Inferences
To prevent any improper influence, which the above recitals of the efficacy of the medicine, aided by the novelty of the subject, may have upon the minds of the younger part of my readers, in raising their expectations to too high a pitch, I beg leave to deduce a few inferences, which I apprehend the facts will fairly support.
I. That the Digitalis will not universally act as a diuretic.
II. That it does do so more generally than any other medicine.
III. That it will often produce this effect after every other probable method has been fruitlessly tried.
IV. That if this fails, there is but little chance of any other medicine succeeding.
V. That in proper doses, and under the management now pointed out, it is mild in its operation, and gives less disturbance to the system, than squill, or almost any other active medicine.
VI. That when dropsy is attended by palsy, unsound viscera, great debility, or other complication of disease, neither the Digitalis, nor any other diuretic can do more than obtain a truce to the urgency of the symptoms; unless by gaining time, it may afford opportunity for other medicines to combat and subdue the original disease.
VII. That the Digitalis may be used with advantage in every species of dropsy, except the encysted.
VIII. That it may be made subservient to the cure of diseases, unconnected with dropsy.
IX. That it has a power over the motion of the heart, to a degree yet unobserved in any other medicine, and that this power may be converted to salutary ends.