COUP DE SOLEIL. 1063 



ties and blueness of the surface, in persons thinly 

 clad,) is one of the most common predisposing 

 and exciting causes of low and protracted fevers. 

 For I have already shewn, that when the powers 

 of life have been greatly reduced by impure air, 

 the excessive heat of summer, and that of tropical 

 climates, exposure to cool nights, damp foggy 

 mornings, a shower of rain, or getting the feet 

 wet, is the ordinary exciting cause of fever. It 

 was truly observed by Cullen, that the conditions 

 which favour the operation of cold are general 

 debility, fasting, evacuations, fatigue, loss of sleep, 

 the depressing emotions, and previous disease. 



What is termed coup de soleil is only a milder 

 form of apoplexy, brought on by over exertion 

 under the influence of a burning sun, when the sur- 

 rounding temperature is above that of the blood, 

 by which, respiration is so far diminished, and 

 the power of the circulation reduced, that the 

 brain is no longer duly vitalized, and the patient 

 falls down in a state of apoplexy or prolonged 

 syncope, until aroused by sprinkling water in the 

 face, or by cooling ablutions, which tend to aug- 

 ment respiration, together with the nutritive pro- 

 cess. On the other hand, when the powers of life 

 have been reduced by age and other predis- 

 posing causes of debility, the capillaries of the 

 lungs are paralyzed by cold, respiration and the 

 power of the heart diminished, by which cerebral 

 atony and congestion are induced, followed by 



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