194 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



the blood has the tendency to accumulate here, 

 that an inordinate quantity will very readily be 

 determined to its different viscera ; and it is im- 

 possible for this state to exist without the lungs 

 participating in the congestion : if these are op- 

 pressed, it is not difficult to explain the small, or 

 almost imperceptible pulse, and other concomi- 

 tant phenomena. 



CCXVII. When the system is first affected by 

 local inflammation, the increased temperature is 

 to be attributed to the excited action of the lungs ; 

 a portion of the heat passes off in the form of per- 

 spiration, thus removing the superabundance 

 which is evolved by disease. But if, instead of 

 local and acute inflammation, we have other 

 disordered conditions, giving rise to continued or 

 intermittent fever, the distribution of the blood, 

 and the temperature of the body, are accom- 

 panied by other and more marked changes. 



CCXVIII. In the cold stage of intermittent 

 fever the pulse is remarkably small and fre- 

 quent, and in no other disease have we such an 

 obvious depression of the powers of organic and 

 animal life. Great diminution of temperature, 

 difficulty of breathing, oppression of the chest, 

 violent headache, pain in the course of the spine, 

 and a general feeling of lassitude, are a few of 

 the symptoms which characterize its development. 



Dr CURRIE, in his Medical Reports, allows us 

 to speak with confidence concerning the diminu- 



