STRAINS. 85 



applied to ftrains but in cafes of fwelling and 

 inflammation; as they can only contribute to 

 the very reverfe of the general intention, by 

 relaxing the fyftem they are employed to 

 contract. 



I can have no doubt (notwithflanding the 

 dictatorial manner in which inflrudtions v^ere 

 formerly conveyed, amounting almoft to a 

 degree of infallibility,) but the majority of 

 readers who condefcend to ruminate at all 

 upon the fabjedl, will inftantly admit the 

 great probability of receiving a greater portion 

 of relief from adlive liquids, that, by their 

 volatile and penetrative power, (affifted by fre~ 

 quent and induftrious application) ruih imme- 

 diately into contadl with the feat of pain, than 

 from a compound of mere limples formed Into 

 elaborate poultices or cataplafins, that are pre- 

 vented by the nature of the parts, (as the hair, 

 and thicknefs of the PiLiny) from bringing fo 

 inadive a mafs into effed, with parts requiring 

 reftringents of much greater power and pene-» 

 tration. 



Strains in the ligamentary parts are in ge- 

 neral occalioned by fudden jerks, lliort turns, 



O I QX 



