OF THE OX. 327 



typhus, and which we are not obliged to suffer 

 to run its course, but which, on the contrary, 

 is a nervous affection produced by some poi- 

 sonous miasma, the toxical effects of which 

 first of all assail the nervous system and then 

 more particularly the great sympathetic ; the 

 cramps being but the result of a reflective 

 action this cholera, we say, must be curable, 

 and well-advised experiments would reveal the 

 remedy we want for it, nor should we have to 

 wait long for the revelation. 



As for me, I once made a desperate attempt 

 in this direction. It was during the cholera 

 of 1854. We remarked whilst dissecting sub- 

 jects, as is always the case, that the mucous 

 membranes of the stomach and intestines, 

 which were in a manner paralyzed, had suf- 

 fered the fluid parts of the blood to ooze out 

 on the surface. Hence the cause of those 

 vomitings, and those watery and colourless 

 diarrhoeas which nothing can stop, so that at 

 a given moment the patients die, poisoned, of 

 course, but dying more particularly through 

 want of circulation, the blood being reduced 

 to its solid parts and unable to circulate any 

 longer. Belying on this fact, and trusting for 



