Flowers of Tamarisk also shavings of Harts-horn or of Ivory which sweeten the Liquour and preserve it from turning four viz. in as much as the Particles of the fluid Salt which abound in the Cider and are apt to make it sharp are taken up in dissolving the foresaid Ingredients Temperate Physick Drinks may be prescrib'd after this manner viz. let a small Ale be prepar'd to fill a Vessel of five or six Gallons into which instead of Hops let tops of the Pine-tree of Firr or Tamarisk or the Raspings of either of their Woods be put them after it has wrought let the Roots of sharp pointed Dock dryed be put into the Vessel than which certainly there is no Remedy more excellent in the Scurvy To these sometimes let the Leaves of Brook-limes Water-cresses Winter-cresses c. be added Also Pomecitrons or Oranges cut in slices Leaves of Harts-tongue put into a little Vessel of midling Ale after it has wrought gives it a grateful savour and odour CHAP. IV. Of the Curatory Indication of the Scurvy whereby we obviate the Disease it self and the Symptoms that are most pressing HItherto we have shewn concerning the Cure of the Scurvy what regards the Preservatory Indication to wit the removal of the Morbifick Cause viz. both the intentions of Curing and the Remedies indicated Which kind of method being seasonably begun and duly prosecuted often does the whole work viz. in as much as the Cause of the Disease or the Root of it being cut off the affects depending of it dye of their own accord Nevertheless we must not go on with this course of Physick always directly but turning aside several ways For sometimes severe Accidents and Symptoms happen which require a peculiar and as it were extraordinary Physical help to which we must Immediately attend and often interrupting the general Cure Concerning these we must observe that as affects which happen upon the Scurvy require Appropriated Remedies according to the Nature of each of them and to the disposition of the Patient yet Antiscorbuticks ought always to be mixt with them I will not be needful to order a Method of Cure against all diseases and affects with which the Scurvy is wont to be attended for so the whole Practice of Pyhsick would be here transcrib'd but we shall have regard only to the Symptoms that are chiefly pressing by which either the life of the Patient is endanger'd or the principal Cure Obstructed after what manner and by what Medicines such are Cur'd I shall now shew Of Curing a difficult Breathing and Asthmatick Fits A Difficult Breathing with a straitness of the Brest and Asthmatick Fits ought presently to be removed by appropriated Remedies to be prescrib'd besides the general Method for other wise the diseased is soon brought in danger of life Since these sorts of evils arise in Scorbutical persons for the most part either through the fault of the Blood stagnating in the Heart or by reason of the Nerves of the Lungs being hindred in their Function therefore they are Gur'd either by Cordial or Anticonvulsive Medicines Spirit of Harts-horn of Soot of Blood of Mans Scull also the Tincture of Castoreum of Antimony or of Sulphur Flowers of Sal Armoniack Flowers of Benzoin also Elixir Proprietatis are often of excellent use in these Cases which kind of Medicines may be frequently given with a Dose of some Antiscorbutick Liquors appropriated also against the foresaid afects For the appeasing of a sudden difficulty of Breathing which is meerly Convulsive if at any time it very sorely presses I have found no more present remedy then our Tincture of Laudanum with Opium given to ten or twelve drops in a convenient Liquour For Sleep Stealing on the Spirits remit of their disorders and in the mean while being refresh't they resume afterwards their accustom'd offices after a due manner Take Roots of the great Bur Dock of Butter-Burr and Chervil of each an Ounce Leaves of Maiden-hair and Germander of each a handful Seeds of the Great Bur Dock of Bastard Saffron of each three Drams Raisins two Ounces being slic't and bruis'd let them Boyl in three pounds of Fountain water till the third part be Consum'd add of White-wine four Ounces strain it into a Flagon into which put leaves of Scurvy-grass slic't a handful Roots of Elecampane preserv'd and small slic't half an Ounce make a close and warm Infusion for three hours the Dose is six Ounces twice or thrice a day Of Affects of the Stomach which are wont to happen in the Scurvy SCorbutical persons are wont sometimes to be troubled with a great Oppletion and Pain of the Stomach also with a Nauseousness and Belching and sometimes also with a frequent and violent Vomiting which kind of distempers sometimes arise from the Chyle there degenerated into a Mass of Corruption but oftner from the Morbifick Matter brought thither either by the conveyance of the Blood or also of the nervous Juice and either depos'd within the Cavity of the Stomach or fixt in the Plexus's of the Nerves and in the Membranes In these kinds of Cases if a Viscous Stinking or otherwise Offensive Matter be cast up by Vomit and there be a suspicion that the cause lyes within the Cavity of the Stomach its proper to give a gentle Vomit of Wine of Squills or of Salt of Vitriol Or let the offending Humours be Purg'd off by Stool either by Extract of Rhubarb or by its infusion with the addition of Salt or Cream of Tartar But if the Matter sticks deeply within the Membranes or the Plexus's of the Nerves Diaphoreticks or things that moderate the effervescencies of the Salts do better Let Elixir Proprietatis or Flowers of Sal Armoniack or Spirit of Soot be frequently taken with Raddish Water Compound water of Earthworms or some other Antiscorbutick Liquour Mean while once or twice a day let Fomentations of Wormwood Centory Flowers of Cammomil Roots of Gentian and other things Boyl'd in White-wine be applyed to the Region of the Stomach with Wollen Cloths dip't into it warm and wrung forth The use of Glysters is proper and Opiats often give great help Of the Belly Ach and the Scorbutick Collick SCarce any affect requires a more speedy Physical help than the Colick and gripes in the Belly which frequently happen in the Scurvy Against these evils Glysters of various kinds Fomentations Liniments and Cataplasms are administred The use of Opiates is found to be very necessary here Certainly in this Case that Praescript of Riverius chiefly has place viz. that Purging Pills be given with Landanum mixt with them for a plentiful Evacuation by seige and Sleep being caus'd the Fit often is taken away Moreover Powders of Shells by which the sharp Salts are Imbib'd or fixt conduce very much to the removal of the Morbifick cause for example Take Crabs Eyes and Egge Shells of each a Dram and a half Pearl a Dram make a Powder divide it into twelve Doses whereof let one be taken
Medicines it either terminates immediately in Death or is chang'd into some other Disease viz. a Palsy Stupidity or Melancholy for the most part incurable Concerning the Cure of the Falling-sickness the Indications as vulgarly set forth are either Curatory having regard to the Fit and either keep it off as it is coming or soon force it off when it has seiz'd Or they are Prophylactick and regard the cause of the Disease which if they remove its accesses will be kept off for the future As to the first intention general Evacuatives have scarce place nor ought a Vomit or Purge and very seldom Bleeding to be us'd in a Fit if the person continues depriv'd of Sense a long time Clysters are sometimes wont to be administred but the chief thing to be done is to fix the Animal Spirits which are too Exorbitant and Volatile and to suppress their beginning Explosions For which ends two kinds of Remedies chiefly conduce viz. First Such as repress the Animal Spirits apt to rise to an Exorbitancy and to shoot and repel them by a certain Fumigation as it were ungrateful to them and force them into their due course Which Medicines endow'd with a Volatile and Armoniack Salt or also with a Vitriolick Sulphur will effect Of which kind are Salt and Oyl of Amber Spirit of Blood of Harts-horn of Soot Tincture of Castoreum and the like For these being inwardly taken or held to the Nostrils often give relief nay and are thought to drive away the evil Spirits of this Disease even as in Tobit the Fume of the Gall of a Fish burnt did the Devil Secondly the Animal Spirits are diverted or hindred from entring upon Explosions when they are allur'd to and kept imploy'd in some work that is usual to them wherefore in the Fit Frictions us'd over the whole Body and continued for some time often do good But as to raising up persons seiz'd and wholly restraining the Arms and Leggs from the Convulsive motion or binding them in this or that Posture as some people use to do and so as to blowing Sneezing-powder into their Nostrils and pouring strong Cordials into their Mouths or applying Cupping-glasses and Scarifications and dealing roughly with the Diseas'd by other ways of Administration thus disturbing the course of the Fit I say this sort of practice is very often ill taken in hand because by this means Nature is doubly toil'd viz. both by the Disease and no less by standers by and Servants whereas it were much better to let the Fit pass according to its course that so the Diseas'd might escape with one affliction Truly the greatest care of a Physician and efficacy of Remedies is in the Prophylactick part of this Disease that its cause being taken away or its root cut off all the Fruit may wither The Medicines requir'd for this Indication have regard to many intents which nevertheless may be reduc't to these two chief heads viz. First that the fuel of the Disease supplyed immediately from the vitious Blood and Nervous Juice and more mediately from the Viscera and first passages be cut off And then Secondly that the evil Disposition of the Brain and Spirits in it which is peculiar to the Epilepsy be remov'd As to the first thing indicated here Vomits and Purges and other both Evacuatives and Alteratives nay and Bleeding and Cauteries have place for as much as by these means and ways the Impurities both of the Viscera and Humours are drawn away and their Discrasy is corrected For though these Medicines and Physical Administrations seldom or never Cure the Epilepsy alone yet they remove Impediments raise up Nature and stir her up to set upon her Enemy They also prepare the passages that thereby Specifick Remedies may more certainly and efficaciously exert their Vertues Wherefore when the Cure of this Disease is attempted Spring and Fall and at other fit seasons by Secrets and Arcana's it's usual to use betwixt whiles those sorts of Medicines As to Specifick Remedies which are affirm'd even alone though not always to reach the cause of the Epilepsy and to overcome it of which kind are the Male Peony Mistletow of the Oak Rue Castoreum Elks-hoof preparations of Mans Scull Amber Coral with many others In regard these things are taken without any sensible Evacuation or even Disturbance following in the Viscera or Humours it seems strange by what formal way or Vertue of working they are wont ever to do good in this Disease If there be any room for conjecture in this intricate and obscure thing in regard the Procatarctick cause of the Epilepsy consists in the Heterogeneous Combination hapning to the Spirits in the Brain it follows that those things which overcome and remove such a cause are of such a Nature that by strengthening the Brain and constringing its Pores they keep off that Combination and so fix and as it were constipate the Spirits that abound in the middle of the Brain leaving their Combination that they are no longer apt and prone to irregular Explosions After the like manner haply as when the Powder of Aurum Fulminans ground with Sulphur and sprinkled with Spirit of Vitriol loses its fulminating Vertue And in truth we may conjecture nay in some measure discover that these kinds of properties to wit one or both of them together are in many Antiepileptick Remedies for the Peony Mistletow of the Oak Rue Lillies of the valley with many others excel in a manifest sort of Astriction whence it is very likely that their Particles inwardly taken and so by the Vehicle of the Blood or Nervous Juice convey'd to the Brain so constringe and close its over Lax and Gaping Pores that they no longer lie open for the entrance of the Morbifick matter Moreover because these concrets breath forth an Armoniack as it were and dissipating vapour therefore the same are said to purify the Animal Spirits and to fix and corroborate them having left their Heterogeneous Combination This Vertue of purifying the Spirits proceeding from the Armoniack Salt shews it self most in Remedies taken from Minerals and Animals such as are the preparations of Mans Scull Blood Amber and Coral as the other Astringent Vertue appears most in the parts and preparations of Vegetables There is no need for us here to set forth a compleat Method of Curing the Epilepsy with exact Forms of Prescripts because general Precepts and excellent Remedies are every where to be had amongst Authors and a prudent Physician will easily accommodate both the Indications and that plentiful Apparatus of Physick to particular cases of sick persons But because we give a clearly new Theory of this Disease a Therapeutick Method also adapted to the same ought to be here given Which we shall presently fully delineate after I have given you a story of a person troubled with the Epilepsy The Daughter of an Alehouse-keeper at Oxford had been very subject from her Infancy to a Catarrh falling on her Eyes being otherwise strong and
White-wine half an Ounce let them boil in two Pounds and a half of Fountain-water till a half be wasted add of Rhenish-Wine a Pound and strain it presently into which put of the best Sena half an Ounce Rhubarb six Drams Leaves of black Hellebore half an Ounce the yellow Coats of Oranges two Drams make a close and warm Infusion for twelve hours let the Straining be kept in a stopt Glass the Dose is from five Drams to six It were easie to set down here many other forms of Catharticks but there is no great variety requir'd in these But of the foregoing let these or the others be given as they best agree and now and then let them be repeated within five or six days as occasion requires An over frequent and violent Purging casts down the powers of the Body greatly impairs the strength of the Viscera and in the mean time does not take away the Disease After a Purge or two if Bleeding be indicated let Blood be drawn from the Arm or from the Vessels of the Fundament by Leeches It matters not much which Vein be open'd nor is the opening of the Salvatella Vein of as much moment as it is said As to the large Discourses made by Authors concerning the opening of the Liver or Cephalick Veins rather than any others in the Scurvy since the Circulation of the Blood has been known it comes to nothing Phlebotomy is indicated by a plenty and vitiousness of the Blood which it is better to let forth at several times in a small quantity than at once in a great For when the Liquour of the Blood is become very impure it is corrected by no kind of Remedy more certainly than by a frequent and spare letting of it forth for the old corrupted Blood as often as it is drawn forth is succeeded by a better and clearer fresh Blood mean while there is need of caution that it be not drawn away at once in too great a quantity for its store being much drain'd together Sanguification fails so that a Dropsy or Cachexia ensues Besides Purging and if need be opening a Vein many Remedies of another kind no less necessary are requir'd in the Scurvy And that they may be prescrib'd in order we must forthwith consider whether only Preservatory Indications have place here and whether certain Curatory Indications viz. such as have regard to some severely pressing Symptoms ought not to be interchangeably pursued with them And if you are to imploy the whole work of the Cure against the cause of the Discase you may proceed after the following method We shall shew you hereafter what sort of Cure is to be apply'd to Symptoms if haply occasion requires it Therefore if nothing hinders but you are to imploy the chiefest stress of Physick in rooting out the cause of the Disease principally and by it self for this purpose let Digestives likewise and Specificks or Antiscorbuticks as we hinted before be us'd at all times unless on the days of Purging To which sometimes if it be needful let Diaphoreticks or Diureticks be added Manifold forms and prescripts of Medicines and of various kinds for performing these intents are every where to be found amongst Authors I shall here set down some of the more choice of them which I here thought good to distribute into two ranks according to the twofold nature of the Scorbutick Cause viz. the Sulphureo-saline and Salino-sulphureous Dyscrasies of the Blood And first I shall deliver such as are proper in this latter kind of affect viz. where there is need of Medicines endow'd with a certain instigating vertue and such as are very much fill'd with a Volatile Salt Let Digestive Medicines that restore the Ferment of the Stomach and help the Functions of that and of other of the Viscera which serve for Chylification and Anti-Scorbuticks or Specificks which take away the Dyscrasy of the Blood either be joined in the same Composition or at leastwise let them be taken the same day one after the other Among digestive Remedies are justly counted the Cream Crystals Salt and Tincture of Tartar Tartar Vitriolated and Chalybeated Elixir Proprietatis the simple mixture The use of each of these given twice a day oftentimes does good Moreover you may easily make Magistral Tinctures and Elixirs of various kinds both digestive and appropriated to the Scurvy with the two following Menstruums Take rectified Spirit of Vitriol Six Ounces Spirit of Wine Alcholized sixteen Ounces mix them and Distill them in a Glass retort with three Cohobations keep it for use in a Glass well stopt Elixir Proprietatis is more easily and better prepar'd with this Compound Menstruum than the vulgar way Take Winters-bark Lignum Aloes Roots of the lesser Galingal of each two Drams Cinnamon Cloves Cubebs of each a Dram Seeds of Bishops-weed and Watercresses of each half a Dram being bruised pour to them of the foresaid Menstruum enough to cover them three Fingers over let them digest in a Matrace in a Sand Furnace for six days let the straining be kept in a Glass close stopt The Dose is twenty Drops more or less in a Spoonfull of Canary or of an appropriated Liquor Let it be given twice a day Take white Amber Gum of Ivy Caranna Tacamahaca of each a Dram Saffron half a Dram Cloves Nutmegs of each two Scruples being bruised pour to them the aforesaid Menstruum and let a Tincture be extracted according to Art The Dose is twenty Drops as above Take blew Salt of Tartar four Ounces let it digest in a Matrace with a Pound of Spirit of Wine Alcholized till a Tincture be extracted Let this be another Menstruum with which you may prepare Elixirs out of Gums Spices c. after the same manner as with the former Menstruum While these kinds of Medicines are given in a small Dose in the Evening and early in the Morning at Physical hours viz. at eight a Clock in the Forenoon and at four in the Afternoon let the Antiscorbutick Medicines of the other kind be taken which for the most part we are wont to prescribe in a twofold form viz. in a solid form and a liquid to be taken all under one so that the solid Medicine being taken first the liquid is drank after it there are various kinds and ways of Composition of both viz. in a solid form Electuaries Confections Powders Pills and Tablets in a liquid form are Decoctions Infusions Expressions Distill'd Waters Physick Wines and Ales. We shall give you some of the more select Medicines of each of these kinds Electuaries TAke Conserve of Scurvy-grass Roman Wormwood Fumitory of each two Ounces Powder of Winters-bark Roots of Angelica and Aron of each two Drams Species Diatrion Santalon a Dram and a half Powder of Crabs-eyes a Dram Salt of Wormwood two Drams with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of the Juice of Citrons make an Electuary Take Conserve of the Leaves of Scurvy-grass and Brooklimes made with an equal quantity of
tendinous Fibers execute the former Power but the sensible Species is received in a manner only by the membranous Fibres wherefore the outward Skin is the primary Organ of the touch after this the Membrancs that cover the Muscles and lastly those that compose the Viscera are in the same sort affected by the tangible Object wherefore the hurt or loss of the touch happens by reason of an Injury offered the outward Membranes viz. when the Fibres of these are obstructed with a Vitriolick Matter or are very much constipated by an excess of Cold so that the animal Spirits which ought to receive their Impressions are excluded from their Organs and that these Inhabitants of the outward Members are only affected it thence appears because the Members deprived of Sense do not wither as those deprived of Motion but continue full and fleshy which is a sign that the animal Spirits still entring the Nerves and carneous Fibres give their vertue to the Function of Nutrition but when Motion being abolish'd the Spirits are in a manner wholly banish'd from those parts the Flesh withers away because the nutritive Matter tho brought to them by the Arteries is not assimilated As to the Prognostick of the Palsey 1. Any Palsey that happens the knowing and vital faculties being unhurt ought not to be judged an acute Disease but being free from sudden danger admits of a cure at long run or at leastwise of an endeavour for it 2. This disease hapning through an evident cause alone as by a stroke a fall from an high Place a wound c. or coming upon an Apoplexy Carus Convulsion Colick or other affects of the Brain or Systema Nervosum if it be not altered for the better or yeilds to Medicines in in a short time for the most part proves incurable 3. If upon the origine of the medulla oblongata being wholly obstructed or through the Spine's being vehemently hurt a total resolution follows and takes away Sense and Motion the affect is cured with difficulty or scarce at all 4. A Palsey hapning to men that are Aged Cacochymical greatly Scorbutical or intemperate tho the affect be not great is cur'd with difficulty As the Types of the Palsey are many fold and its causes divers so its cure ought to be undertaken not always after one manner but by a various method viz. appropriate to each species of that Disease for the most part there will be these three kinds of it or rather there will be three wayes of healing whereof sometimes this sometimes that or the other ought to be entred upon in order to the cure of this Disease to wit according as the resolution of what kind soever and in what place soever it be is either first caused on a sudden by an outward accident viz. a stroke a fall from an high Place a wound an excess of cold or the like or secondly succeeds some other affect viz. The Apoplexy Carus Colick or a long continued Fever or thirdly being a Disease primarily and of it self depending of a Procatarxis or previous apparatus is raised by degrees we shall speak of each of these particularly 1. When therefore a Palsey is caused by reason of some accident with a violent hurt there will not be many Intentions of curing but only that the part injured may recover its ancient confirmation and first left the Blood and other humours flowing to it as being affected and weak and there staying increase the evil let Phlebotomy which most commonly is requisite in this case be presently put in practice afterward a thin dyet if the case requires it or a dyet of easie concoction being ordered we must insist chiefly on moderate Hydroticks to wit that whilst the diseased put to bed is kept in a gentle sweat all sorts of Superfluities withdrawn from the part injured may plentifully exhale and that the Spirits being gently agitated within the Pores and Passages of it so opened by the warm effluvia may recover their former Paths and Tracts For this end let the Powder for a fall described in the Pharmacopoea August and be given to the quantity of about a dram in a draught of White-wine or of Posset-drink made with it it being usual amongst us to give to the like quantity of Irish-slat and let it be repeated every six or eight Hours Moreover let a Traumatick Decoction if it may readily be had either of the Roots of Madder or Butter-burr or of the Flowers of St. Johns wort in Posset-drink be frequently given Moreover let the place affected in the mean time be diligently search'd after which will easily be known partly from the hurt inflicted on it and partly from the member resolv'd If any thing be dislocated in it we must endeavour that it be presently put in its place If a tumour contusion or wound be made let relief be given them by balsas liniments fomentations or cataplasms But if nothing preternatural appears outwardly let as much as suffices of the Oxycroceum and Red Lead Plaisters mixed together in an equal quantity be applied to the part hurt and let the Diseased by kept at rest and in a moderate warmth for three or four days if the resolution continues obstinate and an afflux of new matter be not feared let more resolving and discussing Remedies be applied about the places affected wherefore let fomentations and hot liniments nay and natural hot Baths if it be convenient or at leastwise artificial ones be used Sometimes it is good to put the members affected in warm Horse-dung or Grains and to keep them there for some time and now and then to interlace Clysters and gentle Purges with the use of these things But if no relief follows these Administrations this affect ought afterward to be handled with the like Method and the same Remedies with which an habitual Palsey or any other that is confirmed or follows upon other Diseases is dealt with which way of cure we shall give you beneath in regard it is common to every Palsey deeply rooted 2. When a Palsey hapning upon a Fever Apoplexy Carus or other Cephalick or Convulsive affects is great and comes on a sudden we must chiefly use a Physical means for the removal of its Conjunct cause which has its seat in a manner always in the Medulla oblongata or Spinalis Wherefore in the beginning of the Disease let Blooding and Purging if nothing indicates the contrary Clysters Vesicatories Cupping-glasses Sneezers Liniments and other administrations usual in Cephalick Diseases viz. such as some way drive out or withdraw the morbid matter sticking in the Caudex Medullaris or the little Heads of the Nerves proceeding from it be us'd And if the first effort of Physick does nothing within fifteen or twenty days the affect afterward in regard it is firmly rooted and become habitual is to be overcome by a long method and by Preservatory as well as Curatory Indications of which we shall presently speak 3. An Habitual Palsey depending of a Procatarxis
is either in fieri or in its disposition or in facto or in its habit both require a peculiar way of Cure Of the former there are two chief cases in both of which the Therapeutick method regarding only the Procatarctick causes is ordered after the like manner to wit whether any Person be in danger of being seiz'd with the Palsey or recovering from it be in hazard of a relapse we must insist in a manner on the same Medicines Therefore the Intentious of Curing must be first that the functions of Chylification and Sanguification being duly perform'd a laudable matter for the generation of Animal Spirits be sent to the Brain in a sufficient plenty and then secondly that the Brain being still firm and of a due conformation admits into it and duly exalts into Animal Spirits all apt particles excluding such as are heterogeneous for these ends we have thought good to propose the following method which ought to be varied according to the various constitutions of the Diseased Spring and Fall let solemn courses of Physick be entred upon nay and the whole year besides let some Remedies be constantly used Bleeding is not generally proper for all Persons and if we forbid this it is not for the same reason with the Ancients supposing the Palsey to be a cold Disease but because the Animal Spirits are both engendred from the Blood and become elastick within the moving Fibres by reason of a sanguineous combination therefore if the store of this be lessened too much they will fail and flag Which truly I have observed in many and that for the most part in the Arm from which the Blood was drawn languishings and tremblings have begun Nevertheless a spare and moderate Bleeding sometimes agrees with some that are endued with a Blood that is hot and sharp and apt to too great effervescencies tho they are disposed to the Palsey About the Equinoxes purging ought to be ordered and to be repeated by due Intervals three or four times but in the first place let a Vomit if nothing indicates the contrary be given of Salt of Vitriol Sulphur of Antimony or an Infusion of crocus metallorum or Mercurius vitae afterward let Pillulae de succino or Aloephanginae be taken by themselves or with Rosm of Jalap every seventh or eighth day At other times let Cephalick Remedies such as we have prescribed for the sleepy affects viz Electuaries Powders Spirits and volatile Salts Tinctures Elixirs with distill'd Waters or Apozemes viz. sometimes these sometimes those or others be frequently used Let Issues be burnt in the Arm or Leg nay in gross and cachectical Persons together in both or near the Shoulder-blades Let a Physick-drink of Sage Betony Stoechas the wood Sassafras Winters bark c. be drank the whole year Wine and Venus ought either to be forbidden or to be allowed only sparingly But if the Palsey after a previous disposition in the whole or in one side or in certain members throughly seises and notwithstanding the first encounter of Physick comes on again for its cure a long and complicated method which is alwayes requisite often times does not suffice for not only the Disease or its conjunct or procatarctick Cause severally but all together must be assaulted for which ends blooding for the most part being forbidden only a gentle purge and that but now and then is proper Again and indeed chiefly against the Procatarxis of the Disease Cephaliâ—â— and Antiscorbutick Medicines are wont to do good but not all of these kinds agree with all Persons but as we have observed in the Scurvey according to the various Constitutions of the Diseas'd the Remedies also must be of a differing kind and vertue for with bilous paralyticks in whose sharp and hot blood there is much Salt and Sulphur and very little Serum hot Medicines and such as are endowed with very active Particles do not agree nay often prove offensive to them which nevertheless prove greatly beneficial to phlegmatick persons whose blood is colder and contains a great deal of Serum and a few active Elements Wherefore according to this two-fold state of the Diseased it seems fit for us to propose here a double method of Cure and two Classes of Medicines whereof this will do well to be given to cold paralyticks and the other to such as are hot In the former case for the removal of the procatarctick Cause after a Vomit and a Purge duely ordered I advise to be prescribed according to the following forms Take Conserve of the leaves of Garden Scurvy-grass and of Rochet made with an equal part of Sugar of each three ounces Ginger condited in the Indies an ounce the yellow coats of Oranges and Limons preserv'd of each six drams powder of the Claws and Eyes of Crabs of each four Scruples species diambroe two drams winters-bark a dram and a half roots of Zedoary the lesser Galingal Cubebs the seeds of Garden-cresses rochet of each a dram Spirit of Scurvy-grass and of Lavender of each two drams Syrup of the conditure of Ginger what suffices make an Electuary Let the quantity of a Walnut be taken at eight a clock in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon drinking after it a pound of the following decoction or six ounces of the Tincture of Coffee with the Leaves of Sage boyled in it or three ounces of Viper-wine Take Raspings of Guaiacum six ounces Sarzaparilla Sassafras of each four ounces red and yellow Saunders shavings of Ivory and Harts-horn of each half an ounce infuse them according to art and boyle them in sixteen pounds of fountain-Water to a half adding Crude Antimony powdred and tyed in a Nodulus four ounces roots of Calamus Aromaticus the lesser Galingal of each half an ounce Florentine Orris an ounce Cardamum six drams Coriander seeds half an ounce six Dates make a Decoction and let it be used for ordinary drink Going to Bed and early in the Morning let a dose be taken either of the Spirit of Soot or of Harts-horn of Sal Armoniack succinated of Blood c. with three ounces of the following distilled Water Take of the Leaves or Roots of Aron a pound Leaves of Garden Scurvy-grass the greater Rochet Rosemary Sage Savory Time four handfuls Flowers of Lavender three handfuls the outward rinds of ten Oranges and six Limons Winters bark three Ounces Roots of the lesser Galingal Calamus Aromaticus Florentine Orris of each two ounces Cubebs Cloves Nutmegs of each an ounce all being slic'd and bridsed pour to them of White-wine and Brunswick Beer of each four pounds let them be distilled with common Organs and let the whole Liquour be mixt Sometimes instead of the Electuary for fifteen or twenty dayes let a dose of the Tincture of Sulphur terebinthinated or the Tincture of Antimony or of Amber sometimes also let the Elixir Proprietatis or of Peony be taken in a spoonful of the distilled Water drinking after it three ounces of the same Sometimes also let the
manner in any sorts of Distractions the reason of this partly consists herein that the viscous load of the Ventricle which as we have shewn elsewhere greatly oppresses the mind being cleans'd forth the Spirits thereupon being more free expand themselves more vigorously and cheerfully Moreover in as much as vomiting compresses and evacuates the neighbouring Receptacles of the Humours to wit the Gall-bladder the Ductus of the Pancreas and the Glands of the Mesentery it keeps their Contents from being conveyed to the Head Vomits Take Oxymel of Squills an ounce and a half wine of Squils an ounce Syrup of Tobacco two drams mix them make a Vomitory if it works not at all or slowly let a Vomit be rais'd by a free drinking of Posset-drink having the leaves of Carduus boyl'd in it Take of the decoction of the middle bark of Elder four ounces Salt of Vitriol from one scruple to two scruples Oxymel simple three drams mix them let it be taken after the same manner To strong and well set People give the Infusion of Crocus Metallorum or Mercurius vitae also the Emetick Tartar of Mynsicht or Sulphur of Antimony Take roots of Polypody of the Oak half an ounce Epithymum three drams Senna half an ounce Tamarinds six drams Coriander-seeds three drams yellow Saunders two drams let them boyl in fourteen ounces of Fountain-water to ten ounces adding Agarick two drams Rhubarb a dram and a half to the clarified straining add of the purging Syrup of Apples two ounces let six ounces be taken repeating it within three or four dayes Take choice Senna three drams Epithymum Rhubarb of each a dram and a half yellow Saunders half a dram Corinader-seeds two scruples Salt of Wormwood half a dram Celtick Spike a scruple let there be a close Infusion for a Night in White-wine and water of Apples of each four ounces to five ounces of the clear straining add Syrup of Epithymum six drams Aqua mirabilis two drams mix them make a potion In Bodyes hard to be wrought on let there be added to these fibres of black Hellebore macerated in Vinegar a dram or two Those who like better Pills Powders Bolus's or Syrups may use the following Take Quercitan's Pills of Tartar or Crato's Pills of Amber half a dram Rosin of Jalap or Scamony six or eight grains Tartar vitriolate half a scruple Ammoniacum dissolved in Aqua mirabilis what suffices make pills let four be taken going to bed and unless they work first one the next morning Take Calomelanos extract of black Hellebore of each a scruple Resin of Jalap six grains Ammoniacum dissolved what suffices make four Pills let them be taken with governance The Powder call'd Haly is greatly commended by Valescus de Tarenta Pereda and others And indeed in rustick or robust Bodies this seems a pretty fit Cathartick Take Epithymum half an ounce Agarick Lapis Lazuli of each three drams Scammony a dram Cloves in number thirty make a Powder the dese is from half a dram to a dram Take Pulvis Diacennae Diaturbith with Rhubarb of each half a dram make a powder let it be taken in a draught of posset-drink or in a single decoction of Epithymum to four or five scruples Take choice Senna two ounces roots of Polipody of the Oak two ounces Epithymum an ounce and a half yellow Saunders half an ounce Tamarinds an ounce Coriander-seeds six drams let them boyl in four pounds of Barnet-water to an half strain it and let it evaporate by a bath heat to the consistency of a Syrup adding towards the end pure Manna double refin'd Sugar of each four ounces make a Syrup the dose is stwo or three spoonfuls in three ounces of a convenient distill'd water or in any other Liuqor Or Take of the same Liquor evaporated to the consistency of Honey six ounces fresh Cassia four ounces pulp of Corinths two ounces Cream of Tartar Salt of Wormwood of each a dram and a half pulvis Diasennae two drams yellow Saunders powdred three drams mix them make an Electuary the dose is from three drams to half an ounce Catharticks must not be used without intermission nro too frequently but let it suffice to give them within six or seven dayes and at other times let the belly if it be bound be loosened by Clysters as to what regards other Medicines which do not evacuate tho the Ancients plac'd the least we put the greatnest stress of the Cure in them for they with whom also many Moderns accord concluded that there was nothing more to be done for curing Melancholy than to purge forth the atrabilarious Humour Wherefore making purging the thing of chiefest moment they ordered the rest of Pharmacy called by them preparatory only for the sake of this directing thus their intentions that as soon as the Humour was brought to a fit consistency by altering Medicines and the wayes made open enough for its excretion then to carry it forth by Catharticks which kind of hypothesis seems not to agree with Reason or Physical Experience to wit in as much as melancholy Persons after a frequent purging how methodically soever ordered receive rather an injury than a relief Therefore we placing the cause of this Disease in the dyscrasies of the Blood and Spirits and in the weakness or ill conformation of the Brain or Viscera put alteratives and corroboratives in the first rank of Medicines and sometimes interlace Catharticks only for the sake of these Purging therefore being prescribed for the due removal of Impediments and at due intervals of time as to the rest you may proceed after this manner Take Conserve of Clove-gilliflowers and Borage flowers of each two ounces and a half myrobalan rinds condited six drams Coral prepar'd Pearl of each a dram and a half Ivory Crabs-eyes of each a dram Confection of Hyacinth two drams Syrup of Coral or red poppyes what suffices make an Electuary let two drams be taken morning and evening drinking after it three ounces of the following Julep or distill'd water Take water of Cowslip-flowers and of Black-cherries of each six ounces of Bawm four ounces Dr. Stevens's Water two ounces Sugar six drams mix them make a Julep Take leaves of Bawm Borage Bugloss Fumitory Water-cresses Brooklimes of each four handfuls Clove-gilliflowers flowers of Marigolds Borage Cowslips of each three handfuls the outward coats of six Oranges ' and four Lemmons being all sliced and bruis'd pour to them of Whey made with Cyder eight pounds distill them with common Organs let the whole Liquor be mixt Take powder of Pearl Ivory Coral prepar'd of each two drams Species loetificantis Diarrhod Abbatis of each a dram Oyl of Citron-pills half a scruple double refin'd Sugar dissolv'd and boyl'd to a consistency for Tablets in a sufficient quantity of Bawm-water six ounces make Tablets according to art weighing a dram let two or three be taken in the morning and at five of the clock in the afternoon drinking after it a draught of the distilled water
by a Diet and an exact form of Food which in this Disease ought to be thin and spare wherefore Hunger is commonly said to be the best Remedy of this Disease and we find by common Experience that by a spare feeding the feverish access is most commonly put off beyond it usual time There are two things chiefly to be observ'd concerning Dyet first that the Aliments be thin let nothing be given sulphureous or spirituous for so the conflagration of the Blood is lessened then secondly that when the Fit is a coming or has seized no Food be taken wherefore in fasting Persons the Fit is more mild and is sooner over What was propos'd in the third palce a stopping of the feverish access is undertaken by Remedies which stop the fermentation of the Blood and tho this Remedy be look'd upon by Physicians as Empyrical Immethodical and Deceitful yet I have found by experience that these Fevers have been oftentimes cured this way when Medicines did nothing at all tho you must observe that the use of these after bleeding and purging if there be need of them will do most good and unless these are duely premitted those others seldom stop the Fit and Vomiting Purging and Blooding unless they are used presently and at the beginning do little good nay are oftner wont to do hurt wherefore if the Choler about the beginning be plentifully cleansed forth or the Blood be ventilated by breathing a Vein it is reduced to its due Crasis but afterward in the progress of this Disease the Spirit being very much exhausted and the Salt and Sulphur being too much exalted if these evacuations are us'd they weaken the Crasis of the Blood more and therefore it is found by observation that a Tertian Fever is seldom or never cur'd and often passes into a Quotidian where these Medicines are us'd very late I have known my self in the Spring-time that certain Persons enjoying a good entire health have fallen presently into a Tertian Fever after having taken a Vomit for prevention-sake which caused a violent evacuation and that others who have been cur'd for some time of this Fever have presently undergone a relapse upon taking a strong Purge for carrying off the remainder of the febrile matter it may readily be said that the Minera of the Disease lying quiet before is rous'd up by this means by the Medicine and brought into act but if you consider this thing rightly it seems rather to be said that by a strong Purge the Crasis of the Blood is very much injur'd and whereas before it was prone to a bilous Discrasy so that it assimilated with difficulty the nutritive Juyce upon this evident cause it presently degenerates more and that it forthwith perverts the Nutriment into a fermentative matter and so incurrs the feverish disposition An Opinion has vulgarly prevail'd that a Tertian Fever can scarce be cured without a Vomit wherefore some Medicasters are wont under the pretext of necessity to give an Emetick Medicine to any Persons whatsoever troubled with this Disease tho weak and infirm not without great danger of Life and those whom they judge wholly unable to bear this Remedy they leave to Nature as not easily curable But as I am well satisfied by having often try'd the contrary that this kind of Practise is ill founded and I rather think that Vomits are seldom or never requir'd for the Cure of a Tertian Fever unless it be in a robust Body and readily inclin'd to vomit and when it happens that the Stomach is loaded with an excrementitious matter but instead of this that a gentle Purge may be more properly us'd for a Purge in this case does the same thing as a Vomit to wit it evacuates the Vessels containing the Choler that this being plentifully exhausted from the blood the feverish Dyscrasy may be corrected Now when the Humour of the Gall emptied in the Stomach is drawn forth upward a great offence is thereby brought on the Stomach and a mighty perturbation is raised in the whole body but if by a gentle Cathartick that Humour is allur'd downward it is sent forth without any trouble Moreover if to a gentle Purge repeated once or twice a very thin Diet and without any meat be added it will often answer the Preservatory indication that there will not be need of other Remedies for removing the cause of the Disease but these things being duely premitted let those things be used which either inwardly taken or outwardly applyed stop the access of the Fever By this plain and easie form of Physick viz. by purging with an infusion of Senna and Rhubarb a thin diet and a topical febrifuge applyed to the Brest or Wrists I have oftentimes known tertian Fevers cured in a short time without the use of any other offensive Medicine Nay a thin diet alone with Periapts seasonably applyed has cur'd very successfully a Woman with Child aged Persons and such as were very weak whose strength would not bear purging I have so frequently experienc'd the wished success of that method that I do not doubt but a tertian Fever if it be mannag'd this way from the beginning to wit before the temper of the Blood be more injured by an ill form of diet or by Physick ill administred it will be caured as easily as any other Disease for proof of this I shall give the following relation A certain noble Youth of a cholerick Temperament was seised with an intermittent tertian Fever as the fit came on him he vomited very much yellow and grenish Choler afterward for many hours he was sorely troubled with a most intense Heart-burning a heat and a drought The day of intermission on which it was my chance to be present eight ounces of Blood were drawn by my order from this Person and in the Afternoon an emollient Clyster was injected he used also a very thin diet viz. only of Barly Meats he took every Night going to rest this Opiate viz. Conserve of Roses vitriolated half a dram Diascordium a scruple and every Morning a Scruple of Salt of Worm-wood in a spoonful of the Juice of Oranges but these things not succeeding for the fit returned somewhat more remiss but with a violent vomiting as before and likewise in regard this sick Person greatly dreaded a Vomit because upon taking a very gentle Emetick not long before he had vomited about thirty times even till being seiz'd with a Cramp and Convulsions he was brought to a great failure of strength with danger of Life therefore the day following the said fit I gave him a potion of the infusion of Senna Rhubard and yellow Saunders with Salt of Wormwood in Fountain Water by which he purg'd ten times with relief the next Morning three hours before he expected the fit I applyed febrifuge Epithems to his Wrists and blooded him again to six onnces from which time he had no fit of his Fever and afterward being purg'd again after the same manner he grew
perfectly well But if a Tertian Fever by reason of the evil constitution of the diseased or by reason of errours committed in diet or Physick has laid its roots deep that after a long continued affect the fits still grow worse and worse and the diseased mightily languish their strength being dejected with a thirst and burning almost continual a loss of Appetite Watchins a weak Pulse a ruddy Urine and very full of contents somewhat a differing method of Cure ought to be ordered in this case first it must be endeavour'd that the Discrasy of the Blood be removed wherefore let the diseased feed only on thin diet as Barly or Oat Meats with the opening Roots boyled in them wholly forbearing Meat Broaths let the Belly be kept soluble if it be needful by the use of emollient Clysters Moreover Catharticks being omitted it seems that we ought only to insist on digestive Medicines which fuse the Blood and gently lead forth the serous Impurities by Urine and comforting Remedies which strengthen the Viscera and refresh the Spirits for this end apozemes of diuretick Herbs and Roots neatly prepared also Opiats of temperate Conserves with Sal Nitre or the fixt Salt of Herbs and with testateous Powders and Spirit of Vitriol mixt with them excellently conduce when the Crasis of the Blood is somewhat amended that the Urine is clearer and less colured also the sleep quieter with an abatement of Thirst and Heat then Remedies may be profitably given for stopping the fit of the Fever Wherefore let febrifuge Epithems be applyed to the Wirsts and to the Soles of the Feet also let the Powder of the Peruvian Bark or of its Succedaneum or also of the Bark of an Ash of Tamarisk or of Gentian be given in White-wine with the mixture of Salts After that the accesses are taken away and the diseased begin to gather Strength to have a Stomack and in some measure to concoct what they take gentle Purges will be of use but let the diseased still abstain from seeding on Flesh or rich fare and it is not to be doubted but he will soon recover his perfect Health without violent purging or blooding CHAP. V. Of the Intermittent Quotidian Fever or Ague NExt after a tertian Fever by reason of their Affinity and the likeness of the Fit follows a Quotidian viz. whose access is wont to return every day It is the Opinion of some that this Fever is only a double Tertian and that it arises from the matter being disperst and getting possession of a two-fold focus to which nevertheless I do not agree and I judge that its rise is to be attributed to a peculiar Discrasy of the Blood in this the symptoms of Heat and Cold are more remiss but the access holds longer and is often wont to continue eighteen or twenty hours this Fever for the most part follows upon a Tertian for when the vital Spirit is much spent by a frequent Deflagration of the Blood and the feverish Disposition still remaining the Blood is become weaker it less concocts or brings to perfection the nutritive Juice and perverts it in a manner wholly into a fermentative matter wherefore it is sooner brought to an increase and is heapt together to a plenitude of Turgescency in half the time as before but because the matter heapt together partakes as well of crudity as adustion therefore the heat of the fermentation is more remiss and more uneven and like green Wood laid on the fire it burns more flowly wherefore the fit is of a longer continuance Sometimes it happens that a Qutidian Fever arises first without a foregoing Tertian viz. when a feverish affect seises a Body that is cacochimical and filled with evil Juices for then the Blood being poor in Spirits perverts the nutritive Juice in a greater store and heaps it together in a shorter time to a plenitude of Turgescency and that which at first is a Quotidian often changes its Type and becomes a Tertian even as a Tertian often passes into a Quotidian there being a great vicinity betwixt these Fevers and their Causes and a little change of the Constitution of the Blood makes a transition of the one into the other An intermittent Quotidian Fever is not so easily cur'd as a Tertian for whether that comes first simply or follows upon another intermittent however it is raised drom a stronger cause and argues a greater Discrasy of the Blood which does not presently yield to Remedies Moreover this Fever if it be of Long eontinuance or comes upon another Cronick Disease besides the vice of the Blood it has most commonly joyned with it infirmities of the Viscera to wit the Blood being vitiated easily fastens its Impurities heapt together by degrees on the Viscera as it passes through their Involutions Hence in a quotidian Fever a loading of the Ventricle a tension of the Hypochondres obstructions or Tumours sometimes of the Liver sometimes of the Spleen or of the Mesentery are joyn'd tho these kinds of Affects are not the cause of the Fever as is vulgarly thought but only its products Wherefore in this Fever besides the simple Method of Cure which is indicated in a Tertian many other Intents or Coindicants come in consideration viz. We must use all our Endeavours that the Ventricle be purged of its load of Humours that the stuffings of the Viscera be clear'd that their Infirmities be strengthned and together with these that the Discrasy of the Blood be amended and the feverish accesses stopt so that by reason of these various kinds of Intentions we must proceed by a longer way to the Cure In this case Vomits if the Strength will bear them will be of use above the rest also Purges with which the assiduous increase of the excrementitious Matter may be sent forth must be often repeated besides these digestive Remedies and deobstruents which restore the Ferments of the Viscera and of the Blood and correct their Discrasies are frequently to be used Wherefore fixt Salts of Herbs their extracts the acid Spirits of Minerals and sometimes Preparations of Steel do excellently well Concerning these means there is a difficult task since because of the manifold evils many things are to be done together whereas by reason of the assiduity of the feverish fit the Diseased can use only a few In affects thus complicated tho the way of Method requires first a removal of Impediments and then to cure the Disease yet I have known this kind of Fever cured often without method and empirically in a cacochymical Body attended with many other affects to wit after a light provision for the whole febrifuge Remedies outwardly apply'd have first taken away the feverish access that afterward time and occasions of curing might be the better afforded for the other affects I lately went to see a Lady of Quality who having long had a cachectical habit of Body and being weak and feeble a month after Child-birth was seized with an intermittent Quotidian after fix
their Bodies which are very tender and by reason of the Labours of Child-birth and the Exclusion of the Foetus are all full of open Pores are too unwarily expos'd to the open Air for most being impatient of their Bed put on their Cloaths and rise from it within a day or two or sooner than they ought thereby presently the Pores of the Skin being presently stopt and the Air getting into the Uterine Parts tanspiration is check'd and often the Lochia are suddenly stop'd either of which suffices to raise a feverish effervescence The conjunct Cause or formal Reason of this Distemper comprehends chiefly these three things to wit there are present first a mighty Dyscrasie of the Blood that growing very hot from a Fever occasionally rais'd it does not burn evenly nor does is subdue by degreeds the adust Recrements and purge them forth critically moreover the boyling Blood is presently loos'ned in its Mixture and its Texture being loos'ned it declines toward Corruption hence when it has a little abated of its Heat the Spirits being cast from their Governance are driv'n into Confusion mean while the sulphureous Particles become masterless and exorbitant wherefore the Strength fails without a manifest Cause the Pulse becomes weak and disorderly Tho from the Deflagration of the Blood a great many adust Recrements are heap'd together yet nothing is duely concocted or separated but Nature being greatlyopprest altho the Diseased continually sweat they often receive no ease thereby but the Febrile Matter which ought to be purged forth being conveyed into the Head and Genus Nervosum causes there very sore Perturbations of the animal oeconomy Secondly The Tragedy of this Disease for a good part of it is ascribed to the nervous Juyce forthwith turning sharp and therefore rendred disproportionate to the Brain and its Appendix for this being defiled with a Taint contracted from the Blood does not gently irrigate and mildly inspire its Subjects but as when an Infusion of Vitriol is pour'd on a Worm mightily vellicates and irrtates into Contrqactions and as it were into Motions of Trepidatons and Leapings those tender Parts and sometimes wholly overthrows their Functions hence Contractions severe Convulsions a Delirium Watchings sometimes a Stupor and sleepy Affects happen to Women after Delivery Ihirdly whilst these things are done often a third Troop of Symptoms infest the Diseased to wit for that the Womb being some way hurt moves it self disorderly and is struck with a Contraction in these or those Parts thence presently by the Membranes nad nervous Ductus's convulsive Motions pervade the whole Region of the Abdomen wherefore the Viscera and Hypochondres are blowen up Belchings and violent Vomitings are raised afterward the Affect creeping upward and possessing the nervous Parts of the Thorax a difficult and uneven Breathing a Palpitation of the Heart a sense of Choaking in the Throat by reaon of the Muscles there drawn together and other Symptoms are raised throughout the whole upon the same Injuries being communicated to the Brain The Fevers of Women afte Delivery are scarce ever free from danger tho sometimes it happens for them to be cur'd about the first beginnings by a thin Diet and upon restoring the flowing of the Lochia but if the feverish Distemper has laid deep Roots that the Blood be wholly kindled and boyls immoderately we can give but an ill Prognostick and there will be a greater Cause of Danger if besides a Heat diffus'd through the whole the Diseased are seised with a frequent Shivering if they are affected with a great Restlessness and Watchings with sudden Concussions of their Bodies or Contractions of the Tendons if on the third or fourth Day they complain of a ringing of the Ears with a great Repletion of the Head you may presently gather that a great Evil is at hand to wit a Mertastasis of the febrile and offensive Matter into the Brain nor is less to be feared if there lyes an Oppression and Load on the Praecordia that the Diseased cannot freely breath nor draw their Breath deep nor form the bottom of the Thorax but only from the upper part of it and that short and with a Blowing so that in the mean while the Diseased are forc'd to fit upright and to move themselves this way and that after a restless manner for this argues the Blood to stagnate about the Heart and Lungs also that it is apt to grow clotty and to be coagulated and if worse yet Affects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum ensue and the Pulse becomes weak and uneven you may declare the Case to be desperate but if as if sometimes falls out tho rarely after a Fever is kindled and threatens severely either a flowing of the Lochia or a Diarrhoea happens with Relief some Hope may be admitted Concerning the Cures of these kinds of Fevers a Physician has a very hard Task because among the Vulgar all Medicines to Women in Child-bed are accounted not only useless but likewise very hurtful wherefore Physicians are selfom called but when there is no place left for Medicines and the occasion for a useful Assitstance is wholly past and if they are present about the first beginnings of the Disease it will not be an easie thing to procure Health to the Diseased by vulgar Remedies and whatsoever they try unless it gives Help is affirmed by old Women and those that are about them as pernicious and the only Cause of their Death that in reality there is wont to accrue to us about the Cure of no Disease less benefit and more Disgrace than of this Now the method of Cure even as in contagious Diseases is twofold to wit Prophylactick and Therapeutick the former of these delivers Precepts and Cautions with which Women in Child-bed are preserved from the Incursion of Fevers the other suggests curative Intentions with which the Diseased if it may be recover again their Health 1. Tho this Fever however malignant it be is not accus'd of Contagion and there be no fear in those that lye in of a venemous Miasm being received from without nevertheless all Women in Child-bed have an innate Minera of Virulency and ought to have a care of the mischief of this as a Fomes of a mighty Malignity wherefore they have need of an exact Governance that after Child-birth the Impurities of the Blood and Humours may be duely purg'd without the danger of a Fever and that the evil Affects of the Womb be healed and that the Strength broken and debilitated by Child-birth may be duely restored For these ends these three things are to be chiefly inculcated in the Praescripts of Physicians First I think it necessary that a most exact form of Diet be ordered Women in Child-bed to wit that at least for a Week they wholly feed on Oat Broths sometimes prepar'd with Ale sometimes of Water mixed with White-wine because they are much emptied therefore they may sup often of them but let nothing of a solid or strong Food
the first scope of Curing which we must first and chiefly have respect to we say that the matter or Humours that are wont to be heap'd together about the parts of the Head predispos'd for a Head-ach and to raise the fits of the Disease are the Blood or its Serum or the nutritive or nervous juice Moreover with all these vapours and effluvia also excrements sometimes bilous sometimes melancholick sometimes acid salt sulphureous and others of various kinds being receiv'd into the Blood from the Viscera sometimes these sometimes others are convey'd along with it to the Head against the salleys and incursions of all which let Physical defensatives be ordered 1. And first if the Procatarxis or disposition for pains being plac'd about the Membranes of the Head the Blood as being hot and apt for turgescencies rushes now and then all of a sudden into the Membranes of the Head and upon it s not easily passing them stretches the Vessels above measure and severs from each other the nervous Fibres and so raises fits of this disease a sign of which are a sanguine temperament heat and a suffusion of redness in the Head about the Face also a high and vibrating Pulse with Veins stroutting with Blood we must presently endeavour both that the Blood being rendred more calm be not so readily put upon turgescencies and also that when stirr'd and boyling it be not carried with a greater salley to the Head than to other Parts nor be not forc'd there to stagnate by reason of the Sinus's of the Meninges being too much fill'd Wherefore if the fit continues long let the Person be blooded in the Arm or in the Jugular Vein out of the Fits it is sometimes proper to draw Blood from the Vessels of the Fundament by Leeches to wit that by this means the Blood haply boyling may be drawn downward towards that place whither it often tends of its own accord Let Oxyrhodinums or other Epithems be applied to the Head moreover let Juleps Emulsions or Decoctions which allay the fervour or fury of the Blood be taken Let the Belly be cooled and kept soluble by the use of Clysters Morever for prevention Whey or the use of Spaw-waters is convenient also drinking of Water a thin and cooling dyet do good You must order a forbearance of Wine Spices Bathing Venery any violent motion of the Body or Mind and all hot things Moreover for fixing the Blood and preventing its effervescencies let distilled Waters expressions of Heerbs or Decoctions Electuaries Powders and especially Crystal Mineral be frequently us'd It will not be needful to subjoyn here a method or particular forms of Medicines because in this case almost every Person that is ill being taught by frequent experience from things that do him good or hurt is wont to be his own Physician 2. It is seldom that the Blood is in the fault alone or only by it self Other Humours oftner being carried to the Head by the conveyance of the Blood and there depos'd cause the Evil If at any time therefore a filthy glut of Serum breaking forth in abundance from the Blood causes frequent Head-achs the signs whereof are Catarrhs at the same time infesting the other parts viz. the Nostrils Mouth or Trachaea then abstinence and rest being commanded and the Belly being emptied by a Clyster let the fluxion of the Serum be permitted to appease it self and the matter discharg'd on the Membranes of the Head to evaporate Which if they do not follow of their own accord and in a short time in a hot constitution Bleeding often is proper viz. inasmuch as the Vessels being emptied of Blood suck in again the extravasated Serum But in cold Persons Vesicatories applied to the Neck or behind the Ears are of excellent use Then after that the Belly is emptied by a Clyster let the fluxion be appeas'd by the use of an Anodyne or gentle Opiat and that being appeas'd it is proper to give a gentle Cathartick and then Medicines that operate by Urine or Sweat or together by both and so gently evacuate the superfluous Serosities Medicines fit for these ends are every where to be found in Books which nevertheless may not be us'd rashly and indifferently by Empiricks but they ought to be chosen compounded or altered nay and sometimes to be prepared Extempore as occasion requires according to the judgement and discretion of a prudent Physician respect being always had to the Constitution Temperament Idiocrasis and other accidents and circumstances of the Patient Wherefore in regard it would be superfluous to heap together here a great many Receipts I have rather thought fit to rpopose here only a form or two of the Medicines of each kind viz. of such as regard the chief Intents Take Pills of Amber half a dram Rosin of Jalap four grains Balsam of Peru what suffices make four Pills let three be taken going to Bed and the next morning if the former do not work enough Or Take Scammony sulphurated half a Scruple Ceruse of Antimony fifteen grains Cream of Tartar eight grains make a Powder let it be taken in a spoonful of Panada early in the morning Take Sulphur of Antimony four grains Rosin of Jalap five grains Cream of Tartar six grains let them be bruis'd together and with a sufficient quantity of Conserve of Violets make a Bolus to be taken early in the morning with Governance Take roots of Butchers-broom the great Bur-dock Chervill Avens of each an ounce preserv'd Eringo's an ounce and a half Florentine Orris three drachms the lesser Galingal a drachm and a half Bur-dock-seeds three drachms dryed leaves of Betony Sage Vervain Fluellin of each half a handful Raisins ston'd two ounces boyl them in four pounds of Fountain Water will a third part of it be consum'd then add of White-wine half a pound strain it let it be sweeten'd if need be with Syrup of the five roots two ounces let six ounces be taken warm twice or thrice a day a good while after meat For such as have a Cold and Flegmatick constitution let a Decoction be prepar'd of the Wood Guiacum Sassafras Sarzapar With the addition of the foresaid Ingredients make an Apozeme whereof let six or eight ounces be taken twice or thrice a day warm For Poor People and often to the Rich I use to prescribe with good Success a Decoction of the dryed Leaves sometimes of Sage sometimes of Betony Vervain or of Rosemary made in fountain Water and then impregnated with the Tincture of the Powder of Coffee-berries to be taken twice a day warm to six or eight Ounces 3. But if with the abounding Serum Particles also saline acid bilous or otherwise infesting are violently carried into the Membrances of the Head either wholly from the Mass of Blood or by the Mediation of this as receiv'd from the Viscera and there being fix'd cause more acute and lasting Pains then it will be proper sometimes to repeat a spare Bleeding and also a gentle
Purging to apply Anodyne and mitigating Epithemes to the Places affected and also often to give gentle Hypnoticks by frequent changes Apozemes also and Juices and Expressions of Herbs that allay the Fervour of the Choler and gently carry it off by Seige and Urine are of excellent use but in the mean time let smart or strong Medicines whether they operate by Seige Urine or Sweat in regard they too much fuse and exagitate the Blood and Humours be carefully avoided I have often observ'd in Persons troubled with an acute and obstinate Pain of the Head that the Serum swimming on the Blood when let forth have been ting'd with a Yellowness or with bilous excrements incocated in it and that also in this Case a spare and frequent Bleeding and afterward a free drinking of Whey and Spaw-Waters have given a notable Relief and beyond other Remedies 4. Moreover if the Parts of the Head suster through the Fault of some one of the Viscera as of the Stomach Liver Spleen Womb or any other by reason of the Transmission of the ill Ferment then in the Cure of the Disease let such Remedies as regard the Viscera be administred together with Cephalicks hence to certain Persons troubled with the Head-ach whose Stomach also is in a Fault Elixir Proprietatis Mynsichts Elixir of Vitrol Tinctura sacra Vitriolum martis the compound powder of Aron Roots and other things vulgarly accounted for Stomachals often do good to others whose Heads participate of the evils of the Spleen Chalybeats often give help Some Women sometime find ease of their Head-ach by hysterick Remedies in like manner when the Faults of other Parts contribute to the Head-ach let the coindicated things taken from those Parts be joyned with the first things indicated 5. Sometimes the nutritive Juice is the Cause of a periodical Head-ach viz. in as much as being mix'd with the Blood and not duely assimilated it causes a Turgescency in it by reason of its disagreeing Particles so that the Blood boyling to the Head throws off its Refuse in its Meninges or certain Parts of them predispos'd for it and so irritates the Fibres to painful Convulsions For this Reason I have known many to have been obnoxious to a daily Head-ach after the Measles Small-Pox and other Fevers or Sicknesses with which the Mass of Blood is wont to be vitiated viz. so many Hours after Meals sometimes sooner sometimes later first a flushing of Blood in the Face then a Plentiude and Pain in the Head infested them moreover after drinking of Wine or eating of turgid Food they were more severely punish'd The Access of the Distemper is wont to happen sooner or later after they have eat or drunk according as the Chyle begins to grow turgid either a little after its first entrance into the Blood or after it has stay'd some while in it This affect is free from Danger and for the most part is easily enough cur'd After a Provision being made for the whole a gentle Purge and sometimes blooding being ordered Remedies which restore the Crasis of the Blood such as are chiefly antiscorbuticks and Chalybeats prove mighty beneficial Take Conserve of Fumitory Tansey Wood Sorrel of each two Ounces compound Powder of Aron Roots three Drams Ivoy Crabs Eyes Coral prepar'd of each a Dram and a half powder of yellow Saunders Lignum Aloes of each half a Dram Vitriol of Mars a Dram salt of Wormwood a Dram and a half syrup of the five Roots what suffices make an Electuary let the Quantity of a Chesnut be taken in the Morning and at five a Clock in the Afternoon drinking after it three ounces of the following Liquor Take Water of the Leaves of Aron Vervain and of the Flowers of Elder of each six Ounces magistral Water of Snails and Earth-worms of each two Ounces Sugar on Ounce mix them Various Medicines wont to be us'd against the scorbutick Diseases of the Blood may be rang'd here and giv'n with good Success for Head-aches which are so familiar in the Scurvy oftentimes proceed from the Fault of the Blood perverting the nutritive Humour and discharging its Recrements in the Membranes of the Head wherefore the Remedies mention'd by me elsewhere against that affect claim a place also here 6. There remains yet another Humour to wit the nervous Liquor which being carried into the Fibres of the Meninges and other parts of the Head sometimes becomes disproportionate to the Fibres by its own disagreeing nature as it is sharp or otherwise degenerate sometimes twitches the containing Parts and irritates them into Convulsions or painful Distentions as it strongly ferments with some other humour viz. the nutritious or serous Humour flowing thither The nervous Humour where it is thus morbifick either being vitiated in its whole Mass brings a very great Injury on the Brain predispos'd for it or being faultless of it self is perverted within the Fibres affected and so becomes morbifick secondarily the Cure of which then depends on the Restitution of the containing Parts viz. If the Weaknesses of the Fibres or their injur'd Conformations be amended the Humour irrigating them will presently be free from Fault With what Remedies the Defaults of the Parts predisposed for Head-achs are remov'd we shall presently acquaint you Mean while if the nervous Humour being degenerate in its whole Mass causes a great Offence to the Head predispos'd for Pain let those kinds of Medicines and that method be us'd with which being reduc'd to its due Crasis and gently passing through those Fibres it may irritate them little or not at all for which end neither strong Purging nor large or frequent Blooding are proper in regard they exagitate the Blood and Humours and impair the Strength and consequently give a greater Acrimony and Rage to the nervous Humour which was faulty before But gentle Loosners and a spare Bleeding will now and then be of use whereby the Viscera may be cleans'd and the Mass of Blood be somewhat purg'd and a way be prepar'd for other Medicines which will succeed the better afterwards Now the Medicines that render the nervous Liquor more friendly and benign to the Membranes of the Head which are wont to be offended by it are those which are vulgarly call'd Cephalicks viz. whose Particles being active enough and withall fine and subtle pass the Blood without any Turgescency or Tumult and then insinuating themselves into the nervous Liquor gently actuate it and cause the Ductus's of the Nerves so to open themselves that thereby the animal Spirits more freely irradiate all Bodies both sensible and motive and inspire them without Swoonings Convulsions or anomalous Distentions These kinds of Remedies tho not always efficacious nevertheless often remove some Head-achs that are not very inveterate and in others tho never so obstinate they frequently do good moreover those things that are prescribed against Pains of the Head are also given against Affects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum and on the contrary the things