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
Ounces Turbith Mechoacan of each an Ounce and a half Epithymum yellow Saunders of each an Ounce Coriander-seeds an Ounce and a half let them be slic'd and bruis'd and put in a Bag according to Art for four Gallons of Ale the Dose is from twelve Ounces to a Pound either every Morning or twice or thrice a Week CHAP. IV. A Cure for Over-purging or of Medicines that stay too much Purging or a Looseness Also the Cure of the London-Flux with Instructions in each Case TO prevent over-purging upon giving any Purging Medicine we must proceed thus Before we give a Purge we must first consider well the Constitution Strength and Custome of the Body to be Purg'd as also the Nature Dose manner of Working and ordinary effects of the Medicine to be given and then by comparing the one with the other we must proportionate the vertue of the Agent according to the bearing of the Patient Secondly whilst the Medicine is working let the Viscera where digestion is perform'd the Blood and the Animal Spirits be kept free from any other perturbation Wherefore during that time let not the Patient eat gross or viscous food or too great a plenty of any food which may offend the Stomach let him carefully avoid the admittance of any outward cold by which the Pores of the Body are shut up also let the mind be kept calm and undisturb'd free from all Cares and toilsome Studies Thirdly The Operation of the Medicine being ended we must appease the angry rage of the Animal Spirits and allay the effervescence of the Blood and Humours for which ends let an Anodine Medicine or a gentle Hypnotick be given according to the following forms Take Water of Cowslip Flowers two Ounces Cinnamon-water hordeated Syrup of Maeconium of each half an Ounce Pearls half a Scruple make a draught to be taken going to rest Or Take Conserve of red Roses vitriolated two Scruples Diascordium half a Dram Pearls half a Scruple Diacodium what suffices make a Bolus to be taken going to sleep In case this Provision be either omitted or does not hinder a Purging Medicine from working to excess let the Patient presently be put into a warm Bed and be ordered as follows First Let either a Plaister of Mithridate be apply'd to his Stomach and to the whole upper Region of the Belly or let those parts be fomented with warm Linnen Cloaths dip'd in a decoction of Wormwood Mints and Spïces in red Wine and so wiung forth presently upon it let him take inwardly either a Bolus of Venice Treacle or a Solution of it in Cinnamon-water Moreover let him drink every now and then a spoonful or two of Burnt-wine diluted with a little Mint-water if he be troubled with Gripes give him a Glister of warm Milk with Treacle dissolv'd in it and warm frictions must be us'd to the remote parts and sometimes Ligatures to draw the Blood outwards and so keep it from too great a Colliquation and from discharging it self into the Cavities of the Viscera then in the Evening if there be strength and a pretty good Pulse let him take a Dose either of Diacodium or of Liquid Laudanum with some fit Vehicle As to other kinds of excessive Purging which are wont to happen without the Administration of a Purging Medicine for the most part they are meerly Symptomatical depending on other Diseases and their method of Cure is wholly the same as of those Diseases whose off-spring they are Nevertheless sometimes a Looseness or Flux seems to be a Disease of it self and because this kind of Distemper Raging almost yearly in the City of London is commonly accounted Endemious or a Disease peculiarly attending Inhabitants I shall here set down its method of Cure I have often and long observ'd that there are two and that very different kinds of that Flux usually call'd the Griping of the Guts which happens here almost yearly about Autumn In one of them the Stools are watry and in a manner cleer with a sudden failing of the strength in the other they are bloody but tolerable withal In the Year 1670. about the Autumnal Equinox a World of People here were seized with a most dangerous Flux though without Blood and joyn'd with a cruel Vomiting which presently caus'd great faintings and a total decay of strength For the Cure of this Disease no Evacuation did good nay Bleeding Vomiting and Purging always did hurt only Cordials and those of the hottest nature to wit such as abounded with Spirit and Sulphur or a Volatile Salt prov'd commonly of good effect insomuch that Brandy burnt a little with Sugar was a Popular and as it were Epidemick Remedy and in that sort of Flux was seldome given without success though in the other sort of Flux which carry'd Blood with it having been us'd without due regard it has often been found to be hurtful The method of Cure which I then took successfully enough with many and am wont still to take in the like case is after the following manner Take Venice Treacle from a Dram to a Dram and a half let the Patient take it in Bed and drink after it seven or eight spoonfuls of the following Julap and let him repeat this Dose every third fourth or fifth hour Take Mint-water Cinnamon-water hordeated of each three Ounces strong Cinnamon-water Plague-water Treacle-water of each two Ounces Powder of Pearls a Dram Sacchari Crystalin half an Ounce mingle them and make a Julap At the same time take a piece of Bread spread some Treacle on it and dip it in Sack or Red-wine warm'd and let it be apply'd to the Stomach as hot as it may be suffered and change it every now and then In the Evening if the Pulse and Breathing seem strong enough to bear it let the Patient take of Liquid Laudanum Cydoniated twenty Grains in a draught of Plague-water Take Diascordium a Dram Liquid Laudanum half a Scruple Compound Powder of Crabs Claws a Scruple Cinnamon-water what suffices make a Bolus to be taken going to sleep To those to whom Treacle or Mithridate prove nauseous or disagreeing give a Dose of the following Powder or Spirit of Treacle every third hour with the Julap Take Compound Powder of Crabs Claws Roots of Contrayerva or Serpentaria Virgin of each a Dram Cinnamon Roots of Tormentil of each half a Dram Saffron Cochinele of each a Scruple make a Powder the Dose is from half a Dram to two Scruples Take Spiritus Theriacalis Armoniacus three Drams the Dose is a Scruple with the Julap every fourth hour or give that and the Doses of the Powder interchangeably one one time and the other the other After the same manner the Spirits of Harts-horne or of Soot may be given let the persons Drink be Ale or Beer with a Crust of Bread Mace add Cinnamon boil'd in it and sweeten'd or let it be Burnt-wine diluted with Mint-water let his Food be Chicken-broth Gruel or Panada with the shavings of Ivory Hartshorn
he fell at length into a confirm'd Diabetes as it seem'd and almost past hope of recovery For besides that in the space of twenty four hours he voided near a Gallon and a half of clear water and wonderfully sweet as though Honey were mixt in it He was moreover affected with a cruel Thirst and a Fever seemingly a Hectick with a mighty Languor of the Spirits a fall of strength and a Consumption of the whole Body I then prescrib'd him the following Remedies by the use of which he seem'd in a short time to recover Take Cypress Tops eight handfuls Whites of Eggs beaten two pounds Cinnamon half an Ounce being cut small pour to them of new Milk eight pounds distill it in an ordinary Still taking care of an Empyreuma Let him take six Ounces thrice a day Take Gum Arabick and Gum Tragacanth of each six Drams Penids an Ounce Make a Powder let him take about a Dram or a Dram and a half twice a day with three or four Ounces of the distill'd water Take Rhuba-b powdred fifteen Grains Cinnamon six Grains Make a Powder let him take it in the Morning and renow the Dose within six or seven days Take Cowslip water three Ounces Cinnamon water hordeated two Drams Syrup of Meconium half an Ounce Make a draught to be taken every Evening His Diet was only Milk which he took pretty often in a day sometimes crude or diluted with the distill'd water or with Barly water sowetimes boil'd with White-bread or with Barly Growing daily better by the use of these things within a Month he seem'd to be almost Cur'd As he began to grow a little well his Urine which was Insipid did not much exceed the quantity of Liquids he took and afterwards turning a little Salt it became less in quantity than what he drank and so by degrees recovering the wonted tone of his Spirits and a good strength he took to his former Diet. Nevertheless the disposition to this Disease did not so throughly cease but afterwards being apt frequently to Relapses upon disorders in Living and haply upon changes according to the seasons of the year he first made Water in a greater measure than ordinary which by degrees grew clear and sweetish a Thirst and Fever with a Languor of the Spirits accompanying it But by the use of the same Medicines he us'd in a short time to recover again Not long since after a large interval of health a little before he fell into a Flux of Urine he found great irregularities and failings in the Genus Nervosum viz. He was seiz'd with a dull numbness of his Brain and a Vertigo and was taken with sudden Cramps in his Limbs and felt little Leapings of the Tendons and various runnings about him as though it were of a wind creeping here and there And when by the use of fit Remedies the aforesaid Symptoms seem'd to be Cur'd the Diabetes after its wounted manner burst forth afresh viz. the matter flowing forth in abundance from the Fibres and solid parts into the Blood and thence to the Reins and the Urinary Passages In this Juncture the same Remedies were prescrib'd again by the use of which when within a few days he began to grow bettr he was ordered to take thrice a day Water of quick Lime to five or six Ounces Having continued this Remedy four days he made water in a moderate quantity well ting'd and somewhat salt and as to other things he seem'd well as he was before By the same method and chiefly with the Water of quick Lime I Cur'd another of a Diabetes who was look'd upon as past recovery The Kinds and Prescripts of Medicines that stop Vrine flowing in excess A Stringent Medicines properly so call'd to wit such as are austere acerb and stiptick do little or nothing in stopping a Diuresis for the vertue of those things has no effect on the Mass of Blood nor does it reach to the Reins and Bladder But the Remedies that chiefly do good in the Diabetes are of two kinds as we have hinted before viz. First those that hinder the combinations of the Salts and consequently the fusion of the Blood such as the Incrassatives before mentioned Secondly Those that dissolve the Concretions of the Salts and consequently restore the mixture of the Blood of which kind are Saline Remedies of a contrary nature which are apt to cleave to the Acid Salt and so withdraw it from the combinations it has entred into within the Blood as chiefly Medicines endow'd with a fixt volatile or alchalisate Salt Besides these two Primary kinds of Medicines that restrain Urine there rests a Secondary kind to wit Hypnoticks which putting some stop to the Animal Aeconomy cause the vital function to be perform'd with more calmness and consequently with less fusion of the Blood or precipitation of the serous and nutricious humours It remains now to set down some Select Forms of each kind of these Medicines I. The first Scope of Curing to wit by which we endeavour by thickning the Blood to prevent its fusion or to take it away is effected by the Medicines following Take Gumm Arabick and Tragacanth powder'd of each an Ounce Sugar Penids half an Ounce Make a Powder divide it into sixteen parts Take one part thrice a day dissolving it in the distill'd water or in the docoction of the Roots of Comphry in fountain water or Milk Take of the Resumptive Electuary three Ounces Species Diatragacanthi frigidi an Ounce Red Coral prepar'd two Drams Confection of Hyacinth a Dram and a half Gelly of the cast Skins of Vipers what will suffice Make an Electuary of which let the Patient take twice a day the quantity of a Wallnut Take white Amber Mastick Olibanum powdred of each an Ounce Pulvis Haly two Ounces Balsam of Tolu half an Ounce Make a Subtle Powder the Dose is half a Dram twice or thrice a day Take Roots of great Comphry and Water Lillies of each three Ounces Dates slic'd two Ounces Seeds of Maliows Cotton-plant Plantain Fleawort of each half an Ounce Boil them in four pounds of fountain water till half be consum'd to the straining add Syrup of Water Lillies two Ounces The Dose is four Ounces thrice a day Take of the decoction of Barly with Water Lilly-roots a pound and a half Sweet Almonds prepar'd an Ounce and a half Seeds of white Poppies Purslain Lettice of each half an Ounce Make an Emulsion according to art the Dose is four Ounces thrice a day Take Cypress Tops six handfuls Clary Leaves four handfuls Flowers of blind Nettles Comphry Water Lillies of each four handfuls Roots of Water Lillies and Comphry of each half a pound Mace an Ounce all being small slic'd together pour to them of new Milk eight pounds distil them in an ordinary Still The Dose is four Ounces thrice a day with the Powder of Electuary above written II. In the second place though Saline Medicines of every kind and condition are accounted Diuretick
and impurities by Sweat and Urine Respiration not only as it is urgent but moreover as the same is interrupted Convulsive or otherwise variously irregular often requires a Narcotick Medicine In a violent or very frequent Coughing always troubling us this uses to give relief before all other Remedies Again in fits of the Asthma when the Organs of Respiration are so laboriously exercis'd that the Person affected seems to be brought to the Agony of Death a Dose of some proper Opiat makes all things presently serene and calm Moreover in horrible Vomiting in excessive or violent Purging this usually gives great ease Fluxes can scarce be Cur'd without Opium not that this Medicine fixes the boiling and raging Juices and Humours but stops the Excretory Convulsions of the Fibres and that partly within the Cavities of the Viscera themselves it stupifying by its meer contact the Spirits there Implanted and partly by suppressing the Spirits within the Cerebellum which continually flow to those parts whereby the others being destitute of supplys from them readily remit of their Convulsive rage Fifthly In Catarrhs and Defluxions of all kinds we often fly to Opiats as to our last refuge they powerfully stay excretions of Blood and moderate and restrain serous Evacuations when at any time they are excessive and tend to a Colliquation They repress the Immoderate Ebullition of the Blood in a burning Feaver and lessen its excessive Accension Briefly they most readily appease all turbulent commotions in our Body from what cause soever they arise and let the Blood be never so much disturb'd they most commonly reduce it to a calm and quiet state Opiats where they agree most commonly fuse the Blood and after the manner of Alexipharmicks powerfully provoke Sweat and move Urine as Dr. Willis gives us here an Instance of a Person troubled with the Dropsy and severely tormented with Night-pains caus'd by the Pox who by the constant use of Laudanum fell at length into great Sweats and Evacuations of Urine every Night and so was Cured A Lady who for many years was subject at times to cruel pains of the Colick as often as she fell ill of that Disease and found the pains grow intolerable could get no ease from any Remedy but from Opium Wherefore she took a Dose of this each Night till the Morbifick matter being consum'd by degrees she became at length free from all grief and pain Of the evil Effects of Opium with cautions concerning its Vse WE have found by sad experience in many the Use of Opium to be sometime hurtful and destructive for that some presently after taking it have fallen into a perpetual sleep and others by taking a Dose of it too great or unseasonably have either shortn'd their Lives or by injuring their principal faculties have rendered it afterwards uneasie and burthensome I have known some who upon taking a Pill of Laudanum have fallen presently into so profound a sleep that they could never be rais'd from it they liv'd indeed for three or four days and as to their Pulse Respiration and Heat were pretty well but could never be brought again to sense and waking by any Remedies or tortures I have observ'd others who after taking Opium have slept but moderately nay sometimes little or scarce at all but as to their Pulse Respiration and Heat presently grew worse so that incontinently after the Medicine they began to have a failing of strength and then growing short and thick Breath'd to decay more and more nor could their vigour be renew'd by any Cordials but fainting by degrees they died I have elsewhere related a story of a robust man kill'd by Opium who had no sleep at all after it till his last and mortal sleep viz. Death it self following it this Man presently after he had taken the Medicine complained of a great heaviness upon his Stomack and of Cold then he was taken with a great Languor and a Consternation of all his Spirits with a coldness of his extream parts and within some hours complaining that his Eyes grew dim and at length that he was quite blind he died I shall now relate what evils from the improper or unseasonable use of Opium sometimes happen in the Head what in the Brest and what in the Belly As to the first it 's well known that the principal functions of the Soul viz. the Memory the Reason and the Acuteness of the understanding are very often extreamly injur'd by Narcoticks A frequent use of them weakens the Memory in many persons I knew a person who by taking a great Dose of it in a Feaver wholly lost the use of that faculty and after some weeks when the use of it began to return he remembred only things done within a peculiar tract of time and nothing of those that were done before or after I have known some that have grown dull and stupid by this Medicine and others that have grown mad And it 's observ'd that those Turks that eat much Opium though they seem to be well and not injur'd by it yet they are rendred more cold and their functions become worse they appear always as though they were drunk and besotted and are affected with a Coma or a continual inclination to sleep being stupid and unconstant sometimes affirming a thing and sometimes denying it so that they are unfit to deal or converse with men Secondly We find that Opiats are sometimes hurtful to the Precordia and Brest because they depress and lessen the Pulse and Breathing sometimes also as we have said before they make them faulter and by degrees wholly to cease Wherefore in Feavers when the Blood being mightily deprav'd seems to admit of no Crisis or not a good one and that at the same time it furnishes but very few and weak Spirits to the Animal Oeconomy Narcoticks are in a manner always destructive and as it were poysons For though in the Plague and Malign Feavers whilst the Pulse and Respiration are strong Treacle Mithridate and Diascordium nay and Laudanum are often given with good effect yet if at any time in those Diseases and in other Feavers that do not carry so much malignity the vital faculty languishes those famous Antidotes must be us'd but very sparingly and the stronger Opiats not at all Moreover in a violent Cough the Phthisick Plurisy Empyema and other Diseases of the Brest viz. in what ills soever nature is stirr'd up to discharge it self on a sudden of that which is offensive and oppresses the Brest and lifts at it with its greatest effort and at the same time the Organs of Respiration being destitute of a sufficient plenty of Spirits faulter and perform their work with great pain and difficulty we must in such a case forbear Opium no less than poyson for then Narcoticks increase and fix the weight to be remov'd and lessen the strength of the parts that labour to throw it off Thirdly As to the parts within the Belly we find that Narcoticks often taken
Heterogeneous Particles may be subdued and soon evaporate the Operation of a Narcotick intervening puts a stop to these endeavours of the Praecordia and consequently retards the Purification of the Blood and sometimes disappoints it As to other Excrementitious humours usually heap'd together in the Ventricle or the Intestines these also must be purg'd forth by Vomit or Seige before an Opiat be given For otherwise being there fixt they will stick more pertinaciously For the Fibres of those parts being stupified by the Medicine are not irritated as before nor do they readily set upon excretory Convulsions for expelling those drossy superfluities or perform it with any vigour Wherefore according to the ancient Precept If any thing be to be Evacuated let it be done before a Narcotick be given The Kinds and Prescripts of Opiats THe safest Narcotick and which is generally approv'd of by long experience is the Poppy and preparations of it Wherefore as often as we endeavour effectually and safely to provoke sleep the whole stress of the Medicine is Plac'd in Opium or Diacodium As to the Heads of white Poppies with the Seeds out of which Diacodium also Decoctions Emulsions and other Hypnotick Confections are made it plainly appears that these have much less of a Narcotick Sulphur in them than the concreted Juice of Opium and what they have of it is much more pure and innocent Wherefore we give oftner and with more safety Medicines made of these nor ought we to use Laudanum but when through the violence of Symptoms Diacodiats will not serve Again since these have in them less of virulency they do not want much preparation but either a simple Decoction or Infusion or Expression being made of them they may be apply'd to Physical use Now Opium is seldom prescrib'd simply and by it self but is wont to be corrected and compounded after a various and diversifyed manner of preparation that it may become a safe Anodine The wild Poppy has a certain Hypnotick vertue but much more mild and gentle than that other wherefore in certain cases it agrees excellently well and we may be more secure as to its use Of this a Syrup and a distill'd water is always ready prepar'd in Apothecaries Shops which in many continual Feavers are often given with good success and they are judg'd to have a certain specifical virtue in Curing the Pelurisy because they take away pains and by putting some stay to the Pulse abate the Feaverish boiling of the Blood Moreover a Tincture is made of its Flowers Infus'd in Brandy which is a famous Medicine amongst Empiricks and good Women and is averr'd to be good against Surfeits The reason of which effect seems to be that the Spirit of Wine frees the Contents of the Stomack from putrefaction and the Narcotick force of the Flowers prevents the Invasion of the Feaver I shall now set down certain Select Forms of Narcoticks which I shall also digest into certain Classes according as the Opiats have for their Basis either the Syrup or distill'd water of the wild Poppy or Diacodium or Laudanum Extractum or Liquidum or Pilul de Styrace or de Cynoglosso or lastly Philonium Take the water of wild Poppies and Cowslip water of each six Ounces Syrup of red Poppies two Ounces Sal Prunella half a Dram mix them Make a Julape the Dose is three or four Ounces thrice a day in the Pleurisie Pains watching without a Feaver or any manifest Cause Take of Poppy water from four Ounces to six Let it be taken now and then by it self twice or thrice a day for the same intent Take Diacodium from half an Ounce to an Ounce Cowslip water three Ounces Treacle water three Ounces Make a Potion Take Carduus water three Ounces Diacodium half an Ounce Spirit of Hartshorn from half a Scruple to a Scruple Make a draught for procuring sleep and sweat Take Diascordium half a Dram Gascoins Powder a Scruple Diacodium two Drams mix them Let it be taken in a spoon Take Diacodium three Ounces Snail water an Ounce mix them It s proper in the Cough and Phthisick The Dose is a spoonful going to Rest and if need be take it again after Midnight Take London Laudanum a Grain Powder of Claws Compound from half a Scruple to a Scruple with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Clove-Gillyflowers Make three Pills to be taken going to Rest Take Laudanum a Grain Stomack Pills with Gumms half a Dram Make four Pills to be taken going to rest in the Colick Take Laudanum from a Grain to a Grain and a half Diascordium a Scruple Make a Bolus instead of Diascordium you may put the Confection of Alkermes or of Hyacinth Take Laudanum a Grain dissolve it in a spoonful of Treacle water add of Cowslip water two Ounces Make a draught Take of our Liquid Laudanum tartariz'd twenty Drops give it in a spoonful of Aqua Mirabilis or of Cinnamon water or of any other fit Vehicle It s proper in Colick Nephritick or Gouty pains Take Species of Hiera half a Dram of the foresaid Laudanum twenty drops Make four Pills let them be taken going to rest for Purging and easing pains of the Colick at the same time Take Liquid Laudanum Cydoniated from fifteen Drops to twenty Give it in a spoonful of small Cinnamon water for the Flux Take Conserve of red Roses an Ounce Venice Treacle Confection of Hyacinth of each two Drams Pulvis Pannonici Rubri a Dram Laudanum Cydoniated two Drams Syrup of Coral what suffices Make an Electuary the Dose is a Dram every fourth or fifth hour in a violent Bloody Flux with Gripes Take Pilul de Styrace from five Grains to six Lac Sulphuris half a Scruple Oyl of Anniseeds a Drop Balsam of Peru what suffices Make three Pills to be taken in the Cough Asthma c. Take Pilul de Cynoglosso from six Grains to eight Make two Pills to be taken going to rest for the same intents Take Philonium Romanum from one Scruple to two Conserve of Clove-Gillyflowers half a Dram mix them Make a Bolus to be taken going to rest It s proper for the Colick in a cold temperament I shall now say something concerning the Effects of the great Anti-Hypnotick Coffee Coffee though in some cases it be very profitable and Physical in others it is hurtful and unwholesome for we see that great Coffee-drinkers become lean and are very often subject to be Paralytick and grow impotent for generation Yet as to Affects of the Brain and the Genus Nervosum I very often prescribe this Drink for them For indeed in very many Cephalick Diseases and Infirmities viz. in Head-aches Giddiness the Lethargy Catarrhs and the like where with a full habit of Body and a cold temperament or one that is not hot and a watery Blood there is a moist Brain with a sluggishness and dullness of the Animal Spirits Coffee has often a very good effect for being daily drank it wonderfully clears and
of the following Electuary drinking after it seven spoonfuls of the Julape Take Conserve of red Roses three Ounces Conserve of Hipps and Comphrey of each an Ounce and a half Dragons Blood a Dram Species of Hyacinth two Scruples red Coral a Dram with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of red Poppies Mix them and make a soft Electuary take at Night and early in the Morning a Dram and a half drinking after it a draught of the following Julape at other times let him take it with a stick of Licorice Take of the Waters of Plantain and of the Spawn of Forgs of each six Drams Syrup of Coral and of dry'd Roses of each an Ounce Dragons Blood two Scruples Mix them made a Julape CHAP. III. Instructions and Prescripts for Curing a Peripneumonia THe Peripneumonia is an Inflammation of the Lungs with an Acute Feaver a Cough and a difficulty of Breathing it is caus'd by a rushing of the Blood into the Ductus's of the Lungs and its being there inflam'd and obstructed The Primary Indication in order to the Cure of a Peripneumonia is that the Blood forc'd into the Vessels of the Lungs and causing there an Obstruction with an Inflammation be thence discust and restor'd to its former Circulation which if it may not be done the Second Indication will be that that matter be duly Concocted or Suppurated and with all expedition voided by Spittle 1. Whilst the former Indication holds good the Intentions of Curing will be these following In the First place That the excessive current of the Blood to the part affected be cut off or some way hindred Secondly We must endeavour that the matter stagnating in the Lungs or extravasated be suck'd up again by the Veins into the rest of the Mass and restor'd to its Circulation Which the better to effect Thirdly The Blood must be freed of its clamminess or viscous nature whereby its fluidity is hindred And Fourthly We must obviate by fit Remedies those Symptoms that are very pressing viz. the Feaver Cough Watchings and difficulty of Breathing But if notwithstanding all this the other Indication must be pursued we must add to the Remedies before mentioned such as they commonly call Maturating and Expectorating Medicines 1. To satisfy the First and Second Intentions together Blooding is requisite almost in every Peripneumonia nay sometimes it ought to be often repeated For the Vessels being emptied of Blood they do not only withdraw the matter which maintains the Disease but likewise drink up again what was forc'd into the part affected Wherefore if the strength holds and the Pulse be of a sufficient vigour its good to bleed freely at the very beginning but otherwise you must do it in a moderate quantity and repeat it now and then as occasion requires In this Distemper the Vein should always be open'd with a large Orifice and the Blood should not only Issue forth in a full stream but its running should be continued for otherwise if in the midst of bleeding whilst the vitiated Blood flows forth the Orifice be stop'd with the Finger as some are wont to do to prevent fainting when it s open'd again a pretty good Blood will Issue forth next the vitiated Blood if any such be remaining being fallen back and not presently returning to the Orifice Besides Bleeding many other Remedies are here to be us'd viz. such as repress the turgid motion of the Blood and empty its Ductus's whereby the Morbifick matter may be drank up again Wherefore a very thin Diet is prescrib'd consisting almost meerly of Barley and Oat-meats And though Catharticks are wholly forbidden because they strongly exagitate the Blood and force it more violently into the part affected Nevertheless Glysters ought to be daily Administred which gently ease the Belly and draw the dreggy Excrements of the Blood downwards Moreover qualifying Julapes and Apozemes which allay the fervour of the Blood and pleasantly lead off its superfluous Serosities and likewise gently open the passages of the Brest are taken with good effect The Third Intention of Curing which has regard to the takeing away of the obstructing clamminess or viscous nature of the Blood it perform'd wholly by those Remedies which loosen its over-close Texture and dissolve the Combinations of its Salts And truly those Remedies which Reason and Analogy might dictate in this respect are us'd even at this time after a long expeperience For Powders of Shells the Tusk of a Boar the Jaw-bone or a Pike and other things endow'd with an Alkalisate Salt also Sal Prunella are prescrib'd by all Practitioners both Ancient and modern I have known Spirit of Sal Armoniack and of Hartshorn to have done great good in this Disease And for the same Reason it is viz. Because of the good effect of the Volatile Salt that an Infusion of Horse-dung though a vulgar Remedy has often given great relief Fourthly As to the Symptoms and their Cures a great many Remedies appropriated to these are Coincident with the former For the same Julapes and Apozemes which appease the fervour of the Blood and also restore the Animal Spirits are in most common use against the Feaver To which also in respect of the Cough and the diffculty of Breathing temperate Pectorals are joyn'd The greatest difficulty is what must be given against want of sleep it at any time the Person be very much molested by it For Opiats adding to the prejudice of Respiration which is under some stress from the beginning of this Disease may scarce be taken with safety nay sometimes they become pernicious Wherefore Laudanum's and the stronger preparatious of Opium must be utterly avoided in a Peripneumonia though in the mean time Anodines and the more gentle Hypnoticks as especially the Water and Syrup of red Poppies are not only allow'd but accounted Specificks in this Disease and in the Pleurisy Moreover we may sometimes use Diacodiats so the strength holds and the Pulse be strong and in a good temper For the pain of the Brest if at any time it proves troublesome its proper to use sometimes Oyntments Fomentations and Cataplasms The Secondary Therapeutick Indication whereof the Intentions are to Concoct and to discharge by Spittle the matter sticking in the Lungs since it cannot be discust or drank up again requires Medicines commonly call'd Maturatives and Expectoratives but they must both be temperate to wit such as rather appease than exasperate the Thirst and Feaverish heat We have given you before in the Chapter of the Cough the kinds of these Medicines which are properly call'd Pectorals We shall now set down the choicest Prescripts and most proper for this affect Prescripts of Medicines 1.2 Medicines Conducing to the First and Second Intention are prescrib'd according to the Forms following TAke Water of Ladies Thistle ten Ounces of red Poppies three Ounces Syrup of the same an Ounce Pearl prepar'd a Dram Make a Julape the Dose is six spoonfuls every fourth hour Take the Waters of Black-Cherries Carduus Benedictus
or Alkalisate Salt destroy the Combinations entred into by the Acid sixt and otherwise Morbifick Salts with other more gross Particles In which respect the Eyes and Claws of Crabs the Tusk of a Boar the Stone of Carps the Jaw-bone of a Pike the Bone in the Heart of a Stag the Pisle of a Deer Sal Prunella Salt of Coral the Volatile Salt of Urine or of Hartshorn Powder of Goats Blood Infusion of Horsedung Spirit of Hartshorn of Sal Armoniack Spirit of Tartar Mixtura Simplex Bezoartick Mineral Antimony Diaphoretick Flowers of Sal Armoniack are very famous Remedies in the Pleurisie The Third and Vital Indication which takes care that the strength and Vital heat be preserv'd in their due Tone and State during the Course of the Disease prescribes principally a fit Diet and likewise Cordial Remedies and Anodines and things which seasonably afford Relief to other Symptoms if haply they present First in a true Pleurisie you must order a most thin Diet viz. consisting of meer Oat and Barley-meats and for ordinary drink Ptisan or Posset-drink is more proper than Beer alone though in a mignty thirst this also may be allow'd in a moderate quantity Moreover to quench thirst Julapes Apozemes and Emulsions may be taken at set times to all which let Sal Prunella be added Secondly let only temperate Cordials be given which may gently refresh the Animal Spirits and not add to the Accension of the Blood which burns before too fiercely For these intents the Waters of Ladies Thistle Carduus Benedictus Bawm Borage Cowslips and Black-Cherries are usually given with good success to which the Powders of Pearl and Coral may be added Thirdly Anodines must be used both inwardly to procure sleep if at any time it be very much wanted as also outwardly to ease the pain of the side The most usual things of the former kind are the distill'd water Syrup and Powder of the red Poppy which are accounted Specificks in the Pleurisie as well as in the Peripneumonia Moreover when a very acute pain and watchings press very much we may give also Diacodiats Against Pains Oyntments Fomentations Cataplasms and sometimes the warm Inwards of Animals newly kill'd are proper to be applyed I shall now give you Select Forms of Medicines adapted to each of these Indications First Therefore about the beginning of the Disease to take away the Inflammation Julapes Apozemes Powders Glysters and gentle Purges are wont to be prescrib'd Take Water of Ladies Thistle eight Ounces Water of red Poppies four Ounces Syrup of the same an Ounce Sal Prunella a Dram Make a Julape the Dose is two or three Ounces every third hour Take Grass Roots four Ounces Barley half an Ounce parings of Apples a handful Raisins of the Sun an Ounce Licorice two Ounces boil them in three pounds of fountain water to two pounds To the cleer straining add Syrup of Violets an Ounce and a half Sal Prunella a Dram and a half Make an Apozeme the Dose is two or three Ounces often in a day Take Sal Prunella two Drams Flowers of Nitre a Dram Powder of the Flowers of red Poppies two Scruples Sugar Candy four Scruples Make a Powder the Dose is half a Dram three or four times a day Take of the Decoction of Mallows Roots and all together with sweet Prunes a pound Syrup of Violets three Ounces Sal Prunella a Dram Make a Glyster Take of whole Cassia bruis'd two Ounces Tamarinds an Ounce white Rose Flowers a handful Coriander-seeds two Drams boil them in a sufficient quantity of fountain water to a pound To the straining add Syrup of Cichory with Rhubarb two Drams Clarify it with the White of an Egg the Dose is five or six Ounces in the Morning for two or three days one after the other Secondly To dissolve the clamminess or coagulating Viscousness of the Blood the following things are of use viz. in the Form of a Drink Powder and Spirit Take fresh Horsedung four Ounces Carduus water a pound and a half make a close and warm Infusion for two hours then filter the Liquor to which add Syrup of the Juice of Dandelion or of Cichory two Ounces Spirit of Sal Armoniack a Dram give five or six spoonfuls three or four times a day For this end Water of Horsedung does admirably well Take Horsedung four pounds Leaves of Carduus Benedictus Ladies Thistle Scabious Pimpernel of each three handfuls being slic'd and mixt together pour to them of fresh Milk six pounds distil them with common Organs The Dose is two or three Ounces either alone or with other distill'd Waters in the Form of a Julape For the same use the Tinctures or Solutions of other Dungs are given by some Physicians and are highly magnifyed by them Helmont deservedly commends in the Pleurisie the Dung of an Ox Panarolus Pidgeons Dung others the White of Hens Dung Epiphanius Ferdinandus usually gave with good success in the Pleurisy the Decoction of Tobacco macerated in new Wine Valeriola used the Decoction of the Flowers of red Poppies as a try'd and familiar Remedy Sylvius prescribes the following mixture to be taken one spoonful after another by little Intervals of time Take the waters of Stone-Parsly and Hyssop of each two Ounces Fennel-water an Ounce simple Treacle water half an Ounce Laudanum Opiatum four Grains Sal Armoniack half a Dram Syrup of red Poppies an Ounce Mix them To this composition Frederick Deckers adds Powder of Crabs Eyes and Bezoartick Mineral of each a Scruple Medicines very efficacious for this use are wont to be given in the Form of a Powder for Example Take Powder of Crabs Eyes two Drams Sal Prunella a Dram and a half red Poppy Flowers half a Dram Mix them make a Powder the Dose is half a Dram three or four times in a day with a fit Vehicle Instead of Crabs Eyes you may use the Powder of the Jaw-bone of a Pike or of a Boars Tusk or of a Stags or Bulls Pisle and if these do not succeed you may try what follows Take Antimony Diaphoretick or its Ceruse or Bezoartick Mineral two Drams Volatile Salt of Hartshorn half a Dram Powder of red Poppy Flowers two Scruples Make a Powder the Dose is a Scruple or half a Dram thrice or oftner in a day It is for the same Intention of Curing that Riverius gives Powder of Chimney Soot from half a Dram to a Dram and that others give the Powder of Pigeons or Hens Dung Nay farther according to this Analogy by which the Dungs of Animals stor'd with a Volatile Salt give relief in this Disease its probable that the Dung of a Dog may prove no less successful in Curing the Pleurisie than in the Squinancy and so much the more likely because these Diseases often interchange their Types and the one assumes the likeness of the other Chymical Liquors endow'd with a Volatile Salt sometimes also work great effects in the Pleurifie Take Spirit of Blood two Drams Red
Poppy water three Ounces Syrup of the same an Ounce Mix them give a spoonful of it every other while Take Spirit of Sal Armoniack distill'd with Olibanum three Drams the Dose is from twelve drops to fifteen or twenty three or four times a day in a fit Vehicle After the same manner you may give Spirit of Vrine of Soot or of Hartshorn Take Spirit of Tartar three Drams The Dose is a Scruple in a fit Vehicle Take Mixtura Simplex three Drams The Dose is from a Scruple to half a Dram. 3. As to the Third Indication besides a thin Diet Cordial Remedies and Anodines are prescrib'd Forms of the former kind may be supply'd by the Julapes and Apozemes prescrib'd for the first Indication and by the Spirits and Powders for the Second Inward Anodines to be given in Watchings and in a very Intense pain are prescrib'd according to the Forms following Take red Poppy water two Ounces Syrup of the same six Drams Spirit of Hartshorn twelve drops Make a draught to be taken going to Bed If we must go higher Take Carduus water two Ounces Diacodium from three Drams to half an Ounce or six Drams Spirit of Sal Armoniack with Frankincense half a Scruple Make a draught Sometimes though rarely its necessary to rise to Laudanum's which being seasonably given have a mighty good effect inasmuch as they procure Sleep and move Sweat and Vrine Take water of Cowslip Flowers two Ounces Laudanum Tartariz'd from sixteen drops to twenty Spirit of Blood half a Scruple Syrup of Violets two Drams Mingle them make a draught Outward Anodines are usually prescrib'd in the Form of an Oyntment Fomentation and Cataplasm Take Oyntment of Marsh-Mallows two Ounces Oyl of sweet Almonds an Ounce Album Graecum two Drams Mix them by braying them together Take of the Emplaister of Mucilages two Ounces and a half Malax it with Oyl of Linseed and let it be apply'd upon Lawn Paper Take the tops of Both Malbows Leaves of Mercury and Beets of each three handfuls Boil them in a sufficient quantity of fountain water let the straining be us'd for a Fomentation Take the remaining faeces of the Herbs after the Liquor is wrung forth and being bruis'd add to it of Oat-meal six Drams Linseed Fenugreek-seeds of each two Ounces Oyntment of Marsh-Mallows two Ounces Make a Cataplasm I need not go far for Stories and Instances of persons troubled with the Pleurisie for I have a notable Example of this Disease now under Cure viz. a very fine young Woman subject most frequently and as it were habitually to that affect is committed to our care This Virgin who is very fair of a Sanguine Complexion but of a weakly Constitution has been wont for many years past upon every slight occasion viz. upon taking Cold or by errours in any of the six nonnatural things nay sometimes upon the meer change of the Season or of the Air to fall into a Feaver presently accompanied with pains of the Pleura a Cough and a difficulty of Breathing and for the most part horrible Convulsions following them She has been taken so very ill formerly of this Distemper that she has been often forc'd to keep her Chamber six Months or more every year but of late though she be not freed from this affliction yet she is seldomer tormented with it The last year she was pretty well all the Summer and well near all the Autumn about the beginning of Winter she fell sick of that Disease and now towards the end of it is fallen ill again The Pleuritick pain constantly possesses the right side where the Blood sticking and being extravasated in its passage about the Intercostal Muscles the Irritated Fibres commence a most tormenting pain together with a Convulsive motion of Coughing which they reiterate almost perpetually In the mean time the Lungs being found enough and open in their passages readily convey the Blood as clammy as it is without any lett or stay which often is the cause of a Peripneumonia No Remedies are wont to do good to this person without Bleeding which is always so particularly necessary that every time she is ill we are forc'd even whether we will or no to repeat it two or three times nay sometimes oftner The Blood emitted has constantly a Viscous and whitish Film on its surface This Disease was always a simple Pleurisie without any Peripneumonia and for its Cure she constantly us'd the following method with success Take Spirit of Sal Armoniack with Gum Ammoniacum three Drams give from fifteen drops to twenty thrice a day with the following Julape Take Carduus water Black-Cherry water of each six Ounces Hysterick water a Dram Sugar six Drams Betwixt whiles she took a Dose of Powder with three Ounces of an Apozeme Take the Powders of Crabs Eyes of a Bores Tusk of Sal Prunella of each a Dram Make a Powder divide it into six parts Take Grass Roots three Ounces Candied Eringo's an Ounce shavings of Ivory and Hartshorn of each two Drams parings of Apples a handful Raisins of the Sun an Ounce Boil them in three pounds of fountain water to two pounds add to the straining Syrup of Violets an Ounce Sal Prunella a Dram Mix them make an Apozeme Glisters of Milk with Syrup of Violets were administred sometimes every day and sometimes every other day if at any time Opïats though never so gentle were given her to allay pain commonly afterwards an aking and heaviness of the Head and Convulsive Affects most sorely tormented her CHAP. V. Instructions and Prescripts for the Cure of an Empyema BY the word Empyema according to its usual acceptation is denoted a Collection of Pus or corrupted matter within the Cavity of the Thorax by which the Organs of Respiration are opprest That Pus commonly flowing thither either from a Pleurisie or a Peripneumonia and sometimes haply from a Squinancy suppurated and broken As to the Cure of an Empyema we must in the First place consider whether the signs of this Disease as to the reality of its present Being be certain or doubtful if certain there will not be much need of Physick but only the Body being prepar'd you may presently proceed to open the side Therefore if after a Pleurisie or Peripneumonia not rightly Cur'd or after an inward effusion of Blood occasion'd by a stroak fall or wound there be perceiv'd a floating of Pus or of corrupted or bloody matter within the Cavity of the Thorax and this with little or no Spitting we need no longer think of Maturating or Expectorating Medicines but the Belly being loosen'd and the Blood and humours duly qualified by Julapes Apozemes and Anodines either order a bare Incision or in tender and timorous persons First let a Cautery be apply'd betwixt the sixth and seventh Vertebrae and after the Eschar being rais'd let the Incision Knife be entred obliquely towards the hinder and upper parts and that leisurely and by little and little till it penetrate
Preservatory The First teaches what is to be done in the Fit to free the Patient from present danger the other what out of the Fit to take away the Cause of the Disease 1. In the Fit there are two chief Intentions of Curing viz. First That care being taken as well of the Air as of the Lungs a more free Breathing be procur'd at least as much as may suffice to support Life And Secondly That the Organs of Respiration be reclaim'd and made to cease from the Convulsions they are fallen into and which are wont to be continued with obstinacy As to the former in the First place let the Patient be set in an upright Posture of Body in a pretty open place somewhat Airy and free from Smoak and the Breath of By-standers then endeavour that the Lungs being freed of all inward stuffing and oppression as well as outward compression may be able to draw and return the Breath deeper For these ends lest the weight of the inferiour Viscera press down and straiten the Praecordia let the Belly be loosen'd by a Glister and let the Garments and all other things covering or binding the Thorax be slacken'd Moreover since in this case the Lungs are usually opprest either from the Blood growing too turgid within the Pneumonick Vessels or from the Serum distilling forth of the Arteries and Glands into the Ductus's of the Trachea the Sallies and Impetuosities of both humours ought to be restrain'd and appeas'd Hence if the strength will bear it and the Pulse be strong enough Bleeding is often proper Again let those things be carefully given which discharge the Serum and the superfluities of the inflamed Blood by Urine and Sweat For which end Julapes Apozems and Pectorals commonly so call'd are of excellent use Moreover Powders of shells preparations of Millepedes Volatile Spirits and Salts are taken with good effect In the mean time let there be likewise given things that open the Ductus's of the Trachea and make them slippery and provoke expectoration and such also if need be as stop the Catarrh distilling on them for which ends Linctus's Lohoch's Pectoral Decoctions and Suffumigations are proper As to the other intent of Curing in Fits of the Asthma viz. That the Organs of Respiration being reclaim'd from the Convulsions they are fallen into return calmly to their ordinary Functions unless this follows of its own accord after that the turbulent boiling of the Blood and Serum within the Lungs is appeas'd We must use Anti-Convulsive and Anodine Remedies for Medicines wont to be given in Hysterick passions are also proper in a Convulsive Asthma The Spirit of Hartshorn of Soot and especially Spirit of Sal Armoniack distill'd with Gum Ammoniacum also the Tincture of Gum Ammoniacum of Sulphur Castoreum Assa-foetida the Syrup of Ammoniacum of Sulphur Oxymel of Squills and the like which being of an ungrateful tast or smell dissipate the Spirits as it were and withdraw them from tumultuary Efforts prove sometimes of notable use But if the raging Spirits cannot be appeas'd by this means we must come to Narcoticks that some of them being destroyed the rest may return into order For Opiats sometimes are mighty beneficial unless a stopping of the Lungs and a great oppression of the Praecordia forbid their use In horrible sits of this Disease when other Medicines have availed nothing I have often given Diacodium nay Laudanum Tartariz'd with good success Nevertheless these may not be taken without great caution for Respiration which is difficult and clogg'd before being hindred more and that very much by them they often put the Patient in danger of Life Moreover to reclaim the Pnenmonick Spirits from their Convulsions its good sometimes to put the Spirits to torture in some other part for when some of them are any where tormented all the rest for the most part being in a concern at it quit their disorderly motions Wherefore Vesicatories Cupping-glasses Ligatures and Painful Frictions give relief Nay for this reason Vomits taken in the midst of the fit do good I shall now set down certain Select Forms of Remedies appropriated to each of those ends First therefore to restrain the Fluxions of the Blood and Serum and to discharge their superfluities deriv'd from the Lungs by Sweat and Urine let the following things be prescrib'd Take Leaves of ground Ivy eight Ounces Rue Penny-royal and Dragons of each two Ounces Sal Prunella a Dram and a half Srrupus Byzantinus Syrup of red Poppies of each an Ounce Mix them make a Julape let three or four Ounces be taken thrice or oftner in a day Take Grass Roots three Ounces Roots of Butchers-Broom two Ounces Candied Elecampane an Ounce and a half Barley half an Ounce Raisins of the Sun an Ounce Boil them in three pounds of fountain water to two pounds to the straining add of Sal Prunella a Dram and a half sweeten it if it be needful with a sufficient quantity of Syrupus Byzantinus or of Syrup of Violets Take Tincture of Sulphur three Drams The Dose is from six drops to ten at Night and early in the Morning in a spoonful of the Syrup of the Juice of Ivy or of Violets Take Feculae of Aron and Briony of each a Dram and a half Flowers of Sulphur a Dram Flowers of Benzoin half a Dram Sugar Candy half an Ounce Licorice two Drams Make a Powder to be taken to half a Dram or two Scruples twice a day with the foregoing Julape or Apozeme Or Take of the foresaid Powder two Ounces Honey or Oxymel what suffices Make a Linctus take at Night and early in the Morning about half a spoonful at other times take it with a stick of Licorice Take Syrup of Hore-hound and of Garlick of each an Ounce and a half Tincture of Saffron and of Castoreum of each two Drams Mix them take about a small spoonful in the fits Take Spirit of Sal Armoniack with Gum Ammoniacum three Drams the Waters of Snails and of Earth-worms of each three Ounces Syrup of Horehound two Ounces Mix them take a spoonful once in four or five hours Take Powder of Hedg-mustard or of ground Ivy gathered in the Summer Sun an Ounce Oxymel simple what suffices Make a Linctus So much concerning the Medicines and method requisite in a fit of the Asthma The other Indication which is for preservation undertaking to remove the Morbifick cause and the whole Morbid Root has two parts or distinct Intents of Curing which for the most part are both set upon together one of these endeavours to amend the Conformation of the Lungs if it be any way prejudiced or faulty and the other to take away the Irregularities of the parts for motion and of the Spirits appointed for them Both these Intents will very well be answered if Pectoral Remedies commonly so call'd are joyn'd with Anti-Convulsives and are us'd interchangeably with other Medicines which have regard to the preparation of the whole Body and to Emergent Symptoms for which
quick motion of his Body or his going up a steep Ascent tormented him above measure he could not rest long on either side but was forc'd to lye always on his Back and with his Head raised And if he try'd to lye on either side presently a pain followed the Position of his Body and if haply he rolled himself from one side to the other the pain also being presently remov'd he felt as it were waters floating from one place to another So if he let his Body hang downwards over the Bedside he presently felt waters falling towards his Clavicular Bones Moreover if at any time his Body was heated more than ordinary by motion the heat of a Bed or of a Fire presently he felt in his Brest a boiling as it were of waters on the Fire and at the same time complained of a Giddiness and of a little fainting of his Spirits Being well satisfied by a due consideration of these things that he had a Dropsie of the Brest I prescrib'd the Method and Medicines following with success Take Calamelanos fifteen Grains Rosin of Jalap half a Scruple Syrup of Roses solutive what suffices make three Pills He took them early in the Morning and had twelve Stools which gave him great ease Then again on the third day he had only four Stools by the same Medicine though with greater relief to him than before He took afterwards for many days of a Diuretick and Pectoral Apozeme six Ounces And Lastly the same Purge being repeated he grew perfectly ivell SECT 2. Of Medicines regarding the Region of the Belly CHAP. I. Instructions and Prescripts for the Cure of the Jaundise AS to the method of Curing this Disease there are three Primary Indications all which since we are in a manner always at a loss which of them is the chiefest and first to be put in Practise must be prosecuted together Therefore the Intentions of Curing must be First That the obstructions of the Ductus's must be open'd if haply there are any either in the Porus Biliarius or Meatus Cysticus or elsewhere about the Liver or Vessels that convey the Choler Secondly That the Blood be reduc'd to its due temper and Crasis lest it engender Choler in too great a plenty or render it unapt for separation Thirdly That the strength be upheld and that the Symptoms chiefly prejucicing it be provided against 1. To satisfy the First Incication Cathartick evacuations both by Vomit and Seige are greatly conducing with which the descent of the Choler towards the Intestines is Irritated and the obstructed Vessels being by this means mightily agitated are freed from their stoppages Secondly We must give Medicines that are smart bitter and salt and others endow'd with a certain instigating vertue which may sharply stir up the motion of the Gall gathered together in the Liver and there stagnating In this place also we must range such Medicines as are thought to be good against the Jaundise by a similitude of substance and as it were by a Signature viz. as being endow'd with a yellow Juice though many of these because they move Urine or Sweat may aptly enough be plac'd in the same rank with the former viz. amongst evacuative Medicines The Second Indication requires altering Medicines altogether viz. such as may depress the exaltations or wild efforts of the Sulphur and fixt Salt and help to the restitution of the Volatile Salt which was depress'd before For these purposes Medicines containing an Acid or Volatile Salt and likewise Chalybeats will do excellently well Hence Spirit of Salt of Vitriol Juice of Limons also Spirit of Hartshorn and Sheeps dung Goose dung Crocus Martis and other preparations of it of divers kinds are often prescrib'd in the Jaundise with good success The Third Incication being for the support of the strength and for removing Symptoms that prejudice it suggests to us many and diversifyed manners of Curing but to avoid tediousness I shall only set down certain general Rules concerning Diet and some Cordial and Anodine Remedies peculiarly proper in this case The Therapeutick Indications being thus laid before you it remains for us now to adjust Select Medicines viz. both simple and compound to each of those Intentions before propos'd and to explicate the manners and ways of operating of those Remedies which are accounted of most note in this Disesse First therefore we shall set before you the Forms of Evacuating Medicines appropriated to the Jaundise 1. Vomits EMetick Medicines most commonly are of good effect in a new Jaundise whilst the tone and strength of the Viscera hold good forasmuch as they both ease the Ventricle of its offensive load of viscous Phlegm with which its in a manner always opprest in this Disease and likewise by irritating the Vessels which convey the Choler and strongly shaking the Ductus's of the Liver they clear them of their stoppages and bring the Choler to pass by the ways it formerly was wont Take of the Infusion of Crocus Metallorum from half an Ounce to six Drams Vinegar of Squills an Ounce Oxymel simple half an Ounce Make a Vomit to be taken with governance Sometimes it is proper to give the Evening before the following Mixtrue as a preparation to facilitate the Vomiting Take Powder of the Roots of Asarabacca Faecula of Aron Roots of each a Scruple Tartar vitriolated half a Scruple Oxymel simple an Ounce Mix them Take Sulphur of Antimony seven Grains Scammony sulphurated eight Grains Cream of Tartar half a Scruple Make a Powder give it in a spoonful of Panada Take Nine Leaves of Asarabacca being slic'd and bruis'd pour to them of Whitewine three Ounces press forth the Juice give it in the Morning with governance Take Cambogia prepar'd eight Grains Tartar vitriolated seven Grains Make a Powder Catharticks PUrging Medicines have place in this Disease whether it be new or inveterate viz. both that the plentiful supply of Excrements be now and then clear'd from the first passages and that the Vessels that convey the Choler be stirr'd up to excretion Take Electuary of the Juice of Roses three Drams Rhubarb a Dram Salt of Wormwood Cream of Tartar of each half a Scruple Syrup of Rhubarb what suffices Make a Bolus Take Roots of sharp pointed Dock prepar'd an Ounce tops of Sea Wormwood and of the lesser Centory of each two pugils Roots of Gentian and Turmerick of each two Drams yellow Saunders a Dram boil them in a pound and a half of fountain water to a pound towards the end add of the best Sena six Drams of the best Rhubarb three Drams Agarick a Dram and a half Coriander-seeds two Drams Whitewine two Ounces let them boil close covered for two hours then strain it and let it settle till it be clear The Dose is from four Ounces to six with Syrup of Rhubarb an Ounce water of Earth-worms three Drams Make a Potion to be taken for three or four days together or every other day In a weaker Constitution TAke
Make a Mass and form it into Pills Certain Hydragogue Electuaries are now every wher much in use amongst Practitioners and especially one given us by tye famous Sylvius and another by Zwelfer This that follows likes us well Take Rosin of Jalap two Drams Tartar vitriolated a Dram Extract of Rhubarb two Drams of Esula a Drm and a half Roots of the lesser Galingal a Dram bruise them very well And lastly add Conserve of English Orris Flowers four Ounces and with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Peach Rlowers Make an Electuary the Dose is from half a Dram to a Dram and a half or two Drams I might here give you many other Purging Hydragogues but Catharticks do not always Cure the Ascites nay they often make it worse and if you insist too long upon them render it Incurable Therefore now let us enquire whether Diureticks will do good in this case or not And truly any Man might easily be induc'd to believe that Medicines provoking Urine contribute very much towards the Evacuation of Waters from any part or Cavity of the Body In reality its manifest by frequent experiments that they often Cure the Anasarca and give relief in it before all other Remedies Let us see therefore what they can do for draining the Cavity of the Abdomen As to this its manifest in the first place that there is no immediate passage open from the Ascitical Mass of Waters to the Reins how near soever they lye to them but whatsoever waters are conveyed from that Mass to the Reins must of necessity be first of all drank up again into the Blood and be thence discharg'd into that receptacle of the Urine Now little is it that the small Mouths of the Veins if haply any of them are open can receive And this is that only thing which Diureticks are able to perforem viz. By fusing the Blood and driving its Serosities to the Reins in a plentiful manner to make it draw to it self being so drein'd the Waters floating in the Belly In the mean time there is no less danger lest Diureticks unseasonably given whilst they fuse the Blood too much drive the Serum which is forc'd to part from it into the watery Mass of the Ascites more than into the Reins and so rather to increase than remove that deluge of the Belly And truly I have frequently observ'd that this sometimes happens and 't is for this reason tha the Ancients always mixt Astringents and Corroboratives in their Medicines for the Dropsie not that such as is vulgarly said strengthen the tone of the Liver but preserve the Crasis or Mixture of the Blood from being wholly dissolv'd by too much fusion Therefore in an Ascites which happens chiefly or in part by reason that the Serous humour stuffs and mightily swells the Compages of the Viscera and Vessels and especially the Tunicles Glands and Fibres themselves and the spaces betwixt them even as Cathartieks are proper so are also Diureticks and are often taken with success for as much as by the use of these the Mass of Blood is drein'd the Serum being deriv'd to the Reins in a plentiful manner and readily receives into it self those waters every where stagnating about the Mouths of the Vessels and conveys them to the Urinary Common-shore But on the contrary in a true Ascites where the Textures of the Viscera being free from such stuffings with Serum the filthy Mass of Waters fills the Cavity of the Belly Diureticks are given either to no purpose or with prejudice because they fetch out nothing of the water stagnating in the Belly and very often by fusing the Blood drive the waters more violently thither being apt to distil into it of their own accord In an Ascites all Diureticks of every kind are not equally proper nor ought to be indifferently give for it is to be observ'd that Persons troubl'd with this Disease make little Urine which is also reddish and resembling as it were a Lixivium which is a sign that the Crasis of their Blood is so close bound by reason of the fixt Salt and Sulphur being exalted and combin'd together in it and consequently that its Serum is not duly separted within the Reins which nevertheless is thrown off in the Involutions of the Obstructed Viscera and so is depos'd in the Cavity of the Belly Wherefore in this case we must give only those things to move Urine which so restore and corredct the Constitution of the Blood that the Irregularities of the fixt Salt and Sulphur being taken away the Serous part may be separated within the Reins and sent forth in a more plentiful manner For which end not Acid or Lixivial things but such as are endow'd with a Volatile Salt are proper for I have often observ'd in such Patients that when Spirit of Salt and other Acid distill'd Liquors of Minerals and when the Deliqia or Solutions of Salt of Tartar of Broom and of other things have rather done hurt than good the Juice of Plantain of Brooklimes and of other Herbs abounding with a Volatile Salt also the expressions of Millepedes have given relief For the same reason Sal Nitre throughly purified or Crystal Mineral has often a mighty good effect You may find Forms of Medicines proper for this use in our preceding Tract where we have set down Examples of Diureticks in which both Volatile and Nitrous Salts are the Basis Moreover to this place belongs that notable Experiment with which Johannes Anglus says he often Cur'd an Ascites from a hot Caus which Medicine also the most experienc'd Physician Dr. Theodore Mayern usually prescrib'd in the like Case and was wont to extol It is as follows Take Juice of Plantain and Liverwort and fill an earthen Pot with it to the Brim then stop it very close and put it in a hot Oven as soon as the Bread is drawn and make a gentle Fire round the sides of the Pot to continue the heat of the Oven after it is boild strain the Liquor and being sweeten'd with Sugar let it be drank Mornings and Evenings and it Cures In Imitation of this I have often prescrib'd with success after the following manner Take green Plantain Leaves four handfuls Liverwort and Brooklimes of each two handfuls being bruis'd together pour to them of small Compound Raddish water or of some other Magisterial water half a pound wring it forth hard The Dose is three Ounces thrice a day Diaphoreticks though most efficacious in an Anasarca yet are of little or no use in an Ascites for being unseasonably given they often cause a great prejudice to the Patient without doing him the least good because by heating the Blood they make the waters floating in the Cavity of the Belly to grow fervid and to boil as it were so that the Spirits and Humours are mightily troubled by the Vapours thence rais'd and so a disorder of all the functions follows and the Viscera themselves being sodden as it were are very much
injur ' Moreover when a Sweat is thus unduly rais'd the Blood being forc'd to a fusion and precipitation of Serum discharges more yet into the watery Mass of the Ascites therefore when some prescribe Fomentations and Liniments to be apply'd to the swollen Paunch and order Bathing for the most part it falls out for the worse to the Patients for besides Feverishness a Head-ach Vertigo faintings of the Spirits and other ill Symptoms of the Heart and Brain most frequently caus'd by such means the Belly also swells the more by it because the Blood being agitated and dissolv'd deposes the Serum there in a larger measure Nay and the Mouths of the Vessels are thereby made more loose and open so that they distil forth waters faster they being now dispos'd to part from the Mass of Blood The Remedies which are wont to be Administred with most success when we will not proceed to an Incision are Glisters and Plaisters The former draw the Serum out of the Vessels and Glands of the Intestines and Mesentery without fusing the whole Mass of Blood which strong Catharticks will do which being so emptyed receive into them some of the extravasted Lympha For this end the following Glister usually prescrib'd by us in the like case is mighty proper in regard at the same time it irritates the Fibres of the Intestines and draws the Serum imbib'd by the Blood or before contain'd in it to the Reins Take Vrine of a sound Man that drinks Wine one pound Venice Turpentine dissolv'd with the Yolk of an Egg an Ounce and a half Sal Prunella a Dram and a half Make a Glister repeat it daily Plaisters sometimes do good in an Ascites but let them be such as strengthen the Viscera by some restringent and comforting vertue and help to close the Mouths of the Vessels that they do not dicharge the Serosities in too great a plenty For this end I usually apply Emplastrum Diasaponis to the swollen Belly with good success Or Take Emplastrum de minio and Paracelsi of each what suffices Make a Plaister to be apply'd to the Belly If at any time this Disease be complicated with a Tympany other sorts of Epithems are proper as we shall decalre hereafter The great and most present Remedy for an Ascites is to make an Inision and draw forth the water tho this practice as often Kills the Patient as Cures the Disease wherefore there is need of great caution in what Persons and in what time of the Disease this ought to be attempted In Cachectical Persons and such as have been long ill in whom the Conformation and temperament of the Viscera are generally vitiated it cannot prove of any good effect to let forth the waters by piercing of the Belly for presently upon it the Spirits faint the strength is dissolv'd nay and a fresh inundation of the Morbifick humour soon succeeds it But those who before having a good constitution of the Viscera and being sound enough as to all other parts fall into an Ascites upon some great evident cause as they need not presently at first attenmpt an Incision so they ought not to defer it long if it be judg'd requisite For upon a long delay the Viscera which are immerg'd in the waters and as it were sodden in them become incorrigibly vitiated It s besides my purpose to describe here the Administration of this Incision whether it be perform'd the ordinary way or according to the way of Sylvius with a Perforated Needle As physicians seldom prescribe this operation they looking upon it as dangerous so Quacks and Empiricks never consulting them attempt it very often inconsierately and uprosperously For conclusion I shall here give you a relation of a true and terrible Ascites lately Cur'd without an Incision A young Woman tall and slender an Merchants Wife giving Suck to her Child drank both by day and by night to increase her Mild an immoderate quantity of Ale sometimes plain and sometimes made into Posset-drink after having us'd this ill way of Diet for six Weeks she feel suddenly into a cruel Ascites the beginnings of which she never had minded for her Abdomen being full of waters floatig within it swell'd mightily and its Bulk when she turn'd her self from one side to the other fell without the Ilia and the borders of the rest of her Body in the mean time the Flesh of all her Members was mightily consum'd and she seem'd not less Consumptive than Hydropical The Child being wean'd and better Diet ordered she entred upon Physick and in the first place took gently Hydragogues both Purging by Siege and Urine but without any benefit nay after all Purging she was worse Afterwards being Committed to our care and almost in a desperate condition I proceeded with her after the following method Having wholly forbidden her the use of Ale and all other drinks but what were Physical I prescrib'd these things Take Leaves of Plantain Brooklimes Clivers of each four handfuls being bruis'd together pour to them water of Earth-worms and Radish-water Compound of each three Ounces wring ti forth she took it twice a day viz. at eight of the Clock in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon she continued the use of this Medicine a long time but altered now and then the Composition changing sometimes the Herbs sometimes the Liquor to be poured to them Take of the reddest Tincture of Salt of Tartar an Ounce and a half she took twenty Drops going to Bed and early in the Morning in two spoonfuls of the following Julape drinking after it seven spoonfuls Take of the reddest Tincture of Salt of Tartar an Ounce an da half she took twenty Drops going to Bed and early in the Morning in two spoonfuls of the following Julape drinking after it seven spoonfuls Take water of the Flowers of Elder and of Saxifrage of each six Ounces the waters of Snails Earth-worms and Radish Compound of each two Ounces On her Belly she wore a Plaister made of Empl. de Minio Oxycroceo The following Glyster was given her first every day afterward every other or third day Take Vrine of a sound Man a pound Turpentine dissolv'd with the Yolk of an Egg an Ounce and a half Sugar an Ounce Sal Prunella a Dram Make a Glister By the constant use of these things in six Weeks time the swelling of her Belly came down but her flesh daily falling away a Consumption was fear'd Wherefore to prevent it she went into the Country and drank Asses Milk and by the benefit of this nourishment and of the fresh Air taking continually the above mention'd Medicines she recover'd perfectly within three Weeks or a Month and lives still and is in good health CHAP. IV. Instructions and Prescripts for Curing the Tympany A Tympany may be thus defin'd or at least describ'd viz. that it is a fixt and continued tumour of the Abdomen equal hard stiff yielding a sound upon striking taking its rise from a sort of
Convulsive Inflation of the Membranous Parts and Viscera by reason of the Animal Spirits being driven into those Fibres in too great a plenty and there hindred from a Recess through the fault of the Nervous Juice obstructing it To which affect a gathering of Winds in the empty places is consequently added for compleating it That we may have timely notice of its beginning we must understand that there are some previous affects which dispose to it as especially a Hypochondriack Colick Hysterick and sometimes an Asthmatick disposition And if after frequent returns of Fits in any of these Distempers a tumour of the Abdomen follows though never so small at first a Tympany is presently to be fear'd A Tympany seldom kills of it self but after it has continued a long time to make more sure work it joyns to it self at length an Ascites as a forerunner of death In order to the Cure of a Tympany as in most other Diseases there are three primary Indications whereof the first and always the most pressing being Curatory endeavours to remove the tumour of the Abdomen by recalling the Animal Spirits from that Convulsive extention and reducing them to order The Second being preservatory keeps those Spirits or others from inordinate excursions into the Nervous Fibres of the Belly and at the same time corrects the faults of the Nervous Liquor accompanying them as to its Crasis or Motion The Third is Vital and by removing the Symptoms that are most pressing relives and upholds as much as may be all the functions that are opprest or weakned The First Indication is always of chiefest moment the whole stress of the Cure consisting in it but it s very difficult to be perform'd For it does not readily occur to us with what remedies or ways of Administration it ought to be attempted Bleeding has no place here but in a manner always is shun'd as hurtful also Catharticks for as much as they irritate the affected Fibres and trouble the Spirits and drive them more violently into those Fibres do rather increase than diminish or Cure the tumour of the Belly So likewise Diaphoreticks force the Spirits together with the Morbifick Particles deeper into those Fibres from which they ought to be summon'd forth and withdrawn The chief means of Cure seems to be plac'd in the use of Diureticks and Glisters and great things are likewise expected from Topicks because they are apply'd more immediately and by contact to the Disease it self and because we see they excellently dissolve or discuss tumours in other places but all dissolvents are not proper here even though in other tumours they are very Medicinable For those that are hot being accounted discussors most commonly rather do hurt than good in a Tympany whether they are us'd as a Fomentation or Liniment or apply'd in the Form of a Cataplasme or Plaister For they both open and dilate the Ductus's of the Fibres so that they lye more open to the Inroads of the Spirits and at the same time rarify the Particles sticking in them so that they coming to occupy a greater space the Inflation and Swelling of the Belly is augmented Lastly as to Alteratives even of those which do good against other affects of the Genus Nervosum only some few are proper in a Tympany for where the Morbifick matter sticking within the strait Ductus's cannot be driven forwards or quite through Elastick Medicines by fastning the matter deeper render the obstruction still greater or more fixt Wherefore the Spirits of Harts-horn Soot Sal Armoniack and so Tinctures Elixirs and other Medicines endowed with a Volatile Salt or Particles otherwise active do not only cause a very troublesome heat and drought in persons troubled with a Tympany but also make the Abdomen swell more because they trouble the Spirits and fuse the Blood and Nervous Juice so that the Particles deposed by each of these are forc'd into the parts affected Nowwithstanding Physick can do so little against this Disease we must not cease to move every stone in order to Cure or give ease to the Patient Therefore in the First place because it is the Custom to begin with Evacuatives though strong Catharticks always do hurt and the more gentle are scarce ever able to carry off the Conjunct Cause yet these latter for as much as they withdraw somewhat of that which feeds the Disease and prepare the way for other Medicines to exert their Energies more freely ought to have their turns in the Practice of Physick viz. once in six or seven days and at other times let Glisters the use of which is much better he frequently Administred Hydroticks being forbidden let moderate Diureticks be diligently plyed to which at the same time let such things be joyn'd which regard the altering and reducing of the Spirits and Humours which truly make up the chiefest part of Pharmacy for a Tympany Moreover in the mean time let not the use of Topicks be neglected We shall set down certain Select Forms of Medicines appropriated to each of these ends For a Medicine gently loosening use the Laxative Wine prescrib'd for a Tympany by the famous Greg. Horstius in the Fourth Book of his Observations Chap. 30. or instread of it let the following be prescrib'd in a shorter Form Take Flowers of Peaches and of Damask Roses of each two Pugils of Broom Elder and the lesser Centory of each a Pugil Leaves of Agrimony and Sea Wormwood of each a handful of the best Sena an Ounce Rhubarb six Drams Carthamus-seeds half an Ounce of Dwarf-elder two Drams yellow Saunders three Drams Galingal Roots two Drams being slic'd and bruis'd sew them up in a Silken Bag and put it in a Glass with two pounds of Whitewine Saxifrage water a pound Salt of Tartar a Dram and a half let them stand for forty eight hours then let the Patient begin to drink it taking about four or six Ounces every third or fourth day In a hotter constitution let the following Form be given which I have sometimes try'd with good success Take of Purging Mineral waters eight pounds Salt of Wormwood two Drams let it evaporate with a gentle Bath-heat to two pounds To this I use to add of water distill'd from Purgers with Wine four Ounces The Dose is from four Ounces to six Or to that Liquor evaporated to two pounds add of the Roots of Mechoacan and Turbith of each half an Ounce Rhubarb six Drams yellow Saunders two Drams Cloves a Dram Let there be a close and warm digestion for two hours filter it warm through lawn paper the Dose is three or four Ounces Glisters are of frequent use in this Disease because they loosen the Belly without any great irritation of the Fibres Take water of the Infusion of Stone-Horse-dung with Cammomile Flowers a pound Honey of Herb Mercury two Ounces After the same manner also let Decoctions or Infusions be prepar'd of Dogs-turd with Carminatives Take of the Emollient Decoction a pound Sal
Prunella or Sal Armoniack from a Dram to a Dram and a half Make a Glister Take of the Vrine of a sound Man a pound Sal Prunella a Dram Venice Turpentine dissov'd with the Yolk of an Egg an Ounce and a half Make a Glister 2. Dinreticks If any other Remedies premise help in this Disease Take live Millepedes cleans'd three Ounces one Nutmeg slic'd being bruis'd together pour to them of the following Diuretick water a pound express it strongly The Dose is from three Ounces to four twice a day Take of the green Berries of Juniper and Elder of each six pounds Firr tops four pounds green Wallnuts two pounds Winters Bark four Ounces the outward Rinds of six Oranges and four Limons the Seeds of Ameos Rocket and Water-cresses of each an Ounce and a half Dill-seeds two Ounces being slic'd and bruis'd pour to them of Whey made with Whitewine eight pounds distil it with common Organs Let all the Liquor be mixt Take Crystal Mineral half an Ounce Volatile Salt of Amber two Drams Powder of wild Carrot-seeds a Dram Venice Turpentine what suffices Take small Pills take three at Night and in the Morning drinking after it of the foresaid water three Ounces Take sweet Spirit of Salt half an Ounce give from eight drops to twelve twice a day with a Draught of the same water adding Syrup of Violets a spoonfull Take Spirit of Salt of Tartar an Ounce give from a Scruple to half a Dram twice a day after the same manner So also Spirit of Nitre and Tincture of Salt of Tartar may be given Take Leaves of Plantain Chervil and Clivers of each four handfuls being bruis'd together pour to them of the former distill'd water a pound express it strongly The Dose is three Ounces twice or thrice a day with some other Medicine Take Grass Roots three Ounces Roots of Butchers-broom two Ounces Chervil and Candied Eringo's of each an Ounce shavings of Hartshorn and Ivory of each two Drams burnt Hartshorn two Drams and a half Burdock-seeds three Drams boil them in three pounds of fountain water to two pounds In the warm straining put Leaves of Clivers and Watercresses bruis'd of each a handful adding of Rhenish Wine six Ounces let there be a close and warm Infusion for two hours then strain it again and add of the Magisterial water of Earth-worms two Ounces Syrup of the five Roots an Ounce and a half make an Apozeme the Dose is four Ounces twice a day with some other Medicine Whilst these things are taken inwardly let Topicks also and outward applications be carefully Administred not such as are hot and discussing but such as are endow'd with Particles of a Volatile and Nitrous Salt which destroy the combinations of the other Salts and make void the efforts of the Spirits for which ends we propose the following things If Fomentations ought to be us'd at all let them not be apply'd too hot and let them not be prepar'd of the vulgarly call'd Carminatives but chiefly of Salts and Minerals Cabrotius quoted by Helmont says he Cur'd a Person eighty years of Age whose Belly he somented twice a day with a Lixivium in which he boil'd Salt Allum and Sulphur and after apply'd Cow-dung for a Cataplasm I use to prescribe as follows Take Flowers of Sal Armoniack an Ounce Crystal Mineral two Ounces small Spirit of Wine containing much Phlegm in it two pounds Mix them and dissolve them in a Glass Let a Woolen Cloath dipp'd in this warm be apply'd on the whole Abdomen and be chang'd now and then dipping it afresh Let it be done twice a day for half an hours space afterwards let there be apply'd either a Cataplasm of Cow-dung with the Powder of Dogs-turd or the Plaister following Take Emplastrum Diasaponis that is of Minium with Venice Soap what suffices Let it be thin spread on thin Leather and apply'd to the whole Belly renewing it within ten or twelve days The Second Indication requires chiefly altering Medicines viz. such as put a stop to the Fermentations of the humours in the Viscera of the Belly and to the wild Efforts and irregular excursions of the Spirits and which likewise procure the even mixtures and due motions of the Chyle and Nervous Juice For which ends Chalybeats are principally us'd and truly not only for this Disease but for many others belonging to the Viscera of the Belly it 's usual to have recourse to Steel Medicines though in the mean time many Empyricks confidently prescribing them do not consider after what manner such Medicines work or what alterations for the better may be expected from them And indeed it very often falls out that nature her self is destroyed and not the Disease when Chalybeats of which there is a great variety and of diversified Operations are given without any distinction or choice or without respect to the Temperament Constitution and state of the Disease in Patients We have treated elsewhere ex professo concerning Medicines prepar'd of Iron and Steel and of their vertues and manners of working so that it 's needless to repeat the same here As to this Disease if any of them are proper for it certainly they are not all For those in which the Sulphur still remains and being free predominates over the other principles after that the texture of the mixt Body is open'd must be wholly excluded from this number for by their powerful fermentation they greatly ferment the Juices of the Viscera and put the Blood and Spirits in such a Commotion that the whole Region of the Belly is puft up in a greater Bulk as though some Spirit rush'd violently into it Nor are those more proper here from which the Sulphureous Particles are wholly driven away with the Saline as in Crocus Martis prepar'd by a very strong and long Calcination for as this Medicine is good to stay all fluxions so it sixes more any Impactions of Spirits and humours and renders them more obstinate But there remains a Martial Remedy of a middle kind in which the Sulphur being wholly or for the greatest part expell'd the Vitriolick Salt remains and has for the greatest part the Predominancy as it has in a Solution of the Filings of Iron or in its Infusion either simple or in Mineral waters in Salt or Vitriol of Mars in our preparation of Steel with many others preparations and compositions of which have been often found by experience to have done great good in some cases for these destroy the Exotick and restore the Genuine Ferments of the Viscera open their Obstructions fix the Blood and keep its Texture from much dissolution Wherefore Chalybeate Medicines as also some other Alteratives have haply some effect against the Procatarctick and more remote Causes of a Tympany but do little or no good at all against its Conjunct Cause Take of our Steel ground very fine two Drams of the Distill'd water above written two Pounds Syrup of the five Roots two Ounces mix them in a Glass
and let it Clarifie by setling the Dose is three or four Ounces in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon Take Powder of Aron Roots and of Crabbs Eyes of each three Drams Chrystal Mineral two Drams Vitriol of Mars a Dram and a half Sugar of Rosemary Flowers two Drams Mix them the Dose is half a Dram twice a Day with a fit Vehicle Hartman highly extolls the Liquor of the Flowers of the Herb Mullein as a Specifick Remedy in this Disease Put those Flowers fresh gather'd into an Alembick and press them in hard then the Vessell being carefully stopt that nothing can breath forth let it stand in an Oven whilst bread is bak't and afterwards the Flowers being taken forth press forth the Liquor very hard and let it be Distill'd in Balneo The Dose is a Scruple in Decoction of the Seeds and Roots of Fennel Certainly if this Medicine can do any thing it ought to be given in a greater Dose Johannes Anglicus Commends the Electuary Rosata Novella with Diatrion Santalon and Ants Eggs which Medicine truly being probable enough seems to promise something In Imitation of these I shall here propose the following Take Conserve of the Flowers of Cichory and Indian Cress of each three Ounces Powder of Aron Roots Lignum Aloes yellow Saunders of each a Dram Crabbs Eyes a Dram and a half Salt of Wormwood an Ounce Ants Eggs an Ounce Liguor of male Mullein half a Dram with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Citron Pills make an Electuary the Dose is two Drams twice a Day Drinking after it of the former Distill'd water or of the following Julape three Ounces Take water of the Leaves of Aron of the Juice of Elderberryes water of Juniper and of Elder Flowers of each six Ounces Magisteriall waters of Snails and of Earth-worms of each two Ounces Syrup of the Juice of Elderberryes two Ounces mix them make a Julape The third Indication being vital Prescribes Remedies chiefly against Faintings of the Spirits and difficulty of Breathing and against Watching and Thirst I shall briefly set down certain Forms of both kinds 1. Cordials TAke water of Navews of Marigold and Cammomill Flowers of each three Ounces Dr. Stevens's water two Ounces Tincture of Saffron two Drams Sugar an Ounce Pearl a Dram make a Julape the Dose is four or five Spoonfuls thrice or oftener in a Day in Faintings Take Conserve of Marigold Flowers two Ounces Confection of Alkermes and of Hyacinth of each two Drams Pearl Powdred an Ounces of the Juice of Citrons what suffices make a Confection take the quantity of a Nutmeg Evening and Morning drinking after it a Draught of the Julape 2. Hypnoticks TAke Aqua Hysterica six Drams Syrup de Meconio half an Ounce mix them take it late at Night Or Take small Cinnamon water an Ounce Diacodium three Ounces Tincture of Saffron two Drams mix them take to the quantity of a Spoonfull late at Night if Sleep be wanting Or Take Syrup of Cowslip Flowers three Spoonfulls Compound Peony water one Spoonfull Laudanum Tartarizd a Dram take a Spoonfull late at Night if you cannot Sleep Quenchers of Thirst must be frequently given in this most Thirsty Disease but it must be in a very small quantity that we may allay that most troublesom Symptom without much Drink which is always pernicious For which end Take Conserve of Wood-Sorrel passed through a Sieve three Ounces Pulp of Tamarinds two Ounces Sal Prunella a Dram Syrup of the Juice of Wood-Sorrel what suffices make a soft Lohoch of which let him lick often CHAP. V. Instructions and Prescripts for Curing the Anasarca AN Anasarca is describ'd after this manner that it is a white and soft Tumour of the whole outward part of the Body or of some parts of it yielding to the Touch and leaving a Pit uppon Compression proceeding from an Aqueous Homour extravasated and heapt together both within the Interstices of the Muscles and within the Pores of the Flesh and Skin and even of the Glands and Membranes That watery Humour proceeds wholly or for the greatest part from the Blood for being continually produc't within the Mass of Blood through the defect and fault of Sanguification it is pour'd forth of the Mouths of the Arteries in a greater quantity than that it can be receiv'd and carried back by the Veins and Limphaeducts and be sent forth by the Reins and Pores of the Skin and other Emissaries of the Serous Latex And Anasarca whilst it is simple is the least dangerous amongst all the species of Dropsies And a particular Anasarca occupying only the Inferior Members so the Belly do not swell withal is much safer than an Universal one In order to a right proceeding towards a Cure two chief scopes of Curing here present themselves viz. First we must take Care that the water betwixt the Skin and the Flesh be some way Evacuated and Consum'd and Secondly that a new supply be not continually engendred and heapt together For which end we must use what means we may both that the Viscera of Concoction being cleans'd from Excrements and free from Obstructions prepare always a good Chyle and supply the Mass of Blood with it in a due quantity and likewise that the Blood its Principles being restor'd to their fermenting Power may duly ferment and convert into its own Nature the Juice of the Chyle continually sent into it The Vital Indication seems not necessary in this Disease as in many others because Faintings of the Spirits or Watchings for which Cardiacks and Hypnoticks are required seldom happen here And there is little need of restoring Diets because Fasting and Abstinence do more good and most commonly are the greatest part of the Cure the reason is that the Vessels being drain'd by Fasting drink up the waters Stagnating betwixt the Skin and the Flesh or elsewhere and send them forth partly by the Reins the Pores of the Skin and other Emissaries and partly employ them most Advantageously for nourishing the Body they being yet full of a Nutritive Juice First to perform the first Indication which is for the Evacuation of the Morbifick matter all Hydragogue Medicines both Simple and Compound and likewise the Forms of Medicines set down before in the Chapter of the Ascites ought to be apply'd to use Moreover not only Catharticks and Diureticks but likewise Diaphoreticks have often place in the Cure of the Anasarca though for the most part they are forbidden in other kinds of the Dropsie In a simple Anasarca you may Purge Strongly and it often does much good I have given you before Forms of Hydragogue Catharticks of both kinds viz. of such as exert their force both upwards and downwards and both of a gentle and strong Operation from whence you may take them and apply them to the present Method of Curing If you ask how Catharticks work in this Disease and wherefore they carry forth waters better and more efficaciously than in other kinds of the
irritated a Watery Humour fill'd with Fiery Particles and therefore rejected both from the Blood and from the Nervous Juice is voided in a great abundance That Lympha because it cannot pass through the Scarf-skin separates it from the Skin and raises it into a Blister Hence it will be easy to understand after what manner Vesicatories perform their operation viz. Cantharides and so all other things of the same vertue being outwardly apply'd and coming to be made warm by the Effluviz's of the part they lie on and so stirr'd up to exert their force emit from them a great plenty of Smart and Fiery Particles as it were which penetrating the Scarf-skin without breaking it strongly fix themselves in the Skin Where sirst they act on the Spirits and then by their means on the Humours and Solid parts Those Particles very much irritate the Spirits and make them cause painful Convulsions of the Fibres and they fuse the Humours and make them separtate into parts so that the Watery part being mightily fill'd with those Smart and as it were Venemous Particles is thrown off on every side by the rest of the Latex And the extremities of the Vessels and Fibres being either in the mean time Eaten away by Burning or open'd and emulg'd as it were by Twitching that Ichor is voided in a plentiful measure from their little Mouths carrying with it the offensive Particles Which Ichor afterwards separates the Impervious Scarf-skin from the Skin and raises it into a little Blister And after this is broken and remov'd is plentifully voided for some time from the Ulcerated Skin But this is not only so done because the Serous Latex inbibing the Smart Particles of the Medicine and conveying them forth does not always carry them back all the same way that they came in but sometimes being imbued with those Particles it regurgitates into the Mass of Blood and afterwards being circulated with it and voided with its offensive Load by other Emunctories it offends in its passage or as it goes forth certain weak or tender Ductus's Hence many after the use of great or many Vesicatores having their Urinary passages thereby affected with an Acrimony or Erosion get a Strangurie which in some is most sharpe and intolerable Again in others troubled with the Stone that application sometimes causes Bloody Urine Hence also it may be suspected that tender Lungs or such as are inclin'd to a Consumption may be much endangered by the outward application of this Medicine Which nevertheless I have not hitherto known happen to any but rather on the contrary I can testifie by frequent trials that it rather proves to their advantage than to their prejucice For the smart Particles of the Catharides upon long application being sometimes plentifully imbib'd by the Blood infect its whole Serum which Latex nevertheless so aculeated as long as it is mixt with the Balsamick Blood offends no part but being separated from it by the Reins it sometimes hurts them and often not only twitches the Neck of the Bladder with its Acrimony but sometimes Corroding it fetches thence a Mucus and little Schims and even Blood it self But in the Mass of Blood those same sharpe Salino Volatile Particles often do great good because they destroy the fixt and acid Salts in it and likewise open the too close Texture of the Blood and so cause its Serous and other Morbifick Particles before fast bound in it to be separated from it and to be readily sent forth by Urine and Sweat hence in Fevers Vesicatories long apply'd cause a large Evacuation by Urine and a free Sweat Moreover the same open the Obstructed passages and stir up the Portions of the Blood and Serum stagnating in any place or extravased and restore them to Circulation Wherefore they are wont to do good not only in Distempers of the Serum but also of the Blood nay in the Pleurisie Peripneumonia and in any other Fevers whatsoever Hitherto having shewn after what manner Vesicatories work first on the Spirits and then on the Humours and Solid parts I must next set down their effects both good and evil also the manner of using them That they work first on the Spirits it is plain from hence that they exert no power on the Dead And it s an ill Omen in very weak persons when Vesicatories do not work because it 's a sign that the Animal Spirits are mightily dejected or lessen'd in their store Therefore to explain well the Energy or Vertue of this Medicine we must consider what Humours it evacuates or alters immediately or mediately And then in what Diseases and in Bodies how dispos'd it does good or hurt As to the first the Humours immediately let forth by a Vesicatory partly issue from the Pores and Glands of the Skin and partly from the Mouths of the little Arteries and partly from the extremities of the Nervous Fibres haply some little of the Juice fresh receiv'd may be cast back again from the little Mouths of the Veins though much of it cannot The Humours mediately voided by a Vesicatory are those which the foresaid parts being emptied receive from elswhere and convey forth 1. The Scarf-skin being remov'd by a Vesicatory from the Skin a Serous Humour is drawn from the Glands and Pores and this not only from the place Blistered but those Pores being pervious to others a Portion of Serum coming from other Pores sometimes succeeds in the Cells of the first drain'd and thence also distill forth wherefore in an Anasarca the little Ulcers rais'd by a Vesicatory empty waters on every side in great plenty and derive them from all the Neighbouring parts nay sometimes from those that are very remote 2. The Mouths of the Arteries do not only Spew forth the Portion of Serum brought to them according to common course but the Serous Latex being imbued with the irritative force of the Medicince in the whole Mass of Blood is thereby separated from the Blood in a more plentiful manner and carried forth by the said Mouths of the Arteries and with it other Excrements and sometime the Morbid matter it self in a large measure Hence in Malignant Fevers nay and in some Putrid Fevers of a difficult Crisis when the Refuse and Corruptions of the Blood unapt for separation threaten the Praecordia or Brain-vesicatories deriving it forth continually and by degrees often give great relief To which may be added that the same also as we have hinted before alter and restore the Blood degenerated or deprav'd as to its Salts and likewise by opening or rarifying its Texture dispose it to a Eucrasy Wherefore this kind of Remedy often agrees excellently well not only in a Feverish State of the Blood but likewise when it is otherwise vitiated or Cacochinical 3. Reason and Experience convince us that Vesicatories draw from the extremeties of the Nerves and Nervous Fibres the Latex contain'd within their Ductus's and free it from Stagnation and that they exagitate the
Medicines it either terminates immediately in Death or is chang'd into some other Disease viz. a Palsy Stupidity or Melancholy for the most part incurable Concerning the Cure of the Falling-sickness the Indications as vulgarly set forth are either Curatory having regard to the Fit and either keep it off as it is coming or soon force it off when it has seiz'd Or they are Prophylactick and regard the cause of the Disease which if they remove its accesses will be kept off for the future As to the first intention general Evacuatives have scarce place nor ought a Vomit or Purge and very seldom Bleeding to be us'd in a Fit if the person continues depriv'd of Sense a long time Clysters are sometimes wont to be administred but the chief thing to be done is to fix the Animal Spirits which are too Exorbitant and Volatile and to suppress their beginning Explosions For which ends two kinds of Remedies chiefly conduce viz. First Such as repress the Animal Spirits apt to rise to an Exorbitancy and to shoot and repel them by a certain Fumigation as it were ungrateful to them and force them into their due course Which Medicines endow'd with a Volatile and Armoniack Salt or also with a Vitriolick Sulphur will effect Of which kind are Salt and Oyl of Amber Spirit of Blood of Harts-horn of Soot Tincture of Castoreum and the like For these being inwardly taken or held to the Nostrils often give relief nay and are thought to drive away the evil Spirits of this Disease even as in Tobit the Fume of the Gall of a Fish burnt did the Devil Secondly the Animal Spirits are diverted or hindred from entring upon Explosions when they are allur'd to and kept imploy'd in some work that is usual to them wherefore in the Fit Frictions us'd over the whole Body and continued for some time often do good But as to raising up persons seiz'd and wholly restraining the Arms and Leggs from the Convulsive motion or binding them in this or that Posture as some people use to do and so as to blowing Sneezing-powder into their Nostrils and pouring strong Cordials into their Mouths or applying Cupping-glasses and Scarifications and dealing roughly with the Diseas'd by other ways of Administration thus disturbing the course of the Fit I say this sort of practice is very often ill taken in hand because by this means Nature is doubly toil'd viz. both by the Disease and no less by standers by and Servants whereas it were much better to let the Fit pass according to its course that so the Diseas'd might escape with one affliction Truly the greatest care of a Physician and efficacy of Remedies is in the Prophylactick part of this Disease that its cause being taken away or its root cut off all the Fruit may wither The Medicines requir'd for this Indication have regard to many intents which nevertheless may be reduc't to these two chief heads viz. First that the fuel of the Disease supplyed immediately from the vitious Blood and Nervous Juice and more mediately from the Viscera and first passages be cut off And then Secondly that the evil Disposition of the Brain and Spirits in it which is peculiar to the Epilepsy be remov'd As to the first thing indicated here Vomits and Purges and other both Evacuatives and Alteratives nay and Bleeding and Cauteries have place for as much as by these means and ways the Impurities both of the Viscera and Humours are drawn away and their Discrasy is corrected For though these Medicines and Physical Administrations seldom or never Cure the Epilepsy alone yet they remove Impediments raise up Nature and stir her up to set upon her Enemy They also prepare the passages that thereby Specifick Remedies may more certainly and efficaciously exert their Vertues Wherefore when the Cure of this Disease is attempted Spring and Fall and at other fit seasons by Secrets and Arcana's it's usual to use betwixt whiles those sorts of Medicines As to Specifick Remedies which are affirm'd even alone though not always to reach the cause of the Epilepsy and to overcome it of which kind are the Male Peony Mistletow of the Oak Rue Castoreum Elks-hoof preparations of Mans Scull Amber Coral with many others In regard these things are taken without any sensible Evacuation or even Disturbance following in the Viscera or Humours it seems strange by what formal way or Vertue of working they are wont ever to do good in this Disease If there be any room for conjecture in this intricate and obscure thing in regard the Procatarctick cause of the Epilepsy consists in the Heterogeneous Combination hapning to the Spirits in the Brain it follows that those things which overcome and remove such a cause are of such a Nature that by strengthening the Brain and constringing its Pores they keep off that Combination and so fix and as it were constipate the Spirits that abound in the middle of the Brain leaving their Combination that they are no longer apt and prone to irregular Explosions After the like manner haply as when the Powder of Aurum Fulminans ground with Sulphur and sprinkled with Spirit of Vitriol loses its fulminating Vertue And in truth we may conjecture nay in some measure discover that these kinds of properties to wit one or both of them together are in many Antiepileptick Remedies for the Peony Mistletow of the Oak Rue Lillies of the valley with many others excel in a manifest sort of Astriction whence it is very likely that their Particles inwardly taken and so by the Vehicle of the Blood or Nervous Juice convey'd to the Brain so constringe and close its over Lax and Gaping Pores that they no longer lie open for the entrance of the Morbifick matter Moreover because these concrets breath forth an Armoniack as it were and dissipating vapour therefore the same are said to purify the Animal Spirits and to fix and corroborate them having left their Heterogeneous Combination This Vertue of purifying the Spirits proceeding from the Armoniack Salt shews it self most in Remedies taken from Minerals and Animals such as are the preparations of Mans Scull Blood Amber and Coral as the other Astringent Vertue appears most in the parts and preparations of Vegetables There is no need for us here to set forth a compleat Method of Curing the Epilepsy with exact Forms of Prescripts because general Precepts and excellent Remedies are every where to be had amongst Authors and a prudent Physician will easily accommodate both the Indications and that plentiful Apparatus of Physick to particular cases of sick persons But because we give a clearly new Theory of this Disease a Therapeutick Method also adapted to the same ought to be here given Which we shall presently fully delineate after I have given you a story of a person troubled with the Epilepsy The Daughter of an Alehouse-keeper at Oxford had been very subject from her Infancy to a Catarrh falling on her Eyes being otherwise strong and
about the declining of the Disease viz. when the Confines of the Brain obtain'd a calm the Clouds as it were being discharg'd thence on the Brest a mighty Catarrh presently fell on the Lungs But in some especially who suffered little from the Disease in the Head presently from the beginning of the Fever a violent Cough and a Spitting of filthy Matter accompanied with a Consumptive Disposition as it were seiz'd them and precipitated them suddenly and unawares into a Consumption from which nevertheless by a seasonable use of Remedies they often unexpectedly recover'd I observ'd in some after a long failure of the sensitive faculty and an oppression of the Brain from the Morbifick Matter that at length Tumours ensued in the Glands about the Neck from which assoon as ripen'd and broken a thin and stinking Ichor flowed for a long time and gave ease I have seen also Watery Wheals sais'd in other parts of the Body which have past into bollow Ulcers with difficulty to be Cur'd Sometimes small Spots and as it were Flea-bites appear'd here and there Though I have not heard that broad and livid Spots ever were to be seen in Persons sick of this Disease However notwithstanding this Fever had not any very Malignant breakings forth yet it was not free from Contagion For in the same Family it seiz'd almost all the Children and younger People one after the other and often Persons stricken in years who attending the sick familiarly us'd about their Beds and Bed-cloaths were infected with the same Disease Yet I must say there was not so great a suspicion of infection that for that reason the Friends of the Sick should be wholly forbidden to visit them or converse with them Though all along the course of this Disease unless when the Brain was greatly assail'd it appern'd only mild and past without any dreadful Symptom nevertheless its Cure was always difficult and was not perform'd but after a long time For the Diseas'd seldom recover'd within three or four Weeks nay for the most part scarce within so many Months But if this Disease fell on Men of a decayed Age or Strength especially on such as were before subject to Cephalick Diseases as the Lethargy Apoplexy or Convulsions it often kill'd them in a shorter space Or if there were any hope of recovery it could be carryed on very slowly scarce any Remedies affording a sensible relief so that the Diseas'd were no sooner gotten without the Sphere of this Fever but they found themselves within the Confines of a Consumption If the formal reason and causes of the foresaid sickness be enquir'd into it plainly here appears that the Liquour which lies in the Brain and Genus Nervosum for the most part together with the Blood was in fault and was the immediate cause of the Symptoms that seem'd chiefly pressing viz. in as much as the Latex presently from the first invasion of the Disease was become more impoverisht than its wont and effaete as it were and therefore a Languor and Enervation with a Spontaneous Lassitude and a Disability to motion together with a sudden Consumption of the Body happen'd to the Diseas'd Though still the default of this Latex necessarily depends on the Dyscrasy of the Blood and of the ill Constiution of the Brain but here as in other places I refer you to Dr. Willis himself for a fall Aetrology of Symptoms I have often observ'd in this Fever after Oat Broath a Decoction of Barley and other thin Dyet that no less Ebullition of the Blood has been rais'd than by a full Meat Broath For indeed on one side as well as the other the Nutritive Juice sent from the Chyle into the Blood in regard it was not imploy'd in the work of Nutrition troubled the Blood as some Heterogeneous thing that would not duely mix with it And by reason of the Particles of this superfluous Juice sent off in a plentiful manner with the Serum the Urine was very thick and red and mightily fill'd with Contents And for this reason the Belly for the most part was loose in as much as the Blood being full of a Nutritious Juice suck't a less Portion of Chyle from the Lowels and discharg'd again into the Intestines a part of that which was brought into it moreover the Feverish Distemper stuck for so long time in the Blood because till upon the Restitution of the Animal Governance Nutrition was rightly perform'd that superfluous Matter was heap't together in the Mass of Blood I shall now give an instance or two of Persons affected with this Disease A Robust and Florid young Man about the beginning of the Spring An. 1661. falling sick without any evident cause soon became weak and as it were enervated with a loss of Appetite and a languishing of the Spirits Cathartick Remedies Antipyreticks Digestives nay and Antiscorbuticks and others of eivers kinds being given him according to the prescripts of famous Physicians did not the least good But the Diseas'd still continuing in a languishing condition lay by it for six weeks with a slow Fever of uncertain returns a quick and weak Pulse and a deep red Urine Moreover being mightily pined away he complain'd of a ringing in his Fars and an Undulation of sound as it were in his head Though he was affected with a great Stupor yet his Sleeps were very much troubled and interrupted with a talking Light-headed After forty days the Fever not yet declining it was thought good to draw about four or five Ounces of Blood from the Vessels of the Fundament by Leeches Hereupon presently the Fever began to be very much exasperated for the heat became more intense with a Thirst Watchings and an almost continual tossing of the Body the Tongue also growing dry and rough shortly after a troublesome Cough with much and discolour'd Spittle ensued There were carefully given him Almond and Barley Drinks with temperate things against the Cough boil'd in them Water of Milk distill'd with Snails and Herbs appropriated to the Thorax Powder of Shells Niter prepar'd and likewise Cordial Opiats which nevertheless scarce giving any relief the Diseas'd still became weaker And when after this manner having been sick above two Months the Feverish Distemper and the Cough also daily growing worse he seem'd to be at Death's Door at length a Sweat hapening of its own accord which sometimes came upon him every night sometimes every other night he grew better by degrees thereby and using afterwards the foresaid Medicines he became perfectly well within six weeks Whilst this Person lay ill I went to see another about Twelve years of Age affected after the like manner but this when I was first call'd having lain ill above a Month was reduc't to a Skeleton Moreover he was affected with a Giddiness a ringing in the Dars and a Deafness and likewise with a violent Cough thâ— accompanied with a yellow and as it were Consumptive Spittle His Pulse was quick and weak his Urine red and thick his
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 thâ—â— 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
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
Purging to apply Anodyne and mitigating Epithemes to the Places affected and also often to give gentle Hypnoticks by frequent changes Apozemes also and Juices and Expressions of Herbs that allay the Fervour of the Choler and gently carry it off by Seige and Urine are of excellent use but in the mean time let smart or strong Medicines whether they operate by Seige Urine or Sweat in regard they too much fuse and exagitate the Blood and Humours be carefully avoided I have often observ'd in Persons troubled with an acute and obstinate Pain of the Head that the Serum swimming on the Blood when let forth have been ting'd with a Yellowness or with bilous excrements incocated in it and that also in this Case a spare and frequent Bleeding and afterward a free drinking of Whey and Spaw-Waters have given a notable Relief and beyond other Remedies 4. Moreover if the Parts of the Head suster through the Fault of some one of the Viscera as of the Stomach Liver Spleen Womb or any other by reason of the Transmission of the ill Ferment then in the Cure of the Disease let such Remedies as regard the Viscera be administred together with Cephalicks hence to certain Persons troubled with the Head-ach whose Stomach also is in a Fault Elixir Proprietatis Mynsichts Elixir of Vitrol Tinctura sacra Vitriolum martis the compound powder of Aron Roots and other things vulgarly accounted for Stomachals often do good to others whose Heads participate of the evils of the Spleen Chalybeats often give help Some Women sometime find ease of their Head-ach by hysterick Remedies in like manner when the Faults of other Parts contribute to the Head-ach let the coindicated things taken from those Parts be joyned with the first things indicated 5. Sometimes the nutritive Juice is the Cause of a periodical Head-ach viz. in as much as being mix'd with the Blood and not duely assimilated it causes a Turgescency in it by reason of its disagreeing Particles so that the Blood boyling to the Head throws off its Refuse in its Meninges or certain Parts of them predispos'd for it and so irritates the Fibres to painful Convulsions For this Reason I have known many to have been obnoxious to a daily Head-ach after the Measles Small-Pox and other Fevers or Sicknesses with which the Mass of Blood is wont to be vitiated viz. so many Hours after Meals sometimes sooner sometimes later first a flushing of Blood in the Face then a Plentiude and Pain in the Head infested them moreover after drinking of Wine or eating of turgid Food they were more severely punish'd The Access of the Distemper is wont to happen sooner or later after they have eat or drunk according as the Chyle begins to grow turgid either a little after its first entrance into the Blood or after it has stay'd some while in it This affect is free from Danger and for the most part is easily enough cur'd After a Provision being made for the whole a gentle Purge and sometimes blooding being ordered Remedies which restore the Crasis of the Blood such as are chiefly antiscorbuticks and Chalybeats prove mighty beneficial Take Conserve of Fumitory Tansey Wood Sorrel of each two Ounces compound Powder of Aron Roots three Drams Ivoy Crabs Eyes Coral prepar'd of each a Dram and a half powder of yellow Saunders Lignum Aloes of each half a Dram Vitriol of Mars a Dram salt of Wormwood a Dram and a half syrup of the five Roots what suffices make an Electuary let the Quantity of a Chesnut be taken in the Morning and at five a Clock in the Afternoon drinking after it three ounces of the following Liquor Take Water of the Leaves of Aron Vervain and of the Flowers of Elder of each six Ounces magistral Water of Snails and Earth-worms of each two Ounces Sugar on Ounce mix them Various Medicines wont to be us'd against the scorbutick Diseases of the Blood may be rang'd here and giv'n with good Success for Head-aches which are so familiar in the Scurvy oftentimes proceed from the Fault of the Blood perverting the nutritive Humour and discharging its Recrements in the Membranes of the Head wherefore the Remedies mention'd by me elsewhere against that affect claim a place also here 6. There remains yet another Humour to wit the nervous Liquor which being carried into the Fibres of the Meninges and other parts of the Head sometimes becomes disproportionate to the Fibres by its own disagreeing nature as it is sharp or otherwise degenerate sometimes twitches the containing Parts and irritates them into Convulsions or painful Distentions as it strongly ferments with some other humour viz. the nutritious or serous Humour flowing thither The nervous Humour where it is thus morbifick either being vitiated in its whole Mass brings a very great Injury on the Brain predispos'd for it or being faultless of it self is perverted within the Fibres affected and so becomes morbifick secondarily the Cure of which then depends on the Restitution of the containing Parts viz. If the Weaknesses of the Fibres or their injur'd Conformations be amended the Humour irrigating them will presently be free from Fault With what Remedies the Defaults of the Parts predisposed for Head-achs are remov'd we shall presently acquaint you Mean while if the nervous Humour being degenerate in its whole Mass causes a great Offence to the Head predispos'd for Pain let those kinds of Medicines and that method be us'd with which being reduc'd to its due Crasis and gently passing through those Fibres it may irritate them little or not at all for which end neither strong Purging nor large or frequent Blooding are proper in regard they exagitate the Blood and Humours and impair the Strength and consequently give a greater Acrimony and Rage to the nervous Humour which was faulty before But gentle Loosners and a spare Bleeding will now and then be of use whereby the Viscera may be cleans'd and the Mass of Blood be somewhat purg'd and a way be prepar'd for other Medicines which will succeed the better afterwards Now the Medicines that render the nervous Liquor more friendly and benign to the Membranes of the Head which are wont to be offended by it are those which are vulgarly call'd Cephalicks viz. whose Particles being active enough and withall fine and subtle pass the Blood without any Turgescency or Tumult and then insinuating themselves into the nervous Liquor gently actuate it and cause the Ductus's of the Nerves so to open themselves that thereby the animal Spirits more freely irradiate all Bodies both sensible and motive and inspire them without Swoonings Convulsions or anomalous Distentions These kinds of Remedies tho not always efficacious nevertheless often remove some Head-achs that are not very inveterate and in others tho never so obstinate they frequently do good moreover those things that are prescribed against Pains of the Head are also given against Affects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum and on the contrary the things
things being thus premitted concerning the Vertigo in general it seems likewise proper for us to delineate a therapeutick method more particularly and to give an orderly process of it And first it shall be shewn what is to be done in the Fit for curing it and then what out of the Fit for preservation 1. As to the former tho an invasion of the Vertigo how violent soever it may seem for the most part is free from danger and often passes off easily of its own accord yet because those that are affected with it fearing themselves a dying desire Physical Aid in such a case if the Pulse indicates it a Clyster being premitted let bleeding be ordered then a Vesicatory being applied to the Neck let strong-smelling things as Castoreum Spirit or volatile Salt of Harts-horn Vrine or Sal Armoniack be presently held to the Nostrils moreover let those Spirits be given twice or thrice a day with a convenient dose of a Cephalick Julep going to bed let a bolus of Mithridate with powder of Castoreum be taken the day following if the affect be not yet gone let a gentle Purge be given or if the Diseas'd be inclined or easie to vomit let an Emetick be taken than which there is scarce any Remedy more excellent Take Pillulae de Succino twenty five grains Rosm of Jalap six grains Tartar vitriolat seven grains Balsam of Peru what suffices make four Pills to be taken going to bed or early in the morning or Take Sulphur of Antimony five grains Cream of Tartar half a scruple Castoreum two grains make a powder to be taken with governance expecting a vomiting That Vomits often do good in the Vertigo besides the testimony of Authors it sufficiently appears also by common observation and since vertiginous Persons vomit often of their own accord hence an opinion has grown amongst many that the cause of this Disease lies hid in a manner alwayes in the Stomach but we have shewn elsewhere that this is otherwise and that the vomiting frequently happens by reason of the Spirits being troubled in the Brain Now the reason why Emeticks do good in this Disease is that by this kind of Medicine both a very great Revulsion is made of Humours from the Brain and that the Spirits there being in a tumult are presently restrain'd When the Membranes and Fibres of the Ventricle and the Viscera placed near it are twitcht various Humours viz. the nervous serous lymphick pancreatick and bilous are drawn into those Parts and so dreined that the Brain continues free from their Incursions nay and easily throws off a great many then sticking in it Then as to the animal Spirits we have shewn elsewhere that there is alwayes a very great communication and intimate accord betwixt those that reside in the Stomach and those of the Brain so that a grateful or ingrateful affect of the Stomach from things taken causes erections or dejections of the Spirits residing in the Brain Opiats whilst remaining in the Stomach bring a sleepiness so in the Vertigo and other Cephalick Diseases it will not conduce a little to the redressing and regulating of the Spirits in the Brain when all in confusion and mightily agitated if their consociates or relations be put in a consternation within the Ventricle by an irritating Medicine for whilst for the aid of these a great many are call'd from the Brain the others remaining remit of their disorders and resume their ancient Offices doubtless it is chiefly for this reason that Emeticks often give great Relief in affects of the Mania insomuch that certain Empiricks use in a manner those alone 2. But returning from this small digression let us consider what is to be done for curing an inveterate and almost continual Vertigo out of the Fit therefore in the first place a method being ordered concerning blooding and purging to be us'd and repeated at fit intervals of time according to the Constitution and strength of the Patient I also use to advise that a Vomit if nothing indicates the contrary be taken once a Month for which end to weak Persons after the Stomack 's being fill'd with light food let Wine and Oximel of Squills be given to two or three ounces and afterwards let posset-drink with Carduus leaves boyl'd in it be drank in a great quantity and let it presently be thrown up again with a spontaneous or forced vomiting To others let an Emetick be given of Salt of Vitriol or of the Infusion of crocus Metallorum Concerning Issues Vesicatories the opening of the hemorrhades also of a Plaister or Cap to be worn on the Head and of topicks to be apply'd to the soles of the Feet or to the Wrists for revulsion or derivation let a Physician deliberate Take Conserve of the Flowers of male Peony six ounces powder of its Roots an ounce Peony seeds powdered two drams Amber Coral Pearl powdered of each two drams and a half Salt of Coral a dram Syrup of coral what suffices make an Electuary The Dose is a dram and a half or two drams in the evening and early in the morning drinking after it three ounces of the following distilled Water Take fresh leaves of Mistletow six handfuls roots of male Peony Angelica of each a pound and half the white dung of Peacocks two pounds Cardamum bruised two ounces Castoreum three Drams all being slic'd small and mixt together pour to them of White wine or of Whey prepar'd of it eight pounds distill it with common Organs let the whole Liquor be mix'd Take powder of the root of male Peony half an ounce red Coral prepar'd Species Diambroe of each a dram and half powder of male Peony flowers fresh bruised and dried in the Sun a dram make a powder to which add of double resin'd Sugar dissolved in Peony water and boyled to a consistency for Tablets ten ounces make Tablets according to Art weighing half a dram let one or two be taken often in a day Because all things do not agree with all Persons but a Physician ought to assay divers Medicaments and insisting on a various Method at one time to try these Medicines another those therefore I shall here set down certain forms of another kind Take our Syrup of Steel six ounces let a spoonful be taken in the Morning and at five of the Clock with three ounces either of the distilled Water even now described or of some other Cephalick Water or take from fifteen to twenty drops of our Syrup of Steel with a draught of the same distilled Water twice a day I have known these things to have given great Relief to many Sometimes let doses of the Spirits of Soot Harts-horn or Sal Armoniack impregnated with Amber Coral or Mans Scull or let tincture of Amber Antimony or Coral be daily given after the same manner Take Powder of the Roots of male Peony an ounce and a half Peony Seeds Coral prepared white Amber of each three Drams Pearl prepared Powder of male Peony
straitned than in the Corpus Striatum What before we said in the Apoplexy we affirm now in the Palsey that the morbid Particles are not only opilative but sometimes narcotick and extinguish the Spirits thus the steams of Antimony Mercury and Auripigment cause weaknesses tremblings and often resolutions of the Members to some using amongst furnaces of Metals In like manner we may imagine that in certain scorbutical and very cacochymical Persons heterogeneous Particles and seemingly of a vitriolick nature enter the Ductus's of the Nerves and subvert certain files of the Spirits or suppress their motion hence stupors or resolutions suddenly arise in the Members or Muscles sometimes in these and sometimes in those they often removing from place to place and sometimes a fixt Palsey is settled And in every Palsey caused by obstruction the morbifick matter is not a gross and viscous phlegm as Galen and many Physicians affirm for such does not pervade the Brain much less the Ductus's of the Nerves but seems to consist of subtle and very active particles tho injurious to the animal oeconomy for the Palsey happens to men as a blight or rust does to Plants for some Winds endued with Vapours more than cold viz. of a vitious or vitriolick Spirit when they blow upon young tender Plants presently cause them to wither viz. in as much as the tender stamina interwoven every where like Nerves in the Leaves and Branches are so throughly constring'd by the blast of the malignant Air that they no longer admit the Juice sent from the Trunk and Root through defect of which they wither after the like manner extraneous and as it were vitriolick Particles admitted within the Organs of Sense and Motion in as much as at the same time they stop the Pores and deject the animal Spirits or restrain them from Motion bring as it were a blast on the respective Parts As to the evident causes of an habitual Palsey viz. through what occasions those that are disposed to this Disease contract it sooner or being already seized with it are more severely troubled with it I say all such things make for this which add to the vitiating of the Blood also which fill the Brain and its nervous Appendix or raise suffusions of a morbifick matter in it those things likewise wich affect the Spirits with a Stupefaction or diminish their Stores in the number of these first occur disorders in the six non natural things an ill form of Dyer a drinking of strong Wines or hot Waters too much or unseasonable Sleep Idleness and a sedentary Life immoderate Venery too great losses of Blood a moist and marshy Air houses fresh plaistred metallick Fumes and Vapours frequent use of Narcoticks or Tobacco an excess of Cold Heat or Moisture vehement and long continued Passions of Sadness and Fear with many other things which I shall not here stand to relate There is another kind of this Disease depending on the scarcity and fewness of the Spirits in which tho motion fails wholly in no Part or Member yet it is performed but weakly only or depravedly by any to wit the affected tho not become without Motion yet they are not able to move their Members or to sustain any Burthen with strength moreover in any moving effort they are troubled with a trembling of the Limbs which is only the effect of Weakness or a broken strength in the moving Faculty Persons become subject to this affect by reason of an extream or valetudinary old age also through immoderate losses of Blood or Seed and likewise by reason of being very scorbutical or cacochymical and many recovering with difficulty and slowly from a chronick distemper are troubled with a languishing of the Limbs and a great resolution of the Members from their due Vigour and Strength so that tho their Stomack holds good and their Pulse and Urine be well disposed yet being enervated as it were and without Strength they scarce dare to set upon any local motion and if they begin it they cannot hold it long nay some without any considerable sickness keep their Beds for a long time as Persons ready to dye whilst they lye undisturbed they discourse with their Friends and are chearful but they neither will nor dare be raised up or walk about nay they abhor all motion as some dreadful thing Doubtless in these tho the animal spirits in some sort actuate and irradiate the whole Genus Nervosum yet their Stores are so slender and loosly set together that when many Spirits ought to be gathered together somewhere in it for motion there is great danger lest presently in the Neighbourhood their Continuity be broken off and consequently the tension in the Nervous Parts ber esolv'd Wherefore in regard the Spirits residing in the Brain are conscious of the Weakness of the others plac'd in the Members they refuse to impose local motion on their Companions as being a task too difficult for them for which cause the affected are scarce led by any perswasion to try whether they are able to go or not but those who being troubled with a scarcity of Spirits will force them as much as they may to local Motions are able at their first rising in the Morning to walk move their Arms this way and that or to lift up a weight with strength but before Noon the store of the Spirits which influenc'd the Muscles being almost spent they are scarce able to move Hand or Foot I have now a prudent and honest Woman in cure who for many years has been obnoxious to this kind of bastard Palsey not only in the Limbs but likewise in her Tongue This Person for some time speaks freely and readily enough but after long hasty or laborous speaking presently she becomes as mute as a fish and cannot bring forth a word nay and does not recover the use of her Voice till after an hour or two In a certain species of the Palsey the sensitive faculty is hurt by it self motion being still entire this is obvious enough concerning the Organs whose Nerves are only relating to Sense as of the Sight Hearing Tast and Smell and the Reason is plain enough But that in the uttermost habit of the Body or the Members sometimes the touch perishes the locomotive Power being without hurt as it is every where seen in Persons affected with the Leprosie Elephantiasis and in some troubled with the Mania who are wont to go naked and to lye on the Ground and who are become so insensible in the Skin and the Flesh of the Muscles that they do not feel the cuts of a Pen-knife or Needles any where thrust into them This I say is very difficult to be explained But concerning this it must be said that the same Nerves haply convey forward and backward the instincts of Motions and the Impressions of sensible things but that the same Fibres which are locomotive are not alway or chiefly sensible We have shewn elsewhere that the muscular and
is either in fieri or in its disposition or in facto or in its habit both require a peculiar way of Cure Of the former there are two chief cases in both of which the Therapeutick method regarding only the Procatarctick causes is ordered after the like manner to wit whether any Person be in danger of being seiz'd with the Palsey or recovering from it be in hazard of a relapse we must insist in a manner on the same Medicines Therefore the Intentious of Curing must be first that the functions of Chylification and Sanguification being duly perform'd a laudable matter for the generation of Animal Spirits be sent to the Brain in a sufficient plenty and then secondly that the Brain being still firm and of a due conformation admits into it and duly exalts into Animal Spirits all apt particles excluding such as are heterogeneous for these ends we have thought good to propose the following method which ought to be varied according to the various constitutions of the Diseased Spring and Fall let solemn courses of Physick be entred upon nay and the whole year besides let some Remedies be constantly used Bleeding is not generally proper for all Persons and if we forbid this it is not for the same reason with the Ancients supposing the Palsey to be a cold Disease but because the Animal Spirits are both engendred from the Blood and become elastick within the moving Fibres by reason of a sanguineous combination therefore if the store of this be lessened too much they will fail and flag Which truly I have observed in many and that for the most part in the Arm from which the Blood was drawn languishings and tremblings have begun Nevertheless a spare and moderate Bleeding sometimes agrees with some that are endued with a Blood that is hot and sharp and apt to too great effervescencies tho they are disposed to the Palsey About the Equinoxes purging ought to be ordered and to be repeated by due Intervals three or four times but in the first place let a Vomit if nothing indicates the contrary be given of Salt of Vitriol Sulphur of Antimony or an Infusion of crocus metallorum or Mercurius vitae afterward let Pillulae de succino or Aloephanginae be taken by themselves or with Rosm of Jalap every seventh or eighth day At other times let Cephalick Remedies such as we have prescribed for the sleepy affects viz Electuaries Powders Spirits and volatile Salts Tinctures Elixirs with distill'd Waters or Apozemes viz. sometimes these sometimes those or others be frequently used Let Issues be burnt in the Arm or Leg nay in gross and cachectical Persons together in both or near the Shoulder-blades Let a Physick-drink of Sage Betony Stoechas the wood Sassafras Winters bark c. be drank the whole year Wine and Venus ought either to be forbidden or to be allowed only sparingly But if the Palsey after a previous disposition in the whole or in one side or in certain members throughly seises and notwithstanding the first encounter of Physick comes on again for its cure a long and complicated method which is alwayes requisite often times does not suffice for not only the Disease or its conjunct or procatarctick Cause severally but all together must be assaulted for which ends blooding for the most part being forbidden only a gentle purge and that but now and then is proper Again and indeed chiefly against the Procatarxis of the Disease Cephaliâ—â— and Antiscorbutick Medicines are wont to do good but not all of these kinds agree with all Persons but as we have observed in the Scurvey according to the various Constitutions of the Diseas'd the Remedies also must be of a differing kind and vertue for with bilous paralyticks in whose sharp and hot blood there is much Salt and Sulphur and very little Serum hot Medicines and such as are endowed with very active Particles do not agree nay often prove offensive to them which nevertheless prove greatly beneficial to phlegmatick persons whose blood is colder and contains a great deal of Serum and a few active Elements Wherefore according to this two-fold state of the Diseased it seems fit for us to propose here a double method of Cure and two Classes of Medicines whereof this will do well to be given to cold paralyticks and the other to such as are hot In the former case for the removal of the procatarctick Cause after a Vomit and a Purge duely ordered I advise to be prescribed according to the following forms Take Conserve of the leaves of Garden Scurvy-grass and of Rochet made with an equal part of Sugar of each three ounces Ginger condited in the Indies an ounce the yellow coats of Oranges and Limons preserv'd of each six drams powder of the Claws and Eyes of Crabs of each four Scruples species diambroe two drams winters-bark a dram and a half roots of Zedoary the lesser Galingal Cubebs the seeds of Garden-cresses rochet of each a dram Spirit of Scurvy-grass and of Lavender of each two drams Syrup of the conditure of Ginger what suffices make an Electuary Let the quantity of a Walnut be taken at eight a clock in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon drinking after it a pound of the following decoction or six ounces of the Tincture of Coffee with the Leaves of Sage boyled in it or three ounces of Viper-wine Take Raspings of Guaiacum six ounces Sarzaparilla Sassafras of each four ounces red and yellow Saunders shavings of Ivory and Harts-horn of each half an ounce infuse them according to art and boyle them in sixteen pounds of fountain-Water to a half adding Crude Antimony powdred and tyed in a Nodulus four ounces roots of Calamus Aromaticus the lesser Galingal of each half an ounce Florentine Orris an ounce Cardamum six drams Coriander seeds half an ounce six Dates make a Decoction and let it be used for ordinary drink Going to Bed and early in the Morning let a dose be taken either of the Spirit of Soot or of Harts-horn of Sal Armoniack succinated of Blood c. with three ounces of the following distilled Water Take of the Leaves or Roots of Aron a pound Leaves of Garden Scurvy-grass the greater Rochet Rosemary Sage Savory Time four handfuls Flowers of Lavender three handfuls the outward rinds of ten Oranges and six Limons Winters bark three Ounces Roots of the lesser Galingal Calamus Aromaticus Florentine Orris of each two ounces Cubebs Cloves Nutmegs of each an ounce all being slic'd and bridsed pour to them of White-wine and Brunswick Beer of each four pounds let them be distilled with common Organs and let the whole Liquour be mixt Sometimes instead of the Electuary for fifteen or twenty dayes let a dose of the Tincture of Sulphur terebinthinated or the Tincture of Antimony or of Amber sometimes also let the Elixir Proprietatis or of Peony be taken in a spoonful of the distilled Water drinking after it three ounces of the same Sometimes also let the
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
appropriate Electuary such as above-described with a Cephalick Julep Within two months he was m uch better and afterward came to himself by degrees Whilst I was writing these things a young man of Quality lately returned from travelling beyond the Seas and being become sickly committed himself to our care This Person being formerly of a sanguine and chearful temperament of a gay behaviour also of an acute wit and a clear disposition as he travelled through Foreign Countries and being in a certain Summer in Spain he felt in himself a great alteration from the intense heats of that place For first he became obnoxious to frequent effervescencies of the Blood with sudden flushings of heat in the palms of his Hands and the soles of his Feet and to prickings often wont to arise in his whole Body and presently to go away again Afterward finding himself worse as to his Appetite and Sleep and likewise growing dull and somewhat sad he began to affect less and sometimes to shun any business or delights nay and conversation with his friends At length this indisposition daily growing worse without any manifest cause or real trouble of mind he became Melancholick so that always being thoughtful fearful and sad he took delight in nothing For Studies Exercises Travelling Conversation with learned men and all other things which before he delighted in were then wont to be a trouble or terrour to him Being affected after this manner for two years he was so much changed from himself as tho he were another man In order to a Cure he consulted the most skilful Physicians of Spain France Holland and of late in England and tryed various methods of Curing tho scarce with any benefit To wit that melancholy Discrasy of the Blood first contracted by the distemper of the Air continuing still caused Spirits of an acetous nature as it were to be supplied to the Animal oeconomy In the first place I thought good to commend to this Person the following Remedies Take Gerion's decoction of Senna with Tamarinds half an ounce four ounces Purging Syrup of Apples an ounce Aqua mirabilis two drams mix them let him take it with governance repeating it within nine days afer Purging let Bood be drawn with Leeches to three ounces Take of our Syrup of Steel six ounces let a Spoonfull be taken in the morning and atfive of the Clock in three ounces of the following Liquor walking upon it for an hour or two Take leaves of Baum Borrage Buglosse Burnet Meadow-sweet Harts-tongue Water-cresses of each four handfuls roots of Borrage half a pound Clove-gilliflowers Marygold flowers of each three handfuls the outward rinds of eight Oranges and four Lemmons Mace half an ounce being sliced and bruis'd pour to them of Whey made with Cyder eight pounds distill it with common Organs Take Conserve of Clove-gilliflowers the flowers of Betony and Borrage of each one ounce and half Pearl powdred two drams red Coral prepared a dram and a half Species of the Confection of Hyacinth two drams Syrup of Coral and red Poppyes of each what suffizes make an opiat let the quantity of a Chesnut be taken every Evening drinking after it two or three ounces of the water of Cowslip flowers After sixteen or twenty dayes the method of alteratives being changed instead of these let him take the following Take powder of Ivory Pearl red Coral prepared of each two drams Roots of male Peony a dram and a half Lignum Aloes half a dram Orange Tablets four ounces a solution of Tragacanth made in Baum-water what suffises make Tablets weighing half a dram let four be eaten in the Morning and at five of the Clock drinking after it a draught of Tea Take of the same Powder without Tablets half an ounce Flowers of Sal Armoniack Salt of Coral of each a dram with Chios Turpentine six drams make amass let half a dram be taken Morning and Evening drinking after it three ounces of the distilled Water Let him feed only on Food of a good Juice and of an easie Concoction let him drink small Ale with the Leaves of Harts-tongue infused in it he may sip a little now and then of Wine with Water in it or of Cyder Let him lead his Life continually occupied sometimes in easie Employs sometimes in moderate Exercises or Recreations of various kinds So far of universal Melancholy in which the diseased are in a manner indifferently affected by any Object so that in every place by any Accidents and Circumstances they are continually perplext with a multitude of Thoughts with a Raving Fear and Sadness A Melancholy is said to be Special when the diseased have regard to some particular thing or to some certain kind of things of which they in a manner alwayes think and by reason of all the Powers of the Soul being continually spent in this one thing they live always pensive and sad Moreover they have absurd and incongruous Notions not only concerning that Object but also concerning many other Accidents and Subjects In this affect the corporeal soul being altered from its proper Species assumes a certain new one and being not conformable to the rational Soul or to the Body or to it self it undergoes a certain Metamorphosis There are two kinds of occasions from which a particular Melancholy chiefly and most frequently arises viz. first if at any time some severe pressure of an Evil present or at hand whether it be true or imaginary lyes upon the Soul or secondly if the privation of a good before obtained or the despair of that which is desired happen In these opposite Cases the corporeal Soul either being allur'd outwardly omits all domestick care of it self or of the Body or of the rational Soul or being inwardly compress'd it leaves or perverts the offices both of the Reason and of the Vital and Animal Function It were a thing of an immense Labour to enumerate the various Cases and wayes of affecting in both kinds among the mighty store of them those which being of greatest moment seem chiefly to require a physical help are a furious Love Jealousie Superstition despair of eternal Salvation the imaginary Metamorphosis of the Body or of its Parts or the fantastical Goods or Evils of Fortune we shall speak briefly of each of these It is a vulgar and most common observation that if any one once being taken with the Aspect and Conversation of a Woman begins inwardly to be love-sick for her and to desire her earnestly and for his most devoted affection gets nothing but denials and Contempt unless he be upheld by a very strong Reason or being seized by other affections be turned another way as it were there is great danger lest he fall into a Love-melancholy with which Passion if he happen to be affected presently he seems transformed from himself into a living Statue as it were he thinks or speaks of nothing but his Mistris he seeks to put himself upon any of the greatest dangers of Life and Fortune
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 â—â—â—ighty 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
the animal Spirits being very exorbitant and vehemently moved both fortifie the Imagination that no Object seems greater or more terrible to it than usual and actuate the Praecordia with Vigour so that they strongly and swiftly convery the Blood and briskly drive it into the outmost bounds of the Body In this affect the Soul strives to outgoe and to springit self as it were beyond the circumference of the Body and so making an effort every way it bears it self undaunted against any incursions of exteriour things 2. The Reason why mad Persons are strong to a miracle is that Particles as it were nitrosulphureous or otherwise very sharp or as it were Stygian ar contained in their Blood and nervous Juice whence the animal Spirits excell in a stupendous and incredible elastick or explosive force far above the natural 3. It is to be observed that mad Persons are hardly ever wearied for tho by raging and striving they strongly exercise their Limbs for many dayes and Nights and in the mean while live without eating and sleeping they scarce at all faulter nor desist from their strugling through a failure of Strength which doubless so happens for as much as the animal Spirits tho very movable and elastick yet are not volatile and easily dissipable but by reason of the saline Particles depress'd from their volatility into a flowing state and being combin'd with the sulphureous ones become firm and fixt and therefore hold out veryling in their Activity 4. Almost for the same reason many Persons how much soever they suffer or are afflicted are not hurt but endure Cold Heat Watchings Fastings Stripes and Wounds without any sensible dammage because the Spirits being strong and fixt do not faulter nor flye away Moreover the Blood having got a nitrosulphureous dyscrasy is incapable of any other change wherefore tho insensible transpiration be stopt and other solemn evacuations are supprest or supplyes of te nutritive Juice are deny'd neither a Catarrh nor Feaver nor an Atrophia or Cacochymia lightly ensue upon Madness for in this affect tho the Particles of the Blood are grown very turgid yet by reason of the store of Salt they do not take to a feverish Flame As to the prognostick of Madness since the affected are never obnoxious to a Fever nor to oter Diseases besides nor are easily hurt by outward Accidents it is not a mortal Disease of it self but is very of Cure because a great alteration is to be made in the Blood and Spirits and the Diseased are refractory to any method of Cure being Enemies both to the Physicians and themselves If the Madness be inveterate or hereditary or be caus'd by the bite of a mad Dog it admits of a perfect Cure with difficulty or not at all that which is rais'd through some occasion whether it be from an evident cause alone or comes upon a Fever also on which the Itch Small Pox Hemorrhoids or Varix's happen is more easily Cured Those that are obnoxious to this Disease at times are very much in danger about the Summer Solstice or in the Dog days also in great changes of the Air as when long colds or heats are changed into opposite constitutions of the Heavens Since there are two kinds of Madness to with a continual and intermittent one the method of Curing also ought to be twofold 1. The Therapeutick method to be used in a continual Mania suggests to us the three primary Indications so vulgarly known viz. the first Curatory which regarding the Disease if self endeavours to correct or appease the furies and exorbitancies of the Aniaml Spirits The second preservatory which levelling at the causes of the Disease undertakes to remove or amend the sharp and nitrosulphureous Dyserasies of the Blood and the Nervous juice and the Stygian disposition as it were of the Spirit The third Vital which directs such a way of Dyet and resumptive nourishment that both the nutritive and vital functions may be able to be carried on and maintain'd as is barely necessary in this Disease The first Indication viz. Curatory requires Discipline viz. threats bindings or stripes as well as Physick and therefore the mad Person being put into a House fit for that purpose let him be so managed both by the Physician and prudent attendants that he be kept in a manner always in his due behaviour and in meet gestures and motions either by advice chiding or by punishments now and then inflicted on him and indeed there is nothing more efficacious or necessary for curing mad Persons than that they always dread and stand in awe of certain Tortures as it were for by this means the Corporeal Soul being somewhat deprest and restrained is forced to remit of its haughtiness and exorbitancy and therefore afterward grows mild by degrees and is reduced to order Wherefore mad men are sometimes sooner and more certainly cured by punishments and tortures in a pent up room than by Physick or Medicines But withal such a course of Physick also ought to be us'd which may restrain and bring down the haughtiness of the Corporeal Soul Wherefore in this Disease Blooding Vomitories and Catharticks how strong soever they are and given at rovers and boldly very often do good Which indeed manisestly apperars because Empyricks only with this kind of Physick together with governanace and a severe discipline often successfully cure Mad-men Tho this rough way of handling does not so well agree with all mad persons but chiefly with such as are raving mad oters being more remissly mad are often cured by fair usage and gentle Medicines But in most mad persons it is both the common voice and general practice to bleed plentifully about the beginning of the Disease and indeed it will be good now and then to repeat it as far as the strength will bear and sometimes to perform the operation in the Arm sometimes in the Jugular Vein Forehead or Foot and sometimes to open the Hemorrhoid Vessels by Leeches For these evacuations being seasonably made both the exorbitancies of the Spirits and te haughtiness of the Soul are excellently supprest and likewise the Dyscrasies of the Blood are corrected in regard that a new and more mild springs up in the place of that which was taken away being sharp and corrosive That Vomits also do great good in curing mad persons it is past even into a Proverb so that all Hellebore nay all Anticyra is assign'd to them After what manner Emeticks often do good in Cephalick Diseases we have shewn before Quacks in this case giving a large dose of Stibium tho it be rashly and dangerously yet have often success In truth Chymical things best agree here both because they move more powerfull and because the Disased may be deceived more easily by them Take sulphur of Antimony from eight grains to ten Cream of Tartar half a scruple mix them by grinding them together make a Powder let it be given in a spoonful of Panada or if it must be
or seven accesses of which her strength was so cast down that she was not able to rise from her bed or scarce to be rais'd up in it nor could she take ever so little food tho very thin but it caus'd great disturbances in her Stomach Moreover the Region of the Stomach and of the left hypochondre was all beset with a hard Tumour and violently paining By reason of the strength being extremely cast down there was no place here for evacuation besides the use of Clysters and the Stomach being mighty weak refus'd all other Remedies unless they were pleasing and in a small quantity In this difficult case and pent up within narrow limits of Curing I advis'd these few things viz. that she should take twice a day this mixture viz. Magistral water of Earth-worms two ounces Elixir Prprietatis six drops moreover I ordered a fomentation to be apply'd to the Stomach of the Leaves of Pontick Wormwood Centory Southernwood boyl'd in White-wine with the roots of Gentian the Vessel covered and that after the somentation a toast dipt in the same Liquor should be worn on the Stomach besides I had febrifuge Epithems bound to her Wrists and by these Remedies alone on the third day she mist her Fit and continued free from the same afterward and then by the use of Chalibeat Remedies she grew perfectly well within a short time CHAP. VI. Of the Quartan Fever or Ague IN a Quartan Fever the time for the return of the Fit is longer than in the rest it being extended to the fourth day inclusively and it 's wont to be of longer continuance and more difficultly cured for this Disease is protracted for many Months and often Years and seldom or searce at all yields to Medicines The Fit for the most part begins with cold and a shaking which are followed with a pretty troublesome heat but more remiss than in a Tertian Sweat for the most part concludes the access If the Disease sticks long it brings the Scorbutick or hypochondriack affect and involves men in an unhealthy habit of body The Causes which dispose to this Disesse are first the constitution of the Air and of the Season for the time of Autumn is always proper for this affect that you shall seldom observe a Quartan Fever to arise but about the Fall also in certain places especially about the Sea-coast this affect is wont to be endemious seizing any that live there or come thither as strangers for this also makes a declining age also a melancholy temperament and which by reason of an ill form of Diet is obnoxious to the hypochondriack affect moreover Fevers of another kind that are of a long continuance and Chronick Diseases often pass into a Quartan Fever These things being confidered it seems that it must be said that a Quartan Fever even as other Intermittents depends on the vitious disposition of the Blood for the nutritive Juyce conveyed by degrees into the Vessels is perverted into a fermentative Matter and the effervescency of this heapt together to a plenitude of turgescency makes the Fit of a Quartan Fever But since in this Fever there are some things peculiar from the rest we must enquire what sort of dyscrasie of the Blood there is in this Disease distinct from the rest and after what manner it raises the most observable Symptoms I say therefore that in this Disease the Liquor of the Blood has pass'd from its sweet spirituous and balsamick nature to be acid and somewhat austere like Wine turning sour That is to say there is a scarcity of Spirits and the earthly or tartarous part which consists chiefly of Earth and Salt is exalted too much and being raised to a flowing brings a sourness to the mass of Blood the Blood degenerated after this manner from its native Disposition does not duely concoct and assimilate to it self the nutritive Juice but perverts it into an extraneous matter wherewith when it is saturated to a sulness in the Vessels and the nervous parts are irrigated with the Juice thence arising there follows a flowing and as it were a spontaeous Esfervescence of this Matter whereby the feverish access is wont to be caused with a shaking and a heat as in a Tertian In a Quartan Fever the returns have longer Intervals because the Discrasy of the Blood being toward an acid and therefore less smart and hot it perverts the nutritive Juice without a contest and tumult wherefore somewhat of it is assimilated and the depravation of the rest does not recede so far from its natural state as in a Tertian and hence its heaping together to a plenitude is slower and it rises to a Turgesency in about as much time again and a half as in a Tertian The reason why this Disease is of so difficult a cure and so obstinately infests the Diseased is the melancholy Constitution of the Blood which is nor easily removed and yields scarce to any Medicines for there being in it a scarcity and defect of Spirits and the Salt and Tartar being too much exalted as when Wines turn sour it is extream hard to restore it and it is in a manner of the same labour and difficulty as to renew the vinous Spirit and Vigour in Vinegar because for restoring the Blood depraved after that manner there is need that its whole mass be volatiz'd and that it spiritualises as it were anew Wherefore in this case evacuatives do not the least good nay by depauperating the Blood more without remedying it they often impair the Strength but there is need of those things which may exalt and volatise that which is fixt and may promote a Pneumatosis in the whole mass of Blood thence it is that in this disease the change of the Air and of the Soil most commonly give relief before any other Remedies whatsoever For Quartan Fevers arising about Autumn are often cured by the following Spring which doubtless happens because the changed quality of the Air is wont to alter the evil habit of the Blood for the better and for the same reason the change also of the place of aboad most commonly cures this Affect when it will not yield to any Medicine The Autumnal Season is most proper to produce this severish habit of the Blood because when very much of Spirit and Sulphur has past away by the Summer heat and that which remains begins to be prest upon by the Cold the Liquor of the Blood as Wine turning sour after too much Effervesence easily degenerates into a pontick and sharpish Nature this also is provur'd by the Air of the Sea infecting the Blood with saline Vapours which fix the Spirits Moreover the affinity of this Disease which the Scurvy and the Hypochondrial affect plainly shews that the evil Disposition of the Blood is in fault whereby it is become salt and earthy with a defect of a Pneumatosis The last year towards the end of the Summer which had been very hot an Epidemick Fever arose then
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
exprest from the Meatus Choledochus into the Intestinum jejunum by reason of an inverted and as it were convulsive Motion of the Intestine is cast up into the Stomach The loss of Appetite also happens by reason of the Ventricle being filled with vitious Juices and because the acid Ferment is wholly perverted by the scorching Heat These kinds of Affects of the Ventricle and Viscera sometimes arise from an excrementitious matter viz. the Alimentary degenerated whilst it was concocting heapt together in the first Passages a long time before the Fever which often is the occasional Cause of the Fever it self but sometimes the Nauseousness Loss of Appetite Vomiting Cardialgia c. are the immediate Products of the Fever for when the day before the falling sick the Affected had a Stomach good enough assoon as the immoderate Effervescence is brought on the Blood whilst that boyls above measure both the Effluvia and Recrements wont to be evaporated outwardly and the bilous Humour flowing from the Vasa Choledocha are pour'd into the Stomach with which its Crasis is perverted and the Relicks of the Chyle and other Contents in the Viscera are mightily depraved whence the foresaid Affects draw their Origine 13. Nor is a Loosness a less frequent symptom in Fevers which sometimes happens about the beginning of the Disease and arises for the most part either from the Choler flowing from the Vasa Choledoca into the Duodennm or from the Recrements of the Blood and Nervous Juyce pour'd from the Arteries and Ductus of the Pancreas into the Intestines Sometimes also about the height of the Disease and in its declining state a loosness is raised and so either Nature being conqueress the grosser off scourings of the Blood are this way Critically voided or the same being overcome the loosness is an effect and sign of the Viscera being wholly dissolv'd in their strength and firm tone Sometimes it happens in a Fever that the Belly is alwayes bound and unless irritated by a Medicine it discharges nothing and tho the Diseased have taken only liquid things for many dayes the stools are alwayes of a solid and hardish consistency and this seems for the most part to be done when the Blood burning greatly with a smart heat consumes the moisture lying in any part like Fire and by a copious emission of stems draws the watery matter from the Viscera into it self and presently causes it to evaporate outwardly wherefore the grosser part left in the Intestines is thickned by the parching heat as the Caput Mortuum remaining after distillation 14. The bloody Flux is an affect so frequent in continual Fevers that in certain years it becomes Epidemious and being as bad as a Plague it kills many the cause useally is not a humour produ'd inwardly in the Viscera which corrodes the Intestines with its Acrimony as some assert but some Miasm past into the Blood and so in wardly mixt with it that it cannot be forc'd from the Blood under the form of a Vapour or sincere Humour wherefore being driven toward the Intestines it opens the Mouths of the Arteries and causes little Ulcers and Distillations of Blood there as when from a feverish Blood taking toward the Skin Pushes and inflamed Swellings break forth outwardly and it is likely that those affects of the bloody Flux which accompany malignant or epidemious Fevers may airse from a certain coaulation of the Blood The pulse and Urine bring up the rear of the Symptoms and Signs in a putrid Fever which are chiefly to be minded for knowing both the state of the Disease and the strength of the Diseased for there being two things by which our Life is supported viz. Heat kindled in the heart and Coction to be perform'd in the Viscera and Vessels because the Pulse and Urine excellently shew the alterations caused in both by the Fever therefore hence a most certain Judgment is taken of the affect whether it will terminate in Death or a Recovery First we consult the Pulse as a Thermometer constituted by Nature for measuring the heat kindled in a Fever which if it be intense and raises a great ebullition of the Blood the Artery has a vehement and quick beat as long as the Spirits hold a good Vigour afterward the same being somewhat exhausted the strong Pulse remits which nevertheless is recompens'd by quickness and becomes quick and small If the Fever be mild and be attended by a less burning the Pulse also declines less from its natural state and in the whole course of the Disease the moderation of this denotes a truce of Nature nor does the Pulse only discover the strength of the Fever as it were of the Enemy but plainly shews also the sktrength of Nature and its ability of resisting as long as the Pulse is laudable things are in safety and it gives very good hope but from the evil state of this a very ill omen is given and a despair of doing well So that without a srequent and diligent examining of the Pulse the Physician can neither make a due prognostick nor safely order a Medicine 1. As to the first he ought to know as far as he may what sort of Pulse a Person has according to his natural Constitution for in some it is strong in others weak again in each change of Fevers he must weigh by what degrees it differs from its natural state for one while it is more vehement than it ought and argues the Fever to be intended another while it 's deprest lower than usual and denotes the Spirits and Strength to be dejected Those whose Artery has a weak and languid beat in their state of Health when they are taken with a Fever it is not so very ill with them to have a small and weak Pulse that we must presently despair of their well doing those who have naturally a strong and vehement Pulse if after the Crisis of the Disease it scarce holds a mean Vigour tho it be not altogether weak it argures the state of the diseased to be suspected and not safe If at the beginning of a Fever before the Blood has much burnt or if after a Crisis when part of the burthen is diminisht or if at another time the Pulse becomes weak without an evident cause it fore-bodes ill but if after long Watchings or after a great Evacuation the Pulse becomes somewhat weaker we may not therefore despair of a Recovery because Strength dejected or impair'd by these means may be again restor'd and the Spirits may be refresht When the Pulse on a sudden is altered for the worse tho the Diseased as to the rest of the Symptoms seems to himself to be better you may give a sad prognostick of Death and on the contary tho horrid Symptoms are pressing if notwithstanding the Pulse be laudable we may still hope for a Recovery If in a robust man being in a Fever the Pulse becomes very small and formicating Death is near at hand 2. In giving Medicines
the Fever by its Deflagration but the continual Ebullition which happens to this Intermittent Fever depends wholly on the Confusion of the Matter not miscible and the difficult Secretion of it from the Blood A Synochus happens as Wine naturally fermenting by reason of its Richness the other like the same Wine when it falls a working by reason of some haeterogeneous thing mixt with it wherefore we observe that when our Fever has pass'd into a continual yet it comes not to a Determination neither by a Sweat nor by a Loosness tho happening in a plentiful manner and frequently because depending on the Blood depauperated rather than being inflam'd it continues a very long time and disposes the Diseased towards a Cachexia The third way of difference wherein this Fever differs from the common Rank of Intermittents is plac'd in this that it is oftentimes readily propagated by Contagion into others the reason of which is because here a great many Bodies are predispos'd after the same manner to the same Affect which at another time does not happen wherefore the mere Effluvia from a morbid Body are able to stir up the like Affect in a Subject easily capable even as certain Rays of a Flame kindle a Flame in a Matter which is very combustible mean while all do not contract the taint of this Fever alike but some not prepar'd for it converse with the Diseas'd without hurt There is another Symptom which does not constantly attend this Fever but only happening in some Places which distinguishes it not only from a common Fever but changes its own proper Type to wit it sometimes happens that dyssenterick Affects accompany this Disease in some bilous Vomitings and Seiges are very troublesome as in the cholerick Disease and in others bloody Stools happen with a violent Pain and Gripes of the Belly I have often observ'd the former in this our Neighbourhood and the reason of it may be deduced from a mighty bilous Temperature for by reason of this the adust Matter not to be blown off by Sweat is copiously separated in the Liver afterward by reason of the Vasa Choledocha being over-fill'd it is sent to the Ventricle and Intestines the other Affect of the Dysentery is found only in some Places and there being sporadical rather than common it has seised only some sick Persons The Origine of it can be ascrib'd only to the peculiar Crasis or vicious Predispositions of some Bodies also to the Scituations of Places or the nature of the Air. Moreover it may be suspected that the Disease is now and then conveyed to others not without the Communication of a certain Miasm Concerning this Disease there ought to be a double Prognostick first of the Fever it self in general what kind of end it will have and when what it does threaten to our Land whether it be not a Fore-runner of the Plague or Pestilential Diseases as it is vulgarly feared Secondly We ought to give the Signs by which we are wont to presage a Well-doing or Danger in the various Cases of the Diseased As to the first because we have shewn that the Origine of this Affect is not to be taken from the Air infected with a Contagion or venemous Miasm nor from a malignant Seminium of Vapours diffus'd through the Air but only from a mighty bilous Temperature or Diathesis of our Bodies with a Blood which is adust and mightily scorch'd by reason of the Summer Heats I think there is no cause of Fear here whereby we may dread that this Fever being rais'd to a worse state through the fault of the Air may grow at length to be Malignant or Pestilential but rather what the Change of the Season of the Year and the Alteration of our Blood may make us expect we ought to fear lest this Fever which at first imitates the Type of a Tertian may pass into a Quartan which I observe has already happened to some and think it is greatly to be fear'd lest hereafter Autumn drawing to an end it may happen in many As to the particular Prognostick the Signs which happen in the course of this Fever most remarkable and which in some manner foretell its Issue and Event are these If the Disease happens in a sound Body well-temper'd and easily perspirable if a Vomiting with a well-bearing ensues and the Belly be loose if the Fit begins with a light Shivering and after a moderate Heat ends in a Sweat and the Interval of it be with an Apyrexia or a well-bearing if the Pulse be strong the Urine of a flame colour clear with a laudable Hypostasis we predict that the Disease will end in a short time without danger but if this Fever be raised in a fat Body and of a vicious Habit if with a troublesome Vomiting an exorbitant Heat and an intolerable Thirst long torment the Diseased if the Heat be succeeded by a difficult partial often interrupted Sweat and interlac'd with frequent Vomitings and does not end in an Apyrexia we declare this Disease to be long and liable to Danger but if the Diseased holds his Strength and the Urine shews signs of Concoction we do not despair of well-doing especially if after four or five Returns the Disease as it is usual remits of its wonted fierceness Thirdly we observe if this Disease happens in a Body which is cold or broken with other Diseases or weaken'd if besides horrible Vomitings and a violent Heat a frequent Fainting Swoonings Deliriums or Lethargick Affects happen if after many Accesses the Strength of the Diseas'd falling the Disease remits nothing but a continual Effervescence troubles the Blood and very much dissipates the vital Spirits if a dejected Appetite obstinate Watchings convulsive Motions with a weak Pulse a troubled or thick Urine happen we declare the Case to be full of Danger but it is protracted to a good length and it gives Time and Occasions for Nature to recollect her self and to the Physician for giving Remedies The Therapeutick Indications which have place in the Cure of this Fever are chiefly four First that the Blood being becom burnt and too bilous be reduc'd to its due temper Secondly that the depravation of the Nutritive Juyce and its alteration into a fermentative matter be stopt or at leastwise be lessen'd Thirdly that about the declination of the Disease the Blood being depauperated by a frequent Deflagration and rendred impure by the mixture of the morbifick or adust matter be restored and be rendred volatile as it ought Fourthly that we obviate with Remedies the Symptoms which are chiefly infesting in the Course of the Disease To answer these Intentions I advise the following Method to be used About the first beginnings of the Disease if a bilous Humour flowing from the Vasa Choledocha and sent into the Ventricle the Diseased be inclin'd to Vomit when the Fit is at hand let a plentiful Evacuation of the same be raised by a gentle Emetick Blooding and Purging ought not to be used
viz. such as are prepared of Tartar Sulphur the fixt Salts of Herbs of burnt Harts-horn also of the Claws or Eyes of Crabs For Example Take Cream of Tartar three drams Salt of Wormwood a dram and half the Dose is half a dram in an aperient Decoction twice a day out of the Fit Or Take Cream of Tartar two drams Powder of Crabs-eyes a dram Nitre purified half a dram mix them let it be giv'n after the same manner Or Take burnt Harts-horn two drams Spirit of Vitriol as much as the Powder will receive by imbibing the dose is a Scruple It is of excellent use when those that are in the Fever are troubled with Worms These kinds of Remedies promote the Secretion of the febrile Matter and restore the almost lost Ferments of the Blood and Viscera The second Intent to wit the due Management of the Diseas'd in the Fits comprehends many things first a neat Form of Dyet ought to be ordered that a large heaping together of the degenerate Juyce for a Matter for the Fit may be hindred wherefore let the Diseased feed only on a thin Food let them wholly abstain from Flesh or Broth made of it from Eggs generous Wine and all rich Fare being content only with Barley or Oat Broths Panada Whey and small Ale in regard a more plentiful Dyet is not concocted or assimilated but it oppresses the Stomach and being mixt with the Blood it troubles its Liquour and forces it to boyl vehemently as the Fit comes on and during the while it lasts unless it be for quenching Thirst let no Food be taken but for qualifying the Heat and Drought cooling Juleps and Decoctions and especially small Ale and Whey ought to be allowed Secondly a little before the feverish Access is expected let a gentle Medicine be given which either may keep off the Fit by preventing it or may render it easie by procuring an easie Sweat For this Use the febrifuge Potion of the Learned Riverius does well made of Carduus Water with Oyl of Sulphur and Salt of Wormwood Or take Cream of Tartar Salt of Wormwood Nettle Seeds of each a Scruple let it be given in a Decoction of the Roots of Sorrel When the Fever begins to decline and the Fits are a little more remiss Febrifuge Epithemes outwardly apply'd often stop the febrile Accesses tho in the mean while as long as the Fits return let the Diseased be so managed that every Access the feverish Matter heap'd together in the Blood may be wholly blown off wherefore when a Sweat happens with difficulty let it be a little raised with temperate Medicines also let the Diseas'd be kept in Bed with a gentle Sweat for many hours nor let them be permitted to rise too soon for I have often observ'd that the Diseased have still grown worse because being impatient of lying in Bed they put on their Cloaths before the watery Effluvia were exhal'd enough Thirdly as to the Symptoms and particular Accidents with which the Diseased are wont to be troubled in this Fever a great many of them are sufficiently provided against with the Remedies and Method of Cure hitherto deliver'd against the Thirst Burning the Roughness of the Mouth and Tongue Vomitings the Loosness a Swooning or danger of Fainting the Prescripts commonly used in other Fevers may aptly enough be transferr'd hither But the Things which in this Disease seem to require a peculiar Method of Healing are chiefly the Affects of the Head and Brain with the Genus Nervosum by which unless seasonably obviated the Diseased are soon brought into a great danger of Life Concerning these kinds of Evils of the Head the Indications are of two kinds If it appears by a Drowsiness a Sleepiness a Vertigo or a Head-ach that the nervous Juyce is too dull and as it were vapid and therefore that it does not vigorously enough actuate the Brain and nervous Bodies besides the Remedies above deliver'd and especially the Vesicatories Medicines full of a volatile Salt excellently conduce in this Case wherefore Spirit of Harts-horn of Blood also the Salts of the same are of excellent Use but if the nervous Liquor be too sharp or the Effluvia sent from the boyling Blood drive the Animal Spirits into Distractions those kinds of Remedies of volatile Salt are given with benefit in somewhat a less quantity Moreover a frequent Letting Blood and Medicines allaying its fervour do good as Emulsions Whey pure Water plentifully drank let Opiates be used in this Fever with great Caution for the Frenzy appeas'd by them is oftentimes chang'd into a Lethargy or a deep Stupor FINIS THE TABLE A. AChes in the Head see Headach Ach in the Belly see Belly Aches or Pains in the Limbs hapning by Night their cure p. 361. Ague see Fever Alexipharmicks see Cordials Anasarca its Description p. 167. Whence it proceeds ibid. The least dangerous of Dropsies ibid. The two chief Scopes of curing it ibid. Hydragogue Medicines of good use in curing it p. 168. How Catharticks work in this Disease ibid. Lixivial Medicines the best Diureticks in this Disease p. 169. Some Praescripts of them ib. Diaphoreticks of use when the swelling begins to abate p. 170. A Praescript of them ib. p. 171. Outward Administrations to be used in this Disease ib. p. 172 173. Medicines for Preservation against this Disease p. 174 175. An Instance of a Person falling into this Disease and recover'd of it p. 176. Antidotes see Cordials Apoplexy where seated p. 420. What the Word Apoplexy imports p. 421. Two kinds of it ib. The various Invasions of the Apoplexy and the causes of them ib. p. 422. The Subject of this Disease ib. Its Prognosticks ib. p. 423. The Therapeutick Method for removing the Fit ib. p. 424. The prophylactick or preservatory method with Praescripts of Medicines p. 425 426. Instances of Persons seis'd with the Apoplexy ib. p. 427. Ascites its Description and whence it proceeds p. 150. what to be considered in order to its Cure ib. Catharticks often do well in it p. 151. An Enumeration of hydragogue Emeticks and Purgers and Prescripts of them ib. p. 152 153 154 155. Diureticks when proper in an Ascites ib. p. 156. What Diureticks proper ib. Diaphoreticks of little or no use in an Ascites p. 157. The best Remedies when we will not proceed to an Incision are Clysters and Plaisters ib. An Incision in whom to be admitted p. 158. An Instance of a Woman cur'd of an Ascites ib. p. 159. Asthma or difficulty of Breathing its description p. 126. Two primary Indications in the method of Cure ib. What to be done in the Fit ib. p. 127 128. What to be done out of the Fit for Preservation ib. p. 129 130 131. Two Instances of Persons troubled with the Asthma and the Methods used with them ib. p. 232. Asthma Convulsive see Cough Asthmatick Fits hapning in the Scurvey their Cure p. 353 354. Atrophia Scorbutick its Cure p. 363 364. B. BElly-ach in the
Belly with violence By and by respiration being stopt she became senceless with a Cadaverous aspect After that she had lain thus dead as it were for three or four minutes of an hour she was wont to start up on a sudden that she could scarce be kept down or held by persons present Then followed violent contractions and distortions in all the parts of the Mouth and Face and in all the Members of the Body These Symptoms were judg'd really Hysterical because the noble Lady had so lately Aborted But considering all these things I was at length of this opinion That the cause of both Fits viz. the Paining and Convulsive depended wholly on the evil affects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum without any fault in the Womb to wit that the sharp humour heapt together within the Brain descended thence by the passages of the Nerves into parts very remote and lying in the Membranes and Fibres and fermenting with the humour coming to it from the Mass of Blood irritated them very much and caus'd violent pains then afterwards when the heterogeneous and explosive Particles admitted into the Brain with that Humour and entring the Ductus's of the Nerves joyn'd with the Spirits thereupon the Convulsive disposition now and then breaking forth into violent Fits was caus'd as it will by and by appear more at large Directing my curative intents according to this Aetiology I ordered the sick Lady at the time she was extreamly ill that Blood should be drawn from the Saphaena Vein That a gentle Purge should be given her within two days and that it should be repeated once or twice a Week Also on other days I gave her Morning and Evening Spirit of Harts-horn and at other hours twice or thrice in a day Powder of Pearl and Crabs-eyes with a Dose of the following Julape Take Water of Snails Magisterial Water of Earth-Worms of each three Ounces Water of Saxifrage and of Black-Cherries of each four Ounces Hysterick Water an Ounce Syrup of Coral an Ounce and a half Tincture of Castoreum a Dram mix them She us'd frequently a Bath of fresh Herbs when necessity required it she took Opiats always with good success Vesicatories were applied to the inward part of each Thigh and to her Neck Moreover Fomentations Liniments Glysters Cupping-glasses Sneezing-powders and many other ways of Administration were prescrib'd according to the exigency of Symptoms After this method of Curing used about fourteen days the noble Lady being very much relieved was wholly without the Convulsive Fits nay and the pains of the Bowels and Members and other Symptoms being very much mitigated gave us a very fair hope of a speedy Recovery but after this partly by reason of an ill Dyet to which the Diseased upon never so little an amendment always indulg'd herself but especially by reason of a sudden passion of terriour or sadness which a severe accident happening within her own House had rais'd falling into a Relapse the Disease was presently brought to a much worse condition for both the Convulsions and Pains troubled her in a more violent manner nay and the Stomach being stirr'd up in a manner with a continual Vomiting neither admitted Food nor Medicines she took Asses Milk for some days with some Benefit yet in regard it turn'd to Choler in her Stomack and gave her some offence it was soon left off At length in despite of all Remedies prescrib'd with all diligence by the advice of many Physitians the noble Patient languish't daily more and more and by degrees drew near to Death Two days before her Decease the pains of her Belly and Loyns remitted very much and becoming more chearful than her wont she had some hope of her Recovery but in the mean while she complain'd of a pain and a mighty oppression of her Head and falling into a profound Sleep about the beginning of the Night upon her awaking she fell into a very horrible Convulsive Fit which presently past into a mortal Apoplexy for becoming insensible and speechless she departed this Life within twelve hours The Body of this person being open'd after her Decease the Womb was found wholly without fault tho' many of the Viscera were preternaturally dispos'd in the Mesentery about the midst of it where it is fixt to the Back and contains great Plexus's of the Nerves a lax substance and blown up as it were with many Bladders was seen it equalling a hands breadth in extent opening this place I found no Humour in it but only that the Membranes were separated from each other and that nothing was included in the spaces betwixt them but a Wind which Separations doubtless were caused by the Convulsions and Explosions of the Spirits sent from the Head into those Plexus's and as to those pains in the Belly and the ascent of the great heavy thing as it were and the Inflation of the Abdomen in the Convulsive Affects it is not to be doubted but the Seat of the morbifick Cause lay hid in that part of the Mesentery As to the method of Curing to be us'd in the Passions vulgarly call'd Hysterical since the greatest part of the Symptoms of this Disease are Convulsive it is thence plain that anticonvulsive Remedies such as above written are chiefly indicated Nevertheless since these Affects very often happen to the Female Sex in which the Menses and other accidents of the Womb are most commonly taken in as a part of the Morbifick Cause therefore Medicines having regard to various dispositions of the Womb ought to be added to the former and be sundry ways complicated with them The Therapeutick Indications are either Curatory to be us'd in the Fit or Preservatory which being prosecuted out of the Fit remove the cause of the Disease and prevent its Accesses As to the former if the Fit be but small let it pass off of its own accord without any farther perturbation of the Spirits but if it so forely presses that it is needful to give aid to Nature as being greatly opprest let this one thing be endeavoured That the Spirits being made free from the Embraces of their Heterogeneous Combination remit of their Disorders and Explosions For this end it is very usual in the first place to apply to the Nostrils stinking and strong-smelling things the effluvia's of which repress and reduce to order the Spirits which are grown too wild and apt to make exorbitant efforts nay and discuss their Heterogeneous Combination and often wholly exterminate it Assa Foetida Castoreum Galbanum tyed in a fine Linnen Cloth and held to the Nostrils are proper also the Feathers of Partridges or old Shoes burnt or Sulphur kindled moreover the Spirit and Oyl of Soot or of Harts-horn often give help tho' I have known that these kinds of Suffurnigations have prov'd very offensive to some Women and have encreas'd the Fit it 's probable that sometimes they irritate the Spirits too much and force them into greater disorders As stinking things held to
the Nostrils so the like being pour'd into the Mouth often give help wherefore we often give with good success to Hysterical persons the Tincture of Castoreum Solutions of Assa Foetida and of Galbanum also the Spirits of Harts-horn and of Soot with appropriated Waters Take Spirit of Harts-horn from twelve drops to fifteen or twenty let them be taken in a little Draught of the following Julape Take Water of Penny-royal and Mugwort of each four Ounces Water of Bryony compound two Ounces Castoreum tyed in a Nodulus and hung in the Glass half a Dram double refined Sugar an Ounce Mix them Take Tincture of Castoreum from a Scruple to half a Dram let it be taken in a little Draught of Small-beer Take Assa Foetida or Galbanum two Drams let them be dissolved in Spirit of Wine till a red Tincture be extracted the Dose is a Scruple in two or three Spoonfuls of Water of Featherfew Riverius greatly extols that of Solenander Take Musk Dragons-blood of each a Scruple let more or less be taken in three or four Ounces of Water of Navews Johannes Anglicus commends the Seeds of Parsnips or of Columbines in Wine or an appropriated Water as most certain Remedies If the Fit continuing a long time renders the Person senseless or without any Pulse let smart Clysters as of the Roots of Briony with Carminatives boil'd with them in Water be injected let Frictions be us'd to the Legs and Feet and if we must proceed to stronger things let Cupping-glasses be applied to the Belly or Groin nay and let sneezing be often provok'd it is good for some to give them in the midst of the Fit a Draught of cold Water either simple or in which Camphire has burnt The preservatory Indication comprehends these three chief intents viz. First To take away or to drive to some place else the impurities of the Blood which are apt to be discharg'd on the Brain and Genus Nervosum Secondly To fortifie the Brain and so strengthen the Spirits in it that they either admit not at all the Heterogeneous Combination or readily shake it off Thirdly to amend whatsoever is amiss in the Womb and contributes to the Convulsive Disposition 1. The first Intention is perform'd by Purging and Bleeding and other common ways of Cleansing and Purging the Blood and Humours If there be room for a Vomit I Judge we must always begin with that especially in Cacochymical persons or such as are troubled with the longing disease in whom a mighty load of Viscous Phlegm sticking in the Folds and Coats of the Stomach hinders the vertues of other Medicines Within a few days after the Vomit unless somewhat indicates the contrary let Blood be drawn in Women of a hot temperament presently from the Arm and afterward if need be from the Foot or from the Veins of the Fundament by Leeches but in Bodies troubled with obstructions and less hot let Blood be drawn more sparingly and rarely and only in places seated below the Womb. After these evacuations provided always that they are indicated being duly perform'd let a Purge be given once within six or seven days according to the forms following Take Pil. Foetidae Majores a Dram and a half Rosin of Jalap twelve Grains Tartar Vitriolated Castoreum of each a Scruple Ammoniacum dissolved in Hysterick Water what suffices make twelve Pills for three Doses Or Take Rosin of Jalap eighteen Grains Calomelanos a Dram Castoreum a Scruple make a Powder divide it into three parts for three Doses give it in the Pap of a boil'd Aple or in Conserve of Borage To persons of a Hot temperament a dose of our Extract or Loosning Syrup may be properly given For the revulsion of the Morbisick matter from the Head an Issue in the Leg or Thigh and somtimes Vesicatories Ligatures and Painful Frictions are wont to be us'd Nor must we only have regard here to the cleansing of the Blood and to the Revulsion of its superfluous Dreggs from the Head but likewise to the alteration of its Liquor and the reducing of it to its due Crasis Wherefore in certain Hysterical persons Chalybeats prove beneficial in others Mineral Waters or Whey in some the use of Hot Baths are wont to do mighty good 2. The second intention viz. the rectifying of the Brain and of the Animal Spirits is perform'd by Cephalick and Particularly by Anticonvulsive Medicines and let them be carefully given almost every day when there is no Purging or Bleeding There being various kinds and ways of Administration of such Medicines I shall here give you some of the more choice forms of them Take Faecula of Briony Assa Foetida Castoreum of each a Dram Salt of Coral Amber and of Jupiter of each half a Dram Galbanum dissolv'd in Hysterick Water what suffices made a Mass the Dose is from half a Scruple to a Scruple Morning and Evening Drinking after it a Dose of an appropriated Liquor Or Take seeds of Wild Parsnips and of Nettles of each two Drams Vitriol of Mars a Dram extract of Gentian and Feverfew of each a Dram and a half with a sufficient quantity of a Syrup of Mugwort make a Mass let it be taken to half a Dram after the same manner If the form of a Powder be more grateful Take roots of Virginia Serpentary and Contrayerva of each a Dram and a half Coral prepar'd Pearl White Amber of each a Dram mix them make a Powder the Dose is from a Scruple to half a Dram Morning and Evening with an appropriated Liquour Let Opiates be made after this manner Take Conserves of the Flowers of Lillies of the Valley Male Peony and Betony of each two Ounces Peony Seeds Red Coral prepar'd of each two Drams Powder of Bastard Dittany a Dram and a half Salt of Wormwood two Drams with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Citron Pills make an Electuary The Dose is Morning and Evening the quantity of a Nutmeg After the same manner to the Poor let Conserves of the Leaves of the Tree of Life or of the Leaves of Rue be given twice aday The Liquours appropriated to Hysterical affects and to be Drank after the foresaid Medicines are either Distilled Waters which may be taken by themselves or with others in the Form of a Julape or they are Decoctions or Tinctures and Infusions Take Water of Mugwort and Pennyroyal of each half a Pound Hysterick Water four Ounces Tincture of Castoreum half an Ounce Syrup of Coral an Ounce and a half mix them the Dose is from an Ounce to an Ounce and a half with any of the Medicines above prescribed Take Leaves of Penny-royal Feverfew both Southernwoods Calamint Nep both Horehounds of each a Handful Briony Roots four Ounces Parsnip-Seeds two Ounces being Slic't and Bruis'd pour to them of White-wine or Sider six pounds distil them according to Art Take roots of Male Peony Angelica Valerian of each half an Ounce Leaves of Mugwort Ground Pine Calamint Peny-royal Misteltoe
is not needful to illustrate the nature of this Disease with Histories and Examples and to set forth many Types of it but rather address your selves to the Hospitals of mad People where not withour a great admiration you may behold as it were a new and monstrous Generation of Men viz. contrary to such as are rational and as it were our Antipodes who if they could all be gathered together into one place and all the Fools and senseless Persons be joyned with them I know not whether they would not make an equal division of the whole Earth with the sober and prudent So far of the cure of a continual Madness But the intermittent has perfectly lucid intervals in which the diseased return to a sound Mind or the Fury only ceases the Delirium still remaining so that the affected become gentle and tractable yet continuing still to err as to their Imagination and Judgment they speak and do a great many absurd or incongruous things and afterward become mad again at times The remedy of both these affects as to the curatory Indication is the same as in a continual Madness that it will not be needful to fet down here any other Method or Medicines but as to what regards the Prophylaxis or preservatory Indicatin to wit whereby the way of curing to be used out of the Fits for preventing or lessenging them is order'd in which the Fury only intermits the Delirium remaining the very same physical Method and Remedies which we have prescribed for removing the Procatarxis of Melancholy are proper pa In a madness which intermits perfectly as to all smptoms at the most fit seasons to wit Spring and Fall solemn courses of Physick ought to be entred upon and also there is always need of a care and governance of the Diseased both that as to his diet and way of Life lie be kept always in an even and moderate Temper and that as soon as the signs of an imminent Fit appear blooding and purging being presently used its access be kept off Therefore at the approach of the Equinoxes let Blood be drawn from the Arm and then after seven or eight dayes from the Hemorrhoid Veins by Leeches Let Purges and Vomits by due intervals be given twice or thrice moreover on intermitting dayes let altering Remedies be orderly taken at physical Hours forms of these are deliver'd both in this Chapter and in the foregoing for the cure of Melancholy let the diet be thin and of good digestion as to Sleep Motion and other non-natural things let all be maderate If at any time aperson seems to be threatned with an access of Madness constantly before the Summer solstice let blooding with vomiting and a thin diet be used CHAP. IX Instructions and Prescripts for the cure of Stupidity or Folly STuidity or Folly tho it chiefly belongs to the rational Soul and signifies the defect of the Undertanding and Judgment nevertheless it is not improperly placed among the Diseases of the Head or of the Brain to wit in as much as that Eclips of the superiour Soul proceeds from the Imagination and Memory injured and the failings of thofe depend on the saults of the animal Spirits and of the Brain it self 1. As to the Animal Spirits how they ought to be qualified of their proper and genuine Nature and what they are by reason of a preternatural dispositio in the Frensy Melancholy and Madness we have sufficiently declared but besides sometimes the animal Spirits being in a manner destitute of active Particles become as it were dead and essaete to wit whereas the spirituous Particles ought to predominate and gather to them the saline volatiz'd in a Stupidity as well both these as the sulphureous being too much depress'd are almost drown'd and overwhelm'd in such as are watery and earthy 2. As to the fault of the Brain first it s a vulgar Observation that the Wit and towardly Disposition depends somewhat on the greatness and figure of the Head and consequently of its Brain for as to its bulk it is a Proverb that too little or too much Brain argues Folly And tho this does not always happen so yet it does frequently the reason of which is that in a little Brain only a few Spirits are engendred and exercised and a great Brain consisting for the most part of a course texture is not fit for any acuteness of Wit Secondly the genuine and best figure of the Brain ought to be globous to wit for this end that the Spirits may be diffus'd with an even efflux from the midst of it on every side to its circumference and may be thence retorted every where with equal Agles of Reflexions but those who have a flat Head or too copped or otherwise disproportionate for the most part have some notable failing in the animal Faculty 3. The Substance of the Brain ought to be well tempered and of a laudable texture nor only as to the qualities of Heat and cold drought and moisture but ist Constitution should be sublte and aereal consistig of a plenty of volatile Salt and Spirit with a moderate proportion of the other things that the Spirits may readily pass the whole and frame Tracts for themsnlves and withall it should be indifferently firm and compact that the Tracts and Passages may remain when made nor presently be defac'd by the subsiding of Parts too tender But in Persons that are stupid we may imagine sometimes an excess of some manifest quality in the Brain as cheifly of moisture and cold for which reason Children and aged Persons are often wont to be affected with a Dulness of the Senses sometimes a Texture too gross and earthy so that the Spirits cannot easily irradiate it or make Tracts for themselves To this gross Texture of the Brain some born of Rusticks are frequently obnoxious so that in some Families looking back upon many Generations you will scarce find one wise or witty Man 4. Sometimes the evil conformation of the Brain as to its Pores and Passages acquired by reason of some Disorders is the cause that the animal Function is not duely performed for sometimes these Pores are either wanting or perverted that the animal Spirits cannot duely operate So far of the conjunct Causes of Folly as to the procatarctick and evident Causes there are many Occasions by reason of which the foresaid blemishes are brought on the Brain or Spirits or both of them For first Stupidity is sometimes originary or born with a man and so either it is hereditary as when Fools beget Fools the same effaete Particles concurring to frame the Animal Organs in the Son which were in the Father or the Connate Stupidity is accidental as it were to wit it frequently happens that wise and mighty ingenious men beget meer Sots which sometimes so falls out for these reasons either that the Parents spend their Spirits in Study and too much thinking or weaken and enervate the Body through intemperance luxury and ill
living Whereas we see in other Animals as in a good breed of Horses and Cocks that their young ones do certainly patrizare so that presently they are sold at a great rate their Vertues in regard they are not broken by a disorderly and preternatural way of living descending in a long series to their posterity Secondly there are many evident causes by which Stupidity is brought on such as are originally sound Some at first being witty and ingenious in their declining years grow dull and doltish on the contrary some at first being dull and incapable of Learning as they grow further in years become very witty Thirdly sometimes a great wound or concussion of the Head especially which happens by falling headlong from an high place brings a prejudice and weakness to the animal faculty dulling the understanding Fourthly frequent drunkenness and surfeiting especially if men sleep presently on eating and drinking very much weaken the understandings of some and impair the use of Reason as a frequent use of opiats has shrewdly blunted the edge of the understanding of others Fifthly violent and sudden Passions such chiefly as an exceeding great terrour coming unawares or an extream sadness have rendred some doltish Sixthly We may observe that some Men by reason of great Diseases of the Brain have turn'd Fools this frequently happens in a severe and long continued Epilepsie in as much as this affect possessing the Meditullia of the Brain perverts and so stuffs with Feculencies and fills all the Pores and Passages by reason of the Spirits there frequently and vehemently exploded that the Tracts of the Spirits being close shut the Acts of the inward Senses and Motions are hindred Moreover I have observed Stupidity to accompany and precede the Palsey in many to wit the same matter which in the Corpus Striatum brings a Resolution being gathered together in the Corpus Callosum if it does not bring an Apoplexy or Carus often causes Folly There are many differences of this Disease and first we use to destinguish betwixt Folly and Stupidity that those who are affected with the former apprehend simple things well and quick enough and keep them fast in Memory but for want of Judgment ill compound or divie Notions and far worse inferr one thing from another Moreover by fooling and doing and speaking a great many things unhappily or ridiculously they move Laughter in the Standers by on the contrary those that are stupid by reason of the defects of the Imagination Memory and Judgment neither apprehend well nor nimbly nor argue well moreover they do not behave themselves as the former in making Sports and Gestures but blockishly and unfeatly and as it were like Apes and consequently the simplicity of these is more who so carry their Disease in their Countenance and Gesture In Folly it seems that the animal Spirits being somewhat nimble but unstedfast and having only short and oblique Tracts do not pass the Brain with an even and constant irradiation but making excursions this way and that after a desultory manner kexercise only slight or ridiculous Acts of animal Functions but in Stupidity the Spirits of their own nature being dull and obtuse and residing in a gross and unpervious Brain are not able to exert themselves for duly performing the Offices of the animal oeconomy There are many degrees of stupidity for some Persons are accounted unfit as to the comprehension of all things others only as to some some being wholly unfit for Learning and the liberal Sciences are apt enough to mechanical Arts others tho incapable of both these yet readily comprehend Apriculture and Country Affairs others being incapable in a manner of all business can be taught only those things that regard eating and drinking and the common way of living others being meer Dolts scarce understand any thing as all or do any thing with Knowledge As to the Prognostick Stupidity contracted by birth or hereditary or hapning through some unknown causes if it continues to the time of Puberty is scarce ever cured tho sometimes it happens that little Children at first dull and almost senseless when the Crases of the Brain and Spirits come afterward to a maturation become ingenious and apt enough to Iearn The Disease raised through some sole evident Cause as by a hurt of the Head or a violent Passion also hapning upon an inveterate Epilepsy if it persevers some time is afterward incurable That which ensuing upon other sleepy Affects depends chiefly on the hurt of the Memory sometimes those affects being cured vanishes of its own accord if at any time therefore in these Cases the cure of Stupidity is ordered in a manner the same method of healing and Remedies which we have prescribed for the preservatory indication of the Lethargy will be proper here whereof the chief intents must be that the animal Spirits being free from any Deadness and Stupefaction make Pores and Passages within the translucid Brain and duely expand themselves in them Sometimes a Fever has cur'd some Fools and stupid Persons and has rendred them more acute Huartus relates that a certain Fool in the Court of Corduba being affected with a malignant Fever arriv'd in the height of the Disease to so great an acuteness of Judgment and Discretion that he put the whole Court in Admiration and for the whole remainder of his Life continued a very prudent Person and we have known a certain Person of a dull and indeed Boeotian Understanding who raving in a Fever was very quick at breaking smart Jests and season'd with much Salt the Reason of which things seems to be that the Febrile heat sometimes rarefies and disperses the mist investing the Brain Therefore as to the cure of this Disease Stupidity whether innate or acquir'd if it be not a plain senselesness and doltishness incapable of all Erudition tho it be not usually cur'd yet it is wont to be amended Wherefore the cares both of a Physician and Tutor must be us'd for polishing somewhat the Understanding of such as are so affected and that being brought to the use of at least some little Reason they may be exempted from the rank of Brutes For this end because Bards or such as are very blockish learn not the Notions of things more readily than Children their A. B. C. therefore they are to be instructed in all things by an assiduous and very diligent Master and the same things are to be incultated again and again For by this means the Spirits tho dull and torpid will in some measure be actuated by perpetual Exercise and being continually stirred up will make at length for their Expansion some Tracts or Passages tho imperfect in the Brain how gross soever For the better and more easie effecting of these things physical Remedies also ought to be given for purifying and volatizing the Blood and nervous Liquour together with the animal Spirits and also for clarifying the Brain and rendering it as it were diaphanous For purifying the Blood