( 414 ) 

 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 



ON 



FEBRILE AND SPASMODIC DISEASES ; 



AV1TH CASES. 

 [Communicated to James Currie, M. D. Liverpool.] 



The exacerbations of most fevers, so far as I have seen, 

 happen in the afternoon from three to seven o'clock. Some 

 authors of credit (Dr James Lind of Windsor, and Dr 

 Francis Balfour) assert, that the moon, at full and change, is 

 productive of changes in the fevers of Bengal ; and that returns 

 of intcrmittents, and paroxysms of fever, happen to sick and 

 convalescent men about such phases of the moon. I have 

 heard that practitioners have observed the same in the fevers 

 in Demerara, Berbice, and Surinam, and in Dutch Guiana, 

 Avhere there are many canals, stagnant waters, and morass- 

 lands, covered with woods, and on which the sun or wind 

 have no influence. Never having practised much in marshy 

 countries, I have no experience of such changes. 



I entirely coincide with Dr Currie, at page 17, in the 

 rules and cautions he has laid down as to the proper time 

 and manner of applying cold water ; and I wish they may be 

 deeply impressed on the heart of every practitioner. For my 

 part, I never succeeded better in the cure of fever, than by 

 making use of the coldest water I could find, in the height 



