ral Time

ence of

the Stomach warm and light, the Parts The natu replenished with Steam and plump, the of waking. Blood thinned, and in Motion, the Nerves ftock'd with Steam, and the Body fit for Action, we awake. The Steam aug-The Inments gradually, from the Time we be-convenigin to fleep, till it come to a due Height, lying after when we naturally awake; and if we lie that Time much longer in the common Degree of Cover without Motion, the Heat encreases, the Steams are rarified too much, or the Pores opened too much, or both; and though the Blood do not circulate very faft nor ftrongly, abundance of the Steam perfpires, as one may plainly fee, by holding one's Hand out between one's Eyes and the Light; and if one lie long, one will be as lank and as faint as when one first laid down: and lying down, will never recover one, till one have fresh Sup-TheSteam plies of Food to raise Steam, or till one weaker rife, or use Action; I think when the when one falls afleep Steam is weak, and one falls afleep, at than when first when one begins to fleep, the Steam awake. for fome Time is weaker than when one was awake: For if one fall asleep in a Chair, and fleep for half an Hour, one's Face and upper Parts will be much paler, than if one had fat ftill as long in the fame Pofture awake. And as the Steam

The Con- is weak at Night, when one goes to fleep, fequence 'tis no wonder that a great Quantity of

of it.

petite dif

vantages

Meat, or Meat hard to digeft, lies heavy upon the Stomach for fome time, and does not digeft, and go off, till the Steam by fleeping, rife to a fufficient Force. If The Mor- one rife in the Morning when Sleep has ning Ap done its Office, and the Stomach be conferent by tracted, any fort of folid Meat will be protract acceptable to the Stomach. If one lie ing Sleep. too long, till too much of the Fluids be born off in Steam, and the Steam be too much weakened, or the Stomach be diftended, thin warm Meat will be more The Ad- agreeable. Befides the Advantages aforeof Sleep. faid, there is fome confiderable Difference between being asleep, and refting awake whether when one is awake, the Steam be not refined, and thinned fo much, or the lacteal Veffels are not expanded, and relaxed fo much, or the outward Pores are not fo open, or there is a greater Quantity of Juices, or Juices more grofs, iffued into the Stomach and Guts. If one fit, or reft long, the Stomach and Guts fill and extend with grofs Steam; which, if the Excrements, at the feveral Valves, be not too thin when one begins to use Action, will be discharged backward. If it cannot be fo discharged, Action will

rarify

pium.

rarify or force it off. But one feldom find's one's Stomach or Guts diftended out of course, when one has flept fufficiently. 'Tis faid, the Eastern People use the Concernbeft Opium, and that it makes them brifk, ing Oftrong, and fierce, and that which we use, is but the coarser Part, and Drofs of the Opium, and fo makes us fleep; but that cannot be always true. Suppofe the Effect of Opium to open the Glands in the Stomach, does the fine Opium let in finer Juices, or more leifurely, and the coarse Opium the coarfer Juices, or too faft, and raife too grofs a Steam? Or do we err in Quantity, or does it let in too many Juices into the Stomachs of those who use it seldom, raise too grofs a Steam, and confound their Senfes, till Sleep has thinned and carried it off? Or does it open the Glands in the Brain, which fecretes the Steam for the Nerves; the finer a little, and the coarfer too much, and work its Effects there. Although 'tis likely, it will have like Effects upon the Glands, wherever it paffes, it seems to me, that it has its principal Effect in the *Stomach, because it makes many People vomit confiderably in a very short Time. С НА Р. * Dr. Mead in his Treatife upon Poifon, relates an Experiment upon a Dog, where what Effect it has in too

N 4

large

ift. It condenfes

the Steam

it.

CHA P. XVI.

The Effects of too much Cold.

W

HEN for want of Action, or
Strength of the Steam within,

and repells the Cold prevails too much upon the outward Parts, it condenses the Steam there, and thickens the Blood, fhuts the Pores, and contracts the fmall Veffels, and thereby the Blood is obftructed, fo that it cannot pafs in due Proportion, for Circulation and Secretion. And in Proportion to the Quantity and Degree, 'tis fo coagulated, it becomes more or lefs diffi

cult

large a Dose upon the Stomach, is exactly defcribed, and which, according to Mr. Hutchinson's Theory, very eafily explains the Operation of this Drug, whether ufed as a Medicine, or given in Quantity fufficient to prove deleterious, and become a Poifon. I beg Leave here to defire the Reader to perufe this Chapter of the Doctor's accurately, and then impartially to decide whether his Account of Sleep, or Mr Hutchinson's feems more rational, and which more becoming a Treatife, whofe Title 'imports a Mechanical Account of the Things it treats of. Vid. Edinb. Med. Effays, Vol. 5. Dr. Alfton's Effay on Opium, and his Exp. on Frogs and other Animals therewith: There you will fee how this Drug operates p'ainly, viz. by its Effects upon the Steam; the Motion of the Blood is render'd flower and flower till the Animal dies. The Dr. has fome very odd Expreffions as to the Variation of the Pulfe, but this concerns not us, we want only his Experi

ment.

fects from

thefe.

Cult for the Steam to thin it, as it returns into the larger Veffels within. But as the Steam is hindered from perfpiring, it encreases its Force within, and makes a greater Effort to circulate and throw off the coagulated Blood. At firft it caufes The EfStoppages, or Obftructions in the Head, Lungs, &c, and paffes with great Difficulty through the Veffels, in the Parts which have been bruised, ftrained, or broken, and caufes Pain there. If the Steam be able to thin Part, and throw off the reft at the Nofe, by coughing at the Lungs, by Sweat, turbid Urine, or into the Guts, and thence by Looseness, little Damage enfues: If not, the Effort is continually heightened, till it terminate in a Rheumatism, or Inflammation upon fome Part, or in a Fever. The Pores of Cold from the Feet being much opened by Heat in Wet by walking, the Steam iffuing, rarifies the Air between the Soles of the Shoes and the Feet, and Water paffes in form of Steam through the Soles, and mixed with Heat, enters the open Pores, and circulates in the Blood, coagulates its Corpufcles, caufes Stops in the ftraight Véffels, in the Head, &c. as aforefaid. And Wet thus conveyed to any Part of the Body, as by damp Sheets, &c. enters more, and

does

the Feet.