110 TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 



The last should not be exhibited in larger quantities 

 than ^ to Oj. 



SEDATIVES. 



It is a law in the animal economy, that whatever excites 

 a sense of sickness, causes the pulse to fail; on this prin- 

 ciple, we give nauseating medicines for the abatement of 

 inflammation. By diminishing the action of the vascular 

 system, we increase the chance of combating inflammatory 

 disorders. Medicines that nauseate, in consequence of pos- 

 sessing this sedative efiect, have got to be classed among 

 those which are direct sedatives. 



Nauseating Medicines. — Aloes is no less valuable as 

 a sedative than as a purgative. In doses of half a drachm 

 or a drachm, repeated every four, eight, twelve, or twenty- 

 four hours, aloes keeps up a sort of continued nausea, and 

 augments the secretion of the bowels, so that a constant 

 drain is maintained from the system. After we have met 

 the first attack of inflammation by bleeding and purging, 

 we most opportunely administer small doses of aloes ; 

 combining them with other medicine or not, as the case 

 may seem to require. 



Hellebore is another nauseant, and a very potent one. 

 The white hellebore I have for many years been in the 

 habit of prescribing as a sedative, especially in diseases of 

 the chest; in some of which, from the apprehension of 

 inducing purging, we durst not give aloes. In doses of a 

 scruple or half a drachm, repeated every four, six, or 

 eight hours, it nauseates the animal, lowering the pulse 

 with more efi'ect than aloes, and, at the same time, exerts 

 a depressing influence on the system. In large doses, 

 hellebore is a poison ; on which account, even in the quan- 

 tities we ordinarily prescribe, its operation requires watching. 

 It is, therefore, not a medicine proper for the use of un- 

 professional persons, or one that even we can safely exhi- 

 bit, unless the patient be situated immediately under our 

 eye : when that is the case, we have nothing to fear. 

 The pulse of itself will always prove an index of the 



