IX. _Frictions_, either by means of a dry, or oiled hand, or with linen or flannel impregnated with volatile and other stimulating substances. I have found evident advantages from following the advice of Dr. Cullen, by rubbing the lower extremities _upwards_, and that only in the _morning_. I have been at a loss to account for the manner in which sweet oil acts, when applied to dropsical swellings. If it act by what is improperly called a sedative power upon the blood-vessels, it will be more proper in tonic than atonic dropsies; but if it act by closing the pores, and thereby preventing the absorption of moisture from the air, it will be very proper in the state of dropsy which is now under consideration. It is in this manner that Dr. Cullen supposes that sweet oil, when applied to the body, cures that state of diabetes in which nothing but insipid water is discharged from the bladder. X. _Heat_, applied either separately or combined with moisture in the form of warm or vapour baths, has been often used with success in dropsies of too little action. Dampier, in his voyage round the world, was cured of a dropsy by means of a copious sweat, excited by burying himself in a bed of warm sand. Warm fomentations to the legs, rendered moderately stimulating by the addition of saline or aromatic substances, have often done service in the atonic dropsical swellings of the lower extremities. XI. The _cold bath_. I can say nothing in favour of the efficacy of this remedy in dropsies, from my own experience. Its good effects seem to depend wholly on its increasing the excitability of the system to common stimuli, by the diminution of its excitement. If this be the case, I would ask, whether _fear_ might not be employed for the same purpose, and thus become as useful in atonic, as it was formerly proved to be in tonic dropsies? XII. _Wounds_, whether excited by cutting instruments or by fire, provided they excite inflammation and action in the arteries, frequently cure atonic dropsies. The good effects of inflammation and action in these cases, appear in the cure of hydrocele by means of the needle, or the caustic. XIII. _Exercise._ This is probably as necessary in the atonic dropsy, as it is in the consumption, and should never be omitted when a patient is able to take it. The passive exercises of swinging, and riding in a carriage, are most proper in the lowest stage of the disease; but as soon as the patient's strength will admit of it, he should ride on horseback. A journey should be preferred, in this disease, to short excursions from home. XIV. A _recumbent posture of the body_ should always be advised during the intervals of exercise, when the swellings are seated in the lower extremities. XV. _Punctures in the legs and feet_ afford the same relief in general dropsy, accompanied with a weak action in the blood-vessels, that has been ascribed to them in dropsies of an opposite character.