Sup. I. 14. 1. THEORY OF FEVER. 49™ 



fhewed, that there was no increafe of action either of the kid- 

 neys, or of the urinary ablbrbents. 



The bathing his legs and hands and face for half an hour 

 twice a day feemed to refrefti him, and fometimes made his 

 pulfe flower, and thence I fuppofe ftronger. This fee ins to 

 have been cauied by the water, though fubtepid, being much 

 below the heat of his {kin, and ccnfequently contributing to 

 cool the capillaries, and by fatiating the abforbents to relieve the 

 uneafy fenfation from the drynefs of the flcin. 



He continued the ufe of three drops of tincture of opium 

 from about the eighth day to the twenty-fourth, and for the 

 three preceding days took along with it two large fpoonfuls of 

 an infufion of bark in equal parts of wine and water. The for- 

 mer of thefe by its ftimuius feemed to decreafe his languor for 

 a time, and the latter to llrengthen his returning power of di- 

 gelt ion. 



The daily exacerbations or remifiions were obfeure, and not 

 well attended to ; but he appeared to be worfe on the four- 

 teenth or fifteenth days, as his pulfe was then qaickeft, and his 

 inattention greateft ; and he began to get better on the twen- 

 tieth or twenty-firft days of his difeafe \ for the puTe then be- 

 came lefs frequent, and his fkin cooler, and he took rather more 

 food : thefe circumftances feemed to obferve the quarter periods 

 of lunation. 



XIV. Termination of continued Fever* 



1. When the ftomach is primarily affected with torpor not 

 by defect of ftimuius, but in confequence of the previous ex- 

 hauftion of its fenforial power ; and not fecondarily by its affo- 

 ciation with other torpid parts ; it feems to be the general caufe 

 of the weak pulfations of the heart and arteries, and the confe- 

 quent increased action of the capillaries, which conftttute con- 

 tinued fever with weak puife. In this fituation if the patient 

 recovers, it is owing to the renovation of life in the torpid ftom- 

 ach, as happens to the whole fyftem in winter-fleeping animals. 

 If he perimes, it is owing to the exhauition of the body for 

 want of nourifhment occationed by irfdigeftion ; which is haft- 

 ened by the increafed actions of the capillaries and abforbents. 



2. When the ftomach is primarily affected by defect of ftim- 

 ulus, as by cold or hunger ; or fecondarily by defect, of the pow- 

 er of affociation, as in intermittent fevers ; or laftly in confe- 

 quence of the introduction of the fenforial power of fenfation, 

 as in inflammatory difeafes ; the actions of the heart and arte- 

 ries are not diminished, as when the ftomach is primarily af- 

 fected 



