77 [p1v. 
ad. That which supposes their action indepen- 
dent of absorption, and ascribable to a sympa- 
thetic action either upon the lymphatics and upon 
the kidnies, or upon both; the primary impulse 
being given tothe stomach. This was the idea of 
the late Professor Barton, and always taught by 
him in his lectures on the Materia Medica, for 
twenty years. He extended it to the generality of 
diuretics, and opposed the theory of Cullen. Yet, 
though he did not admit the absorption of canthar- 
ides, digitalis, squill, &c. &c. he believed that — 
some few of the class might be thus taken into the 
circulation, as rhubarb and madder: and always — 
admitted that some of the saline particles of the 
neutral diuretic salts. might. and in all probability 
were, taken into the blood-vessels by the lacteals. 
Dr. Chapman has adopted the theory of Dr. 
Barton; tanght it in his lectures on Materia Medi- 
ca, and it appears in his publication on therapeu- 
tics ; discarding as Dr. Barton did, Cullen’s theo- 
ry of their absorption with preservation of their 
individuality of diuretic power, into the blood ves-— 
wark of moral and physical 
corporeal functions, 
sconedidililteneestaan 
