984 STIMULANTS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL. 



explain nothing, the infinitesimal doses of me- 

 dicine which it prescribes are harmless, and afford 

 nature an opportunity of curing the disease. Yet 

 its votaries are chargeable with leaving undone 

 many important things which ought to be done. 



In a practical point of view, caloric, air, and 

 food are of infinitely more importance, in the 

 prevention and treatment of diseases, than all the 

 articles of the Materia Medica ; because they 

 are the natural agents by which all the healthy 

 operations of life are maintained. Next to these, 

 are the artificial stimulants, such as wine, spirits, 

 aether, ammonia, the essential oils, balsams, spices, 

 and terebinthenites, all of which owe their ac- 

 tive properties to the large amount of caloric 

 which they contain, as shown by the hot and 

 burning sensation they produce in the mouth and 

 stomach. Hence it is that, when the powers of 

 life are reduced below par, they are often useful 

 in restoring the circulation to its natural vigour. 



It is also worthy of notice, that the stimulating 

 influence of the Spanish fly, mustard, turpentine, 

 pitch, and many other external applications, is 

 owing chiefly, if not wholly, to the heat which 

 attends their operation. It has been generally 

 supposed that blisters and rubefacients relieve 

 internal inflammations and congestions by acting 

 as revulsives arid evacuants. But the same bene- 

 ficial effects are produced by the permanent 

 application of a heated iron or vessel of hot water, 

 without any evacuation of serum and lymph. I 



