Sec. 164. This Disease is also often extended over the Scalp and the Surface of the Head; and there the Pains are excessive. I have seen them affect the Eyelids and the Teeth with inexpressible Torment. As long as the Distemper is situated in the more external Parts, the Patient, however painful his Situation may prove, is in no great Danger, if he be properly treated: but if by some Accident, some Error, or by any latent Cause, the Disease be repelled upon an internal Part or Organ, his Case is extremely dangerous. If the Brain is attacked, a frantic raging _Delirium_ is the Consequence; if it falls upon the Lungs, the Patient is suffocated: and if it attacks the Stomach or the Bowels, it is attended with the most astonishing Pains, which are caused by the Inflammation of those Parts, and which Inflammation, if violent, is [40] speedily fatal. About two Years since I was called to a robust Man, whose Guts were already in a gangrenous State, which was the Consequence of a Rheumatism, that first attacked one Arm and one Knee; the Cure of which had been attempted by sweating the Patient with some hot Remedies. These indeed brought on a plentiful Sweat; but the inflammatory Humour seized the Intestines, whose Inflammation degenerated into a Gangrene, after a Duration of the most acute Pain for thirty-six Hours; his Torments terminating in Death two Hours after I saw him. [40] See Note [16] to Page 59. Sec. 165. This Malady however is often in a less violent Degree; the Fever is but moderate, and ceases entirely when the Pain begins; which is also confined to one, or not more than two Parts. Sec. 166. If the Disease continues fixed, for a considerable Time, in one Joint, the Motion of it is impaired for Life. I have seen a Person, who has now a wry Neck, of twenty Years standing, in Consequence of a Rheumatism in the Nape of the Neck; and I also saw a poor young Man from _Jurat_, who was Bed-ridden, and who had lost the Motion of one Hip and both Knees. He could neither stand nor sit, and there were but a few Postures in which he could even lie in Bed. Sec. 167. An obstructed Perspiration, an inflammatory Thickness of the Blood, constitute the most general Cause of the Rheumatism. This last concurring Cause is that we must immediately encounter; since, as long as that subsists, Perspiration cannot be perfectly re-established, which follows of Course, when the Inflammation is cured. For which Reason this Distemper must be conducted like the other inflammatory ones, of which I have already treated.