1 8 DISEASES CLASS I. i. 2. 



tremities may not be perceptible ; as flronger perfons can better 

 bear fome iucreafed exertion, and the confequent unneceflary lofs 

 of fome fenforial power ; and in warmer climates the extremi- 

 ties may not be fo liable to become cold. 



Analogous to this I remember to have feen an inoculated child 

 about fix years old, whofe bofom and face, at the beginning of the 

 eruptive fever, were of a fiery red colour, and exceedingly hot to 

 the touch ; and whofe feet were at the fame time pale, and cold 

 to the touch. When on expofmg the bofom and face to colder 

 air with the feet only {lightly covered, the colour of the former in 

 a few minutes became nearly natural, with little excefs of tangi- 

 ble heat, and at the fame time the feet became as warm as natural. 



Whence I conclude, that all unneceffary increafe of ftimuli, as 

 of warm clothing, wine, and opium, is more injurious to fee- 

 ble conftitutions than to robuft ones ; and that fuch ilimuli alone 

 are falutary to weak perfons, ao increafe thofe actions of the fyf- 

 tem, which are immediately neceflary to life and health, as the 

 clafs of medicines termed forbentia, as peruvian bark, and other 

 bitters, and very fmall quantities of fteel, as thefe feem to increafe 

 the activity of the abforbent fyftem, both of the lymphatic and 

 venous ones, and thus fupply more nutrition, with all its falutary 

 confequences. And that the ufe of thefe forbentia, as well as of 

 the occafional ufe of warmer clothing, wine, and opium, fhould 

 be difcontinued, as foon as the fyftem can acquire the natural 

 habit of acling with fufficient energy without them. See Article 

 II. 2. 2. i. of the Materia Medica. 



The increafe of perfpiration by heat either of clothes, or of fire,, 

 contributes much to emaciate the body ; as is well known to jock- 

 eys, who, when they are a ftone or two too heavy for riding, 

 find the quickeft way to lefTen their weight is by fweating them- 

 felves between blankets in a warm room j but this likewife is a 

 pradtice by no means to be recommended, as it weakens the fyf- 

 tem by the excefs of fo general a ftimulus, brings on a premature 

 old age, and mortens the fpan of life ; as raay be further deduced 

 from the quick maturity, and fhortnefs of the lives, of the inhab- 

 itants of Hindoftan, and other tropical climates. 



When the heat of the body in weak patients in fevers is incrcaf- 

 ed by the ftimulus of the points of flannel, a greater eonfequent 

 debility fucceeds, than when it is produced by the warmth of 

 fire ; as in the former the heat is in part owing to the increafed 

 activity of the (kin, and confequent expenditure of fenforial pow- 

 er ; whereas in the latter cafe it is in part owing to the influx of 

 the rluki matter of heat. 



So the warmth produced by equitation, or by rubbing the body 

 and limbs with a frnooth bruih or hand,, as is done after bathing 



