CLASS I. 2. 3. 14. OF IRRITATION. 



ten five fpongc-like fyftem of cells, which connects all 



of the body, may have its power of abforption ii 

 at the fame time that fomc other part of it may flill reta-.-i UKIL 

 power, or perhaps poiTefs it in an increafed degree ; and as all 

 cells communicate with each other, the fluid, which abounds 

 in one part of it, can be transferred to another, and thus be re- 

 forbed into the circulation. 



[n the afcites, cream of tartar has fometimes been attended 

 fuccefs ; a dram or two drams are given every hour in a 

 lorning till it operates, and this is to be repeated for feveral 

 days ; but the operation of tapping is generally applied to at laft. 

 Dr. Sims, in the Memoirs of the Medical Society of London, 

 Vol. III. has lately propofed, what he believes to be a more fuc- 

 cefsful method of performing this operation, by making a punc- 

 ture. with a lancet in the fear of the navel, and leaving it todif- 

 charge itfelf gradually for feveral days, without introducing a 

 canula, which he thinks injurious, both on account of the too 

 fudden emiffion of the fluid, and the danger of wounding or ftim- 

 ulating the vifcera. This operation I have twice known per- 

 formed with lefs inconvenience, and I believe with more beitgiit 

 to the patient, than the common method. 



After the patient has been tapped, fome have tried injections 

 into the cavity of the abdomen, but hitherto I believe with ill 

 event. Nor are experiments of this kind very promifmg of fuc- 

 cefs. Firft, becaufe the patients are generally much debilitated, 

 jnofl frequently by fpirituous potation, and have generally a dif- 

 eaie of the liver, or of other vifcera. And fecondly, becaufe 

 the quantity of inflammation, necefiary to prevent future fecretion 

 of mucus into the cavity of the abdomen, by uniting the perito- 

 neum with the interlines or mefentery, as happens in the cure 

 of the hydrocele, would I fuppofe generally deflroy the patient, 

 either immediately, or by the confequence of fuch adhefions. 



This however is not the cafe in refpect to the dropfy of the 

 4)varium, or in the hydrocele. 



14. Hydrops thoracis. The dropfy of the cheft commences 

 with lofs of fle(h, cold extremities, pale countenance, high col- 

 oured urine in fmall quantity, and general debility, like many 

 other dropfies. The patient next complains of numbnefs in the 

 arms,. especially when elevated, with pain and difficulty of fwal- 

 lowing, and an abfolute impombility of lying down for a few 

 minutes, or with fudden darting from fleep, with great difficulty 

 of breathing and palpitation of his heart. It is often confound- 

 ed with anafarca pulmonum, which fee. 



The numbnefs of the arms is probably owing more frequent- 

 ly to the increafed action of the pectoral mufcles in refpiration, 

 VOL. II. N whence 



