GENERAL TREATMENT. 1097 



may be done by moderate blood-letting, which 

 may also be resorted to in cases of extreme ple- 

 thora, or when there is more blood than the heart 

 has the power of forcing freely through the body. 

 And local plethora may be relieved by the appli- 

 cation of leeches, should fomentations fail. But 

 we ought never to bleed in health, because blood 

 is the immediate source of life and power to all 

 the organs ; and very rarely in disease, because 

 the process of sanguification is then diminished. 

 Cullen rightly observes, that in pneumonia it 

 favours effusion into the bronchial cells and pre- 

 vents expectoration, when carried too far.* Hun- 

 ter also says, that excessive bleeding often induces 

 dropsy and convulsions ; while Dr. M'Culloch 

 assures us, that it causes delirium, paralysis, and 

 madness. 



i- The leading object should always be to restore 

 the action of the weakened vessels, by a judicious 

 and varied application of the agent on which all 

 the powers of life depend. Perhaps there is no 

 better method of treating old ulcers than by fre- 



* In regard to the beneficial influence of mercury in removing 

 the effusion of lymph in cases of croup, pneumonia, bronchitis, 

 pleurisy, peritonitis, pericarditis, hepatitis, and iritis, Dr. Alison 

 truly observes, that there has been much exaggeration: that 

 when given so as to produce salivation, it is oftener followed by 

 an aggravation than by any improvement of the symptoms : that 

 it frequently causes a dysenteric affection of the bowels, and pro- 

 duces or augments scrofula, when there is a tendency to that 

 disease. (Cyclopedia of Medicine, Part xxiv. p. 96.) 



