FEVERS. 237 



To enter into a tedious medical difquifition 

 upon the origin of fevers, their different degrees 

 and effedls, would exhauft the patience of the 

 moft patient inquirer; I fliall confcquently 

 avoid fo unentertaiiung a detail, and adhere to 

 fuch explanatory parts as become more imme- 

 diately the obieds of information. To enu- 

 inerate the pofBble caufes in which a fever may 

 originate would be, in this work, equally im- 

 practicable; they are {o m.uch m.ore fympto- 

 matic than felf-exifling, that circumftances and 

 careful attention only n:iuft lead to the dikovery. 



There is not the leaft doubt but a general 

 cutaneous obftrudlon, or fudden conftridion 

 upon the perfpirable pores, (proceeding from 

 w^hat caufe foever,) will conftitute the founda- 

 tion of every fever to which the animal can pof- 

 fibly be fubje(fl : the matter deftined for perfpi- 

 ration, being forcibly returned upon the veffels, 

 is abforbed into the circulation; the blood being 

 thus corrupted becomes vifcid, the paiiagcs are 

 evidently overloaded, and Nature, by an increafe 

 of circulation in the velocity of the blood, en- 

 deavours to relieve herfelf from the oppreflion, 

 which in this difeafe fhe fo evidently labours 

 under. 



In 



