upon controversial points, or pretending to bring forward novel views or striking doctrines; and thus disclaiming everything like the assumption of originality, they have not thought it necessary to burden their work, or perplex their pupils, by numerous quotations and an elaborate reference to authorities. The necessary reference to the literature of their profession they consider to have been sufficiently and admirably performed by those who have preceded them in the same field; but they have found in this very richness of illustration a source of embarrassment and distraction to the student which they hope to remove from the purely elementary matter collected in the present work. How far their labours may be useful to any but their own pupils, the Authors are unable to say; but trusting that they shall advance nothing but sound doctrines and wholesome practice, such as the majority of the enlightened members of the profession may recognise as rational and judicious, they will hope that their elementary work may not be unacceptable to others. ELEMENTS OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. FEVER. WHEN a person is affected with chilliness or shivering, succeeded by a hot skin, a frequent pulse, general functional disturbance, and a feeling of languor and weakness, that person is said to labour under pyrexia, or a febrile state. Such a pyrexia or febrile state is common to a great number of disorders, which are on that account designated febrile disorders. In certain of these febrile disorders no local disease, no particular affection of any part of the body has yet been ascertained to be necessarily present. These are, by common consent, called 'Febres' or Fevers, subdivided into Intermitting, Remitting, and Continued Fevers. In other febrile disorders, the pyrexia or febrile state is so uniformly found connected with some local affection, that the local affection and the febrile state are looked upon in the relation of cause and effect, as is exemplified in the febrile state resulting from injuries and inflammations. Febres or fevers, therefore, as being independent of any necessary local affection, are said to be idiopathic or primary, whilst the febrile state connected with local disease is said to be secondary, sympathetic, or symptomatic. The term 'fever' is indeed often made use of to express indiscriminately the diseases properly called 'fevers', and the pyrexia or febrile state which is common to or characteristic of all febrile disorders; but this is an abuse of language and leads to much confusion. In strict propriety, the term 'fever' should be applied exclusively to the diseases properly so called; whilst, instead of speaking of secondary or symptomatic fever, as is commonly done, we should convey our meaning more correctly, if we made use of the expression, secondary or symptomatic pyrexia, or, a secondary or symptomatic febrile state. IDIOPATHIC FEVER. When dividing Idiopathic fevers into the Intermitting, Remitting and Continued, Dr. Cullen subdivided the latter or Continued into three distinct species-Synocha, Synochus, and Typhus, a subdivision that has created much ambiguity in treating the subject of idiopathic fever; for whilst the two latter, synochus and typhus, are mere varieties of the same fever, the synocha or inflammatory fever, as it is usually called, is of extremely rare occurrence unconnected with some local inflammation or catarrhal affection, and may on that account, with great propriety, be treated of under the respective heads of Inflammation and Catarrh. What follows, therefore, on the subject of idiopathic fever will be to the entire exclusion of synocha or inflammatory fever, and applicable only to intermittents, remittents, and that form of continued fever which has been called |