is still losing part of that motion for the reasons assign'd before more or less in respect of the wideness of the vessels thro which it is propell'd and their distance from the heart therefore 't is evident that that Coldness will not be so sensible in the parts that are nearer the heart or about the heart it self and the Thorax as in the parts that are more remote or the extremities of the body for not only for the reasons we have just nam'd this Coldness is first felt in the parts that are furthest from the heart but the motion of the muscles in the extremities is not so strong and therefore they do not so powerfully press the blood that glides thro those veins and arteries that go to the composing of these muscles as in the other muscles whose contraction is perform'd with greater force and energy And consequently the blood too will be more apt to stagnate in those remote parts than in the other so that this coldness will be more sensible in them as was asserted Moreover the vessels in those remote parts growing always smaller and smaller the further they go this thick blood will be propell'd with the greater difficulty thro these vessels than if they were wider besides that by reason of the Glewiness of this â—ough and thick blood 't is more apt to stick to the coats of the vessels and so more ready to subsist and to produce the abovemention'd coldness but tho this coldness is more apt to begin in the extremities than in any other parts and tho there are a great many small arteries in the Brain as well as in the other parts yet this coldness will not be felt in it so soon as in them because the arteries are but short and soon discharge themselves into the wide Sinus's so that tho the blood is very apt to stagnate and produce that coldness in the extremities yet that happens not so soon in the Brain Now the real continuation of this coldness over the whole body may be very well conceived if we consider that while the blood is thus stopt in the capillary arteries we can assign no time in the whole circulation in which a lesser quantity of blood flows not from the arteries into the veins than would have flown in a natural state and therefore a lesser quantity of blood flowing more slowly in the ordinary time of the circulation than is naturally usual there will a lesser than a natural quantity come into the heart in every contraction and this small quantity will not fill the arteries in that proportion that is necessary to force it forward so as to break and divide it and to display its heat Besides the blood being in this tough and viscid condition there will ev'n be fewer of its fine and subtile parts separated in the Brain and dispos'd of into the muscles of the whole body and the heart in course will have a fainter contraction and a weaker power to propel the blood which consequently will not be so well divlded nor the heat so well diffus'd Now supposing that this Lentor or Toughness could consist with the natural motion of the blood and that the viscidity could not be broken or dissolv'd by the natural motion it cannot be expected it ever should by a degree of motion much below that which is natural and therefore this sense of cold must be felt in the other parts and over the whole body Pain is nothing else but a solution or disjoyning of continuous parts and while the blood stagnates and its quantity is constantly augmented it must needs distend the sides of its channels where it stops and stretch the arteries beyond their ordinary pitch And therefore those vessels that have not a natural or an adventitious resistance to oppose this forcing outward of the blood will have their parts disunited i. e. this sense of pain will be produc'd in them Now the bones in themselves are not affected with pain neither is there any such sensation produc'd in them but by the membrane that surrounds and invests them called the Periostium 't is evident that because this may be affected with any sort of pain the bones are said to be thus affected and in beating there are great contusions i. e. the vessels have their sides so prest by the weight and motion of the instrument by which these contusions are made that the blood either circulates very slowly or not at all in those sections of the vessels so comprest And the Periostium is either so prest by the contus'd muscles that this feeling is produced in it or having its vessels a little comprest the subsisting liquors in the comprest part do stop the succeeding liquors in the same channel that they actually protrude the sides of their vessels and make this sensation of pain And since the blood in this accidental fulness and viscidity may affect the vessels after the same manner 't is but natural to conclude that such a pain as when one is beaten may be produc'd in this state of the mass of the blood The blood in this state of viscidity is less capable of separating its fine and subtile parts as has been said and there being a less quantity of them the contraction of the whole muscles will be so much the weaker and consequently since the heart gives the greatest force to the blood's motion and its contraction being weaker the blood will be squeezed out of the left ventricle into the Aorta and thro the whole series of the Arteries with less velocity and therefore cannot distend the sides of the Arteries with that force that is usual but affects our touch more weakly so that the Pulse is weak in this state of the blood for the same reason those spirits being produced in a less quantity and longer in falling into the muscles and their contraction not being so frequent Now the motion of the heart and arteries being synchronical i. e. the contraction of the first and the filling of the second being perform'd at the same time since the contraction of the Heart is not so frequent the sides of the Arteries are not so frequently forced outward and seldomer affect our touch i. e. the pulse will be that which we call a Rare Pulse The blood too in this its thick and viscid state is less attrited and less fluxil as has been said but its parts being thus penn'd up and compact cannot possess that space it did when its parts roll'd more freely one upon another and were kept at a greater distance by the impulse of its subtile parts and therefore it has not force enough to sustain the weight of the sides of its Channels and they falling closer one upon another diminish as to their bigness sensibly and even to our sight so that they being thus contracted shrunk and as 't were withdrawn from our touch and the pulse being thus removed is said to be depressed sunk
is only occasion'd by the greater quantity of blood propell'd into the narrower sections of the arteries and this impulsion depends upon the contraction of the heart as we have said therefore because in this heated and rarify'd blood there is sometimes a greater and sometimes a less quantity of animal spirits separated and since the contraction of the heart depends on their separation and influx that will be sometimes greater and sometimes weaker and so the protrusion of the blood being sometimes perform'd in a shorter time and sometimes in a longer and in a greater or smaller quantity consequently the Pulse will be quicker and slower greater and weaker as we find by experience Because the blood is thus viscid and rarify'd and apt to stagnate in the capillary vessels especially in the remotest parts and while 't is thus stopt by a greater power of obstruction than the following blood has power to drive it forwards the succeeding blood coming to the place and not being able to propel the sticking blood nor to recoil because of the Impetus of the blood that succeeds it it stagnates too and encreasing in quantity distends the sides of the vessels in which it stopt to their utmost extent If those vessels are superficial and visible to the eye the blood will shine thro in its owâ— colour and because the Gums are such when they are thus stuff'd they appear swell'd and red And since the liquors that are thus slowly propell'd and subsist and are wholly obstructed in some parts the parts where this total obstruction happens are ulcerated and stink for the stagnating liquors are entirely corrupted and become too sharp and weighty for their channels and so break thro as inulcers But if before this total stoppage and obstruction the parts of the blood now greater than ordinary can be carried thro those parts by way of perspiration yet in their passage they effect the pores rub upon them and produce that sense of itching which sometimes provokes us to scratch those parts and by the bleeding that follows upon that we frequently prevent a more sudden obstruction Yet in all this misfortune the Teeth losing their security must needs become loose and fall out 'T is from this viscid and weaken'd state of the blood that we see such swellings of the legs in chronical diseases especially in the evening after it is somewhat weakned by the little exercise our bodies have in the day while it cannot climb up in its return to the â—eart the steep precipices of our legs out stops and begets that swelling we feel in the evening till by the adventitious warmth of the bed and the direct posture of our legs it goeth off again against morning After the same manner by considering the condition of our other liquors and their motion I could demonstrate their depravation and explain tho at too great a length for this place the other symptoms that appear But seeing they may be brought from these fountains which I have sufficiently dwelt upon I think I have said enough to explain the way how this sickness is produced with us and to show that 't is a necessary consequence of an idle life and of feeding on Salt Beef and Pork and therefore I shall proceed to the next proposition I laid down Only I must put you in mind that I am not for confounding this distemper with the Melancholia Hypochondriaca as Riverius and some other Authors do which makes us call every sickness a Scurvy or Scorbutical because there are some symptoms common to both For if this principle were allowed we could have no distinct notions of diseases but they would all be involv'd in one confus'd and inextricable Chaos Thus for example we frequently see vomiting in Fevers Scurvys the Iliac Passion the Stone in the Kidneys or Vreters a Fall and many more yet would it not be thought ridiculous to say that a Fever is an Iliac Passion the Stone a Fall c. tho they are both attended with vomiting And which is worse this would prove very fatal in the curing of diseases and therefore it were to be wisht that all diseases were exactly described brought under certain Classes and confin'd to their respective Families and Tribes I cannot upon this occasion omit what the most expert Physitian Dr. Sydenham says on that subject in the 307 page of his Practice of Physick printed at London in the year 1685 in the 5th Chapter of that Book of the Rheumatism Hic enim says he obiter sed libere tamen dicam quod licet nullus dubitemquin Scorbutus in his Plagis Borealibus revera inveniatur tamen eum morbum non tam frequentem quam vulgi fert opinio occurrere persuasum mihi habeo multos autem ex iis affectibus ne plurimos dicam quorum nomine Scorbutum incusamus vel morborum fientium nondum vero factorum quique nullum adhuc certum induerunt typum effeâ—tae esse vel etiam infelices reliquias morbi alicujus nondum penitus devicti a quibus sanguis caeterique humores contaminantur v. gr c. By the way I must observe that tho I doubt not but the Scurvy is really to be found in these Northern Countries yet I am perswaded it is not so very frequent as 't is commonly imagined but that many of those distempers if not the most we ascribe to the Scurvy are either the effects of approaching ills not yet form'd into diseases or the unhappy relicts of some unconquered sickness which still pollutes the blood and other humours v. gr c. 'T is true the learned Dr. Willis has spoke a little more distinctly when he calls the one a cold and the other a hot Scurvy but in this he has too much sacrific'd to the humour of the Ancients since the last only deserves that name and the other does not really differ from the Melanoholia Hypochondriaca Of all Men I have the least inclination to dispute about words but if things were better settled by proper definitions and names we should not fall into so many mistakes and there 's nothing more common than to see people catching hold of some words that are apt to mislead them in their practice for instance besides the Banter of Openers Malignant and the like who does not but at the name of Scurvy immediately fly to Scurvy-grass Water-â—resses and Horse-radishes but to what advantage may be easily understood by our foregoing Theory and is fatally felt by such as are truly Scorbutical But I 'm afraid I have wander'd already too far from my subject And I shall proceed to the next thing to be consider'd in order which may be sufficiently and easily understood from what I have said of the preceeding two The next thing I shall consider is their bread of which every man is allow'd one pound a day Moderate eating of bread has in all ages been esteemed to contribute very much to the preservation of our
c. While the blood is so viscid and the contraction of the muscles so weak so few animal spirits separated and all the secretions almost stopt the musculous Coat of the Stomach will lose a great deal of its force and the liquor of the Stomach will be separated in a less quantity the contraction of the Ventricle is not only weaker but our victuals that are lodged there are not dissolv'd attrited and turned to Chyle but putrifie and remain undigested and therefore the Stomach being constantly full there can be no sence of hunger as our experience tells us The same Unactivity and want of contraction we find in the muscles of the stomach are felt for the same reasons in the muscles of the intestines so that their vermicular contraction being much abated whatever is contained in their cavity will not be sufficiently comprest that it may be protruded thro the whole process of the guts besides their incapacity in respect of the excrements that are contained in them for these excrements being in a very small quantity both because of the small supply that is sent from the stomach and yet smaller from the blood by the known passages they want of that weight that is necessary to overcome the constriction of the muscles of the Anus and little or no secretion being made into the guts from the blood there 's somewhat wanting of that due fluxility for their easier propulsion thro the intestines besides what excrements so fluxil may be suppos'd to do by way of Stimulus so that upon all these accounts especially by the help of our Bisket as has been said there will be a vast disposition to costiveness Lastly if at any time the blood is so viscid that it is even interrupted or has a great deal slower motion in the brain than is usual and keeps the coats of the arteries bent outward then both because of the small secretion of spirits there and the arteries compressing the origin of the nerves there cannot be a sufficient quantity of spirits derived thro these nerves and consequently is produced that Stupor or Sleepiness we sometimes observe Now since the warm parts of the blood are confin'd and penn'd up in its viscid parts and if they be so prest that the force of this pression together with the natural force that the small hot and fiery particles have to extricate themselves be greater than the power that confines them these hot particles will at last break out and running along by the sensible parts excite the sense of heat and seeing this viscid blood stagnates and stops in the small arteries they are so stuff'd up with that constant supply that is made in the parts where it thus stagnates that this compression will be very considerable by the blood that is constantly added and by the power of contraction in the arteries that hinder this stuffing and bending outwards of their sides so that this compression being continually augmented at length its power will become greater than the power of cohesion betwixt the viscid and small parts of the blood and so the heat will be extricated and give its sense to the nerves and after that some part of it is set at liberty and moves to and fro with all freedom it must mightily facilitate the setting at liberty of the other small parts from the viscid parts of the blood by wedging themselves into them and breaking their continuity and making the viscid parts themselves more fluxil Now since the hot and warm parts of the blood are delivered from their confining viscid parts because the power of compression is greater than the power of cohesion which proceeds from that viscidity and since the power of compression is proportionable to the velocity of the blood and its velocity is greatest in these arteries that are next the heart the power then of compression in those arteries that are next the heart will be greater than in these that are more remote i. e. the heat will be felt in the parts that are more remote from the heart or the extremities a great while after 't is felt in the parts that are nearer the heart and they have been warm and the coldness in the remote limbs after the rest of the body has been warm may last even till the power of compression in their arteries be augmented by the continual afflux of blood and is able to subdue the force of the viscid and intangling parts and since these two powers are uncertain and undetermined there can be no time assigned wherein this coldness may last in the remote limbs after the rest of the body has been hot only we may assert that the coldness will last the longer in the extremities the more viscid the blood is and the more firmly and closely it envelopes and confines the heat Thus a great deal of heat being set at liberty it is derived with the other parts that can easily be dissolv'd and are more fluxile into the veins and therefore this heat being more free rarifies and warms the blood it meets with in the veins and excites a great sence and feeling of heat over all the body The heat then proceeding thus the blood is more free moveable warm and rarified and consequently the arteries are fuller and distend their sides further and so seem to rise up out of the flesh and to come nearer the skin and the vessels being fuller the pulse will also feel greater and because the blood is now more than naturally warm more perfectly dissolv'd and carried in a greater quantity to the Brain there is also a more plentiful secretion of animal spirits which coming into the heart in a greater quantity and degree of determination make its contraction the stronger and consequently propel the blood thro the vessels with more force and distend more strongly the sides of the arteries and produce that sort of Pulse we call strong so that tho the Pulse in the cold fit was not to be felt either because the blood was not propell'd thro these parts where we observe the Pulse or propell'd with lesser velocity than was necessary to affect our Touch yet the velocity being recovered the blood circulates thro these parts again affects our Touch and makes the Pulse great and strong as has been said If we consider in the next place the extraordinary warmth of which our Patients complain we shall not need to have recourse to any unnatural contraction of the muscles to account for their Restlessness and continual tossing about the Bed but if we remember either what incites our selves to it or what our Patients tell us induces them we may very fairly account for that symptom and this is nothing but a constant desire to remove into those places we had not lain in before for a relief to our scorching heat and so as we warm in one place we cast about and tumble into another which is truly that Restlessness we may observe
be more exact and the health of the Sailers will be more firm and upon the other side the less their work is the hardness of the food and its saltness will proportionably have their effects and the indigestion that follows upon the one and the fiery heat that attends the other will be the more sensible and considerable and so all this will fall more severely upon the Seamen of the Royal Navy than upon those in the Merchant Service because their labour and work is abundantly greater than that of the Men of War tho there is a sort of remedy against that in their other victualling as we shall see hereafter and in effect none find the smart of this so much as the Boatswains Favourites for the most of them especially of the press'd Land-men are very fit Theaters for this Tragedy which is acted indeed to the life and their case is just the same with that of the Ape 's Puppies in the Fable that which she hates comes to be a lusty strong Monkey while she overlays the other thro her fondness the Seamen whom the Boatswain turns out to their watch and who have the fatigue of the Ship are in perfect health while his Favourites are over-run with the Scurvy which appears first in red spots which afterwards become blue and then black upon the legs and other parts with an extraordinary weakness and besides attended with a redness itching and rottenness of the gums and a looseness of the teeth their pulse all this while being very unequal i. e. sometimes weak and sometimes very great and all these accompanied with a great many more severe symptoms singled out and describ'd by Riverius and our learned Doctor Willis which therefore I shall forbear to enumerate but especially since 't is none of my design to write a Treatise of the Scurvey but only to give such illustrations as may be useful for understanding our Sea Sicknesses and helping us in their Cure 'T is very evident from the heating properties of Salt and especially of its corrosive bittern that 't is that only which can produce such an extraordinary sense of heat as we find after a meal of such victuals and because that heat cannot be produc'd without a greater degree of velocity of the blood and a greater secretion of animal spirits which contract the heart and produce this velocity and they cannot be separated without a greater attrition of the blood therefore since this heat is felt it is this bittern of the Sâ—lt that makes this attrition and produces this heat now in this production both the parts of the bittern that divide and break the particles of the blood and the parts of the blood thus broken and divided possess a greater space than when they were compact and before there were other bodies added So that in this greater possession of space rarefaction and artificial moles as we may say the thinner and more capillary vessels have not cohesion enough to resist this new bulk but the blood breaks over its banks and in as great a quantity as the force of the motion of the rarify'd blood the greatness of the emissary and the resistance of the place into which it breaks will allow so that if this be superficial if any great quantity is separated and the blood's motion so weak that there is not matter enough perspired which both by its quantity and force may keep it fluxile and carry off some of the smaller parts of the blood thus let out by its owâ— common motion then the blood now fallen out will corrupt after the same manner we see it when out of the body having always respect to the quantity separated and the place where it is lodged i. e. the blood being thus separated is in a state of quiet and corrupts and in the different degrees and transitions in this corruption is blue black c. as we see in this and cases of the like nature only it is longer a corrupting because of its small quantity the fluxility of the perspiring steams and the temper of the place as we might particularly demonstrate if it would not prove too long And these mechaical intimations will take off the necessity of absorbing that is so much talkt of in this case Besides this way of the blood 's possessing greater space may still be augmented if we consider that their victuals we have just now spoke of must needs breed very thick blood which is not so easily broken in pieces but raâ—ifying in bulk is more apt to stop and by its stoppage to make a greater pressure in its channels and to produce the abovemention'd effects And since the extraordinary space is possest by this viscid and rarify'd blood the blood vessels that are so fill'd compress those parts that are contiguous to them and have less power to resist than their sides have to go outward and therefore in this stuffing of the Arteries in the soft brain their sides thus bending outwards will especially press such vessels that are touch'd by 'em whether they are veins arteries or nerves if their resistance be less than the force that thrusts 'em out and so the liquors stagnating in all those must press the neighbouring vessels and hinder the transmission of their liquors in proportion to those powers by which they are prest Thus a smaller quantity will be carry'd along their cavity and by reason of this compression the quantity of animal spirits that glides into the cavity of the nerves with an extraordinary weakness is diminisht because their coats are deprest and their channels straitned so that since by their influx into the nerves and derivation into the muscles their contraction is perform'd and upon this the strength of the whole body depends then in this small distribution of the animal spirits which is less than what is natural the contraction of the muscles is not so powerful as naturally it ought to be and the weakness of the body extraordinary Moreover since the heart hath the same properties and is subject to the same laws with the other muscles and they being more weakly contracted because of a lesser quantity of animal spirits that are deriv'd into them so must the heart be more faintly contracted too and since by the consent of Physitians and the evidence of reason the motion of the blood depends upon the strength of the hearts contraction the contraction of the heart being weaker 't is plain that this confus'd mixture of viscid and rarify'd blood will have but a very weak motion which is continu'd in the blood till its return to the heart bating what it has communicated in its circulation to the arteries and blood to be propelled but since it is still losing part of its motion the further it goes from the heart the blood will be on all occasions apt to stagnate in the smaller and remoter vessels and so produce those red blue c. spots we have spoken of Besides since the Pulse