TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 223 



disease is referrible to some local irritation, or occurs 

 in persons of nervous and excitable constitution,- 

 depressants, the influence of which upon the system 

 is less permanent than that of blood-letting, will 

 generally be found capable of fulfilling every useful 

 purpose served by that remedy. We see every 

 immediate effect of venesection to follow the admi- 

 nistration of powerful purgatives, nauseants, and 

 sedatives ; we know that they rapidly diminish the 

 quantity of the circulating fluid, reduce the force 

 and frequency of the heart's action, and allay the 

 general irritability produced by the local disorder ; 

 and why then should we, except under particular 

 circumstances and for special reasons, such as those 

 above-mentioned, subject our patients to the pro- 

 tracted debility, not to mention the possible danger, 

 of general blood-letting? By administering in the 

 first instance powerful and rapidly-acting purgatives, 

 and then keeping the system for a time under the 

 depressing influence of antimony or mercury, or 

 using with these remedies still more direct sedatives, 

 such as tobacco and digitalis, we may frequently 

 obtain the beneficial effects, without encountering 

 the disadvantages, resulting from a large loss of 

 blood. 



In making these observations, I am far from 

 attempting to dispute the great value of a free use 

 of the lancet in many cases of acute inflammation : 

 I merely object to its indiscriminate employment in 

 all forms of the disease, to its adoption as an item 

 of routine practice. And the great evils attending 

 a practical neglect or forgetfulness of the previous 



