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3^7 



MEDICAL PAPERS 



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It would be eafy to point out feveral other matters both of 

 a vegetable and animal nature, which produce efFeds of 

 the fame kind almoftas foon as they are received into the 

 jftomachj and long before they are fuppofcd to have un- 



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dergone its a£!:ion, or of being mixed with the blood, 

 is impoffible to tell, what fpecies of the eruptive difcafes are 

 occafioned by the prcfence of morbid matter in the prim<3e 

 Y\x; but in all thofe cafes, where it is doubtful, it vs^ould 

 not be araifs to fufped it, and to order our medicines ac- 

 cordingly. Dr. Korr (of St. Croix) informed me, that he 



had once an cbftinate humour upon his arm^ which alter- 

 nated with a complaint in his ftomach, arifing from the too 

 great predominance of an acid, and that he was never able 

 to remove it with all the applications he could ufe, till he 

 cured the diforder in his ftomach by bitter and aftringent 



medicines. 



A fecond obfervation upon the above cafe, which I 



would beg leave to make is, that pukes may often be 

 given to evacuate the contents of the ftomach, and not- 

 withftanding they work tolerably well, may not anfwer 

 the purpofes we Intended by them. How often do we 

 difcover the ftrongeft marks of worms being lodged in the 

 ftomach, and yet how feldom are we able to bring them 

 up from thence, by the ordinary pukes we adminiftcr. In 

 this, and like cafes therefore, it ftiould be our prac- 



life to increafe the dofes of our vomits, or to give 

 fuch fubftances as will deftroy the life, or virus of 

 thofe things we would wifta to expel from the ftomach. 

 Had the laft puke, which I gave to the child, which had 

 eaten the Strammonium feeds, failed of bringing them up, 

 I have no doubt, but what the plentiful ufe of acids *, 

 (which are fuch powerful antidotes to other narcotic fub- 

 ftances,) would have rendered them harmlefs- And if we 

 may be allowed to reafon from analogy, I think we may 

 prefume, that there is fcarcely a poifonous fubftance in na- 

 ture but what has an antidote provided for it. What thefe 



antidotes 



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* Since wrifing" the above, J have had the pleafurc of hearing from Di\ 

 Dr. Harris^ an uccount of the good eficd:^ of leniun juice hi a fimditr cafcj 



pukc5 had been given to no purpufc. 



Thomas Bond^ and 

 after the ilrongefl 





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