MEDICINE. 
Jfioved fay laxatives, and other remedies 
adapted to its causes, and as the disease so 
frequently, in part, arises from the first 
mentioned cause, occasional emetics and 
gentle cathartics vrill be proper, in order to 
obviate any accumulation of irritating mat- 
ter in the stomach and intestines : when the 
disease proves obstinate, espeeially in those 
who are advanced in life, or liave been in- 
temperate in the use of fermented, spi- 
tituous, or distilled liquors, we have every 
reason to suspeet some derangement in the 
hepatic system ; in which case it will be re- 
quisite to employ the hydrargyrus, to a 
greater or less extent, in proportion to its 
etfects on the disease, and it will, if the pa- 
tient is not in a very debilitated state, 
sometimes be of essential serviee to push 
mercury so far as to affect the mouth. A 
total Change of habit and climate may also 
frequently be prescribed with great benefit. 
Asthma. The paroxysms of this disease 
very frequently commence during or after 
the-first sleep, with a sense of tightness and 
stricture across the chest, and a feeling of 
uneasy oppression in the lungs, impeding 
respiration ; there is either no cough pre- 
sent, or it is'not attended with any expecto- 
ration : the patient, if in a horizontal situa- 
tion, is immediately under the necessity of 
getting into an erect posture, and of flying 
for relief to the open window; the diffi- 
culty of breathing for a time increases, and 
both inspiration and expiration are atten- 
ded with a wheezing noise, the voice is 
weak, and the exertion of talking is more 
or less painful : after these symptoms have 
continued for some hours, a profuse sweat 
sometimes breaks out, the breathing be- 
comes less laborious, and the eough, which, 
at the commencement, was not present, or 
was without any expectoration, now be- 
comes more free, and a more or less copious 
secretion of mucus takes place, and the 
other symptoms abate, but there is a greater 
or less degree of tightness across the chest, 
and of difficulty of breathing, throughout 
the course of the day ; towards evening, or 
about midnight, for several successive nights, 
the symptoms suSer an exacerbation, and a 
remission takes place towards morning ; 
and after some days, on the expectoration 
becoming and continuing more copious, the 
paroxysms for a time cease altogether : the 
pulse is, for the most part, quick, weak, and 
small ; and the urine, which, at the com- 
mencement of the paroxysm, was pale, on 
its remission becomes high-coloured, and 
often deposits a sediment; the face is some- 
times, during the paroxysm, somevvhat 
flushed and turgid, more commonly, how- 
ever, it is pale and shrunk ; asthma is very 
frequently an hereditary disease, it does not 
very commonly appear before the time of 
puberty, and chiefly affects the male sex; 
it is most liable to return in hot weather, 
this, however, is not always the case : the 
paroxysm is often preceded by lassitude, 
torpor, drowsiness, a sense of weight or 
pain of the head, and symptoms of dys- 
pepsia. 
Treatment. In the paroxysm, if the pa- 
tient be young, and of a plethoric habit, 
blood-letting will be often of service, espe- 
cially, if employed in the early periods of 
the disease, but if it have been of long con- 
tinuance, it is generally hurtful, but cupping 
between the shoulders is often of considera- 
ble service; gentle laxatives and clysters 
should be employed, at proper intervals, so 
as to keep the bowels regular; gentle eme- 
tics should on no account be dispensed 
with, and where a paroxysm is expected to 
occur in the course of the night, an emetic 
exhibited in the evening will generally pre- 
vent it : antispasmodics should be admini- 
stered, as opium, asafcetida, aether, &e. ; it 
will be necessary to assist and promote the 
expectoration by means of some of the fol- 
lowing remedies, either alone, or perhaps a 
more preferable manner will be in combi- 
nation, as milk of ammoniac or of asafoe- 
tida, the decoction of seneka, or a solution 
of spermaceti, with nauseating doses of tar- 
tar emetic, or with some of the preparations 
of squills ; the carbonate of ammonia, and 
myrrh, are also medicines of considerable 
efficacy ; but squills are, by far, the most 
valuable expectorant of any in the whole 
materia medica ; a blister should be applied 
to the chest, the vapour of warm water 
should be inhaled, and its effects will be in- 
creased, if the water is impregnated with 
aether ; warm pediluvia, or the warm bath 
should be ordered ; the respiration of an 
atmosphere, mixed with hydrogen gas, or 
any other innocuous air, which might dilute 
the oxygenous gas, would be useful in spas- 
modic asthma, by decreasing the sensibility 
of the system, and preventing the recur- 
rence of the paroxysms ; the respiration of 
an atmosphere, with an increased propor- 
tion of oxygen, is recommended in what is 
called tlte humoral asthma : in the inter- 
missions, the remote causes should, as far 
as lies in our power, be carefully avoided ; 
the use of fermented liquors, and particu- 
larly of distilled spirits, must be strictly in 
