PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 197 
of the profession, I shall not venture to say more 
against it than I cannot possibly avoid. By pro- 
ducing a discharge or counter-irritation, I have 
never once succeeded in the cure of white-swell- 
ing, and seldom indeed have I seen others more 
fortunate. 
The proximate cause of white-swelling, I con- 
ceive to be defective expansibility of the veins 
and absorbents; the wasting of the muscles of 
-the diseased limb, is a certain proof that its 
nerves are not performing their functions. If, 
then; defective expansibility of the veins and 
absorbents, be the true pathology of white-swell- 
ing, itis obvious, that it must be far more con- 
sistent with the vascular mechanism, to raise 
their expansibility to a par with the arteries, than 
to incur the hazard of a painful and tedious active 
inflammation. Absorption is therefore the most 
scientific method of treating this dangerous 
malady; and I have no difficulty in saying that 
it is far more successful. 
The cure of white-swelling should be commen- 
eed by the application of a dozen or two of 
leeches to the joint, unless the patient’s general 
health be already too weak, to bear even local 
bleeding. Leeches are preferable to cupping, as 
they do less mechanical injury to the joint. ‘Two 
days after the bleeding, a lunar caustic eschar, 
as large as half-a-crown, must be made at one 
