But, while it cannot be denied, that salivation is attended with many inconveniencies, it must at the same time be allowed, that the degree in which it takes place, is, in general, proportioned to the quantity of active mercury which enters the system. And it occurs chiefly in those cases where the medicine is not so acrid as to find an outlet by some other excretory. When, therefore, the disease has been of long standing, and obstinately rooted in the system, altho’ salivation may not be necessary for a cure, yet it will be the unavoidable consequence of the employment of that quantity of mercury which is requisite in the system for overcoming the disease. This mode of employing mercury, then, is not in every case to be rejected from the tendency which it has to excite salivation. But, it may further be objected to this mode of employing mercury, that the quantity of active mercury, which in this way is introduced into the system, cannot be easily ascertained. And that, even before any obvious effect is produced, a much greater quantity may be thrown in, than is really necessary for a cure, from which troublesome consequences will afterwards ensue. These indeed are facts which cannot be denied; and it must even farther be allowed, that all the good effects in the cure of _lues venerea_, which can be obtained from this method of introducing mercury into the system, may be had from the internal use of other preparations equally mild, and from which the patient is not exposed to the same inconveniences. From these circumstances, it may be concluded, that the introduction of mercury into the system in the way of unction, is neither proper in slight cases, nor in the greatest number of obstinate ones. There are, however, constitutions in which mercury, in any form, is very apt to produce an immediate and violent action upon the alimentary canal. Sometimes it excites vomiting, but more frequently it induces looseness. In such constitutions, these effects do indeed often follow, even when the mercury is introduced by the absorbents on the skin. But they are more certainly the consequence of the immediate application of mercury to the alimentary canal itself. Besides this, when these effects happen from the immediate application of mercury to the alimentary canal, the introduction of the medicine into the system, is often in a great measure, if not entirely, frustrated. And farther, the effects of mercury on the alimentary canal not only less certainly follows, from its introduction by the surface, than from immediate application, but may likewise be more easily obviated. In such circumstances, therefore, a cure of venereal complaints may, with greater certainty and ease, be affected, from the introduction of mercury by the surface in the form of unction than from any other mode of using it.