^66 Medicine. 



storing therefore their action^ and thereby espe-» 

 cially overcoming the spasm ai^ecting them; upon 

 the removing of which, the excretion of sweat, 

 ;and other marks af the relaxation of excretories, 

 take place. "^ 



As Hoffman's theory of fever evidently pro- 

 duced that of CuLLEN, it is proper to ascertain 

 the points of variance between them. According 

 to Hoffman, the first effect of the remote cause 

 of fever is th-e spasm, producing a re-action, as 

 has already been stated in the account given of 

 his doctrine, Cullen introduced a previous link 

 into the chain of effects: he contended that the 

 first effect of the noxious power (the remote cause) 

 was a general debility, consisting in a diminution 

 of the energy of the brain. To this debility he 

 attributes the spasm, and to the spasm the re-ac- 

 tion of the heart and arteries; which re-action 

 continuing till the spasm is resolved, removes the 

 debility and the disease. According to Hoffman, 

 the spasm belongs to the class of motions which 

 he pronounces to be baneful; but Cullen pre- 

 sumes it to be salutary, and therefore ascribes it, 

 in the language of the schools, to the vis inedica- 

 trlx naturce. 



Dr. Cltllen's theory of fever was received with 

 great applause, and, for a considerable tirne,^ 

 maintained its c.-scendency, especially in the British 

 dominions and in the United States. Few, how-- 

 ever, at the present day, seem to consider it as 

 tenable. The author has not undertaken to ex- 

 plain in what manner the debility in the whole of 

 the functions proves an indirect stimulus to the 

 sanguiferous system; nor how this stimulus ope- 

 rates in exciting the cold stage and spasm. The 

 co-existence of atony and spasm in the same vessels 



£ iFirst Lino of tht PraciUe ef Phyttif vol. i. p. 55. 



