*3* 



BiSEASES' 



Cl^ss II. t. £. r: 



ORDO I. 



Increafed Senfation* 



GENUS V. 



With th Prcduvlicn cf new Vejfeh by external Membran'ei & 



Glands) without Fever. 



The ulcers, or eruptions, which a?e formed on th> externa!; 

 Ikin, or on the mouth or throat, or on the air-cells of the lungs, 

 or on the inteftines, all of which are more or lefs expofed to th* 

 contact of the atmofpheric air, which we breathe, and which in 

 ibme proportion we fwallow with our food and faliva ; or to 

 the contact of the inflammable air, or hydrogen, which is fet at 

 liberty by the putrefying aliment in the inteftines, or by putre- 

 fying matter in large abfcefTes ; all of them produce contagious 

 matter ; which, on being inoculated into the fkin of another 

 perfon, will produce fever, or a fimilar difeafe. 



In fome cafes even the matter formed beneath the ficin be- 

 comes in fome degree contagious, at lead fo much fo a? to pro- 

 duce fever of the he£tic or malignant kind, as foon as it has pierc- 

 ed through the fkin, and has thus gained accefs to fome kind of 

 air *, as the frefh pus of a common abfeefs *, or the putrid pus 

 of an abfeefs which has been long confined ; or of cancerous 

 ulcers. 



From this analogy there is reafon to fufpecl; that the matter of 

 all Contagious difeafes, whether with or without fever, is not in- 

 fectious till it has acquired fomething from the air ; which, by 

 oxygenating the fecreted matter, may probably produce a new 

 acid. And, fecondly, that in hectic fever a part of the purulent 

 matter is abforbed ; or acts on the furface of the ulcer ; as va- 

 riolous matter affects the inoculated part of the arm. And that 

 hecTic fever is therefore caufed by the matter of an open ulcer ; 

 and not by the fenfation in the ulcer independent of the aerated 

 pus, which lies on it Which may account for the venereal mat- 

 ter from buboes not giving the infection, according to the exper- 

 iments of the late Mr. Hunter, and for fome other phenomena 

 ©f contagion. See Variola difcreta, Clafs II. i. 3.9. 



SPECIES. 



I. Gonorrhoea venerea. A pus-like contagious material dis- 

 charged from the urethra after impure cohabitation, with fmart- 



ing 



