1096 GENERAL TREATMENT. 



old ulcer ; and in all cases is highly favourable 

 to cicatrisation. 



7. That instead of giving rise to inflammation, 

 it checks its progress : 



8. That heat is useful in scrofula, rheumatism, 

 white swellings, phthisis, amenorrhea, paraplegia 

 and other paralyses." 



To those who are opposed to all reasoning on 

 the first principles of medical science, it may be 

 agreeable to learn that the practice of Dr. Ma- 

 cartney and M. Guyot was not adopted from 

 any peculiar theoretical views in regard to the 

 physiological agency of heat, but from clinical 

 observation and experience. That blisters and 

 rubefacients produce their good effects in deep 

 seated inflammations, by increasing the action of 

 the capillary vessels, and thus relieving congestion, 

 might naturally be inferred from the elevation of 

 temperature they produce in the parts to which 

 they are applied, and from their influence in 

 augmenting the vigour of the general circulation. 

 Hence their utility in inflammation of the lungs, 

 pleurae, throat, brain, stomach, bowels, liver, and 

 other organs, as also in typhus, apoplexy, para- 

 lysis, and other cases of languid circulation. 



Another indication in the treatment of inflam- 

 mation is to diminish the action of the heart when 

 too violent, by which more blood is forced into the 

 weakened vessels than can be circulated through 

 them, and the local congestion augmented. This 



