The Arkansas advocate., 1832-07-11
7y tas Edltor ok Aa .adaocntl.

l 10 enlighlen the pubic mud upon the ais-
 eases incident to the Territory, and upon their succ essfnl treatment. fure patriot ism alone can prompt him to course cal
 culated to save the community from the
 onerous burden of paying Doctors bills, by making every man his own fhysician. l I had 1t in view to adopt a similar course 1;
 but having resided only two years in the
 country, l was fearful of ineurrIng the
 reproduction of my fellow practitioners, who might be ungenerous enough to at tribute my zeal 10 a wrong source, by supposIng me mean enough to adopt such
 course, not from public motives, tut
 from desire of building up reputation for myself, as being in possession of abil- lties and judgment which they did not pos sess, and as saying to them, keep ill the back ground, ye know not as much as l.
 With the example of Doctor Sprague be- ] fore me- l will no longer hesitate to pro- mitigate my views of feEcr, and my me- thodas curandi; and if, in unfolding my 1 theory of fever, l should be compelled to differ from the Dr. and should even take the liberty of animadYcrting on his o1cn fteoxy of fever, his amor gerifatis will in- ducc him to bear it with equanimity, and to attribute to me nothing else than an earnest desire to lay before the public, an ~'N'S"NotANh VI tiit NiuC GduSS tt IGNGT, GuA the most efEeefUal mode of treatment l am much pleased with the hastv view ta- ken by the Dr. of the many mode thco- :. ries of fever, and with the unceremoni- l ousness with which he has consigned them to the tomb of tAe Capalets. Theories, in these our days, spring up like mushrooms, and like them are of little value. 1 pre- fer the theories of ages past aud gone, and am therefore well pleased at finding the Dr. referring to tie humoYal pathology of one or two centuries back, to dedece his views of the pfoximate cause of fever.- On reading lis first essay, in tic Gazette ef the 2?th alt.. l fancied the writer to be an aged man, Of great experience, bowed down with deep research aud the aecumttiation Of facts for the last half cen tury, sPnrning the ephemeral theories of tue present age, as Of no value, and duly estimating those which have been expio- ded for the fast 100 years. On making in- qnries ofdivers persons, found my sketch to have been near the truth, for the Dr. is represented 10 be bowed down with many cares, and though the blossom of tune has not touched his head, deep re- search Is impressed on the lineaments of Als face, and ke bears a much stronger likeness 10 BoerhaaYe than to BroHssais.
 Before unfolding my theory of fever, l will take a passing notice of tie Dr's views on that subject. 's Hold fever 10 be 2 general aeraagcinent Gf the functions of the various organs of tue system that some one oftlese is primarily naoie esscn- tIal!y deranged than the others; that or gan primarily and essentially deranged gtycs the character of the disease; tLat thls arrangement IS generally, if not uni- FersallY, the consequence of a morbid condition of the circulating fluids" &c
 Al ilrst view If would appear, that the Dr. hoIds general Arrangement of the fanc- tons of all tue organs of the system," as the pfoximate cause of fever but as he assigns ' a morbid condition of the cir eulating ilnids," as necessary to produce this functional deranCement, that state of fluids IS in reality the proximate cause of fever, and hence he adopts the views of humoral pataologists, as more phiosoph. leally accounting for fever, than does any et the more modern pathologists. Accor-. ding to tilc Dr's theory, the varieties of lever are considerably multiplied as " tho organ primarily and essentially de- ranged gives the character of tho discase.'' we must necessarily have an ear fever. eye fever, nose fever, tongue fever, finger 'steyer, &c. &c., whenever disease prina- 'A'I oNhssNAS Nb0 U 4I OI IledFIHp, seeing. smelling, tasting, feeling, &c. These multifarious varieties offever arc " eff cal. cnlated 10 increase the importance of the medical character, and must greatly re- donnd to the reputation of the Dr., as pos sesslng an acutcness of research never be- fore possessed by man.
 would make some remarks on what the lir. says upon the subject of putreiac- tive meats, and of meats undergoing the putrefactlve process in the stomach; but as am anxious to show forth my theory of disease, l would advise the Dr. to re- fleet on the powers of the gastric iuce in repeling not only, but in counteracting, patrefaetion, when meats in that state are taken into the stomach.
 think withBroussais, ,"that the stomach receives the cause producing disease ;" that this cause Is of a highly irritating na- ture, producing great infammatory action on tue stomach, with an evolution of heat 1; and as 1t Is the property of heat to impart itself to all surrounding bodies, all the Viscera Tn contact with the stomach re- ceive an increased degree of heat, which aetanges their functions. This accumu- ia'ion oi neat Tn so many important yisce- "a, constitute fever, and its violence ia proportioned to the quantum of heat evol- yed from the stomach and imparted to the l adjacent organs.''
 The effect of this accumulative heat on
 the different organs, is very serious for Instance, on the liver it produces such a
 viscidity of the bile as prevents it's passace
 through the Ductus com,aunis choleJo- chus; consequently it produces staqna
 ton of the bile in tho bepatic cryptm :.
 this stagnation Is new source of ;rrita-
 tion and new generator of fheat, throuph 1 the whole henat ic na.nn1 Anain IL o .....1. =