oy 
#ép, drugs are potred into the already 
oppressed or polluted stomach, they will 
either be rejected, or during their trouble- 
some passage through the body, will ex- 
aggerate the general irritation, and pro- 
bably every other symptom which they 
were intended, and might be calculated, 
after a suitable preparation, to alleviate 
orremove. Bark, for instance, is one of 
the worst things at the outset of a fever; 
although one of the best, perhaps, that 
can be given at a more advanced stage 
of its progress, and during the gradual 
and someumes tedious process of conva- 
lescence. This remark applies particu- 
larly to cases where there is reason to 
suspect the existence of visceral injury, 
or obstruction. When the liver, for in- 
stance, is morbidly affected, the bark is 
often. decidedly injurious; instead of 
which, some preparation of mercury is to 
he used witli a cautious perseverance. 
Mercury may be considered as a kind of 
specific against the effects of more than 
oue species of irregularity. But the in- 
ebriate, who hardens or mutilates his 
hepatic organs, or he who mangies his 
Report of Diseases. 
_health by a different mode of indiscretion, » 
ought equally to consider, that a poison 
Jurks under the medicine which appa- 
rently promotes his cure; that, although 
t prove ultimately successful in expelling 
the enemy during the conflict, it lays 
waste the ground upon which it exercises 
Its victorious power. This drug can re- 
move the reality, or sdspend the appear- 
ance, of a disease, only by encroach-. 
ing seriously, sometimes danverously, 
upon the original funds of the coustitu- 
tiun. The countenance, and mental as 
well as physical character of a man, wiil, 
in.a-greater or less degree, retain through 
life the impréssion of a metcurial course.*¥ 
Fi Mercury is well known speedily to de- 
Stroy subjects pre-disposed toscrophula. But 
its effect, in laying the foundation of remote 
fatal disorders, has not been sufficiently re- 
faarked. I amdisposed ta think that it some- 
fimes ¢ounteracts intoxicating liquors; but 
tnuch more frequently affects the structure of 
“the abdominal viscera. In repeated éxperi- 
- #Ments on animals, whose food and manner of 
‘@igettion resemble those of man, I have \it- 
nessed its pfodigieus power ‘to stimulate the 
. liver; and I believe there is né organ, not 
even the salivary glands, upon which mer- 
_ eury has. more‘action. This is known tn- 
@ccd from its medicinal operation. - But that 
_ Gperation is by no treans salutary. In per- 
_ Sons who had avoided fermented liquors from 
Pheir youth up, I ‘have known the liver as 
uch indurated after the inordinate use of 
‘mercurials, as in any dram-drinkers."=Dr, 
Reddses’ Hygia. Siar ie ANE one 
‘ eet eg a 
s 
[Aug. ly 
In biliary complaints, exercise, more 
especially ou horseback, has a peculiarly 
deobstruent and invigorating power; and 
at the same time, is not attended with 
uitimate and: radical_injury, which im- 
evitably. arises from the more active 
and. penetrating. medicines. _ Fashion- 
able carriages of the present day are 
of such luxurious construction, as to 
afford the convenience of locomotion 
ouly, without any of the advantages of 
action. The easy movement of_our 
modern vehicles is better adapted for 
epicurean indulgence than for the promo- 
tion or preservation of health; and may 
even be ranked amongst those more fee_ 
cent inventions of effeminacy and refine-" 
ment, -which- have considerably tended ta 
induce the increased prevalence of mala- 
dies, hepatic amongst the rest, which are 
connected with general debility and re- 
laxation. Horse exercise isnot liable to 
similar objections; but, on the contrary, 
is every way calculated toremove the ob- 
structions, and to brace the unstrung 
energies, of, the frame, oy..8< 2) oc 
- Sydenham had such confidence ‘in ex- 
ercise on horseback, that, in one ef his 
‘medical treatises, he observes, “ That if 
any man were possessed of a remedy that 
would do equal service to the human con- 
stitution with riding gently on horseback 
twice aday, he would be in possession « 
of the philosopher’s stone.” _ 
In severai cases of intermittent fever 
which have lately been under the re- 
porter’s care, Fowler’s arsenic solution- 
was decidedly efficacious, and. in one ~~ 
speedily successtul. That _ substance 
which the ignorance of man was formerly 
want to regard as a deadly poison, his imz ~ 
proved science has ascertained to bea 
most inestimable remedy. The same re- 
mark might he made with regard toa 
c : = on . . ak 2 
variety of other articles which are now ~ 
adopted with propriety and advantage 
luto the established pharmacopeia. . So 
that, from an analogy somewhat .more 
extended, it may not be unphilosophical 
to infer, that Nature has not produced 
any thing, howéver deleterious it may 
. 
appear or prove to bein the present ime 
perfection of our knowledge, which ‘a 
more perject and accurate acqgaintance 
with its. properties and use might nat —— 
convert into a valuable auxiliary and ad-~ 
dition to the powers and materials of the 
medical art, = ids Sone cere ae 
J. RED. 
Grenville-street, Brunswick-square, 
: ~ July 25,1809, 
i 
