110 
REVIEW OF MOIROUD’s 
the capillary vessels, paleness of the tissues, and diminution of 
heat; but their effect is transitory, and speedily succeeded by 
reaction. They are useful, therefore, only when, by their local 
action, they diminish the inflammation and heat of a part. Taken 
into the circulation, they increase the aqueous part of the blood, 
and diminish the force and frequency of the pulse—relieve thirst, 
and abate febrile symptoms. In their general effects they are 
analogous to the emollients; but being too long continued, irritate 
the digestive organs, and purge. 
We here expected a long list of temperants and refrigerants. 
M. Moiroud speaks of one drug alone. 
Vinegar, in a state of concentration, is an excitant, constricting 
the minute vessels, but the blood soon afterwards flowing 
through them more rapidly than before,—this particularly when 
it is applied hot; therefore employed in revulsive frictions on the 
extremities, when the vital forces seem concentrated in some dis¬ 
eased organ, as in inflammation of the bowels. When diluted, it 
is refrigerant and antiseptic, and therefore used to acidify various 
drinks in inflammatory complaints. It has been recommended in 
the hoove of cattle. Mixed with honey, it softens many cooling* 
drinks. It is a refreshing drink to animals hardly worked. It is 
used for gargles and injections, and for the fomentation of in¬ 
flamed parts. It is mixed with warm water in baths for acute 
founder; and it enters into many cooling poultices. Mixed with 
mustard-seed, it is a good blister; and it is an excellent disinfec¬ 
tant. It is an antidote to opium, hemlock, and belladonna. 
M. Moiroud next proceeds to the second grand division of 
medicines, Excitants, which augment the intensity of the vital 
powers, recal the action of the different organs, and render their 
functions more rapid and energetic. 
He divides the excitants into general and special. 
General Excitants, although they extend their influence 
over the different tissues, do not produce the same effect on all: 
some accelerate the circulation, others increase the contracti¬ 
lity of the fibres, and others contract the tissues without a 
decided tonic effect. 
The first class of general excitants are, 
. Stimulant and Diffusible. —They accelerate the course of 
the blood, give new activity to the organs, and increase the ex¬ 
trication of animal heat. They arouse and accelerate the move¬ 
ments of the living tissues, and develop 3 their sensibility; they 
propagate their effects to the neighbouring parts, and even dif¬ 
fuse themselves over the whole frame. In consequence of this, 
the pulse is more frequent and strong*, the respiration quickened, 
the sensibility increased, the secretions rendered more abundant, 
