1048 CAUSE OF PERIODICITY. 



previous torpor of the brain, stomach, intestines, 

 and voluntary muscles, is succeeded by an in- 

 creased activity of all the functions. The effete 

 matter of the system that had accumulated in, 

 and still further vitiated the blood during the 

 cold stage, together with the superfluous amount 

 of caloric that marks the hot stage, are carried 

 off through those natural sewers, the skin, kid- 

 neys, and bowels, when the sweating stage comes 

 on, and puts an end to the paroxysm. Such are 

 the leading symptoms that mark the progress of 

 intermittent fever, which may be regarded as the 

 type of all the other varieties. 



But why do the paroxysms return at nearly 

 regular periods of 24, 48, and 72 hours, as in the 

 quotidian, tertian, and quartan forms of fever? 

 Why is the cold stage longer, while the paroxysm 

 is shorter, in the quartan than in the tertian, in 

 which the cold stage is again longer, and the 

 paroxysm shorter, than in the quotidian ? Why 

 is the chill shorter and less distinctly marked in 

 fevers that continue, with slight remissions in 

 the morning, for several days, or even weeks, 

 than in intermittents ? Why, in nearly all of 

 them, should it come on more frequently in the 

 early part of the day than after noon ? And why, 

 in continued fevers, does the remission occur in 

 the morning? So far as I am aware, none of 

 these important questions have ever yet been 

 answered in a satisfactory and philosophical man- 

 ner by pathologists. 



