1042 RATIO SYMPTOM ATUM. 



niodic condition of the whole body, is not the 

 proximate cause of ague, as maintained by Hoff- 

 man and Cullen, but a secondary effect arising 

 from the loss or deficient supply of animal heat, 

 is evident'from the fact, that the same spasmodic 

 condition is induced by immersion in the cold 

 bath, and by exposure to the fumes of carbonic 

 acid. Nor is it less certain, that the small and 

 feeble pulse which marks the cold stage, is in- 

 duced by whatever diminishes the temperature of 

 the blood, the circulation of which through the 

 lungs being impeded, causes anxious and difficult 

 respiration. The surface is pallid or livid, because 

 the blood is imperfectly arterialized ; while the 

 features are shrunken, and the extremities dimi- 

 nished in bulk, because they are not duly supplied 

 with blood, which accumulates in the central 

 organs. The bowels are torpid, perspiration is 

 checked, and there is a deficiency of the urinary 

 secretion, which is pale or colourless. And as 

 the blood is no longer depurated by the excre- 

 tion of those compounds that pass off through 

 the emunctories during health, it becomes still 

 further vitiated. For example, as about six 

 pounds of matter are discharged every twenty- 

 four hours from the lungs, skin, kidneys, and 

 bowels, it is manifest that whenever this super- 

 fluous matter is retained for only a short time in 

 the blood, its vital properties must be proportion- 

 ally deranged. What then must be its condition 



