3 66 OF PURGA TIVES. 



live in cities can conduce to the healthy condition of 

 the tissues ? Excrementitious materials which should 

 be entirely removed get reabsorbed into the circula- 

 lation, and, though no doubt changed and perhaps 

 excreted from other surfaces in a different state, 

 cannot fail to derange, at least to some extent, the 

 delicate action of the nervous and muscular tissues. 

 The detestable odour of the breath so disagreeable 

 both to the patient himself and his friends, and more 

 rarely the strong-smelling matters secreted by the 

 sebaceous glands of the skin, are due to this cause in 

 some instances ; indeed the experience of every prac- 

 titioner must afford many convincing proofs of the 

 correctness of this reasoning ; the patients themselves 

 are well aware of the great benefit which results from 

 an occasional free action of the bowels, and, indeed, 

 not a few have discovered by experiment that in order 

 to keep themselves in health it is necessary to take at 

 certain intervals a dose of purgative medicine. Of all 

 purgatives, mercurial preparations are of the greatest 

 use in these cases. Purgative treatment is by no means 

 necessary for all' persons, but it is unquestionably 

 advantageous to many. Not a few working men have 

 not only discovered that an occasional purge is neces- 

 sary to keep themselves in a state fit for work, but 

 they have found out by experiment the particular kind 

 of purgative which produces the best effect. Those 

 who have of late years been loud in their condemna- 

 tion of the use of mercury are perhaps not aware that 



