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PATHOLOG Y. 207 
Reparation merely, but a new combination, as in fimilar 
inftances of fecretion. 
It has been very generally held, that the coming-on 
of perfpiration tends to cure fever. We do not altoge¬ 
ther fubfcribe to this dodtrine, though certainly fweat- 
ing produces a falutary refrigeration. It feems to us, 
however, that it is critical, rather becaufe it (hows that 
the nerves have relumed their functions; that it is not 
fo ufeful in itfelf, as in being an indication of another falu¬ 
tary change in the conffirution. It is to the reftoration of 
the nervous influence that we refer the re-eltablilhment 
of fecretion all over the body; as the moiflure of the 
mouth, the abfence of third, the return of appetite, and 
the copious flow of urine. The increafe of the febrile 
phenomena in the hot flage towards evening, is exp! fined 
by the well-known f'adt, that the adtion of the heart 
always accelerates at that period. 
According to the views here taken, the actions of the 
nervous fyflem are efl’ential movements of the febrile 
ftate. When we confider that this is indeed the only one 
through which the general fympathy between the capil¬ 
laries of all parts of the body can be manifefted, we (hail 
readily conceive that the brain mud be the part whofe 
morbid condition is efl'ential to fever. Our ignorance of 
the ftrufture and functions of that organ, prevents us 
from reafoning fo haftily as to affirm with Dr. Clutter- 
buck, that inflammation is the condition which pro¬ 
duces fever. But certainly it does feem, that a perpe¬ 
tual fympathy being eftablifhed along nervous conti¬ 
nuations, a fympathy capable of cauling at their remote 
parts difeafe limilar to that which gave rife to it, mud 
in its courfe implicate in this fame adtion (inflamma¬ 
tion) a part where the vafcular and nervous fyftems are 
fo clofely united as the brain. 
The il 1 ultration we have attempted feems to embrace 
the fymptomatic, the idiopathic, and the intermittent, 
forms of fever. The firft we (hall now difmifs the con- 
ffderation of, as appertaining to Surgery, under which 
article the fubjedt will be relumed. Of the others a little 
remains to be laid as to the agents which produce them. 
Of the natural agents, i. e. the atmofpherical, the mental, 
or the terredrial, which are daily altering the nature and 
conditution ofonr bodies, we may remark, that our pre- 
fent knowledge renders us quite incapable of tracing or 
illudrating their effects. We fliall (peak therefore of 
contagion. 
An opinion has been raflily broached by fome, that, 
becaufe fever is often diredtly traceable to contagion, 
therefore it arifes from no other caufe. ’It has been 
v/ifely and mod impugnably anfwered, that, on this fup- 
pofition, the feeds of all the manifold ills which “ flefli 
is heir to” mud have been latently contained in Adam, 
and that many of them mud have laid in the fame dor¬ 
mant date for hundreds of generations ; as in the cafes 
of fmall-pox, fiphilis, &c. The more general notion, 
and the only one which bears the ted of reafoning, is, 
that contagions are produced by natural chemical changes, 
whether external or internal to the human body; in 
which latter fituation they re-produce their kind. Thus 
putrid decompofitions of animal fubftances, the fame 
procefle 3 adding on vegetables, or the adtion of the fun 
on the earth itfelf; feem, in fome fituations, to have 
been each followed by a diftindt contagious fever. The 
contamination of the air by the breathing of many indi¬ 
viduals, as in clofe places of confinement or in large the¬ 
atres, has been followed by the fame confequences, even 
when the individuals inquedion were all free from infec¬ 
tious fever. Often, however, the fevers which follow 
exposure to the above-mentioned agents are not tranf- 
terrable from one to another, but are rendered common 
by the genera! influence of the exciting agent. It feems 
too, that fome difeafes which are not generally conta¬ 
gious may, under circumftances of peculiar violence and 
iptenfity, acquire this property; for, on the teflimony 
of very eminent phyficians, phthiiis and croup have been 
Vot. XIX. No. 1298. 
Raid to be infedtious; eryfipelas is well known to have 
become fo on fome occafions ; and indeed we fhould not 
be furprifed, when we confider the multiform produdts 
of difeafed fecreting furfaces, that lecretions of a vola¬ 
tile nature fhould be generated, and that they fhould be 
fo related with our frame as to produce like adtions to 
thole whence they took their rife. But, whether in 
the bodies of men or out of them, this product is ame¬ 
nable to the adtion of the common agents of matter. 
We fee difeafes, which have been idly called fpecific, al¬ 
tering in the courfe of years their nature,—old ones loff, 
new ones arifing. For the horrible leprofy of the an¬ 
cients we in vain fearch a prototype in the medical hif- 
tory ofonr own time. The dreadful fiphilis which mu¬ 
tilated the foldiers at the fiege of Naples, is now fo 
changed in its charadter, that we hardly recognize it in 
the ancient defcriptions; and, though fcariet fever, 
meafles, &c. hold on for centuries their unchanging 
courfe, this is no evidence againft the fadt, that many 
dift'ufible maladies do change by the hand of time, while 
ail are fubjedt (though in a minor degree) to the influ¬ 
ence of the fame agents which control fimilar adtions of 
the body when called into play by other caufes. 
The molt important part of our inquiry refpedting 
contagion, relates to the mode and circumftances of its 
communication from individual to individual, and of its 
general fpreading, with a view to difcover the means of 
fuppreffing it, or preventing its extenfion. This en¬ 
quiry is, of courfe, limited to the contagions which are 
l’oluble or dift'ufible in atmofpheric air; Alice it is 'ob¬ 
vious that the indiffufible contagions may be avoided, by 
Ihunning the contadf of the dileafed. And it mult be 
premifed, that all the febrile contagions have been found, 
by experiments, to be propagated according to the fame 
laws, and to be fupprefled by fimilar means. 
Whenever a contagious epidemic difeafe prevails, a 
very general alarm is excited, in confeqnence of a no¬ 
tion, that the feeds of an evil fo generally deftrudtive 
mulf be diffufed through the atmofphere at large; and 
that, if we rtir abroad, we breathe contagion at every 
flep. This opinion has been promulgated by phyficians 
of high rank and authority ; but recent obfervations 
have fhown that it is erroneous; thus at once removing 
all grounds for this unnecefi’ary alarm, and diredting 
our attention to thofe means of precaution and preven¬ 
tion which can alone efFedlually contribute to our fecu- 
nty-. 
Without entering into the long firing of authors 
who have fupported this opinion, it is enough to ftate 
Amply, that a fufficient number of fadls are now known 
to eftablifh the inference that the popular opinion and 
apprehenfion are groundlefs, and that the moil malig¬ 
nant contagions are never conveyed to any great diffance 
through the atmofphere ; but that they are, in fadl, ren¬ 
dered inert and harsnlefs by difl’ufion in the open air, 
and even in the air of a well-ventilated apartment. It 
is alfo eftabiifhed on clear evidence, that an accumula¬ 
tion of contagious matter may occur, and may undergo, 
from the warmth of the body, a change which will in¬ 
creafe its force ; fo that the ftridieft cleanlinefs in the 
clothes and perfon of the patient ftiould always be in- 
fifted on. 
,Contagion is capable of being contained in unventi- 
lated clothes. A nation Iras been exterminated by fome 
of its people wearing a blanket tainted with contagion ; 
but ventilation fo efiedtually removes this, that we are 
in no fear of carrying infedtion from one houfe to ano¬ 
ther in our clothes. It may indeed hang about furni¬ 
ture, or it may remain for iome time in the air of a place 
where the accefs of frefii air is excluded. 
In moll cafes, the contagious eflence of feve^ remains 
fome days in the body before its effects are manifeft. In 
others, the attack is almoft fimultaneous with the recep¬ 
tion of the contagion. Where a fudden infedtion takes 
place, a dil'agreeable fenfation is excited at tire moment 
3 H of 
