Page 27. never so bad as the disease Page 25 must ripe or it does no good Page 55 Eruptions rarely kill c. Page 27 Excess is poison Page 9 Evil things have charming aspects c. Page 51 F Fever fit is not the Disease but the cure Page 34 how cured Page 35. 81 quieted sometimes tho not cured Page 36 begins oftenest in the primae viae Page 80 Fluids good preserve Health Page 44 bad destroy it Page 45 good or bad furnish Spirits accordingly Page 45 supplied by Six Non-Naturals Page 45 Fancy is a Disease Page 47 Feeding must agree with labour Page 55 Flux is not the Disease but the effect Page 57 cause must be removed Page 57 Ferments helps purging Page 6 the effect of purges Page 19 is a prepared matter lodged in the body Page 44 G Gripes proceed from the Disease not the Medicine Page 30. 54 Gentle medicines ineffectual Page 30. 73 Good things no inviting outside Page 51 made bad by our folly Page 9 23 Government fit judge of Physicians and Physick Page 69 70 H Humours changed to bad cause Diseases Page 2 bad must not be kept Page 58 good must not be wasted Page 48 Health preserved Page 44 51 53 52 recovered without art Page 4 17 58 upon any terms Page 50 30 needs no Physick Page 48. 49 is a jewel Page 52 must run no hazards Page 16. 55. 88. 91 Hazard nothing in Physick if possible Page 15 17 Hopes lasts with life Page 46. 47. 49 Hurtful things have inviting appearances Page 51 I Judging Physicians all are not fit for Page 11 12 88 wrong is dangerous Page 11 12 88 Jesuits Powder bad Page 34 35 36 80 Intervals long bad Page 30 L Life is a constant Flux Page 4 V. health must run no hazard without hope saved Page 46 47 Ladys kind make bad Doctors Page 23 Labour must answer Feeding Page 54 M Medicines for need not delight Page 50 dangerous seldom or never Page 25 29 powerful ever better than gentle Page 52 53 55 violent Page 22 52. 56 wrong or too late succeed ill Page 66 never blessed by God Page 67 gentle ineffectual Page 22 30 73 must continue as long as the disease Page 33 not for the healthy Page 48 beneficial better than pleasant Page 49 gripes not but the disease Page 54 55 food for the sick Page 58 furnished by God Page 58 59 N Non-Naturals cause of Diseases Page 2 of health Page 45 Nurse-keepers hurt with their kindness Page 23 Nature soon recovers if not hindred Page 17 soon disturbed Page 43 never cures so soon and well as art Page 92 therefore not to be relyed on Page 17 Nourishment strong bad for the weak Page 23 P Poison never cured by Alteratives Page 8 whether any Page 8 what it is Page 9 bred in the body Page 9 the same with diseases Page 9 must be expell'd Page 9 Physicians skill Page 10. 59 64 Education Page 60 59. 65 77 faults and artifices Page 29 62 63 66 67 71. 78 blamed without a cause Page 10 12 68 88 to be judged by the Government Page 69 70 best who cures most Page 61 not to be lightly censured Page 11 12 not to be easily discouraged Page 11 Physical Art Page 49 59 60 65 68 practice to be learnt before the Theory Page 60 Practice to be gain'd by cunning tho without skill Page 62. 71 Plague Page 37 38 39 40 Purging V. Evacuation strengthens more than Cordials Page 18 19 not dangerous Page 14 19 28 with long intervals hath small success Page 30 Patients hast makes wast Page 33 must take Physick Page 58 strength must be duly considered Page 73 dies more of Diseases than their cure Page 79 strong kill'd by small Diseases Page 15 Primae viae first to be cleansed Page 32 Pox small Page 7 R Reports false mischievous to the Reporter Page 12 Regions first V. primae viae S Strength wasted by Diseases Page 16 20 according to the quantity of Animal Spirits Page 45 of Food pernicious to the sick Page 19 20 22 which cannot bear a less evil can never a greater Page 14 Stomach affected in most cases Page 31 32 Spirits Page 19 21 45 81 82 Soldiers and Seamen Page 56 Success not sufficient to judge by Page 11 constant may guide Page 12 attends right means Page 66 nevâ—r given by God to wrong means Page 67 Sweating ought to follow purging Page 32 V Vomits Page 16 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31 32 35 82. if not best of Medicines ought not to be used Page 23 Violent Medicines Page 15 30 52 53 56 Vrine Page 90 W Weakness Page 17 21 no objection to purging Page 13 14 16 comes from want of Spirits Page 21 increase by the Disease which made it Page 14 Weak Patients Page 15 17 18 21 22 the same Medicines as strong but not the dose Page 16 wants strongest medicines Page 15 Weak Diseases have kill'd strong Patients Page 15 Women with child may take Vomits Page 26 29 63.
for the benefit of the Patient and therefore not fit to be laid aside Yet all that foolish People inquire after and expect is as far from being thereby known as whether the Patient keeps Mares or Horses for their Coach 97. Whether is the more desireable qualification in a Physician skill or the usual Policy exercised in Practice The first makes a Doctor able to serve his Patient the last hinders him from being willing except when he finds it his interest therefore when it appears better for him to let Patients die their own way with comfortable Cordials or at least to struggle with the Disease without true help to the manifest hazard of their Lives than to save them with Medicines in Taste Operation or their prejudice disagreable to their Humours and Fancy his Policy makes his skill and integrity to submit to his interest and to prescribe something tho very insignificant to amuse the Friends that they may not think him careless and idle and then fight Dog fight Bear fight Nature fight Disease and if it succeeds well the Physician hath the Credit and the more Money because cures by Nature are not so soon wrought as by Art And if ill he yet preserves the Reputation of a Careful Tender Hearted Safe Doctor and is not in the least blamed This indeed is a common but not a very honest way of proceeding occasioned at first by the Patient's Folly and continued after by the Doctor 's Cunning not easily tempted to Sacrifice his Reputation to the censures of an unthinking People that do not and hardly ever will understand their own good 98. Whether the same Reason which persuades many there is an Antidote against every Poison may not as well convince them there is a Remedy in Nature for every Evil only we want skill to discover the Remedies at least to apply them in due Season 99. Whether 't is not safer for a Doctor to let his Patienâ—s die their own way with a gentle wrong Method than to endeavour to help them with a rough right one and to miss 'T is very probable it is for the gentle method displeaseth none and the Doctor though he never endeavoured to save the Patient still continues his Interest and Credit in the Family because the Patient and Friends believe he did not being able to judge but on the other hand the Doctor that endeavours to save and misses shall be esteemed a murtherer because of the seeming violent Medicines used and be discarded and hated though he used the best skill then known to save the Patient A PROPOSAL For the better Securing of HEALTH Intended in the Year 1689. and still ready to be Humbly offered to the Consideration of the Honourable Houses of Parliament THe Bills of Mortality as well as the many poor Diseased have given some a just occasion to Reflect on the great Numbers which Annually Die within the City of London and parts adjacent comprized in the Weekly Bills of Mortality whereof very many by God's Blessing upon the true Methods of the Art of Physick and an early application for Help might in all probability have been preserved alive Therefore in order to so good and great an End it is humbly proposed that a more compleat practical Constitution of Physick according to the following Schem may be upon rational Demonstration Established whereby Care may be taken that all Sick as well Poor as Rich shall be Advised and Visited which needful by Approved Skillful Physicians and Surgeons and furnished with necessary Medicines in all Diseases for a small yearly certain sum Assessed upon each House not exceeding for the greatest Family nor under for the meanest that are not Objects of Charity Which respective Sums will not be the third part of what is now spent only in Apothecaries Bills in a Healthy Year And for this every Individual Person of the Family as well the Lodger and Servant as Master Mistress and Children shall when there is occasion be sufficiently accommodated Whereas many at present miserably perish without the least Care and for want of timely and skilful Assistance In short it 's proposed to serve all the Families Rich and Poor Little and Great within the City and parts adjacent much better and cheaper than at present with Visits Advice Medicine and Surgery It is also further humbly offered That effectual Care be taken that the Laws already in being may be revised and amended which provide for the Sale of wholsome Flesh in the Markets and that Bread may be well Baked Wine not Sophisticated Beer well Brewed and the Houses and Streets well cleansed from Dirt and Filth All these being very common causes of Diseases and Death This Constitution may consist of the following Members more or fewer as the City Occasions and Necessities may require First Ten Noble Curatores both to Protect and visit the College Secondly Physicians One Super-Intendent or President Two Sub-Intendents Three Senior Heads of the College Four Junior Heads Fourteen Senior Visitors Seven Principal Secretaries Fourteen Junior Visitors Seven Sub-secretaries Forty two Chief Itinerants Forty nine Junior Itinerants Seven Senior Amanuenses Fourteen Junior Amanuenses In all One Hundred Sixty Four Of this Number besides the three Intendents in the chief College in Warwick-lane there will be Twenty Three Physicians more As also Twenty Three in each other the Six Colleges Seven Colleges being thought at present more than sufficient to serve the Bills of Mortality with Convenience and Ease to the Inhabitants thereof In each of which Colleges there are as followeth One Master Head or Principal Two Senior Visitors Two Junior Visitors One Principal Secretary One Sub-secretary Six Senior Itinerants Seven Junior Itinerants One Senior Amanuensis Two Junior Amanuenses In all Twenty Three The convenient Places for the Seven Colleges may be 1. The Present College 2. Lincolns-Inn-Fields 3. Near Charing-Cross 4. Near the Poultry 5. Southwark near the Hospital 6. Near Bishops-gate 7. In or about Goodmans-fields Which places are to be published in Print about a Fortnight before the Settlement that all may know where to apply for help Thirdly Chirurgeons One Master One Deputy Seven Wardens Twenty Eight Assistants Fifty Six Mates Twenty Eight Junior Mates In all One Hundred Twenty One Of this Number besides the Master and Deputy at the chief College there are Seventeen in each of the Colleges viz. One Warden Four Assistants Eight Mates Four Junior Mates In all Seventeen Some of which besides Chirurgery shall be skilful in the practice of Midwifry cutting for the Stone reducing Dislocations and drawing Teeth in each College Fourthly Apothecaries One Master One Deputy Seven Wardens Fourteen Assistants Forty two Mates Forty two Journey-men Forty two Sub-Journey-men In all One Hundred Forty Nine Of this Number besides the Master and Deputy at the chief College there are Twenty one in each College viz. One Warden Two Assistants Six Mates Six Journey-Men Six Sub-Journey-men In all Twenty One. If the Number of any Exceeds the
safe and generally so effectual that many pretenders to Physick cherish these terrible apprehensions of them in their Patients to discourage them from their use that so they may keep them the longer in hand before they will be cured 28. Whether Purging Vomiting or other Evacuations usually called Violent can be ever so dangerous and uneasie as Diseases are first and last or as ineffectual gentle Medicines and Methods are That is no Physick judiciously given can be so dangerous as the Disease which gentle and ineffectual Remedies can never lessen nor vanquish and that which makes them esteemed violent is the Uneasiness Sickness and Gripings in their Operation which is effected by only moving the vitious humours cause of the Sickness and therefore ought to be courted and not avoided since Health cannot be purchased at a cheaper Rate or without more uncertainty and longer time 29. Whether too long intervals of time betwixt the repeating Evacuations loseth not many lives Most likely for the Disease recovers in those spaces as much or more strength and vigour than it lost by the preceeding Evacuations but if indeed Diseases could have their Progress stopt the while there might be some pretence for a delay till the Patient recovered strength but they having once gotten an existence do daily draw to themselves Humours for their support Thus we plainly see Corns and Warts to continue and increase many years and so do several other Diseases for their time though not so apparently 30. Whether the Stomach is not originally or by Sympathy with some other part of the Body affected in most Distempers And whether therefore all cures ought not to be begun there Whilst the offending matter is in the Stomach and primae viae 't is much the better and shorter way to expell it by Vomits or Purges than to drive it through all the Meanders of the Body out by the Pores Indeed where it hath left the primae vivae wholly and is entred or past the Blood the safest way may be to protrude it by sweat though as long as there are any remains in the Stomach notwithstanding part is already past beyond Vomits and Purges are most proper and beneficial and ought to precede Bleeding and Sweating because if the first region is not well cleansed the others must continue foul as no Cistern can run clear which comes from a muddy Spring nor can you clean an inner Room without fouling again the outward Room having imprudently cleaned the outward first for every part of the Body derives its Nourishment originally from the Stomach and an Errour committed there can never after be corrected in any other part but by sending forth those peccant Humours by the Pores though their gross parts can never pass them easily but may lodge by the way among the small Vessels and cause Obstructions 31. Whether if Patients refuse to continue under cure and to pursue Directions till the Disease shall be subdued it is not probable it will return again If so then Remedies are not to be neglected till Diseâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 shall be rooted out and 〈…〉 Health restored for 〈…〉 natural for Diseasâ—◠〈…〉 their force if you 〈…〉 â—â—â—ing before the◠〈…〉 for a Boat 〈…〉 Stream to 〈…〉 into it when you cease to row against it without fastning the Boat 32. Whether a Fever being only a greater heat than ordinary unnaturally kindled in the blood by the admission of bad humours ought not rather to be assisted in driving forth such humours than to be checkt by the Jesuit's Pouder or the like Most certainly if the Fever or Ague Fit is not the Disease nor â—â—use of it as there is great reaâ—â—◠〈…〉 believe but a strife only 〈…〉 â—e expulsive Faculty and 〈…〉 â—â—â—mours in order to 〈…〉 Sweat which is 〈…〉 by Nature only 〈…〉 â—ot true 't is 〈…〉 never reâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 by the strength of Nature without Art Now if all or part of those preternatural Juices had been carried off by Stool or Vomit whilst they continued in the primae viae the Fever had either been quite overcome or in a great measure so moderated that there would have been the less work for Nature The Jesuit's Pouder seems indeed to cure an Ague but oft-times it leaves the Patient in as bad or a worse condition of Health than before 33. Whether 't is not possible for the present to extinguish quiet or qualifie the heat of many Fevers long before the Patient recover his perfect Health or even without contributing the least towards it and whether there doth not then remain matter in the Body like embers raked together ready for a relapse or the production of seeming new distempers afterwards Most Fevers are without doubt daily so quieted by the Jesuits Pouder leaving the Patient many times in a worse condition without the Fever than before with it And the new Diseases which after appear are believed but by few to be the effect of the preceeding ill cured Fever tho a little patience and care to observe may convince them that there is scarce an Ague cured by the Jesuits Pouder without previous or subsequent Evacuation but is soon followed by a return of the same or by a seeming new Distemper especially Chronical which had its Original only from the foregoing Ague 34. Whether 't is not possible with God's blessing to prevent the Raging Spreading and Progress of the Plague and to save many thousands who in all probability must have else died in a Plague Year If it were not possible such Magistrates as have made reasonable provision against it and such Physicians who have by their advice incouraged the Magistrates to do so have been very ill employed but the possibility may be demonstrated almost to a certainty 35. Whether 't is not as much the Magistrates Duty as their Prudence to provide against the Plague as well as against an Enemy upon an approaching War Both the Plague and Sword are esteemed God's Judgments and if it were not lawfull to provide against the Plague because 't is a Judgment for the same reason we ought to make no provision against an Enemy but the last is allowed by most part of Mankind and the same reason justifies the former 36. Whether the many Persons murthered in Plague Years by Nurses or dying for want of Care Skill Food or Assistance could not have been saved alive by a suitable Provision The Truth of this will not be denied and though all infected with the Plague were under a necessity of dying as they are not yet if the above-mentioned might with care be saved they well deserve it 37. Whether most infected with the Plague receive it not from others If this is granted then a seasonable and timely separating the whole from the sick might save them from such infection so that though all infected were incurable all the whole by a prudent and skillful foresight may probably escape the infection and live 38. Whether most of the Cities infected in these Northern
by Practice than always by hard Study and Reading only If Reading and Study without Instruction and Practice were the best and only Method of attaining to the highest knowledge in Physick then ought all Persons that intend to follow the Practice to continue at least Fifty or Sixty Years studying in the University and when they shall have Read and digested all the Physical Authors and form'd to themselves the best Method of Practice out of the confused heap of Contradictions to be met with amongst them which is next to impossible let them then commence Practice But this at best can be but like a Traveller without a Guide wandering up and down to the hazard of poor Mens lives When under the conduct of an able Instructor the shortest and best ways are Trodden and the Dangerous and Tedious avoided and the ready way learnt for the future 63. Whether every Doctor in Physick is an able Physician And whether he that hath most Practice is always the Ablest If Medicus est qui sanat non qui garrit sanitas est finis Medicinae non lucrum Then he must always be the best Physician that cureth most in the same Number and like Cases and not he that doth not though he hath taken all his Degrees and the other none and for such as are not well instructed they ought to spend some longer time under the care of an Ancient Doctor of Skill and Experience that they may not verifie the Proverb That young Physicians must kill such a Number before they can be fit for Practice Again if bread is not to the wise c. it doth not then always follow that he who hath most Practice is the Skilfullest For there are many little Artifices to bring Men into Practice as Bribes tatling Gossips c. which are much more effectual than the greatest Skill without their Assistance and which no skillful Physician will stoop to use when on the contrary Ignorant Mercenary Pretenders diligently courts them 64. Whether 't is not honester to prognosticate the Truth at least to Friends and By-standers though not always to the Patient than constantly to foretel Danger even when none appears Physicians of mighty Prudence and small Integrity ever gain by Frightful Prognosticks for if the Patient dies their early Prognostick gives them great Reputation for knowing so long before what must come to pass at last and if the Patient recovers the cure is the more Miraculous because the condition was so Desperate 65. Whether Women with Child and in Child-bed may not safely when the Disease requires both Vomit Bleed and Purge provided it be with good Caution 'T is very probable that the Disease which would have kill'd them for want of those Operations when not with Child or in Child-bed would much sooner do it in both these cases because Nature hath not only the strength and power of the Disease but the hazardous circumstance of a great Belly or the weakness of Child-bed to struggle with 66. Whether a Physician should be chosen for Favour and Affection or for his Skill and Integrity Wise men choose their Physicians only for the help they expect from them in time of need which they could have no reason to hope for if they were not both able and honest A skillful Turk is preferable to an ignorant Christian 67. Whether the practice of Physick is not of late become more a Trade or Profession to gain a Livelihood than an Art to restore Health and save Lives The present Methods of Practice seem to be accommodated rather to answer the first part of the Quere than the last 68. Whether Anatomy and Astrology the first absolutely necessary for a Surgeon and both very ornamental to a Physician can better qualifie him for the healing of inward Diseases than Fidling can qualifie a Barber for Shaving It would be a good Service to the Publick for any to undertake to demonstrate plainly wherein either helps the cure of any one inward Distemper because many Students lose too much time in these inquiries which might have been better spent in observing the Practice of Physick and some great Practitioners and also because many are apt to put too great a value as most necessary when in comparison of other more essential requisits to a Physician they seem but trifles 69. Whether any can be so well qualified to Treat of Diseases their Nature Cause and Cure as a Physician of long Experience and much Observation Young Physicians should not then be forward to attempt this Province 70. Whether success doth not ever attend the Seasonable use of proper means Then when Success is wanted 't is because the wrong means were mis-taken for the right or the right too late applyed or misapplyed 71. Whether as often as God blesseth Persons or things with Success he doth not direct to the seasonable use of means proper to the end aimed at and expected To expect God's Blessing without the use of proper means is not to trust but to tempt God His blessing never turns Stone and Sand into good Food and Nourishment nor preserves any from drowning who presumes to walk upon the Sea from Dover to Callais things improbable may by God's Blessing answer a Mans Expectation as a Man in necessity may sometimes cross to Calais in a Wherry or rotten Vessel and Escape But to undertake impossibilities is affronting not trusting the Deity 72. Whether 't is better for a Physician to be a Knave and increase his Practice by humouring the Fools and letting them die their own way or to be honest and lessen his practice in saving them with methods displeasing because really there are no other can help them An ingenious Gentleman was pleased to say upon this That 't is better for the Patient the Physician should be honest tho 't is better for the Physician to be a Knave 73. Whether the Practice of Physick doth not very much want a just and due Regulation and is not capable of great improvements for the benefit of Mankind And whether it doth not well deserve such Reformation since it concerns Life and Health the dearest earthly injoyments If the Government would undertake this task besides the charity to Mankind it would wonderfully increase their own Glory Riches and Power by the increase of Subjects in saving so many more lives And that the Government might not be perswaded they are not fit for such an Undertaking they may please to consider it was first the Government that constituted a College of Physicians which they would never have done had they not been able to judge of the usefulness of the Art and 't is as much in their Capacity as their Power to reform the Abuses even as 't is in Judges to determine Differences in matters of the same Trade amongst the members of the Trade when the Arguments of both sides are brought and argued before them This would give a more faithful account of the Abilities of Physicians than common fame
now doth wherein Interest and Affection generally rules 74. Whether there can be contrived if the Government please any just and proper Test or Standard whereby to try the several Abilities of Physicians much more truly and certainly than any we have at present This were at least to be wisht if there were no hopes to reduce it to practice for not to know how to distinguish the skilful Physicians from the ignorant is next to having none for want of which most wander without a Guide and with the Proverb sooner light on a Snake than an Eel there being so many pretenders for any one truly qualified for the Practice Wrong ways are not wanting to misguide Patients as common fame which usually proves a Liar some few mercenary Apothecaries Midwives and Nurses who discredit the rest by preferring their private gain to the Patients welfare like the Porters at Billings-gate who prefer the Oisters of that Boat they ply for though they really stink before all others that are truly good for no other reason than their own Gain Faction Party and the fractions of Religion Relation Acquaintance and good Fellowship Time and Chance together with a Plausible Fawning and Flattering behaviour a good faculty of Gossiping and using cramp Words the reputation of a Scholar or Traveller though it were but very little to purpose and in fine any thing but real skill which slights all indirect Artifices finds not many just and fit Judges and therefore stragling in the Dark but few have the good fortune to meet it There are commonly two other previous Tests the first at the University whether fit to be made a Doctor the last at the College whether fit to be made a Member but neither of these reach the true and necessary Qualifications of a Physician which is the thing wanted and now desired 75. Whether 't is not a necessary Duty of a Physician to consider diligently the Patients Strength as well as his Disease and so to adapt the Remedies as they be neither too strong for the sick Patient nor too weak to do them good Cito tuto jucunde is an old known Rule in Physick in which this duty is certainly included and always observed by a good Physician for as on the one hand a Medicine too strong may destroy a Patient So on the other one too weak may let them die which differs little to the Patient An Eminent Doctor long since Dead had in the absence of the Author prescribed a Course for a person of great Quality's young Child upon the Author's return he gave being demanded the following Opinion of it That the prescription was proper to the Disease but not well accommodated to the particular case of the Child for the Method could not take effect in less than a Fortnight and the Child would die in two daies as it did This Query is thought necessary to be here inserted because no caution is so much urged by the Relations and By-standers as to regard the Patients strength which is altogether needless to good Physicians and very prejudicial oft-times in discouraging them to proceed as they ought Riverius observing the many mischiefs by Womens Gossiping cannot forbear taking notice of it in these Words Nostratium mulierum nequitia omnes infaustos eventus Remediis ascribentium efficit ut etiam prudentiores medici metu calumniae ab utilissimis interdum abstineant 76. Whether the most effectual Method to sweeten the Blood so much and often desired by many is not to carry off by Evacuation that which sowres and spoils it The remarks upon the third Query may not impertinently be here considered All the sweetners in vogue either purge by Urine Sweat or insensible Perspiration as Tunbridge Spaw Sarsa crude Antimony Pearl Asses Milk c. or else 't is the work of Air and Time though Remedies often have the credit of the Cure 77. Whether the mineral Waters sweeten the Blood by some specifick quality or not rather by a purging or diuretick quality We are certain they do this last the other is not so apparent 78. Whether the Mineral Waters abstracted from Air Exercise Company and the like are in any respect more effectual or convenient than other Remedies prepared by Apothecaries and formerly more in use It is certain the great quantity required to make them effectual is none of their best Qualifications they may distend the part and over cool too much cause Cholicks and Convulsions and as all other Remedies are vary'd to the Patients case so here you must diligently inquire whether the Patients case will fit the Waters which 't is most certain all that go thither do not 79. Whether to make a right Judgment of the Waters for the publick Benefit a Register ought not to be kept by a qualified Person of the Diseases and Inconveniences of all that drink the several Waters of the accidents that happen in the drinking them and the success and health of the Patient for at least six Months after By this means there would be a true History of the Cures to inform the judgment of Physicians much better which can only by chance now direct the Patient right and consequently 't would prove much for the Patients advantage 80. Whether a Cure may not be wrought by a course of Physick some weeks before the Patient plainly perceives it 'T is as reasonable to judge it may as for Diseases not to appear till long after the occasion given which causeth it and of this there are many Examples A Cancer in the Breast is not found in some Years after a Blow given which was the cause A Woman may not miscarry in some Weeks after a Fright which occasioned it And it is this which makes so many mistakes both of the Causes and Cures of Distempers That oft-times cured the Patient which he believed would kill him and a Cordial had the credit which contributed nothing to it The last Physician and Medicine commonly hath the Reputation of curing though it was the first that did it indeed If this were not so there could never have been so many cures for a Tooth-ach which certainly fail the next time they are tryed but hapning to be applyed when the pain was going off for the present as no Distemper though never so violent but hath Remissions if not Periods they being the last applyed were recorded for the cure when any other at that time must have had the same good Success 81. Whether more Patients have not died by not hindring or not removing the Disease with proper and seasonable Evacuations than by attempting to remove them with Evacuating Remedies Most Persons that die before extreme old Age might by a natural possibility have had their lives prolonged to Old Age. To Moral possibility many things must concurr as the Obedience and Wisdom of the Patient the Skill Care and Honesty of the Physician besides outward accidents as Murther Drowning the falling of a House and infinite others without the Power
of either Physician or Patient V. the 21 Query 82. Whether the Jesuit's Pouder makes not double work for the Doctor Without doubt his first Business is to cure the Ague with it the next to cure the Patient of it 83. Whether most Fevers do not take their rise from the primae viae Most certainly for though the Air was Pestilential or the passions Extravagant if there were not suitable matter treasured up in the primae viae no sort of Fever would ensue 84. Whether if Fevers begin in the primae viae and are maintained from thence Bleeding can be so proper a Remedy as Vomiting or Purging or whether it is necessary at all to Bleed or fit to begin with it Whatever is seated in the primae viae is sooner and easier expelled by Vomit and Stool It may be often convenient to bleed in Fevers tho 't is but seldom necessary But it seems preposterous to begin the cure of any Fever with Bleeding except a Plethora 85. Whether Patients are not more weakned by Bleeding than by Vomit or Purge If the animal Spirits arise immediately out of the Blood as 't is generally agreed and that they give strength then 't is most probable there are more Spirits contained in an ounce of Blood than in an ounce of the expell'd Excrements 86. Whether it is not highly reasonable to believe that Choler is the cause of the Disease and Vomiting the cure when Patients that are very Sick are wonderfully easied and relieved after having Vomited of themselves without Medicines a quantity of Green Yellow or Black Choler This scarce deserves a Dispute since there is seldom a sick Person but hath experimentally found a manifest relief after spontaneous Vomiting though very dangerously ill before And so as oft as they Vomit they are sensible of a temporary ease which deserves their careful observation to convince them of the Truth hereof 87. Whether every powerful Antidote against Poison doth not plentifully operate either by Vomiting Purging or Sweating and by driving out Botches Blanes Soares or Swellings all which are manifest Evacuations 88. Whether a Patients weakness proceeds not from the want of homogeneal Matter or natural Humours for the Spirits to dwell and delight in wasted by preceding or present Diseases or by natural or critical Evacuations 89. Whether Men after being tired with hard labour are not for the present Weakned by Emptying or Wasting of so much Humour and Spirits by Sweat through the Pores which competent rest and food supply again 90. Whether any of the last Thirty Years discoveries or pretended improvements in Physick Chymistry or Anatomy have enabled Physicians to cure one Disease more or any one sooner safer or easier than formerly Or rather whether being trusted to they have not delay'd if not frustrated the cure of many helped before by old Methods Fluxing with Mercury was both an invention about an hundred Years since and a real improvement But what have we got by Spirit of Sal Armoniack Harts-horn or Goddard's Drops What benefits appear by the modern use of Steel or Opium more than formerly What do the mineral Waters which Whey and Diet Drinks could not and there may be added What mighty good can the Jesuit's Pouder boast of to compensate the many mischiefs it hath caused Agues were formerly cured so as it became a Proverb to be Physick for a King But now they are so cured as to plague the Patient many Months and Years after if not shorten his days 91. Whether to begin with the Theory and after proceed to Practice is not a preposterous and unnatural way of Teaching or learning any thing Languages are naturally acquired by Practice and Grammars are formed afterwards All ordinary people learn foreign Languages by practice abroad and not by Rule Every Mechanick is taught his Handicraft by Practice and such as labour at them by Speculation bungle always at the Practice The Lawyers join the Practice with the Theory by spending some time in the practice with an Attorney or by frequenting the Courts Assizes and Sessions Skill in Physick is best acquired by Education in the Practice under an Eminent Physician Some of our great Men had that Advantage Besides the use of Rules is more to preserve the memory of what we have seen and read and to confirm our Opinions they being drawn from the practice of many Physicians Agendo discis agere 92. Whether any Physician or others ought considering the many contingences in humane affairs to tie themselves up so strictly to rules or Method tho never so well established as not to depart from the same upon any accident or success whatsoever Pro re nata is a rule in Physick 't is therefore presumed an honest Physician will always govern himself with judgment and caution according to Accidents and Variety of Circumstances 93. Whether perfect Health doth not deserve to be purchased though upon its own unacceptable Terms No doubt unless People could be perswaded they might recover it as well upon their own pleasing Conditions But since these desireable methods cannot possibly answer any Man's wishes how much are they to blame who deceive Patients to the great hazard of Life and Health with such false plausible pretences 94. Whether 't is not unreasonable to blame a Physician for not curing his Patient when he would neither take what was prescribed nor according to direction This seems to be one of the greatest hardships that can befall Physicians in their Practice to be condemned by incompetent Judges when innocent and sometimes by strangers who know nothing of the matter but by imperfect hear-say at the same time when the Friends present are well satisfied there is no cause of blame To this purpose a most ingenious Lady of high Quality was pleased to ask a Physician upon making this complaint Whether he had never been commended when he did not deserve it to which being granted by him she was pleased to Reply You must set one against t'other which tho it was a most witty Repartee is far from being equal for one adversary shall do you more hurt than ten Friends can do you good 95. Whether wise Men do lazily believe all they hear or do not rather critically examine the truth of it especially if it is of so great moment as well to deserve the trouble Some men despise all that comes from others some will not spare time from their pleasures tho to save themselves and the Nation and some out of modesty distrust their own parts all these commonly resign up themselves and are led implicitly by such as they have once an esteem of but wise Men will never take any thing of moment upon trust but will labour till masters of it and then as it deserves either reject or approve and encourage it 96. Whether 't is possible to discover by the Vrine that the Patient keeps a Coach Tho the inspection of Urines is of great use to a Physician by which much may be discern'd