this remedy. As the fubje& is. of high 
importan ‘e, we fhall not hefitate to give 
an extended account of the matter thi h 
is contained in the additicnal volume that 
now lies bef Fore us. 
In order to underfand the madzs epe- 
rand: of afrufion, as expiatned by Dr. 
Curie, if will be neceflary fir® to upder- 
ftard ais theory of fever. ‘This theory is 
In its principa il featares extremely fimilar 
to Dr. Cullens. The remote caufes . 
which ney produce fever are various, and 
many ef them have probably eluded the 
elapse of medical {c:ence. Whatever 
the remote caule is, however, it may per-- 
haps be conlidered as a poifon acting di- 
rectly on the f/ezforium commune, and with 
a malignaney proportioued to the cegree 
of 3#s concentration. 
Tis firft effect is a debility which is dif 
tingly msrked en the countenance ; the 
neceffary confequence, or, 3s Gormatean, 
t.nd, the concemitant effe&, is.a fpafm or 
nana iton of the arteries, but more eipe- 
cially of the extreme veflcls and the capil- 
laries of the furface. A reaction or re. 
fiance commences ; the heart ard lungs 
are roufed into increafed exertion by the 
preflure o the accumulated fluids, and re- 
pel them back on the furface and extremi-' 
ties; while the fpafmodic or. morbid 
fracture of 1 hele-extreme velicls oppofes 
the reflux of the fluids, and thus, by main- 
taning the mordinate preflure on the 
centre, EXCI! es the heart, arteries, and 
lungs io #ul more violent exertion. In 
this contefl the fiomach is uiually brought 
into fymipathy, and nausea and vomiting 
are often imJuced. 
Dr. Cerrie remarks that it is exceed- 
ingly dificult to raile the heat of the bedy 
in a Kate of health to the highelt degree of 
fever-heat, either by heated air or heated 
water 5 the heat, as it is intreduced into 
the fytem of a heal:hy perfon by means of 
the {urrounciag medium, being diffipated 
by profufe per! {piration, or by fome other 
living procels, cf which peripiration is a 
coacomitent effect. ‘* In fever this ‘is 
prevented, for the pecuhar debility in- 
ein: by the remole caufe occafions or is 
attended by a fpafm or morbid 4ri¢ture ef 
the zecilia ces of the turface acd of the 
fkin tielf, hy which the infenfible perfpira- 
tion is prevented from increafing in pro- 
p rionto the heat, and the fenfible per- 
S{piration ts ebfitus a* Hence the: dif- 
hicusiy of reducing the heat in fever; the 
reduction of which, m recover, js at- 
tended wih hazard, ttmee the patient can- 
not i generel bear the continual expofuse 
to externa culd neceflary tor this purpole ; 
: Literature.—Medicine, Surgery, e. 
for even in the hot flage, if the patient is 
expofed naked toa cal atmofphere, al- 
though the epplication is at firt agreeable » 
and advantageous, ‘fas the heat of the 
furface approaches the ftandard of health" 
a (udden fente of chillinefs comes on, with 
a return of opprefiion on the heart and. 
lusgs, and all the fymptoms of the firt 
ftage of the paroxyfm. In any continued 
application of cold, therefere, care mutt 
be taken to keep- it within the limits 
in which it is grateful to the fenfations : 
here it is advantageous ; bet though it 
mo:'erates re-action, it does not in generah 
remove the f{pafm on the capillaries, or 
break the affociation or habit by which 
fever is prolonged. This is effe&ed by 
the fudden affation of cold water over the 
naked bedy.”’. Dr. Currie thus explains 
the mode of its operation :—** The fud- 
den, general, and powerful ftimulus given 
to the fyftem diffolves the {pafas on the 
extreme veflels of the furface, and of the. 
various cavities of the body: the fudden 
and general evaporation carries off a large 
portion cf the marbid heat accumulated, 
under the fkin, and the healihy a€tien of 
the capillaries and exbalents being reftor- 
ed, the remaining {uperfluous heat paffes. 
off By fenSdle and infenfible perfpiration. 
The ttimulus of morbid heat and of mor. 
bid ftriéiure being¥removed, 
affociation feems aifo to be broken by the 
fudden and powerful wnpreffion oa the, 
fenfations. In faét, the inordinate action 
of the beart and arteries fubfides, and the 
harefied and toil-worn patient finks into 
that peaceful fleep whch nature has pro- 
vided as the fclace of our pains and for- 
rows, and the reitorer of our ftiength.” 
Siuce the publication of the former -edi- 
tiog.of Dr. Currie’s work, the practice of 
afte has been extended throughout the 
empire 5 its see has-been eflablifhed 
in jome fkages cf the difeafe from which 
Dr, Currie had originally proferthed the 
praGife of it ; and, it is now uled with 
coxfidence in certain ipecies' of fevers 
where its remedial operation had before 
been intufficiently dctermined, 
One of the cautionary injunctions which 
Dee Currie had given for the affufion of 
coid water in fever, was, never to employ 
it in cafés where the patient had a fente of. 
chillinefs upon him, even if the thermo- 
meter, epplied to the trunk of the body, 
indicated a preternatural degree of heat. _ 
a thefe cafes, the furface 1s exquifitely. 
alive to impreflions cf cold, and indeed the 
patient exhibits an extraordinary fenfibi- 
lity in the fenfes of hearing, fight, and 
taite. Such calcs are ufually attended by. 
fpafinodie 
the morbid 
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