Part 8

Thus We have from this Medicine, but in a far more eminent Degree, all those Effects which we observed to follow upon that grateful Sense in the Stomach, which a moderate Fulness produces. For no Bodies are so fit and able pleasingly to affect our sensile Membranes, as Those which consist of Volatile Parts, whose activity is tempered and allayed by the smoothness of some Lubricating and Oily ones; which by lightly Rarefying the Juices of the Stomach, and causing a pleasant Titillation of Its Nervous Coat, will induce an agreable _Plenitude_, and entertain the Mind with Ideas of Satisfaction and Delight.

The Case being thus, We easily see upon what Mechanism the other Virtues of _Opium_ do depend, Its Easing Pains, Checking Evacuations, _&c._ not only in that the Mind being taken up with a pleasing Sense, is diverted from a disagreable _One_; But all Pain being attended with a Contraction of the Part, That Relaxation of the Fibres which is now caused, eludes and destroys the Force of the _Stimulus_.

In like manner in immoderate Secretions there is most commonly an Irritation of the Organs, the Removal of which will abate the Discharge. And herein lies the _Incrassating_ Quality of this Medicine, in that the Twitching Sense upon the Membranes of the Lungs, Bowels, _&c._ being now lessened, the sharp Humor is suffered to lodge there in a greater quantity, before it is so troublesome as to be thrown off and expell’d; it being all one as if there were no Irritation of the Part, if the uneasie Sense thereof be not regarded by the Mind.

These Effects will all be heightened by the Mixture of the _Opiate_ Particles with the _Blood_; Which is hereupon Rarefied, and Distends its Vessels, especially those of the Brain; and thus does still to a greater Degree lessen the Influx of the Nervous Fluid to the Parts, by pressing upon the little _Tubuli_, or Canals, thro’ which it is derived.

This is the Reason of that _Difficulty of Breathing_, which they do for a time Experience who take these kind of Medicines; This Symptom being inseparable from the Rarefaction of the Blood in the Lungs.

From hence it appears, that the Action of _Opium_ is very Analogous to that of other Volatile Spirits, only that a small Portion of It has a force equal to that of a greater quantity of most of Them.

This is very evident in Those who accustom Themselves to take large Doses of It; as the _Turks_ and _Persians_ do to that Degree, that it is no uncommon thing there to Eat a Drachm or Two at a time; for the Effects of It in Them are no other than downright _Drunkenness_; upon which account (148) it is as common a Saying with Them, and on the same Occasion, _He has eat Opium_; as with Us, _He has drank too much Wine_.

Neither indeed do They otherwise bear such large quantities of It, than our _Tipplers_ will a great deal of _Brandy_; that is, by habituating themselves to It by degrees, beginning with small Doses, and requiring still more and more to raise themselves to the same _Pitch_. Just as _Galen_ (149) tells Us of a Woman at _Athens_, who by a gradual Use had brought her self to Take, without any hurt, a considerable quantity of _Cicuta_ or Hemlock. Which Instance is the more to our Purpose, because _Nic. Fontanus_ (150) knew one who being Recovered of the Plague, and wanting Sleep, did, with very good Effect, eat _Hemlock_ for some time, till falling Ill again of a Fever, and having left off the Use of this Remedy, He indeavoured to procure Rest by repeated Doses of _Opium_, which (Nature having been accustomed to a stronger Alterative) had no Operation, till the help of _Cicuta_ was again call’d in with desired Success.

It is a sufficient Confirmation of all this Reasoning, that _Prosper Alpinus_ (151) observed among the _Egyptians_, those who had been accustom’d to _Opium_, and were faint and languid thro’ want of It, (as Drinkers are if they have not their _Spirits_) to be recovered, and put into the same State of Indolence and Pleasure, by large Doses of _Cretic Wine_ made hotter by the Infusion of _Pepper_, and the like strong _Aromatics_.

Nor is it perhaps amiss to remark, that in _Maniacal_ People, as is frequently observ’d, a Quadruple Dose of _Opium_ will scarce produce any considerable Effect: Now in Persons so affected, the Mind is deeply ingaged and taken up with some _Images_ or other, as Love, Anger, _&c._ so that it is not to be so easily moved or diverted by those pleasing Representations which it would attend to at another time, and upon which the Virtues of this Medicine do in a great measure depend. Besides this, those who are _Maniacal_ do to a Wonder bear the Injuries of Cold, Hunger, _&c._ and have a prodigious degree of Muscular Force, which argues the Texture of their _Blood_ to be very strong, and the Cohæsion of its _Globules_ great; so that the Spirituous Parts of the _Opiate_ cannot make that Disjunction and Rarefaction of this Fluid in Them, which it does in ordinary Bodies and Constitutions.

Many are the Immprovements which might be made of this Theory, with relation to the Practice of Physick; but these will be obvious enough to one instructed in the Animal _Œconomy_.

To conclude then as to the Subject in Hand, it is very plain that there needs no more to make _Opium_ prove Destructive or a _Poison_, than to take too great a quantity of It; for then It must Inflame the Stomach, and Rarefie the Blood to such a Degree, that the Vessels cannot again recover their Tone, whereupon Apoplectic Symptoms, _&c._ will insue.

To be convinced of this, I forced into the Stomach of a small Dog about half a Drachm of Crude _Opium_ dissolved in Boiling Water. He quickly Vomited It up with a great quantity of Frothy Spittle; but repeating the Trial, by holding up his Head, and beating him, I made him retain Three or Four Doses, intermitting between each about a quarter of an Hour; when he had thus taken, as I could guess, near Two Drachms, I watch’d him about an Hour, then he began to Sleep, but presently started up with Convulsions, fell into universal Tremblings, his Head constantly twitch’d and shaking, he breath’d short and with labour, lost intirely the Use first of his hinder Legs, and then of the fore ones, which were stiff and rigid like Sticks. As he lay Snorting, to hasten his End, I was giving him more of the Solution, but on a sudden his Limbs grew limber, and He Died.

Opening his _Stomach_, I found It wonderfully distended, tho’ empty of every thing but some Water and _Opium_; parcels of Frothy _Mucus_ swimming in It; the inside was as clean as if scraped and washed from all the Slime of the Glands, with some Redness here and there, as in a beginning Inflammation. The _Pylorus_ was Contracted. The Blood-Vessels of the Brain were very full; and I took out a large Grume of Concrete Blood from the upper part of It, cutting into the _Sinus Longitudinalis_, as is not uncommon in Apoplectic Carcasses; but found no extravasated _Serum_ in the _Ventricles_, nor among any of the Membranes.

As to the Cure of such a Case; besides other Evacuations, Acid Medicines and Lixivial Salts must certainly do Service; these by their _Diuretic_ force causing a Depletion of the Vessels. This is the Foundation upon which _Starky_ compounded his _Pacific Pill_. Generous _Wine_, which the Ancients gave for an Antidote, can be no other ways useful, than as It dissolves the _Resinous_ Clammy Part of the _Opium_ sticking to the Coats of the Stomach, and so forwards its Expulsion by other Helps, which cause a Contraction of the Muscular Fibres.

FOOTNOTES to Essay IV.

(147) Vid. _Pitcarn. de Circulasione Sanguinis in animalibus_, §. 20.

(148) Vid. _Belon. Voyag._ lib. 3. c. 15.

(149) _Simpl. Medicam. Facult._ l. 3. c. 18.

(150) _Respons. & Curat. Medic._ p. 162.

(151) _Medicin. Ægypt._ l. 4. c. 1.

ESSAY V.

Of Venomous Exhalations from the EARTH, Poisonous Airs and Waters.

Besides these already treated of, there is yet another way of being _Poisoned_, and that is by _Venomous Steams_ and _Exhalations_, or a _Poisonous Air_ taken into the Body by the Breath.

This is notorious enough, and Authors do upon many Occasions make mention of it; but when they come to explain the particular manner how this Kills, they most commonly reduce it to some of the _Poisons_ which prove destructive by being admitted into the Stomach, alledging that Malignant Fumes and Airs are therefore fatal, because impregnated with _Arsenical Mercurial_, and the like, Deleterious Μιάσματα or Particles, they do convey these into the Blood; which being of a very Corrosive Nature, must necessarily do hurt both to the Fluid and Solid Parts.

And indeed that the _Fumes_ of these same Minerals are very pernicious, and Air fill’d with their Atoms very unfit for Respiration, is most certain; but to argue from hence, that all deadly _Vapours_ and Malignant _Airs_ owe their Mischief to these only, is too fond and ill-grounded a Conceit; since upon a due Enquiry it will appear, that there may be, and are, _Mortiferous Exhalations_ from the Earth, infecting the Air, of a Nature so different from any of those _Poisons_, that the very Substance from which they arise may not be at all hurtful, tho’ taken into the Stomach it self.

_Venomous Steams and Damps_ from the Earth the _Latins_ in one Word call’d _Mephites_ (152).

This, as many other _Tuscan_ Words, comes from a _Syriac_ Theme, which signifies to blow or breathe (153).

And in ancient times several Places were notorious for ’em; so the _Mephitis_ of _Hierapolis_ was very Famous, of which _Cicero_, _Galen_, but more particularly, and from his own Sight and Knowledge _Strabo_ (154) makes mention.

Such another was the _Specus Corycius_ in _Cilicia_, which upon the account of its stinking deadly Air, such as is thought to proceed from the Mouth of _Dragons_, which the Poets give to _Typhon_, was call’d _Cubile Typhonis_. This _Pompon. Mela_ (155) describes; and it is indeed as ancient as _Homer_ (156); for _Arima_, in which he places it, was, as _Eustathius_ says, a Mountain of _Cilicia_.

Neither are such _Fumes_ as these infrequent Now-a-days; and though mostly taken notice of in Mines, Pits, and other Subterraneous Places, yet they are sometimes met with in the Surface of the Earth too, especially in Countries fruitful of Minerals, or pregnant with Imbowelled Fires; such are _Hungary_ and _Italy_, which latter (as _Seneca_ (157) observes) has always been more than any other remarkable for ’em.

I shall therefore, having had the opportunity of making some Remarks upon One the most Famous of all in those Parts, give as good an account as I can of _That_, and its manner of Killing; which tho’ I dare not affirm to be universally applicable to any _Mephitis_ whatsoever, yet seems plainly to be the Case of most of ’em; and where it is not, this simple Mischief will only be found to be complicated with another; and then some extraordinary Symptoms or Appearances in the Animals kill’d, will easily make a Discovery of the Additional Venom and Malignity.

This Celebrated _Mofeta_ taken notice of, (or at least some other hereabouts) even in the time of _Pliny_ (158), is about Two Miles distant from _Naples_, just by the _Lago d’ Agnano_, in the way to _Pozzoli_ or _Puteoli_, and is commonly call’d _la Grotta de Cani_, because the Experiment of its deadly Nature is frequently made upon _Dogs_; tho’ it be as certainly fatal to any other Animal, if it come within the reach of its Vapour; for _Charles the Eighth of_ France prov’d it so upon an _Ass_; and two _Slaves_ put into it by order of _D. Pietro di Toledo_, Viceroy of _Naples_, with their Heads held down to the Earth, were both kill’d (159).

’Tis a small _Grotta_ at the Foot of a little Hill, about Eight Foot high, Twelve long, and Six broad; from the Ground arises a thin, subtle, warm _Fume_, visible enough to a discerning Eye, which does not spring up in little parcels here and there, but is one continued Steam, covering the whole Surface of the bottom of the Cave; and has this remarkable difference from common Vapours, that it does not, like Smoak, disperse it self into the Air, but quickly after its rise falls back again, and returns to the Earth; the Colour of the sides of the _Grotta_ being the measure of its Ascent; for so far it is of a darkish Green, but higher, only common Earth, and this is about Ten Inches. And therefore as my self found no Inconvenience by standing in it, so no Animal if its Head be kept above this Mark is in the least injured: But when (as the manner is) a Dog, or any other Creature, is forcibly held below it, or by reason of its smalness can’t hold its Head above it, It presently, like one stunn’d, loses all Motion, falls down as Dead, or in a Swoon, the Limbs convuls’d and trembling, till at last no more sign of Life appears than a very weak and almost Insensible beating of the Heart and Arteries, which if the Animal be left there a little longer, quickly ceases too, and then the Case is Irrecoverable; But if snatch’d out, and laid in the open Air, soon comes to Life again, and sooner if thrown into the adjacent _Lake_.

In this short, but accurate, History of the _Grotta de Cani_, I have set dow those Particulars which do not only distinguish _Mephitical_ Exhalations from common and innocent Fumes, but also give hints sufficient, I think, Mechanically to determine the Reason and Manner of their surprising Effects.

And not to spend time in refuting the Opinions of Others, I shall only take Notice, that here can be no suspicion of any true _Venom_ or real Poison; if there was, it were impossible that Animals taken out of the _Grotta_, should so immediately recover the Effects of it, without any remaining appearance of Faintness and Sickness, or such like Symptoms as those suffer who have been breathing in an Air impregnated with malignant corrosive _Effluvia_. Besides, that the Venomous Corpuscles would certainly, in some Degree at least, infect the Air in the upper Part of the Cave, which continues pure, and fit for Respiration. Neither indeed after what manner soever this Poison be imagin’d to Act, whether by dissolving or coagulating the Blood, could its Efficacy be so sudden and momentaneous, without some Marks of it in the Creatures kill’d, when opened, which yet do discover nothing of this Nature extraordinary, neither in the Fluid, nor in the Solid Parts.

In order therefore to understand wherein this deadly quality Consists; I say in the first Place, that Life, so far as it respects the Body, is, in one Word, the _Circulation_ of the Blood; that is, its Motion in _Conical_ Distractile Vessels from the Heart to the Extreme Parts, and its Return to the Heart again by the same Canals inverted; For ’tis upon this that all Animal Functions, all Sense and Motion Voluntary and Involuntary, do depend; so that the Regularity of this Course is the Measure of Health, or the most perfect Life, as its various Irregularities are the Occasions of Sickness and Diseases, or a beginning Death.

Now all the Animal Operations and Offices which proceed from this Circulation, are the Effects of several Secretions of Liquors of very different Natures out of the same Fluid Mass; It was therefore absolutely necessary that the Blood, before It be distributed to the Organs, should be so comminuted and broken, as that no Cohæsion of its Parts should hinder the Separation of these _Juices_ from It, when it Arrives with a determinate Force at the Orifices of the Secretory Vessels.

This Work is done in Its Passage thro’ the _Lungs_, by the repeated Compression of the Air in those _Bladders_ upon the Arteries, with wonderful Contrivance dispers’d among ’em (160). Herein lies the Use and Necessity of _Respiration_; and the sudden Mischief of Stopping it, in that the whole Mass of Blood being to pass this way, upon a Check here, there presently insues a Stagnation, that is, a Cessation of all Animal Functions, or Death; Which will be the more speedy, if not only no Air is inspired, but a Fluid of a quite different Nature from It succeeds in its Place.

Wherefore it must be observed, that this good Effect of the Air is performed by its _Elasticity_; And that no Fluid whatsoever, that we know besides, is _Elastic_, at least to any considerable Degree, that is, has a faculty of expanding and dilating it self when compressed; No, not _Water_, as near as That is thought to approach to Air in its Nature.

And now as to the present Case, I took notice before that this _Vapour_ is one continued and uninterrupted _Steam_, and that quickly after Its rise it falls down again; that is, that it has little or no mixture of Air with It, or no Elasticity; and is, on the other Hand, very heavy, when forsaken by the Force of _Heat_ that drove it upwards.

So that I make no Question, but that Animals in this Place do instead of Air inspire _Mineral Fumes_, that is, a thin watery Vapour, impregnated with such Particles as do, when united together, compose solid and heavy Masses; which is so far from helping the Course of the Blood thro’ the _Lungs_, that it rather expels the Air out of the _Vesiculæ_, and straitens the Passage of the Blood Vessels, by its too great Gravity; whereupon the _Bladders_ are relaxed and subside, and the Circulation is immediately Interrupted. But if the Animal be in time removed out of this _Steam_, that small Portion of Air which does after every Exspiration remain in the _Vesiculæ_, may be powerful enough to drive out this Noxious Fluid; especially if the Head of the Creature be held downwards, that so its Gravity may forward its Expulsion; or It be thrown into Water, which by assisting, upon the account of its Coldness, the Contraction of the Fibres, promotes the retarded Circle of the Blood; as we every Day experience in a _Deliquium Animi_, or Swooning Fit.

Tho’ if this Stagnation be continued too long, no Art can renew Life, no more than in One perfectly strangled; nor will the _Lake of Agnano_ it self be of any Service; which shews that there is no singular Virtue in That Water beyond any other; nor is it, as some have fondly Imagin’d, a Peculiar Antidote to the Poison of the _Grotta_.

The bad Effects of such _Fumes_ as This will be the more certain, because the inspired Mineral Particles twitch and irritate the Membranes, which are hereupon contracted to that Degree, as not to be able to recover their Tone, and so the Force and Action of the _Lungs_ is quite lost.

It appears from all This not to be at all necessary to make any farther Enquiry into the particular Nature of these Mineral Particles, since they do in this Case act chiefly by their _Gravity_, which is common to ’em all. Tho’ indeed the _Greenish_ Colour of the Earth, together with its _Subacid_ Taste, very much (as _L. di Capoa_ observes) like to that of the _Phlegm_ of _Vitriol_, seem to declare them, if not altogether, yet principally at least, to be _Vitriolick_.

To conclude this Part of our Discourse; I think it a sufficient Confirmation of this Reasoning, that in _Frogs_ kill’d in this _Grotta_, the _Bladders_ of the Lungs (more visible otherwise and distinct in these Creatures than in most others), were found subsided, and quite empty of Air (161). But if any one desires a farther Proof, he may, according to these Principles, make (as _Lionardo di Capoa_ (162) did) an Artificial _Mephitis_; for if _Antimony_, _Bismuth_, or any other such Mineral be finely powdered, and moistened with _Aqua Fortis_, or _Spirit_ of _Nitre_, there will arise a great Heat, and a thick dark Smoak, in which, as in the _Grotta de Cani_, Torches are extinguish’d, and Animals, tho’ but slowly, stifled and kill’d. And this Effect will be more sensible, and equal to the most Violent _Mephites_, if the _Antimony_ or _Marcasite_ be mix’d with _Bitumen_, and the _Spirit_ of _Nitre_, or _Aqua Fortis_, intirely depurated from all its _Phlegm_.

* * * * *

And thus I have shewn how Death may enter at the Nostrils, tho’ nothing properly _Venomous_ be inspired. It were perhaps no difficult Matter to make it appear, how a lesser Degree of this Mischief may produce Effects, tho’ seemingly very different from these now mention’d, yet in reality of the same Pernicious Nature; I mean, how such an alteration of the common Air as renders it in a manner _Mephitical_, that is, increases its _Gravity_, and lessens its _Elasticity_, (which is done by too much Heat, and at the same time too great a Proportion of watery and other grosser Particles mixt with it) may be the Cause of _Epidemic_ Diseases, and, it may be, more especially of those, which by Reason of their untoward Symptoms, are usually call’d _Malignant_.

For it is very Remarkable, that _Hippocrates_ (163) observ’d the Constitution of the Air, which preceded _Pestilential_ Fevers, to be great _Heats_, attended with much _Rain_ and Southern Winds; and _Galen_ (164) takes Notice, that no other than a _moist_ and _hot_ Temperament of the Air brings the _Plague_ it self; and that the Duration of this Constitution is the Measure of the Violence of the Pestilence. _Lucretius_ (165) is of the same Mind, for in his admirable Description of the _Plague_ of _Athens_, These _Diseases_, says He, _either come from the Air, or arise from the Earth_,

――_Ubi_ Putrorem humida _nacta est Intempestivis_ Pluviisq; _&_ Solibus _icta_.

In short, the general _Histories_ of _Epidemic_ Distempers, do almost constantly Confirm thus much, and would have done it more, if the vain Notion of _Occult Venoms_ had not prepossess’d the Minds of Authors, and made Them regardless of the manifest Causes.

And this is notorious enough in those Countries where _Malignant_ Diseases are most rife; Thus it is a very common Observation in the _East-Indies_, that during the dry Heats the Season is Healthful, but when the Rains fall immediately upon the Hot Weather, then _untoward Fevers_ begin to threaten.

The same is observ’d in _Africa_; for (as _Joan_, _Leo_ (166) relates) if _Showers_ fall there during the Sultry _Heats_ of _July_ and _August_, the _Plague_ and Pestilential Fevers insue thereupon, with which whosoever is infected hardly escapes.