According to M. Berard, and adopted by M. According to Dr. Prout.
Majendie.
Azote 39·16 31·12
Carbon 33·61 40·00
Oxygen 18·89 26·26
Hydrogen 8·34 2·22
—————— ——————
100·00 100·00
Footnote 195:
This fact derives its pathological interest from the probability that,
in certain states of disease, the Lithic acid assumes this peculiar
modification, giving to the sediments of urine those beautiful hues
which were formerly considered by Proust, as the effect of an acid,
which he named the Rosacic; now as the Purpuric acid, or rather the
Purpurate of Ammonia, says Dr. Prout, is nothing more than Lithic acid
modified by the action of Nitric acid, and as I have already shewn
that the Pink and Lateritious sediments occasionally contain nitric
acid in some peculiar state of combination, the nature and origin of
the colouring matter cease to be problematical.
Footnote 196:
Whence is derived the large quantity of Phosphoric acid which is daily
evacuated from the system?—The researches of modern chemistry have
furnished a very satisfactory solution of this problem, by
demonstrating its presence in those animal and vegetable substances
which are used by us as food. Mr. Barry, in prosecuting his
interesting and important experiments on the preparation of
Pharmaceutical Extracts _in vacuo_, discovered the curious fact, that
Phosphoric acid is to be found in all the extracts in a soluble state;
and on extending the investigation, says he, it was ascertained that
this acid, besides that portion of it which exists as phosphate of
lime, is contained in a vast variety of vegetables, and more
especially in those which are cultivated. Medico-Chirug. Trans. Vol.
10, p. 240.
Footnote 197:
The urine of infants and nurses contains very little phosphate of lime
and phosphoric acid; it is not until after ossification is finished,
that these elements are found in abundance in the urinary fluid. That
of old men, on the contrary, contains a great quantity of them; the
bony system, already overcharged with phosphate of lime, refuses to
admit more of it. This saline substance would ossify every part, as it
does sometimes in the arteries, ligaments, cartilages, and membranes,
if the urine were not to remove the greater part of this superabundant
portion. In Rachitis it is by the urine that the phosphate of lime
passes off, the absence of which causes the softness of bones.
(Richerand). If we might be allowed to theorise, I should say, that
this disease depends upon a deficient action in the powers of
assimilation, in consequence of which the phosphoric acid is incapable
of entering into its assigned combinations, and is therefore
eliminated as excrementitious. Dr. Glisson considered the disease to
depend upon some fault in the spinal marrow, whence he termed it
Rachitis, from ῥακὶς Spina Dorsi.
Footnote 198:
Transactions of Stockholm.
Footnote 199:
CYSTIC OXIDE, discovered by Dr. Wollaston in 1815: it does not affect
vegetable colours, and has all the chemical habitudes of an oxide.
Footnote 200:
Dr. Marcet discovered two calculi, which were not referable to any of
the known species; but they are not introduced into the following
table, as they may never again occur; at all events, from their
extreme rarity, they cannot be considered as objects of practical
interest. To one of these he has given the name of Xanthic Oxide,
because it forms a lemon coloured compound when acted upon by Nitric
acid. To the other nondescript calculus he has bestowed the
appellation of Fibrinous, from its resemblance to Fibrine.
Footnote 201:
I am by no means disposed to reject altogether, as a popular fallacy,
the general opinion in favour of the anti-lithic virtues of malt
liquor; the observations which have been already offered (page 79)
will explain how such agents may occasionally operate in assisting
digestion. In the observations made upon the Bills of Mortality in the
year 1662, by an ingenious citizen, concerning the increase of some
diseases, and the decrease of others, it is observed “The Stone and
Strangury decreaseth, from the drinking of Ale.”
Footnote 202:
In consultation with Dr. Baillie, some few months before his death, he
said to me “although I have never published the opinion, I am
satisfied that after a patient has long laboured under diseased liver,
the blood becomes surcharged with alkaline matter.”
Footnote 203:
See an explanation of this term in the note, at page 112.
Footnote 204:
It is, says Dr. Prout, a very old observation, that injuries of the
back produce _alkaline urine_; “it also appears,” continues this
author, “to hold in other animals as well as in man; thus I have
frequently observed jaded and worn-out horses pass great quantities of
lime in their urine; I have known the same also to take place in dogs,
and particularly of the sporting kinds; and in both these instances
have thought it probable, that the circumstance was connected with
some strain or injury of the back produced by over-exertion, or other
causes.”
Footnote 205:
I have in my possession a splendid specimen of this triple salt, in
large and well defined crystals, covering a portion of a decayed beam;
it was sent to me by my friend Mr. Marshall, from whom I learnt that
it had been taken from a privy belonging to a public house in
Southwark. I lent the specimen to the late Mr. Wilson, in order that
he might exhibit it in his lectures before the College of Surgeons,
and he has published a description of it in his work on the Urinary
and Genital Organs.
Footnote 206:
A question has arisen respecting the comparative efficacy of the two
fixed alkalies upon these occasions. See _Sodæ Sub-carbonas_.
Footnote 207:
For an account of the celebrated remedy of Mrs. Stephens, see _Liquor
Calcis_.
Footnote 208:
Journal de Physiologie; Juillet, 1823.
Footnote 209:
For a farther account of this extraordinary law of Electro-Chemistry,
the reader may consult my work on the ELEMENTS OF MEDICAL CHEMISTRY.
Footnote 210:
These experiments have been repeated at the Jardin des Plantes, with
similar results; it farther appears that a certain quantity of
_Nitrate of Potass_ added to the water injected into the bladder will
expedite the decomposition.
Footnote 211:
This, it must be confessed, is singularly unfortunate, if the opinion
already expressed be true (page 121) viz. that at least two-thirds of
the whole number of calculi originate from this acid.
Footnote 212:
The word _Antidote_ is derived from αντὶ, _against_, and διδωμὶ, _I
give_; as being a medicine given _against_ poison, either by way of
cure or preservative. The word is also sometimes used in a more
general sense, for any compounded medicine; thus _Peter Damian_ speaks
of a person who in his whole life never took an antidote. It is
likewise used by some authors in a less proper sense, for any remedy
against any disease, chiefly if it be inveterate, and arise from some
ulcer or abscess; and lastly, the term has been used to signify a
perpetual form of medicines, otherwise called _Opiates_, or more
properly _Confections_.
Footnote 213:
The reader will find this subject treated more fully in the second
volume of my work on MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.
Footnote 214:
See the history of _Theriaca_ at page 28 note.
Footnote 215:
JOHN, king of Castille, as Tissot relates, was poisoned by a pair of
boots, prepared by a Turk; HENRY IV, by gloves; LOUIS XIV fearing a
project to poison PHILIP V, prohibited his opening letters, or putting
on gloves (_Tissot Traité des Nerfs_, _T. 1._ _P. 11._ _page 13_;)
Plouquet has the following remark upon this subject, “Huc et ignota
illa venena pertinent, quibus epistolæ chirothecæ, et ejusmodi infici,
et vim adeo toxicam induere dicuntur, ut lectio ejusmodi epistolæ,
indutus chirothecæ subitam mortem causentur.” (_Comment. Med. super
Homicid._ page 184.) POPE CLEMENT VII is said by Zacchias to have been
poisoned by the fumes of a taper, (_Quæst. Med. Leg._); and a priest
is reported to have offered to destroy QUEEN ELIZABETH by poisoning
her saddle. (_Sir Edward Coke, in the trial of Sir John Hollis._)
Bishop Burnet, in the history of his own times (vol. 2. p. 230.) says,
that some believed CHARLES the Second to have been poisoned through
the medium of snuff.
Footnote 216:
This conceit does not appear to have been confined to the ignorant
alone, for we learn from Spratt’s History of the Royal Society, that
very shortly after the institution of that learned body, a series of
questions was drawn up by their direction, for the purpose of being
submitted to the Chinese and Indians, which clearly shews their belief
in the possibility of such an operation, viz. “Whether the Indians can
so prepare that stupifying herb, Datura, that they make it lie several
days, months, years, according as they will have it, in a man’s body,
without doing him any hurt, and at the end kill him without missing
half an hour’s time?”
Footnote 217:
Dr. Mead adopted this opinion, but he became so convinced of its
inadequacy that, in the later editions of his work on Poisons, he
withdrew the hypothesis. It is hardly necessary to observe that upon
its abandonment, a host of popular antidotes at once fell into disuse;
for as long as the injury was supposed to arise from mechanical
irritation, oils, fats, and other similar remedies were held capable
of obtunding the acrimony. So has the abandonment of other conceits
and hypotheses cleared away many absurd articles from the list of
Antidotes; see page 26.
Footnote 218:
The introduction of poisons into the body through the medium of the
circulation of the blood is frequently alluded to by the physiologists
of the seventeenth century. I have lately met with a curious passage
in a work entitled “Popular Errours in Physick, first written in
Latine by the learned physitian, James Penrose, Doctor in Physick.
London, 1651.” “The venome is carried by the veines and arteries, as
appeares in that all the blood of them that have been bitten by a
viper doth turne into a pale greennesse. And seeing that the veines in
the papps are so very slender, and doe not come unto the heart, but
with a great many long windings, I affirme, and it is more probable,
that if the viper be applyed to the feet, which are farthest remote
from the heart, it will sooner infect the heart than if to the papps,
but soonest of all if it be applied to the armes. And now the story of
CLEOPATRA comes to my minde. PETRUS VICTORIUS blames the painters,
that paint Cleopatra applying the aspe to her papps, seeing it is
manifest out of PLUTARCH in the life of ANTONIUS, and out of PLINIE
likewise, that she applyed it to her arme. ZONARAS relates that there
appeared no signe of death upon her, save two blew spots on her arme.
CÆSAR also in her statue which he carryed in triumph, applyed the aspe
to her arme; for in the armes there are great veines and arteries,
which doe quickly, and in a straight way convey the venome to the
heart, whereas in the papps the vessels are slender. And therefore in
SAINT PAUL the miracle was so much the greater, in that he felt no
harme from the viper, which layd hold on his hand, for if it had
assailed him on the breast, he had had respite enough to take some
antidote.”
Footnote 219:
There can be no doubt but that death has been produced by the
mechanical operation of various insoluble bodies; although we cannot
believe the numerous tales recorded on the subject of diamond dust
(supposed to constitute the basis of the celebrated “Powder of
Succession”) or of powdered glass, &c. Numerous cases are recorded
where life has been destroyed by the lodgement of substances in the
intestines; and we have lately heard of the fatal effects produced by
alvine accumulations from the habitual use of Magnesia. With respect
to the danger from the ingestion of glass and enamel in powder, there
still exists much difference of opinion; Caldani, Mandruzzato, and M.
Le Sauvage, report experiments made upon men and animals, in which no
bad consequences followed; on the other hand, Schurigius (Chylologia)
and Cardanus (De Venenis) cite instances where persons have died of
ulcerations of the stomach from such causes; and M. Portal, Foderé,
(Medicine Legale) Plouquet (Comment. super Homicid.) Stoll, (Ratio
Medendi, part vi. p. 60) Gmelin (Hist. General de Ven. mineral.) Frank
(Man. de Toxicol.) furnish testimony in support of the opinion which
assigns to such bodies a highly deleterious action.
Footnote 220:
This mark denotes that the substance, against which it is placed, may
also act by being absorbed.
Footnote 221:
Signifies that the article has also a local action.
Footnote 222:
See “Experiments and Operations on the Different Modes in which Death
is produced by certain Vegetable Poisons.” By B. C. Brodie, Esq. F. R.
S. in the 181st Volume of the Philosophical Transactions for the year
1811.
Footnote 223:
M. ’Lallemand has published the history of a fœtus, in which the brain
and spinal marrow were equally deficient, notwithstanding which, it
even exceeded the usual size, the heart was also perfect, and it was
evident that the circulation had been properly performed. No sooner
however was the monster born than it perished, because the diaphragm
and other muscles of respiration were unable to perform their
functions without the aid of nervous excitement; no air was therefore
inhaled into the lungs, and in a few minutes the heart ceased to
contract from the deficient supply of oxygenized blood. See MEDICAL
JURISPRUDENCE, Vol. ii. “On the Physiological Causes, and Phœnomena of
Sudden Death.”
Footnote 224:
It is a very curious fact, that the _Oil_ of Tobacco should differ so
essentially in its physiological action from the Infusion of that
vegetable poison; the former we have stated, affects the brain only,
the latter we now learn, when taken into the alimentary canal,
suspends the action of the heart. This apparent anomaly at first led
Mr. Brodie, as he has since informed me, to suspect the accuracy of
his experiments: and I suggested to him, whether a probable
explanation might not be derived from the late chemical researches
into the composition of tobacco, which have shewn the existence of two
active principles, viz. _Nicotin_, and an _Essential Oil_? Where an
infusion is employed, we seem to obtain the influence of the former,
and the effects are displayed upon the heart; but where the oil is
applied, the _Nicotin_ has been removed, and the brain is the organ
principally affected—see Tabaci Folia.
Footnote 225:
Dry Vomit of Marriott. This once celebrated vomit, called Dry, from
its being exhibited without drink, consisted of equal proportions of
Tartarized Antimony and Sulphate of Copper.
Footnote 226:
Sydenham relates a case of poisoning by Corrosive Sublimate; which was
successfully treated by copious draughts of water, and repeated
vomiting (Opera Medica, Epist. 1, p. 200); and Orfila, in his
laborious work on poisons, presents us with a mass of satisfactory
evidence upon the same subject.
Footnote 227:
Circumstances, however, may occur, which will render it even
judicious, with certain precautions, to administer a solvent, in order
to remove the particles of the substance, which sometimes adhere with
such obstinacy to the coats of the stomach as to defy the exertions of
an emetic to detach them, especially if the poison be arsenic; but let
the practitioner remember that this practice can never be allowed
until all that can be ejected by vomiting or purging has been
previously removed; then perhaps the ingestion of Magnesia, or an
Alkaline Salt, as proposed by Mr. Marshall, might be admissible, but
it should be quickly followed up by fresh emetics and purgatives.
Footnote 228:
London Medical Repository, August, 1817.
Footnote 229:
The truth of this statement has been very satisfactorily established
by the experiments of ORFILA (Toxicologie générale considerée sous les
Rapports de la Physiologie, de la Pathologie, et de la Medicine
légale) as well as by several that have been performed in this
country.
TORTOSA (Istituzioni di Med. For.) has remarked that Opium may act
mortally without losing much of its weight in the stomach—I should
question the truth of this assertion.
Footnote 230:
Vegetable acids are in Nature rarely the vehicles of poisons, the most
deleterious plants being inert in those parts that are impregnated
with acid; the pulp of the fruit of the Strychnus, amongst many
others, offers an illustration of this fact. Virey.
Footnote 231:
Notwithstanding this fact, we find Venesection recommended in works on
Toxicology, as a safe precaution to be used against the inflammatory
action produced by arsenic.
The application of a ligature above an abraded surface to which a
poison has been applied, prevents its effects upon the constitution,
not so much by obliterating the capacity of the vessels, as by
inducing a local plethora, and so suspending the process of
absorption.
Footnote 232:
_Escharotic_ from ἐσχαρόω, _crustam_ induco, to scab over, to burn
into a crust.
Footnote 233:
Or in a still more striking manner, by holding over the surface of the
sore a piece of white paper moistened by the mixed solutions of
Nitrate of Silver and Arsenious Acid, when the disengaged Ammonia will
by the operation of double affinity enable the Arsenious Acid to
decompose the salt of Silver, and to display the presence of the
Arseniate of that metal by its characteristic yellow indication. I am
not acquainted with any test for Ammonia so summary and satisfactory
as this. See Arsenicum in Vol. 2 of this work.
Footnote 234:
There are four species of worms generated in the human intestines,
viz. The Tænia, or tape-worm—Tricocephalus, or Trichuris—Ascaris
Vermicularis, or Ascarides—and Lumbricoides.
Footnote 235:
It is a very curious fact that vegetable bitter should be so essential
to the wellbeing of the higher order of animals, as explained at page
79, and yet prove so generally destructive to insects. Flies are
almost immediately destroyed by an Infusion of Quassia, and Nature has
protected the ear from the invasion of insects by providing an
intensely bitter secretion.
Footnote 236:
The reader is also referred to an account of Majendie’s experiments as
related at page 86 of this volume.
Footnote 237:
Fish, especially those of the cetaceous tribe, constantly decompose
water, and live upon its hydrogen.
Footnote 238:
Rumford’s Essays, Vol. 1. p. 194–202.
Footnote 239:
I selected it as the exclusive subject of my Lectures before the Royal
College of Physicians, during the year 1820.
Footnote 240:
It was wisely said by Lord Bacon, “that Man should observe all the
workmanship, and the particular workings of Nature, and meditate which
of those may be transferred to the Arts.” Advancement of Learning,
Book v. 148. For a further illustration of these views, the partiality
of an author may perhaps be excused if he refer the reader to his
paper “On the Recent Sandstone,” published in the first volume of the
Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.
Footnote 241:
The practitioner must receive the term _similar_, conventionally, as
expressed at page 71. Many of those substances which we are at present
bound to consider _similar_, will no doubt, require to be transplanted
into other classes as the progress of physiological knowledge shall
elucidate their modes of action. In this attempt to teach the Art of
Medicinal Combination, I have endeavoured to reduce the propositions
it comprehends to the greatest degree of generality of which they are,
at present, susceptible.
Footnote 242:
Numerous isolated statements of the same tendency may be adduced, but
these cannot invalidate the claim of Dr. Fordyce, as the first person
who generalized the fact, and applied it with success to practice.
DIEMERBROECK, in his notes upon the Theriaca Andromachi, observes that
the composition is a more efficacious medicine from the concurrent
powers of so many ingredients, alike in virtue: and Quincy, in his
Lectures on Pharmacy, which were published by Dr. Shaw in 1723, says
“those fetid gums which are generally prescribed in Hysteria, as
Ammoniacum, Galbanum, &c. may be conjoined with advantage, because
from a concurrence of properties, they all conspire to the same end.”
Footnote 243:
Such was the nature of the “Mustacea” of the Romans, which were a
species of cake, used at weddings, and consisted of meal, aniseed,
cummin, and several other aromatics; their object was to remove or
prevent the indigestion which might be occasioned by eating too
copiously at the marriage entertainment. It must be acknowledged that
this compound was better adapted for such a purpose than the modern
Bride-cake, to which it gave origin. Cato (de R. R. c. 121) has given
us a receipt for the Roman bride-cake.
Footnote 244:
Dr. Majendie goes so far even as to assert, that by varying the
different preparations of the _same_ Narcotic, we shall be better able
to keep up its action on the animal œconomy, without an increase of
its dose. He adds, “Some English writers have denied the truth of this
observation: but they have not given any reasons for their
scepticism.—Why should it not be true?”
Footnote 245:
It would even appear probable that in some cases mercurial influence
has, after its subsidence, been renewed by doses of Opium: a
remarkable instance of this kind is related in Hufeland’s Journal
(vol. ix.) in which an old woman is said to have fallen into a
considerable salivation after every dose of Opium; she had previously
applied to the physician for an extensive ulceration over her body,
and had taken a considerable quantity of mercury; but the effects had
subsided, until renewed by the opium.
Footnote 246:
It has been observed under the history of Emetics (p. 84), that in
cases of profound intoxication, or in those of violent wounds and
contusions of the head, vomiting will not take place, however forcibly
the stomach may be goaded by an emetic, whereas if the brain be only
partially influenced, as by incipient intoxication, or by a less
violent blow on the head, its irritability is increased instead of
being paralysed, and that vomiting under such circumstances is excited
by the slightest causes; just so is it with regard to Narcotics, a
powerful dose so paralyses the nervous system, that the stomach cannot
be made to reject its contents, as every one must have observed in
cases of narcotic poisoning, while smaller doses, like lesser injuries
of the head, dispose the stomach to sickness.
Footnote 247:
Sir Gilbert Blane has advanced an ingenious hypothesis to explain the
cause of the fœtid breath of persons under the influence of mercury;
which might perhaps also shew why certain remedies are rendered more
efficient by combination with mercury. One of the active effects of
mercury, says Sir Gilbert, is to _alter the natural sensibility of the
Lacteals_, so that when under its influence, they absorb
indiscriminately that which is excrementitious and nutritive; hence
the smell of the breath, since the fœtid particles are carried into
the circulation, and thrown off in the halitus of the lungs, or by the
salivary glands, in consequence of the mouth of the lacteals losing
that selecting tact, whereby in their sound state they reject whatever
is offered to them, except the chyle. Now if mercury acts as the
“_Soporata Offa_” to the lacteals, it is evident that its combination
with active matter may, on some occasions, facilitate the absorption
of the latter.
Footnote 248:
In some cases, however, the energy of an active bitter would seem to
be diminished by an alkali; and it may therefore be more prudent to
administer such substances at different periods. I apprehend that the
powers of _Squill_ are thus invalidated by a fixed alkali.
Footnote 249:
The Arabian and Greek physicians scarcely noticed the leaves, but
always employed the pods of Senna; a fact which will explain the
operation of this plant, as observed by them.
Footnote 250:
Mac Culloch on Wine. Edit. 2. p. 42.
Footnote 251:
If the facts stated in this section be true, we are bound to recognise
two orders of medicinal elements,—the one comprehending those that
possess an inherent and independent activity,—the other, those that
are in themselves inert, but which are capable of imparting impulse
and increased energy to the former when combined with them. As this is
a new view of the subject of vegetable combinations, no apology is
necessary for the introduction of new terms for its explanation; I
therefore propose to designate the former of these SUBSTANTIVE, and
the latter, ADJECTIVE constituents. When the structure of vegetable
remedies shall have been thoroughly examined upon this principle of
combination, much medicinal obscurity will be removed, and probably
some pharmaceutical improvements of value suggested; at all events it
will teach a lesson of prudent caution to the pharmaceutic chemist; it
will shew the danger of his removing this or that element from a
vegetable compound, merely because he finds, upon its separation, that
it is inert. I dwell the more upon this point, because I feel that
there never was a period in the history of medicine, at which such a
caution was more necessary; for while the poly-pharmacy of our
ancestors has driven the physician of the present day into a
simplicity of prescription that on many occasions abridges his powers
and resources, the progress of chemical knowledge has diffused through
the class of manufacturing chemists a bold spirit of adventure and
empiricism,—a mischievous propensity to torture our best remedies, in
order to concentrate or extract the parts which they consider to
constitute their essential ingredients.
A Memoir has lately been presented to the PHILOMATIC SOCIETY OF PARIS,
by M. Robiquet, on the subject of _Aroma_, which affords some
important analogies in proof of the law of combination, which I am now
endeavouring to elucidate. From the experiments of this laborious
chemist it would appear, that odours are not as Fourcroy supposed,
_the effect of the simple solution of certain bodies in air_, but that
for their developement, some third body (coinciding in its office with
my ADJECTIVE constituent) possessing in itself none of the
characteristic odour, is absolutely necessary as an intermede, varying
in its nature according to that of each odorous body, in the same way
that the mordant requires to be varied by the dyer, according to the
nature of the colouring matter which it is intended to fix on the
cloth;—thus Ambergris has in itself very little odour, but the
addition of Musk developes a very strong and decided one; this also
happens in a less degree with Lavender, and the perfumers therefore
add a small quantity of musk to the distilled water of this plant. In
other cases, Ammonia lends, as it were, its volatility to bodies, the
odour of which without such an auxiliary, would be scarcely sensible;
this is exemplified by the practice of perfumers exposing their musk
and other substances to the atmosphere of privies when they lose their
power: (_Paul Amman: Manduct: ad Mat: Med:_) so again in order to give
pungency to snuff it is made to suffer the commencement of
fermentation, in which case ammonia is generated; and it is a curious
fact that the odour of the best snuff may be destroyed by mixing with
it a little tartaric acid, by which its ammoniacal salt is
neutralized. In some instances the _adjective_ ingredient seems to be
Sulphur, as in the essential oils of some cruciform plants, and
particularly in that of mustard seed, for M. Robiquet found that this
oil lost its odour by being kept in contact with a metallic surface,
and that an inodorous oil remained, while the metal became a
sulphuret: perhaps, adds M. Robiquet, it may be sometimes necessary
for the full and exquisite developement of odour in these bodies to
add another vehicle, thus the addition of a little Acetic acid
heightens the odour of Mustard.
Iron has little, or no odour; but when volatilized with hydrogen, its
odour is very powerful. The smell of copper and brass must depend upon
some circumstance not well understood.
Footnote 252:
Astruc, and other practitioners of the same school, always premised a
mercurial course with venesection: it is probable that many of the
anomalies observed in the modern application of this remedy may have
arisen from an inattention to the diet of those who are under
mercurial influence. Mercury is in itself a most powerful stimulant,
and ought therefore to be accompanied with depletion and low diet;
besides which, the experiments of Majendie have shewn how greatly such
a state of the system will expedite the effects of the mercurial
remedy.
Footnote 253:
Dr. Eberle, of Philadelphia, in a work lately published, has quoted
the above passage, and remarks, that he has long been acquainted with
the fact which it announces; although he proposes to account for it by
a different train of reasoning; he considers that Nauseants encourage
mercurial ptyalism, by favouring an afflux to the salivary glands. The
learned author must allow me to congratulate him upon this fortunate
discovery; unless his patients be blessed with as much apathy as was
ever assumed by the Gilbertine order of Benedictines, he need never in
future despair of influencing them by mercury. He has only to condemn
the refractory to meagre fare, and then to tantalize them, as poor
Sancho was, in his government, with the sight, or rather smell, of a
savoury dish, and he will without doubt secure his object,—but, to be
serious, if Dr. Eberle’s views be correct, how will he explain the
modus operandi of _fear_, as related in the text? for the tendency of
fear is to _diminish_ the salivary secretion, as will be hereafter
mentioned.
Footnote 254:
Fear, contrary to joy, decreases, for a time, the action of the
extremities of the arterial system, as is seen by the sudden paleness
which succeeds, and the shrinking or contraction of the vessels of the
skin. M. de Haen relates the case of a painter who suffered
convulsions, which were succeeded by a return of his colic. In this
case the poison which had been, for a long time, admitted into his
constitution in consequence of his daily employment, was, by the
passion of anger, immediately brought into action. It was formerly
observed by Citois, that the inhabitants of the province of Poitou,
who had suffered anxiety of mind on account of any misfortune to
themselves or family, were particularly susceptible of the disease.
Footnote 255:
How admirably do the results of Majendie’s experiments coincide with
this reasoning; see page 84; and yet Dr. Eberle, in the work quoted
below, appears unwilling to admit such a theory.
Footnote 256:
A treatise of the Materia Medica, and Therapeutics, by J. Eberle, M.D.
In two volumes. Philadelphia, 1822.
Footnote 257:
In the same manner is the salivary secretion immediately influenced by
the operation of the mind; the sight of a delicious repast to a hungry
man is not more effectual in exciting it, than is the operation of
fear and anxiety in repressing and suspending it. Whence we are led to
believe, that the Hindoo Ordeal by Rice may have occasionally assisted
in the ends of Justice. This ordeal was conducted in the following
manner. The persons suspected of any crime being assembled in a ring,
a certain portion of dried rice was given to each, which they were
directed to chew for some minutes, and then to turn it out of their
mouths upon the leaves or bark of a tree. Those who were capable of
returning it in a pulpy form were at once acquitted, while those from
whose mouths it came out dry, were pronounced guilty. See Medical
Jurisprudence, Introduct. Vol. 1. p. viii.
Footnote 258:
The capacity of our digestive organs sufficiently testifies that
nature never intended them for the reception of highly concentrated
food, while this idea is farther strengthened by perceiving how
sparingly she produces concentrated aliment; the saccharine matter of
esculent fruits is generally blended with acidulous and mucilaginous
ingredients; and the oleaginous principle of seeds, kernels, and other
similar substances, is combined with farinaceous matter: the capacity
observable in the organs of graminivorous animals evidently shews that
they were also designed for a _large bulk_ of food, and _not_ for
provender in which the nutritive matter is concentrated; the
gramineous and leguminous vegetables do not present their nutritive
matter in a separate state, nor is the animal furnished with an
apparatus by which he can separate the chaff and straw from the
grain,—the obvious inference is, that he was intended to feed
indiscriminately on both.
Some years ago I constructed a Logometric scale of Equivalents,
analogous in principle to that which I have now introduced under the
title of the “MEDICINAL DYNAMETER,” to shew the relative nutritive
strength of different vegetables, and to work problems connected with
them; I soon found, however, that unless _bulk_ was taken into
calculation, it was incapable of furnishing even an approximation to
truth.
Footnote 259:
Med. Repos. Nov. 1822.
Footnote 260:
A Practical Inquiry into Disordered Respiration, p. 243.
Footnote 261: