2l8 
Dr . Currie's Account of the 
with a bucket of cold salt-water containing four gallons, 
poured the whole on the head and shoulders, suffering it to 
run down on the rest of the body. This process took up 
nearly a minute, during which I examined the mercury, and 
found it unchanged. They were both directed to continue 
sitting without motion for a minute after, during which, in 
both instances, the mercury rose two degrees. A third, much 
inferior in vigour, submitted to the same experiment, and the 
mercury continued during the affusion of the water unchanged, 
but in a minute after sunk half a degree. In fevers, where 
the heat is generally increased from two to six degrees above 
the standard of health, pouring a bucket of cold water on the 
head always reduces the pulse in frequency, and commonly 
lowers the heat from two to four or five degrees. Of this sa- 
lutary practice I hope soon to speak at large to the public. 
6. The power of the body in preserving its heat under the 
impressions of cold, and the changes of temperature, and of 
media, seems in some measure regulated by the condition of 
the mind. That fear increases the influence of cold, and of 
many other noxious powers, will not be doubted ; but the state 
of the mind to which I allude, is that of vigorous attention to 
other objects. This, it is well known, will to a certain degree 
deaden, or, indeed, prevent the sensation of cold ; and what 
does this, I apprehend, prevents, or at least weakens, its phy- 
sical action. The astronomer, intent on the objects of his sub- 
lime science, it is said, neither feels, nor is injured by, the 
damps nor the chillness of the night ; and in some species of i 
madness, where the ideas of imagination are too vivid to admit 
the impressions of sense, cold is resisted to an extraordinary 
degree. I have seen a young woman, once of the greatest 
