STRAINS. 85 



plied to {trains 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 

 contradl, 



I can have no doubt fnotwithftanding the 

 didlatorial manner in which inftrudtions were 

 formerly conveyed, amounting almofl: to a 

 degree of infallibility,) but the majority pf 

 readers who condefcend to ruminate at all 

 upon the fubje(5t, will inftantly admit the 

 great probability of receiving a greater portion 

 of relief from active liquids, that, by their 

 volatile and penetrative power, (afBfted by fre- 

 quent and induftrious application) rufli imme- 

 diately into contadt with the feat of pain, than 

 from a compound of mere fimples formed into 

 elaborate poultices or cacaplafms, that are pre- 

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

 and thicknefs of the ikin,) from bringing fo 

 inadive a mafs into effedl, with parts requiring 

 reftringents of much greater power and pene- 

 tration. 



Strains in the ligamentary parts are in ge- 

 neral occafioned by fudden jerks, fhort turns, 



G 3 or 



