224 
PATHOLOGY. 
fweat, I fuppofe grew hereupon, for that the people of 
that country be often therewith attacked, partly through 
their curious and dainty fare, and great abundance of 
meats, wherewith they crarnme themfelves very inglu- 
vioufly, which I noted at my late being in that realme, 
(about the time of midfummer,) by reafon that the ayre 
with them is troubled, cloudy, and many times with 
foggy dampes overcaft, whereby is engendred the caufe 
and originall, both inwardly and outv/ardly, of this dif- 
eafe ; the vehemency whereof' bringeth them into a bloody 
fweating, wherewith they muft wreftle and drive as with 
a molt fierce and ftrong enemy,..and which they muft en¬ 
deavour with all might to fupplant: hereupon happen 
trannces and fwounings, through feeblenefle of body 
and minde, fainting and drooping of the fpirits, decay 
of powers, flopping of the pipes and voyce, and life 
almoft thereby cleane yeelded up, and the party even 
brought unto death’s doore.” 
Other books from which original information may be 
collefted on the fubjeft of this article are the following : 
A Boke or Confeill againft the Difeafe commonly called 
the Sweat or Sweating-Sicknefs, made by John Caius, 
Doftor in Phyfic, 1552, nmo. which was afterwards re¬ 
viled, enlarged, and put into a more fcientific form, by 
the author, and publiflied in Latin, in 1556, under the 
title of De Ephemera Eritannicu. Joh. Wierus, De Su- 
dore Anglico. C. V. Dubourghdieu, De Pefte. Forref- 
fus, Schol. Obferv. vi. B. Sennertus, iv. 15. Thomas 
Cogan’s Haven of Health. Lord Bacon’s Relation of 
the Sweating-ficknefs examined, &c. by Henry Stubbe, 
Phyfician at Warwick, 4to. Lond. 1671. R. Fortis, 
Ephemera Anglica Peftilens. 
Genus II. Anelus, [from aviy/xi, I intermit.] Intermit¬ 
tent ague, or fever. Generic characters'—Paroxyfm in¬ 
termitting, and returning during the courfe of the dif- 
eafe: the intermiffion generally perfect and regular. 
There cannot perhaps be ftronger evidence againft the 
notion that local inflammation is the invariable accompa¬ 
niment of fever, than that derived from the occurrence 
of intermittents. In thefe difeafes, a cold paroxyfm fol¬ 
lowed by a hot one, each more fevere than in continued 
fever, leaves the patient perfeftly free for fome time from 
pain, or indeed lofs of ftrength or derangement of func¬ 
tion. Neverthelefs, according to Brouflais, thefe fevers 
are, equally with thofe of the continued form, gafiro- 
enterites. But any one not blinded by a favourite hypo- 
thefis, cannot fail to view intermittents rather in the 
light of irritative than inflammatory affections; that is to 
fay, as difeafes in which the nervous fyftem is primarily 
affefted, and the capillary fyftem fecondarily and as a 
confequence. But the reafon why intermifllons take 
place is the difficult point to be decided. Darwin endea¬ 
voured to refer thefe periodical changes to the influence 
of our diurnal habits, in regard to aftivity and fleep, 
exhauftion of fenforial power and invigoration, and to 
the diurnal periods of heat and cold, light and darknefs, 
&c. upon all the actions of our frame. That thefe cir- 
cumftances greatly influence the operations of the animal 
body, cannot be doubted : and, were all the periods of 
aftion and intern\iflion diurnal only, we might admit the 
generalization as correct. But we cannot reconcile the 
very frequent intermiffions of difeafe, which continue for 
tertian periods, that is, during an interval of forty-eight 
hours, and ftill more thofe which continue for quartan 
periods, of feventy-two hours, with this general law. 
See Zoonomia , vol. ii. feft. 36. 
The French writers (among whom the names Begin 
and Mongellaz occur to us at prefent) have fpeculated 
of late as to the caufe of intermittents. But, though 
thefe gentlemen have detailed fome remarkable obferva- 
tions concerning the laws of intermittents, we do not 
find any rational attempt at inveftigating the reafon of 
the intermiflion. Dr. Park, in his Gulftonian Lecture, 
dated very properly, that irritation was the caufe of the 
4 
fevers in queftion ; and he founded his explanation of the 
caufe of intermiffion on this aflumption ; viz. that the 
effects of irritation vary according to the mode in which 
it is applied ; “that which is internal to the organs ex¬ 
citing increafed contraction ; while that which is external 
diminifties or fufpends it.” 
“ Beginning with internal irritation, its immediate ef- 
feft is to excite the organs to increafed contraction, as 
the following examples may (how. Thus, emetics ex¬ 
cite increafed contraction in the ftomach; purgatives in- 
creafe contraction in the inteftines ; fudorifics ftimulate 
the exhalent veflels to contract,” &c. 
On the other hand, our author infers that the influence 
of external irritation is to fufpend or diminifti contrac¬ 
tion, becaufe, “in afteCtions of the ftomach or inteftines, 
rubefacients or blifters, externally applied, are ufed for 
this purpofe. In morbid irritability of the womb, fric¬ 
tions and fomentations have that effeft. In the vafcular 
fyftem, the influence of external irritation is obvious 
and vifible on the furface, in the relaxation and increafed 
fulnefs of veflels produced by it, in whatever mode it is 
applied; whether mechanically, as by rubbing, lcratch- 
ing, or bruifing ; or phyfically, as by the application of 
finapifms, increafed fulnefs and diftention of the veflels 
being invariably the effeft that refults. And in the fame 
way relaxation and increafed fulnefs of the veflels is pro¬ 
duced by ftrong ftimulants applied to the internal fur- 
face of the ftomach, where they aft externally to the veL 
fels ramified on that furface ; hence the general glow and 
fenfe of warmth that arife from taking wine or ardent 
fpirits.” 
The application of the above-mentioned propofition to 
the phenomena of intermittent fever is as follows. The 
firft caufe, whether marfti-miafma or any thing elfe being 
admitted to the mucous membranes, aCts as a ftimulant 
(according to Dr. Park caufing relaxation) externally to 
thefe veflels; and hence the unufual flow of fpirits which 
often precedes a febrile attack. As foon, however as this 
agent is abforbed, and carried into the circulation, it ex¬ 
cites increafed contraction, (according to Dr. Park with 
diminilhed circulation ;) and hence the cold fit. “The 
duration of this cold ftage (fays Dr. Park) is limited, 
becaufe the powers of aftion are limited ; and, the more 
violent the contraction, the fooner thofe powers will be 
exhaufted. The duration of the hot ftage is limited, be¬ 
caufe the relaxation of veflels which occafions it arifes 
folely from their previous over-aftion, and not from any 
perfonal debility.” 
The fweat ing-Jlage is referred by our author, accord- 
ing-to an hypothefis before mentioned, when fpeaking of 
continued fever, to the relaxation of the fph in diet'-like 
extremities of the capillaries, thefe veflels having reco¬ 
vered their natural dimenfions after the expiration of the 
hot ftage. The beneficial operation of the fweating-ftage 
is dependant, in the firft place, on a reduction of irritabi¬ 
lity attendant upon a copious depletion of the veflels ; 
and, fecondly, on the partial expulfion of the irritating 
caufe : “the quantity of which muft be diminilhed with 
every paroxyfm ; one portion being thrown off - by tranf- 
piration, while another is returned back into the primae 
viae, where it no longer afts internally to the veflels, and 
therefore no longer excites them to contraftion.” The 
paroxyfm, however, recurs after a certain period; “ be- 
cauf^ the portion that remains will be again taken up by 
abforption, and be internally applied to the veflels; 
where its ftrength will gradually accumulate, until it ac¬ 
quires force enough to excite another paroxyfm; and 
thus the fever affumes the intermittent form.” 
Now it is obvious, that, according to the rapidity of 
this accumulation of the agent of the fever, fo will the 
difeafe be quotidian, tertian, quartan, &c. Dr. Park 
likewife attributes fomewhat of the fecond and follow¬ 
ing attacks of ague to an accumulation of excitability, 
which he fays predifpofes the body to be more ftrongiy 
afted on by flighter caufes; for, if this accumulation did 
not 
