II. Purges.
III. Sweats.
IV. Salivation. And,
V. Blisters.
I. Vomits have often been effectual in curing fevers of a mild character. They discharge offensive and irritating matters from the stomach; they lessen the fulness of the blood-vessels, by determining the serum of the blood through the pores; and they equalize the excitement of the system, by inviting its excessive degrees from the blood-vessels to the stomach and muscles. But they are,
1. Uncertain in their operation, from the torpor induced by the fever upon the stomach.
2. They are unsafe in many conditions of the system, as in pregnancy, and a disposition to apoplexy and ruptures. Life has sometimes been destroyed by their inducing cramp, hæmorrhage, and inflammation in the stomach.
3. They are not subject to the controul of a physician, often operating more, or less than was intended by him, or indicated by the disease.
4. They are often ineffectual in mild, and always so in fevers of great morbid action.
II. Purges are useful in discharging acrid fæces and bile from the bowels in fevers. They act, moreover, by creating an artificial weak part, and thus invite morbid excitement from the blood-vessels to the bowels. They likewise lessen the quantity of blood, by preventing fresh accessions of chyle being added to it; but like vomits they are,