820 CAUSE OF CHOLERA OBSCURE, 



physiology demonstrate, the salt-boiler employed 

 the very best possible remedy, by availing himself 

 of the agent or principle on which all the opera- 

 tions of life and health depend. It is also stated 

 by Dr. Caius, that the most effectual method of 

 treating the sweating sickness, which in several 

 respects resembled the blue cholera, was to ply 

 the patient with hot drinks, and cover him well 

 with blankets, until the circulation was restored, 

 when the cold sweats diminished, and the powers 

 of life gradually rose. 



It has been shown by M. Quetelet, that in plague, 

 cholera, and epidemic fevers of all descriptions, 

 medical treatment is generally of little avail. 

 And it must be admitted that we know very little 

 in regard to the peculiar nature of the remote 

 cause on which the specific character of each 

 depends. Nor is it probable that a knowledge of 

 what constitutes an epidemic state of the atmos- 

 phere, \vould enable us to prevent its occurrence, 

 unless we could regulate all the meteorological 

 changes and revolutions that make up the phe- 

 nomena of climate and season. It has been re- 

 peated a thousand times, that the nature of ma- 

 laria is a profound mystery. But if it be the 

 result of vegetable and animal decomposition, it 

 must consist of some one or more of the combina- 

 tions of organic matter in the gaseous state, such 

 as carbonic acid, carburetted hydrogen, phosphu- 

 retted hydrogen, ammonia, or some other gaseous 



