FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF DISEASE. 43 
irritating it. The increased blood pressure throughout the body may 
be diminished by lessening the quantity of blood. This is obtained 
in some cases with advantage when the disease is but starting and 
the animal is plethoric by direct abstraction of blood, as in bleed- 
ing from the jugular or other veins; or by derivatives, such as mus- 
tard, turpentine, or blisters applied to the skin; or by setons, which 
draw to the surface the fluid of the blood, thereby lessening its vol- 
ume without having the disadvantage of impoverishing the ele- 
ments of the blood found in bleeding. In many cases antipyretics 
given by the mouth and cold applied to the skin are most useful. 
When the irritation which is the cause of fever is a specific one, 
either in the form of bacteria (living organisms), as in glanders, 
tuberculosis, influenza, septicemia, etc., or in the form of a foreign 
element, as in rheumatism, gout, hemaglobinuria, and other so-called 
diseases of nutrition, we employ remedies which have been found to 
have a direct specific action on them. Among the specific remedies 
for various diseases are counted quinin, carbolic acid, salicylic acid, 
antipyrene, mercury, iodin, the empyreumatic oils, tars, resins, aro- 
matics, sulphur, and a host of other drugs, some of which are of 
known effect and others of which are theoretical in action. Certain 
remedies, like simple aromatic teas, vegetable acids, such as vinegar, 
lemon juice, etc., alkalines in the form of salts, sweet spirits of niter, 
etc., which are household remedies, are always useful, because they 
act on the excreting organs and ameliorate the effects of fever. Other 
remedies, which are to be used to influence the cause of fever, must 
be selected with judgment and from a thorough knowledge of the 
nature of the disease. 
