Of all, I never knew any meet with better success than where mercury was concerned; and as I have been so fortunate as to have experienced the exalted virtue of that great medicine, in this and other deplorable cases, I stand so much upon the firmer grounds, to recommend it beyond any other medicine that I am acquainted with at present. To conclude, I think it requisite to observe, that, dreadful as the bite of a mad dog is, when the poison has infected the unfortunate patient, yet this unlucky accident happens much seldomer, than mankind from the dread of the misfortune, are apt to apprehend it does. Many nostrums are published as specifics, and their virtue artfully confirmed, with cases of being bit by dogs, that had however not the least symptom of madness; and thence cures enumerated, that could have no foundation on reality; by which artifices much mischief has been done in real cases. Due observance should therefore be had to the state of the dog that has given the wound, and the circumstances attending; that either the patient may not be brought into unnecessary pain, or that proper and substantial remedies may not be neglected. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ LECTURE V. OF FEVERS AND INFLAMMATORY DISEASES, AND THEIR PROPER METHOD OF TREATMENT. We now proceed to the more internal diseases; in which, the various steps that we intend to take of restoring health again, must be guided with the greatest caution, as the seat of the malady is hid from our external examination. It is for this very reason I designed previously to prepare the reader with the two first lectures; particularly the second, I must beg the reader thoroughly to examine, and to understand; for on this will in a great measure depend the proper application of the various experienced remedies, which I here mean to unfold. ------------------------------------------- SECT. I. _Of Fevers in General_ Hippocrates, the father of physic, was wont to say, “A fever is so universal, that no patient dies without it.” This is so true, that there is hardly an exception to it, even in the most momentary apoplexy itself. To conceive this properly, we must observe, that every diminutive part in the animal fabric, like in a commonwealth, is endued with a sense of self-preservation; and the whole fabric is in so strict a conjunction with all its various particles, both solids and fluids, that nothing which may cause the least disturbance can pass unnoticed; but, let the injury be where it will, every individual particle, as a member of the whole animal state, feels the shock, and is immediately concerned for its own preservation.