Art. IV. 2. .6. 9. SORBENTI A. 5 1 



whole exactly fixteen ounces. Hence there are four grains c 

 arfenic in every ounce of the folution. This mould be put into a 

 phial of fuch a fize of the edge of its aperture, that fixty drops 

 may weigh one dram, which will contain half a grain of arfenic. 

 To children from two years old to four he gives from two to five 

 drops three or four times a day. From five years old to feven, 

 he dircts feven or eight drops. From eight years old to twelve, 

 he directs from feven to ten drops. From thirteen years old to 

 eighteen he directs from ten to twelve drops* From eighteen 

 upwards, tv/elve drops. In fo powerful a medicine it is always . 

 prudent to begin with fmaller dofes, and gradually to ihcreafe 

 them. 



A faturated folution of arfenic in water is preferable I think 

 to the above operofe preparation of it ; ' as no error can happen 

 in weighing the ingredients, and it more certainly therefore pof- 

 fefles an uniform ftrength. Put much more white arfenic re- 

 duced to powder into a given quantity of diftilled water, than 

 can be diflblved in it. Boil it for half an hour hi a Florence 

 flalk, or in a tin fauce-pan ; let it ftand to fubfide, and filter 

 it through paper. My friend Mr. Greene, a furgeon at Bree- 

 wood in StafFordfhire, afTured me, that he had cured in one fea- 

 fon agues without number with this faturated folution ; that he 

 found ten drops from a two-ounce phial given thrice a day was 

 a full dofe for a grown perfon, but that he generally began 

 with five. 



9. The manner, in which arfenic acts in curing intermittent 

 fevers cannot be by its general ftimulus, becaufe no intoxication 

 or heat follows the ufe of it ; nor by its peculiar ftimulus on 

 any part of the fecreting fyftem, fince it is not in fmall doles 

 fucceeded by any increafed evacuation, or heat, and muft there- 

 fore exert its power, like other articles of the forbentia, on the 

 abforbent fyftem. In what manner it deftroys life fo fuddenly 

 is difficult to underftand, as it does not intoxicate like many 

 vegetable poifons, nor produce fevers like contagious matter. 

 When applied externally it feems chemically to deftroy the part 

 like other cauftics. Does it chemically deftroy the ftomach, 

 and life in confequence ? or does it deftroy the action of the 

 ftomach by its great ftimulus, and life in confequence of the 

 fympathy between the ftomach and the heart ? This lafl appears* 

 to be the mod probable mode of its operation* 



The fuccefs of arfenic in the cure of intermittent fevers I iuf- 

 pecl: to depend on its ftimulating the ftomach into (Irdriger ac- 

 tion, and thus, by the afTociation of this vifcus with the heart 

 and arteries, preventing the torpor of any part of the fanguif* 



Vol. I. T t t eidui 



