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3<j9 MEDICAL PAPERS. 



alinoft a fufficient vindication of this pradice; and toge- 

 ther with the cafe of that child whofe body I firft opened, 

 where I faw the moft powerful antifeptics faithfully admi- 

 niftered, which not only failed of fuccefs,but did not even 

 mitigate the fymptoms, was what firft led me to enquire 

 more minutely into the nature of the difeafe, and of the 

 remedies which had been ufed with moft fuccefs in its 



cure. 



laj. 



3-'. 



gave me the greater fatisfadion becaufe he wrote upon the 



difeafe as it appeared in this country, and under his own 



immediate obfcrvation,) I found he placed his chief de- 



/ pendence upon mercurials, which I was the more readily 



^ induced to make trial of, from the appearance I found 



from diffeaion, and the idea I thence naturally formed of 

 this complaint; and the experience I have had of their 

 TOod efFeds, fully juftifies the recommendation Dr. Doug- 

 lafs has given of them; as the more freely I have ufed 

 them, the better efFeds I have feen from them. Calomel 

 is what I have commonly ufed, and have given it to the 

 quantity of ^o or 40 grains, in five or fix days, to a child 

 of three or lour years old ; not only without any ill effeds, 

 but to the manifeft advantage of my patient; relieving 

 the difficulty of breathing, and promoting the cafting off 

 the Houghs, beyond any other medicine. That it may 

 more immediately enter the blood, and ad more power- 

 fully as an attcnuant, it fhould at firft be joined with<a 

 mild opiate; and what is a little remarkable, is, that given 

 in this way, it feldom or never raifed in children any fa- 

 livation; though indeed I fhould be apprehenfive of no ill 

 confequenccs from it, if it ftiould. After the firft or fecond 

 dofe, the opiate Ihould be ommitted, as then the mercury 

 will not be fo apt to go off by the inteftines, and the opiate 

 if continued will, by leflening the fenfibility of the tra- 

 chea, counterad in fome mcafure the attenuating efFeds 

 of the calomel, and alfo increafe the coma. The opera- 

 tion of the calomel, as an expedorant, will be very much 

 promoted by a prudent ufe of oxymel of fquills, or leaft 

 ^ ' that 



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