71. Concerning the Blooding of Children p. 72. The Vertues of Testaceous Medicaments p. 73. What are meant here by such p. 75. The extravagant giving of Opiats hath been introduced through the ignorance of their use ib. That Narcoticks are neither necessary nor safe for Infants p. 77. The danger of all Warm Medicaments and Cordials in the cure of these tender Ones is observed p. 78. Whether the using Testaceous Medicaments doth produce Obstructions p. 79. What my Opinion is about the Crissis p. 80. What is to be determin'd concerning the use of Precipitating Medicaments p. 82. How very gentle Fevers do frequently become such as are called Malignant p. 84. The constant Practice amongst the Turks in curing the Plague p. 86. The Notion of Malignity is refelled p. 87. What Sudorificks and in how much they are of use p. 88. An account of the Fever that was Epidemick last year p. 89. Of the difficult breeding of Teeth of Infants and its Cure p. 91. The Cure of Thrushes p. 94. How a Flux is to be cured p. 96. And their Vomiting p. 98. What are the Specificks for their Gripes p. 99 What are best in Convulsions p. 100. The Specificks of the Ancients against Convulsions have not those Virtues they ascribed to them p. 101. An Example of a Girl seized with most severe Convulsions and recovered by things of no value p. 102. Some things about the Small Pox and Measles of Infants p. 105. An Argument taken from the Nature of the Small Pox against the custom of too warm Traitment p. 106. Examples of sundry Infants cured of their Fevers by this my Method p. 109. A remarkable Instance of the Hurt of Aloeticks in the Fevers of these Young Ones p. 125 The cure of a Boy almost destroyed by an abundance of Worms p. 129 The description of a Black Mineral and its comparison with the common Preparation p. 130 An Objestion against the fore-going Method 133 The Reply ib. What my thoughts are concorning Chymistry 134 The excellency of the Works of Nature in relation with those of Art p. 137 The Conclusion p. 138 An Exact ENQUIRY Into and Cure of the Acute Diseases OF INFANTS WHEN but last Summer I had discoursed the most skilful and accomplished Physician Mr. Sydenham about the frequent Success I have had in the Cure of the most dangerous Diseases of Infants That very Learned Man did seriously inquire what method I did take in so lame that I may say no more and so defective an Affair of which the most famed Physicians have had so small knowledge Before him then did I most willingly expose that way which of all pleased me most and which he after tryal did not only not disprove but confirming it by his own experience and declaring it most useful to others did most earnestly desire me to recommend it to the World By the persuasion then of so Learned a Man I take my Pen and to my power do consult the Health of my Country I know in how unfrequented and unknown a Path I am to walk since Children and especially sick Infants offer nothing for a clear Diagnostick but what we can collect from their moaning Complaints their uncertain Idiom of frowardness wherefore very many Physicians of the best Vogue have often declared to my self what unwilling Visits they made to Sick but especially New born Children hoping little from these Notices for the unridling of their Maladies No doubt we should as diligently inquire after a perfect Cure of Childrens Diseases as of any other thing that may seem wanting in Medicine neither do rich men who do desire or would preserve the Health of the Heirs of their vast Properties and Possessions trust much to this but all Parents who with an invincible Affection do as eagerly maintain the Health of their Young ones as their own Wherefore if I shall give some small light which advanced by the polished wit of other men that may render this rude and imperfect Work more absolute and exact I shall not repent me of my Undertaking but shall take it in very good part Who therefore will diligently ponder the Symptoms of the Youngest Infants which are most evident or whoever shall seriously reflect upon their delicate Constitution and most simple Diet shall find this not so difficult a Task as he formerly conceived For I do not doubt to assert the Diseases of that Age generally to be but very few and only to differ in degree yea that the Cure of Infants is far more easie and safe than that of Men and Women As of all Ages that of old People is with very much ado changed to better because of the dryness and hardness and almost flinty temper of all their Solid Parts so without doubt the Younger because of their delicate and mucilaginous Tenderness are apt to receive any alteration imaginable For these Parts of an Old Man are dry and wither'd which in Infants are most humid viz. their Bones Membranes Ligaments Arteries Veins Nerves and the very musculous Flesh Sith that even the Bones of Infants may be more properly termed Cartilages and now being they do abound with so much natural and acquired moisture that their Bodies are perfectly soft and flexible that temperament and constitution is very justly said to be the most humid And as the constitution of Children is most humid so I dare not to pronounce all their Diseases to be of one kind and to be produced from one and the same cause and that the Maladies of the however different parts of the Body whether they be the uppermost or nethermost as the Stomach Intestines Lungs Head or Nerves are variously and most affected are of the same Nature under divers and sundry Names In which assertion that I may not seem rashly to maintain a Paradox you may hear Hippocrates himself in his Book of Winds or Vapours speaking of one and the same Universal Cause of Diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Rise of all Diseases is one and the same The place only maketh the difference VVherefore Diseases seem to have nothing of Relation because of the diversity of their places when tho there is but one Species and the same Cause of all Diseases Wherefore if we shall consider the nature of the Moisture of Children we shall not find it possible to degenerate into any defect or putridness but that which is acid For with whatsoever Disease they are affected however named by the Authors seldom or never could I find wanting Excrements of a very sour smell and an abundance of tart and acid Belchings especially in the beginning But also almost all Liquors that do tend to putrefaction do naturally contract an acor or sharpness Yea Milk it self the proper Food of that tender Age if keeped for some time becometh sour and doth coagulate upon the Fire without the addition of any other Acid. Moreover all the Symptoms of Childrens Diseases do justly reckon their beginning from an Acid. With
the other parts of the Body are irritated and set on irregular motions I think it most necessary that the cure be performed with these Remedies which absorbe the Acrimony that offends the Nerves and truly allay the tumult of the Spirits and induce sleep without stupefaction and not with such as make greater Confusion and encrease that Heat which so much aboundeth Very many things esteem'd Specificks for Convulsions whose Names I conceal being they are most common in the mouths of all have been commended as well by the greatest Authors as the most famous Practitioners Yet their Vertues for as much as I could observe did never answer my expectation In the Convulsive Paroxysms of Infants seeing they do constantly arise from the sharp Matter of the preceding Gripes that doth vellicate the Nerves those things which obtund allay or blunt the Acid without any new heat or warm'th of Body one those which carry off the Acidity thus Defeated and despoiled of all its Angles shall at length after all other things tried in vain be found only of sufficient force for vanquishing this formidable Symptom I had a great confirmation of this assertion in the Daughter of James Lowry a Girl scarce a year old who was seized with the greatest the most violent and most frequent Convulsions that ever I did see which had disquieted her Lips Eyes Joints yea and all her Body with very small intermission for many days before I visited her She was very pale and of a most formidable aspect her Belly was constipate and the little that was cast out was very green She howled with a high voice for as much as her strength seem'd to be cast down so that she raised the compassion of the Neighbourhood During all these Convulsions and Colick-pains she scarce consumed a spoonful of Food but was sustained by some sort of Cordial I assisted and happily cured this miserable Infant with no other Medicaments but some Ounces of Crabs-eyes mixed with Crystal of Tartar She was constrained to swallow down a scruple or more of this most simple powder every hour in Pennyroyal Water or the like after the frequent giving of them she fell upon sleep and had these Convulsions much lessened I ordered a Clyster of sugared and salted Milk to be frequently injected until at length the Crystal of Tartar which doth not only purge very gently but is also very aperient if it be taken in sufficient quantity had made way for it self down ward By these few and no greater Train of Medicines was this Infant seemings devoted to Death unexpectedly indeed recovered to perfect Health But I do not understand that I may quietly say so why we should further torment these tender Ones vexed with Convulsions and destroyed with Watching and Disquiet with Vesicatories applied to their Neck or other Parts being that kind of remedy seemeth more proper and designed to rouze from stupefaction those that are affected with a Coma. Why may not I add that since I first used this commended method for the curing of Infants at my first entry I have seen many seized with Convulsions and some so weakn'd with them that they had no strength to swallow down any kind of Medicament but that I do not remember of any of these tender ones that being perfectly cured by the use of these Powders ever suffered a Relapse The Small Pox and Maesles of Infants being very often a gentle and calm effervescency of the Blood they are not so sick when neither the assistance of Physitians is desired nor the great Skill of the Nurses who think so well of themselves is craved But when the unruly force of the Blood doth justly require the help of the Physitian the Testaceous Medicaments so frequently spoken of have the same effects with Children that Narcoticks have with People of full Age. But these Volatile Spirits which are so much used the Cordial Waters Mithridate the Treacle of Andromachus and the rest of these hot Preserving and Diaphoretick Remedies are chiefly to be eschewed which are designed to thrust out with more haste than good speed these Pushes but which instead of being Cordial and Expulsory as is pretended do very often change the naturally gentle Small Pox into such as are more dangerous and do move disturb and turn inward the Measles otherwise easily disappearing from upon the Superfice of the Skin introducing deadly Difficulties of breathing and thoaking Catarrhs and lastly they seem most designed to inflame the Blood which is yet but moderately and slightly warmed Reflecting upon the nature of the Small Pox I have frequently admired how this hot kind of guiding hath so much prevailed not only among the foolish Nurses but Physitians otherways very learned being this Disease is so very hot and being all Suppurating Medicines properly so called which are ordinarily applied to any one or more swelled parts of the Body that tend to Suppuration should be by the general consent of all Physitians and Chyrurgeons very temperate as are the Roots of Marsh-mallows and Lillies the Leaves of Mallows Althaea Bear-foot the Meals of Lin-seed Foenugreek-seed Wheat Butter Fat Oyl the Yolk of an Egg Mucilages Marrow and the like which are not hot For hot Remedies either taken inwardly or outwardly applied are truly discussing and ratifying and of a quite contrary nature to the former Moreover these do really disturb Nature in her work of Suppuration and necessarily drive all into a strange confusion Wherefore Testaceous Medicaments whose strength and vertue is most temperate which in their benign and gentle Nature are next to those that suppurate which exceedingly resist the Universal Corruption of the Body and lastly which neither interrupt the Animal or Natural Functions or render them irregular are of all the most eligible for the cure of the Small Pox. I could maintain at more length this Cause and so extend the limits of this Work beyond measure But I will not longer detain the Reader with Scholastick Impertinencies which are altogether useless in Practice I will not not hunt after an Umbrage and Shadow of more than ordinary Learning by the specious Citations of Authors cavilling among themselves and lastly I will not subtilly undermine the Opinions of other men that I may triumph over their Ignorance and that upon any account I may establish my own For I know very well how hard a task it is to enquire narrowly into the verity and truth of things I know that he hath come nighest to the Truth of any thing who shall be found to have erred least however men do upon any trifling occasion let up their Crests and assume a degree of perfect Knowledge in this or another Science when Men can make no progress beyond the natural Limits of their Weakness and Frailty And truly the more knowing any Man is than another the more humbly and submissively doth he demean himself But there seemeth to me to be a certain moderate comprehension of things and bounded with the same
An Exact ENQUIRY Into and Cure of the Acute Diseases OF INFANTS By Walter Harris M. D. Englished by W.C. M.S. With a Preface in Vindication of the Work LONDON Printed for Sam. Clement at the White Swan in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Margaret Countess of Roxburgh c. MADAM THere 's none I can so safely come unto for Shelter to my first Labours as Your self in whose Nature Justice and Equity are so firmly established that your Name prefixed to this Book is not only able to defend it from Calumny but also to cover a great many Faults may be found in it If I should declare my Obligations to lay this Work at your Feet this Epistle would swell to a greater Bulk than the Book it self For who could enumerate all your Endowments or my own particular Ties in less space Who can sufficiently declare that profuseness of Nature who ordinarily giveth some Excellency to one some to another but has Concentrated all in You Who did ever see Nobility such a debonaire Countenance such exact and divine proportion of Body Politeness of Mind and Pleasantness in Conversation so blended and mixed in a Creature so that I 'm at a stand whether I should say That they are the Attendants of your Birth or much rather since they are not to be found in your Equals I could almost think that Nobility and Riches are but the Earnest of the Reward of so great Vertues Madam I am hardly restrain'd from breaking in upon Them but I fear I should wander in this vast Field and inextricable Labyrinth Wherefore I do truly value my self that I have resisted so great a Temptation in not launching out into this Ocean in improving the Subject before me in Panegyrick Yet I cannot so entirely moderate my Passion but I must say That the great Prudence whereby you have managed and improved That Estate in the Minority of your most Noble Son is a most plain Declaration of the most of the other Vertues But that I may not offend against your Modesty I must keep off and tell you in short That this Dedication is the Basket of Flowers the poor Man presenteth his Rich Neighbour with Yet worthless things receive a value when they are made the Offerings of Respect Esteem and Gratitude These I have in the highest degree for You so that if they can add a Price to what they go along with proportionable to their own Greatness I can with confidence brag I here make your Ladyship the greatest Present you ever received This I am sure I am under the greatest obligation to seek all occasions to acknowledge and I should be most Ungrateful if I did not lay hold on this Opportunity to testify to the World how much I am obliged to be MADAM Your Ladyships most humble and most obedient Servant WILLIAM COCKBURN THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader I Here present you with a Translatition of the best if not the first and only Book yet extant upon the Subject which however rational is rejected by a great many otherways Learned Physitians as Empyrical Neither is that strange Humour of decrying what we do not use stayed there but the malice of some has led them into a great many Personal Reflections upon the Learned Author himself as a most unlearned Innovator This imputation of Novelty is a terrible Charge amongst those who judge of Mens Heads as they do of their Perukes by the fashion and can allow none to be right but the receiv'd Doctrines Truth scarce yet carried it by Vote any where at its first appearance new Opinions are always suspected and usually opposed without any other reason but because they are not already common and its Detectors disclaimed against as the greatest Enemies of Mankind This way of Calumniating is no newer than the World it self This has been the Fate of such as have deserved best in all Ages and never more evident than in the last for tho' there have been a great many things discovered in it so essential and necessary for the use of Medicine that it may be a wonder how it had subsisted before that time yet were not the English Oracles Harvey viz. Willis Lower Sydenham c. freed from the Scourge of an unruly Tongue and Pens dipt in blackest Satyr So we may the less admire that Libels as unjust are brought against this first tho' most exact Essay of curing Infants Diseases As the Trial and Examination of Truth and not any Antick Fashion must give it price though it be not yet current by the Publick Stamp So shall this Treatise be found intirely rational if they will but adjust it to their own Rule For are not there here Causes Procatartick Antecedent and Immediate described from the surest Considerations Has not he begun with Reflections upon the first Motion in the Ovum and observed the Nature and Constitution of its very Spring Neither has he left in disguise but clearly demonstrated what external Injuries they can sustain yea he hath most accuratly enquired into the Nature of their Fabrick and Body it self and hath deduced all the Maladies that can be subsequent thereupon from the most solid and firm Principles of the best Philosophy And therefore that Calumny is most malicious when they traduce him as a Rejecter of the use of Philosophy h. e. best informed Reason in Medicine and that he should teach how to become Physitians by practising This indeed is the way of some impudent Murtherers yet all that he says is That Practice is the Standard of our right Reasonings while in the mean time he doth very well know it to be simply impossible that one just Observation can be made when the understanding is not sufficiently polished by necessary Philosophy Experience being very deceitful So when in several places of his Book he doth inveigh against and declare the uselesness of that which was ordinarily brought for the Introducing and handing in of Medicine he doth positively speak of those which are fitted to the frisking Spirits of Young Men but which never had place but in the Brains of their Inventers Yea he doth almost in plain Terms assort what that is he thinketh absolutely requisite for polishing and preparing the Minds of Men for becoming faithful observers of the Effects of Natural Operations by the several Appeals he doth make through the whole book unto Experiment As if he had most plainly declared the great use of the Experimental Philosophy for explaining Phaenomena's in Medicine which methinks should be no hard task to prove if the Ingenious and immortal Mr. Boyl had loft any thing debatable upon this subject and the world were not utterly satisfied of the great advances Philosophy hath made in that School more than in any other Whatever be the truth of this It is most certain that the contrivers of these fanciful Philosophies have got their Vnderstanding and knowledge this way whatever be the dress they have put theirs into This might
Centaury of the Flowers of Chamomile made into a Powder ana ℈ i. of Venice Turpentine as much as is sufficient to make all into a Plaister Spread a little of the Plaister de Cymino upon its Margine that it may stick faster to that place Of all Purgatives there are none more innocent and that are more agreeing with Infants that the well known and very much used Rhubarb which pleasantly and safely doth remove the Subject matter of the Feavers of these tender ones which doth easily purge and strengthen their Stomach and whole Body loaden'd and oppressed with vitious Humours and which upon that account doth best agree with Infants Boys teeming Women old People and such as are weak through any Disease Truly Rhubarb doth more justly merit the Title of a Hiera or sacred Medicament than Aloes so exceedingly commended by the Ancients and more Modern which has got the first place and kept for the Basis of all the Shop Pills which indeed doth sometimes deserve very great Praise upon the account of its remarkable bitterness yet it doth not unjustly undergo some Tache and Dishonour because of its Acrimony Sharpness and its excessive Heat which it doth communicate to the Body A Powder like the former is after the operation of some gentle Purgative to be given at night and thereafter are to be reiterated three or four times at a convenient season for two days more and upon the third the Purgative is to be given the quantity of which may now be known by the operation of the former These things being done aright the most grievous Symptoms do ordinarily disappear or at least are so much allayed that the Patient who was just now in great danger is exeemed from the least suspition by better Health The same method under whatever Form of preparing and purging off the Humours may be taken with Children of more years only Doses and Quantities of Medicaments are to be discreetly changed You must observe that the first Purge we give to Children in Feavers be not only gentle but also of a lesser Dose than usual and that sometimes in case of a bound Belly a very mild Clyster made of â„¥ iv of Cows Milk sweetned with Sugar and to which is added a little Salt is to be injected on the night that immediately precedeth the first Purgative Moreover if the Purgative shall prove too weak it may be sharpned with ℈ i. or two of the Crystal â—o Tartar dissolved in some spoonfuls of weak Oat-broth or the like But you must especially take care that you only use pure and well-prepar'd Crystal of Tartar and not that which is adulterated and is commonly sold and which is little better than crude Tartar it self If any great Sickness doth betake an Infant that is fat plump and of a very moist Constitution which easily doth degenerate into an Acid and especially in Winter so that the sour Corruption cannot entirely be defeated by twice Purging after the foregoing manner then you must persist in the same method until the Sickness doth quite evanish But that the space of one or two days must be allowed for the taking of these Powders that alter Acidity Neither could I ever observe any inconveniency or bad consequence attend so frequent Purging but the strength that was formerly lost did seem to be renewed Only you must beware that in the purging of Infants upon no occasion whatever you give any Purgative that may master its strength Wherefore I cannot pass by what Hippocrates the greatest master of Physick doth learnedly declare in his Book about Purging Medicines but not so well understood Whoever then are seized with strong Fevers are not to be purged until the Fever doth remit If otherwise yet not within fourteen days For their Flesh and Stomachs being they are hot do receive the Medicament and are not purged the Feaver encreaseth their Colour is ruined and they have a sort of Kings-Evil For when the Bile is chafed and put in motion the sick Person will neither sup nor drink but loaths every thing and very often dieth But if he survive that time and his Fever doth remit together with the operation of the Purgative he recovereth Wherefore we ought not to give purging Medicines in violent Fevers But if any do want them you may give an infusion by Clyster as often as you list For in that there is less hazard We may observe from these word of our Master 1. That he doth speak concerning the Fevers of those of full Age which are usually great and most ardent but are not to be un-understood of those of Infants and Children which are naturally gentle and not so easily inflam'd 2. That the purging Medicines in his time were most violent strong and poysonous an Elaterium Colocynth Hellebor and the like but the great part of our Lenitives that are most gentle yea most temperate if some of them be not actualy cold were as unknown to the wise men of that Age as the Antipodes the new world or lastly the art of printing 3. That Hippocrates doth speak of Feavers in their natural state and condition and as they are left to themselves even as his Descriptions of epidemick Diseases truly and accurately contain it neither must he be understood after what manner the art of the following especially of the present Ages however things present be ill spoken of by the Envious being promoted and made more perfect which our Posterity if I be not in a huge mistake will most thankfully bring into remembrance at length hath taught how to prepare aright that they may be purged off and very much allay or totally to overcome their Fury by liberally blooding such as are of full Age upon the day that precedeth the Purging 4. You must consider that Hippocrates doth teach in this place that if he who is affected with a Fever hath taken a purgative and perhaps doth escape the hazard of that day shall instantly h.e. at that same very time be restored to his Health Which I have often observed to be true and that Feaverish Boys have shaken off all the Symptoms of their Feavers after the first Purgative hath ended its operation but especially in the spring time or Summer These things then being premised I say that Hippocrates did judge aright of the deadly effects of Purging Medicaments as those of his Age being very strong were unskilfully given in hot Fevers not having let blood before hand But we take a sooneâ— and more secure method for the recovering them to health if blood be liberally let of those of full Age and especially if they be of a Sanguine or robust constitution upon the day that preceedeth the purging or if the bodies of young ones be prepared with testaceous Medicaments and such as do blunt the Acid that the chief cause of the Feaver may the better be utterly purged off than can be by whatever Cordials or Diaphoreticks But the true and chief reason why purging in Acute
Diseases hath been so ill thought of by very learned Physitians seement to me quietly and under thumb to be this because viz. they did drive as people speak the plough before the Oxen h.e. they did purge before blooding or at least having no thought of it where it was most requisite did rashly give some one of the strongest Purgatives Albeit that any notable Translation of the subject matter of the Fever â—nto the Lungs and Chin-coughs â—o advise Blood-letting for the youngest Infants yet it is most evident that it is not a Remedy naturally convenient for them neither is it more contradictory and unfitting for this most tender then decrepit Old Age. And therefore its help is not to be invoked for all the Diseases of Infants except in the Chin-coughs or any other Coughs that do attend and are concomitants of Fevers that do suddenly begin and unless for grievous contusions which do sometime occur For it is not supposible that Infants being nourished with thin and slender Food should be affected with a true Plethory however florid they be They do all abound with Humidity which is easily changed into a Praeternatural Acid the cause of all their Diseases Neither can I be made believe that blood-letting can alter and correct an humid Constitution especially when it hath already degenerated into Acidity There are some who through aâ— obstinate itch of contradicting oâ— blame and accuse the use of Blood-letting even for people of full Age. And these are the Through-followers and Disciples of peaceable Helmont that most trusty Friend of the Old Medicine these happy and fortunate Heirs to so great Secrets of which neither Physick or the Common-Wealth have been worthy It 's they viz. who have succeeded to a not common sort of Chymistry unknown to all skilled Physicians but which produceth wonderful Effects to these Philosophers by the fire All testaceous Medicaments do wonderfully dry and therefore are very proper for the curing of these Diseases which proceed from too much Humidity and for these Constitutions which so much abound with it But the Constitution of boys is most humid because it is of all the most delicate and soft But they are also somewhat adstringent which is lost by burning yet thereby do they assume a good deal of Acrimony and Hotness which are most evident in Quick-lime and a great many more Chymical Medicaments But they do also most power fully blunt and defeat Acidity which as naturally attendeth the corruption of Aqueous Humidity as Heat doth Fire Moreover testaceous Medicaments do not at all warm their tender bodies which consideration doth easily induce me top prefer them to all other in the cure of Infants Diseases But there are other things for which I recommend the use of Testaceous Medicaments for Children Their Stomach is endued with a devouring and insatiable sort of Ferment which delicate and liquid Food cannot still quiet for any time Being it must be blunted with Butter which swimmeth long upon the upper Orifice of the Stomach or be nourished with Panado or Pudding which are not easily cast out of the Ventricle And I have frequently observed sick children feeble and dull only because they were nourished with too thin and liquid Food Wherefore testaceous Medicaments are upon many Accounts very agreeable with the Nature and Constitution of Children neither doth doth that change or alteration made by them in the Stomach wear off so soon as that which is made by Liquid Medicines That I may say nothing of very many Fowls which when drooping by a Pica or depraved Appetite have been recovered by Sand cast amongst and swallowed down with their Food as the Poultrey-women do very well know By testaceous Medicines I do not only mean strictly those made of Shells but Coral also Corallin both the Bezoars and the like which are known to absorbe Acidity and are of the same nature although they be quite of another Origine These Medicaments have been much used by Physicians but their use as adjusted to Children's Constitutions was either altogether unknown or was of very small help and advantage For their too too spare Dose wag truly the cause why Physicians in the Watchings and Pains of Infants fled from these sure and safe Remedies unto Opiats which are by far the more dangerous if not hurtful and diametrically opposite to their Nature and Constitution And I cannot but relate how I was once mocked by a very famous Physician upon this account When viz. at my desire he was called for assisting in the cure of a Noble Child the Heir of very great Possessions who was ordinarily entrusted to my care and at that time was sick of a most dangerous Feaver and when he proposing a Narcotick instantly to be given unexpectedly found me refractory to his design You said he if so you be resolved do seem to practise after a way that 's obsolet and out of fashion to whom I replyed That I did not neither would I ever practise for Children as is now the custom Being I do as surely yea more certainly unless I be entirely deceived and at least more safely allay all their Gripes lessen their Watchings and asswage their Pains by the fore-going Medicaments than any can do however they esteem Narcoticks by these kind of Remedies given with the greatest hazard of their life I know no such mad admirers of Opiats that ever recommended their use for the weakest Constitutions though some even in this case have covertly tryed their strength Remembering perhaps the proverb that dead Men tell no Tales But being the Pulse of Infants is of all the most weak their Constitution naturally the most tender and their strength very infirm I cannot conceive why any should make choice of uncertain and dangerous Medicaments for the curing of Infants Diseases when safer yea the most safe may be as easily purchased This also I shall add that scarce any of their Maladies however tormenting did require the least tasting of Narcoticks properly so called ever since I had sufficient knowledge of the most anodyne yea so poriferous power for Infants of these testaceous Medicaments providing they be given in quantity sufficient for attaining the Design But as no Opiats are to be approved of for Infants Diseases so neither can I recommend any liberal use of these hot Medicaments however salutiferous and cordial they be in their Name For the word Cordial hath been curiously and with abundance of artifice contrived for the soothing of all the Gay-women for the taking of Country-women who very often dwell far from skilful Physicians for good Matrons who with so great honour use these Cordials for all Diseases in their Eleemosynary Practice and lastly for pleasing the ignorant upon all occasions For who could expect any evil by the taking of a Cordial Yet it may be a question amongst Learned Physicians whether of those who have ended their days by a natural Death more have truly died by Diseases or by these Cordials
break through so the Wound is promiscuously inflicted without any necessity and very often with as little help when upon the second occasion which should be diligently observed it is only requisite There is something else to the same purpose not unworthy our observing That viz. some Chyrurgions when they are ordered to lay open the Swelling Gum do it with a common Lancet which hath ruined a great many For being a Cicatrix is so easily induced upon a Wound made by this thin Instrument neither doth there any hole abide through which the Tooth may break so this operation is altogether useless and all other Remedies are neglected for the time Physitians therefore should take care that this Incision be made with a more convenient Instrument whether that be a Pen knife or any other which riseth in the back like a Razor Being Thrushes do proceed from the sharp Vapour of that inward Flame which doth fret and pinch the tender Skin of their mouth even as the other inward parts of the Body we should only make choice of these things that do most powerfully defeat and blunt this Acrimony But Gargarisms and Medicines for washing the Mouth are of no use in this case For Infants can by no means wash their Mouth unless it may be thought to be done accidentally in the swallowing down because every thing that 's given them to wash with must go further yea that every Humour which by Coughing is cast into their Throat immediately falleth into their Stomach if it be not attended with Vomiting Neither is that stuff whereof Gargarisms are made so intirely innocent that they can safely be given to Children It 's certain that these Thrushes however they disturb or hinder their Sucking shall be removed by Testaceous and gently purging Medicaments neither do I see why we should too learnedly use so great Art for the attaining of that Design when fewer and more simple Remedies may have these most safe and excellent Effects But the reason why the superfice of the mouth is so convenient for the producing of Thrushes when no parts else of the Body are blistred is because the same Skin which cloatheth the mouth is communicated by a continued Series by the Gullet unto the Stomach Wherefore these sharp Vapours which do proceed from a preternatural Effervescency of the Body about the Hypochondres are carried upward as from a Caldron by the vent of the mouth and do very easily communicate their blemish to the membrane of that part Therefore doth the delicate taste of the tongue so readily distinguish all relishes Lastly upon this account are Physicians by their looking upon the Tongue able to judge of the prevailing temperament of the Body The Flux of Infants proceeding from a mixture of Humours falling down into the Intestines or from a swelling of Bile with an Acid which is in great abundance in that place is neither to be arrested by Astringents properly so called or Narcoticks For Astringents do cause a reflux of these sharp Humours upon the more noble parts which doth cast such as are of the most humid and fluid Constitution into the greatest danger of their life Narcoticks indeed do allay for some time the furios swelling of the Humours that as often they may afterward break out with greater force Moreover the delicate strength of these young Children and which is much weakned by the Disease is seldom able to endure the mighty operation of Opiats but with the greatest hazard But such Medicines as do appease that sharpness the great spring of all their trouble are given with greater safety are more agreeing with their Constitution Though the use of Diascordium and the like which do consist of both these sorts of Medicines be in such cases where there is no Fever of very great use and advantage yet it is well known that these do not want their danger in the Fevers of Infants and that Chalk Corall Pearls and others of that kind which mitigate these unruly Humours without the kindling of new heat that at length they may be purged off with Rhubarb are of wonderful use for the overcoming of these Symptoms and bringing a more safe Relief It is most evident that they are of as great use in Vomiting as Fluxes For so long as that which is the trouble lodgeth in the Region of the Stomach and Acidity doth most exert its power in the first Passages these Medicines do impart what strength they have pure and intire unto the Ventricle Vomits as the Salt of Vitriol Vomiting wine Emetick Tartar c. seem to some by far preferable to all other Medicines but if considerations from their tender Age and great feebleness have any place in giving of Vomits and if the easie solution and purging off of Coagulations can be procured effectually enough yea more safely by things that offer no violence to Nature and bring the like into no danger than by Vomiting or Stupifying Medicines truly a prudent Physician will abstain from and abhor all such Neither do they only avail in all Fluxes but for the Gripes of Infants from whatever cause for which they are not only excellent but Proper and Specifick If there be any such I do not think the Jesuits Bark the best of all the Medicaments of this Age more Specifick for Intermitting Fevers neither Opium that other famous Medicine more properly to allay Watching and Pains that these afore-mention'd Testaceous Medicines do the Gripes of Infants For albeit any curious person may perhaps find among th'almost innumerable Experiments that do happen by so many Infirmities borrowed from Mothers in the great variety of Constitutions some single instance here and there that may impugn my Hypothesis yet that is to be intirely attributed to the Constitution very much depraved and not to any defect of the strength of the Medicine It is most certain that the Barks it self commended all the World over for a Specifick is not altogether convenient for Asthmatick people either affected with an Intermitting or remitting Fever Yet it is most deservedly esteemed the best of Specificks for Diseases of that kind and especially for those of the first Yea our Testaceous Medicines to which if you add a little Castoreum shall be found of more innocent Faculties and to have greater force against Convulsions or Epilepsies very often improperly so called either from the decay of strength or from the sharpness of the morbifick Matter extimulating the Nerves however they have hitherto been thought trifles and of no value by some than either the Antepileptick Waters which warm very much these tender ones or the Volatile Spirits which like fire break through all the parts of their Body and which very often do produce most ardent Heat from a very small beginning For being the inward coat of the Stomach is wholly Nervous and therefore the fitter to transmit the vertue of the Food and Medicaments into the inward parts of the Body and being the Spirits of this as these of