434 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1194. 



ist in the kidneys, from similar 

 causes. 



5. 31. treats o^ tcmperamenfs ; by 

 which term the author means a per- 

 manent predisposition to certain 

 classes of diseases. They are di- 

 vided into, 1. The temperament 

 of decreased irritability; 2. The 

 temperament of sensibility ; 3^ That 

 of increased volimtarity ; 4. That of 

 increased association. It is evident 

 that the notion of these tempera- 

 ments is deduced from the prece- 

 ding thcoiy of the source of our 

 ideas ; and it would be veiy diffi- 

 cult to exemplify them in indivi- 

 duals with any precision. 



S. 32. on diseases of irritation, 

 being fundamental in the pathology 

 of fevers, and designed to set en- 

 tirely aside the doctrine of spasm, 

 ought to be well understood by an 

 enquirer into the systems of our 

 author ; yet such is its intricacy and 

 subtilty, that we despair ot giving 

 our readers clear ideas of it in an 

 abstract. 



The points chiefly laboured arc, 

 to shew how temporary quiescence 

 from the want of accustomed stimuli 

 nr/uy cause the accumulation of sen- 

 sorial power; and to deduce, from 

 the changes of action and sensation 

 in the arterial and glandular systems, 

 the phenomena attending the hot 

 and cold fits of fever. The fevers 

 mentioned in this section are called 

 the Irritative, and are divided into 

 those with a strong, and those with 

 a weak, pulse, answering to tlie 

 synocha and the typhus mitior of 

 nosologists. The yiractical conclu- 

 sion from the whole is, that severe 

 fits arc not an effort of nature to 

 relieve herself, and therefore should 

 always be prevented or diminished 

 as much as possible. 



6'. 33. relates to the diseases of sen- 



sation. When to the febrile motion* 

 from irritation are added others from 

 sensation, what the author calls sen- 

 sitive fever is produced ; which is 

 likewise of two classes, according to 

 the arterial strength of debility ac- 

 companying them J those with a 

 strong pulse give the synocha or 

 inflammatory fever ; those with a 

 weak pulse, the typhus gravior, or 

 putrid fever. A variety of curious 

 hypotheses relative to the nature of 

 inflammation, the generation of 

 matter, and the nature of conta- 

 gion, are given in this section ; 

 which, as connected with the ge- 

 neral theory, cannot be stated to 

 any advantage apart. We shall 

 only mention, as a specimen, that 

 it is maintained that the variolous 

 matter in natural contagion does 

 not enter the blood, but acts by 

 means of sensitive association be- 

 tween the stomach and the skin, 

 which excites particular motions of 

 the cuticular capillaries, producing ] 

 the eruption. 



Diseases ofvoUlion are the subject 

 of sect. 34. I'he author uses the 

 term volition In a sense different 

 from the common acception. 

 When desire or aversion prodtices 

 any action of the muscular fibres^ 

 or of the organs of sense, they are 

 termed volition, and the consequent 

 actions voluntary, though they may 

 be ^.uch as it is out of our power to 

 prevent, and therefore such as in 

 common language are called invo- 

 . luntary. Various examples are ad- 

 duced in this section to prove how 

 voluntary motions are at first em- 

 ployed for the purpose of relieving 

 pain ; how, by association, they 

 afterward beccSse independent oi 

 the will ; and how, in some cases, 

 they arise to epilepsy and convul- 

 sion. In certain constitutions, vio- 

 lent 



