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A66498 The London practice of physick, or, The whole practical part of Physick contained in the works of Dr. Willis faithfully made English, and printed together for the publick good. Willis, Thomas, 1621-1675. 1685 (1685) Wing W2838; ESTC R7920 639,675 710

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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
time Nevertheless after long expectation that Excretion at length hapning and thenceforward continuing its constant course brought no Cure or relief to that Disease but rather made it worse Wherefore she had recourse again to Physick and tryed sundry sorts of Remedies almost of all kinds Which proveing all of no effect her Friends earnestly desir'd that she should enter again the course of Salivation hoping that that Method which Cur'd her at first for a short time being us'd again would Cure her at least for a longer or haply restore her to her perfect Health Therefore according to their desire the same course of Salivation and Sweating being repeated for the two Months space and thereby the Pushes and Scaly breakings forth being every where vanisht the noble Virgin seem'd then again to have recovered her Health But within six Weeks after the course was finisht the Pushes and their heaps or clusters appear again and daily increasing by degrees in number and bulk at length rendred the Body all over in a more loathsome condition than before I knew another a robust Man of an Athletick habit of Body who after he had been troubled with a running Scab many years the Disease at length growing worse and being risen to an overgrown state had his whole Body covered over with a white and as it were Leaprous Scurf So that every Night the Scales falling off in a great pleaty within the Bed like Bran might be gathered up in heaps This person in order to his Cure first tryed ordinary Remedies almost of all kinds but without any good And then having undergone a gentle Salivation of Mercury he found himself nothing better afterward that Method being repeated after a long and high Flux he seem'd restor'd to his Health But within three Months the same Disease springing forth afresh rise in a short time to its Ancient Enormous state Nay and haveing undergone this irksome kind of Cure a third time that affect seeming for a while to be driven away return'd again and thenceforward in despite of this and any other Method whatsoever exercis'd its Tyranny during the Life of the Patient I need not say any thing of the Leaprosie which being only a more intense degree of the former Disease seems scarce to admit of any Cure THE LONDON PRACTICE OF PHYSICK Contained in Dr. WILLIS'S Tract OF CONVULSIVE DISEASES CHAP. II. Instructions and Prescripts for the Cure of the Falling-sickness THE Epilepsy or Falling-sickness is thus describ'd First as to the Idaea of the Disease a Fit of the Epilepsy seems to be an Universal and only a more violent sort of Convulsion in which the Spirits that are in the Brain being first irregularly mov'd and as it were in Confusion all the rest residing in the Appendix both Medullary and Nervous of the Brain fall together into Convulsive motions or disorderly contractions and continue them for some time with frequent twitchings The access of the Disease for the most part is by way of surprise so that the Diseased fall suddenly on the ground grind their Teeth foam at Mouth and often beat their Heads against the ground their Arms and Leggs in the mean time nay and their Neck and Back either presently become stiff or are twisted in and out with various Flexions some violently beat their Brest others stretch forth their Arms and Leggs with great force and impetuously throw them and sometimes the whole Body from one place to another In many the Praecordia and Hypochondres and all the lower Venter swell and are greatly blown up After some time which is sometimes shorter and sometimes longer these Symptoms cease on a sudden and then the Sick come to themselves again and recover their Senses there remaining nevertheless after the Fit a pain of the Head with a drowsiness and a deadness of the Senses and often a Vertigo and Scotoma Epileptical Fits are wont to return sometimes at set times of the day month or year but for the most part they are wont to have a more certain return and to seize more violently according to the greater changes of the year or the conjunctions or opposite aspects of the Moon or Sun sometimes the accesses are erring and uncertain according to the occasion and variety of evident causes And the Fits are sometimes more mild soon passing away so that the Diseas'd scarce fall on the ground or are depriv'd of Sence sometimes they are more violent keeping the person Senseless for many hours and inducing other dreadful Symptoms Sometimes though seldom certain Signs forewarning a Fit give notice to the Diseas'd before hand as a heaviness of the Head a flashing of the Eyes a ringing in the Ears Sometimes in some exteriour part to wit in the Arm or Legg or also in the Back or Hypochondres a Convulsion precedes which ascending thence like a cold wind and creeping towards the Head seems to cause a Fit of the Falling-evil Nor is it less usual for it to have its beginning in the Stomack Spleen Womb Intestines Genitals and other of the Viscera and to pass thence to the Head in like manner It is to be observ'd that sometimes the Epilepsy terminates of its own accord viz. about the time of Puberty so that those who are not Cur'd before that period is past viz. the twentyfifth year scarce ever recover their Health For about the time of Puberty a double alteration happens to humane Body and therefore often a release from the Epilepsy or any other Disease more deeply rooted For First at this time the Genital Humour begins to be gather'd together in the Spermatick Vessels whence it follows that the Spirituous Particles and the Nitro-sulphureous which are wont to accompany them and such as are Morbifick are not only depos'd in the Brain but also in the Testes wherefore if the Heterogeneous Combination of the Spirits before taking to the Brain and causing the Epilepsy be freely carried into that new Store-house the Brain also being more free often shakes off the Epileptical or otherwise Morbid Disposition Secondly about the time of Puberty as the Blood conveys somewhat which before was design'd for the Brain to the Genitals by the Spermatick Arteries so also it receives some ferment from those said parts by way of return by the Veins viz. some particles imbued with a Seminal Tincture are carried back into the Mass of Blood which strengthen it and inspire into it a new and sprightly Vigour wherefore at that time the endowments of the Body and Mind chiefly exert themselves the Hairs shoot forth the voice becomes more sonorous The Menses flow from Women and other Accidents supervene by which it manifestly appears that the Blood and Nervous Juice are impregnated with some new Fermentation Wherefore unless the Morbifick Ferments or Seminal Roots are overcome by this new Natural Ferment they continue afterwards unconquered to our dying Day If the Epilepsy does not cease about the time of Puberty nor can be Cur'd by the use of
be hung about the Neck Moreover let Anticonvulsive Medicines be daily given the Nurse Let her take Morning and Evening a draught of Whey in which the Roots and Seeds of Male Peony and the Seeds of sweet Fennel are boil'd Take Conserve of the Flowers of Betony Male Peony and Rosemary of each two Ounes Powder of the Roots and Flowers of the Male Peony of each two Drams red Coral prepar'd white Amber of each a Dram Roots of Angelica Zedoary prepar'd of each half a Dram with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Peony make an Electuary Let ber take the quantity of a Nutmegg Morning and Evening Take Powder of the Roots of Male Peony two Drams Seeds of the same a Dram make a Powder double refin'd Sugar dissolv'd in the water of Lime-tree Flowers and boil'd to a consistency for Tablets three Ounces Oyl of Amber a Scruple Let Tablets be made according to Art each Weighing half a Dram let her eat one every sixth hour and let her keep an exact Form of Diet. In case any Infant be actually affected with Convulsions because an Issue works but little and slowly it is proper to apply a Vesicatory to the Nucha and behind each Ear and unless a cold Temperament forbids it let Blood be drawn from the Jugular Veins by Leeches Let Liniments be applyed about the Temples Nostrils and Neck and Plaisters to the Soles of the Feet Let Clysters be daily injected which plentifully empty the Belly Moreover Let Specifick Remedies be taken inwardly often in a Day to wit every sixth or eighth hour Take Oleum Capivii and Oyl of Castoreum of each two Drams Oyl of Amber half a Dram make a Liniment Take of the Emplaster Oxycroceum two parts Galbanum dissolv'd one part Oyl of Amber a Scruple make a Plaister for the Soles of the Feet Let the Powder of Gutteta according to the description of Riverius be given twice or four times a day Take Mans Scull prepar'd Peony-seeds Elks-hoof Pearl prepar'd of each half a Dram Amber-greice six Grains make a Powder the Dose is six Grains in a Spoonful of the Liquour beneath written three or four times a day Or Take Mans Scull prepar'd Pearl of each half a Dram Salt of Amber a Scruple Sugar of Pearl a Dram the Dose is half a Scruple Or Take Spirit of Harts-horn three Drops let it be given every sixth or eight hour in a Spoonful of the Julape beneath prescrib'd To poor peoples Children let Powder of the Root of wild Valerian be given from half a Scruple to a Scruple let it be given twice a day in a Spoonful of Milk or of an Appropriated Liquour Vntzerus greatly commends the Gall of a Sucking Whelp viz. that all the Juice of the Gall-bladder be taken forth and given to the Child with a little Water of Lime-tree-flowers A Learned Physitian lately told me that he had known many Cur'd with this Remedy Moreover Empiricks after the Gall is drank are went also to give to greater Children to eat the Liver roasted Julapes distill'd Waters and other Appropriated Liquours may be prepar'd according to the Forma following Take black Cherry-water three Ounces Antiepileptical-water of Langius an Ounce Sugar of Pearl two Drams mix them Take fresh Roots of Male Peony cut into slices six Ounces Hungarian Vitriol eight Ounces Mans Scull two Ounces Antiepileptical Water of Langius half a Pound mix them and let them distill in a Glass Retort by a Sand heat The Dose is from a Spoonful to two Spoonfuls Take fresh Roots of Male Peony slic'd four Ounces being bruis'd in a Marble Mortar pour to them of Spanish Wine a Pound express it strongly add Manus Christi perlated half an Ounce let it be kept in a Glass close stopt the Dose is a Spoonful or two twice a day When Convulsions happen by reason of a difficult breeding of Teeth this Symptome is look't upon as secondary and not dangerous and therefore in the Method of Cure it is not always the first or chief thing which requires help but sometimes we are rather sollicitous of appeasing the pain and removing the feverish Distemper wherefore both the Patient and Nurse ought to use a thin and cooling Diet when the Teeth are upon eruption let the passage be made open for them either by a rubbing or Section of the Gums And also let Anodines be applyed to those parts when swollen and full of pain Clysters and Bleeding often have place here We must procure sleep and allay the fervour of the Blood Mean while let Anticonvulsive Remedies be us'd but of the more moderate kind and such as little trouble the Blood and Humours Vesicatories in regard they evacuate the Serum which is too apt to be discharg'd on the Head often give relief When Children are troubled with Convulsions and that neither presently upon their Birth nor by reason of an Eruption of Teeth but through other occasions and accidents the cause of such an affect for the most part lyes either in the head or somewhere about the Viscera of Concoction When there is a suspicion of the former as it is wont to appear by signs which shew that a Mass of Serous Filth is gathered together within the head the above-cited Remedies ought to be given in a little larger Dose moreover in those who bear Purging well sometimes a Vomit and a gentle Purge may be order'd them Wine and Oxymel of Squills also Mercurius Dulcis Rhubarb and Rosin of Jalap are of excellent use As often as the cause of the Convulsive Affect appears to be in the Bowels either Worms or sharp Humours causing Gripes in the Belly are found to be in the fault Against Worms a Purge of Rhubarb or of Mercurius Dulcis with the addition of Rosin of Jalap is ordered Formerly to a Child miserably troubled with Convulsions so that he seem'd even a Dying I gave a Dose of Mercurius Dulcis with Rosin of Jalap With his Stools whereof he had four he voided twelve Worms and presently grew well Take Roots of Virginia Serpentary powdred a Dram Coral caloin'd to a whiteness half a Dram make a Powder the Dose is from half a Scruple to a Scruple twice a day for three days one after the other drinking after it a Decoction of Grass Roots Take Species of Hiera a Dram and a half Venice-treacle two Drams make a Plaister for the Belly or let a Plaister of Galbanum be applyed to the Navel If the Convulsive motions are thought to proceed from the Irritation of the Ventricle and the Intestines caus'd by sharp Humours a gentle Purge either by Vomit or Seige or of both the one after the other ought to be ordered For this purpose let gentle Emeticks of Wine of Squills or of Salt of Vitriol be taken to wit if at any time the Diseas'd be of their own accord seis'd with a straining to Vomit but if the Evacuation seems rather fit to be attempted downwards an Infusion of Rhubarb or its Powder Syrup
to set forth here cases of the Head-ach whose Fits being erring and uncertain proceed from the Blood or Serum rushing into the places affected in regard that these are very frequent and vulgarly known I shall now set before you certain choice Observations of this Disease being either periodical or seeming to arise from some one of the Viscera per Consensum As to the Former the period●●● invasions of the Head-ach are produced either from the nutritive Humour or from the nervous Juice I shall now give you example of both A venerable Matron in the forty fifth year of her age being of a thin habit of Body and a bilous temperament after having liv'd for a long time obnoxious to Head-achs wont to be occasionally rais'd about the beginning of Autumn she began to be troubled with a periodical Head-ach This affect seizing her about four a clock in the Afternoon was wont to hold her almost till midnight till the diseased being tired with watchings and tortures was forced to fall asleep then after a pretty prosound sleep upon her awaking in the morning she was well The Diseased having undergone daily Fits of this Disease for three weeks after this manner delay'd the use of Physick which she very much abhorr'd but at length her appetite being dejected and her strength worn away she was forc'd to desire a method of Cure and after a gentle Purge and blooding she took twice a day for a week or a fortnight the quantity of a Chestnut of the following Electuary and grew perfectly well Take Conserve of the Flowers of Cichory and Fumitory of each three ounces compound powder of Aron Roots two drams and a half Ivory a dram and a half yellow Saunders Lignum aloes of each half a dram Salt of Wormwood a dram and a half Vitriol of Mars a dram Syrup of the five Roots what suffices make an Electuary The cause of this periodical Head-ach doubtless was that the assimilation of the Chyme or nutritive Humour into Blood was hindred For when its store received into the mass of Blood could not be overcome it was wont after a little stay to fall at odds and ferment with its particles Therefore presently the Blood falling into a turgescency that it might shake off that incongruous mixture depos'd its recrements as on other Parts so chiefly and with a greater sence of offence on the Fibres of the Meninges being before weak or injur'd in their conformation so that the pain lasted till the heterogeneous particles boyling by their mutual congress either were subdued or did exhale A handsome tall and slender Woman long and sorely obnoxious to cephalick affects was wont to be infested sometimes for many days nay weeks with a violent Head-ach which seiz'd her daily at her awake early in the morning and afflicted her for three or four hours In the mean space she was also affected with a heaviness of the whole Head a deadness of the Senses and a stupidity of Mind which affects vanishing together with the pain before Noon like Clouds disperst left all things calm and serene Till the next morning they possest again the Brain like a sogg and dark mist For curing these distempers I prescribed parging Pills a spare Bleeding Vesicatories also and the use of Spirit of Harts-horn or of Soot with Cephalick Juleps or Waters In this Gentlewoman the pains of the Head rather followed sleep than was cur'd by it because in this morning Head-ach the morbifick matter resided in the nervous Juice whose greatest curdity and aggravation about the Head happen presently after sleep but the other evening fit of this disease in regard it depended on the plenitude and turgescency of the nutritive liquor within the mass of Blood therefore hapned so many hours after dinner and was not mittigated but after sleep which appeases the disorders of the Blood Tho the Experience and Complaints of sick Persons manifestly shew that Fits of the Head-ach sometimes arise by consent from the other Parts viz. the Womb Spleen Stomach c. Nevertheless it as clearly appears from the accounts of them and the Phoenomena being duely considered that this is done by another means than by Vapours rais'd from the Viscera affected to the Head And first as to the pains of the Head seeming to be rais'd from a Womb nothing occurs more frequently than for violent Head-achs to ensue upon the suppression of the menses or lochia moreover tho the menses observe their due course yet some Women are wont to be afflicted with a violent pain of the Head just as they are coming others as soon as they are past But yet tho at the same time that the Head is affected the Womb is also yet it does not follow that the Injury is convey'd immediately from this to that but it is the Blood it self which fixes the morbifick matter on the Head viz. it sometimes perversly conveys it being engendred within its own bosom and design'd for the Womb into the Meninges of the Brain and sometimes withdrawing it from the Parts of the Womb it delivers it to the Head with a greater mischief This Aetiology agrees also with the Head-ach vulgarly imputed to the Stomach Spleen and other Parts A beautiful young Woman of a thin habit of Body and a hot Blood having been obnoxious to an hereditary Head-ach was wont to undergo frequent Fits of it and those coming at random to wit some happening on a light occasion and others arising of their own accord that is without any evident cause On the day before the spontaneous access of the Disease being very hungry in the Evening she greedily eat a plentiful Supper with a hunger-starv'd not to say Canine appetite most certainly fore-knowing by this sign that a pain of the Head would seize her next morning which sign never fail'd of Event for as soon as she awak'd being afflicted with a most cruel torture throughout the Sinciput she was affected likewise with a vomiting of a humour sometimes acid and as it were vitriolick sometimes bilous and extremely bitter it hence seeming to appear that that Head-ach had its rise from the fault of the Stomach To undertake to give the reason of this in the first place it is known that a vomiting ensues upon the Head's being injur'd viz. after a stroak Wound or a fall from an high place nevertheless a pain of the Head seldom or never follows a vomiting Cardialgia or the Stomachs being otherwise troubled unless an effervescency of the Blood happens Wherefore in the foresaid case of the Person diseas'd since it plainly appear'd that the Meninges of the Brain were predispos'd for Head-aches and that its Fits had raised an agitation of the Blood hence it will be obvious to conceive when the heterogeneous Particles by reason of the fault of Chylification were heap'd together in the mass of Blood to a fulness presently upon its beginning to flow in order to the expulsion of that which was offensive they being severed
another Man seiz'd with the Plague gets the same Disease or mediately and at a distance as if it happens that the Contagion be convey'd from one House to others at a distance and so if the Plague assails any Person handling a Garment or Houshold-stuff of an infected House after some Days or Months or haply Years tgherefore that the nature of a Contagion and the divers manners of it may be plainly known let us examine first What that things is which flows from an infected Body secondly How it is fisposed in the medium through which it passes thirdly After what manner it engenders an Affect like it self in another Body 1. That from every Body though of a fixt Nature Effluvia's of Atoms constantly flow which make as it were a mist or cloudy Circle about them and invest them as it were like the Down of a Peach it is so receiv'd a thing among the soundest Philosophers that there is nothing more and the more active Particles any thing consists of by so much it sends from it Corpuscles of a more notable Vertue and Energy hence the Effluvia which part from Electrick Bodies are albe to move other Bodies from their Places from Sulphurs Emanations pass which fill the whole Neighbourhood with Odours since therefore the pestilential Venom as is said before tho in a small Bulk is of a mighty Efficacy and Operation wheresoever it is fixt certain Emanations necessarily proceed from the Bodies imbued with it which carry the nature of the same Poyson and Malignity and diffuse it on every side according to its Sphere of Activity but since these Corpuscles which retain the Contagion of the Pestilence when they flow from one body are not presently received by another let us inquire how they are disposed in respect of their passing through the Medium Where presently occurrs the difference of them from most others in regard that the Effluvia which generally evaporate do not long retain the Nature of the body whence they flow but either vanish in the tenuated Air or closing with other bodies are assimilated with them but those Particles which part from a pestilential Miasm are not easily absorb'd by the Air or other Body so that they wholly perish but among various Consusions of Atomes and Dashings against other bodies they preserve themselves entire for this Poyson being ina manner masterless and insuperable by others continues still the same and tho it consists of a very small heap of Atomes it does not presently vanish but taints with its Ferment the next Corpuscles to it and so acquires to it self new Stores and gets Strength as it goes whence it lies long hid in every Fomes and after a long time when it has lighted on a fit Subject it exerts it self and communicating the Infection of its Venom to the other it resuscitates a-new the Disease of the Plague which before seemed to be driv'n away and tho from a very small Seminary it disperses its mortal Povson far and near For the Plague discloses such most certain Signs of its Contagion that some Authors affirm it to subsist among Mortals only by this means and that it not where arises a-new but is preserv'd only by a Fomes and that it is now and then conveyed from one Region into another Histories tell us that the Seeds of it have lain dormant for many Years in a Garment or Bed-Cloaths that upon the same afterward being stirr'd they have shewn themselves and have brought the Disease of the Pestilence arising a-fresh with a mighty Destruction of Mankind when by reason of a Fomes the Pestilence is propagated to a distance after this manner the venemous Corpuscles which remain in the Miasm being stirred presently spring forth and display their Venom on every side as it were by a certain Irradiation if they any where light on a humane Body they presently seise the Spirits and are conveyed inward by their Vehicle and then easily enough infect the Blood and all other Homours flowing in the Vessels with their Ferment and in a short time cause Coagulations and a Putrefaction in them And after this manner by most subtle Effiuvia there is made a certain Transmigration as it were of the pestilential Disease ev'n as when a graft cut from some Tree and laid aside for some time and afterward inserted in another Trunk is able though from a very small Bud to produce a Tree of the same Kind and Nature CHAP. XII Of the Plague THE Plague may be described after this manner That it is an Epidemious Disease contagious very destructive to Mankind taking its Rise from a venemous Miasm first received by the Air afterward propagated by Contagion which setting upon Men after a hidden and secret manner causes Extinctions of the Spirits Coagulations of the Blood Syderations and Mortifications of it and of the solid Parts and brings the Diseased in danger of Life with an Appearance of Pushes Bubo's or Carbuncles and with the addition of other horrible Symptoms There are a great many Signs occurring to us which fore-shew that the Pestilence will happen in a short time to wit if the Year does not keep its Temperament but has immoderate and very unseasonable excesses of Heat or Cold Drought or Moisture if the Measles or Small Pox are every where very rise if Phlegmons or Bubo's accompany reigning Fevers from a preceeding Famines a most certain Presage is taken of an ensuing Plague for the like Constitution of the Year which for the most part brings a Dearth of Provisions by reason of the Corn being blighted is apt also to produce a Plague also the evil sort of Dyet which such as are prest with Hunger make use of eating all kinds of unwholsome things without choice disposes their Bodies more readily to receive the Contagion Moreover Earth-quakes and fresh-opened Grotto's and Caverns upon the cleaving of the Earth by reason of the Eruptions of a malignant and venemous Air have often given Beginnings to Plagues Again as there is need of great Diligence in taking a fore-view as it were from a Watch-Tower of an imminent Plague so we ought to be no less sagacious in observing the same as if first arises and cast its first Darts for often being too sollicitous we dread even vulgar Fevers if haply they end in Death for this Contagion and sometimes being too secure contemning the Pestilence by reason of its Symptoms resembling those of a common Fever we find our Dangers but too late wherefore for the fuller knowledge of this Disease we shall set down its Signs and Symptoms both common and pathognomick Besides the Signs above delivered which by a certain Demonstration a Priori give a Suspicion of an ensuing Plague there are others whose concurrence with it plainly shew its Presence in a Body diseas'd of these some are common to a Plague with a putrid Fever some are more proper to this Affect for the Impression of the Plague oftentimes stirs up an Effervescence of the Blood and
look upon Simple Sinochi as free yet we assert them to be seldom touch'd with this Taint but most commonly the Fever which gives marks of a pestilent Nature or Malignity is such as imitates the Type of that we call a Putrid Fever for since in these Fevers besides the Phoenomena of a Virulency we observe a continued Effervescence of the Blood which as in Putrids passes through the Stages of a Beginning Increase Height and Declination we justly conclude that the sulphureous part of the Blood here is heated and kindled and by its burning brings the Fever wherefore in these kinds of Fevers two things are chiefly to be noted to wit the Effervescence of the Blood and a Malignity joyn'd with it of which sometimes this sometimes that excells and in both there is a great Latitude and there are many Degrees of Intension according as the Fever becomes more or less acute or malignant The Effervescence happens after the same manner as it is said before of putrid Fevers to wit the sulphureous part of the Blood growing hot above measure by its fervour takes to a Flame as it were whilst it burns it heaps together a vast Store of adust Matter in the Blood on the subduing and exclusion of which after the wonted manner of Fevers the height and Crisis depend but besides the Blood being infected with a certain venemous Miasm begins in burning by reason of the malignant Ferment to be coagulated and to putrifie by Parts wherefore besides the usual Symptoms of a vulgar Fever by Reason of certain Portions of the Blood being congealed or mortified a Fainting and Dejection of the Spirits also Appearances of Spots and Marks ensue Moreover the Venemous Effluvia which part from the Diseas'd by the force of the Contagion are able to stir up the like Affect in others wherefore by reason of the Destruction and Contagion and the various Degrees of the same it is call'd a Pestilential or Malignant Fever When the Blood boyling over vehemently is infected also with a malignant and venemous Ferment not only Coagulations of its own Mass with a Disposition to a Putrefaction are caus'd but the nervous Liquor also readily contracts this Taint whence being rendred disproportionate to the Brain and for the oeconomy of the animal Spirits it stirs up great Irregularities in them wherefore not only Spots and Pushes but oftentimes a Delirium Frenzy drowsie Affects Tremblings of the Limbs Cramps and convulsive Motions happen upon these Fevers We often observe that in certain Years malignant Fevers are rife which without an appearance of Marks shew their Virulency chiefly about the Genus Nervosum for in some presently from the Beginning a Sleepiness with a mighty Drowsiness of the Head in others obstinate Watchings a Disturbance of Mind with a Trembling and convulsive Motions but in most either no Crisis or a deceitful one and instead of it a Translation of the sebrile matter to the Brain has followed It has been farther observ'd that these Fevers have past by Contagion into others and that many have died of them so that they deserve to be call'd Malignant Now these kinds of Fevers sometimes are first begun by a venemous Miasm and the Blood being blasted with the Particles of the Poyson naturally falls into an over-vehement boyling and is inflamed as when any one by a Contagion or by breathing a malignant Air falls into a malignant Fever without an evident Cause or Praedisposition and sometimes a feverish Distemper arises from its own cause and afterward the Seeds of the Malignity either lying hid within the Body exert themselves in the Blood boyling over vehemently or come from elsewhere from a contaminated Air as a Fewel to a Flame first kindled for it is manifest by frequent Observation that during the time an Epidemick Fever reigns others after what manner soever they arise pass into it Malignant Fevers as also Pestilential for the most part are Popular and seise many together but sometimes they are peculiar and sporadical that haply they seise only one or two in a whole Country In such a case we may imagine that they proceed not from an Infected Air or Epidemick Cause but from a morbid Disposition of the Body for I have often observ'd that when Spring or Fall a pretty common Fever has reign'd in some City or Village of which a great many Sick escap'd haply some one on whom an evil Praedisposition and a strong evident Cause brought the Fever lay seis'd with more dreadful Symytoms and great Notes of Malignity in which Case that Malignity is not to be said a common Fever but only a sporadical and accidental one Tho the greatest Difference whereby these kinds of Fevers are distinguished betwixt themselves and from others consists in their Mortality and Contagion yet sometimes they are mark'd by some peculiar Symptom from which both the note of Malignity and the name they are called by are taken for that time hence in some Years an epidemick Fever reighs which causes in most that are affected with it a Quinsey at another time a Peripneumonia Plurisie Dysentery or some other Affect and that often dangerous and contagious so that not only the Seeds of Diseases deriv'd from Parents ex traduce disclose their Fruits by a certain Destiny as it were in the same Part or Member but also such as are received from a venemous Miasm generally reigning produce in all Persons Affects of the same manner and form which nevertheless I judge to happen not because the Seeds of the venemous Miasm regard this or that Region of the Body by some peculiar Vertue but they affect thus the Mass of Blood after the same manner in all forasmuch as for washing off that taint a Crisis must of necessity be attempted after the same manner in all for when without Malignity the Blood is apt to be extravasated by reason of Coagulation or haply for other Causes the usual Places in which the Portions of the same extravagated are wont to be fix'd are the Throat Pleura Lungs and Intestines wherefore it 's no Wonder when a Congelation and therefore an Extravasation of the Blood is procur'd from a malignant Cause if the Disease lodges it self in the usual seat of Nature As to the Signs of these kinds of Fevers besides by the Contagion and Mortality the Malignity of the Fever is shewn by a sudden Dejection of the Strength a weak and uneven Pulse an evil Affect of the Brain and nervous Parts caus'd on a sudden violent Vomitings a blackness of the Tongue an over-spreding of Blackness over the whole Body but especially by an appearance of Spots Buboes and other Marks For the Cure of Fevers both Pestilential and Malignant there is need of a greater Judgment and Circumspection than in any others whatsoever for there being two primary Indicants to wit the Malignity and the Feverish Distemperature and since we can scarce provide for the one without the Detriment of the other it will not be
and either hinder the Stuffings of the Viscera or remove them being made and restore their Ferments being almost extinct for this Use chiefly conduce the Remedies and Preparations which are vulgarly call'd Digestives and Antiscorbuticks by which being seasonably administred I have known many weak pale and bloodless Persons as it were to have soon recover'd a sprightly Strength and Vigour A Description made the last Day of May of a Catarrhous Epidemick Fever happening in the middle of the Spring An. 1658. AN immoderate Heat of the Summer before was followed in the Winter with a Frost equally intense so that no Man living has scarce remembred a year like this for an Excess both of Heat and Cold. From the fifth of December almost to the Vernal Equinox the Earth was cover'd with Snow and from the North Winds continually blowing all things set in the open Air waxed stiff with Cold and afterward from the beginning of the Spring almost to the first day of June the same Wind still blowing the Season was more like Winter than Spring only that sometimes haply it was interlac'd with a day or two of hot Weather During the Winter amongst our People here save that the Quartan Ague contracted in the Autumn infested some the State was indifferently healthful free from any popular Disease In the beginning of the Spring an intermittent Tertian Fever as it 's usual in every other year seised some About the end of April on a sudden an Affect shew'd it self which being sent as it were by a certain Blast from the Stars seis'd a great many that in some certain Towns in a Weeks space above a thousand Men lay ill at once The Pathognomick Symptom of this Disease which first seised the Diseased was a troublesome Cough with a copious Spitting and a Catarrh falling on the Palate Throat and Nostrils there is also a feverish Distemperature which for the most part is joyn'd with a Heat and a Drought a want of Appetite a spontaneous Lassitude and a great Pain in the Back and Loins which Fever nevertheless in some was more remiss that they walk'd abroad and during all the time of their Sickness followed the usual Offices of Life complaining in the mean time of a want of Strength and a Weakness of a loathing of food of a Cough and a Catarrh Now in some a hot Distemperature very much reigned that being confined to their Bed they were troubled with a Burning and a mighty Drought with Watchings a Hoarseness and an almost continual Cough sometimes a Bleeding at Nose in some a Spitting Blood and often bloody Stools happened upon this Affect Those who being of an infirm Body and stricken in Years were seised with this Disease many of them died but in a manner all of those that were strong and of a sound Constitution recover'd those who yielding to this Disease perished they died for the most part by reason of their Strength being wasted by Degrees and a Mass of serous Filth being heaped together in the Breast with the Fevers being increased and a difficult Breathing like Persons troubled with a Hectick Fever Concerning this Disease we must enquire what kind of Procatarctick Cause it had that it should rise on a sudden in the Spring and that within a Months time almost the third Part of Mankind should be affected with it Afterward the Signs and Symptoms being diligently compared together the formal Reason of this Disease also the ways of its Crisis and Cure ought to be assigned That the North Wind is most apt for producing Catarrhs besides the Testimony of Historians common Experience makes good but why Catarrhs did not spread themselves so much sporadically during all the Tract of the Winter and Spring but that this Affect should reign epidemically only for the space of one Month and then joyn'd with a Fever the reason is not so plain I know that many draw the Cause from the uneven Distemperature of the Air for that Season which tho for the most part cold yet sometimes the Northwind remitting for a Day or two was very hot wherefore on this Occasion as upon taking Cold after being hot many Men might fall sick this kind of evident Cause might suffice haply for affecting some with this Sickness but for causing an Affect arising so on a sudden and generally reigning besides such an occasion a great Procatarxis or Predisposition was requir'd for it ought to be supposed that all Men in a manner were ready prepared for receiving this Disease otherwise no evident Cause would exercise its force so powerfully on a great many wherefore it is likely that this Disease drew its Origine from the Distemperature and very great Irregularity of the Year and as the intermittent Autumnal Fever above described was the Product of a preceeding immoderate Heat so this catarrhal Fever wholly depended on the Tract of the Year hapning to be too cold for the Blood being already burnt from the over-hot Summer and inclin'd to the Fever above described then Autumn coming on being made more sharp and apt to a Quartan Fever afterward by reason of the intense Cold of the Winter being little eventilated and hindred from its due Perspiration it held still a Dyscrasie and was ready to suffer by it as occasion might be given Wherefore in regard the Blood in the middle of the Spring as the Juyce of Vegetables being become more sprightly and having begun to spring and display it self by reason of its Thickness still continued was straitned in circulating it was prone to feverish Effervescencies and in regard the Serous Latex abounding in the Blood was not able to evaporate forth by reason of the Pores being still closed with the Cold restagnating inwardly and falling chiefly on the Lungs where somewhat succedaneous is performed to outward Perspiration it rais'd so frequent and troublesome a Cough Therefore the Rise and formal Reason of this Disease are chiefly founded in two things to wit that there happened together a greater Effervescence of the Blood than ordinary caused by the Spring Season and withall a Density or a great Constriction of the Pores caused by the preceeding Tract of Time which was too cold that thereby there was not a free space granted the Blood springing in the Vessels the Case was the same as if Wine beginning to ferment were put into Vessels close stopt for by this means both the Vessels and the Wine are in danger of being destroyed Wherefore to draw the thing in short that this Disease arising in the middle of the Spring presently spreading very far seiz'd a great many the cause was not a blast of a malignant Air whereby the Diseased were affected as tho struck by a Sideration as some will have it but that at this time the Blood being inspired by the Constitution of the Spring and so apt to display it self and ferment was straitned in its Motion and the Efluvia being inwardly restrained it could not be enough ventilated Every years tho
ib. p. 134 135. the Method of Cure ib. Prescripts of Medicines for it p. 136. An Instance of another Person troubled with it and how cur'd ib. p. 137. Dropsie call'd Anasarca see Anasarca Dropsie call'd Ascites see Ascites Dropsie call'd the Tympany see Tympany Dropsie hapning in the Scurvy its Cure p. 366 367. Dysentery see Purging E. EMetick Medicines see Vomiting Empyema what the Word imports p. 119. what to be considered in order to its cure ib. An Incision not to be attempted over hastily in it p. 120. Forms of Medicines requisite for curing an Empyema ib. A Julep against Faintings and Swoonings upon the Operation ib. Ephemera Fever see Fever Epilepsie seeing Falling Sickness F. FAlling Sickness its Description p. 138 139. Sometimes terminates of its own accord ib. The Method of proceeding with it p. 240. What Medicines us'd against the Fit ib. p. 241. The chiefest care in the Prophylactick part for removing the cause ib. What Medicines to be us'd for it ib. p. 242. An Instance of a Person troubled with the Falling-sickness and with what Medicines cur'd p. 243. The general Method of curing it with prescripts of Medicines ib. p. 244 245 246 247 248 249. Fever its Description p. 426. Intermitting Fevers whence caused ib. why a cold and a shivering precede the heat in them p. 427. whence their Intermission and set returns ib. p. 528. their Cure how undertaken ib. p. 529. Certain Irregularities of them p. 530. Fever tertian Instructions concerning it p. 531 532. Symptoms foreshewing its Remission ib. 533. It s Method of Cure p. 534 535 536 537. Fever quartan Instructions concerning it p. 540 541. Why so difficult to cure ib. curd by raising a gentle Salivation p. 542. Other Remedies for it p. 543 544 545. c. Fevers continual wherein differing from Intermittents p. 548. the kinds of them ib. Fever call'd Ephemera or simple Synochus holding one or many Daies Instructions concerning it p. 549 550. three things required to a Crisis or Solution of it ib. p. 551. its Cure ib. Fever putrid its Causes p. 552 553. the four observable times of it ib. p. 554 555 556 557. the most considerable Symptoms and Signs in it p. 560 561 562 563 564 565 566. the Pulse and Urine chiefly to be minded for knowing the State and Strength of the Diseased p. 567 568. 569 570. The kinds of the putrid Synochus p. 571 572 573. its Cure p. 574 575 576. Examples of Persons seised with it and the Method us'd with them p. 577 578 579 580 581 582. Fever Malignant or Pestilential in general wherein it consists p. 583. What parts of the Body their venom Affects p. 584 585. the Essence of a Pestilential Fever in what founded p. 587. whence it arises 588 what Bodies apt to receive it p. 590. how propagated by Contagion ib. p. 591. Fevers Pestilential and Malignant in Specie and other Epidemick Fevers p. 601. the distinctions betwixt a Plague a Pestilential and a Malignant Fever ib. p. 602. Pestilential and Malignant Fevers plac'd in the rank of Continual Fevers ib. Signs of Malignity in Fevers p. 604 605. what to be observed in the cure of Pestilential and Malignant Fevers ib. an Instance of a Pestilential Fever p. 606 607. its way of cure p. 608. Instances of the Malignant Fever p. 609 610 611 612 613. Fevers of Women in Child-bed Instructions concerning them p. 625 626 627 628 629. of the Lacteal Fever of Women after Child-birth p. 630. its cure p. 631. Putrid Fevers of Women in Child-bed ib. p. 632. their Procatarctick Causes p. 633. the Evident Causes ib. the Conjunct Cause p. 634. they are dangerous p. 635. the cure ib. p. 636 637 638. Fevers Symptomatick of Women in Child-bed what those Symptoms are p. 639. what must be done in order to their Cure p. 640. What must be done in the Small Pox when happening p. 641. Stories of Women in Child-bed troubled with Fevers ib. p. 642 643 644 645 646 647. Fevers Epidemick and Anomalous p. 648. A Description of one ib. p. 649. its Nature and Essence ib. p. 650 651. its conjunct Cause ib. what it has peculiar from common Intermittents and a Synochus p. 654 653. its general Prognostick p. 653. its particular Prognostick ib. its method of Cure p. 655 656 657. Fever Epidemick and Catarrhous described p. 657 658. the rise and formal reason of it p. 659. its Symptoms p. 660. its Prognostick ib. the method of Cure p. 661. Another Epidemick Fever described p. 662 663. its Nature p. 665. its Accidents p. 666 667. the Prognostick of it p. 668. the method of Cure p. 669 670 671 672. Fever Epidemick chiefly infesting the Brain and Genus Nervosum p. 271 272. its formal Reason and Causes 275. Instances of Persons seis'd with it p. 276 277 278. the method of Cure ib. p. 279 280 281. An Instance of a Fever chiefly radicated in the nervous Juice and its Cure 282 Fever Scorbutick its Cure 363. 364. Fits of the Mother p. 297. the various Passions vulgarly said to constitute an Hysterick fit or a fit of the Mother ib. those Fits are properly Convulsive p. 298. they arise chiefly from the Brain and genus Nervosum ib. sometimes from the Womb and others of the Viscera ib. p. 299. An Instance of a Person troubled with them and what done in order to the Cure ib. p. 300 301 302. The method of Cure to be us'd in the Passions vulgarly call'd Hysterical ib. p. 303 304 305 306. Flux See Purging Folly see Stupidity French-Pox safely cur'd with a Sweating Diet-Drink p. 38. Frensy its Definition p. 451. whence caused ib. the formal Nature of it wherein it consists p. 453. another Definition of it p. 454. the previous Dispositon of the Blood disposing to a Frensy ib. another Disposition to the Frensy ib. the evident Causes of it p 455. the Prognostick of it ib. p. 456. In the Cure of it regard must be had to two things ib. Prescripts of Medicines for it p. 457 458 459. an Instance of a Person Troubled with it and how cur'd ib. p. 460. G. GIddiness or running round of the Head see Vertigo Gout its Fits either seise at random or periodically p. 495. The Dispositions to this Disease and the Occasions or Causes which are wont to actuate them ib. the Morbifick Matter ib. the evident Causes of it p. 496 497. It 's near ally'd to the Stone in the Reins p. 498. The Prognostick of it ib. it often turnes to Gripes in the Belly to a difficulty of Breathing c. ib. p. 499. the Method of Cure with Prescripts of Medicines ib. p. 500 501 502 503 504 505. An Instance of a Person troubled with it ib. p. 506. Gout Scorbutick moving from one Place to another its Cure p. 362. Gumms sore their Cure p. 359. 360. H. Haemorrhagies see Blood Head-Ach its Subject p. 370. the formal Cause of it p. 371. the Prognostick of it ib. habitual Head-ach two