BUT before I proceed any further, the Health of my Country, and the Concern of Posterity, oblige me to take Notice of the pernicious Practice of Empiricks of all Orders, with whom it was a Custom to give Emeticks; for certainly many were destroyed by this Practice, the convulsive Reachings to vomit being carried beyond a Possibility to bear it. And truly the best Deliberation and Thought I was able to take in such Exigencies, where I happened to be called, was but of little Effect, and after Administration of the best Medicines that the Rules of Physick could invent, Things generally grew worse; which made it appear as impossible to rectifie a rash and fatal Error in the Conduct of a violent Disease, as in the Management of a military Engagement; but of this we shall have Occasion to say more hereafter. YET to satisfie any inquisitive Person how this primary Affection of the Stomach does arise, and through what Passages the pestilential Poison makes its Entrance, it is to be observed, that nothing is more plain than that the pestilential _Miasmata_ not only enter at the larger Passages, but also through the Pores of the Skin, even to the whole nervous System, from whence they are communicated to all other Parts; for this is peculiar to the Nerves, that they not only convey the first Impression to the Stomach by its general Consent with all Parts, but also when that is after any Manner whatsoever affected, they communicate it to the whole Frame, as in the taking a Vomit. SOMETIMES the pestilential _Aura_ is mixed with the Food, and swallowed therewith, which after some Delay in the Stomach being digested and dissolved, lets out the imprisoned Venom to vellicate the Fibres into Reachings and convulsive Motions: And to put this altogether out of Dispute, I have often observed Persons immediately to fall sick from a State of perfect Health after eating, and to throw up their Food, in other Respects good and wholsome, as somewhat corrupted and poisonous. VOMITING also may be promoted by Scents, as well those which are fetid, as such as are contrary, by some particular Antipathy to the Nature and Constitution of the Patient; and this I conjecture happens from the Harmony and Consent of the Organs of Smelling with the Coats of the Stomach, insomuch that the Stomach immediately perceives any Thing that ungratefully strikes the Nose, and rises up against it. In the mean Time I would however transiently make this one Remark, that as in many Cases the Administration of Emeticks was pernicious, whether or no Evacuation of the first Putrefaction at Stomach, might not be much better encouraged upwards by Scents; as, on the contrary, the Reachings at Stomach are sometimes allayed by like Means, as by the Smell of Vinegar, _&c._ I do confess, that this is a Practice I cannot attest the Success of by Experience, yet it is not unworthy a rational Physician to attempt it.