Medicines which increase the urinary discharge.
This effect is produced by very different modes of operation; and as
some of them are mutually incompatible with each other, it is essential
that we should understand the _modus operandi_ of each individual of
which the class consists, in order that we may direct its application
with precision.
There is undoubtedly no tribe of medicinal agents more precarious in
their nature and effects than that of Diuretics; this fact in a great
measure depends upon the uncontrollable character of the organs upon
which they act, but it must at the same time be admitted, that their
failure frequently depends upon their modes of operation being directly
incompatible with the state of the system at the time of their
administration.
The following classification may perhaps serve to bring together the
principal facts which are known upon the subject, and at the same time
to display them in an order which is calculated to demonstrate their
practical bearings and relations.