}S$ RETROGRADE ABSORBENTS. SECT. XXIX. 6, 



Sydenham has recorded, in the ftationary fever 

 of the year 1685, the vifcid fweats flowing from the? 

 bead, which w ere' probably from the fame fource, 

 as thofe in the fweating plague above mentioned. 



It is very common in dropfies of the cheft or 

 lungs to have the difficulty of breathing relieved 

 by copious fweats, flowing from the head and neck. 

 Mr. P. about 50 years of age, had for many weeks 

 been afflicted with anafarca of his legs and thighs, 

 attended with difficulty of breathing; and had re- 

 peatedly been relieved by fquilj, other bitters, and 

 chalybeates. One night the difficulty of breathing 

 became fq great, that it .was thought he mutt have 

 expired ; but fo copious a fweat came out of his 

 head and neck, that in a few hours fome pints, by 

 eftimation, were wiped off from thofe parts, and his 

 breath was for a time relieved. This dyfpncea and 

 thefe fweats recurred at intervals, and after fome 

 weeks he ceafed to exift. The fkin of his head 

 and neck felt cold to the hand, and appeared pale 

 at the time thefe fweats flowed fo abundantly'; which 

 is a proof, that they were produced by an inverted 

 motion of the abforbents of thofe parts ; for fweats, 

 which are the confequence of an increafed a61ion 

 of the fanguiferousfyftem,are always attended with) 

 a warmth of the fkin, greater than is natural, ancl 

 a more florid colour ; as the fweats from exercife, 

 or thofe that fucceed the cold fits of agues. Can 

 any one explain how thefe partial fweats fhould re- 

 lieve the difficulty of breathing in anafarca, but by 

 fuppoiing that the pulmonary branch of abforbents 

 drank up the fluid in the cavity of the thorax, or 

 in the cells of the lungs, and threw it on the fkin, 

 by the retrograde motions of the cutaneous branch ? 

 for, if we could fuppofe, that the increafed adion 

 of the cutaneous glands or capillaries poured 'upon 

 the fkin this fluid, previoufly abforbed from the 

 Jungs ; why is not the whole furface of the body 



covered 



