ooS . Oh tke Action of Medicines, &c. 



sub'stap.ces most efficient in depriving them of the principal in- 

 gredient met with in stone and gont, are pointed out. 



For the cure of gout, the eau mcdicinale of Husson has been 

 most fortuiKitely discovered to be a specific remedy, and it is 

 now ascertained, by experiments on different people, that a 

 vinous infusion of the colckicum autumvale, or meadow saffron, 

 is equally so, and therefore the two medicines must be consi- 

 deretl as the same. 



To ascertain their mode of action, appeared to me an inquiry 

 connected with the objects of this Society, which are not con- 

 fined to the knowledge of purely chemical combinations in the 

 fetomach or other parts of the body, but include the effects of 

 galvanism on the nerves, and of mineral and vegetable solutions 

 on the blood, so far as they affect the actions of life, or the 

 symptoms of disease. 



It has already been determined by experiment, that almost 

 every mineral, vegetable, and animal poison, if not the whole of 

 them, is carried into the circulation before it produces its spe- 

 cific effects upou particular parts, whether these are the sto- 

 mach, skin, or other parts of the body. The most truly specific 

 medicine that we have been hitherto acquainted with, is mercury 

 for the venereal disease; and it is completely established, that this 

 remedy, when in the circulation, is equally efficient in the cure 

 of a recent chancre produced by inoculation, and a venereal 

 sore throat, in consequence of the disease having been carried 

 into the circulation. 



That other medicines can be received into the circulation, 

 and, as soon as they arrive there, produce their effects upon dif- 

 ferent paits of the bodv, is proved by experiments made by the 

 late Mr. Hunter, although he had no idea of their being usually 

 carried tiiere before thev produce the different actions so well 

 known to follow their exhibition by the mouth. He found that 

 infusions of the following substances received into the circulation" 

 by the jugular vein, immediately produced the same effects which 

 more slowly follow their being taken by the mouth. Infusion of 

 opium brought on drowsiness, infusion of ipecacuanha vomiting. 

 Jalap vomiting and purging. Infusion of rhubarb a profuse 

 flow of urine. These effects ceased in a few hours, and appeared 

 to have in no respect injured the animal's health. Except the 

 venereal disease, gcut is the only one whose local symptoms 

 have been completely removed by medicine, in so short a time, 

 a< to put it beyond all doubt that their removal is the effect 

 of the medicine. The effect of the eau mcdicinale and of the 

 vinous infiision of the colchicinn autumnale on gout, is indeed 

 mo! e rapid than that of mercury on the venereal disease^ but in all 



other 



