Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/556

522] by art.—But, in chronic affections, medicines generally operate slowly, and often in a manner very different from what experience entitles us to expect. Hence the precarious nature of drugs has become almost proverbial; not because they are in themselves inert (which would involve a contradiction); but because they were improperly, or injudiciously, applied.

Such being the case in all those inveterate affections, which torment mankind, it is matter of just surprize, that the attention of the afflicted, as well as the scientific, has not been more generally directed towards discovering effectual means of relieving the unhappy, instead of such as have but too often eluded the most sanguine hopes of the patient, and detracted from the reputation of the physician.—If it be admitted that, in chronic distempers, the whole animal frame is under a slow, though certain, influence of disease; that the system, in all its functions, requires a very different action, or stimulus, from that generally produced by medicines, on particular organs; and that so favourable a change can be effected only by operating on the different processes of digestion, assimilation, absorption, and respiration, not separately, but conjointly; then we may venture to affirm, that the prevailing plan of treating those obstinate maladies is established upon a very precarious basis.

Novel as this assertion may appear to many of our readers, it is nevertheless true; and though it may, at first, meet with opposition, like most of those general truths which all acknowledge, but few will defend or practise, there is every reason to trust to the good sense of mankind, that empiricism and knavery will gradually vanish from the tablets of history.

In order to approach with our labours towards a plan of so beneficial a tendency, we have, on all proper occasions, inculcated the necessity of attending to that most important department of medicine, which treats of ' and '. From these alone, the most essential advantages may be derived in chronic diseases, especially such as cannot be traced to their sources, or the predisposing causes of which cannot be discovered, either from an intentional concealment of the patient, his want of resolution and capacity to disclose them, or other reasons, chiefly arising from the present imperfect state of the healing art. Hence, the writer of this article has, for many years, been sedulously employed in collecting and arranging facts, towards a new work, in which he proposes to lay before the public an outline of the treatment to be adopted in a diseased state of the body; and which will form a counterpart to his former "Lectures on Diet and Regimen."—At present, it will be sufficient to point out the principal rules, by which the conduct of such persons, as are the victims of inveterate afflictions, ought in general to be guided.

1. When the patient is not confined to his bed, gentle and frequent  will be salutary; but all violent commotions, whether of mind or body, are extremely prejudicial, and cannot fail to retard his recovery.

2. The sick-room ought to be lofty and capacious, frequently ventilated by opening the door or windows, without admitting a draught of air; and, in damp weather, the apart-