Volume 1

Pharmacologia; comprehending the art of prescribing upon fixed and scientific principles; together with the history of medicinal substances / [John Ayrton Paris].

  • Paris, John Ayrton, 1785-1856.
Date:
1822
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacologia; comprehending the art of prescribing upon fixed and scientific principles; together with the history of medicinal substances / [John Ayrton Paris]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    94/476 (page 76)
    Botanical, like human physiognomy, may frequently afford an insight into character, but it is very often a fallacious index. With regard to the indications of Smell and Taste, it may be observed that in the examination of an unknown substance we instinctively apply to these senses for information respecting its properties, ft is certainly reasonable to suppose, that those bodies which produce upon the organs of taste a sensible, astringent, or pungent effect, may occa¬ sion an impression, corresponding in degree upon the stomach or intestines, which are but an extension of the same structure. But what numerous exceptions are there to such a law ? nay, some of the most poisonous substances affect in a very slight degree the organs of taste, especially those that belong to the mineral kingdom, as Arsenious Acid, Oxyd of Anti- mony, Calomel, See.; yet some of these are in fact but apparent exceptions, depending upon the degree of solubility which they possess, in consequence of which their energies are not developed until they have traversed a considerable portion of mucous surface. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that cultivation and artificial habits may have blunted the natural suscep¬ tibility of our organs, and in some instances changed and depraved their functions : certain qualities for instance are so strongly connected with each other by the chain of association, that by presenting only one to the mind, the other links follow in succession.* * This might be illustrated by the recital of numerous fallacies to which our most simple perceptions are exposed from the powers of association, but I will relate an anecdote, v/hich to my mind elucidates the nature and extent of such fallacies more strikingly than any example which could be adduced. Shortly after Sir Humphry Davy had succeeded in decomposing the fixed alkalies, a portion of Potassium