The action of mercurials seems to me, to be this--mercury is a powerful antiphlogistic--it reduces the volume of the blood by its purgative properties, and it impoverishes the blood by its direct action on the red corpuscles. It has been poetically said by Dr. Watson, that mercury can blanch the rosy cheek to the white of the lily; {104} and nothing is more true, for in experiments on animals, I have found the prolonged use of mercury reduce the red blood corpuscles to a minimum. From this it is easy to understand how mercury acts in inflammatory affections; and as in the majority of cases of jaundice from suppression, the stoppage of the biliary secretion is due to active congestion of the liver, mercury proves beneficial in such cases, not by stimulating the biliary secretion, but simply by removing the obstacle to its re-establishment, namely, the hepatic congestion. As a good illustration of the correctness of this theory regarding the action of mercurials in cases of jaundice arising from congestion, I may be allowed to quote the following case, which appeared among the Hospital Reports of the "Lancet" of the 7th December, 1861. The case is headed, "Intense Congestion of the Liver, simulating an Abdominal Tumour:"-- Alex. E----, aged forty-eight, was admitted into St. Bartholomew's Hospital, under the care of Dr. Farre, on the 17th October, 1861. The patient had, it appeared, been suffering from jaundice during six weeks. He stated that the tumour in the epigastrium began about the same time as the yellowness of the skin. On examination, a prominent swelling was {105} noticed in the epigastric region, possessing an indistinct feeling of fluctuation, but it was found to be continuous with the liver. The motions were not bilious, but were of a clay colour, and the urine looked like pure bile. Three grains of blue pill and two of Barbadoes aloes were ordered every night. By the 25th the hepatic tumour was less, and the icterus was disappearing. On November 4th the urine was clearer and full of lithates. The conjunctivæ were the only parts observed of a yellow colour. November 11th.--Although the pills had been continued up to this date, the mouth was not sore. The urine and stools were natural, and the patient was convalescent. A few days afterwards he left the hospital. The result of the case clearly proved not only that the swelling was from a highly congested liver, but also that the jaundice depended on this state. In this case it is evident that the primary beneficial action of the mercury was to reduce the congested state of the hepatic organ, and no one, I think, would venture to say that this was accomplished by the power the mercury possessed of exciting the liver to secrete bile.