Medical reports, on the effects of water, cold and warm, as a remedy in fever, and febrile diseases; whether applied to the surface of the body, or used as a drink: with observations on the nature of fever; and on the effects of opium, alcohol, and inanition / by James Currie.

Date:
1797
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical reports, on the effects of water, cold and warm, as a remedy in fever, and febrile diseases; whether applied to the surface of the body, or used as a drink: with observations on the nature of fever; and on the effects of opium, alcohol, and inanition / by James Currie. 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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    ( 8? ) have occurred to the Chriflian army in the holy wars. Gulielmus Jyrius, lib. iii. c. 16. fcribit, Chrifti- mum agmen Pijiliam ingrejfum, regionem arentem inaquofam, tandem invento fluroio; quod quidem, larg.us aquam frigidam ingurgit aver unt, difcrimen evadentes, mortem in aquarum opulent in reperere. Thefe hiftorical relations fupport very fully the dodrine i have already laid down. The cautious reafoner may not, on a hafty confideration, be incli- ned to reft with much confidence on this fort of evidence ; but on refled ion he will fee that it is en- titled to confiderable authority; becaufe the fads are in their nature not liable to be miftaken, and becaufe they are not likely to be mifreprefented. It is alfo entitled to much weight, becaufe it is not given by thefe hiftorians in fupport of any particular dodrine ; and becaufe the experiment having been made on fuch numbers of perfons at once, it acquires an au- thority hardly to be afcribed to folitary cafes, however accurately detailed. Thefe confiderations induce me to lay much more ftrefs on evidence of this kind, than on the precepts refpeding the effeds of cold drink to be found in medical authors, ancient or modern. Neverthelefs 1 have looked into the greater part of the ancients on this point, (for among the moderns there is not much on the fubjed) and have found nothing, that fully confidered, invalidates the con- clufions I have laid down. N Of