there is a complete interruption to the flux, whether it is irregular, whether its quantity is diminished, or whether there is a change in the qualities of the exhaled fluid; and our curative means enable us not only to restore the menstrual excretion, but also to relieve the system from the evil effects of its suppression. When the menstrual flux is interrupted, as often happens from the feet having been exposed to cold, or from any violent emotion, we can imitate the excretion and relieve the system, by artificially abstracting the surplus blood which should have been evacuated by the flux. In this, as in a plethoric state of other organs, bloodletting and other depletive measures are indicated; for the abstraction of blood will at all times mitigate the symptoms arising from any congestion in the heart, and improve the general health. But, to insure the return of the flux, the active means should be employed immediately before the usual period of its accession, and the best calculated to effect this purpose, besides bloodletting, are those which act upon the uterine system. Emetics, purgatives, and the pediluvium, powerfully assist in restoring a suppressed menstruation; and, indeed, there is no emmenagogue more to be relied upon than an emetic. In those disturbances of the heart, accompanied by changes. in the qualities of, and by irregularities in the uterine excretion, the condition both of the uterus and heart can only be relieved by the use of those medicines which change and improve the qualities of the blood, such as the various preparations of iron and of copper. CHAPTER XIX. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE REMEDIES EMPLOYED The subject continued; observations on the incrementitious processes; their importance in the treatment of diseases of the heart; dietetics; stomachics; hæmatics; neurotics, absorbents, and derivatives. The incrementitious Processes. HAVING pointed out the important share which the excrementitious processes have in preserving health, the different artificial means which we possess for imitating them, and the application of these means in the treatment of the diseases of the heart, we come next to review the incrementitious processes, or those by which the body is supplied with the elements which are separated from the blood, and from the atmosphere, and which are necessary for converting the food into chyle, and for the oxygenation of the blood. In prosecuting our inquiries upon this subject, we shall find that, besides varieties in the aliments and drinks, there are medicinal agents, by the administration of which we are able to assist and to correct derangements in these incrementitious processes, just as we have found that by another class of medicines we are able to correct and imitate the different excretions. The incrementitious processes become therefore no less interesting to the therapeutic inquirer than the excrementitious; for whilst the condition of the body is influenced by any derangement in the functions of those organs which discharge from it those matters which are hurtful, in an equal degree is the health of the human frame interrupted by any irregularity or imperfection in the execution of those functions which supply it with the elements of nourishment. There is, indeed, no sys- Their infiutem of the animal œconomy which is more affected by imperfec- heart. tions of the incrementitious processes than the sanguineous, and Importance of the incre mentitious processes. ence on the They are performed by the sme organs as the xcremen titious processes. Difference in the nature of the two processes Paris's Pharmacologia. Nature of incrementitious products. we might anticipate that changes in the qualities, or in the supply of the elements which are necessary to repair the blood, might produce such changes in the vital fluid as would more or less disturb the functions of the heart. The same organs which perform the excrementitious, also perform the incrementitious processes, excepting the kidneys. The skin, the lungs, and the alimentary canal, not only excrete, but they are each employed to absorb from the aliment and inhale from the atmosphere those substances required for the subsistence of life. And, contrasted with one another, nothing can be more opposite than the nature of the incrementitious and the excrementitious products; for whilst some of those of excretion resemble inorganized compounds that can be made in the chemical laboratory, such as phosphate of lime or carbonic acid, those of incretion cannot be imitated. The chemist cannot compound chyle, and there is no more remarkable difference in the processes which are performed in the living body, and in the chemical laboratory, than the length of time. which is required to form some of those compounds which are so quickly made in the vital laboratory. "In nothing, indeed, do these processes differ from those of the chemist more than in the short time which is required to convert matters in the stomach into acid compounds, with the lengthened period which is necessary to produce in them a similar change when out of the body." Thus, The incrementitious compounds may be properly said to contain all the elements of animal life, and after these compounds have been added to the blood, they are again variously decomposed, and new products formed by the different organs. in one of the vital laboratories, combustion takes place in order to produce animal heat; in another, the muscular fibre is eliminated, for the purposes of locomotion and the circulation of the fluids; in another, bone, upon which the whole solid fabric is built, to give insertion to the muscles and protect the vital organs; in another, is produced the cerebral pulp through the medium of which the vital power acts and endows the various organs with their necessary sensibility; and, in another, the fluids, such as synovia, are compounded, which serve the purpose of lubricating those surfaces which are required to move upon one another. The incrementitious products are either fluid, or they are gaseous. The fluids are compounded from the aliment by the digestive organs, and they are also absorbed by the cutaneous lymphatics. The gaseous are obtained in the lungs, as well as the skin, by the decomposition of the atmospheric air. Incrementitious corpuscules, or atoms derived from these two vital laboratories are mixed with the venous and arterial blood; and thus furnished with the elements of life, the arterial blood is distributed to the various organs, and by these it is converted into new compounds, so that in the treatment of the diseases of the heart it is essential to consider the condition of each of these incrementitious processes; for as the qualities of the blood depend upon their products, every deviation from their healthy state must more or less influence the heart's functions. "There are some juices or humours which, in particular cases, ought to be evacuated or drawn out of the body; and some others that you ought to restore to the body, or cause to be produced Hippocrates. therein." In the treatment of cardiac diseases, whether arising from the state of the blood, or aggravated by its morbid condition, the means which we possess for regulating and assisting these incrementitious processes open an important field of pathological inquiry. Dietetics.-The incrementitious processes which are performed by the digestive organs may be said to commence in the mouth. There the food undergoes mastication, is mixed with the saliva, passes into the stomach, where it mixes with the gastric juice, and is converted into a homogeneous pulp or chyme. It afterwards enters into the duodenum, where it undergoes additional combinations, being there mixed with the pancreatic juice, the bile, and the excretion from the duodenum. In this course the aliment undergoes various changes by the operations of the vital laboratory, the excrementitious portions as we have already seen, being separated, and passing off through the intestinal canal, and discharged from the body, whilst See page 293. the incrementitious portions are absorbed and conveyed to the blood. The important purposes which these incrementitious processes serve in the animal economy, points out the necessity of proper food to preserve the blood in a healthy state; and at the same time it shows the propriety of administering in the diseases of the sanguiferous system, those medicinal substances which are known to preserve and improve the condition of the digestive organs, if these are deranged. I have already had occasion to remark how man, like the rest of the animal creation, is endowed with instincts, by which he is enabled to select the kinds of food and drink which are necessary for his existence; and that these instincts guide him in the selection of proper aliments in sickness as well as in health. But these instincts are not alone sufficient for this essential purpose of the animal œconomy: so that we are also provided with the senses of taste and of smell, which are so placed that they perform the duty of sentinels, guarding the stomach from receiving any improper food, which, guided by instinct alone, we might not have rejected. And, further, it appears to be a law of the animal economy that these instincts and these senses shall obey and be subservient to the varied conditions of the body; that the food which is most grateful to him in health, shall be rejected in sickness; and that which is unpalatable to those who are in health, shall be agreeable to the sick. When, therefore, we contemplate the digestive process, the function where it is not improbable the agency of the vital principle is first developed, and when we inquire into its disordered states, and the means of relieving these, we are led to seek for those therapeutic means by which we can imitate or assist that process. So intimately, indeed, as the functions of the heart are associated with those of the digestive canal in the healthy state of the body, we need not be surprised to find a disordered heart powerfully influenced by disturbances in the digestive apparatus; but not only do we find that there is no disease of the heart, the symptoms of which are not aggravated by a derangement of the |