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
parching that it was very tedious to be in the open Field By reason of those Excesses of Heat and Cold the Temperature of this Year was very uneven wherefore of Necessity our Blood must be sometimes fixed and as it were congealed sometimes too much parcht and therefore preverted from its natural Crasis to be burnt or atrabilarious also the Pores of the Skin were very much altered from their due Constitution that thereby insensible Transpiration was not performed after its wonted manner From the time the foregoing Fever ceased there was a healthy state and free from any popular Disease almost to the end of the Dog-dayes but afterward a few first in Country Houses and Villages fell sick here and there but afterward about the end of the Month of August a new Fever rising on a sudden began to be rife throughout whole Countries on every side in our Neighbourhood this also the other which reigned the Autumn before chiefly raged in Country Villages and Boroughs fewer of the Inhabitants of Cities and the greater Towns in the mean while falling ill of it At the same time in other Countries far remote from hence nay almost throughout all England an Epidemick Fever was said to reign and in certain other Places a far greater mortality was talked of than here with us Haply the Idea of this Fever now reigning and its Apparatus of Symptoms is not in all Places alike in all things or is it markt wholly with the same Phaenomena and Accidents I shall set down succinctly and briefly whatsoever I have learned by my own Observation or by the Communication of others concerning its Nature as it was in our Neighbourhood About the first beginnings of this Disease its Type was erring and very uncertain for in some there was a continual Effervescence in others it was intermittent and renewed with set Fits but in a great many of the Diseased it happen'd as a pathognomick Symptom at this time to be ill in the Brain and Genus Nervosim that presently from the beginnings of this Fever almost all complain'd of their Head being very bad for some were infested with a violent Head-ach others with a hardness of Hearing and a ringing in the Ears but to most either a Drowsiness and a great Sleepiness with a vertiginous Affect or obstinate Watchings with a Delirium and Distractions of the Animal Spirits were wont to happen I have observed in some that on the first or second Days of being sick broad and red Spots like the Measles broke forth by little and little in the whole Body which vanishing in a short time after presently the Fever became more intense and especially the Affects of the Head far more severe thenceforward a Drowsiness of the Senses and a Sleepiness seised some for many days that they lay a long time without Speech or Knowledge of their Friends like Persons ready to dye I have known some to have been cast hence into a Lethargy others into an Apoplexy some to have fall'n into Deliriums and a Frenzy Many of the younger and stronger of these Men escaped tho not without a long continued Weakness and a doubtful Recovery mean while the old Persons and those who were otherwise weak and sickly dyed in all Parts as for such who lay ill of a continual Fever as it were with these Marks of Malignity they were but few and only in some Houses sporadically but the Sickness which most generally reigning in our Neighbourhood assail'd most and still severely rages seems to imitate the Type of an intermittent Fever viz. of a Tertian or of a Quotidian for either each Day or which I have more frequently observed every other day the Diseased have Fits which with a Cold a Heat and a Sweat succeeding in order infest them a long time and severely and these kinds of Accesses and the whole course of the Disease are wont to be mark'd with a various Concourse of Symptoms and Accidents according to the different Age and Temperament of the Diseased and this is common to most I had almost said to all that fall sick to be troubled with Cephalick Affects together with this Fever When therefore any one is affected with this Disease whether the Sickness be raised from an evident Cause or from Contagion or without a manifest Occasion a Pain in the Head and often in the Loins with a Drought a want of Appetite a spontaneous Lassitude and a Heat tho not intense discover its coming if it happens in a young Body of a florid Blood and hot Temperament about its Beginnings the Fits are without a Cold or a Shivering but they prove very troublesome with a long and sharp Burning The Sick are often troubled with a Vomiting and for the most part they have a violent Pain in the Head a Sweat happens with difficulty which often being partial and soon interrupted seldom ends the Fit but when they cease to sweat they burn again that the Access is scarce ended in some within eighteen or thirty four Hours Mean while by the Bloods very much boyling the Fancy is troubled that often a Delirium a talking light-headed Watchings and a great Restlessness are raised during the Fit and the same being ended during the time of the Interval still a troublesome Drought a remiss Heat a failing of the Strength and a great Weakness of the Spirits with a Head-ach and a vertiginous Affect molest them they are scarce to be found who as in a common Tertian are indifferently well in the Intervals of the Accesses About the Beginnings of the Disease the sharp Fits of the Fever are somewhat more mild which afterward grow worse every time by little and little and at length begin with a Cold or a Shivering to which nevertheless after a long and very troublesome Burning a Sweat with difficulty succeeds in most so that the Fit is seldom ended in a due Temperature Within six or seven Returns the Strength of the Diseased is very much consumed that being become languishing and weak they have a hard Task to strive with the Disease for unless Nature be aided by Art the Fever still prevails and seldom or never within a short time is either solv'd by a Crisis or remits by little and little but brings the affected by a long Siege to the greatest straits to wit persisting so long till the Blood being become very effaete or rendred watery by its frequent Deflagration is altogether unmeet to boyl too much of its own accord in its Vessels or to be freely kindled in the Heart and then it becomes often so vapid and poor of Spirits that being insufficient for continuing the Lamp of Life it brings Death But sometimes the mass of Blood depraved and depaupered by this Disease is able to continue tho with difficulty the Vital fire hlaf extinct and to refresh it again by little and little and in a long time with Spirit and Vigour tho in the mean while after the height of this Disease
easie to judge which we must obviate first and chiefly take care off in respect of the Fever Purging Bleeding and cooling things chiefly conduce but whilst these things are used the Malignity for the most part is increased and they being neglected it diffuses it self farther Against the Malignity Alexipharmicks and Diaphoreticks are required but these greatly intend the Fever exagitate as by a blowing of Bellows the Blood and Spirits kindled before and put them in a manner all in a Flame wherefore there is need here of a great Quickness of Understanding that these things be duely compared betwixt each other and that the curative Intentions be there directed where most danger shews it self tho so that while one is taken care of the other be not neglected but in these Cases besides the private Judgment of each Physician Experience furnishes us with the chief method of healing for when these Fevers first grow rise almost every particular Person trys particular Remedies and from their Successes compar'd together it is easily learnt what kind of Method we must insist on till at last by a frequent Tryal as it were by the Foot-steps of Passengers a common and Road-way as it were is made to the Cure of these kinds of Affects being fortified with various Observations and Precepts Besides these kinds of Fevers which assail many together and by reason of their Contagion Mortality and conspicuous Marks of Virulency deserve to be called Pestilential or Malignant there are found some other Epidemick or Popular Fevers which almost every Year either Spring or Fall grow very rise in certain Countries of which a great many of the Inhabitants are wont to fall sick and not a few especially of the more elderly People to dye in which nevertheless no Signs of a pestilent or malignant Nature appear nor does the Disease seem so much by Contagion to pass from some incontinently to others as to seise many together by reason of a Predisposition communicated almost to all Now these kinds of Affects depend chiefly on a foregoing Constitution of the Year for if a Season very intemperate by reason of excesses of Cold or Heat Drought or Moisture has preceded and has so continued a long time it changes our Blood for the most part from its due Temper whereby it is apt afterward to fall into severish Effervescencies and hence a Fever sometimes of this sometimes of that Type and Idea is produced which presently becomes epidemical because it draws its Origine from a common Cause whereby the Bodies in a manner of all Men are affected together Now such Fevers in as much as they depend on the Blood getting a Disposition sometimes sharp sometimes austere or of another kind according to the Temper of the Year for the most part they are of the number of Intermittents tho they are wont to be mark'd with a peculiar Apparatus of Symptoms according to the peculiar Constitution of each Year We cannot comprehend these under a certain common Rule or formal Consideration which aptly answers to each of the Particulars of this Nature because they vary yearly according to a great many Accidents tho however of these kinds of Fevers reigning of late Years in this Country we shall give the Descriptions taken at that time and shall set them down as a Conclusion at the end of this Work It remains for us still to add to the number of Malignant Fevers certain other private Fevers partaking of no Contagion as are those especially which are wont to happen to Women in Child-bed by reason of their difficult Labour or for that the Lochia are detain'd for it is manifest enough by common Observation that these are very dangerous and often mortal for if the Parts of the Womb being injured or upon the admission of Cold or haply for some other Cause the Lochia are stopt and the Humour which ought to have been voided forth comes to be mingled with the Mass of Blood it fouly defiles it with a certain venemous mixture as it were that thereby presently a Fever is raised which for the most part is attended with an ill Company of Symptoms viz. a Heat and violent Drought a Vomiting a Cardialgia and Watchings and generally comes either to no Crisis or a very difficult one because unless the flowing of the Lochia after their wonted way be again restor'd after the Blood has undergone an Effervescence for some Days the Taint is wont to be communicated to the Brain and the Genus Nervosum whence presently a Delirium Frenzy Convulsions and other very ill Affects for the most part are caused which often terminate in Death But these kinds of Fevers deserve a peculiar Consideration which we resolve to have more fully beneath in a Discourse appropriated to this purpose mean while we must give some Instances or Examples of the Fevers above treated of viz. of the Pestilential and Malignant The pestilential Fever of late Years has reign'd more rarely in these Parts than the Plague it self I shall give you briefly the Description of the only one of this kind which has occur'd to our Observation Anno 1643. when in the beginning of the Spring the Earl of Essex besieg'd Reading kept by the King's Garrison in both Armies a very Epidemick Disease began to arise tho however he pursuing his work till the Besieged were forced to a Surrender The Affect so prevail'd that in a short while afterward there was a Cessation on both sides and thenceforward for many Months there was a Conflict not with the Enemy but with the Disease Essex withdrawing his Forces seated himself at and the adjacent Places where in a short time he lost a great Part of his Men and the King returned to Oxford where the Souldiers first keeping themselves in the open Field and afterward being disposed off in Towns and Villages he underwent a loss not much inferiour for his Foot whom it chiefly seised being lodg'd a great many of them together in streightned Lodgings when they had filled all Places with Nastiness and Filth and stinking Odours that they seem'd to have defil'd even the Air it self fell sick many of them together and as it were in Files at length the Fever reaching farther than the Souldiery assailed every where the weak Multitude to wit the Persons of the Houses where the Souldiers lodged and others tho many of them at first the Contagion being yet but mild upon them escaped yet lying a long time in a very languishing Condition About the Summer Solstice this Fever began to psread it self with a worse Attendance of Symptoms and to seise a great many Husband-men and others living in the Country and afterward it reigned in this our City and the whole Neighbourhood for at least ten Miles round about mean while those who liv'd in other Countries far from hence as tho they were beyond the Sphere of the Contagion continued free from harm But here that Disease grew so general that the greatest part of Mankind was
infected with it whatsoever House it entred presently it set upon the whole that there were scarce enough remaining in Health to attend those that were ill such as came to them from elsewhere or Hirelings called to attend the Diseased were presently seised with the same Infection that at length for fear of the Contagion such as lay sick of this Fever were shunn'd by those that were in Health in a manner as Persons troubled with the Plague Nor did a small Mortality or Destruction of Mankind attend this Disease for a great many old Men Cachectical Ptysical or otherwise unhealthy Persons fell under this Fate also not a few Children Youths and such as were full grown I remember that in certain Villages all the elderly People in a manner were carried off this Year that there scarce remained alive any for unpholding the Customs and Priviledges of the Parish by the Traditions rcceiv'd from their Ancestors When this Fever first began it carried somewhat the Type of a putrid Synochus but it came with difficalty to a Crisis and when it seemed to be solv'd by a Swear or a Loosness it was wont presently to wax worse again but for the most part after a Deflagration of the Blood continued for six or seven days this remitting and instead of a Crisis the adust Matter being convey'd to the Brain the Diseased lying a long time sometimes raving mad oftner with a Drowsiness and a great Weakness and sometimes with convulsive Motions scarce escaped at length with Life About the middle of the Summer beside the Contagion and the frequent Mortality this Disease discovered its malignant and pestilential Force by open Signs viz. by the Eruption of Pushes and Spots for about this time without any great burning of a Fever the Pulse in many grew uneven weak and very disorderly also without a manifest spending of the Spirits the Strength presently became languid and very much dejected in others lying ill after the like manner Pimples sometimes small and red sometimes large and livid appear'd in many Buboes as in the Plgaue about the glandulous Parts some of these without any great Conflict of the Spirits or feverish Excandescence raised in the Blood died without noise and on a sudden mean while others growing presently raving mad as long as they continued in Life underwent horrible Distractions of the Animal Spirits Such as escap'd from this Disease recovered not but after a long time and that without a laudable Crisis unless by a Sweat procured by Art the Brain at length and the Genus Nervosum being affected and they being seized with a Dullness of the Senses Tremblings a Vertigo a Weakness of the Members and-convulsive motions During the Dog-days this Disease still infesting began to be handled not as a Fever but as a milder sort of Plague and to be overcome only by Alexipharmick Remedies Bleeding was always thought fatal to it Vomitories and Purges were used now and then tho not so frequently but the chiefest method of Cure was placed in Alexipharmicks and a Sweant seasonably procured For this purpose besides the Prescripts of Physicians taken from Apothecaries Shops certain Empirical Remedies deserv'd no small Praise then first in this Country the Countess of Kent 's Powder began to be of great Fame and another ash-coloured Powder was not of the least note which a certain Courtier coming by chance to this City gave to many with good Success and sold it others who approved of its use at a great rate The Diseased were wont upon drinking half a Dram of this in any Liquor to fall into a most copious Sweat and so to be freed from the Virulency of the Disease that Diaphortick the Preparation whereof I learnt afterward from the Authors Sisters Son was only the Powder of Toads cleansed with Salt and afterward washed with good Wine and lightly calcin'd in an earthen Pot. Autumn coming on this Disease remitted by Degrees of its wonted Fierceness that fewer fell sick and a great many of them recovered till upon the access of Winter a state of Health was again entirely setled in this City and in the adjacent Country Let us here consider the Rise Progress and lastly the End of this Fever which at first was only belonging to the Army and at length became pestilential and epidemick that the Disease first began in the Souldiers Camp it seems that it ought not only to be imputed to their Nastiness and stinking Smells but in some measure to the common Fault of the Air for since these Fevers do not happen yearly their Origine will be somewhat ascribed to the peculiar Constitution of the Year for a light Distemperature of the Air being thereby contracted tho it does not ill affect such as use a wholsome way of living yet in an Atmy where to the general Procatarxis evident Causes viz. a great many Errors in the six non-natural things are joyn'd those kinds of Sicknesses must of necessity be more easily rais'd Now the Vernal Constitution of this Year was very moist being almost continually attended with wet Showers to which afterward a hot Summer succeeding both rendred still more depraved the Miasms of the feverish Contagion reigning here before and more disposed all Bodies to receive them wherefore that this Distemper became in a manner peculiar to this Country and epidemick at this time it was long of its Seminary arising in the first place from the Army lying round about but in as much as becoming afterward pestilential and very epidemick it infected the greatest part of Mankind here living and killed not a few the cause was the ill Affect of the Air which being unwholsome through the Distemperature of the year became moreover so vicious at length by the continual breathing forth of stinking Vapors from the Souldiers Camps and the Cohabitation of the Diseased that the Miasms of this Fever disperst in it were greatly exalted and rise almost to the Virulency of a Pestilence Diemerbrochius relates That from such a kind of Camp-Fever rais'd in the Summer in the Town of Aquitane afterward another malignant and pestilential and at length the Plague it self grew and that this our Fever at last stood in competition with the Plague it self besides the great force of the Contagion and the great Mortality the very ill Affects of the Blood and nervous Liquor presently caused in all from the same did declare for the Strength dejected on a sudden the weak intermittent and formication Pulse the Eruption of Pushes and Buboes argued the Coagulation and corruptive Disposition of the Blood Moreover a Delirium Mania Frenzy Deadness Sleepyness Vertigo Tremblings convulsive Motions and other Affects of the Head of divers kinds shew'd a mighty Annoyance of the Head and Genus Nervosum For setting forth the Type or Idea of the Malignant Fever to the Life there are a great many Observations or Stories of Sick Persons ready at hand Of many Examples of this Disease I shall here insert only a few which some
augmented that its Vesiculae being distended or many of them broken into one and so a Solution of Continuity or an Ulcer being caus'd a greater Mass of Matter for the Consumption is daily heap'd together Moreover and that the matter in regard it is permitted to continue long there Putrisies and so still corrupts the Lungs more and taints the Blood passing through them In this case the Therapeutick Indieations are chiefly these three viz. First of all to stop the dissolution or the Blood which is the Root of all the mischief and to prevent it from pouring always matter in so great a plenty on the Lungs Secondly To evacuate by Expectoration the corruption gather d together within the Lungs and that sufficiently in some short time Thirdly To corroborate and dry the Lungs being dissolv'd as to their unity or become too lax and moist or otherwise weak lest they are daily more corrupted and receive the Morbifick matter always more and more Each of these Indications prompts us various intentions of Curing and requires divers sorts of Remedies and many ways of Administration of which I shall here briefly touch the chief Therefore what the first Indication suggests to wit to stop the dissolution of the Blood these three things as much as may be must be procur'd viz. First that the Mass of Blood may contain within it and assimilate whatever Nutritive Juice it is supply'd with and be so proportion'd with it that it be not faulty either in quantity or quality Secondly That the Acidities engendred either in the Blood or convey'd to it from elsewhere be so destroy'd that the Blood retaining always its Mixture or Crasis be not so subject to Fluxions or Fusions Thirdly That all dreggy Excrements in the Blood be deriv'd from the Lungs to other Emunctories and places of Evacuation As to the first of these intentions of Curing that the Nutritive Juice be proportion'd to the Blood before all things it must be ordered that Persons troubled with a Cough and Phthisick abstain as much as may be from Drink and take liquid things but in a very small quantity so that the Blood being weak in its Crasis may be able more easily to subdue the minute Portions of fresh Juice as long as it is not too much cloy'd with it and to retain it within its Texture Again let that fresh Juice consist of such Particles as are subtle and gentle that they may be mastered by the Blood and be assimilated without any eager heat of contest Wherefore Asses milk sometimes also Cows Mild or Goats Milk also Water-gruel Cream of Barley Ptisan Almond Milks and other simple sorts of food agree better and nourish more than Flesh Eggs or Gelly-broaths strong Ale Wine or any other kind of richer Fare Secondly That the Blood retaining its temperament be not easily dissolv'd into Serosities offending the Lungs as well it s own Acidities as those of the other humours that are mixt with it and especially of the Nervous and Lymphick humours must be destroy'd Which intention is excellently perform'd by Medicines prepar'd of Sulphur which therefore in this case so there be not a Hectick Feaver are frequently given and in a large Proportion Wherefore let the Tincture Balsam Syrup Flowers and Milk of Sulphur be given twice or thrice a day in a good large Dose for the same purpose Traumatick or Vulnerary Decoctions also Decoctions of Pectoral Herbs commonly so call'd and Roots are to be taken instead of ordinary drink Moreover Powder of Crabs Eyes of Millepedes and of other things containing an Alkalisate or Volatile Salt are often given with good success The Third intention of Curing referring to the First Indication viz. That the dreggy Excrements of the depraved Blood in case they much abound be withdrawn from the Lungs and Voided by other Emunctories suggests to us many ways to be put in practise for withdrawing them For besides Bleeding Evacuation by Urine and now and then a gentle Purge which have place in all Coughs even in a beginning Phthisick we ought also to range here Baths Breathing in a warm Air to promote perspiration also frictions of the extream parts Dropax's Issues Vesicatories shaving the Head Errhin's Apophlegmatisms and all other general or particular ways of Evacuating humours or vapours The Seeond Indication in a beginning Phthisick viz. that the corrupted matter depos'd within the Lungs be every day readily and clearly discharg'd is perform'd with expectorating Medicines These are said to operate in a two-fold manner according as their vertue is conveyed to the Lungs two ways For some of them taken by the mouth immediately send their active Particles into the Trachea which partly by making the passages slippery and by loosening at the same time the matter there sticking and partly by irritating the Excretory Fibres into Convulsions cause an Expectoration In which number Linctus's and Fumigations are esteem'd the chief Expectorating Remedies of the other kind which are justly esteem'd the best exert their Energy by the conveyance of the Blood for consistion of such Particles which cannot be subdued and assimilated by the Mass of Blood when they enter it being immiscible with it they are presently cast forth again and penetrate from the Arteries of the Lungs into the Ductus's of the Trachea where cleaving to the matter they divide attenuate and so exagitate it that the Fibres being thereby irritated and successively contracted in Coughing the Contents of the Trachea and of its Vesiculae are thrown up into the mouth Medicines proper for this use besides Sulphur and preparations of it are Artificial Balsams distill'd with Oyl of Turpentine Tinctures and Syrups of Gumm Ammoniacum Galbanum Assa-faetida Garlick Leeks and the like strong smelling things of which also Lohoch's and Eclegma's are prepar'd and these indeed work both ways so that partly by slipping down into the Trachea and partly by entring the Lungs by the Circuit of the Blood they set upon the Morbifick matter both before and behind and so throw it forth with the greater force As to the Third Indication viz. That the injur'd Conformation or vitiated constitution of the Lungs may be restor'd or amended such things must be us'd which resisting putrefaction mundify consolidate dry and corroborate for which ends also Medicines prepar'd of Sulphur Balsamicks and Traumaticks are proper Hence some Empiricks successfully preseribe not only the fume of Sulphur but likewise of Arsenick to be drawn through a Pipe or Funnel into the Lungs Moreover for this reason it is that the change of Habitation as from Cities to a Country or Sulphureous Air or travelling from one Country into another hotter proves so notably beneficial So far of the method of Cure which seems to be proper for a deeper Cough or a beginning Phthisick Now we must set down some Select Forms of Medicines according to each of those Therapeutick Indications which also according to the way us'd in a gentle Cough free from a Phthisick we shall distribute into certain
forbidden for fear of a new fluxion viz. Errhines Sneezers and Apophlegmatisms ought to be us'd Moreover then it will be sometimes profitable to apply the warm Viscera of a fresh kill'd Animal to the Sinciput after that the Hair is shav'd or cut and now and then to change it and sometimes also to foment those places with a cephalick and discussing Decoction But beyond other Topicks I have known great relief given by a large Vesicatory raising Sores that ran very much all over the Head I saw two Lethargical Persons cured chiefly by this Remedy after that the Disease was protracted in length and therein having lost not only the memory but even all knowledge for in both the excoriated places in regard they could not easily be covered with an Eschar discharg'd a vast quantity of a thin Ichor to wit daily about half a pound It will not be needful for us to describe or set down other Medicines of this kind they being vulgarly and every where to be found what remains for the illustrating of what is said before I shall give you some Histories of sick Persons A Husbandman about thirty years of age of a phlegmatick temperament inclining to a sanguine being long obnoxious to requent Head-aches about the beginning of Winter became very sleepy and drowsy afterward on a certain day when he was tilling a field he laid himself on the ground and fell into a profound Sleep and when he could not be awak'd by a Servant and other Persons call'd being carried home he was put to bed his Friends in the mean while expecting that the Sleep being at length ended he would awake of his own accord After the space of twenty four hours was past when they were not able to awake him by pinching pricking making a noise and other wayes they call me when I came I applied a large Vesicatory presently to all the hinder part of his Neck then Blood being drawn to sixteen ounces I ordered a smart Clyster to be given his Face and Temples to be anointed with Oyl of Amber Frictions and painful Ligatures to be used to his Legs Moreover I prescribed Spirit of Soot to be taken often in a day with a cephalick Julep notwithstanding he lay stupid all that day without any sense if being irritated by hard pinching he raised himself a little and opened his Eyes presently falling down and closing them he yielded again to his Lethargy About the Evening I ordered Cupping-glasses with much flame to be applied to his Shoulder-blades which being done he began to become a little awake and as about that time he purg'd freely by Seige and the Plaisters being taken off a great deal of Serum flowed from the little bladders we had thence a great hope of his Recovery Therefore Remedies being frequently used afterward that night awaking the morning following he knew his Friends and answered well to what was askt him but the whole cloud did not yet vanish for he continued sleepy and forgetful for many dayes till being twice purg'd he perfectly recovered An Oxford Gardener sick of a putrid Fever and about the height of the Disease instead of a Crisis falling into a Lethargy was overwhelmed with a drowsie evil for three or four Dayes afterward that he could not be so roused from his Sleep by the use of any Remedy as to become perfectly awake but at length when his Head being shaved and Vesicatories being applied almost all over it had raised a grea many Sores that flowed plentifully awaking from his Sleep he recovered some sort of Sense nevertheless his Memory being almost wholly abolisht he was so stupid that remembring no ones Name or Words he had scarce more apprehension than a Brute When he had lain after this manner for almost two Months void of Understanding and full of Sleep the cloud began by degrees to be disperst and he at length returning to his wonted Labours became indifferently well though he never got again the same Vigour of Mind and former quickness of Sence which he enjoyed before the Disease As for a Lethargy arising from the use of Opiats I remembr I formerly observ'd a good exact type of it in a Country Village in which I was sorc'd to stay a night my Journey being stopt by reason of bad Weather For as I was just a going to bed my Host intreated me that I would go and see two poor People in the Neighbourhood who were affected after such a strange and miserable manner which Office being induc'd to perform not only through Charity but also Curiosity I was willingly led to a very small and low Cottage where I found an aged Father and his Daughter in two little Beds plac'd here and there in the same Cell overwhelm'd with a most profound Sleep which had oppress'd them the day before after they had eaten Henbane-roots then freshly dugg up in their little Garden which they mistook for Parsneps To both these after a Vomiting plentifully rais'd by pouring Oyle and Oximel into their Mouths and thrusting a Feather into their Throats I prescribed tincture of Castoreum to be given frequently during the whole Night in a Spoonful of treackle-Water which Remedies I then casually had by me moreover that their Temples and Nostrils should be anointed with the same Tincture and if it could be done that a smart Clister should be injected the day following first the old man and afterward the Daughter awaking came to themselves the dead sleep being wholly shaken off in these Persons after the remainder of the Narcotick being cast up by Vomit lest it did farther mischeif it was only needful that the Spirits being raised up by fit Remedies in the number of which Castoreum is justly accounted against the Poysons of Opiats they should be freed from the Stupefaction inflicted on them CHAP. III. Instructions and Prescripts for curing certain other sleepy affects viz. the continual Sleepiness the Coma and the Carus TO begin with the first many Authors call this not a Disease but a drawsie Disposition for the affected as to other things are well enough they eat and drink well they walk abroad they take care indifferently of their houshold Affairs but in speaking or walking or eating nay their Mouths being full of Meat they now and then nod and unless they are stirred by others they are presently overwhelmed with Sleep and after this manner they Sleep almost a continual Sleep not only for some Dayes or Months but for many years as it is reported of Epimenides Wherefore we judge this Affect by which we are defrauded of more than half of our Life to be really a Disease and to deserve a cure The seat of sleepiness as of the Lethargy is to be plac'd in the outward part of the Brain but with this difference that the material or conjunct cause of this Disease tho always pressing at the entrances of the Brain does not penetrate so deep as it is wont to do in the Lethargy but affects in a
but when the one prevailing the Assistance of Art was required it was necessary to check the Lochia and to put forward the Small Pox. CHAP. XVI Of Epidemick Fevers I Had design'd to have put an end here to our Dissertation concering Fevers it being my Intent rather to write a Commentary than an entire Tract but in regard certain Epidemick Fevers are often rise which observe no Laws nor can be reduced to a certain Rule of Doctrine but being wholly anomalous vary yearly and therefore as often as some one of them spreads it self presently it is called the New Disease therefore I have thought it necessary because general Precepts are not to be given concerning these Fevers to subjoyn particular Relations of some of this kind for from the various Apparatus of Symptoms whereby they are wont to be marked the Nature and the whole formal Reason of these kinds of Affects will somewhat appear Since therefore of late Years within a little Tract of Time three Popular Diseases have reigned in these Countries I shall give here as a conclusion to this Work the particular Descriptions of them made formerly in the Tiems that those Fevers reigned A Description of an Epidemick Fever Reigning in Autumn Anno 1657. made in the middle of September WE designing a Description of a Fever violently reigning at this time it is fit that being led by the Example of Hippocrates we first consider the foregoing Constitution of the Year and its Distemperatures and Excesses of the Qualities for the Cause of an Epidemick Disease raised generally among People must be common We must note what the State of the Year was and the Disposition of our Body thence contracted whereby many were affected together Now to take the thing stom its Origine The foregoing Spring and the Time thenceforward to the end of the Summer to wit all this half years space was mighty hot and dry but especially after the Summer Solstice the Heats were so intense for many Weeks together that Night and Day every one complained of the Heat of the Air and almost of a continual Sweat wherewith they were all bedewed and that they could not breath freely About the end of July this Fever being first sporadical began to break forth in certain Places that one haply or two in a Town or Village were seized with it in most it carried the Type of an intermittent Tertian to wit the Fits returned every other Day which nevertheless without any fore-running Cold or Shivering infested the Diseased with a most intense Heat Vomitings and bilous Stools happen'd plentifully in most a Sweat succeeding but difficult and often interrupted whereby the feverish Access seldom went off with an Apvrexia but all the time of Intermission the Diseased continued languid and weak with a Thirst and a Restlessness in some when they began to amend after three or four Fits a cold and a Shivering began the Access and the Fever became exactly an intermittent Tertian but in most the Disease still grew worse and presently became obstinate and of a difficult Solution with an ill Apparatus of Symptoms for the Diseased being mighty hot in their Fits and sweating with Difficulty Errors were wont to be committed which daily intended the Strength of the Disease for through the Impatience of the Diseased and the Unskilfullness of the Attendants the Sweat which ought to have ended the feverish Access being interrupted scarce one Fit was ended but another presently succeeded and thereby the Disease was wont to have erring and uncertain Periods without an Intercession of an Apyrexia and afterward it was wont to pass into a continual Fever as it were the State whereof was sometimes very dangerous with an ill Affect of the Brain and Genus Nervosum that not unfrequently a Lethargy or Delirium and often Cramps and convulsive Motions were raised In the Month of August this Fever began to reign far and near among the People that in every Part and Village many lay ill of it tho it was far more common in the country and little Villages than in the Confines of Cities and Towns It still carried the Type of an intermittent Fever only that through the Violence of Symptoms and the Shortness of Intermission it seemed more tedious than ordinary and therefore was generally call'd the New Disease Moreover it was censur'd of some Malignity and gave Proofs certain enough of its Contagion and Mortality in as much as it crept from House to House and infected many of the same Family with the same corrupted Taint and especially such as conversed familiarly with the Sick moreover in many Places it carried off old Persons and such as were come to a Ripeness in Years If you consider the Nature and Essence of the Affect this Fever must be placed properly in the number of Intermittents for the Fits return at set times also for the most part they begin with a Cold and a Shivering and very often with a Vomiting and presently going on with a most intense Heat at length they are ended in a Sweat The Urine in most appears of a Flame Colour clear in the Fit with some Hypostasis out of it thick with somewhat a ruddy Sediment the Disease comes not to a Crisis by a Sweat tho very plentiful and often repeated which might be expected in a continual Fever but the Affect holds on for many Days and sometimes Months to a very long time tho there happens a very great Evacuation by Vomiting and Sweating almost daily which we observe to fall out often in an Intermittent Fever seldom in a continual out of the Fit at any time of the Disease Purging is conveniently ordered which it were a Crime to attempt in a Synochus before the Signs of Concoction Moreover that this Fever is of the kind of Intermittents it hence appears because most recover of it that scarce the thousandth part of the Diseased dies which I think is scarce heard of an Epidemick Synochus About the first beginnings of this Disease it appears very like an Intermittent Tertian tho it may seem in some by reason of a vicious Predisposition of the Body and of Errors committed in Diet and Transpiration to have pass'd into a continual for in those in whom the Fits do not come to a due Determination nor end in an Apyrexia by reason of the morbifick Matter being not perfectly blown off in those the Blood continually boyls whence it comes to pass that the Accesses return quicker and infest longer till at length by reason of the store of the Matter and the languishing of Nature the Blood becoming weak is not able to grow turgid any longer and to separate the Febrile Matter at set Hours but endeavours to subdue it by little and little and by a continual Effervescence Some haply may wholly place the Cause of this so Popular a Disease in a malignant Constitution of the Air to wit that the Particles of the Air breath'd in were infected with a certain