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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    TO THE v RIGHT HON. SIR JOSEPH BANKS, Baronet and Knight of the Bath, President of the Royal Society, &c. &c. &c. SIR, In presenting this volume to you, I beg leave to say a few words on the views with which it was written, and the circumstanced that gave rise to the publication. About eighteen years ago, when I was at Edinburgh, it fell to my lot to write a paper on the influence of cold on the living body, for one of the societies of students, of which I was a member. In defending my speculations against some ingenious opponents, a perpetual contra- diction occurred as to facts, which a reference to original authorities, did not enable me to remove ; for I discovered, that the accounts given of the temperature of the system under disease, even by the most approved authors, are, with a few exceptions, founded, not on any exact mea- surement of heat, but on the sensations of the patient himself, or his attendants. a Impressed