304 HUNTERS. 



tute a preternatural weight upon the animal 

 economy, by encumbering the infinity of 

 finer vessels so exquisitely concerned in secre- 

 tion and circulation, throwing the more no- 

 ble parts of the machine into disorder ; we 

 proceed to explain the operative pi'ocess and 

 effects of Cathartic Evacuants upon 

 the general system ; by which physical ope- 

 ration, nature becomes gradually relieved 

 from the plethoric burthen of repletion, af- 

 fecting even the most distant parts of the ex- 

 tremities, by means so universally known and 

 repeatedly described. 



Purging, in its common and superficial 

 acceptation with the unenlightened multi- 

 tude, is considered merely as a ready and 

 convenient mode of expelling a load of accu- 

 mulated contents from the stomach, or ex* 

 crements from the intestines ; w^ithout a re- 

 lative consideration, or single idea of its most 

 remote and salutary influence upon those 

 parts of the frame, that are in general esti- 

 mation supposed to be very little concerned 

 in the operation or its effects. 



