quantity of white shining Pus but when I would by pressure with my finger in some measure further the efflux of the Pus behold soon after a piece of a Tobacco-pipe equalizing the length of the Middle-finger presented it self to sight which with an Instrument I drew out of the lately-made Orifice The Pus being gradually evacuated I in a short space of time healed this Affect after the manner of other Abscesses so that in this Cure nothing hapned worthy of observation But the piece of Tobacco-pipe unexpectedly issuing out of this Abscess gave occasion to the By-standers not onely of admiring so rare a Phaenomenon but also made them presently to fly to the Devil and his Inchantments The Ignorant and therefore superstitious and miserable vulgar men presently hasten to the Devil the accustomed but impious Asylus of their ignorance when any Effect presents it self to them the like of which they never before saw If they see any thing the cause of which they know not they do not presently ascribe that to the Devil having often before beheld the same so the stupendious actions of that Belching out of Fire which cannot but be known by all the Inhabitants of these Regions are by them accounted natural and not taken for delusions of the Devil viz. because these are such things as they have often seen though they cannot render a reason of them being wholly ignorant of the cause So sometime since there was an Italian at Lugdunum in Batavia who after the drinking a great quantity of clear Water vomited up the same into various Chrystalline Vessels not limpid as before but it was in every of the Vessels of a diverse colour and taste This effect frequently seen excited the people ignorant of the cause to so great admiration that they uttered not so much as one Whisper about the Devil But Mr. Overcamp presently found out the cause of this Phaenomenon as he relates In primogenito Ingenii sui Partu viz. that in the Chrystalline Vessels he both saw and smelt divers subtile Oyls which in one Vessel tinged the Water with one colour in another with another Not without reason did Virgil say Felix qui potuit Rerum cognoscere Causas He was happy that knew the Causes of things For they being known we shall not much wonder at Phaenomenons before seen much less with the decieved Vulgar refer them to a certain imaginary power of the Devil whereas it is well understood that the Common people seldom have any regard to the causes of things But omitting these what was the reason that a piece of a Tobacco-pipe came forth of this Affect whereof we are now writing When I had well examined the Patient I by him understood that about six Months before when he walked in the streets taking Tobacco he fell down and internally hurt his Jaws with the Pipe from which hurt abundance of Bloud did often flow out viz. because a piece of the Pipe broken off deeply forced into his Jaw first produced this Haemorrhagia and afterward the above-recited external Abscess below the Ear out of which when opened the piece of Pipe was taken OBSERVAT. VII Of a small Stone contained in the Vrinary Passage A Little Boy five years old suddenly complained of a pain of his Yard and could not make water I as I then judged with an Iron Probe touched a small stone as big as a Pepper-corn but very rugged contained in the Urinary passage How this Stone should infer so vehement dolour and stop the Urine I purpose not at this time here to explain Fit Instruments by many Authors commended in this case were now by me made use of but in vain What then was to be done I presently gave to the sick Child two spoonfuls of the following Mixture ℞ Antinephretick Water Water of Stone-Parsley Of Fennel of each ℥ j. Fernelius his Syrrup of Althea ℥ ss Crabs-eyes ʒj Salt Prunella ʒ ss Salt of Bean-stalks ℈ j. Mix these Then I commanded the Mother to apply her mouth to her young Son's Yard and suck for some time as much as she could and by this means the Stone was in a short time drawn forward to the extreamity of the Ureter from whence then it was easily drawn out with the Forceps and so this little Boy was quickly safely and pleasantly freed from this so very painful Affect We must speak with the Vulgar but not judge with them according to the common Proverb I said the Mother sucked though in the mean while I am certainly perswaded that Sucking effects little but all Motion is made by Pulsion It is true the Mother applying her Mouth to the Yard and strictly closing it round about with her Lips caused the Belly to swell by contraction of the Diaphragma and so the external Air by its pressure forced the small Stone to the extremity of the Yard contained in the mouth of the Mother which did so much the more easily happen because that little Air contained in the Mothers mouth by the heat there existing rarified and so being more weak than the external Air forced from the swelling Abdomen made the less resistance as rarified Air contained under a Cuppin-glass made hot prevents not the subjected Cutis from being lifted up into a Tumor the pressure of the external Air contributing thereunto This Propulsion of the Stone was also not a little furthered by the almost continual agitation of the Tongue commodiously applied But no man should here wonder that the pressure of the Air hath so great force for this effects many other things much more wonderful and is the cause that two Brass-Hemispheres from which the Air hath been in a great measure removed by a Wind-Instrument do so very firmly adhere each to other that the weight of a Thousand pounds would not be sufficient to separate them again whereas they may very easily be disjoyned when the Air is again intromitted as I with my eyes have beheld at Lugdunum in Batavia in the Laboratory of Burcher de Volder a most acute Professor of solid Philosophy in that place If any man desires to know more of these things let him consult the Magdeburgic Experiments adorned with Brass Figures OBSERVAT. VIII Of a Contusion suddenly healed A Man about Thirty years of age in a Tennis-Court received a Ball with great force struck by a Racket just upon his right Eye whence exceeding great dolour presently arose The Patient remembred that he had seen others after the same manner hurt to be presently healed by cold Water onely applied immediately after the stroak therefore he presently to the contused part applied his Handkercheif moistned with cold Water and when that waxed warm he again dipped it in other fresh cold Water The next day after this hurt his Friends that had heard of his misfortune came to visit him but seeing both eyes very sound and well they were amazed having before firmly perswaded themselves that the eye which had received so vehement a stroak
could that Fume excite such horrid Phoenomena's Answer Thus The Stalk being hollow within and perforated onely with a very small hole and also outwardly compressed on every side by the Boys hand the more volatile and less cohering Particles were forced from within outward but seeing all those could not at once pass out together the one urged the other and so were driven out far more swiftly No otherwise than as we see Water forced out of a Syringe though the Pistil be but gently or very slowly thrust forwards or as we discern by an easie compression of the sides of Bellows the Air through the Pipe or Nose thereof is driven out with very great force But some one may perhaps ask me of what nature those dusty Particles are To him I answer They are Accido-corrosive and sharply cutting That such Acid-Particles are in this Stalk is sufficiently evident by the frequent use thereof in stopping Bloud For when a small part of this Stalk is put into a sanguiferous Vessel wounded the Bloud is stayed partly by reason of the stringy Particles folded one within the other and closing the Orifice of the open Vessel and partly by reason of the Acid-Particles of that hollow Stalk which coagulate the Bloud as Milk is coagulated by an Acididity infused Therefore these Acid-Particles with great force driven through the aforesaid Stalk deeply penetrated into the Pores of the Eyes and interior-Superficies of the Eye-lids and so with their cutting sides excited the Nervous Fibres there dispersed to a motion more vehement by which Vehemency the Mind first perceived the sense of pain which was augmented by that Distention which took beginning thus The Pores being obstructed by the Particles of that Stalk the Vapours wanted their natural Exit and so were collected within the small Pipes of the Membranes in the form of Humour which in a very short time waxed sowre by reason of the Acid-particles of the said Stalk acting as a Ferment no otherwise than as we see any sowre Ferment taken in a small quantity to convert a great mass of Dough into its own Nature These Acid-Particles I say with the acuteness of their sides forcibly striking upon the Nervous-Fibres drew to those parts a more copious influx of Animal Spirits than usual whence arose certain slight Contractions which notwithstanding proved sufficient in some measure to impede the Circulation of the Bloud and Humours circulating through the small Veins of those circulating parts For they were in this case helped by the Vapours within the Veins of those parts converted into Water When the Bloud conteined in the Capillary Vessels and the Humours in the Veins were thus stagnized they likewise in the aforesaid manner waxed sowre and were coagulated and by that means rendred more unapt for Circulation Hence it is sufficiently manifest whence the Redness and Tumour of the Eyes and Eye-lids had their Original But whence proceeded that continual efflux of sharp Tears From the aforesaid the true cause thereof is easily gathered and it is thus Certain Acid-Particles forced from within that hollow Stalk had entred the Pores of the Glandules and Lachrymal Vessels and there by their irritation exciting certain Convulsions did continually force out Tears But whence were they imbibed with a more than usual sharpness There is no mortal Man who by the taste onely finds not Tears to be Saline wherefore these in their passage with the acid Particles there inherent were invaded with a certain sudden Effervescency These things being by me for some small time considered of I soon ceased to admire that that Fume should be the cause of so great Evils thence ensuing and also at that time discerned that the Cure would not be difficult For I knew that hot Milk coagulated by an Acidity if digested with some fit Salt would again be dissolved in the space of one hour Like wise I knew Vinegar was easily deprived of its sharpness by infusing Crabs-Eyes or Lithargyry therein Also I understood the reason of that Effervency which is excited by commixion of the Saline Oyl of Tartar with the Acid Oyl of Vitriol Hence I concluded that the Bloud coagulated by Acidity might again be made fluid and the sowreness temperated by Crabs-Eyes Lithargyry and many other Medicines containing much Salt such are White-Vitriol Gum Ammoniac Sagapenum Galbarum c. Therefore I being called the third day after the Boy was hurt instilled hot into his Eyes some Drops of a certain Collyrium compounded of White-Vitriol and other things mixt with convenient Waters and upon the Eye I applied a Plaister of Gum Ammoniac Galbanum Sagapenum Lithargyry c. spread upon a Linnen-cloth This I changed daily twice and commanded the Boy should be kept in a dark place by which means in the space of two Weeks he recovered his pristine Sanity OBSERVAT. II. Of the use of an Issue and its way of Operating A Young Maid Thirteen years of age had for several years been afflicted with dolour and redness of her Eyes and tumour of her Eye-lids which after sleep were closed together by a viscous Humour concreted into a Rosin-like matter This Ophthalmy for a long tract of time was attempted to be cured by two Surgeons but not overcome I being afterwards sent for judged the cause of the Disease to be the too great Acidity of the Bloud and a Ferment of the same nature produced from that Bloud and firmly inherent in the Pores of the Eyes and Eye-lids there causing the Bloud in the Capillary Vessels and the Humours in the small Veins to become too acid and be coagulated and stagnized For from these few signs it was not difficult to judge of the aforesaid apparent Symptoms Moreover I firmly perswaded my self that the Maid might soon be cured provided that Acidity could be temperated and expelled by the Pores of the Eyes and Eye-lids and that acid Bloud purged out of the Body wherefore I used a Collyrium consisting of Medicaments containing much Salt and besides that applied to the Eyes a Plaister made of like things But I did little good by this method for so soon as any part of that Ferment was rendred temperate and cast out shortly after a new Ferment arising from the Bloud succeeded in place of the former Seeing this I for several weeks purg'd the maid twice a week but in vain At length I found the Assertion of the famous Silvius which is written in the first Book of his Praxis Chap. 2. in the 26 Section to be most true viz. That there are scarcely any purging Remedies at least known to us which can purge out acid Humours from the Bloud Finding the matter thus I judged it high time to betake my self to the searching out of better Remedies and whilst I was occupied in consideration thereof the following Experiment came seasonably into my mind and it is this When you have a Compound of Water and Oyl mixt and would separate the one from the other proceed thus If you would
find out the Cause of the Varix nor its Effects much less the Remedy of the same For they deduced almost all Diseases from their Four Humours viz. Choler Phlegm Bloud and Melancholy though in the mean time they understood not what any one of them is or of what Particles it consisted Hence it came to pass that it was impossible for them to find out true Remedies They had much more prudently acted if they had in a special manner had respect to the various Particles of the Bloud which differ each from other in Figure Magnitude and Motion as also to the Acidity and Salt as well as they might have done whether of these holds dominion in the Bloud If it were Acidity then Purgations by the Belly could in no wise be thought convenient In like manner they too much confounded their Conceptions when they thought those Ulcers were first to be cleansed by certain peculiar Medicaments then by others incarnated lastly that again by others the Eschar must necessarily be induced Now that this too anxious distinction is very unprofitable will be plainly evident by this viz. That I with my one onely Placentula in a short time cured both Ulcers Likewise they in the Cure had respect to their own Axiom which saith Contraries must be cured by Contraries and discerning great heat in the Erysipelas surrounding the Ulcers they endeavoured to expel that by cold things which stopped the Bloud and Humours and by that means did in no small measure augment the burning hear of the Erysipelas But these men were abused by their own Axiom which had they endeavoured to make a right use of they should first have considered that burning Heat to be onely the Effect and owned for the Cause certain acid Particles by reason of Obstruction inherent about the Ulcer which with their cutting sides struck the Nervous Fibres with a more than usual trembling and then they had more rightly cured Contraries with Contraries viz. applying such things which they had by experience found fit to resist the corroding Acidity and remove the Viscosity obstructing OBSERVAT. VII Of a Wound of the Eye IN the year 1680 on the 21th day of November I was commanded to be sent for by a young Nobleman leading a Military life who three days before was wounded with a Leaden-Bullet in that part of the left Eye which is between the Iris and Pupil so that the Bullet had penetrated even into the Eye and soon after the Wound made no small quantity of aqueous Humour flowed out I found the Orifice of the Wound closed with a certain fibrous and white Matter The Iris with the Pupil wounded waxed very livid and the remaining part of the Eye thus hurt was intensly red and swoll'n attended with burning Heat and a proflux of sharp Tears The dolour was continual except that it was more remiss when the Patient held his head backward but as oft as he held his head down the pain augmented The Sight of the Eye hurt was wholly lost and the right Eye though it remained untouched was red and much pained A certain Chirurgeon to that matter closing the Wound had applied sharp things and to the remaining part of the Eye cold things This was done three days before I was called It will perhaps seem strange to some that all the aqueous Humour issued not out by the Wound but their wonder will soon cease after they have well weighed and considered the following Reasons First Let them consider that the Bullet in its inferiour part was more strongly forced into the Eye than in its superiour part and so it broke the inferiour part of the Membrane of the Eye the superiour part of that Membrane remaining entire By this means part of the Membrane broken turning inward formed a certain Aperture through which part of the aqueous Humour issued out and in its efflux again turned outward the before turning inward Membrane which then like a Valve turning from without to within not from within outward again closed the Aperture of the Wound and so impeded the out-flowing of the aqueous Humour from die Eye Secondly That fibrous and white shining Matter closing up the Orifice of the Wound falls under our consideration But whence had this Matter its Original Should I now with the Company of vulgarly-learned men fly to the accustomed Asylus of Ignorance I could readily subjoyn a Reply saying onely that Nature was so provident in this case that she in a short time filled up the hole with fit Matter not onely that all the aqueous Humour might not issue out but also that the most cold ambient Air might not penetrate to the parts and endamage them But such an Answer seems to me no less rediculous than if I should ask why in boyling hot Broath exposed to the Air a thin Skin is generated on the Superficies And another should answer The nature of the Broath is so provident that it presently forms a Pellicle on the Superficies of the hot Broath lest the cold Air having access to the internal Particles should hurt them and that the heat in the Broath might be longer preserved and the otherwise flying Vapours retained and constringed within the Broath by the superposited Membrane whereas he should rather have said that many of the more thin parts of the Broath apt for motion having figures fit for the same easily evaporated into the Air and in their flight carried with themselves up to the Superficies of the Broath certain Particles more gross stringy and less fit for motion which their motion being terminated by the ambient Air acquiesced in the Superficies of the Broath where with their small Fibres folded one within another they concreted into that Cuticle which covered the Broath But returning to our purpose we shall by a better right answer in this manner Some Particles passed out from the Pores of the Arteries and circulating in the small passages of the Membranes of the Eye were carried to the end of those passages interrupted by the Wound and so indeed the more thin parts evaporated but certain more stringy Particles prolapsed without the said passages their motion by the extream coldness of the Air at that season being taken away by their stringy Fibres infolded themselves one within the other and so concreted into a certain fibrous and white Matter not unlike to that which is often seen in that Water into which flows the Bloud from a Vein of the Foot or Hand That leaden Bullet could not enter into the Eye but very much contused it and broak certain small sanguiferous Vessels from which the Bloud flowing by reason of the cold was stagnized and infected the Iris and Pupil with a livid colour This Wound could not be made in the Eye but many small Fibres must needs be broken and being broke retire together into Curls and so obstruct many passages in which the circulating Humours accumulated did press the sanguiferous Vessels nigh so that the Bloud in the
deduceth extream dolour and other Phaenomena's occurring in a Wound of the Nerve from a far other cause than I do For he thinks some of the Fibrils in the Nerve being cut the other as yet intire suffer so much the more by a continued stretching produced by the Animal Spirits and that hence ariseth Dolour Convulsion and other Evils frequently observed in such cases But with the leave of so great a man this Cause pleaseth me not seeing from it I cannot conclude that the pallid and insensible Cutis is frequently separated from the adjacent part This Cause of his is repugnant to Experience which teacheth that the Puncture of a Nerve is more dangerous than if the Nerve were cut to the midst For in a Nerve cut to the midst many more Fibrils are cut than in a Nerve prickt in which often but a few Fibrils onely are hurt But it is certain that Sylvius did himself believe his own reason not sufficient seeing in the same Twenty third Chapter of his Second Book he saith that Phaenomenons exhibiting themselves in the Puncture of a Nerve seem to him more like a Dream than to any observation made by the Senses Therefore that I may put an end to this Observation I say that in the wound of a Nerve Acidity is peccant and that such Medicaments should be applied as infringe Acidity For this Cause is commended Oyl of Wax and Ear-wax but acid things are not fit here to be used which was well observed by Felix Plaiterus who in his Book of Observations page 468 saith Acidity is very inimical to the Nerves OBSERVAT. II. Of Dolour of the Head A Man Forty two years of Age was vexed with a most vehement dolour of his Head and indeed that only about the Temple of one side where it remained fixed which Affect if any one will for this cause insignize with the name of a Clavus let him for me I judged the cause of this Dolour to be an Acido-corrosive Humor there lying hid and stagnizing by reason of Obstruction very pertinaceous There was one studious of Medicine present who perswaded himself that the cure of this Affect would be best performed by Sudorificks which by reason of the pertinacy of the Obstruction in this Disease I judged equally as impossible as in the Panaritium which I never heard to have been healed by Sudorificks though the same Affect derives its original from an Acido-corrosive Humor for it is but a very small portion of the Sudorifick that can arrive to the pained part Therefore I rather applied to the affected part Powder of Cantharides with his own Spittle formed into a Vesicatory about the evening and left it on all night The famous Sylvius to Cantharides addeth Vinegar thinking there would thence arise a certain Fermentation and so the Vesicatory operate the better Yea the most Learned Willis also adjoyns acid things to many forms of Vesicatories which I my self have often imitated but as often observed that after the space of a whole day no Blisters have been raised by the Cantharides when I mixed them with Vinegar viz. for this reason because the Volatile Salt of die Cantharides was enervated by the Vinegar in which Salt the principal Virtue of them consists Coming the next day I beheld a large Blister raised by the Cantharides and understood that the sick-man was wholly eased of his pain But I could not perswade my self that this dolour was removed by the Blister raised and by reason of the Water flowing from the same when opened For the Water that issued out was neither sharp of taste nor could be such because had it been so it must needs have inferred some dolour on the subjected skin before apertion of the Blister which notwithstanding it did not although the Cutis the Epidermis being by this means removed be of it self sufficiently sensible as is apparent because it is often hurt and feels pain by the ambient Air. What was it then that removed that Dolour The Volatile Salt of the Cantharides which by the Vapours passing out through the skin stirred up to a sufficiently swift motion penetrated to the Acido-corrosive humor and temperated and cut the same and took away the obstruction But whence then did the Blister derive its original I say that in the mean time when the more volatile Particles of the Cantharides had penetrated far enough for correcting the peccant Humor other more grose and more acid Particles subsisted about the Cutis in which they brake certain Fibrils which crisping up together did so obstruct the small passages that the Humors in circulation were partly impeded and so gathered together in the Superficies of the Cutis and elevated the Cuticle into the form of a Blister which might easily happen because the Fibrils which joyn die Cutis with the Cuticle were now broken in sunder by the aforesaid more gross and more acid Particles of the Cantharides But some one may perhaps here say that that Water should not have been there congregated but rather have passed out by the Pores of the Cuticle by which we so often see Sweats to issue out To him I answer the most gross Parts of the Cantharides remained and adhered about the Cuticle and very much constringed the Pores thereof which should seem strange to no man who even but once in his life-time hath seen how easily by heat of fire Parchments may be crumpled up and that the common Fire which so crumples them doth also sometimes excite small Blisters wholly like those that are raised by Cantharides but because the Pores of the Cuticle were so closed therefore the Vapours otherwise freely exhaling were accumulated and augmented the abundance of Humor contained in the Blister If any man not as yet plainly convinced by our way of reasoning believes that the long lying on of the Cantharides by reason of the Blisters raised helps until his mind be altered by the Authority of some approved Writer I would have him go to Lazarus Riverius who in his Third Century Observation 4. declares that a Vesicatory left on but a quarter of an hour had in that time wholly removed the dolour of a Bees sting no Blisters being raised by reason of so short delay Francis Redi in a Treatise of Insects affirms that he had seen a white shining Humor undoubtedly Acido-corrosive flowing out from the Stings of Scorpions and it is very probable that such an humor in the Punctures of Bees doth in like manner flow from their Stings which is the cause of dolour Hence it is now manifest that the dolour of which Riverius speaks vanished because the acid Humor which flowed out from the Bees Sting and excited dolour was temperated by the Volatile Salt of the Cantharides But that the Stings of Bees are hollow no man will wonder who hath at any time seen the Glass-Pipes made by Art which are used for examining and beholding the Bloud and other Liquors through a Microscope seeing they though small
I have often observed in fat Boys a Vein presently after the usual Ligature to be sufficiently tumid and manifest but if not quickly opened hath soon disappeared viz. when the Bloud pressed downwards the subjected and readily-yielding Fatness that so notwithstanding the Ligature it might again freely pass through the Vein After the cutting of a Vein when the Vein seemed sufficiently closed I have often beheld the Bloud issuing out thence with great violence and indeed from no other cause than that the Chyrurgeons first applied their Ligature and Lint compressing and afterward inbowed the Arm For by this means the Lips of the Orifice which before in the extension of the Arm were conjoyned again separated each from other when the Arm was inbowed Oftentimes a certain Lividness is found left after the cutting of a Vein the cause of which is too frequently the evil use of Vinegar in which is imbibed the Lint compressing which is put upon the Aperture of the Vein whereas it is indeed sufficiently manifest that the Bloud is coagulated by Acidity and acquires a Livid and black colour Before I put an end to this Observation I think fit to add the counsel of Peter Pigraeus that we may thence if possible reap some further benefit That very famous and most dexterous Chyrurgeon commands that after the cutting of a Vein the Aperture should be anointed with Oyl if it be intended again to extract Bloud the same day from the same Orifice without a new made Aperture But if Oyl can though for a short time applied hinder the closure of the Orifice of a Vein cut how evilly do they act who use Oyl in the cure of Wounds and for no other reason than because they have seen the same thing done by their Masters As for Example Oyl of Saint-Johns-Wort For if Saint-Johns-Wort profits Wounds by reason of its Volatile Salt temperating Acidity why do they not rather extract the Tincture of Saint-Johns-Wort by Spirit of Wine into which it much more easily and more copiously transfers its Volatile Salt than into Oyl which hurts Wounds because that obstructing the Pores and Passages stops the Circulation of the Bloud and Humors whereas that Circulation should rather be excited to which excitation Spirit of Wine is not a little available For it egregiously temperates Acidity which usually coagulates the Bloud and Humors in Wounds and renders them unfit for Circulation But least I should be found too prolix in this matter I here put an end to this Observation OBSERVAT. V. Of the Cracking of a Tendon A Woman aged Forty three years after greater Labour than usual in her right Hand suffered an impotency to motion with Tumor and Dolour and when the Tendon sited in the Hand was pressed with the Finger it gave a sound This is an Affect which often occurs in the Practice of Chyrurgy though it hath hitherto been treated of by no man that I have heard of therefore I shall call it Crepitus Tendinis or the Cracking of a Tendon By this Woman's unaccustomed Labour the Fibrils of the Tendon were so distorted that the Humors impeded in their Circulation there subsisted and were coagulated whence the Impotency of Motion Tumor Dolour and Cracking of the Tendon were most readily induced I feared that the Humors stagnizing in the Tendon would be daily more and more coagulated and thence that Tumor take beginning which is known to many by the name of a Ganglion Yea I suspected that certain Particles of the subsisting Humors would be received within the Pores of the Fibrils compounding the Tendon and obstruct them so as in the Third Observation of this Decade we shewed to be apt to render them too propense to induce both Contracture and rigidness of the Tendon Wherefore judging it high time to set about the Cure I ordered Spirit of Wine to be enkindled in such wise that the Vapour arising thence might surround the hand affected and this being done commanded a Plaister of Frogs with Mercury to be applied By this means the coagulated Humors were dissolved the Obstructions removed and the Patient in a few days restored to her pristine state of health OBSERVAT. VI. Of an Haemorrhagia from a Varicous Vlcer of the Tibia IN the right Tibia of a Woman aged Forty years from an Internal cause an Ulcer was formed upon a sufficiently large Varix which yielded to no Remedies This Evil was also attended with a Tumor and a large Erysipelas very troublesome which in like manner could not be removed by any Medicaments After a few days the Varix was unexpectedly opened by the Acido-corrosive Humor there inherent from which issued out at least lib. ij of black and as the standers by affirmed very stinking Bloud I ordered that Placentula in a form somewhat hard composed of Medicaments temperating Acidity which I commended in the Sixth Observation of the First Decade to be applied by the Chyrurgeon and so not onely closed up the Varix but also temperated that Acidity inherent in the Ulcer which otherwise by its corrosion would easily again have opened the Varix and besides have much impeded the cure of the Ulcer It was wonderful to see that after the Varix unexpectedly opened had cast out so great abundance of Bloud the Erysipelas and other Symptomes soon vanished and the Ulcer daily shewed it self in a state more and more meliorated so that within the space of three Weeks by the onely help of the aforesaid Placentula it wholly closed I now intend not here to treat of the Original and Cure of the Varix Ulcer and Erysipelas having accurately enough discoursed of that in the Sixth Observation of the First Decade because a dish of Crambe twice cocted was always deadly to me if to any other man But my intention here is to confirm what I have spoken by Experience and hath been before by me treated of in the said Sixth Observation of the First Decade viz. to shew that undoubtedly the Erysipelas and Ulcer derived their Original from Acidity and likewise how opportunely I instituted the Section of the Varix in that varicous Ulcer of the Tibia But from the Example before-alleadged these Conclusions may easily be drawn for neither the Erysipelas nor the Ulcer would give place to any Remedies so long as that Varix was replete with so great abundance of black and undoubtedly by its long delay acid Bloud which no sooner issued out but the Erysipelas vanished and the Ulcer closed in a short time after OBSERVAT. VII Of a vast Contusion of the Arm. A Matron aged Fifty six years after a Fall from on high complained of an unaptness to motion and very great dolour of her left Arm which appeared very much swoln although of the same colour with the sound skin I perceived by the Pulse a more than usual swiftness of motion in the Bloud viz. by reason of the Terrour which the Patient had conceived by the Fall After we had very acurately inquired into the
of Motions that are made in this Corporeal Universe and according to the rules of these Motions giving heed onely to the magnitude of Bodies to the figure and position of them not onely the Phaenomenons of this Disease but also many other far more wonderful than these may very accurately be explained If you be desirous to know how Plants proceed from a Grane or Seed it will behove you attently to peruse the Anatomy of Plants made by Mr. Grews Microscope published both in English and in French There in the greater Bean you may behold the Rudiment both of Root and Plant already formed there you may perceive how the Juice strained through the Membranes of the Bean committed to the earth is fermented in the Body of the Bean also how there through a small hole of the Bean admittance is given to the Air and an exit also permitted to the superfluous Vapours how the Juice thus fermented is constringed into the Rudiment of a Root and converts that Rudiment into a true Root which then receiving nutriment from the Earth repels the other Juice coming from the other part upwards to the Rudiment of the Plant that so at length it may present it self to the sight as a true Plant. If you desire to know the causes of the stupendious powers in the Magnet of the Ignis Fatuus Rainbow and other things consult Cartesius who will clearly explain them to you The same Philosopher in his Treatise of Meteors will also there teach you that Souldiers sometimes seen fighting in the Air touching which the ignorant Vulgar tells so many tales are no other than certain Clouds I know not indeed whence arose this so evily-founded Judgement of the people by which such cases as this of ours is are accounted Inchantments and Mawworms so frequently ejected from the Bodies of men by Vomit and Seidg esteemed meerly natural whereas the generation of Mawworms is far more wonderful than that of these Eggs in the Humane Body Vigelius professor of the Mathematicks is reported to have formed an Horse of Metal which in one day for several hours could by the help of Rotula's walk like a living Beast Rayselius is reported to have fabricated an Engine like a man in which a certain Liquor poured into the mouth was seen to circulate like our Bloud the more thin part of which Liquor was expelled by the Yard as Urine but the more gross part as Dregs or Dung of the Belly by the Fundament If Man can do such things what cannot GOD the supream Architect effect according to the ordinary rules of Motions Therefore how were these Eggs produced in this Woman I answer In the Thigh of this Woman from this or that cause many Pores of this or that Artery were distorted and enlarged so that many Humors flowed out and were collected in one place in which when they began to be fermented the Particles stringy and less apt for motion were thrust out to the sides where they were not compelled to so swift a motion and there cohering and twisting themselves one within the other were formed into that sufficiently gross Membrane which did include all the Eggs afterward generated But because the Pores of the above-mentioned Artery were diversly distorted therefore some of the Particles contained in this gross Membrane did in some measure differ from the other in figure and magnitude and perhaps the Particles like each other flowed into almost an hundred divers places and so every of those Particles besides the Congesture of their like still exercising a certain kind of Fermentation did again thrust out the more stringy Particles to the sides and so were formed the Membranes in which were included all the Eggs. Thus I suppose I have produced a sufficiently intelligible cause of this Phaenomenon which I beheld with my own Eyes OBSERVAT. V. Of a vast Tumor of the Neck A Young Maid aged Fifteen years being otherwise very well had now for six years sustained an hard round Tumor in her Neck of the same colour with the Skin and void of pain equalizing in magnitude a white Loaf that is wont to be sold at the price of half a Sesterce and miserably defacing the Patients Countenance I judged the humidity of this Tumor to be very viscous and divided almost after the same manner as we see the Juice in a Pome-Citron or Orange contained in many Cells By reason of the viscosity of the Humor this Tumor could not be discussed nor in the common way brought to suppuration therefore I applied a Corrosive and the Eschar being removed put in a Tent anointed with the Unguent Basilicon mixt with common Turpentine By this means some part of the viscous Pus issued out daily and so the Bulk of this horrid Tumor began to be diminished the viscous Humor nearest the hole was first evacuated and afterward that also which lay far remote from the Ulcer But when the small passages round about this hole made by Art were obstructed by the viscosity of the Humor as it often hapned then with the Unguent wherewith the Tent was anointed I mixed some Crocus Metallorum that so an Eschar might be induced which being separated the small passages were again opened and so this young Maid in the space of three Months was wholly freed from this Tumor and that great deformity attending it I shall not in this place speak of the way or manner of the Corrosives operating having already discoursed of that in the First Observation of this Third Decade nor will I at this time further explain by what means the Eschar is separated because this may sufficiently be understood by the Second Observation of this Decade where I teach how the rotten Fragments of Bones may be separated from the sound part Perhaps some one will wonder that I use Medicaments so few and so little compounded but to what purpose are so many Simples and so many composed Forms of Remedies which many Physicians use at this day for no other cause than to boast of their vain Learning before the Ignorant If Gun-powder made of Cole-dust Nitre and Sulphur onely produceth such stupendious effects in the Macrocosm that omitting all other it can blow up into the Air vast and heavy Ships and also if put under the Earth cause the same to tremble and cleave in sunder why may not a few Medicines seasonable taken be sufficient to heal very many Diseases in the Microcosm I do indeed assent to Bacon Verulam great Chancellor of England who is by some called the Day-star of Cartesius thus speaking Variety of Medicaments is the daughter of Ignorance OBSERVAT. VI. Of a wonderful Abscess A Man Fifty years of age was vexed with an Abscess arising below his Ear which was round painful waterish and soft with this he had been afflicted some days before he came to me I being certainly perswaded that ripe Pus was contained in this Abscess made an Aperture with my Lancet and so presently issued out no small
must needs be livid and very painful But what may hence be inferred Can cold Water profit in a Contusion It seems more likely to do hurt because it incrassates coagulates and stagnizeth the extravasate Bloud Would not Spirit of Wine and other Medicaments that increase the motion of the Bloud be more convenient in this case That you may the more clearly conceive the solution of this difficulty it is behooful to know that in the parts hurt by the Ball so forcibly driven certain very small sanguiferous Vessels were opened which had they before the Water was applied poured out the Bloud into the small passages of the Parts hurt then the cold Water would have done hurt but this cold Water was applied before the Bloud issued out and so not onely by its coldness again closed these very small Vessels but also was the cause that no new Bloud could for a certain space of time enter the same Vessels So we see our Face to be red for no other reason than because through the Cutis of the same very many small Vessels full of Bloud lie dispersed and discern the same to wax pale by the coldness of Water Air and other things because such coldness for a time prohibits the Bloud from entring these very small Vessels of the Face So we see the pleasant redness of the Lips in a beautiful Virgin augmented by the kiss of a young man to be changed into a pallid colour by Acidity restraining the Bloud from entring the small Vessels distributed throughout the Superficies of the Lips But whosoever he be that will attempt such a way of Cure as this here mentioned after the small passages of the parts contused shall be replete with extravasate Bloud seems to me to be not well in his wits for I have not seldom known a Gangrene to arise in a part contused from the unseasonable application of cold and astringent things OBSERVAT. IX Of an hard Tumor of the Abdomen A Girl Five years of Age accustomed to evil Diet was for a long time afflicted with a very great Tumor and hardness of her Abdomen and her face was very pale The following Liniment had before been in vain used â„ž Vnguent Altheae comp Oyl of white Lillies of eachÊ’ss Of TilesÊ’j Mix these Which notwithstanding in a like case is not a little commended by the famous Sylvius in the first Book of his Praxis Chap. 14. under the Title 56. Well considering the matter I judged the Bloud of this sick child to be very viscous and acid and by reason of this that many Glandules of the Omentum were obstructed and augmented to a strange bulk But which way Paleness of the Face is induced by such Bloud I suppose to be known to every man therefore needs not be here explained Perhaps some one will wonder and not believe it possible that the Glandules of the Omentum should increase to so great a Magnitude as to become the cause of so great and hard a Tumor as was in the Abdomen of this Child perceptible by the touch but I would have him peruse Fabritius Hildanus who in the 62 Observation of his Third Century declares that he opened a Carcass the Omentum of which by reason of the tumified Glandules weighed Fifty six pounds Things being thus I judged nothing would be more profitable than Paracelsus his Stiptick Plaister which I commanded to be applied to the Abdomen after it was spread upon a Linnen Cloath and anointed with Oyl of Nutmegs To correct the viscous and acid Bloud I commanded certain drops of oyly Volatile Salt to be given daily twice a day and by this means our little Patient in the space of a few Months was happily restored to her pristine state of health OBSERVAT. X. Of the Scurvey A Man aged Thirty years every day evily accustoming himself to viscous and sowre Aliments according to the bad custom of the Gelders was afflicted with heaviness and dolour of his hands and Feet his Gums in a great measure consumed would bleed with the least touch his Spittle was in taste salt as Brine Having diligently considered these things I judged the Bloud too acid and viscous to be here peccant which by reason of Acidity inferred that dolour of Hands and Feet and corroded the Gum and its sanguiferous Vessels and by its too great Viscosity did so obstruct the small passages of the Hands and Feet that the usually-free transit of the Animal Spirits into the Muscles was somewhat impeded whence arose the aforesaid Heaviness I speak here of the Animal Spirits for seeing the Liquor that is through the Nerves for exciting motion carried into the Muscle is subtile I know not why this Nervous Liquor should less deserve to be insignized with the name of Spirit than that Liquor which in Chymical Distillation is extracted from Hartshorn But omitting vain Disputes about the Name let us set about the Matter it self This Disease is very familiar in these Regions and is generally known by the name of The Scurvey and is most difficultly cured if in process of time it have taken deep root Wherefore I presently applied my self to the Cure of this Disease seriously commanding the Patient for the future to eat no more acid and viscous Aliments and prescribing the following Medicament â„ž Syrup of Scurvy grass â„¥ ss Of Salt Armoniac distilled with Salt of Tartar â„¥ ij Oyl of Tartar per deliquium Tincture of May-worms of eachÊ’j I commanded the Patient to take 16 drops of this Medicine thrice a day in a Decoction of the Tops of Firr and indeed to the end that the Spirits of Scurvey-grass and Sal-Armoniac and the Tincture of May-worms with the aforesaid Decoction might attenuate the viscous Bloud and infringe the Acidity thereof I added Oyl of Tartar per deliquium that by this means the Volatile Salt of the Bloud subdued and bound by the Acidity might again recover its pristine liberty and so render the Bloud more fluid and more agile As we see the Volatile Salt of Hartshorn or any other Volatile Salt coagulated and conjoyned with an Acid Spirit with the help of an Alkali-Salt and Common Water by distillation to be again restored to its pristine liberty and separated from that Acidity As to the Tincture of May-worms it is to be observed that that ought not to be extracted with the acid Spirit of Salt as Artists are wont to do because by this means the Volatile Salt of the May-worms is infringed and enervated By these Remedies our Scorbutick Patient was cured in a short time But before I put an end to this Third Decade a Difficulty not very small remains yet to be removed I here affirm the Cause of this Disease to be Acidity and in the mean while say the Spittle was imbibed with a Saline taste how do these agree Do they not manifestly contradict each other No. I promise to unfold this Riddle in few words No small quantity of Volatile Salt contained in the
suspend my judgment about this matter It so happens sometimes that the Marrow which is found between both Tables of the Cranium is by a forcible stroke crushed and squeezed out which the Bloud also by the same force extravasate and so this Marrow with the Bloud conceives an Acido-corrosive Acor by which it induceth rottenness on the Internal Table of the Cranium and so sometimes the acrid and aqueous Humor proceeding from the perished Bone infects the Meninges and Brain it self and infers sudden and unexpected Death some Weeks yea some Months after the hurt received the Cranium in the mean while on the out-side appearing whole not shewing either Fracture or Fissuren Such Examples are here and there described by Author that have written of Chirurgy The Cranium with the Dura-mater being hurt sometimes in the space of 24 hours ariseth a Fungus in magnitude almost as large as an Hens-Egg which the most famous Malpighius judgeth to derive its Original from those Glandules hurt of which the Cortex of the Cerebrum is compounded and which according to his Opinion end in the Roots of the Nerves into which they transmit their nervous Juice received from and purified by the Arteries It is by almost all Authors seriously advised that no Wounds of the Head be sewed up and indeed very well When Wounds of the Head were bound up Vesalius always used a Wax-candle lighted not a Suet-candle because fatness hurts the Bones to the end it might in some measure temperate the cold of the ambient Air but at this time some Chyrurgeons use a certain Brass Vessel filled with live Coals which Vessel is in Dutch called een bedpan The middle space that is between both Tables of the Cranium is found to be much thinner in Children than in Men full grown which is as I judge very fit to be well observed by Chyrurgeons when they either use a Trepan or Lancets for otherwise it may happen that they may perswade themselves they are not yet come to the middle space when in the mean time they hurt the Meninges it self Some before they use the Trepan chuse to make a cross-like Incision of the Flesh others a Triangular but my Father always esteemed the Circular Incision best and so he separated and took away all that portion of flesh from the Cranium In Operating some dip their Trepan in Oyl for temperating the heat as they say but evily because Oyl as we have often said is inimical to the Bones wherefore common Water may in this case better serve The Ancients opinionated that the Marrow and Brain in Animals increased in the first Quarters of the Moon therefore at the Full Moon they forbid the use of a Trepan But at this time Experience hath taught that the Brain in the Cranium and the Marrow in the Bones of Animals do no more abound in the Increase of the Moon than at any other time thus this Opinion superstructed on so sandy a Foundation falls to ruine The Ancients would not permit the Trepan to be put in Sutures but we have Chirurgeons at this time who do this without fear It sometimes happens that the Duramater very firmly adheres to the Cranium yet this is but seldom and is beside the usual custom To the Meninges lying bare Scultetus applies Oyl of Roses Celsus Vinegar both err the one more the other less What can Oyl effect unless it be the obstruction of the Pores and Passages of that membrane and so impede the Circulation of the Bloud and Humors But Vinegar will coagulate the Bloud and Humors circulating through the Meninges and so not a little hinder the circular motion of them What shall then be here applied Honey or Syrup of Roses but best is the Syrup being less sharp which may be put in hot with a round Lint having a Thred tyed thereunto The Trepan being used it sometimes happens that no Evil is found upon the Meninx but the Pus lies hid under the same When this is seen the Meninx must be cut that passage may be made for the Pus to flow out Here is no cause of fear that the Pia-mater will be hurt because the interjacent Pus prevents that I remember that this Apertion of the Meninx was happily instituted at Arenacum A Patient wounded in the Head should rather assume Meats liquid than solid For otherwise the motion of chewing may somewhat molest the wounded part and indeed more especially if the Wound be inflicted in the Temples If Sneezing sieze any one wounded in the Head it will undoubtedly too much shake his Brain and hurt the Wound Therefore it would be prudence so soon as Sternutation is perceived to approach to prevent the same which may easily be effected if at that time we often rub the greater Angle of either Eye with our Fingers In a Wound of the Head Anger and Venery must above all things be shunned because they very much disturb the Brain and so infer no small damage to the miserable Patients as frequent Experience daily proves Thus I shall now at length put an end to this Observation after I have said that here I have offered none but thing rare and worthy of note For all other things pertinent to Wounds of the Head are largely enough treated of by Parey Hildanus Scultetus and other writers of Chirurgy which to repeat here I judge would be wholly needless OBSERVAT. II. Of a Wound penetrating the Thorax A Young man Thirty years of age received a Wound between the sixth and seventh Rib if you reekon from the inferiour with a Sword which penetrated into the Cavity of the Breast as was experienced by a Probe gently thrust in as also by the Air impetuously enough issuing out from the Wound The Patient in the mean while eat well and complained little Because this Wound was not sufficiently opened to give Exit to the Pus we put in a Tent made of Spunge with a Thred tyed to it and by this means the Wound was the next day very well opened Therefore we then applied a Tent made of a scraped Lint and anointed with a good Digestive with a Plaister temperating Acidity and a good Ligature In the mean while the Patient drank twice a day three Ounces of the following Apozem â„ž Of the Herbs Colts-foot Maiden-Hair Scabious of each Mij Leaves of the Fir-tree Mj. Raisins stoned â„¥ iij. Fennel-seed â„¥ ss Barley Mij Boyl all in equal parts of Common Water and French Wine and use the Colature which also when necessity requires may be injected by a Syringe into the Cavity of the Breast being at that time mixed with an Ounce or two of Honey of Roses The Wound thus handled for several days emitted a little Pus and the Patient was otherwise very well therefore we daily formed the Tents shorter and so the Patient was in six Weeks time wholly recovered of this Wound The Probe with which the deepness of the Wound was searched was not Iron because this Metal
the other and sticking in the Superficies of the Ulcers rendred them very sordid Thus far we have explained how certain and acid Particles have passed through the aforesaid Recesses unto the near adjacent Flesh now 't is time to observe that many more acid Particles were from those Recesses forced into the sanguineous Mass circulating with which they entred into the Ulcers rather than into other parts by reason of the acid Ferment lurking there after the same manner as we shewed in the Second Observation Thus was the abundance of acid Humour filling the Ulcers and from them proceeding augmented The Erysipelas which for the most part surrounded the Ulcers derived its Original also from the Acidity there inherent When I had for sometime well weighed all these things in my mind I at length converted my endeavour to the cure of the Varix as the first Original of the Evil which if in things profitable it be lawful to use the Terms of Art may be called the Procatartick or primitive Cause therefore from the Varix opened with a Lancet I drew forth several ounces of stagnized Bloud acid and black Then I proceeded to the sanguineous Mass infected with the acid Ferment which may be called the anticedent Cause according to the subtilty of die Wits of our time which more regards the Pomp of vain Words than things themselves and by a good Diet instituted began to correct that prohibiting all things viscous and acid by a Powder temperating Acidity daily taken consisting of ℈ j. of Crabs-eyes and the same quantity of White Coral After this I set about the Ulcers themselves in the bottoms and Lips whereof lay hid an acid Ferment which if it be the pleasure of some may be called by the Name of a Conjoyned Cause The principal thing that remained for me to do was to temperate and remove that Ferment and gradually and without sense to depress the Lips of the Ulcers to the bottom for from this last business I promised to my self a threefold Utility First I knew that the cavities of the Ulcers being thus removed none of that acid and at least in some part Viscous Humour could be there collected which by reason of its viscous and stringy Particles had before rendred the Ulcers sordid and through its acid and cutting Particles daily more and more excavated them there being always in the Cavities of them a great abundance thereof continually congested But if this Humour have access to the Ulcers it must be cast out presently after its coming there to the sides of the Ulcers their Lips being strongly depressed by some hard and heavy Body superposited Secondly I was certain by this means to restore the Circulation of the Bloud and Humours in which is sited a great part of the cure of Ulcers For the Lips of the Ulcers being not prominent as before over the Superficies of the bottoms I could discern it was possible to be effected that the Humours circulating through the small passages contained in the Lips of the Ulcers which before by reason of those passages obstructed did flow into the Cavities of the Ulcers would now find out their own way through other passages in the bottoms of the Ulcers and so again renew their Circulation which cannot as before be impeded by the ambient Air because that is sufficiently repelled by the same body which depresseth the Lips of the Ulcers that being sufficiently thick solid and hard to answer my purpose Thirdly In cure of Ulcers and Wounds I have often observed that an Eschar to be generated never took beginning from the Center or any adjacent parts of Ulcers or Wounds but always begun from the extremity of the ambient Cutis by reason of the similitude of Superficies which is found between the Cutis and the Eschar Hence I firmly perswaded my self that the Ulcers first freed from their acid Ferments and Filths and rendred plain in the aforesaid manner their pristine Circulation being restored would in a short time be covered with an Eschar Therefore I prepared certain fit Medicaments temperating Acidity to resist the peccant Ferment lying hid in the Ulcers and that as the saying is I might with one Brush whiten too Walls I formed of them two Cakes sufficiently hard and thick and somewhat larger than the Ulcers so that they would also cover a small part of the Lips and those I laid upon the Ulcers and with a sufficiently strict Ligature firmly bound them on and left them so for 12 hours which being elapsed I could soon discern that the hope I had of them conceived failed me not For I found the Ulcers wholly plain freed from all filths and conspicuous with a pleasing redness and little or nothing painful Whereby being almost wrapt into admiration I concluded that the acid Ferment in the Ulcers for the most part was and the remainder would in a short rime be temperated After a few days Circulation being restored certain well-known Particles passing out through the Pores of the ambient Cutis firmly adhered to the extremity thereof having a like Superficies with the Cutis it self Thus we plainly understood the certain Rudiment of that Eschar which had in the space of five Weeks fully closed either Ulcer for it every day increased more and more Afterward I every year once opened the aforesaid Varix and drew from it lib. j. of Bloud by which means those Ulcers never after opened any more In the mean while to the Erysipelas which I had almost forgot I applied a four-doubled Cloath moistned in a mixture prepared with Water of Elder-Flowers Spirit of Wine Camphire and Saccharum Saturni for temperating the peccant Acidity which being effected all Symptoms of the Erysipelas ceased together with the burning before induced by the acid Particles when with the acuteness of their sides they oftner than usual invade the small Fibres But whence was it that these Ulcers could not be healed in so great a space of time by so many Physicians and Chyrurgeons though men well in years I answer Those men by reason of their age contemning the solid Reasonings of others would never approve of any thing but their own experience Experience without true Reason can profit little For as among a thousand humane Faces no one is found exactly in all things like to another so among so many Diseases there is not one which in all things wholly agrees with another Moreover it is very credible that the Bloud and internal Parts of one man do no less differ from the Bloud and internal Parts of another than the External Whence again ariseth the various Temperament of men the variety of which requires various Remedies and besides Experience sound Judgement in the Physician that he may know how to make choice of this or that and other Remedies instead of either Now plainly to shew the Case as it is those Physicians and Chirurgeons directing their Conceptions according to a certain vain and unprofitable Theory and Philosophy could neither