Excerpt from Elements of the Theory and Practice of Physic, Vol. 1 of 2 The object of the science of medicine is the prevention and the cure of diseases. Though the noxious agents which surround us are numer ous, yet nature supplies, in some measure, the means of preventing and curing their bad effects. Thus the exhalations from putrefying animal matter produce fever; and their disagreeable and horrible stench is a sufficient warning to avoid them: if fever has taken place from this cause, the delirium, and the morbid heat of skin which attend it, inspire an instinctive disposition to plunge into cold water; and the relief produced by it is immediate, and generally certain. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.