In fevers it is of importance to consult in all respects the quiet and comfort of the patient; Dr. Hamilton therefore, in his valuable work on Purgatives, very judiciously observes that, on this account, the exhibition of purgative medicines should be so timed, that their effects may be expected during the day. In some cases the time of administering a remedy must be regulated by the stage of the disease; thus, in fevers, a dose of opium will either increase the heat of the body, augment thirst and restlessness, or occasion tranquillity and sleep, according to the temperature of the body at the time of its administration; for this reason Dr. Currie advises us not to give the evening dose of Opium in Typhoid fevers, till very late, or about one or two o’clock in the morning, when the heat is subsiding, and moisture is coming on. Emetics administered for the cure of the slighter cases of Pyrexia should be given in the evening, as their operation leaves a tendency to sleep and diaphoresis, which it is useful to promote. Remedies that require to be _absorbed_ will probably be more efficient in the morning after sleep; the old custom of giving medicines on a morning _fasting_, is not quite so absurd as some modern practitioners have been led to suppose. Diaphoretics should be always given after the digestive process is ended, for during the performance of this function the emunctories of the skin are less disposed to action. THE INTERVALS BETWEEN EACH DOSE must be regulated by the nature of the remedy and that of the objects which it is intended to fulfil, and whether it be desirable or not that the latter dose should support the effects of the preceding one, or whether there be any fear of a reaction or collapse taking place after the effect of one dose has subsided, unless immediately repeated; thus the effects of diffusible stimulants, such as ammonia and æther, are very evanescent, they should therefore be repeated at short intervals; the same may be said of _Diaphoretics_, especially the lenient ones; we ought not to allow the period between the doses to be so remote as to occasion any striking abatement in the impression: so Opium, where its primary and stimulant operation is required, as in diseases of debility, such as fevers of the typhoid type, should be given in small doses at short intervals, so that it may enkindle and sustain a uniform and regular state of excitement: but where the object is to mitigate pain, allay irritation, and produce sleep, it ought to be exhibited in full doses, at distant intervals. There is a caution also which it is very necessary to impress upon the practitioner, respecting the power which some medicines possess of _accumulating_[288] in the system; this is notorious with regard to Lead and Mercury, and probably with the preparations of Arsenic, and some other metallic compounds. Dr. Withering has observed that the repetition of small doses of _Digitalis_, at short intervals, till it produces a