AND ANIMAL LIFE. 253 



by nausea, which would augment the evil, and if 

 we placed the inferior half of the body in water as 

 warm as the individual can bear it, employing at 

 the same time almost constant friction, and if we 

 also applied a bladder of warm water to the pit of 

 the stomach, to lessen the congestion of blood in 

 this organ and the thoracic viscera, we should so 

 far equalize the circulation as to improve the 

 chemical changes of the sanguineous fluid ; and, 

 in proportion as we accomplished this object, we 

 should find that the powers which belong to or- 

 ganic and animal life readily return. 



CCLXXVI. Depletion has occasionally been 

 resorted to in the treatment of poisoning from 

 opium, and has in some cases been found bene- 

 ficial. ORFILA, after making experiments on 

 this subject, draws several conclusions favourable 

 to its judicious employment, of which the follow- 

 ing is one : 



" %do, Qu'elle a paru utile dans quelques cir- 

 " Constances, et meme qu'elle a suffi pour retablir 

 " des animaux qui auraient peri si on ne Pevit 

 " pas pratiquee.*" Depletion has been found 

 useful in the cold stage of intermittent fever, 

 because it takes off a part of the burden from the 

 Internal organs, and thereby permits the lungs to 

 oxygenate more completely the blood, which speedily 

 excites the action of the heart, the increased con- 

 tractions of which distribute the blood more gene- 



* Ibid, p 248. Tom. II. 



