A treatise on the Bath waters. Pt. I. / [Sir George Smith Gibbes].

  • George Smith Gibbes
Date:
1812
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the Bath waters. Pt. I. / [Sir George Smith Gibbes]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Treatise. The constitutional character of palsy, and the umpertance of the liver to the animal frame, involve subjects the most illustrative of the laws which regulate the body. [shail shew reasons for believing that many affections which are generally referred to the liver, are not caused by biliary obstructions, or by an affection of the digestive organs, but that the liver, the stomach, and the chylopoetic viscera are secondarily dis- ordered, and that the medicines now so commenly recommended for such obstructions, fail of their object. Since the present practise of medicine has authorized the use of minerals of the greatest power, it may not be amiss to consider how far they are admissible in the treatment of the above diseases; for should it be proved that their pre- sent repute stands on an untenable foundation, we may be, in some measure, relieved from a prac- tise that under even the best circumstances, must be attended with hazard from exhausting animal power; or we may learn to appreciate the precise point where such a necessity exists. We have daily instances to prove the failure of remedies which, from their powerful operation on the human body, ought not to be of dubious efficacy; and we may be led to dispute the universality of a remedy as inconsistent with philosophical or medi- cal accuracy. There can be no doubt of the power which mercury possesses over the secretion of the bile; but it may be a question, when there
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