Sect. III.] Thcorj/ and Praciinf of Pin/sic. 331 



haaviaii doctrine, occupies only a s<'con(lary cle- 

 grce of importance in tiie anini;il economy. Dr. 

 Cullen supposed it to be evident that tlie nervous 

 power, in the whole as well as in the several parts 

 of tlie nervous system, and particularly in the 

 brain, which unites tiie several parts, and forms 

 them into a whole, is at dillerent times in ditlerent 

 degrees of mobility and force. To these dilferent 

 states he applies the terms of cxcUcmtnt and col- 

 lapse. To that state in which the mobility and 

 force are suilicient for the ordinary exercise of the 

 functions, or ^vhere these states are any way ]-)re- 

 ternaturally increased, he gives the name of crcite- 

 ment; and to that state in which the mobility and 

 ibrce are not sufficient for the ordinary exercise 

 of the functions, or when they are diminished from 

 tlie state in which they had been before, he gives 

 the name of collapse*. 



Dr. Cullen's opinions concerning the nature of 

 fever have excited much attention and controversy 

 in the medical world. lie delivers an account of 

 them in the following ivords : "Upon the whole, 

 our doctrine of fever is explicitly this. The remote 

 causes are certain sedative powers appUed to the 

 nervous system, which, diminishing the energy of 

 the brain, thereby produce a dc-bility in the whole 

 of the functions, and pnrticularly in the action of 

 the extreme vessels. Such, however, is, at the 

 same time, the nature of the animal economy, that 

 this debility i)roves an indircct stimulus to the san- 

 guiferous system ; whence, by the intervention of 

 ^he cold stage, and spasm connected with it, the 



* See his histitutes of Midkinc, § 12u to 13:';. 



