An inaugural dissertation on the influenza : submitted to the examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. provost ; the trustees and medical professors of the University of Pennsylvania, in order to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the eighth day of May A.D. 1793 / by Robert Johnston, of Philadelphia, member of the American Medical Society.
- Johnston, Robert, 1750-1808
- Date:
- MDCCXCIII [1793]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An inaugural dissertation on the influenza : submitted to the examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. provost ; the trustees and medical professors of the University of Pennsylvania, in order to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the eighth day of May A.D. 1793 / by Robert Johnston, of Philadelphia, member of the American Medical Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![It is imphilofophic to admit more caufes than are abfo- lutely neceffary to explain the phenomenon; and equally io to affign that as a caufe which is only an effect- Is it not alfo, imphilofophic to combine a caufe and its effect, and affign the combination as a caufe ? How is a fecreting or exhaling furface induced to dif- charge a preternatural quantity of a fluid ? Is it not, ei- ther by fome power which determines to that furface, or by fome affection of the furface itfelf ? What fhall we then fuppofe to be the proximate caufe of this preter- natural fecretion or exhalation ? Without doubt the power which determines to that furface, or fome affecti- on of it, whereby it is compelled to fecrete, or pour out in unufual quantity, and not the afflux of fluids to it. Remove the caufe, and the effeci ceafes, is an axiom as old as philofophy itfelf, and happily applies to the prefent cafe. If we remove the extra-power which determines an un- ufual flux to the fecretinp- or exhaling furface, it will perform its office in the ordinary manner; nor will the fame effeci fail to take place upon removing the affection of this furface whereby it was conftrained to fe- crete or exhale preternaturally. In the influenza, the power which conftrains or compels preternatural fecreti- on or exhalation [for it matters not which], is nothing elfe than an inflammatory affection of fuch a furface(35). In that kind of gonorrhaea,which is brought on by ve- nereal infection, Doctor Cullen obferves, that the chief thing to be attended to is the inflamed ft ate of the ure- proximate caufe P This is what we firft attempt to remove, and which we never fail to effeci, by inhaling through the noftrils the crrateful effluvia of a piece of wheaten bread. Is not this a cafe perfcilly u: po>?it P (gj) More fluid circulates through, and is fecretcd, in a part that is inflamed, than when it is in a natural date. Mother- by's Medical Dictionary, under the word Inflammatio.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21133852_0029.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
