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DIAPHORETICS (from Gr. Scatbopeiv, to...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 166 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIAPHORETICS (from Gr. Scatbopeiv, to carry through) , the name given to those remedies which promote See also:perspiration, In See also:health there is constantly taking See also:place an exhalation of watery vapour from the skin, by which not only are many of the effete products of See also:nutrition eliminated, but the See also:body is kept cool. Under exertion or in a heated See also:atmosphere this natural See also:function of the skin is increased, sweating more or less profuse follows, and, evaporation going on rapidly over the whole See also:surface, little or no rise in the temperature of the body takes place. In many forms of disease, such as fevers and inflammatory affections, theaction of the skin is arrested, and the surface of the body feels harsh and dry, while the temperature is greatly elevated. The occurrence of perspiration not unfrequently marks a crisis in such diseases, and is in See also:general regarded as a favourable event. In some chronic diseases, such as See also:diabetes and some cases of See also:Bright's disease, the See also:absence of perspiration is a marked feature; while, on the other See also:hand, in many wasting diseases, such as See also:phthisis, the See also:action of the skin is increased, and copious exhausting sweating occurs. Many means can be used to induce perspiration, among the best known being See also:baths, either in the See also:form of hot vapour or hot See also:water baths, or in that See also:part of the See also:process of the See also:Turkish See also:bath which consists in exposing the body to a dry and hot atmosphere. Such See also:measures, particularly if followed by the drinking of hot liquids and the wrapping of the body in warm clothing, seldom fail to excite copious perspiration. Numerous medicinal substances have the same effect.

End of Article: DIAPHORETICS (from Gr. Scatbopeiv, to carry through)

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