SPASMODIC AFFECTIONS. 487 



offer any general plan for the cure of diarrhoea ; and all that 

 I can propose to do on this subject, is to give some general 

 remarks on the practice that has been commonly followed in 

 the cure of this disease. 



MCCCCXCV. The practice in this disease has chiefly pro- 

 ceeded upon the supposition of an acrimony in the fluids, or 

 of a laxity in the simple and moving fibres of the intestines ; 

 and the remedies employed have accordingly been correctors 

 of particular acrimony, general demulcents, evacuants by vomit- 

 ing or purging, astringents, or opiates. Upon each of these 

 kinds of remedy I shall now offer some remarks. 



MCCCCXCVI. An acid acrimony is, upon several occa- 

 sions, the cause of diarrhoea, particularly in children ; and in 

 such cases the absorbent earths have been very properly em- 

 ployed. The common, however, and promiscuous use of these, 

 has been very injudicious ; and where there is any putrescency, 

 they must be hurtful. 



MCCCCXCVII. The cases in which there is a putrid or pu- 

 trescent acrimony prevailing, have been, I think, too seldom 

 taken notice of; and, therefore, the use of acids too seldom ad- 

 mitted. The acrimony to be suspected in bilious cases, is prob- 

 ably of the putrescent kind. 



MCCCCXCVIII. The general correctors of acrimony are 

 the mild diluents and demulcents. The former have not been 

 so much employed in diarrhoea as they ought; for, joined with 

 demulcents, they very much increase the effects of the latter ; 

 and although the demulcents, both mucilaginous and oily, may 

 by themselves be useful, yet without the assistance of diluents 

 they can hardly be introduced in such quantity as to answer 

 the purpose. 



MCCCCXCIX. As indigestion and crudities present in the 

 stomach are so often the cause of diarrhcea, vomiting must there- 

 fore be frequently very useful in this disease. 



In like manner, when the disease proceeds, as it often does, 

 from obstructed perspiration, and increased afflux of fluids to the 

 intestines, vomiting is perhaps the most effectual means of restor- 

 ing the determination of the fluids to the surface of the body. 



, It is possible also, that vomiting may give some inversion of 

 the peristaltic motion which is determined too much downwards 



