RATIONALE OF THE MORNING REMISSION. 1059 



to some of the other predisposing causes of fever, 

 it follows the cold stage much sooner, and is pro- 

 portionally more difficult to resolve, because the 

 blood is in a more vitiated state. Nor can it ever 

 be restored to a healthy condition otherwise than 

 by promoting its free circulation through the 

 lungs, where it is formed, and the evacuation of 

 whatever is superfluous or injurious from the 

 skin, kidneys, and bowels. 



It still remains to inquire why the cold stage of 

 fever comes on generally in the forenoon, or far 

 more frequently than in the afternoon ; and why 

 in the continued form of the disease, there is a 

 morning remission ? 



The solution of these queries will be found in 

 the fact, that respiration is always very much 

 diminished during sleep, and arrives at the mini- 

 mum about midnight, when all the energies of 

 life are proportionally reduced : so that as the 

 coldest part of the twenty-four hours is just before 

 sunrise, if the body be not well covered, or its 

 temperature maintained by artificial warmth, the 

 chill comes on at an early hour, or sometime 

 before mid-day. In accordance with this fact, it 

 has been observed, that in a large majority of 

 cases the attack of epidemic cholera was during 

 the night, or early in the morning. 



If the healthy properties of the blood are not 

 entirely restored after the first paroxysm, (which 

 is seldom the case,) or if the patient be still exposed 

 to the primary cause of the disease, it is repeated 



