DISEASES CLASS II. 2. 2. 1. 



ORDO II. 



Decreased Sensation. 



GENUS II. 

 Of particular Organs. 



SPECIES. 



1. Jlnorexia. Want of appetite. Some elderly people, and 

 those debilitated by fermented liquors, are liable to lose their ap- 

 petite for animal food; which is probably in part owing to the 

 deficiency of gastric acid, as well as to the general decay of the 

 system: elderly people will go on years without animal food; but 

 inebriates soon sink, when their digestion becomes so far impaired. 

 Want of appetite is sometimes produced by the putrid matter 

 from many decaying teeth being perpetually mixed with the saliva, 

 and thence affecting the organs of taste, and greatly injuring the 

 digestion. 



M. M. Fine charcoal powder diffused in warm water, held in 

 the mouth frequently in a day, as in Class I. 1.4. 4. or solution 

 of alum in water. Extract Nlie decayed teeth. An emetic. A 

 blister. Chalybeates. Vitriolic acid. Bile of an ox inspissated, 

 and made into pills; 20 grains to be taken before dinner and 

 supper. Opium half a grain twice a day. 



All the strength we possess is ultimately derived from the 

 food, which we are able to digest; whence a total debility of the 

 system frequently follows the want of appetite, and of the power 

 of digestion. Some young ladies I have observed to fall into 

 this general debility, so as but just to be able to walk about; which 

 I have sometimes ascribed to their voluntary fasting, when they 

 believed themselves too plump; and who have thus lost both 

 their health and beauty by too great abstinence, which could never 

 be restored. 



Two young ladies applied to me, who had experienced many 

 months of greal debility, and of almost total want of appetite, 

 from another cause, which was from bathing on a warm day in a 

 cold fountain of water, which was covered from the sun and sup- 

 plied by a powerful spring; but gradually afterwards recovered 

 their healthy by the use of six grains of rhubarb with one grain of 

 opium every night for some weeks, and a bitter draught twice a 

 day with a slight chalybeate. See Class III. 2. 1 . 17. 



I have seen other cases of what may be termed anorexia ej>i- 



