"retching came on; he began to stagger, and the inspira" tion became laborious (18 per minute.) The pulse was then
" (that is 20 minutes after taking the poison) " 144, regular,
"4 of good strength. In an hour and a half it had fallen to
"& 68."  Here is a fall of more than one half. Now I ask
Dr. F., was 144 the natural pulse of the terrier? This
could hardly be 20 minutes after taking the poison, when
the symptoms of death were on the dog. Dr. M. Hall's
terrier had a pulse of 120 before the first bleeding. If the
pulse of Dr. F.'s was about the, same,before it took the Aeonitine, it is clear the pulse must have risen in 20 minutes
about 24 beats. Dr. F,. therefore, contradicts what must be
the real meaning of his own record, when he tells us, that
the direct action of Aconite, reduces the pulse. The direct
action on the terrier, must have raised the pulse.
The same fact seems to be implied still more strikingly,
in the case of the colly dog; p. 103. Here the pulse is first
200; this could not be the natural pulse. We are told, the
200 fell to 134 in 22 minutes. 15 minutes, however, and
5 more, are noted as stages after taking the poison. I infer then, that the 200 must refer to what came up 15 or 20)
minutes after the drug was injected. Dr. F.'s dogs, therefore, are as fatal to his medical philosophy as Dr. M. Hall's,
to the curative effect of Bleeding.
It is demonstrated then, that the primary effect of Aconite, is precisely the opposite of the primary effect of Bleeding. The Aconite raises the pulse first, and then the vital
force brings it down; while Bleeding brings doz6es the pulse
first; and then the vital force raises it. It is, therefore, a
downright absurdity to say that the one may be a substitute for the other, Dr. F,'s book then is a pompous perplexity. When he uses Aconite to bring down a pulse, he is
merely a Homceopathist in the dark.
There is, besides, neither sense nor science in Dr. F.'s