36 SECERNENTIA. ART. III. 2. 2 . *. 



(kin, producing an increafe of infenfible perfpiration, and of cu- 

 taneous abforption ; and to increafe the aftion of the ftomach, 

 and the confequent power of digeftion ; and thence by fympa- 

 thy to excite all the other irritative motions : hence they relieve 

 pains of the cold kind, which originate from defect of motion ; 

 not from their introducing a greater pain, as fome have imagin- 

 ed, but by ftimulating the torpid veflels into their ufual action ; 

 and thence increafing the action and confequent warmth of the 

 whole fkin, and of all the parts which are aflbciated with it. 



II. i. Sia/agogues. The preparations of mercury confift of 

 a folution or corrofion of that metal by fome acid ; and, when 

 the dofe is known, it is probable that they are all equally effi- 

 cacious. As their principal ufe is in the cure of the venereal dif- 

 eafe, they will be mentioned in the catalogue amongft the for- 

 bentia. Where falivation is intended, it is much forwarded by 

 a warm room and warm clothes ; and prevented by expofing 

 the patient to his ufual habits of cool air and drefs, as the mer- 

 cury is then more liable to go off by the bowels. 



2. Any acrid drug, as pyrethrum, held in the mouth acts as 

 a fialagogue externally by ftimulating the excretory duels of the 

 falivary glands ; and the filiqua hirfuta applied externally to the 

 parotid gland, and even hard fubftances, in the ear, are faid to 

 have the fame effect. Maftich chewed in the mouth emulges 

 the falivary glands. 



3. The unwife cuftom of chewing and fmoking tobacco for 

 niany hours in a day not only injures the falivary glands, pro- 

 ducing drynefs in the mouth when this drug is not ufed, but I 

 fufpeft tha f it alfo produces fcirrhus of the pancreas. The ufe 

 of tobacco in this immoderate degree injures the power of di- 

 geftion, by occafioning the patient to fpit out that faliva, which 

 he ought to fwallow ; and hence produces that flatulency, which 

 the vulgar unfortunately take it to prevent. The mucus, which 

 is brought from the fauces by hawking, fliould be fpit out, as 

 well as that coughed up from the lungs ; but that which comes 

 fpontaneoufly into the mouth from the falivary glands, fhould 

 be fwallowed mixed with our food or alone for the purpofes-of 

 digeftion. See Ciafsl. 2. 2. 7. 



III. i. Expeftorants are fuppofed to increafe the fecretion 

 of mucus in the branches of the windpipe, or to increafe the 

 perfpiration of the lungs fecreted at the terminations of the bron- 

 chial artery. 



2. If any thing promotes expectoration toward the end of 

 peripneumonies, when the inflammation is reduced by bleeding 

 and gentle cathartics, frnall repeated blifters about the cheft, 

 with tepid aqueous and mucilaginous or oily liquids, are more 



advantageous 



