ON FEBRILE AND SPASMODIC DISEASES, 415 



of the exacerbation. The hotter the skin felt, and the m 

 the patient complained of heat, the greater benefit resulted 

 from the sudden dashing- of cold water. I likewise"- man 

 with Dr Currie, at page 34, that sea-water is preferable to 

 fresh. It ofteh, however, happens, that sea-water cannot be 

 had; but water with sea-salt may he got in all situations, and 

 I very often gave this a preference; as, in the act of solution, 

 it was colder than the temperature of the sea in the "West 

 Indies. 



The Savages in North America have long practised the 

 cold bath for the cure of fever. A fire is made in their nar- 

 row huts, where the sick man is, and the external air shut 

 out. When the Indian is heated to the greatest degree, he 

 suddenly plunges into a cold stream of water, and immediate- 

 ly returns to his hut, where he falls into a profuse sweat. 



Till of late, the internal use of cold water was strictly for- 

 bidden in ardent fevers ; I early saw the benefit of it in gra- 

 tifying the eager recmests of the sick. 



In 1772 I was sent for to see a person ill of fever, at a 

 considerable distance from my house, in St James's, Jamaica. 

 His name was William Jewel, aged about thirty years, and by 

 trade a cooper. He had, by exposure to the heat of the sun, 

 got a fever, with the usual symptoms of remittents, and had 

 been attended by a person of no experience. Amongst other 

 remedies, he had got several drastic vomits and purges. I 

 found him in a hot room, with all the windows and doors 

 shut, a load of bed-clothes, and warm drinks by him ; his 

 headach was great, his thirst intolerable, his skin burning 

 hot, nor was it abated by the partial sweats from the warm 

 drinks, load of bed-clothes, and surrounding curtains. My 

 first intention was to cool the surrounding atmosphere; I 

 drew aside the curtains, and gradually removed the blankets ; 

 the door was opened, and the Venetian lattice in the w indows 

 letdown, so as to admit the external air freely, hut not to 

 blow in the direction of the bed. The poor man was greatly 



