R O W E L L I N G. 275 



\vliere a ro\vel is, or can be fuppofcd to 

 become at all adequate to the ta(k it is 

 afTigned. For inilance, in cafes arifing from 

 caufes threatening inflammation, or fuch 

 gr'ofs impurities as are evidently the effecft 

 of a crude and vifcid ftate of the blood, (it 

 being firft properly afcertained) they have 

 moft certainly much in their favour upon 

 the well-founded maxim before quoted, 

 '* if they do no good, they may do no 

 harm;'* it is certainly no bad plan in /port- 

 ing to obtain as many points as poffible in 

 your favour : but as I will by no means re- 

 commend to the praftice of others, what 

 I would cautioufly avoid in my own ; I 

 mufl: confefs they liiould never be brought 

 into immediate ufe in ftables under my 

 fuperintendance, till the more rational and 

 mild methods of Evacuants and Diuretics 

 (according to the nature, duration, and feve- 

 rity of the cafe) had been tried without pro- 

 bability or indications of fuccefs. And 

 this idea of procraftination is held forth 

 only upon what I term a very fufficient 

 foundation; for what man living, in pof- 

 fefficn of free agency, and the happy power 

 of rcnedtion, would, after proper delibera- 



T ^ tion, 



