ART. VII. i. 3. i. TORPENTIA. 7$ 



univerfal folvents or lubricants in refpecl to animal bodies, and 

 thus facilitate the circulation, and the fecretion of the various 

 glands. At the fame time it is poflibly, that thefe two fluids 

 may occafional afTume an aerial form, as in the cavity of the 

 cheft, and by compreffing the lungs may cauie one kind of 

 afthma, which is relieved by breathing colder air. An increaf- 

 ed quantity of heat by adding ftimulus to every part of the fyf- 

 tem belongs to the article Incitantia. 



III. i. The application of cold to the flcin, which is only 

 another expreflion for the diminution of the degree of heat we 

 are ai:cu(tomed to, benumbs the cutaneous abforbents into inac- 

 tion ; and by fympathy the urinary ai^d inteftinal abforbents be- 

 come alfo quiefce nt- The fecerning vefTels continuing their ac- 

 tion fomewhat longer, from the warmth of the blood. Hence 

 the ufuai fecretions are poured into the bladder and inteftines, 

 and no abforption is retaken from them. Hence fprinkling the 

 fkin with cold water increafes the quantity of urine, which is 

 j and of ftool, which is fluid 9 thefe have erroneoufly been 

 aicribed to increafed fecretion, or to obftrudted perfpiration. 



The thin difcharge from the noflrils of fome people in cold 

 weather is owing to the torpid ftate of the abibrbent veflels of 

 the membrana fchneidenana, which as above are benumbed 

 fooner than thofe, which perform the fecretion of the mucus. 



The quick anhelation, and palpitation of the heart, of thofe, 

 who are immerfed in cold water, depends on the quiefcence of 

 the external abforbent veflels and capillaries. Hence the cuta- 

 neous circulation is diminifhed, and by aflbciation an almofl 

 univerfal torpor of the fyitem is induced ; thence the heart be- 

 comes incapable to puih forwards its blood through all the inac- 

 tive capillaries and glands ; and as the terminating vefleisof the 

 pulmonary artery fuffer a (imilar inaction by aflociation, the 

 blood is with difficulty pumed through the lungs. 



Some have imagined, that a fpafmodic conftriclion of the 

 fmaJler veflels took place, and have thus accounted for their re- 

 Citance to the force of the heart. But there feems no neceflity 

 to introduce this imaginary fpafm ; fmce thofe, who are con. 

 verfant in injecting bodies, find it neceflary firft to put them, 

 into warm water to take away the (lifFnefs of the cold dead vef- 

 fels , which become inflexible like the other mufcles of dead 

 animals, and prevent the injected fluid from pafling. 



Before the improved knowledge of chemiilry, and of natural 

 philofophy, and of the laws of organic life, fome writers have 

 fpoken of cold as a ftimulus to the fyftern, inftead of fpeaking 

 of ir as a diminution of the ftimulus of heat. But the immedi- 

 ate confequence of ftimulus is the exertion of the ftimulated 



fibres ; 



