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-trailed until every particle of tlie ointment disappears ; anct for obvious".reasons, the operation ought if practicable to be performed by the patientjhimself. Where it ha? been an object to saturate the system with mer<cury as quickly as possible, I have witnessed the advantage of confining^by means of slips of bladder a drachm of mercurial ointment in eachaxilla, in addition to the mercurial friction. Camphor, turpentine, andother stimulants, have been sometimes added to the ointment, with a viewof promoting its absorption ; this however is an erroneous practice, sincethese acrid ingredients soon produce pustules on the skin, which preventthe continuance of the friction ; the warm bath is a more certain and lessobjectionable adjuvant, many practitioners therefore advise the body tobe immersed in a warm bath, once and again, before the course is com-anenced, and to repeat it once or twice a week during its continuance ;•the length of time to be employed in a course of mercury, and the quan-tity to be given, are circumstances that must in every case be left to thediscretion of the practitioner. Mercury, when introduced into the body,acts as a powerful stimulant, and pervades every part of the system; hencejit is the most powerful evacuant belonging to the Materia Medica ; from itsstimulant operation, exerted directly or indirectly , we are able to explainits utility in the cure of disease, and it may be made to act according to ma-ungement and circumstances, as a tonic, antispasmodic, diuretic, cathartic,siafogogue, emmenagogue, or alterative, but its roost important operation isthat displayed in removing the diseases induced by the syphilitic poison,although its t/indus operandi is 'still buried amongst the many other arcanaof physic. The mode of directing and controlling the influence of mer-cury in the cure of the veneral disease, is now very generally understood,and it is to be hoped thnt a full confidence in its anti-syphilitic powers isas universally maintained, in spite of the late opinions nhich tended to de-preciate its value and to question its necessity ; there is however no ad-vantage to be gained, as was once imagined, by exciting profused saliva-tion. On its next important application, that of curing chronic affectionsof the liver and dropsy, a remark which has been suggested to Lie by theresults of practice, may not be unacceptable. 1 think I have generallyobserved, that when the remedy has been pushed to such an extent as toexcite the salivary glands to excessive secretion, the urinary organs ceaseto participate in its stimulating action, and vice versa, for the mouth israrely affected when the mercury runs off by the kidneys ; this may sug-gest a precaution of some practical moment in the treatment of dropsy,and it will be generally judicious to accompan}' the administrationof this metal with certain diurectics, in order to direct its operationto the kidneys ;* and it would seem, that for such an object those diu-retic medicines should be preferred that act primarily on the organs,as alkalies and their combinations, squill, &c. : the success of such apianof treatment will also depend greatly upon the exact period at which theseTemedies are administered ; it will for instance be right to wait until the

* Whenever it is our object to direct the mercurial impression to any particularorgan, we should if possible rouse its excitability by some specific stimulus. An ex-ception, however, to this doctrine would seem to offer itself in the fact, that childrenat the period of dentition are not readily salivated: a priori, we should have certain-ly supposed that a predisposition to a flux of saliva, would have prodnced a contraryeffect. As it is, we can only conclude that those organs are not disposed to take onany action that, may be incompatible with, or adverse to, that o( dentition