568 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



every where, must occasion an absorption of oil ; and, conse- 

 quently, that such exercise not only prevents the secretion of 

 oil, as has been already said, but may also cause a deficiency 

 of it, by occasioning an absorption of what had been deposited ; 

 and in this way, perhaps especially, does it produce emacia- 

 tion. 



MDCXVI. A third case of the deficiency of oil may occur 

 from the following cause : It is probable, that one purpose of 

 the accumulation of oil in the cellular texture of animals, is, that 

 it may, upon occasion, be again absorbed from thence, and car- 

 ried into the mass of blood, for the purpose of enveloping and 

 correcting any unusual acrimony arising and existing in the 

 state of the fluids. Thus, in most instances in which we can 

 discern|an acrid state of the fluids, as in scurvy, cancer, syphilis, 

 poisons, and several other diseases, we find at the same time a 

 deficiency of oil and an emaciation take place ; which, in my 

 apprehension, must be attributed to the absorption of oil, which 

 the presence of acrimony in the body excites. 



It is not unlikely that certain poisons introduced into the 

 body may subsist there, and giving occasion to an absorption 

 of oil, may lay a foundation for the Tabes a veneno, Sauv. 



sp . 17. 



MDCXVI I. A fourth case of emaciation, and which I would 

 attribute to a sudden and considerable absorption of oil from 

 the cellular texture, is that of fever, which so generally pro- 

 duces emaciation. This may perhaps be in part attributed to 

 the increased perspiration, and therefore to the general defi- 

 ciency of fluids that may be supposed to take place : but what- 

 ever share that may have in producing the effect, we can, from 

 the evident shrinking and diminution of the cellular substance, 

 wherever it falls under our observation, certainly conclude, that 

 there has been a very considerable absorption of the oil which 

 had been before deposited in that substance. This explanation 

 is rendered the more probable from this, that I suppose the ab- 

 sorption mentioned is necessarily made for the purpose of en- 

 veloping or correcting an acrimony, which manifestly does in 

 many, and may be suspected to arise in all cases of fever. The 

 most remarkable instance of emaciation occurring in fevers, is 

 that which appears in the case of hectic fevers. Here the ema- 



