Part 8

A Clergyman, with whom I am acquainted, living in the Country, happen’d some years ago, to fall into a lingring _Diarrhœa_, which hung upon him some Years, and eluded the force of the best Medicines of all sorts, and brought him so low, that he had no hopes of Recovery left; when he was in this Condition, a Physician of the City advis’d him to try what Riding would do, not a slight tryal or two, but a close application to it; and his Physician told me himself, that he charg’d him to keep to a brisk Motion, and gallop as much as he could, enjoyning withal a very strict Diet, that if the Disease should be check’d by the Exercise, it might not by any improper Food, have occasion to break out again. He set upon this Course in his own Grounds, which are very large and spatious, and by these means was restor’d to perfect Health again. ’Tis manifest, this Case was a Colliquative _Diarrhœa_, which at long run had sunk all the Digestions and brought Nature into a kind of Universal Gleet, so that it came to be properly and solely the Object of Exercise; whereas a New _Diarrhœa_ or Dysentery, when the Humours are Turgid and Acrimonious, is solely the Object of Medicine, and so far from being to be Cur’d this way, that nothing would be more absurd than to attempt it; for ’tis the debilitated Fibres that Exercise restores, and immediately affects; and whenever Exercise makes an Alteration in the Fluids, it does so by the frequent Working and Constriction of the Fibres, which in a fresh _Diarrhœa_, before the Genuine Acrimony that occasions it is spent, would be to no purpose.

A _Northamptonshire_ Gentleman, who about two Years and a half ago, came up to Town, and liv’d in _Hogsdon_ Square, was taken Ill and sent for me; I found the chief thing he complain’d of was a Colick, but he had other Symptoms, which made me suspect he was beginning to be Cachectick. He was averse to much Physick, and took nothing but the _Elixir Salutis_, which gave him Ease, but he continued indispos’d; and seeing he was unwilling to take any more things, I advis’d him to ride out a little, he having a good Pad of his own breeding in the Town; he told me, if he rode at all, he would ride Forty Mile; I reply’d, I thought a much less distance would serve, and indeed as much as I was for that Exercise, I thought five or six Miles would have tyr’d him; for he was much weakned, and his Arms trembled exceedingly, when he lifted ’em up, which was caus’d purely by the Distemper, for he was not given to drink. However, after I had started that Advice, he persisted in his Design, and in two or three days set out and rode I think to _Bedford_, or thereabouts, Forty Mile in a Day, which, as he told me afterwards, made him so stiff, that he was laid up for five or six days; but it stav’d off all those Cachectick Symptoms that appear’d before, and in about a Month he return’d well to Town, and with so Florid a Countenance, that it could be owing to nothing but that Exercise; and he continu’d so for near a Twelvemonth, when these Symptoms of an ill Habit of Body, which I clearly discern’d was begun, broke out again, and continue upon him still. This Example may suffice to shew, that the Weakness which People commonly alledge for a Reason against Riding, is no Reason at all; it being, in some Sense, their Weakness which makes it requisite.

I will here likewise mention an Instance of the good Effects of Walking, the most common and unpromising Exercise; which I had from Dr. _Baynard_. About Twenty Years agoe a certain Gentleman came from the _West-Indies_ for the sake of our Hot Bath, for the Cure of a Sort of Palsie, which was occasion’d by the Dry-Gripes of that Countrey, kind of _Colica Pictonum_, which if not cur’d in time, usually terminates in a Palsie; This Gentleman got a Calash to carry him to the Bath; but it came into his Head, that he would by the way try to walk as much as he could, and when he found himself tir’d would get into his Calash; upon this Attempt he found his Limbs come to him more and more every day; and before he quite reach’d the Bath, he was perfectly well. And here it is remarkable, that _Bontius_, as great an Admirer as he was of fragrant Exoticks, in his _Medicina Indorum_, treating of a Sort of Palsie which some of the _Indians_ call _Beriberii_, not much unlike to, if not the same with that I have lately mention’d, he makes it his first Rule in the Cure of that Distemper, That the Sick shouldn’t give way to it, but set upon vigorous Exercise, _Sed hoc imprimis curandum est, ne (si ullo modo fieri possit) te lecto affigas decumbendo; sed vel ambulando, vel equitando, vel simili aliquo motu validiore omni conatu te exerceas_.

Dr. _Baynard_ has likewise given me, in the following Letter, an Account of his Recovery from a Consumption, some Years agoe.

SIR,

_In Answer to your Request, concerning my Illness, as near as I can remember, I here give you in short the Matter of Fact. In the Month of ~October, Anno 1694~, I was sent for to my old Friend and Acquaintance, Colonel ~Warwick Bamfield~, at ~Hardington~ in ~Somersetshire~; I being then in ~London~, and had been very ill all the Summer at ~Bath~; my Case was, as I and other Physicians thought, a true and confirm’d ~Phthisis~; for I had an habitual Heat and continual Cough, Night and Day, a very quick and frequent Pulse; I spit Blood, and exputed a viscous tough Matter, sometimes Green, Yellow, Ash-colour’d, and that in great Quantity. It would sink in Water, and smell ill and fœtid when cast upon live Coals. My Flesh went off, my Stomach decay’d, and I had that ~Livor Genarum~, as tabid People usually have, Night-Sweats, &c. so that every Body gave me over as lost and gone; but through a constant and cool Regimen in Dyet, chiefly Milk and Apples, sometimes with Honey and Sugar of Roses, and a distill’d Milk, with the temperate and cool Pectorals, together with constant Riding Night and Morning in the Air, and that on the highest Hills and Places I could find. I thank God, in two Months time my Hectic abated, Cough ceas’d, Flesh came on, and my Stomach return’d; and by continuing Riding, and other Field-Exercises, I recovered to a Miracle: And this present Year 1705, falling into the same Distemper, I was cured by the same Means, but chiefly Riding. This is very well known, and observed by all that knew me at the ~Bath~; And I wish others, in my Case and Circumstances, may find the like happy Success. I am_,

DEAR SIR,

Your humble Servant,

_Edw. Baynard_.

I shall here insert a Relation of a very strange Cure by Riding, which was communicated to me by Dr. _Sydenham_, the Son of the Eminent Writer of that Name; who was likewise pleas’d to acquaint me, That he himself took a Journey into _Scotland_, that he might get rid of a Cough, which seem’d to threaten a Consumption, and that his Journey took it off. But the Cure I am going to mention, was of a Gentleman who is related to the Dr. and now living in _Dorsetshire_, who was brought so low by a Consumption, that there seem’d to be no Possibility of a Recovery, either by Medicine or Exercise; but it being too late for the first to do any good, all that was to be done, was to be expected from the latter, tho’ the Dr. did not think that Riding would then do. However the poor Gentleman, seeing there were no other Hopes left, was resolv’d to attempt to ride into the Country; but was so extremely far gone, that at his setting out of Town, he was forc’d to be held up upon his Horse by two Porters; and when he got to _Branford_ or _Hounslow_, the People of the Inn, into which he put, were unwilling to receive him, as thinking he would die there, and they should have the Trouble of a Funeral; but notwithstanding, he persisted in his Riding by small Journeys to _Exeter_, and got so much Strength by the way, that tho’ one Day his Horse as he was drinking, lay down with him in the Water, and he was forc’d to ride part of the Day in that wet Condition, yet he got no Harm by it, but came to the abovemention’d place considerably recovered; where thinking he had then gain’d his Point, he neglected to ride any more for some time; but finding himself relapsing, he remember’d the Caution which Dr. _Sydenham_ had given him at his setting out, That if he should be so happy as to begin to recover, he should not leave off Riding too soon, for he would infallibly relapse and die, if he did not carry on those Measures long enough; so he betook himself to his Horse again, and rode till he obtain’d a perfect Recovery.

And I have lately met with a Gentleman of this City, who upon the Advice of the same Physician, set upon a Course of Riding, and recovered of a Consumption, in which he was very far advanc’d; and had try’d a Milk-Diet, and other proper means to no purpose, and all along spit Blood very much. This Gentleman set out on a Journey to _York_, and by Riding close Day after Day for about Ten Weeks; in which space of time, he rode by Computation a Thousand Mile, he return’d healthy and well to Town.

It is to be consider’d from these two last Cases, that the Riding through Variety of Airs in a long journey, is of great Consequence to Consumptive People, and is much better than riding constantly in one Air; besides the new Scenes that appear every Day in a long Journey, create some sort of Amusement in the Minds of Sick Persons, that is not to be thought altogether contemptible.

But I have been the more willing to insert these two last Cases, because they do manifestly justifie that well-grounded Distinction, or as I think, I may rather call it, Discovery of that Excellent Physician, whom I have so often cited, _viz._ That it may be too late to force any one Secretion to good purpose; and yet it may not be too late to move all the Secretions of the Body at once, equally and gently by moderate Riding; which I doubt not will be found, by all who shall try it, to be a real Truth, and of the greatest Importance, tho’ it happens to be so difficult of Access to the Understandings of some People, and so cross to the Expectations of this Age, that there are Thousands of _Naaman_’s Opinion to be found, who will choose to suffer any thing, rather than be convinc’d, that there can be so much Healing in the _Waters of Jordan_.

I could give several more Instances of this Nature; I could bring the Example of a Young Lady, the Heiress of a very Eminent Family, who ow’d what ease she had under a certain Distemper, chiefly to frequent Riding on Horseback, and to whom the being put out of that Method prov’d Fatal, when Her ordinary Physician being out of the way, another, who mistook her Case, took wrong Measures. But I only mention this, to shew that it may not be so incongruous a thing, and altogether without Precedent, to recommend these Measures in some pressing Circumstances, even to that tender Sex; who if they knew the surprising Advantages, that may sometimes be obtain’d by this Exercise, would I doubt not break through the Mode to come at ’em: No Woman living would bear some of the severer Hysterick Symptoms, if she knew any way to get rid of ’em; and I am widely mistaken if some of those Symptoms, do not as it were point out to us the clearest Indications for these Measures; as in those Women who have been long distress’d and broke with this Distemper, we may observe sometimes, that their Spirits are so scatter’d, or the Nerves so impair’d, that they can’t well bear any thing that pleases, or displeases very much, without some disorder; if they happen to desire a Thing very earnestly, they can’t wait a little while for it, without some visible uneasiness; and tho’ they are sensible of this, and their Reason is as strong as ever, yet they can’t command themselves, because the Animal Spirits, the _Medium_ by which the Rational Soul exerts it self, are so broke and confounded. The same is likewise indicated by those intense Hysterick Shiverings, which sometimes tho’ more rarely are to be met with. Now if Women, who happen to be thus Tormented, believ’d that a Recourse to this Exercise would relieve ’em, I leave it to any one to judge, whether they would dispute the putting it in Practice.

What I have said concerning Exercise, I hope may suffice to convince any Man, that the Power of Healing is not confin’d to the Drug only, but that this course may come in for a share also, and be esteem’d upon a Level in due place with common Physick. And if I should venture to say something greater of it, I should not speak my own Fondness or Phancy, but the Opinion of one who is known to have been a very Ample Judge of the Demands of Nature, I mean Dr. _Sydenham_, with whose Encomium on this very Exercise, as he has given it us in his _Dissertatio Epistolaris_, and his Treatise of the Gout, I shall conclude. In the first of those abovecited Places he has these Words. _At verò nihil ex omnibus quæ mihi hactenus innotuere, adeo impensè sanguinem spiritusque fovet firmatque, ac diu multumque singulis fere diebus Equo Vehi. Cum enim in hac Gymnasticæ specie impetus fermè omnis in Ventrem inferiorem fiat, in quo Vasa Excretoria (quotquot fœculentiis, in sanguinis massa stabulantibus, educendis à naturâ instituuntur) sita sint, quæ tanta functionum perversio, aliáve Organorum Naturalis impotentia vel fingi potest, cui tot succussionum millia eodem die ingeminata, idque, sub dio, opem non attulerint? Cujus Calidum innatum usq; adeò deferbuerit, ut hoc motu non excitetur & denuo effervescat? Quæ verò sive præternaturalis substantia, sive succus depravatus in aliquo harum partium sinu recondi potest, qui non hoc Corporis Exercitio, vel in statum naturæ consentaneum perducatur, vel quaquaversùm dissipetur elimineturque? Quid quod sanguis perpetuo hoc motu indefinenter agitatus ac permistus quasi renovatur ac vigescit._ And in his Treatise of the Gout, he thus expresses himself with some Exultation. _Sanè diu multumq; mecum reputavi, quod si cui innotesceret Medicamentum, quòd & celare vellet, æquè efficax in hoc Morbo_ (scilicet Podagrâ) _ut & in Chronicis plerisque, ac est Equitatio constans & assidua, opes ille exinde amplissimas facilè accumulare posset._

OF CHAFING.

The next I shall recommend, is a Cutaneous Exercise; _Chafing of the Skin_, or as we usually call it, the Use of the _Flesh-Brush_. It is very strange that this Exercise, which was in such universal request among the Ancients, of which they have wrote so copiously, have given us so many Rules and Distinctions for the use of it, which they put in Practice, in almost all Distempers, and without which, scarce any Man of tolerable Circumstances pass’d a day, either in Sickness or in Health; I say, it is strange, that what was so much esteem’d by them, should be so totally neglected and slighted by us, especially when we consider that their Experience agrees so exactly with our Modern Discoveries in the Oeconomy of Nature, _viz._ That there is so great a disproportion between the Evacuations perform’d by the Skin insensibly, and all the others put together; that the first exceeds all the rest by many Ounces. One would be apt to think, that this Theory should convince us, that the Ancients did find their Account in those diligent Frictions, and that they really answer’d their Expectations in the several Cases, in which they made use of ’em; and that we, who live in a Colder Climate, have much more reason to expect great advantages from this Method, if we would use it to some purpose, with Continuation and close Repetition. If a Person happens to be a little more costive than ordinary, what a Concern is he in for it? What Doses of Purging Physick are repeated to take off this suppos’d Evil; which at the same time is frequently obviated by a larger _Diaphoresis_, which at such times is often sensible in the Palms of the Hands, and very often not sensible, but yet real, and to the greater Benefit of the Person, than a Laxity of the Intestines would have been. But if six or eight Ounces of the _Materia Perspirabilis_ is kept in, which is of far worse Consequence, than the like Weight of the _Fæces_; no body is very solicitous about that: and if it discover it self in a Cold or Headach, presently there is Recourse to Purgatives; and if it be the Summer time, perhaps the Purging Waters are drank so long _de die in diem_, till Nature lose the way she has been accustom’d to; and perhaps never comes to be able to make the same Discharges for Quantity by insensible Perspiration, as she did before she was thus violently forc’d out of her way. This was not the way of the Ancients, they were for stimulating and soliciting that part, which was primarily defective, that they might reduce it to an Ability to make its wonted Discharges; so that where there is a great Lett of insensible Perspiration, which in some Cases is easily discover’d by the Smoothness and Dryness of the Hands, it is certainly most natural to endeavour to stimulate the Glands of the Skin by rubbing; which by the Colour it brings into the Skin, Sufficiently shews what it is able to do, if us’d long enough. And certainly we ought to have regard to this sort of Discharge above others, because it can supply the Defect of others, better than any of the others can supply the Defect of this; and because it is perform’d by those Vessels, which are by all now allowed to be the grand Emunctory of the Body, that is, by the true Skin, and all its innumerable Glands.

These Reasons are so Natural, that I can’t imagine what should have hinder’d the putting this Method in Practice in some Cases at least, unless it be, what I have somewhere observ’d before, the general Impatience of most People, who can’t be brought to think well of a Method which does not surprize with some present Alteration, without considering, that if such a Method will after a time cause a good Alteration, it is worth their while to wait for it, and perhaps the best Course that the Nature of the Case will admit of. Now that the Efficacy of a _general Chafing_ may be made to appear so valuable, as to encourage any one to wait for the Effects of it, let us but consider it in a particular familiar Case, which is the Cure of a _Ganglion_, a Tumour in a Tendon, occasion’d by some extravasated Juices between the Coats. This little white Swelling is commonly taken off by frequent Rubbing; and tho’ no Alteration appear for a Week or two, yet if you persist longer, it certainly vanishes; which plainly shews, that if _Chafing_ can produce such an Effect, in a Part which is cold, and comparatively exanguous, what may we not expert from it, when apply’d to the _Cutis_, which is so warm and succulent, and ready to give forth such copious Exhalations? This Instance, in my Opinion, does sufficiently illustrate the thing, tho’ we see the good Effect of it in another Case too, _viz._ The _Rickets_, which is caus’d by the neglect of exercising and _Chafing_ the Limbs of the Child, and which every Nurse knows may be Cur’d by so doing, if it has not been of long Continuance; or at least that those Exercises are equally prevalent with all the Internal Administrations.

If these things are so, why should not we carry on this Method to some of the other Cases too? Why should not we go to work even in a true Rheumatism, after the Inflammation is abated; to fetch out the _Mucous Gelatinous_ Substance, which has been thrown put into the _Interstices_ of the Muscles? This course would mould and break that Viscous Matter, and render it more fit to be absorb’d and carry’d off, or discuss’d, by dilating the Membranes, and making ’em more fit for a Transpiration; and withal would secure the Cutaneous Parts, from too great a Flaccidity, by keeping up the Spring of the small Fibres; whereas warm Fomentations, tho’ they procure a wonderful Transpiration, yet they are apt to leave the part relaxed, and sodden in a manner, if they are apply’d too often; and thus it is easie to imagine, how proper this Course is in the other Nervous Scorbutick Rheumatism, and what good Effect it will produce, if us’d with Discretion, at proper Seasons; with other Exercises likewise.

There are moreover some _Atrophies_ where this is like to prove of singular Use, by reason of the στεγνωσις (as _Galen_ calls it, in his third Book, _de Sanitate Tuendâ_) the dryness and stiffness of the Skin, which at that time, seems to be fix’d to the part that it covers, and not to fit loose as at other times, and the Pores are obstructed, and the Skin of a different Hue, from what it is in most other Cases. Here it’s easie to perceive that _Chafing_ must be of wonderful consequence, the reason of which _Galen_ gives us in a Chapter or two in the abovementioned Book, where he Treats expresly of this very Affect.

_Lastly_, it must needs be very beneficial to those Hysterical and Hypochondriacal People, who are very Fat; and upon that account, cannot use much Exercise, and have reason to be cautious, how they venture into the Cold Bath, and therefore I have not perfunctorily advanc’d this Method, where I have already treated of that Case, but upon good grounds; as these People can’t well bear any of the sensible _Evacuations_, it is but necessary we should have recourse to the promotion of the insensible one; and perhaps if we knew the true cause of that Distemper, it would be found to arise in great part, from some Lett in that insensible Perspiration, and therefore it would be proper to endeavour the Removal of such an Obstruction by outward Means, because so few internal ones are agreeable; and if any one thinks the Breathing, that is caus’d by _Chafing_, too trivial to be call’d an Evacuation, they may be fully inform’d out of _Hippocrates_ and _Galen_, that they thought it to deserve that Name, and therefore they distinguish’d one degree of it for attenuating of gross Bodies. If therefore this can be brought to appear a sufficient Evacuation for these People, it is certain it is most conducive upon other accounts; because it raises and cherishes the Spirits at the same time. Upon this account of refreshing the Spirits, the Ancients made it a great part of their Ἀποθεραπία, that is, their Method for refreshing _Athleticks_, after their violent Exercises; and every Old Woman now among us, falls to rubbing the Limbs of any body that happens to be taken with an Hysterick Fit, for it diverts the Spirits from flowing too much to the Parts affected, and long acting upon the Extremity of those most sensible Fibres of the Skin, must needs agitate the Spirits considerably, and give some Strength likewise to those Parts that are so _Chafed_.

A great deal more might be added on this neglected Subject; but I think I have said enough to prove what I above asserted, _viz._ The exquisite Agreement, between the Practice of the Ancients, and our Theory of the _Cutaneous_ Parts; and if this will not encourage any to hope for the like Advantage from the same Methods now in our days, nothing that I can say more will avail.

_Of being Exercis’d to bear_ COLD.

The next and last _Gymnastick_ Method I proceed to, is the Use of the _Cold Bath_; if any should wonder to find me rank this, among the several sorts of Exercise, they may consider, that it was ever reputed for one among the Ancients, and not without Reason; since it makes the Spirits recoil, and act with more united Vigour, upon the Subject-matter of the Disease, and so a Cure may be made by them alone, without any Medicinal Virtue, receiv’d through the Pores, as in other outward and Topical Applications; this comes up to the Notion of an Exercise, because it enables Nature to accomplish the Work of Healing her self.