of the Stomach, 231 



testinum Rectum he was unable for a long- time to re- 

 tain, but it slipt down on the least exercise, and after 

 every stool ; his mind also became greatly enfeebled. 

 In this state I saw him. After two or three years he 

 recovered. 



A very celebrated quack whom I knew, was accustom- 

 ed in certain chronic diseases, to administer one hun- 

 dred and fifty or two hundred Emetics, to a patient in a 

 single year. That death was the consequence in many 

 instances, I have no doubt. 



The causes vrhich operate indirectly in producing 

 Chronic Debility of the Stomach, are all such as tend to 

 weaken the body universally. 



Under this head may be placed, 



1. A severe attack of some acute disease. The ef- 

 fect of such an attack, it is w^eii known, is not unfrequent- 

 iy to debilitate the whole body greatly, and the stomach 

 peculiarly. I have known several persons, who, in con- 

 sequence of severe attacks of the yellow fever, had their 

 stomachs weakened to such a degree, that a long period 

 of time elapsed before they \yere restored to their usual 

 state of health. The debility of the stomach however, 

 in these cases was, I acknowledge in my own opinion, 

 owing in part, to a direct action upon it. To explain 

 my meaning I v/ould state, that the yellow fever is in my 

 opinion a stomach disease, owing to morbid miasmata 

 received into it, by means of admixture with the Saliva ; 

 and that to this cause is owing the excessive and very 

 peculiar irritability of that organ, so often witnessed in 

 that disease. The stomach appears to be the primary 

 and principal seat of the disease, ^ndiio draw other parts 

 of the system by sympathy^ into a state of morbid action. 

 In this way, only, could I account for the extreme debili- 

 ty of the stomach, which I have witnessed in some of 

 the survivors. In other cases, as in severe inflamations 

 of the lungs and liver, the part primarily affected often 

 never regains its former strength. 



Other diseases, which do not act peculiarly on the 

 stomach, often occasion in it distressing debility, by the 

 effect produced on other parts of the body. I could ea- 

 sily cite instances, were it necessary, to prove the asser- 

 tion. 



