PNEUMONIA. 109 



freely act. The best form of counter-irritation is blister : 

 rowels and setons are of little comparative use in tlie acute 

 stage of pneumonia. The preferable situation for the blister 

 is the breast ; for it will take effect on that muscular part 

 when no impression can be made upon the tense skin and 

 bony substance of the sides ; and I hold it to be good 

 practice to insert a rowel in the chest firsts and afterwards 

 rub the blister in over the surface of the rowel. Should 

 the first blister take no effect, another may be applied at an 

 interval of six hours, and repeated after a similar elapse, 

 when the parts still prove obdurate; or, the part may be 

 first scalded with hot water, and then the blister be applied. 

 The sides likewise may now be blistered, they being closely 

 trimmed or shorn by way of preparation. Or, a mustard 

 embrocation may be used instead of the blister. The practice 

 of keeping blisters open or discharging, is not one that 

 answers with horses : it is better to wash off one blister as 

 soon as it has ceased to work, and, after a short interval, 

 should it be required, apply a fresh one. 



Stimulating the legs is a practice I am not in the 

 habit of pursuing myself: I prefer, when it can be done 

 effectually, hand-rubbing them; for I fancy that the 

 turpentine, which most of these leg-stimulants contain, is 

 apt to engender annoyance and irritation in the system, 

 and, although it certainly warms the legs, t© prove a source 

 of discomfort to the patient. Still, it is my duty to add, 

 that very excellent practitioners make it a rule to stimulate 

 the legs whenever they continue cold ; and a favorite 

 application of theirs for the purpose is the turpentine lini- 

 ment, for which a recipe is given at page 21 . 



Regimen. — Whether we hand-rub or stimulate the legs, 

 they, all four, ought, from the onset of the disorder, to be 

 encased in long rolls of flannel or serge. At the same time 

 clothes must be put upon our patient, sufficient to keep his 

 body warm without proving burthensome to him, or, should 

 it be in summer, without overheating him. It is also a 

 good practice, should the patient be bled, immediately after 

 bloodletting, to put on some additional clothes ; since it so 



