Besides the remedies which have been mentioned, I was led to employ another of great efficacy. I had observed a favourable issue of the fever, in every case in which a spontaneous discharge took place from the salivary glands. I had observed further, that all such of my patients (one excepted) as were salivated by the mercurial purges recovered in a few days. This early suggested an idea to me that the calomel might be applied to other purposes than the discharging of bile from the bowels. I ascribed its salutary effects, when it salivated in the first stage of the disease, to the excitement of inflammation and effusion in the throat, diverting them from more vital parts of the body. In the second stage of the disease, I was led to prescribe it as a stimulant, and, with a view of obtaining this operation from it, I aimed at exciting a salivation, as speedily as possible, in all cases. Two precedents encouraged me to make trial of this remedy. In the month of October, 1789, I attended a gentleman in a bilious fever, which ended in many of the symptoms of a typhus mitior. In the lowest state of his fever, he complained of a pain in his right side, for which I ordered half an ounce of mercurial ointment to be rubbed on the part affected. The next day, he complained of a sore mouth, and, in the course of four and twenty hours, he was in a moderate salivation. From this time his pulse became full and slow, and his skin moist; his sleep and appetite suddenly returned, and in a day or two he was out of danger. The second precedent for a salivation in a fever, which occurred to me, was in Dr. Haller's short account of the works of Dr. Cramer[86]. The practice was moreover justified, in point of safety, as well as the probability of success, by the accounts which Dr. Clark has lately given of the effects of a salivation in the dysentery[87]. I began by prescribing the calomel in small doses, at short intervals, and afterwards I directed large quantities of the ointment to be rubbed upon the limbs. The effects of it, in every case in which it affected the mouth, were salutary. Dr. Woodhouse improved upon my method of exciting the salivation, by rubbing the gums with calomel, in the manner directed by Mr. Clare. It was more speedy in its operation in this way than in any other, and equally effectual. Several persons appeared to be benefited by the mercury introduced into the system in the form of an ointment, where it did _not_ produce a salivation. Among these, were the Rev. Dr. Blackwell, and Mr. John Davis. [86] Bibliotheca Medicinæ Practicæ, vol. iii. p. 491. [87] Diseases of Long Voyages to Hot Climates, vol. ii. p. 334.