S1a.]. 200 
entitle it to be ranked with others which always, 
or with rare exceptions, induce that effect. Mer- 
cury therefore stands insulated in the materia 
medica ; first, because it is a universal stiniulant 
which no other medicine is; and secondly, because 
internally taken or externally applied by fric- 
tions of ointments made of it, it establishes a — 
‘powerful excitement in the secreting and excret- 
ing functions of the salivary glands. The lecture 
MEDICINE. 
ED Ee 
SALIVANT MASTICATORIES. 
These T shall assume are external stimulants, 
which by immediate contact with the excretory ducts. 
of the salivary glands, excite the glands themselves — 
to an increased action. They are taken into the — 
mouth and masticated, but no part of their juices. 
is swallowed: or at least it is not necessary to — 
their salivant effect that this should happen. They _ 
are consequently, local remedies. of specific de-— 
termination to parts within reach of a limited _ 
sphere of local impulses. There is no theory | 
required to account for a self-evident fact, arising — 
from an evident cause: and which can arise, in the — 
present instance, from no other. There are two — 
advantages arising from the introduction of this — 
class: the removing from the company of mercury, — 
the imbecile mimics of their power, which have 
no claim to real consanguinity—and the provisio 
