148 ANALYTIC SECT. XVIII. 
of an intermittent, the skin contracts, owing to 
the direct reducement of ‘the vital force ; but the 
spasms of the'stomach arise from the blood col- 
lecting in such quantity as to impair the function 
of the nerves of the stomach, and thereby to 
suspend the generation of the expansive vital 
force in this organ. All the benefit arising from 
fomentations, in spasm of the stomach, consists 
in equalizing the distribution of the blood, by 
diverting it towards its surface, The vomiting 
in cholera of India, is exactly the same as vomit- 
ing in the cold stage of an intermittent, and is 
also relieved like it, when the natural distribution 
of the blood is restored. 
cecLxvuil. Thus, the nerves of the stomach 
cannot continue their functions when they are 
overloaded, even by a substance which in modera- 
tion is indispensably requisite to keep up their 
action. But the same thing happens in the other 
parts of the nervous system. ‘The optic nerve is 
excited by a moderate light; which may, how- 
ever, be applied strongly enough to impair or 
destroy its faculty of vision. Deafness, too, may 
arise from exposing the auditory nerve to loud 
sounds. It is the quantity, rather’ than the 
quality, of stimulants, which in general thus 
renders them alternatively capable of augmenting 
or reducing the vital force. 
