432 OF ACIDS AND TONICS. 



The conclusion from all this is most certainly, that 

 alcohol does not do harm in fevers and acute inflam- 

 mations ; that it does not produce intoxication in 

 persons suffering from exhausting diseases ; and that 

 large quantities (from twelve to thirty ounces) may be 

 given in cases which appear very unlikely to recover: 

 and the conviction is forced upon the observer that, 

 in desperate cases, these large quantities of alcohol 

 are directly instrumental in saving life, not \>y exciting 

 or stimulating to increased action, but by moderating 

 actions already excessive, and at the same time by 

 causing the heart to contract more vigorously and 

 so continue to drive the blood through the impeded 

 capillaries, as has been pointed out. 



OF ACIDS AND TONICS. 



Treatment after the Cessation of the Febrile State. 

 To facilitate as far as possible the removal of noxious 

 materials which have been already formed and have 

 accumulated in the blood, to prevent the formation of 

 more, and to guard against nervous exhaustion, seem 

 to be the principal objects to be gained by treatment 

 during the continuance of the febrile state. When, 

 however, the excrementitious substances which have 

 -been accumulating in the blood have been excreted 

 after free perspiration has occurred and the scanty 

 secretion of urine loaded with urates and perhaps 

 containing excess of urea has been succeeded by the 

 free flow of watery urine ; when the circulation through 



