ITS VITAL PROPERTIES, AND RELATIONS TO LIVING ORGANISM. 221 



regarded as one of the means whereby the blood and the system at large are 

 freed from the action of the poison ; of this we have a most characteristic ex- 

 ample in the Exanthemata. For it is a matter of constant observation, that 

 constitutional symptoms, especially the fever and delirium, are most severe before 

 the cutaneous eruption comes out ; that there is much greater danger to life, 

 when the eruption does not develop itself fully; and that its premature repres- 

 sion induces a return of the severer constitutional affection. It may be objected 

 to this general statement, that, as the severity of smallpox usually bears a con- 

 stant ratio to the amount of the cutaneous eruption, this cannot be regarded as 

 relieving the blood of a poisonous impregnation; but it is to be borne in mind, 

 on the one hand, that the confluence of the pustules greatly impedes the normal 

 functions of the skin, whereby the constitutional disturbance is most seriously 

 aggravated, their suspension, if complete, being itself adequate to destroy life; 

 and besides this, the excessive development of the eruption is an indication that 

 the poison has either possessed an extraordinary potency, or has found within 

 the blood a material peculiarly favorable for its development. A similar ex- 

 ample of a local affection, apparently originating in an eliminative determi- 

 nation of the poison to a particular organ, but sometimes increasing to such an 

 extent as itself to become a serious and even fatal lesion, is afforded by the 

 inflammation and ulceration of the Peyerian glandulee in various zymotic dis- 

 eases. 1 



216. In nearly all the toxic diseases of this class, there is a natural tendency 

 to the self-elimination of the poison and of the products of its action on the 

 blood, either by the operation of the ordinary excretory organs, or by the pecu- 

 liar local actions just adverted to; and this process takes place in many instances 

 with such regularity, that the time which it will require may be almost exactly 

 predicted. There is not, in fact, a more remarkable indication of the " Life of 

 the Blood/ 7 than is afforded by its extraordinary power of self-recovery, after 

 having undergone the excessive perversion which is consequent upon the intro- 

 duction of the more potent zymotic poisons; and every philosophical physician 

 is ready to admit, that it is to this "vis medicatrix naturae/' rather than to any 

 remedial agency which it is in his power to apply, that he must look for the 

 restoration of his patient. The very nature of the action of zymotic poisons 

 upon the blood, seems to forbid the expectation of our being able to neutralize 

 or check that action by antidotes; and the objects of treatment wholly lie, 

 therefore, in promoting the elimination of the morbific matters thus engendered, 

 in keeping under any dangerous excess of local action, and in supporting the 

 system during the continuance of the malady. In a large proportion of zymotic 

 diseases, it is probable that the oxidation of the morbific matter by the aeration 

 of the blood, is the chief means of its removal; and it is accordant with this 

 view, that the encouragement of the respiratory function, both pulmonary and 

 cutaneous, by a pure and cool atmosphere, and by keeping the skin moist (either 

 by the administration of diaphoretic medicines or by external applications) should 

 be found one of the most efficient means of promoting recovery. 2 Whilst mild 

 purgatives may be employed with advantage for the same end, in the earlier 

 stages of these diseases, care must be taken that the system be not too much 

 debilitated by their action ; and the same caution must be observed with regard 

 to the use of local depletion or counter-irritation, for the purpose of subduing 



1 See Dr. Williams' s "Principles of Medicine," p. 279, Am. Ed. 



2 Dr. Daniell, whose long familiarity with the most pernicious forms of African fever, 

 and with the various modes of treatment which have been put in practice for its cure, 

 gives a most decided preference to the sudorific system in vogue among the natives, as 

 having a vast superiority over the venesections, saline purgatives, and large doses of calo- 



mel, which most European practitioners have employed. See his "Sketches of the Medi- 

 cal Topography of Native Dis 



iseases of the Gulf of Guinea," p. 120. 



