Class I. i. 2. £ OF IRRITATION, i; 



moifture of the fkin ; whence arofe the fatal practice of 

 »• forcing fweats by the external warmth of air or bed-clothes in 

 fevers ; for external warmth increafes the action of the cutane- 

 ous capillaries more than that of the other fecerning vefiels ; be- 

 caufe the latter are habituated to 98 degrees of heat, the inter- 

 nal warmth of the body •, whereas the cutaneous capillaries be- 

 ing nearer the furface are habitually kept cooler by the contact 

 of the external air. Sweats thus produced by heat in confined 

 rooms are ftill more detrimental ; as the. air becomes then not 

 only deprived of a part of its oxygene by frequent refpiration, 

 but is loaded with animal effluvia as well as with moiiture, till 

 it can receive no more -, and in confequence, while the cutane- 

 ous fecretion {lands upon the fkin in drops for want of exhala- 

 tion, the lungs are expofed to an infalu'brious atmofphere. 



I do not deny, that f wearing may be fo managed as to be 

 ferviceable in preventing the return of the cold paroxyifm of fe- 

 vers *, like the warm bath, or any other permanent ftimulus, as 

 wine, or opium, or the bark. For this purpofe it mould be con- 

 tinued till pad the time of the" ^expected cold fit, fupported by 

 moderate dofes of wine-whey, with fpirit of hartihorn, and mod- 

 erate degrees of warmth. Its falutary effect, when thus rcfim- . 

 aged, was probably one caufe of its having been fo much attend- 

 ed to ; and the fetid fmell, which when profufe is liable to ac- 

 company it, gave occafion to the belief, that the fuppofed mate- 

 rial caufe of the difeafe was thus eliminated from the circulation. 



When too great external heat is applied, the fyltem is weak- 

 ened by excefs of action, and the torpor which caufes the cold, 

 paroxyfm recurs fooner and more violently. For though fome 

 fcimuli, as of opium and alcohol, at the fame time that they ex- 

 hauft the fenforial power by promoting increafe of fibrous action^ 

 may alfo increafe the production or fecretion of it in the brain, 

 yet experience teaches us that the exhauftion far out-balances 

 the increafed production, as is evinced by the general debilitv, 

 which fucceeds intoxication. 



In refpect to the fetor attending copious continued fweats, it 

 is owing to the animalized part of this fluid being kept in that 

 degree of warmth, which mod favours putrefaction, and not fuf- 

 fered to exhale into the atmofphere. Broth, or other animal 

 mucus, kept in fimilar circumftances, would in the fame time 

 acquire a putrid fmell ; yet has this error frequently produced 

 miliary eruptions, and increafed every kind of inflammatory or 

 fenfitive fever. 



The eafe, which the patient experiences during fweating, if 

 it be not produced by much external heat, is fimilar to that of 

 the warm bath j which by its ftimulus applied to the cutaneous 



vefTels, 



