PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 195 
re-action, is by applying the nitrate of silver on 
the spine; but I recommend Mr, Powell’s method, 
because it has been extensively practised. Blisters 
of cantharides are of no use; the fate of the 
patient is commonly decided long before they 
begin to operate. No time should be thrown away 
on the hot bath; it is sometimes injurious; the 
sudden application of heat to the body, when its 
vital action is very low, is not without pain and 
danger. 
Hemiplegia—In these kingdoms, the treat- 
ment of acute hemiplegia cannot be improved. 
Bleeding and blistering often remove this disease 
in the course of six weeks or two months; but if, 
at the end of this period, the use of the paralytic 
side be not partially restored, a cure is generally 
considered hopeless. If, however, all the appo- 
plectic symptoms be entirely removed, and there 
remain no appearance of plethora of the cerebral 
blood-vessels, even chronic hemiplegia may 
sometimes be greatly benefited, by a succession | 
of small lunar caustic eschars. It is impossible 
to say, @ priori, in what case this treatment may 
be successful; but this information is very easily 
ascertained, by making an eschar over the course 
of the nerves of the paralytic arm, either in the 
axilla, or above the clavicle; and if either the 
sense or motion of the arm be improved, just 
expectation may be entertained of alleviating the 
disease. 
