A plain elementary explanation of the nature and cure of disease : predicated upon facts and experience ; presenting a view of that train of thinking which led to the invention of the patent, portable warm and hot bath / by Samuel K. Jennings.

  • Jennings, Samuel K. (Samuel Kennedy), 1771-1854.
Date:
1814
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A plain elementary explanation of the nature and cure of disease : predicated upon facts and experience ; presenting a view of that train of thinking which led to the invention of the patent, portable warm and hot bath / by Samuel K. Jennings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    s Probably it is the grand function of the sensori- um* (o maintain this energy. Possibly this organ should be considered a gland of superior dignity, whose office it is to secrete this astonishing power, and, through the niediifm of the nerves, to distribute it to its various destinations; or it may more proper- ly deserve the character of an electrical apparatus, which collects and diffuses vital power with instan- taneous velocity. But it is not material to my pur- pose to ascertain by what process it is accomplish- ed. I would insist upon the truth of this proposition only, that through the functions of the brain and nerves, there is a perpetual production or generation, and a perpetual effort for the diffusion of vital power, throughout all the parts of the system.f In making provision for so ample a supply of this important principle, it is evident the author of na- ture had reference to an intended co-operation of certain extraneous powers, which should afford the necessary pabulum,$ and act as stimuli or exciting powers, upon the fibres, and vessels, and organs, of * The brain and its appendages. f Perhaps it might not be inconsistent with truth to say, that this excitability, or vital power, is scarcely distinct from life itself. Consequently, the quantity of this principle, present in the sys- tem of any man, might be called his stock in life. When health abounds, there is an ability in the sensorium to produce a sur- plus over and above the quantity necessary for the support of the organs and functions essential to life. This surplus furnishes a daily revenue, sufficient to meet any temperate expense of la- bor, thought, &c. If the expense exceeds the revenue, sleep becomes necessary to replenish the loss. In sleep, the act of vision, attentive hearing, and wasteful thought, are suspended; a proportionate saving is therefore brought to the system. Sleep, of course, is truly said to be tired nature's sweet restorer. J Nourishment.