FKVERS. 637 



part of the system ; so it will readily be allowed, that the stom- 

 ach is a part as fit for this communication as any other; and 

 that cold drink, taken into the stomach, may therefore prove an 

 useful tonic in fevers. 



CC VII. This the experience of all ages has Confirmed : but, 

 at the same time, it has been frequently observed, that, in certain 

 circumstances, cold drink, taken into the stomach, has proved 

 very hurtful ; and, therefore, that the use of cold drink in fevers 

 requires some limitations. What these limitations should be, 

 and what are all the circumstances which may forbid the use of 

 cold drink, is difficult to determine ; but it seems clearly for- 

 bidden in all cases where a phlogistic diathesis prevails in the 

 system, and .more especially when there are topical affections of 

 an inflammatory nature. 



CCVIII. The other method of employing cold as a tonic, is 

 by applying it to the surface of the body. The application of 

 qold air to the surface of the body, as a refrigerant power fit to 

 moderate the violence of reaction, I have spoken of above 

 (CXXXIIL); but probably it may also be considered here as 

 a tonic, and useful in cases of debility. 



CCIX. Not only cool air, but cold water also may be ap- 

 plied to the surface of the body, as a refrigerant, and perhaps 

 as a tonic. The ancients frequently applied it with advantage 

 to particular parts, as a tonic ; but it is a discovery of mo- 

 dern times, that in the case of putrid fevers attended with 

 much debility, the body may be washed all over with cold water. 

 . CCX. This was first practised at Breslaw in Silesia, as ap- 

 pears from a dissertation, under the title of Epidemia verna 

 qucB Wratislamam anno 17^7 aJfUxit, to be found in the 

 appendix to the Act a Nat. Curios, vol. x. And from other 

 writers we find, that the practice has passed into some of the 

 neighbouring countries; although in this island, so far as I 

 know, we have hitherto had no experience of it. 



" The practice of applying cold externally to the surface of 

 the body is attended with still more difficulty, and supported by 

 fewer authorities than the former. But the practice was not 

 unknown to the ancients, though not very common among them. 

 (See Celsus, lib. iii. cap. 7- de curatione ardentis febris, and 

 also several passages in the works of Galen.) An English 



