[14] Sydenham's Works, translated from the Latin by Dr. Swan. 5th edition, 1769, p. 1.
[15] Preface to the same, p. 22.
[16] "First Lines of the Practice of Physic." Fourth edition, 1784. Vol. i. p. 126 et seq.
[17] An exception should be made here of certain animal poisons, such as the venom of serpents, which, though they act on the system when introduced directly into the blood, seems to be rendered innocuous by the action of the stomach, which probably decomposes them.
[18] Physiological Researches, p. 63-67.
[19] It should be mentioned that Sir Benjamin Brodie, though admitting the force of the above experiments, and deriving from them very similar inferences, yet considers it likely that the action of a medicine or poison may be partly propagated by means of the nervous system. Op. cit. p. 127.
[20] Vide Paper in Medical Gazette, June 18th, 1841.
[21] Todd and Bowman's Physiology, vol. ii. p. 280.
[22] Vide Pereira's Materia Medica, vol. i. pp. 101, 106.
[23] Such is the case in health, when the muscular pressure of the intestine must exceed the pressure on the vascular system on the other side. This latter pressure, when increased, tends to stop or to reverse the inward current. Thus plethora and fever, diseased conditions, counteract absorption by causing pressure on the coats of these capillary vessels. Bleeding,—a drain of fluid caused by an increased secretion,—or such agents as Tartar Emetic and Ipecacuanha,—diminish this pressure by weakening the force of the heart, and thus favour natural absorption.