An abridgment [sic] of the second edition of a work, written by Dr. Currie, of Liverpool in England : on the use of water, in diseases of the human frame ; and fever, opium, strong drink, abstinence from food, and the passages through the human skin ; with occasional remarks.

  • Currie, James, 1756-1805.
Date:
[1799]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An abridgment [sic] of the second edition of a work, written by Dr. Currie, of Liverpool in England : on the use of water, in diseases of the human frame ; and fever, opium, strong drink, abstinence from food, and the passages through the human skin ; with occasional remarks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    lays that the afHmilation of the quantity of contagious matter produced fron the firtt contagion, is invariably found to bear an exacl proportion to the eruptive fever. He declares that in the eruptive fever, he has inftantlv ahated the fyoRptoms however fevere, and that the dif- cafe, has ailurned a benignant form. He tells us, that the Chincfe are ftated to have long followed this prac- tice with fuccefs. It were to be wifhed that Dr. Currie had looked into the Memoirei/itr la Cbinois, in 4*0. puMifhsd at Paris, under the patronage of M. Benin, Irom the papers of the French mifllonaries ; in order to HOtice a very malignant fpecies of finall pox at Pekin, which baffled (as is there faid) all common treatment, even that of inoculation ; and which perhaps was i.i truth the finall pox complicated with fome other dif. eaA-, or with fome peculiar habit of body then prevalent in Pekin. Dr. Currie treats of cold water applied internally in levers. He fays that in the cold llage, it is never to be enp'.oyed, however urgent the thinl ; which oi;oht only to be gratified in thisftage of the fir, or paroxyfm, with warm liq-iids. When the hot Uage is fairly for- med, and the fuiface of the body dry and burning ; cold water, he fays, may be drank with the utinoft freedom ; and if it fucceeds in lowering the palfe and heat, as is ufual, peifpiration and flcep commonly follow. Its efTeft^ however is never fo powerful, according to his experience, as to diffblve even the exifting fit of the lever, and much lefs the fever itfelf. But he holds draughts of cold water as an ufeful auxiliary in thefe cafes, and fays that they may be ufed more freely in pro- portion as the heat is more advanced above the natural ftandard. He allows cold water to be drank, tho' more fparingly, even in the heginning of the fweating llage; fciee it may proaune the fW of perfpiration ; which slier