I)li WKKillLS IIKUIiAlMA. ^79 



like Peruvian bark ; the tree is shady, and the leaves of a 

 shining deep green. The flowers are small and white. The 

 fruit is round, of the size and colour of a pear. W heft-ripe, 

 they are remarkably sweet, and reckoned one of our best 

 fruits. They contain a few black shining seeds. The tree 

 has a remarkable smell, even at a distance. 



A very large tree in the woods differs from this in size, 

 and the bulk of the fruit, which is small, but of the same 

 figure and quality. The barks of both these trees were for- 

 merly in great vogue amongst the vulgar for the cure of inter- 

 mittent fevers, but are now laid aside as at best uncertain: For, 

 either by neglect or unsuccessful treatment, there is great 

 danger of intermittents continuing long, as they too often 

 degenerate into continual, putrid or remitting fevers, which 

 elude the skill of the physician ; or if the patient escapes 

 these, the intermittent will form obstructions of the viscera, 

 (and particularly in the liver), producing consequences very 

 difficult to remove. 



In all inte'rmitting fevers, I have constantly found the state 

 of the blood very viscid, and sometimes buffy, and I never 

 attempt a cure before an evacuation is made by bleeding. An 

 antimonial vomit is next administered, and the cure completed 

 by the peruvian bark. But if the disorder is of some stand- 

 ing, and by the patient's having a sallow complexion and 

 a fixed pain at the pit of the stomach, it appears that ob- 

 structions of the viscera are already formed, then a few mild 

 mereurials will not only remove the obstructions, but the in- 

 termittent at the same time. 



If the intermittent has turned to a continual or remitting 

 fever, the patient being kept cool, I give the bark immediate- 

 ly ; nor did I ever observe it prejudicial where it lies on the 

 patient's stomach ; on the contrary, a fair intermission is soon 

 brought about, and the sick person is speedily restored to per- 

 fect health. 



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