New experiments with mercury in the small pox; by which is demonstrated its specific virtue in that disease / Translated from the French by William Fowle.

  • Woensel, Pieter van, 1747-1808
Date:
1793
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New experiments with mercury in the small pox; by which is demonstrated its specific virtue in that disease / Translated from the French by William Fowle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Perhaps it may be objected, that thefe expe- riments only prove that mercury, applied imme¬ diately to variolous matter, is able to impede or deftroy its contagious power ; but that it by no means follows, that this virtue fhould not be al¬ tered by the adtion of the firft and fécond paffages. This objection has lefs force than at firft light it appears to poifefs. Food, whether animal or vegetable, fuffers a total change by the addon of the primæ viæ, and by the circulation of the hu¬ mours ; but the cafe is very different with this mineral : when it is adminiltered by friction, it paifes through the molt fubtle dudts, and though it undergoes the adtion of the whole animal fyf- tem, yet it may be recovered from the faliva in a ftate fo perfedtly fimilar to that in which it was given, that it is impoffible for the molt Ikilful chemilt to difcover the lealt alteration ; and, on diffection, it has been fometimes found in the ca¬ vities of bones in its molt perfedt ftate. I therefore cannot conceive, why mercury, when applied externally, fhould be able to pre¬ vent the difeafe; and yet, when, given internally, it fhould not even render it more mild. NO