150 MATERIA MEDICA, 



a cordial ball in a pint or more of beer, and 

 feed soon after with great alacrity : the ad- 

 vantage thus derived is not merely tempo- 

 rary, as they are by this treatment render- 

 ed adequate to another chase or journey 

 much quicker than they would otherwise 

 be. (See Cordials^ Pharm.J I have known 

 wine given in obstinate diarrhoea with good 

 effect. 



It may be asked, why diluted alkohol, or 

 rectified spirit, is not equally useful, since 

 it is the essential principle of all fermented 

 liquors. The reason is this : when rectified 

 spirit is diluted with water to any degree, 

 the combination is so weak, that the heat of 

 the stomach readily separates the former, 

 which from its volatility attaches itself to all 

 the superior parts of the stomach, acting on 

 them as rectified spirit; whereas in ferment- 

 ed liquors, the spirit and water are so firmly 

 united, that the heat of the stomach is not 

 sufficient to separate them. This may be 

 proved by experiments out of the body, and 

 sufficiently accounts for the difference we 

 observe between the action of diluted spirit, 

 and fermented liquors in the human sto- 

 mach : but in the horse great part of this 



