Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/476

45o] V V L ercisc be found inadmissible, re- course may be bad to swinging, with benefit to the patient. It is likewise necessary that the atmo- sphere be mild and pure; hence physicians have been induced to adopt a variety of expedients to an- swer this purpose. Dr. Bekgius, in Sweden, and his followers in France and Britain, recommend a . residence in a cow-house, which has uniformly relieved the patient, particularly during the cold sea- sons. The inhalation of fa6titious airs, which of late years has ac- quired some celebrity, can prove of advantage only in the first and se- cond stages. From a retrospeft of the whole, it is evident, that we can flatter ourselves but ih. small hopes of recovery, after this melancholy disease is once confirmed in the constitution : and how futile are all the various specifics, and other remedies, the bane and disgrace to mankind ! I'he principal point will consequently always remain, to avoid all those causes, that may af- fc6t the lungs, and which ue have already specified under the heads of Catakrh, and Cough. PULSE, in animal economy, a term' denoting the alternate dilata- tion and contraction of the heart and arteries, in consequence of ■which the blood, being ejected from the left ventricle of that or- gan, is impelled into the arteries, w> that it may circulate througliout the body : — this incessant motion, or throbbing of the vessels, is dis- tinftly perc("ptible by the finger. The various circumstances by which a natural pul^e is liable io l>e affeAed, are, by Dr. Falconkk, classed under llie following heads : 1 . Such ao arise from bodily orga- mijition, namt'ly. f^, tcirnxra- P UL mcnt, and stature ; 2. Such as prc^ ceed from the difference in the time of life j 3. Time of day ; 4. State of the system respedting rest or a(5tivity, viz. sleep, exercise, and mental agitation; 5. State of the- body with regard to temperature ; 6. Effefts of food and abstinence : — to these may be added the season of the year, the greater or less pressure of the atmosphere, and a variety of other circumstances, too numerous to be detailed. Thus, the pulse in general beats more quickly in men, especially those of a bilious habit, than in women. In lean persons, whose vessels are large, it is much stronger than in the corpulent or phlegmatic. Farther, the pulse is more forci- ble in adults than in children ; but, in the aged, it is slow and hard.— When tiie atmosphere is close, and produ(5tive of rain, as well as dur- ing sedentary occupations, the pulse is languid, and perspiration is di- minished. In the month ofjVIay, it is quick, and sometimes even violent : as the summer advances, the rapidity of circulation, though remaining n;'arly uniform, is con- sidt-rably reduced in strength ; so that in autumn it is slow, soft, and weak ; but, on the approach of winter, the pulse becomes hard and strong. The most powerful agents, how- ever, on the human pulse, are the passions and atJe^tions of the mind ; thus, under the intluence of terror, it is unequal, small, and conlratl- ed ; under that of joy, it becon;es frequent and large ; during anger, it is hard, and beats quickly; and I'.stlr, in persons pursuing intense study, it is unusually languid. According to our experience, the standard of a natural pulse in adults, in a good stale of iieallh, appears 10