St*. I. 12. 12. THEORY OF FEVER, 489 



trates the system not by the absorbent vessels, but by external 

 influence; whence the use of hot fomentation to the head in tor- 

 por of the brain; and the use of hot bath in cases of general de- 

 bility, which has been much too frequently neglected from a popu- 

 lar error occasioned by the unmeaning application of the word 

 relaxation to animal power. If the fluid of heat could be di- 

 rected to pass through particular parts of the body with as lit- 

 tle diffusion of its influence, as that, of electricity in the shocks 

 from the coated jar, it might be employed with still greater ad- 

 vantage. 



Fourthly. The use of repeated small electric shocks through 

 the region of the stomach might be of service in fevers with 

 weak pulse, and well deserves a trial; twenty or thirty small 

 shocks twice a day for a week or two, would be a promising ex- 

 periment. 



Fifthly. A blister on the back, or sides, or on the pit of the 

 stomach, repeated in succession, by stimulating the skin frequent- 

 ly strengthens the action of the stomach by exciting the senso- 

 rial power of association; this, especially in those fevers where 

 the skin of the extremities, as of the hands or nose or ears, sooner 

 becomes cold, when exposed to the air, than usual. 



Sixthly. The action of the stomach may be increased by pre- 

 venting too great expenditure of sensorial power in the link 

 of previous motion with which it is catenated, especially if the 

 action of that link be greater than natural. Thus as the 

 capillaries of the skin act too violently in fevers with weak 

 pulse, if these are exposed to cold air or cold water, the sensorial 

 power, which previously occasioned their orgasm, becomes 

 accumulated, and tends to increase the action of the stomach; 

 thus in those fevers with weak pulse and hot skin, if the stomach 

 be stimulated by repeated small doses of bark and wine or opium, 

 and be further excited at the same time by accumulation of 

 sensorial power occasioned by rendering the capillaries torpid by 

 cold air or water, this twofold application is frequently attended 

 with visible good effect. 



By thus stimulating the torpid stomach into greater action, 

 the motions of the heart and arteries will likewise be increased 

 by the greater excitement of the power of association. And the" 

 capillaries of the skin will cease to act so violently, from their 

 not possessing so great a superfluity of sensorial power as during 

 the greater quiescence of the stomach and of the heart and arte- 

 ries. Which is in some circumstances similar to the curious 

 phenomenon mentioned in Class IV. 2. 2. 10; where, by cover- 

 ing the chill feet with flannel at the eruption of the small-pox, 

 the points of the flannel stimulate the skin of the feet into greater 



VOL. IT. 3 R 



