FEVERS. 609 



have the smallest quantity of nitre thrown in by way of glyster 

 without a considerable irritation and uneasiness in the lungs. 

 This gives a caution with respect to the use of both acids and 

 neutrals in pulmonic affections." 



CXXXVI. Besides these neutrals, some metallic salts also 

 have been employed as refrigerants in fevers, and particularly 

 the Sugar of Lead. But the refrigerant powers of this are not 

 well ascertained, and its deleterious qualities are too well known 

 to admit of its being freely used. 



CXXXVII. Under the third general head (CXXVIII. 

 3.) of the means to be employed for moderating the violence 

 of reaction, are comprehended the several means of diminishing 

 the tension, tone, and activity of the sanguiferous system. As 

 the activity of this system depends in a great measure upon 

 the tone, and this again upon the tension of the vessels given 

 to them by the quantity of fluids they contain (Physiology, 

 p. 79.)? it is evident that the diminution of the quantity of these 

 must diminish the activity of the sanguiferous system. 



CXXXVIII. The quantity of fluids contained in the san- 

 guiferous system, may be diminished most conveniently by the 

 evacuations of blood-letting and purging. 



CXXXIX. Nothing is more evident, than that blood-letting 

 is one of the most powerful means of diminishing the activity of 

 the whole body, especially of the sanguiferous system, and it 

 must therefore be the most effectual means of moderating the 

 violence of reaction in fevers. Taking this as a fact, I omit in- 

 quiring into its mode of operation, and shall only consider in 

 what circumstance of fevers it may be most properly employed. 



CXL. When the violence of reaction, and its constant at- 

 tendant, a phlogistic diathesis, are sufficiently manifest ; when 

 these constitute the principal part of the disease, and may be ex- 

 pected to continue throughout the whole of it, as in the cases 

 of synocha, then blood-letting is the principal remedy, and may 

 be employed as far as the symptoms of the disease may seem to 

 require, and the constitution of the patient will bear. It is, how- 

 ever, to be attended to, that a greater evacuation than is neces- 

 sary may occasion a slower recovery, may render the person 

 more liable to a relapse, or may bring on other diseases. 



CXLI. In the case of synocha, therefore, there is little doubt 



