may be injurious and checks Nature in freeing her self from that which is hostile And tho' it may be said the restringent virtue is moderate that seems to mitigate à tanto Notwithstanding this Febrifuge not being indicated in the Case may be blamed and be the occasion or cause of much mischeif in keeping out another Medicine which ought to come in use as more proper and fit at such a time The Cortex Cinnamomum is much more grateful and Stomachical than this Peruvian Drug But to give that innocent and wholesome restringent Cardiac to check a Flux Diarrhaea or Lienteria is not according to the Rules of Art But an abstersive true Purgative is in Reason and by Practice confirm'd most safe and successful I grant you when Malignity and venemous Matter is the Stimulating Cause As in the Small Pox Spotted Fevers or Pestilence the best Alexipharmacals and Diaphoretics are then the greatest and securest Help But whether the Jesuits Pouder be the supreme Antidote and most to be confided in such cases we shall inquire anon But Fluxes per Alvum most commonly are not so malign and the Ferment not venenate and do then require only a true gentle Purgative This most Practisers will freely assent to I do not accuse the Medicine of Evil in the Nature of it but the evil use of it and therein the best of things may do hurt and so may this when used more often than necessary under the Pretence of animal Spirits invenom'd in Fevers and most Diseases according to the new and false Hypothesis For the Manner of Operation those that confide most in this Medicine cannot shew how it operates but tells us negatively Not by Salivation Vomit Stool Urine or Sweat as Dr. Morton saith Pyretol p. 142. And for my Part I should not esteem the Medicine worse or less for the insensible Operation always provided it did perform the work intended and give sufficient Proof thereof But when I see a Failure in the Performance or a seeming and fallacious Performance pro tempore only or commonly so as Dr. Willis observes Then my Faith staggers and begins to fail that I cannot hope or trust any longer in secret and insensible Operation For the morbifio cause being laid asleep only and a Cessation made for a Time yet it will and frequently does resurge again shewing its Pravity in acting as before This Experience does confirm from Authors of Credit and by common Fame If the Jesuits Pouder thus deceive us in the only or chiefest cases wherein we wanted extraordinary Help as for Intermitting Fevers especially the Quartans Then where is the excellency of that Febrifuge For other occasions there are Medicines enough and for those Agues for ought I yet see there are as good and some that are better But notwithstanding the Operation is said to be so secret and charming yet sometimes it plays Tricks openly and unexpectedly By Vomit by Fluxes downward and profuse Sweats And this is acknowledged by a great admirer of this Pouder who tells us that such Evacutions are Symptomatical from the Irritation of the Medicine Dr. Morton Pyretol p. 142. So that it is not so calm still and ineffensive to all People but sometimes it gives Disturbance with such unprofitable evacuations as He accounts them so in the same Page And truly I should be angry with any Medicine that should give me so much Trouble without any Benefit From whence I remark that this Author will not own any Evacuation to be proficuous and conducing to these Cures least the Doctrine of Humors should gain Advantage thereby and the new Hypothesis infringed But in this case it is not reasonable to expect Advantage from such symptomatic Evacuations occasioned and arising meerly from disgust and Disagreement of the Medicine Hoc Pharmacum suâ Naturâ non admodum gratum P. 173. else Evacuations otherwise procured by good Medicine kindly operating have been beneficial and Curative My Reason does not persuade nor Experience urge me to believe that secret and insensible Operation by an occult Quality is so prevalent and wonderful in Curing especially in various cases and causes as to denominate this single and simple Pouder a Polychreston Pharmacum hoc divinum in pluribus alus morbis aeque ac in Febre intermittente proficuum P. 136. as he saith Some Specifics are said to operate after a secret manner and there is no Reason given why or how they do perform such effects But these are limited and restrained to particular Purposes and Diseases and they are the Secrets of Nature which as yet are not revealed to us But the Jesuits Pouder goes beyond all those in Latitude and Comprehension for few cases present that are not within the Virge of its Power as some would have us believe And it must be a Polychrest of large extent in Virtue that makes such Pretensions of Curing all Fevers because Fevers are adjoined and dependant upon most Diseases When Causes are manifestly various also situate variously in the Body and the Operations or Functions of Nature are manifest and different to discharge and free her self from such superfluous excrementitious and useless Matter both in her daily course of Preservation as also in extraordinary Cases and Exigencies And since curing is but in Imitation of Nature to give Help and assist her in her own Methods and by the ways of her own Institution Natura est Morborum medicatrix These being considered I cannot then understand this new way of Conjuring Nature into good Order and restoring her insensibly and occultly into a State of Sanity from various Diseases and Sickness But we will argue no farther about the Qualities and Manner of Operation now that we may come to the decisive and undeniable Proof by Matters of Fact the effects in Practice which determines all the Doubts and Difficulties in Controversy To confirm the new Hypothesis and prove the Excellency of Curing by the Jesuits Pouder Dr. Morton gives us an Account of several Cures that He hath done by this Febrifuge and sets down the Names of the Patients and Places of their Abode The historical verity I question not but how that Practice does answer the Hypothesis of animal Spirits invenom'd and proves the wonderful Alexipharmal power of the Peruvian Antidote as yet is not apparent to my dull understanding wherefore give me leave to doubt and to enquire farther If those Cures had been performed by the Antidote only or chiefly and with a little Help of another Medicine pro re nata I should have as good Opinion of the Pouder and extol it as much as He doth and perhaps thereby might become a Proselite to the new Doctrine But when I see Bleeding and Blistering Pericarpia and Suppedanea Juleps Apozems Purges Vomits Opiats c. as other Physicians use appointed in the Methods of his Cures And if we must believe those several Means to act their Part and nothing appointed but what was necessary and by Indication Who can tell now
then Because the vital spirit is extinct which plainly does shew that preternatural febrile Heat efficienter is seated in the Life And that peccant febrile matter non fervet ex se contains no such heat in it self but produceth excitativè by irritating the vital Heat spiritus impetum faciens beyond moderation and its natural temper Fourthly A wound received and pain arising thence begets a Fever though a great effusion of blood doth happen therewith Now letting out the sulphur if such there were with the blood was more likely to prevent a Fever than to cause it if that Doctrine were true but I find the contrary that pain continuing the Fever continues also Fifthly Persons that are heated by great labour violent exercise or heat of weather if they drink a glass of Sack or other spirituous hot liquor it reduceth them safely to good temper and prevents a Fever But if they drink much small Beer after such heats thinking to cool themselves sooner that cold liquor commonly makes them sick and raiseth a Fever thereby Now observe that Sack and not spirits are more likely to kindle Sulphurous inflamable matter and a Fever from thence as small Beer and cool liquors most likely to prevent Fevers by that Doctrine But the contrary hereof does prove that inflamed sulphur is not the material cause of Fevers but any other offending matter Sixthly Wet and cold taking are oftentimes the causes of sickness and a Fever But such causes are so far from kindling Sulphur that they are more likely to damp and extinguish Sulphur kindled if any such inflaming matter were in Human Bodies All which does plainly shew that Fevers have not their Rise or any dependance from sulphur kindled in the Heart and that Doctrine erroneous founded upon false Principles I must now make this observation not to follow an Author by the cry of the People nor the Vogue of the learned Party who commonly are catcht with a fine dress of good latine not suspecting or not discerning the substance and matter thereof Since my writing I lately met with another Piece de Febribus much differing from the former Author who derived all the causes of Fevers from Sulphur of the Blood this only and wholly from a venemous Ferment infesting the Animal Spirits Dr. Morton Puretologia This novel Doctrine coming in my way I cannot pass it by without regard but must inquire into the verity thereof The common received learning that asserts Humours and Qualities this Author rejects as fictitious and useless to set forth and explain the causes of Diseases and their Symptoms Hoping to give a better account thereof by this new Hypothesis For setting forth and explaining of which he premiseth postulata quaedam Pag. 6. some precarious concessions promising to prove them afterwards which are these following 1. Dari reverà Spiritus animales This Assertion of Animal Spirits was the common received Opinion in former Ages and does yet keep up as a Truth not to be questioned in the Judgment of most for that they perform such necescessary offices in the Body as without their help many Functions they think must cease And in giving an Account of many Diseases especially such as are attributed to the Brain and Nerves they can give no probable Reasons without alledging and accusing the Animal Spirits setting forth their exorbitant Motions or preternatural cessations their interruptions or impetuous Influx their sluggish dull and torpid Fixations And scarce any Passion is named but the Spirits are Actors and by them All that is done or should have been is imputed to the Spirits And Dr. Morton gives a greater Prerogative and ascribes more Power to Animal Spirits in the Government of the Body than others have primum Principium activum totius Machinae p. 6. and bottoms his new Hypothesis upon Animal Spirits quasi fermentum universale totius corporis p. 12. making them universal in the causes of Diseases and as generally necessary in a State of Health to perform all vital Actions If this be so 't is very fit we should all know and assent to it Notwithstanding it is so undoubtedly asserted I question whether there be any such distinct Beings in Human Nature as Animal Spirits or only the Fancies of Mens Invention And my Reason perswades me to deny their Existence First Because their Matter and Manner of Generation their Ways and Motions are so uncertainly and contradictorily set forth by disagreeing Judgments Secondly For that all human Actions internal and external may be performed without their help and a rational and full Account of all Diseases may be given without them Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine Necessitate I shall therefore divide Human Nature into these two grand Principles An Invisible Spirit And a visible organized Body with canals containing liquid alimentary Juices to feed and supply this wonderful Machine The first a Vital Active Regent Principle The latter altogether Passive and Instrumental under the Power and Domination of the former which is the Life More than these two comprehensive Principles I know none nor can admit of as necessary or useful in the composition or oeconomy of Human Nature No Subordinate nor Co-ordinate Agents such as Archeus Helmontii or Anima Sensitiva of the Antients Nor as Dr. Willis understands and holds the Animal Spirits to be the Sensitive Soul That Plastic or formative vital Principle termed Anima that delineated and fabricated the Body in the Womb does also govern and is the sole Efficient cause of vital Actions in the state of Health and also in Sickness Vnicus tantum est vitae Moderator nec plures From hence Vegetation Sensation and Loco-Motion without a Duplicity or Triplicity of Souls which elsewhere is set forth and proved Monarchia Microcosmi that I shall not repeat here True it is that the contained current liquors in the Body are various in colour consistence use and gradual Perfection Some elaborated as finer and more spirituous in the common Sence and Acceptation of artificial rectified Spirits Yet when all this is done by Defaecation and refining they are but liquors still of one continued cohaerent visible expanded Body and not separate Atomical Beings to act conjunctim aut divisim as divers Agents in combination or separation upon Occasions so requiring as the Notion of Animal Spirits does insinuate and are so alledged and taken in that Sence Now if what we have said be true and the Reasons cogent then Animal Spirits have no Residence nor Office in Human Nature and the Basis of that Author 's new Hypothesis is annihilated and all the derived Doctrine and depending Practice thereupon comes to nothing or to naught But in casting off so antique and beloved Opinion so frequently made use on to set forth the causes of many Diseases and that Book de Morbis universal acutis brings in Animal Spirits invenom'd almost into all Diseases as principal Causes That I may not be thought singular and absurd in denying the Existence of these
ignotum per atque ignotum We must proceed on for better Information atque vitae Principio seu Spiritibus animalibus inimicum Here the Life and animal Spirits are made one and the same or equal at least in vitality for so I must conclude First From the Particle seu connecting those words as Synonimous And likewise He useth seu equivalently and for that purpose in the front of the Definition Venenum seu Toxicum signifying the same Poyson by two words Secondly From the words immediately following Vnde facultas eorum expansiva penitus obruitur flamma vitalis necessario extinguitur The which do declare Febrile Venom to have Antipathy against animal Spirits as to the Principle of Life That the Stress of Poyson aims at and lies upon animal Spirits as upon the Life That the fatal stroak is given there and the ratio formalis of Dying represented by Contracting and Stifling the Expansion of animal Spirits which puts a Period to Vitality And that animal Spirits are the Biolicknium the Lamp of Life What more or greater can be said of Anima the plastic and the Regent Principle than now is attributed to animal Spirits This is Strange Philosophy to me such as I never knew before deeper than my Reason can fathom and above my Faith to believe That animal Spirits so much questioned and doubted whether they have any Being in Humane Nature though so unnecessary and improbable should now be exalted as Supream or made coequal at least in dispensing and managing vital Operations Credat qui volet Let animal Spirits be first proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 convincingly that there are such from the necessity of their use we may then more likely be induced to believe the new Hypothesis founded thereon SECT III. The Difference of Fevers And their Division into Classes AVthors concurring in common Doctrine have made this Difference and Division of Fevers à subjecto in quo calor febrilis insidet from their place of Residence in the Spirits Humors and solid Parts which makes this tripple Division of Fevers Ephemeral Humoral and Hectic Famosa Vulgatissima est Febris essentialis differentia qua Febris in Ephimeram Humoralem Hecticam dividitur quae tota à subjecto Febrium petitur Troph Serrier Pyretolog p. 13. Ephemeral Fever is an effervescence of the Spirits only and continues but a day or two Humoral is the esservescence of putrid humors and continues a longer time Hectic is a preternatural Heat in the Solid parts and is most durable and fixed All these Fevers must take their rise in the Heart by the common definition that 's the Center and Seat thereof You have brought all Fevers into a little compass the Heart where we may soon find them if they were there to be found And if all this were true what advantage and what use can we make of it What cunning ways will you invent to make your Practice answer this Doctrine and how will you make this Doctrine serviceable in Practice This Celebrious Division is essential general and comprehensive But quid inde boni what shall we learn thereby If you come to a Patient whose Fever is beginning and the Fever is one of these three Sorts comprised in the general Division you have no help by this Doctrine if it were true no information to determine what or prosecute with what You cannot ask the Patient how are the Spirits of your Heart How the Humors And how the Flesh but you must look off the Heart and cast about somewhere else inquiring here and there How is your Stomach have you good Appetite and digest well are you Costive how is your Head do you urine freely have you pain any where and so forth After all these and such like necessary Questions 't is very probable you may find out the place where the Fever is bred and what is the Cause thereof If so as true it is what then have we to do with the Heart but only to examine by the Pulse how affected or afflicted in the case what consent from thence or condolence what vital Signals by that Pulsation not what Sort of Fever Now after all the subtle and nice distinction of Ephemeral Humoral and Hectic we must examine most Parts of the Body the principle at least to find out the Rise and Seat of the Fever and then it will appear to be not in Corde primò accensa as you say but in Corde per consensum and that some other Part is the original cause of the Fever where the Cure is to be directed If there must be a place or places in the Body assigned for Fevers as the Rise and Seat thereof And since they are all Symptomatical and dependant upon various Diseases in divers Parts of the Body as their causes occasional Sedes Morbi est Sedes Febris then where the Disease is there is the Seat of Fevers So that the difference of Fevers from thence will not be triplex according to this antique approved Division but multiplex I wish you good Success with your Doctrine of Fevers but I should be loth to be a Patient under it least the first tryal of your Skill upon me should be the last Scene of my Life There is another received distinction of Fevers into Essential and Symptomatical And this I must take notice of because it byasseth Practisers from the right Notion of Fevers and causeth errour in the designs of Curing For this Distinction may well be set aside when as there is no Fever essential therefore no Disease but all are Symptomatical arising from and dependant upon some Disease morbific Miasm or Seminary and a Symptom thereof And this appears from the Definition of Fevers Febris est calor preter naturam preternatural Heat being the genus comprising all Fevers under it And this Heat by your Doctrine a Symptomatical Quality only The distinction then of Essential and Symptomatical Fevers is void unless you will hold a contradiction in your own learning But why some Essential others Symptomatical Riverius gives this account essentiales dicuntur quando putredo in venis communibus extra partes privatas accenditur Symptomaticae verò quando in parte peculiari inflammata putredo aut suppuratio fit a qua ob vasorum communionem vapor putridus cordi continuo communicari potest lib. de febr p. 373. They that will take this for good Reason may be so satisfied and probably they may not see the Definition of Fever therein contradicted Calor in Corde accensus ex eo and the Doctrine discordant in it self Another Distinction of Fevers there is which divides them into Continual and Intermitting This difference is apparent to vulgar understandings but the manner how the matter what the place where generated causes occasioning and promoting These are not so well known which hath produced diversity of opinions among the learned and these I shall take notice of in their due places Continual Fevers are distinguished into
dictated injurious Methods and Medicines deceiving many Practisers with the Ruine of many Patients The appearance of a Fever hath so long detained them unnecessarily and perniciously in applying to damp and extinguish the febrile vital Heat thereby suppressing the fortitude of Nature and giving Time to the morbifie Cause for prevailing Having gained little satisfaction in the doctrinal Part of Fevers we will now pass on to the next Stage the Curative Practice We shall then see whether Curing comes by Chance and sometimes only or is the Effect of certain true Design and right adapted Means as the most frequent Event SECT VII The Operations and Effects of Cortex Peruvianus the Jesuits Powder BEfore I give my Sentiment of this famed Remedy so much used against Fevers I shall first recite the Opinions of some Authors thereupon And then comparing Judgments with the matters of Fact you may easily know who comes nearest the Truth in determining the virtue or Vitiosity of this Medicine Dr. Willis in his Book de Febribus put forth in the Year 1660 makes mention of this Cortex which he had often used and was then reputed a certain Febrifuge But he does not say it was a Remedy adapt to his Doctrine of Fevers but only an empyrical Medicine and pretends not to know the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why and how this should Cure Fevers p. 154. And in another Place he saith That sometimes it did prevent the next Fit to come but if not then the second or third Fit was thereby prevented and the Fever Cured Yet this Cure lasted for a while only for within twenty or thirty Days saepissime redire solet most often it returned again P. 152. Then the Pouder was to be given again and that would make another Cessation And after this manner saith He I have known many afflicted with a quartan a whole Autumn and the Winter following to be thus handled The Fever kept off for a Time and returning again until the Spring came Then by the Help of Physick and the Change of the Season the ill Disposition of Blood was altered and the Fever by Degrees vanished P. 152. What great Cause is here to boast of and proclaim the Jesuits Powder for an excellent Febrifuge many of the common Medicines have done as much And in the Page following He adviseth this Medicine to be given urgente Necessitate When the Patient is worn down by continuance of Fits this Febrifuge makes a Ceslation for a Time that Strength may be recovered to be able to contend with the Disease And if you would have a long Truce you must take larger quantities of the Powder by that means you will be longer free from your Ague P. 153. Thus he commends it for a Palliative only not a compleat Curative Medicine This Physician of great Name and a vast Practice had more opportunities to try the worth of this Bark than any Man in the Kingdom And by his writings you may see that he had made various Tryals thereof whose Judgment in the use of it and the Verity in matters of Fact I do depend upon And therefore shall esteem of it no more than what He saith of it Dubitandum non est quin alia in rerum natura extent Medicamina quae sunt aeque febrifuga P. 156. For my Part I never had such an Opinion of it as to put me upon many Experiments in the use of it Because I had another Medicine which proved more certain in Stopping any Quotidian Tertian or Quartan Ague and also for removing the Morbific Matter out of the Body to prevent any Return And without such Security the Patient is not safe and in a hopeful condition Dr. Morton in his Pyretologia is of another mind and extols this Pouder above all things efficaciae mirabilis sanè ac Stupendae p. 242. and as a universal Remedy appoints it in Fevers and most Diseases This being chosen as adapt to support the new Hypothesis of animal Spirits male affected in all cases by venom in the most requiring Alexipharmacals And this Aetiology of Diseases against the antient Doctrine of Humors he espouseth and labours to maintain by proving the methods of Curing to be governed hereby and the Jesuits Pouder as the chiefest Remedy I am not so much a Humorist as to assert the quaternary of the Galenists deriving all Diseases from thence distinguishing them thereby and adapting peculiar Medicines thereto But in all Diseases as the Cause or the Product there is degenerate Matter so various in divers Persons as not to be reduced to four Heads and we may rationally judge the depravedness thereof by the symptoms arising from thence more or less dangerous as the Faculties are disordered or hurt and Curing results from bridling and discharging such offensive Matter To discourse this farther would draw us more out of the way of our present Purpose therefore I wave it and return to the Peruvian Bark To have a true aestimate of this Remedy we must examine it by the manifest Qualities it is endowed with By the manner of its Operation And from the Effects or Success that usually attends it These are the only ways to discover the genuine Nature and Virtues of this Cortex Herein I shall not be guided or byassed by the Accusations and Invectives of some foreign Writers Men of Note against this Cortex I shall wave their Arguments and the Faults they object that I may not be accounted an Enemy to this Medicine by joyning with the great opposers of it tho' I cannot say I am so much a Friend as to promote and incourage the use of it But I ground my Judgment of this Remedy from those that are the great Applauders of it who give all the Advantages they can in setting it forth by Argument and Fact From their Expressions and Confessions I shall raise some Doubts and make some Exceptions against the validity and worth of this famous Febrifuge The manifest Qualities attributed to it and declared are these Hot and Dry Bitter and Stiptic or restrictive But these do not perform the great work of a Counter-Poyson That is effected by an occult Quality they say And I will grant your occult Quality wherein you place the Efficacy of this Antidote But with this proviso that you make it out clearly and prove it by the Effects For if you cannot make it appear à pricri in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you must make it manifest in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 else we must believe against all Reason and Sense The Hypothesis occult as not fairly proved and the Remedy occult in its chief reputed virtue I wish the good effects and success may not be occult also or only to found inter rar◠Comingentia The three foremost Qualities named I like well and the fourth I do not dislike in some Cases But when Nature is upon the Expulsion and makes an Effort to send off the Morbific Matter by Vomit or Stool Then the Astriction
by the way The same Author appoints the Peruvian Bark to be reduced in alcool into the most minute or finest Pouder quo facilius per habitum corporis trajiciatur p. 179. that it may the more readily pass through the habit of the Body But if I were to use this Pouder I should chuse rather to have it grosly beaten that the vertue may be extracted only and conveyed where and how nature pleaseth But the Substance more fitly to be carried downwards to be voided with Excrement For I cannot think it safe that so much Pouder of a ligneous indissoluble Substance should commix with the Blood and be imported into the smaller vessels but by incrassating that stream it must cause obstructions of very ill consequence tho' the Pouder be genuine und true But since it is so much adulterated and abused as this Author tells us and the Dose therefore to be augmented double or treble I cannot think otherwise but it must then make ill work in the Body and that there will be need of another Antidote or a Course of Physick against the mischief of this famous Febrifuge And this medicine making no manifest Operation we may fear that both the Dregs of the Disease and the Dregs of the Medicine do remain in the Body Therefore I am apt to believe it was not for nothing or no cause that Vopiscus Plempius a learned Physician of Note did charge this American Bark and condemn'd it as guilty of many misdemeanors and Homicide His words are these Plures tertio vel quarto reciderunt plurique cachectici facti nonnulli mortui Item Magnates hujus Aulae nominare possem qui ab usu Pulveris extenuati sunt ad Phthisin pracipites facti in usu longo lactis Asinini restituti fuissent I do not think it necessary that this Pouder or any Medicine of that substance should be conveyed Materialiter into every Part of the Body to discharge its virtue Nature does not operate after that manner with Medicinal Help is not bound to transport by Canals for her Relief but transmits virtualiter and influentially penetrating tatam Partium Compaginem Diaphoretics operate after the same manner Nor do I think it necessary or convenient the best and richest Cordial Pouder should be introduced into the Habit of the Body But let that pass The Jesuits Pouder was cried up and promoted in Italy by Sebastian Badus a Physician of Genoa And there were others that as much decried it as not being steddy and constant in good effects or doing no Hurt but oftentimes as being the cause of much ill and thereby went under an ill Name Which Party we are to credit in this matter I leave every one to Judge This we well know that the Duke of Savoy by several Accounts received about two years since was in a valetudinary State for a long Time caused by an Ague which for many Months continued in going and coming again Very probably this Febrifuge was the chiefest Remedy which put by the Fits for a Time But the minera Morbi the morbific cause not being discharged and sent forth the Fits returned again several Times But Supposing his Physicians did not advise the use of this Medicine or did not continue the use of it we may conclude it was under some disgrace or not in such Repute there as formerly But let us go on The Pouder is appointed to be taken in the Intermissions of Ague Fits every fourth Hour And when there is such a Cessation of the intermitting Fever or Ague as seemingly Cured yet that is no security but you must Continue the use of the Pouder thrice a Day for three Weeks or a Month intervallo octo vel decem Dierum as our Author appoints P. 132. I find hereby that this famous Bark makes but an uncertain and a tedious Cure for when it will be perfected who can tell Our Author gives us the Reason thereof in another Place P. 76 and 77. to this purpose That the febrile venom hath a fixed and determined Time of Duration either for weeks months and sometimes years That although it be subdued and seemingly cured for a Time yet it will revive again until the venemous fomes metam suam ultimam attigerit hath run its Course and spent it self P. 76 and 77. If it be so how does the virtue and great Power of the Antidote appear This is small Hopes for the Patient and little Incouragement to use Means since there is such a determinate Time of Cure and before which it cannot be But to make us Amends for this great Impediment And to keep up the Reputation of the Febrifuge He saith We may be glad that we have such a Remedy as can relieve Nature oppressed and worn down when we please by this Febrifuge and prevent the fatal event P. 77 78. So that we are hereby secured from Death but when we may be rid from the Fever or Ague that 's uncertain tho' we use this great Antidote famed so potent against the febrile venom If this be all that can be expected from this Pouder then I shall not trust to the occult Quality of this Medicine and which makes only an occult Operation in the Patient least the good effects prove occult also But I am for a Medicine that works manifestly and therein more probably to effect a cure more certainly by Operations that we know how and which way a Disease goes off And such is the Catholic Extract that makes a manifest Operation but very gentle which is much more pleasant and easie to take than the Peruvian Bark And we have more Reason to hope and expect the desired effects from this Catholic Purifier because it carries off and frees the Body from offensive depraved impure Matter the minera morborum termed venom by this Author thereby it does perform a radical Cure of Agues not a fallacious Cessation and we shall not fear a Relaps or Return And so much I dare promise upon a Forfeit By such certainty properly and only we may call Curing This Catholic Extract being of my own Elaboration perfected by divers Alterations and gradual Improvements I can presume upon from many Proofs to do more and better service in Fevers therefore in various Diseases whereon they depend than any single Medicine that I can know of Extant in the World And I have examined the best Authors and Pharmacopoeia's for that Purpose As for Prescripts the sudden Inventions pro re nata and suddenly to be made at the Shops I do not inquire for any extraordinary piece of Art in that way nor in Reason can we expect it there I shall not here Discourse the Latitude and Comprehension of this Medicine The excelling Properties in Operation and Performance its Commodiousness for use Durability and Portage for emergent occasions abroad For my own Part and particular private use I had rather be destitute of all other Medicines than to want this For I am more beholden to this
But bleeding debilitates and exhausts the strength which should contend with the Disease how can you then expect a good Crisis when Nature is enfeebled and checkt in her encounters for by the Strength of Nature the Crisis is procured sooner or latter as she is strong or weak Natura Corroborata est Morborum Medicatrix If this Truth were rightly considered in the Practice of Physick there would not be such frequent recourse to enervating Phlebotomy To incourage and countenance Bleeding as a laudable Remedy and to captivate the Understandings of People They endeavour to prove the good effects thereof by ocular Demonstration exhibiting to the view of the Sick and by Standers the Pravity of the Blood taken away as appearing variously discoloured and different in consistence if compared with others The Blood after it hath stood some time thus presenting to the Eye so depraved they straitway undoubtingly conclude it was discreetly and happily taken away for the Patient 's good Thinking hereby so much matter of the Disease is abated and let out And since they find the Blood thus faulty they charge all the mischief or mostly to lye in the vitiousity of the Blood Quid planius This incourageth to proceed on in the same way and to repeat this Operation to draw out some more of the morbific Matter as the most ready way to free the Patient from the Complaints But all this while they are not aware of the Errours they are under in this Prosecution For they do not consider the different State of the Blood under the Power and Protection of the Life in its proper native Place the Veins and Arteries and how apt it is to change and variously to degenerate when extravasated and exposed to the Air The Blood is not the same now 't is exhibited to the View as it was in the Vessels of conservation The Life was in the Blood before but now in the Porringer it is dead Blood Between the Dead and the Living there must needs be great disparity so that the Judgment passed upon the dead Blood does not affect or represent the live Blood for it is not what it was Tho' it is now ill coloured coagulate or in a state of separation and abounding with Serosity Before it was more ruby florid Balsamic and more intire when running in the Veins and Arteries which have a conservative Power I do not deny the Blood of several Persons to differ in Purity and Goodness and the difference thereof in the same Persons as they are in a good or bad state of Health But I do not approve of the severe rash Judgment pronounced upon the Blood extramitted from the dead Aspect thereof concluding from thence it was fit for no other use but to be thrown away and better to be out than in the Body True it is there are some Diseases that the Blood is much in fault as the Cause of such Maladies yet notwithstanding that is not a sufficient Cause to let it out since there are efficacious purifying Remedies to reduce the Blood into a better Condition and not prodigally to waste that vital Stream so necessarily useful and serviceable to the whole Body For the Mass of Blood is not depraved and amended by Phlebotomy let out as much as you will equal Parts of good and bad will remain behind from this promiscuous evacuation Besides A degenerate bad Blood does arise mostly from the insufficiency and depravedness of the previous alimental Juice of which Blood is made And then the fault to be remedied is not in the Blood or office of sanguification but in the preparatory offices and those Parts defective upon which Bleeding hath no Influence nor possibility to rectify And as for Fevers which arise more oft from other Causes than from the Blood there is no Pretence for Bleeding in such Cases if you will be governed by Indications and not go on blindfold Nidus Febrium in primis est officinis extenditur scilicet à Pyloro per Duodenum vasa ibidem multiplicia Intestina item Venas Mesenterii Lienem usque ad Hepar Helm de Febr. According to this great Author the Seat of Fevers both Continual and Intermitting is not in the Veins or Arteries but in the first Region of the Body from whence they take their Rise Then what signifies Bleeding in such cases but to add more mischief Their Cures are performed by Abstersives and Depuratives to cleanse where such morbific matter is bred And those are the true Antifebrific Remedies And not only such but they are also universal Medicines required as necessary in all other Cures I do allow of Bleeding upon some suddain great Inflammation that threatens the Life and when efficacious discussing Means are wanted to prevent Apostomation But otherwise if it come o◠gradually and slowly giving warning and good Medicine ready for use at Hand then bleeding is not required and better to forbear the Lancet Some are so bold at Bleeding that they forbear not in the highest Malignant Fevers Small Pox c. But if the Sick recover 't is wonderful Providence that saves them but more oft Death is procured thereby In the expectance of the Small Pox they will Bleed under Pretence of abating the corrupt Matter that breaks forth thinking thereby the Patient may not be so much disfigured with Pustles and may be a Help to preserve the Face from Deformity which before was beautiful The end proposed was good but the Medium they go by is very dangerous and unlikely to succeed well For saving a Face to hazard the Life is no good designing They begin at the wrong end of such malignant Distempers for by Bleeding they aim at and apply only to the Effects the producted Matter and neglect the producing Cause the Venemous Miasm or fermenting Leven that corrupts the whole Mass of Blood To prevent Impurity and Corruption of the Blood is much better than to lessen and abate the Quantity of the Blood after it is corrupted The main design in such cases is first how to expel the putrefying venom before it spreads and taints the whole at least so to fortify Nature that she may be able to Master it and defend her self The Indications for Cure are these to assist and strengthen the Life that she may be able to resist the Venom And to Mortifie the malign Ferment by proper Alexipharmacals thereby to preserve the vital streams from mortal Putrefaction or Coagulation But bleeding is quite contrary to this Method and Intentions for Cure and is the ready way for killing That which makes a promiscuous evacuation of good and bad together is no true Remedy for Curing Phlebotomy does not distinguish the better Part of the Blood from the worse but le ts both out together the remainder in the Vessels is not amended thereby but equal Proportions continue behind of good and bad Therefore abating the Quantity of naughty Blood in any case by bleeding is an indirect way to amend it and
this blistering Plaster shall make the same ichorous Water issue from the sound and healthful as from the sick feverish Person So that I am well satisfied this Water thus extracted was not morbific pre-existing but factitious Matter transmuted by the external Medicine and so vented by blistering Medicines are to aim and level at Diseases where they are seated and to discharge their Power there as well and truly designed If so then these Vesicatories must draw away the febrile Matter from the Heart sedes Morbi according to their Definition of Fever But if those corrosive Plasters shall send their virulent virtue to the Heart the Patient then must be very Heart-sick with that Operation And grant it should extend thither quod non est supponendum How shall the peccant Matter find the way out from the Center to the Circumference this being an obscure impassable way at least not to be found unless by the extraordinary secret conduct of Nature who as I said before is not pleased nor complying with this irksom blistering Invention Invitâ Naturâ irrita sunt omnia Ax. Wherefore no good can be expected from them in Curing Fevers In Sickness when Nature does protrude and send forth any ill Matter to the extern Parts appearing upon the Skin it is a good sign she will be victorious having dislodged Morbific Matter from within and safely brought it to the confines of the Body as in the eruption of the Small-Pox And also when Nature does shew any tendency that way by breathing Sweat it behoves the Physician to promote and help forward with wholesom internal Medicine for that Purpose But if you think by blistering to prompt or put Nature upon expulsion that way you rather distract and disturb her good Inclination than put forward that beneficial Operation for the Reasons aforesaid 'T is a great Errour so formally and constantly to appoint Vesicatories as necessary to compleat the Methods for Curing Fevers As if Nature had not sufficiently provided other ways to discharge Morbific Matter and this were the principal way invented and not to be neglected When a Person is Sick oppressed at the Stomach a Fever commonly ariseth from such complaints And this sort of Sickness from Fulness or Foulness is most frequent What have you to do with blistering in such Cases Can you draw this oppressing undigested or depraved Matter out of the Stomach by Vesicatories Or if they had such a power of Attraction as to bring it forth to the Skin is it not very unfit and unreasonable to draw such foul Matter and often very gross Matter directly through the Habit of the Body and leaving Dregs in the Passage when other patent ways are ready to transmit it upwards or downwards by Natures Design and Appointment To avoid this Censure in part perhaps they will say we intend to carry off the vitious Matter by Purging or Vomiting the Vesicatories are to draw out the Fever and keep that under I don 't like your Policy for this erroneous Practice of blistering is but blustering in the dark and proceeds from gross Ignorance having a false Notion of Fever what febrile Heat is and from whence it does arise Take away the Morbific Matter by unloading the Stomach set that right by cleansing and roborating with good internal Medicine and then the whole work is done that you need not trouble your self or the Patient about the Fever that abates and goes away of course as you discharge the Stomach from the offending Cause So likewise a Fit of the Colic or Stone raiseth a Fever and this Fever not to be regarded But proper Medicines to be used only respecting the Stone or Colic An hundred other Diseases and Cases we might name wherewith Fevers are attended but not to be considered otherwise than as signal shewing that the Life is disturb'd and incensed by some Morbific Matter or Cause in this or that part of the Body Find that Cause out what and where the offending Matter is and prosecute there only with good Means The Fever needs no other Cure than the Cure of that Disease which caused the Life to be unquiet to aestuate and grow hot Upon the Appearance of a Fever Physicians are much and over much concern'd straightway fall on upon the Fever with bleeding blistering and Juleps to suppress and keep that under to secure that Bugbear in the first place as chiefly threatning the Life of the Patient The Sick and their Relations being very apprehensive of the Danger how many have died by Fevers as commonly but falsly said resign up freely to the Doctor 's great Skill and Care herein submitting to the Risk of all the male Practice in bleeding blistering c. the ready way to Destruction After this manner slight and trivial Sickness becomes long and sometimes hazardous Sickness many times mortal And I do account it a special Providence that delivers out of such perilous Practice In Sickness we are always to observe the Inclination and Tendency of Nature which way she thinks best and most expeditely to discharge Morbific Matter according to the Precept of Hippocrates Quò Natura vergit conducere oportet And that is sometimes by the Intestines by Vrine by Expectoration by eruption of Blood at the Nose per Vterum and by the Skin Not to thwart and cross her endeavours except she be forced into a wrong course by stimulating Matter and thereby becomes apparently extravagant therein As when a Symptomatical Flux per Alvum is extream then to mitigate and allay it by good internal Means but not by Vesicatories to attract injuriously a contrary way If the cause of Fever be in primis viis in the first Region of the Body as most frequently it is then 't is great Imprudence to attempt drawing outwards by Vesicatories when other Ways and convenient Ductures are open to transmit it When Nature inclines and shews a disposition to free her self by the Guts 't is very injurious to divert her Intentions by attracting outwards and endeavouring to vent by the Skin drawing a contrary way Si Materia turgeat says Hippocrates If the Morbific Matter ferments and swells for vent let it go that way most expedite and inclinable thereto by Stool by Vrine bleeding at the Nose c. Sometimes Nature hath a Tendency and is prompt for evacuation by the Skin which is advantageous and to be promoted by good Means But I do not account blistering in the Number of good Means to promote that Operation except some Matter be collectied in a particular Place under the Skin and wants some Help to bring it forth Then a Vesicatory applied or Cupping is rational and good But when Nature makes a critical effort by the Skin generally per Diaphoresin breathes out effâ—uviums on every side Then Vesicatories are useless and not only so but hurtful by troubling that Operation To apply Vesicatories in the beginning of Fevers is to compel Nature to discharge that way which perhaps she hath no Intention
to do and no occasion for it but rather another way But if there be an Inclination and good occasion to operate that way it is more safe and better to assist and promote with internal Means that certainly roborates and expels à Centro undique every way outwards to the extream Parts Much rather than trust to dubious attracting external Means in puncto circumferentiae upon a narrow Spot that gives no Ability to send forth but painfully and doggedly coerceth nolens volens and that 's the best of it if attractive power be granted 'T is agreed by all that Medicines are to level at Diseases where they are seated And if so then these Vesicatoriâ— must draw away the febrilâ— Matter from the Heart according to the in deâ—iâ—iction of Feven But if the corrosive Plasters shall send their 〈◊〉 attractives Vertue to the Hearâ— the Patient then must be very Heart sick 〈…〉 Operation And if granted this topical Medicine does extend its power thither how shall the peccant Matter find the way out from the Center to the Circumference Being an obscure impassable way not to be found without the extraordinary secret conduct of Nature who as I said before is not pleased nor complying with this blistering Invention Invita Naturâ irrita sunt omnia Some Years since being called to two Children sick as commonly said of a Fever with whom the Apothecaries were concern'd as Practisers or Vndertakers And being informed of their Intentions to apply Vesicatory Plasters I cautioned the Relations not to suffer it But when I was gone they were over-perswaded by the Apothecaries and blistering Plasters were applied with great Diligence until both the Patients were dead Some time after meeting with the Relations who related to me what was done I blamed them for not following my Advice who answered that the Apothecary said it was the Practice of the great Doctors of the Town therefore it might safely be done From thence I might remark at large upon Apothecaries Practice in Imitation of their Doctors and the shameful Prestitution of this Art But upon this Subject something hath been said elsewhere therefore I pass it over And although Blistering and Juleping be the modish Practice of the Town yet being instituted upon false Notions of Fever and apparently injurious I shall not follow that Fashion SECT XII Of Juleps and Coolers in Fevers FAlse Notion of a Disease begets an erroneous Practice both in Method and Medicines Fever not being rightly understood judging it to be what it is not the Prosecution against it is ineffectual and not only so but also injurious and hazardous to the Patient Fever supposed to be the Disease not known but by its Name and is only a general Symptom of all fierce Distempers and dolorous Diseases being apparent to the standers by and confirm'd by Sentence of the Physician takes up most of their Thoughts in designing how to Master and Secure this common Enemy that stands foremost in view And as their Eyes are most and chiefly upon the Fever so their Fears are from thence and their Endeavours are bent to abate and suppress the febrile Heat at the first Appearance thereof But when this preternatural Aestuation is raised to a Degree all Helps are then thought of to damp and extingush this kindling Flame as great and threatning Danger from thence which byasseth the Physician from his right Aim at the morbific Cause of all this Disturbance From hence ariseth all the Inventions of Cooling so frequently used in Fevers Juleps Emulsions Ptisans cooling Apozems Embrocations c. which make a great clutter of Gallipots and Glasses about the Sick and nothing more advantagious to Physician and Apothecany than trifling away the Time with such insignificant and ineffectual Medicines But loss of Time and unnecessary Charge is not all the Prejudice For if we consider the Rise and State of those Diseases which raiseth Fevers and whereon Fevers do depend we cannot but be sensible of the Injury and oftentimes great Hazards by Juleping and other cooling Practice There are two Causes generally and principally assigned for the Production and Continuance of Diseases viz. depraved noxious Humors and Obstructions And to these Causes Physicians do always aim at in Curing tho' the Diseases be distinguished by various Names Then the stress of Curing lyes here only for opening Obstructions and cleansing away all foul degenerate Matter The design for Cure therefore in all Cases when a Fever appears is to find out where and what the Matter is that disquiets and provokes the Life to be hot and exceed its natural Temper And to such Causes the Physician should bend his Endeavours and the Medicines to level against the Disturbers of the Life Not regarding febrile Heat otherwise than as signal and which requires no means directed thither but to the Disease only that causeth the Life to aestuate What Advantage can you expect from Juleps or other Coolers in any Case of a Fever Since they Cure no Disease nor do they seem as likely means Will a Julep Cure the Gout Stone Pleurisy Colic Spleen c. any other Disease upon which Fevers do depend And if not then vain are the use of these Cooling Inventions and frustraneous But the doing of no good that 's not all the loss by Juleps for they do much mischief As when the vital Spirit the Life heats and strives to expel morbific Causes thereby shewing the endeavours and vigour of vital strength Juleps may then damp this vital Heat and disable Nature but they remove no peccant Matter They check and oppress the Stomach that is too flat and dull in Fevers and requires then something to whet and sharpen the Ferment thereof But instead of such an assisting Remedy they ply the Sick with injurious Coolers that act against the Fortitude and Endeavours of Nature and giving no Satisfaction to the languishing Patient desirous of other Drink How many thirsty Sick Persons have long'd and earnestly beg'd for a Draught of Beer But was denied to them because the Doctors forbad it and appointed Julep Barley water and such Stuff After this manner Thousands or I may say Millions have been kill'd by the Ignorance of their Undertakers for Curing The faint sick Man cannot eat and his Physician will not let him Drink what he likes and is most likely to do him good We may rationally judge that Sick People cannot live long under such Circumstances But this is not all the mischief yet For the Hazards of this Juleping and Cooling Practice will further appear if we consider the Frequency Latency and Danger of this Series and Transition of Pains to Inflammations Tumors Apostems Vlcers Gangrens and Mortifications internal The common Stages and Progress of mortal Sickness but disguised and couched under some other Disease more apparent or more known by some Vulgar Name This latent dangerous Train more frequently lurking than discovered not suspecting or sought for hath brought more to the Grave than any commutation or