Part 4

In Respect of the Medicine; It is to be consider’d, that some Medicines may require it, to enhance their Virtue; others to remove some Inconvenience attending their Operation, which may deter People from using ’em so liberally as they ought to do.

As to the Former, the ordinary Circulation of the Blood, may not suffice to Answer the Nature of some Medicaments, and call out their utmost Efficacy; just as we see the heat of our Sun will cherish and keep alive some Exotick Plants, but yet will not suffice to bring ’em to their utmost Perfection, to flower and seed; so that Exercise in this Case, is like the just and exact Incubation to the Egg; that which Animates the Drug, and gives it a Power to produce the Effect it is directed to. A Medicine may not avail any more without Exercise, than Exercise without a Medicine, and yet when both are us’d together, there may be a Result from that Union, of the greatest Importance.

Therefore, before I come to speak of the Distempers, most liable to the Power of Exercise, I shall take Notice of two or three Remedies, which seem to demand this sort of Assistance.

The First, is the Decoctions of Woods; it is the general Complaint of those who take these for any Time, that they pall their Stomachs; to obviate which, if it be requisite that a Person should persist in this Course, nothing can be more proper than Riding, or some other gentle Exercise, because it will keep up the Vigour of the Spirits; and how much the Appetite depends upon that, is easie to imagine, besides that the Intention, the _Diaphoresis_, is likewise promoted thereby.

Another Medicine which should be followed with Exercise, is the Chalybeate, especially in Dropical Subjects; not for fear it should lye heavy upon the Stomach, as the Vulgar think, but because in these People, the Contents of the Stomach are much rarefi’d and flatulent, and the Steel is apt to cause Distentions and Gripes, and other troublesome Symptomes; so that it is necessary, the whole Body should be well warm’d, that those Particles may be discuss’d, and the Stomach qualifi’d to bear the Chalybeate; besides, that acquired Heat will enable it, after it comes into the Blood, to display its Effects the sooner, either as a Corroborative, or a Diuretick. In Hysterick and Hypochondriacal Persons, this Medicine, gives trouble after another manner, by Costiveness, by Head-ach, and Heating the whole Body too much; now all these are much qualifi’d by Exercise, for it will procure a Ventilation of many of those Particles, which the Medicine agitates and throws upon the Membranes.

I might proceed to enquire into the Nature of _Balsamicks_, but that I shall have occasion, as I proceed, rather to say something against their Use, in one of the Distempers, which I shall consider; but if they are to be us’d, what I have already said in Relation to the Fluids, will shew that a great deal depends upon a proper degree of Agitation in the Blood, for the uniting and throughly mixing the Particles, of a Medicine of this Nature, that it may be transmitted to the designed Part to some Purpose; and as it would be convenient a Balsamick should be taken in a larger quantity, if the Stomach of sick People could bear it; so during the Time of Exercise, while the Body is heated, the Stomach can bear a greater quantity than at other times, without any Sense of Irritation, or Inclination to throw it up. But I shall forbear to enlarge any more on these things, and go on to the Distempers, which seem most Naturally to demand this kind of Assistance; in Treating of which it will be easie to discern in every several Case, how the Gymnastick Part will agree, or fall in with the Pharmaceutick.

OF THE _CONSUMPTION_.

The First of the Distempers then, is the _Consumption of the Lungs_; I take this to fall under the Power of Exercise; for these two Reasons.

_First_, Because the Morbifick Particles, which are the immediate Cause of the Disease, seem to be of a looser Texture, to be less intimately combin’d in the Blood, than in most Chronical Cases, the Particles which occasion each Distemperature seem to be.

_Secondly_, Because this Case requires the carrying off the Acrimonious Particles, by equal Secretions, rather than by any one particular Emunctory of the Body.

The _First_ Reason seems to appear manifest enough, from the habitual Heat and Disturbance, which are generally complain’d of, sometimes even upon the first Breaking out of the Cough, and from the continual Quickness of the Pulse; all which shew, that there is an imperfect struggle of Nature, frequent and partial Ebullitions, which don’t arise to a degree sufficient to clear Nature of that which oppresses her; but yet plainly indicate, that the hostile Particles do not unite, or accord with the Blood, so much as the Particles of each Disease do in other Cases; as for Instance, in Scrophulous and even in Cancerous Cases, tho’ the Blood is loaded with so pernicious and even corrosive a Humour, yet we find no Disorder in the Beat of the _Artery_, no irregular Heats, but for some Reasons or other, in the make of their Particles, they pass better with the Blood, and the Disease is longer protracted; now I think it seems to be a Natural Consequence, that where there is an Ebullition or Contention of Particles, there is no Union; and that a more general and natural Heat, superinduc’d by Exercise, by the Solids acting uniformly upon the Fluids, may produce a Ventilation of many of those Particles, which Nature contends so much with.

The _Second_ Reason, _viz._ The Necessity of equal Secretion, is occasion’d by the Effects of this Hectical Disposition, which by bringing a Languor upon the Spirits, a Relaxation or Flaccidity of the Muscular Parts, and even of the Lungs it self, renders Nature unable to bear any particular Secretion without great Disturbance: Thus we see upon the use of the gentlest Purging Medicine, the Cough is encreas’d, and the whole Body for a Time, more than ordinarily disturb’d; the same happens upon the Use of _Sudorificks_, and indeed scarce any particular Secretion can be considerably enforc’d, without some Inconvenience following upon it; so that it must needs be the most proper Method, if we can attain to it, to enable Nature to do the Work her self, by gentle and even Despumation, of the acrimonious Particles, at all the Emunctories.

To procure this good Effect I propose the first of those Exercises, which I shall consider more amply in its proper Place, which is Moderate Riding. This Exercise is undoubtedly the most likely to cause an equal Exaltation of the Fluids, to restore the Tone, and Elasticity of the Ducts, so that the hot fretting Particles may be cast off; some of ’em by insensible Perspiration at the Skin, others by the Kidneys, others by the many _Salival_ Glands, others by the Glands of the _Intestines_, where the very acrimonious Particles, forc’d out by that Exercise, which in a special manner acts upon those Parts, may be very much alter’d while they lye in the _Intestine_, undergo a sort of _Cohobation_, and in all likelyhood may some of ’em become inflammable, and so dispos’d, as to prove Nutritious, when suck’d up into the Blood, as some of the Contents of the Intestines always are. This is communicating, _ab extra_, a Power to Nature to act upon her self; which must needs be more agreeable than to put a Force upon her, when she is Languid, and not able to master both the Drug and the Distemper.

It would be of great Consequence, to People Afflicted with this Distemper, if they would be brought to consider seriously the Distinction of the Oeconomy into the Parts containing, and the Parts contain’d, that is the Solids and Fluids, and the happiness of being able to Exert the Strength of the Solids, and make the Muscular and Nervous Parts assist the Blood and Spirits. There are Distempers wherein a Man is so Unhappy, as to have one Part of himself only Passive; as in Fevers, the Intenseness of the Heat, affects the Spirits and Nerves to that Degree, that all Power of Standing or Going is taken away. In a Palsey, the Hopes lye all in the Fluids or Liquor Contain’d: In other Cases, the larger Glands are so much alter’d in themselves, that the Motion of the Body would be to no Purpose; but here in this Distemper, we are Treating of, the Case is quite otherwise, if the Sick Person will but Entertain a Resolution to help himself, will employ all the Springs and Fibres of his Body, and by that means take the Labouring Oar from lying always on the Blood alone, he will have no Reason to despair.

Thus I have consider’d how the Use of Moderate Riding will conduce to the conveying off the Subject matter of the Disease. The next Indication is the Strengthning the Tone of the Lungs and Muscular Parts, which in this Distemper grow Flaccid, I might add of the Stomach too, but that we can help that Bowel by many excellent Internal Remedies. Now I would fain know of any Man, how we can reach the Flaccidity of the Lungs, by Internal means, till the Distemperature of the Blood is remov’d, when it will go off in Course, but would be done much sooner, if we assisted both the Solids and Fluids at the same time; now that the very Lungs itself may appear, not to be out of the reach of a Habit of Exercise, let any one consider the strength of that Part, which Divers acquire by frequent Diving; or to come nearer to our Purpose, take any two Men equally, us’d to Hard Labour, of equal strength as near as we can guess whereof one has accustom’d himself to Running, the other never done so, all the World knows that the Practis’d Footman shall Run a great deal farther, and much faster than the other can do: Tho’ in the Common Sense of the Expression, this latter has a Clear Wind as we say, and is in perfect Health; which invincibly proves, that the Lungs tho’ a Bowel, are capable of a Habit, and that with a Proportional Allowance, the gentle, easie Exercise, of Riding, must introduce a New Habit, into the Lungs of a Consumptive Person, and so recover the Tone of that Bowel.

I know it will be reply’d here, that _Balsamick_ and healing Medicines are suppos’d to strengthen the Parts they are directed to, that they are generous Medicines, of fine Parts, and consequently fitted to Communicate a firmness, a Spring to the Nervous and Membranous Parts of the Lungs; and if it could be prov’d that they did Heal so much as they have been pretended to do; I would readily allow they did Strengthen those Parts, but I have had some considerable Opportunity, to observe the Use of those Medicines, and I never could find that if Alteratives fail’d, Balsamicks would do any great good; that is, taken strictly as Balsamicks, upon a Healing Intention. I doubt not, but in the beginning of the Distemper, as Alteratives they may be of Service, especially the milder sort; by the pleasant sensation they Create, and the Consent of the Parts they will give present Abatement of the Cough, and when brought into the Blood, may by Promoting a _Diurisis_, or by precipitating some of the Acrimony, help to carry off the Cause of the Cough, after the Alterative way, but that when there is any Ulceration in the Lungs, and the Blood is loaded with Hot and fretting Particles, they should then heal so much, I cannot conceive. If we will but give our selves leave to examine a little closely how they act, when externally apply’d to a Sore, we shall not perhaps find, that they are all of ’em such immediate Healers; some of ’em are too fine and Stimulating to be us’d as Eupoloticks, but rather prove Digestives, and therefore must be more likely to cause a too great Agitation in the Blood of these People, than a healing of the Ulcer; I know it may be here reply’d; that they are very proper to cleanse the Ulcerated parts of the Lungs in order to their better healing; but I can’t imagine how it should come about, that there should be such great need of cleansing the _Ulcuscula_ in a part of so Spongy and Membranous a Substance as the Lungs, where there can be no redundancy of Parenchymatous Juices to feed the Ulcers; besides it is to be consider’d, that the constant Motion of the Lungs, will help so deterge the Ulcerated part, just as if we should suppose a Man, that has an Ulcer in his Leg, should be squeezing the Lips of it together all day long, we can’t doubt but he would by that means work out the _Pus_, the Slough, and all the mispurities of the Sore, and in like manner, the Heaving and Subsiding of the Lungs will hinder any thing from Bedding or Lodging it self long in a part that is really Ulcerated. And alass! here is the grand difficulty in a way to a Cure, we can’t easily bring so arid a Substance, as that of the Lungs to unite, when lacerated, because of its continual Motion; so that there is all the reason in the World, for us to heap in only healing Medicines, strictly taken, without any thing that may prove in the least stimulating. Therefore, wherever Balsamicks have done any great good; I cannot think it has been any other way, than by deriving of the Acrimony from the Blood, and not by immediately healing the Part affected; so that tho’ these are Noble Medicines in Colicks and Simple Affects of the Stomach, where the State of the Blood is quite different, yet here they are too Generous. They are like the Sword of a Gyant, in the Hands of a Dwarf, that will not help but Oppress. And as for the Oily Medicines, which may be call’d a sort of milder and Artificial _Balsamicks_, we ought to consider, that the Blood is Replenish’d with a better Oyl than any we can immediately supply it with; I mean the Fat, which to the quantity of a Pint at least is continually passing, into, and out of the Blood: And yet in this Ill Habit of Body it wasts daily, and does not Unite with the other Fluids as in a state of Health. What then can we do by the Poor Addition of a few Drachms of Unctuous Stuff, which after it has pass’d the Stomach enters the Blood, to the quantify of a few Grains, and does not the least good, in Reparation for the unpleasantness in the Taking, and the Uneasiness it sometimes causes in the Stomach of the Sick Person?

I hope these Reflections will not be misinterpreted, as if I endeavour’d after some little Hypothetical Notion as a wedge to make way for any Design of mine; they will appear but too real to any that have been Conversant with this Distemper. I could wish it was all Hypothesis and Fiction, and that these Medicines would perform all that is expected from ’em, but then, to what must we attribute the Ravage this Disease makes, which is known to all, to be a Melancholy truth? Not to the want of _Balsamicks_ certainly, for both Poor and Rich, can make a shift to procure enough of ’em. The Lozenge and Linctus are in every Bodies hand, but this must be attributed to their leading People, to take a wrong Aim, to level at the Symptom instead of the Disease, these specious Medicines induce ’em to be intent on the Cure of that, which is most Troublesome _viz._ the Cough, when they should lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree, be more intent on the Cure of the Habit of Body, and not let it be overrun with a Poisonous Acrimony. I am confident Legions of the Dead might have been above Ground, if they had but conceiv’d the Fallacy of these means, if they had but stuck close to the proper Quantities of any one good Alterative, they might have Plung’d out of their several Maladies; but by placing all their Hopes in things directed to the Cough, they have far’d like the Dog, which bites at the Stone that is thrown at him, instead of Biting him which threw it, not knowing that such diligent plying of these Medicines is a kind of Embalming a Man before his Death, and an Ill boding Presage that in a little time, he will be in a Condition to be Embalmed after it.

From what I have said it is plain, that I take the Negative way (if I may so Speak) of Curing this Disease, to be the most rely’d on, that is, the deriving the Acrimony, which causes the Cough and other Symptomes to the several Excretory Channels, and clearing the Blood of it; for the Blood when freed from such Acrid Particles will prove the best of Balsams it self. Therefore the milder Antiscorbuticks, the Bitters, Decoctions of Woods, and even the milder Balsams, do all contribute their Assistance upon this Intention, in the first State of this Disease, and do very often secure the Person that makes use of ’em, and when they have not prevail’d alone, if the Use of Exercise had been superadded to ’em, they would undoubtedly at that time have been render’d effectual. But yet I am not so bound up in an Opinion, but that I am convinc’d there is such a thing, as a positive relief in this Case, in the strict Sense of the Expression; that is, a Healing of the part fretted or Ulcerated, but then I believe, it must be done by things of a milder Nature, than our Common _Balsamicks_. The Waters of our Hot Bath, are able to do a great deal, by the Healing Ocres in which they abound, and there are other things which seem qualifi’d for this end; But that Qualification necessarily supposing they should be extreamly Mild and Temperate, and upon the account of that Temper, it being likewise possible they may sometimes miss taking Effect; it is these considerations, have induc’d me to apply the Assistance of Exercise to the Temperament of those Medicines, that by such means they may be render’d able, always to Answer expectation. But that both the Nature of the Medicine, and the Assistance of the Exercise may appear the clearer, it will not be amiss, to consider two or three of these Medicines.

The first of ’em is a vegetable which has always been accounted a Pectoral; but after the Rate we use it, I much question whether it may not be said to be wholly indifferent; this is _Coltsfoot_, a Plant seemingly dry, and little likely to effect what I have known it do.

I shall here venture to give a Relation of some of the strange Effects of it, which are so seemingly incredible, that if I had not full Assurance of the Fact I should not offer it, and tho’ it is not of a Cure of the same Distemper, which I am treating of, yet I hope it will not be thought a Digression, because the Obstinacy of the Humour, which is the cause of that Disease, which this Herb did remove, is so much greater than in the Case I am upon, that it may serve to give us Reason to expect great Relief from it, in the Cure of the Consumption likewise, to which it has always been apply’d, if us’d after the same manner, and in the same quantity, as it was in that Case, it was therefore a Scrophulous Subject that it reliev’d, but one so Deplorable, that the Hospitals can’t often shew the like. The Young Gentlewoman had above twelve Sores upon her, she had had the Regular help of Physicians, but was left off as incurable, when a Person who was no Physician, and did not pretend to any thing like dealing in Medicines, only he had reason to know the neglected Virtues of this Plant, came accidentally to the House, when the Gentlewoman’s Mother was Lamenting her Daughter’s Condition; after having given her Reason, to expect something from his Medicine, he promis’d to make it for her, but made her send 10 Miles, twice a Week to his house for the Decoction of the Herb, that he might conceal it from ’em, because he knew they would undoubtedly despise it, if they knew what it was: He therefore made very strong Decoctions of it, till the Liquor was Glutinous and Sweetish, of which she was to Drink as much as she could every day at what times she pleased, this she followed above four Months; in which time most of her Sores were dry’d up, and in a little time more, she was perfectly Cur’d. And of this I have reason to be certain, because I liv’d in the House where it was made, all the time, and the Person who made it, did not make a Secret of it for Gain, but only that it might not be slighted. This instance I have thus amply related, that it may serve as a hint that this Herb when it is us’d as a Pectoral, ought to be us’d after another manner than we generally do. And that when we do make use of Vegetables, in a manner suitable to their Nature; we may find Cause to come to a Temper, as to our Opinions concerning ’em, notwithstanding the great Plenty of generous Medicines, which Chymistry affords us. I have caus’d the Decoction of this Herb to be made after the same manner, and have given it where I did not expect a Cure, and thought that I had reason to believe, it did in some Measure prove Nutritive. And we find by _Reusner_ in his Observations publish’d by _Velschius_, that it has been us’d as an Analeptick, he tells us that _Hillerus_, the Marquiss of _Brandenburgh_’s Physician, did restore Children out of _Atrophy_’s, by making ’em eat of this Herb fry’d after the manner of Clary.

The next thing I shall take Notice of, as peculiarly adapted to this Case is _Liquorice_. This Plant was ever reputed by the Ancients for the greatest quencher of Thirst in Nature, and therefore they call’d it _Adipson_, and upon that account, _Galen_ tells us it was given to Dropsical people, _Theophrastus_ calls it _Scythica_, and _Pliny_ gives us the Reason of it, and tells us the _Scythians_ where wont to Live 12 Days upon _Liquorice_, and a little Cheese made of Mare’s Milk; so that it was in Reputation, likewise for sustaining Nature, and enabling People to bear Hunger. Its effects on Pains in the Stomach, the Bladder and the like, are numerous; and some of ’em very well attested, and perhaps there is scarce any Alterative that the Ancients take more Notice of than this, except their admir’d _Silphium_; and we may gather from all, that it is one of the greatest Correcters of Acrimony in general, and that it is very temperate and safe, because the Juice of it has been drank in considerable quantities, and that fermented too; after this account of it, let us see how we use it; we boil about an Ounce or an Ounce and a half, in a Decoction of a Quart or two with other Ingredients; this is a wonderful Concession, but then in our Lozenges, there we do it to some purpose, about equal Parts of Juice of _Liquorice_ and _Sugar_, make up a Stupendious Medicine indeed, not remembring at the same time a good Remark of _Tragus_’s, _viz._ that _Sugar_ and _Liquorice_ are directly contrary, he Glories, speaking of _Liquorice_, that we have found a Sweet, that will quench the Thirst, whereas most other Sweets will cause Thirst, and instances in _Sugar_, which if it be true, can any thing imply more of Contradiction than Our Practice? If we were to make Sweetmeats for Children only, it would be allowable to mix all the Sweets in the Universe together; but when the Blood of a Poor Consumptive Wretch, is heated and loaded with Acrimony, to spoil the most agreeable Drug in Nature, by mixing it with its contrary, only because the form of a Medicine requires it; this, with all Submission, is what I think cannot easily be excus’d; this is to Cheat People with the _Bellaria_ of Physick, and Tickle Men into the Grave.