788 
same subject, according to differences of ac- 
cidental circumstances.” 
Atmospherical air is stated to be the 
common stimulant to animal bodies, and 
various alterationsof action, in producing 
disease, are supposed by the author to 
arise from’ “ inexplicable deviations in 
the proportions and conditions of the 
“élements of the atmosphere, and from 
various extraneous matters enveloped or 
suspended in it.” 
Irritation seems to be the ‘derange-- 
ment which accompanies fever, and this 
appears to be the effect of a variety of 
causes possessing an irritative power, 
supposed to offend from excess in quan- 
tity, or from nature of quality.” ‘Ihe 
author admits, however, that where con- 
tagion is generated in close confined 
places, though it is calculated “ to pro- 
duce irritated motions,” and possesses 
“the quality of irritating as a cause,” 
. that the condition of the subject, as 
affected by the vitiated air, ‘ seems 
not to obey the impulse.” ——As 
the natural harmony which exists in 
health is interrupted in fever, or as 
fever consists in a rhythm of movement, 
irregular in time and force, the resto- 
ration ef this rhythm is necessarily the 
restoration of health. But previously 
to attempting to restore the harmony of 
movement, by the application of causes 
calculated to excite motions analogous 
to those of health, the author considers 
it as often necessary to arrest the irregu- 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, ANATOMY, &c. 
lar course of the existing motions.— 
Bleeding and emetics are two of the — 
most powerful means in use for this pur- 
pose, and when by them the diseased 
motions have been arrested, the pure 
air of the atmosphere is often sufficient 
to solicit the organic structuré to resume 
its natural action. But when this fails, 
he attempts to give origin to an action, 
similar to that of health, by alternate 
warm and cold bathing, which, preceded 
by bleeding, furnishes, he asserts, 
«« — a safe and effectual cure for a form of » 
fever, which destroys life occasionally in every 
country ; but which has committed dread- 
ful ravages among Europeans, particularly 
among European soldiers in. tropical cli- 
mates. The remedy is comprehended in the 
means now mentioned ; but the effect de~ 
pends on the management. A scanty bleed- 
ing rarely prepares the condition prescribed 
for the application of the means ; and, un- 
less the condition be duly prepared, the effect 
is looked for in vain.” 
Very ample observations are made on 
the mode of employing blood-letting, 
the cold bath, and some other remedies 
of smaller importance, but for those we 
must refer to the work itself, only ob- 
serving, that though we pay great de- 
ference both to the experience and the. 
abilities of the. author, we have occa= 
sionally some difficulty in admitting the 
correctness of his reasoning, and have 
much hesitation in assenting to the very 
liberal use which he makes of the lancet. 
Art. L. Facts and Observations concerning the Prevention and Cure of Scarlet. Fever 4, 
with some Remarks on the Ovizin of acute Contagions in general. By W.~ BuacxBuRNE, 
© 
M. D. 
FEW ‘of the inquiries of modern 
times have led to more interesting, or 
more beneficial results, than those which 
relate to contagion. ‘The nature of this 
agent, which is so much and so deserv- 
edly the object of alarm, has hitherto 
eluded the most zealous, and the most 
careful research; but though we are 
hot. enabled to discover what it is, or 
even to demonstrate by chemical analy- 
sis its existence, much less the parts of 
which it is composed, yet the industry 
of some modern philosophers has been 
ablé to discover many of the laws by 
which it is regulated. We have read, 
with much satisfaction, the observations 
contained in the treatise now before us, 
and regard them, as not only confirming 
some-of the valuable remarks which have 
8vo. pp. 166. 
been made by other writers on the sub- 
ject of contagion, but as enlarging con- 
siderably our knowledge of the operas 
tion of this agent, particularly as it 
relates to scarlet fever. This disease 
has long been a particular object of at- 
tention with the author, but within these 
two or three years he has had more fre- 
quent opportunities of observing collec- 
tively its nature and progress, than at 
any previous period. It has hitherto 
been generally the custom, where sears 
let tever has shewed itself in a public 
seminary, to break“it up;. and if, ‘on 
the other hand, one child of a family 
was attacked hy this disease, it+ras been 
usual to send off the others to school, in 
order that'they might be removed from . 
the influence of the contagion; both those. 
