Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	dram_n	half_a	syrup_n	8,685	5	11.5364	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33710	A relation of a very sudden and extraordinary cure of a person bitten by a viper, by the means of acids together with some remarks upon Dr. Tuthill's vindication of his objections against the doctrine of acids : wherein are contained several things in order to the further clearing of the said doctrine / by John Colbatch.	Colbatch, John, Sir, 1670-1729.	1698 (1698)	Wing C5007; ESTC R12746	37,062	130

embrocated with the Mixture Of the Infusion he took four Ounces every four hours Whenever he was thirsty I advised him to take twenty Drops of the Dulcified Oyl of Vitriol in a draught of White Wine and Water One Sunday morning about eleven a Clock I went to visit him and when I came to his Lodgings I found Dr. Sloan with him the Doctor said the method that had been used was new but that the Man was in a very good condition and out of all danger He had slept well the whole night and was not in the least Feverish neither had he the least disorder upon him only a very small pain in his Finger the swelling of his Hand and Arm being greatly abated I ordered the continuing of his former method the which I had no reason to vary But Dr. Sloan proposed that if his Infusion should make him puke as it once had done then in the room of it he should at the same intervals take half a dram of Virginian Snake Root in pouder drinking afterwards two or three ounces of treacle-Treacle-water sweetned with Syrup of Gilliflowers the which I consented to it no way thwarting the Methods that had before been taken At night I visited him again and then found him as brisk and well as if nothing had ailed him the Infusion had not disagreed with him and therefore he took not the Powder of Snake Root but I mixed the treacle-Treacle-water and Syrup of Gilliflowers with the remaining part of the Infusion and ordered him to take four ounces of it morning and evening only so long as it lasted The next day I visited him again when I found him up and eating his Dinner very heartily I then ordered him to continue the use of the Cataplasm so long as he found the least swelling in any part and then dismissed him from my care there not being any more need of my further attendance A small swelling of his Finger continued for some time after but without trouble or pain I believe I may without vanity say that considering the symptoms that attended this man which were as severe as possible and he survive it there has not been a more extraor-dinary Cure wrought nor such symptoms raised upon such an occasion ever taken off in so short a space Now did the poison of Vipers consist in a Volatil Acid as some would make us believe how is it possible for any one to conceive that ever these dreadful Symptoms could be so soon taken off by giving more Acids and that in so extravagant a quantity as they were at first given by Mr. Stringer and Mr. Small Nay had the Poyson been an Acid it is very reasonable to believe that the more Acids they had given him the more his Symptoms would have been aggravated Whereas on the contrary it plainly appears that by the repeated large quantities that they gave him the Symptoms were so soon abated that it is almost past belief I cannot but observe that in the strange relation that Dr. Stubbs gives of the severe Symptoms that attended the man at VVarwick that was bitten with an Adder the only thing that put him out of danger of losing his life was the Mixtura simplex that was given him which is a most noble Acid but this man had not the Mixtura simplex given him in such quantities or in any proportion to the Acids that Mr. Philipson took neither was his Cure either so expeditious or so easie as may be seen in Dr. Stubbs's relation of that matter The hot Iron was equally useless in this as in that Case and I am apt to believe doth never do any service at all unless applied at the very instant of time that the bite is received Mr. Philipson did suck his Finger as soon as he was bit and to that a certain Physitian attributes a great deal and says it help'd to expedite the Cure Whereas there are several Authors of undoubted credit who have given relations of persons that have died by so doing And if this man had sucked out any great quantity of the Poison with his mouth how came the whole Hand and Arm to be so immediately affected in so dreadful a manner Lemery in his Course of Chymistry does confess that the Viper doth abound more with Volatile Alkalious Salts than most other Creatures and assigns a very good reason for it viz. from the extraordinary closeness of the Cutaneous Pores by which means they do not perspire so freely as other Creatures do Nay he confesseth that their Poison consisteth in the emission of a very great quantity of Volatile Salts at the time of their being enraged or angred but then to square himself with the vulgar Opinion he tells us that these Volatile Alkalious Salts are instantaneously at the time of their emission during the time of the Vipers short rage turned into Acids of the most volatile nature this is such Jargon that nothing can be imagined like it The transmutation of Metals even to those who are the greatest enemies to it is a mere jest to it If we look into Moses Charras his account of the German that was bit at his house after all the pother that he makes about his Volatile Salt of Vipers yet the Cure of that man was not performed without a great deal of hazard and trouble and the intermixture of a great many other Medicines besides that of the Volatile Salt and those even Acids too as Treacle-water and slices of Citrons with Sugar but these Acids could not so effectually operate as otherwise it 's probable they would have done by reason of their being obtunded by the Volatile Salt that was so frequently given him But Hoffman in his Clavis Pharmaceut Schroderi pag. 45 46. as I have elsewhere observed doth wholly attribute the Cure of this man to the Juice of Citrons after all other things had proved ineffectual and ridicules Charras for feigning the Poison to be an Acid For if this were so says Hoffman how could the juice of Citrons which is an Acid afford the Patient any relief I shall conclude this subject with this one observation viz. That Physicians get more reputation by keeping their Patients a long time in hand and in continual danger of their lives than by quick and expeditious Cures As for instance One Physician has a Patient sick of a Fever he takes such a method that his Patient lies a month in continual danger and hazard but at last recovers and gets abroad he then proclaims to every body the miraculousness of the Recovery and the Danger he was in upon which enquiry is made who was the Physician he immediately replies the Famous Doctor such a one and if he be a Person of any Note the Physician 's work is done Another Physician has a Patient that has the very same Fever this Physician takes care to obviate all symptoms and his Patient is abroad in eight or ten days and perhaps has never been in the least hazard

of that sort it matters not whether it will allay Thirst or not I love not repetitions but however for once I shall be guilty of it You may remember that in another place I tell you that those things which by Distillation afford a greater quantity of Acid substances than of Alkalious ones are to be reputed Acids vice versa now common Salt affords nineteen parts in twenty more of Acid than of Alkaly therefore is an Acid but before Distillation the Acid is so inveloped altho it contains so much of it that it is not at all discernable to the Tast I believe no one that has blackt his Fingers will deny Guaiacum to be an Acid but at the same time I believe it was never prescribed to allay Thirst Things tho of the same Tribe are differently to be administred according as they are differently specificated by Nature It is not a certainty of the knowledg whether Acids or Alkalies are the Causes of Diseases will presently make a man a Physician tho it will go a great way towards it but a thorow knowledg of the different specifications of Nature must also concur You charge me with contradicting my self and after that you should have been sure to have avoided any such thing your self but however in one place you say that Oyl of Vitriol dissolves the Blood and in another that it coagulates it but I shall take no advantage of this slip but shall conclude my Remarks upon this Paragraph I having already spun them out to too great a length The next Paragraph is too long to transcribe and there being little material in it I shall only make some general Remarks upon what I find worthy taking notice of You first of all charge me with saying that neither too much nor too little Acid must be given which is the sum of a Page or two viz. 19 and 20. In answer to which I do assure you that no Virtuoso need be ashamed to employ his time in considering the due proportions of things requisite to accomplish the thing he undertakes Now in Physick he that doth not understand the true Rules of Proportion deserves not the Name of a Physician He that will prescribe an Ounce of Jallap instead of a Dram deserves to be hang'd and who but a mad man will give a Pound of Oyl of Vitriol when forty Drops in a Pint of Water is all that is desired But Sir prudent Physicians have a wonderful Director in relation to Manifest Acids and indeed to every thing else that is the Stomach which is a nice judger of things that which is agreeable to her she receiving and retaining with pleasure that which is disagreeable she rejecting and abhorring But however she must not be overloaded with those things in which she taketh the greatest delight Now Manifest Acids are things she as much or more covets and delights in than in any thing besides but when she hath enough to supply her wants she gives sufficient item of it and if the Stomach be rightly consulted it is impossible the Blood should be overcharged with them but if at any time People are not sufficiently cautious of that matter but load the Stomach with more manifest Acids than the Body hath occasion for she won't fail of rejecting them by Vomit this Matter may at any time be safely experimented by an over-large draught of Vinegar in any Case where the Body hath no need of it or at least in so great a quantity at a time for which reason I tell you that the Blood cannot superabound with Acids as it 's plain in fact it doth not neither in a Morbid nor Healthy State because the Stomach will not receive or retain more than it hath occasion for but altho it cannot overdo yet it is very frequently defective in conveying a sufficient quantity into it either through its own fault or the fault of the Physician who forbids the use of them and so the whole Body suffers damage How greedily will the poor Stomach embrace the Juice of an Orange or the like in a Fever and how scornfully will she reject and abhor any thing of a contrary nature nay the usefulness of Acids is so evident and extensive that it is almost a shame they should now want a Champion after there has for so many years together been so great a noise made about Experimental Philosophy and even publick Societies in many Nations erected on purpose to cultivate it But to return from whence we left off I am apt to believe that if you take the following advice you will scarce be guilty of an Error in the giving of manifest Acids viz. always give them in such quantities as the Stomach will receive them with pleasure and delight and never refuse them when the Stomach earnestly craves them this is the method I observe at present and believe I shall never have occasion to recede from I confess it may be lawful sometimes in very extraordinary cases to strain a point beyond what Nature craves but herein if the thing should chance to be overdone all the damage that can ensue is occasioning a puke or two this you may take from my constant experience and believe me I would not willingly impose upon you and the World But in general it is always necessary for us Physicians who are or at least should be only Natures Servants strictly to observe her Necessities and not to outrun her Dictates Without making the least Experiment to convince me of being in an error you go on to range Sassafras amongst the number of Alkalies but when from Experience I do assure you that Sassafras is an inveloped Acid I think you ought not to trouble me and the World with conjectures and were it not that I value and respect you I would not so much as take the least notice of your Conjectures As for the remaining part of this Paragraph I think I have no occasion to take notice of it I having sufficiently answered every thing that looks like an Objection in it in my former Remarks and therefore shall in your own words conclude that if I have any where exprest my self indecently I hope you won't attribute it to rudeness or disrespect for I do assure you I think you a Blessing to the Country wherein you live and don 't doubt but that I shall see you an Honour to our Profession I should have concluded but that you also begin again and that I may not be unmannerly I shall for once keep you company to the end of your Journy but do not design any more to trouble the World with Disputes but if any thing more of that Nature offers it self worth my taking notice of it shall be included in some Practical Discourse And so pass we on to your Reflections upon the First Part of my Essay of Alkaly and Acid. And first OF THE Small Pox. WHAT I think worthy taking notice of at present in your Reflections upon this Matter is