ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



43S 



rhotions between the stomach and 

 neart, 



S. 26. of the cnpillary glands and 

 memlraiies, supports che opinion 

 ihat thecapillaryvesscls Are in effect 

 glands, and that the minuter mem- 

 branes are inorganic. 



^. 27- on luemorrhages, begins by 

 proving the veins (o be properly 

 absorbent vessel?, which ta!i:e up 

 blood from the glands and capilla- 

 ries, after it has undergone the pro- 

 per secretions. On this foundation, 

 haemorrhages are divided into two 

 kinds; one, in which the glandular 

 or capillary action is too powerfully 

 exerted ; the other, in which the 

 absorbent power of the veins is di- 

 minished, as a branch of them is 

 become paralytic. 



S. 28. Ofthe paralysis of the alsoT' 

 lent system. A paralysis of the ab- 

 sorbents of the stomach and intes- 

 tines is supposed to be the cause of 

 the atrophy of hard drinkers; and 

 this, not only from the defect ofnu- 

 " iriment taken into the system, but 

 , from the increased action of the re- 

 maiudt;r of the absorbent system, 

 .conscqueiit on the less expenditure, 

 bf sensorial power on the lacteal 

 part. The immediate cause of the 

 vt^ropsy is n paralysis of some other 

 'branches of the absorbent system. 

 \s a l/mph.iticv.sselusually consists 

 of along neck anda glandular belly, 

 ihc author conceives that each of 

 thi'se parts may be separately pal- 

 sied ; and to the paralysis of the 

 glandular part, while the mouth 

 continues to absorb, he imputes 

 scrofula. Surely, hypothesis can 

 scarcely proceed to a more fanciful 

 cronclusion thanthis I 



•S'. 2g. concerning the retrograde 



/notions of the alsbrlent sy,Uer)t, is a 



trnislaiionot part of a Latin thesis, 



written bv the late Mr, Charles 



Vol.. XXXVI. 



Darwin, and published in 1780. 

 Its purpose is to account for various 

 phenomena of disease, on the sup- 

 position that, in a vitiated state of 

 the system, some irritations, either 

 direct or sympathetic, produce a 

 regurgitation of the fluids in the 

 lymphatics, and an effusion of them 

 in certain cavities. On this hypo- 

 thesis, he accounts for diabetes, 

 dropsies, diarrhoeas, and other dis- 

 eases ; and various causes are ad- 

 duced, supposed to illustrate the 

 point. However ingenious this 

 theory maybe, we are tb observe, 

 that the retrograde motion in the 

 lymphatics is no more than a mere 

 hypothesis, no experiment having 

 yet proved that such a thing at all 

 takes place, and it surely is difficult 

 to conceive how a greater stimulus 

 applied to-thelacteals, for instance, 

 and inciting them to stronger direct 

 action, should by sympathy occasion 

 an inverted action of the lymphatics 

 of the bladder. 



S. 30. relates to paralysis of the 

 liver and kidneys. Too great sti- 

 mulation of the bile-ducts, from the 

 use of spirituo<is liquors, is a cause 

 of their succeeding diminished irri- 

 tability ; whence the bile ceases to 

 be found in the intestines, and by 

 its regurgitation causes a species of 

 jaundice. A case is given, in which 

 an indolent jaundice, possibly of 

 this species, was removed by smart 

 shocks of electricity passed through 

 the region of the liver. This atfec- 

 tion of the bile-ducts also occasions 

 those accumulations of the bile 

 which produce gail-stones. Another 

 disease of the liver proceee!s from a 

 paralysis of its secretory vessels, in 

 which little or no bile is secreted ; 

 and a simplicity of the organ is 

 an oj)Ciation of the .sam« cause. 

 Similar diseases to all these ex- 

 F f ist 



