300 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Syncope. 



SECT. I. The manner in which the Sanguiferous and 

 Nervous Systems are acted upon by those causes which 

 produce Syncope. 



CCCXXVIII. THERE are few subjects con- 

 nected with the'science of medicine so truly dif- 

 ficult as the one we propose to investigate. The 

 variety of causes which give rise to the paroxysm 

 of Syncope, the peculiar and invariable phenome- 

 na which characterize its origin, progress, and 

 termination, have tended materially to make our 

 knowledge of its proximate cause indefinite or 

 incorrect. The affection frequently occurs in 

 health, or at least at times when we have no evi- 

 dence of disease. It is a symptom which is 

 found conjoined with the slightest and most se- 

 vere indisposition ; it occasionally follows the ex- 

 hibition of medicines, or the employment of re- 

 medial measures ; and its precursory stages, or 

 symptoms, are sometimes induced, being re- 

 garded as among the most powerful means we 

 possess in counteracting inflammation. 



CCCXXIX. The confusion which pervades 

 the writings and opinions of men on the subject 



