A proposal for the settlement of the homoeopathic controversy / by J.F. Paisley.

Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A proposal for the settlement of the homoeopathic controversy / by J.F. Paisley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    steam required to propel the engine along its appointed course, were now consulted, lie would in all probability in- stantly and violently pierce the walls of a steam chamber, and so facilitate its escape,—utterly discarding a moment’s reflection, in his alarm for the consequences. He would thus entirely liberate the motive power, or, it might be, an attempt would be made to arrest the discharge by a clumsy application to the vent, easily removed by an accidental touch when the enemy of the machine was most needed. O t/ Not so the true engineer—the qualified care-taker. Know- ing the provision made for these accidental derangements, he would immediately have recourse to the wisely-appointed valve, and only permit as much of the element to escape as would secure the safety of the engine, at the same time re- serving enough for the purposes of locomotion. But if, on attempting to put the valve into action, he dis- covered that something interfered with its due movement, ingenuity would at once suggest the immediate reduction of the fire and condensation of the steam by suitable means. If, however, the latter scheme were impracticable, for various reasons, and a philosopher of superior theoretical and practical knowledge were at hand, provided with suit- able implements or ingredients for the decomposition of the water, would he not, with exquisite adaptation of material, instantly commence reducing the superfluous steam into its constituent elements, and so, by his knowledge and skill, deliver the machine from the impending catastrophe? Precisely analogous is the condition of the human body during the prevalence of high inflammatory action, and are also the means employed, naturally or artificially, for the reduction of the dangerous state of tension. The gradual subsidence of the diseased action may take place by the operation of certain external causes, or the in- ternal healing powers of nature. On the other hand, the inflammatory stage may rapidly pass on to gangrene, rup-