Lectures on the materia medica / as delivered by William Cullen, M. D. Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh ; and now printed from a correct copy, which has been compared with others by the editors.

  • Cullen, William, 1710-1790.
Date:
1781
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the materia medica / as delivered by William Cullen, M. D. Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh ; and now printed from a correct copy, which has been compared with others by the editors. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

    18/462 (page 10)
    ed mercury and iron, as the latter is found in all human blood. But we are not alTured of other principles, viz. red globules, coagulable lymph, and ferofity, which laft is wa- ter impregnated with a falme principle. Thefe, I make no doubt, are in diflFerent proportions, from the nature of the aliment or difeafes!, But I do not know how to make ufe of this, at leaft till we be more fully acquainted with the nature of thckproportions, and the proper methods of diftinguifhing them, which are at prefent very inaccurate and imperfeft ; e. g. the proportion of red globules is not to be diftinguifh- ed, as their left or greater florid colour depends not on their quantity, but on the ftate of diffufion. Again, the propor- tion of coagulable lymph is not even evident from confidence, as in perfons where there is the fame quantity of ferum, the confiftence is different. Ligature on the veffels, child-bear- ing, &c. caufe a different degree of feparation of coagulable lymph, &c. fo that no perfon can make any accurate judg- ment from appearance of the blood. Denfity is a more cer- tain mark. The blood is.denfer in proportion tQ the rigidity of the veffels, and in the fame fpecies in proportion to the age; e. g, it is more denfe in cows than calves, &c. T\\& ■quan- tity of faline matter may alfo affefl; the denfity of the blood, and therefore we cannot pofitively determine whether the flu- idity of the blood, in-particular cafes, be owing entirely-to the pure watery part, as the faline principle may contribute confiderably towards the produ€tion of that quality. 4. Diflribution of the fluids. This is different in the fame perfon, according to hi,s age, owing to a difference in the jftrufture and diflribution of the veffels. It ftvems to be ne- ceffary that the brain fhould be brought to its fize quickly ; hence the head in a foetus is much greater in proportion to the other parts, and then conftitutes one-fifth of the whole; whereas in an adult it does not exceed one-ninth, and, fre- quently, one-tenth only. After bii th, a new determination is given to the circulating fluids; the circulation being ft:opt in the umbilical veffels, is'determined to the iliacs, and hence the growth afterwards of the lower extremities is more remarkable. This accounts for htEmorrhages, &c. which happen in different parts of the body, at different periods of life, e. g. bleeding of the^ feet in young perfons. Again if a tall perfon have not hands and feet proportionate to the length of his body, he is liable to difeafes. Thus I have feen aphthifispidmonalis, of whichthis difproportion was the mofl: probable caufe. Hence if we could afcertain the proportions of the