[ 569 ] 
LXXV. Cafes of the remarkable EffeSls of 
Blifters in leffening the ^uicknefs of the 
Pulfe in Coughs , attended with InfarElion 
of the Lungs and Fever : By Robert 
Whytt, M. D. F. R. S. Fellow of the 
Royal College of Phyficians , and Profejfor 
of Medicine in the Univerfty of Edin- 
burgh. 
Read Feb. 16. ^vNE of the moft natural effects of 
J 7 S 8 - bliftering plaifters, when applied 
to the human body, is to quicken the pulfe, and in- 
creafe the force of the circulation. This efted they 
produce, not only by means of the pain and in- 
flammation they raife in the parts to which they 
are applied, but alfo becaufe the finer particles of 
the cantharides , which enter the blood, render it 
more apt to ftimulate the heart and vafcular fyftem. 
The apprehenfion, that blifters muft in every cafe 
accelerate the motion of the blood, feems to have 
been the reafon, why fome eminent phyficians have 
been unwilling to ufe them in feverifti and inflam- 
matory diforders, till after the force of the difeafe 
was a good deal abated, and the pulfe beginning to 
fink. However, an attentive obfervation of the ef- 
feds, which follow the application of blifters in 
thofe difeafes, will fhew, that inftead of increafing, 
they often remarkably lefien the frequency of the 
pulfe. This I had occafion formerly to take notice 
Vo l. 50. 4 D of 
