time it will come to the height whether Nature will prevail over the Disease or not with what way of Excretion and with what success it endeavours the expulsion of the febrile matter by these signs also we are taught by what degrees the Blood fermenting and often being coagulated tends towards a Putrefaction or Corruption whether it any wayes concocts the nutritive Juyce mixt with it or whether or no it does not forthwith cast forth its whole store by Sweat as it often happens in the declining state of this Disease From the foresaid Symptoms and Signs a fuller instruction yet is had if it be first known on what causes each kind of them depends and in what orderly course they are wont to be raised in our Body Wherefore I have thought it expedient particularly to set down the chief of these and to explicate the Reasons of them and their ways of coming to pass Now in a putrid Synochus or continual Fever the Symptoms chiefly to be observed are a heat in the whole Body a spontaneous Lassitude a great trouble of the Praecordia an intolerable Thirst a burning and roughness of the Tongue and Jaws a pain of the Head and Loyns obstinate Watchings a Phrensy convulsive Motions a Swooning a Cardialgia a Vomiting Nausecousness loss of Appetite a Loosness a Dysentery with which not all of them together but sometimes these sometimes the others this Disease is wont to be attended Amongst the signs the Pulse and Urine give the greatest light I shall observe a few things concerning each 1. The heat which is perceiv'd in the whole Body to be sharp and piercing depends on the too great Effervescence of the Blood and its accension in the Heart for the Sulphureous or Oily part of the Blood being exalted and falling a burning is kindled at least in a double portion more than its wont in the Heart When the Sulphur is not duely dissolved in the Blood and kindled in the Heart as in the longing Disease of Maids the Leucophlegmatia c. The heat fails in the whole 2. A spontaneous Lassitude is felt in the whole Body to wit by reason of the Vessels being extended with the boyling Blood also the muscular Flesh is much siuft with Blood and a copious Vapour so that it is not fit for Motion as those who are troubled with an Anasarca have their Limbs less free by reason of the Redundancy of the serous Humour Moreover in Fevers by reason of the inflammation of the Blood the Juyce which is suppsyed to the genus Nervosum falls from its due Temper so that it is less fit for actuating Bodies 3. The great trouble of the Pracordia happens by reason of the Blood being copiously kindled in the focus of the Heart which boyles thence with a great inflammation into the Lungs wherefore the nearer this Region is to that Focus of heat by so much it is affected with a greater burning 4. The almost unexstinguishable Thirst is caused both by reason of the growing inflammation in the Praecordia and by reason of the sharp and hot Particles of the febrile matter fixt in the Ventricle by the Blood in circulating which require to be washt off even as salt and pepper'd Food eaten in a plenty or as sharp things kept sometime in the Mouth or Throat for this kind of affect suggests a free taking in of Drink as a Member too hot does a pouring of cold Water on it 5. The burning and roughness of the Tongue and Throat and often also the growing of a certain white yellow or black Lee upon it doubtless happen by reason of the Heat and Fumes breathing from the Ventricle and Lungs strongly burning and the Tongue grows white as often as that Moisture wherewith it is naturally much imbued grows dry the Saliva then growing too thick and viscous but if it happens that the Tongue be inwardly fill'd or outwardly ting'd with a bilous Humour as it comes to pass in Vomitings of Choler then its Villi in regard they are spongeous imbibing the yellow matter present also a like Colour and if the Heat becomes so intense that it burns the Blood and kindles a Fire more ardent than usual it follows that Fumes are raifed from the Focus of the Heart through the breathing Pipes of the Lungs they scarce sufficing for ventilating so great a Blast which coming to the Roof of the Palate strike the Tongue as it were by Reverberation and tinge it with a blackness 6. Sometimes in Fevers and especially about the time of their declining it happens that the Tongue Palate Gums nay the Cavity of the whole Mouth and Throat are covered with a Viscous Matter resembling some whitish Crust which being often cleans'd presently a new succeeds and unless by diligently rubbing and washing the Mouth this crusty Mtter be frequently clear'd the Diseas'd often incur danger of Suffocation that kind of Affect very often happens to Infants newly born for they are wont for the most part within fourteen days an outward Efflorescence to be bedeck'd with large and red Spots all their Skin over and if this over-spreading of Redness does not break forth freely or disappears sooner than it ought for the most part that whitish Crust ensues in the Parts of the Mouth This Symptom when after this manner it molests Infants is wont to be ascribed to the fault of the Milk in feverish Persons the same is vulgarly attributed to thick and fuliginous Vapours rais'd from the Stomach but it seems more likely to me that in both this Affect arises from the Impurities of the whole Blood and haply in some measure of the nervous Juice depos'd about these parts for as often as in the Mass of both Humours somewhat extraneous inwardly mixt with them is contain'd which is neither to be blown off by Sweat nor is easily sent away by Urine that very often is fix'd about the Mouth with a serous Filth whence catarrhous Affects Tumours and troublesome Spittings are rais'd for in regard for the Mastication of Food the salival Humour ought to be plentifully discharg'd in this Place Nature often endeavours to send forth here what is superfluous or otherwise troublesome by these open and accustomed ways of Excretion hence after Mercury is given when both the Blood and nervous Juice are abundantly fill'd with its Particles most minutely divided and endeavour to send them forth involv'd in the Serum because they are not able to exterminate these mercurial Corpuscles inwardly mix'd with them neither by Sweat Urine or other way what remains they strive to expell the same mixt with the Serous Latex by the Arteries and other Ducturs's which convey the Spittle to the Mouth In like manuer also in Fevers when after a long Deflagration of the Blood the adust Matter is much heapt together whereof a good part remaining after the Crisis is still mixt with the Blood and nervous Juice or being fix'd on the Brain or other place is again drank up by the same
it 's probable that that matter by long Coction is so parch'd and grown thikc almost like Glew wherefore it is neither to be blown off by Sweat nor insensible Transpiration nor is fit to be separated by the urinary Passages but at length distills forth by degrees from the little Arteries and other Ductus's of the Saliva which open themselves into the Mouth as being the usual way of Excretion and presently by reason of its thickness it settles into that clammy Humour The same Reason holds concerning Infants whose Blood being rendred impure from the Filth contracted in the Womb presently by making an outward Efflorescence it endeavours to purge it self which if by reason of the Thickness of the Matter it does not succeed well presently the viscous Impurities are exterminated this way as the more open I knew a certain Person in the Declination of a Fever who had not only an Incrustation of this kind of a clammy Humour in the Parts of the Mouth but a copious Salivation as tho he had taken Mercury was raised in him for many Days with a stinking Breath and a swelling of the Tongue and Gums 7. A Head-ach is raised in Fevers by reason of the Meninges of the Brain being twitcht by Vapours and by a sharp and boyling Blood for the Blood being violently moved it is carryed in a greater Plenry to the Head by reason of the streight Direction of the great Artery than to the inferiour Parts to which it is carryed obliquely And sometimes Head-achs arise by reason of the nervous Juice which is supplyed from the boyling Blood being too sharp and pungent wherefore when the Membranes and nervous Parts are irrigated with the same being twitcht by its Acrimony they are cast into Pains and Contractions 8. In like manner also the other Affects of the Head as Watchings a Delirium a Frenzy Conyulsions c. sometime arise from the Blood making an Fffort and so raising disorderly Motions in the Brain sometimes also from the nervous Juice degenerated and therefore become disproportionate for the Governance of the animal Spirits but most commonly these kinds of Symptoms are rife in Fcvers by reason of a Metastasis of the febrile Matter from the stock of Blood into these Parts for the Blood being full of adust Recrements remaining after Deflagration endeavours like working Wine wholly to subdue them and to exclude them from its Society which when a flowing hapning it is not able to expell by Sweat Urine or an Hoemorrhagie it often conveys them into the substance of the Brain and there fixes them and hence chiefly the foresaid Affects when they are fixt and firmly rooted take their Rise but when they are light and easily moveable they often proceed from the Causes before mentioned 9. Convulsive Motions happen in Fevers for divers Causes sometimes by reason of a Matter heapt together in the first Passages which by reason of its mighty Pravity twitches there the membranous Parts and afterward by the Consent of the Genus nervosum presently a Convulsion is communicated to the Origine of the Nerves in the Brain and thence is retorted sometimes into these Parts sometimes into others after which manner Worms gnawing in the Entrails sharp Humours moved and venemous Medicines cause Convulsions or secondly when a Fever partakes of some Malignity so Convulsions srequently happen in the Small Pox Meazles or Plague to wit because the Blood is altered from its benign and natural temper to a venemous Nature whereby the Nerves and their Origines are put upon Motions and Contractions often also without a suspicion of Malignity in a Putrid Fever convulsive Motions are caused by reason of a Metastasis of the febrile Matter to the Brain as it was hinted even now so I have often observ'd when a Disease is not presently solv'd by a Crisis the Diseased lye ill of a long Sickness and become obnoxious to convulsive and trembling Motlons Thirdly for the most part in every Fever convulsive Motions are the sad Fore-warners of Death which I think to happen not only through the malignity of the matter whereby the Genus Nervosum is twitcht and troubled but because the Spirits being very much exhausted and weakned do not sufficiently influence and extend the Bodies of the Nerves wherefore being relaxt from their wonted Tension and tonick Motion through the weaker effort of the Spirits they are still put upon a disorderly motion 10. Swooning is wont to be caused many ways in Fevers but chiefly for three Causes viz. Either throught the Mouth of the Stomach being affected which part being interwoven with sundry Plexus's of Nerves is very sensible and because from the same branch of the sixth Pair branches of Nerves are derived to the Heart and Ventricle if the Orifice of the Ventricle so beset with Nerves be affected with great Pain the offence also is communicated to the heart and in this the Motion is either stopt or at leastwise a disorderly one is raised whereby the even afflux of the Blood and Spirits is interrupted for a time I knew a certain Person in an acute Fever seiz'd with a srequent swooning which Affect nevertheless wholly ceased after that he had cast up by Vomit a long and round Worm Secondly a swooning also is sometime caused because a venemous Matter is circulated culated with the Blood which fixes and extinguishes the vital Spirits on a sudden and congeals the Blood it self that it is apt to stagnate in the Heart as it is usual in the Plague Small Pox c. of which we shall speak particularly beneath Thirdly A Swooning is wont to happen by reason of the fine Texture of the Spirits which being very thin and subtle easily yield to a Fainting upon any immoderate Motion or Pain so I have known some who lying still in their bed were well enough but being moved to any side presently fainted 11. A Cardialgia happens in Fevers when the Ventricle and especially its Orifices being very sensible by reason of the manifold Insertions of Nerves are beset with a sharp and betterish or also with an acid and corrosive Humour for hence a Pain arises from the Acrimony of the Humour after the like manner as when the Sphincter of the Anus is affected with a tedious Pain in bilous Dejections 12. For the like Cause a Vomiting and a Nauseousness are wont to be raised to wit the Ventricle being beset and irritated to a Contraction by a matter which is extraneous and not agreeing with it self Such an excrementitious matter is heapt together in the Ventricle after three manners for either the Aliments partly through defect of an acid Ferment wherewith they ought to be duely concocted partly by reason of the burning Heat of the Ventricle are parcht into such a Mass of Corruption or secondly this kind of Matter is deposed into the cavity of the Ventricle from Arteries terminated in it as it usually happens in the Small Pox Plague and malignant Fevers or thirdly meer Choler
the Tincture of Salt of Tartar of Steel and other things that chiefly abound with Spirit and havd a plenty of Sulphur of which sometimes these sometimes those may be taken as every patient lists When by reason of the Bloods being not kindled and consequently of its too greatcorwding and stagnation as it were within the Praecordia a languishing and failing of the Spirits with a great oppression of the Heart happens then Aqua Mirabilis the waters of Cinnamon Cloves Wormwood Compound also of the Rines of Oranges distill'd with Wine are proper to which sometimes a Dose of some Spirit Elixir or Tincture may be added But here great caution is needful that a person do no indulge himself too much to these kind of Cordials for many by often sipping of them get an ill habit continuing their daily use and encreasing the Dose which at length proves fatal to them for the Liver chiefly and other entrails are so dry'd and scorch'd thereby that the stock of Blood being diminish'd and its Crasis perverted an unhealthy Cacochymia follows or an abbreviation of Life In the second Rank of Cordials we put those Medicines which somewhat appease the too great boiling of the Blood and put a little stop to and allay its immoderate deflagration of this kind are distill'd Waters Acids and Nitrous things Take the waters of Wood-sorrel of whole Citrons of Straw-berrys of each four Ounces Syrup of the Juice of Citrons an Ounce Pearl Powdred a Dram Make a Julape the Dose is two Ounces three or four times a day Take the waters of Pippins or Garden Apples of Rasberrys of each four Ounces Syrup of Violets an Ounce Spirit of Vitriol twelve Drops Make a Julape Take fountain water a Pound and a half Juice of Limmons two Ounces Sugar an Ounce and a half Make a drink of which let three Ounces be taken at pleasure Take Grass Roots three Ounces Candied Eringos six Ounces two Apples slic'd or Corinths two Ounces Shavings of Ivory and of Harts-horn of each two Drams Leaves of Wood-sorrel a handful boil them in three pounds of fountain water to two pounds to the clear straining add of Sal Prunella a Dram and a half Syrup of Violets an Ounce and a half Make an Apozem the Dose is three or four Ounces thrice a day Take Conserve of red Roses vitriolated four Ounces fountain water two pounds dissolve it close cover'd and warm then strain it the Dose is three Ounces at pleasure Take Conserve of Barberrys Rob of Rasberrys of each an Ounce and a half Pearl prepar'd half a Dram Confection of Hyacinth a Dram Syrup of the Juice of Citrons what suffices Make a Confection the Dose is half a Dram thrice a day The third rank of Cordials furnishes those sorts of Medicines which being destinated against the exorbitancies of the boiling Blood loosen and open its close texture for the separation and discharge of its drossy superfluities These being chiefly and in a manner only of a saline nature are also of divers kinds according to the manifold state of the saline Particles of which they consist but for the most part their Basis is either a Volatile Alchalisate Acid Fixt or Nitrous Salt we shall set down certain forms of each of these In the First place Cordials endow'd with a volatile Salt are wont to be given with good effect according to the following prescripts both in Feavers in respect of the Blood and also in swoonings and sudden faintings in respect of the Animal Spirits Take Spirit of Hartshorn from fifteen Grains to twenty Treacle water two Drams give it with a spoon drinking after it a draught of some appropriated Liquor After the same manner may be given the Spirits of Blood of Mans Scull of Soot of Sal Armoniack Compound Take Salt of Vipers a Dram Sal Prunella two Drams Powder of Crabs Claws Compound a Dram and a half Mix them make a Powder the Dose is from half a Dram to two Scruples in a spoonful of Cordial Julape drinking after it a little draught of the same Take Flowers of Sal Armoniack half a Scruple Bezoartick Mineral a Scruple Make a Powder give it in a spoonful of some proper Liquor Secondly Those are chiefly call'd by the name of Cordials by the Vulgar whose Basis is an Alchalisate or Petrifying Salt as particularly Oriental Bezoar Pearl Coral and other Powders of Shells and Stones Take Gascoins Powder or Powder of Crabs Claws Compound from a Scruple to half a Dram give it in a spoonful of Cordial Julape drinking after it two Ounces of the same Take Oriental Bezoar from six Grains to twenty give it after the same manner Take Powders of Crabs Claws and Crabs Eyes of each a Dram Pearl both sorts of Coral prepar'd of each four Scruples both sorts of Bezoar half a Dram the best Bole-Armoniack Aurum Diaphoreticum of each two Scruples Bezoartick Mineral a Dram Mix them make a Cordial Powder the Dose is from a Scruple to two Scruples or a Dram with a fit Vehicle In Persons seiz'd with a Plurisie the following things are accounted the most proper Cordials for as much as by destroying the predominancy of the acid Salt they take away or prevent the Coagulations and Extravasatings of the Blood Take the Powder of a Wild Bores Tusk from half a Dram to a Dram Cristal Mineral a Scruple Powder of red Poppy Flowers half a Scruple Make a Powder to be taken in any Liquor After the same manner may be given the Powders of Crabs Eyes and of the Jaw-bone of the Pike-fish To this place belong also preparations of Nitre which are often given with good effect in Fevers according to the following Forms Take Cristal Mineral a Scruple Volatile Salt of Hartshorn from three Grains to six mix them Make a Powder give it in a spoonful of Cordial Julape Take Cristal Mineral Antimony Diaphoretick of each a Scruple Bezoartick Powder half a Scruple Make a Powder give it after the same manner Medicines whose Basis is a fluid or acid Salt are prescrib'd in Fevers after the following Forms to loosen the Texture of the Blood Take Spirit of Vitriol from four Drops to six Carduus water three Ounces Treacle water two Drams Syrup of the Juice of Citrons three Drams Pearl half a Scruple Make a draught to be taken twice or thrice a day Spirit of Salt or of Nitre may be taken after the same manner For the same the drink Cherbet called also the Divine drink of Palmarius are proper Take Powder of Hartshorn Calcin'd or of Antimony Diaphoretick three Drams Spirit of Vitriol or of Salt a Dram bray them together in a Glass Mortar and let them dry The Dose is from a Scruple to half a Dram in a spoonful of Cordial Julape Fixt or lixivial Salts of Herbs often enter the Compositions of Alexipharmicks Moreover Medicines which have these for their Basis as they are accounted very famous Febrifuges so they ought to be numbred amongst Cordials for instance we
proved sometimes very injurious to the principal faculty viz. the appetite of food on which all nutrition and the Root of Life depends because they very much blunt it and often wholly destroy it For when the Spirits residing in the interiour Coat of the Ventricle are stupified or destroyed by the Particles of the Opiat so that those Nervous Fibres though emptied no longer are corrugated then all hunger ceases and there is no appetite to food nay the same being then offer'd to the Stomack proving rather troublesome than delightful to it is presently thrown up again Moreover for the same reason the concoctive force of the Ventricle is weakn'd and the excretory motions as well of this as of the Intestines grow tardy for it 's a common observation that a slowness of concoction and a tardiness of going to stool are the familiar effects of an Opiatick Medicine From what is said it will not be difficult to draw Physical Precepts and cautions concerning the right use of Opiats which we may do by observing the four following things viz. before a Narcotick Medicine be given we must consider First What kind of constitution the Patient is of Secondly What kind of Disease it is he labours under Thirdly In what state the Animal Spirits are in respect both of the Animal and Vital functions Fourthly In what condition the Blood and other humours are 1. As to the first when a Hypnotick is indicated see that the temperament habit of Body or Indisposition Custom or manner of Life of the Patient do not indicate the contrary For example those that are of a mean stature have a strong well-set and square Body with a hot Blood and a lively or quick aspect are wont to bear this Medicine best and most commonly receive benefit thereby which also they may much more securely adventure upon if they have been us'd to it before on the contrary it does not agree with nay sometimes it proves very prejudicial to those who are too corpulent or very thin also to those who being of a subtle texture of Body have their Spirits easily dissipable or being of a cold temperament have their Flesh soft and flaggy and being of a sluggish and intractable Nature are of themselves dull and sleepy to which this thing may be added and it augments the weight of the rest if they never made a Trial of that Medicine before The nature of the Disease is sometimes of great moment for or against the use of Opiats None but flattering Physicians will make use of them in slight affects Moreover in some great Distempers they are either forbidden or their use is much suspected In the Palsy Vertigo Incubus Apoplexy Orthopnaea the Dropsy of the Brest or of the Abdomen in the numbness and trembling of the Limbs in very malign Feavers and in the fits of intermitting Feavers or in the Crisis of others Narcoticks are most commonly forbidden Again in a Cough with much and thick Spittle the Asthma and in any other affects of the Brest with an oppression of the Lungs and in Hysterick and other Convulsive Passions they are to be given but rarely and not without caution and the advice of some prudent Physician But in a violent Head-ach Catarrhs the Colick Plurisy ordinary Feavers in Vomiting the Bloody Flux in Nephritick Fits or fits of the Gout and in any pains whatsoever Opiats are not only allow'd but we have recourse to them as to a Divine Panacaea 3. But as often as an Opiat is propos'd or comes to be deliberated on we must farther consider in what state the Animal Spirits presiding in each faculty are for if they are but few or being opprest flag already and do not sufficiently display themselves certainly they must by no means be farther lessen'd or put in a consternation by a Medicine Wherefore whilst the Animal faculties do not appear quick nor with sufficient vigour exert themselves as to sense or reason or when the Pulse and Respiration have the courses of their Reciprocations but weak also more quick or slow than usually or disturb'd and inequal And lastly if a stupor and enervation with an unwonted Languor has seiz'd the Members and Parts for Motion we must wholly forbear Hypnotick Medicines but we may be free to use the same if at any time they are Indicated by reason of some great affects and that the Animal Spirits at the same time are strong enough according to these and the other respects or also if they are too much expanded or grown too raging and unruly 4. In the mean time the state of the Blood and humours is not to be neglected for sometimes the uneven or ill condition of these wholly forbids Opiats or permits them to be taken but sparingly and with some restriction The Blood Indicates against their use when it is amiss either in its quantity or in its quality or Crasis As to the former the bloody Latex either abounds or is deficient and in both respects it excludes Narcotick Medicines For first if at any time the Blood grown turgid through its plenty and withal boiling in a Feaver so exceedingly extends the Vessels as to make them strout forth and therefore the precordia mightily labour to circulate it as quick as possible by most swiftly repeated turns of the Systoles lest it somewhere stagnates or overflows then certainly to give a Narcotick whereby that labour and last effort of the Heart so necessary for preserving Life would be hindred were rather the Office of a Poysoner than of a Physician Wherefore in an over fullness of Blood Phlebotomy ought always to precede the use of Opiats Secondly No less damage is threatn'd from Narcoticks if given when there is a want or scarcity of Blood as after great Haemorrhagies long Fastings or long sicknesses For when the current of the Blood is very slender and by reason of its smallness scarcely continued the Heart being mov'd with as quick a beat as may be endeavours as it were with redoubled efforts to give it a most quick Circulation lest its course be interrupted and consequently ceases Hence it is obvious to conceive how greatly prejudicial Opiats are which put a stay or lett to this endeavour of the Heart so very necessary in such a juncture And indeed it seems to be for this reason that we forbid sleep to Women presently after Child-birth when the Lochia flow in abundance and to all others when a considerable quantity of Blood has been taken from them and in great Hemorrhagies to wit lest the Heart be deserted by the Spirits during sleep with which it swiftly circulates the lessen'd current of the Blood Moreover sometimes the Blood being faulty in its quality or to speak more properly in its Crasis Indicates against the use of Opiats for when in a Cacochymia or Feaver the Blood being mightily fill'd with drossy Excrements ought to be agitated with a greater effort of the Heart and be more swiftly circulated to wit that the
to be taken on occasion when the Spirits faultered He also Drank Oat-bear Alter'd with temperate and Diuretick Herbs By the use of these things he past at least seven years without any great alteration for the worse At length Old Age pressing opon him and the Disease together the Convulsive fits growing more violent seis'd him not as before when his sleep was over but as soon as he was warm in his Bed so that he was forc't wholly to forbear going to Bed and he put off his Cloaths but seldom unless it were to change Linnen Hence transpiration being hindred the Serous and other Filthy Dregs which were wont to evaporate were fixt on the Lungs which first brought a thick Breathing afterward an Asthmatick affect and lastly a Mortla Consumption If the reasons of the foresaid affects be enquired into it will appear that all these Evils proceeded from the ill Constitution of the Brain and Genus Nervosum and more immediatly from the Dyscrasy and Default of the Juice that lies in these parts The reason is plain why this Disease first increasing by degrees was soon rais'd to a far worse state by the use of hot Baths for it is manifest by experience that hot and sulphureous Baths very much exalt the Saline and other Morbid Particles that abound within the Viscera or Humours of Human Body and soon carry them to the highest pitch viz. by exagitaing them they render them more wildly exorbitant and froce them from the first passages into the Blood and thence into the Brain and Genus Nervosum nay and joyn them together being first sever'd and lying idle and stir them up to a certain Fermentation Wherefore such as being hereditarily obnoxious to the Gout or or Stone have not yet felt any Fits of those affects after the use of hot Baths very often find that both those diseases are presently brought to a maturity in them You may find the reasons of the other Symptoms in Dr. Willis at large So much for universal Convulsions which for the most part being joyn'd to the Paralytick affect are raised at once in many places separately there remain others which we call continual viz. because being conveyed on a sudden from these parts to others they mutually succeed each other and force the Members sometimes these sometimes others and often the whole Body to be mov'd involuntarily and to be bent and agitated divers ways I shall give you an instance or two of this affect A Beautiful Virgin tall and thin grown begotten of a Father obnoxious to very great distempers of the Genus Nervosum about the twentieth year of her Age was afflicted for many days with a very violent and Periodical Head ach at length the Winter Solstice being near at hand the pain of her head remitted but in its stead a mighty Catarrh succeeded with thin and much Spittle and with an Ulcerous affect of the Nostrils Mouth and Throat having undergone the tediousness of this for some time at length by the advice of some old Women she drew into her Mouth the smoke of Amber through a Tube and was presently Cur'd viz. the Catarrh was suddenly stopt but presently upon it she complain'd of a mighty giddiness with a Pain of the Head and a Ringing in the Ears on the third day the Tendons of the Neck were Convuls't that her head was bent sometimes forward sometimes backward sometimes sideways and sometimes it stood stiff and immovable in a short time after this such a Convulsive affect seiz'd the ontward parts of the whole Body and the Limbs the Arms and Hands were so wonderfully twisted that no Jugler of Mountibank was able to imitate their Flections and Convolutions Her Legs qand Feet were forc't awry this way and that and were made to beat aginst each other and to cross each other alternatively after this manner she was perpetually affected with Convulsive Motions either sitting in a Chair or lying in Bed unless when she was overwhelm'd with sleep and when she contained her members a little by much forcing her self presently she was seized with a difficult and short Breating and with a danger of being Choakt yet in the mean time the Eyes Jaws Mouth and inferiour Viscera continued free from any Convulsion Nor was she troubled with a Vomiting Rumbling nor Inflation of the Hypochondres Moreover her mind held always sound and she duly performed the functions of Memory Understanding and Imagination she neither spake nor did any thing shewing want of Reason or Indiscreetly but amongst all these stupendious evils always using Pious and Vertuous expressions she gave an admirable specimen of Christian Patience and Piety her appetite was soon dejected so that she was averse from all food unless very much press'd to it but thirst continually prest upon her she was so very weak she could neither stand nor go Her Urine was of an Orange Colour very much Impreguated with a Saltness on the Surface of which a thin Tartareous Film grew Being call'd to this Lady the sixth day after her being ill I proceeded in order to her Cure as follows In the first place having made a gentie preparation of the Body I gave her a Loosning Potion of an Infusion of Sena and Rhubarb with the addition of Yellow Saunders and Salt of Wormwood whereby she had twelve stools which gave her great ease the day following I drew eight Ounces of blood from her left Arm every evening I gave her an Opiate of the Water and Syrup of Cowslip flowers with the Powder of Pearl Moreover once within six hours I ordered her a Dose of Spirit of Harts Horn to be taken with a little draught of the following Jalape Take Water of black Cherries Wall-Nuts and Peony Flowers of each three Ounces the Antiepileptical Water of Langius two Ounces Syrupe of Male Peony Flowers two Ounces Pearl powdred a Scruple mix them make a Julape Because she could not bear much Purging Glysters of Milk and Sugar were frequently us'd Besides Anticonvulsive Liniments apply'd to the Neck and Spine we ordered Frictions of the Members affected with Woollen Cloths moistned in an appropriated Oyl and warm'd By the use of these things within six days the diseased seem'd to be very much relieved for the Convulsive Motions in a manner wholly ceast she could keep her Members in their due Site and without Motion only she was forc't sometimes by a slight Contraction to bow her head gently this way and that Moreover she was able to arise from her Chair and Walk a little but as she Walk't she did not go upright but inclining to one side 's Parting from her at that time I left her in a manifest state of Recovery she seeming to be much better But somewhat more then a week after a boistrous North Wind arising in the night time and blowing strongly on the diseas'd as she lay in her Bed the window being not well shut presently upon taking Cold she fell into such a relapse that she became not
somewhat waver so that the Diseased fall down and are often offuscated with Darkness In a fit of this it is to be observed that the Imagination and common Sense are in some sort deceived whilst they think the Objects that stand still do move but the rational judgment holds good for we know our Errour That the morbifick cause of the Vertigo and the preternatural way of its hapning may be known we must enquire after what manner the same affect how suddenly soever it comes upon us is wont to be raised by non-natural things for by a long turning round of the Body by looking from an high place passing over a Bridge by sailing in a Ship or going in a Coach by Drunkenness or taking Tobacco and certain other ways Persons every where become Vertiginous or contract a Giddiness which Affect those occasions produce in as much as the animal Spirits being greatly disturbed in their set Series and orders are both moved loosely and in a disorderly manner this way and that within the Passages of the Brain and break off certain Lines or Threads as it were of their wonted irradiation into the genus Nervosum for those two things being in a manner always reciprocal mutually succeed and depend on each other viz. the Perturbation of the Spirits within the middle of the Brain and their letted emanation into the genus Nervosum On whatever cause either affect is produc'd presently the other follows A turning round of the Body being carried in a Coach or Ship also Drunkenness an unusual taking of Tobacco force the Spirits to fluctuate or to reel disorderly in the Brain which thereupon are presently hindred from their due emanation into the Nerves so that the Persons affected are scarce able to stand or go In like manner a looking from an high place passing over a Bridge a Fainting or Swoon seizing us recall the Spirits from their wonted emanation into the genus Nervosum which therefore falling in a tumult or being disorderly mov'd within the Brain cause a Scotomia or a running round of Objects these things being thus premitted concerning the Vertigo rais'd by reason of some accident or by some evident solemn and non-natural cause we must now enquire how and after how many ways it is wont to be produc'd by an intrinsecal and preternatural cause Concerning this you may observe that the Vertigo is sometimes a symptom depending on some other affect seated sometimes within the Brain sometimes without it but that sometimes it is a Disease by it self which being raised within the middle of the Brain is very troublesome and often terrible and difficult to be cured As to the former many Diseases of the Head viz. an acute Pain the Lethargy Epilepsy Carus Apoplexy with many others have often a Vertigo joyned with them viz. inasmuch as an even expansion of the Spirits in the Brain and their irradication thence into the Genus Nervosum is lightly disturbed from those various morbifick causes Moreover this symptom is wont sometimes to be produced by reason of other affects seated far from the Brain and that chiefly after two manners For first it is usual for a Scotomia to arise by reason of the afflux of Blood call'd on a sudden from the Brain as in a swoon and great fainting in great hunger hard labour a very great hemorrhagy long fastings violent passions of fear or sadness nay through other occasions if at any time the motion of the Blood fails or faulters in the Heart so that the affected are ready to fall into a fainting of the Spirits presently because the supply of the Vital Liquor is withdrawn the Animal Spirits also failing in the Brain withdraw their irradiation from the Genus Nervosum For their Head-spring being cut off those that remain flying back from their emanation run to and fro confusedly in the Brain and raise vertiginous and often delirous affects Secondly a disorderly retreat of the Animal Spirits from some one of the Viscera or some outward member into the Brain often causes a Vertigo viz. inasmuch as the Spirits being troubled in a long series from the Part affected by the Ductus's of the Nerves at length trouble others inhabiting the middle part of the Brain and force them into the like disorders for this cause it is that sharp humours twitching the Fibres of the Stomach and that often an offensive and irritative matter stirr'd in the Spleen Pancreas or Intestines and an acute pain Ulcers c. in the Foot or Arm often cause light Scotomias in the Brain But the Vertigo is not only a symptom but sometimes is a disease primarily and of it self for the through understanding of the nature of which we must enquire into its subject formal state and causes The Immediate Subject of the Vertigo are doubtless the Animal Spirits which every person troubled with this affect perceives to be very much troubled and to move about in a confused manner but the mediate subject are those parts of the Brain in which Imagination and common sense reside and whence the next way leads into the Genus Nervosum Now these are the Corpora Callosa and Striata For the Animal Spirits love to expatiate themselves within these medullous Bodies and when they smoothly flow in one series from the two extremes attending the Corpus Callosum viz. from the Corpora Striata and Gyri of the Brain towards its middle part they represent pleasant imaginations and fancies and when in another series and haply by other Pores they flow from the midst of the Corpus Callosum into the Gyri of the Brain they carry thither the signatures of notions for the memory and when they direct themselves thence into the Corpora striata and origines of the Nerves they actuate all the moving parts and as often as there is occasion convey to them the Instincts of setting upon motions Now in a Vertigo those even emanations of the Spirits seem to be intercepted in various places and to be diversly perverted for some files of the Spirits are rendred obscure others are wrested another way and are driven this way and that into Gyri and Vortex's and often are forcibly drawn cross-wise wherefore by reason of the Spirits being so troubled in the Brain confus'd fancies erring and unconstant species of sensible things or turnings round of them are represented And then according as the Irradiation into the Genus Nervosum is lessen'd or stopt a Scotomia and sailings and faulterings of the locomotive function ensue It seems probable that such disorders of the Spirits depend on two causes viz first that some exorbitant and extraneous particles being entred the Brain deeply together with the Nervous Juice cleave to the Spirits and force them into irregular motions it being manifest to vulgar experience that this happens to some persons after immoderate drinking of Wine or Strong Waters unusual smoaking Tobacco the eating of certain Vegetables an anointing with Mercury c. Secondly we may imagine that sometimes
others but withall dangerous not deliberating long concerning this they resolve rather to try a doubtful Medicine than none or which is the same one wholly ineffectual Therefore we gave her Precipitatum ex Mercurio cum sole in a small Dose and repeated it the next day after on the third day an easy and gentle Salivation beginning went on fairly for a Week without any malign Symptome but then the Diseased complaining of a great Head-ach and Vertigo begun to be affected with Convulsive Motions so that we were forced presently to let fall the Salivation and to break off this Course as soon as we could withdrawing the fluxion of the serous latex from the head towards the other parts which frequent Clysters Epispastick and Revulsive Plaisters applyed in various places together with Cordials and Opiats inwardly given soon effected and presently upon it the noble Lady being somewhat better begun to stretch forth and bend the Joints of her Hands and Feet and to move sometimes those members or these from their place the Spitting ceasing being gently purged she took for many days a decoction of China Sarsa red Sannders Ivory c. with the addition of the dryed leaves of Sage Betony Speedwell c. with which she was wont to interlace the use of Spirit of Harts-horn or of Soot of a Cephalick and Cordiack confection also of an appropriate Powder and Julep within a Months space she was able to stand on her Feet and to walk a little in her Chamber being supported by Servants moreover getting Sleep and taking Food indifferently the bulk of her Flesh and her strength daily increas'd and at length using the temperate hot Baths at Bath she grew well But that hot Baths do not do good to all Paralyticks nay as we have intimated before that they do great hurt to some the following relation will plainly shew A London Merchant after a Luxation of a Joynt of the Foot became lame in that part being otherwise sound enough and robust when Topick Remedies of various kinds tryed for some time did not do at length by the advice of a Physician going to Bathe he began to try the temperate hot Baths from the farther use of which becoming forthwith worse upon it the Palsey presently beginning in other Members he had abstained but the Physician being then present assuring him that he would be better afterward advised him to persist wherefore he took the hot Baths again for about thirty dayes till all the lower Members to wit from the Os sacrum to the Feet being wholly resolv'd were withered and that in the Thorax a very great and as it were Asthmatical dyspnaea was raised for the Muscles imployed in Respiration being as it seem'd affected also with the Palsey the brest was not able to be dilated for drawing the Breath deep enough wherefore being always out of Breath he labour'd under continual affects of those Parts and an Agitation of the whole Thorax In this state departing from Bathe he is commanded by his Physician to abstain for a whole Month from any Remedies taken from Pharmacy which when he had religiously observed through hope as it were of a Resurrection that time being past all deliberation was now late concerning the use of Medicines for besides the Paralytick and withered Members his Belly swelled his Respiration was yet more difficult and letted that the diseased was scarce able to draw his Breath his Pulse being very weak with frequent Swoonings and Faintings hapning upon any Motion of his Body so that hereby scarce any place at all being left for Catharticks he must insist only on Cardiack and Paralytick Remedies notwithstanding the use of which the diseased within six weeks labouring under a very great dyspnaea for many hours at length dyed the immediate cause of whose decease I conceive to be Polypous Concretions of Blood in the Heart for in regard the Motion of the Praecordia was greatly letted for a long time nothing seems more probable than that those kinds of carneous lumps as it were were concreted within the Ventricles of the Heart For illustrating a little farther the Theories of the Palsey and also of the Lethargy and Carus I shall here give you another Example with Anatomical Observations which hapned whilst the precedent things were printing A child little more than three years of Age of a moist Brain as it appear'd by sore Inflammations of his Eyes and watery pushes of his Face to which he had been sometimes obnoxious at the beginning of Autumn being ill with a slow Fever and a dejected Appetite became very drowsie and sleepy so that he slept almost continually day and night but being awak'd he knew the standers by and answer'd aptly enough to things ask'd meet Remedies viz. Clysters Vesicatories Catharticks also Juleps Spirit of Harts-horn Powders with many other things usual in this case being forthwith and carefully given him did so much good that within six or seven dayes the diseased being free from his Feaver waking sufficiently and desiring Food seem'd to recover and scarce to have any more need of Physical help But in a short while after I know not on what occasion undergoing a relaps and being drowsie again he was presently affected with a great Stupefaction so that being with difficulty to be awak'd he scarce knew any thing or did any thing with Knowledge the next day after being utterly stupid tho being pinch'd hard he would open his Eyes and roul them this way and that he saw nothing and within a day or two a Palsey of the whole right side followed The former Remedies repeated to him and likewise Sneezers Apophlegmatisms drawing of Blood Cataplasms to be applyed to the Feet and Epispasticks to the whole Head shaved with other Medicines and wayes of Administrations prescribed in order did nothing but the diseased after he had lai so for three or four dayes insensible the Pulse and Respiration at length failing he dyed The Scull being opened the formost Region of the Brain almost as far as the Insertion of the fourth Sinus was swollen being covered with a limpid Water shining through the Membranes which upon the dissection of the Meninges presently flowed forth Moreover at that place the portions of the Brain cut off by piece-meal appear'd too moist and almost without red or bloody specks but in the hindmost part of the Brain the Vessels were red with Blood and the cortical Substance appeared more low and firm without a Tumour or being floated with Water from these things as we have concluded before it will manifestly appear that the Cause of the Lethargy depends on a watery glut of filth in the outward part of the Brain The Brain being cut off piece-meal and a hole being made into the foremost cavity strouting with a lympha the limped water sprung forth as tho it had been pent up in too narrow a space before whose mighty store had filled all the Ventricles to the top and as it seem'd by compressing the
for her sake mean while he does not only neglect the care of Domestick or Publick Concerns and even of his own Salvation but being frustrated of his Desire often layes violent hands on himself or if he be content to live and survive pining away both in Body and Mind he almost deposes man for the use of right Reason being lost omitting Meat Drink and Sleep and the other necessary offices of Life he yields up himself wholly to sighing and sobbing and to a mournful habit and gesture of Body If we enquire into the reason of this affect we easily find that the Corporeal Soul of Man being obnxious to violent Passions when it is wholly carried forth into an Object most dear to it viz. a Woman belov'd and is not able to get and embrace her it is delighted or contents it self with nought besides also paying no obedience to the Rational Soul it wholly grows deaf and does not hear its Dictates and crowding the Imagination only with Tragical Notions it dulls the edge of the Understanding Moreover in as much as the Praecordia a plentiful afflux of Spirits be ing denied to them fail as to their Motions the Blood heap'd together in the Sinus's of the Heart and apt to stagnate causes there a great heaviness and oppression and consequently Sighs and Groans mean while the Face and outward Members by reason of the afflux of Blood and Spirits withdrawn from them grow pale and languish hence it is commonly said of Desperate Lovers that their Heart is broken to wit in as much as this Muscle being not vigorously enough actuated with the Animal Spirit vibrates slowly and weakly and does no longer send forth the Blood with vigour into all the Parts Such disorder of the animal Function as an excessive Love brings concerning the Acquisition of its Object the like in a manner is brought by Jealousy concerning the keeping of the same when gotten so that always viz. both in the Fruition and in the Desire Res est solliciti plena Timoris Amor. That Soul if it be not secure of its most dear prey presently growing troubled casts a Cloud and Darkness on its own sereness and afterward being infected with a bilous Tincture every Object seems to it ting'd of a yellow colour for as a ferment of the Stomack grown sharp perverts all things taken into it into its own Nature so the affect of jealousy once risen turns all Accidents and Circumstances to a food for its own venom and since in this affect the sensitive Soul being bent awry as it were does not become conformable to its Body therefore the oeconomy of the Animal Vital and vegetative Functions being depraved the jealous Man raves and pines away Superstition and despair of eternal Salvation are wont to imprint almost the like affects of Melancholy on the sensitive Soul the Blood and the Body as Love and Jealousie but somewhat after a differing way of affecting for in those the Object whose acquisition or loss is in danger is wholly immaterial and its affect being first conceiv'd by the Rational Soul is imprinted on the other Corporeal Soul in the prosecution of which if this readily obeys then no disturbance of the mind of Man arises but if the Corporeal Soul shewing a reluctancy as it often falls out the Rational still presses with advice and threats presently that growing troubled stirs the Blood and Spirits in a disorderly manner opposes the Corporeal goods and delights to the Spiritual presented by the Understanding and endeavours to draw the man to its side And as thus there is a continual bickering between the two souls and sometimes the Will is superiour sometimes the Sensitive appetite prevails at length a Court of Conscience is set up by the Mind where every act is narrowly examined By reason of these frequent variances of the Souls the Animnal Spirits as being too much and almost continually exercis'd being often commanded and as it were distracted now this way and now that way at length fall somewhat from their vigour and good disposition and at last being become fixt and melancholick in as much as they are with-held from their wonted Expansion they form bye and unusual Tracts in the Brain and so bring a Delirium with a mighty Fear and Sadness in those kinds of affects the corporeal Soul being violently drawn away as it were both separates from the Body and being modified according to the character of the Idaea imprinted is wont to assume a new Species either Angelical or Diabolical mean while the Understanding for as much as the Imagination suggests to it only disorderly and monstrous Notions is wholly perverted from the use of right Reason After a like manner of affecting as this it happens that some melancholy Persons undergo imaginary Metamorphoses either as to their Fortunes or their Bodies viz. Whilst one imagines himself and acts a Prince another a Beggar another believes himself to have a Body of Glass and another thinks himself a Dog or a Wolfe or some other Monster for after that the corporeal Soul being affected with a long continued melancholy the Mind being blinded is wholly fallen both from it self and the Body she affects a new species or Condition and as much as in her lyes really assumes it CHAP. XI Instructions and Prescripts for curing Madness or the Mania AFter Melancholy it remains for us to treat of Mdness which is so far ally'd to the other that these affect often change turns and each passes into the other for A melancholy disposition growing worse brings a Fury adn a Fury coming to abate often ends in a melancholy disposition Since Madness raised withot a Fever and with âââighty annoyance of the animal Function is wont to be continual and long-lasting its next and immediate subject must be the animal Spirits which being affected not per consensum nor by another thing forcibly moving them but per se and habitually fall from their proper and genuine Dissposition viz. salino-spirituous into a salino-sulphureous nature resembling Aqua Stygia as we have hinted before and consequently they exert none but disorderly Actions and continue so acting amiss for a long time to this their Fault haply the Brain the Blood or other parts contribute something but the Spirits themselves are first and chiefly in the fault Concerning Maniacal Persons we must observe that thefe three things are in a manner common to them all viz. First that their Fancies or Imaginations are perpetually occupied with the raging of impetuous Thoughts so that mumbling to themselves or crying out and yelling they talk aloud various things both Day and Night Secondly that their Motions or Conceptions are either incongruous or are represented under a false or erroneous Species to them Thirdly that with their raving a Boldness and Fury are most commonly joyned contrary to what it is in melancholy Persons who are always astected with a Fear and Sadness The Depravation or maniacal Disposition of the animal Spirits together
sometimes they are troubled more than usually of their own accord for when by a long digestion the sulphureous part of the Wine is exalted too much it falls into an effervescence greater than it ought and unless it be presently appeas'd it perverts the crasis of the Liquour by its Turgescency the same thing altogether seems to be in the feverish Effervescence rais'd in the Blood which is wont to be introduc'd for those kinds of causes The third observation or comparison of the Blood with Wine is this Wines as many other Liquours have their times of Crudity Maturation and decay the same thing being to be observ'd in the Blood concerning which sec Dr. Willis as large So far of the comparison of the Blood with wine what follows its similitude with Milk consists in the diversity of its parts and their parting from each other which is chiefly seen in it when it is let out of the Veins and grows cold in a Vessel For when the heat and vital Spirit which preserve all in a mixture are fled away the remaining parts depart from each other and there is made a separation of the thin from the thick of the Serum from the fibrous Blood c. After having considered the Blood we may observe that the nutritive Juice supply'd from the Blood and sever'd from its mass for the nutrition of the solid parts sometimes by reason of its depravation and irregular motion causes many symptoms in Fevers This nutritive Juice which is supply'd from the mass of Blood by a certain circulation after it has past the nervous parts what remains of it being effaete and Poor as it were is sent again by the Lymphick Vessels to the Blood CHAP. II. Of the Motion and Effervescencies of the Blood WE must next enquire concerning the Bloods motion both natural viz. by the help of what ferments and by what fort of turgescency of the parts it is circulated in a continual motion through the Vessels and preternatural viz. for what causes and by the efforts of what parts sometimes it boyles above measure in its Vessels and falls into feverish Effervescencies Concerning the natural Motion of the Blood we do not here enquire concerning its circulation viz. by what knid of structure of the Heart and Vessels as it were in a Water Engine it is carried round in a constant course but concerning its Fermentation viz. by what kind of mixture of the Parts and their mutual Action on each other like Wine fermenting in a Vessel it continually boyles and this kind of motion depends both on the Heterogeneity of the parts of the Blood it self and on the various ferments which are inspir'd into the mass of Blood from the Viscera As to the first those things which have altogether the like Particles do not ferment wherefore neither distill'd Waters chymical Oyles Spirits of Wine or other simple Liquours are stir'd at all but the Blood consisting of various Elements of a contrary nature and working on each other continually ferments and his all its Particles in a perpetual Motion It is an Argument that Ferments are requir'd for Sanguification because when they fail by nature they are supply'd by Art with good success for fixt Salts Alchalies Extracts Digestives and especially Chalybeat Remedies give help only in this respect that they restore a new the ebullition of the Blood either weak or almost extinct As to what concerns natural Ferments certainly many may be form'd and stor'd up in divers Parts or Viscera for any Humour in which the Particles of Salt Sulphur or Spirit being very much exalted are contain'd indues the nature of a Ferment After that manner Yest and Leaven come to be such with which new Beer and a mass of Bread are excellently fermented In like manner an acetous Humour in the Stomack participating of an exalted Salt helps there Concoction and in the Spleen the Dreggs of the Blood by reason of the Salt and Earth exalted in them turn to a ferment How great a Vigour comes to the Blood from the Womb and genital Parts appears hence because from the Privation or Discrasie of these in Virgins a Green-sickness in Men a want of Beard a weak Voice and an amission of Virility follow but the cheif ferment which ferves for Sanguification is lodged in the Heart for here is the greatest scat of heat in which the more crude Particles of the Chyme are kindled as it were and acquire a volatility Therefore the Motion and heat in the Blood depend chiefly on two things viz. partly on its proper Crasis and Constitution whereby being plentifully compos'd of the active Principles of Spirit Salt and Sulphur it grows turgid of its own accord in its Vessels as Wine in a Hogs-head and partly on the ferment implanted in the Heart which very much rarifles the Liquour passing through its Sinus's and forces it to spring forth with a frothy Effervescency Let thus much suffize concerning the natural Motion Heat and Fermentation of the Blood in the even tenour of which the state of our Health consists to speak now of its preternatural or over great Effervescency on which the Types and Fits of Fevers depend I call an over-great or preternatural Fermentation when the Blood like a Pot boyling over the Fire boyles above measure and being rarified with a frothy Turgescency swells the Vessels raises a quick Pulse and like a sulphureous Liquour taking fire diffuses on all sides a burning heat This kind of Motion or Fermentation of the Blood is excellently illustrated by the example of fermenting Wines for Wines besides the gentle and even fermentation whereby they are first depurated at certain times boyl so mightily that they work over the Vessels and if they are close stopt they make them flye in pieces after this manner being put upon an effort as it were unless they are presently drawn off from the Tartar or their Lees into another vessel they cease not to boyl till the Spirit being very much spent and the Sulphur or Salt too much exalted they either become over-fretted or degenerate into Vinegar Such an Effervescency is wont to be raised chiefly for two Causes first when any thing extraneous and immiscible is put into the Vessel so some drops of Tallow or of Fat dropt into the vessel produce this Motion or secondly when Wines having too much Lees or Tartar by reason of the sulphureous parts exalted above measure fall into an Effervescence of their own accord and boyl vehemently for in whatsoever substance Sulphur abounds and its Particles being loosned from their mixture joyn with one another and are kept close together there such immoderate Effervescencies are procur'd After the like tho not wholly the same manner as Wines ferment the Ebullition of the Blood is caused viz. either some extraneous and heterogeneous thing is mixt with the Blood which in regard it is not assimilated is wont to cause a perturbation and Effervescence till the heterogeneous thing be either subdued or
various Coagulations and Corruptions in which not only the Spirit and the Sulphur as in a Putrid Fever make an exorbitant Effort and force the Blood to boyl immoderately but withal the mixture of the Blood is forthwith dissolved and its Liquor runs into parts and so that horrible Symptoms with a manifest danger of Life are caused in this kind of Affect Under this Rank we comprehend Malignant and Pestilential Fevers the Plague the Small Pox and Measles concerning which it remains for us to treat at present By the unanimous Consent of all the Force and Power of these Diseases are plac'd in a venemous Matter because upon a Pestilential Affect even as upon drinking Poyson we find that the Strength is suddenly cast down and that Life is soon destroyed and therefore for explicating the nature of the Pestilence it will not be amiss first to enquire concerning Poyson in general and after what manner it affects our Bodies and then to shew what sort of Venom is disperst in the Plague and contagious Diseases which being premitted we shall speak in particular of the Affects even now mentioned We may justly give the name of Poyson to whatsoever sticking in our Body violently and after a secret manner injures the Temper and Actions of any part or of the whole destroys the Spirits or perverts their Motions dissolves the mixture of the Liquors causes Coagulations and Corruptions subverts the Ferments and Functions of the Viscera and so on a sudden and privily endanger Life There is a vast store of these in Nature which are often engendred within our Bodies and abundantly supply'd outwardly from the Earth Air and Water and from the distinct Families of Minerals Vegetables and Animals As there is a great variety of Poysons so there is no less a diversity of them as to the Subjects and the ways of their hurting for tho a great many poysonous things are said to be contrary to us as to the whole Substance so that they set upon any thing and like a Funeral Flame with a caustick Force reduce it as it were into Ashes yet some of these being endowed with a peculiar Force of offending rather hurt one Part or Substance than another The Subjects on which the Taint of the Venom fixes it self first of all and most immediately are two-fold to wit the Animal Spirits or the spirituous and subtle Liquor passiing in the Brain and ' Genus Nervosum and the Blood flowing in the Heart and Vessels When a disproportionate Object presents it self to one of them alone or to both together so that thereupon the Crasis of the Liquors or of the containing Parts is subverted whereby Functions necessary for performing the Offices of Life and Sense are letted and this is done after a secret manner and as it were on a sudden these kinds of Effects we ascribe to Poyson The nervous Bodies with the animal Spirit are not set upon wholly after the same manner by all sorts of Poysons for sometimes they are assail'd with a Stupor sometimes with Cramps and convulsive motions and those of divers Kinds and Conditions The Bite of the Tarantula causes a Dancing the force transmitted from a Tortoise by a Spear or the Cords of a Net stupifies the hand of the Fisher the Roots of Wild Parsnips or the Seeds of Dranel eaten make Men tun mad Opium Mandrake Henbane and the like cause a deep and sometimes a mortal Sleep These and a great many other things without any mighty Perturbation of the Blood or Injury brought on the Heart fast'n chiefly their Venom on the Animal Faculty or Spirit There are also some Poysons which chiefly insinuate their Malignity into the mass of Blood wherefore after using some Medicines a yellow or black Jaundice sometimes a Leprosie leprous Affects or Swellings of the whole Body are produc'd Vapours rising from subterraneous Vaults also from Charcoals newly kindled often suffocating the Vital Spirits congeal the Blood withall and stop its Motion so that the Flame of Life cannot be continued in the Heart Every Man may see how great a Corruption is communicated to the Mass of Blood from the pestilential Miasm by the Spots and Pushes which are the infamous Marks as it were of the blasted Blood If the Injury first inflicted on either viz. the ceconomy of the Heart or Brain be light for the most part it is brought to an end without any great Offence of either wherefore Convulsive Motions a Stupor Lethargy Melancholy Paralytick Affects often begin with a landable Pulse and without an immoderate Effervescence of the Blood and afterward if the Affect does not wax strong they come to an end and cease by little and little There are other Poysons which often deprave the Blood and corrupt its Mixture by dissolving it the animal Functions in the mean time continuing whole and sound but if the Ferment of the Poyson be stronger and lays deeper Roots presently the Venom is disperst from the one into the Province of the other for when the nervous Parts are fill'd with a virulent Juice a Portion of the Venom brought back with the nervous Latex by the lymphatick Vessels into the Veins is readily conveyed into the Mass of Blood and defiles it with the Corruption prevailing in it also from the Blood greatly infected with Venom the Juice wherewith the Nerves are irrigated in a short time becomes tained Hence Persons that are mad are feverish and such as are seiz'd with a pestilential Fever very often are assailed with a Delirium or Frenzy Concerning these things we must consider what kind of Alteration or Impression of Injury it is which is inflicted by Poyson on the Animal Spirits with the Brain and nervous Appendix also what on the Blood with the Heart and the Vessels annex'd to it As to the first we observe that that subtle Liquor or the Animal Spirits with which the nervous Bodies are influenced and by the Expansion of which Sense and Motion perform reciprocal Actions are easily perverted from their Continuity and even Expansion for the Nerves being of a sost Texture and the Spirits wherewith they are fill'd being of a very subtle Substance they are not able to endure any sorts of Objects that are strong or vehement wherefore when any violent or disproportionate Thing assails them by Surprise they are often forc'd from their Expansion and Excursion to a Flight and a Retreat and often into Irregularities of motions wherefore sudden Passions of the Mind distract them and stir them to Twitching and Convulsions when the nutritive Juice wherewith they are supply'd is sent to them too sharp acid or austere they undergo sometimes Resolutions sometimes Shrinkings and if some Object more contrary such as we affirm Poyson to be presents it self whose Particles are of such a fierce Nature or of such a Configuration that they violently ferment with the nervous Liquor they strongly drive the subtle or spirituous Part of it this way and that or wholly drive it away and either
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
pungitive Moreover the Mass of Blood also has greatly contributed to this Evil for whilst it ferments the vapory Effluvia which ought to be blown away outwardly by reason of the Pores being constring'd are sent to the Membranes of the Head and the Brain and by reason of this closing of the Pores communicated almost to all a Sweat happens with Difficulty and that but partial and often interrupted in the Fits Hence also in the height of the Disease a perfect Crisis or a spontaneous Solution of it seldom or scarce at all happens but instead of it if the thing be committed to Nature an adust Matter or Recrements heap'd together in the Blood are conveyed to the Brain and there raise Affects sometimes of the Coma sometimes of the Frenzy and those lasting and obstinate 3. That the Fits sometimes begin without a Cold or a Shivering and are protracted in length with a troublesome Heat and a difficult partial and often-interrupted Sweating afterward that the same being ended the Diseased grow hot again so that the Accesses are not ended but after a long Evaporation of a dry Breath the Cause is the too sharp and bilous Disposition of the Blood whereby being fill'd with a burnt Salt and Sulphur rather than with a Serous Latex when it grows turgid it presently takes to a light Flame without a previous flowing of the nitrous Matter and therefore by reason of its want of Serum and the Pores being shut its Deflagration is continued a long time in a manner only with a dry Exhalation and scarce ends at length in an Apyrexia and therefore the Intervals of the Fits are very troublesome with a Heat and Drought a Head-ach a Vertigo and other Affects to wit because the febrile Matter heap'd together in the Blood is not wholly discussed every Fit but part of it being left after the Access as extraneous and not miscible brings almost a continual Effervescence 4. It is to be observ'd that those that are affected with this Fever presently fall from their Strength and the wonted firm State of their Bodies that after a Fit or two being out of Breath and very weak they are scarce able to stand or walk without a Staff whereas it is usual for such as are seised with a common intermittent Fever to be sprightly and chearful enough during the Intervals of the Accesses The Reason of the Difference is because in this Fever both the Mass of Blood is more depraved with the impure Mixture of a degenerate Juice and especially because the same is more perverted from its natural Crasis and therefore when out of the Fits it does not boyl yet it does not ferment duely and evenly in the Sinus's of the Heart wherefore when by a quick Motion or any Agitation of the Body the Blood is vehemently pressed forward into the Sinus's of the Heart because it is not all presently kindled there and springs forth by its Stagnation it brings an oppression of the Heart and great Faintings of the animal Spirits By reason of this kind of Dyscrasie of the Blood to wit whereby it is unfit for Fermentation or a due Accension in the Heart some Cattel also and especially Horses in the Spring of Fall become short-winded and very unfit for a swift Motion 5. It remains for us to enquire lastly concerning this Fever wherefore it reigns chiefly in Parishes little Villages and in the Country when Cities and great Towns have little of it It might seem that this Affect might be raised from marshy and other noxious Vapours plentifully heap'd together in this or that Tract of the Air but it is more rational to say That the Inhabitants of those Kinds of Places having been more exposed to the Winter Colds and Summer Heats contracted a greater Dyscrasie of the Blood and so a more apt Disposition to this Fever for those that live in the Country scarce go out of their Houses but are exposed to the Rays of the Sun or to the Fervour of the heated Air. Moreover Husband-men and those in the Country being used to hard Labours among whom this Fever chiefly reign'd through their Toyls and immoderate Exercises in the Fields and withall using an ill and course Dyet sooner acquire an adust and burnt Disposition of the Blood and therefore more apt to this Disease than Citizens and Towns-men who enjoying Rest and a wholsome Dyet most commonly live in Houses together or in Streets cooled by the shadow of Houses The truth of this Assertion is confirm'd for that not only the Epidemick Fever now reigning but the other also of the Autumn before rais'd through a Dyscrasie of the Blood was chiefly rife among Husbandmen and the Inhabitants of the Country but that popular Fever which arose in the middle of the Spring depending chiefly on a letted Transpiration infested most Citizens and Towns-people mean while those in the Country usually procuring a more free Transpiration by Exercise and Labours liv'd more free from it The general Prognostick of this Disease only seems to threaten that in a manner the like ill consequence will attend it as followed the Epidemick Fever of the foregoing Year to wit by a Guess taken from the Distemperature of the Blood rather than from the Taint of the Air we may dread an imminent Quartan Fever again but not a Plague As to the particular Observations in it to give you in short the Signs which promise Death or Well-doing they chiefly regard the Temerature and Governance either of the Blood with the vital Spirit or also of the nervous Juice with the Animal Spirit If from the Pulse Urine Actions not injur'd and the Appearance of other Symptoms it be plainly indicated that the Blood as to its feverish Disposition be not greatly perverted from its natural Crasis that in the Fits it burns only moderately and that in every Conflict it easily subdues the load of the febrile Matter and wholly shakes it off from its Fellowship that after some Accesses the Mass of the same Blood is somewhat restor'd toward its due Temper that it less perverts the nutritive Juyce and sends forth that which is extraneous and not miscible with a more mild Turgescency and in the mean while if the other spirituous Liquor duely influences and irrigates the Brain and nervous Bodies that Sleep Watchings Sensation and Motion are perform'd well or at leastwise indifferently we may hope all good things of the Diseased But if it shall appear from the same kinds of Signs that the Blood in this Fever has gotten a Crasis far remote from the natural if it perverts much of the nutritive Juyce and afterward from its extraneous and incongruous mixture the Liquor of the Blood be greatly troubled and the Spirits are driven into Confusion if in the Fits the Blood burns too intensly and for a long time and does not duely subdue the febrile Matter or send it wholly forth but its impure Mixture is still more infected and in every feverish Access more
scopes of curing it ib p. 372. Medicines for the Cure of it p. 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382. Instances of Persons troubled with it and the Methods us'd with them p. 383 384 385 386. Instances of Periodical Head-aches ib. p. 387. an Instance of a Head-ach arising by Consent of other Parts p. 388. Heart its Passions p. 54. its Panting when happening through the fault of the Blood how cur'd ib. p. 55. the same cur'd when it happens through the Fault of the Arteries ib. p. 56. Trembling of the Heart its Description and Method of Cure ib. p. 57. the Cure of the intermitting Pulse p. 58. Medicines for the Heart see Cordials Hydragogue Medicines p. 151 152 153 154 155. Hypocondriacal Affects shewn to be for the most part convulsive and not caus'd by Vapours p. 307. the Symptoms belonging to this Disease p. 308. what the Ventricle and Spleen contribute to this Disease p. 309 310. An Instance of a Person troubled with this Distemper p. 311. the Method of Curing it p. 312 313 314 315. Hysterical Affects see Fits of the Mother I. JAundise three primary Indications in the Method of curing it p. 138. what Medicines are proper according to those Indications ib. p. 139. prescripts of Medicines for curing it ib. p. 140 141 142 143. Jesuits Powder its Nature and how it stops Fevers 545 546 547. Imposthume of the Lungs the morbifick matter of it p. 121. the three primary Indications in the method of Cure p. 122. Physical Prescripts pursuant to them ib. p. 123. Instances of Persons having the Imposthume of the Lungs and the Methods us'd with them p. 124 125. Incubus or Nightmare it 's an Affect of the Cerebellum p. 408. its Phoenomina ib. the Prognostick of it p. 409. the method of Cure ib. Infants often troubled with it and how to be proceeded with p. 410. Inflammation of the Lungs see Peripneumonia Intermitting Fevers see Fevers Issues what Humours chiefly they evacuate and whence they derive them p. 207. in what Diseases and Constitutions they agree better or worse p. 208 209. in what Parts and Places Issues ought to be made ib. p. 210 211. how we must deal with the Symptoms which happen upon Issues p. 212 213 214 215. Issues do not dispose to Barrenness ib. Itch a Disease of the Skin p. 221. its morbifick matter the lymphick Humour in the Glands ib. that Humour deprav'd three ways ib. p. 222. dangerous in Children and cachectical Persons ib. the Indications in order to its cure ib. p. 223. Purging necessary in curing it ib. Prescripts of Medicines for curing it ib. p. 224 225 226. L. LEprosie of the Greeks see Running Scab Lethargy where seated p. 389 two kinds of it ib. the conjunct Causes of the Lethargy so properly call'd p. 391. the chief Symptoms of it ib. the Prognostick of it ib. p. 292. the Method of curing it ib. when Vomits or Purges are proper p. 393. Instances of Persons seis'd with it and how proceeded with p. 394 395. a Lethargy hapning by the use of Opiates how to be dealt with ibid Liver its Distempers p. 146. Medicines against its over-growth p. 147. Remedies against other Diseases of the Liver coming from Obstructions ib. p. 148 149. Liver Marks see cutaneous Affects Loosness see Purging Lungs inflam'd see Peripneumonia Lungs their Imposthume see Imposthume Lungs their Consumption see Ptisick M. MAdness or the Mania allied to Melancholy p. 478. the Spirits chiefly in fault in it ib. three things to be observ'd in Persons seis'd with it ib. how happening upon a vehement Passion p. 479. often hereditary p. 480. why mad Persons are bold and very confident p. 481. its Prognostick ib. p. 482. the method of Cure to be us'd in a continual Madness ib. p. 483 484 485 486. what to be done in an intermittent Madness ib. Malignant Fevers see Fevers Mania see Madness Measles allied to the Small Pox p. 621. their Essence and Cure differ but as to more or less ibid. Melancholy its Definition p. 460. Universal Melancholy its Symptoms consisting chiefly in three things p. 461. the formal Nature and Causes of Melancholy p. 462. the evident and procatarctick Causes of universal Melancholy p. 464 465. the Prognostick of it ib. 466. the method of curing it ib. 467 468 469 470 471 472. Instances of Persons troubled with Melancholy and the ways of proceeding with them ib. p. 473 474. particular Melancholy p. 475. two chief Occasions of it ib. p. 476. Morphew see Scab Mouth its Distempers cur'd p. 359 360. N. NArcoticks see Opiates Nervous Liquor how tainted to cause Convulsions p. 267 268 269 270. Nightmare see Incubus Nitre its Nature and how it works its Effects p. 25. O. OBstructions of the Liver see Liver Opiates how they exert their Force and in what their narcotick Force consists p. 59. what they do in a small quantity and what in a great ib. the good Effects of Opiates p. 60. properly indicated in a want of Sleep in some delirous Affects in all sorts of Pains in an over-quick or vehement Pulse or Breathing also in a breathing interrupted convulsive or otherwise variously irregular in Fits of the Asthma in excessive Vomiting or Purging in Catarrhs and Defluxions of all kinds ib. p. 61. Instances of Persons cur'd by Opiates ib. of the evil Effects of Opium with Cautions concerning their use p. 62. the principal Functions of the the Soul often extreamly injur'd by Narcoticks ib. p. 63. sometimes hurtful to the Praecordia and Breast ib. sometimes very injurious to the Parts within the Belly ib. Precepts and Cautions concerning the right use of them p. 64 65 66. Kinds and Praescripts of Opiates ib. p. 67 68. P. PAins see Aches and Opiates Palsie its Description p. 428. divers Kinds of the Palsie p. 429. why Sense is not alway hindred as well as Motion in the Palsie p. 430. a dullness of Mind Forgetfulness and Stupidness often Fore-runners of the Palsie ib. the evident Causes of an habitual Palsie p. 431. a Palsie in which the sensitive Faculty is hurt Motion being entire p. 432. the Prognostick of the Palsie p. 433. three Methods or Ways of curing the Palsie ib. the method of Cure when caus'd by some Accident with a violent hurt ib. how to cure it when hapning upon a Fever Apoplexy Carus c. p. 434. how to be proceeded with when it depends of a Procatarxis p. 435 436. Praescrips of Medicines ib. p. 437 438 439 440. Hot Baths sometimes prejudicial in the Palsie 441. Salivation when to be us'd ib. Instances of Persons seis'd with the Palsie and the Methods us'd with them p. 442 443 444 445 446. Paraphrenitis not caus'd by the Inflammation of the Diaphragm p. 452 453. Passions of the Heart see Heart Peripneumonia its Description p. 105. the primary Indication in order to its Cure ib. the Intents of curing pursuant to it ib. p. 106 107. the secondary therapeutick Indication ib. Praescripts of
unless the Patients resolve to take courage so as to attempt to go abroad to set forth their strength to their utmost and accustome nature daily to inure it self to hardship all medicines prove useless Wherefore a plentiful and cheerful way of living are no less necessary than Physick that thereby the stock of Animal Spirits may be daily renew'd and increas'd and so confirm'd in strength by greater practices now and then insisted on for which ends strong Wines with good Dishes of meat are very proper Moreover all Studies and Cares with which the Soul is deprest being laid aside let the time be past in idleness and recreatious or in moderare exercises As by such a kind of living duly ordered the Animal Spirits are greatly refresh'd so it repairs the decay and depauperations of the Blood For the same ends also the following Medicines may be given with good effect Take Spirit of Amber Armonicacated what suffices fifteen or twenty drops be taken in the Evening and the next Morning in aspoonful of the following distill a water drinking after it nine spoonfuls of the same Take Leaves of Sage Rosemary Time Savory Marjoram Costmary of each four handfuls Roots of Angelica and Master-wort of each six Ounces of Zedoary the lesser Galingal Calamus Aromaticus Florence Orris of each an Ounce and a half Cubebs anOunce and a half Nutmegs Cloves Cinnamon of each an Ounce the outward Coats of twelve Oranges and of six Limmons being slic'd and bruis'd pour to them of Whitewine and Canary of each four pounds Distil it in common Organs let the whole liquor be mixt and sweetn'd with Sugar perlated In the distilling hang in the head of the Alembick a Nodulus with a Scruple of Amber-greece in it and half a Scruple of Musk. Take Tincture of Antimony or of the Balsam of Tolu an Ounce let fifteen or twenty drops be taken in the Morning at Nine a Clock and at Five in the Afternoon in a spoonful of the water before prescrib'd drinking after it three Ounces of the same or rather in the Morning drink after it a Dish of Tea or Cofee or Chocholate prepar'd of a Decoction of Sage A little before Dinner drink a Glass of Sherry Sack When these things have been used some time and you think good to intermit them take the following things in their place Instead of the Spirit take a Dose of the following Electuary in the Evening and early in the Morning with the distill'd water or Viper Wine Take of wet preserv'd Citron Pills an Ounce and a half Mirobalans Condited an Ounce Nutmegs Ginger Candied of each half an Ounce Confection of Hyacinth Alchermes of each three Drams Pearl prepar'd red Coral prepar'd of each a Dram and a half with the Syrup of the Juice of Kermes make an Electuary Let the ordinary drink be a Physick Ale made after the following manner viz. into a vessel of four Gallons put the following bag Take an Old Cock half boil'd and mash'd Leaves of Sage and Harts-Tongue dry'd of each two handfuls six Dates slic'd Raspings of Sassafras two Ounces being slic'd and bruis'd mix them put them in a little bag and hang it in a Vessel after it had done working The second intention which undertakes to correct the Dyscrasies or depraved dispositions of the Blood and Spirits is perform'd by the same Remedies as in the Hypochondriacal distemper and Melancholy Wherefore the prescripts which I formerly gave for the Cure of those affects may serve here As to the third intention which for keeping the Pores in a due State ordains a meet way of Government as to cloathing the Air the Fire c. there is little left for a Physician to do for commonly every Patient will be his own Councellour as to these things There is only one kind of advice which they are apt to receive and is wont to do them good viz. that they change their habitation by which often the Mind is also chang'd for those that are never so much addicted to keep themselves pen'd up in a Chamber or in Bed when they travel into foreign Countries where they breath a warmer and more serene Air It 's almost incredible in how short a time they recover So much concerning this depraved Perspiration which has not been touch'd by others There remains yet a third kind of this immoderate Sweating which is not as the first the Symptom or effect of another present or past Disease but it self first beginning is either a Disease of it self or the parent of some Morbid affect To the first sort chiefly belongs the Pestilential Sweat which was heretofore call'd Sudor Anglicus But I shall not now go about to prescribe Medicines for a Disease which I hope will never return CHAP. IX Instructions concerning Cordial Medicines and Alexipharmicks or Preservatives against Venome with Prescripts of them IF the thing be duly considered the notion of Cordial Medicines was not well introduc'd but is a meer vulgar errour for since it is not the Heart which is the Subject of Life but chiefly and in a manner only the Blood and in regard the Soul it self on whose existence and act in the Body Life depends is founded partly in the Blood and partly in the united stock of Animal Spirits it plainly sollows that Medicines which preserve Life entire or restore it when in danger do rather and more immediately regard these parts of the Soul to wit the Blood and Animal Spirits than the Heart which is a meer Muscle serving for the Circulation of the Blood and as often as it slackens in performing this duty or gives it off This does not happen through its own fault but through that of the Blood and Animal Spirits by which it is actuated Therefore to know the ways and manners of working of those Medicines which are call'd Cordials we must consider these two things viz. First how many and particularly what ways the Blood being ill dispos'd and often endangered either as to its accension or mixture requires Physical helps which may preserve or correct it Secondly after what manner by reason of a defect or delinquency in the Animal Oeconomy the Heart is hindred or perverted from its due motion so that Medicines are Indicated which encrease the stores of the Spirits and better compose them To be well instructed concerning these things read Dr. Willis at large The Kinds and Prescripts of Cordials A Ccording to what is said before we distinguish Cordial Medicines commonly so call'd into two kinds some of them chiefly and more immediately affect the Blood others the Animal Spirits In the first rank of those that are design'd for regulating the accension of the Blood we place those which by encreasing or exalting its Sulphureous Particles cause its over-cold and slow moving Liquor to boil more to be more freely kindled and to burn with more life of which kind are good Wines Compound Strong-waters distill'd the Spirit and Tincture of Saffron Quercitans Elixir of Life
propose that known Medicine Take Salt of Wormwood a Scruple Carduus water three Ounces Spirit of Vitriol or Oyl of Sulphur a Scruple Syrup of Violets three Drams Make a draught to be taken three or four hours before the Fit Take the waters of whole Citrons and of Wood Sorrel of each half a pound Salt of Tartar a Dram and a half Juice of Limmons two Drams Sugar half an Ounce mix them make a Julape the use of it is in Anomalous Fevers which though always burning have daily returns of sharp fits The Dose is three Ounces twice a day The last rank of Cordials and truly in some respect the chiefest is of Alexipharmicks because these are more vital than the rest But Alexipharmicks being either for preservation or for Curing In the first place we shall set down Select Medicines to be given to persons whilst yet in a state of health against the Infection of the Plague or any Malignity whatsoever omitting in the mean time what is usually ordered concerning the alteration and rectifying of the Ambient Air And then in the second place we shall give you Select Forms of Prescripts to be used after the Contagion is taken 1. Antidotes for Preservation TAke Conserve of the Leaves of Rue four Ounces Mithridate and Confectio liberantis of each an Ounce Confection of Hyacinth two Drams Salt of Wormwood two Drams and a half Pulvis pannonici rubri half an Ounce Bezoartick Vinegar what suffices Make an Electuary the Dose is the quantity of a Chesnut thrice a day Take Powder of the Roots of Virginia Serpentary Contrayerva Zedoary Species liberantis of each two Drams Camphire two Scruples Sugar dissolv'd in Bezoartick Vinegar and boil'd to a consistency for Tablets six Ounces Make Tablets according to art each weighing half a Dram let one or two be eaten often in a day Take Roots of Virginia Serpentary three Ounces boil them in three pounds of fountain water till half be consum'd to the straining add of the best Honey two Ounces Venice Treacle an Ounce dissolve it warm and close cover'd and strain it The Dose is two or three spoonfuls three or four times a day Take Flowers of Sulphur four Ounces melt them in a Crucible then put into it by spoonfuls one after another Salt of Wormwood four Ounces stirring them together 'till the whole Mass grows red then add the Powders of Aloes Myrrh Olibanum of each a Dram Saffron half a Dram stir them again for a quarter of an hour till they are incorporated the Mass being cool'd and put on a glass plate let it stand till it dissolves into an Oyl like a most beautiful Ruby The Dose is from ten drops to twenty in an Ounce and a half or two Ounces of the Bezoartick water twice a day Or pour to the said Powder some spirit of Wine rectified on the Roots of Contrayerva and Virginia Serpentary till it cover them three fingers over draw forth a Tincture The Dose is from twenty drops to thirty in a fit Vehicle Or Take of the same Powder half an Ounce pour to it of the best Canary two pounds let it dissolve close cover'd and warm The Dose is a spoonful twice or thrice a day After the Contagion is receiv'd and the Crasis of the Blood is vitiated and begins to corrupt the same Medicines are still proper to be taken but in a greater Dose and oftner Moreover the Vinegars and fixt Salts of Herbs are very often added with good success to Alexipharmicks because by them the Coagulations of the Blood are resolv'd and then all Heterogeneous Particles evaporating and the other being brought into a due mixture its liquor at length recovers its former state and keeps it There being innumerable Medicines in the Books of Physicians for this end I shall here only set down a few Antidotes for Curing TAke of the Bezoartick water two Ounces and a half Bezoartick Vinegar half an Ounce Venice Treacle a Dram mix them by shaking them in a Glass Make a draught let the person take it and sweat upon it Take Gascoins Powder Roots of Contrayerva and Virginia Serpentary of each from a Scruple to twenty five Grains Make a Powder give it in a spoonful of Treacle water drink after it a little draught of the same or of a Cordial Julape Take Powder of Teads prepar'd Powder of Crabs Claws Compound of each half a Dram Make a Powder give it after the same manner Take Bezoartick Mineral half a Dram Venice Treacle a Dram Camphire six Grains Bezoartick Vinegar what suffices Make a Bolus to be taken after the same manner Take the waters of Wood Sorrel and Dragon-wort of each four Ounces Water of Scordium Compound two Ounces Treacle water and Bezoartick water of each an Ounce Powder of Pearl a Dram Syrup of Clove-Gillyflowers or of the Juice of Citrons two Ounces spirit of Vitriol twelve drops Make a Julape the Dose is three Ounces often in a day sometimes by it self sometimes with other Medicines CHAP. X. Of the Passions of the Heart and their Remedies AFter Cordial Medicines vulgarly though improperly so call'd it now follows for us to treat of the Passion of the Heart in which the Heart is really ill affected and therefore requires true Cordial Medicines Under that name two affects somewhat differing betwixt themselves are commonly denoted to wit The trembling of the Heart and its panting In both affects the motion or beat of the Heart seems to be disorderly and in a manner Convulsive but the irregularity of the first consists in the frequency of its Vibrations and of the other in their vehemency As to the Cure of the panting of the Heart since its Causes are various and manifold its Cure also must be various for what some affirm that those sorts of Remedies vulgarly call'd Cordials which are reputed to revive the Heart and to relieve it when ill affected are proper in any of all these Cases it is contrary both to reason and common experience We say then that the palpitation or panting of the Heart proceeds either from the fault of the Blood or of the Arteries belonging to the Heart If it happens through the fault of the Blood the chief intent of Curing must be to raise the Blood to a better Crasis it being then become too watery and unmeet for accension and fermenting and to exalt or encrease its active principles which are then depress'd or diminish'd for which end spirituous Medicines also saline Medicines of all kinds Sulphureous and especially Chalybeates conduce And to this place may be referr'd those things which are wont to be prescribed in the Pica or longing Disease in the Leucophlegmatia and in the cold Scurvy Take Conserve of Sea Wormwood the outward yellow Coats of Oranges and Limmons of each two Ounces Powder of Winters Barke two Drams Species of Diacurcuma a Dram Steel prepar'd with Sulphur three Drams Salt of Wormwood a Dram and a half with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of
Citron Pills Make an Electuary the Dose is the quantity of a Nutmeg in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon drinking after it of the following Julape three Ounces and walking upon it Take water of the Leaves of Wake Robin a pound of Pennyroyal and Hyssop of each four Ounces Sugar an Ounce Mix them make a Julape Take of the Tincture of Antimony an Ounce the Dose is from twenty to five and twenty drops twice a day with the said Julape Moreover amongst these we may place the Tincture of Steel and its Syrup also Elixir proprietatis with many others Secondly The panting of the Heart which is more frequent and much more violent happens through some fault in the Arteries belonging to the Heart which fault is either an Obstruction or a Convulsive affect The first default for the most part is continual and often incurable but especially if it arises from Consumptive Lungs or because the Roots of the Arteries are half stop'd or compress'd by reason of some Tuberculum or bony Excrescency in them And in this case all that can be done is to give some ease now and then by Hypnoticks Moreover it is not improbable that the Arteries sometimes are almost fill'd up with Polypous Concretions engendred in them and sometimes within the Cavities of the Heart it self and that thereby the free passage of the whole current of Blood is hindred but as it is diffcult to be satisfied when this is so so it is as rare to find a Cure for it When there is a suspicion of it Saline Medicines seem to be most proper and of those we must give such as have a Volatile or Acid Salt but we must not give them together but for a time those which failing of success try the others Take Spirit of Sal Armoniack Compound viz. distill'd with Millepedes or with other Anti-Asthmaticks three Drams the Dose is from fifteen drops to twenty thrice a day with the Julape or some proper distill'd water After the same manner you may try the Spirits of Hartshorn Soot Blood and of an old Scull Take Spirit of Sea Salt or of Vitriol distill'd and often Cohobated with the Spirit of Wine impregnated with Pneumonick Herbs three Drams the Dose is from fifteen drops to twenty after the same manner for these purposes the Spirits of Tartar Guaiacum and of Box are often us'd The panting of the Heart is very often a Convulsive affect and wont to be produc'd from the like Cause and manner of affecting as other Hypochondriack and Asthmatick affects and its Cure also ought to be attempted by Antispasmodick Remedies but a cholce of them must be made with some difference according as the Disease happens in a hot or cold temperament In respect of the former the following Medicines may be prescrib'd Take Spiritus succini Armoniaci three Ounces the Dose is from fifteen Drops to twenty twice a day with the Julape or some proper distill'd water After the same manner may be given interchangeably the Tincture of Tartar of Steel or of Antimony Of the trembling of the Heart and its Cure THe trembling of the Heart is an effect distinct from its panting or Palpitation and of a different nature from it for in that its carneous and moving Fibres seem affected by themselves nor does the Morbifick Cause as in the other affect seem to lie in the Blood or in the Arteries of the Heart The trembling of the Heart may be well describ'd to be a Spasmodick Convulsion or rather a trepidation of its flesh by which the moving Fibres hastily and only half contracted cause most swift turns of the Systoles and Diastoles but broken and as it were at halfs so that the Blood is brought into and carried forth of the Sinus 's of the Heart only in very small Portions As to the method of Cure to be us'd in the trembling of the Heart since this affect is meerly Convulsive therefore they are not Cordial Remedies but rather Cephalicks and Nervous Medicines that are Indicated which nevertheless according to the temperament and constitution of the Patient must be either more hot or moderate or now of this now of that nature To comprehend all in a few words since there are three sorts of Mecines that are wont to be mighty successful in this Distemper viz. testaceous Medicines Chalybeates and such as are endow'd with a volatile Salt I shall here briefly set down certain forms of each of these and their use Therefore in the first place a provision being made for the whole by evacuatives and a choice being made of that sort of Medicine which promises best you may prescribe as follows Take Coral prepar'd Pearl of each two Drams both Bezoars of each half a Dram white Amber two Scruples Amber-greece a Scruple Make a Powder the Dose is half a Dram twice or thrice a day with a distill'd water or some proper Julape Take Powder of Crabs Claws Compound two Drams Powder of Male Peony Roots and of Mans Scull prepar'd of each a Dram Flowers of Male Peony of Lillies of the Valley of each half a Dram Make a Powder to be taken after the same manner Take Ivory red Coral powdered of each three Drams Species Diambrae a Dram double refin'd Sugar dissolv'd in a sufficient quantity of water of Navews and boil'd to a consistency for Tablets seven Ounces Make Tablets according to Art weighing half a Dram let one or two be eaten often in a day as the person pleases Take Conserve of the Flowers of Lillies of the Valley six Ounces Powders of Coral prepar'd Pearl Ivory Crabs Eyes of each a Dram and a half Vitriol of Mars a Dram Syrup of Coral what suffices Make an Electuary the Dose is from a Dram to two Drams twice a day drinking after it a draught of the following Julape Take the water of Navews and of whole Citrons of each six Ounces of Orange Rines distill'd with Wine two Ounces Sugar half an Ounce Make a Julape Take of our Syrup of Steel six Ounces the Dose is a spoonful in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon with two Ounces of the Julape before written leaving out the Sugar or with distill'd water Take Powder of Ivory and of Coral of each two Drams and a half Species Diambrae a Dram Salt of Steel two Drams Sugar eight Ounces Amber-greece dissolv'd half a Scruple Make Tablets weithing half a Dram the Dose is three or four Drams twice a day Take fresh Strawberies eight pounds the outward Coats of twelve Oranges fresh Filings of Iron half a pound being bruis'd together pour to them eight pounds of Wine let them ferment in a Pot close cover'd for twenty four hours then distill it in common Organs Take Spirit of Hartshorn or of Blood or the like three Drams The Dose is twenty drops twice a day with a fit Vehicle Take Flowers of Sal Armoniack Coral prepar'd of each two Drams The Dose is a Scruple twice a day Take
Crystal Mineral two Drams Salt of Amber a Dram Salt of Hartshorn a Scruple Mix them the Dose is from fifteen Grains to twenty twice a day with the distill'd water Of the intermitting Pulse and its Cure AMong the Passions of the Heart the intermitting Pulse may justly be numbred because in this affect or at least in some kind of it the Heart it self labours though in somewhat a different manner than in its panting or trembling for in these it is ill dispos'd and irregular as to its motion but in that as to its rest this being sometimes twice longer than it uses to be in its ordinary course This intermitting Pulse or over-long Cessation of Motion in the Heart does not proceed from the mixture or Crasis of the Blood but only from the irregular dispensation of the Animal Spirits from the Cerebellum into the Nerves that pass to the Heart and thence into its Tendons which irregularity happens because those Nerves are somewhat obstructed Although this Affect being very often without present hurt or danger does not require an over-hasty Cure yet for preservation sake lest some great Diseases follow it Remedies and a method of Cure ought to be used at least for the whole remainder of the Persons Life let him keep to a Diet well ordered in all respects Moreover let some gentle Course of Physick be prescrib'd him to be constantly observ'd Spring and Fall viz. That all the Seminal Roots of Diseases founded in the Brain or apt to be there engendred may be taken away as much as may be for this end we here direct you to the Prophylactick method with the Medicines prescrib'd by us elsewhere against the Fits of the Apoplexy CHAP. XI Instructions concerning Opiats or Medicines that cause Sleep with their good and ill Effects together with Prescripts of them OPiats exert their Force not by raising vapours to the Head nor by opening the Pores of the Brain for any vapours or other Soporiferous matter to be admitted into it but only by destroying some of the Animal Spirits so that the residue being in a consternation or forc'd inward or at least called back from their wonted Emanation into the nervous parts quit their office or in some measure remit of it The Narcotick force of Opiats consists in this that as the Animal Spirits are most subtile Corpuscles compos'd of Spirit and a volatile Salt united together and exalted to a very high pitch so Opiats on the contrary consist of a fetid Sulphur that is of a Sulphur together combin'd with a fixt Salt and an Earthy matter and carried up to a most high degree in like manner Which sort of Concrets are well known to be so contrary to the subtile Texture of the Animal Spirits that sometimes they put them to flights or subvert them at a distance by meer Effluvia's which are very hardly or indeed not at all perceivable by the smell Opiats given in a small quantity chiefly and in a manner only regard those Spirits to which the particular charge of natural and ordinary sleep is committed the rest being either untouch'd or little letted by them Wherefore after a Dose of Laudanum is taken both the inward and outward senses are bound but the Pulse Respiration also the functions of Concoction and Separation are continued after their usual manner and after some time the Spirits of the first employ return to their wonted Post But if an Opiat be stronger than it ought it extends its Force father into the Province of the Animal government so that an over-great Dose of it being taken the Appetite for the most part is dull'd Respiration is much streightn'd and rendred not only difficult but likewise uneven or interrupted and sometimes also the motion of the Heart is so far debilitated that the Pulse presently grows weaker with a cold Sweat a deadness and an Eclipse as it were of all the faculties so that a perpetual sleep sometimes follows this Medicine The good Effects of Opiats FIrst then Opiats are most properly and necessarily Indicated in case of want of sleep for then being seasonably and duly Administred they give a refreshing repose Secondly In Delirous affects Opiats are given with good effect though sometimes they rather do hurt than good as we shall shew hereafter because the Spirits being then mov'd with too much eagerness within the Brain and as it were struck with a rage and passing their wonted bounds the Opiats repress them and make them quietly retreat into their former stations Thirdly Opium is accounted of most excellent use for appeasing all sorts of Pains For since Pain cannot be caus'd or continued but a great plenty of Spirits must always abound in the part affected in case the Nerves are so clos'd that the passing of the Spirits to the place griev'd be hindred or much diminish'd which Opium effects it follows of necessity that the Pain must cease For the Particles of this Medicine besetting the extream parts of the Brain do not only quell the forlorn Spirits in its outmost part but likewise strongly suppress them in their Original source within the Brain and in the midst of the Cerebellum and consequently hinder their Emanations from thence into the Genus Nervosum so that during the Energy of the Opium they are sent more sparingly and thinly into the Precordia and Viscera nay and into all other parts Hence the Pulse and Breathing remit of their vehemency and frequency many times also all the Members and Limbs are seiz'd with a Languor and Lassitude Moreover hence the Viscera before irritated into Convulsions either tending to Excretions as by Vomit or seige or causing Pain as in the Colick or Stone depose their disorders Again the good effect of Narcoticks is notoriously known in the Cure of the Scorbutick Colick In Pains of the Gout they also do excellently well and so in the Pain of the Stone in the Bladder which Disease when it cruelly torments Old Men and cannot be Cur'd by Cutting admits no ease from any other Remedy but from Narcoticks Wherefore in this case I have advis'd some to the constant and daily use of Laudanum and Diacodium which they have put in practice to the great comfort of their life receiving no hurt thereby though sometimes augmenting its Dose they have taken to a great quantity Fourthly Opiats are seasonably given if at any time the Pulse or Breathing are more quick or vehement than they ought for when in Feavers the Motion of the Heart and Lungs being made more intense give a most rapid Circulation to the Blood so that it is greatly perverted both as to its Accension and as to its Crasis and is not able to separate its drossy Excrements which are so throughly mixt with it After a Narcotick is given presently the Impetus of those parts is somewhat broken so that the Blood coming then to a gentle and moderate Circulation diffuses a less intense heat and being loosen'd in its Texture it purges its Serum
let the Patient keep himself quiet with his Head in an upright posture then let the Joynts of his Arms and Thighs many of them together but not all of them be bound with strait Ligatures which must now and then be loosn'd and remov'd to other parts for upon their being bound all at once and so continued a long time I have known that terrible Swoundings have happen'd by reason of the Bloods being detain'd in the outward parts and kept too much from the Heart Though otherwise this Remedy being prudently administred gives often relief For since by this means the Blood which passes into the Members by the Arteries is hindred from its quick return by the Veins its violent taking to the head is stay'd Moreover by the painful Ligatures of the Joynts the Muscular Fibres of the Carotide Arteries from whose Branches the Blood issues at the Nostrils are freed from the Convulsion which they often fall into 2. To withdraw the course of the Blood from the Nostrils sometimes it 's proper to open a Vein in the Arm or Foot for the more Blood is carried by the Arteries to the place where a Vein is open'd the less will flow to the Nostrils Yet this Administration does not always prove so successful but its contrary effect sometimes happens as we have observ'd before where we treat of Spitting Blood The reason whereof is that the Vessels being suddenly and not sufficinetly emptryed draw into them again the disagreeing Homours before ejected and stagnating within the Pores by which the Blood is presently stirr'd up again to a greater Turgescency for Eruption 3. Cold things apply'd to the Forehead and Temples also to the Nape of the Neck where the Vertebral Arteries ascend constringe the Vessels and somewhat repress or repel the Flux of Blood But it is ill done of some who advise topical coolers to be apply'd to the Jugular Veins for this retarding the course of the Blood in its return causes it to flow more plentifully out at the Nostrils Moreover as to the usual way of applying a Linnen-cloath or a Spunge dipt in Vinegar to the Share and Genitals it gives relief only as a Ligature of the Members viz. in as much as it hinders the return of the Blood of the Veins A sudden and unexpected Sprinkling of cold water on the Face by striking a Terrour often stops an Eruption of Blood 4. Cupping-glasses applyed to the Hypochondres Flanks inward parts of the Thighs and to the Soles of the Feet have been accounted both by Ancient and Modern Physicians a famous Remedy for withdrawing an Eruption of Blood from the Nostrils 5. Frictions of the extream parts are commended in this affect by some Practitioners which nevertheless we judge not so very good nay scarce safe For though they cause a greater confluence of Blood to the Hands and Feet yet they so accelerate its return that it endangers a more violent Sally of it to the Nostrils 6. Zacutus Lusitanus among Revulsory Remedies proposes an actual Cautery to be apply'd to the Soles of both Feet and Crato the bending of the little Finger of the same side which last you may do well to try in regard it is done easily Though I do not advise so of the other Remedy unless the Cure by it were more certain which might recompence the Pain and Lameness that will ensue 7. A Swounding by what means soever caus'd stops presently for the most part an Eruption of Blood be it never so refractory Wherefore when persons seiz'd with an Eruption of Blood and grown weak by it are pull'd out of Bed or if Blood be taken from them though in a small quantity by opening a Vein they apprehending a danger in it or if their Members are long bound or they are suddenly put in a fright with some feigned Rumour and upon any other occasion fall into a Swound or a Fainting Fit the Eruption of Blood from the Nostrills presently ceases The reason whereof it evident enough because as soon as the Motion of the Heart fails both the Blood and Spirits presently rush thither so that all outward Effusion is incontinently stopt and that which before was immoderate does not begin afresh 8. In the last place we must take a view of those Remedies for repressing an Eruption of Blood from the Nostrils which are said to work after an Occult manner and by Sympathy and Antipathy Of which kind chiefly are the Sympathetical Powder made of Roman Vitriol Calcin'd to whiteness by the Sun in the Summer Also a piece of the Wood of a Maiden or young Ash cut about the moment that the Sun enters Taurus The efficacy of which Remedy is attested by many credible witnesses to have been prov'd in stopping Eruptions of Blood in wounded Souldiers during the late Civil Wars So a dry'd Toad sewed up in a Silk Bag and worn on the Pit of the Stomack is said to stop any Flux of Blood and to prevent its return There are many other famous Medicines for stopping Blood whose operation is wont to be referr'd to Occult causes and to some secret Vertue As Neck-laces of the Blood-stone worn about the Neck also Vsnea or the moss of a Mans Skull carried in the hand Epithems of the Leaves of Netles stampe and apply'd to the Soles of the Feet and the Palms of the Hands which Empirical Administrations being to be try'd without trouble or charge we have no reason to reject them especially since in a dangerous case we ought to leave nothing unattempted and in regard that those applications may do good sometimes in this respect that they fortify the imagination of the Patient Whilst these outward Administrations are us'd for repelling or withdrawing the Flux of Blood from the Nostrils let Topicks also be put into the Nostrils to close the Gaping Mouths of the Vessels for which use Injections of Liquid things Pledgets Powders to be blown in and Fumes are wont to be prescrib'd which failing of effect we must come at last to Escharoticks 9. Amongst Liquids a Solution of Vitriol made in fountain water is accounted not only the chief but as good as all the rest Some boast of this as of a great secret and an infallible stopper of Blood Indeed the same apply'd to a fresh Wound for as much as by corrugating the extremities of the cut Vessels it closes them it keeps back the Flux of Blood and powerfully stops it But in regard in an Eruption of Blood from the Nostrils where the Blood is convey'd to the gaping Mouths of the Arteries and ought to be receiv'd by the Veins this application closes these as well or rather than those it does here little or no good at all as I have often known it try'd This Medicine is prepar'd of green Vitriol viz. the Hungarian or of that of our own Country also of the Factitious Vitriol of Mars dissolv'd in a sufficient quantity of fountain water I know some commend a Solution of Roman Vitriol which they
are wont to use not only by injecting it but by applying it Sympathetically to a Bloody Linnen-cloath I have also known a Water prepar'd of an Infusion of white Vitriol with Bole and Camphire us'd successfully to Wounds and often to other Eruptions of Blood But in regard a water injected into the Nostril does not stick enough to the Mouths of the Vessels but is washt away by the Bloods breaking forth before it can exert its Vertue therefore it is better either that a Stiptick Powder be blown into it or that a Pledget dipt in the water of Vitriol be thrust into the Nostril to the upper part of it either by it self or strew'd to the Nostril to the upper part of it either by it self or strew'd with an Astringent Powder Many Stiptick Powders and of divers kinds are wont to be prescrib'd for this purpose I commonly use either Crocus Martis Calcin'd to the highest reduess or the Powder of Vitriol Camphorated or a Vitriolick Soot scrap't from the bottom of an old Brass Kettle the Powder of which I have often try'd with success in this case In obstinate Haemorrhagies and not yielding to other Remedies let a Pledget having on its top a Caustick Colcother be thrust up into the Nostrils as far as it will go that the little Mouths of the Vessels being burnt and covered with an Eschar all Eruption of Blood may be presently stopt There are many other Errhines famous amongst Practitioners for stopping Blood as Hogs-dung thrust up into the Nostrils which is thought meerly by the Nastiness of its Odour to repel the Blood ready to burst forth Also the Fume of the Blood dropping on a red-hot Iron and return'd up into the Nostrils the Powder of which also when burnt is blown up into them Vsnea or the growing Moss on a Mans Scull which has not been inter'd is highly commended by some for this effect So much of outward Remedies for stopping Bleeding whose Vertue ought likewise to be promoted by inward things seasonably given and cooperating Therefore a thin Dyet being prescrib'd and the Patient ordered to keep himself in an erect posture or not much leaning back whilst the foresaid Administrations are orderly apply'd let Medicines appropriated to the same end be prescrib'd also to be inwardly taken Remedies of this kind have two chief scopes viz. First to cause the Blood being kept within its Vessels to be quietly Circulated its Effervescence whether happning through its Accension or Fermentation being supprest Secondly to retard by fit Remora's the violent Motion of the Heart driving round the Blood too rapidly 1. The first intention requires those kinds of Medicines which suppress the too great Accension of the Blood and appease its undue Fermentation for which uses I am wont to prescribe the following Take the waters of Plantain red Poppies Purslain and of the Spawn of Froggs of each four Ounce Syrup of Water-lillies two Ounces Sal Prunella a Dram mix them make a Julape the Dose is three Ounces thrice or four times a Day Take Barley-water two Pounds red Rose-leaves a handful Spirit of Vitriol as much as will give it a grateful Acidity or about half a Dram make a warm Infusion for extracting the Tincture add Syrup of the Juice of St. John 's Wort two Ounces the Dose is three or four Ounces to take at pleasure often in the Day time or by Night Take Leaves of stinging Nettles and of Plantain of each three handfuls being bruis'd pour to them of Plantain water four Ounces express it strongly and take it 2. For the Second intention viz. to retard the over-violent beat of the Heart Hypnoticks and Opiats are proper Take red Poppy-water three Ounces Syrup of Diacodium half an Ounce Mix them make a Draught to be taken going to Bed Or Take Conserve of red Roses an Ounce and a half Powder of the Seeds of Henbane and of white Poppies of each two Drams Syrup of Poppies what suffices Maek an Opiate The Dose is the quantity of a Nutmeg every six or eight hours Or Take Laudanum Cydoniated a Dram the Dose is fifteen Drops twice a Day in a proper Vehicle So much of an immoderate Eruption of Blood and its Cure whilst it happens without a Fever but when it happens in a Fever and must be stay'd because of too much loss of Blood it is either Critical growing to be immoderate by reason of some Accident to which the Method and Medicines even now prescrib'd may be accommodated though with some caution and a due respect to the State of the Fever Or it is meerly Symptomatical which hapning in a Malignant or Spotted-fever the Small-pox Meazles or Plague it scarcely either can or ought to be repell'd or stopt by the foresaid Remedies For letting Blood is not proper repelling Topicks also cooling Julapes or Decoctions or Narcoticks have no place The chief intention of Curing will be to change the Eruption of Blood into a Sweat for upon raising a gentle Sweat the Flux of Blood if it be not extreamly dangerous ceases of its own accord Take water of Meadow-sweet and Tormentil of each four Ounces Of the cold Cordial of Saxonius two Ounces Treacle-water an Ounce and a half Bezoartick Vinegar three Drams Syrup of Coral an Counce and a half Confection of Hyacinth two Drams make a Julape the Dose is six spoonfuls every third hour Take Powder of Toads prepar'd half a Dram Camphire two Grains let it be taken with the foresaid Julape every sixth hour Or Take Pulvis Pannonici Rubri from half a Dram to two Scruples give it after the same manner Take Confection of Hyacinth three Drams Pulvis Pannonici Rubri a Dram Syrup of Coral what suffices make a Confection the Dose is the quantity of a Nutmeg every other hour Take Roots of Bistort and Tormentil of each an Ounce Leaves of Meadow-sweet Burnet Wood-sorrel of each a handful burnt Harts-horn two Drams Shavings of Ivory and Harts-horn of each two Drams boyl them in three Pounds of Fountain water to two Pounds add towards the end Conserve of red Roses three Ounces sirain it the Dose is three Ounces often in a Day So far of the first Indication which is Curatory together with the scopes of Curing and the forms of Medicines destinated for an Eruption of Blood from the Nostrils hapning either with or without a Fever The second Indication which is Vital prescribes only a thin Dyet temperate Cordials and a fit ordering of the Patient The provision for the two For former is so small and easy that it seems not necessary to set down a form and rules particularly for them Concerning the latter the chief question is whether we ought to keep those that are seiz'd with an Eruption of Blood either in Bed or out of it It 's an unquestion'd thing that those that are weak and subject to fall often into Swounding Fits ought not to be stir'd from Bed unless haply it be to try a Cure as we have
intimated before As to others that are not so weak we say thus those whose Blood has not an easy Transpiration by reason of the Constipation of the Pores and upon its being put in a stronger Motion by the heat of the Bed is dispos'd to greater Turgescencies and to Eruptions it will be good for them not only to stay out of Bed while Bleeding but likewise sometimes to be cool'd by outward Applications in the whole habit of the Body or at leastwise in most of its Members Wherefore Fabritius Hildanus relates how he presently Cur'd one of a violent Bleeding at Nose after many ordinary Remedies try'd in vain by putting him into a Vessel of cold water with the like success also Riverius having ordered another affected in like manner to be taken forth of his Bed and laid on a Woolen Rugg in the Floor fomented his whole Body with Linnen-cloaths wetted in an Oxicrate Yet this method is not generally proper for all Persons and at all times But on the contrary those whose Blood being of a free Transpirable disposition and enjoying open Pores readily evaporates and is wont upon any moderate ambient heat to be resolv'd into Sweat and consequently to become more calm it 's good for such to continue in Bed not only whilst Bleeding but as long as that Eruption is in danger of returning in a short time after For this reason it is that many Persons subject to violent Eruptions of Blood live free from that Distemper during the Summer whilst they have a free Transpiration but when the cold of the Winter presses them their Pores being stopt they undergo more frequent and dreadful Fits of it 3. The third Indication being for Preservation which regarding the removal of the cause of the Distemper either hinders the Eruptions of Blood or renders them less frequent or less considerable suggests to us these two chief intents of Curing viz. First that the Blood being restor'd to its due Temperament and Mixture be quietly circulated within its Vessels without Turgescencies and Eruptions And Secondly that the Blood Vessels be kept in their due State as to their Conformations of their little Months and the Tones of their Muscular Fibres so that those Vessels neither cause those disorderly Sallyes of the Blood to the Head or give way to its Eruption from the Nostrils For both these ends in the first placelet the Redundancy of the Blood and its great foulness be provided against by a seasonable Administration of Phlebotomy and Purgation and then forprocuring and preserving its right Temperament let the following Alteratives be given in fit seasons for Physick Take Conserve of red Roses and of the wild Rose of each three Ounces Powder of all the Saunders of each half a Dram of Coral prepar'd a Dram of the reddest Crocus of Mars two Drams Sal Prunella four Scruples With a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Coral make an Electuary take early in the Morning and going to Bed the quentity of a Chesnut either by it self or Drinking after it of the following distill'd water three Ounces Take of the tops of Cypress and Tamarisk of each eight handfuls tops of St. John ' s-wort and of Horse-tayl of each four handfuls all the Saunders bruis'd of each an Ounce Pith of White-bread two Pounds being slic't very small pour to them of New-milk eight Pounds distill it with common Organs Sweeten each Dose as you take it with a sufficient quantity of the Syrup of the Juice of Plantain Take Leaves of Plantain Brooklimes and stinging Nettles of each four handfuls being bruis'd pour to them of the foregoing water half a Pound small Cinnamon water two Ounces express it strongly the Dose is three or four Ounces in the Morning at nine of the clock and at five in the Afternoon Let Medicines of this kind be taken Spring and Fall for twenty or thirty Days giving sometimes a gentle Purge between whiles But in the Summer let Mineral Chalybeat waters be Drunk for a Month than which there is not a more excellent Remedy in this case I shall now give you an example of one Cured of an Eruption of Blood whose case was somewhat particular I was lately sent to for advice for a Gentleman living far off who had been troubled a good while with frequent and violent Eruptions of Blood sometimes from the Nostrils sometimes from the Heamorrhoids this person had been often let Blood by the advice of his friends but found no good thereby nay most commonly after opening a Vein falling into cold Sweats and Swounding Fits and still as liable to Eruptions of Blood he was wont to be much worse To this Person not having seen him I prescrib'd Julapes and cooling Decoctions and Anodyns also Juicy expressions of Herbs and other things to cool the Blood but these things also as though all yet were far from the makr had nothing a better success at length being call'd into the country to see him I found the affect with which he was seiz'd to be meerly or chiefly Convulsive for the Blood breaking forth daily his Pulse was weak his Extream parts cold and all the Vessels were fallen as though too much emptied Moreover the Patient was troubled with a continual Giddiness and a Trembling of the Heart and was taken now and then with Swounding Fits or with the apprehension of it Truly it was so far from it that the Blood should break forth of the Vessels by reason of any Redundancy or Turgescency that rather on the contrary its Current was so extreamly low and small that it seem'd scarce able to maintain the Stream of Circulation But the thing was that often in a Day he sensibly pervceiv'd somewhat on a sudden to pass privately sometimes up and sometimes down his Body like a wind and for the most part an Eruption of Blood from the Nostrils or Haemorrhoids followed the Tendency of that Motion So that it was easy hence to conclude that the moving Fibres of the Blood Vessels by which they are contracted being seiz'd with Convulsions drew suddenly every way in a disorderly manner the Stream of the Blood as small and low as it was and forc't it now and then to an Eruption Which also was the easier done because the Lax and Gaping Mouths of the Vessels permitted the Blood driven to them to flow forth without any due stay A Method of Cure ordered pursuant to this Aetiology confirm'd it by its good success For Bleeding and the use of Blood-stopping Medicines being thenceforwards omitted I prescrib'd the use of the following Powder whereof he took a Dose every sixth hour with a proper Julape Take Powder of the Roots of Male Peony red Coral and Pearl of each a Dram Ivory Crabbs Eyes Blood-stone of each half a Dram Sal Prunella a Dram make a Powder the Dose is half a Dram. Take black Cherry water eight Ounces Balm water and small Cinnamon water of each two Ounces Treacle water an Ounce Syrup of Coral an Ounce and
Stomach cold Dyscrasies also of the Blood and Spleen are joyn'd I use to prescribe according to the following forms Take Troches of Rhubarb Powder of Aron Roots Winters bark of each two Drams Roots of Virginia Serpentary Contrayerva Diatrion Santalon Crabs-eyes of each a Dram Extract of Gentian and Centory of each a Dram and a half Ammoniacum dissolved in Water of Earth-worms what suffices make a Mass for Pills let four Pills be taken in the Morning and at four a Clock in the Afternoon drinking after it a little Draught of Wormwood or Chalybeat Wine with a moderate Exercise Take Conserve of the Yellow Coats of Oranges and Lemons of each three Ounces Myrobalanes Condited in number two Species Aromatici Rosats Winters bark of each two Drams Salt of Wormwood two Drams Vitriol of Mars a Dram or Steel prepar'd three Drams with a sufficient quantity of the Juice of Citron-Pills make an Electuary let it be taken twice a day drinking after it a Draught of Wormwood-wine or of Wine in which the Bark or Flowers of Tamarisk are infus'd To those that like none but nice Medicines and in a small quantity you may properly give the Tinctures of Antimony of Coral also of Steel prepar'd with Spirit of Wine the Body being first open'd by fit Menstruums and brought to a Calx nay and I have known that Spirit of Soot also of Blood or of Harts-horn taken twice a day to twelve drops more or less in an appropriated Liquor have proved mighty beneficial above any other Medicines Again the assiduous drinking of Coffee and of Tea has done some very much good But if a Fervency and over-great Fermentation of the Blood be joyn'd to the Hypochondriacal Affect with a fervent heat of the Spleen and a restlesness of mind Take Conserve of Hips six Ounces or of Flowers of Tamarisk and Leaves of Wood-sorrel of each three Ounces Species Diarrhodon Abbatis the Confection of Alkermes of each a Dram Ivory Powdered a Dram and a half Pearl half a Dram Salt of Tamarisk and of Wormwood of each a Dram with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of the Juice of Citrons or of Clove Gilliflowers Make an Opiate let the quantity of a Nutmeg be taken twice a day Take Ivory Powdered two Drams Pearl powdered a Dram Species Diarrhodon Abbatis and Diamargariti frigidi of each a Dram and a half make a subtle Powder add of double refined Sugar dissolved in Baulm Water and boiled to a Consistency for Tablets six Ounces Make Tablets according to Art Take from a Dram and a half to two Drams twice a day Or to other Medicines of the like kind let the use of Spaw-waters be joyn'd which indeed in either nay in any cases of Hypochondriack Melancholy are in a manner always taken with good Success For waâ of these Waters let our Artificial Spaw Waters be taken in thââ stead nay and let Whey and if there be a considerable Atrophia let Asses Milk be daily taken Besides these inward Remedies and the other outward Applications above mentioned let Bleeding or Drawing of Blood from the Vessels of the Fundament by Leeches be frequently used nay and it is proper sometimes according to the Prescripts of the Antients to open the Salvatella Vein Moreover Cauteries and Issues which continually derive forth the Recrements of the adust Blood and discharge them by little and little are wont to do good to all 4. The Fourth Indication having regard to the Affects or Convulsive Symptoms of the Brain and Genus Nervosum which ensue upon the former is seldom put in practice by it self and apart from the others but the Remedies appointed for this end are complicated with those above written Liquors endowed with a volatile or Armoniack Salt as Spirit of Harts-horn of Soot are very proper for this intent and often likewise for the others even now mentioned Wherefore let such Remedies unless somewhat indicates the contrary be daily given at a seasonable hour Moreover when the Spaw Waters are Drunk let Tablets or Pills such as are above prescrib'd for Convulsive Affects be taken at least twice a day In a frequent giddiness and Scotomia also in Passions of the Heart Faintings of the Spirits with a fear and a dread as it were of present Death I have known a mighty Cure often performed by the use of Chalybeat Medicines Of Chalybeate Medicines SInce mention is here made of Chalybeate Medicines it seems expedient to enquire into the various Preparations of them and consequently into the divers sorts of Affects which they are wont to produce in the Body of Man that hence it may appear by what means and on what accounts these or other Preparations of Iron mightily benefit some Hypochondriacal persons and very much injure others Steel or Iron consists chiefly of Salt Sulphur and Earth it has very little of Spirit and Water and the Particles of the former Elements especially the Sulphureous and Saline in the mixt combin'd together with the Earth remain wholly fixt and without Action but being loosed and divided from each other they have a very efficacious Energy The foresaid Particles are dissolv'd and set at Liberty for Action two ways viz. either by Art when Medicines are prepared or by Nature after they are inwardly taken We shall consider both 1. The Filing of Iron inwardly taken is dissolved by the Ferment of the Stomach as by an acid Menstruum and upon the Iron 's being dissolved within the Viscera of Concoction the active Particles both Sulphureous and Saline plentifully display themselves and mixing with the nutritive Juice are carried into the Blood and as they are of a differing virtue often both of them as it were by joint Forces conspire for the good of the Diseased The Sulphureous Corpuscles passing into the Blood furnish it with a new and more plentiful stock of Sulphur so that its Mass if it were before depauperated and effaete ferments more sprightly within its Vessels and being more kindled in the Heart acquires a Heat more intense and a deeper colour Thus many troubled with a Leucophlegmatia and the longing Disease whose Countenance is pale and whose Blood is cold and watery after the use of Steel soon become of a more florid Aspect the Blood being given a more intense Tincture and Heat Again upon the Filing of Iron being dissolved in the Stomach the Saline Particles also are displayed and often produce good effects both in the solid parts and the Humours for being of a vitriolick and stiptick nature they astringe and corroborate the over Lax and weaken'd Fibres of the Viscera and so restore their broken Tone Moreover they stop the Impetus of the Blood repress it s over boiling and rising to a Froth and keep it in an even Circulation And again which is their greatest Virtue they straiten and close the over lax open and gaping Mouths of the Arteries so that neither the Serum nor bloody Latex may distil forth or break off the thread of Circulation
beget Catarrhs the Dropsie the Jaundise Melancholy and many other Affects Now if that extraneous thing be seasonably removed the Blood even as the Wine being free from that Extraneous Mixture soon recovers its former Constitution But each of those Liquors being for some time infected with Heterogeneous Contents at length degenerates from its due Crasis and consequently is not easily restor'd Again both Wine and the Blood fall from their due Temper for many other causes 1. Concerning Wines we may observe that sometimes the same do not come to a ripeness but for want of a Pneumatosis because the Spirits and other active principles of Salt and Sulphur being involv'd in such as are more Gross cannot clear themselves remain wholly Crude Wherefore they do not become Spirituous but being of a Gross consistency and of an ingrateful savour degenerate into a Flat Wine without strength Even so the Blood sometimes the Spirit and Sulphur being deprest remains Crude and Watry also without vigour and unapt for a sprightly accension in the Heart such a disposition causes the longing Disease and an Hydropical Diathesis 2. The Sulphureous part of the Wine being exalted above the rest causes an Immoderate Effervescency or an ebullition in the Liquor we call it a Fretting of Wines In like manner the Sulphureous part of the Blood being too much exalted and consequently apt to Boyl and be kindled in the Heart too much brings a Feverish distemper and is really the cause of many continual Fevers 3. Often in Wine the Spirit becoming faint and the Sulphur being bound the Saline part is rais'd to a State of flowing and praedominates over the rest wherefore the Liquor passes into Vinegar from such an Acetous disposition of the Blood Melancholy is caus'd 4 It 's a vulgar observation in Wines that besides that they degenerate into a Flat Wine or into Vinegar the same sometimes upon the Spirits being deprest and the Salt and Sulphur's being together exalted become either Rank or Pendulous or Mucilaginous we call it Wines become over Fretted or become Ropy In both changes the Spirit being brought under the Sulphureous and Saline Particles are joyn'd together and are above the other Elements and bring the Crasis of the Liquor to their nature But the thing is not done in both wholly after the same manner for in the former dyscrasie of the Wine the Sulphur is a little above the Salt and in the latter the Salt is above the Sulphur Nay and either of them being in power and having thrown off the Dominion of the Spirit takes the other to it and raises it above its due state Now it 's probable that the Blood is altered after the like manner in the Scorbutick affect as Wines when upon being overheated become over Fretted or become Ropy and we may conclude the Dyscrasy of the Blood which is the Parent of the Scurvy to be two fold as that of Wine viz. Sulphureo-Saline and Salino-Sulphureous For there being a very great variety of affects which are accounted of as belonging to the Scurvy all of them may be aptly enough reduc't to these two as it were chief heads or as the two fountains of the evil viz. First that the Blood being touch't with a Scorbutick taint either is very hot as in which the Sulphur having gotten the Dominion takes the Salt to it wherefore being become rank it Boyls disorderly in the Vessels and discharges continually from it self adust Recrements viz. the concretions of the Salt and Sulphur and disperses them every way which being outwardly spread produce Spots Wheals Pushes or Ulcers But being inwardly depos'd cause Vomitings Cardialgias Diarrhaeas or Dysenteries and also violent pains In this kind of Scorbutick rankness of the Blood only temperate remedies and frequent Bleedings agree and not Scurvygrass horse Raddish and other things of a smart and instigating Nature After the same manner as overfretted Wines are Cur'd by Racking them from the Lees and likewise by pouring Milk Amylum Ichthiocolla and other Lenifying things to them Or Secondly in the Blood which Foments the Scurvy the Salt having got the Dominion takes to it self the Sulphur wherefore it is not so hot but like Ropy Wine becomes thick and Mucilaginous as it were is Circulated slowly in the Vessels and is apt to stuff the Vessels as it passes through them Furring them with a Muddy Filth Such as are so affected for the most part being without Pushes or Cutaneous Eruptions become Dull Pursy and enervated are troubled with a Spontaneous Lassitude a Straitness of the Breast nay and are found obnoxious to Passions of the heart Faintings of the Spirits to a Giddiness and Convulsions And in this kind of Scorbutick disposition Hot remedies and such as are endued with a Volatile Salt nay and Galybeates which Fuse and exagitate the Blood are wont to be most of use after the like manner as Ropy Wines are dealt with to wit they ought to be very much stirr'd and agitated and also quicklime burnt Allom Lime Plaister Sea Salt Calcin'd and other things of a very smart nature are put into them I shall now shew after what manner the seeds of that Disease are laid in the other general humour viz. the Nervous Juice About the beginnings of a Scurvy till the Crasis of the Blood and the Tone of the Brain are wholly vitiated that Subtle Liquor which passes in the Brain and Nerves and is distill'd from the Blood coming to the Brain both as the Matter and Vehicle of the Animal Spirits is yet Spirituous and Sweet and not very unapt for any offices it ought to perform but afterwards from the Mass of Blood become depauperated and very much Effaete a much thinner Latex and inclining to a Sourness is distill'd Moreover from the Dreggy and as it were Rank or Muddy Blood Heterogeneous Particles and such as are very injurious to the Animal Oeconomy are sent and are admitted without difficulty into the Brain which is become weak and thence are diffus'd into its appendix both Medullary and Nervous with the Juice which passes in them Hence follow the Fallings and Eclipses sometimes Distractions and Painful and Convulsive Explosions of the Animal Spirits that happen in each of the Regions Wherefore the Palsey Convulsions a Giddiness Pains Tremblings and other Praeternatural affects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum are wont to ensue upon a Scurvy when deeply rooted Mean while we may observe in general that the Scorbutick Taint fixt in the Nervous Juice Consists in these three things viz. In some one of them or in all of them together viz. that the Liquor lying in the Brain and Nerves becomes much more thin or poorer that it degenerates from its Spirituo-Saline Crasis towards a Sourness that it is stuff't with Heterogeneous and Morbifick Particles As to the Prognostick of the Scurvy let your judgment in this case be wary long suspended and not rash for many as it has occurr'd to our observation accounted for desperate have recovered
bruised of each a Dram and a half Roots of Bastard-Dittany and of Male-Peony of each a Dram and a half Salt of Tamerisk two Drams with a sufficient quantity of the Gelly of Harts-horn or of the cast skins of Snakes Make a Mass Tablets TAke Species Diatrion Santalon and Diamargariti Frigidi of each a Dram and a half Pearl powdered red Coral prepar'd Ivory powdered of each a Dram Sugar dissolved in Scordium-water and boiled to a Consistency for Tablets six Ounces Make Tablets according to Art But if with those kinds of temperate Antiscorbuticks the use of Steel be indicated to the Electuary or to the Confection or also to the Mass of Pills let two Drams of Mynsicht's Magistery of Mars or of Extract of Steel of our preparation be added In some cases about two Drams and a half or three Drams of Crocus Martis may be added to such a Composition though it is often better to make the Liquors which are drank after solid Medicines Chalybeate than the foresaid Compositions It remains for us now to prescribe forms of Liquors Decoctions IN a Scurvy raised after a long Fever these kinds of Decoctions which purifie the Blood and plentifully move Urine are given with good effect Take Roots of Chervil Scorzonera Sorrel Stone-Parsley of each an Ounce Leaves of Agrimony and Harts-tongue of each a Handful burnt Harts-horn two Drams Parings of three Apples Corinths two Ounces Liquorice three Drams Let them boil in four Pounds of Fountain Water till a third part be consumed add Sal Prunella two or three Drams The Dose is four Ounces twice or thrice a day Take Eringo Roots preserv'd six Drams of Grass two Drams Leaves of Clivers two handfuls Agrimony and Liverwort of each a handful Raisins two Ounces white Saunders a Dram Liquorice two Drams let them boil in four Pounds of Fountain Water till a third part be consumed The Dose is six Drams after a solid Medicine To Rusticks and poor People lest after a Fever they fall into the Scurvy I use to prescribe That twice a day they take the following Draught viz. That they boil a handful and a half of the Roots and Leaves of Dandelion in a Pound and a half of Posset-Drink till a third part be consumed Strain it for two Doses Or take Roots of Dandelion half a handful Seeds of Citrons and of Carduus of each a Dram let them boil in Posset-drink made with Apples or a Pound and a half of Cyder till a third part be consum'd Infusions The Apozems even now prescrib'd will become more excellent against the Scurvy if being prepar'd without Licorice they are strain'd into a Flaggon into which are put Leaves of Brook-limes and of Water-cresses or Cuckow-flowers of each a handful then make a warm and close Infusion for six hours the Liquour being strain'd again let it be kept in stopt Vessels The Dose is six Ounces twice or thrice a day Also let Whey with the Roots of Dandelion and the Leaves of Fumitory boil'd in it be strain'd into a Vessel wherein are Leaves of Brook-limes and of small Celandine of each a handful make an Infusion c. Chalibeat Infusions are wont to be frequently in use viz. the Salt Magristery or Extract of Steel are infus'd in some Decoction or distil'd Water Moreover as natural Spaw-waters so also Artificial ones of our preparation of Steel dissolv'd in Fountain-water and impregnated with the Infusion of Antiscorbuticks are drank with great benefit Juices and Expressions TAke Leaves of Brook-limes and Water-cresses of each four handfuls of Wood-sorrel two handfuls being bruis'd let the Juice be prest forth being stopt in a Glass it will soon become clear by subsiding The Dose is from an Ounce and a half to two Ounces with a fit Vehicle Take Leaves of Brook-limes four handfuls stalks of English-rhubarb two handfuls being bruis'd let the Juice be prest forth Take Leaves of Brook-limes Garden-cress Cuckow-flower the lesser Celandine Wood-sorrel of each two handfuls being bruis'd let the Juice be prest forth add Juice of Oranges a fourth part let it be kept in a Glass Syrups AS often as a Syrup is requir'd to be added to any other Composition we use either Syrup of the Juice of Wood-sorrel or of Fumitory or of Coral compound Or also a Magistral Syrup may be prepar'd of the Juice of Brook-limes after the same manner as is prescrib'd above concerning the Juice of Scurvy-grass Distil'd Waters TEmperate Distil'd Waters are prepar'd by changing either the Ingredients or the Menstruum or both of them together As to the former we proceed after this mnner Take Leaves of Brook-limes Garden-cress Fumitory Harts-tongue Liver-wort Bawm tops of Tamarisk and of Cypress of each three handfuls all the Saunders bruis'd of each half an Ounce Roots of sharp pointed Dock of Polipody of the Oak of each two Ounces the outward Coats of four Oranges Snails cleans'd two Pounds being slic't and bruis'd pour to them Whey made with Cider six Pounds let them be distil'd in a common Still 2. When the Menstruum is weak let the Ingredients be moderately hot Take Leaves of Scurvy-grass Brook-limes Cuckow-flower Garden-cress of each three handfuls Rinds of four Oranges Snails a Pound being slic't small pour to them common Whey or fresh Milk six Pounds distill them after the vulgar manner 3. In a Scorbutick Atrophia and Consumptive Disposition where nothing hot that may stir the Blood and Humours and Spirits ought to be admitted let both the Ingredients and Menstruum be temperate and lenifiers of the Blood Take Leaves of Brook-limes Cuckow-flower Harts-tongue Maiden-hair Liver-wort Speedwel Agrimony of each two handfuls Snails cleans'd a Pound and a half or the Pulp of a Capon or of a sheeps-Sheeps-heart slic't all being half boil'd and slic't pour to them of fresh Milk or Water of Fumitory six Pounds let them be distil'd the common way Physick-wines and Beers Though the use of Wines may not seem proper in a Scurvy rais'd by reason of a hot or Sulphureo-saline Dyscrasie of the Blood nevertheless if at any time the Stomach either being weak or a long accustomance require the drinking of Wine at leastwise being diluted with Water a Eiquour of that kind being both temperate and in some measure Physical may be prepar'd For especially small Wines diluted with Water and impregnated with the Infusion of Bawm Borrage or of Burnet or other things ought to be allow'd Moreover let Wines be prepar'd of the Juice of English Corinths Cherries and other horary Fruits which when they are brought to a ripeness by Fermentation are very grateful to the Stomach and purifie the Blood Again Cider the familiar and genuine Wine as it were of our Country so it be clean mellow and pleasant without any sharpness does very much good in the Scurvy Moreover in this Liquour drawn from the Lees and put in small Vessels Ingredients of various kinds may be infus'd Of which kind are tops of the Pine-tree or of Fir
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
Against the Marasmus caus'd through the fault of the Blood degenerated from its Crasis Asses or Cows Milk diluted with Barley Water or a proper distill'd Water often give help Snail Broaths or Milk Drinks with Snals boyl'd in them moreover Waters distill'd of Milk or Whey with Snails and temperate Antiscorbutick Herbs are greatly conducing in this case For this end also Decoctions of vulnerary Herbs and Antiscorbutick Herbs infus'd in them are taken with good success Mean while let frictions be daily us'd to the outward parts with Cloaths moistned and made Warm with Vnguenticum Resumptivum or fresh oyl of Almonds When an Atrophia arises through the fault of the Blood being affected and consequently perverting the nutritive Juice it has for the most part a Feaver of irregular returns joyned with it with Night-sweats viz. in as much as the Mass of Blood is forc't to irregular and inconstant Effervescencies from that degenerated Juice and the matter so offending is cast forth by Night-sweats in this case a thin Dyet being ordered let Decoctions and Distill'd Waters that fuse and purifie the Blood be frequently taken with Antiscorbuticks mixt with them Take shavings of Ivory and Harts-horn of each two Drams and a half candied Eringo Roots six Drams Roots of Chervil and Dandelion of each half an Ounce Leaves of Harts tongue and Liverwort of each a handful one Apple slic't Raisins a handful Let them boil in four Pounds of Fountain-water till a third part be consumed let the straining be poured on Leaves of Brooklimes bruised two handfuls Sal Prunella a Dram and half or fixt Nitre a Dram make a close and warm Infusion for three Hours Let four or six Ounces be taken thrice a Day Take Leaves of Brooklimes four Pounds Roots and Leaves of Sorrel and Dandelion of each two Handfuls Snails cleansed a Pound and a half the Rinds of two Oranges being sliced and bruised pour to them of new Milk or of Whey made with Cider or fresh Juice of Apples six pounds let them be Distill'd after the vulgar way Let three Ounces be taken twice or thrice a day Of the Rheumatism WE conclude that this Affect proceeds from the congress and mutual effervescency of Salts that are of a different origine and Nature viz. of the fixt Salt coming from the Blood and of the acid Salt coming from the nervous Liquor The Subjects of both Salts are superfluous Dregs depos'd from the foresaid Humours forc'd into certain Turgescencies and discharg'd sometimes on these Parts sometimes on those Wherefore that the Disease may be Cur'd both let the Turgescencies of the Humours be appeas'd and their superfluous Dregs be purg'd forth and let the Salts degenerating both ways be reduc'd to a State of volatility For the two first intents a gentle Purge and Bleeding are chiefly requir'd and now and then as the strength will bear they ought to be repeated and also let Diureticks and Diaphoreticks be now and then given which any way convey forth the Saline Serosities And that these Evacuations proceeding calmly and with a well-bearing and Nature assisting may succeed the better let Opiats frequently be us'd For the other Intent in which the chief stress of the Cure consists Alteratives and especially such as are endow'd with a volatile Salt greatly conduce Wherefore in this case its a vulgar but no contemptible Medicine to give twice or thrice a day to four or six ounces of the Infusion of a Stone-horse Dung made in a small Wine or Ale or in an appropriate Distill'd Water and a Medicine somewhat more grateful and no less efficacious may be prepar'd if a Water be distill'd from that Dung with Antiscorbutick Ingredients infused in White-wine or Cider which may be given to three or four Ounces twice a day I have often prescribed Spirit of Harts-horn and of Blood in this case with a mighty benefit to the Diseased Of the Dropsie WHereas we conclude the Dropsie which is wont to happen upon the Scurvy to be twofold viz. habitual and occasional Concerning the Cure of the first for the most part all labour is lost for no Remedies are able to restore the Liver and the Lungs and sometimes other Viscera wholly vitiated and the Crasis of the Blood utterly subverted In such a case if any thing seems fit to be done the Scope of Physick is very narrow for there is no room left for Catharticks nor Diaphoreticks nor for a strong Evacuation of any other kind We must insist chiefly and in a manner only on Diureticks and Cordials For these ends let Elixirs Tinctures Electuaries Powders Infusions Decoctions distill'd Waters c. which consist partly of Antihydropicks partly of Antiscorbuticks be given the forms of which I have nevertheless thought good to omit as signifying little or nothing The Scorbutick Dropsie raised on a sudden from an evident cause or on some accident often admits of Cure for the more easie performance of which the tumults of Nature ought in the first place to be appeased and its disorders composed Wherefore if Watchings continue very offensive let sleep be procured by the use of Opiats and now and then as often as it seems very necessary let it be procured again As soon as strength will give leave for Purging let the following Powder be taken and let it be now and then repeated at due intervals of time mean while let the Belly be kept soluble by the frequent use of Clysters Take Mercurius Dulcis a Scruple Rosin of Julape from five Grains to ten Cloves half a Scruples mix them let it be given in a Spoonful of Panada at other times let Diureticks and sometimes Diaphoreticks be carefully taken Take Tincture of Salt of Tartar impregnated with the Infusion of Millepedes as much as you think good let it be given from a Scruple to two Scruples twice a day with an appropriated Liquor Take Spirit of Sal Armoniack what you think good the Dose is from half a Scruple to fifteen drops after the same manner Take Millepedes prepar'd three Drams Salt of Tartar two Drams Nutmegs a Dram mix them make a Powder The Dose is half a Dram twice a day with an appropriated Liquour Or Take Bees dryed and powdered two Drams Seeds of Bishops-weed powdered a Dram Oyle of Juniper a Scruple Turpentine what suffices make a Mass of Pills The Dose is from a Scruple to half a Dram twice a day drinking after it an appropriated Liquor Take Leaves of both Scurvy-grasses Watercresses Dittander Arsmart of each three handfuls Roots of Aron Briony Florentine Orrice of each four Ounces the middle Bark of Elder two Handfuls Winters-bark two Ounces the outward Coats of four Oranges and of three Lemons fresh Juniper-berries four Ounces being slic't and bruised pour to them of Rhenish-wine three Pounds Wine of the Juice of Elder-berries two Pounds Distill them the vulgar way let all the Water be mix't The Dose is from three Ounces to four twice a day after a Dose of some one of the Medicines
above prescrib'd Let Decoctions and Physick-Beers be prepar'd such as above written Antihydropick Ingredients being added to them Of the Crackling of the Bones THere remains yet a symptom which happens sometimes upon the Scurvey though rarely viz. the crackling of the Bones into the Nature and Cure of which it seems to concern us to enquire I have known some though scarce above three or four who being long Sick of the Scurvy found themselves afflicted by it not only in the Humours and the Carneous Parts but at length in the very Bones For as often as they mov'd any Member any way the ends of the Bones as though they were bare rubbing against each other made a mighty noise Moreover when they lay in their Bed and there turned themselves from one side to the other a mighty Crackling was heard as it were of a Scelleton forcibly shaken terrifying even the persons affected The conjunct cause of this haply may seem to be That the soft Interstice of the Bones viz. the Fat Membranes and Ligaments being greatly consumed their Joints as Mill-stones when bare without any Corn by reason of their mutual rubbing against each other make a noise But the thing appears to be otherwise because neither persons mightily consumed have this Cracking of the Bones nor do persons troubled with this Affect always waste away wherefore we say rather that the immediate Cause of this Symptom is the driness of the Bones or the defect of the Marrow properly so called which ought to be contain'd within the Cavities of the Bones and especially within their Joynts for since all Bones include a Marrow or unctuous Humour either in the great Cavities or in the Pores and small Passages every where made in them we conclude the use of this to be both that the Bones irrigated with the same may become less brittle and likewise that that Humour distilling from the Joynts of the Bones may make slippery all the Joints as the Joynts of a Machine besmear'd with Grease and may so facilitate the motions of them wherefore the ends of the Bones destitute of this Marrow make a noise just as the Wheels of a Cart seldom greased If you ask why that unctuous substance of the Joints fails I say this seems chiefly to happen because the Pores and Passages of the Bones are so much obstructed by a certain extraneous Matter haply of a Slimy or Tartarous Nature brought to them from the Blood that they do not sufficiently receive the Balsam design'd for them nor distil it forth for moistning their Joints but it will not be easie the thing being wholly in the dark to search out the particular Reasons of this Affect Nor are we less at a loss when we proceed to the Cure of this Disease for though the Primary Indication viz. the moistning of the Bones or of the Joints be obvious enough yet it does not so plainly appear after what Manner and by what Remedies it is perform'd For in this case I have known a great many kinds of Medicines and various ways of Administrations tryed wholly in vain A certain Ingenious Man extreamly troubled with this Disease for many years tryed the Advice of many and those Famous Physicians Besides the usual Remedies against the Scurvy together with frequent Bleedings and Purgings from which he found not the least Relief he try'd moreover various and great Courses of Physick without any success For after a method us'd by one Physician for some Months without Effect he presently betook himself to another and so afterwards to many mean while by each always a new way of Curing untryed by the former is prescribed Fomentations Liniments and Frictions are applied daily to each of his Joints he us'd for some time the hot Baths of Bathe afterward Spaw-waters of various kinds sometimes these sometimes others are drank Which giving no help a Chalybeat course at another time a Decoction of temperate Woods sometimes a Milk Diet and at all time Electuaries distil'd Waters Apozems and other Remedies prepar'd of Antiscorbuticks are taken And when he had liv'd after this manner above three years almost constantly Medicè miserè there was not made the least progress towards the Cure of the fore-mentioned Affect yet in the mean time he was pretty well as to his Strength and Stomach married a Wife and as to the other more common Symptoms of the Scurvy he was better So that it hence appears how stubborn a Disease and unconquerable by almost any Medicines the crackling of the Bones is which I have known confirmed also in others troubled with this Affect and wholly cluding the endeavours of a Physician CHAP. V. Of the Vital Indication in which are included Cordial Medicines Opiats and the Diet requisit in the Scurvy HItherto we have set forth at large the Indications both Preservatory and Curatory which belong to the Method of Curing the Scurvy there remains yet to speak of the Vital Indication to wit that it may be declar'd by what Method and with what Remedies the powers of the Diseas'd which either being too apt to faint may be upheld or being weakn'd or dejected may be restor'd For these ends Cordials and Opiats according to the Exigencies of the Diseas'd are prescrib'd to be taken and moreover let a right Form of Diet if at any time it be needful Resumptive and always Antiscorbutick be prescrib'd As to Cordial Medicines viz. such a exagitate the Blood stagnating in the Heart renew its flame half extinct restore the opprest or distracted Animal Spirits to their liberty and due irradiation it is obvious that many Remedies which are properly call'd Antiscorbuticks perform these intents of which kind are Raddish-water compound the Magistral Water of Snails and of Earth-worms Spirit of Harts-horn of Soot Powders of Shells with many other things which may be taken with good effect not only at certain hours and according to a set Method but likewise as occasion presents as often as a Swooning or any failings of the Spirits happen But besides those who are found to be very obnoxious to Passions of the Hearts frequent Faintings a Nauseousness Vomiting Trembling Vertigo and other terrible Symptoms may also have in a readiness Medicines of another kind more properly Cordial with hich all failings of the Spirits are immediately reliev'd In this case Quercetan's great Elixir of Life does excellently well the second Water in the distillation of the same Elixir being sweetned may be given to a spoonfull also Aqua Mirabilis Aqua Bezoartica Gilberts temperate Water Treacle-water Cinnamon-water to each of which or to a Composition of them let the Confection of Alkermes the Confection of Hyacinth Powder of Pearl or Magistery of Coral Syrup of Clove-gilliflowers or of Coral of Citron-pills of Cinnamon be added Of these and others of this kind various forms of Medicines are wont to be prescrib'd For example Take Treacle-water and Aqua Mirabilis of each three Ounces Bawm-water four Ounces Syrup of Clove-gilliflowers an Ounce
often a very quick and violent vibration of the Diaphragm afterwards the Fit being ended the deception of the Fancy apprehending the dreadful species of an Incubus comes also to be known Now tho we allow the monstrous Species which is conceiv'd of the Incubus to be a meer Dream yet it is manifest that the Praecordia are really affected and that the motions of the Pulse and Respiration are in a manner supprest or letted viz. in as much as that oppression of the Breast is plainly perceiv'd by many whilst they are awake nay as they are freshly stirr'd from sleep and when that is remov'd tremblings and disorderly motions of the Heart and Diaphragm ensue whence it follows that these Parts are cumbred and undergo a real damage Wherefore whatsoever others may think I judge that a Fit of the Incubus is caus'd insomuch as in sleeping a certain incongruous matter is distilled into the Cerebellum together with the nervous juyce which causing a heaviness or certain stupefaction to the Spirits in their first source forces them presently to forbear a little from the performance of their Functions so that by a second Lethargy as it were raised within the Cerebellum the vital actions suffer a short Eclipse during which partly from the striving of the overcharg'd Praecordia and partly from the Blood being very much heapt together and stagnating within them that oppression and sense of an incumbent weight as it were is caused moreover because all the other faculties of the whole Body depend on the motion of the Heart therefore this being hindred and supprest those presently fall into faintings and disorders Tho it be seldom that any Person dyes of this Disease alone yet those that are frequently obnoxious to it if at any time they are seis'd with other cephalick affects as the Lethargy Carus Apoplexy or Lethargy they are in a very dangerous Condition because the morbifick matter sent from the Blood into the Brain easily invades the Cerebellum also being so predispos'd so that the Diseased suffering an Eclipse of the vital function together with the animal are brought into a greater danger of Life hence it s a common observation that those that are wont to be frequently troubled with the Incubus often dye Apoplectical Another Issue of the Incubus is wont to be less pernicious that it often leads to the passion of the Heart and other Affects commonly accounted for Hypochondriacal I have known many troubled with the Incubus in their Youth who as they grew farther in years being free from that were affected with a Trembling and Panting of the Heart and with other Griefs about the Precordia and Hyphochondres and very sorely with Convulsions we judge the cause of this morbid change to be that the morbifick Matter after having been often wont to beset the circumference of the Brain at length making a violent assault penetrates deeper into some private Place and passing its texture rushes into the Nerves appointed for the Precordia As to the Cure of this Disease for as to its Fits because they soon pass away of their own accord there is no need of it the therapeutick Method after a provision to be made for the whole by blooding where it is proper and a gentle Purge suggests to us the chief use of those Remedies which are vulgarly accounted Cephalicks therefore the Powders of Amber Coral Pearl Roots of male Peony bastard Dittany Contrayerva also Electuaries Tablets distill'd waters Tinctures Elixirs and other things wont to be prescrib'd in the Lethargy and Apoplexy have place here but in the first place a due form of Diet being ordered let food that is gross and of an ill concoction Pulse and horary Fruits be avoided nor must the Person indulge himself to sleep studying or reading presently after eating let large and late Suppers and lying on the back be forbidden Because Infants and Children are often troubled with this Disease a sign of which is that they are shaken in their Sleep and upon their awake cry out terribly and having undergone frequent fits of it often fall into convulsive affects therefore as soon as they seem affected with it let a due method of cure be used to them let it be enquired concerning the Milk they suck whether of it self being without fault and landable it agrees well with their Stomack let them not be permitted to Sleep presently after having suckt their fill Let the Nurse using a good form of Dyet take also Morning and Evening a Dose of a Cephalick Powder or Electuary drinking after it a draught of Posset-drink with the Leaves of Sage or Betony or the Roots or Seeds of Peony boyled in it Let the Infant take twice a day a Spoonful of an appropriate distilled Water Let it have an Issue in the nape of the Neck let it lye sometimes on one side sometimes on the other but seldom or never on the back It will not be wholly without benefit for it to wear about the neck or on the pit of the Stomack Coral or Bracelets made of the Seeds or Roots of male Peony If at any time in sleeping being often and sorely shaken they seem to be dangerously affected with this Distemper let Vesicatories be applyed to the Neck or behind the Ears Moreover Evening and Morning let a Dose of the Pulvis de Gutteta or some other that is appropriate be daily given in a Spoonful of distilled Water or in Juleps CHAP. VI. Instructions and Prescripts for curing the Vertigo AFter having viewed the outward circumference of both Brains and discovered the Diseases that beset the sensitive Soul about the first beginnings and the first sources of the Animal Spirits now descending to the middle of the brain where the Fancy and common Sense reside let us see to what affects these Parts are obnoxious Concerning this let it be observ'd in the first place that of the Spirits residing in those places sometimes Troops or rather mighty Armies sometimes also small handfuls are affected and then that the same whether many of them together or a few only are affected either from their heterogeneous combination are made elastick and consequently are forced into disorderly or rather explosive motions as in a Fit of the Epilepsie or undergoing an Eclipse as in the Apoplexy are depriv'd of all motion We have discours'd amply enough before of the former spasmodick affect of the Spitits and concerning the Apoplexy we shall treat in the sequel At present we shall speak of a certain Passion belonging to these Parts viz. the Vertigo in which some Files of the Spirits are affected and their motions seem partly to be perverted and partly to be suppress'd The Vertigo is thus described viz. that it is an Affect in which visible Objects seem to turn round and those that are affected with it find a great trouble or confusion of the Animal Spirits in the Brain so that they do not duly influence the Nerves wherefore the seeing and locomotive Faculties often
Parts are so generally and vulgarly known that it would be superfluous to insist here in describing them at large First let Liniments of Oyles Unguents and Balsams more or less hot according to the temperament of the diseased be applied twice a day with Frictions Let Fomentations of a Decoction of Cephalick Herbs and Aromaticks in Fountain-water be sometimes us'd before these adding sometimes hot Waters Wine or Beer or their Lees moreover it is proper sometimes to apply Vesica ories Cupping-glasses a Pication or Urtication about the places affected Bags and Playsters oft do good Again if the case admits it it is profitable for the resolv'd Members to be put into Grains or the Dregs of Grapes remaining after pressing or to be thrust into the Belly or Thorax of a Beast fresh killed or also be bath'd in an artificial Bath or natural hot Baths and to be kept in any of these for a long time But if these things do no good we must come to the Universal or great Remedies such as chiefly are Diaphoreticks Mercurials raising a Salivation and strong Vomitories of each of which we shall speak in short There is no one of the Vulgar but every where observes that Diaphoreticks sometimes do great good in the cure of the Palsey and that sometimes they prove very prejudicial Wherefore it much concerns us that the reasons of so different an effect should be explicated to the end that Indications may be thence taken concerning the use or rejecting of them Therefore a copious sweating is wont sometimes to prove very advantageous to Paralyticks chiefly for two reasons to wit that it may plentifully drive forth the impurities of the Blood and nervous Juice which are apt to exhale so that the morbifick Matter may no longer flow to the Brain and the Parts affected and that that which has already flown to them may in part be conveyed forth And then secondly that the effluvia of heat passing from the boyling Blood very much open the Ductus's of the Nerves before obstructed as they pass through them in evaporating and open wayes for the Spirits Wherefore this Administration agrees chiefly and in a manner only with those whose Blood being not filled with a fixt Salt and Sulphur is diluted with a limpid and insipid Serum for on the contrary Paralyticks whose Blood and Humours are greatly stor'd with wild Exotick and fixt Particles of exorbitant Salts and Sulphurs and such as are unfit for exhaling often receive a great damage from a sweat violently raised of which effect we assign these two Causes to wit that the morbifick Particles being too much exalted by reason of their Agitation become more exorbitant and then secondly that being driven plentifully into the Brain and Genus Nervosum they often increase the ancient Obstructions and not unfrequently produce new For raising a plentiful and easy Sweat both inward Medicines and outward Administrations are wont to be used the former stir the Blood or Serum to effervescencies or stimulate the Heart to quicker Motions and thence whether one of them or both be performed when the Liquor of the Blood being rapidly circulated through the Heart and Vessels is put into a frothy Turgescency it cannot but discharge from it self a great many Effluvia which are the matter of Sweat for this end Medicines of various kinds are recommended to Paralyticks of which those of chief note are a decoction of Guaiacum Sarsaparilla c. Spirit and Oyl of Guaiacum mixtura simpelx Flowers and Spirit of Sal Armoniack Aurum Diaphoreticum Salt Powder and Wine of Vipers mineral solar Bezoar Tincture of Antimony c. Outward Administrations promote a Sweating for as much as they raise and keep a moderate heat in the whole circumference of the Body and then the Blood being heated is forc'd to move more swiftly and to evaporate more and withall the pores of the Skin being open'd more readily let forth all Particles apt to exhale for this end besides Bed-coverings which only keep the Effluvia of heat emitted from the Body in its circumference a Cradle likewise with Charcoal or Spirit of Wine kindled a Hot-house and Baths of various kinds and forms and natural Hot Baths are wont to be used but above all our Hot Baths at Bathe than which if they agree well with the temperament of the Patient no more excellent Remedy can be imagin'd which is sufficiently shewn by the Crutches of a great many Persons cur'd of resolved Members hung up as so many Trophies of the Conquest of this Disease Nevertheless as generous Medicines if they do not prove Alexipharmicks often pass into Poysons so the use of hot Baths when it has not cur'd some Paralyticks has rendred them much worse so that more Members and such as were before affected being more resolv'd there has been no other occasion for the Diseas'd for leaving their Crutches there but that being rendred more weak they could use them no longer we have hinted the cause of this before to wit that bathing exagitating the Blood and all the Humours exalts more all Morbifick and heterogeneous Particles and being rendred more exorbiant drives them from the Viscera into the Mass of Blood whence in regard they cannot easily evaporate entring the Brain and Genus Nervosum they increase the Paralytick affect and often bring a Convulsion with it for this reason Bathing sometimes first actuates a Nephritick and Gouty Disposition moreover it brings to many a Blood-spitting Asthma or Consumption where no Disposition was wherefore hot Baths ought not to be tryed without the advise of a Physician and being try'd if they seem not to agree they ought soon to be left I have it sufficiently confirmed both by my own Experience and that of some other Physicians that some Paralyticks are cured by a Salivation raised by Mercury but I judge that this kind of Remedy is to be us'd only in an habitual Palsey viz. which has a Procatarxis in the Blood and Brain readily enough to be moved and a conjunct Cause in the nervous Appendix which is not very fix'd but when that affect is caused by an outward and great hurt or happens upon a Carus Apoplexy or Convulsions Salivation is attempted in a manner always in vain and sometimes not without a mighty Prejudice and let not those who having a weak or over-lax Brain are frequently subject to a Vertigo drowsiness and convulsive Motions use Mercurial Medicines inconsiderately But sometimes a Salivation does mighty good in an habitual Palsey and which is not very fix'd for as much as by taking away the Impurities of the Blood it cuts off all the fuel of the Disease and in as much as some Mercurial Particles whilst having past the Brain they enter the Ductus's of the Nerves divide the Morbifick matter sticking in them and severing its parts one from another disperse them several ways some forward and some backward Whereas it is a common fault of other Medicines that often they press forward only the
affect is wont commonly to be described after this manner to wit that whereas they ought to be transparent subtle and light in Melancholy they become obscure opake and darkish so that they represent the Images of things covered as it were with a Shadow or obscurity But I conceive the state of the animal Spirits in raving is most aptly explicated according to the Analogy they bear with certain chymical Spirits as it will appear from what follows 1. Liquours chymically distilled are of divers kinds according as the active Elements are combin'd in them after various manners the most excellent of these by the consent of all is said to be in which the Spirit united to the Salââolatizes it and is again acuated and recieves somewhat of a firmness from it of this nature are conceived to be the great Elixir and the Liquour Alkahest and in truth in some sort are the Spirits of Blood of Harts-horn of Soot and the like they being very subtle volatile and penetrating and yet not inflamable or apt to be soon dissipated And indeed the animal Spirits enjoying a sound and meet disposition seem in some sort to be as the spirituous Liquour filled with a volatile Salt which is distilled from the Blood unless it be that to this a mighty Acrimony and Empyeuma are caus'd by the Fire of which the Liquour which is in the Brain and Nerves is wholly free 2. Other Chymical Liquours are too sulphureous and burning as Spirit of Wine and of Turpentine which consisting of Spirit and Sulphur combin'd together are easily inflamed and readily separate from others and take this way and that as they find a Passage of which kind of nature the animal Spirits in some sort participate in the Phrensy 3. Some Liquours or Spirits are produc'd by Chymistry in which the fixt salt being raised to a flowing has the Dominion of which kind are those which are distilled from Vinegar ponderous Woods and certain Minerals by a gentle Fire whose particles are very movable and restless but of a shorter activity so that the effluvia do not flow far from them and if they are distilled in Baleno nothing but an insipid Phlegm is raised into the Alembick And indeed we conjecture that the animal Spirits have such a kind of acetous Nature with the dominion of the fluid Salt in melancholy Affects as we shall by and by shew more at large 4. Some Liquours spagyrically drawn are sometimes extreamly sharp in which the wild Particles of a fluid Salt and of an arsenical Sulphur combin'd together are exalted as are the Stygian Waters distilled from Nitre Vitriol Antimony Arsenick Verdigrease and the like all which are of a wild very penetrative and invincible Nature so that their diffuse themselves to a great wideness and these kinds of Liquours aptly enough resemble the Disposition of the animal Spirits acquir'd in a Mania as we shall declare beneath But at present that we may deliver the formal nature and Causes of Melancholy we may opine that the Liquour distilled from the Blood into the Brain which filling and irrigating all the Pores and Passages of the Brain and its nervous appendix is both the Vehicle and Vinculum of the animal Spirits has degenerated from its mild benign and subtle Nature into an acetous and corrosive Disposition such as that of the Liquours drawn from Vinegar Box and Vitriol and that the animal Spirits which dispersing their Rayes from the Meditullium of the Brain both into its globous Substance and into the Systema Nervosum produce all the Functions of Sense and Motion both inward and outward are disposed in like manner as the Effluvia passing from those acetous Chymical Liquours Concerning which we may observe these three things viz. First that they are in perpetual Motion secondly that they do not flow far thirdly that they are not only carryed by open Passages but make new prosities in neighbouring Bodies and insinuate themselves into them From the Analogy of these Conditions concerning the animal Spirits it happens that melancholy Persons are always thoughtful that they comprehend only a few things that they form their Notions concerning them amiss you may find this fuller explained in Dr. Willis at large So much of the primary melancholy Affect viz. a Delirium raised through the faults of the Spirits residing in the Brain whose beginnings tho cheifly and often in a manner only proceed from the acetous Disposition of the Spirits yet afterward the conformation of the Brain it self is frequently taken in as a part of the cause viz. In as much as the Recrements of the melancholy Blood continually sent into it renders its substance more gross and opake and the primary Tracts or Paths of the animal Spirits being almost defac'd new oblique and devious Tracts are made so that tho there be a supply of the better sort of Spirits they cannot easily irradiate the Brain or presently recover their former Passages Melancholy is not only an affect of the Brain and Spirits residing in it but likewise of the Praecordia and of the Blood there kindled and thence sent forth into the whole Body and as it produces in the former a Delirium so here a Fear and Sadness but after what manner let us now see In Sadness in the first place the flamy or vital part of the Soul is straitned as to its circuit and is restrained within a less space and then consequently the animalor lucid part of the Soul contracts its Sphere and has less vigour but in Fear both are suddenly represt and made to stagger as it were and to contain themselves within very small spaces in both affects the Blood does not circulate and burn lively and with a full flame but being apt to be heapt together and to stagnate about the Precordia it causes there an oppression or fainting and in the mean while the Head and Members being destitute of its plentiful efflux languish Now that those Passions become habitual in melancholy Persons the cause is partly in the Blood and partly in the animal Action of the Heart for the Blood by reason of saline Particles exalted becomes less inflamable whence it is neither sufficiently kindled in the Lungs nor does it burn within the Ductus's of the Heart and Vessels with a flame sufficiently clear and plentiful but such as is apt to be represt and almost blown out by any puff of Wind hence in regard the vital Flame is so slender and languishing that it staggers and trembles at all Motion it is no wonder if a melancholy Person the Soul as it were subfiding and being half overwhelmed is always sad and tlmorous By reason of this saline discrasie of the Blood melancholy Persons are seldom troubled with a Fever but being seised with it they are more dangerously ill by reason of the irregular burning of the Blood Nor does it happen less through the fault of the Heart that melancholy Persons by reason of the course of the Blood being retarded or
sent forth and the confused and troubled Particles of the Blood are clear'd again and take to their former position and site in mixture Or secondly the Blood is troubled above measure because some Principle or Element which composesit viz. the Spirit or Sulphur is rais'd beyond the natural Temper and becomes exorbitant whereby the Particles of this or that not agreeing with the rest are loosned from their mixture being loos'd make an effort more then they ought exagitate the Liquour of the Blood and cause an effervescence which is not appeas'd till the Blood being inflam'd as it were has burnt a long time with a feverish blast But there is this difference betwixt these two boylings of the Blood that the Effervescence which depends on the mixture of an extraneous thing with the Blood is for the most part short or comming by Fits which when the heterogeneous thing is separated or subdued ceases of its own accord and the troubled and disordered parts of the Blood readily return to their natural Site or Crasis but the Ebullition which arises from the disordering of the exorbitant Spirit or Sulphur is continual to wit here the whole mass of Blood is so open'd and loosn'd from the strict bond of mixture that taking a fire like an oily Lpquour it does not cease to rage and flame till the Particles of the Spirit or Sulphur or of the combustible matter are for the greatest part consum'd There remains yet a third preternatural way of effervescency in which the Blood undergoes an alteration which does not happen to Wine but very frequently to Milk viz. sometimes a coagulation of that liquor is induc'd by a morbifick cause so that it substance is sus'd and separates into parts and there is a secretion made of that which is thick and earthy from the thin by reason of which the Blood is not meetly circulated in the Vessels but its congeal'd portions being apt to be fix'd in the extreme Parts or to stagnate in the Heart interrupt its even motion and greatly hinder it For restoring of which effervescencies greater than usual are rais'd in the Blood to wit such as every where occur in the Pleurisie Plague Small Pox and malignant Diseases CHAP. III. Of Intermitting Fevers AFever may be describ'd after this manner That it is a disorderly motion of the Blood and it s over great boyling with a heat and thirst and other symptoms besides with which the natural oeconomy is variously troubled As we observ'd before concerning the effervescence of the Blood so we may now concerning the Fever that its access is either short and coming by sits which therefore is called intermittent or great and drawn in length which is call'd a continual Fever We shall speak first of the intermittent Concerning this Fever we shall first enquire in general what kind of effervescence of the Blood it is which causes its Fit and whence it is rais'd Secondly Wherefore the Fit consists of a coldness with a shivering and a sweat ensuing Thirdly What is the cause of the intermission and of the set times of return Fourthly and lastly we shall subjoyn certain irregularities of Intermittent Fevers As to the first We must suppose that for an Intermittent Fever some heterogeneous thing is mix'd with the Blood whose Particles in regard they are not assimilated make so long an ebullition of the same till either being subdued they are rendred miscible or being subtilis'd they are sent forth wherefore such matter being subdued or sent forth the fit ceases and when this matter springs a fresh it causes a new Ebullition and consequently a new Fit happens Now that which causes an exactly periodical Effervescence of the Blood must of necessity be some thing which against each of the set returns or accesses of the Fever is engendred in our Body in a set measure and alwayes in an even proportion and is communicated to the mass of Blood wherewith when the Blood is saturated to a fulness presently it grows turgid and falls into an Effervescence now whatsoever others may think I judge this thing to be the nutritive Juice supplyed from the matter of things eaten and convey'd to the Blood in weight and measure which in regard it is not assimilated through defect of Sanguification being heap'd together to a fulness in the Vessels it causes a Turgescency in the Blood for its expulsion I have observed before a three-fold State concerning the Particles of the Blood viz. of Crudity Maturity and Decay that is to say the nutritive Juice supplyed from the daily Food comes crude being mixt with the Blood and circulated for some time it is assimilated and maturated into a perfect humour afterward waxing stale it runs into parts and is separated while the Blood is continually renewed after this even manner and its losses are repair'd it ferments quietly and is circulated within the Vessels without tumult or immoderate Effervescence but if the supply of the nutritive Juice be not maturated as before nor turns into Blood by a perfect digestion its Particles mixt with the Blood continue in its mass as some heterogeneous thing and not exactly agreeing with which when it is saturated to a fulness presently the Blood grows turgid and falls into a feverish Effervescence whereby the fresh supply of this depraved Juice is either subdued or sent forth If it be askt for what cause the nutritive Juice being mixt with the Blood is not assimilated but degenerates into a heterogeneous and fermentative matter I judge that this is done for the most part not through the fault of the Aliments or of the Viscera but of the Blood it self For the Blood even as Wines sometimes falls from its native and genuine Disposition into a sharp acid or austere nature and because the Blood sanguifies it happens that when that is fallen from its due temper it easily perverts the store of nutritive Juice wherewith it ought to be repaired Secondly as to the shivering and cold preceding the heat in this affect doubtless the true and genuine cause of those is the flowing and turgescencie of the nervous Juice degenerated into a nitrous Matter wherewith the Spirits and heat being charged are obunded and the nervous Bodies being irritated are put into a Trembling but afterward when these nitrous Particles being in part protruded to the Superficies of the Body the Blood is somewhat freed from their cumbrance and oppression the animal spirits recollect and begin to display themselves and then a most intense heat ensues because both the mass of Blood being opened by reason of its Effervescence with the febrile matter and its mixture being loosned the sulphureous Particles are freely kindled in the Heart and because the Pores of the Skin being possest by the same matter protruded toward the circumference of the Body the vapory Effluvia are inwardly restrained which much exagitate and heat the Blood and which heat continues still in it till the fermentative Matter being wholly burnt and fully
to be a little chill'd and afterward plainly to have the cold fit and as it went off to sweat the reason of this was because by the hot summer the Constitution of the Blood was become sharp and very much burnt wherefore the Particles of the crude Juice mixt with it were presently scorcht and burnt that they did not wax cold first with a sourness like new beer and then afterward burn out but a Turgescency being raised the whole like dry Wood laid on the fire presently burnt out in a light flame but afterward the Liquour of the Blood after having burnt for some fits became less torrified that the depraved nutritive Juice was not presently scorcht but passed into a nitrous Matter and fermenting with a sourness which first growing turgid brought a sence of coldness on the whole Body There remains yet a great doubt concerning the distances of the returns which sometimes seem to be double in the same Fever that the first access answers to the third and both happily in the Morning and again the second to the fourth and both happen in the Evening and so on wherefore such a Fever is wont to be called a double tertian or quartan It seems to me that in this case sometimes it happens that the Fever is simple and of one kind and that the Types are a like and all agreeing with each other but that the errour chiefly arises because the intervals of the returns are not computed by hours but by dayes for since the intervals of the beginnings of the Fits are not distant from each twenty four hours exactly but either sixteen or thirty hours in a quotidian and in a tertian not forty eight hours but forty or fifty six more or less or thereabout it will come to pass that the alternate fits will happen before and the rest after noon to which also may be added that the uneven way of living which the diseased use may oftentimes produce great unevennesses of the returns that sometimes the fit comes twice a day as I have often observed in cachectical Persons and such as have used a disorderly dyet nevertheless it often happens that intermittent Fevers have returns of fits which neither observe the same distance nor keep wholly to the same sort of form I have frequently noted in a quartan Fever that besides the set accesses returning about the same hour the fourth day certain erring and uncertain fits troubled the Diseased that sometimes the day preceeding the wonted fit sometimes following it another fit also tho slight was raised anew carrying exactly the Type of an intermittent Fever with a shivering a heat and sweat and nevertheless the primary access returned at the usual time this for the most part is wont to happen either by a diet ill ordered especially by surfeiting and drinking of Wine or by the ill administration of Physick the reason of which I take it consists in this that by these errours in diet more matter is heapt together than can be clear'd off at one fit CHAP. IV. Of the kinds of intermittent Fevers and first of a Tertian WE call a Tertian Fever not that which happens at three days distance but inclusively from the day in which one fit begins on the third thence another returns mean while sometimes if the fits are long viz. protracted to twenty four hours and withall come before the usual time of their accesses the space of intermission is often less then twenty four hours The essence of a Tertian Fever consists in this that the Blood like Beer made of over-dryed Malt being too sharp and burnt does not soon subdue and ripen the nutritive Juice which is brought into it crude from things eaten but perverts a great deal of it into a Nitro-sulphureous matter wherewith when the mass of Blood is saturated to a Turgescency like new Beer put in Bottles it falls a fermenting from the flowing of that nitrous matter which obtunds the heat and vital Spirits and twitches the nervous Parts first a cold is caused with a shivering afterward the vital Spirit prevailing again this matter fermenting in the Blood begins to be mastered and to be kindled in the Heart by the burning of whilch an intense heat is diffus'd throughout the whole Body afterward its relicks being severed and mixing with the Serum are sent forth by sweat This burnt disposition of the Blood consists in this that it is impregnated more than it ought with Particles of Salt and Sulphur Wherefore the procatarctick Causes which dispose to this disease are a hot and bilous Temperament Youth a very hot Diet as an immoderate use of Wine and peppered meats but especially the Vernal and Autumnal Seasons of the Year tho most comonly some evident Cause besides is requir'd for putting this Disposition in act and we ascribe the origine of this Disease to some notable accident Wherefore a lying on the Ground or taking cold after sweating or transpiration any way hindred also surfeiting or a troubling of the Stomack by disorderly eating and whatsoever things cause an immoderate effervescence of the Blood bring into act the latent disposition of this Disease for on every such occasion the nutritive Juice heapt together in the Blood and somewhat deprav'd falls a flowing and separating from the rest of the Blood ferments it with a nitrous sourness afterward being kindled and exagitated with the vital Spirit and Heat it brings the fit with a very intense burning A Tertian Fever is wont to be most common in the Spring at which time the Blood is most vigorous and in best plight A Fever hapning if it continues not long is commonly said rather to be Physick than a Disease which in part is true because by this means the impurities of the Blood are consumed the obstructions of the Viscera are opened and indeed the whole body is ventilated so that it is wholly freed from any excrementitious matter and from the seminaries of growing Diseases but if this Disease be drawn out in length it is the cause of many Distempers and of a long sickness for hereby the mass of Blood is very much deprived of the vital Spirit and like Wine too much fermented in some manner looses its strength wherefore a Jaundise Scurvy or Cachexia follow upon this Fever when it is long a curing for by the frequent fits the vital spirit very much evaporates which in regard it is little restored by things eaten the Blood becomes thereby watery and almost without strength mean while the Particles of the Salt and Sulphur are raised and exalted more whence the Blood is made sharp and salt and so more unapt for Circulation and a Pneumatosis Moreover this Disease protracted in length often changes its form and from a Tertian becomes either a quotidian or sometiems a quartan and afterward sometimes it returns from both to a Tertian the reason of this is the various change of the Disposition of the Blood for when from being sharp and bilous as it
that taint contracted but if the strength of the Remedie given in too small a quantity be first spent presently the Povson springs forth anew and the ancient venom which seemed to be driven away is again brought into act after the like manner when the Blood having gotten a vitious habit perverts the nutritive Juvce and for the better expelling it when heapt together to a fulness falls into feverish Turgesencies that Peruvian Bark reduc'd to a Powder and given by the commerce of its Particles so exagitates and alters the Blood tho affected with a Discrasy by stirring a new fermentation that it in some measure concocts the nutritive Juice and continually evaporates its recrements so that they are not heapt together for a matter of the fit as before but when the Particles of this Remedy are wholly exhal'd from the community with the Blood and all the vertue is spent the evil Disposition of the Blood before contracted breaks forth again and therefore the fits of the Fever return after their wonted manner haply sometimes it falls only that whilst by the use of that Powder the accesses are supprest that Discrasy of the Blood by reason of the change of the Season of the Year or by help of some other Remedy or of nature her self is amended by degrees and so at length the Fever disappears of its own accord tho I have known this to have hapned but seldom that you may expect the feverish fits to return in a manner with the like certainty as they are supprest by that Powder As to the sensible qualities with which this Bark is endowed it is manifest that it excells in a bitterness with a certain stipticity that by the taste it is discovered to carry in a manner the like savour as is usually found in most Alexipharmicks such as the root of Gentian Serpentary Contrayerva c. For things which are actually bitter are mighty powerful in suppressing the sorces of preternatural Ferments nay and the Root of Gentian which excellently resembles this Bark was formerly of famous use for curing quartan Fevers and now tho this Peruvian Powder be the only Alexiterion yet found for the quartan Fever which stops the fits of it and of others tho only for a time yet it is not to be doubted but there are other Medicines in nature equally febrisuges and it may be hop'd that being led by the example of this new invention we may be stirred up to search into the Vertues of Herbs yet unknown to us thus while we insist on the tryal of Fparticulars and joyn Empirical Physick with the Rational it is not to be doubted but the Cures of the quartan and of other Herculean Diseases will go on more prosperously which I the more freely ensure for in this age or at leastwise in the succeeding because being guided by the Analogy of that Bark I my self not long since running through many things lighted on a Medicine of no contemptible use for subduing Fevers which also I give to all poor People as a Succedaneum with good success CHAP. VII Of continual Fevers AContinual Fever is that whereof the access is prolonged to many dayes without any cessation it has its times of remission and exacerbation but none of intermission the burning sometimes is more remiss sometimes more intense but the Diseased are still in a Fever till the Disease be wholly solv'd by a Crisis or an insensible recovery Now there are three degrees or manners of Effervescency by which the Species of continual Fevers are determined from the subtle portion of the boyling Blood or from the Ebullition of the Spirits arises the Ephemera also the Synocus of one or many dayes from the sulphureous or oily part of the Blood too much heated and kindled is raised the putrid Fever thirdly on a venemous Miasm infecting the Blood and congealing its Liquour malignant Fevers depend in each of these from the depravation or rather corruption of the nutritive Juice fresh heapt together in the Blood various Paroxisms Inequalities and critical Motions arise If it be askt after what manner the Effervescency of the Blood in a continual Fever differs from that other which makes intermittents I say that the Effervescence of the Blood in the latter depends only on the mingling of some fermentative Matter with the Blood which will not duely mix with it and on its heaping together to a plenitude of Turgescency by reason of the Effervescency of this with the Blood in the Vessels and its deflagration in the Heart the fit is caused its difflation is followed by an Apyrexia so that in the intervals of the fits neither the Spirits nor the Sulphur make an effort but the Liquour circulates evenly and without tumult in the Vessels the bond of mixture being entirely preserved on the contrary in a continual Fever the Disorders of the Spirit or Sulphur or of both of them together cause the ebullition of the Blood by their proper Effervescence without the mixture of another thing Wherefore for a cessation of the hurning heat besides the difflation of the excrementitious matter a deflagration of the kindled Blood and its reduction to a due Crasis are required The Constitution of the Blood in a continual Fever is as that of Wines when they ferment by too rich Lees that is to say they are strong with Spirit and grow turgid with an exalted Sulphur and therefore of their own accord without the mixture of another thing they fall into a heat and boyl violently In an intermittent Fever the Blood is stirr'd after such a Manner as Wines when they fall a fermenting by reason of something which is not missible being put into them Moreover in this Fever the Disposition of the Blood is like that of Wines when in their declining state they become over fretted ropy or also sour in which the Spirit is deprest while the Salt or Sulphur or both together are above the rest and affect the whole Liquour with their disorder an intermittent Fever for the most part is without danger because the parts that compose the Blood tho they have changed a little their Crasis however keep their bond of mixture and whilst they are at liberty circulate evenly in the Vessels and pervert the nutritive Juice into a matter not altogether preternatural but rather infesting with its Plenitude and Turgescency In a continual Fever besides the distemperature the mixture of the Blood and the texture of the Liquor are somewhat dissolv'd that its corruption easily follows wherefore this Disease is often terminated in death and the nutritive Juyce is depraved to a matter wholly vitious and altogether offensive to Nature CHAP. VIII Of the Ephemera Fever I Have said that the least degree of Effervescence which brings a continual Fever is placed in the subtle and spirituous Portion of the Blood being too much agitated and heated for this like Spirit of wine boyls on any light occasion and gets a heat being irritated either by too much
Motion of the Body or Perturbation of Mind from an ambient heat as that of the Sun or of a Stove by hot things inwardly taken as drinking of Wine eating of peppered Meats and the like for the Spirits of the Blood easily wax very hot of their own accord and being violently moved are not presently appeased but exagitate variously confound and force to a rapid and disorderly Motion other Particles of the Blood also by this Motion of the Spirits the Sulphur or the oily part of the Blood is more boyled a little more dissolved and somewhat more freely kindled in the Heart whence an intense heat is raised in the whole Body but for as much as the Sulphur is heated and inflamed only by minute Parts and not throughout the whole that fervour of the Spirits is soon allayed and ceases Wherefore the Fever which is raised after this manner is terminated for the most part within twenty four hours and therefore is called an Ephemera And if by reason of a greater heat of the spirituous Blood it be prorogued longer it seldom exceeds three dayes and it is called an Ephemera of many dayes or a Synochus not putrid but if it happens to be extended beyond this time this Fever readily passes into a putrid to wit from the long continued ebullition of the spirituous Blood at length the grosser Particles of the Sulphur fall a burning and involve the whole mass of Blood in this Effervescence An Ephemera Fever and a simple Synochus seldom begin without an evident Cause besides the things before-mentioned immoderate Labour Watchings a sudden Passion of the Mind a constriction of the Pores Surfeiting also a Bubo or Wound in Child-bearing Women an increase of milk are wont to bring these the procatarctick causes which dispose to them are a hot temper of Body an Athletick habit a Sedentary Life and a Disuse of Exercise The first beginnings of this Disease depend on the presence of an Evident Cause for either the Corpuscles of an extraneous heat mixt with Blood make it boyl like Water on the Fire or a Fever is brought by motion or by reason of Transpiration being letted even as when Wines being heated or stopt close in a Vessel are set in a strong working after what manner soever the inflammation be first rais'd presently the Spirits make an effort and moving hither and thither force the Blood to boyl and to inlarge it self in a greater space with a frothy rarefaction wherefore the Vessels are stretcht and the membranous Parts are vellicated hence a Pain especially in the Head and Loyns a spontaneous lassitude and an inflation as it were of the whole Body ensue But if with the Spirit of the Blood some sulphury Part withall be somewhat kindled a smart heat is diffus'd through the whole the Pulse becomes high and quick the Urine ruddy also Thirst Watchings and many other offensive Symptoms arise Concerning the Solution or Crisis of an Ephemera Fever and of a Synochus not putrid there are three things chiefly requisite viz. a removal of the evident Cause secondly a severing or difflation of the depraved or excrementitious matter from the Mass of Blood thirdly an appeasing of the parts of the Blood and their restitution to a natural and even motion and site According as these things happen sometimes sooner sometimes slower and with more difficulty this Disease is ended in a shorter or longer time 1. The Evident Cause which for the most part is extrinsecal is easily remov'd and Diseased Persons as soon as ever they perceive themselves injur'd by any thing are wont to avoid the presence of or continuance with that thing no Person being in a Fever upon drinking Wine continues still to drink it when any Person grows more hot than usual by the heat of a Bath or of the Sun it is irksome to him to continue in it longer 2. As to the excrementitious matter which ought to be separated and blown off from the Blood this is either brought from without as when by surfeiting drinking of Wine standing in the Sun or bathing in hot Water the Blood is infected with hot and fermentative effluvia's or Corpuscles or that matter is ingendred inwardly as when upon the deflagration of the Blood its Liquor is stuff't with adust Recrements or Particles both these Matters must be separated and blown off from the Blood and be sent forth either by Sweat or insensible Transpiration before the Fever is appeas'd wherefore when the Pores are clos'd and Transpiration is hindred the Ephemera Fever continues a longer time and passes from a simple Synochus into a putrid Fever 3. The Evident Cause being remov'd and this degenerated Matter blown off for a cessation of the burning heat there is required an appeasing of the Parts of the Blood and a reducement of them to order for a rapid and disorderly motion begun in the Blood is not presently stopt but ought to be allay'd by degrees also the divers Particles of the Blood disorder'd after this manner and being driven this way and that by reason of the feverish effervescence do not presently take to their former order of site and position but it is necessary that they be extricated by degrees and restored to their due mixture by little and little Tho this Disease after the removal of the Evident Cause ceases for the most part of its own accord yet some Physical Remedies are advantageously applied to Use especially where there is danger lest the Ephemera Fever passes into a putrid The chief Intentions must be to allay the fervour of the Blood and to procure a free Transpiration to which chiefly conduce blooding a very thin Diet or rather abstinence cooling Drinks a withdrawing the excrements of the Belly by Clysters but above the rest Sleep and Rest do most good which if wanting they must be seasonably procur'd by Opiats and Anodines A renowned young man about twenty years of age of an athletick habit of Body by an immoderate drinking of strong Wine fell into a feverish distemper with a drought heat and a mighty trouble of the Praecordia being blooded he drank a vast quantity of fountain-water and thereupon a copious sweat presently ensuing he soon recovered An ingenious young man of a sedentary Life and withall very much addicted to the study of Learning when of late he had exercis'd himself above measure in the Summer Sun began to complain of a Head-ach a want of Appetite a trouble of the Praecordia and a feverish distemperature over the whole Body To whom in regard he loathed all Physick I ordered a total Abstinence unless it were from small Beer and Barley-meats On the second day and again more on the third the Symptoms remitted by little and little at length on the fourth he became free from his Fever without any Medicine CHAP. IX Of the Putrid Fever A Putrid Fever is when the oily or sulphureous part of the Blood being too much heated grows turgid above measure and
is brought as it were to flame and therefore from its likeness to humid things putrifying which contract a fervour this kind of ebullition of the Blood because it causes an immoderate Heat is called a Putrid Fever Which name it ought properly enough to retain because in this Fever the Composition of the Blood as it usually happens in Liquors putrifying is very much dissolv'd and so that its Principles are in a manner wholly severed from each other by the ferment of the Heart and the active Particles being loosened from the mixture break forth as it were into a flame Wherefore the Liquor of the Blood being after this manner rarified and as it were kindled in the Heart is carried thence with a most rapid motion through the Vessels and with its deflagration sends a great many effluvia's of heat from it hence the whole mass of Blood like water set on the fire continually boyling stretches the Vessels vellicates the Brain and nervous Parts raises Cramps and Pains in them very much consumes the Vital Spirits by its effervescency destroys the ferments of the Viscera hinders the functions of concoction and distribution often depraves the nutritive Juice sent into the Genus Nervosum that thereby very great disorders of the animal Spirits ensue nay it perverts in a manner the whole oeconomy of Nature The Procatarctick Causes which dispose to this Disease are a hot and moist temperament an Athletick habit of Body Youth the Spring or Summer season a plenteous and rich Feeding moreover an assiduous drinking of rich Wines a sedentary and idle Life a Body cacochymical and filled with evil Juyces but above the rest it is observed that a frequent letting blood renders men apt to a Fever wherefore it is commonly said that those who have been let blood once unless the same be done yearly are prone to a Fever The reason is that by a frequent letting blood the Sulphur is more copiously heapt together within the mass of Blood the Salt in the mean while which ought to moderate and keep it from growing exorbitant being by this means withdrawn The Evident Causes which draw the latent disposition of this Fever into act are of the same kind as those which bring an Ephemera Fever and a Synochus Simplex in this rank we place chiefly perspiration letted and surfeiting By reason of the effluvia being restrain'd the mass of Blood being increas'd in its bulk grows turgid and being inspir'd anew with a certain ferment as it were falls a burning and boyls violently thereupon presently the Pores are more obstructed by the stuffing of the effluvia and the texture of the Liquour being dissolved the particles of the abounding Sulphur in the Blood get free from the mixture and are inflam'd by the fermentation of the Heart as tho Fire were applied to them and so they kindle a very intense Fever And by surfeiting both an immoderate fermentation is caused in the Blood and also a nitro-sulphureous matter fit for burning and being enkindled is conveyed as a fuel into the inflam'd Blood In this Fever four states of time are to be observed by which as by so many Stages its course is performed and they are these the beginning the Increase the height and the declining state these are wont to be pass'd over in some sooner in some slower and in a longer time The beginning ought to be computed from the time that the Blood begins to grow hot and its Sulphur to fall a burning till the burning Heats and inflammations are diffus'd throughout the whole mass of Blood The increase is from the time that the Blood being heated and kindled throughout has burnt for some space and its mass is loaded with Recrements or adust Particles which also increase the Fermentation The height of the Disease is when after the Blood has burnt enough and its inflammation is remitted the long troubled Blood as a noble Champion its adversary somewhat giving ground recollecting all its Forces endeavours a subduing and separation of that adust matter wherewith it is saturated to a fulness and a driving of it forth a Crisis being attempted once or oftener The declining state follows after the Crisis in which the Blood the inflammation growing weak becomes less hot and either the vital Spirit still prevailing it subdues and purges forth by degrees what there is remaining of that adust and extraneous matter till it be restored to its ancient vigour or the same Spirit being too much deprest the Liquour of the Blood is still tainted with adust Recrements and therefore becomes troubled and depauperated that it neither assimilates the nutritive Juyce nor continues fit for Circulation nor for accension in the Heart for sustaining the lamp of Life When therefore any one is seized with a Putrid Fever for the most part a cold stiffness or a shivering accompanies the first invasion which is followed by a Heat which is unequal and not as yet intense because the Blood being yet full of crude Juyces is kindled only by parts and therefore it burns a little and then ceases and then begins again like a flame burning wet straw in this state the Disease continues for some dayes the Urine becomes more ruddy than usual by reason of the Salt and Sulphur more dissolved and incocted with the Serum it retains still its Hypostasis because the coction and assimilation are not altogether depraved it has a sediment greater than it ought which nevertheless is easily separated and subsides of its own accord at this time you may let Blood and give a Vomit or a Purge so it be done without any great Perturbation of the Blood It often happens upon the seasonable administrations of these kinds of Evacuations that the greater increases of the Disease are prevented and that the Fever is killed as it were in ovo the limits of this stage are variously determined according to the temperament of the Diseased and other accidents of the Disease Sometimes within a day or two the first Rudiments of this Disease are laid sometimes the beginning of the Disease is extended to more if it happens in a Body well in Flesh full of Spirit and of a hot Blood and Juyce in the time of Youth and in a very hot Season in case the Disposition to a Fever be great and a strong evident cause supervenes the severish Effervescence once begun soon pervades the whole Blood and on the second or third day the root being laid the Disease arises to its increase but if the feverish Indisposition begins in a body that is not hot a Phlegmatick or melancholy temperament in old age or in a cold Season it has a longer Proaemium and scarce passes the limits of this first stage before the sixth or seventh day The increase of this Disease is computed from the time that the burning of the Fever has got possession of the whole mass of Blood that is the Sulphur or the oily part of the Blood being long heated and boyling
vehemently by parts at length like Hay laid together wet after a long incalescence bursts forth all together into a flame through the violent boyling of the Blood at this time the Diseased complain of an intollerable thirst Moreover a head-ach obstinate watchings often also Deliriums a Phrensy and convulsive Motions molest them they loath all Food or cast it forth by Vomit or if happily it be retain'd being parcht by the too much heat it turns to a febrile matter there is also a bitterness in the Mouth an ungrateful savour a roughness of the Tongue a vehement and quick Pulse a Urine very ruddy for the most part troubled filled with contents without an Hypostasis or laudable sediment the Blood at this time being in a manner wholly kindled it engenders by its deflagration a mighty quantity of adust matter like the ashes remaining after a Fire whereby both the Serum being mightily fill'd yields a Urine that is thick and full of Contents and the Blood being loaded with it to a Turgescency is irritated into critical Motions wherewith that febrile mater if it may be being subdued and separated may be sent forth and this brings the height of the Fever in which judgment is given betwixt Nature and the Disease the contest being brought as it were to a tryal and therefore the evacuation which thereupon ensues is called a Crisis Therefore the height of a putrid Fever is that time of the Disease in which Nature attempts the expulsion of the adust matter remaining after the deflagration of the Blood to this are requir'd first that the Blood for the greatest part has past burning for in the midst of it Nature is not at leisure for a Crisis nor ever attempted it prosperously nor is it procur'd by Art with good success Secondly that the Spirit first in some manner subdue this adust matter of the Blood and separate it from that which is good and render it fit for expulsion Thirdly that this matter be heapt together in so great a plenty that by its Turgescency it irritates Nature to a critical Expulsion when either of those things is wanting the Crisis for the most part is of no effect and not to be relied on and seldom puts an end to the Disease A Crisis in a continual Fever is in a manner the same as the fit of intermittents for as in these when the mass of Blood is saturated to a fulness of Turgescency with the Particles of the nutritive Juice depraved and unfit for Maturation there happens a flowing secretion and expulsion of that matter so in a continual Fever after the deflagration of the Blood and nutritive Juice a great many Corpuseles of adust matter are heapt together with which the Blood being opprest when it is a little free from burning it subdues and separates them by degrees and then a flowing being raised endeavours to send them forth Wherefore as the fits of intermittents do not happen but at a set time and after so many hours so also critical Motions happen from the fourth day to the fourth or haply from the seventh to the seventh for in such a kind of space the Blood burns off and by its burning makes a heap of adust matter as it were of Ashes which being offensive to Nature causes critical Motions by its irritation Therefore as to what some say that the Crises depend altogether on the Influences of the Moon and Stars and that they follow their Quartile or opposite Aspects or their Conjunctions it is not true because critical Evacuations are determined only by the heaping together and Turgescency of the adust matter whose Particles if they can easily be separated from the Blood and the Pores of the Skin are open enough being involved in the Serum they are sent forth by sweat and this is the best way of a Crisis which if it succeeds well it often at one bout puts a perfect end to the Disease without fear of a relaps to this next succeeds that crisis which is attempted by an haemorrhagie for this matter as an Efflorescence arising with the Blood if by reason of an unfree perspiration it be not sent forth by sweat it is conveyed into some part remote from the Heart and is frequently sent into the Head by an impetuous sally of the Blood where if there be an open passage from the Sinus's spreading into the Nostrils the morbifick matter springs forth together with a portion of the Blood but otherwise often sticking in the Brain it brings a Delirium Frensy or other sore and lasting Diseases of the Head and it is to be observed that in almost any continual Fevers if at any time they come to an imperfect or difficult crisis so that the Blood is corrupted for a long time with a feverish matter or adust Recrements thereby the nervous Juyce as it seems comming to be tainted obstinate Affects viz. Watchings also Deliriums Tremblings Conlvulsive Motions and long sticking Weaknesses of the nervous Parts follow There are other wayes of Crisis's in which Nature endeavours to expell the febrile matter not at once and entirely but by little and little and by parts sometimes by Urine sometimes by Vomit or Seige sometimes by Pushes or Buboes which way soever it be done that it may be with good success it is requir'd that the deflagration of the Blood preceeds it and that the adust matter be concocted and rendred apt for separation Therefore the Height of the Disease is not one and simple nor always happens after the same manner but with a various diversity of Symptoms and with a tendency to events far differing now a prudent Physician must give his Prognostick in what space of time the Disease will come to its height and what event it will have If the Fever from the beginning be vehement and on a sudden pervades the whole mass of Blood with a burning if with the fierceness of Symptoms it presses in a constant and even manner without remission for the most part the Blood will so much burn off within four dayes that the adust matter which is to make a Crisis rises by that time to a plenitude of Turgescency but if the beginnings are slow and the accension of the Blood be often interrupted the Fever will come to its height about the seventh day if it begins yet more remisly the height of the Disease is wont to be protracted to the eleventh or fourteenth mean while it is to be noted that as the fits of intermittent Fevers return at set times so do critical Motions in such as are continual and for the most part they observe the fourth day for tho a perfect Crisis be prorogued to the fourteenth or seventeenth or haply to the twentieth day because all things requir'd to a full determination of the Disease do not concur yet in the middle space light motions happen with which the febrile matter rising by degrees to an increase is a little emptied and cut off as it were by parts till
Nature is able to set upon a more full discussion of it and since upon the Blood 's burning a mighty store of adust matter is heapt together in the Vessels within four dayes Nature unless it be otherwise disturbed every fourth day being provok'd with the store of matter endeavours to shake off a part of its burthen with a certain Turgescency wherefore for the most part on the fourth seventh eleventh and fourteenth dayes critical Motions happen not through a direction of the Planets but through a necessity of Nature As to the event whether the Crisis will be good or no certain fore-knowledges are taken from the Strength of the Diseased the Pulse Urine and other signs and the concourse of Symptoms if the burning of the Fever pressing the diseased holds his strength in some measure has a strong and even Pulse if the Urine be of a middle Consistency with some Hypostasis a Separation of Contents and an easie subsiding if the Disease makes its progress without violent Vomiting Watchings a Phrensy convulsive Motions and the Suspiscion of Malignity the height of it may be expected to be laudable with a good Crisis if the contrary to these things happen viz. that the strength be presently cast down and the Diseased be subject to a frequent Fainting Convulsions or a Delirium with a weak intermittent or uneven Pulse if obstinate Watchings an intolerable Thirst and a Vomiting continually molest the Diseased if the Urine be thick and troubled without an Hypostasis or a subsiding of the parts if whilst the burning still presses Nature be stimilated to critical evacuations the extremity or height of the Disease will be dangerous nor is any good to be hop'd of the Crisis Concerning the Crisis of a putrid Fever I shall here subjoyn a particular prognostick in which tho the things that appear at the begining promise a wished for event a very sad one is at hand I have oftentimes observed in a putrid Fever which begins slowly and with a small burning if the Urine be ruddy and when it is made be presently troubled and opake which is neither precipitated by the cold nor deposes a sediment of its own accord and if at the same time the Diseased lye for many Nights without Sleep tho they are quiet and without tossing their state is very dangerous and there will be a greater suspicion if in the mean time they are not prest with an intense Fever nor with a Thirst and a Heat very troublesome for those that are affected after this manner about the height of the Disease for the most part fall into Deliriums convulsive Motions and often into a Mania from which they are in a short time precipitated into Death and when these Symptoms appear the Urine is altered from being thick and ruddy to be thin and pale Melancholy Persons are most obnoxious to these kinds of Fevers to wit in which the Exorbitancies of the Sulphur are little restrained by the Salt and earthy Dregs troubled together with it and all which being raised by little and little break forth afterward with a greater destruction When the Disease is come to the height either the thing is brought to a stress at one conflict and thence forward there is a manifest tendency to Health with a Declination or to Death or there are frequent Bickerings betwixt Nature and the Disease and critical Motions are often attempted before the Victory falls to either fide As to the first if with a good fore-running of Signs and Symptoms after that the Blood has burnt enough and its burning has remitted the adust matter being evenly subdued and subtiliz'd rises with a full increase to a Motion of Turgescency and Nature being free from any impediment or depression is of strength sufficient for a conflict the feverish matter is exterminated for the most part at one motion of Efflorescence and the Blood being become free from its Contagion and Fellowship recovers in a short time its ancient Vigour 2. But if Nature be irritated to a critical Motion before the Blood has perfectly burnt off or that adust matter be prepar'd for excretion tho as to the rest affaires are in an indifferent state yet none but an imperfect Crisis follows hence whereby somewhat of the Burthen or Load wherewith the Blood is opprest is diminisht but in its stead presently another springs afresh from a new burning and at set times afterward haply in the space of four or seven dayes as the fits of intermittents critical Motions return haply the second or third time before that the conflict being divided the advantage plainly inclines to this or that side 3. But when an ill apparatus of Signs and Symptoms preceeding the burning of the Blood still pressing without any concoction or subduing of the feverish Matter a critical Motion is stirred up Nature is sometimes overthrown at the first conflict nor does she recover her self again but yielding her self conquered by the Disease is precipitated into Death nor are things in much a better state when a Crisis at first being imperfect and of no effect comes without any relief of the Diseased and afterward the next to this happens to be worse and then by another or haply another conflict the Disease prevails till the strength being wholly broken and prostrated there is no hope left of recovery So much of the height or Crisis of the Disease By the Word Declination I understand the Condition of the Diseased and of the Disease which follows the height of it whether it tends to a Recovery or to Death whether the Fever or the Life it self of the Diseased at this time declines As to the times of the declining state it will be necessary for us to enquire what the temper of the Blood is and what alterations it undergoes as often as a progress is made from a good Crisis or an evil to a Recovery or Death The vice or depauperation which the Blood contracts from a feverish effervescence consists in these things the Spirit very much evaporates and is lost the sulphureous Part is too much scorcht and is much spent by the deflagration and after its burning an adust matter is left as a caput mortuum with whose Particles the mass of Blood is loaded and weak'ned mean while the Saline and Earthy Parts are too much exalted even as it is wont to happen in Wine or Beer too much fermented The Blood being tainted after this manner ill assimilates the stock of nutritive Juyce nay and not duely fermenting or being inflam'd in the Heart by reason of the scorching or defect of the Sulphur it ill distributes the Vital Spirit mean while by reason of the adust Matter and the Salt too much exalted it boyls more than it ought and destroys it self more 1. After a good Crisis the Spirit tho become weak still bears the sway wherefore it subdues by degrees and expells what there is remaining of feverish matter and concocts and assimilates the nutritive Juyce so a
thin juyce be administred whence the mass of Blood is refresh'd with a genuine Spirit and Sulphur 2. After an evil Crisis the thing is otherwise the Liquour of the Blood like Wine too much fermented wholly loses its strength its Spirit is greatly diminisht what there is remaining of it for the most part is involv'd and as it were overwhelm'd with Particles of adust matter whence a continual Effervescence remains still in the Blood tho without coction or assimilation of the nutritive Juyce or a separation of that which is useless from what is good the benign Sulphur and Food of the vital Flame is much consum'd so that the Blood is kindled in the Heart less than it ought mean while through adust Recrements and raised to too great a height with Salt and Earth it continually boyles in the Vessels with a Drought and a Heat and because it is daily depauperated upon the continual spending of the benign Spirit and Sulphur and is more tainted with the Salt and earthy Faeculencies too much exalted its Liquour in a short time grows vapid and becomes unfit for circulation and accension in the Heart for upholding the vital Fire wherefore Life must necessarily fail 3. After an imperfect and doubtful Crisis when the Diseased being broken by a long continued Weakness recover not but after a long time the case stands thus the Spirituous and Sulphureous parts of the Blood are very much consum'd by their long burning the remaining Liquour being not purg'd from the adust Recrements and Feculencies is rendred very impure and there remaining still somewhat of Oyle for the vital Flame and the Spirits not ceasing wholly from working upon the febrile Matter the Blood is still circulated and tho in a small measure is kindled in the Heart nay and the Spirits recover themselves by little and little and begin to set upon the matter remaining after the Fever and at length wholly subdue it and restore a sprightly Fermentation de Novo in the Heart CHAP. IX Of the most observable Symptoms and Signs in a Putrid Fever THE accidents which a Physician ought chiefly to consider in giving a true Diagnostick and Prognostick of this Disease may be reduced to three Classes as it were or common Places that is to say they have regard to the Viscera of Concoction viz. the Ventricle and Intestines with their Appendixes or secondly to the Humours flowing in the Vessels to wit the Blood in the Arteries and Veins and the thin Liquor in the nervous Parts together with the first sources of both viz. the Heart and Brain or lastly those Symptoms regard the habit of the Body with the various constitution of the Pores and the firmness or pining away of the solid Parts those who will exactly observe the course of the Disease and aptly draw the Curative Intentions must mind these three heads of Symptoms and diligently observe what alterations happen in these distinct Regions as it were according to the differing times of the Fever 1. Concerning the Ventricle and first Passages in the whole course of this Fever tedious affects and Disorders as a Nauseousness a Vomiting loss of Appetite Indegestion a Diarrhoea a roughness of the Tongue and Mouth a bitter savour are wont to molest them these things for the most part are attributed to the Humours first heap'd together in the Stomach and there putrifying but besides that the Recrements of the Chyle being burnt with too much heat degenerate into an offensive matter often those kinds of accidents happen because the off-scourings and filth of the Blood and nervous Juyce whilst they ferment are carried inwards and being depos'd within the Membranes of the Viscera cause Contractions and make a filthy heap of a vitious and very infesting Humour I have often observ'd that about the beginnings of Fevers the Blood vehemently boyling still depos'd its recrments in wardly to the benefit of the Diseas'd where tho some tedious affects hapned about the first Passages yet the effervescence was thereby more mild the Pulse moderate and the Urine laudable and after this manner those that were ill of a Fever with a thin Diet and the use of gentle carriers forth of Excrements recovered in a short time but if in this case I gave a violent Cathartick for extirpating the Humours that natural purging of the Blood being letted presently the Fever became intense with a ruddy and troubled Urine a high Pulse Watchings and other horrid Symptoms also often after the height of the Disease the adust and excrementitious matter is sever'd from the Blood by this kind of inward lustration hence sometimes a loosness sometimes crusty breakings forth of the Mouth and Throat happen wherefore concerning the accidents which happen in the first passages there is need of caution lest while we obviate those we pervert the Motion of Nature and lest whilst we fortifie these Parts against the incursion of the morbific Matter we perversly keep the same shut up in the mass of Blood The Symptoms chiefly to be considered in reference to the Mass of Blood are a heat diffus'd through the whole a great trouble of the Praecordia a ruddy Urine a spontaneous Lassitude a Swooning from which being duely considered these following things may become known viz. what the degree of heat is or according to what tenor the inflamed Blood burns what times of remission or exacerbation its effervescence observes whilst it burns whether it retains its Crasis or its mixture entire what strength of the Heart suffises and what space the Vessels afford for its burning and the circulation of it being kindled in what store the Blood whilst it boyles heaps together adust Recrements after what manner it subdues and severs them or at leastwise endeavours to sever them in fine what way of Crisis it endeavours and with what success The Accidents which regard the thin Liquour with the Brain and the nervous Appendix are disorders about Sleep and Watching a Weakness of the whole Body a Trembling a Tetanus Pains convulsive Motions Contractions of the Viscera a Stupor a Phrensy and the Observation of which will suggest to us what is the Temper and Constitution of that thin Liquour after what manner it irrigates and influences the Nervous parts and circulates through them how the animal Spirits perform the Functions of the Viscera what is the state of the Brain whether it continues free from the incursion of the feverish matter whether it be not in danger of being overwhelm'd by reason of its critical Metastasis Concerning the Habit of the Body we must consider the manner of its Perspiration and the degree of it whether it be only by vapory Effluvia or by Sweat or also by Pushes whether the flesh falls on a sudden from its wonted bulk or whether it retains it a long time what is the colour of the Face and the Vigour or dulness of the Eyes from these things being duly compared together we excellently measure the Course of the Fever at what
by their styptick Force they fix the rest of the Liquor or force it by an Ebullition into disorderly Motions Hence necessarily arise the evil Affects of the Brain and nervous Parts viz. sometimes a Convulsion a Trembling a Shivering sometimes a Stupor or Resolutions and other severe Symptoms The Things which infect with Venom the nervous Juice after this manner sometimes are gross and only inflict their Injury when they are applyed in a very corporeal Substance sometimes they are subtle and being resolv'd into a Vapour or even to a Breath they disperse the Ferment of the Poyson from a little Point throughont the whole Genus Nervosum Sometimes the Poyson of an ill Thing eaten first begins its Tragedy in the Stomach but oftner by a bare Contact on the Surface of the Body it leaves the virulent Miasm which soon and readily defiles with its Ferment the Spirits dispers'd through the whole A Taint inflicted on the Extremities of the Nerves any where whether inwardly or outwardly it dispers'd to a distance by their ready Conveyance presently many Sprouts of the same Branch being brought to communicate of the Evil. Often a light Touch of a venemous Thing by the Finger or the extream part of any Member presently conveys the Taint received to the Brain and thence it is retorted on the whole Body and the most remote Members the Reason of this is that the Particles both of the nervous Juice and of some venemous Miasm are so active and quick of Motion that either of them pass most swiftly through the whole Mass of the others as Rays of Light through a Diaphanous Medium 2. As often as the Blood gets Mischief by a venemous Thing the Venom sticking in it either is dull and of less Activity which does not presently discover it self nor breaks forth into terrible Symptoms till after a long time when it is brought to a Ripeness by a tacit Fermentation and has first infected the whole Mass of Blood as we may observe in some Poysons which are said to kill at a distance and not but after some Months or Years or the Poysons inspired into the Blood are imbued with a much sharper Sting that the Taint contractef by their Contagion presently breaks forth into terrible Symptoms and thereupon follows sometimes a feverish Effervescence with a Vomiting a Thirst and a burning of the Praecordia sometimes a puffing up of the whole a discolouring of the Skin often an Eruption of Pushes and Buboes frequently also a sudden falling of the Strength so that a sudden Death steals on without any Stir and almost unperceiv'd where it is to be noted by the By if the Spirits of the Blood provok'd by the Enemy are able to set upon him and to contend for the Victory from this Conflict a feverish Ebullition is rais'd in the Blood but if the Particles of the Poyson far exceed them in Strength presently the Mase of Blood is corrupted that it can neither be circulated in the Vessels nor be duely kindled in the Heart If it be farther enquired what Changes in its Substance or Consistency the Blood infected with Poyson undergoes that thereby it is rendred unfit for the Support of Life I answer after this manner Some Poysons fuse the Blood and precipitate its Serosity as those Medicines which being destructive either by Purging or by causing a Flux of Urine or by a puffing up of the whole or by a Discolouration or an Eruption of Pushes make a very great Separation of the Serous Latex mean while a great ebullition is caused in the mass of Blood whereby the Vital Spirits are greatly spent the Particles of the Salt and Sulphur by the too much Contion are exalted and often so scorch'd that a Jaundise either yellow or black is caused There are Poysons of another kind far more dangerous which congeal the Blood and corrupt its mixture by destroying it viz. first they bring a Coagulation on the Mass of Blood and then a Corruption for when the Spirits of the Blood put to flight by the Contagion of the Poyson are dissipated the even mixture of the Liquor is dissolved wherefore the grosser Particles mutually lock with each other and like Milk upon Rennets being put into it or turning soure of its own accord they are coagulated together hence the Blood grows clotted in the Vessels that it is not readily circulated in them the coagulated Portions of it being convey'd inwardly into the Sinus's of the Hearts are there apt to stagnate and so they cause frequent Faintings and Swoonings being carried outward and stuck in the Skin in circulating sometimes when cast on every side in a plentiful manner they cause an over-spreading of Blackness throughout the whole sometimes being disperst more spartingly they cause only Spots or black and blew Marks and the rest of the Phoenomena of Malignity now the Coagulation of the Blood soon disposes it to Putrefaction or Corruption as it is to be seen in extravasated Blood which soon turns black and is wont to putrefie for the Spirit being exhal'd the remaining Particles of the Salt and Sulphur in the Blood begin to separate from each other and to dissolve the Bond of Mixture whence Putrefaction ensues These things being thus premitted concerning Poyson in general the method of Healing requires that we set upon the Tract of Fevers which draw their Origine wholly from a venemous and malignant Miasm and since among these the Plague is undoubtedly the chief I shall begin with the Consideration of that and shall speak afterward in order of Malignant Fevers the Measles and Small-Pox But before I give its Definition I shall enquire briefly concerning the Pestilential Venom of what Nature and Disposition it is also whence it arises and lastly after what manner it is propagated by Contagion in others The Essence of the Pestilential Fever is founded in a vapory and spiritual Miasm from which Effluvia's diffused on every side so powerfully display themselves that from the least Seminary they soon propagate a fertile Harvest of Death and Destruction By reason of its mighty Activity this Miasm deserves to be called a certain Quintescence as it were of Poyson it s very nimble and subtle Particles penetrate all Bodies and inspire them with their Ferment for whether being dispers'd through the Air or stored up in some Fomes if they come to hit upon a Homane Body tho it be lightly and as it were with a Glance they readily penetrate it soon infect the Animal Spirits and those of the Blood and thereby overspread all the Members with a Venemous Contagion When a pestilential Breath or Vapour has assailed any one and that Venom has first seiz'd the Animal Spirits or those of the Blood or both of them together from the subtle and thin Substance of these the Taint is soon derived into the grosser Matter for in a short time it ferments the whole Mass of Blood or nervous Juice and the excrementitious Homours in any place
abounding and thence is drawn into the solid Parts and fixes the Evil in them If this Contagion first seises the Animal Parts presently the Injury is communicated to the Brain and the Genus Nervosum and esecially to the Ventricle it forthwith poysons the Homour lodging in these dissolves its mixture perverts its regular Motion and renders it wholly disagreeing and offensive to the tender substance of the containing Parts thence forthwith Cramps and Convulsive Motions violent Vomitings a Cardialgia also a Frenzy Delirium or obstinate Watchings are raised about the first Invasion of the Disease whereas in the mean while the Taint being not yet disperst through the Blood the Diseased are not in a Fever nor infested with a disorderly Pulse or a Swooning or an appearance of Tokens which Symptoms nevertheless assoon as the Blood is infected shew themselves afterward If at any time the Spirits of the Blood are first seised with the venemous Miasm either breathed in with the Air or attracted by the Pores by and by its ferment is disperst throughout the whole mass of Blood the infected portions presently begin to be loosned from their even mixture to separate into parts and to be coagulated and the same being conveyed into the Sinus's of the Heart to stagnate there and to cause a Swooning Faintings and often a sudden Death also being carried outwardly and fixt about the Skin they are wont to cause Bubo's Pushes and the other marks of a Venenosity mean while the Diseased are present enough to themselves and are not assail'd with a Delirium or convulsive Motions but if from a stronger cause an Injury be inflicted on both Parts at once the course of the Disease is carried on with a more horrible appearance of Symptoms and with a Phrensy infesting together As to what regards its rise when the Plague first arises in any Region or Tract of the Earth whatsoevre others may think we place the first and chief natural Seminary of this Poyson in the Air for it seems consonant to reason that from the same Fountain from whence the Food of common Life is derived the beginnings also of Death which is no less diffused should be taken the same necessity lies upon us for breathing the Air as for Fish of living in the Waters wheresore as the common Destruction of Fish dying in Multitudes is ascribed to Waters being infected with Poyson so nothing but a Taint of the Air breathed by all can kill Men that dye without a manifest Cause by an epidemick Destruction For the Air which we necessarily breath in for the Support of Life consists of thick Steams and Vapours which continually are breathed from the Earth to which the exhalations of Salts and Sulphurs being mixed they make here a thick Fog as it were of Atomous Corpuscles The Motions of these being both very swift and restless are of a manifold and very differing Figure wherefore some of them continually encounter others and according to their various Configurations they close with these and are mutually combined and are driv'n and fly from others on this the Reasons of every Sympathy and Antipathy chiefly depend from the divers Agitations of these kinds of Atomes near the Surface of the Earth this or that Tract of the Air undergoes divers Alterations with which Bodies especially those that are living are variously affected for the inward Motion of the Particles of each Animal depends very much on the motion and temper of the Particles of the Air Since these continually exagitate those stir them up when they are drowsie repair the Losses of those that fly away exagitate the vital Flame with their Nitrosity and supply it with a nitro-sulphureous Food and eventilate it being kindled by the continual Courses of Accesses and Recesses as long as an apt Contemperation happens for the Motion and Configuration in both Animals enjoy a perfect Life and Health but if the Corpuscles flying in the Air are of such a kind of Figure and Power that they are manifestly contrary to the Spirits implanted in Animals they loosen the mixtures of these from the rest of the Elements with which they are bound and pervert their Motions hence the Crases of things are destroyed Life is overthrown and that being scarce extinct the Bodies incur Putrefaction hence the Tops of Trees or Corn being struck with a Blast wither on a sudden hence the Murrain oftentimes reigns amongst Cattel which kills whole Herds together For this kind of Cause the Seeds of the Pestilence first exert themelves and threaten a universal Slaughter of Mankind for even as venemous Corpuscles gathered together in the Bowels of the Earth or on its Surface produce Arsenical Mixts or venemous Herbs so these being resolved into a Vapour and gathered thick together in the Air create pernicious Blasts from which malignant and pestilential Diseases arise and it seems to me not improbable that the things which first give a seminary of the Pestilence to any peculiar Tract of the Air are the venemous Effluvia of Salts and Sulphurs grown exorbitant and breath'd forth of the Bowels of the Earth which sometimes being first long included in the Earth are exhal'd by degrees sometimes by reason of Tremblings of Openings of the Earth break forth together of which kind also there are generally breath'd from the Tents of Souldiers filled with Nastiness by reason of dead Carcasses lying unburied or from places fill'd with staguating and stinking Mud. And Corupscles exhaled after this manner by a long Putrefaction acquire to themselves wonderful Powers and Discongruencies that thereby they are disagreeing and heterogeneous to all others whatsoever and so being received into to the Air they ferment it like a mass of Liquor and pervert it from a'wholsome and benign into a pernicious and curst Nature Some Bodies easily receive the malignant Tincture of a pestilential Air others not so readily those who have a very great Cacochymia by reason of an ill Dyet and those who by reason of a Plethora have a Blood filled with an inflamable Sulphur a light Blast of a venemous Air fastens the pestilential Venom on them especially if they lye under a Fear and Sadness which convey inwardly the lightest Parts of Contagion as it were by a certain Infusion On the contrary those who have the Viscera clean and the Mass of Blood well tempered and those who carry a strong and undaunted Mind do not so eafily receive this Infection and sometimes being receiv'd they expell it again So far of the Pestilence and its Communication according to its first Being and the Source of the infected Air thence drawn it remains for us to speak of its Propagation by Contagion as it is often communicated from some Men to others as it were ex traduce By Contagion we understand that Force or Action whereby any Affect being in one Body stirs up the like to it in another but since this happens either immediately by Contact as if any one lying in the same Bed with
has a Fever so frequently joyn'd with it that by some in the Definition of the Plague the Fever is put as a Genus wherefore by reason of the Ebullition of the Blood and the Injury brought on the Viscera presently an Incalescence with a spontaneous Lassitude a Thirst a burning of the Praecordia Vomitings often violent a Cardialgia Gripes in the Bowels a Roughness or Blackness of the Tongue a Swooning and a sudden Fall of the Strength ensue Tho vulgar Fevers are oftentimes attended with these kinds of Symptoms yet if at the same time a Plague be rife in the Neighbourhood and a fear of the same seises the Minds of Men hence a greater Suspicion of this Evil is given and especially because when a Plague reigns all other Diseases leave their own Nature and pass into that wherefore if to the Affects even now mentioned there be added a Communication of the same Disease to many and many dye of it so that it generally becomes mortal and spreads it self and if besides Buboes Carbuncles Pushes or others Marks of a pestiferous Contagion appear the thing is put without doubt and we hence proclaim a Pestilence with no less Confidence than we do a Fire when we see a Flame burst forth through the Roofs of Houses but because a mention is here made of Buboes Carbuncles and other Symptoms it remains for us to give briefly the Causes of them and the ways of their being produc'd they are these a Carbuncle Bubo Pushes Wheals and malignant Pustules Concerning these we say in general that they are all Products of the Blood and nervous Juice struck with a pestiferous Venom and coagulated by Parts in their Circulation and variously affected with Purtrefaction for the Spirits residing in both Liquors especially in the Blood are no sooner touched with the breath of a malignant Contagion but a Coagulation is caused in the remaining Liquor even as when Milk turns sour or has an acid Juice mixt with it wherefore Portions of it being greatly tainted with Venom soon grow clotty and like extravasated Blood fall into a Corruption with a Blackness whence presently they stop the Motion of the rest of the Blood in the Heart and Vessels and coagulate it more by reason of their Ferment Now whatsoever is gathered together into Clots by Coagulation unless it be presently cast forth brings Death in a short time by stopping the Circulation of the Blood and being driven outward to the Circumference of the Body is stopt in motion in the narrow Involutions of the Vessels and either being wholly destitute of Spirit as tho it were Planet-stricken it produces black or blew Marks by its Mortification or by reason of the Salt and Sulphur exalted by the pestilential Ferment and affecting new things it grows into Tumours of various kinds A Carbuncle is a fiery Tumour with very smart and burning Pustules about it infesting the Diseased with an acute Pain which arising in various places indifferently does not suppurate but spreading largely round about burns the Flesh and at length throws off lobes of it being corrupted and leaves a hollow Ulcer as tho burnt by an Eschrotick The Generation of Carbuncles seems to be after this manner when venemous Miasms light on a Blood parch'd with Heat before its congeal'd Portions are fixed in the Superficies of the Body and at that place because the motion of the Blood is a little letted first a little Tumour is made which afterward the malignant Venom presently spreading it self farther being increast by little and little creeps into the Neighbourhood Suppuration does not follow because the matter extravasated and stagnating is not concoted and digested with a gentle heat but by reason of the Particles of the Sulphur grown exorbitant together with the Salt exalted being heap'd together into these Tumours and by reason of the Stagnation being forthwith dissolved from mixture an Adustion is caus'd as if a Cautery were applied to the part the pieces and lobes of Flesh eaten as tho covered with an Eschar fall away because the corrosive Venom sticking to the Muscles does not corrode them only in their Sursace but through their whole Substance wherefore before the whole Flesh is consumed the Membranes in which it is involved being eaten away some pieces fall from the rest as tho cut from it often one often more Carbuncles arise sometimes they are alone sometimes they have a Bubo accompanying them A pestilential Bubo arises only in glandulous parts toward the bulk of which not only the Blood congeal'd by the Venom and carried thither by the Arteries but also the nervous Juice there heaped together and to be carried back into the Veins contribute Because this Tumour happens from Juices less parch'd and in a colder part therefore it partakes of Suppuration for the Matter heaped together by degrees when the vital Spirit departing by reason of Stagnation it has lost the Form of Blood through the Particles of the Salt and Sulphur being exhaled and kept in the Tumor is converted into a Pus by long Concoction Now that these Tumours only happen in the Glands the Reason is not that the Fewel of the Diseass is conveyed to these parts by a certain Appointment of Nature but as the Particles of the virulent Miasm abound every where in the Blood and nervous Juice they are heaped together there more readily as in a common place of Retreat where both the Blood conveyed to the Extremities of the little Arteries is with difficulty and not so readily received and carried back by the Veins and withall where the nutritive Juyce to be carried back from the Nerves into the Veins is deposed That both done about the Glands it is manifest both by Experie natomical Experiments wherefore since both Homo Seeds of the pestilential Contagion met together in these Parts a seat of Malignity is here made by reason of the Virulency deposed here by both Pushes Wheales and Purple Spots in respect of the Venenosity are of the same Batch with the Tumours even now described but in these the Products of the Virulency are less in bulk tho with a greater danger by reason of the Seeds of the Venom being more dispersed small Portions of coagulated Blood sticking in the Skin make these lesser Phoenomena wherefore some of these rais'd into Bladders suppurate others by reason of a certain Mortification or Syderation of the corrupted Blood turn into Purple Marks and Spots Tho the Plague by reason of Destruction wherewith it threatens the Diseased both secretly and very much on a sudden scarce affords Place or Time for a Prognostick and tho by reason of the occult ways of doing Mischief this Disease carries all things suspected in it yet it is manifest by frequent Observation that some Signs appear in the Course of it from which we are wont to divine a Recovery or Death The Case is full of Danger if the Contagion suddently passes into an universal Sickness and makes violent Invasions if an
former the Food and Fewel which increase the Putrefaction caused by the Venom are withdrawn by the other the first kindling of the pestiferous Contagion as it were of a suneral Flame is hindred for Alexipharmicks seem to give help against the Contagion of the Pestilence under this two-sold Respect both because the Mass of Blood and the Viscera fill'd with the particles of these also the Spirits being first possest by the same do not easily admit the Fellowship of the venemous Miasm and for that the Blood being quick in its Motion by the gentle Instigation of these Particles is freed from Coagulation So far of Preservation it remains now for us to treat of the Cure of the Pestilence the Doctrine whereof is either general and comprises the Remedies which are taken for this end from Diet Chirurgery and Pharmacy or special which delivers the use and cautious concerning the giving of those Remedies and after what manner we must obviate Symptoms variously emerging The Diet comprehends the use of the six non-natural things tho the chief Care and physical Cautions are concerning the Food the primary Indications of this have not place together and at the same time but ought to be supply'd as occasion requires now one now another and according to the Exigency of Nature In respect of the Malignity and the Dejection of the Strength Aliments are required which greatly refresh the Spirits and afford a plentiful Nourishment in respect of the feverish Distemper a Dyet seems to be required which is thin cooling and qualifying of the Blood Let a Physician take care of both but let him direct his Remedies rather against the Malignity than against the Fever The Aids which belong to Chirurgery are Bleeding which ought to be used seldom and with great Caution in this Disease because the Blood being too much exhausted and the Vessels falling a Sweat is not so easily procur'd the place of this is better supplyed by Cupping-Glasses with a Scarification for this and Vesicatories are aptly used for drawing forth the Venom Moreover against Buboes Carbuncles and malignant Ulcers produc'd by them Cataplasms Fomentations Plaisters Liniments and many other things to be apply'd outwardly are taken from Chirurgery with which some poysonous things as Drawers of Venom are prescribed to be mix'd by some wherefore Preparations of Arsenick viz. its Oyl and Balsam are recommended in this Case as of excellent Use and Efficacy Medicines in order to the Cure of the Plague are either Evacuatives or Alexipharmicks The Intention of the first is that the Serous Latex in the Blood and the excrementitious Humours which abound in the Viscera be sent forth and together with them a great many Particles of the venemous Miasm every where dispers'd in the Body Now these things are perform'd by Vomitories and Purges whose use is rare and only in the beginning of the Disease also by Diaphoreticks which at all times as long as the Strength is able to bear them are indicated in the Plague for these evacuate more fully and withal from the whole Body and also by exagitating the Blood they free it from Congelation and in regard they move from the Center to the Circumference they drive the venemous Ferments and also the Corruptions of the Blood and Humours far from the Heart and repell the Enemy from the Fort but Vomitories and Purges evacuate less generally and often by concentrating the malignant Matter draw it inward and fix it in the Viscera Now these Medicines whether they work by Purging or Sweat ought to be such as have Particles of the same kind with the venemous Miasm rather than with our Blood or Spirits for such a Medicine will pass through the various Involutions of our Body with its entire Force and by reason of the Similitude of both will certainly lay hold on the virulent matter of the Disease and through a mutual Adhaesion of Parts Nature being irritated will carry it forth with it self wherefore Medicines whether Catharticks or Sudorificks are most recommended which are prepar'd of Mercury Antimony Gold Sulphur Vitriol Arsenick and the like which in regard they are not subdued or overcome by our Heat become excellent Remedies against the Venom of the Pestilential Contagion for these do not only powerfully evacuate superfluous things but for as much as they exert and display on every side in our Body very strong and masterless Particles they dissipate and hinder from Maturation the Ferments of the Venom gliding every way And since the Remedies themselves being insuperable by Nature must of necessity be sent away by the open passages of the Body they carry forth together with them whatsoever is extraneous and hostile As to Alexipharmicks which are said to resist the Venom of this Disease without a sensible Evacuation they are for the most part such whose Particles are neither very agreeing with Nature that they turn to an Aliment nor are so contrary to it that they stimulate an Excretion The same being inwardly taken and refracted to most minute Parts they by their Corpuscles inspire as it were with a new Ferment the Blood and Juices flowing in the Vessels and Viscera and by moving them gently and keeping them in an even mixture they free them from Coagulation and Putrefaction by the same gentle Agitation they dissipate from each other and hinder from maturation the Particles of the Venom beginning to be gathered thick together Lastly by praeoccupying the Blood and Spirits they defend them from the Ingressions of the pestilent Character of these Remedies some Simples are recommended as Rue Scordium c. but those are esteem'd far better which are more compounded wherefore Treacle Mithridate and Diascordium whereof some consist of at least fifty Simples are accounted Medicines so compleat in all Respects that it is esteem'd a Crime to omit in the making of them ev'n one Plant the Reason haply is That many things being put together make a Mass whose diversifyed Particles being exalted by a long Digestion cause a greater Fermentation in our Blood and Humours Having thus set down the Remedies with which we ought to be provided for curing the Plague we should speak next of its method of Cure to wit what is to be done in the first place and what next in order but that all things are so precipitated in this Disease that there is no room for Deliberalion nor will a Physician be frequently present with the Diseas'd for fear of Contagion wherefore there is no need here of many Praescripts or a long Series of Indications This thing is to be done quick and must be comprehended in a few words when therefore a Pestilence reigning any one is infected with this Disease God's help being implored we must presently flye to Remedies If the Plague happens in a Body that is not well purg'd and prone to Vomit presently let a Vomitory be taken the Operation of which being ended presently Diaphoreticks being giv'n let a Sweat be procured and let the same be
mightily dread this Disease fall more readily into it for by Fear the Particles of the Miasm are convey'd from the Surface of the Body inward at the time that the Contagion is rife and the Small Pox is Epidemick all other Diseases in a manner degenerate into this 3. As to the Conjunct Cause of this Disease to wit what is the formal Reason of it or its way of coming to pass the thing seems a little more intricate It is vulgarly wont to be compared to the Effervescence of new Wine or of Ale when they are depurated in a Vessel being put in a Fermentation by the mixture of some heterogeneous Substance but if the thing be narrowly considered a great difference will here appear for the Miasm of the Small Pox is as a Ferment but corruptive and forces the Flood to ferment not towards a Perfection but a Depravation for when the venemous Particles of this Miasm light on a capable Subject they presently stir up Corpuscles like themselves and innate to us with which being joyn'd they pervade the whole Mass of Blood and make it grow mighty turgid and boyl and after some Effervescence to separate into Parts and to be coagulated to wit the dispers'd Seeds of the Venom dissolve the Mixture of the Blood presently subvert the more pure Spirits and afterward gather to themselves the more gross Particles of it and congeal them as it were by their Adhaesion The Portions so coagulated together with the Seeds of the Venom mingled with them being left by the rest of the Blood in its Circulation in the Extremities of the Vessels are fix'd on the Skin after which manner if Nature being strong enough sends off the whole Venom with the congeal'd Blood the rest of the Mass of the Blood tho depauperated is nevertheless good and capable of continuing Life but if the Blood being too much coagulated cannot be cleansed after this manner or if the Portions of the Blood closing with the Venom do not fully break forth they either restagnate inward again and wholly corrupt the Liquor of the Blood or fixing themselves on the Viscera and especially the Heart they destroy their Crasis and Strength The Portions of the Blood congeal'd with the Venom about the fourth day sometimes sooner sometimes later begin to break forth for the Coagulation is caused not presently but after some time that the Venom displays it self and by its Effervescence ferments the Blood first light Portions of the Blood being desil'd and those but few in number are fix'd in the Skin like Flea-bites soon after these more appear and those which brake forth first by the access of new matter and by the continual Appulse of the congealed Blood grow bigger and are rais'd into a Tumour afterward these Pushes which at first are red being encreased by degrees at length turn white to wit the Blood extravasated with the Venom by reason of the Heat and Stagnation is chang'd into a Pus About the seventh day after the Eruption the white Tumours turn to a dry Scab for the more subtle Part of the Matter being evaporated the rest grows hard which at length the Scarf Skin being eaten off and broken falls from the Skin When the Miasm of the Small Pox is once gotten into the Spirits and Mass of Blood it is very seldom that it can be destroy'd or clear'd off by Medicines or Bleeding but the latent Disposition will break forth into Act wherefore first it diffuses it self gently and inspires the Mass of Blood as it were with a Ferment hence an Ebullition and Effervescence are produced in the whole Body the Vessels are extended the Viscera are irritated the Membranes are twitch'd till the Seeds of the Contagion by fusing and coagulating the Blood at length being involv'd in its congeal'd Portions are thrust forth The Essence of this Disease will be the better known if I set down the Signs and and Symptoms which are observ'd in the whole Course of it and give you in order the Reasons of them and the Causes on which they depend Now these are either such as indicate the Disease present or such as fore-shew the height of it and its event As to the Diagnostick of this Affect whereby it may be known whether any one at first falling sick will have the Small Pox or not There must be considered at that time the force of the Contagion and the Concourse of the Symptoms first appearing for if by reason of the malignant Constitution of the Air this Disease generally reigns no one is then seised with a Fever without a suspicion of the Small Pox especially if the Person never had it before but if this Disease be more rare and there be no Fear of Contagion yet its unexpected Invasion in a short time discovers it self by these kinds of Signs and Symptoms 1. There is an inconstant Fever coming at random sometimes intense sometimes more remiss observing no set form of Increase or coming to a height so that the Diseas'd one while are mighty hot by and by without an evident Cause they are without any Fever the Cause of which is That the sermentative Seeds are not agitated with an even motion but like Fire half extinct one while they have an extraordinary Flash another while they lye quiet and dye as it were till the Burning spreading it self the Flame breaks forth every where 2. A Pain in the Head and Loins is so peculiar a sign in this Affect that it alone in a continual Fever signifies an imminent Small Pox the Cause of which is vulgarly imputed to the great Vessels being very much extended by the Effervescence of the Blood tho it does not appear why the same Pain should not be as well caused in other Parts by reason of the like Extension of the Vessels and why those kinds of Pains are rife in the Small Pox rather than in the Causon or other Fevers where the Blood boyls more Again you may observe that mighty Pains are pressing sometimes in the Head sometimes in the Brains when the Blood not being turgid the Vessels are not enlarg'd viz. in the beginning of the Disease when the Feverish Distemperature is not yet conspicuous while the Diseas'd are yet walking abroad and have a good Stomach the imminent Small Pox first discovers it self by these Pains wherefore it seems that the Cause of these kinds of Pains subsists rather in the Genus Nervosum to wit that those Pains arise in the Brain and spinal Marrow by reason of the Membranes and Nervous Parts being twitch'd by the Particles of the Venom for it is likely that the innate Seeds of the Small Pox are chiefly stored up in the Spermatick Parts and that the first Contagion of the Miasm for the most part seises the Animal Spirits hence the first Effervescence is raised in the Juice wherewith the Brain and nervous Parts but especially the spinal Marrow are irrigated and thence the taint is communicated to the Mass of Blood wherefore
in the beginning of this Disease the Head and Loins are press'd with a violent Pain afterward the Venom being convey'd into the Blood the feverish Effervescence is rais'd in the whole 3. A great Irksomness and Restlessness and sometimes a Swooning infest the Diseased to wit by reason of the Motion of the Blood being troubled and its even mixture being begun to be dissolv'd by the venemous Ferment the Blood being hence apt to stagnate and to be letted in its Circulation causes the Affects even now mentioned 4. A violent Vomiting even when the Stomach is free from an impure Mass of Humours very often accompanies this Affect the Reason of which is because the Fermentative seeds being put in motion are deposed in the little Arteries which open into the Tunicles of the Ventricle upon each Appulse of the Blood and raise a Vomiting even as the Particles of Antimony swallowed down but afterward assoon as a Sweat being procur'd the Venom is driven outward this Symptom ceases and the Diseased are well in their Stomach without any purging forth of offensive matter 5. To these may be added the Symptoms which according to the various Dispositions of Bodies happen after a various manner as are a great Sleepyness Frights in the Sleep Deliriums Tremblings and Convulsions a Sneezing Heat Redness a sense of pricking in the whole Body involuntary Weeping a sparkling and itching of the Eyes a swelling of the Face a Vehemency of Symptoms from the beginning that the Disease seems presently to have reached its height c. 2. As to the Prognostick of this Disease it is indicated either to be safe or mortal or doubtful by supervenient Signs 1. Things seem to be in safety when this Affect has benign Circumstances to wit when it happens in a good Constitution of the Air and of the Year at a time that the Small Pox is not Malignant and Pestilent also there is less danger if it happens in Childhood or Infancy if in a sanguine Temperament and a good habit of Body if it chances in a Family to whose Predecessors the Small Pox has not been mortal moreover if in the whole Course of the Disease laudable Symptoms happen if at the first Invasion there be a gentle Fever without a violent Vomiting a Swooning a Delirium or other horriââââââts if about the fourth day the Fever with the most pressing ââââms are appeased and then some red Spots begin to appear ãâã second day of their coming forth a great many more of those red Spots are conspicuous which afterward grow by degrees into Pushes and are ripened into a Pus if about the tenth day more or less after the Eruption the white Pushes begin to grow hard and afterward to fall off by little and little if after the time of their first breaking forth the Small Pox are soft separate from each other few round raised at the Top possessing only the Skin and not the inward Part we may presume the case of the Diseased to be in a good State 2. The Phoenomena which in the Small Pox signifie the Case to be suspected and full of Danger are these if there be a Malignant Constitution of the Air that this Disease is become pestilent and many have died of it if Persons well grown in Years are seised with it if it chances in a cold and melancholick Temperament or in a foul and cacochymical Body where the Blood is neither readily circulated nor Perspiration duely perform'd or if the Hypochondres or Praecordia are obstructed any Viscera infirm or affected with an Ulcer or if the Habit of the Body be too gross the Small Pox does not happen without great danger of Life Nor is it less to be fear'd when presently at the beginning a mighty Fever a violent Vomiting a Swooning a Dejection of the Strength a Frenzy or Delirium assail Persons and give not over when the Small Pox are fully broken forth for these things signifie an over-great Perturbation in the Blood and Humours as also a Confusion and Contumacy of the mortifying Matter which can neither be subdued nor easily separated or evenly extruded from the Mass of Blood if there be an Irksomness and a great Restlessness with a disorderly Effervescence and Ebullition of the Humours or if a mighty Thirst and a difficuly of Breathing also a Loosness or Dysentery they shew that Transpiration is letted and that the Malignant Humours restagnate toward the inward Parts The Small Pox breaking forth slowly argue the Crudity and Unruliness of the Matter and the Impotency of Nature much more when double and confluent do they shew that there is an excess in quantity and a Confusion also a disorderly and irregular Expulsion of that matter since it is not cast forth at determinate Pores or places of Vent but indifferently on every side Small Pox which are hard signifie the Incoctibility of the said Matter and if flat the weak Expulsion of it and they are by so much the worse if black Spots appear in the midst of them or if such Spots as are familiar in a Purple or Pestilential Fever are mix'd with the Small Pox they shew a mighty Malignity and Corruption of the Blood such indeed as is found in the Plague Finally black livid or green Small Pox threaten ill because besides the Coagulations of the Blood they argue its Mortifications and Corruptions as in a Gangrene or pestilent Carbuncle if when thâ ãâã Pox are come forth they presently wither and the swelling of ãâ¦ã remits it indicates the Recess of the malignant Matter or of thâ ãâã congeal'd with the Venom and its Restagnation toward the Inward Parts whence unless upon raising a free Diaphoresis it be again sent forth a sudden Death for the most part ensues for hence the Blood being more coagulated falls into Corruption and is apt to be letted in its Motion and to stagnate in the Heart and Vessels If after the Eruption of the Small Pox a Loosness or Haemorrhagie supervenes it foreshews ill because by this means the Venom driv'n outward is again call'd in tho I have observ'd that these Symptoms have sometimes hapned with a great Relief to the Diseas'd to wit Nature being before loaded and opprest is eas'd by this means part of the Burthen as it were being withdrawn wherefore she sets upon the Work of Transpiration and more readily dispatches the Expulsion of the offensive matter As to what concerns the Cure since the Course of this Disease has three Seasons like so many Stages as it were distinct from each other the curative Intentions ought also to be accommodated to each of these wherefore the Therapeutick Method concerning the Small Pox teaches first what is to be done as long as the Blood boyls inwardly and ferments by the Motion of the Fermentative Matter and the Small Pox do not yet appear which Period for the most part is wont to be ended in four or five Days Secondly what form of Diet and Physick ought to be
ordered from the time of the Eruption of the Small Pox to the height of the Disease to wit till the Pushes are come to their height and being fully suppurated begin to wither Thirdly and lastly what we ought to observe in the Declination of the Disease till the Small Pox being dryed fall clean off 1. As to the first the Intention must be that we remove all Impediments of Nature whereby the Blood being defiled with the Ferment of the Small Pox and apt to be coagulated may retain still its even Motion in the Heart and Vessels without Stagnation and that fermenting it may expell forth the Portions congeal'd with the Venom mean while a Caution must be had that the work of Fermentation or Effervescence be neither any ways check'd nor too much irritated for by this the Mass of Blood is forc'd into congeal'd Portions more than it ought and by the other it is restrain'd too much in motion nor are the venemous Particles sent away forth with the congealed Blood Nature is wont to be hindred from the work of Secretion and Expulsion by a too great heap of Excrements in the Viscera or by an over-abounding of Blood in the Vessels wherefore presently at the first Invasion of the Disease we must endeavour that an Evacuation by Vomit or Seige if need be be seasonably procur'd we must use only mild and gentle Medicines that is which do not irritate or trouble the Humours wherefore at this time sometimes Emeticks Purges or Clysters these one while another while those have place opening a Vein also if there be a Plenitude is used with good Success During this Effervescence of the Blood let a thin and moderately cooling Diet be ordered to wit of Oat and Barley Meats Posset-drink Small-Ale and the like let Flesh and Broaths made of it be avoided with which the Blood by reason of their too great store of sulphureous Fuel is too much kindled also cold and all acid things do hurt for these congeal the Blood more and contract the Mouths of the Vessels by Astriction that the Small Pox do not break forth freely also let hot and cordial things be cautiously giv'n for by these the Blood and Humours are too much stirred and put in Confusion 2. When the Small Pox begin to appear there are three things which we order constantly to be done to all Sick Persons to wit that a mild and gentle Diaphoresis be always continued in the Mass of Blood also that the Throat and Eyes be preserved from the too great Eruption of the Small Pox that the Blood gently boyling may push forth the Small Pox Decoctions of Figs of the Flowers of Marigolds and of the Shavings of Ivory in Posset-Drink are vulgarly prescribed and their use has grown rife for a long time almost among all Persons For the same intent we are wont to give moderate Cordials divers times in a day but let such as are hot and strong be diligently avoided Purging and Bleeding are here censur'd and tho the Pretext of necessity may press for them Physicians scarce dare use them for fear of incurring a Blame For a Guard to the Parts of the Gullet and Throat we are wont to fasten outwardly a Chin-stay with Saffron sewen in and dipt in Womans Milk for these by opening the Pores draw the Venom from the inward part of the Throat outward also for this Purpose we give Gargarisms and things to wash the Mouth which by their restrictive Force repress the Small Pox ready to break forth inwardly We fortifie the Eyes from the Incursions of the Small Pox by Epithemes of Rose-water Womans Milk Saffron and the like frequently iterated Besides these certain horrible Symptoms are sometimes pressing which we must seasonable obviate with fit Remedies sometimes there are Watchings a Frenzy Haemorrhagies Vomitings Loosnesses Fallings in of the Small Pox. A prudent Physician knows how to provide against all these and any others whatsoever as occasion requires in which nevertheless there is need of great Caution lest while we take care of small things the great Work of Nature be disturb'd through the over-great disquieting of Physick for during all this time there is one continued Crisis wherefore nothing is to be mov'd rashly There is required a very great Care and Circumspection both in the Phyfician and Attendants when this Disease is in its height to wit That when the Small Pox are fully broken forth and raised to their greatest height they do not hinder Transpiration for then the Diseased are in danger of having their Fever renewed and of the Restagnation of the Malignant Matter in ward of which while we endeavour to prevent either we often cause the other 3. When the Disease is in its Declination and the Small Pox begin to wither away and to grow hard the Case for the most part is out of danger nor has a Physician much to do let the Diseas'd tho growing very hungry still be content with a thin Dyet without Meat if the Pox are slow in falling off we are wont to hasten their Fall with Liniments and Epithemes by which they are prevented from Pitting much After that the Diseased the Small Pox being wholly fall'n away is able to arise from his Bed and to walk in his Chamber a Purge being repeated twice or thrice let the Filth and excrementitious Matter left in the Viscera and Blood be carried off and afterward he may be permitted a more free Dyet The Measle are so allied to the Small Pox that amongst most Authors they have not deserved to be treated of apart from them but the Affects of both are deliver'd after the like Manner and Method together The Essence and Cure differ as to more or less or at leastwise accidentally because in the Measles the Pushes are not so much raised in height nor are they suppurated wherefore the Disease ends sooner and with less danger This Affect is wont oftentimes to reign among Children but seldom seises such as are grown in Years or old People also those who have had the Small Pox before are not afterward so obnoxious to the Measles but in most they are allied Affects to wit the Taint contracted from the Womb disposes Men alone all Men and that but once to the Measles A malignant Constitution of the Air and sometimes Surfeiting but most commonly Contagion are wont to draw into Act the latent Disposition There are Marks of Malignity and the Disease often becomes Epidemical with a Mortality and Contagion To give you the thing in short it seems that the Measles are a certain light Efflorescence of an extraneous Ferment contracted from the Womb whereby some Particles being stirr'd to motion cause the Blood to boyl gently and to be a little coagulated wherefore the Pimples thence brought forth are blown off by Evaporation without a breaking of the Skin But the Small Pox are a more full and strong Agitation of the same Ferment and in all its Particles which causing a greater
their Bodies which are very tender and by reason of the Labours of Child-birth and the Exclusion of the Foetus are all full of open Pores are too unwarily expos'd to the open Air for most being impatient of their Bed put on their Cloaths and rise from it within a day or two or sooner than they ought thereby presently the Pores of the Skin being presently stopt and the Air getting into the Uterine Parts tanspiration is check'd and often the Lochia are suddenly stop'd either of which suffices to raise a feverish effervescence The conjunct Cause or formal Reason of this Distemper comprehends chiefly these three things to wit there are present first a mighty Dyscrasie of the Blood that growing very hot from a Fever occasionally rais'd it does not burn evenly nor does is subdue by degreeds the adust Recrements and purge them forth critically moreover the boyling Blood is presently loos'ned in its Mixture and its Texture being loos'ned it declines toward Corruption hence when it has a little abated of its Heat the Spirits being cast from their Governance are driv'n into Confusion mean while the sulphureous Particles become masterless and exorbitant wherefore the Strength fails without a manifest Cause the Pulse becomes weak and disorderly Tho from the Deflagration of the Blood a great many adust Recrements are heap'd together yet nothing is duely concocted or separated but Nature being greatlyopprest altho the Diseased continually sweat they often receive no ease thereby but the Febrile Matter which ought to be purged forth being conveyed into the Head and Genus Nervosum causes there very sore Perturbations of the animal oeconomy Secondly The Tragedy of this Disease for a good part of it is ascribed to the nervous Juyce forthwith turning sharp and therefore rendred disproportionate to the Brain and its Appendix for this being defiled with a Taint contracted from the Blood does not gently irrigate and mildly inspire its Subjects but as when an Infusion of Vitriol is pour'd on a Worm mightily vellicates and irrtates into Contrqactions and as it were into Motions of Trepidatons and Leapings those tender Parts and sometimes wholly overthrows their Functions hence Contractions severe Convulsions a Delirium Watchings sometimes a Stupor and sleepy Affects happen to Women after Delivery Ihirdly whilst these things are done often a third Troop of Symptoms infest the Diseased to wit for that the Womb being some way hurt moves it self disorderly and is struck with a Contraction in these or those Parts thence presently by the Membranes nad nervous Ductus's convulsive Motions pervade the whole Region of the Abdomen wherefore the Viscera and Hypochondres are blowen up Belchings and violent Vomitings are raised afterward the Affect creeping upward and possessing the nervous Parts of the Thorax a difficult and uneven Breathing a Palpitation of the Heart a sense of Choaking in the Throat by reaon of the Muscles there drawn together and other Symptoms are raised throughout the whole upon the same Injuries being communicated to the Brain The Fevers of Women afte Delivery are scarce ever free from danger tho sometimes it happens for them to be cur'd about the first beginnings by a thin Diet and upon restoring the flowing of the Lochia but if the feverish Distemper has laid deep Roots that the Blood be wholly kindled and boyls immoderately we can give but an ill Prognostick and there will be a greater Cause of Danger if besides a Heat diffus'd through the whole the Diseased are seised with a frequent Shivering if they are affected with a great Restlessness and Watchings with sudden Concussions of their Bodies or Contractions of the Tendons if on the third or fourth Day they complain of a ringing of the Ears with a great Repletion of the Head you may presently gather that a great Evil is at hand to wit a Mertastasis of the febrile and offensive Matter into the Brain nor is less to be feared if there lyes an Oppression and Load on the Praecordia that the Diseased cannot freely breath nor draw their Breath deep nor form the bottom of the Thorax but only from the upper part of it and that short and with a Blowing so that in the mean while the Diseased are forc'd to fit upright and to move themselves this way and that after a restless manner for this argues the Blood to stagnate about the Heart and Lungs also that it is apt to grow clotty and to be coagulated and if worse yet Affects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum ensue and the Pulse becomes weak and uneven you may declare the Case to be desperate but if as if sometimes falls out tho rarely after a Fever is kindled and threatens severely either a flowing of the Lochia or a Diarrhoea happens with Relief some Hope may be admitted Concerning the Cures of these kinds of Fevers a Physician has a very hard Task because among the Vulgar all Medicines to Women in Child-bed are accounted not only useless but likewise very hurtful wherefore Physicians are selfom called but when there is no place left for Medicines and the occasion for a useful Assitstance is wholly past and if they are present about the first beginnings of the Disease it will not be an easie thing to procure Health to the Diseased by vulgar Remedies and whatsoever they try unless it gives Help is affirmed by old Women and those that are about them as pernicious and the only Cause of their Death that in reality there is wont to accrue to us about the Cure of no Disease less benefit and more Disgrace than of this Now the method of Cure even as in contagious Diseases is twofold to wit Prophylactick and Therapeutick the former of these delivers Precepts and Cautions with which Women in Child-bed are preserved from the Incursion of Fevers the other suggests curative Intentions with which the Diseased if it may be recover again their Health 1. Tho this Fever however malignant it be is not accus'd of Contagion and there be no fear in those that lye in of a venemous Miasm being received from without nevertheless all Women in Child-bed have an innate Minera of Virulency and ought to have a care of the mischief of this as a Fomes of a mighty Malignity wherefore they have need of an exact Governance that after Child-birth the Impurities of the Blood and Humours may be duely purg'd without the danger of a Fever and that the evil Affects of the Womb be healed and that the Strength broken and debilitated by Child-birth may be duely restored For these ends these three things are to be chiefly inculcated in the Praescripts of Physicians First I think it necessary that a most exact form of Diet be ordered Women in Child-bed to wit that at least for a Week they wholly feed on Oat Broths sometimes prepar'd with Ale sometimes of Water mixed with White-wine because they are much emptied therefore they may sup often of them but let nothing of a solid or strong Food
Case somewhat of Hope has shewn it self the Pulse and other Symptoms promising a little better tho the Cure has seldom succeeded but when that use of Cordials was remitted the Diseased fell headlong into Death with a weak Pulse and a Loosness forthwith arising 3. When still the case of the Diseased grows worse and worse that the Fever being increased the Pulse is weak and uneven and frequent Shiverings and convulsive Motions infest the whose Body with a Delirium or a Stupor then let the Physician first giving a Prognostick of Death insist on fewer Remedies and those in a manner only Cardiack and let him wholly abstain from Blooding Scarifying Vesicatories or the use of Cupping Glasses for such Administrations bring only an ill-will and Disgrace that thereby we are accounted by Women hard-hearted and cruel The Symptomatick Fevers of Women in Child-bed THE acute Diseases of Women brought to bed do not only follow the Type of the foresaid Fever but are sometimes attended with some notable Symptom to wit the Quinsey Plurisie Peripneumonia Dysentery Small Pox or of some other kind and then they are call'd by the Names of those Affects It is not proper to repeat in this Place what belongs to the Natures and Essences of each of them at large but I shall briefly set down what those Diseases complicated with the Affects of Women in Child-bed have peculiar to them as to their Causes or Cures We judge that all those Symptoms proceed from a certain Coagulation of the Blood and afterward its Extravasation now while the Blood is extravasated in one part every natural nad critical Effiux of it is restrain'd in another wherefore there is danger lest while the Blood begins to be coagulated either in a particular and usual Focus of Congelation or universally in its whole Mass presently the flowing of the Lochia be stopt which in reality happens for the most part and therefore those Affects are most commonly mortal to Women in Child-bed nevertheless the Cause of their Death for the most part happens with some difference to wit in the Small Pox the flowing Lochia call inward the Malignity began to be sent forth outwardly and wholly poison with their Taint the Mass Blood and the Heart it self and therefore in the Small Pox those uterine Purgations ought to be stopt but in the Pleurisie Quinsey and the rest when the Stimulus of the Disease fix'd here or there in a particular Place calls to it self and wholly derives from the Womb the Impurities of the Blood which ought to be voided by the Lochia thereby it increases the Taint of the BLood the Lochia restrain'd in the Small Pox might be sent forth by a more general way of Excretion with the venemous Particles of the Disease with indeed does not succeed in the rest by reason of the small and more spare way of Excretion Among these the Quinsey Plurisie and Peripneumonia by reason both of the great likeness of their Cause and the Analogy of their Cure may be considered together When a Woman in Child-bed is affected with either of these it is to be judg'd that besides the Miasms heaped together during the time of Ingravidation there happens a certain acid disposition of the Blood by the means of with whilst it feverishly boyls certain Particles of it being imbued with a sharpness fall into a Congelation in this or that place like Milk turning sour and consequently coagulated the Blood letted there and hindred in its Circulation hinders the Passage of the rest now the Blood being obstructed in its Motion butts against its dam and so being heaped together round about and driven out of its Vessels grows into a Tumour thence presently whatsoever haeterogeneous and separable is contained in its Mass is deposed in the Part affected as in a Sink wherefore the Corruptions of the Blood which ought to be purg'd forth by the Womb are deriv'd thence toward the Seat of this Disease which since they cannot be purged forth sufficiently this way both the Liquor of the Blood is more notoriously corrupted and a Crisis of that particular Affect to wit of the Quinsey Plurisie or some other is rendred more difficult For the Cure of these kinds of complicated Diseases presently from the very first beginning it must be endeavoured that the Blood fixt any where and begun to be extravasated be restor'd to Circulation and do not make an Impostume because it is very rarely that Women in Child-bed seised with those symptomatick Fevers are cured by an Abscess or spitting forth of the Matter wherefore inward Remedies which fuse the Blood and free it from Coagulation are to be used of which kind are chiefly Diaphoreticks filled with a volatile Salt as Spirit of Harts-horn of Soot of Urine and the Salts themselves also testaceous and bezoartick Powders Sal Prunella Decoctions and Juleps of Vegetables promoting the menses or the Urine in all which those things ought to be mixt which by Experience are found to be appropriated to uterine Affects moreover discussing Remedies which drive away and expell the Matter stinking in the Part affected of which kind are Liniments Fomentations and Cataplasms are carefully to be applyed to it Mean while let the violent Motion and immoderate Effervescence of the Blood be removed far from thence and let its Excretions of Filth be conveyed still to the lower Parts by what ways we may for this end Frictions Ligatures Epispasticks and if need be cupping Glasses may be applyed to the Feet or Legs in case the Affect growing very much worse blooding be indicated unless there be a great Plethora in the whole Body and a very acute Inflammation in the Part affected it will be best to breath a Vein in the Foot or to open the haemorroid Vessels with Leeches but if necessity presses for it to be done in the Arm after Blooding there let another Bleeding if it may be admitted follow in the Leg nevertheless we must give a Hint that opening a Vein ought to be very cautiously ordered in these Cases for unless it gives Relief which I have seldom known to happen presently the Pulse being rendred more weak the State of the Diseased becomes worse A Dysentery takes its Rise in a manner from the like Cause as the foresaid Affects but because in this the extravasated Blood is presently poured forth nor being restrain'd in the Body creates a mischief there and is still more corrupted and since this way of Excretion is performed near the uterine Efflux and does not derive it afterward another way hence less danger is feared from this Disease than from the others before mentioned tho oftentimes this Affect is mortal to Women in Child-bed and that the rather because by a Dysentery things that qualifie and gently astringe the Blood are indicated and these are found too apt to stop the flowing of the Lochia wherefore in this case till Women delivered are in a manner purg'd enough by a long flowing let the Cure
That the Air or Flatus's first heap'd together there are the Cause of the Distension In our Sick Person the Blood growing hot and soon being full of an adust and malignant matter presently it being incapable of being subdued and separated by Sweat endeavoured to fix it in the Brain the first discharge of that Matter on the Head by reason of the Animal Spirits being half overwhelmed brought the Sense of the Heads being very much increast in bulk which happens after the like manner as when the Foot being seised with a Stupor seems to be felt much greater than it self now that after some ease by slumbering and closing the Eyes the Affect return'd anew the Reason is because Watching and the stirring of the Senses in some sort shake off and remove from them the Matter besetting the Brain and Nerves which nevertheless being seated near and in a Readiness Sleep stealing on is as it were imbib'd by them and throughly enters their Bodies together with the nutritive Juice Now the Blood tho it had copiously discharged the Recrements on the Brain yet it became not free it self but being still full of an impure Load fell as it were upon a critical Efflorescence and with a Shivering followed by a Heat and a Sweat as is usual in a great Excretion it tryed again and again to shake off its Burthen tho all it could do by that Effort was that the Matter sticking to the Brain got deeper Root in it and fixing it self in certain Sprouts of the Nerves it took away Speech and Swallowing and then afterward Sensation and the Mass of the Blood being deprav'd more and more by degrees at length it became unable for supporting Life A Renowned Woman Married a little under Twenty being with Child and during the time of her Ingravidation having used but little Diet and almost no Exercise underwent in her Travail Pains and Throws but with Intermission and a frequent Respite for twelve Hours and brought forth a Son the Foetus came away with the Secundine and all things were well about the Womb. On the first and second days she was indifferently well but on the third after a light Shivering she began to complain of a Thirst and a Heat which a Loosness followed so that she had four Stools that day the Night passed in a manner without Sleep the feverish Distemper continued afterward for two days after the same manner she daily had three or four Stools the Lochia as yet flowing moderately On the sixth day when by the Perswasion of Women she had taken somewhat for moderating her Loosness the Purgings of the Womb were in a manner wholly stopt at which time the Fever became more intense and Symptoms resembling Hysterical arose for in the Praecordia she had great and frequent Oppressions and had a sense of Choaking in the Throat On the seventh day there was a more intense Heat and a difficult and more painful Breathing and then by a Physician 's Order at that time first call'd three ounces of Blood were drawn from the Foor after which for four Hours she was better for a quiet Sleep with a copious Sweat ensued the Lochia tho in a small quantity appear'd again in the Evening all things grew worse the Strength being very much resolv'd the Pulse became weaker and uneven she complain'd also of a Noise and a ringing of the Ears with a Plenitude of the Head moreover she had Leapings of the Tendons in her Wrists also sudden Convulsions of the whole Body and still the Loosness troubled her To this Person Cordials and other Remedies and kinds of Administrations diligently used by the Prescripts of many Physicians did not the least good the pulse growing weaker and the Strength decreasing by degrees on the ninth day after Delivery she died This Fever depended very much on the vicious Disposition of the Body as on the procatarctick Cause for I have often observed that it falls out ill with Women in Child-bed who when they are with Child unwholsomly seed on fruits and any sorts of food and living without Motion and Exercise indulge themselves only to Idleness and Rest the Blood by reason of the previous Cachexia without any evident Occasion fell a burning as it were of its own accord now whilst it boyled deposing its Recrements and Impurities still inward it brought the Loosness nor did its Mass become more pure from that almost continued Excretion but its Mixture or Crasis being still more depraved at length the Blood fell wholly from its genuine Nature and became uncapable of fermenting in the Heart the Loosness naturally hap'ning was ill stopt especially by the use of AsTringents for I have often observed that these things are not attempted without danger for a Loosness has cured some that were ill and in that Lady and in many others as we have sufficiently found by Experience tho it did not take away the Fever yet it freed them from the more severe Afects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum whence this Diseased was wholly without a Delirium nor was she seised with convulsive Motions till she was brought almost to the last A worthy Matron about thirty six Years of Age going with Child the seventeenth time was very sad and perplex'd with Thoughts that she should dye in Child-bed upon her Delivery but as it pleased God she was very well delivered of a Son and was chearful for three days after On the fourth day having eaten more of a Chicken than she ought a little before Night she fell into a feverish Distemper with a Vomiting and the Lochia were stop'd all the night she lay without Sleep and restless the next Morning within an Hours space she had four Stools and seem'd to be reliev'd about Noon at which time I came she complained again of a Heat and a Drought also of a Palpitation of the Heart and of the Ascent of a certain heavy thing in her Throat the Pulse was quick and small the Urine was ruddy the Lochia scarce appeared I ordered that Cordial Juleps and things moving a Uterine Purgation should be given to this Person moreover That Fomentations should be applyed to the lower part of the Belly also that the Legs and Feet should be often rubbed with warm Cloaths at the time for Sleep I gave her a Grain of Laudanum with half a Scruple of Saffron powdred in a Spoonful of Treacle Water She slept quietly and the Lochia flowed plentifully afterward using a thin Diet and things gently promoting a uterine Flux for a few days she perfectly recovered A Noble Woman Young and Handsome had a good easie Deliverance of a second Daughter and for six days being well as to the Lochia and other Accidents she was wholly free from the Suspicion of any Distemper she daily are Flesh and being taken forth of Bed she lived chearfully in her chamber On the seventh day without a manifest Cause she had a Shivering with a Fever and the Lochia were lessened tho not
supprest To the tenth day after her Delivery being only gently feverish and the Purgings of the Womb still flowing she liv'd free from any severe Symptom but then tho very feverish she seemed more chearful than usual and more confident of her doing well in the night she slept little or scarce at all the morning following at which time I first visited her she was manifestly delirous the Lochia were stopt and the whole Body was in a Shivering the Tendons in the Wrists were convulsed so that her Pulse was scarce to be distinguished which in the mean while was weak uneven and very quick I declar'd That this Person unless the Hand of God unexpectedly delivered her must dye in a short time however six Grains of Oriental Bezoar being given in a Spoonful of a Cordial Julep and causing a copious Sweat with a better Pulse and afterward other Cordials given at due Intervals gave some hope of doing well tho doubtful and not to be relyed on After four Hours after I came being in a languishing Condition she had a very large Stool then presently her Strength wholly fell and within an hour and a half she died A Woman of Quality scarce exceeding twenty Years of Age of a florid Countenance and a thin Body the Lochia flowing immoderately after Child-birth used certain astringent Remedies by the Advice of the Attendants whereby they were wholly stopt but a Loosness followed which increasing for three days the Women gave her other Remedies to stop the Loosness nor were they frustrated of Success mean while they brought a dangerous Fever and Affects as it were hysterical in the place of the former for the unfortunate Woman in Child-bed was affected with a Thirst and a Heat with Watchings afterward with a frequent Swooning and cold Sweats Being called at this time I ordered Cordial Remedies and things to promote uterine Purgations to be drank and likewise a Clyster to be injected the Loosness of the Belly being again procur'd the Lochia also came down and the Diseas'd being freed from the foresaid Symptoms and the more severe Disease viz. the Nurses Remedies soon recovered from her Fever Here let it be observed by the By that it 's very dangerous either to stop or to alter or to thwart any Motion raised by Nature tho anomalous A Woman of Note about twenty years of Age of a full and well-flesh'd Habit of Body aborted twice within a Years space when afterward she had conceived with Child by her Physician 's Order once a Month drinking plentifully of Whey she raised a Vomiting whereby she was wont to cast up a great deal of thick and clammy Flegm also during the time of her being with Child she was let Bood five times The time of Child-bearing being over she brought forth a Boy with great Difficulty the Secundine came away entirely and she purged egregiously On the second day as she raised her self on her Feet in her Bed that the Cloaths might be put in order she took Cold and thenceforward the bloody Lochia were wholly stopt and only a little serous Water flowed forth On the third day she began to complain of an acute Pain in the right-side the Women present applyed to it Bags of Camomile made warm with Bricks nevertheless the Affect was very much increast with a bloody Spittle On the fourth day after Delivery a most acute Pain with a most difficult and very painful Breathing seised her By the Order of a Physician then coming from the Neighbourhood six ounces of Blood were drawn from the Basilica and she suddenly found Relief and was better for ten Hours At Midnight a pricking Pain returned with the wonted fierceness at other Physicians being called to consult they all concluded that it was necessary to bleed again in the Arm of the Side affected Blood being drawn to four ounces the Pain remitted and the Diseased breathed better afterward Diaphoreticks being giv'n she fell into a copious Sweat with a quiet Sleep but the Pulse became more quick and weaker also Contractions of the Tendons appear'd in the Wrists Presently afterward she talked light-headed and within twenty four Hours after Blood was drawn the last time she died That this Lady upon the Lochia being supprest together with a Fever fell into a pleurisie the Cause in some measure seems to be the Bleeding so often used during the time of her going with Child for by this means the Blood accustomed to be breathed by the Arm afterward fermenting leaving the Womb ran towards the wonted way of being let forth where not finding a Passage it fixed it self in the neighbouring side as in the next seat of Extravasation Moreover besides the usual state of a Pleurisie no small Malignity was added to this Disease for the Blood being freed from Extravasation presently began to be corrupted in its Crasis and on the third Day of the Fever was so far deprav'd that it was not able to ferment longer in the Heart and so to continue Life Not long since the Wife of a certain Smith was brought to Bed at the time that her Children were sick of the Small Pox in the same House and her self as it seems took the Contagion of the Disease for on the second day after Delivery Pushes began to break forth with a feverish Incalescence and a Pain in the Loins which for three days the Lochia flowing moderately rise up as they ought to good Wheals and tho a uterine Purgation happened copiously at this time she had the Small Pox very thick in her whole Body nor were they only on the Surface of the Skin but they likewise so filled the Cavity of the Mouth and Throat that she was scarce able to speak or to swallow On the sixth day after being delivered the Lochia flow'd immoderately whereby presently the Small Pox falling a Swooning frequent Convulsions and other Symptoms of an ill nature assail'd the Diseased which threatned Death in a short time Being called I prescribed half a dram of this Powder to be taken constantly every three Hours in a Spoonful of the following Julep viz. Take Roots of Tormentil powdred two drams the best Bole-armoniack one dram Species of Hyacynth half a dram make a Powder Take Water of Scordium compound of Dragonwort of Meadow sweet of each three ounces Acetum Theriacale an ounce Syrup of Corals two ounces burnt Harts-horn half a dram make a Julep Moreover I ordered that in her Broth and in all things she drank the Roots of Tormentil should be boyled by these Remedies the uterine Purgation was wholly stopt and the Small Pox without any severe Symptom being ripened by degrees fell away This Case was really difficult and was managed with a great deal of Danger viz It was dangerous either for the Lochia or Small Pox to be kept in and nevertheless the full Eruption of either hindred the Motion of the other as long as both proceeded moderately the Busmess being left to the Guidance of Nature went on indifferently well
extraneous Miasm the Corpuscles of which Miasm being inwardly admitted fermented with the Blood and Humours and so caused this Fever in a great many with the same Appearance of Symptoms But I do not think that this Fever arose from a certain Contagion communicated from the Air and immediately fixing the Taint in Men but rather from a certain febrile Diathesis or Predisposition communicated to our Bodies by degrees before through the Distemperature of the Year which at length having gotten a Maturity is brought into Act on a light occasion and it cannot be said so much to burst forth into this Fever as to grow into it For when about the Beginning of July the Air wax'd immoderately hot through a most intense Scorching for many days it easily altered our Blood towards a hot and bilous Distemperature to wit because as in Wine fermenting more than it ought the sweet and spirituous Part is very much spent mean while the saline and sulphureous is too much exalted that thereby the Liquor readily contracts a Mustiness or a Sharpness now we have seen elsewhere that this kind of Diathesis of the Blood whereby from a sweet and spirituous Temperament by reason of its too great Scorching it inclines to a bilous is very apt for Intermittent Fevers Hence the nutritive Juice which is continually conveyed into the Mass of Blood is not duely concocted nor assimilated into Blood but is perverted into an extraneous as it were and fermentative Matter which arising to a Fullness within the Blood and growing turgid at set Periods according to its Increases brings the Fits of an Intermittent Fever Since therefore from the scorching Heat of this Summer the Blood almost of all Men growing hotter than it ought was very much parch'd it 's no Wonder if thereby it contracted a very great Aptness to Intermittent Fevers but why this Disease grew not rife during the great Heat but rather afterward the Reason is because this Indisposition is not imprinted in our Blood at one bout but by degrees and not till after a long time and therefore the Fruit as it were of the Disease after the foregoing Heat of the Summer were chiefly brought to a Ripeness in Autumn All do not equally contract this Aptness or Disposition to a Fever those whose Blood being hot by Nature most abound with Sulphur and thereby is sooner parch'd and those who being given to Labours or staying much in the Sun endur'd most of the Summer Heat by reason of their Blood being more egregiously scorch'd easily fell into this Disease wherefore it first reigned among the Husbandmen and chiefly in the Country of those who had acquired an Aptness to this Fever from their Blood being scorched haply some fell into it naturally the feverish Diathesis being raised by degrees to a Maturity others by reason of a light Occasion or an evident Cause which is otherwise wont to raise a feverish Effervescence as upon taking Cold Surfeiting drinking Wine and the like and others fell sick by reason of a Contagion received from others for Effluvia constantly flow from the Sick which when they light on Bodies predisposed to the like Affect readily raise into Act the latent Powers That the Conjunct Cause of this Disease and its formal Reason may be known you must call to Mind what is said elsewhere concerning the Nature of Intermittent Fevers to wit we suppose that the Basis as it were of this Affect is a burnt and bilous Constitution of the Blood by reason of which the nutritive Juice daily supply'd as it were by Measure is not duely concocted but through its being scorch'd turns into a fermentative Matter and not miscible with the Blood When the Blood is saturated with this Matter to a Fullness which happens at set Intervals of Times because the nutritive Juice is supply'd in a set Measure as it were it naturally falls into a Turgescency and the Effervescency raised for the Expulsion of this Matter brings the feverish Fit which lasts so long till this febrile Matter kindled in the Heart and as it were burnt is wholly blown off with the Sweat From these things premitted it is plain that there are some things which in this Affect whereof we treat happen after a peculiar manner from the common kind of Intermittents and therefore it is not unfitly call'd by the Name of a new Fever such as are first that about the beginnings of the Disease the Fits begin without a Cold or a Shivering but long afflict the Diseased with a Vomiting a Thirst and a most intense Heat to which a Swear for the most part with difficulty and partial and often interrupted ensues whereby the Access is not ended but in a long time the reason of which eught to be solely plac'd in the very bilous and excessively parched Disposition of the Blood for this proceeding from the prevailing Sulphur wholly hinders the wonted Sourness of the Blood which follows its Turgescency and is wont to raise the Shivering or Cold and by reason of this kind of Temperature of the Blood scorching too much and as it were burning the nutritive Juice the Blood growing turgid together with that Juice and stirr'd to motion is kindled more than usually in the Heart and by its Deflagration it causes a most intense Heat with a Drought which are most tedious to the Diseas'd Bilous Vomitings happen not only at the Beginning but even in the middle of the Fit by reason of the Redundancy of the Choler wherewith the Vasa Coledocha being oftentimes too much fill'd they pour it into the Intestines which afterward a Contraction being raised in the Viscera is easily sent into the Stomach the Sweat follows with difficulty because the Choler abounds more than the Serum wherefore the burnt Febrile Matter is not easily separated by a Sweat but either being mixt with the Blood brings a long continued Effervescence or being convey'd towards the Intestines produces a Vomiting or a Loosness Secondly this Fever differs from a vulgar Intermittent because after a Fit ended there is not given a full Intermission so far as an Apyrexia but the Diseas'd continue still languid and dry being ill disposed as to their Appetite Sleep and other Accidents which really happens because by the intense Heat of the Fever more of the Blood and febrile Matter is kindled than that the Recrements remaining after its Deflagration can be soon blown oft especially because a Sweat by reason of the Drought of the Matter with great difficulty ensues nor is the febrile Matter to be voided forth sufficiently diluted with a Serous Latex wherefore the Blood being not perfectly freed from its Contagion at the time of the Fit ferments still nor the Access being ended has it a full Truce from the Disease Mean while that the Blood is press'd after this manner with an almost continual Effervescence it differs from a Synochus because in this the sulphureous Part of the Blood being too much exalted is inflam'd as it were and makes
but during the Interval of Fits for while the Blood violently ferments or is resolved into a Sweat Nature ought not to be diverted from its Works begun nor its Attempts be disturbed by the Prescripts of Physicians wherefore after the Access is over and the Sweat entirely ended let a Purging be ordered by a gentle Cathartick and let the same afterward be sometimes repeated on the like occasion for by this Method not only the store of the excrementitious Matter is withdrawn from the first Passages but especially the Choler-Vessels being emptied the Bile is plentifully drawn from the Mass of Blood and thereby the Blood is restor'd toward its natural Crasis Let Blooding if it be indicated be put in Practise from the beginning for so its Liquor growing too turgid is eventilated whereby it both less perverts the nutritive Juice and when the Fit presses it burns with a more mild Blast together with the morbifick Matter but otherwise if after a long Sickness a Vein be opened when the Blood being depauperated and rendred watery has heaped together more of morbifick Matter and does not duely concoct it and purge it forth much is drawn from the Strength of Nature from the Power of the Disease nothing In the Interval of the Accesses when Blooding nor Purging may not be admitted let the Belly be kept soluble by a constant use of Clysters also let digestive Remedies of acetous or saline Liquors and Powders be giv'n such as Cream of Tartar the fixt Salts of Herbs Tartar Vitriolate burnt Harts-horn Spirit of Vitriol and of Salt c. for these restore the Ferments of the Viscera lost or grown sluggish depurate the Blood by fusing it also separate and as it were precipitate the morbifick Matter also at this time if obstinate Watchings chance to prove infesting and impair the Strength of the Diseased we may interlace Anodyne and gently Narcotick Remedies but by no means give them in the Access for then they greatly hinder the subduing and secretion of the febrile Matter and prolong the Fit which would sooner end So far concerning what is to be done in the Intervals of the Fits but in the Fit tho the Diseased then chiefly send for and call upon Physicians yet their Prescripts at this time are limited within a narrow Scope if a Vomiting tho an Emetick be giv'n before be still infesting let it be freely promoted by Posset-Drink either simple or with bitter Herbs boyled in it but let the chief way of the Cure be in qualifying the Heat and Drought which are wont to torture severely the Diseased in this Fever for whilst the Blood fermenting with the morbifick Matter and being kindled in the Heart springs into the Lungs it raises there a most violent Inflammation which requires a pouring on of cold Water as it were for extinguishing a Flame wherefore they desire to be pouring in Drink without measure without which the Diseased faint through the too much burning and in a manner all their Blood being rarefied as it were into a Flame and a Smoak does not easily continue the thread of Circulation wherefore Drink by all means ought to be granted to those that are in the Fever which nevertheless if it be pour'd in in too great a quantity first it exagitates more the boyling Blood and again brings a Confusion of the febrile Matter began to be separated that thereby the Work of subduing and Secretion is longer protracted and the Fit is made longer moreover a great pouring in of Drink proves offensive to the Stomach and by troubling it and often by raising a Vomit hinders Transpiration and calls in a Sweat breaking forth or haply already broken forth wherefore when the Heat of the Fever is first kindled let the Diseased tho very dry drink only by sipping and what they may let them refrain it afterward when the burnt and subdued Matter begins to be sent off by Sweat let them more freely gratifie themselves with it for so the Sweating is greatly promoted and the Fit is sooner over as to the nature of the Drink sometimes let Posset Drink sometimes small Ale or Barley Water be given sometimes Fountain Water either alone or sharpen'd a little with the Juice of Limons in this case the use of Sal Prunella is justly commended given in any Liquor for this by its Nitrosity wonderfully restrains the boyling Blood and powerfully moves Sweat I have often observ'd in the middle of the Fit that the Diseas'd have fall'n into a Fainting or a Swoon where the Cordials and hot Liquors which are wont presently to be pour'd in very much increase the Violence of the Fever and cause greater Troubles than usual that the Fit is more difficultly ended but these Swoonings for the most part happen either from the bilous Humour sent into the Ventricle or by reason of a Sweat broken off abruptly and against these I have always found the most present Remedy that either a Feather being put in the Throat a Vomit be promoted or that a thin Liquor being drank in a plentiful Measure the Sweat be again rais'd and in the whole Course of this Fever I am wont to give no Cordials or Alexipharmicks A Diet in this Fever only thin and not rich ought to be ordered let all Food prepar'd of the Flesh of Animals be wholly shunn'd for these abounding with Sulphur plentifully afford a Fuel to the boyling or kindled Blood as Oyl pour'd on a Flame moreover let nothing spirituous as hot Waters strong Ale or Wine be allowed but let Oat or Barley Decoctions or Broths altered with cooling Herbs be chiefly used also let Posset Drink small Ale or Whey be drank by the Diseased at Pleasure for since by this Means a very thin and watery nutritive Juyce is conveyed to the Mass of Blood the resolved Particles of the Sulphur are burnt off sooner and with less Tumult also the Recrements of the adust Matter are more readily sent forth from the Mass of Blood but if on the contrary a rich and plentiful Nourishment be used the Effervescence of the Blood is thereby much encreas'd and the Blood is more infected with the Mixture of an adust Matter When after frequent Fits the Blood being much burnt off and the Fever being in its declining State has remitted of its Fervour and Fierceness Care must be taken that the Diseased while upon their Recovery do not fall into a Cachexia or Scorbutick Affect for the Crasis of the Viscera being injured and the Blood being very much depauperated the nutritive Juice tho it be not scorch'd as before yet is not duely concocted and maturated into a perfect Blood but through defect of a Pneumatosis serous Excrements imbued with a fixt Salt are very much heap'd together and sometimes being fixt in the Viscera sometimes in the extream Parts bring forth various Affects Wherefore in a long continued languor of the Diseased or otherwise in order to a quicker Recovery let Remedies be given which volatize the Blood
stick of this Affect p. 616 ãâã the Prognostick of it ib. p. âââ its Cure 619 620 621. Sââââs of Persons distempered with ãâã and the method us'd with thâââ p. 622 623 624. Summer Spots see cutaneous ââfects Spitting Blood see Blood ââting Spots in the Skin see cutaââââ Affects Steel Medicines or Chaââates the several ways of ââââring them and their various Affects in the Body of Man p. 316 317 318 319. Stomach see Ventricle Stupidity or Folly whence it proceeds p. 489. the procatarctick and evident Causes of it p. 490. the difference betwixt Folly and Stupidity p. 491. many degrees of Stupidity ib. the Prognostick of it p. 492. the method of curing it ib. p. 493. Praescripts of Medicines ib. p. 494. Sudorificks see Diaphoreticks Sugar the Cause of the Scurvy and Consumption p. 372. Sweat Medicines to raise it see Diaphoreticks Excessive or depraved Sweating to cure p. 42. such Sweating sometimes the symptom of some other Disease then affecting the Person as of the Ptisick or Scurvy ib. its Cure then depends of the Cure of the Disease p. 43. excessive Sweating sometimes the Effect of some foregoing Disease which is brought to an end as of an Ague ib. the chief Cause of frequent and copious Sweats consists in the ill Habit and depraved Accension ãâã the Blood ib. the Method and prescripts for curing it ib. p. 44. a Distemper relating to Sweating or an excessive Perspiration whereby Persons become extreamly tender to take cold p. 45. whence this Tenderness proceeds ib. the Method and Praescripts for curing it p. 46 47. Swooning cur'd p. 357. Synochus see Fever T. TAlking light-headed see delirium Tarantula its bite causing Convulsions p. 286. Teeth when breeding to ease the pain p. 254. Tertian Fever see Fever Tetter see running Scab Trembling of the Heart see Heart Tympany its Description p. 160. the previous affects that dispose to it ib. the Method of curing it with Prescripts of Medicines ib. p. 161 162 163 164 165 166. V. VEntricle its various affects in the Scurvy cur'd p. 354 355. Vertigo its Description p. 411. how caus'd ib. p. 412. the immediate and mediate Subject of it ib. p. 413. the conjunct cause of it ib. p. 414. the Procatarctick cause of it ib. the prognostick of it ib. the Method of curing the Symptomatick accidental and the habitual Vertigo p. 415 416 417 418. Instances of Persons troubled with the Vertigo and the Methods us'd with them ib. p. 419 420. Vesicatories of what Substances and how made p. 198 199 200. after what manner they operate p. 200 201. their good and evil Effects and the manner of using them p. 202 203. for the Cure of what Diseases this Remedy chiefly conduces ib. p. 104 105 106. Vomiting what things foreshew the want of it what permit it and what prohibit it p. 1 2. Prescripts of Vomitories ib. p. 3. if a Vomit over-work what to be done ib. what to be done in critical Vomiting ib. p. 4. how to proceed when the Stomack is primarily affected ib. Prescripts of Medicines in a belching and an acid Vomiting p. 5. Prescrips of Medicines in a hot and tartish vomiting ib. p. 6. Prescripts of Medicines in a bilous or bitterish vomiting ib. what to be done in an habitual vomiting through the debility of the Stomack arising from the Fibres themselves ib. p. 7. what to be done in a debility of the Ventricle through the Fibres being obstructed ib. Vrine the chief scope of Medicines that purge by it p. 20 21. Kinds of Diureticks ib. p. 22. Prescripts of Diureticks which have an alchalisate Salt fot their Basis ib. Prescrips of Medicines which have a fixt Salt for their Basis p. 23. Prescripts of Medicines which have a volatile Salt for their Basis p. 24 25. Prescripts of Diureticks that have salt Nitre for their Basis p. 26. Prescripts of Diureticks which have an Alchalisate Salt for their Basis p. 27. Sulphureous Diureticks ib. ãâã cure too much purging by Urine see Diabetes W. WAshes for the Face p. 218 219. Water Medicines depurge it see hydragogue Medicines Waters Mineral prejudicial ãâã the Gout and Rheumatism p. 361. Watching Evil p. 402. on what preternatural Watching depends p. 403. the Method of curing it p. 404 405. an Instance of a Person troubled with it p. 406. Watching Coma what kind of affect it is p. 406 407. what ãâã be done in it ib. Witchcraft causing couvulsious p. 269 270. Womb its Diseases see Fits ãâã the Mother Women in Child-bed their ââvers see Fever Worms in Children to kill thâââ p. 255. Worms in the Face to kill them p. 220. FINIS ERRATA PAg. 1. l. 9. r. prescripts l. 14. for which r. what p. 4. l. 20. r. tone p. 7. l. 14. r. successfully p. 5. l. 25 26 29. r. Jalap p. 11. l. 31 37 42. r. Jalap p. 12. l. 3. r. Diâprunum p. 16. l. 33. c. r. viz. l. 37. after may be r. the first of these is perform'd with Diaphoreticks and the other with fit Alexipharmicks p. 39. l. 29. Saits r. saline things p. 46. l. 7. r. conformation p. 51. l. 41. cherbet call'd also r. call'd cherbet also p. 55. l. 16. the r. a. l. 34. r. these p. 56. l. 14. r. affect p. 81. l. 19. r. successfully p. 89. l. 24. r. Labdanum p. 109. l. 20. r. sweet spirit of Nitre p. 142. l. 3. blot out the. p. 144. l. 6. though r. and. p. 145. l. 3. r. water of Earth-worms p. 148. l. 26. r. ciches p. 156. l. 16. so r. too p. 163. l. 13. take small r. make p. 165. l. 31. r. a Decoction p. 177. l. 7. r. either happens p. 183. l. 28. blot out to it p. 185. l. 18. r. of p. 188. l. 4 r. orifice l. 6. r. orifice p. 190. l. 11. r. convulsions p. 181 l. 23. begin afresh r. again return p. 193. l. 7. r. moss growing p. 201. l. 42. r. skins p. 208. l. 41. r. in quality vitious p. 215. l. 18. extend r. spreads l. 40. r. dispose p. 216. l. 34. r. breakin gs p. 220. l. 24. Ointment r. Cosmetick p. 224. l. 23. r. bochet p. 227. l. 39. that this r. that the later p. 239. l. 17. r. Scotomia p. 242. l. 13. after Brain r. and stirring them up to praeternatural explosions l. 31 32 dissipating r. diffus'd p. 243. l. 5. r. of a Brewer p. 248. l. 5 6. r. Euphorbiâm p. 250. l. 28. r. or breakings forth p. 265. l. 20. r. held l. 28. r. the diseas'd l. 30. r. affect p. 268. l. 14. r. slight p. 275. l. 43. the r. that p. 280. l. 33. from r. p. 310. l. 18. r. to it from the blood by the. p. 316. l. 4. r. effects p. 3.7 l. 34. dele not p. 321. l. 27. every r. a very p. 327. l. 31. put a comma after distemperatures and blot out the comma after Fevers p. 328. l. 43. r. disturb p. 349. l. 32. four r. six p.