INTUMESCENTI^E. 595 



Some practical writers have advised the employment of setons 

 for the same purpose that I have proposed issues ; but I ap- 

 prehend, that setons will be more liable than issues to the ac- 

 cident just now mentioned. 



MDCLXXIX. For the purpose of drawing out serum from 

 anasarcous limbs, blisters have been applied to them, and some- 

 times with great success ; but the blistered parts are ready to 

 have a gangrene come upon them. Blistering is therefore to 

 be employed with great caution ; and perhaps only in the cir- 

 cumstances that I have mentioned above to be fit for the em- 

 ployment of issues. 



MDCLXXX. Colewort-leaves applied to the skin, readily 

 occasion a watery exudation from its surface ; and applied to 

 the feet and legs affected with anasarca, have sometimes drawn 

 off the water very copiously, and with great advantage. 



Analogous, as I judge, to this, oiled silk hose put upon the 

 feet and legs, so as to shut out all communication with the ex- 

 ternal air, have been found sometimes to draw a quantity of wa- 

 ter from the pores of the skin, and are said in this way to have 

 relieved anasarcous swellings ; but in several trials made, I have 

 never found either the application of these hose, or that of the 

 colewort-leaves, of much service. 



MDCLXXXI. The second means proposed inMDCLXXVI. 

 for drawing off the water from dropsical places, may be the em- 

 ployment of emetics, purgatives, diuretics, or sudorifics. 



MDCLXXXII. As spontaneous vomiting has sometimes 

 excited an absorption in hydropic parts, and thereby drawn 

 off the waters lodged in them, it is reasonable to suppose 

 that vomiting excited by art may have the same effect ; and ac- 

 cordingly it has been often practised with advantage. The 

 practice, however, requires that the strong antimonial emetics 

 be employed, and that they be repeated frequently after short 

 intervals. 



MDCLXXXIII. Patients submit more readily to the use 

 of purgatives than to that of emetics ; and indeed they com- 

 monly bear the former more easily than the latter. At the 

 same time, there are no means we can employ to procure a co- 

 pious evacuation of serous fluids with greater certainty than 

 the operation of purgatives, and it is upon these accounts that 



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