tions, especially of the perspirable fluid, the quantity of blood
remains unimpaired, or perhaps is increased; but it still con-
 tinues to flow, though more  slowly than in health, through its
 proper vessels, now reduced to a smaller  diameter than they
 were in the healthy state.   Here it may be borne in mind
 that  the lessened  diameter of  the vessels  of the skin is em-
 braced in Cullen's spasm as well as  in  Fordyce's contrac-
 tion  not only of the skin, but of the more deeply seated parts,
 and is often evident to the feel  in  the radial artery at the
 wrist.
   Now we think  it evident that although  the  motion of the
 blood is checked in  consequence of the diminished  energy of
 the vital power, yet  as  it  continues to flow through the con-
* Fordyce on Fever, page 26. 
FEVER.
153
 tracted vessels its friction against the sides of those vessels is
 increased; and therefore, upon our principle of accounting for
 the production of animal heat by friction, an increase of heat
 must be  the consequence:  because, whatever increases the
 friction must also increase the amount of heat.   Hence, in a
 cold day, those who are employed in the open air and become
 chilled, redouble their exercise, and thus increase the friction
 and heat by which  they are preserved from the inclemencies
 of the cold.  In case of fever, the heat thus produced operates
 as a stimulus, as heat  is well known to do, upon the vital or-
 gans, and the blood is propelled with greater speed and energy,
 which increases the friction and heat; and thus continuing to
 act as cause and effect, produces the hot stage of fever.
    We cannot precisely agree with Dr. Thomson that the heat
 of fever is a friend to health, and yet there seems to be no ra-
 tional means of avoiding the virtual admission of such a seem-
 ing paradoxical proposition.   We know that  the heat and
 excitement of fever are incompatible with the healthy state
 of the system; and yet the morud depression which almost
 invariably attends the forming and cold stages of this class of
 diseases must undoubtedly prove  suddenly fatal without the
 intervention of some process  to produce that evolution of heat
 which has given birth to the term fever.   This hot condition
 of the system is absolutely necessary  to rouse the vital organs
 from that state of imbecility to which the loss of Jiving energy
 has reduced them.   Without the intervention of the hot stage
 of fever, every individual who becomes affected by the pre-
 ceding  depression and chill,  must undoubtedly die unless re-
 lieved by suitable medicine.  And cases of this kind have ac-
 tually occurred at the very onset of  fever, by which the life
 of the patient has been terminated in a few minutes or a few
 hours.  Hence, we  are led  to the conclusion, that although
 the excitement and heat of fever are incompatible with a state
 of health, yet this very excitement and  heat  are  subservient
 to the restoration of a healthy process,  and arises from the
 operation of that law  by which all diseases have a tendency
 to be removed by the effects  which they produce.   And thus
 we may see that Deity, in his designs, has an eye to the pre-
 servation of his creatures; and that although dissolution awaits
 all things possessing  life, yet  he has, amongst the seeds of dis-
 solution seated a redeeming principle by which the life of man
 may be, and is no doubt, preserved for a much greater length
of time  than it otherwise could be.
   But this hot or  feverish condition of the system, however
 useful or necessary it may be, must not too long continue, or
 the tone of the organs becomes so much injured as to be in-
capable of carrying on the vital operations of the system, and
the living power becomes exhausted.
      20 
154
IE VCR.
  In contemplating the  singular succession of symptoms in
fever, we are forcibly  impressed with  the  wisdom and good-
ness of the great Benefactor, in the wise adaptation of means
to the ends which it is necessary to accomplish in the restora-
tion of health.  The fact we believe was first noticed by Dr.
Cullen, that the violence and intensity of the fever is almost
always in  corresponding proportion with the  duration and
force of the chill.  Hence, if the chill have been long and se-
vere, the succeeding heat and excitement will rise to a cor-
responding height; because the greater the prostration of the
vital power, and the greater the constriction of the vessels of
the skin, the greater must be the excitement and heat to over-
come them.  It is an invariable rule in physics, that the effect
will always be  equal  to the cause by which it is produced;
and the effect must also be equal to the end to be accomplish-
ed  by its production; and  hence, in  fever, if the chill and
constriction be severe, the excitement and  heat must be pro-
portionally great to overcome them.
  The hot stage, of which we have been speaking, after con-
tinuing a length of time, is succeeded by the sweating  stage,
which completes the paroxysm of fever.
  Heat is  known to be one of the most important products of
animal life; the continual operation and effect of which is ne-
cessary to  existence.   Its artificial application to the body in
any manner, or by any  means, uniformly  relaxes  the  solids,
attenuates the fluids, promotes the secretions and excretions,
particularly perspiration, and  increases the sensibility  of the
external parts.  Hence, when the heat of fever has arisen suf-
ficiently high, and  continued  sufficiently long, the juices be-
come attenuated or thinned, the constricted vessels are relax-
ed, the secretions are promoted, and a moisture breaks  out on
the forehead, which gradually becomes a sweat, and extends
over the whole  body.  With  the flowing of  the  sweat, the
heat of the body subsides, arid most of the functions are again
 performed nearly in their ordinary  manner.
    We have now given the history of a complete paroxysm of
 fever, which, as Dr.  Fordyce asserts,  constitutes the whole
 disease, and from which we think no one, after mature deli-
 beration, will dissent.
    A perfect paroxysm,  agreeably to  the views of Fordyce,'
 makes an  end to the disease, and leaves the patient in  his or-
 dinary health, when  he is no more liable to a return of  the
 fever than one who has not had it.  All fevers consist either
 of a single paroxysm, such as we have described, or of "repe-
 titions of  it, modified in a great variety of ways."*
' Fordyce on Fever, page 106. 
FEVER.
155
  In the true ague, these simple paroxysms recur at different
periods, from twenty-four to seventy-two hours, or in some in-
stances a longer time elapses between them.  In this disease,
which is also termed intermittent fever, the fits at each return,
go through the same round of stages, cold, hot, and sweating;.
and, in some instances, continue their recurrence  for a  long
time, even for a year or more, without any apparent exhaus-
tion of the patient's strength, after the first few days or weeks.
  The regular and exact return of the paroxysms of intermit-
tent fever, has often engaged the attention of medical men, in
all ages; but hitherto no satisfactory cause has been assigned
for  this common but extraordinary phenomenon.   Some  have
attributed, or rather compared it to  that disposition so conspi-
cuous in many of the operations of nature to observe regular
periods; as, for instance, the  earth's annual revolution round
the sun; its diurnal revolution on its axis; the  regular return
of the seasons, &c. &c.  But even admitting that there was
some analogy  between the revolutions of the  earth and the
regular  return of the paroxysms of an intermittent, it would
account for nothing—it would explain nothing.  With regard
to the revolutions of the earth, and  the return of the  seasons,
we not only know that they  take place regularly within cer-
tain periods, but we also know the reason or cause why it is so.
Attraction produces the revolutions of the earth, as well as of
the whole solar system; and the particular position of the
earth with regard to the sun, causes the regular return of the
seasons.  But  do  we  see  any thing like this influencing the
return,  with so much  regularity, of the paroxysms of fever?
Or can there be any correspondence pointed out between the
movements of the  heavenly bodies,  and the operations of ani-
mal life?  We answer, assuredly, no!  The first  are  under
the influence of physical, and the latter of organic laws; and
there can, therefore, be no similarity or correspondence what-
ever between  them.
   Without pretending to be  able to explain this hidden mys-
tery, we  will suggest  a few  ideas  which may possibly  assist
some more acute observer, in the investigation of this intricate
pathological question.
   We will first direct our attention  to the origin or first parox-
ysm of the disease.  It often happens, says Fordyce, and it is
confirmed by our own  observation,  that a person may sit  down
to  his dinner  with a  good appetite, and  apparently in good
health, and be taken so suddenly sick that he will be able to
 eat nothing;  or he may eat a hearty meal, and have a severe
 attack of fever shortly afterward.   Occurrences of this kind
 are by no means uncommon.   The  morbid  poison, or what-
 ever it may be that thus so suddenly prostrates the vital pow-
 er, could not, for the first time, have been applied to the syi- 
156
FEVER.
tern, at the moment of attack; the body must have been pre-
viously subjected to its influence, from which time it was se-
cretly at work, until some favored moment presented to exer-
cise the full extent of its powers.  The consequence then is a
paroxysm of fever;  which, if it prove an intermittent, returns
again after twenty-four, forty-eight, seventy-two hours,  &c,
according to  the type which it may assume.
  It would seem that the sedative power which produced the
first paroxysm, still held its seat in the system, and was secretly
exerting its influence  as at first, until it produced another fit
of the disease.  The time which these sedative powers require
to produce their specific effect, is probably modified by  some
peculiar influence of the febrile virus upon  the living power,
or upon the organs of the system; or by the idiosyncrasy of the
individual.  It may also be modified by the seasons of exer-
cise and repose; that  is, day and night.   Exercise and  rest,
or sleep, have an important influence upon our bodies; and a
due proportion of each,  regularly observed, is  essential to
health.
  There is also another circumstance worthy of consideration
in discussing  the probable causes of the regular returns of in-
termittents.  We find that  the  human system is capable of
enduring the  exhaustion of exercise for only a limited portion
of the  twenty-four hours, when repose becomes necessary, in
order to  recruit the exhausted powers of nature.  Now, may
not the paroxysm of fever either exhaust or remove from the
system the offensive matter which produced the paroxysm?—
Hence after  the fit has subsided, but the  vital organs being
under the influence of the same  causes which generated the
peccant matter that gave rise to  the first paroxysm, and after
the lapse of some specific period another fit is produced, by
which the hurtful matter is again exhausted.  Thus the return
of the fits will be regulated by the  capacity of the organs to
generate the  cause which produces it; or by their disposition
to return to that peculiar state which is necessary to induce
another paroxysm.  Hence in some cases this will take place
in twenty-four, forty-eight or seventy-two hours, according as
the organs are disposed to return to  that state which favors
the recurrence of the paroxysm, in some one of those periods.
  Our ideas respecting the modification of the effects of the
febrile virus,  or whatever else it  may be that produces fever,
upon the living power or upon the organs, as regulating the
length of the  intervals between the fits, receive support from
the irregularity of the paroxysms of a remittent fever.  In
this disease, the fits recur at irregular intervals, and without
a perfect remission of the fever:  the paroxysms are also very
irregular in their duration.  As this fever is produced by the
same remote causes, or sedative powers, that induce an  inter- 
FEVER.
157
   mittent, we may readily infer that a modification of the effects
   of the febrile virus, gives  rise to the different types of the
   disease.              v  .
    Another modification of fever is that termed continued.  In
   this type the paroxysms succeed each other in such rapid suc-
   cession, that no perfect remissions take place between them:
   Hence the name, continued fever.
    The  explanation of continued fever, which we have just
   given, has been pretty generally received and admitted since
   the time of Fordyce, and affords another proof of the univer-
  sal operation of the law that we have endeavored to illustrate,
  which makes disease  its  own  physician.  We have  already
  given the general history of a paroxysm of fever, in which was
  pointed out the dependence of one  event upon another that
  preceded it, and that all the events which succeed the cold
  stage  are necessary in the natural process of cure.  In conti-
  nued  fevers, there are evident  exacerbations  and remissions
  daily;* but the  remissions are less prominent or  distinguish-
  able than in fevers of the remittent  type.  This fever is also
  produced by the same exciting causes which induce either of
  the other types; and may therefore be  considered as another
  modification of the effects of the febrile virus upon the living
  power of the system, or on some of its organs.
   In continued  fevers, the salutary effects of the healing pro-
  cess are not so extensive, or they are not, from some cause, so
  efficacious, as they are in intermittents.   Although a remis-
 sion is partially produced, there is no crisis; the symptoms only
 abate,  and then become exasperated.
   Thus we have shown that the  same law runs through all
 the different types of fever; but in some acting with less energy
 than in others.   In what Fordyce terms a simple fever, which
 consists of but one single paroxysm, this law acts  with such
 energy that health  is completely restored.  In other words,
 the offending matter, or that specific state of the organs which
 produced the peculiar train of symptoms termed  fever, be-
 comes so completely expelled or annihilated, or changed, that
 a healthy action  is established, and the patient is no more lia-
 ble to a second paroxysm than one who has not had an attack.
 In intermittents this law acts with less force, or these crrcum-
 stances less perfectly take place; and consequently a perfectly
 sound healthy action does not immediately ensue; but another
 paroxysm succeeds after some specific interval, according to
 the type which the fever may incline  to assume, and may be
followed by a repetition of the fits for a considerable length of
time.
* Thomas' Modern Practice. 
158
FI.VE1J.
  In remittent fevers, this law acts with still  less force and
with less regularity, than in intermittents; whilst in continued
fevers its powers are nearly inert: but  even in these it often
ultimately prevails and accomplishes a cure unaided by medi-
cine.
  In remittent and continued fevers, it  would  seem that the
excitement and heat were not sufficient to exhaust the offend-
ing matter, or change the condition of the organs, whichever
it may be that causes fever, sufficiently to produce a solution
or crisis of the paroxysm; and hence, although there may be,
as there always is, an abatement of the symptoms, yet it does
not amount to a  complete intermission of fever.  But by a
continued repetition of the  paroxysms  the condition of the
organs may become so changed, or the virus so exhausted, that
perfect health will be restored.
  These natural processes by which  the organs are coerced
into a healthy action may however be promoted by the aid
of suitable means, and health be thereby much sooner resto-
red, than by  trusting to the  simple operations of  nature.
For it is one of the grand fundamental principles of our sys-
tem, that a healthy action can only  be restored to the vital
organs, by a stimulant or forcing  power applied to them in
the form of medicine, as life can only be preserved by a simi-
lar power derived from food.
   Those who are familiar with the history of medicine will
undoubtedly perceive the close analogy which exists between
our views and those of Dr. Cullen; and therefore it might
be considered as presumption in  us  to  claim originality for
our own; but in justice to ourselves we may say that our
ideas upon this subject were conceived and matured without
any knowledge of Cullen's  theory  other than  a casual no-
tice of his doctrine of spasm, which  we found in Thomas'
Modern Practice of Physic, under the head of continued fe-
ver.   But since our own views were more fully matured, and
an anxiety thereby excited to become  acquainted with the
opinions  of others upon  this interesting subject, we have
turned our attention to  the Cullenian System and were grati-
fied to find it so much in unison  with our own. We have
 therefore seized  upon whatever  we thought valuable in his
 system and appropriated it to the explanation  of our own.
 Those who believe the system of Dr. Cullen to be on the
 wane, may very naturally conclude  that ours can  derive no
 support from it; but we are  amongst those who believe that
 several of the most important features of his theory stand yet
 unimpaired; and if it  be at this moment,  says Dr. Good,
 crumbling into decay, it certainly is  not falling prostrate be-
 fore any fabric of more substantial materials, or more elegant
 architecture. 
FKVER.
159
  We must be permitted, however, in justice to ourselves, to
observe that in some particulars we differ from, and in some
respects supply the defects of, Dr. Cullen.  He appears to
think that the cold stage, with spasm of  the minute vessels,
is merely a link in the remedial process; whereas  we regard
them, and particularly the spasm or what we term constric-
tion, as amongst the first effects of diseased action, which must
be opposed, and a contrary state of the system produced.  In-
deed, it must be evidentthat if the spasm were a part of nature's
process for restoring health, then it must follow that to  pro-
mote health we must encourage this spasm, instead of oppo-
sing it, to restore  a healthy action to the system.   We  con-
sider the hot and the sweating stages alone as concerned in
the remedial process, and therefore these alone are to be en-
couraged and promoted.  Not that the absolute appa/ent heat
of the  body in fever ought to be increased, but the cold stage
should be removed; whilst the relaxation  of the  constricted
vessels and the perspiration ought  to  be assisted by proper
means.  We must, therefore, distinguish in our attempts to
heal the sick, between those symptoms which are mere evi-
dences of diseased action and those which indicate those pro-
cesses by which health is restored.
   There is nothing, says Dr. Good, in  Cullen's hypothesis to
account for a  return of debility and  spasm after they  have
been subdued; nor to show why spasm should ever in the first
instance be a result of debility.   This  objection we have en-
deavored to obviate in our own theory; though something yet
remains to be done to perfect it.
   We will close  the subject of this section by a few remarks
upon the causes which have produced  the  failure of theories
and the consequent incessant round  which they have  been
running in the works  of medicine.  The principal cause of
 this failure and consequent fluctuation may be summed up in
 few words—ignorance in some instances, of medicines which
 would act in harmony with theory and  the laws of life; and in
 others, the perversion of sound principles in their applica-
 tion to medicine.
   Dr. Brown's  theory was condemned chiefly because his
 stimulants, which were brandy, opium, &c. did not act in
 harmony with the laws of animal life.   We do not, however,
 refer to his theory of fever, as we think this quite inconsistent,
 but to his general theory of disease  which embraced many
 truths.  Dr.  Brown's stimulants, which indeed are those in
 common use with the  whole Faculty, produce a mere tempo-
 rary  excitement of the vascular and nervous systems, without
 adding any  thing substantially to the living  power.  They
 seem to produce their effect upon the body by calling into ac-
 tion  the vital energy and thus induce an expenditure and 
160                      FEVER.
 waste of this force beyond what the natural operations of the
 system  without them woufd require.  Hence, when their ac-
 tion ceases, the strength and vital power of the patient is al-
 ways found to be exhausted in  proportion to the  excitement
 which has  thus been produced.  We may illustrate this pro-
 position more  intelligibly by  supposing a vital scale upon
 which the  power of life is graduated.  Upon this scale we
 will suppose death to be zero, or the starting point, at the bot-
 tom of  the scale.   We  will now suppose that an  attack of
 disease  reduces the living power  from forty  to  twenty de-
 grees: we  then administer a dose of brandy, or opium, which
 raises it to  twenty-five degrees in the scale.  Here now is an
 excess of five degrees produced by the stimulus of the medi-
 cine; but inasmuch as neither the brandy nor opium add any
 thing substantially to the living power, therefore, so soon as
 the  exciting power of  the medicine is exhausted, it sinks
 down to fifteen degrees in the scale; just as much below where
 it first  stood, as the stimulus of the  brandy or  opium  had
 raised it above it.  It will add nothing to the weight of argu-
 ment in favor of  those unnatural stimulants to say that  they
 must be repeated before this sinking takes place;  because, if
 one dose wears out the living power, or, as Brown calls it, ex-
 citability, as is universally  admitted,  then two  doses must
 weaken it still more, until it is annihilated.

   We have reiterated the rule, that medicine  ought to act in
 harmony with nature or the  laws of life, even as much so as
 food; and if it do, it will not wear out the  living  power, but
 will  add something to it as food does.   It is upon this rule
 that medicine ought to act;  at least, it ought not to weaken
 the power of life, either  directly, as the cathartics in common
 use and sedatives do, or indirectly as brandy and opium do.
 Had Dr. Brown's medicines possessed the happy quality of
 acting in harmony writh life, the fate of his system would have
 been far otherwise than it is, and the corrupt and  incendiary
 practice which had preceded his time, and which has prevailed
 down to the present  moment, would have been shorn of many
of its destructive  weapons.
   Dr. Cullen's practice too, had it been in accordance with
 his theory,  both as to the medicine and its mode of  adminis-
 tration,  would have  disrobed fever, that frightful  specter, of
 half its terrors.  But his eye was closed—his judgment sealed!
 Although he had the capacity to unbar the gates  of wisdom,
 and open the portals of science—to penetrate the  recesses of
 knowledge, and remove much of the rubbish with which med-
 ical learning was encumbered, yet he was so wedded to estab-
 lished remedies, that with all the force of his brilliant genius,
 and the  power of  his mighty mind, he did  nothing  substan- 
FEVER.                      161
 tially to improve the  healing art; for,  "as a practitioner,"
 says Dr. Parr, "he was often feeble and indecisive."
   In like manner, Dr. Fordyce improved the theory or prin-
 ciple of treating fevers; which was to employ such medicines
 as were best calculated to produce the same effects that are
 observed in the termination of a paroxysm by the simple pow-
 ers of nature.  Or, in his own language  " to produce those ap-
 pearances which take place in the  ordinary crisis of fever;"
 and no  fever was ever terminated in any other way, except it  '
 were by death.  Every fever, from the mildest  ephemera, or
 slightest intermittent, to the most malignant plague, if it ends
 in health, must terminate by a free perspiration.  And it is
 the object of the  physician's anxious care to promote this es-
 sential evacuation.  It was upon this principle of drawing the
 indica (ions' of cure from nature's own pointings, that Dr. For-
 dyce's practice was founded; and the principle was undoubt-
 edly correct; but alas!  he also failed of complete success,be-
 cause his remedies  were incompatible with the laws of animal
 life.
   It was reserved for Dr.  Thomson  to settle the clashing and
 contending of theories with practice, and to shed a lustre upon
 medical science with which it had never before been honored.
 We have heretofore observed that he first matured his system
 of practice,  and then framed his theory  by it; and it  matters
 little whether a theory  be  correct or not, if the  practice be
 sound and efficacious.   Dr. Thomson's theory, however, was
founded upon a few prominent features of his practice, which,
as he was altogether unaided by science, led him into errors:
 but they are of little  practical  importance.   He found, for
 instance, that stimulating medicines are universally applicable
in all cases  of disease.   All the  articles  of this class which he
used produce a burning sensation in the  mouth, and warm the
 whole system: hence he came to the conclusion that heat was
 the vital power or principle, and that its quantity in the body
 being diminished was the universal cause of disease.  This
 hypothesis we  have shown to be  incorrect;  but with his
strength and originality of mind, had Dr.  Thomson been aided
 by the lights of science, we have little  doubt that he would
 have adopted very nearly the views  of Dr. Cullen; we mean
 with regard to fever.
   Another .peculiar trait in Dr. Thomson's theory, is his spec-
 ulation  about canker; which he says is caused by cold. This
 canker, he thinks, is seated inside, and if a fever is kept up, it
"will ripen and come off in a short time."   "This idea,!' says
 he, "is  new and never was known until my discovery."  But
 waving any further notice of these, and many other  equally
 fantastical notions, which are the undoubted effects of a want
 of education, we will observe, that without  this singular idea
       21 
162                  INFLAMMATION.

respecting canker, his method of treatment would have been
incomplete.  He would scarcely, under any other view of fever,
have adopted his  valuable class of astringent articles  which
he terms canker medicines; and without which any system of
medical practice would be very imperfect.   In short we be-
lieve that however defective  Dr. Thomson's theory may be,
it has certainly given a spring to medical improvement beyond
any thing previously offered to the world.  It may, therefore,
be regarded as one of the most striking events of the age, as
well as  the most important innovation ever attempted  in the
science of medicine.
                     SECTION 2.

                   OF  INFLAMMATION.

  The theory of inflammation, in many of its features, bears
a close analogy to that of fever, though in some respects it is
different.  The increase of local heat which attends inflam-
mation appears  to depend upon  the same cause in the  one
case that it does in the other; whilst the local effects are quite
different.  In fever, there is a general derangement of action
of the capillary vessels throughout the whole system, whilst in
inflammation it is confined to a particular part.   Local in-
flammations  may take place from a sudden loss of tone in the
diseased part, with the living power apparently in full vigour,
whilst in those diseases properly termed fevers the vital force
is evidently  diminished.   All extensive or severe inflamma-
tions, however they  may be denominated local, in their ef-
fects upon the system weaken the power of life, and thus pro-
duce general derangement of the whole system and fever.
  Various theories  have been proposed  to  account for  the
phenomena of inflammation.  Nothing, however, has yet been
offered to the world, and perhaps never may be, that is  not
liable to some objection, or which may not be,  in some  res-
pects, palpably absurd.
  The most commonly  received theory of inflammation is,
that it is caused  by  " an increased action of the blood vessels,
propelling forward a greater quantity of blood than usual into
the part affected, by which means its sensibility and irritabil-
ity  are increased, its vessels distended beyond  their  natural
tone, and the circulation through them rendered more rapid."
In this view, however, several things are assumed as facts,
which  scarce deserve the character of conjectures.  This
hypothesis pre-supposes  the heart or arteries, to be possessed
of a discriminating  power, the  one to send  or the other to 
INFLAMMATION.
163
 convey, to the inflamed part, a greater quantity of blood
 than  is usual or necessary.   And even  admitting  that this
 might be the case, the conclusion would seem irresistible that
 inflammation should extend through the  whole length of the
 vessels which convey the blood; that is, that it should not be
 confined to  any particular part, but extend the whole length
 of the artery, from the heart to its termination.
   But there is another view of this subject more difficult to
 reconcile with the doctrine under review.  There  is no one
 part of the  system  except the heart supplied exclusively by a
 single artery, but by innumerable ramifications of  several of
 them. Hence this discriminating power of furnishing an in-
 flamed part with a  superabundance of blood  must reside in
 several different vessels, and  which, if an increased quantity
 of  blood  had any  agency in  producing the inflammation,
 would be as likely  to produce it on a large scale  as a small
 one.   Moreover, we have no evidence, says Dr. Good, that a
 mere  accumulation  of blood  can produce that augmentation
 of heat which characterizes and gives name to inflammation.
 But there probably is not, in  the whole science of pathology,
 one solitary fact recorded, having the least tendency to estab-
 lish the proposition, that any more blood is propelled to an
 inflamed than to a healthy part.
  Moreover, the doctrine that the vessels of the part are "dis-
 tended beyond their natural tone$ and the circulation through
 them  rendered more rapid," is quite inconsistent with itself.
 For if we admit the distention of the vessels, it must then fol-
 low that the circulation will be more slow; for by increasing
 the volume of the stream, we shall decrease the velocity of
its current.  A late theory, however, suggests  that these ves-
sels "exercise  a power by which they, as it were, pump the
blood from the larger arteries with increased rapidity."*  But
this argument only increases  the difficulty.   In order either
 to engorge those enlarged vessels according to the  latter, or
 to increase the rapidity of the circulation agreeably to the
 former theory, the  blood, whether by "pumping" or by any
 other operation,  must be  forced  through  the adjacent vessels
 which are in a healthy condition, with still more rapidity than
 they possibly can be through  the vessels of the inflamed part.
  Now admitting Dr. Good's  assertion to  be correct, and few,
 if any will dispute  him, that we have no evidence that a mere
 accumulation of blood  can produce that augmentation of heat
 which characterizes and gives name to inflammation, in con-
 nection with our method of accounting  for the production of
 heat,  and  the  seat of inflammation would not be at a mere
 point, as has been said, nor would it be in the distended ves-

       * Smith's Surgical Anatomy of the Arteries; page  9, 
164                  INFLAMMATION.
sels, but it would be diffused in the adjacent parts and vessels
through which the blood must flow  with greater rapidity than
in the part which is actually diseased.
  If inflammation depended upon an increased action of the
blood vessels,  as is  commonly supposed, this symptom should
show itself first; wrhereas it is secondary in its appearance.
Local inflammation, assuming or admitting this as a fact, could
not be a primary affection, but always symptomatic of previ-
ous deranged action of the vascular system.
  That the "sensibility and irritability" of an  inflamed  part
are increased there  is no doubt; hut that this is caused by the
greater quantity than usual of blood  in the part, we  think is
incorrect.  The blood is not possessed, so far  as  known, of
either of those properties  termed sensibility  or irritability.
Therefore, admitting that there is a greater quantity of blood
than usual in an inflamed part, it would not follow from that
fact, abstractly considered, that the  sensibility or irritability
of the part was increased.   But still this is the fact, in some
sense.   Both are owing to the derangement of action in the
diseased part, hut sensibility is increased to no other  stimulus
than that of mechanical pressure or violence.  To the effects
of the living stimulants, an  inflamed part is less sensible  than
a healthy or sound one.  Indeed, this seems to be  the proxi-
mate cause  of inflammation, the parts becoming less sensible
of  impressions  from that vital stimulus  which pervades,
through the medium of the blood, every part of  the body.
Inflammation often takes place in  a  system otherwise  in a
healthy state; and unless the part in which it is about to take
place, becomes insensible to the vital influence, it cannot by
any possible means become inflamed.
   Our argument on this  point also derives support from the
fact, that inflamed surfaces  are far less sensible to impressions
from  stimulants  externally applied.  Thus, if we  apply a
strong wash of cayenne pepper and vinegar or brandy to an
inflamed part, it does not produce that sensible effect that it
would to any other part that is free from disease, or to the same
part when not inflamed.  Here is what we conceive to be posi-
tive proof that the  vital sensibility is deficient.  The morbid
 sensibility, or that  tenderness to the touch, which frequently
 occurs in inflammations, is  probably  caused  by the distention
 and loss of tone which inflamed parts often suffer during  their
 progress to suppuration.  It may  be also observed, that the
 higher the inflammation the less sensible  the part is to the
 effects of stimulus; whilst on  the  contrary, the more the  in-
 flammation is reduced, the more sensible it becomes to the op-
 eration of those substances.
   We must also  notice another feature in the popular hypo-
 thesis of inflammation.  It is said that in consequence of the 
INFLAMMATION.
165
"greater quantity of blood than usual in the affected part, its
vessels are distended beyond their natural tone, and the  cir-
culation through them  rendered  more  rapid."  Now, admit-
ting that the vessels are distended and the  circulation more
rapid, upon what principle can we account for the effusion of
lymph and blood into  the  cellular tissue, which attends in-
flammations, especially  those  terminating in suppuration?
This circumstance, as  well as the swelling  of an inflamed
part, ought, in our opinion, to be  attributed to other causes
than a distention of the blood vessels.
  A simple distention  of the vessels of a part, would render
such part soft and yielding, especially if the contained fluids
were passing through them with greater facility, as they natu-
rally would in such case.   But we know, on the  contrary,
that an inflamed part usually becomes more hard  and firm.
  We propose to account for the effusion as well as the hard-
ness attending inflamed parts by supposing, in the first place,
that the vessels are obstructed; that instead of being distended,
they are  contracted, and their diameters lessened.  The blood
being driven on through the arteries, and meeting with these
contracted vessels, it is, by the pressure which it receives from
behind, forced  through the walls of the arteries,  thus produ-
cing what is termed effusion or extravasation.  We think the
reader will now anticipate the cause of the swelling and hard-
ness to which we have  alluded.   It may rationally be attribu-
ted to the extravasation of the blood, or any of its  component
parts, as  lymph or  serum, in the cellular tissue of the inflamed
part.
  We also refuse our assent to the proposition that the diame-
ters  of the circulatory  vessels are  enlarged in inflammation,
not only  because there is no proof of it, but  because it  ap-
pears inadequate to account  for the concomitant symptoms
and effects attendant upon the complaint, and is also contrary
to the nature of the animal economy.  But it is inconsistent
with a popular  treatise to descend to minute particulars, and
notice all the errors and  inconsistencies with which the theo-
ry of inflammation has  been  burthened.   We will, therefore,
content ourselves with  briefly putting forth  our own views,
accompanied by such remarks upon the opinions of others, as
may be considered appropriate to the subject.
  Our own  ideas,  then,  of inflammation, are briefly these;
that it is caused by an obstruction in the circulatory vessels,
and  not, as  some have  thought, in a change of the fluids con-
tained in them;  because inflammation often occurs in persons
otherwise in perfect health, whose circulating fluids are in a
pure state; whilst the inflammatory process must be referred
to some local cause acting exclusively upon the part inflamed.
These local causes may be external violence, such as bruises 
166                  INFLAMMATION.
  or wrounds, or they may depend upon some internal cause, of
  which we have no knowledge.  But most certain it is, that
  the effect of this  cause is to render  the vessels incapable of
  performing their  healthy actions,  as we have heretofore ob-
  served, by contracting their diameters.   But the blood being
  still driven to the part, and forced  through these vessels with
  greater rapidity than in health, being a necessary consequence
  of their reduced  diameter, an unusual friction is produced,
'  which, upon our principle of accounting for the production of
  animal heat, will cause an increase of temperature  in the
  part, which is the most universal characteristic of inflamma-
  tion.  This  increased heat appears to have an influence upon
  the contractility of the arteries of the part affected, which ac-
  celerates the transmission of blood through the diseased region.
    Inflammation may  be defined, a  diseased or imperfect vital
  action of some  local part;  the  vessels of the inflamed region
  being incapable of performing  their living functions;  and so
  far as they fail in this, so far there is in the diseased part, an ap-
  proach towards death.  Marvel not that we speak of the death
  of a part of the  human body or organs.   It has taken place in
  thousands of instances under the name of mortification.   And
  it seems to be a  prevailing idea, that this occurs in consequence
  of the increased heat attending inflammation; for in  propor-
  tion to the  heat  will be our apprehension  of mortification.
  But still the heat has no connection  with it, as a cause; indeed,
  so long as the heat continues there will be no mortification.
    The fact is, that heat  is  an effect of the same cause which
  leads to the putrefaction of living matter.  An inability of the
  organs, either wholly or in part, to perform their functions, is
  the first effect of all disease, and is equally the case in local in-
  flammation.   It is this inability of the vessels to perform their
  functions, which  causes  the  heat of inflammation.  As this
  inability increases, their approaching death advances and the
  heat is augmented.   Thus the increase of heat, and the inca-
  pacity of the vessels  to perform their vital functions, go hand
  in hand, until their living action becomes utterly destroyed;
  when mortification or death of the part ensues, which puts an
  end to the production of heat and of inflammation.
    We also object  to the common distinctions of inflammation,
  such as healthy and unhealthy;  considering all inflammations
  as being  unhealthy,  arising from an unhealthy action in the
  part inflamed.   The  circumstances which have given  rise to
  this vague and unmeaning distinction are no other than a heal-
  thy or unhealthy state  of the general  system.  Inflamma-
  tions occurring in an individual in the full possession of health,
  will almost  always terminate  in  a  kind, healthy manner:
  whilst in  others whose health is not good, and with a peculiar
  predisposition, or idiosyncrasy, they often assume forms of great 
INFLAMMATION.                  167
 malignancy or virulence.   "The  general principle of inflam-
 mation," says Dr. Good, "is the same in all;" the different kinds
 are only modifications of the same thing, arising from some pe-
 culiarity of the  patient, or of the tissue in which the disease
 is located.
   Neither can we accede  to that doctrine  which  attributes
 the production of inflammation to an effort of the healing pow-
 er of nature to drain the system of some foul humor;.or in the
 words of Dr. Good, "a concentration of the constitutional com-
 plaint" at the  inflamed point.   How a man of the enlighten-
 ed philosophy  of Dr. Good, could subscribe to such doctrine
 as this, is incomprehensible.  This is to suppose that disease
 is a host of inimical little beings, which are roaming at large
 through  the system, and  committing their depredations; or
 that it is some noxious matter pervading the body without any
 fixed principles,  but which, at length, concentrates itself for a
 vigorous effort, and bursts  forth in the heat  and fury of its
 passion, in the form of inflammation.
  But we have perhaps dwelt sufficiently long upon this sub-
ject; and although it is by no  means exhausted, enough  has
 been said to convey a general idea of the nature of that local
 state of the organs, denominated inflammation. 
168
            RECAPITULATION.



  As we are now about to close the  first part of our work,
which embraces the general principles upon which the true
science of medicine is founded,  we here propose a brief reca-
pitulation of the whole subject; in which may be seen atone
view, as it were, the whole doctrine for which we contend.
  1. We have endeavored to establish the fact,  that life is a
forced state;  or in other words, that man is  comparable to a
machine which is kept in motion by the continual application
of a moving power—that this power is drawn from food, drink,
and air; the withholding of which from the body, for a very
limited period,  or a failure of  any of the organs to prepare
these materials for yielding this power to the system, produ-
ces death.
  2. That this power is constantly wearing out;  as the  pow-
er of a steam engine having produced one stroke of the pis-
ton is then exhausted, and the machinery must stop if the same
power  were  not constantly being generated, a measure of
which immediately supplies the place of that which was just
spent.   And, therefore, the living power must  be  regularly
and constantly supplied to the  animal machine, or disease and
death will be the consequence.
  3. That those substances  from which  the living power is
drawn, after having yielded  this power to the body, must be
removed; which may be compared to the steam in the steam
engine, which after having exhausted its force, must  pass off
to make room for the application of another supply of power,
or the machine must stop.
   4. We have shown that health, which  it  is the physician's
object to preserve  or restore, consists in the harmonious ac-
 tion of all the organs of the animal machine, which can only
 be preserved by a suitable supply of  the living power, and by
 the constant removal  from the body  of the  worn-out  materi-
 als from which this power is drawn,  thus keeping the system
 pure and unincumbered with useless  matter.
   5. That disease is a diminution of the living power.  That
 in  every variation from  a state of health, this power is always
 deficient and never in excess; because nature never produced
 or provided a power more than adequate to the accomplish-
 ment of her objects.  That the ultimate effect of disease is 
                     •w.^ Ar.iuLATION.                  169

death, and therefore every stage of it is an advancement to-
wards that state, in which the living power is annihilated.
That the only rational mode of cure is  to restore the  living
power to its proper influence over the system.
   6.  We have  pointed  out the destructive nature and ten-
dency of the medicines in common use with the mineral Fac-
ulty,  showing that their effect is to weaken the power of life,
and thus assist disease in its destructive  career,  instead of
opposing a barrier to its progress.
   7.  That medicines ought to act in unison and harmony with
the laws of life; and that those of this character are only to
be sought and found in the vegetable kingdom;  and that such
is the character, and such the source, of the medicines in com-
mon use by the most approved botanical practitioners.
   8.  We have endeavored to show that  there can  be no such
operation of the system as is termed an  effort of nature. The
using of this expression is calculated to mislead the mind, and
therefore ought to be rejected.   We believe that it  is upon
this erroneous view, that has been founded the truly incendi-
ary practice of reducing or debilitating a sick patient, to cure
a fever and many other complaints.  But that notwithstand-
ing we have no  faith in the common notion of  disease being
cured by an effort of nature, we still believe that  there is a
healing power in the human system, susceptible of explana-
tion, in perfect harmony with our doctrine of passive nature.
   9. We have pointed out  the common indications  usually
considered by the mineral faculty, as necessary to answer in
the treatment of disease; many of which  we have shown to
be erroneous.   We have also pointed out the indications of
cure relied upon in the botanic  practice, showing that they
are drawn from nature, which alone can furnish, us with pro-
per data to enable us to make correct deductions.
   10. We have given  our views of fever and inflammation;
of which we think it not necessary to give a recapitulation.
END OF VOL. I.
22 
 
171
                      GLOSSARY,

OR EXPLANATION OF THE PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN
                          THIS VOLUME.

Abdomen, The belly.
Abscess, A tumor containing pus, as a boil, or other swelling.
Absorbents, 1. The small, delicate vessels which  suck  up substances
  from the surface, or from any cavity of the body, and carry them to the
  blood.  2.  Medicines which  destroy acidities in the stomach, &c.
  3. Substances which have the faculty of withdrawing moisture from
  the atmosphere.
Absorption, The taking up of substances by means of the absorbents.
Acid, That which imparts to the taste a sharp or sour sensation.
Acrid, Sharp, pungent, corrosive, or heating.
Albumen, Coagulable  lymph, similar to the white of eggs.
Aliment, Food and drink.
Alvine, Relating to the belly, or intestines;  hence the stools are termed
  the alvine discharges.
Anatomy, The dissection or dividing of organized bodies, to expose the
  structure, uses, &c. of the parts.
Anodyne, Any medicine which eases pain.
Antacid, That which destroys acidity.
Anthelmintic, That which procures the evacuation  of worms from the
  stomach and intestines.
Antispasmodic, That which removes, or tends to prevent spasms.
Antidote,  A preservative against, or a remedy for, disease,  and particu-
  larly for poison.
Aorta, The great artery of the body, which arises from the left ventri-
  cle of the heart.
Artery, A membraneous pulsating canal, through which the blood passes
  from the heart to every part of the body.
Asthenic, Diseases arising from debility are thus termed by Dr. Brown.
Astringent, That which corrects looseness and debility, by rendering
  the solids denser and .firmer, known by its puckering effect upon the
  mouth.
Atmosphere, The elastic invisible fluid which surrounds the earth, com-
  monly called the air.
Auricle, A name given to those parts of the heart which resemble small
  ears, and commonly called deaf ears.
Autocrateia,  The healing power of nature.
Bile, (or Gall,) A bitter fluid, generally of a  yellowish brown color, se-
  creted in the glandular substance of the liver.
Botany,  That part of natural history which relates to the vegetable
  kingdom.
Caloric, The chimical term for the matter of heat in its latent or unper-
  ceived state.
Canker, Small eroding ulcers, generally covered with a whitish slough.
Capillary vessels, The very small blood vessels.
Carbon, The chimical name for purified charcoal.
Carbonic acid, Fixed air, compounded of carbon andoxygen. 
172
GLOSSARY.
 Cartilage, A white elastic substance, which serves to facilitate the mo-
   tions of the bones, and to connect them together—often called gristle.
 Cathartic, That which produces purging of the intestines.
 Caustic, A burning application.                       *
 Cellular, Consisting of cells or reservoirs.
 Cerebral, Appertaining to the brain.
 Cerebrum,  ) ™u  v.
 n„~ j. u    > The brain.
 Cerebellum, $
 Chimistry, Is that science which teaches how to ascertain the nature of
   material substances, and the different parts  of which they are compo-
   sed, as well as the various effects, &c. which the union of different
   substances produce.
 Chronic, A term applied to  diseases of long continuance, and mostly
   without fever.
 Chyle, A white milky fluid,  separated from the  chyme after  the latter
   has passed from the stomach into the small intestines.
 Chyme, Food partially digested in the stomach.
 Clinical, Appertaining  to observations or practice at the bed-side of the
   patient.
 Clyster, (or GVyster,) A liquid substance injected into the lower intes-
   tines.

 cZatose, \ A strong propensity to sleep.
 Congestion, A collection of blood, or other fluid, which produces a grad-
   ual swelling of the part.
 Constipation, ) An obstruction, or preternatural slowness of evacuations
 Costiveness,  )   from the bowels.
 Constriction,  A drawing together, or contraction.
 Contagious, Diseases that may  be communicated  from one  person to
   another, as small pox, measles, &c.
 Convalescence, The  state of returning health after sickness.
 Convulsion, A violent contraction of the muscular parts by spasms.
 Corrosive, That which  has the quality of eating or wearing away sub-
   stances.
 Cupping, Drawing blood by means of scarification and a cupping glass.
 Cutaneous, Belonging to the skin.                         t
 Cutis vera, The true skin, which is covered by the cuticle or outward
   skin.
 Decarbonizing, Depriving of carbon.
 Deliquium, A medical term for swooning or fainting.
 Delirium, An alienation of mind, or wandering of the senses, caused by
   the violence of fever.
 Demulcent, Any medicine which lessens acrimony, or blunts the effect
   of sharp medicines.
 Diaphoretic,  That which, from being taken internally, promotes per-
   spiration, or discharges by  the skin.
 Diaphragm,  A muscle  separating the chest, or thorax, from the abdo-
   men, or lower belly: the midriff.
 Diarrhea, Purging or flux.  A frequent or copious evacuation of excre-
   ment by stool.
 Diathesis, Any particular state of the body.
Diffusible, A substance  that may flow or be spread in all directions.
Digestion, The process of dissolving aliment in the stomach, &c.
Diluent, Substances  which increase the proportion of fluid in the blood.
Discutient, That which  possesses the power of repelling or dissolving
  tumors.
Diuretic, That which, by its internal apphcation, augments the flow of
  urine from  the kidneys. 
GLOSSARY.
173
Drastic, Powerful; acting with strength and violence.
Drupaceous, A term applied to any pulpy fruit, having a nut or stone,
  with a kernal, as the peach, cherry, &c.
Duct, A small tube or vessel, by which fluids are carried from one part
  of the body to another.
Duodenum, The first portion of the small intestines.
Dyspepsia, Indigestion.
Element, First principles; a substance which can be no further divided
  or decomposed by chimical analysis.
Emetic, A  medicine which provokes vomiting.
Emmenagogue, That which tends to promote menstrual discharges.
Emollient,  That which softens and relaxes the solids.
Empirical, Pertaining to experiments; using without science; quackery.
Emunctory, Any organ of the body which serves to carry off excremen-
  titious matter.
Endemic, A disease that is peculiar to a  certain class of persons or
  country.
Enema, (see Clyster.)
Ephemera, A fever consisting of but one paroxysm.
Epidemic,  A contagious or other disease that attacks many people at the
  same season, and in the same place.
Epidermis, A thin membrane covering the true skin.   The scarf-skin.
Epigastric region, That  part of the abdomen that lies immediately over
  the stomach.
Epispastics, Applications which attract the humors to the skin; blistering.
Epistaxis,  Bleeding at the nose.
Errhines, Medicines which, when applied to the membranes of the nose,
  excite sneezing, and increase the secretion.
Eructation, The act of belching wind from the stomach.
Escharotic, Caustic; corrosive.
Exacerbation, An  increase of  febrile symptoms.
Exanthemalic, Eruption and redness of the skin.
Excrement, The alvine fseces, or stools.
Excretory ducts, Little vessels in the fabric of glands.
Exhalents, Small vessels which carry off the excrementitious, worn-out
  matter, from the system.
Exhibition, The act of administering medicines.
Expectorant, Medicines  which increase the discharge of mucus  from
  the lungs.                                             .
Extravasation, A  term applied to fluids which are out of their proper
  vprsgIs
Faces,  Excrements discharged from the intestines.
Fauces, The back part of the mouth.
Febrile, Pertaining to, or indicating fever.
Flatulency, Windiness in the stomach and  intestines.
Fluid, That which has the quality of flowing; a liquid.
Fomentation, A sort of partial  bathing, by applying flannels dipped in
  hot water, or medicated decoctions, to any part.
Friction, The act of rubbing the surface of one body against that of ano-

Fumigation, The application of fumes, or vapors, to destroy contagious
  effluvia in rooms, &c.
Gas, A permanently elastic aeriform fluid.
Gastric, Appertaining to the stomach.
Gastritis, Inflammation of the  stomach.
Gland, In anatomy, means a  distinct, soft body,  composed of blood-
  vessels, nerves,  and absorbents, and destined for the secretion or al-
  teration of some peculiar fluid. 
174                        GLOSSARV.
Hemorrhoids, The piles.
Hemorrhagy, A flux of blood proceeding from the rupture of a blood-
  vessel, or some other cause, other than external injury.
Humoral, Pertaining to, or proceeding from the fluids of the body.
Hypochondriac region, The spaces in the abdomen that are under the
  cartilages of the .spurious ribs.
Hypogastric region, The lower part of the abdomen.
Idiopathic, This term is applied  to such diseases as exist independent
  of all other complaints, in contra-distinction to those which are symp-
  tomatic.
Idiosyncrasy, A peculiar temperament or constitution of the body, which
  renders it liable, under certain circumstances, to a particular disease,
  which other persons under similar circumstances, would not be sub-
  ject to.
Integument, The covering which invests a body, or some particular part
  of a body, as  the skin, nails, &c.
Intestines, The convoluted membraneous tubes, situated in the cavity of
  the abdomen, vulgarly called guts.
Jejunum, The second portion of the  small intestines, so called because
  commonly found empty after death.
Lachrymal, Of, or appertaining  to,  tears, or the glands by which they
  are secreted,  &c.
Lacteals,  The vessels which absorb the chyle from the intestines, and
  pour it into the thoracic duct.
Lesion, A hurt;  wound; injury.
Ligament,  An  elastic strong membrane, connecting the extremities of
  the moveable bones.
Lithontriptics, Substances which  possess the power of dissolving gravel,
  or stone, in the urinary passages.
Lobe, A part or division of the lungs, liver, &c.
Local, Belonging to a part and not to the whole.
Loins, The small of the back.
Lumbago, A rheumatic affection of the muscles about the loins.
Lumbar regions, The loins.
Lungs, Two organs situated in the chest, by means of which we breathe.
Lymph,  A  colorless fluid,  separated from the blood, and contained in
  certain small vessels, called lymphatics.
Mania, Having or furious madness.
Materia Medica, That branch of medical science  which treats of the na-
  ture and properties of substances employed for the cure of diseases.
Mediastinum, A membraneous partition, which divides the cavity of the
  chest into two parts.
Membrane, A thin, flexible skin, serving to cover some part of the body.
Metaphysics, The scienc&of the  mind;  relating to the mind or immate-
  rial things.
Miliary, A disease accompanied by an eruption of the skin,  resembling
  millet seeds.
Morbid, Diseased, sickly.
Mucus, A slimy, ropy fluid, secreted-by the  mucous membrane.
Muscles, The organs of motion consisting of fibers, or bundles of fibers,
  inclosed in a thin cellular membrane.
Narcotic, A medicine which has the power  of procuring sleep by stu-
  pefaction.
Nausea, An inclination to vomit, without effecting it; also, a disgust of
  food, approaching to vomiting.
Nerves, Long white cords, originating in the brain and spinal marrow,
  and extending throughout the whole body, serving as the organs of
   sensation, &c. 
GLOSSARY.                        175
Nitrogen gas, An elementary, gaseous fluid, incapable of supporting ani-
  mal life; composing nearly four-fifths of the atmospheric air.
Nosology, The arrangement of diseases in classes, orders, genera, spe-
  cies, &c.
(Esophagus, The tube through which the food passes from the throat
  into the stomach.
Organ, A part of the body capable of performing some perfect act or
  operation.
Oxide, A substance formed by the union of oxygen with some other ma-
  terial; thus, rust of iron is a red oxide  of iron; the scales about the
  anvil  of a blacksmith are a black oxide of iron, &c.
Oxygen—Oxygen gas composes about one-fifth of the atmospheric air.
  It was formerly called vital air, because it appeared  to be the only
  part which exercised any stimulant effect upon the  living power.  It
  appears to  be absorbed or consumed in the combustion or burning of
  fuel;  and its absorption by cider, and other liquids, produces vinegar,
  and is hence called the principle of acidity, &c, &c.
Pallor, Paleness.
Pancreas, A soft, supple gland, situated in the lower part of the abdo-
  men, which secretes a kind of saliva, and pours it into the duodenum.
Pancreatic, Pertaining to the pancreas.
Papilla;,  1. The  nipple of the breast.  2. The fine termination of the  ■
  nerves.
Paralysis, Palsy; the loss of the power of muscular motion.
Paroxysm, 1. An obvious increase of the symptoms of a disease which
  lasts  a certain time and then declines. # 2. A periodical attack or fit
  of a disease.
Pathology, The doctrine of diseases.
Pathological, Relating to disease or a diseased state.
Peristaltic, The  vermicular (worm-like) motion of the intestines, by
  which they contract and propel their contents.
Perspiration, Evacuation of the fluids of the body, in the form of vapor,
  by the pores of the skin.
Pharynx, The muscular bag at the back part of the mouth, which re-
  ceives the masticated food,  and conveys it  into  the oesophagus, or
  gullet.
Philosophy, Is an investigation of the causes of all phenomena, both of
  mind and matter.   [It has various other definitions.]
Physical, (In the sense in which  this word  is used in  the foregoing
   work, means) Pertaining to material things, as opposed to things ima-
  ginary, ojtimmaterial.
Physiology, That science which treats of the phenomena proper to liv-
  ing bodies.
Physiological, Relating to the living state, or more especially to the laws
  and actions or operations of living bodies in a state of health; and in
   this sense  is opposed to a pathological or diseased state.
Phylotomy, (or Phytology,) A discourse or treatise of plants, or the sci-
  ence  of plants; vegetable anatomy.
Plethora,  1. An  excessive  fulness of vessels, or a redundance of blood.
   2. A  fulness of habit or body.
Pleura, A membrane which lines the internal surface of the thorax or
   chest, tiie inflammation of which is  termed pleurisy.
Pracordia, The  forepart of the  region of the thorax.
Predisposition, Previous inclination.
Priapism, Continual erection of the penis.
Prima; via;, The  first passages; the stomach and the intestinal tube.
Proximate, Nearest; next.   A proximate cause is that which immedi-
   ately precedes and produces any  particular effect. 
176
GLOSSARY.
  Ptyalism, An increased secretion of saliva from the mouth.
  Pulmonary, Appertaining to the lungs.
  Purgative, That which increases the intestinal discharges by stool.
  Pus, Matter; a whitish, cream-like fluid, found in inflamed abscesses,
    or on the surface of sores.
  Pustule, A small pimple or eruption on the skin,containingpus.
  Putrefaction, The spontaneous decomposition of such animal and vege-
    table matters as exhale a foetid smell.
  Refrigerant,  A  medicine which allays the heat of the  body  or of the
    blood.
  Respiration, The act of breathing.
  Retching, Straining to vomit.
  Rubefacient, A substance which, when applied a certain time to  the
    skin, induces a redness without blistering.
  Saburrhal, Relating to foulness of the stomach.
  Saliva, The fluid secreted by  the salival glands  and poured  into the
    mouth; spittle.
  Salivation,  An unusual secretion and discharge of saliva, usually pro-
    duced by  mercury, for the cure of disease.
  Salient, Springing; starting; darting.
  Salt, In chimistry, this term is  used to denote a compound,  in definite
    proportions, of acid matter with an alkali, earth, or metallic oxide.
 Sanguiferous, Conveying blood; as, for example, the blood-vessels are
   termed the sanguiferous system.
 Sciatica, A  rheumatic affection of the hip-joint.
 Scirrhus, A hard tumor commonly situated in a glandular part, and often
    terminating in a cancer.
 Sebaceous, Made of fat.
 Secretion, The act of producing or separating from the blood substances
   different  from the  blood itself, or of any of its constituents, as bile,
   saliva, &c. &c.
 Sedative, A  medicine that moderates muscular action, or animal energy,
   particularly checking the circulation of the blood.
 Sensorium, The brain is so called because it is the organ of all the senses.
 Serum,  1. Whey.  2. The fluid  which separates from  the blood when
   cold and at rest.
 Sesamoid, This term is applied  to the small bones sometimes found at
   the joints of the great toes and thumbs.
 Sialagogues, Medicines which excite an uncommon flow of saliva.
 Spasm, Cramp or convulsion.
 Spinal, Pertaining to  the back-bone.
 Stertor, Loud and difficult breathing.
 Sthenic, A term used by Dr. Brown, to denote an inflammatory  state of
  the body, arising from an excess of vigor.

 Stimuli  ' ( M-eQicines which excite the action or energy of the system.
 Strangury, A difficulty in voiding urine, attended with pain.
 Subclavian, Situated under the clavicle or collar bone.
 Subcutaneous, Under  the skin; a name given to some nerves, vessels,
  glands, &c. which are very near the surface of the body.
 Suppuration, The process by which pus, or matter, is deposited in in-
  flammatory tumors.
 Syncope, Fainting or swooning.
 Synocha, Inflammatory fever.
Syphilitic, Pertaining to the venereal disease.
 Tendon, The white and glistening extremity of a muscle, by which it is
  attached to the bones.
 Tepid, Lukewarm. 
                            GLOSSARY.                        1*7

Tetanus, The cramp; fits.
Thorax, The chest.
Tinnitus aurium, A noise, or ringing in the ears.
Tissues, The textures which compose the different organs.
Tonics, Medicines.that increase the strength or tone ofthe animal system.
Topical, Local; confined to some particular part.
Torpid, Numb; stupid;  inactive.
Trachea, The wind-pipe.
Transpiration, The exhalation of fluids from the pores ofthe skin, or
  lungs; perspiration.
Trunk, The main body of any thing.
Tube, A pipe; a cylindrical vessel which conveys a fluid, or other sub-
  stance.
Typhoid, Resembling typhus; weak, low.
Umbelliferous,  Bearing  umbels;  that is, flowers resembling  in their
  form an umbrella, such as the parsnip, fennel, &c.
Umbilical, Pertaining to the navel.
Vapor, Steam; an elastic, moist fluid which is thrown off from wet sub-
  stances, by the application of heat, and which may be brought back to
  a liquid or solid state by  cold.
Vapor bath, A place for applying vapor to the body.
Vegetable, A plant.
Veins, Vessels which return the blood to the heart.
Vena cava, This terra is applied to  the two large veins through which
  the blood is poured into the heart—the  one from  the head and the
  other from the lower extremities.
Venous, Pertaining to the veins.
Ventricles, The two cavities of the heart, which propel the blood into
  the arteries.
Vertigo, Dizziness; giddiness ofthe head.
Vessels, In anatomy,  are the tubes or canals which contain or convey
  the fluids, from one part to another.
Viscera, The plural of viscus, a name commonly applied to the organs
  contained in the thorax or abdomen, as the lungs, liver &c.
Viscid, Glutinous; sticky.
Vis medicatrix natura;, The healing power of nature  in animal bodies.
Virus, Poison; the foul and contagious matter of an ulcer, &c. &c.
Zootomy, That branch of Natural  History  which treats of the forme,
  classification, habits, &c. of animals-, particularly brutes. 
 
INDEX  TO  VOL.  I.
 Abdomen,
 Absorbent system,
 Acetic acid,
 Air, stimulus of,
     atmospheric,
 Albumen,   -
 Alumina,
 Alvine discharges,  -
 Anatomy,
         definition of,
         of no practical use in
          curing diseases,    13
         necessary to the ope-
          rative surgeon,
 Animal heat,
         production of,
       ■  is not generated in any
          particular organ,
         attributed to the agen-
          cy of friction,
         waste of,
         causes which reduce it,
         use of,
Antimony,
         deleterious effects of,
Arsenic,    -
        a violent poison,
        effects of,
Arsenious acid,
Arteries,
Astringents, rule for selecting,
Autocrateia,
Azote,   -
PAGE.
   25
   29
   23
   40
   43
                           PAGE.
Blood, quantity of in man,      29
      change of color, &c.      41
            how accounted for, ib.
38
21
25

16

19
47
ib.

48
         venous,
         vessels,
24 Blue pill,
23 Bones,   -
        broken or dislocated, how
         replaced,
   Brain,   ...
   Brass,      ...
   Brown's Theory of Disease,
   Calomel,
   Caloric,     -
   Canker, Thomson's  specula-
     tions on,
   Capillary vessels,
   Capsicum Annuum,  )
   Cayenne Pepper,    $
   Carbon,      -
   Cathartics, remarks on,   -
   Cerebellum,
 ir-g iCerebrum,
    Cheese-curd principle,
    Chimistry, cannot disclose the
      medicinal qualities of vege-
      tables, -
    Chyle,
 2g|Chyme,  -
j^iCicuta,
105JC1>'ster8' .  —*---
•ft. |
80j
811
ib.\
801
 40
 28
 85
 26

136
 30
 83
 63
 85
 23

161
 28
101
 23
119
 30
ib.
 23
23
Bathing, (see "Cold bathing,")
Benzoic acid,
Bile, uses of,
     how ejected in vomiting,
     its ejection not a necessary
     object to be attained,
Bleeding,
     has caused much mischief
     injurious effects of,
     at the nose,
Blistering,
141
 23
 ?l
115

 ib
 ib
124
129
 ib.
Cold-bathing,
substitute for,    -      130
Dr. Hillary's remarks on 13 !
            is a powerful tonic,
            how to be used,
            relieves languor and
             faintness,
            useful for immoderate
             sweating,
    Contagion, origin of,
, Z: j Copper, )
^{Cuprum, >
          deleterious effects of,
    Costiveness, how caused, 6:c
    Cullenian System,    f -
    Cutaneous transpiration,
D°terminin2' powers,
     14
     32
     ib.
     97
    133
    141
     ib.
     ib.

    142

    143
71, 146

     83

     ib.
     39
     62
     38
     39 
180
HVDEX.
                           PAGE.
Diabetic urine,      r      -   2-1
Diaphragm,     -      -      2:"
Diaphoretics, when indicated,  il^i
Digestion,   -      -      -   32
Digitalis Purpurea,      -      9(i
            a powerful poison,  9'
Disease,     ...   59
      various theories of,       ib.
      cause of,         -      68
      definition of,  -      -   69
      Dr. Buchan's views of,    77
      effects of, partial and ul-
       timate,     -      -   ib.
      indications to be answer-
       ed in the treatment of,  112
      character of,      -      71
Divisions of the human body,    25
Drink, uses of,      -      -   4C
Electric fluid,	.	.	2'1
Elements,		.	16.
Emetic Tartar,	use	of unsafe,	79
Herb,	.	.	101
Endemic diseases,		.	59
Epidemic do.	-	.	ib.
origin	of,	71,	146
Epigastric region,			2fi
Epispastics,	.	.	129
Epistaxis,		.	ib.
Evaporation,	-	-	51
Excitements, debilitating povv
  erof,     -      -      -   52
Excretions,      -      -      37
        different kinds of,      38

Fever,   -      -      -      71
     theory of,     -      -  144
     cause of,   -        147, 152
     paroxysm of,  -      -  154
     continued fever, what is,  15
     intermittent,      -      ib.
Fibrin,      -      -      -   24
Food, uses of,   -      -      40
    desire of, should be gratified 132
Formic acid,       -      -   23
Foxglove,        -      -      96

Gelatin,     -      -      -   24
Glands,         -      -      27
Glossary of technical terms,   171

Heat, (see "Animal heat,")     47
Head,                        25
Heart,      -      -      -   28
Health,                       57
     what constitutes it,    -   ib.
     the power which supports it, 58
                           PACK.
FIcaling power of nature,       105
      Cullen's views of,    -    ib.
      Sydenham's remarks on 108
Hemlock, (the plnnt,)   -     , 97
Hydrocyanic acid,  -      -    ib.
flydrogen,       -      -      23
Hypochondriac regions,     -    26
Hypogastric region,     -      ib.

Iliac regions,       -      -    26
Inflammation, theory of,       162
      definition  of,     -     166
      effusion and hardness of
       inflamed parts accoun-
       ted for,         -     165
      common distinctions of,
       objected  to, -      -   166
Injections,       -      -     133
      origin of,     -          ib.
      useful effects of,  -      ib.
      valuable incased of sus-
       pended animation,     134
      Dr. Jameson's remarks
       on,      -      -     135
Intestines,          -      -   32
Introduction,                   9
Iron,       -       -      -   23

Lachrymal glands,      -      28
Lactic acid,     •    -      -   23
Lead,    ...      93
     its poisonous effects,   -   94
Life, doctrine of,       -      33
     different theories of,    -   34
     is a forced state,     -   34,44
Light,      -      -          23
Lime,   ...      ib.
Liver,      -       -      -   31
Living power,    -      -      33
        is concentrated in the
         blood,      -      34,44
        substances from which
         derived,        -      35
        waste of,    -      -   ib.
Lobelia Inflata,   101,115,116, 118
Lumbar regions,        -      26
Lungs,      -       -      -.31
Lymphntic glands,      -      27
           ducts,    -      -   29
           their utility unknown 30

Magnetic fluid,      -     -   23
Man, as a physical being,       22
     materials of which he is
      composed,     -     -   23
Manganese,      -       -      ib.
Medicine,     -      -     73, 100 
INDEX.
181
                            PAGE
Medicine, should  act in unity
           with life,       73,  100
        should harmonize witli
         food,           -      74
        many  in common  use
         are poisons,       -   73
        should  be  drawn from
         the vegetable kingdom  74
        those used by Medical
         Faculty,        -      76
        Murray's classification of 7 7
        their effects on the an-
         imal economy,         78
        those used in the Botan-
         ic practice,     -      98
        classification of,        99
        their effects on the an-
         imal economy,*        101
       their invigorating power  104
       minerals should  not be
        used as,     -      74,80
Mercury,                     84
      diseases caused l|y,  ■*  89
Mercurial disease,     -      -  86
Minerals  improper for medi-
        cine,        -      74, 80
    uncertain in their effects 75,80
r>    .   .     ,             PAGE.
Perspiration, checked, effects of, 55
         greater part of d isease
          attributed to,        56
Phosphorus,        .      -   23
Picromel,       -      -      24
Plumbum,    -      -      -   93
Poisons, how introduced  into
  the body,     -      .      55
Potash,      -      .      -   23
Power of life, waste of,  -      35
         means of supplying it,  39
Preface to 1st edition,       -    3
  ib.      2d   do.      -       8
Prussic acid,       -      -   97
Pulmonary transpiration,       38
Pulsations, number of in a  mi-
  nute,      -      .       -   29
Purging,        -      .     He,
    when indicated,       -  121
    injurious in many cases,    122
Putrefaction, at what tempera-
  ture it commences,

Quicksilver,
 Mucus,             -      -   23
 Mucous glands,         -       27
 Muriatic acid,       -      -   23
 Muscles,         -       -       26
 Nerves,  -    -       -      -   30
 Niter,           )
 Nitrate of Potash, $

 Opium,          -              95
       deleterious effects of,     $.
 Organs, by  which man is con-
         stituted,        -       24
       uses of,       -       -   26
       of the power which keeps
       them in motion,        33
       waste of the substance of  37
       means of supplying  the
       waste of,        -       44
 Osmazone,   -       -       -   23
 Oxalic acid,      -       -       ib.
 Oxyde of arsenic,    -       -   80
 Oxygen,          -       -       23

 Pain, how caused,   -       - 129
 Peri&taltic motion,       -    32,39
Perspiration,         -     51,54
      how distinguished,       54
      source of,        -      ib.
      use of,       -      -   ib.
      should be promoted,     161
 Recapitulation of the subject,
 Respiration,
 Rosascic acid,
 Rush's theory of life,

 Salival glands,
 Salivation,
 Salt Peter,'        -  *
 Sebaceous glands,  ,    - <
 Silica,       -
 Soda,    ...
 Spinal marrow,
 Starving,
 Steam,       -
 Steaming, (see "Vapor bath,")
 Stimulus of food, drink, air, &c.
Stomach,    -
     the center of sympathy,
Stools, liquid,
Subcarbonate of lead,
Sugar of        do.
      of Milk,
Sulphur,    -      -       -
Symptoms, are not the disease,

 Technical terms, use of,
     often unnecessarily used,
Thomson's theory of life, &c.
Thorax,     -
Theories, remarks on the cau-
        ses of their failure,
      of fever,
      of inflammation,
  45
  84
 168
  43
  23
  64

  28
  88
  94
.  27
  23
 ib.
  30
 131
 136
135
 40
 32
113
 39
 94
 ib.
 23
 ib.
 71
 12
 67
 25

159
144
162 
182
INlMSA.
 PAGE.
   34
   47
   59
.   25

.   26
   23
   38
Theory of life,   -
       of animal heat,
       of disease,
Trunk,

Umbilical region,
Urea,    -
Urine,

Vapor bath, use of,      -      135
     when  indicated,          112
     how used in Russia,      137
     Dr. Thomson's remarks on ib.
     W. Tooke's remarks on   139
     how used by American
       Indians,   -      -     *&•
Vegetable medicine, argument
  in favor of,
Vena cava,
Verdigris,
Vis medicatrix naturae,
Vital power,
Vomiting,
      when indicated,
      objection to, reviewed,
      Cullen's remarks upcn,
      useful in hsemorrha-
       gies,
Water,   -
White arsenic,
      lead,
75,76
   29
   84
   105
   33
   112
   ib.
   102
   113
116
 23
 80
 94
 
 
 
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