54 DISEASES Class 1. 2. i> 4; 



the pulfe tn a few minutes becomes irregular, and the patient 

 awakes in great diforder, find fear of dying, refuting to fleep again 

 from the terror of this uneafy fenfation. In this^xtreme debil- 

 ity there is reafon to believe, that fome voluntary power during 

 our waking hours is employed to aid the irritative ftimuli in 

 carrying on the circulation of the blood through the lungs ; in 

 the fame manner as we ufe voluntary exertions, when we liften 

 to weak founds, or with to view an object by a fmall light ; in 

 ileep volition is fufpended, and the deficient irritation alone is 

 not fufficient to carry on the pulmonary circulation. This ex- 

 planation feems the moft probable one, becaufe in cafes of apo- 

 plexy the irritative motions of the arterial fyftem do not feem to 

 be impaired, nor in common fleep. See Incubus III. 2. 1. 13. 

 M. M. Opium in very fmall dofes, as three drops of lauda- 

 num. A perfon mould watch the patient, and awaken him fre- 

 quently •, or he fhould meafure the time between flumber and 

 fi umber by a ftop-watch, and awaken the patient a little before he 

 would otherwife awake ; or he mould keep his finger on the 

 pulfe, and mould forcibly awaken him, as foon as it becomes ir- 

 regular, before the diforder of the circulation becomes fo great 

 as to difturb him. See Clafs I. 2. 1. 9. and Seel:. XXVII. 2. 



4. Syncope. Fainting confifts in the decreafed action of the 

 arterial fyftem •, which is fometimes occafioned by defect of the 

 flimulus of diftention, as after venefection, or tapping for the 

 dropfy. At other times it arifes from great emotions of the 

 mind, as in fudden joy 01 grief. In thefe cafes the whole fenfo- 

 rial power is exerted on thefe interefting ideas, and becomes ex- 

 haufted. Thus during great furprife or fear the heart flops for 

 a time, and then proceeds with throbbing and agitation ; and 

 fometimes the vital motions become fo deranged, as never to re- 

 cover their natural fucceflive action ; as when children have been 

 frightened into convulfions. See Sect. XII. 7. 1. 



Mifs , a young lady of Stafford, in travelling in a chaife 



was fo affected by feeing the fall of a horfe and poftilliOn, in go- 

 ing down a hill, though the carriage was not overturned, that 

 (he fainted away, and then became convulfed, and never fpoke 

 afterwards ; though foe lived about three days in fucceflive con- 

 vulfions and ftupor. 



5. Hxmorrhagza venofa. A bleeding from the capillaries ari- 

 fing from defect of venous abforption, as in fome of thofe fevers 

 commonly termed putrid. When the blood ftagnates in the cel- 

 lular membrane, it produces petechias from this torpor or paraly- 

 fis cf the abforbent mouths of the veins. It mud be obferved, 

 th.it thofe people who have difeafed livers, are more liable to this 

 kind of hemorrhages^ as well as to the hxmorrhagia ajrteriofa ; 



the 



