[ @95 J 
fued the mercurial plan internally and externally; 
while others, both at home and abroad, eagerly 
adopted the remedy, if not the doétrine. In fhort, 
Mercury and the Ocean, having of late ufurped the 
empire of medicine, and fupplanted other remedies, 
feem now to reign over the fafhionable world with 
nearly equal fway. In fpite, however, of their. 
united forces, this all-powerful enemy perfifts in 
maintaining his wonted fuperiority. 
Nay, even admitting the difeafe to be animalcu- 
lar, the conclufion drawn from that theory is ftill 
untenable. Mercury is by no means a fure vermi- 
fuge, fince it appears, from a late obfervation, that 
a perfon who had juft undergone a fevere mercurial 
courfe, both internally and externally, evacuated, 
neverthelefs, forty-feven live worms. 
The writings on this fubjeé exhibit a chaos of con- 
tradiétions, irreconcileable to this or any other 
theory. The advocates for mercury confider it as the 
only fpecific: its opponents condemn it in foto, as 
highly pernicious. Some urge it to the point of copi- - 
ousfalivation; others labour to prevent that tendency. 
M. Bonnex thinks no difeafe is treated with more 
certainty than this; but it ought to be particularly 
noted, that his method confifts in applying mercurial 
ointment to the wound for ten days, interpofing pur- 
gatives on the intermediate days, to prevent faliva- 
tion. Having, during the fpace of thirty years, tried 
it with fuccefs on 500 men and cattle, bitten by mad 
© 2 animals, 
