fluid so that they make another form of Mixture and unite among themselves into the resemblance of a Milky Cream after which together with the thicker Mass with which they are yet involved by the Constriction of the Stomach they pass down to the Guts where by the Mixture of the Bile and Pancreatick Juice they are by another manner of Fermentation quite separated from the thicker Mass and so are received by the Lacteal Vessels as the thicker is ejected by stool After the purer part of the Chyle hath been thus strained thorough the narrow and oblique Pores of the Milky Veins by the continual and peristaltick motion of the Intestines it is yet further attenuated and diluted with a very thin and clear Lympha from the Glands of the Mesentery to expedite its passage through those Numerous Meanders into the common Receptacle from whence by the constant supply of such like Lympha from the small Glands of the Thorax it is safely conveyed through the Ductus Chyliferus Thoracicus subclavian Vein and the Vena Cava into the Heart The Chyle now mingled with the Blood passeth with it through the Arterys of the whole Body and returns again with the Blood by the Veins to the Heart undergoing many Circulations before it can be Assimilated to the Blood for every time the new infused Chyle passeth through the Heart with the Blood the Particles of the one are more intimately mixed with those of the other in its Ventricles and the Vital Spirit and other active Principles of the Blood work upon the Chyle which being full of Salt Sulphur and Spirit as soon as its Compages is loosned by its Fermentation with the Blood the Principles having obtained the Liberty of Motion do readily associate themselves and are Assimilated with such parts of the Blood as are of a like and suitable Nature After the Chyle hath been thus Elaborated it becomes fit as well to recruit the Mass of Blood as to Nourish the whole Body seeing it consists of divers Principles and Parts of a different Nature therefore according to the various Use and Necessity of every Part and also that it may conform and fashion it self to the different Pores and Passages so it is severally appropriated the most volatile and subtil part is separated in the Brain and adapted to refresh the Animal Spirits the Glutinous to nourish the Body and the Sulphureous to revive the Native Heat And in its passage with the Blood through all the parts of the body all the mass of Chyle that is capable of being turned into Blood is sanguified the serous and saline part precipitated by the Kidneys and evacuated by Sweats or insensible Transpiration the Bilious is deposited in the Liver and the rest of its Excrements retire to the several Emunctorys of the Body Thus it comes to pass by the wonderful Sagacity of Nature such extraordinary Provision is made that the purer part of the Chyle by these ways and means is more purified and when it is thus purified and sublimed it is more capable of reinforcing the Blood and Spirits as also of corroborating the Tone of every particular Part Whereas when the Chyle is sowre and dispirited the blood necessarily becomes vappid the Animal Spirits that reside in the System of the Nerves are infected with a Morbid Disposition and all parts of the Body begin to flag and waste For indeed there is no other way to recruit the dayly Expence of Blood and Spirits but by a continual Influx of laudable Chyle into the blood-vessels which Chyle is made by the Fermentative Juice of the Stomach and this Fermentative Juice supplyed from the Mass of Blood so that there plainly appears to be a fixt Correspondence betwixt the Blood and Chyle and a necessary Dependance all the Humours in the Habit of the Body have on the Stomach from whence it is reasonable to infer That if the Chylifying Faculty of the stomach be depraved the Blood and Humours must necessarily sympathize therewith and in a manner proportionable to the Distemper of this part The immediate Cause of a Consumption of the Lungs is store of sharp malignant waterish Humours continually distilling upon the soft spongy Substance of the Lungs stuffing inflaming impostumating and exulcerating them whereby their Action which is Respiration or a receiving in and driving forth Air is depraved as will more clearly appear by the following Description of these Parts It may not be impertinent to our Discourse if we should usher in the Description of the Lungs with a short account of the Trachea Aspera Arteria or Wind-pipe The Trachea or Aspera Arteria is a long Pipe consisting of Cartilages and Membranes which beginning at the Throat or lower part of the Jaws and lying upon the Gullet descends into the Lungs through which it spreads into many Branchings and is commonly divided into two parts the Larynx and Bronchus the Larynx is the upper part of the Wind-pipe the Bronchus is all the Trachea besides the Larynx as well before as after it arrives at the Lungs The Substance of the Lungs is soft spongy and rare curiously compacted of most thin and fine Membranes continued with the Ramifications of the Trachea or Wind-pipe which Membranes compose an infinite number of little round and hollow Vesicles or Bladders so placed as that there is an open Passage from the Branches of the Aspera Arteria out of one into another and all terminate at the outer Membrane that investeth the whole Lungs These little Bladders by help of their muscular Fibres contract themselves in Expiration and are dilated in Inspiration partly by the pressure of the Atmosphere and partly by the Elastick power of the Air insinuating it self into these Vesicles through the Wind-pipe and its several branches Their Lobes are two the right and left parted by the Mediastinum each of which is divided into many lesser Lobules according to the Ramifications of the Aspera Arteria they have all sorts of Vessels that are common to them with other parts as Arterys Veins Nerves Lympheducts but peculiar to themselves they have their Bronchia or the Branches of the Wind-pipe for bringing in and carrying forth Air so necessary to Life that we cannot Live without it And when we consider their admirable Structure as well as the structure of every individual part of our Body how ought we to Adore the infinite Wisdom of our Creator Now when these small Vesicles or Bladders are repleat with Extravasated Serum or purulent Matter the Natural Tone of the Lungs is so weakned that we cannot enjoy the Benefit of free and full Respiration hard scirrhous Tumours or Tubercles are bred attended with a dry and troublesome Cough Oppression of the Breast difficult and short Breathing preternatural Heats Exulcerations and other deplorable Symptoms according to the Degrees of Obstruction and different Nature of the included Humours The External Procatartick Cause of a Consumption of the Lungs is cold Particles of Air constipating the Pores
A TREATISE OF Consumptions IN WHICH Their Nature Causes and Symptoms are briefly Explained AND A New and Extraordinary Method by Specifick Medicines is Proposed for the Cure of Consumptions even such as proceed from Ulcers of the Lungs By Thomas Nevett Chyrurgion LONDON Printed by John Astwood and Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side and Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pidgeons in Cornhil 1697. TO THE READER I Remember a Remarkable Passage in some Observations upon the Bermudas Berries by a Dr. of Physick in the Country addrest to the Honourable Esq Boyle who professeth he had been for fifty years an exact Observer of the Methodus Medendi yet saith the Dr. for my part I firmly believe that Vniversal Evacuations being premised the greatest Cures wrought in the World are by the use of Specifical Medicines The higher the Attainments of any have been in understanding the more freely have they acknowledged that the greatest part of those things they did know was the least of those things they did not know such men account it not shameful to renounce an Errour tho' never so antient when perswaded thereunto by Truth and plain Demonstration There are other narrow Spirits abundantly satisfied in their own knowledge that believe the Art of Physick hath been taught by our Ancestors in such an absolutely perfect manner as that nothing remains to the Industry and Diligence of Posterity it being too much their Humour to undervalue every Medicine that they themselves are not Masters of because they prefer their private Interest to the publick Good But in the mean time where is that cordial Love to Mankind which is one of the Badges of true Christianity Nay where is the Exercise of Reason For how can a Man give his Opinion against a thing that he never heard of before or at least never experienced I an sure this unjustifiable practise is the way to put a stop to all useful Knowledge and Improvements It is therefore expected from the Ingenious and Candid Reader that he should adhere to Truths Cause by whomsoever it is pleaded weigh every Invention not in the deceitful Ballance of Custom but in the just and even Scales of Reason approve what is agreeable and reject what is contrary to it That I who am by Profession a Chirurgion should in such a polite and inquisitive Age adventure my thoughts in publick concerning a Physical Case may be to some matter of admiration and to others of severe censure especially such as may think I have invaded their Province As for the latter I am perswaded nothing that I can say will remove their Prejudices and for the former I shall only tell them that being alaramd by some of the Symptoms mentioned in the following Discourse whereby I plainly perceived the constitution of my own Body inclining to a consumptive state I strenuously applyed my mind iq study the Nature of this Disease and to find out if possible some noble Specifick Medicines which might indeed deserve that Name and be able to oppose the growth of so fatal a Distemper which hath insensibly flattered so many into the Chambers of Death What I then laboured for and searched after I have since by the Blessing of God found and with great advantage experimented on my self and many others and now think fit to disclose for the good of all not doubting but if a more Excellent Method and Medicine then hath hitherto been generally practised or prescribed be treasured up in the Hands of any Person whatsoever he doth more faithfully perform the part of a just Steward by a due Improvement than a close concealment of it And on the same Account I judge it more my Duty to Jerve my Native Country than mind the Clamours of Censorious Criticks not at all questioning but in a little time the efficacy of these Medicines will at once bring Health to the Patient and Reputation to their Author And when the World shall be convinced of the Power of these Remedies by their Effects I shall think it seasonable to make them known which many will now be apt to contemn and neglect until their Opinions be altered by Experience and their Prejudices removed by Demostration From my House at the Chyrurgions-Arms in Fen Church-street Octob. 24. 1696. T. Nevett A TREATISE OF Consumptions THe Design of this small Treatise is not to trouble the Reader with many Divisions or Subdivisions of Consumptions but briefly to enquire into the Nature and Causes of this Disease as also to contribute my Mite in order to oppose its Fury by pointing at such Specifick Medicines as are most likely to engage it with Success A Consumption in general is a wasting of all the solid parts of the Body for want of a due Distribution or Assimilation of the Nutritious Juices By some Learned Men this is observed to be the Endemicall Distemper of England and indeed our Weekly Bills at once declare both the greatness of the Disease and the weakness of the Medicines wherewith its Cure hath been hitherto attempted Besides that which seems to justifie this Observation is the pernicious custom of the Inhabitants of this Island who immoderately and unseasonably indulge their Appetites with several sorts of Meats and Drinks whereby the Tone of the Stomach is so vitiated as that it cannot perfectly ferment and volatilize the Chyle which is commonly the internal procatartick cause of most Distempers among us and consequently of Consumptions from those Distempers from whence comes a colliquation of the Chyle in Lienteries and Dysenteries tormenting Colick and Iliack Pains Hypocondriack Melancholly hysterick Fits scorbutick Twitches troublesom Catarrhs sluggish Passage of the Chyle through the milky Veins scrophulous Tumours and Inflammations of the mesenterick Glands spasmodick Contractions or Convulsions of the Nerves preternatural Fermentation of the Blood and Spirits Cachexys Atrophys Obstructions Feavers Hectical inflammatory and putrid Exulcerations of the Lungs and Marasmus with many other Diseases whence come they Originally and for the most part but from the Weakness Ill Habit and Indisposition of the Stomach Now the proper Action of the Stomach is Chylification for though the Meat we take into our Mouths receives some alteration there in Mastication by the fermenting Juice that flows from the salivatory Glands together with the acrimonious Particles and fermentaceous Spirits of Liquors which we drink yet it is not turned into a thick white Juice till it hath passed down through the Oesophagus or Gullet into the Stomach where by the help of its Fibres it is closely embraced and mixed with specifick fermentaceous Juices separated by its inner Coat and impregnated by the Saliva then by a convenient Heat there is made a mixture of all for that the fermentaceous Particles entering into the Pores of the Meat do pass through agitate and eliquate its Particles dissolving the whole Compages in which the purer parts were intimately united with the Crass and making them more
of them from the Mass of Blood by all ways of Evacuation that Nature affords whence the Patients strength suddainly decays and in a short time he is reduced to the highest state of a Marasmus with an Hippocratick Face Thus having demonstrated to the meanest Capacity the greatness of this prevailing Evil with its efficient and material Causes Reason it self presently suggests nothing less than great and noble Medicines can tame a Distemper so formidable It is no less obvious to the Understanding of every one that professeth any thing of Physick that the sooner the Cure is begun the better the more moderate the Patient is in the use of the six Non-Naturals the more likely to succeed the Spring time is the best Season Universals are to be premised Extraordinary Symptoms and Circumstances peculiarly attended and such like things must run through the whole Course of Practise No doubt but the Chalibeate Mineral Waters when impregnated with the Volatile Salts and Spirits of a serene Air pleasant Society delightful Recreations Morning and Evening Walks regular Dyet Freedom from Business vexatious Thoughts and the rest may be serviceable But if the Jesuit were sentenced to perpetual Exile I think the Consumptive have no reason excessively to lament for I can tell them who hath a Febrifuge Antihectical without a Grain of the Jesuit more excellent far than the Peruvian Bark because it makes a safe not a treacherous Peace and can give a Reason of its working so stupendiously though they that know not how a thing can be done think it impossible to be done For my part I do not believe any Medicine can work a Cure in the way of a Charm yet they that either know or use no other at least for the most part than ordinary Medicines cannot conceive how such wonderful Effects can be wrought unless by Enchantment The common Method of Cure is by Phlebotomy or Opening a Vein to abate the Effervescence or Colliquation of the Blood and prevent the Tumour and Inflammation of the Lungs by Vomits to relieve the Stomach opprest with store of ill Humours and remove divers Obstructions of several Bowels and small Vessels by Stomach-Purges gently to carry down the peccant Humours and lastly by Diureticks and Diaphoreticks with some mixture of an Opiate plentifully to carry off the Colliquated Serum by Urine or the Pores of the Skin without raising a fresh Catarrh by a new Commotion of the Blood After a due Administration of these universal Evacuations which in their respective seasons are highly necessary the frequent Use of Pectoral Apozems and Pulmonary Linctusses is next enjoined to retund the Acrimony of the Humours that Ouze out by the Wind-pipe by their mucilaginous and incrassating quality and so mitigate the troublesome Cough How far serviceable to this end and purpose the neatest Forms of such Dispensations that I ever yet saw may be I le not dispute only this I must take leave to say because to me as also to the unprejudiced I humbly conceive it seems evident that such fulsome Ingredients of which they are compounded are more apt to spoil a weak than recover a lost Stomach and consequently not the fittest Medicines Consumptive Persons may have recourse unto For how many by woful Experience have found the constant and frequent use of such Antistomachicks lead them from one Degree of this Malady to another 'till their decaying Appetite hath been quite overthrown and consequently their Hectick Heat inflamed their Bodys so emaciated as to render them uncapable of necessary Evacuations and they themselves at last given over to a Milk Dyet Asses Milk some Chalibeate Mineral Waters or such like Liquids to which the poor distressed Stomach Ecchos aloud Miserable Comforters all If therefore I can as I have Reason to believe with Medicines less offensive in Quantity and more useful in Quality restore the lost Appetite and do the same if not greater Service towards the Concocting and Expectorating that load of separated Serum with which the Pipes of the Lungs are stuffed which will easily be perceived by the Patient in a few Weeks with due Care and Management I think I have gained a great Point for as much as the Recovery of the Stomach may reasonably be looked upon as an Earnest of the Cure The Medicines I do here recommend to my Countrey-men as Specificks in the Cure of Consumptions of the Lungs arising from the fore-mentioned Causes have a peculiar Faculty of warming comforting and strengthening weak Stomachs attenuating and gently carrying off that load of Tartareous Matter which is lodged in their rugous Coat depraving both Appetite and Digestion In their Passage through the whole circumference of the Guts they likewise dissolve that crusted Slime and Filth which hinders the Pressure of the Chyle into the Milky Vessels by the Peristaltick motion of their Spiral Fibres Thus having removed these Fundamental Obstructions they hasten together with the Chylous Mixture which by this time is somewhat Invigorated towards the Relief of the Sanguineous Mass presently upon their Conjunction the Blood revives and by degrees becomes brisk and vigorous able to cope with and give some check to the preternatural Hectick Heat stop the Influx of Rheum into the Glandulous Substance of the Lungs concoct that which is already collected and release the Animal Spirits intangled with a vitious disposition of the Nervous Juice Having gained these Advantages things begin to look with another manner of Aspect the Habit of the Body grows firmer the Mind chearfuller the Countenance fresh and brisk the Emaciated Parts gather Flesh and Strength the Lungs and Glands of the Larynx recover their natural Tone and the whole Constitution improves towards a State of Health Moreover These Antiphthisicks are really impregnated with such Volatile Spirits and Salts that like unto Lightning they penetrate the remotest Corners of the Body exterminating the very Seeds and Roots of this grievous Disease powerfully and effectually yet pleasantly and securely if plentifully taken in the manner of a Dyet For thus in time they chear up the drooping Animal Spirits fortifie the System of the Nerves and so influence the whole Sanguineous Mass as that the Blood it self becomes the most precious of all Natural Balsoms marvellously cleansing the putrid Ulcers of the Lungs and finally reducing them to a perfect Cicatrix Wherefore let none be deceived by the flattering Nature of this Distemper in the beginning nor give themselves over for lost in the highest state because these reviving Cordials are calculated for the weakest Constitutions seeing at the same time they offend the Diseased Matter with the one hand they support Nature from sinking under any Evacuations with the other It is therefore my Advice to the Consumptive or consumptively inclined and their Interest by way of Prevention to acquaint themselves in time with these Soveraign Antidotes Better Counsel I cannot give to the best of my Friends if they are desirous to save themselves a great deal of Pain and Misery