54 DISEASES CLASS I. 2. 1. 4. 



the pulse in a few minutes becomes irregular, and the patient 

 awakes in great disorder, and fear of dying, refusing to sleep again 

 from the terror of this uneasy sensation. In this extreme debili- 

 ty there is reason to believe, that some voluntary power during 

 our waking hours is employed to aid the irritative stimuli in 

 carrying on the circulation of the blood through the lungs; in 

 the same manner as we use voluntary exertions, when we listen 

 to weak sounds, or wish to view an object by a small light; in 

 sleep volition is suspended, and the deficient irritation alone is 

 not sufficient to carry on the pulmonary circulation. This ex- 

 planation seems the most probable one, because in cases of apo- 

 plexy the irritative motions of the arterial system do not seem to 

 be impaired, nor in common sleep. See Incubus III. 2. 1. 13. 

 M. M. Opium in very small doses, as three drops of lauda- 

 num. A person should watch the patient, and awaken him fre- 

 quently; or he should measure the time between slumber and 

 slumber by a stop-watch, and awaken the patient a little before he 

 would otherwise awake; or he should keep his finger on the 

 pulse, and should forcibly awaken him, as soon as it becomes ir- 

 regular, before the disorder of the circulation becomes so great 

 as to disturb him. See Class I. 2.1. 9. and Sect. XXVIL 2. 



4. Syncope. Fainting consists in the decreased action of the 

 arterial system; which is sometimes occasioned by defect of the 

 stimulus of distention, as after venesection, or tapping for the 

 dropsy. At other times it arises from great emotions of the 

 mind, as in sudden joy or grief. In these cases the whole senso- 

 rial power is exerted on these interesting ideas, and becomes ex- 

 hausted. Thus during great surprise or fear the heart stops for 

 a time, and then proceeds with throbbing and agitation; and 

 sometimes the vital motions become so deranged, as never to re- 

 cover their natural successive action; as when children have 

 been frightened into convulsions. See Sect. XII. 7. 1. 



Miss , a young lady of Stafford, in travelling in a chaise, 



was so affected by seeing the fall of a horse and postillion, in go- 

 ing down a hill, though the carriage was not overturned, that 

 she fainted away, and then became convulsed, and never spoke 

 afterwards; though she lived about three days in successive con- 

 vulsions and stupor. 



5. Hcemorrhagia venosa. A bleeding from the capillaries aris- 

 ing from defect of venous absorption, as in some of those fevers 

 commonly termed putrid. When the blood stagnates in the cel- 

 lular membrane, it produces petechiae from this torpor or paraly- 

 sis of the absorbent mouths of the veins. It must be observed, 

 that those people who have diseased livers, are more liable to this 

 kind of haemorrhages, as well as to the haemorrhagia arteriosa: 



