by squeezing in some Cases and stop it by shutting the Pores in other Cases 10. It is by it that Contraction that Fear Cold c. closing the Pores and repelling the Bloud stanch Bleeding So happens also a greater Contraction of the Pupil of the Eye by the same Cause 11. It is the Violence of this Contraction upon Fear Terrour Pain Cold c. closing the small Vessels of the Animal Spirits and thereby repelling them causes the Shivering in those Cases by the Renitency of the elastick Animal Spirits springing back again toties quoties having gain'd more elastick Force by the very Compression it self which that Contraction causes so that by reason of the dubious velitation or skirmishing between the repelling Contraction and the springing Spirits happens a tremulous Motion as of quavering Springs which Shivering in Ague-Fits did formerly lead me to the Situation of the Cause of Agues when I writ my Book De Febribus intermittentibus in the Angustiae at the end of the Vessels which terminate in the Membranes the grievous Sensation of which causes all the Shivering that happens in any Case to Animals 12. By the same Contraction when very violent and of the whole Body cold Sweats happen in Pain Fear Terrour c. while it violently squeezes out the outmost and therefore coldest Moisture of our Bodies as Laundresses do Water out of wet Linnen by Contortion Thus if you dip one half of a wet cold Sheet in hot Water wrapping the hot side within the cold or let a warm Sheet that is contorted cool on the out-side of it and then wring it as Women do Linnen the Water that first exudates will be cold for in this Case the closing of the Pores avails nothing to hinder it as long as the expressing Force masters it more especially in Animal Bodies wherein the Parts are so contrived that Humours design'd for Exoretion cannot well return and therefore must upon Contraction run out Hence it is that Alum or Vitriol which are very astringent and therefore close the Pores will notwithstanding cause the Mouth or Nose to run very plentifully with Moisture by contracting all the Membranes about the Mouth or Nose and thereby squeezing out the Moisture design'd to be excern'd which cannot return because the Parts are contriv'd against the return or readmittance thereof whereas Alum or Vitriol will stanch or stop Bloud by the same Contraction because it may return as not being design'd to be excern'd either into the Arteries and so pass by other Branches thereof or which is more ready and natural keep its course into the Veins So the two Riddles that I have known some Proud Physicians amaz'd at tho' but Trifles of Alum and Vitriol causing the Spittle c. to come out instead of stopping it by their Astringency and their stopping Bloud at Nose at the same time they cause the Snot or other Humours to run out are unfolded 13. It is by this mighty Contraction growing to an enormous degree that the Animal Spirits being violently compressed grow exceeding irrequiete as upon Convulsions in great Pain or very grievous Sensation at Stomach c. while the sensitive Soul compressing them with mighty Force and somewhat disorderly and unevenly because of the Confusion and Hurry he is in to relieve the Animal they by their springiness fling up and down with great Vigour This makes convulsive Motions have great Strength 14. The Body under this Contraction is manifestly shrunk by measure especially when the Sensation is very grievous but most of all if they cause a general Convulsion which I manifestly observed in a little Bitch that was convulsive all over for three Hours and was just expiring when I gave her the Sal Volat. Oleos of Opium which perfectly restored her by relaxing the Vessels Some may think it strange That Nature should contrive a more nice and smart Sensation which the Contraction of the Vessels of the Animal Spirits must cause by compressing them c. in Pain and by it which becomes so much the more acute whereas one would judge That Nature would rather contrive its Ease than improve its Smart You are to know That the Pain is in order to relieve the Animal by exciting all its Powers to defend expel or reject the Cause and that without a grievous Sensation the sensitive Soul is neither minded nor excited to do it and the more the Pain is the more it is stirr'd up to Self-preservation and as was shewn the more vigorous do its Motions grow by the Compression of the elastick Spirits to perform that Work so Nature not regarding the Pain which is rather for good as much as taking away the Cause advances that for this Purpose like a wise Physician who finding a Grievance at Stomach not sufficient to excite effectual Vomiting to throw away the grieving Cause adds to the Grievance by giving a Vomit which because as was said Nature is proportionably excited to and invigorated for Self-preservation sufficiently sollicites and enables it by a stronger Contraction to reject the grieving Matter As the greater the Relaxation is the more is the Rest of all Parts and the weaker the Animâ—l Spirits because less compressed the gentler are all Motions as you see in Sleep consequently the less is the Expence of Spirits so that in Sleep we generate more than we spend and are thereby recruited So the more the Contraction is the more violent is the Motion of the Heart Intestines and of all Parts and consequently the Expence of Spirits is the greater Therefore it can be no Wonder That Contractions do cause great Commotions of Spirits Diary Fevers c. when you consider 1. That the sensitive Soul is by the grievous Sensations c. that cause them put upon a great Fret Concern and Hurry to defend the Animal and lays about him all manner of ways for Self-preservation 2. That the Animal Spirits are by means of great Compression caused by the defensive Contraction in a very forcible Springiness which causes all the Actions that are continual involuntary and of course to be perform'd with great Violence proportionable to its compressed Elasticity Besides that 3. The Systoles of the Heart are oâ—tener repeated All which conspire to cause greater Commotions upon grievous Sensations whereby Diary Fevers c. are caused which are easily and naturally cured by Sleep or Relaxation at present compose and quiet those Perturbations Who knows tho' it is not my Business to discuss it at present but that the Contractions in the cold Fits of Agues have a great hand in causing the hot ones How otherwise should Opium by only taking away the grievous Sensation of the cold Fits take off or prevent the hot Fits also But of this in my often-mentioned Tract though not so often as it grieves me that it is not published How reasonably may we now expect That pleasant Sensation may cause quite contrary Effects to that of grievous Sensation viz. Relaxation and all its Effects
Vagina in which Cases it is of neat Use both by relaxing and taking away Pain during the Operation It may be also of Use when the strictness of the Collum Uteri hinders the Admission of Sem. viril both as a general Relaxer and as causing greater Pleasure of those Parts and a proportionable Relaxation thereof for it is by the Pleasure in Coition that the Collum Uteri is opened or relaxed as is observed which immediately closes again when the sense of Pleasure is ended yea and so much the stricter because the Loss of Pleasure is as was shown a Kind of Grievance hence it is that omne Animal post coitum est triste and not because of loss of Spirits as is vulgarly imagined for we can lose little or no Spirits by that which is so separated for Excretion before hand as the Semen is 5. To enlarge any Part for the due Reception of what is convenient or necessary as the Breasts to receive Milk by which Means it comes to be such great Increaser of Milk The seminal Vessels as Sem. virile does upon Puberty to receive the Semen Thus it causes the Penis to grow as the Semen upon Puberty causes it and Cocks Combs Turkey-Cocks red Bags at the Neck Proboscis c. to grow as the Time they are fit for or begin to tread for the Relaxation caused by the Pleasure of the Semen makes the Party more capable of the Nutriment Thus it is that Sleep causes the Growth Fatning and Thriving of Animals and red Noses to grow so large by frequent Relaxation upon the Pleasure of Wine Ale c. as was said to which Quantity distending the Parts may in the last mentioned Case contribute I. The Form of Opiates in this Case may be either solid or liquid as you think â—it II. The Dose must be proportioned to the Relaxation that you desire for more relaxes more and less less so must it be also proportioned to the Contractions that it is to take away therefore very grievous Passions or Sensations which cause proportionable Contractions require greater Doses because their Grievance and Contraction do strongly oppose the Pleasure and Relaxation that Opiates cause therefore great Pain as you 'll find in its due place requires an extraordinary Dose III. The Vehicle in Contractions from grievous Passions should be VVine or some comfortable Cordial except they be the more turbulent Passions as Anger Fury c. where Composers as Emulsions Milk and VVater c. are best In all other Cases emollient and suppling Vehicles are most proper as soft smooth and slipper◠〈◊〉 Broths c. IV. The Time to give them is at the due Distance before Bed Time when the Intentions are consistent with Sleep which it self is a great Relaxer otherwise any Time will serve as Occasion or the Intention of the Physician requires it V. The Regimen 1. As to Meat and Drink is using moist emollient and lâ—bricating Things as smooth Broth somewhat â—at butter'd Roots Herbs Sawces 〈◊〉 Milk-Meats young Flesh as of roasting Pigs 〈◊〉 Lamb c. Smooth Drinks as Alc 〈◊〉 c. 2. As to sleeping and waking that relaxes and this contracts therefore that conduces this hinders 3. As to Rest and Motion that relaxes and this conâ—racts 4. As to the Passions of the Mind the Pleasant as 〈◊〉 Ioy Pleasure Comfort and all such do relax and the Grievous as Terrour Fear Grief Melancholy c. contract as Pain does 5. As to Air the warm and moist or that when the Quicksilver is low in the Barometer or VVeather-glass does relax as do warm Baths Fomentations c. especially if emollient Dry and cold Air and that when the Quicksilver is high do cause Contraction 6. As to Excretion and Retention generally Excretion does make Room and Way for things to pass through or into the relaxed Parts as Clystering for Passage of the Stone Child Reduction of Hernias c. But be sure not to make the Excretions grievous because all grievous Sensation causes Contraction CHAP. XXXIV Of the Use of the Panacea of Opium c. to take away Pain or grievous Sensation THIS it does as was shown by diverting the sensitive Soul and introducing a Sense of Pleasure which being contrary to grievous Sensation or Pain cannot be in the same Subject with Pain but chiefly and mechanically by relaxing all Parts and permitting the springy Animal Spirits to expand and so become unfit to carry Impressions smartly which is requisite to cause a sense of Pain as has been proved Therefore it is of most happy and glorious Use in all Pains but especially to be used 1. In such as are not for any Benefit to the Person pain'd in Order to alter or evacuate the grieving Cause as in Pocky scorbutical or hypochondriacal Pains or such as proceed from any ill Habit of Body c. 2. Where Pain hinders the taking away of its Cause or some Benefit as when the Pain of the Stone does by contracting the Parts hinder its own Passage that of a Tenesmus hinders going to stool that of the Sphincter of the Bladder hinders its opening to let out Urine clodded Bloud Phlegm Matter or any such Thing when that of the Neck of the VVâ—mb hinders Delivery of a Child After-Birth Mole clodded Bloud c. that of the Mouth of the Stomach hinders Vomiting when requisite or that of the Pylorus hinders the Detrusion of Chyle or that of the Intestines as by an Inflammation c. stops the Passage of the Ordure and causes an Iliack Passion or that of the Guilet hinders swollowing of the Larynx Breathing or that of any Part hinders Perspiration or desired Sweat or that of the Venereal Parts stops the Menses or Lochia c. In all which Cases it is and must in all Reason be of excellent and if duly managed of almost if not altogether infallible Effect by taking away the Pain which causes the Part to contract and make the Stop c. 3. Where the Cause of the Pain cannot be remoued but by Perspiration Sweat Menses Lochia or Urine â—s in Pains in the Habit of the Body Limbs c. From Cold Wind or Vapours Gout Rheumatisms Stitches Pleurisies Inflammations and many of the Cases aforementioned it is excellent As it is 4. Where the Pain Irritation or grievous Sensation causes Nature to work irregularly as in Iliack Passiâ—ns hysterick Fits Fruitless Convulsions canine Apâ— c. In which Cases it excells all other Means for many Reasons 5. Where the Pain is not likely to have a timely Effect for good till People may be too much worn out 6. In all Pains that have not any matâ—rial Cause from the Humâ—urs c. of the Body as such as happen from Passions Wounds Pricks of Nerves Tendons Fractures Dislocations Amputations severe Chirurgical Operations c. 7. In all Pain from Inflammations Suppurations Abseesses Tumors where Repulsion is not convenient or possible 8. In all Pains that are more likely to cause Fevers than any
a very long and lavish use thereof The Inconveniences of leaving off the Use of Opium do bear a certain Proportion to the Time and Quantity that it has been used in 1. Note That the Turks do drink some Water always after the taking of Opium as being the best Menstruum to dissolve it 2. Note That it is usual with them to take a Drachm in the Morning and so much in the Afternoons and so may we as well as they if used to it and 't is a very silly saying that you 'll find in Authors That they are better able to bear it because of the Climate c. whereas the more Northern Persons are better able to take it than the Southern as will hereafter appear most plainly I am told of one near Banbury that takes Two Ounces a Day 3. Note That among the Effects of Opium may be observed many seeming Contradictions yet is there nothing more certain than the several different Matters of Fact which no doubt has been a great Cause to puzzle the World about it and to run Men into strange Absurdities concerning its Operation and all to deviate so far from the Truth that nothing in Nature can be farther unless you 'll say that Heat cools or what pleases the sensitive Soul is at the same time abhorr'd by it Now because these seeming Contradictions in the Effects of Opium are the greatest Rubs to be met with and that the Reader may take the better Estimate of the Undertaking and my Explication of its Effects when I come to it I shall not fear to enumerate them distinctly tho' they will make the strangest Catalogue of Riddles that ever was seen trusting in Him that created this wonderful Medicament that he will enable me to explain all its Effects The seeming Contradictions in the Effects of Opium 1. It causes Sleeping and Watching 2. It causes and prevents Sweat 3. It relaxes and stops Loosenesses 4. It stops Fluxes and causes that of Sweat c. 5. It stupifies the Sense of Feeling yet irritates by that Sense to Venery 6. It causes Stupidity and Promptitude in Business Cloudiness and Serenity of Mind 7. It excites the Spirits and quiets them 8. It is very hot yet cools in Fevers 9. It is hot and bitter yet lessens Appetite even in Cold Stomachs 10. It stops and promotes Urine 11. It relaxes and weakens yet enables us to undergo Labours Iourneys c. 12. It causes and prevents Abortions 13. It stops Vomiting above all things yet causes most violent tedious and dangerous Vomitings 14. It stops Purging in a most eminent manner yet sometimes causes it 15. It is very acrimonious yet as all say obtunds Acrimony however it allays Pain proceeding from Acrimony 16. It causes a furious Madness yet composes the Spirits above all things 17. It causes 〈◊〉 yet sometimes cures them as Willis says 18. It causes Palsies yet have I known it to cure a Palsie 19. It causes Drinâ—ss in the Mouth yet takes off Thirst in Fevers 20. It cures and causes a Hiccough 21. It stanches Blood yet causes the Blood to come outward as appears by the Efflorescence or Redness of the Skin that it causes yet moves the Menses and Lochia 22. We have many Instances of it promoting and hindering Critical Motions 23. It raises very weak People when nothing besides will do it yet it kills other weak People 24. It causes and cures Convulsions 25. It causes Relaxation and Contraction of the same Parts 26. It Relaxes yet causes Rigidity Tension and Erection of the Penis Priapisms c. Thus have I fairly and faithfully laid the whole Onus of the Operations Effects and Contradictory Phenomena's of Opium upon my Shoulders however I come off and clear my self of the Intricacy Mazes and cross Effects thereof by explaining them which none upon the View thereof will think possible and none before me durst as much as enumerate for that End CHAP. VII The Author contrives a Compendious Way of Examining all Opinions concerning the Operation of Opium HAving without any sly or sordid Evasion or considerable Omission which has been the persidious Course of Authors in this Case fully and truly enumerated the sensible and certain Effects of Opium in Humane Bodies and thereby empannel'd a Iust Iury for the Trial of Hypothesises which must be Judged by the Effects or Phenomena's of Opium I will now proceed to their Examination But because it would be endless to take every one particularly into Consideration I will use their Stratagem who blow up Foundations to save the tedious Pecking at all the Parts of the Superstructures which in this Case would require an Age and take up all my Time in demolishing them which may be better employ'd in erecting something that may be useful I have considered and find That the Foundation in which all Authors both Ancient and Modern agree and whereupon they have hitherto endeavour'd to build looking upon it as firm and Warrantable in all Ages is this viz. That Opium operates by diminishing or disabling the Spirits meaning the animal Spirits The Ancients affirming That it did so by an extreme cold Quality c. And The Moderns who observed it to act while it is at Stomach by affecting the Brain Nerves Animal Spirits c. and concluded no Action was perform'd without Contact infer'd and agreed because no visible Passage could be found from the Stomach to the Head that it must of absolute necessity act by Fumes Vapours Auras or Effluviums sent up out of the Stomach to the Brain Nerves c. So that all the remaining Question among the Moderns is Which Way those Fumes or Vapours do the Feat all allowing the Fumes do it One saying That they stuff the Pores of the Brain and so hinder the Generation of Animal Spirits A Second That they constringed and closed the Pores together thereby hindering the said Generation A Third That they fix'd and coagulated the Animal Spirits as Wedelius and others A Fourth That they clouded the Animal Spirits A Fifth That they acted as a Poison as Willis and many others A Sixth That they clog'd the Animal Spirits by adhering to them c. Not knowing nor I think caring what they said so they humour'd their own Imaginations and Hypothesises tho' utterly incapable of solving the Effects of Opium especially its most constant proper and genuine Effects For how can a cold Quality which Opium never had cause a gay and brisk Humour Bravery Magnanimity Euphory in Labour Promptitude to Venus c. And how can Clouds of Vapours hinder the Generation of Animal Spirits by stuffing or constringing the Pores of the Brain Poisoning fixing coagulating clogging or clouding the Animal Spirits cause a fine Ovation thereof a Gay Brave Couragious and Magnanimous Disposition Euphory Promptitude to Venery Serenity Expediteness in Management c. Which are as has been said the constant and proper Effects of Opium Nor indeed was any of those Authors so fool-hardy as to attempt it
or Vapours do readily and freely pass from the Stomach to the Brain because the gross Fumes as they call them of a Grain or two of Opium always operate before it is out of the Stomach But they never saw such Fumes pass nor their Passage only suppose both and that meerly upon an Imagination that it must be so because they forsooth cannot conceive any other way by which Opium can affect the Head Nerves c. while it is at Stomach whereas I can and shall God willing shew them another means or way to do it that is sensible and not wholly precarious as theirs is and that in the meanest manner because all their Grounds to suppose it is their Inability to conceive or apprehend what is as I shall shew very sensible nay obvious also Secondly They suppose That such Fumes will serve to solve all the Phoenomena's and Operations of Opium whereas it is utterly impossible they should solve the enlivening and invigorating Effects thereof as has been shewn and shall be further proved if God permits It were easie to evidence but that it would be tedious and needless for their Incompetency to solve the most proper Effects of Opium is more than enough that such Fumes or Vapours can truly solve no Effect of Opium unless it be that of Death or some deadly Symptoms nay they will not solve the most likely to be caused by Vapours viz. Sleep which all Men as Wedelius says allow to be the Effect of Fumes or Vapours in his Opiologia c. 11. p. 35. Somnum naturalem says he omnes concedunt producere suaviores blandas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu Vapores primum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demulcentes qui cum spiritibus animalibus mixti torpidos quasi illos reddunt That is All grant that kind and gentle Fumes do cause natural Sleep c. Which is most certainly false tho' I very much doubt that this groundless Presumption which as he intimates all embrace has been a great cause of this airy Imagination of Fumes in the Case of Opium because Men looked upon Sleep agreed upon to be caused by Fumes to be the prime leading and most proper Effect of Opium which is also false it being but a meer Accident as has been shown and when it happens generally requires lying or sitting still to assist it whereas the Watching that is the Effect of Opium requires no help and cannot be put off as Sleep can by Motion Action c. notwithstanding all Endeavours to the contrary Now I would know of any Man which is the most proper and natural Effect of any Cause That which nothing can hinder or that which every Action can But I run too far upon this matter which belongs more aptly to that part of this Book that explains all the Effects of Opium and so must return to that of Fumes which do not cause natural Sleep as manifestly appears 1. Because that which causes natural Sleep must in all Reason as it is always in the wise Work of Nature bear a Proportion thereto but Fumes supposing their Being bear no Proportion to our Sleep Certainly a working Labourer that toils all the Day must spend the Fumes of his Body in the highest degree and feeding upon dry Bread and Cheese must breed fewest Fumes yet none sleeps better or sweeter than he The like is to be said of a travelling Man a tired Person c. who often fall asleep before they eat or drink to renew their Fumes which they had spent in an extraordinary manner Why Sleep that is design'd for Refreshment and Recruit should depend upon Fumes no Man can tell for then our Refreshment would wholly depend thereon and no Man have any Recruit by Sleep but in proportion thereunto Who dares accuse our Wise and Good Maker of such Contrivances who in Nature always proportions Things to the Exigencies thereof and therefore Sleep not to Fumes but to that which was impair'd in us for want thereof which is always contriv'd by Wise Nature if you 'll observe it to be the prompting Cause to the Recruit and then Proportion is duly observ'd because we are prompted exactly according to the Exigence or Necessity of Nature as becomes the Wisdom of our Creator and Preserver This Rule if duly attended to will easily speedily and certainly lead you to the Knowledge of the true natural Causes of Hunger Thirst Inclination to Sleep and all such Calls for Restauration All which I could soon satisfie you in but that it is not my Business at present and that it will too much anticipate my designed Tract of Animal Mechanism Nor doth Labour it self bear any exact Proportion thereunto because many healthy People that are idle all day sleep long soundly and sweetly every night as well as Labourers So that in short it must be somewhat that belongs to Watching as such for Sleep generally bears the best Proportion to Watching If we watch much or little our Sleep bears some Proportion thereto tho' there may be in this as well as in Hunger Thirst c. Accidents that cause the Promptitude to be more or less and so vary the true natural Proportion all which have the Nature of Diseases as canine Appetites Coma's Caros preternatural Thrists c. What it is that Watching causes to prompt us to Sleep must be some Impair made thereby as such and not the foolish Conceit of Fumes And it were easie for me to illustrate what it is but that it will require some Sheets of Paper and as I said before anticipate my Discourse of Animal Mechanism which I hoped to have published before this Book and would have been most convenient because the Principles therein stated may serve to explain the Effects of Opium but that the want of a few Experiments has to my Grief hitherto delay'd it and therefore I must be put to much Trouble in this Work for want thereof because I am resolved not to spare my self in order to satisfie the Reader in this great and unexplicated Mystery 2. If Vapours were the cause of natural Sleep it is impossible that the prick of a Pin or a sharp Sound c. should awake one ten or twenty times in an Hour for either the Prick must in an instant discuss all the Fumes in being which is impossible to be imagined and they as often return to cause Sleep again or intercept their Motion from the Stomach to the Head which no Man can have any Conception of the Efficacy of the Pin or Sound so to do Or they must both discuss and intercept the Fumes which indeed if the case were such would be necessary to make a clear Awaking which is yet far more unconceivable What paltry Trifles does the World embrace instead of Truth and Reason 3. Several Persons whereof I am one do awake in a minute or two after they first fall asleep in Bed at night which would be absolutely impossible if Fumes caused Sleep for the Fumes would
impossible it should be without such Disturbances as I mentioned would follow if they passed in the Road of the Spirits it is not common Sense that such câ—de Blasts should meliorate or enliven the Spirits to cause Briskness Bravery Serenity Courage Magnanimity as Opium does much less if those Fumes stopp'd and crowded in the Brain and any way hinder'd the Generation of Animal Spirits as the common Assertion is The like is to be said of their passing between the Pia Mater and the medullary Part of the Nerve which cannot be allow'd because of its close adherence thereto with this addition That they would constantly cause a violent Head-ach which Opium and Meals to which Fumes are particularly attributed do often cure So if they got up to the Head between the Pia and Dura Mater it is Head-achs and not the Symptoms of Opium that they would produce which Head-achs as was said Opium and Meals do cure 21. Lastly If they passed by any means quite on the outside of the Nerves and their Membranes viz. the Pia and Dura Mater then must they take their Lodgment if within the Skull between the Dura Mater and the Skull and produce no other Symptom but a Head-ach which as was said Opium and Meals rather cure than produce and if without the Skull it is quite beside the Cushion and the Vaporarians own Intention for in all these last Cases they could not affect the Animal Spirits for good or evil Many and very many things may be added to shew the Impossibilities Inconveniences Incoherences Absurdities c. that attend the Passage of the Fumes and Vapours into the Brain Head c. 22. I had forgotâ— mentioning the Absurdity of its passing up at Gullet and so to the Head because I could not imagine that any one would be so beastly an Animal as to belch up an Argument of that kind considering our very Senses tell us that what comes up that way passes out at Mouth or Nostrils and because if it were so the Operation of Opium c. would be in proportion to our Belching which is ridiculous 23. The greatest Comfort of a Cordial is at first or soon after it is taken but if ' its Comfort were by Fumes or Essluvia's passing to the Bloud or any where besides the Comfort would as their Cause of Fumes do increase for a long time and be more after a good while than at first So 24. If Opium operated by Fumes while at Stomach which must gradually increase continually how comes Opium to be at the height of its Operation in a short time viz. in about half an Hour after it begins sensibly to operate or an Hour at farthest and not increase continually in its Operation as their pretended Cause the Fumes must do by continual steaming 25. If Opium operated by sending Fumes by Passages c. from the Stomach to the Brain I should think that when it has got out of the Stomach as into the Intestines lacteal Veins c. there should be a kind of Interval of its Operation which is never observ'd till it got into the Bloud again therefore it does not operate by Fumes for the Pylorus is always shut but when somewhat is sent downward which would hinder the mounting of the Vapours into the Stomach in order to pass to the Brain 26. If Vapours were the cause of Sleep after Meals then should we be more sleepy two or three Hours after Meals because of the abundance of the Fumes that would be crowded into the Brain by that time but we are more sleepy presently after Meals and if we indulge it but for a quarter of an Hour we are refreshed and far from sleepiness afterward tho' the Fumes if that Hypothesis were true would be much more at Brain two or three Hours after the Meal So it is in the case of Wine if one take a short Nap after some Glasses he may drink a great many afterward without being sleepy which plainly proves that it is not the Fumes of the Wine is the cause of the Sleep because he is not at all sleepy when there must be more Fumes 27. All allow that hot Fumes assaulting the Brain cause Phrensies if that be true then the Fumes of Wine and Opium which are both very hot must always do so but Opium and Wine also do often cause Composure Good Humour Sleep c. which are contrary to Phrensies therefore they do not operate by Fumes 28. If Sleep says Helmont the only Man that I have read who is against Vapours is caused by Vapours ascending from the Stomach to the Head obstructing and intercepting all the Passages of Sensation Motion Speech Iudgment c. as the Schools say then a Disease would have been before the Fall of Adam because Sleep would have been a Disease that is a flatulent and vaporous Palsie 29. All allow Vomitives and Purgers to operate by Irritation or a grievous Sensation of the Membranes of the Stomach Why not Wine Cordials Opium c. by a pleasant Sensation Cujus est Dolor aut Gravamen ejusdem est Voluptas and as a grievous Sensation or Pain causes Melancholy Depression of Spirits Fretfulness Lassitude c. so a pleasant Sensation causes Comfort Elevation of the Spirits Euphory c. But we have not cleared the Way sufficiently for these Matters yet which will in due time be solemnly considered Obj. It may be said That both Vomitives and Purgatives take some time before they operate unless a Nausea upon Aversion causes them to work sooner for Things must have time to insinuate themselves or soak through the Crusta Carnosa of the Stomach and afterwards to affect its sensile Coat which argues that Wine and Cordials which operate immediately do not operate that way but by Fumes or Effuviums passing into the Brain or Bloud Answ. I doubt indeed that this Difference may be an occasion of referring the Effects of Cordials and those of Emitticks and Catharticks to different Causes but it is very strange that they should go so far as the Bloud or Brain to seek for the Cause of the Operation of Cordials which operate in a Moment and go no farther than the Stomach for the Cause of the Operation of Vomatives and Purgatives which take more time to operate especially seeing the Bloud and Brain have no Sensation and that all sensitive Comforts happen by that means I think it were much more proper first to consider the immediate Part upon which they insist when at Stomach especially seeing it is so very sensible before we run roving I know not whither to seek for the Cause of a Thing that works pleases and comforts the Stomach as soon as it is down I take my self running off the proper Subject Matter of this Chapter and anticipating that of another therefore I will be short and deliver my Opinion in this Case by way of Position with a familiar Instance to illustrate it which may in some measure prepare you for the Proof
which gave the Occasion as you may remember to the Hypothesis of its Operating by Fumes rising out of the Stomach because they could not think of any other Means by which it might affect the Head Brain Animal Spirits Nerves c. while it was at Stomach but by the Way of Fumes or Vapours It is therefore past all doubt That Opium produces its common Effects while it is at Stomach and before it arrives at the Blood and therefore does not Operate as an Alterative thereof Secondly Because a Grain of Opium which Operates very remarkably bears as Etmuller well observes so small a Proportion to the Bloud that it cannot produce such great and notable Effects as an Alterative thereof for a Grain of Opium to 20 Pound of Blood which an ordinary Man has in his Body is but as 1 to 115200 or if 16 Oucnes be allow'd to the Pound as 1 to 153600. But it is no Wonder if a Grain should affect the Membrane at Stomach since the 1000 part of a Grain of the Vomitory Particles of Crocus Metallorum or Regulus of Antimony does affect it so eminently as many other Things will in a very small Quantity whereas the altering of the Blood to any observable degree requires the Use of Alteratives in great Quantity for several Weeks Which confirms the former Conclusion That Opium does not Operate as an Alterative as to its common and usual Effects II. Opium does not Operate by grievous Sensation or Irritation as Vomits Purgers Errhines Salivators or Apophlegmatizers c. do First Because it manifestly causes a very agreeable pleasant and even charming Sensation Secondly Because it takes away grievous Sensation or Pain thereby stopping Vomiting Purging and all other-Effects of grievous Sensation by Acrimony c. As for the Vomiting that Opium sometimes causes it is only as shall be shewn by its Resinous Parts sticking to the Coat of the Stomach which being separated from it Opium has no such Effect tho' all its good Effects remain So its Purging which happens most rarely and only when a great Quantity is given to Men of strong Digestion it is only from its Rosin digested and resolved in strong Stomachs Hence it is that Dogs and such as have canine Appetites do generally Purge after a great Quantity of Crude or Rosinous Opium whereas such as is not Rosinous causes no such Effect But of these Matters more to your Satisfaction hereafter Thirdly Because it causes all Effects that are quite contrary to those of grievous Sensation It causing an Ovation of the Sensitive Soul and Spirits Pain or grievous Sensation a Depression of Spirits It causing Euphory and Pain Weariness For what tires more than Pain or labouring in Pain It causing good Humour Pain Peevishness Fretfulness and ill Humour Opium causing Relaxation of all Parts Pain Contraction That causing free Perspiration this checking it That causing Sleep this hindering it That causing Contentation Acquiescence this Discontent and Uneasiness That composing this discomposing the Spirits Bloud c. That causing Fluxes by Irritation c. this moderating or stopping them That opening the Pores Pain constringing them Opium preventing the Shaking Fits in Agues Pain bringing them on That causing a large and slow Pulse this a quick hard and narrow Pulse That causing an Efflorescence of the Skin this Paleness That pleasant this unpleasant Dreams That stills Hiccoughs this causes them That takes off Contractions Convulsions c. this causes them To be short Opium causes all the Effects of pleasant Sensation and takes off all the Effects of grievous Sensation What can be a more evident Proof of its acting by causing a pleasant Sensation It were endless to mention all the Proofs that may be made to the same Purpose from Pleasers and Displeasers of Sensation Therefore we fairly conclude That Opium does not Operate by causing a grievoui Sensation and there being no other Way left by which it may Operate It must Operate by causing a pleasant Sensation which is the true and plain Reason why as has been shewn it takes off Pain and causes all Effects quite contrary to that of grievous Sensation Irritations by Acrimony c. which are most eminent upon the most sensible Parts as the Stomach Intestines Venereal Membranes Skin c. as you may observe where the Effects of Opium are enumerated Now gentle Reader consider That Contraries are the true Cure of Contraries What can then cure Pain and all its Effects better than Pleasure 'T is very strange then that Millions for many Ages finding Opium cure or take off Pain and all its Effects above all Things should not attribute its so doing to its causing a pleasant Sensation which is the direct contrary to Pain especially since every Man that took Opium felt an actual Pleasure upon taking thereof pleasant Dreams a pleasant Humour c. It may be said What if it be granted that Opium Operates by a pleasing Sensation which I will Thank none for that have Feeling at Stomach or Reason at Brain how is it possible that such pleasant Sensation should cause and explicate all the various strange wonderful mysterious and very often seemingly contradictory Phenomena's and Effects of Opium Answer As easily as ever I explain'd any Thing in Nature especially if my Tract of Animal Mechanism were published but it is my Misfortune that it is not however it shall not be the Readers tho' it will put me to a great Trouble To evade which is none of my Intention by those Words but rather to bespeak the Reader 's Patience while I am premising some necessary Praecognita requisite to be known before I enter upon the Explication of the wonderful and seemingly inexplicable Effects of Opium I therefore desire the Reader 's Leave to premise some Things of the Nature of Sensation and sensitive Pleasure in order to his more clear and ready Understanding my Explication of this Mysterious and Momentous Matter look'd upon as so dark and abstâ—use a Business to this day that some have not only yielded it up as a Thing hidden from Mankind but have earnestly and seriously argued that it acted absolutely by an occult Quality reserved in a special manner as is the Nature of Spirits from our Knowledge That it has been so hitherto I think none can deny as the Circulation of the Bloud was for Thousands of years tho' the very Motion was seen by Millions so as the Cause of the Operation of Opium has been felt by a far greater number it therefore will if I fail not in explaining it appear so clear that it will be much wondered at like that of the Circulation of the Bloud why so obvious a Thing was not found by every one that used Opium But whatever Opium is God's Methods are unsearchable and often his Wise Providence bestows good Gifts upon the Unworthy that his free Goodness may appear To whom be all Glory Praise and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen Note That while I am upon the
contracted it is round even polite and truely represents Things 11. Deadness of the Eyes to the View is as has been shewn from the Laxity of the Cornea which makes it flag lie loose look dully and not duely reflect a smart and brisk speck of Light as it does when tense round and polite by its Contraction on the contain'd Humours which then duely fill it 12. Faltring of the Tongue is from the same Relaxation as in Drunken Persons 13. A Sopor is from the same Relaxation over all the sensile Parts of the Body by which Means Sense and Motion are diminished or lost by the Expansion of the Animal Spirits which as has been said being not duely compressed become unfit for both at the same time 14. A slow and wide Pulse is from the same Cause because the said Relaxation permits the Arteries to widen and the Animal Spirits to expand and consequently renders the motion of the Heart slow which is the cause of the Pulse 15. A high Colour or Efflorescence of the Skin has been explain'd 16. Looseness of the Iaw and Lips is from the same Relaxation as was shewn and so is 17. Intumescence of the Lips as has been shewn 18. Difficulty of Breathing may be from Two different Causes either by the Relaxation weakening the requisite Motions for want of Compressure of the Animal Spirits and by the Flaccity of the Parts themselves Or by a great Grievance at Stomach upon the Account of the Rosin sticking to it and causing a Convulsion of those Parts both which may happen 19. Fury and Madness may also happen either by the exalted Pleasure of its Titillation as in Drunkards who therefore scarce know what they do the Mind being as was said alienated Or it may happen as I have often known a kind of Madness to be produc'd by a great Grievance at Stomach which may well be from the Rosin grieving and teazing the nicely sensile Stomach They may be easily distinguished one viz. that from the Rosin at Stomach being with great Distresses Anxieties Convulsions c. and the other without any 20. Venereal Fury proceeds from the high Titillation of the Venereal Membranes by the Volatile Salt of so much Opium as if Cantharides Bees c were taken internally but that these cannot so agreeably titillate those Parts as Opium does whose Volatile Particles are render'd more pleasing by oily ones and therefore much of the Nature of Semen Virile 21. Priapisms are caused by the same continual Titillation 22. Violent Itchings of the Skin are caused by the same tickling Volatile Particles in great Abundance proportionable to the excessive Dose 23. Nauseas are caused by the Rosin sticking at and soliciting the Stomach to Vomit 24. Swimmings in the Head are by conseâ—it because the Stomach is grieved by that Rosin as is observed in many Cases from a grieved Stomach upon a Tendency to Vomit as when it is overloaden with Wine or indigestible Victuals or when Persons are Sea or Coach-sick c. for it is not in these last Cases because the Brain is offended as People imagine that they are Sick or Vomit but the Swimming in the Head and Offence of the Brain happens because the Stomach is offended by the Motion of the Coach or Ship by Reason of its most exquisite Sensation which the Effluvias of a Cat pestiferous Particles and Commotions caused by mear Passion can and do offend as was said so as to cause Vomitings Anxieties c. much more then may the Motion of a Ship or Coach do it I shall not here enter into Controversie with those that assert That it is the Head is first offended in a Coach or Ship it is sufficient for my Purpose that Grievances at Stomach do commonly cause Swimmings in the Head for taking off those Grievances cures them as Eating when it is from the Grievance of Hunger or Wind at Stomach and discharging the Stomach of a great Load of Wine Ale or indigestible Matters when such Things cause it do cure such Swimmings in the Head The Way how Grievances at Stomach do cause those Swimmings is by causing a Contraction as all Grievances do but especially those at Stomach of the Membranes of the Brain as it does of all other but mainly of these because very sensile by which means the Animal Spirits being compressed grow more irrequiete and skipping up and down and the Compression not being continually alike in general or the Arteries affording an uneven and forcible supply of them or Fumes from the Bloud by the Compression nor affecting all Parts of the Brain with equal Force because the Pleasure endeavour to relax c. there must thence arise Eddies Vortices or Whirls thereof which cause Swimmings Vertigo's c. according as they happen to be moved That they happen from such Contraction is manifest 1. Because the Grievance at Stomach can add nothing else to the Brain or its Membranes 2. Because they are taken off by pleasing the Stomach and consequently by Relaxation as by a Glass of Wine Victuals an Opiate that is not resinous c. It is here well worth your notice That all consent of Parts a Thing much admir'd is only by Contraction or Relaxation which suddenly affect the whole Systeme of the Nerves and Membranes 25. Vertigo's are from the same Cause 26. Vomitings are caused as was said by the great Grievance of the acrimonious Rosin sticking to the Coat of the Stomach 27. Hicconghs are from the same Cause which happen upon the decay of Power vigorously to Vomit dwindling into those fruitless Convulsive subsultory Ierâ— or Half Endeavours 28. Distresses and Anxieties must necessarily attend such a grievous Sensation and Desection of Naturâ— Endeavour as being overborn and disabled to work for it self 29. A turbulent Pulse must be an Effect of the foregoing Tumults 30. Convulsions happen as was shewn by the enormous Compression of the Animal Spirits by Reason of the violent Contraction upon the great Grievance by the Rosin at Stomach which causes them to skip and fling up and down very forcibly under the squeese of the Compression and possibly skirmishing under the Vicissitudes of it and Relaxation 31. Faintings and Leipothymies are caused as has been explain'd by the sensitive Soul's being over-tired by the Fatigue of Defensive Contraction and yielding himself to Rest from all Contraction as the last Relief c. whereupon Sense and Motion do fail for want of Compression to render the Spirits springy active and fit for the Purpose 32. Cold Breath is but a necessary Consequence of the Loss of Motion and therefore of Heat by such Leipothymies and Faintings 33. Death is caused Two manner of Ways that is either by an utter Expense of Spirits and thereupon a Dereliction or Extinction of the sensitive Soul by reason of those Distresses and Fatigues upon the Account of the invincible Rosin Or by too much Relaxation disabling all the motions of the Body as in such as dye being dead Drunk
be the cause why P is a kind of shut F and F a kind of an open P for suppose P opened at the round part to signifie that the Lips are not closed in sounding F and that the lower stroak or part be left shorter to signifie that the lower Lip is drawn inward in sounding F the P becomes a perfect F. The Reasons why the Opium that came from Thebes now called Theves was and is the best are 1. That Thebes or Theves being in Egypt lies in a hotter Country that is nearer the Line or Equator than any of the Countries on the North-side of the Mediterranean for it is observed that the Heat of Climates contributes very much to the Strength of Opium which is weaker if you make it in England or Germany than in France in the Northern Parts of France than in Languedoc which borders upon the Mediterranean and weaker there than in Smirna Natolia Aleppo and Apulia which are more Southern and weaker in those Places than in Thebais in Egypt For which cause we may Judge that the Opium which comes to England from the East-Indies that is yet hotter than Egypt being much worse than that of Thebes or Theves must in all probability be adulterated or made of the Leaves and Stems of the Poppy as some say otherwise it would be rather better as coming from the hotter Country 2. That of Thebes may be better because the Heat of Egypt is more constant and uniform than in Natolia Aleppo Smirna c. The Quantity of Opium which was gathered by the Milky Iuice of the Poppy's Heads dropping into Shells out of the Incisions aforesaid being but small and the Use of this most noble pleasing and generous of Cordials and Medicaments daily increasing by the constant and insallible Benefit they found thereby Men partly to avoid the tediousness of gathering it by Drops and partly out of necessity but mainly 't is to be doubted out of covetousness began to bruise and pound the Poppy's Heads and to squeeze out the Iuice for Expedition and Quantitic's sake which bruising and squeesing caused it to look blackish This the Greeks for Distinction's sake called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Poppy still calling the better sort which was gathered in Shells out of the Incisions of the Poppy's Heads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus have you the true Original of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Latines and we from them call Opium and Meconium Tho' as it happens in most Things in Merchandise to recommend the Goods we now call the Meconium Opium by the better Name as they do in another case out of abundance of absurd Civility call every Quack a Doctor Afterward its Use growing more and more they added the Leaves to the Poppy's Heads in the pounding bruizing and expressing the Iuice boiling it for speed's sake to the consistence of a Confection which cooling comes to the consistence that we have it in I mean the fresher and softer sort that we have which by the forcible pounding squeezing and boiling contracts a blackish Colour like that of Horse-Aloes on the out-side to which Colour the Air does very much contribute and pressing the Superficies close together for if you rudely tear a piece of that we have which is all of this last kind it looks at first as was said of a reddish Yellow but the Air especially if moist or any Moisture and handling of it and closing the Superficies together soon makes it look blackish again This as was intimated is that we now call Opium and have in common Use. Which being also in common Use among the Grecians when the Turks Conquer'd them was by the Grecians themselves called Pous or Pos with the o mouthed widely which came doubtlesly from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Meconium at last gaining the better Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Pous or Pos after the manner aforesaid to recommend it as all Opium is now call'd Theban and the O in the beginning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passed over in the Run of Discourse which is not uncommon with Vowels because of their flat Sound which is so by reason of the wide Passage that the Breath has between the Tongue and the Palate in the Formation thereof for Wideness of Passage is the cause of Flatness as Narrowness in Birds Children c. is the cause of Sharpness of Sound therefore the Sound of Vowels being flat fading and consequently not as much missed as sharper Sounds we often omit Vowels particularly in the beginning of Words for Ease and Shortness sake Thus it comes to pass That Men say Pothecary For Apothecary That Men say Prentice For Apprentice That Men say Buttals For Abuttals That Men say Larum For Alarum That Men say Light For Alight That Men say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came to be sounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as naturally to be sounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Pous because it is easier to sound u after o in this and some other cases than to omit it as it is easier to sound p between m and t c. than not as in tempt crumpt limpt c. which are more easily so sounded than if the sound of p were left out which I call Easmess of Consequence Hence it is That Bold Are sounded Bould That Sold Are sounded Sould. That Hold Are sounded Hould That Bolt Are sounded Boult That Ioll Are sounded Joul That Toll c. Are sounded Toul c. Changing the o into ou as the Grecians did Pos to Pous For this and such reasons it is that the National Greek can hardly be understood by Scholars when spoken by the Natives It is for the same Reason that the Greeks write Greek as we do English and the French do their Language different from what they speak so that if any Man should learn French or English and always sound it as it is writ or printed he would very hardly understand them as they are vulgarly spoken which is the very Case of such as learn Greek by Book who always sound every Letter whereas the Native Greeks do what all Nations do more or less shorten and alter the Sound of Words in the Common Run of Discourse by a natural Propensity unto and Pursuit of Ease Pleasure and Speed which by degrees very much alters the Sound of Words The Turks having been used to call the better Sort that dropt out of the Incisions made in the Poppy Heads Maslack continued that Name to that Sort after they Conquer'd Greece and call'd the other Sorf which they found in Use among the Grecians by the Name that the Grecians gave it viz. Pous and such as commonly use it they call Pousti by way of Contempt as if we should say Small beer-Drinkers in comparison
best Parts of Opium which is so much the better the more it abounds with them 9. If it yields any other Tincture than Red it is not right and the duller or paler the Red is the worse or weaker it is 10. The best is heavier in proportion to its Bulk which you may soon experiment thus Weigh an Ounce of each in the Air then weigh them just as they are in the Brass Scales in Water and the heavier will out-weigh the other in Water for the heavier any thing is the less Water takes from its Weight in proportion to its Bulk this is an infallible and most ready way to know the Weight of any thing in proportion to its Bulk Note That my Discourse is most particularly concerning the best sort of Crude Turky Opium that is the best that we have in common Use and that its Effects and not those of any Preparation thereof are set down in the following Chapters CHAP III. The Effects of Opium used externally OPIUM used externally has two sorts of Effects upon a Humane Body 1. As an Opiate to cause Sleep take away Pain c. 2. As an Alterative of the Parts it is applied to I. As an Opiate It is of very uncertain and uneven Effects when applied externally for sometimes it causes Sleep takes away Pain but it often fails therefore it is generally much better safer more certain and effectual to use it internally I do scarce know the case wherein 't is better to use it externally than internally unless it be to smell to in some cases But of these Things more particularly when we come to the Use of Opium in Curing Preventing or Paliating Diseases for here we only lay down Effects in order to a Disquisition of the Cause of the Operation of Opium to which its internal Effects will mainly contribute however it may be very useful to that end to lay down its alterative Effects for thereby we shall in good measure know the Prin ciples by which it operates II. It s external Effects as an Alterative are these viz. 1. It incides resolves and discusses 2. It relaxes and mollifies 3. It maturates and suppurates 4. It exulcerates or causes Blisters if it be very strong and applied to Persons of a fine Texture where the Skin is tender but this Effect belongs more properly to the Maslack or true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that drops from the Incisions made in the Heads of the Poppies especially the Theban which affords a very powerful Juice Hence you may observe that the more it exulcerates or blisters the better is the Opium vice versâ 5. It is a Psilotherick for it prevents Hair to grow and causes the shedding thereof 6. It is hurtful to the Eyes and Ears 7. It excites Itchings applied in a moderate manner to the Skin 8. It excites Venery applied to the Perinaeum CHAP. IV. The Effects of Opium used Internally in a moderate Dose 1. THE moderate Dose in ordinary Use to produce the following Effects is from one to three Grains more or less according to the Circumstance Condition Case Constitution Age c of the Person who takes it 2. It operates generally in a short time after it is in the Stomach that is in about half an Hour more or less if taken in a liquid Form and in about an Hour more or less if in a solid Form drinking a Draught of Water or some Liquor after it otherwise it may be sometimes near an Hour and a half before it has its full Effect But the time of its Operation has a considerable Latitude according to the Disposition of the Stomack and other Circumstances as the Vehicle it is taken in c. The constant Effects of Opium used internally in a moderate Dose 1. It causes a most agreeable pleasant and charming Sensation about the Region of the Stomach which if one lies or sits still diffuses it self in a kind of indefinite manner seizing one not unlike the gentle sweet Deliquium that we find upon our entrance into a most agreeable Slumber which upon yielding to it generally ends in Sleep But if the Person keeps himself in Action Discourse or Business it seems especially when given in a Mornning after a moderate Rest at Night like a most delicious and extraordinary Refreshment of the Spirits upon very good News or any other great cause of Ioy as the sight of a dearly beloved Person c. thought to have been lost at Sea or the like causing such a pleasant Ovation of the Spirits Serenity c. as we find after a competent Measure of generous Wine ad Hilaritatem as Men use to say It is indeed so unexpressibly fine and sweet a Pleasure that it is very difficult for me to describe or any to conceive it but such as actually feel it for 't is as if a Good Genius possessed or informed a Man therefore People do commonly call it a heavenly Condition as if no worldly Pleasure was to be compar'd with it Helmontianus would doubtless express it by the Archeus in his very best Humour It has been compar'd not without good cause to a permanent gentle Degree of that Pleasure which Modesty forbids the naming of and 't is well worth a Remark that both are Pleasures of the same Sense viz. that of Feeling for it cannot be a Pleasure of any other Sense since it is internal 2. It causes a brisk gay and good Humour Nor do I doubt but it has this Effect upon sleeping Persons as far as their Condition is capable of observing it for you shall have them often tell of pleasant Dreams after it when they remember them and speak of any See Bauchin and the Authors mentioned below under the 4th Effect of Opium 3. It causes Promptitude Serenity Alacrity and Expediteness in Dispatching and Managing of Business To which end and that of a good and gay Humour which are near of kind it is commonly taken in the Morning in the Eastern Countries with most certain Effect The truth of which Wedelius is forced to confess though quite contrary to his Hypothesis of Opium's fixing and coagulating the Spirits giving an instance of a certain serene Person who when she had any Affair of great moment to dispatch did before-hand take Opium with great advantage for she thereby found her self every way better disposed for Business and more enabled to bear the Fatigue thereof Which is the Substance of what he writes in Latin Many other Authors confirm the Truth of these Effects but above all the constant Experience of the Eastern Nations puts it out of all doubt 4. It causes Assurance Ovation of the Spirits Courage Contempt of Danger and Magnanimity much after the manner that generous Wine does instead of which the Turks c. use Opium before Engagements desperate Attacks c. as is most notorious to make them Courageous which it certainly does For your satisfaction as to this and other Effects of Opium not so commonly observed
Watches and Sentinels to discover and give notice of what is or is not good and agreeable to our Animal Nature That upon notice of what is good and agreeable Pleasure Comfort Satisfaction c. are conceived otherwise Displeasure Discomfort and Dissatisfaction What diminishes or disables our Spirits does us the greatest Evil that can be and consequently Sensation would according to its Office give us such notice thereof as would cause Displeasure c. otherwise these Sentinels that God and Nature have appointed for faithful Notice would instead of trusty service which is the End they are made for deceive us and consequently do us mischief rather than good which is very Prophane if not Blasphemous to assert as being highly abusive of God's Goodness and Wisdom to make Things in Nature that would not only not answer but act quite contrary to their Ends it follows then that what causes such a mighty agreeable and pleasant Sensation at Stomach which is the greatest and most accurate Judge of what is or is not agreeable to the Animal cannot be destructive or disabling of its Spirits which are the most excellent and useful Things that belong thereto Therefore Opium which so mightily recommends it self to pleases and comforts the greatest Iudge that God has given to a sensible Creature to discern what is good and evil for it cannot diminish or disable our Spirits One may say what I dare not that the Sensation at Stomach may deceive us We may deceive our selves and say so when that which pleases the Stomach does not please our perverted Imagination which makes no Argument let us therefore consider Things where there is no such vain Imagination to contradict the good Ends of Nature if the Stomach and Senses in a Brute or meer Animal which has no other means to Judge of what is good or evil for it should not Judge aright all the Animals in the whole World would soon perish It is the vain Opinion of Men that perswades them that Things are cold when hot c. as in the Case of Opium when the Senses truely inform that it is hot If you 'll stand to your Imaginations and Suppositions for such all must be without the Information of Sense against the Dictates of Sensation you must inevitably err But one may say Is the Sense at Stomach such an infallible Guide always I believe it will be very hard to give many Instances to the contrary and prove it well however if we do or may allow something of this Kind to a perverted Stomach at certain times to avoid a squabble about it it is never to be allow'd That all the Stomachs in the whole World should be pleased with one and the same Thing at all times and yet that this Thing should be so highly pernicious to the Animal as to diminish or disable its Spirits Then indeed it would follow that the most exquisite Sense at Stomach to discern what is or is not agreeable to the Animal were absolutely in vain which no Man of Reason that has any Apprehension of the Wisdom of God and Nature can assert 3. What is more notorious than that Pleasure or being pleased raises and Displeasure or being grieved depresses the Spirits Are not all People pleasant gay and good humour'd brisk prompt c. when pleased Do not Men Travel or Labour with more Ease in Pleasant Company c. But of these Matters and the Reasons thereof more in the following Chapters 4. How can Opium that revives People when they are so dispirited that they are even almost dying as when Opium is wanted by such as use to take it in Deliquiâ—ms and Agonies from Paiâ— c. diminish or disable the Spirits It is plain Contradiction to say that it should Next to Opium nothing revives People in such Cases better than Wine and those Things that produce the same or like Effects have like Nature and who can say that Wine that was made to glad the Heart of Man diminishes or disables the Spirits Or that Opium which produces all the sprightly enlivening and encouraging Effects of generous Wine in a more eminent manner than Wine and in the 10000th Part of its Quantity and for a longer time than Wine causes them should diminish or disable the Spirits For Instance Wine and Opium in a due quantity but Opium in a far less quantity as was said cause a pleasant gay and good Humour Courage Bravery Magnanimity Promptitude in Business Expediteness in Management Serenity Euphory or easy undergoing of Labour Iourneys Fatigues c. Both take away Sadness Grief Melancholy Fear Depression of Spirits c. Both cause Promptitude to Venery Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus So Wine and Opium prevent and cure Cold open the Pores promote Perspiration and Sweat especially the following Mornings as Sir Theodore Mayern my self and others have observ'd of Opium and is notorious as to Wine Both cause Sleep and take away the Sense of Pain and require a greater Dose than ordinary in Proportion to the Pain Both take off Shiverings from Fear Cold or Ague Fits and cause Mirth Contentation and Acquiescence Driness of the Mouth Thirst a Sense of Heat within us a Dreaming Condition pleasant Dreams if the Quantity of Wine be not grievous by its Heat Load c. Nâ—cturnal Pollution and in some Constitutions both cause Vigilancy but Wine and Opium cause that more rarely than Sleep Both stop and cause Vomiting if they stay too long at Stomach Both moderate Hunger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and are good in a canine Appetite Both cause Swimming in the Head c. So Both in an Excessive Dose Do cause at first Mirth and afterward a kind of Drunken Soper in some in others Fury or Madness Sardonick Laughter and Weight at Stomach Vomitings Hiccoughs great Heat at Stomach Debility and laxity of all Parts Faltring of the Tongue Scotomies and Darkness of the Eyes Vertigo's Laxity of the Cornea of the Eye Dilatation of the Papilla Deadness of the Eyes to the View Loss of Memory Venereal Fury a high Colour profuse Sweats Purging sometimes Alienation of the Mind Loss of Memory and lastly greater or lesser Effects according to the Dose Constitution c. So A long and lavish Use of both Causes a dull and moapish Disposition Dropsies Fall of Humours upon Weaken'd Parts a Sleepy Disposition Want of Appetite Weakness of Digestion Aptitude to Sterility and Abortion early Decrepiteness Stooping in the Back Trembling of the Hands Weakness of Memory Shortness of Life Difficulty and Danger in suddenly leaving them off Revive such as sink for Want of either and supply the Want of each other How can any have the Face to say that a Thing which agrees so with generous Wine in Effects can be a Diminisher or Disabler of the Spirits The Mischiefs of excessive Doses and lavish Use of either is no Argument against their inspiriting Nature if it were then Wine is no Cordial tho' made to glad the Heart
of Man because of its ill Effects lavishly used Therefore none can argue from that that Opium diminishes or disables the Spirits any more than Wine or Bread does a Surfeit of which is most dangerous Omnis Repletio mala Panis vero pessima corruptio optimi est pessima That is All Repletion is bad but that of Bread is the worst and the Corruption of the best is the worst The short is this Wine and Opium agree in all their Effects saving such as are Consequences of their different Accidents as the Quantity of Wine that must be used to cause the same Effects with a little Opium and Wine having been fermented and Opium as may be shewn having some crude and viscid Rosin in it which sometimes sticks to the Crusta carnosa c. of the Stomach whence it happens that Wine loads one more heats more and is more troublesome upon those Accounts and that Opium offends the Stomach oftner even in a moderate Dose causing Vomitings Hiccoughs Anxieties Distresses at Stomach Deliquiums c. because of the indigestible Rosin sticking to the sides of the most sensile Stomach as I shall farther prove hereafter by God's Help shewing very easie Ways and Means to separate that Rosin and so make it as safe and less troublesome as it is more effectual than Wine Opium cannot diminish or disable the Spirits because as has been proved it sends no Part Fume or Effluvium to the Brain or Animal Spirits to cause such bad Effects while it is at Stomach yet does it produce them while it is there for as the Vaporarians themselves and indeed all Men allow there can be no Destruction without contact Sanctorius doth well and truely observe by the Help of his Staticks that nothing causes liberal Perspiration but it raises the Spirits it is most certain that nothing in Nature opeâ—s the Pores and causes Perspiration more than Opium Therefore nothing should according to his Observation elevate the Spirits more and indeed nothing does as appears by all that has been said and will yet more plainly appear Loss of Memory by Opium as some argue is not so much a Loss of Spirits as Lanity of the Brain for People in Drink do not want Spirits but there is a great Relaxation of the Brain and its Membranes and of the whole Ienus 〈◊〉 which Relaxation causes a soft loose and labile Brain that like Liquid Things retains no Impression besides that I shall God willing shew you hereafter that Impressions cannot be so well made upon the sensitive Soul by the Animal Spirits upon Relaxations of the Sensible Parts as in Sleep c. for a very plain Mechanical Reason to be shewn in due time Thus have I by the Assistance of its Maker who best knows it cleared Opium from the false Aspersions of an extreme Cold Quality and Parcotick Fumes both which were commonly call'd Venemous fatal and by all the ill Names imaginable but as good Luck is they abused nothing because 't is manifest that there is no such Thing nor has it any Quality by which it diminishes or disables the Spirits as is most evident from the Premises so that all that has been said of Opium by way of Hypothesis to explain its Effects depending upon its diminishing or disabling the Spirits by a Cold Quality or Fumes is come to nothing I wish it had been as innocent CHAP. XII Shews what must be the true Cause of the Operation of Opium ALL the general Foundations upon which Authors either Ancient or Modern erected their several Hypothesises concerning the Operation of Opium having as manifestly appears no real Existence What Enchanted Castles in the Air or vain Phantasms must their Structures be And how like deluded Wizzards must they appear while they seem'd to take high Flights and glorious Prospects of Causes that had no Reality Thus am I left utterly distitute of either Foundation or Model unless I find out that and frame this which I hope may be easily done because the cloudy Supposition of Vapours having vanished away there now remains but Two Ways by which an Internal Medicament can Operate viz. 1. As an Alterative of the Blood c. Or 2. As affecting the Sense of Feeling either grievously as Vomits Purgers c. Or pleasingly as Cordials generous Wines titillating Amphrodisiacks comfortable Warmth Anodynes and such like that please the Nerves and Membranes which way of Operating is too little observ'd by Physicians tho' they take great Notice of the Operation of Things by grievous Sensation as Irritatives to Vomit Purge Salivate c. by their Acrimony whereas the Pleasers of Sensation which must as Contraries have contrary Operations are little regarded or thought of 1. Opium does not Operate as an Alterative of the Bloud c. First Because it Operates while it is at Stomach or at least before it arrives at the Bloud which manifestly appears several Ways as 1. Because it often Operates in a Liquid Form in few Minutes and very commonly in a Quarter of an Hour in which time it must be at Stomach or at least far from arriving at the Bloud 2. Because it has been very often Vomited up after it has Operated and produced its usual Effects for 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 and sometimes more Hours as evidently appear'd by the Smell Colour Taste c. of what was Vomited and by its Operation ceasing after such Vomiting of which common Experience and Authors do inform us See Helmont Ius Duumvir 62. where he tells of Opium Operating at Night and Vomited up next Morning 3. It s bare causing Vomiting after it has Operated for a good while is of it self tho' its Taste Smell c. did not discover it an infallible Argument of its Operating while it is at Stomach for 't is against all Reason to imagine that Things should irritate it to Vomit after they are gone into the Bloud and not do it while they are in the Stomach it self as all Vomitories do The Reasons why it stays so long at Stomach are 1. It s Indigestibleness which plainly appears by Stools Urine and Sweat smelling of it when taken in any considerable Quantity all the Coctions Digestions Circulations c. that it passes in the Body signifying very little to it which its causing Itchings in the Skin and affecting the Venereal Membranes after its passing the Bloud do also argue 2. The clamminess of its resinous Parts sticking to the Stomach cause as I shall plainly prove hereafter its long stay in it for if the Rosin be separate from it 't will not then make such a long stay at Stomach as I have often Experienced 4. We actually feel it causing a sense of Pleasure at Stomach during its Operation therefore it is then in it 5. It has been carried off by Stool after it has produced its usual Effects Therefore it Operated before it arrived at the Bloud 6. All Observers do allow that Opium Operates while it is at Stomach
Impressions of great Concernment may escape his notice and consequently want his Assistance by Way of Defence For It is manifest That when his Attention is diverted by any Object more especially by such as mightily pleases him as in the Act of Venery and other Pleasures especially if intense that he does not perceive other Objects at the Time that he is so diverted and if the pleasant Diversion be intense and permanent as in the Case of Opium and Wine drank in a considerable Quantity he is so taken up diverted or charm'd therewith that he does not attend to the Business of Sensation This is one Reason why such as are far gone in Drink have none of their Senses aright but as to the Illustration of this Matter you may expect more hereafter Note That the sensitive Soul is the only Thing i◠an Animal that has Perception and therefore the only Thing that is sensible of any Grievance Weariness Hunger Pleasure Comfort c. Secondly It is requisite that it should use all Means that is in its Power that the Impressions should be brought to it very entirely exactly smartly c. so as to have due notice of all Objects and the smallest Impressions that may be For which good Ends and Purposes God has endued the sensitive Soul as will be fully proved with a Power of contracting all the sensile small and slender Pipes Vessels or Passages of the Animal Spirits for the more express distinct and accurate Conveyance of all Impressions by the Help of Compression Therefore the sensitive Soul taking the Advantage thereof for better Information in order to Self-Preservation does by the Appointment of the Preserver of all Things execute his Power by the aforementioned Vigilative Contraction of those Parts to cause their Tension and greater Compression of the Animal Spirits to improve the Impressions that are to be convey'd to him and render them more observable This God who has made nothing to be idle and particularly ordered the sensitive Soul in Adam for Labour especeally in Reference to their own Safety and Preservation has made to be the ordinary Employ or Day-Work of the sensitive Soul that by the said Vigilative Contraction the Organs Membranes Vessels c. may be render'd more tense and firm and the Animal Spirits more compressed springy prompt flippant and forcible for the Benefit of Sense and Motion upon all Occasions of Defence Flights Struggles c. which is our State of Vigilancy as has been intimated But the keeping of the said Parts Membranes c. in continual Contraction even against the Renitency of the elastick Spirits which resist and thrust the harder against their Vessels by how much the more they Compress them by the Vigilative Contraction being a continual tedious Labour and Fatigue of which the sensitive Soul being sensible as the only Perceiver of Lassitude or indeed of any Thing besides in an Animal and in his Nature but material changeable fatigable frail subject to be worn out and capable of Decay which makes the Certainty of Death in all Animals and in us since the Fall into an Animal Nature does upon that Account and lest the continual Contraction and tensive Stress of Parts by that Means should spoil their Tone and to recruit the wasted Sprits by Rest after tuggingall Day at the Vigilative Contraction grow willing to give over the Drudgery however convenient for the Uses aforesaid Therefore being allow'd convenient Rest by his Maker he for the great Benefit of Refection without which he cannot continue his Being and for the sweetness of Ease loosens the Reins of Vigilative Contraction whereupon Sensation and Promptitude to Motion which were maintain'd by that Contraction causing the Tension of Organs and Compression of the Animal Spirits as has been Mechanically demonstrated fail by the Relaxation of those Organs Membranes and Vessels of the Spirits and the consequent Expansion of the Animal Spirits so that now only the Compression of the Atmosphere remains which as you see in a Gut half full of Air under that Pressure is not sufficient to convey the Impressions with any Smartness or cause the Animal Spirits to spring vigorously into Motion which Decay or Failure of Sense and Motion by Relaxation and the consequent Expansion of the Animal Spirits is the State of Natural Sleep Note That Relaxation is a necessary Consequence of the Privation of Contraction and requires no Labour but a bare Remission of that Contraction Note That the Watching Part of our Lives is upheld by Force and that Nullum violentum est diuturnum and consequently a necessity of Sleep and at last of Death it self Thus have you the true Reason of Sleeping and Watching which will naturally plainly and easily solve all the Phenomena's thereof for it is most evident from the Premises 1. Why Watching and Sleeping observe a Proportion between them the being tired with one being the cause of the other 2. Why Sense and Motion do fail so much in Sleep viz. by the Relaxation of all Parts and Expansion of the Animal Spirits 3. Why they always fail together and in like Proportion 4. Why they do not wholly fail in Sleep because the Compressure of the Atmosphere c. remains 5. Why in Sleep the Limbs are like a Gut half full of Air lax limber flaccid and yielding all manner of Ways because all the innumerable small Vessels that contain the Elastick Animal Spirits are as that half fill'd Gut I mentioned not tightly fill'd which if they were would be firm and tense as such a Gut blown up very full and forcibly is which Vessels being all over the Body confirm the whole Tone when we are awake and the Vigilative Contraction compresses the Animal Spirits into a Steadiness and as it were a kind of Solidity 6. Why as appears by Statick Demonstrations and Experiments we perspire more when asleep than awake because the Pores are closed by the Vigilative Contraction and open'd in Sleep by the contrary Relaxation which therefore always causes free Perspiration where ever it happens as in fainting Fits Syncopes Leipothymies and by Warmth especially if moist and emollient as in Baths Fomentations Feet Washes Head Washes c. as also when Pleasure relaxes as in the Act of Venery great Joy after good Meals or some Glasses of Wine c. all which cause plentiful Perspiration because they relax and thereby open the Pores as more fully appears in the following Discourse by Reason of the Pleasure that they cause which diverts the sensitive Soul from his Employ of Contraction 7. Why the Pores being open by the Relaxation we sweat in our Sleep if we are fill'd with Matter for it viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Much Sweat in Sleep argues that much Food or Nutriment was taken of which Drink is the greatest Part in Bulk even in Sober Persons I mention this to shew the Difference in the Case of Perspiration and Sweating for that always happens in Sleep but not Sweat unless
the Body be well fill'd with Moisture To shew the Cause of which Difference will be the Business of my Tract of Animal Mechanism if I have not hereafter an Occasion to do it in this Tract as I suppose I may 8. Why Sleep cures Colds by opening the Pores 9. Why the Skin is more florid in Sleep because as has been said it being relax'd admits the Bloud into it which Vigilative Contraction does in good measure repel and thereby cause the Skin to appear more white and pale as it is and any one may observe upon awaking 10. Why the Eyes look deadish in Sleep viz. because as has been shewn the Humors do not fill up the relaxed Cornea to a due Tension and Roâ—undity which as was said makes the Cornea shine sparkle and particularly to reflect a brisk Speck of Light as shining round Things must do which Speck if Painters omit the Eye looks deadish therefore they should when they have a mind to express the Deadness of the Eyes as in Fainting Fits Syncopes Sleep Death Wanton loose Oglings of Lovers Drunkenness c. omit that Speck or rather draw it duller wider and discomposed in Figure with the Pupil very large and the Upper Eyelid falling down loosely which would exactly express the Deadness of the Eye in all those Cases of Relaxation in which alone it so appears Note That the Reason why some in such Cases see divers Colours before their Eyes is because the uneven Cornea variously retracts and reflects the Light which I mention because none that I know of have observed the Cause 11. Why People are more sleepy in warm moist Weather viz. because the Parts are more relaxed and the Pressure of the Atmosphere less to assist the Vigilative Contraction to keep us in a waking State by the Compressure of the Animal Spirits How much better therefore is a cool and dry Air that raises the Mercury high in the Barometer or Weather Glass both for Heath and Action because it renders the Animal Spirits more powerful prompt and flippant by the Compression This should be observ'd by such as are to run Races alone lift Weights or perform any Thing that requires Strength Vigour or Speed nor can I doubt but if we had an Artificial Means to compress Men's Bodies in a high manner as by putting them into convenient Cavities and forcing Air upon them but they would be much stronger for the Time and thereby enabled to do Exploits beyond their ordinary Strength which puts me in mind of several Things that confirm it very much as Mens lifting of greater Weights in low Places than on the top of very high Hills where the Pressure of the Air is less to compress the Animal Spirits The Contraction of all Parts in lifting of great Weights The prodigious Leaps and Swiftness of some Persons in great Frights Terrors c. which mightily contract the sensile Parts and Vessels of the Animal Spirits by which Means they are render'd more springy and powerful Note That the true Cause of Strength is the Compression of the Animal Spirits and that probably the Force of Muscles may some way or other depend upon 't which is not my Business to explain at present Note That it is the Membranes are primarily contracted and the Medullary Part of the Nerves Spirits c. compressed thereby by Consequence 12. Why the soft fleshed and moist are more sleepy as Children c. viz. because the Compression of their Animal Spirits is not so great by Reason of the laxity of their Parts so are they weaker for the same Reason which tells you why little Men whose Flesh is firmer that are no bigger than Boys are much stronger than Boys or Women of the same bigness 13. Why warm and emollient Baths Fomentations Feet or Head Washes c. do as moist and warm Weather cause Sleepiness and indeed all Things that cause Relaxation or incline the sensitive Soul to leave off contracting as Weariness c. do cause Sleep Note That in dry Bodies as old People c. such Emollient Baths Fomentations c. with the Use of Emollient Moistners inwardly will cause Sleep very finely when Opium it self will not and that Opium in such Cases should be used with such Things both internally and externally but which is not observ'd the Baths Fomentations c. should not be above the Warmth of Bloud because the Heat may otherwise cause too much motion of the Bloud and Spirits which is a great Enemy to Sleep that consists in their Rest and the aforesaid Relaxation of Parts by both which co-operating you may and cannot fail to cause any Man to Sleep if you can make them concur 14. The same Relaxation causes the Pulse to be larger and slower in Sleep Nocturnal Pollutions want of due Contraction and Sensation at Stomach by which Means the Meat stays longer there in our Sleep than when we are awake So 15. Frets Commotions and Perturbations of the Spirits c. are composed by Sleep because the sensitive Soul who is the Original of all motion is at Rest and that the Animal Spirits being expanded are nearer their absolute Rest which consists in a full and perfect Expansion so that there is no farther Endeavour towards Motion 16. Sensation being much lessened by the Expansion of the Animal Spirits upon the said Relaxation the Sense of the Irritation of Humours is thereby lessened or quite taken away whereupon all Fluxes occasioned by the Irritation of Humours as Diarrhea's Disenteries Catarrhs c. are stopt or moderated at least by Sleep Besides that Relaxation being quite contrary to Contraction by which those Humours are squeesed out le ts the Humours stay quietly where they are Relaxation being more for receiving containing detaining and suspending Humours in the Parts than sending them forward as you see in a Spunge first contracted and afterward suffered to dilate or expand it self in a Dish that has some Water in it which it takes into it self and suspends till something squeeses it out by contracting it 17. Therefore it is that the Spittle does not come into the Mouth in Sleep or very little and that People are apt to awake thirsty tho' it is soon taken off in some measure by the Vigilative Contraction squeezing out the Spittle into the Mouth unless there is some special Cause to the contrary 18. For the same Reason the Menstruum of the Stomach comes but very slowly into the Stomach in Sleep which is one Cause that Digestion goes on but slowly in Sleep Note That Digestion and sending the Chyle out of the Stomach depending both upon Contraction they are hastned and retarded in exact Proportion so that the Extrusion keeps equal Pace with the Digestion How equal and duely proportioned are the Works of Nature 19. It is plain also from what has been Stated concerning Sleep why Ague Fits seldom if ever take People in the time of their first sound Sleep because the Shivering is caused by a grievous
Sensation of the sensile Parts which cannot well happen in that sound Sleep wherein there is so little Feeling by Reason of the said Relaxation and because Relaxation opposes Contraction by which that Shivering is promoted Such a Relaxation and Failure of Feeling thereupon is the true Cause why Opium puts off Ague Fits c. So 20. The Relaxation in Sleep stops Vomiting by taking away the sense of the irritating Cause and quieting as I have intimated all Motions in general so Sleep stops Hiccoughs Hemorrhages Diary Fevers c. 21. Why Watching Labour or what impairs the Spirits and tires the sensitive Soul inclines us to Sleep that is disposes the sensitive Soul the only Feeler of Lassitude to give over Contracting the Sensile Parts which as will plainly appear by and by spends the Spirits as Sleep by relaxing them causes a Recruit thereof To be short tho' one can hardly be too long in solving Phenomena's which is the Proof of the Truth of a Man's Assertion the Mechanical Demonstration that I have made of the State of Sleeping and Waking does so evidently explicate all the Phenomena's of both that I am even asham'd to run any farther upon such plain Matters so obvious are Things when the Truth is known and therefore having mention'd those Circumstances and Effects of Sleep that mainly concern us I must give over lest the World should think that I take all my Readers to be Idiots by using too many Words in so obvious a Thing or that I am no better for using them without Cause for the Truth of this Matter seems to me to out-shine all the Arguments I can make for it such Splendour does Truth shew upon the first Glimps thereof as I take the Account I gave of Sleep and Watching to be for the Opinions I have met concerning them were quite contrary to or very remote from what I have stated 1. They went quite contrary to it that said That the Animal Spirits were expanded and the Pores of the Brain c. more open and consequently more lax in Watching as Willis and several others who therefore say that Coffee Volatile Salts c. are Antihypnoticks or good against too much Sleepiness because they cause an Expansion of the Spirits and open the Pores of the Brain supposing forsooth that they marched up and down and so kept the greater stir upon the false Imagination of their Roads being more open which as was proved are really more close Coffee keeps us from Sleep by drying binding and both Ways constringing the Vessels as also by a wide grating Quality which therefore does irritate them to contract besides that the Saline Particles causing an Agitation may contribute thereto so that by constringing and agitating it directly opposes Sleep which proceeds from Relaxation and Quietness 2. They were very remote from the Mark that said as Wedeliâ—s asserts all do that Vapours were the cause of Natural Sleep which bear no manner of Proportion thereto as was shewn As they were also who mâ—dly talk'd That the Animal Spirits which have neither Life Sense Motion or Election did of themselves retire very knowingly to the Brain in Sâ—eep and left the Limbs c. destitute of them whereas as has been Mechanically proved they have more Room than that at other times in 〈◊〉 Limbs and all the sensile Parts But I will not argue against such senseless and precarious Absurdities it is not worth the while especially since the Truth is manifestly discovered It would not have been so silly to have affirm'd the quite contrary viz. That the Animal Spirits are forced into the soft and yielding Brain in Watching by the Vigilative Contraction of all the senfile Parts repelling them as when Cold repels them by a strong Contraction of the Parts and causes a Stupor or Sleep thereof as they call it But what have we to do with such insufferable Trash Therefore bidding it adieu let us pursue our Business That it is the Sensitive Soul and nothing but it has that Contracting Power is evident 1. Because it is the Original of all Motion in the Animal as such and that nothing besides it has any Life Perception Motion or Power and therefore must rest till they are moved 2. Because That when the Sensitive Soul is diverted by intense Pleasure from attending his Business immediately Relaxation follows as in the Pleasure of the Act of Venery by Wine Ioy c. in which you have all the Effects of Relaxation as Deadness of the Eyes Dilatation of the Pupilla plentiful Perspiration Floridity of the Skin a large Pulse and sometimes a considerable Failure of Sense and Motion as in the most pleasant time of the Venereal Act Deliquiums Drunkenness Syncopes or Ecstasies upon intense Pleasure which are very properly called Ecstasies Leipothymies Leipopsychies c. which signifie the Soul's leaving us without his Help by Contractions which he then does not exercise as being charm'd and wholly taken up with Pleasure This is the true Cause of all Deliquiums c. upon Pleasure Ioy c. all which cause great Relaxations and thereby Loss of Sense and Motion as being its necessary Consequences 3. Because grievous Sensation which belongs only to the Sensitive Soul puts us immediately out of Sleep into a Vigilative Contraction 4. Because the Sensitive Soul can when we are Sleepy oppose it by continuing the Vigilative Contraction which proves Vigilative Contraction to be in his Power Note That there is also other sorts of Leipothymies Deliquiums c. upon the Sensitive Soul's being over-tired whereof Natural Sleep is but a common and ordinary Degree that happens of Course for our Relief or over-born with some Fatigue c. as when somewhat grieves at Stomach and that it has laid about it all manner of Ways by Vomiting Convulsive Motions c. to be rid of it till it can work no longer whereupon it lays down the Cudgels desists from all further Endeavour by Contractions yielding it self to Ease seeing all Striving is to no Effect So that tho' this Deliquium and the former differ in their first Causes yet do they agree in the last and immediate viz. the Sensitive Soul 's not attending his Business of Contraction whereupon follows a mighty Relaxation as appears by the Deadness or Relaxation of the Cornea Dilatation of the Pupil a great Laxity of all Parts a large Pulse or none very plentiful Perspiration Stops of Hemorrhages and all Fluxes that require Contraction c. which happen both upon the Account of the great Relaxation it self as has been shewn and the almost absolute Rest of all Things by the Sensitive Soul's withdrawing himself from Business more than in Sleep it self I therefore observing the Degrees of Sleep c. do Note That God and Nature using a due Proportion in all Things the Sensitive Soul uses several Degrees of Relaxation according as he is tired and Refection is wanted Hence it is that such as are much tired sleep more profoundly that our first
which have been in some measure enumerated in the Case of Natural Sleep in this Chapter viz. Satisfaction Composure of Frets and Commotions as of diary Fevers hysterick Fits c. Perspiration quieting of Vomitings Hiccoughs c. lessening of Feeling and consequently a stop and moderation of all Fluxes that depend upon Irritation of Humours as Diarrhea's Dysenteries Catarrhs Vomitings Driness of the Mouth as in Sleep for want of the Contraction to squeeze the Spittle out of the Glandules into the Mouth Nocturnal Pollutions c. But of the Nature and Effects of Pleasure you 'll find more in the next Chapter Besides the Vigilative and Defensive Contractions which seem to be Things of course upon Waking and Grievances the sensitive Soul has a Contraction at Will as that of the Pupilla when an Animal is intent upon Seeing of the Tympan when intent upon Hearing of the Musoles of the Legs when intent upon Walking and so of all the Muscles of the Body which I call Intentivâ— Contraction that he can perform either along with or without the other Contractions or without any great degree thereof as when one is considerably relaxed with the Pleasure of Wine very good News c. nay sometimes even in Sleep as is manifest by the Noctamâ—uli or such as walk in their Sleep and such as speak strike c. while asleep And as the Defensive Contraction does all it can in our Defence without the Direction of the Will as in Vomiting Sneezing Purging c. upon sensible Irritation so this Intentive Contraction does all it can to the same Purpose by the Direction and Dictates thereof Note That inâ—ensile growing Things that do not move as Trees c. have none of these Contractions but what happens by Cold and Compression of the Atmosphere which are sufficient it seems for Nutrition but not for Sense and Motion it follows That in compleat Syncopes when the sensitive Soul gives over all Contractions that we are much in the state of a Plant. All those three Contractions viz. the Vigilative Defensive and Intentive do because they promote Motion and cause it more or less as you find the Vigilative causes much more of it than Sleep and the Defensive more than that c. spend the Spirits cause Weariness c. The Vigilative Contraction does of it self without any considerable Grievance or Labour that is without the Denfensive or Intentive Contraction tire the sensitive Soul in about 16 Hours Hence it is that the idlest Person that is most free from Care Trouble or Pain cannot well hold out without the Recruit of Sleep any longer The Defensive Contraction or that of Grievances being added to the Vigilative Contraction the Spirits are faster spent and the Person tired proportionably sooner according as the Grievance is more or less and consequently the Endeavours of the sensitive Soul to be rid thereof To both which Contractions viz. the Vigilative and Defensive if you add the Intentive or Labour then are you sooner and more tired than by only those two former Contractions for this last Case is labouring in Pain or under a Grievance which notoriously tires Man or Beast sooner than ordinary The direct contrary to which is sleeping soundly and sweetly without Trouble Pain or Dreams for a dreaming Condition has too much of the vigilative Contraction in it to be pure Relaxation and Recruit Now according as these Contractions are or are not added one to another we are sooner or later before we are tired speaking generally and not considering Custom and Habit which concerns us not You see that all the three Contractions conourring do soon and sadly tire us that no two of them tire us as much as the three together that iâ— neither the Vigilative and Defensive without the Intentive nor the Vigilative and Intentive without the Defensive and the Vigilative alone least of all Yet allowance must be made for the Intensness of the Defensive and Intentive for either of these two being very intense may tire as much as both in a moderate degree Thus a Man may be tired with violent Labour in four Hours tho' not in Pain as much as one that moderately labours in some small Pain for the same time Observe That we recruit in eight Hours generally speaking as much by relaxation in Sleep as we spend by vigilative Contraction in sixteen I take the Reason of that to be That Relaxation widening all the Passages of the Body the Nutriment is admitted into them more fully and freely as the Bloud is into the Skin in Sleep and all Relaxations which cause an Efflorescence thereof in those Cases Hence it is that we are so much recruited and nourished in Sleep that Children grow more than others proportionably that Relaxers cause the Breasts c. to grow Note What a mighty Restaurative Relaxation is By its help for eight Hours in twenty four we can watch all and labour most of the other sixteen all the days of our Life It follows That if we could any way half relax the vigilative Contraction while we Labour take a Iourney or the like that we might perform prodigiously without being â—ired Hence it is That because Pleasure as has been intimated relaxes as Grievances contract of which you may expect farther Proof in the next Chapter that such as work or travel pleasantly diverted all the time are tired very little or nothing in a long time and that some will dance whole Nightâ— with sweet Musick and agreeable beloved Company without being so much tired as they would be if they us'd the same Motions for a quarter of the time without either of the pleasant Diversions The like is to be said of any other Pleasure as drinking a good Glass of generous Wine every half hour or so often as to continue the sense of its Pleasure at Stomach all the time they labour or travel for 't is a vulgar Errour tho' the universal Sentiment of Mankind both Learned and Unlearned That Wine Cordials c. do comfort elevate and excite the Spirits as 't is call'd by adding their Spirits to or joining them with ours whereas it is only by causing a pleasant Sensation particularly at Stomach For which Paradox I am obliged tho' in great haste to come to the Explication of Opium to give my Reasons which are as follows viz. 1. It cannot be imagined how a sensitive Creature as such can conceive any Comfort or be sensible thereof but by Sensation To say he is comforted and not sensible of the Comfort is a Contradiction for Comfort as such belongs to a perceiving Being and an Animal as such perceives nothing but by the Senses and therefore there can be no Comfort but by pleasant Sensation nay as such it is his Comfort So Musick pleasant Sights Odours and agreeable Objects of all the Senses are comfortable because pleasant I hope that none will say That Musick Sights good News c. which highly comfort have any Spirits to add to ours The
be well removed This proves how useful Removals may be and how convenient in Plague Time it would be to remove to the Wind-side of a Town or City that is tainted according as the Wind changes and how convenient Winds are to convey away the Effluviams and good Stomachick Cordials that are warm and pleasant to fortifie the Stomach and open the Pores which all Things that cause a sense of Pleasure do as Wine Spirits c. to which if some good Preparation of Opium were added it would be most convenient How many Stories have we of Persons well fill'd with Wine who wonderfully escaped Infection I pray God this Hint may be improv'd to the Preservation of Mankind Therefore I add that much may be in a good Quantity of Wine in this Case 1. Because Quod intus est prohibet alienum that is What is within hinders ingress of another Thing 2. Because the Perspiration will be the greater both upon the Account of the greater opening of the Pores by the Pleasure of the Wine and the greater Quantity of Matter to be perspired carry off the venemous Particles 3. Because the Sensitive Soul is thereby much comforted refreshed and invigorated but I would have the Wine so used as to keep a continual Warmth Pleasure and Comfort at Stomach which is the main Cause of all the good I think a Glass every Hour after taking 2 or 3 at first may hit the Mark best the Reason of which will appear hereafter Thirdly The Stomach 's exquisite Disposition to Sensation above all other Organs and Membranes appears by this viz. That the Offences of the other Organs of Sensation even by their proper Objects do often affect the Stomach more than those very Senses or Organs themselves For Instance If we smell a great Stench the Stomach is often more offended thereat than the Nose as is manifest from the Vomitings Faintings and Deliquiums that are caused by the Stomach upon that Account so the bare Seeing Feeling and Tasting of a nasty Thing do cause Nauseas c. at Stomach yea the very naming of such Things has much offended it and caused such Effects which may be thought very strange considering that there pass no Effluvias from the sound of Words but the Reason will appear in the following Paragraph Fourthly All Passions Commotions and Perturbations that happen in the Body do often affect the Stomach and sometimes so grievously as to cause Nauseas Vomitings great Anxieties at Stomach Faintings c. Thus Fear Terrour Surprizes Anger Grief Pain in other Parts c. causing some Motion in the Animal more than ordinary of which the Stomach being sensible do cause the aforesaid Disturbances Therefore it is no Wonder if the Hearing one mention a Nasty Thing which causes an Abhorrence and the Motions consequent thereunto should as was said in the precedent Paragraph cause the nice Stomach to be offended It is most manifest from the Premises that no Organ or Membrane can compare with the Stomach as to its exquisite Disposition for Sensation it follows then That Grievances or Pleasure at Stomach must have the greater Effects 1. Because the Intenseness of either will be proportionable to the Sensation 2. Because the Powers of the Animal that are to defend it which are Contractions are affected according to the Sensation and that it is there most requisite sensibly to affect them 3. Because what affects the Stomach influences the whole Animal more than the Sensation of any other Part. 4. Because of the considerable Stay that Things make at Stomach to cause Grievance or Pleasure whereas that of Pleasure is generally very momentary in other Cases 5. Because being within the Body we carry our Pleasure or Grievance with us as a Vade Mecum wherever we go and therefore 6. It is a Pleasure c. that cannot so well be taken away from us as that of the Tongue Ear Nose Eye c. may by removing the Objects and therefore it remains with us in our very Sleep as far as we are capable of Sensation at that Time causing pleasant Dreams c. and so agreeably entertaining us Sleeping or Waking when the Pleasure of all the other Senses fails us Which will appear farther hereafter The Pleasure at Stomach excells even that of Venery if not in Intenseness yet in several other Respects viz. 1. Because of its duration that of Venus being momentary but that of Wine at Stomach lasts a good while and that of Opium many hours 't is therefore that the Effects of these Two are more remarkable and taken notice of 2. Because that at Stomach may be continued as long as we please by a new supply of Wine Opium Cordials c. 3. Because it may be excited when and as often as we please if we have those Cordials at Hand 4. Because it is not attended with any Expence of Strength Depression of Spirits c. as that of Venery but the quite contrary viz. with more Vigour Elevation of the Spirits c. one being by Emission and the other upon Admission of what is agreeable It is for the several Reasons contain'd in the Premises that the Effects of Grievance as Hunger c. or Pleasure are more considerable and remarkable at Stomach and that Things agreeable thereto have by way of Eminence gain'd the Name of Cordials That Wine Spirits Opium c. do cause a more permanent and notable Gaity Pleasantness Good Humour Serenity Promptitude Ovation of the Spirits or Sensitive Soul Bravery Courage Magnanimity Euphory or easie undergoing of Business Relaxation with all its Effects as Deadness of the Eye Dilatation of the Papilla Perspiration c. which are hardly noted in other short Pleasures unless it be in that eminent tho' short one of Venus which is a Pleasure of the same sense of Feeling as that of Opium and Wine are Therefore pleasing the Stomach is one of the greatest Things to be regarded in the Practice of Physick to Comfort Satisfie or Compose the Spirits by which Means I have often performed such Cures that neither I nor I suppose any other could otherwise perform namely Dejections of Appetite Untowardness at Stomach c. when all the ordinary and usual Means have failed by asking them what they mostly desired or long'd for and letting them have it or if they could not tell of any Thing that they long'd for I have mentioned to them all the Relishing Things that I could think of and such as were grateful to the Stomach till they fasten'd upon somewhat that they liked or fancied and then being given them it generally had the desired Success The Stomach is grieved for it will concern us to know how because Opium causes Vomiting c. generally speaking 1. By Things hard of Digestion as heavy Bread Mushroms Rosins and such like 2. By Things acrimonious or pungent as Vomitories of Asarabacca Groundsil Squills c. which abound with Volatile salt 3. By Things that stick to the Stomach which
often cause most dismal and tedious Vomitings and when they fall to relieve by rejecting the grieving Matter Hiccoughs Anxieties Distresses Syncopes and sometimes fatal Succumbencies Nature and all Endeavour failing to work any farther for the Animal's Relief These Things happen most commonly when indigeslible Rosin sticks to the Stomach especially if they be join'd with any Pungent Volatile or Acrimonious Particles Hence it is that Resinous Vomits are quite banish'd out of the Practice of Physick and it were well if Resinous Purgers were so also especially such as have considerable Acrimony unless given with the Yolk of an Egg Lixivials or in Tinctures with Spirituous Things to keep the Resinous Particles from Coalescence and adhering to the Stomach c. 1. Note for we shall have some Occasion for it That Resinous Things join'd with Volatile irritating Particles have all the ill Qualities aforementioned viz. Hardness of Digestion Aptitude to stick to the Stomach and Volatile Particles to irritate and tear its Coats all the time they so stick to it and therefore such Things have dismal Effects especially in weak Stomachs that cannot Digest them 2. Note That the Distresses at Stomach caused by a grievous Sensation are of Two sorts 1. Such as are the Endeavours of Nature or the Sensitive Soul in Defence of the Animal as all Vomitings Purgings Convulsions Hiccoughs Throws Strugglings Agitations Contractions Watchings c. which are accompanied with Melancholy Fretfulness ill Humour c. because of the Grievance 2. Such as follow the Yielding and Succumbency of Nature or the Sensitive Soul after being tired and over-born by the Fatigue of Defensive Contraction as Faintings Distresses Agonies Syncopes and Leipothymies 3. Note That Syncopes or Leipothymies are caused by the Sensitive Soul's being over-born as was said tired and spent and giving over his fruitless Contractions Defensive and Vigilative upon a sudden as being to no Purpose as he does gently and gradually give over Vigilative Contraction to cause Sleep so that Syncopes are only greater suddener and more absolute Derelictions of the whole Concern of Contractions Hence it is that Perspiration is greater in Syncopes or Leipothymies than in Sleep the Laxity of the Cornea and the whole Body greater the Feeling less or quite gone that all Motions become much slower or none by the want of Compression of the Animal Spirits and dismal Derelictions of all Contractions by the Sensitive Soul Hence it is that all the Effects of Sleep are yet greater in Syncopes 4. Note That therefore it seems all the Difference between Sleep and a Leipothymy is that in this the Sensitive Soul quite throws the Reins of Contractions away and in Sleep keeps hold thereof and only lets them loose and as Refection is made straightens them more and more till they come to the Degree of Vigilative Contraction which perfectly awakes them Therefore Sleep grows slighter toward Morning because Contraction gradually comes on Here you may see but I must stop lest I run too far why every Thing that causes Contraction of the Sensile Parts as Pain and all Grievances are apt to awake People and keep them so as Relaxers cause Sleep and continue it 5. Note That tho' I have particularly spoken of the Somach as being most concern'd and the best Example of any Membrane yet do not I exclude any Membrane from being capable of Pleasure by the like Things As for the Effects of Pleasure upon the Sensitive Soul I have upon several Occasions said or intimated enough concerning them and even the Vulgar know that Pleasure or being pleased makes People good and gay humour'd That it elevates the Spirits raising Courage as Wine does and enables every Animal to Labour or Travel the better as Horses by the Sound of Bells especially if tunable and in Company with another Horse that they have a kindness for How Soldiers March more easily with Merry Comrades that are full of Iests and pleasant Stories or with Drums Trumpets Kettle Drums 〈◊〉 and other Musick that please the Ear How much more briâ—k and blith are we in a fair Sunshine which pleases the Eye than at other times Some â—ink according to the Vulgar Errour that iâ— is the Goodness of the Air does it but it is plainly otherwise for you find the change most remarkable in your self just upon going out of Doors into the Sun-shine whereas you had the same Air in your Chamber nor is that fine Lightness of Humour to be found if it be Cloudy tho' the Air be better as may be observ'd by the Barometer and other Weather-Glasses nor in the Night Time nor where the Sun does not come nor are blind People so affected therefore it is the Pleasure of the bright Sunshine that causes it If Mean Slight Transient and External Pleasures cause such Effects how much more then will an intense internal and continued Pleasure upon the most exquisitely disposed Part for Sensation of all the whole Body which is mainly design'd for those Purposes of Pleasing and Comforting to invite us to nourish our selves and to satisfie the grievous Sensations of Hunger and Thirst by the Pleasure of Meat and Drink such Pleasant Effects Thus the Fretfulness Peevishness ill Humour Melancholy Pusillanimity Inaptitude and Listnesness that attend the grievous Sensation of Hunger are taken off and cured by the pleasant Sensation that a good Meal or some Glasses of Wine do cause Hence it is that we cannot Sleep when Hungry because grievous Sensation contracts the Sensile Parts and are apt to it after Meals the Pleasure of which relaxes us if we sit or lie quietly and silently but if we do not we are more lively and fit for Business Instances of this Kind are so numerous and notorious that I need say no more of the Effects of Pleasure in causing a good Humour Elevation of the Spirits Satisfaction Content Composure c. Is it possible that one should be highly pleased and not take Comfort therein take Comfort and not be elevated in Spirit well satisfied and contented Therefore it is strange and very strange that People should leave Wine Cordials Meats Spirits c. actually and sensibly pleasing satisfying and comforting us at Stomach where there is a Membrane most exquisitely disposed for Sensation and run after Fumes and Effluvias that were never in our Case in being to the Brain or Bloud that have no sense to entertain them and consequently can receive no sensible Comfort by them If this be not seeking a Needle in a Bottle of Hay where it never was when it sticks most sensibly in their Fingers nothing is We should think it a strange ridiculous Action in a Child or Natural Fool but great is the Privilege and Authority of the Learned So much may suffice as to the Effects of Pleasure upon the Sensitive Soul As for the Effects of Pleasure upon the Body it is Relaxation of all the Sensile Parts thereof as appears 1. Because it 's contrary viz. Displeasure or sensitive
only the opening of the Pores so that I need add no more Words about it for the fame Cause must have the same Effect therefore an intense and permanent Pleasure must have all or much of the Effects of Sleep in general as has been shewn It cannot therefore be any Wonder that Opium causes Sleep Yet is there Difference between Sleep and Pleasure upon other Accounts tho not upon the Account of Relaxation viz. because 1. That Sleep requires also a rest of Spirits or the sensitive Soul whereas Relaxation by Pleasure is consistent with motion of the Spirits either by outward Action or internal motion thereof by some inward Causes Hence it is First That we can Labour Travel Dance c. and enjoy Pleasure and its Relaxation Volantary motion which requires only a particular Contraction of some Parts by the Dictates of the Will or Appetite being consistent with the general Relaxation by Reason of the Prerogative of the Will Thus do we move tho' more relaxed or when most Merry and pleased with Wine nay some will walk in their Sleep when extreamly intâ—t upon a Thing as when awake which shews the ruling Power of intentive Contraction that may be exercised with Relaxations and other Contractions as the Will it self may or intentive Appetite Secondly That Pain is often taken away by Opium by the Diversion and Relaxation caused by Pleasure and its Inconsistence with Pain without Sleep which requires the aforesaid Rest That bare Relaxation as such does not include tho' Relaxation suffices to take away Pain Thirdly That Opium does by its Heat active Particles c. hinder some Persons to Sleep yet have you in both these last Cases all other Effectâ— of Opium as Pleasure Indolence Relaxations c. which shews how far Sleep is from being a constant and the most genuine Effect of Opium as is generally imagined however we must allow it as has been shewn to be a mighty Disposer of us towards Sleep because of the Relaxation that it causes which is the main Requisite of Sleep II. That Pleasure does without Nutritive Refection by the Complacency it causes in the sensitive Soul produce Comfort Satisfaction Composure Elevation of the Spirits Euphory c. of which Sleep is either not at all capable or but in a low degree proportionable to the sensation that it has which is but little however a Pleasure that remains within us even in our Sleep as that of Opium may well cause Pleasant Dreams c. The Reader may observe that in all Places where I mention that Relaxation causes the opening of the Pores that I speak only of Perspiration as the Effect thereof without mentioning Sweat 1. Because Perspiration is the only constant and infallible Effect thereof by reason that the Levity of the Fumes causes them as certainly to pass at the Pores when open as Smoak passes up at an open Chimney 2. Because Sweat is an uncertain Effect thereof for it requires that the Body be well fill'd with moisture tho' there is a Relaxation or Opening of the Pores as Hippocrates very rightly intimates in that Aphorism of his that I cited in the last Chapter 1. Because Sweat has not that Levity that the Fumes have to cause it readily to move as soon as the Pores are open 2. Because Relaxation is more apt to receive detain and suspend Humours 3. Because the protrusive Motion of the Heart is weaker in all Relaxations and all see how much its Vigorous Protrusion contributes to Sweat upon Action 4. Because a Heartfull of Bloud does not make such a Push forward when the Arteries are widen'd by Relaxation 5. Sweat having more of Continuity Consistence and Viscidity cannot flow out so readily at the Pores as a meer Vapour However if the Body be full of Moisture and the Pores open there being a Natural Course that Way and the Heart continually protruding it farther and farther a Sweat follows and that whether they Sleep or not 3. Because Sweat as was in some sort intimated is sometimes caused by the strong Protrusion of the Heart as in Motion c. and upon that Account comes more under the Title of Fluxes caused by Contraction than Relaxation of which Perspiration is a constant Effect 4. Because Sweat is sometimes caused by another sort of Contraction viz. the Compression of the whole Body by a violent Defensive Contraction as in great Terrour Agonies and the like causing thereby as was shewn by the Comparison of a wet Sheet wrung whose out side is cold a cold Sweat which that of Alum or Vitriol causing an Exudation of the Spittle into the Mouth by constringing the Parts does illustrate very plainly Therefore you see I had just Cause not to mention Sweat as a certain and proper Effect of Relaxation without good Distinctions first made tho' unwary Authors that talk any Thing one after another not knowing what they say make it their common saying That Sleep and Opium stops all Fluxes but Sweat whereas they should have rather said but Perspiration for Opium and Sleep also will sometimes hinder Sweat viz. that from Pain Terrour c. and that as happens just upon awaking by the stronger Systole of the Heart and Contraction of the whole Body and that also upon motion unless the Body be as was said full of Humours or Moisture Therefore it is a Vulgar Errour to say Sweat instead of Perspiration in the Case aforesaid You may remember that in the Beginning of this Chapter I concluded that a Sal-Volatile-Oleosum such as Semen Humanum wherein the Oily and Volatile Parts are strictly combined and the Volatile somewhat more active or acrimonious than that in our Membranes in general must be most pleasing to the Membranes by a fine Titillation c. therefore if Opium should prove to be such we need not wonder at its titillating to Venery nor indeed its causing a high sense of Pleasure upon any Membrane they being all of the same Nature but especially upon the most exquisitely disposed Membrane of the Stomach and the Venereal Parts nor consequently its causing all the aforementioned Effects of intense Pleasure as Comfort Satisfaction Ovation c. of the sensitive Soul or Spirits and Relaxation of all the sensile Parts which will easily solve all the Phenomenas of Opium however numerous mysterious and seemingly contradictory as you 'll find Let us therefore now see whether Opium be such a Sal-Volatile-Oleosum wherein the Volatile Particles are somewhat more active or acrimonious than ours and the Oily and Volatile Parts strictly combined If so the Business is done the Nail is hit on the Head and I may say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. XV. Shews what are the Principles of Opium and which cause the good and bad Effects thereof HAving tried if not tired your Patience and premised what I thought necessary in the foregoing Chapters I now reassume the Thread of my Discourse As for the passive Principles of Opium which do or signifie little or nothing
Spoons and cause no more Effect than Oil of Olives and Spirit of Sal Amenoniack taken inwardly one acting too softly lazily and greasily to cause any brisk and agreeable Ovation of the Spirits and the other too rudely stinging the Membranes therefore we must proceed in our Enquiry Fourthly Opium has a sort of Resinous Sulphur that is loose and not united with the Volatile Salt which plainly appears 1. Because if you dissolve Opium in Water cold or hot or any Watery Menstruum you 'll find a good quantity of Rosin undissolved at bottom while the Volatile Salt is all or most dissolved in the Water especially if the Water be often repeated and quite separated from the Resinous Part which subsides without any more trouble which shews that the Volatile Salt and it are not combined but in a very loose and distinct manner 2. Because if you first dissolve Opium in Spirit of Wine which imbibes the Rosin it is easily again precipitated by plain Water leaving behind it all or most of the Volatile Salt in the Form of a red Tincture in the Menstruum as it does also in the former Case Note That the Resinous Part of Opium has no Effect as an Opiate for if it be well washed with Water as was said it has no Operation of that kind or so little that it is not worth the minding but all the Vertue Specifick Taste Smell c. is carried away in that red Tincture which has all the good Effects of Opium as Experience assures us 3. Because if Opium be very much torrefied most of the Volatile Salt is evaporated and with it most if not all the Vertue of Opium but the Rosin remains as a deadish Stuff in Respect of the good Effects of Opium tho' it is as shall be proved the Producer of the ill Effects thereof Therefore this Rosin must be wholly rejected Fifthly The Red Tincture aforesaid has all or most of the Volatile Salt in it 1. Because Water is the Proper Menstruum for Saline Things and that the Tincture reduced to an Extract gives very much in moist Weather which Quality it must have from the Volatile Salt because it has very little Fixed Salt 2. Because the Specifick Bitterness which proceeds from Volatile salt and Oily Parts is wholly in that Red Tincture 3. Because that Tincture has also the Specifick Rankness of Smell that the Volatile Salt as was shewn gives the Opium by the Help of some Oily Parts 4. Because that Tincture reduced to an Extract has the biting Taste of Opium which as was shewn proceeds from its Volatile Salt 5. Because that Extract incides discusses resolves is Psilothrick titillates to Venery causes Itchings in the Skin acrimonious Sweats c. all which are as was shewn the Effects of Volatile Salt But what need I insist so much upon its Effects to prove it When 6. It appears by Crystalization of the said Tincture after it has been evaporated to a due degree that it contains the Volatile Salt in it which in a cool Place shoots to elegant Crystals and that 7. It is found therein by Chymical Operation by Fire Sixthly The said Tincture is Oleose 1. Because the Redness of the Tincture must be from Oily Parts for pure sincere Volatile Salt gives no such Tincture 2. Because it is bitter one Ingredient of which Taste is ever Oily Parts as was said 3. Because of its rank smell like Sem. Viril which proves it to be Sulphureous for the Volatile Salt alone has only a quick smell or Urinous at farthest 4. Because it is of a Hot Taste when reduced to an Extract which Heat of Taste considered distinctly from its pungent or biting Taste must be from Sulphureous or Oily Parts 5. Because Spirit of Wine and other Spirituosulphureous Menstruums do readily dissolve it when reduced to an Extract 6. Because the Extract softens with dry warmth as Sulphureous or Oily Things do 7. Because a true Sal-Volatile-Oleosum wherein the Volatile Salt and Oily Parts are intimately combined as you find in all Blouds Tinctures of several Plants that have such a Sal-Volatile-Oleosum is red 8. Because it could not otherwise so finely please the Membranes cause Sleep compose the Spirits c. if it were all Volatile Salt which is wholly pungent and acrimonious mightily opposes Sleep and causes a great stir in the Bloud and Spirits But as I said as to its Volatile salt what need I insist upon its Effects When 10. It s Inflammability after it is reduced to an Extract and dried puts it out of all Question And that 11. An Oil may be separated from the Volatile Salt tho' not without Trouble because that as is requisite to compleat it in the highest degree Seventhly The Oily Parts and Volatile Salt are very intimately and strictly combin'd as fairly appears 1. By the Difficulty to separate them 2. By the Redness of the Tincture as in Bloud c. for when Oily or Sulphureous Particles are loose therein they make either a white Colour as the Rosin does in the Drops that fall out of the Incisions in the Heads of the Poppies which are Milk white or leave the Volatile Spirit perspicuous as in a sort of artificial Sal. Volatile-Oleosum that is sold at the Apothecaries Shops in London 3. Because it imparts its Tincture which depends upon both to all Menstruums 4. Because it imparts its Vertue which depends upon both to all Menstruums 5. Because it imparts its Specifick Smell which depends upon both to all Menstruumt 6. Because it imparts its Specifick hot and biting Taste which depend upon both the Oily and Volatile Particles to all Menstruums 7. Because it will hold its Vertue many years which it could not if the Volatile Salt and Oily Parts were not very strictly combined 8. Because that notwithstanding the Digestion at Stomach it has held its Specifick Vertue Smell and Taste after it has been in it 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 18 or more Hours as appear'd by its Operating so long and afteward its being Vomited up with the same Taste and Smell that it had at first than which there cannot be a greater Argument 9. Because it has been carried off by Stools which had its Specifick Smell after many Hours remaining in the Stomach 10. Because its Operation in general lasts long Charas mentions one that it Operated with for about 30 Hours and Wedelius another whom Opium caused to Vomit constantly about 18 Hours after it was taken 11. Because it has its Effects upon the Venereal Membranes after it has passed the Digestion at Stomach the Effects of the Choler and Succus Pancreatus in the Duodenum been strained through the Coats of the Intestines into the Lacteals and through the Glandules of the Mesentery mixed and circulated with the Bloud c. 12. Because after all that it has its Effect upon the Skin by causing an Itching therein 13. Because it not only causes Acrimonious Sweats but such as evidently smell thereof
are reputed Opiates Borellus speaks of a Soporiferous Aura that proceeded from ones Thumb cured by a Caustick I have read of a Cataphora from Worms a Soporiferous Fume from the Womb and very many such sorts of Instances which Things are now easily conceived for 't is but supposing a Fume of the Nature of Sem. Animale or its Aura for I can no longer doubt but it is an Opiate and it would have much the same Effects with Opium if it were fit to use it after the same manner Having shewn 1. Which are the predominant active Principles in Opium and how combined c. 2. Which of them produces the usual and laudable Effects of Opium And why in general I come now to the Third Particular viz. to shew III. Which of them produces its ill Effects And why It s ill Effects are these viz. Nauseas Vomitings which are generally very dismal with great distress and sometimes dangerous Swimming in the Head Hiccoughs Distresses Anxieties Convulsions Faintings Leipothymies Syncopes c. 1. Note That its grievous Effects are at or about the Region of the Stomach or particularly the Mouth or Pit thereof or thence arising by Consent 2. Note That seeing there is nothing so good but may cause evil Effects in an excessive Quantity this Enquiry is more properly What Principle or Principles of Opium do cause those ill Effects in an ordinary Dose for what will in a moderate Dose will be sure cause them in an excessive Dose 3. Note That all the constant Effects of Opium as you may observe in the Enumeration thereof in the Fourth Chapter are good and laudable Effects it follows therefore that the bad are accidental 1. It is not the Earthy or Phlegmatick Part of Opium that causes those ill Effects because they are Passive Principles and consequently have not such a Power besides that they are known to be innocent 2. Opium has all those ill Effects when both the Earthy and Phlegmatick Parts are separated from it as when an Extract of well torrefied Opium is made in Spirit of Wine for by that means the Phlegmatick Part is dried up and the Earthy Parts subside and are separated yea such Extracts made by Spirit of Wine do cause those evil Effects rather more than crude Opium with its Earth and Phlegm in it as Experience assures us and Reason will plainly confirm by and by however fond the World is of such Preparations 3. It is evident from the Premises that the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium cannot cause those Vomitings Hiccoughs c. for they are the Effects of grievous Sensation at Stomach but the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum causes a most agreeable and pleasing Sensation at Stomach 4. Nothing quiets Vomitings Convulsions â—coughs c. more than that Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium 5. Experience informs us That the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium separated from all other Parts and Principles thereof never causes such evil Effects as I and another Physician in London can testifie as does also Le Mort in the most Learned Dr. Love's Collectanea where he says of such a Preparation thereof as contains only the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum That Nunquam Anxietates circa Praecordia aut Phantasias conciliat That is It never causes Anxieties about the Mouth of the Stomach c. for that is most properly to be understood by Praecordia Wedelius testifies the like of such another Preparation and so do several Authors tho' they did not in the least know why but only by Experience 6. It s Fixt Salt is innocent in its Nature and but the 32d Part of Opium which is too inconsiderable in an ordinary moderate Dose to cause any sensible Effect It follows therefore That is must be the Resinous Part of Opium which it has in a considerable Quantity that must cause those ill Effects This manifestly appears 1. Because a Tincture of Opiam in Water which takes up none of the Rosin but lets it fall into the Bottom never causes any such ill Effects which it does not also if reduced to an Extract by Evaporation yet have they all the usual good Effects of Opium 2. Wedelius in his Opiolog assures the same of the like Preparation in Phlegm of distilled Vinegar L. 2. Sect. 1. C. 5. P. 92. 3. An Extract of Opium in Spirit of Wine does often cause those ill Effects and no other Preparation causes them as often Wedelius ibid. A Laudano opiato cum Spiritu Vini correcto solum ferâ— observavimus ortos Vomitus a nostro vero quod cum Phlegmate Aceti distillati fieri diximus nunquam Vomitum vel Nauseam saltem contigisse meminimus That is We have observed Vomitings almost only from Laudanum prepared with Spirit of Wine but never any Vomiting or Nausea from that prepared in Phlegm of distill'd Vinegar Which he confirms L. 1. sect 2. c. 4. p. 62. saying in Latine That a curious Observation is to be noted by which it appears that an Extract of Opium with Spirit of Wine shews more Narcotick Force by which he means That it causes more ill Effects than prepared in distilled Vinegar Whereas that in Spirit of Wine has nothing more in it than that in Vinegar besides the Râ—sinous Parts Therefore these do cause all the Mischief Note also That an Extract in Spirit of Wine has in it Quantity for Quantity more of the Râ—sinous Parts than Crude Oplum both because the Earthy Parts that help'd to make up the Bulk are taken away in that Preparation and because the 〈◊〉 of Wine imbibes the Rosin more greedily than other Principles of the Opium so that every Dose must in Proportion have much more Rosin in it than Crude Opium Therefore it is no wonder that it causes those ill Effects more frequently since the Rosin is most certainly the Cause thereof as has been and shall be more fully and beyond all contradiction proved Yet is this the Preparation boasted of by the blind and inadvertent World it would amaze nay terrifie a Man to see what great Care is taken to be sure to render Opium mischievous by solicitously using Spirit of Wine in extracting Laudanums and then and not till then they boast of the Preparation as Charas and very many others do calling it not without great Ostentation and desperate Folly their Laudanum May it be theirs and none others a Turk would be a Mad-man to use it for Crude Opium because it has much more of the pernicious Principle in it It is the common and much esteemed way first to extract it out of Water and then it is very good laudable and innocent but thought nothing worth till they extract the Rosin that is all left behind by the Water in Spirit of Wine and add it to the other then do they with great Authority praise it that is when they have wisely added the Poison to the Panacea It is as if they added Ratâ—bane to a Cordial and not think the Cordial worthy Commendation till they have done so 4. It appears That the Rosin is
by diminishing or disabling the Spirits except it be that the pernicious Rosin may do something of that kind by its aforesaid ill Effects but by pleasantly affecting the Membranes at Stomach Venereal Parts c. 2. That Sleep is caused by Relaxation and quieting the Spirits 3. That Pleasure especially if intense and lasting as that by Opium comforts enlivens encourages and causes an Ovation of the sensitive Soul and Spirits and Displeasure causes Sadness Dejection c. 4. How Pleasure must cause Complacency Satisfaction Content Acquiescence and Composure of the sensitive Soul and Spirits as Grievances cause the contrary 5. How Pleasure elevating and keeping up the Spirits and causing an entire Relaxation of the Defensive and a great Relaxation of the Vigilative Contraction which tire the sensitive Soul must cause Euphory or easie undergoing of Labour Iourneys c. without Lassitude as Experience shews 6. How Pleasure causes Relaxation of all the sensile Parts 7. How the said Relaxation as in Sleep does by suffering the Animal Spirits to expand and thereby making them unfit to carry Impressions smartly which is necessary to convey a sense of Pain for a smart Impression is the very cause of it take away Pain To which you may add That the sensitive Soul's attending willingly to the Sense of Pleasure is diverted from Pain and that a Sense of Pain cannot be in the same Subject with Pleasure which being therefore once excited Pain must disappear but that of taking away all smartness of Impression by Relaxation is a plain Mechanical Cause 8. How therefore all Fluxes that are caused by or require a grievous Sensation or Irritation by Quantity or Quality to maintain and continue them by causing a Contraction of the Parts to squeese out the Humours must be moderated for want of Sensation upon such Relaxation to irritate the Parts as it happens in Sleep or in any Case where Relaxation and thereby Expansion of the Animal Spirits incapacitates them to carry Impressions smartly which is of the Essence of Pain as has been shewn 9. How Perspiration must be promoted by Relaxation which opens the Pores 10. How that by the same Means Sweat also must be promoted if the Body be full of moisture 11. How Opium or Semen Animale being of the same Principles and of like Principles with Cantharides Pismire Bees Garlick c. must excite to Venery cause Itchings of the Skin c. 12. How Opium may by too high an Ovation of the Spirits cause Watching while Pleasure causing Relaxation c. may take away Pain for Relaxation as in Sleep Syncopes c. is enough to take away Pain but to Sleep Quietness of the Spirits is also required as well as their Expansion by Relaxation so that Pain may very well be taken off without Sleep as it often is by Opium that always relaxes 13. How the Pleasure that Opium causes is as was said by the same Principles and therefore of the same Nature with that which Animal Seed causes upon the Membranes but that Animal Seed causes it only upon one Part and Opium upon the Membranes of the Stomach Venereal Parts and all other in general and that only for a Moment but this of Opium for many Hours by which Means the Effects of Relaxtion by Pleasure come to be more remarkable as after much Wine whose Effects is somewhat lasting and internal as that of Opium is 14. How the Rosin of Opium causes its ill Effects by its Indigestibleness adhering Quality and tedious stinging of the exquisitely nice Coat of the Stomach by continually teazing and urging it by its Actimony and acute Volatile Points or Spiculâ— Therefore having 1. A most perfect and compleat Sol-Volatile-Oleosum in Opium of the same pleasing Principles as to all Membranes as Animal Seed is to the Membranes of Venus whereby they must be pleased tickled and relaxed 2. A pernicioâ—s Rosin indigestible sticking and arm'd with acrimonious and stinging Points which must highly offend the most sensile Coat at the Stomach I am now ready by God's Assistance to explain every Phenomenon or Effect of Opium however Amazing and Mysterious hoping they will not remain long so CHAP. XVI The Explication of the Effects of Opium used Externally ITS Effects Externally used are of Two sorts either I. As an Opiate or pleasing Tickler of the Membranes Or II. As an Alterative of the Parts that it is applied to First As an Opiate or Pleaser of the Membranes it has the same Effects as Opium used internally and for the same Reason therefore the Cause of its Operation in this Case will be better seen by the Explication of its Internal Effects which are far more perfect compleat and certain Secondly As an Alterative of the Parts that it is applied to which are the following viz. 1. It incides resolves and discusses by its pointed penetrating and volatile Salt insinuating it self into the Parts and Humours of the Animal because its Particles are fine minute and agreeable thereto as Menstruums to the Things to be dissolved Then by its Volatility it discusses what it has so incided and resolved 2. It mollefies and relaxes by its Sal-Volatile-Oleosum so resolving the Parts and Humours and thereby kindly loosening them Thus Opiates as Solanum Lethale or deadly Night Shade Hemlock Mandrake c. come to be of excellent Use in hard Tumours of the Spleen Tophousness c. 3. It Maturates and Suppurates for the aforesaid Reasons for nothing can better dispose towards Maturation and Suppuration than relaxing mollefying and resolving 4. It exulcerates or causes Blisters or at least rubifies tender Skins if it be very strong because of its Volatile Salt as Cantharides Spearwort and other Things do upon the same Account But this Effect belongs mainly to the true Mastack or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that drops from the Incisions made in the Heads of the Poppies more especially the Theban which affords a most powerful Iuice for Exulcerating or Blistering is but a stronger fuller and therefore painful Resolution as you see by the Cuticle upon Blisters resolved into a kind of Jelly 5. It is Psilothrick for the same Reasons for while it so resolves the Parts it loosens the Roots of the Hair and so causes its shedding 6. It hurts the Eyes because of its Acrimony by Reason of the Volatile Salt 7. It causes Itching in the Skin by the Titillation of the same Volatile Salt as you find by the Application of Squills and the like 8. It excites Venery by the same Titillation on the Veneral Membranes CHAP. XVII The Explication of the Effects of Opium used internally in a moderate Dose NOte That because Opium has been generally hitherto used either Crude or with its Rosin in it the Effects of Opium are accordingly considered as common Experience thereupon has given Opportunity of Observing them but as I proceed I shall shew you where the Resinous Part of Opium is concern'd in the Effect 1. It is manifest why Opium may well
operate in a very small Quantity as it usually does because the least Matter imaginable affects the Senses as has been shewn for the Thousandth Part of a grain of Ambergrise Musk c. affects the Smelling the Hundredth Part of a Grain of very acrimonious Things the Taste which causes very sensible Pleasure or Displeasure according as it is agreeable or not much easier may the exquisitely disposed Membrane at Stomach which is affected with Things so indefinitely small that no other Sense or Membrane can take notice of as the Particles of Crocus Metallorum in Vomits Effluvias from a Cats Body pestiferous Effluvias and the like of all which the Stomach is so sensible that they thereby cause most violent Symptoms which are as was shewn proportioned to the Sensation Therefore it can be no wonder that a Grain or less of Opium should affect the sensile Coat of the Stomach and thereby cause a Sense of Pleasure for that which is nice to discern grieving Particles is so to discern pleasing ones as has been said Cujus est Dolor ejusdem est Voluptus that is Pleasure and Displeasure belong to the same Part and as was shewn in equal Degree This proves That it must Operate by pleasingly affecting the Stomach for it were otherwise impossible that so little a Quantity should cause such remarkable Effects and that before the Opium is out of the Stomach but it is ordinary for the Stomach to cause mighty Effects by its Sensation of very small Things otherwise insensible and inconsiderable as to the Production of any observable Effects and therefore it would be a Miracle if it did any other Way cause such great and numerous Effects Helmont observed That Pro Remedio restaurativo Archaei sive Animae sensitivae non requiritur Unciarum Drachmarum Quantitas sed pauca Grana That is Very little serves to comfort the Archaeus or Sensitive Soul because it is done by Sensation as I have proved 2. It is as evident how a hot brisk and Salino-volatile Thing as Opium is must affect the sensile Coat of the Stomach in a short Time as Vomits Purgers c. do which it does much in the same Time with those Things that is as soon as they insinuate themselves through the Crusta Carnosa of the Stomach and reach its sensile Coat which is the Reason that Opium Vomits Purgers c. make some and like Delay before they Operate which is also a Proof that all of them Operate by affecting the sensile Coat of the Stomach all the Difference being that one affects pleasantly as Wine Meat and Cordials and the other by a grievous Sensation The Explication of the Constant Effects of Opium used internally c. 1. The first and leading Effect of Opium is causing a most agreeable pleasant and charming Sensation about the Region of the Stomach This is a Property that belongs to it omni semper and indeed soli to Opiates if the Degree Duration and Fineness of the Pleasure be considered How manifest is it from what has been said of the most Compleat and Consummate Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium which exactly agrees in Principles c. with Semen Animale that so highly pleases and titillates the Membranes with which it not only agrees in Principles as was shewn but has them more active actuating and titillating than any Membrane that it must of necessity highly please all Membranes more especially such as are most exquisitely disposed for Sensation as the most sensile Membrane at Stomach is not only by its Agreeableness but by a most Charming and Captivating Titillation that actuates and causes a fine Ovation and serene glowing of the Spiritus insiti of the Stomach which makes it pleasing in the highest manner having all the Requisites to cause a Sense of Pleasure and that is not all but it being taken into the Body it causes a long continued and permanent sense of Pleasure which we must necessarily carry along with us as a Vade Mecum even Sleeping or Waking Resting or Moving or whatever we do or wherever we are by which Means it far excells all other Pleasures and consequently produces such mighty Effects all other Pleasures being momentary transitory desultory or interrupted except that of Wine and Cordials at Stomach which therefore have the likest Effects to that of Opium tho' they do not equal it in the Intenseness or Duration of the Pleasure unless they are repeated as indeed they may be which made me to intimate That drinking a good Glass of Wine every Hour and by that Means keeping the fresh Pleasure thereof continually at the Stomach like that of Opium is the best Way to cause a long Euphory of Labour Iourneys c. which may come near the Performance of our Divine Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium tho' never equal it for Reasons already sufficiently hinted viz. because Wine wants its most agreeable Composition and fine Titillation of the Volatile Salt that Opium and Animal Seed have Note That the Pleasure of Opium may to some inadvertent Persons seem very indefinite tho' it is at Stomach as it must be because the Pleasure immediately relaxing all Parts and gratifying the Sensitive Soul which informs the whole seems to be general tho' Originally only at Stomach 2. Our Consummate Sal-Volatile-Oleosum must cause a blith gay and good Humour for being pleased with any Thing as is the Vulgar Observation causes a good Humour how much more must such an intense agreeable and continual Pleasure that we always and every where carry along with us so do How common a Saying is it He was pleased with somewhat for I found him in a good Humour 3. The like is to be said of its causing Promptitude Serenity Alacrity and Expediteness in Dispatching and Managing of Business for these are but natural and necessary Consequences of a blith gay and good Humour and therefore always go together for the sensitive Soul being put in a fine Ovation by the continual Pleasure is more active and having thereupon as was shewn wholly excused himself from the Care and solicitude of the Defensive Contraction and in great Measure of the Vigilative Contraction also is more at leisure to attend the Managery of other Affairs without Distraction besides that he is actuated and enliven'd by the aforesaid Ovation of the Spirits and pleasing Titillation into an Alacrity and Promptitude for any Business with which also he is less tired because he has as was said rid himself of the Fatigue of the Contractions that as was manifestly proved do cause Lassitude which otherwise can hardly touch or affect him at all in the State of Relaxation 4. It must cause Assurance Ovation of the Spirits Courage Magnanimity as Wine does by elevating the sensitive Soul by Pleasure and a high Titillation of the Spiritus insiti by its Volatile Parts actuating them as the Animal Semen does all Creatures in Times of Copulation tho' it immediately affects only the Venereal Membranes but ours does actuate them not
Contraction by which Vomiting is perform'd 4. It stills Hiccoughs for the same Reasons 5. It causes Convulsions and Contractions to cease 1. Because it induces a Relaxation which takes them off 2. By taking off the sense which the Irritating causes 3. By composing the Spirits 6. It causes the Meat to stay long at Stomach as Sleep does 1. By relaxing the Stomach so that it is not subject to contract to send it out 2. By stilling all Motions whereby the Stomach grows proportionably unactive 3. Because the Relaxation opposes the Contraction by which the Menstruum is sent into the Stomach or the Saliva into the Mouth both which are therefore much wanted in Sleep for the like Reason as has been shewn 7. It moderates and prevents Hunger 1. Because as was said the Menstruum is not so plentifully sent or squeesed into the relaxed Stomach 2. Because it takes away the sense of Hunger 3. Because it leaves the Meat to stay too long at Stomach by Reason that it is relaxed more insensible and proportionably languid in motion as in Sleep 8. It causes Sweat when the Body is full of moisture as Sleep doth by relaxing and thereby opening the Pores and not as People commonly talk by attenuating and the like for a Grain of Opium bears no Proportion to the Bloud and Humours That it causes it meerly as Sleep does is manifest not only because it bears not a due Proportion to the Work as an Alterative but because Men do not Sweat in that Case as in Sleep without much moisture in the Body whereas much would not be attenuated as soon as less Therefore it is only an Exudation of the Humours upon a Plenty thereof and opening of the Pores Sanctorius Sect. 1. Aph. 22. Invisibilis Perspiratio fit visibilis quando Nutrimentum est nimium That is Invisible Perspiration becomes visible Sweat when nourishment or moisture is too much which exactly agrees with that of Hippocrates cited in Chap. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 9. It causes the Menses to flow when nothing is wanting but the opening or relaxing of the Viae or Pores they issue out at as when they are naturally too narrow and close as upon the first Tendency to them in young Girls or when stopt by Reason of any undue Contraction thereof as by Pain Cold Sorrow or other grievous Passions all which do close the Pores Besides it does irritate those very sensile Venereal Parts to Erection and I have reason to think that it does by a general Relaxation cause an Increase of Bloud as it does of the Breasts Milk c. causing as it were an Artificial Puberty or at least much promoting the Natural and therefore is of excellent Use in this Case in Judicious Hands tho' little thought of in Practice Obj. Here I may be sure of an Objection That it stops all Fluxes but Sweat or Perspiration Ans. It is as false as it is a common saying if they do not mean only such Fluxes as proceed from grievous Sensation and Contraction thereupon for how can that which relaxes all Parts stop any Flux that depends upon Relaxation as Stillicidium Urinae by Relaxation of the Sphincter of the â—ladder involuntary Flux per Anum by the 〈◊〉 of its Sphincter and such like so do I speak of a Flux that may often depend upon Relaxation as I have shewn Obj. But it may be objected That it particularly stanches Bloud how then should it promote the Menses Ans. Experience tells me it does and Reason confirms it It stanches Bloud by composing the Fury of its Motion but that does not hinder but it may relax the Pores for Sweat Menses Lochia c. to pass and why not for the Menses and Lochia as well as Sweat by opening the Pores I would fain know considering also the Titillation that it causes upon those Venereal Parts which may very much solicite their motion 10. It causes the Lochia to flow for the same Reasons that it does the Menses This I have great Experience in Note That the Menses Lochia and Perspiration are Natural Evacuations that have Pores designed for them by Nature the opening of which by Relaxation must make way for them Suppose when the Bloud flows so much into the Skin as to cause an Efflorescence by the Relaxation thereof after Opium is taken that there were Pores to carry out Bloud as there is for Sweat why should not one flow as well as the other But there are such Pores for the Menses and Lochia and large ones too and therefore it must promote them and why should not Relaxation do it as well as Contraction by Cold Terrour Grief c. stop them for the Effects of Contraries are contrary 11. It causes the Stone to pass 1. Because it reâ— and so widens the Passage 2. Because it 〈◊〉 move with little or no Pain which contracts the Parts and so hinders its Passage therefore the Use of Opium with some other Helps is the greatest Means that can be or ever will be for the Stone till the Dissolution of it is found out not only to give Ease in the Case of the Stone but to cause it to pass for both which Purposes it excells all Things and doth both at once 12. It causes the Delivery of Women by relaxing the Neck of the Womb as it does that of the Bladder to deliver Persons of the Stone but in the Delivery of Women it is not to be used but in particular Cases and by a very Skilful Hand 1. Because it is apt to take off all the Womens Pains and Throws and so quite disappoint the Delivery for a day 2 3 4 or more sometimes 2. Because it causing a great Relaxation the Parts after Delivery will be very unapt to close and contract duely as they should in such Cases otherwise several Inconveniences may ensue 3. It may be pernicious upon the Account of the Evacuation of Bloud that then happens But these Things belong more properly to the Use of Opium in Cure 13. It causes Deadness of the Eyes as in Drunkeness c. because the Cornea is relaxed so that the Humours do not fill it up to a tense Rotundity as when 't is more contracted 14. It causes the Pupilla to dilate because of the same Relaxation 15. It causes a Growth of the Breast Penis and Increase of Milk by Reason of the same Relaxation as the Pleasure of the Semen upon Puberty does or as Emollients and Relaxers applied to the Breasts increase Milk c. by making more Room for it c. 16. It causes Venereal Dreams because of the Titillation of the Venereal Membranes that it causes 17. It causes Nocturnal Pollutions for the same Reason and because it relaxes the Parts 18. It causes Itchings in the Skin because of its Titillation by its Volatile Salt 19. It causes much Urine as Cantbarides Bees Pismire Millepedes c. do by its Volatile Salt which titillates and irritates those
Parts by its relaxing the Pores of the Kidneys and rendring the Humours more penetrating in some measure by the Volatile Salt 20. It causes a Nausea by its Rosin sticking to and teazing the sensile Coat of the Stomach The Reason why it is generally so long before it causes a Nausea or Vomiting is that its Pleasure does at first prevent it till at last the sticking Rosin urges it by its long Stay and vexatious Adherence 21. It causes Swimmings in the Head by Consent when the Stomach is grieved by that Rosin as you find upon Nauseas before Vomiting or when any Thing does much offend the Stomach as much Drink or Wine which when they have Vomited those Swimmings cease 22. It causes Watching in some Persons who are of very moveable Spirits by actuating and stirring their Spirits by its active Volatile Salt tho' it does at the same time please the Membranes and consequently relax the sensile Parts and thereby cause Indolence the Effect of Relaxation which it also does when People keep themselves from Sleep by voluntary Motion and therefore takes away Pain even when Men Travel c. Besides there are some sort of Persons that upon Ioy good News Pleasure or the like are too much elevated or have a restless Ovation of the Spirits which will not suffer them to Sleep tho' they are in a Pleasant Condition all the time This may be the Case of some that cannot Sleep after Opium tho' they are all the Time as they call it in a Heavenly Condition for as I have said a Quietness of the Spirits is requisite to cause Sleep as well as Relaxation but Relaxation alone and thereby Expansion of the Spirits so that they cannot carry Impressions smartly is sufficient to cause Indolence and the Pleasure to cause a Heavenly or very pleasant Condition Sanctor Stat. Med. Sect. 7. Aph. 28. says That Laetitia perseverans per multos dies somnum impedit Persevering Pleasure may do the same by like Reason that is too much 〈◊〉 or Ovation of the Spirits Sometimes too large a Dose causes Watching by over-actuating and exciting the Spirits Medicum vini generosi Allium says Sanctorius conciliant somnum Perspirationem si vero plus justo sumantur utrumque prohibent perspirabile tamen in Sudorem convertunt that is A little generous Wine and Garlick will cause Sleep and Perspiration but too much hinder both yet they convert the perspirable Matter to a Sweat which Wine and Garlick have the Nature of Opiates and the Reason why they Sweat is the Quantity of the Wine affording more Moisture Hippocrates says 23. A dubious State between Sleeping and Waking is caused when the Relaxation upon the Pleasure of Opium inclines to Sleep but the irreâ—uiete Ovation of the Spirits by the Pleasure and Titillation will hardly suffer it yet highly pleases and puts them in a sweet agreeable Condition CHAP. XIX The Explication of the rare Effects of Opium in a Moderate Dose 1. IT causes temporary Pulses of the 〈◊〉 and sometimes of other Parts by its over relaxing the Parts and causing thereby an Expansion of the Elastick Spirits which as was demonstrated weakens their Motion 2. Faltring of the Tongue does as in Relaxation by Drunkenness proceed from the same Cause 3. Looseness of the Lower Iaw as you see in the Drowsy and Drunken People is from the same Relaxation 4. It sometimes prevents Sweat by causing a very Liberal Perspiration as was shewn for as Sanctorius says who should know it much insensible Perspiration and Sweat cannot consist especially in a Temperate Person who Eats and Drinks moderately Therefore if you keep a Person that Sweats much at Night in a free Perspiration all Day by the Help of an Opiate you 'll much lessen or totally prevent the Sweat at Night as in Consumptive Persons c. 5. It causes Abortion by relaxing the Neck of the Womb which also the Pleasure of Coition sometimes does for the like Reason and would be much more apt to cause it if it continued long as that of Opium does Note the Inconvenience of Coition after Impregnation This is the great Cause that Whores are not apt to bear Children because Frequency of Pleasure does over-relax the Collum 〈◊〉 6. It prevents Abortion when Fear Terrour or any contracting Cause as Grief grievous Passions or Sensations do threaten it by its taking off the Contraction and Grievance that causes it 7 Intumescence of the Lips is from their Relaxation admitting the Bloud and Humours into them in a plentiful manner besides that their Laxity and the Inadvertency occasioned by the Diverting Pleasure or Drowsiness that follows letting the Lower Lip hang down carelesly as is usual in such Cases may by exposing much more of that Lip which is most concern'd in this Effect make it seem larger as a hanging Lip does 8. It may cure a Dropsy as Dr. Wâ—llis doth instance 1. By causing a free Perspiration which is much wanted in those Cases 2. By relaxing the Pores and making way for the Humours to 〈◊〉 3. By causing much Urine as Cantharides Millepedes c do upon the Account of their Volatile-Salt with which Opium abounds 9. It cures Stupors that proceed from Contraction as by Cold c. by relaxing all Parts 10. It causes Anxieties and Distresses by the Rosin sticking and teazing the Stomach 11. Vomitings and Hiccoughs proceed from the same Cause 12. Convulsions are caused by the same Rosin while it continually urges the Stomach to grievous Vomitings which at last draw other Parts as the Stomach usually does when under great Griâ—vances into violent Contractions or Convulsions by consent to endeavour its Assistance because the defensive Contraction growing very high by the almost intolerable and tedious Grievance at Stomach causes a mighty compression of the springy Animal Spirits by which Means they grow very forcible irrequiete and violently springy under the urgency of an enormous Compressure which causes such Convulsive Motions Note That such a violent Compression of the Animal Spirits into a great springiness is the cause of the Strength of Convulsive Motions so that sometimes a strong Man can hardly hold a Child's Limb in such Cases 13. Syncopes Leipothymies and Faintings follow when the sensitive Soul being quite tired and overborn by the Fatigue of such Distresses Vomitings and Defensive Contractions to reject and excuss the said adhering and teazing Rosin yields it self to Rest and le ts go the Reigns of Contraction as being fruitless and no longer endurable whereupon all the sensile Parts being relaxed in the highest degree they thereby grow unfit for Sensation and the Animal Spirits expand as far as the Atmospherical Compressure permits them so that they grow incapable to convey Impressions by which means Sense fails and Motion also for the same Reason because the Animal Spirits loose their springy Endeavours for want of a sufficient Compression to render them flippant for the Purpose which is the Cause as in Sleep that Sense
and Motion fail together of the great Perspiration and all other Effects of Relaxation in such Syncopes or Leipothymies in a yet higher degree than in Sleep wherein the sensitive Soul does not quite let go the Reigns of Contraction as appears by the Motions that remain as of the Heart Intestines c. tho' far more remiss in Sleep than in a Waking State Note That such Leipothymies are as was hinted of the same Nature as Sleep is but that they are suddain more profound and not so usual natural and of course as Sleep is which makes them more amazing and surprizing therefore it follows that they are as Sleep is a Means of Recruit when all working and tugging by Defensive Contractions fail and so the last Refuge of the sensitive Soul when over-tired in order to recover Strength for a fresh Engagement with the Enemy as being tired at Night the sensitive Soul loosens the Rigns of Contraction to enable him the better to fall to his Work the next Day This you 'll find by all Reason and Experience to be the true State of Leipothymies upon Grievances and Fatigues tho' not hitherto minded that I know of Many true and useful Consequences do hence follow as That we are not always to disturb them or put them out of these recruiting Leipothymies by grievous Means as Prickings Pinchings c. but only by Cordials and Refreshing Things as you would Treat a Person much tired or by letting them take their Nap if I may so call it if there be not very eminent Danger But 't is endless and besides my Purpose to make a particular Discourse of this Matter which will belong more properly to my Tract of Animal Mechanism 14. Death happens sometimes tho' very rarely and that in very weak People that take little or no Sustenance because either when fallen into such Syncopes they never come out of them by Reason that they have not within them wherewith to recruit their Spirits or that Opium taking them much spent and tired with Distempers causes as in weak and wearied People a most profound Sopor which not recruiting them who take or digest no Sustenance they must rather grow weaker and weaker for somewhat is spent while we live and consequently the Sleep or Sopor more and more profound till they Sleep their last for want of some Recruit which is the very Thing that naturally lessens Sleep and awakes us when there is no other apparent Cause for as the being tired and want of Recruit causes Sleep so the having it causes Waking or which is the same in Effect no farther need of Relaxation for Recruit's sake so that the sensitive Soul fall to his useful Work of Vigilative Contraction for Sense and Motion's sake 15. It sometimes causes Purging which happens as far as I have observed or can learn only when it is given in a good Quantity to Persons of a strong Digestion or canine Appetite The Case is thus When Persons that are of a strong Digestion take a Resinous Opiate in good Quantity they do in great measure by their fixed Salts at Stomach and strong Digestion subdue the Volatility of the Opium and dissolve its Rosin which then as acrimonious Rosins or Vomits subdued by fixt Salt use to do causes Purging Hence it is that it generally if not always Purges Dogs and People of a high canine Appetite and that sometimes meeting such fixed Salts it Purges the Consumptive Bartholine says That Mandrake Iuice purges when it meets with acrimonious fixed Salt Erastus and Quercelan do agree That it has a Purgative Quality but that it does not always exert it 1. Because it takes away the Sense of Irritation 2. Because it is given in too small a Quantity The Reasons are Just and Right and not only consistent with but confirm what I say Note That this is not intended of the Purging that happens after the declination of its Operation which is as you 'll find from another Cause therefore this does not smell of the Opium as the other does because it is past and gone before that in the Declination happens Of which more in its proper Place 16. It raises and revives some Persons that are almost expiring in Two Cases One is when such as have been used to take it are even expiring for want of it of which more hereafter The other Case is when violent Contraction as from Pain Cold Vomitings and Grievous Passions as Terrour c. are the Cause that People are almost expiring for it takes off the Contractions by relaxing c. 17. It stays very long at Stomach when the Rosin thereof sticks to the Stomach and is there detain'd Besides that the Stomach being relaxed and having little sense or motion as in Sleep does not soon digest it or discharge it It is fine in this Case and all other to observe how Sensation and Motion go Hand in Hand keeping equal Pace and equal Proportion as it plainly must be by the Principles of Relaxation and Contraction which I have stated and proved 18. It causes stoppage of Urine sometimes especially in old People by over relaxing and causing a kind of a temporary Palsie of the Bladder as was shewn and taking away the sense of the Irritation of the Urine which should contract the Bladder to squeese it out by which Means it happens sometimes that the Bladder comes to be so over extended beyond its due Tone that they cannot contract it to make Water in all which Cases strong Contracters as Cold Terrours c. immediately cures them the very putting the Scrotum to the Edge of a cold Chamberpot has effected it several times by my Advice tho' if need be you must come to Dashing of cold Water upon the Region of the Bladder or Pumping on it or Dipping in it c. so Terrour and causing a very smart Pain especially near those Parts will do much but Cold is the readiest and best Remedy 19. It sometimes proves dangerous after great Hemorrbages or Evacuations as Tapping in Dropsies c. because the Relaxation hinders the Parts duely to contract upon what remains which may cause great Mischiefs as Discontinuation of Motion c. Thus have you all the constant frequent and rare Effects of Opium taken internally in a moderate Dose so naturally easily plainly and mechanically explicated that People may in my Judgment more admire how all fail'd of discovering the manner of their Production than that I found it as Men are apt to think of the Circulation of the Bloud which now as I hope the Effects of Opium do seems very obvious both which Cases are to me very strong Arguments of a Being that rules and disposes darkens and illuminates c. as he pleases when I consider that both the Circulation of the Bloud and the Cause of the Operation of Opium viz. Pleasure at Stomach c. fell under the Senses of many Millions who in one Case saw the Bloud move and in the other felt
which looking not unlike an Apoplexy makes Authors say that Opium causes Apoplexies Such as escape Death do so generally by 34. Plentiful Purging which is occasioned by a great Quantity of the Rosin of Opium meeting a strong Digestion and fixed Salts as has beeâ— said 35. Sweats that smell of the Opium are caused 1. By the Openness of the Pores by Relaxation 2. By Plenty or at least sufficiency of Moisture for that End for otherwise as was shewn it would be only insensible Perspiration 3. By the great Quantity of Volatile Salt attenuating the Humours 4. By the strict intimate and even indissoluble specifick Union or Combination of the Volatile Salt and Oily Parts which makes it hold its specifick Smell to the last 36. Violent Itchings in the Skin must of necessity follow a great Quantity of Opium since it causes such Itchings as was shewn in a small Quantity by the Titillation of its Volatile Salt Note That these Effects do not all happen to all Men that take it in an excessive Dose but some to one and some to others as was intimated in Chap. 5. according as they are more or less troubled with the Rosin Quantity Relaxation c. CHAP. XXII The Explication of the Effects of a long and lavish Use of Opium AS an Excessive Dose of Opium is Intemperance for one time so a long and lavish Use of it is an habitual Intemperance for a long time therefore if you could not rationally expect good Effâ—s in that Case any more than from the best Wine taken suddenly in a vast Quantity it follows that you cannot expect good Effects from an habitual Intemperate Taking of it any more than from a long and lavish Drinking of Wine tho' both are excellently good in their Kind but that the Opium has the pernicious resinous Part join'd with it There is nothing so good whereof an intemperate Use is not mischievous God having so ordered it to deter from and punish Intemperance and the Abuse of his Creatures Therefore ill Effects are not always to be imputed to the viciousness of the Things used but frequently of the Person that imprudently uses them 1. Relaxation and Debility of all Parts is contracted by the habitual over-relaxing thereof by the lavish Use of Opium 2. An Inhability of doing any Thing without it is contracted by the habitual Pleasure Comfort Promptitude and Euphory it causes when taken without which the sensitive Soul becomes lazy listless and averse to all Actions it is as iâ— a Man used to Dance to Excellent Musick were required to do it without any Musick at all nor as much as Thoughts of it or mumbling it within himself Or that one who Drinks nothing but Wine and Eats the best should be suddenly denied both and forced to live upon Bread and Water Or that such as always take Tobacco at their Studies should be suddenly debarr'd thereof and required to Study without it How very listless would a Man be in such Cases Tho' hardly any of the Comparisons come up to that of Opium because of the charming Pleasure mighty Euphory and Promptitude that it causes it is as if one were supported and wholly depended upon Cordials and suddenly denied them c. 3. An Inhability of getting up in the morning till it is taken and begins to operate proceeds from the same Cause A Mechanical Reason may be expected here also as to these Matters but it will hardly bear it any more than how the Will or Appetite causes the first Impulse toward voluntary Moti n all that can be said is that without the Opium the sensitive Soul is when he does any Thing to act under the Toil and Difficulties of a full vigilative Contraction as being awake intentive Contraction as acting and defensive Contraction as being grieved when the Operation of Opium is over as after Veneral Pleasure c. so that now he labours under the great Disadvantages and Drudgery of all the Three Contractions whereas by the Pleasure fine Titillation of Opium and Relaxation consequential thereunto he was eased of all the Defensive Contraction which is the most grievous and in great measure of the Vigilative as has been shewn which makes Working Iourneying c. very easie to him Therefore it is as if one that delights in Musick Danced to Charming Melody in beloved Company with pleasing Refections of Wine c. and in the other Case as if one laboured in Grief or Pain Now suppose that one used never to Act or Work without such mighty Pleasant Advantages and Causes of Euphory were required to act under the Pressure of the Three Contractions or in Grief or Pain how listless would he be to Act Work get up c. 4. A dull moapish and heavy Disposition must be the Effect unless it be while they please comfort and enliven themselves by the Opium because their Brain is habitually over relaxed which is the very Case of old Drunkards who have as 't is said drank away their Parts by such an habitual Relaxation of the Brain which over-much Sleeping causes also upon the Account of the like Relaxation therefore they must be moapish till the pleasing Titillation of Opium enlivens them 5. Diminution of Appetite is caused by an habitual Relaxation of the Stomach taking away its Sensation and suspending the Menstruum from flowing to it as freely as it should and would if there were a due Contraction to squeese it out 6. Weakness of Digestion happens from the same Causes 7. Dropsies are caused by the Relaxation weakning the Parts and making them thereby susceptible of Humours as also by Diminution of Appetite and Digestion as in old Drunkards 8. Decay of Parts or Wit happens from habitual Relaxation of the Brain and its Membranes as in old Drunkards 9. Weakness of Memory proceeds from the same Cause as in old Drunkards 10. Stooping in the Back is caused by the habitual Relaxation of the Parts which weakens and causes them to comply with our Tendency and Use of bending forward and yield to the greater Weight that is generally speaking on the foreside of the Back-bone or Perpendicular so that Stooping must gradually follow those conspiring Causes as it does in habitual Drunkards whose Parts are relax'd 11. Early Decrepiteness must proceed from the aforesaid Relaxation spoiling the Tone of Parts and causing Want of Appetite Digestion c. in the manner before shewn 12. Shortness of Life must be the Effect of the same Causes 13. Acrimony of Blood proceeds from the Abundance of Acrimonious Volatile Salts taken in the Opium wherein it is much more acrimonious than our natural Volatile Salt and in greater Quantity proportionably Therefore it can be no Wonder that 14. It excites Inclination to Venery by that acrimonious Salt which is analogous to that of Cantharides Ants Bees c. 15. Frequent Inclinations to make Water is also a known and common effect of such a Salt by its irritating and soliciting the Bladder c. 16. Priapisms
to disparage the Performance as mean and obvious like that of the Circulation of the Bloud or America when found out did not the newness of the Thing the baffled Endeavours of all Mankind and the seeming Impossibility of ever finding it out which was almost agreed upon speak in its behalf Consider that nothing can be plain and easie but what is true and consequently nothing valuable but what is so what 's true Knowledge but the Knowledge of Things as they really are And when a Thing is known as really as it is it must be plain and never so till then for to take a Thing to be what it is not is all Darkness Errour Puzzle Confusion and Vanity as all Discourses of Opium have hitherto been It is no Wonder then that the Cause of the Operation of Opium grew more and more obscure while they stated the Cold Quality of very hot Opium the Belching up of Vulcano's of Fumes from the Stomach to the Head which have no Existence their acting as a Poison of the Animal Spirits their fixing and coagulating them their clogging them by Adherence or clouding them their wedging themselves among the Animal Spirits none knows how and thereby disabling them their stuffing the Pores of the Brain or compressing it and thereby hindering the Generation of Animal Spirits to be the Causes of the Noble and Pleasant Operation of Opium without any Foundation in Nature or the least Evidence of Sense or Reason but vain Phantastical Imaginations form'd in the Chimera-Forges of their Wanton Brains while they endeavour'd Right or Wrong to appear considerable Folks by doing nothing to the Purpose in a kind of pretty plausible and imposing manner thereby stuffing the unwary World with wrong and vain Conceptions and impertinent Prejudices which are the greatest Obstacles of Knowledge I would fain know which of those Hypothesises can tollerably solve 1 in 10 of the Phenomena's that I have enumerated or indeed any one Phenomenon truly mechanically and demonstratively yet are those Whims the glorious Productions of Thousands of years Studies and solicitous Disquisitions tho' every one that took Opium actually felt the true Cause of its Operation viz. The pleasing Delight that it occasioned by affecting the Membranes and Animal Spirits after the manner that I have at large set forth Good God! what blund'ring Groper is Mankind Who daily felt the Cause it ne're could find Tho' Thousands sought it with an eager Mind CHAP. XXIV Of Opium separated from its noxious Part or Rosin and whether it is a Panacea c. THus far have I spoken of Crude Opium jointly with its Rosin or noxious Part now I will consider it separated from it and shew how to do it Galen says That it is very difficult to find an excellent Remedy without a noxious Quality And it is as difficult to find any Thing so noxious as not to afford a good Medicament which you see in Vipers Scorpions Mercury c. All or most Physicians unanimously agree That Opium has such a noxious Quality that causes Vomitings Hiccoughs Distresses Anxieties Convulsions chiefly at or about the Region of the Stomach and that if it were freed from it it would be the noblest of Medicaments Who can otherwise imagine seeing it is so excellent and universal a Remedy as it is now used in the World without such an excellent Preparation thereof wherein the noxious Principle is separated from it Of which Paracelsus says That whoever shall enjoy it will be a Professor of no less Knowledge than Apollo Machaon or Podalyrius tho' he was the greatest Master of Arcanas Panaceas c. yet does he confess That a Preparation of Opium stood him in stead and perform'd his Business when all his great Medicaments fail'd him and that it will dissolve Diseases as Fire doeâ— Snow or uses Words to the same Effect Helmont being in a kind of Rapture upon Consideration of its Excellency bursts out into this Exclamation Happy is the Sick Man whose Physician knows how to separate the deadly or noxious Part from Opium Platerus aâ—firm'd That he could with a Preparation of Opium preserve the broken Wheel of Life Etmuller says That Opium may 〈◊〉 be esteem'd a general Remedy and the main End of his Tract De parvis Morborum Initiis is to shew how Volatiles more especially Salia-Volatilia-Oleosa as that of Opium may in small Quantities alter us and cure our Diseases It were endless to tell you the Eulogies of the Learned concerning such a Preparation of Opium which they generall conclude to be a most noble Panacea therefore many and very solicitous have been the Disquisitions of the Ingenious and Industrious to find out this heroick generous and most glorious Medicament I am fully satisfied that the pure Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium duely separated from its noxious Rosin Dross c. is the very Thing some of the Reasons that convince me are as followeth viz. 1. Because Opium has no other Principle in it that signifies any Thing as to its laudable and noble Effects but its Sal Volatile Oleosum as has been shewn 2. Because the Sal Volatile-Oleosum of Opium produces all its good Effects 3. Because the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum duely separated from its Rosin and other Principles produces no ill Effect in a moderate Dose This added to what has been Discoursed at large of the Principles of Opium is I think sufficient to satisfie any Man that the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium so separated is the great Panacea that is sought for However because we are upon the greatest Thing in Physick as may be well inferr'd from what has been already said and that the World has been under great Fears Iealousies and Blindness concerning this Matter and the Use of Opium it will be well worth our While to give all imaginable Satisfaction in this Case therefore I will First Lay down all the requisite Qualifications of a Compleat Panacea as far as I can collect out of the most Eminent Authors and my own Consideration thereof Secondly I will particularly enquire as to each of the Qualifications whether the Sal Volatile-Oleosum of Opium duely separated from every other Principle of Opium is furnished therewith Thirdly I will shew you how duely to separate its Dross Rosin c. so as to leave a pure sincere Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium for Use. The requisite Qualifications of a Panacea are these viz. 1. That it should highly please our Sensation at Stomach because the Stomach is contrived and appointed by God and Nature as the Touchstone to try a Sentinel truely to inform and a Critical Iudge to determine what is or is not agreeable to our Nature in general and therefore as has been shewn endued with a wonderful sagacity and nicety of Sensation for that End It follows then that a Panacea should be very pleasing and agreeable to the Stomach and therefore very cordial 2. That it should be highly pleasing to the sensitive Soul which is the Principle of all Motion Action
Principles of Motion by which all ill Matter is effectively subdued when they act with Alacrity and Vigour they being the Principal Agents and we Physicians but as was said Ministers or as Handmaids to offer or hand good Matter Medicaments or Instruments to those Principal Agents of Nature and that this Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium is the most proper Matter or Medicament we can put into Nature's Hands so invigorated appears manifestly in that 5. Its Principles are the most agreeable to the best noblest most active and predominant Principles of our Bodies as has been proved most evidently plene plane nor is it only agreeable but 6. More vigorous and powerful to actuate reduce alter or exalt our Principles according to the Direction of our invigorated Nature or sensitive Soul and Spirits which having so convenient an Instrument and highly qualified a Matter will soon alter the perverse renew the decaid acuate the dull and elevate the depressed effete and pall'd Humours of our Bodies especially seeing 7. That the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium being so agreeable and powerful must be the greatest Resolver of Humours that can be imagined for all Resolution is by an Agreement of Particles which makes them easily miscible insinuate into and penetrate each other especially if one be somewhat more vigorous and penetrating than the other as the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum has been plainly proved to be Thus it is that all Menstruums do so resolve things of their own Nature and so purifie and cleanse them by taking to themselves what is meerly and purely of the same Nature and rejecting or letting go their Hold of what is otherwise Where it is worth noting how upon the Account of the intimate Combination and Union of the Volatile Salt and Oily Parts in our Panacea it is dissolvable in all Menstruums and consequently an universal Resolvent of all the Humours of our Bodies which its external resolving of all Humours and Tumours does also prove Now if it be such a Resolver of which there is no Place to doubt then as Claudius de la Courvee says it must excell all Things in altering and reducing all the Humours of our Bodies to a good and agreeable Condition Nor does it only thus resolve them and thereby separate as was said the good from the bad but 8. When it has so done it by the amicable Agreeableness of its Sal-Volatile-Oleosum composing Faculty strict Combination of its Principles joins to concentrates congregates and as it were cements the best and most agreeable into a close Union and firm Texture by as was said the Direction of invigorated Nature which is of it self the good being once separated from the bad highly sufficient without any other Help to unite Parts so agreeable and of themselves inclined to unite and combâ—ne tho' all tho Parts of Opium like those of the great Dissolvent were gone and when that is done 9. The high discussive Quality of the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum must be very effectual for the Difflation and Discussion of the sever'd effete Particles which must be highly assisted and improved by the brisk and chearful Motions of Nature viz. the sensitive Soul and Spirits so as is aforesaid invigorated Nor is this all but to compleat and perfect the Operation 10. It lays open all the Pores of the Body as has been Demonstrated 〈◊〉 them out and give the ill Particles their â—inal Exit by the most natural and plentiful Way of Evacuation leaving the Body free from all Miasms and Impurities 11. I have sufficiently shewn how unalterable it is in it self Chap. 15. so that like the Liquor Alcahest it is not made to be subdued but to subdue and resolve Humours Now what can be required more in a Medicament and how can the sensitive Soul and Spirits or Nature so invigorated and endued with all Euphory and Chearfulness by this glorious Medicament whose Principles are not only agreeable to our noblest ones but more powerful and intimately combin'd so resolving of Humours ready to unite the good and to discuss the bad and carry them off by the Pores ever fail being duely administer'd of good Effect in altering all the Humours of our Bodies Hippocrates in his Book De Naturâ— Hominis states the Cause of Diseases to be a Disgregation of Humours by which he seems to imply that the Power of congregating and concentrating of Humours were sufficient to accomplish a Panacea which is but one single Qualification in eleven of our Sal-Volatile-Oleosum tho' this alone as is experienced even in common Preparations of Opium suffices very often to cure Diseases by composing Commotions as in Diary Fevers from Perturbations c. Thus the bitter and firm textured Cortex as I have shewn in my Book De Febribus intermittentibus takes off Ague Fits by re-combining the segregated Humours with the Bloud which it suddenly doing leaves a Disposition in the Bloud when ever it meets with a segregating Cause as Purging violent Motion Insolation intemperate Drinking c. to a Relapse by a second Separation of the Morbid Matter from it as you have it more at large in my said Book p. 166 167 c. 242 243 c. where you may see how Opiates conduce very much to a speedy Cure by the Cortex by composing c. Martianus says Coâ—m de locis in Homine p. 76. Opium sist it prohibet humorum Disgregationem That is Opium hinders Disgregation of Humours Now you may perceive the true Qualifications of a Sal-Volatile-Oleosum so much sought for by the Learned as a Panacea and how far the common ones that are sold in the Apothecaries Shops are from being such Sylvius indeed had an excellent one with which he did many and great Cures which being considered had he not confessed his Ignorance of the Cause of the Effects of Opium and the Narrative he makes of its Vertue and Performance in his Preface to the first Book of his Praxis and that he delighted so much in the Use of Opium even when he was young that he was call'd by the Name of Doctor Opiatus and that he declares no Oil was added in its Preparation and that it is intimated that the Oil and Volatile Parts were strictly combined would have made me suspect that it was the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium that he used which if it was not I dare be confident that notwithstanding all its Excellency it was not as good I am very well satisfied that a true and consummate Sal-Volatile-Oleosum is not to be made barely by Art Enquirers might have better success if they sought it among the Natural Tribe of bitter Plants that are agreeable to the Stomach which have all in them a Sal-Volatile-Oleosum but how to pick and cull is I think best seen by the requisite Qualifications of a Panacea that I have stated There have been many in whose Hands bitter Things have been as a Panacea One in Germany cured most Diseases with Wild Sage Some have done great Things with Agrimony others
with Bean Trefoil some with Centaury others with Gentian c. and the famous Dr. Lower's Practice ran almost altogether upon bitter Things which did him great Service in his Tincture of Steel as he call'd it that he often made in Destill'd Waters that could take little or nothing to Purpose of the Tincture of Steel whether out of Ignorance or Design I will not tho' I may determine which shews that it was the bitter Things that did the good and made it as a Panacea and not the Steel However certain it is that promoting the Dissolution of Meat at Stomach which the bitter Salia-Volatalia-Oleosa do is a great Foundation for Cure and no doubt our Sal-Volatile-Oleosum does by its inciding dividing and resolving Quality contribute very much to a due solution thereof at Stomach by Connaturalness as all Menstruums do especially if it be Flesh which we use mostly and requires most help to be resolv'd which may very well be tho' it lessens Appetite by pleasing Sensation for as was shewn it is quite another Thing to cause Appetite or a grievous Sensation and Resolution or Digestion of the Meat at Stomach for Wine helps Digestion yet by the pleasing Sensation that it causes at Stomach it cures a canine Appetite and at any time if you 'll observe it takes off the Eagerness of Appetise for the present you can better stay without Meat after a Whet before Dinner than you could without it so that the Wine answers that of a Whet as to Digestion tho' not to Appetite or Hunger which is a grievous Sensation that Wine must rather Cure than Cause It is true that Wine or Opium may by causing a sense of Pleasure at Stomach cause some stay of the Meat at Stomach but it does not thence follow but the Digestion may be the truer because more gentle and gradual as it may and does happen in Sleep when Things that are not very hard of Digestion are eaten which are not good at any Time You may remember how Blisters to which Opium is near of Kind as has been shewn do quickly by their resolving Nature turn the Cuticle as if digested into a sort of Gelly what a mighty Help would such a Degree of Resolution be to the Digestion at Stomach when it is by that Means like the Skin of a well boil'd Cow-heel half turn'd to a Gelly and from a Thing that is very hard of Digestion to be very easie as is also a Boar's Skin in Brawn by reason of the prior Resolution in the Boiling If as Sanctorius says insensible Perspiration hinder'd is the Cause of most Diseases what is more proper to Prevent or Cure them than this Sal-Volatile-Oleosum which causes Perspiration above all Things I have been lately inform'd That in some Parts of the most Eastern Countries they Use Opium as a general Medicament or Panacea Dr. Willis and Sylvius say it hinders the Coagulation of the Bloud how many Chronical Diseases may it then Prevent or Cure That is the great Effect of the Alcahest and that is it that mainly qualifies a Medicament for a Panacea as Courvee asserts and all Ingenious Men allow Wedelius says That it happily restores the Tone of the Bloud What is then wanting to the Preservation of Health Paracelsus says That Tam homini quam Morbo somnum conciliat That is That it puts the Disease asleep as well as the Man ☞ Platerius cured the Gout with it safely quickly and pleasantly and I know one that can do it especially if it be at the first coming of the Fit Willis gives an Instance of one perfectly cured of a Dropsie and Pocky Pains by the Use of Laudanum ☞ Horstius perfectly cured an Hypochondriacal Person that was troubled with Stupidity Watchings Loss of Appetite Trembling and direful Epileptical Convulsions and past all Hopes by the Use of Opiates I my self have often seen Defluxions and Catarrhs cured by the use of Opiates and one of an inveterate ill Habit of Body of many years standing Wedelius says That it resolves the Grumescence of the Bloud alters and dissipates the tenuious Parts of it tempers the acrimonious c. The Ancients used it against Agues with great success You may to confirm this Matter farther observe that among the constant and frequent Effects of Opium there is no bad ones unless there be 2 or 3 purely upon the Account of its Rosin as has been shewn therefore when it is separated from it there is no Cause to fear the Use of the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum unless it be as in the Case of Wine when 't is taken in an excessive Dose or used too long in a lavish intemperate manner so that when I have shewn how duely to prepare it and the moderate and safe Doses thereof it may be used altogether as safely as Wine in a proportionable Dose for what Harm can there be in moderately pleasing the Membranes particularly at Stomach which all the best Things we use as Wine Cordials Meat and Drink do which are therefore all Opiates in some degree thereby assuring us of their Goodness and Agreeableness to our Bodies tho' they do it not in so high a dgree as our Sal-Volatile-Oleosum does which is the more Authentick Certificate of its Excellency tho' it is to be still confessed that Excess of the best Things as Ioy Comfort Pleasure Wine Cordials c. have and may do mischief but what need Excess therein any more than in Wine Meat Cordials c. which then like it are all inconvenient and injurious to the Body All this I have said to administer Cause to improve the Practice of Physick by the Use of this Panacea now that it is known by introducing its noble Use as an Alterative to Cure as well as formerly to palliate Diseases it being a far more beneficial Thing to Cure than palliate Remember how the Cortex Mercury Antimony and other the most effectual and glorious Medicaments have been traduced and scandalized by the ignorant Imaginations of the Unlearned who having no true Knowledge of the Vertue of Things wholly depend upon Fears and Iealousies to guard them from their imagined ill Effects which generally speaking only the same Ignorance Fears and Iealousies gave a Phantastical Being to It remains that I in the next Place shew you 1. The true Preparation of this Panacea or Sal-Volatile-Oleosum 2. Other Preparations of Opium that are next it in Safety and good Effect and why they are so 3. The moderate and truly safe Dosing of them all there being no Danger in well prepared Opium but from Excess in the Use thereof CHAP. XXV Of the Preparation of the Panacea or true Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium SEeing that the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium must be such an effectual generous and general Medicament that is both cordial and alterative in so transcendent a manner it well deserves a careful and curious Preparation therefore I will be very particular therein To that end 1. It must be separated from all the
leave that to other Physicians to please themselves or Patients by adding Ambergrise Musk Saffron Oil of Cinnamon or other chymical Oils Sugar or the like according to their Intent I have observed That as Reason tells us its Smell is best palliated by other rank Smells as that of Onions Garlick Asa-foetida c. and its bitter Taste with bitter things as Gentian Centaury c. Therefore when Persons that know its Smell and Taste are avers to take it if the other more acceptable Things will not suffice for that purpose use some of these You may when you are in haste infuse half a dozen slices of Gentian-root and one slice of an Onion or a bruised Clove of Garlick or both in a Glass of Wine for one hour for a Vehicle in that case 'T were better to infuse them longer if you have time but you 'll find that the liquid Panacea has not such a mighty rank Taste or Smell but that it is easily palliated by such means if the Opium had no Empyreum The solid Panacea may be also palliated by the same Things conveniently mixed therewith I know there are other Ways and Means to separate the Rosin c. as extracting a Tincture of Opium in Spirit of Wine and afterward precipitating the Rosin with distilled Rain-water but this is attended with more Trouble and many Inconveniences that are avoided by the cold distilled Rain-water For 1. You know not how the Spirit of Wine may as was said alter it 2. This is going round the Bush and compounding two Menstruums together whereas the simple Water used alone is much better 3. You cannot thus separate the resinous Particles so perfectly by reason that the Spirit of Wine must retain some of them and if you add more and more Water in the Precipitation the Tincture becomes too much diluted and very weak How much better is it to use a Menstruum that never takes up any Rosin and consequently needs no such Separation and Labour of Precipitation It is better not to admit an Enemy to one's Country than afterward to endeavour his Expulsion for he will at best leave some Marks of his Hostility behind him as the Rosin will in the Spirit of Wine The like Inconveniencies there will be in separating it by the way of Distillation as 1. The altering of it by the Tyranny of Fire 2. The loss of it by Evaporation 3. The addition of the Particles of Fire thereto 4. The never separating it so well that way 5. The disuniting of the Oil and Volatile Salt in some measure But what Experience may hereafter teach Men I will not determine neither can I. But this I can That as it was even miraculous that People should never mind the Cause they daily felt and solicitously sought for so it is as strange that they could not hit upon the plain Use of Water so very common in all Hands for a Menstruum either by Chance or Consideration in all the Eastern Parts of the World where it is so universally taken or in the inquisitive Western Parts of the World where it has been studied and considered by great Numbers with the utmost Diligence But they passing over Water as despicable because common for Familiarity breeds Contempt tho' its being made the Drink of all living Creatures by the Omniscient should commend it above all things did like those that regardlesly pass over a Iewel or Treasure and having once left it behind them proceed farther and farther from it the greater progress they make concluding that it was not to be found the way they pass'd not because it was not there but because they could not see it As for the keeping of the liquid Panacea uncorrupted I do not find it apt to change however because made so easily by bare throwing it into Water it need not be kept long but may be made upon all occasions or at least one under the other as the Apothecaries spend it who it is not improbable may by their great Ingenuity and Experience in those Matters find other convenient Means to preserve it for their purpose CHAP. XXVI Of other Preparations of Opium that are absolutely or tolerably safe in a moderate Dose I. ALL Preparations are very safe in a moderate Dose wherein the resinous Part of the Opium is wholly separated from it Such are all Extracts made in aqueous Menstruums or any other that imbibes none of the resinous Parts of Opium As the Preparation that Wedâ—lius has in his Opiologia L. 1. Sect. 2. Cap. 5. p. 65. which is extracted out of Phlegm of Vinegar that remains after the Preparation of Arcanum Tartari So Laudanum liquidum Cydoniatum and Langelott's Laudanum if the resinous Part be duly separated are very safe and commendable for the like Reason as is also Le Mort's Extract out of Rain-water Diacodium c. II. All Preparations wherein the resinous Parts of Opium tho' not separated from it are so alter'd order'd divided c. as not to stick to the Stomach and render'd digestible and passable out of it without Offence may be safely used Of this kind there are or may be two Sorts First Such wherein the Nature of the Rosin is altered in some degree at least Secondly Such wherein tho' the Nature of the Rosin is not destroy'd yet is it so ordered divided c. as not to stick to the Stomach but render'd digestible and passable without Offence Of the First Sort are 1. Such Preparations wherein the resinous Part of Opium is quite altered in its Form and Nature by Chimistry or artificial Tortures of Fire which because hardly to be done without much impairing the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum will be neither commendable nor worth while considering how easily without that Trouble Pains and Labour even the Rosin it self may be separated wholly from the Opium by aqueous Menstruums 2. Such Preparations wherein the resinous Parts of Opium are altered and as it were soapified by lixivial Salts or Soaps which readily engage and intimately join with the small resinous Particles of the Opium by long and strong pounding them together in a Mortar or otherwise as in Matthew's or Starkey's Pill Bates's Pacifick Pill c. by which means those resinous Particles become in a great degree at least if not wholly miscible with and so dissolvable and digestible in the Liquors we drink and easily subduable by the Menstruum at Stomach out of which it also easily passes by reason of the great slipperiness it acquires which also prevents its sticking by that intimate mixture with the Soap or Lixivials Therefore I take those Pills of Matthews's and Dr. Bates's to be safe Preparations tho' not to be compar'd to the Panacea wherein all Danger and its Cause is quite taken away by wholly separating the resinous Parts Earth and Filth of the Opium from its Sal-Volatile-Oleosum And doubtless had Maththews Starkey and Bates known that the Rosin of Opium had been the Cause of its ill Effects they would never
Darkness of the Eyes seeing Things double various Colours before the Eyes Loss of Feeling Ease from Pain c. Deadness of the Eyes to the View Dilatation of the Pupilla Efflorescence of the Skin Laxity of the Lower Iaw Intumescence and Laxity of the Lips Faltring of the Tongue Sardonick Laughter Laxity and Weakness of all Parts a general Ineptitude to Motion Failure in making Water going to Stool and in all Things that require Strength Contraction Motion c. Difficulty of Breathing a wide and slow Pulse a Condition in general very like that of Drunkenness which also proceeds from Relaxation Secondly When you are satisfied that Relaxation is the Cause use all Means to procure a due Contraction of all Parts which is to be done 1. By removing the Cause of the Relaxation 2. By using all good Means for Contraction First therefore give a brisk quick and strong Vomit both to discharge the Opiate and cause Contraction of Parts by a grievous Sensation Proportion it to the Deadness Stâ—pidity or Sleepiness of the Person so as to give it of twice the ordinary Strength of Vomits in Case there is great Danger from those Symptoms and that they are of a high Nature After the Person has Vomited 3 or 4 Times or so often as that you may judge the Stomach well cleared of the Opiate give Half an Ounce of Cream of Tartar finely poudered in thin Broth Whey Water Small Beer or any convenient Liquid which will correct the Opiate if any remains at Stomach turn the Vomit to a Purger to clear the Intestines also and contribute much to the Contraction of Parts which you must always have in your Thoughts as the ruling Intention in this Case Therefore Secondly You must use Contracters all the Time the chief of which are Cold grievous Sensation or Pain Terrour Fear Voluntary Motion and Acids which last cannot be so well used during the Vomiting lest they stop it Therefore especially if the Person be very Stupid keep him very Cold for he will hardly feel it nor take Cold because the Relaxation and the Insensibleness of Grievance by Cold c. keeps the Pores open let him be if possible in some Motion as Walking Hewing Sawing Knocking Tugging c. the more violent it is the better because it causes more Contraction and Agitation to prevent Sopors To force him to Motion if need be Pricking Pinching or Whipping him about the Legs c. will be of good Use because grievous Sensation adds defensive Contraction which is the greatest sort to that of the intentive Contraction by voluntary Motion These Means failing he should be exposed stark naked to the coldest Air and in desperate Cases thrown suddenly at unawares into cold Water by which Means you cause Terrour Surprise and Cold which are the highest and most forcible Contracters to conspire to the Contraction of Parts Hence it is that Drunken People who are so from Relaxation become Sober as in a moment by that Means All the time but during the Vomiting let him use cold Acids in great Plenty and very manifestly acid for they will not only contribute to Contraction but very much correct the Opiate To this End Iuice of Oranges or Lemmons Verjuice or Water acidulated to a good degree by Verjuice Vinegar Iuice of Lemmons Spirit of Vitriol Sulphur or the like will be very proper Where you have not the Convenience to plunge them into cold Water as is directed dashing or pumping very cold Water or Water with a Fourth Part of Vinegar upon their naked Bodies will be of great Use especially if surprisingly done to cause the more Terrour and Concern These Things may be done more or lâ—ss as Cause may require which must be left to the Discretion of the present Physician or Friends and Standers by in Case there be no Physician I only Caution that Contracters should not be used too sparingly and that you should never cease to advance in the Use of them till you perceive their good Effect and then to continue them as occasion requires Note That the Case may well happen that the Rosin may stick at Stomach and yet no Signs or Symptoms appear but those of Relaxation by Reason that the Feeling at Stomach may thereby be disabled to take any notice of it To be sure of this you have no other Means because the Symptoms and Effects of grievous Sensation cannot appear where it is not for the aforesaid Reason but to examine whether the Opiate was a resinous one as crude Opium Extract out of Spirit of Wine or the like for then you may conclude especially if they were given in a massy solid Form as that of Pills c. without severing the Particles of the Rosin by other Things as the Yolk of an Egg c. that the Rosin may in all Probability stick at Stomach tho' its Symptoms do not appear for the aforesaid Reason In such a Case the best Advice that I can give is externally to use all Contracting Means as is directed and internally the Means prescribed for Dissolution of the Rosin for you 'll thereby answer both Intentions Failure of making Water often happens in these Cases which you may generally help by only clapping the Scrotum to the cold Chamber Pot or into cold Water and if that will not do put some Vinegar into the Water and that failing he must be stript and cold Water pumpt or dashed upon the Region of the Bladder III. To Cure the ill Effects of a long and lavish Use of Opium These Effects as you may easily observe if you take a View of them where they are enumerated in Chap. 6. are either 1. From an over-much and habitual Relaxation of Parts as Weakness a Moapish Disposition Diminution of Appetite Weakness of Digestion Dropsies Weakness of Memory c. Or 2. From Acrimony as frequent Irritations to make Water Priapisms Erections of the Penis fruitleâ— Inclinations to Venery c. In this Case as in that of old Drunkards which is much the same there is no good to be done till the habitual Cause is removed viz. the Taking of Opium which suddenly to leave off is as was shewn very dangerous Therefore in order to leave it off safely 1. You must stop your Hands and not increase the Dose that is taken by which Means it will come gradually to have little or no Effect 2. When you find that it is come to that pass your Work is half done then only lessen it 100th Part every Day till you come to take none at all 3. If during this retrograde Course you find any Faintness drink a Glass of good Stomach-Wine toties quoties as Gentian or Centary Wine or the like made by Infusion in Claret or if you want such a Glass of the Claret it self which Things will excite the Spirits and help Digestion 4. When you have quite ended the Taking of Opium continue to Use such Wines when you are faint and every Morning take in a Glass of
Parts themselves do also duly contract which Opium hinders 6. You have much the same Reason not to give them soon after other large Evacuations where a due Contraction of the Parts is requisite as after Tapping or Paracentesis in Dropsies Child-birth c. 7. Opiates are best given in the Morning to cause Euphory or brisk Effects because the Refreshment gain'd by the Night's Sleep does not only concur towards Euphory and Briskness but also much oppose Sleepiness and Drowsiness which are not consistent with brisk Effects VI. As to Persons 1. It is not convenient to give Opiates to Persons very young or very old 2. They agree better with Men than Women or Children With Men of a robust and hard rather than of a weak fine tender and soft Texture with such as have a strong Digestion than a weak and in general with the strong rather than the weak Therefore 3. Never give them to Persons that are very weak especially if they take or digest no sustenance or extreamly little for Reasons already given nor to such as are near their End or almost expiring ☞ Except it be for want of Opium or by Extremity of Contraction by Terrour Pain Cold Convulsions c. for then it will do Wonders in preserving People that are otherwise past all Hopes by relaxing taking away Pain Contractions c. 4. It is not so agreeable to the very fat or moist because they may be over-relaxed nor to the very lean and dry c. especially to cause sleep because it is apt to irritate and actuate their Spirits too much by which means Sleep is much hinder'd VII As to Maladies and Diseases c. I. Opiates are not convenient in Relaxations as such as general Palsies Hemiphlegia's Palsies of the Eyes Deadness of them Dilatation of the Pupil Relaxation of the Tympan of the Ear of one side of the Face which makes the other side contract and and so draw the Face awry for 't is not a Spasm or Convulsion as Men imagine of the contracting side but a Resolution of the other which permits the Antagonist Muscles of that side to contract without Opposition and draw the Face toward the strong or sound Side Relaxation of the Uvula or the annex'd Valu◠which last is known by Snuffling without any other evident Cause or by observing that it does not shut in sounding u in but cut c. by it self Relaxation of the Larynx and Windpipe which is known by a hoarse kind of Whisper without a Cold or any evident Cause Of the Pharynx or Gullet which is known by a Depravation of swallowing without Pain or Tumor or any evident Cause A Paralytical Asthma or difficulty of Breathing wherein Men heave the Shoulders without any apparent Cause Relaxation of the Stomach as when Meat stays too long at Stomach c. A. Palsie of the Intestines or Guts as when one is bound and cannot refer it to any other Cause Of the Bladder when one cannot make Water without any other Cause to refer it to Relaxations of the Sphincters of the Bladder and An◠that is when Urine or Ordure fall from one involuntarily nor are they convenient in Baths unless great Relaxation as for Passage of the Stone c. is intended Nor in Ruptures as Bronchocele of the Windpipe Exomphalos of the Navel Bubonocele of the Groin or the Fall of Humours Guts Fat c. into the Scrotum or of the Fundament Womb or the Vagina c. except it be to reduce them Nor in Lunations Sprains Laxity and Weakness of Ioints Limbs Back c. Extensions of Nerves Tendons Ligaments c. Nor where Relaxation does or may improve the Distemper or do harm as in Apoplectical and soporose Cases as Coma Caros Lethargy c. Weakness of Memory Stupidity Morosi◠Nightmare Drunkenness c. Syncopes and Faintings from Relaxation as the original Cause as from Excess of Ioy Pleasure Large Evacuations when the Parts cannot well and duly contract upon what remains as after Child-Birth profuse Hemorrhages Tapping or Paracentesis or any large Evacuation of Humours in Dropsies of the Belly Breast or Head nor as has been hinted in Dropsies tho' without any such Evacuation unless it be upon some special Consideration of the learned nor in Tremblings or Shakings of the Head or Hands c. from Weakness as in old Age Nor in Fluxes from Relaxation as too much Sweat Gonorrhaea Simplex Diabetes nocturnal Pollutions Chylou◠Flux Lientery involuntary Flux of Urine or Ordure and some sorts of immoderate Fluxes of the Menses or Lochia which owe their Cause to Relaxation or Aptitude to Abortion from that Cause and indeed generally in Women with Child lest it should cause Abortion by relaxing the Neck of the Womb. Or where Contraction is beneficial as to empty a foul or replete Stomach Choler c. by Vomiting or Stool or an ill Humour any way Therefore II. Opiates are not convenient when grievous Sensations are useful as to excite Expectoration when Matter threatens Suffocation in Vomicas Pleurisies Peripneumonias Consumptions Spitting of Blood c. When Hunger calls for Food and Restauratives that of stuffing at Stomach excites Vomiting that of Urine solicites us to a due Excretion thereof that of ill Matter at Guts causes an Evacuation thereof so that when a Crisis is to be by the Help of grievous Sensation or Irritation Opiates are not convenient for it takes off the Sense of Irritation but when a Crisis is to be by Relaxation as by opening the Pores to cause Sweat Perspiration c. then is it of excellent Use So that great Question that has very much puzzled the learned whether Opium is convenient before a Crisis c is plainly and mechanically answer'd III. Opiates are not convenient where Titillation by the Acrimony of volatile Salts is the Cause of the Disease as in troublesom Erections Priapisms Nocturnal Pollutions Venereal Furies too much Salacity and Titillation Itchings of the Uterus Scrotum Penis Skin in general c. IV. I scarce need tell any that Opiates are inconvenient when the Meconium of Children should be evacuated or when one is bound in Body or apt to be so but there may be a Time when the learned Physician may think fit to give them even to the Costive in urgent Cases for he can order somewhat along with them or soon after to open the Body who may also see Cause sometimes to vary from these general Rules when Necessity and good Reason direct him so to do tho' they are nevertheless general in their Nature and not to be transgressed without special Cause and mature Deliberation V. Opiates are not so convenient where there is much slimy moist and phlegmatick Humours by Reason that the Parts are subject in such Cases to be too much relaxed I have been the fuller especially upon the Head of Diseases that I may hereafter have nothing to do but to shew the beneficial Use of Opiates duly prepared more particularly of the Panacea's
Spirits and not an over-Relaxation or Dilatation of the Pores which must be well distinguished I. The Form must be liquid in all Fevers and is also most convenient generally speakingâ— II. The Dose may be the moderate or midling except it be where the Pains are great or where much of the Opiate is lost as in Vomiting Loosness c. for which see the General Rules III. The Vehicle should be generally speaking cooling composing and incrassating Liquids as Emulsions Milk and Water or the like but in settling the Stomach use agreeable warm and comfortable Cordials or Wine burnt with Aromaticks or the like IV. The Time is when 't is convenient according to the General Rules and your Intention of its Operation therefore where there are periodical Paroxysms or Exacerbations as in the Small-Pox and many Diseases in the Afternoons or towards the Evenings give it the due Time before that it may have its full Effect by the Time the Paroxysms or Exacerbations are expected to begin and be not so mad as to be regulated by Night or Day or Bed-time c. as is usual which are no Symptoms Signs or Effects of the Distemper but of the Motion or Position of the Sun Stars c which are not the Subjects of your Cure nor can be The Want of which most obvious and rational Practice has sadly disappointed inconsiderate Physicians and often hazarded if not destroyed the Patients V. The Regimen is the same as that to cause Sleep which you have in Chap. 35. and should be by all means used in this Case 1. Note That Opiates are not to be used as has been intimated where the Commotion Flux c. is for apparent and speedy Benefit of Nature as in Vomiting upon Repletion or to discharge the Stomach of somewhat that offends it or a Loosness to clear the Intestines or the like 2. Note That when any Evacuation is to be made by Vomit or Stool the best way in these Cases is to use large Dilutions of some contemperating Liquid instead of Vomitories and Purgers therefore use only lukewarm Water or which is best boil'd with a little Carduus in 't or Carduus-Posset or the like to cause Vomiting and more agreeable Dilutions for the Intestines to wash off ill Humours as a Gallon of Water with half an Ounce of Cream of Tartar or rather the purging Salt of the Waters dissolved in it or some part thereof using all cold or but very little warm'd giving the Opiate or Panacea immediately after the Person has done Vomiting or Purging in a small Glass of Wine or agreeable Cordial to warm and comfort the Stomach and Intestines which because of the smallness of the Quantity the Moisture and Coolness of the diluting Liquids and the Opiate can cause no Inconvenience by its inconsiderable Heat CHAP. XXXIII Of the Use of the Panacea of Opium c. to relax HAving shown that Opiates relax all the sensile Parts of the Body and bow and why it follows that they are of excellent Use 1. To prevent and take away all Contractions that happen from grievous Passion or Sensation or Pain as Convulsions Sâ—iverings Shakings Cramps Tensions Palpitations and Tremors of the Heart from Fear Terrour Grief Melancholy Anxiety Solicitude Anger Fretfulness Concern Surpize c. Or from Cold Pain Acids c. as Contraction of the Sphincter of the Bladder from those Causes by which the Urine is often stopt as also by the Pain from the Haemorrhoids Inflammations Small Pox Colicks Acrimony Excoriation c. which often hinder the making of Water as they also do sometimes going to Stool swallowing c. Shivering in Ague-Fits Stupors from Cold or Pain which as was shown proceed from a violent Contraction in all which it will scarce ever fail of due Effect by this Means you may as I have often done cure those Disasters safely speedily and pleasantly even to a Wonder and Amazement as if charm'd by a Spell when others know not what Hand to put to them and are quite baffled thereby By the same Means tho' little or not at all minded you may prevent great Tumours upon Pain as when by a Thorn or any grievous Pain the Arm Legs Thighs c. begin to swell for the Swelling which often grows prodigiously and seizes the whole Limb if not a great Part of the Body threatning and often causing Mortifications and Death it self is caused by the Pain contracting and so girding the Parts that the Bloud Lympha c. cannot pass by which Means the Humours being stagnated and crowded in by the Force of the Arteries and dam'd up by the Contraction most dreadful Tumours happen whereas the Pain being taken away by the Opiate and all the Parts relaxed they are and must be prevented by plain Mechanism if used timely For Pain can cause Tumours by no other Means besides Contraction which Opium must prevent by taking away the very Pain it self 2. To help the Cure of all other Contractions as Tensions Rigidities of Nerves Membranes Tendons Ligamâ—nts Muscles c. 3. To relax or make way for Things to pass as Sweat 〈◊〉 Small Pox Measles pestilential or venemous Esslâ—vias Mâ—nses Lochia and the like to pass through the Skin or Pores A Child dead or alive After-birth Mole clodded Bloud c. to pass through the Neck of the Womb when too narrow by Nature or contracted by Pain Cold Terrour c. A Stone to pass the Ureters or Neck of the Bladder by taking away the Pain that contracts them and hinders the Passage of the Stone so that in the Hand of an ingenious Physician there is not a better nor as good a Remedy to cause a Stone of any passable Bigness to come away for it passes through the relaxed or widened Passages without Pain to help which other Relaxers as Warmth 〈◊〉 Bathâ— Fomentations Clysters together with slippery and emollient Things inwardly taken and at last a great Stream of Urine well contrived and timed when the Parts are most relaxed suppled and lubricated do much conduce I would have all who are troubled with the Stone Note this Note also That to hold and dam up the Urine a long Time is of excellent Use well managed when the Stone is in the Ureters because when the Urine has fill'd up the Bladder very tightly that it will receive no more it must distend the Ureter which is the Cause that very many are eased either by the removal or discharge of the Stone after a set Time which gives Occasion to call them Fits of the Stone because they last for much about the same length of Time however the large and sudden Evacuation of Urine must by leaving the Part loose c. conduce very much to the Passage of the Stone Clods of Bloud Phlegm Matter c. that steps the Urine 4. To relax or make Way for Things to be put into the Body when there is Occasion as in Reductions of Hernias or Ruptures of a fallen Fundament Womb or
't is best liked and most suitable to People's Minds Palate c. II. The Dose moderate except it be 1. Where some by Accident require otherwise as Pain Loosenesses Vomitings and to titillate the Venereal Membranes because remote which see in the respective Chapters of the Use of Opiates in those Cases 2. Where the general Rules direct otherwise as in the soft fleshed People Children Women c. where the Dose must be less III. The Vehicle must be the same as is directed to Compose but in old People 't is observed that smooth Spirituous Things as good Ale c. conduce very much to cause Sleep because Sulphurs do qualifie-the Volatile Salt of the Opium as was shewn IV. The Time in general is at the due distance before Bed-time that is directed in the general Rules but Opiates may be given at any Time when the Case requires as in the Small-Pox about 12 1 or 2 in the Afternoon according as the â—tions which happen in the Afternoon or towards the Evenings do seise them and in Agues at the due distance before the Paroxysm invades them 〈◊〉 that the Operation thereof may be fall and compleat before the Time that the Fits are to begin and so in all other Câ—ses of the like â—ind V. The Regimen in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Twosold Aspect 1. To promote 〈◊〉 2. To compose and quiet Motions 〈◊〉 â—tions of the Spirits 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quiet being the Two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to the first the Regimen must be the same as is directed in the Chapter of the Use of the Panacea c. to relax but as to composing and quieting the Spirits I shall add somewhat tho' Relaxers are generally good for this Purpose unless join'd with some agitating Accidents as Heat or the like 1. As to Diet it should consist of cooling incrassating inviscating Things that are not aromatick acid or saline such are Milk-Meats Emulsions Almond Milks Chicken Broth with cooling Herbs Water-gruel fresh and young soft Flesh Lettuce Purstane Spinage Herb Mercury Mallows and such like Mucilages as of Quince Fleabane c. The Drink may be Milk and Water Whey or such unfermented Liquors or smooth Small Beer not too old for all stale Drink is naught Water where it agrees c. 2. Rest of Body and Spirits must be contrived by all means as by leaning lying or sitting still without any motion after it is taken till Bed-time and therefore let the Person if the Season permits be as much undressed as may be in a loose Garment or Morning-Gown all that Time and be help'd off with his Cloaths that he may not agitate his Body when sleepy and not before let him go into a cold Bed in Summer and but a little warm'd in Winter and only have what Bed-cloaths suffices and pleases him best and then lie absolutely still without Noise Light or Fire in the Room 3. Rest and Tranquility of Mind is very necessary which should be not only free from grievous Passions but from all Excess of Joyous ones which too much agitate the Spirits 4. The Air should be moist and moderate and if not such by the Weather render'd so by Art especially in Fevers 5. All Evacuations should be made that may any way disturb his Sleep before he betakes himself to it nor should the Stomach be overfull or empty lest any Grievance may be thereby created 6. Emollient tepid Baths Fomentations Feetwashes c. do finely dispose People to Sleep but take care they be not too hot for heat causes a stir of Bloud and Spirits which is an Enemy to Sleep 1. Note That long Sleeps after great Fatigues or long Watching ought not to be very frightful if the Dose was moderate and that the Person takes Sustenance 2. Note That old or dry Persons or such as are very unapt to Sleep after Opiates are often caused to Sleep by smooth Wine Ale Cowslip Wine or the like because the gentle Oiliness of such Liquors do correct the Acrimony of their Volatile Salts and at the same time cause a Sense of Pleasure which relaxes and causes Sleep It has been observed that even Ambergrise and Musk which exagitate the Bloud and Spirits cause old Men to Sleep which happens by their fine Sulphur readily fastening upon the acrimonious Volatile Salts as Spirit of Wine does upon Sal Ammoniac which being mixed do soon coagulate Therefore I am apt to think that Camphire would be of excellent Use to correct the Opium and the volatile Salts of the Body in such Cases because it is Experimentally certain that it corrects the Acrimony of Urine of Semen Virile Cantharides c. 3. Note That the drier the Body is the more unapt are Opiates to cause Sleep therefore dry Bodies as of old Men Hectical Persons c. should be well moistened by incrassative Moisteners as Emulsions and such Things as are above mentioned and ordered in the Chapter of the relaxing Use of Opiates From what is said I do conclude that Opiates do cause Sleep very readily where the Oily Parts abound and that Things that have a fine Oleous Sulphur are very good Correctors of it where acrimonious Volatile Salts abound in order to cause Sleep and that hence it is that some ancient People will often Sleep better by the Use of the aforementioned smooth fermented sulphureous Liquors than by the Use of Opium from all which it appears that Sleep is not such a Property of Opium as People make it to be because that besides relaxing Sleep also requires a great Rest of the Spirits and the sensitive Soul It seems very probable from the Premises that Anodyne Sulphur of Vitriol would be excellent to cause old Men to Sleep for it doubtless causes Sleep only by obtunding and qualifying our Volatile Salts as White 〈◊〉 and other Balsamicks will often do CHAP. XXXVI Of the Use of the Panacea of Opium c. to stop Fluxes IT palliates moderates and stops Fluxes 1. By taking away the sense of the Irritation of Humours which cause Contraction to squeese them out and promote their motion 2. Because it composes and stills the motion of Humours by the Relaxation and the Sleep that it causes which quiets motions 3. Because thereby and by its combining Agreeableness and Texture it congregates the disgregated Humours 4. Because the Relaxation suspends the Humours 5. Because it discusses ill Humours 6. Because the Pores being opened by the Relaxation the Humours that caused the Fluxes are gradually perspired by that most natural and universal sort of Evacuation for 't is plain Reason and common Observation that a plentiful Evacuation at Pores stops Fluxes per Anum c. and if it continues perfectly cures them ☞ Hence it is that the Use of Opiates continued does happily not only palliate but perfectly cure Diarrheas Dysenteries Defluxions Catarrhs c. It therefore follows that it is of great Use 1. To palliate moderate or cure all Fluxes that proceed from Irritation of Humours as Vomitings
Loosenesses caused by the Humours of the Body or Things given as Diarrheâ—s Dysenteries Artificial Purging Iliack Passions Cholera Morbus after the Humour is somewhat spent Defluxions Catarrhs immoderate Spitting Gonorrhea Notha that is of slimy Humours by Reason of Acrimony Fluor albus from the like Cause or any other Flux of that Kind 2. To moderate or cure Fluxâ—s that proceed from too much motion of the Bloud Humours c. as Hemorrhages at Nose Lungs Stomach by the Hemorrhoids Pissing of Bloud immoderate Flux of Bloud by the Menses Lochia Stool c. when they proceed from that Cause as may also some Defluxions 3. To stop Fluxes that proceed as Hippocrates says from Segregation of Humours by composing and combining them from which Cause many such Fluxes as I have mentioned do happen But it is not advisable to use them in Fluxes that are apparently or very probably for speedy and ready Benefit otherwise as was said of Pain use them to respite Nature which they do as Sleep does nay in many Cases the Continuance of their Use may quite Cure them for the several Reasons given in the beginning of this Chapter What a pleasant Cure then do some refuse that reject them leaving their Patients to be worn out with dismal Pains tedious and profuse Evacuations want of Appetite and Digestion the common Consequences of Diarrheas Disenteries c. I. The Form of Opiates in this Case should generally be solid because it sticks better to its Work whereas the fluid is more subject to be evacuated in Diarrheas Dysenteries and Vomitings tho' sometimes the Liquid may be convenient in Vomitings as when that Form is more agreeable to the Stomach or that you would have a more speedy Effâ—ct c. In other Fluxes where the Opiate is not liable to be evacuated too soon it is indifferent what Form you use II. The Dose in Fluxes where 't is probable some Part of the Opiate may be carried off without Effect as in Vomitings Diarrheas Dysenteries Choleras c. the Dose must be generally speaking pretty large otherwise a moderate Dose may serve In such Cases due Consideration is to be had of what is lost by the Evacuation at which you may easily guess in Vomiting by what comes up if its Colour Smell Taste be observed as also by the Frequency and Violence of the Vomiting and noting how the Stomach clears it self of what is ingested by the Quantity and lastly by the Effect of which if what was given fails more of the Opiate must be given by degrees till it stops the Vomiting in some measure In Loosenesses give Half the first Dose every Four Hours till the Flux begins to be moderated then be more wary in giving it for what is afterward given may have its full Effect therefore be very cautious by giving but small Quantities both in this Case and in Vomiting when they are moderated in some degree because Opiates then have their full Effect without any Diminution or Opposition thereof In other Fluxes a moderate Dose may serve as in Desluxions Catarrhs c. however let the Dose rather incline to the highest than the lowest and suffice if possible to cause Sleep which is a great Effect in these Cases III. The Vehicle in Vomiting should be small in Quantity pleasant comfortable and warming lest you should by either Quantity or Quality give any offence to the Stomach pleasing it answers the same Intent with the Opiate it self and has often good Effect without Opium for indeed every Pleaser is proportionably an Opiate and Opiâ—m is only such in an intense and permanent manner therefore the Vehicle must be agreeable as Wine Hippocras or Wine burnt with Spices Rosemary c. or the best Cordials or Wine with some 〈◊〉 Câ—viare or Anchovis or a little old Châ—ese dissolved in it upon the Fire according as the Person likes one or the other which last tho' not used in common Practice are of very great Benefit where they are pleasing and well liked of In Loosenesses such Wines and Cordials as are sâ—bastringent should be afforded after the peccant Matter is evacuated to comfort the Bowels but the mentioned Salt Things are not convenient in this Case In Defluxions incrassative Composers are the best Vehicles as Emulsions c. See the Vehicles for Composing for they are all proper in this Case also IV. The Time is at any Hour when there is Occasion but Sleep conducing the proper Time will be unless Need otherwise requires at the due and directed distance before Bed-time V. The Regimen 1. As to Diet in Vomitings offer nothing to the Stomach but such Things and in such Quantities as was directed for Vehicles only in Vomiting before the grieving Matter is discharged it will be often convenient before the Opiate is given to give good Quantities of innocent Diluters as luke-warm Water plain or Carduus-Posset between the Vomits to dilate and render the Vomiting more easie but when you would stop the Vomiting use but small Quantities of such Things as are above directed for Vehicles Diluters in great Quantity do also succeed very well in Loosenesses to wash off the ill Humours before the Opiate is given and it is the best Practice that can be but the Chalybeate Waters are the very best for that Purpose tho' Posset or very thin Chicken or Mutton Broth are useful for it answers all good Intentions it dilutes and quâ—lifies the peccant Humours strengthens the Bowels leaves a binding Quality after the Dilution is made restores Appetite and Digestion which are both much amiss in such Cases and adds moisture to the Bloud which is under a Frâ—t or Febricula for want thereof because all Liquids are carried off by Stool but much of this goes to the Bloud where it also washes off ill saline Particles so that believe me it is of it self a most compleat and adequate Remedy in such Cases if taken to 3 or 4 Quarts for 1 2 or 3 Days 1. Solid Meats or Things hard of Digestion must be avoided because the Digestion is infirm but Milks thicken'd with Rice or Flower Rice Gruâ—s a light Bread or Rice Pudding Gellies Marmalet a Tâ—st out of Claret with Nutmeg Cinnamon and some Loaf Sugar Emulsions Almond Milk Cheese-Cakes Custards and all subastringent Incrassatives are best as also in all Defluxions 2. As to Sleeping and Waking that 's good and this bad 3. As to Rest and Motion that is convenient this not 4. As to Passions the joyous are convenient the grievous not 5. As to Air the dry and temperate is best 6. As to Excretion and Retention what is said above is sufficient saving that Vomits are very often convenient especially if the Looseness is occasioned by the Stomach to moderate it before the Opiate is given CHAP. XXXVII Of the Use of the Panacea of Opium c. to cause Fluxes or Evacuations as Perspiration Sweat c. IT as was shewn promotes some Fluxes or Evacuations by relaxing and opening
the Pores Therefore 1. It is of excellent Use to carry away noxious Vapours or Effluvia's by the Pores of the Skin to prevent Putrefactions and cure them to carry off venomous Particles in the Plague infectious Distempers Bitings of Serpents mad Dogs c. ill Fumes Wind in the Bloud or Habit of the Body that causes Stitches Tumors c. 2. To carry off noxious Humours the same way especially such as stagnate or offend in the Habit of the Body as in Colds intercutaneous Water Leâ—cophlegmatia and sometimes in Dropsies as Dr. Willis observes in Declinations of Diseases to carry off the concocted morbid Matter in Rheumatisms and Gouts particularly that which is call'd the Wind Gout 3. When Perspiration is any way hindred as by grievous Passions Sensations or Pain acid austere or cold Humour by which many Diseases are caused Thus 't is very useful in Grief Sorrow Anxieties Solicitude Melancholy Panick Fears Gachexies Scurvies Hypochondriacal Cases wherein it performs wonderfully when all things fail as you find in Chap. 24. 4. To promote the Menses or Lochia when stopp'd by reason of the constriction of the Pores by such grievous Passions or Sensations or by acid austere or cold Humours external Cold c. by its relaxing and opening the Pores and Ways and soliciting the Parts by a gentle agreeable Titillation Hence some justly call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is An Opener of the Mouth of the Veins or Bloud-Vessels by which means as has been shewn Puberty Coition c. do kindly and naturally cause the Menses to flow while the same Relaxation causes an Increase of Bloud as it does of Milk by widening the Vessels This is all Mechanical Truth that will answer upon Experience as the most Ingenious Dr. Edw. Brown can witness who is the only Man as far as I know that seems to have this Practice 5. It promotes Urine by the like opening or relaxing of the Pores of the Kidneys by its titillating Volatile Salt as Cantharides Bees Pismires Millepedes c. do 6. It may probably be of great use in cutaneous Distempers either by taking large Quantities of proper Liquids and sweating them out again by its help to wash of ill Particles or to open the Pores for the admission of external Medicaments Note That they are natural Fluxes it promotes and unnatural ones that it stops which proves its operating as an entire Friend to Nature both ways I. The Form may be which you please or is most agreeable to the Patient II. The Dose moderate except it be when extraordinary Relaxation or opening of the Pores is desired III. The Vehicle should be such as is proper to prepare the Humours to pass by Sweat or insensible Perspiration or the Bloud by the Menses and Lochia therefore should generally speaking consist of attenuating Things as Volatile Spirits and in the Plague venemous and contagious Cases of Alexipharmacks of Diureticks to promote Urine and so in all Cases of what is proper in the respective Humours for their Exit or Passage IV. The Time because Sleep conduces to open the Pores may be at the due distance before Bed-time but that hinders not but it may be given when there is occasion at any other time In the Plague it should be so often given as to keep the Pores always open Mayern glves an Instance of a Physician that had all Signs of Death Petechiae a Carbuncle c. who recovered by taking Laudanum 6 times a day I suppose 24 Hours or the natural Day is meant thereby V. The Regimen must be such as is proper convenient and usual in the respective Cases for 't is endless to mention all it requires a Volume To cause Sweat much temperate Liquids must be always given especially in Fevers or dry Bodies as the Hypochondriacal c. Most part of the Liquids should be given before the Opiate that they may have time to get into the Bloud by that time the Opiate operates which does so as was shewn while 't is at Stomach To move the Menses proper means should be used for a due time before the Use thereof because the Effect expected in this Case from Opiates is only to open the Ways or Pores So Humours in Leucophlegmatia's c. should be duly prepared for the like Reason To cause Perspiration it is convenient in cold Constitutions and old People gently to warm the Bloud with 2 or 3 Glasses of generous Wine a little Garlick Onions Selery or the like to attenuate and cause Evaporation which Heat promotes but if you over-heat the Bloud it hinders Perspiration by its growing grievous for what is so causes Contraction and closing of the Pores Note That nothing can be so good to cause Perspiration or Sweat because it not only opens the Pores but takes away any grievous Passion or Sensation that may close them and atenuates resolves c. by its Volatile Salt CHAP. XXXVIII Of the Use of the Panacea c. as a Titillative THis it does as was shewn by its Volatile Salt as Cantharides Bees Pismire Sem. Viril c. Therefore 1. It is of great use to excite to Venery cause Erections to actuate a dull Semen for the sake of lawful Propagation 2. To increase the Semen 1. By the Titillation of the Venereal Parts which invites it thither by the Agitation thereof as Frication of the Breasts and those Parts cause Increase of Milk and the Semen 2. By the Pleasure thereof relaxing the Parts which causes a greater Flux of it as of Milk to the Breasts and Nourishment to any Part. It is observable how desirous Rachel being Barren was of the Opiate call'd Mandrake so that she parted with her Beloved Husband to her Sister Leah for a Night to purchase it Whether it was any means to cause her to Conceive which she did afterwards is not to be determined tho' it seems not altogether unlikely 3. It s Use to increase Milk is spoken of in the Chapter of its Use to Relax only it does it here as Titillating and there as Relaxing 4. It conduces to move the Menses by its Titillation 5. The Titillation of its Volatile Salt as Cantharides c. do moves us to Urine I. The Form is wholly indifferent II. The Dose must be large and generally greater than any I have mentioned and possibly requires a Repetition thereof to excite to Venery tho' I shall not prescribe any more than I have in the Table of Doses but leave it to Iudicious Physicians to do as they think â—it where there is a just Cause for its Use which I will not expose to every lustful Goat It is not unlikely but one great Cause of the Ignorance of its Use to excite Venery in these Western Parts of the World may be the smallness of the Doses that we use besides the Reasons mentioned in Chap. 8. and that such Circumstances might occasion the Disputes and Contradictions that have been about the Effect of Opium whereas there is
13. Some of the Ancients applied it to the Perinâ—um Kidneys Region of the Pubis c. to chill Venus by the cold Quality they attributed to it which is all Stuff grounded upon that most absurd Hypothesis 14. They also attributed its Psilothrick Quality to Cold than which nothing does more fasten and cause the Hair to grow as you see in Winter-Time when all Furrs are longer and fastned better to the Skin Into what Fooleries a false Opinion will lead People 15. It has been used by Hieron Mercurialis in Ulcers of the Womb with Success and without danger as he says L. 4. de Morb. Mul. c. 7. p. 281. 16. It has kill'd People in Clysters by sâ—icking to the Intestinum rectum which was doubtless by Reason of its Rosin for it has nothing in it besides the Rosin that can stick to do any manner of Harm which is a most demonstrative Reason of the Perniciousness of its Rosin for if it can â—ill there much more where there is such exquisite Sensation as is at Stomach However 't is known by Experience that Venice Treacle and Diascordium are because of the Dissemination of the Opium and smallness of the Quantity safe in Clysters and very useful in Dysenteries and Diarrhaeas as our Panacea must be that has no Rosin in it and dissolvable in Water or any Humours of the Body 17. It may be used in Suppositories when the Rosin is separated from it but I would not advise the Use of above 4 Grains in this Case or if 8 or ten be used the Suppository should not remain long in the Body This I say for Caution's sake 18. It has been used reduced to an Oointment or Balsam with Oil of Roses c. to the Soals of the â—eet to cause Sleep with good Success 〈◊〉 Polidamus L. de Doloribus Capitis p. 78. 19. D. Francisc. Hildesheâ—m asserts that it takes away Pain in Cauteries â—ut says it is apt to cause Grangrens 20. Crollius in his Basil. Chym. p. 235. says That 2 Pills of Opium each containing 8 Grains being put up into the Nostrilâ— stopt a desperate Haemorrhage at Nose but I should hardly â—rust it in this Case Possibly the Bloud might stop by some other Cause a small Deliquium not observed or the like for Deliquiums still all Motion by a sudden Relaxation which as has been said suspends all Humours and weakens the Motion of the Heart if it does not sometimes quite take it off for the Time Secondly as an Alterative Emplostick c it as was shown incides resolves discusses molleâ—ies maturates suppurates and is psilothrick and titiâ—lative Therefore is of Use 1. In Phlegmatick and Oedematous Tumours 2 In windy Tumours Pains Stitches c. 3. To ripen Boils Buboes Abscesses and the like 4. In all hard Tumours of the Spleen Breasts Cancers Tophousness c. in which Cases it is as other Opiates are of excellent Use by their powerful resolving and relaxing Faculties 5. To cause Nourishment of Parts Increase of Milk c. by Relaxation as Sleep Puberty Pleasure c. do as has been shown 6. To cause the shedding of Hair by Resolution of the Parts as by a Caustick Vesicatory c. with which it agrees in its exuâ—cerating Faculty when it is very strong as the true Maslach or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we have not 7. To excite to Venery by its titillating Volatilâ— Salâ— if apply'd to the Perinaeum YE blessed Minds who in an instant know What in five Thousand Years none here below Could learn How mean are we how great are you O for your happy State while dull Mankind Oft see and fâ—el the Things they cannot find Who did not see the Bloud move to and fro Yet could none its Circulation know Till God enlighten'd Harvey then did he Perceive what others seeing could not see So till God was to my Enquiries kind Millions sought and felt what they ne're could find What is vain Man without th' all knowing Mind To whom all Glory be all Thanks and Praisâ— As was is now and fit to be always Amen Amen Amen FINIS
which argues That the Specifick Combination of the Oily and Volatile Parts baffles all Coctions Digestions Circulations and Percolations that have happened in the Body Dioscorides and Aeginela speaking of Opium say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The smell of the Medicament is expanded over the whole Body Which Things of its Nature do as Garlick Onions Semen Animale which causes Rankness all over Male Creatures as Rams Boars Bulls c. 14. Le Febure in his Chymistry Part 2. p. 33 says That Opium has a Volatile Salt inseperably mixt with Sulphur or Oily Parts 15. Wedelius in his Opiologia Lib. 2. Sect. 1. Cap. 4. P. 91. speaking of Opium says Sal ejus cum sulphure intime combinatum sudores efficit that is Its salt being intimately combined with sulphur or Oil causes Sweat And Lib. 2. P. 143. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obtinuit non facile dissipabilem that is It has a contexture not easily dissipable 18. All know how apt Volatile Salt and Oily Parts are to combine Therefore Opium acts and produces its usual good Effects by a Sal-Volatile-Oleosum somewhat more active than that in our Membranes whose Principles are most intimately and strictly combined and so that it is qualified in the highest degree for our Purpose Because 1. It agrees in Principles with our Membranes 2. That its Sal-Volatile-Oleosum is more active and vigorous than that of the Membranes to actuate and excite the Spiritus insiti and finely to tickle and gratifie the Membranes 3. That the Volatile Salt and Oily Parts being so intimately combined do deliciously qualifie one the other for that Purpose While the Oily smooths and lenifies the Volatile Salt and the Volatile Salt actuates and quickens the Oily And that being so combined 4. Both conspire to a permanent and exalted Pleasure of the Membranes especially at Stomach and the Venereal Parts where they are so exquisitely disposed for Sensation Therefore the Sal-Volatile-Oleosum of Opium separated from its Rosin is most consummate and best qualified that possibly can be imagined to please gratifie and finely to titillate our Membranes or Organs of Sensation which was the Thing required I cannot better illustrate its Nature than by the most exalted Thing in an Animal viz. it s Semen Therefore for Confirmation of its Principles and Excellency therein I will consider its Likeness and Agreement therewith 1. In being both a Sal Volatile-Oleosum 2. In having a more active vigorous and exalted Sal-Volatile-Oleosum than any Part of the Animal 3. In having the Volatile Salt and Oleous Particles intimately combined for Semen Animale will as Opium keep very long uncorrupted as appears by its long stay in the Vesiculae seminales of some Animals that do not excern it in many years 4. In that both are apt to mix with all forts of Menstruums and both Mole minima Virtute maxima 5. In having much the same Smell viz. a rank and vehement one 6. In tainting the Body therewith as has been shewn 7. In being much of the same Weight as appears by both sinking in Water c. 8. The Taste must in all Probability have a Rankness in it like that of Opium because it gives a rank Taste to the whole Body of Male Creatures 9. Both excite Venery cause Erections Venereal Fury and Nocturnal Pollutions c. 10. Both cause Boldness Courage and Magnanimity which are reckon'd among the Effects of Opium and are the common Effects of Plenitude of Seed in Animals that are otherwise pusillanimous in Times of Copulation so Modest and Sheepish Boys grow much more assured â—old and as they commonly call it Manlike upon Puberty and Girls grow more Womanlike in their Dispositions and 't is my Observation That the Men who breed most of the Sem. Virile are generally if not always the most Valiant 11. Both do cause a great Relaxation upon the Pleasure thereof as appears after a good Dose of Opium and upon Emission of the other by the Deadness of the Eyes or Laxity of the Cornea in both Cases Dilatation of the Pupill Floridity of the Skin large Perspiration laxity of the Limbs Sleepiness loss of Memory and Sense alienation of the Mind a wide Pulse Indolence loss of Feeling in both Cases and other Signs of Relaxation 12. Both Opium and Puberty cause a growth of the Penis Breasts and increase Milk by Reason of the Relaxation that they cause which as in Sleep causes the greater Nutrition but of the manner how it happens upon Relaxation more hereafter if there be occasion Hence it is 13. That both Opium and Puberty are apt to bring down the Menses and open the Viae by the Relaxation and that Marriage or the Pleasure of Venereal Acts do by the like Relaxation promote the Menses That both Opium and such Acts are apt to cause Miscarriages by relaxing the Neck of the Womb c. 14. Both cause Sadness and Dejection when the Operation is over as indeed Pleasure generally does especially if intense 15. Both Opium and Sem. Animale prevent Lassitude and cause Euphory or easier Undergoing of Labour Hence it is that Stone Horses will not be so soon tired when full thereof and quickly recover if tired which might doubtless be observed in other Animals but that they are not used to Labour and so not obvious to be observed 16. Authors do say That Sem. Virile takes of Venereal Impotence procures Love c. which doubtless must be by exciting to Venery as Opium does Thus the Genitals of Bucks Boars Bucks of Hares Cocks c. do as Opium excite Venery and the Seed of Animals as of a Camel and the aforesaid Creatures come to be esteemed Hypnoticks and doubtless all Animal Seed especially of the more Salaceous Creatures is an Opiate in some degree To be short The main if not all the Difference in their Effects arises only 1. From the Different Parts that they affect because Opium affects the Stomach the Venereal and all the Membranes in general and Sem. Animale only the Venereal Parts immediately tho' an intense Pleasure of one Part does affect the whole 2. That Opium does affect with a Sense of Pleasure more permanent viz. for many Hours as has been said and that the Pleasure of the other is Momentary Therefore Opium acts by causing an intense permanent and charming Pleasure of the Membranes in general but more particularly of the Stomach and Venereal Parts as being more exquisitely disposed for Sensation for the Preservation of the Individuum and Species It cannot be much wondred at considering our Active Principles are a Sal-Volatile-Oleosum and that Opium is such and that we naturally carry an Opiate within us that in some Cases our ordinary Sal-Volatile-Oleosum or that of the Choler Semen c. being by some accident exalted towards the Nature of Opium may have the Effect of an Opiate upon us by causing Sopors and Lethargick Distempers Fuâ—or uterinus by Titillation c. Thus the Spume of some Male Animals Mummy c.
the Pleasure yet was neither discovered for many Thousands of years especially considering also that in the Case of Opium Thousands of Ingenious Men have diligently enquired after the Cause of its Operation who made no farther step in 't than to state Things that have not as much as Existence viz. a Cold Quality and 〈◊〉 flying from the Stomach to the Head to be the Cause thereof Therefore it is plain That neither is he that Planteth any Thing neither he that Watereth but GOD that giveth the Increase of Knowledge and of other Things To whom be all Glory CHAP. XX. The Explication of the Effects of the Declination of the Operation of Opium in a Moderate Dose 1. A General Return of all Diseases and Disasters when the Operation of Opium is over because it does not as was shewn operate as an Alterative but a pleasing Diverter of the sensitive Soul for some Time during which it causes a general Relaxation of all the sensile Parts whereby the Animal Spirits being expanded grow unsit to convey Impressions smartly which is requisite to cause a sense of Pain c. as has been often said But it cures several Distempers viz. such as pleasing and comforting the sensitive Soul composing the Spirits Relaxation Perspiration Sweat c. can quite take away Of which more particularly when we come to speak of the Use of Opium in Cure 2. Sweat happens in the Declination of its Operation as Sir Theodore Mayern my self and others have observed because that now all the Parâ—s contracting which by their Relaxation suspended all Humours during its Operation do Mechanically squeese out the congested Humours there being less Room in the Body as was said of Sweat upon awaking by the Return of the Vigilative Contraction after Relaxation during the Sleep which is to be compared to the Relaxation during the Operation of Opium and the Return of the Contraction when 't is ended besides that both upon the Going off of the Operation and Awaking the Motion of the Heart growing more vigorous as it does upon Motion by the Intentive Contraction does more powerfully propell the Humours out at the Pores as happens in Sweat upon Motion 3. Frequent making of Water happens partly by the Titillation of the Volatile Salt as by Cantharides c. that is now separated from the Bloud partly by the Contraction of the whole Body squeesing it out at the Kidneys as when People are Cold they make more Water for that Reason 4. A Looseness may and does happen sometimes from the like Contraction squeesing out the Humours that were suspended during the Relaxation by the Opium which is common for such Contractions to cause as by Cold Terrour c. and because Sensation grows more nice and irritable by the Humours by Reason of the Contraction which is the more for the Grievance of failing of the Pleasure of Opium Therefore 5. Diseases Pains c. seem worse upon the Return of the Grievances because of the great Ease they had during the Operation of the Opium Contraria inter se magis elucescunt and it is particularly observed of Pleasure That it leaves Men worse then it found them Thus a Man is worse more sad c. Post Coitum more Melancholy after all sorts of Pleasure insomuch that it is grown to a Proverb viz. After Merry comes Sorry or After Mirth comes Sorrow as also Minus gaudebis minus dolebis Therefore 6. Melaneholy does often if not always happen in some degree after its Operation is ended 1. Because of the Return of the Contractions or Toil of the sensitive Soul 2. Because as was said the Sense of Pleasure newly lost aggravates the Sorrow as has been shewn after Coition c. 7. The Pulse is narrow because the Contraction returns with Melancholy and Return of Disasters improve when that so happens as it generally does 8. Itching of the Skin happens about this time because that now the Volatile Salt which causes Tuillation is arrived as far as the Skin upon its march out of the Body CHAP. XXI The Explication of the Effects of Opium in an Excessive Dose THE Cause of most of these Effects will be evident from the Explication of the former because the Difference is only in the Quantity of the Opium therefore I am often necessitated to speak much the same as I have done before You cannot expect any good Effects from its Excess any more than you have from Wine tho the best of Cordials next to the Sal. Volatile Oleosum of Opium but rather less because Opium is join'd to a pernicious Rosin which you may be sure will be very grievous to the Stomach in great Quantities if it was so in little The Evil Effects in this Case do mainly proceed either from too much Relaxation as in Drunkenness or from the Rosin at Stomach 1. A Heat at Stomach is caused by the intense Heat of the Opium in a great Quantity it being sensibly a very hot Thing 2. The Sense of Weight at Stomach is caused by the great Relaxation that it causes which renders the Stomach proportionably weak and unable to endeavour its own Relief so that the Rosin c. lie heavy upon 't Thus we find a great Heaviness at Stomach when any Thing grieves it that it cannot reject or discharge 3. Gaity of Humour is caused at first as by the Pleasure of a great Quantity of Wine by its pleasing Agreeableness to the Membrane at Stomach till the Relaxation grows enormous as by a great Dose of Wine suddenly drank to which it is very like in all its Effects except such as proceed from the Rosin sticking at Stomach which Wine has not 4. Sardonick Laughter is caused as you see in Drunken People when they are disabled by the great Relaxation that they cannot well Express themselves by the failing Tongue they endeavour it by a silly kind of fained or made Laughter as they call it while the pleasing Titillation at Stomach much inclines them to Mirth if they knew how to manage and carry it on 5. Laxity and consequently Debility of all Parts is caused by the extraordinary Relaxation of them by a continual and permanent sense of Pleasure which happens considerably in the Momentary Pleasure of Venus much more in this continual and lasting Pleasure when a great Dose makes it intense as in Drunkenness 6. Alienation of the Mind is caused as in Drunkenness by an over Relaxation of the Brain and its Membranes 7. Loss of Memory happens by the same Means as in Drunkenness So 8. Darkness of Eyes is caused by a Relaxation of the Coats and Membranes of the Eyes but mainly by the Expansion of the Animal Spirits by that Relaxation which as in Sleep renders them unfit to convey the Impressions of Light c. 9. Laxity of the Cornea is from the same Relaxation 10. Appearance of various Colours happens by as was said the unevenness of the Cornea c. when so relaxed whereas when 't is duely
have spent Months in preparing the Sapo tartareus to correct Opium when they might with the hundredth part of the Trouble and fortieth part of the Time wholly have taken away the pernicious Part by aqueous Menstruums which they only pretend to correct by the Sapo tartareus tho' I allow it for the Reasons aforesaid to be a good Corrector yet cannot it equal the total separation of the pernicious Parts I am of Opinion upon my best Thoughts and some Experience That intimately mixing and subduing Opium with good white Soap may for the Reasons aforesaid prove a good and ready Corrector or Preventer of the Adhesion of the resinous Parts of Opium to the Stomach much conduce to its Dissolution or Digestion therein and nimble slipping out of it and thereby prevent all the ill Effects of Opium which it causes by the Adhesion and Indigestibleness of its Rosin Of the Second Sort of Preparations of Opium wherein its Rosin remains wholly unaltered in its Nature yet becomes safe by dividing it c. This is mainly if not altogether done by a fine and through Division of the resinous Parts of Opium and keeping them afterwards from a Coalescence in and Adhesion to the Stomach by which means they become digestible or at least passable without Offence This may be done 1. By Torrefaction till the Opium is very friable and then finely poudering it and mixing it with such things as are of good Consistence c. to keep the Parts of Opium from a Coalescence as in Venice Treacle Mithridate Diascordium the Philoniums c. This was the Way and Method that the Ancients used which caused Galen to say That Opium alone that is undivided and unmix'd with other things to prevent its Coalescence c. was dangerous but mixt with other things was salutiferous which they found by Experience not knowing the Cause but attributing the Safety thereof to something among the many Ingredients as a Corrector of the Opium Hence it was that they put small Quantities thereof into Electuaries made of many and much other things that kept the Particles asunder which they did so commonly that at last all Electuaries were call'd Opiates Thus we had those Compositions above named which are safely used for the Reasons aforesaid not that any thing therein corrects I know not what poisonous or narcotick Quality in Opium but that the other Ingredients divide its Rosin and afterward keep its Particles from Coalescence and Adhesion 2. Dissolution of Opium in Spirit of Wine or such sulphureous Spirits which finely divide the Rosin and using the bare Tincture before the resinous Particles are again compacted as in Extracts c. may be of use if duly administred But here a Caution is to be used That you take it not in or drink any aqueous or phlegmatick Liquid with it or before or after it in two or three hours which if you do the resinous Particles will be precipitated thereby and so stick to the bottom tom of the Stomach causing thereby the usual ill Effects of Vomiting Anxieties c. Therefore it should be given only in a spirituous Liquid Note also That if you give a Solution thereof in any Lixivium you take Care not to dilate it by any Means by aqueous Liquids in Two Hours before or after you take it for then there being but little Lixivial Salt in proportion to the Liquid the resinous Parts are let go and precipitated to the Bottom of the Stomach as in the Case of the Spirit of Wine so dilated Of which I have seen a very convincing Instance for one that had an Esteem of Lixivials in this Case not only according to Helmont and the Common Cry to correct Opium but also to extract its Vertue the more effectually made a Tincture of Opium in Water lixiviated with Salt of Wormwood whereof he took the Quantity that he had seen me give of my Liquid Panacea in a Coffee-Dish full of Water which precipitating the Rosin in the Stomach caused him to Vomit in about an Hour after and continued so to do for about 15 Hours By which you plainly see that the great Secret of Lixivials to correct Opium lies meerly in its Division of the Rosin thereof as in the Case of Spirit of Wine and poudering it and afterward keeping its Particles asunder during its Stay at Stomach which the Sapo tartareus does and probably other Soap may do very well for the several Reasons aforesaid 3. Dissolution of Opium in the Yolk of a rear new laid Egg by pounding the Dose that you intend to take with a little Quantity of the Yolk till both be thoroughly mixed and then taking it in the remaining Part of the Yolk By which Means you not only finely divide the resinous Parts of the Opium while the Yolk of the Egg intimately mixes with them as it does with other Rosins and Turpentines but send along with it into the Stomach what is digestible in it self and more and more divides and separates the resinous Parts and highly contributes to their final Dissolution and Digestion so that I doubt not but you 'll find this new ready and agreeable Means as good if not better all Things considered than the former and even equal to the Sapo tartareus By what is said tho' short you may because it is the clear Truth of Things Judge of the Goodness of all Preparations of Opium And 1. That resinous Things should not be added to Opium because such like its own Rosin renders it more indigestible and apt to stick at Stomach Hence it is that the Styrax Pill having resinous Things in it and crude Opium does so often cause dismal Effects tho forsooth much esteem'd for the Lungs Coughs Defluxions c. for having such Balsamick resinous Things as Styrax and Olibanum in it whereas the Benefit is from the Opium Had Dr. Bates known the Cause of the Mischiefs of Opium he would never have put Benjamin in his Pacifick Pill 2. That all Preparations made of Extracts in Spirit of Wine are to be rejected such Extracts being much worse than Crude Opium and Experimentally found to be so therefore our common London Laudanum being made of Opium prepared in Spirit of Wine is no commendable Preparation tho' so much used and cried up which also Experience proves in that it sometimes causes the ill Effects of Opium when given alone in a good Dose You 'll find more of these Matters when you come to Chap. 29. which consists of general Rules and Cautions concerning the Use of Opium therefore tho' I may add some Useful Observations I put an end to this Matter at present for that Reason and because what is to be truly done in the Preparation of Opium is very evident from what is said since the Cause of the ill Effects of Opium is now certainly known to be its Rosin to the Separation or due Alteration of which so as to cause it to pass the Stomach without Adhesion or Offence by