32 SECERNENT! A. ART. HI. 1.1.7. 



7. The mucus of the relum by aloe internally, by clyfters 

 and fuppofitories externally. 



8 The mucus of the cellular membrane is increafed by blif- 

 ters and (inapifms, 



9. The mucus of the noftrils is increafed by errhines of the 

 milder kind, as marum, common fnuff. 



10. The fecretion of tears is increafed by volatile falts, the 

 vapour of onions, by grief, and joy. 



if. All thofe medicines increafe the heat of the body, and 

 remove thofe pains, which originate from a defeft of motion in 

 the veflels, which perform fecretion ; as pepper produces a glow 

 on the fkin, and balfam of Peru is faid to relieve the flatulent 

 colic. But thefe medicines differ from the preceding clafs, as 

 they neither induce coftivenefs nor deep coloured urine in their 

 ufual dofe, nor intoxication in any dofe. 



12. Yet if any of thefe are ufed unneceflarily, it is obvious, 

 like the incitantia, that they muft contribute to (horten our lives 

 by fooner rendering peculiar parts of the fyftem difobedient to 

 their natural (timuli. Of thofe in daily ufe the great excefs of 

 common fait is probably the moft pernicious, as it enters all our 

 cookery, and is probably one caufe of fcrofula, and of fea-fcur- 

 vy, when joined with other caufes of debility See Botanic 

 Garden, Part II. Canto IV. line 221. Spices taken to excefs 

 by ftimulating the ftomach, and the veflels of the fkin by aflbci- 

 ation, into unneceflary aftion, contribute to weaken thefe parts 

 of the fyftem, but are probably lefs noxious than the general ufe 

 of fo much fait. 



II. OBSERVATIONS ON THE SECERNENTIA. 



I. i. Some of the medicines of this clafs produce abforption 

 in fome degree, though their principal effeft is exerted on the 

 fecerning part of our fyftem. We (hall have occafion to ob- 

 ferve a fimilar circumftance in the next clafs of medicines term- 

 ed Sorbentia ; as of thefe fome exert their effects in a fmaller 

 degree on the fecerning fyftem. Nor will this furprife any one, 

 who has obferved, that all natural objefts are prefented to us 

 in a ftate of combination ; and that hence the materials, which 

 produce thefe different effects, are frequently found mingled in 

 the fame vegetable. Thus the pure aromarics increafe the ac- 

 tion of the veflels, which fecrete the perfpirable matter ; and 

 the pure aftringents increafe the aftion of the veflels, which ab- 

 forb the mucus from the lungs, and other cavities of the body ; 

 hence it muft happen, that nutmeg, which pofiefles both thefe 

 qualities! fliould have the double effeft above mentioned. 



Other 



