156 OF STALING AND SWEATING. [BOOK I. 



have worked its passage through the bowels into 

 the lacteals, thence through the heart and arteries 

 into the kidneys, filled the bladder, and caused a 

 staling of the noxious water, which is to carry off" 

 disorders of one sort or other. Here it is worthy 

 of remark, that the operation of internal medicines 

 is much more certain in the horse, when directed 

 against the absorbing vessels and the kidneys, than 

 when intended to act chiefly on the stomach ; for, 

 as hath been observed, his stomach being one half 

 of it insensible to stimulants, we are not certain of 

 producing upon it any effect whatever. In all 

 swellings of the legs, the good properties of diuretic 

 medicines may be discerned almost immediately, by 

 reason of the connexion which subsists between 

 the function of the lymphatics and that of the kid- 

 neys ; by a similar mode of operating, diaphoretic 

 medicines no sooner excite the lacteals to a per- 

 formance of their function, than the skin shows 

 evident signs of its good effects. But both means 

 of cure may be abused, as I shall show more 

 particularly in the sequel : the first, being ad- 

 ministered too often, wears out the functions of the 

 kidneys ; the second, being carried on too long, at 

 length ceases to act upon the skin. 



55. An idea respecting the deposition of water 

 in the membranes was thrown out in the twentieth 

 section ; and another, as to variation in the pro- 

 portions of urine and perspiration in summer and 

 winter, at the bottom of section the twenty-second, 

 to which the reader may refer. On this topic a 



