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A. General Stimulants.a. Diffusible. {Narcotics.Antispasmodics.b. Permanent. {Tonics.Astringents.B. Local Stimulants.Emetics.Cathartics.Emmenagogues.Diuretics.Diaphoretics.Expectorants.Sialogogues.Errhines.Epispastics.C. Chemical Remedies.Refrigerants.Antacids.Lithontriptics.Escharotics.D. Mechanical Remedies.Anthelmintics.Demulcents.Diluents.Emollients.

With respect to the classification of Dr. Cullen, we may commence our objections by stating, that the very basis upon which it rests is a mere gratuitous assumption, viz. that certain medicines act on the fluids of the body. With the exception of a very few substances, it is now generally admitted that medicines produce their effects by acting on the living materials of which our organs are composed, and not by modifying the specific gravity, or chemical composition, of the fluids which they may happen to evacuate. The origin of this latter opinion is to be traced to the exploded notions of the humoral pathologists, and to the exclusive doctrine of the earlier chemists; for as the former recognised a depraved condition of the fluids as the source of every disease, so did the latter imagine that every remedy operated by producing a chemical change upon its composition; and the remedial value of a medicinal substance was estimated by its effects upon inert matter. Thus were experiments made with different substances upon the blood, and other fluids of the body, in order to deduce, from the results, the nature and extent of their powers as agents upon the living frame; for instance, the spirit and salt of hartshorn, as they were found to render the blood more fluid, when added to it, out of the body, were indiscriminately administered in almost every complaint, with a view to dissolve that “lentor of the fluids” which was regarded as the more general source of disease. For similar reasons, a tribe of medicines were introduced into practice under the title of Antiseptics, for the prevention of a process which very probably never takes place in the living body: the powers of these supposed agents were, as usual, inferred from their effects in resisting and preventing the putrefaction of dead matter.