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SYPHILIS. A

£X Practical Dissertation

ON THE

Venereal Difeafe.

In which., after a fliort Account of its Nature and Original; the Diagnoftick and Frcgnojlick Signs, with the beft Ways of Curing the feveral Degrees of that piftemper, together with fome Hyftorical Observations relating to the fame, are Candidly and without Referve, cook municated

In Two Parts.

By DANIEL TV R N E R7 of the

College of Phyficians, London.

■* i ' ' ' ; '

Tour Doom is paft, blaclz Styx has heard him Smear, This Plague Jbould never be extinguiftid here : Since then your Soil mufl ne^er be wholly free ; Beg Heav'n at leafl to yield fome Remedy. Tate's Poem,

The Remedy is found, yetfuch thy Fate, ' /JT,

Poor Sinner ! That it often comes too late r For what, alas ! avails the- Art, if ft til [_JhalI kill.

Thofe whom the Pox would fpare, the wretched Quack

L 0 N D 0 N:

Printed for R> Bonwicke, Tim. Goodwin, % Walt hoe, M. Wotton, S. Mdnjbip, Richard Wilkin* Ben'y Toole, R. Smith and Tbo. Ward, 1717.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

SCHOOLOF MEDICINE A*D PUBLIC HEALTH LIBRARY

THE

Epiftle Dedicatory

TO

Mr. Richard Blundell7 Surgeon,

PON concluding this following Practical Differiation^ I refolvcd on its Dedication to Tome Expert Practical Surgeon ; among whom the long Experi- ence I have had., Sir., of your Abilities in that Art. as well as Friendihip^ dire&ed me readily to prefix your Name,, and at ihe fame time to folicit your Countenance thereof:, which, whether or no it has the better Claim to upon that Score., may very likely find the kindlier Entertainment^ when the Reader is apprifed lo competent, and fo impartial a judge as your Self, having had a Perufal of it before its Pub- lication, gave Judgment in its Favour^ and declared it a uleful Treatife.

As it was cheifly intended for the younger

Part of your Fraternity., I have avoided

unneceflary Theory., unlefs where I have

A 2 been

The Dedication.

been led into the fame, to fliow the Va- rsity of fome Novel Hypothefes- much more have I declined Mathematical Argu- mentation, the now modifh (I wifli I could fay the moft ufeful) Way of handling Medicinal Subje&s : For to be free (as we ought with our Friends) however I may happen to give Offence to fome., I muft as freely own my Fears to you, that in fpite of all our late Pretences to this kind of Cer- tainty in Phyfickj a rational Empiricifm will come little fhort of its juft Boundaries, if it prove not a ne ultra to the fame • and confequently that our new Way by Arith- metic^ Algebra., and the Elementa Mathe- matica^ however entertaining to the Senior Profeflors, is only fit toamufe young Heads, and to furnidi them with a Sort of learned Gibberifli.

By a rational Empiricifm, I mean not only an expedient Knowledge of the Stru- fiure of humafae Bodies, the Subjeft of our Work, together with the Caufes^ fuch of them., and fo much of the Nature of Dif- eafes^ as are difcovcrable to us, but a thorough Acquaintance alio with the Mate*

ria

The Dedication.

ria Medica^ and more particularly a fedn- lous Obiervation of the Succefs^ either good or bad, that for a long Series of Ex- periments^ has attended the Adminiftration of Remedies,, to remove thofe Difeafes ; by which we fliall fufficiently diftinguifli from the Herd of bafe unlearned Quacks^ who are ignorant of all thefe., and at a meer haphazard., impofe the moft ill fuited and prepofterous Compolitions • and the Perfon thus qualified., you will pardon me I dare fay, if I think fitter to be intruded with the Concerns of Life, than the more learned Difputer., (but lefs heedful Obfer- ver) that from Geometrick Principles, or Data borrowed from a foreign Science D forms Axioms or Propofitions y deduces Lemmata or Arguments, thence drawing Inferences or Conclufions^ by Way of Co- rollary^ the better to countenance fome belovM Hypothefls.

I am far from difputing the TeupeT&oi tS 0gS in the Fabrication of our Bodies., or doubting but that the fame are made as wTell by Weight as Meafure : Yet in many of their Diforders, where the Fluids are more A 3 ' par,

The Dedication.

particularly concern^ and ftill more efpe- cially in fome of thofe of the nervous Tribe, there is lo much of the 0«'o* % or unac- countable^ fo many little Incidents to re- tard or accelerate their Motions., or other- wife diverfify their Texture., impercepti- ble to and indeed invefHgable by the humane Mind, that very little Certainty., 2is to the greater Part of them, will as I apprehend in this Method be ever Eftab- lifliU

The Mechanicks, it muft be granted., have done fomewhat towards improving our Knowledge in the Nature., Life and Way of Operating^ of the Solids* Yet., even here the grand Pointy the St9 o<n of mufcular Motion^ is ftill Difputable • and the Parallel which is carried on betwixt our Fluids and the Hydroftaticks., much wider., lefs iuftrufitive^ and confequenrly lefs uieful to Pra&ice ; and I doubt is like to be fo^ till we are as well acquainted with the Nervous Fluid., Animal Secretion., and in ihort., with all the feveral Ways our Liquors may be affe&ed., as wre are with the Diameters and Sites of the Tubes

which

The Dedication:

which contain them. So that we have lefs reafon to wonder after fo much fine Talk of this Demonft ration., that even the great Pre- tenders to the lame., overlook it generally in their Medicinal Prefcripts^ and like other Gentlemen (little or nothing attached unto that Science) proceed on common In- dications^ and direft their Remedies (hap- py for the Sick that they do fo) from their Succefs of fome former Adminiftration under the like Complaint. Whence it appears the chief life of the new Method., is to enable us to difcourfe profoundly^ and., as we fee caufe^ may be laid afide when we come into the Patients Chamber, or dire&ly to the Pradice.

We muft indeed confefs the Art of Surgery., which you, Sir0 have the publick Teftimony of exercifing with very great Reputation: Whether we confider it in its Synthefis^ DU'refis, Ex^rejis^ or almoft any of its Parts and Operations., has a better Right to the Principles we have been Speaking of- becaufe the naked Eye., or that of the Body, can judge of the art- ful or ignorant Performance of the Work ,

A 4 and

The Dedication.

and where Lines and Figures are your pro- per Guides: But in Phyfick, ftri&ly fpeak- ing where wre h£t as it were in the Dark., and have that only of our UnderFtanding to direft tis^ the Property is much altered : Wherefore., tho' I lament as much as others, the Affair of Life fliould any way depend on Chance : Yet muft I fee farther than I have done hitherto., into Mathematical Medicine., before I alter my Opinion., that however you^ Sir., have a furer Guide in the Chyrurgick Province., good rational Guefling 5 backed with as great Experi- ence^ will ftill make a confiderable Part of the Character of a good Phyfician : But fearing to trefpafs longer on your Time., I fhall crave only this farther Li- berty^ to acknowledge publickly^ what I do frequently in a more private Way (w&)'- that I am^

9 t %

Tour vsrj much Qbligd%

B^i:.op:gate.with- £0f[ yerj humble Servant.

cut Jum 24?

n t,

!***)«**********--**Saj****a^*

The PREFACE

To the Worthy Members of that Worfliip- ful Company profeffing the Noble Art of

CHIRURGERY in the City of London,

Gentlemen,

T^W^HE following Treatifey at fir ft writ- JL ten in the Latin Tongue, had there- in been publiftfd, but that my Bookfeller (whofe Iniereji I was alfo to confult, fo far as was confiftent with my own Inten- tion of doing all the Service I could, with- out any Injury to the Art or its legal Pro- fejfors, ) perfwaded me to the contrary. His Reafons were thefts viz. That if the Book gave Satis fa&ion, and was well re-* ceived, the SubjeB was finch y that (owe Tcrfon or other would fioon be employed

about

The Preface.

about the Tranjlation^ perhaps to my Dif credit by maiming the Senfe^ as well as to his ^Prejudice in the Latin Impreffton. And objecting the ill IJfe that might be made of the Englifh Edition by ignorant Pre- tenders ^ I was anfwerd^ That he knew my Stile to be out of their Element ^ and that by keeping the Pradctipta in the Latin (which he was iviliing Jhould be continued) fuch Scruple would be remov d. Be fides y he farther remarked y That there were ma- ny Ferfons who had a legal Title to pra&ije^ by their Servitude under able Majiersy and who had themselves alio been bred up in qpod Literature ^ yn after by Difufe of that Language were often at a Lojs ^ and he observed the Generality of them preferred therefore anEngliih Phyfick Book or Traci in Surgery to one in Latin.

'Vpon theft Motives I undrefs^d it , but have ft ill guarded againft thofe illiterate Medicafters^ who are already but too bold in a (fuming more particularly the Cure of this Viftempery as it were to them) (elves.

I have infer /bed it, in the Way of Pre- face ^ to you^ Gentlemen ; becanfe I think

great

The Preface.

great ^art of the Cure does of right be- long to you, if we confider many of the Symptoms. For although we allow the Fhyfician (which is his Trovince ) the Phyfical Prescription, yet where the X&f l?yV or manual Operation is requird ; where Caufticks are to be apply d to lay open the Venereal Abfcefs^ to rub down the Verrucse, to extirpate Caruncles ; alfo to lay bare the rotten Bones ^ or Cauteries to dry and ft them for Defquammation • where the Knife and Sciffars too are wanted, as in the Phimofis and Periphiniofis they are fometitr.es, as well as in dilating the finu- ous V enereal Ulcers -, in a word, where topical Applications are neceffary, as, for the Chancres^ BuboV, Hernias Humorales^ the Gallick Gummr, Tophs or Nodes, and other the like Attendants : hi thefe Cafes' I fay, it mnfi be granted, that the Sur- geon is the mofi proper $ erf on to be con- sulted.

We all know, Gentlemen^ how very com- mon it is for the Town Quacks to enter* prize every thing of this Nature • but their Knowledge being as^ little extenfive in the

Phyfical

The Preface.

Thyfical as in the Chirurgick Part (which J have already made appear in another Flace)^ and their running the greater Part of thofe they deal withy from a firft^ into the fecond InfeSlion, or from a Clap, as it is calVd^ to a Pox ; are Teflimony fuf-„ fcient^ what fort of Qualifications they have for pra&ifing herein, and what the Fate *fa like to be of thofe, who by Pretence of greater Secrecy and Difpatch, are deluded by their fpecioif/S Invitations.

But pajfing theje (the greater Plague of the two) it may be neceffary I fbonld fay fomewhat of the Occafion of my Publifbing the following Difcourfe, which was indeed for the better Information of jome younger "Artijls among you, lefs converfant in this Pra&ice, whom. I have fometimes found at a Lofs to obviate the Symptoms arifing as well in the time of a Mercurial Salivation, as before and after • others very needlefly and often prejudicially haraffing fame Ha- bits of Body with improper and over -long continued Purgation, as if Calomel, with fome jirong Cathartick were all the Kequifties to the Cure of the firfi Inf&ioth

It here

The Preface.

There have been many Treatifees I mujl acknowledge j or (pamphlets rather, of late Tears printed, relating to this Subject ^ but fen?, or none that I remember, fence thofe of Mr. Serjeant Wifeman^ but what have carried fuch a manifeji Air of Lewdnefesy or fetich apparent Signs of Fraud and Self- Iniereji, as have either tended to the Cor- rupting of young Peoples Morals, or to the Picking of their dockets, and Ruining their Health. Tims one Quack has only UbeWd another with manifeji Plagiary, or felolen and imperfeVi Accounts of the Dijiemper, picked up out of other Writers, defegnedly conceal d, to amufee the ignorant ^ but when they come to the Cure we are always feure of fending feome Secret at the Bottom of the Defegn : And thofe who know little or no- thing of a feound or rational PraViice, nor were ever bred tip to the feame0 (leaving their proper Occupations') delude the poor unfortu- nate People by means of thefee (bam Accounts, with flrange 'Notions of their Skill and Judgment. ZJpon whom if I have been jevere in feome Reflections, they have been extorted by the great Number of Patients

I

The Preface.

I have feen trapannd and mind thereby ; whofe Authors are feldom wanting of fome Confederates, placed for that Purpoje about the Town, to vouch even the greateji of ^Untruths, for the better carrying on their Inierefi. But quitting alfo thejc, it might perhaps be deemd an Overfight, if I jhoidcl not take Notice, that a Learned Gentleman hath lately undertaken to give us a truer Id<ea of one Tart of this 'jjifeafe, I mean the Gonorrhoea or firjl Infection, than has hitherto been deliver a to m : Yet even his Method of healing is likewise kept a Secret, for Year (as he fays) it foould be an En- couragement to an unruly Set of Men. So that no Body being like to fare the better for ity I cannot fee to what fair Purpose we are acquainted that fuch a Secret is found out ; nor indeed why the learned Author Jhculd bear jo hard upon all other Practi- tioners, accounting their Methods Empirical and uncertain : Since all that we can fnd in the [aid Difcourfe of his, of any Pub- lick VJe or Advantage, is no other than the antient or modern PraVnce he is find- ing Fault with, ''tis true, he has publiflSd

therein

The Preface.

therein what he calls n new Medicine for the Cure of Chancres, which I have farther noticed in the enfuiug Treatife : But what he terms his direSl Cure of the Gonor- rhoea is (as we obferved before) concealed. So that when ho arraigns all others , whether 'phyficians or Surgeons, as out doing the Mountebanks in Curing by unknown Methods and Medicines, (although I know of 720 legal Ones that do fo) how indeed can he bimjelf keep clear of their Company, whilji his own Remedy is a Noftrum ? But ask- ing Pardon of the learned Author, if I have been too free, I Jhall no longer detain yen with a Prefatory Difcourfe, left whilfi I am remarking others, I forget that I have left Room enough for Criticifm of fome kinds in my own 'Undertaking • and I can very eafily forefee from what Quarter the fame is mofl likely to be fumijFd. However if I am not found guilty of Male TraSUce-? which I have been chiefly careful to avoid, I Jball fight all other Reflexions, being [atisfled in my felf that I have laid down fuch inflruBive Bi?its and ufeful Directions in the foilqwing Difcwtrfe, as if purfued

by

The Preface.

by the lefs knowing among you, many a poor unfortunate Perjons Life will be fe- cnrdy that has been loft for the- Want of them ; and among all the Accusations^ to tvhich an Author is liable, I think I am fure of efcaping two of tW worji Sort^ viz. an Insinuation that I know what 1 do not, or a concealing from the Reader any thing that I do know^ which gives me at leaf the Right of Subfcribing my [elf

Gentlemen, Your fincere Friend and humble Servant-

ERRATA.

I^jAge i. in the Margin for others read fome, p. 7. 1. 34. t. Marten Ahbj. p. 24. 1. 4. r. inflamed, p. 33. and fome others for Paraphimofis r.v Periphimofis. p. 42. 1. 15. r, merely, p. 46. L 20. r. vcnet. p. 47. 1. 5. after Ovi ViteU Solut. r. cum Vecott. cGm* pro. Clyft. p. 57 lo 23. r. Oxymelle. p. A.5. 1. 2G. r. Having prepared* p. 68. 1. 13. r. fome other Perfon. p. 83. 1. 8. and el few here, ion Gummata r. Gummi. p, 84. L. 5. r. Ophthalmies. p. 119. 1. 5. r. of an unhappy, p. 126. 1. 4. r. cum foliu. p. 219. 1. 4. r. Diaco- dium. p. 223. at Hiilory XV III. read thus,

Yerrucss, Chancres, Nodes, Gummi, Ozisna with Cariesr Ulcers in the Throaty &c.

m m

A

Practical Dissertation

O N T H E

Venereal Difeafe.

PART 1.

Of the firft InfeBion^ cdWcl a Clap.

||§SS!$&§ N treating of this Diftemper, it gll^fl $ may not be taken amifs, fat leaft of the ©flis!!^ by fome) if we deliver a few Original

llHi Words pf its Gaufe and 0rigjne 9 °ftbsFQXi about whieh we find the Writers

thereof, very wide in their Opinions : Some of them affirming it to be a new Difeafe, or a nswDif of little more than two Centuries (landing, etfe . ac- when it is faid to arife from the natural Con- cordtri& ™ junction of a leprous Man with a menftruom Wo- man \ or from the unnatural or Sodomitical, of an- other with a difeafed Beaft \ from foifoned Wine ; .the Influence of fome malevolent Star 3 the veno- 8 mou$

g A Practical Differtation, &c.

mom Bite of a Serpent. Which were the Opi- nions of Taracelfm, Van Helmont, C&falpinw^ Fracaftoriw, and our Lifter \ as they have been reckon'd up by a late Author.

But not to (lay upon thefe whimflcal Con- cepts (for I can call them no better^ Others* with more Reafon, have imputed the fame to the Air and Clime of fome particular Country, where it is reported to be Endemiai, and from whence, about that Time, it came into Europe. ■ Thus Hddanus, fpeaking of the Scur- vy, which he tells us was brought firft into Germany, from the Northern maritime Coafts* where that Difeafe was very popular, argues thus : Quis itaque negabit Aerem% aliquo modo7 inquinari, mutari, & proinde Morbum, veluti fer Contagium^ ad Incolas propagari ? Eodem rnodo dira ilia Lues Venerea, ex Infula quadamy antiquis incognita ( ubi frequentijfima est ) per Hifpanos primum in Italiam deport at a fuit : qunm Anno 1 494, Carolus viii, Francorum Rex, ingen- tem Exercitum in Italiam duceret, Vrbemque Neapolim occupajfet, & Victor ad fuos rediiffet, fccda ilia Lues ad Gallos Germanofque propagata fuit. The Pox On the other hand, it is affirmed to be an anti-near as old as the Race of Mankind, and ent z>tf- began at the fame time with the Sin of For- eafe ac- nkation j that it was alfo known to the An-

mlenft0 tients> altno' M otner Names 7 having pro- bably at thefe times fomewhat differing Sym- ptoms. Witnefs Dodon&u!, for its Age beyond the former Epocha, in his Annotations on the firft Chapter of Benivenius de Abditis, where we meet with thefe Words.

Lu em

A Praftical Differtatiorj^ Scci J

Luem veneream, hunc Morbum, nunc rettius recentiores appellant 7 citra alkujus gent is Invidi- am \ tametfi autem ah to hello, quod Carolus Gal- brum Rex, cum Alphonfo Rege, ad Neapolim geffit Annis 1493, & 1494. plurimum favieritj & tunc frimum natus vidthatur : nonnulla ta- men qu<& hujus Symptomata babentur, midto ante medicis cognita extitere : nam & ah immundis & fordidis mulieribus, jam olim nonnullos vitia qucedam contraxijfe^ teftantur Gvlulmus Salicetusf Bernardus Gordonius, & Vdefcus "tar ant anus 0° Quorum hie vix it Anno 1458. Salic etus <vero cla- ruit circa Ann, I 270. Bernardus Gordenius me- dio tempore : Omnes autem ante Morbi Gallici nomen aut Luis Venerea orbi cognitum. And thus the Lepra of the Antient Greeks, the Elephan- tiasis of the Arabians^ but more efpecially their Ejffere or Pfora, with fome other of the «5*r- ^ifjLcLTct obferved by Hippocrates and Galen', nay the Royal Pfalmift's Sore which he complains of running in the Night, and Job's Difeafe alfo muft be Coufin-German to our prefent Diftemper.

Thefe Writers place the Caufe in a putrid £**fi. of Ferment, arifmgfrom mixt Seeds in the Va-lh* Fox* gina of a Woman } from which heterogene- ous Copula fprings the Pocky Venom. Of this Opinion among the Moderns we find Monfieur de Blegny a Frenchman^ with fome others } as of the contrary Cfo far as to believe it new] our Country-man Dr. G. Harvy>

Moreover, that this Diftemper is not pecu- OtherCrei- liar to Mankind, but affeding alfo-ether Crea- *»'« ^ tures very falacious, is neverrhelefs, I think, ^ J?^ \0 acknowledged by this laft> who afcribes the t^f pif* Mainge of the Dog and Bitch efpecially, to eafa the like Caufe with the Pox 2 For confirma*

^ A Practical Differt&tion, &c.

tion of which, I very well remember a lean Cur in the Houfe I lived, that was always running after the Salt and proud Bitches in the Streets, being frequently loft for a Week together, would then come Home with a drip- ping of purulent Matter from the Penis, which feemed alfo to be attended with a Stranguria, by his perpetual Mitturitio, obfervabfe in the lifting up his Leg (as the Manner of the Crea- ture ts,) againft the Steps or Door, when he could, do nothing, or only a few Drops j then prefently lying down again, he would gently howl for a few Minutes. VVhilft his Running lafted he kept Houfe, and lying round, would with his Tongue be licking of the Penis, as the Matter was ready to drop from it, which was of a deep yellow exa&ly like that which flows in the Gonorrhoea, as it is call'd, from Men after they are clapt. And within about two Years after, as near as 1 can remember, (for 'tis now upwards of thirty fince this hap- pen'd,) he had been thus out of order feve- rai times, the fame Dog became fo filthy with the Mainge, that a Servant in the Family was order'd to hang him out of the way.

This Hiftory I have thought fit to infert only as Fad, leaving it to others of more Leifure and Abilities, to draw what Inferen- ces they pleafe, and make their own Applica- tion j although I muft needs think, it does not invalidate, if it does not countenance the former Notion, that the Venom of the Difeafe is at firft taken from the Vagina Vten of the Female, arifing from the putrid Fer- ment juft before obfervU But to proceed,

A Practical Dijfert at "ion ', Sec.

The Generality of thofe Writers Jiving at the Time of its firlt Appearance in thefe European Parts, and pleading the bell Know- ledge of its Nature, when it came among them, will, notwithstanding all that can be faid to the contrary, have the fame to be a new Diftemper, at leaft to us in the Year 1493, when they fay it was brought over by that famous Difcoverer of the new World, Columbus, from America into Spain, thence from the Siege of Naples (whence catfd Mor- bus Neapolitanus) to the French who were fet down before that Place ', and unto whom, af- ter their Return to their own Country, it feems mod likely we fhould be beholden for the fame Prefent, in this way of its Tra- duction. Thus Benivenius, Cap. 1. Novuoi Morbi genus Anno Salutis nonaoefimo feMo fu- pra mille quadringentos a Chrifiiana Salute, non foVum Italiam, fed fere tot am Eur op am, irrepjit. Hoc ab Hifpania incipiens, per Italiam ipfam pri~ mum, turn Galliam, cater afque Europe Frovin- cias late diffufum, mortals s quamplurimos occu* pavit.

This truly was the current Opinion of thofs early Writers, with which Harvy in his Venus feems alfo to acquiefce ', as deeming it no way ftrange (any more than Sydenham), that new Difeafes ffuch were the Sudor Anglkus, the Trici Incuborum or Plica Polonica, the Brun- nus Gallicus, with fome others might be named) fhould arife, whilft others vanifh of an elder Date.

The laft of thefe Authors thinks it how- ever brought from Guinea in Africa, where it his Endemial, if not Indigenous, as the Scorbu- tus to Holland^ the Rachitis to our Jfland , but ' B3 *S

A Practical Differtation, &c.

is there called by the Name of Taws, as i have heard from fome Sailors, as alfo from the Cap- tain of a Ship, who have frequently made that Voyage, and as I have Reafon to believe from an lnftance or two, I may very probably com- municate hereafter.

The Spaniards, faith this Gentleman, were the Perfons firft infe&ed by the Blacks or Slaves bought up in Guinea; and by their means that curfed Plague was tranfplanted, and hath fince grown up with us, as a juft Punifhment (fome fay) for that barbarous Pra&ice of trafficking or making Merchandize with our Fellow Creatures.

But farther, of near Affinity, if not the ve- ry fame Difeafe, is that which Thevet has alfo obferved in his firft Tome of his Cofmog, lib. 3. eap> 2, where he thus writes,

In vtraque ora Fluvii Sctfega mult a effe Regna \ pracipui in ea, qu& Meridiem fpttlat, Regnum Afely "* in en qua Septentrionem, Regnum Tom- botu : Morbus qui illic frequentius grajfatur Bo- Yonail nominator, aut Zail ?y£thiopitm lingua, qui ex immodica Venere ( cui multum funt obnoxii ) prtum habet. Genitales partes potijfimhm is oc- zupat, in Homine Afab^ in Fccmina Afabatas^ nominatus. Ad hujus Morbi Curationem De- coElis multis utvntur^ fed fptijfimkm Decotlo Herba qu& Acanaca dicitur, perinde ac nos Guajaco.

And thus much of the Original of this Diftemper, which whencefoever at firft deriv'd, is agreed on all fides to have abated very mvc'h of its former cruel Fiercenefs, even af- ter the firft feven Years of its new Refidence in a different Clime*, infomuch as we have been told that our Pox is but a Flea-bite to jthst of theirs whorr* it firft vifited ! Which

theo

A Practical Differ tattoo, &c. 7

then made more Havock and Devaluation in few Days than it does now in many Years. Even in France, in the Year 1495, which was about two Years after the Expedition to Na- ples, we find it fo terribly* raging, that an Ar- ret was publifiVd to confine the inferred, and profcribe their Converfe with other People, as Dr Harvy has alfe taken notice 5 and (what is fomewhat remarkable) that it was attended, at that time,withfeveral Symptoms little known to us, fuch I mean as the Alopecia, Decidentia Barb A ac Super ciliorum, (which fcarce one in a thou- fand they tell us then efcapedj Qculorwn pro- lap fits, Unguium atque Dentium quoque Exciden- tia. But whether or no fome of thefe were not owing to their injudicious Practices with Quickfilver (which was very early jn ufe a- mongthemj may very reafonably be made a Queftion-

About this time, there were many able Pens 7*mief% employ 'd, both Spanijl)^ Italian, German and ^^/r French \ Some of them ready enough to throw t^u the foul Ifiue upon each other : Harvy fays, notlefs than four hundred *, feveral of whom, according to Precedency, he reckons up. The oldeft I have feen is that of the famous AU tnayn, Vlrick Hutten, Knt, from whom 1 find he hath taken fome part of his Hiftriography of the Difeafe. The Original even of this 1 muft own I have not met with, that which came to my Hand, and is a Piece of Antiquity, being a Tranflation therof only into good old En- glifh, about 200 Years pair, by a Canon of Marhn Abby, as he calls himfelf ', by which we are to underftand, that our Knight's Father was feized with this Diftemper foon after its Arrival in Germany, and not being -able to cur B 4 off

8 A Practical Differtatwn, &c.

off the Intail, it came by way of Defcent or Inheritance to the Son, who was miferably vexed therewith for nine Years, as he there acquaints us: iL The Malady mowing it felf ct in very painful Ulcers, Knots like Bones " (as he terms them) upon his Legs and " Arms •, ft iff Joints, rending Night Pains, lt and filthy running Sores, which had worn *c him away to Skin and Bones, and for which tc he had been both cut and burnt, with SciP- *' fars Knife and Fire both Adual and Po- w tential, to no Purpofe •, falivated fix times " as^ ineffectually ; at laft was cured by a ftrid cc Diet for Thirty Days and upwards, with cc a fudorifick Decodion of Guaiacum^ " which then or about that time came into great Re- queft for its fignal Vertues in overcoming this otherwife (as he accounted it) indomita- ble Difeafe, and in Praife of which he {ct forth his Treatife, called De Medicina Gua- jaci, vel De Morbo Galileo,

From which Hiflory we may colled, that it was no Mark of a DiOioneft Converfa- tion in the Perfon infeded at that time ; but that like other Contagious or Epidemic Pefts, it fpread its Infedion in common Con- verfe or Cohabitation \ differing from ours, where a ?eal Con tad of fome Pocky Vlcufcu- U (whether in Killing, by the Lips *, Suck- ing, by the Nipple } Suckling, from the Mouth or fome part thereof^ Sweating in Bed with an infeded Perfon, by the Pores •, but general- ly, in impure Embraces or fomething tending to copulate, by the Penis and Pudendum Mu- liebre) feem neceffary to convey the Poifon. Dr. Sydenham fays, this Difeafe had raged above one hundred Years, before it ihow'xl • ' • *■' • %

A Practical . Differ t at 'ior> »? &c.

it felf like our Claps, calVd the Gonorrfya, ci- ther in the Stillkidium or purulent Dripping, the Dyfuryy Chordee, Priapifm, Chancres, or o- ther Affect of the Genital Parts. Others, that it alfo commenced a Fox, even at the firft, with two or three Puftules only about the Inguina, but neither Gonorrhoea, Dyfuria, or Chancre,

Our Almayn Hutten, that it began with c (harp Aches about the Joints, afterwards a cC Flux of Humours caufing Apoftems and " foul Ulcers, with eating Holes and Sores u like Cankers, corroding the Flefli and prey- li ing upon the Bones themfelves.'3 Which may fieem to furnifh an Objection againll its Rife from the putrid Ferment before obfer- ved.

But although this antient Writer takes no notice, in exprefs Terms, of the Running at the Penis , yet do 1 meet with fomething tantamount or of kin thereto, and which, perhaps, upon due Con fir u& ion, can mean no other : For after enumerating fome of the Symptoms, he fays, Some have alfo Vlcers in their Bladders: Which might very likely be miftaken for thofe in the Vrethra furnifhing the Matter, and attended with the Dyfury, like thofe in the Bladder it felf. Again faith he as touching Women, (thefe are his Words) This thing refieth in their fecret Places, forming therein little pretty Sores full of Venomous Poifon, being very dangerous for thofe that unknowingly meddle with them-

Which taken altogther amounts, I think, to fomewhat like a Proof, that the Contagion (although it might be otherwife communica- ted) was alfo (as it is now a daysj both gi- ven

to A Prattled Dijfertatwn, &c,

ven and received, by the genital Parts of both Sexes, in Scortation or difhoneft Copulation ; notwith (landing fomeof the Symptoms might differ, and the Difeafe at firft appear of a fiercer Nature, till in time, after tranfplant- ing, it grew milder, and, by better Methods of healing, more tradable alfo : Yet is it ftill plain, that the Venereal Vitlims are not ceafed with us •, there being daily Sacri- fices, which partly through the Folly and Neg- ligence of the Sick, but chiefly through the Ignorance of Quacks and cozening Empirics, are ftill offered at the Shrine of Venus, as were the Prayers of the fuperftitious Catho- licks, when the Difeafe firft broke out among them, at thofe of St. Mevin, St. Evager, and St. Roch, for its Removal , there being fcarce any Sicknefs in thofe Days, without a Patron or Patronefs Saint for its Invocation. And this I intend (hall fuffice for its Chronology or Time, the Topology or Place, and the Hiftrio- graphy or Account of the Difeafe in general , which, with fome other Writers thereon, we fhafl now define, A venomous or contagious Dif- fbe Dif- temper, for the mosl part contraBed by impure etfe defi- Coition, at le aft Jo me ContaEi of the Genitals of vei, with y0th Sexes, or fome other lewd and filthy Dalliance the fever aI ygtween each otjjer that way tending*

ISlitm! l faid for the moFh ?art* becaufe lt is Devonci ' Controverfy,the Infe&ion is alfo communicated

by other ways, as from Pocky Parents by In- heritance •, by fucking an infe&ed Nurfe, to the Child •, fuckling a- difeafed Child, to the ^Slurfe} lying alfo in Bed with the Difeafed, without any Carnal Familiarity •, by which, though it may be poflible for ftrong and vi- gorous Bodies to efcape , yet are the tender

ones^

J Practical Difjertation, &c. n

ones, efpecially of little Infants, very likely to be contaminated, as I have more Reafon to be- lieve than by bare Imagination.

There are feveral other more uncommon Ways of giving as well as receiving the Vene- real Venom *, fome of which I have already imparted to the World in fhort Remarks up- on a Quack Libel, Printed feveral Years paft : But the Thought of fuch vile Monfters, and their execrable Practices, is too (hocking (un- lefs to the Dregs of humane Nature) to bear even a Repetition ~of Circumftances, and fit only for a deteftable Gonologium or Colle&ion of Smutt and Obfcenity, in which I am told, they have been inferted, as fome of the Au- thor's own Obfcrvations.

As for thofe fancied Ways of catching it by common Converfation, drinking afrer one, fitting on the fame Clofe-flool, drawing on a Glove, wiping on the Napkin or Towel, after the infe&ed Perfon, with a hundred the like Stories •, I believe in our time ( whatever may have happened formerly) there is no great Danger : Yet we find in one of our late Chro- nicles, that thefe and fuch like Imaginations, were fo ftrongly rivetted in Mens Minds at that time,, even thofe of the better and more learned fort, that it was one of the Articles againft a noted Cardinal, That he had brea- thed on the King, when he, the faid Cardinal, had this Difeafe upon him •* Which you will find in Baker's Chronicle, and of .which PafTage Dr. Harvy has alfo taken Notice. Hilda- TM/jlikewife tells us of a young Gentlewo- man, who contracted the fame, by only put- ting on the Apparel of a Gentleman (that it ftems was pox'd ) at a Mafquerade, of

which,

T2 A Practical Dijjertatiox, &'C,

which, through Modefty concealing her Illnefs (which firfl: of all had feized the Pudenda) till fhe was paft Recovery, (he deceafed. The good Man's Credulity, at leaft his Charity, might however be abus'd in this Relation, as the young Lady perhaps was alfo after the Mafque, otherwife than by limply putting on the Habit. But were it fo as the Cafe is fta- ted, there is nothing therein much more ad- mirable than what the fame great Man re- cites of a whole Family he knew infe&ed5 viz.*. the Wife with three Children and a fourth in the Womb, as alfo a Maid Servant, by the Husband, who had got the Diftempef in their Abfence only by fleeping in the fame Bed with his Man Servant, whom he after underftood was broke out with this Diftemper.

The Relation of HorTt. and Hornung. are yet rnore ftrange, of feveral People infected in the Bagnio, by having the fame Scarificator apply'd after Cupping, as had been u fed to a Venereal Patient: Which feems a like credi- ble with that of the Pried; poxed at his Ear, in the time of confefFing a wanton Nun \ the venomous Breath from her Mouth defiling the holy Father ; But enough of this;

I call'd it venomous and contagions in my De- finition, becaufe it catches and fpreads like a Poifon (altho' not at a diftance now-a-days,yet by a dm pie Contact, and for that Nature, as irt the Cafe of other venomous Infections got into the Blood, flrives to throw it out in Boils and Blotches, as they are vulgarly fo called, ma- king ufe alfo, as in the Plague it felf, of the Axillary, but more commonly of the Inguinal Glands, for its Difcharge \ and by which the fame Poifon is oftentimes evacuated, efpecial-

A Prattled Dijfertatio*, &c. 1 5

ly when promoted and iielp'd forward by Art. Again as each Poifon is faid to have its proper Antidote, with which to encounter it *, foalfo has this of ours, and without which all other Medicaments, whether Alterative or Purgative , (whatever fome Perfons prattle to the con- trary) are incapable truly and thoroughly to Eliminate and Extirpate the fame.

If it be here demanded what the Specific Divert Nature of this Venom is, of what its Minima opinions do confift, or how its Corpufdes are figurated ?^*5 *** I can only anfwer, that like many other Paiibhs i^latiti which ad not by their manifest Qualities of Nature Heat, Cold, &c. 'tis of too fubtil a Nature^ pri* for me (I do not fay for fome others) to inve- mxTfn ltigate \ but that it produceth its Effects by l°m * the Induction of fome certain Alteration, as well to the folid, as the fluid Parts of the Body : Neither directly by Co Hi plating, after the Manner of fome, nor Coagulating (Imply with others *, but by its prsedatory and corrofive Salt, corrupting and fpdiling the Texture of the one, and breaking the Continuum of the other. However that you may not think I refer you altogether to the Occult Qualities, or explain to you an Jgnotum by an Ignotius, al- tho', perhaps, you may not be much the wifef \ (and I dare fay not the better Curer of the Difeafe) I can tell you that fome will have it to confift in an Acid, others in an Alkaline, others in a neutral Salt : Others in a Pyrofaline^ Cinnabrious and Armoniacal; others again in an Acid, partly fix'dand partly Volatile and Ve- nene, like fome other Poifon s *, of thefe la ft Opinions were Dr. Harvy (I mean always Gideon in this Treatife) and de BUgny : But this in- deed is the aflial Language of the Spagyrifts,

ami

1 4 A Practical DifferUtion, &c.

and others affe&ing a Chymical Smatch in Medicine.

Some again will have it to confift in a cold Vapour, as AbcrcYombye • witnefs, faith he, the Tophs and lapidefcent Nodes, the fegnities Corpo* ris, and Torpor Spirituum -, whence Mercury, as the greateft Enemy, is Cafhier'd, and the hot Regimen of Guajacum only extoll'd and highly recommended. Others contrarily, fay it is exceeding hot, inftancing the pocky Ophthal- mys and inflammatory Tumours fometimes ari- sing •, the burning, Phagedenic Vlcers ', the Heftics and Notlurnal Dolours revived conflantly by the Heat of the Bed, and as commonly allay d by get- ting out of it. Hence by way of Remedy, the Tartarous, Nitrous, Saturnine ; but above all the Mercurial Medicines, come into Play again.

But indeed I cannot fee to what purpofe ferve all thefe Altercations, unlefs to facrifice Mankind to fome belov'd Hypothecs, and hav- ing deduced certain Corolarys from the fame , force Nature whither Ihe will or no, to make good the Premifles, that they may feem to quadrate with our own fond Notions: Of which 1 could give fome pregnant Examples if I had leafure, yet can't forbear the mentioning one or two. Being at one time in company with that excellent Practitioner Mr. Ch. Bernard, a Gentleman came into his Study, as I had reafon to believe, upon fome private Bufinefs ; upon which I retired into an other Room, when in few Minutes, he came to me, and deiired me to come and fee the Effects of a new Method in curing the Pox. The Patient had been for two Months under the Care of a noted Fbilo- acidus, who placed the Caufe of this (and I tthiuk moft other Difcafes) in an Alkaly^ for

J Practical Diflertation, &c, 15

a light Infe&ion there from ', in order to era- dicate which, he was advifed to eat half a Dozen of the largeft Lemons he could get, daily, befides good (lore of Verjuice at his Meals} which Method (after fome other Pr<e- fcriptions) was to be contiuued for a Month j by which time inftead of his Cure, he found himfelf crufted over with inveterate Scabs and other Puftules, yet was told that he was well, and that thefe would Icale away of themfelves ^ which he was order'd by the Gentleman he came now to Confult, that he would make trial of, as he did a little while, till fome Ulcers growing Corrofive, and eating farther in, by reafon of the Acrimony of the Humours underneath, forced him to comply with a Mer- curial Ptyalifm, under this Artift's Care, by which his Cure was foon compleated.

The Mifo-acidus (his oppofite) or Philo-Al- kalinus tells you, he is very fure the Pox is an Acid \ that it is really formed of feveral rug- ged, fharp pointed Corpufcles, arifing out o£ the Fermentation of putrid Seminars; by, which Fermentation (mark his Words) workings firugghng, jumbling, contending, (and what not. J together, it becomes thus infeclious, fretful* corrofive, corruptive, exulcerating, eating: And now consequently can require no other tha \ fome Alkaline Specific, well loaded with Vola- tile, Sulphureous, Oleaginous, and (to be fure) fmooth (becaufe of the Enemies pointed Darts) or foft Particles^ that are capable (he might as well have faid conning enough) to find out the Enemy and difarm him ', (he means by breaking of the points of the Daggers) by dulling, blunt- ing, fiuathing, obtunding \ ( thefe are all' our learned Author's fine tetr^s of Expreflion \ )

itS A Practical Dijfertation, &X.

the jharp Points of this Acid and Corrofive Fer- ment j arid now certainly come the Oilsy Afuci* iagesy Volatile Alkatys^ Teftacea, &C Bat hold ! This is all a Secret, and fo let it remain, if the World were not bubbled thereby : For I fear I have already taken, up too much of our Readers time, about this Pedant> who is full only of fententious Scraps and Often tat i- bus Shew of Learning, but he has nothing in him preferable to the other Quacks ^ nor is his Specific of more Value than theirs. How- ever by this Specimen, you will fee that you are like to be little better'd in your Know- ledge, either of the Caufe or in the Cure of theDifeafeit felf, than if you had deem'd it at firft, what indeed it is, a Poifon of a peculiar Nature, and acting after a fecret Manner upon the Blood and Humours of hu- mane Bodies: Nay by keeping to this, you will take your Indications (as every good Af- firmant of Nature ought) chiefly, if not folely ajuvantibus & Udextibus: And thereby fedu- loufty obferving(with the induftrious Sydenham) the whole Series of Events, be quickly able to refcue the Sick from their feveral Complaints* at leaft fo far as Art can help him : Whereas, by being obftinately wedded to fome meer Hypothefis^ or affecting a Chymical Philofophic Babbling, Subjecting Medicine (which is incom- patible) to Mathematic Standard, and amuiing the Patient with a Jargon of hard Words, you may very probably mifchief, if not utterly deftroy him. But what (hall we fay, if Men of found Learning and good Education (fome of them) have given us the Drop at the Clofe of their Writings, or perhaps falfe Hints that they knjjw more than others, or than them- vi felv@s

A Practical DiJJertation, cVc." ij

felves do in reality, yet inilnuating as if they were not Strangers tofome furer and fpeedier Method of overcoming this Diftemper in par- ticular, but that for fomeReafon or other (we may eafily guefs the true one) they mult not divulge it : What better, I fay, can we expecl: from profefs'd Quacks, or cheating Empirickj? But we return to our Subject, and before we proceed to the Diagnofiics of the Diftemper, it is very neceiTary that we diftinguifh the fame, at lead as Recent and Confirmed, or into the firfi and fecond Infection: Since they require a Method fo very different in the Cure.

The Firfi hfeElion (for fo give me leave to The mp- term it) is by the Antients(altho' very impro- eafe diftin- perly) named a Gonorrhoea, ex ywn* Genitura,&uffiA ty Semen, & fa fluo, i. e. from the involuntary ^fjfi *j£ Efflux of Seed •, which however applicable tOfe^iQrja ~ the Imbecillity or Weaknefs of the Spermatic Parts, or to the Heat,Saltnefs and ftimulating Acrimony of the Semen it felf, where there is no Venereal Taint in the Cafe (and with which we have nothing to do in this prefent Dif- courfe) is by no means true of our Difceraper, where the Matter of the Running is rather a Sort of Pus, and which by the Moderns is com- monly, but I think wantonly, called a Clap .- Whilft the fecond or confirm'd, is by way of Emphafis, named the Pox : The former being ufually gotten by Copulating with an infected or difeafed Perfon, or by a clofe Contact of the Man's Penis, with fome Part of the Wo- mans Pudendum , on either of which there was fbme chancrous Ulcer, pocky Exulceration or Excoriation, if not a virulent Running: The latter ariiing as well from the firft Infection, or CUp ill cur'd ; as alfo otherwife by Birth,

C Suck-

1 8 A Practical Differ tat ion, &c.

Sucking a pocky Nurfe, with the feveral other ways already remark'd.

I know the learned Author of the new Me- thod of Curing a Gonorrhoea^ will not allow the Matter which flows out at thefe Times, in any wife to be purulent ; but that it is the Liquor only of the Lacuna oufing out of the Excre- tory Duds of the Glandules in the Vrethra of Men, and the Vagina of Women, occaflon'd by the Stimulus of the Contagious Venome ' Which yet heowus bears great Refemblance with that proceeding from fome other Ulcers^ particularly in its yellow Colour, to the fchro- phulousi which he terms an imperfed Pm* His chief Reafon why it cannot be this laft, is, I think, for that true Pus can never beengender'd in fo fnort a time, nor can the fame be fur- nifli'd by fuch Membranous Parts, but only from fuch as are Fat and Mufcular. Yet cer- tainly our Author cannot but have obferved, that nothing is more common than to fee a purulent Matter, produced in as fhort a time by a Stimulus of an other kind, as appears after this Infe&ion, and that in Parts as little Flefliy as is the Vrethra \ I mean upon the Cutis or true Skin, after the applying of an Epifpaftic? when from the fir ft Meiilot Plaifter, at fome times a good and laudable Pus may be obferv- ed, and that at twelve Hours diftance from the faid Application, or twenty four from the Fe- ficatory. As to Fat, a part Exanguous and void of Heat, I thiak.he is lingular in expe&ing the beft Matter thence. Nor can I fee Caufe from fome other of his Arguments, too tedi- ous to purfue in this Place, to d if believe the faid Humour's being purulent , which we find diverfe, as to Colour and Confidence, with

fome

A Practical Differtatiov, Scc» 1 9

fome other Property's, according to the Tex- ture of the Parts furnifhing the fame, the Nature of the peccant Humour, the Degree of Digeftion, Habit of Body, &c. but I pro- ceed.

Among fome other wonderful Ways of re- ceiving this Infe&ion, I might have told yoa that a certain Chyraico-Mathematical Quack has acquainted us, with a Clap gotten by a Jilt's putting her Finger into her Vagina, and fetching thence fome Matter, which fhe fpite- fully laid down upon the Man's Firga\ and which, for my own part, I believe as likely to have injur'dhim, as if by way of recompence, having firft polluted himfelf, he had taken fome of his Semen^ and put up her Body, in order to her Impregnation, which would much alike have done the Bufinefs i For as it is doubtlefs a prolific Aura, and not the Subftance of the inje&ed Semen, that muft fecun- date, fo is it alfo a venene one that muft infedl: | now both thefe are raifed and brought into A3: by Heat, and therefore (as Dr. Harvy has well noticed upon this Head) the frigid or cold Courtefan, however infe&ed her felf„ yet having her Appetite only to the Reward ; neither can be heated or excited to Action, but continues meerly pafilve ; as fhe I fay is lead likely to InfeS her Companion, much lefs can any Matter, which is but the Vehicle of the Poyfon, never roufed or ftirred up by the Heat of fuch Action, taken forth the Body, and grown ftill colder, be capable of doing the Man an injury j but this feems one of the ob- fcene Flights and fmutty Pvomances of the Se- venth Edition Man's, with whom we mail leave it, whiift we now haften to the proper Seat of C 2 the

20 A Practical Dijfert At ion, &c.

the firft Infection. As to which, our antient The seat of Writers were dcubtlefs much out of the way?

fc£«w 7*'as Wdl in their Notion of the D^eafe it felf, *e ' whea they call it by the Name of a Gonorrhoea ,

(and whom we find Serjeant Wifeman has followed, terming it an involuntary feminal Emifllon) as in the Place of its Refidence, which they fuppqftd the Glandula Profiat* and vafafeminalia : Since it is apparent the Flux is not feminal, but purulent, as was obferv'd before, like that which is difcharg'd from fome other virulent Ulcers; and that fome Part only of the immediatly offending Member, the Penis in Man, is the Part primarily af- fected, is I think as "certain 5 if for no other Reafon, yet for that of the Empirical cure of the Difeafe (at leaft getting the Matter out of fight) by the way of Injection •, which 'tis plain cannot reach to the faid Glands, much lefs to the veficuU feminales, vafa deferentia, Epididymis, or the Body of the Tefiis : Nor is Dr. Wharton $ Objection (mention'd by Mr. Wifeman) of the Hernia humoralis^ by the ufe of Reftringing Medicines, fo abfofotely infoluble as perhaps may appear at the firft fight \ for 'tis no unu- fual thing to have this Tumour arife during the Time of Purgation, as well as the Ufe of Reftri&ive Medicaments \ being very probably Sympathic only, or by Confent of Parts.

I have eifewhere, in an Account of fome inflammatory Tumours of the Glands, ob- ferved fuch like Swellings to arife from fome painful Ulcer in the neighbouring Parts, and fometimes alfo from a Simpie Inflammation thereon ; which I call fecondary Affects of the fame, by a Nervous Continuity or Confent j and differing from the protopathic or primary

A Practical Differtation, Sec 2i

Difeafes of the fame Parts. And are we fure the glandulous Teflis may not fufFer (as well as the Axillar and Inguinal Glands do at fome times)from the painful, nflamed and exube- rated Penis, and fubfide 3 gain, upon the going away of fuch Pain and Fluxion ? But this I leave as a Conje&ure only, 'till others, better qualify'd, more fatisfa&orily refolve the Point. Our new Scheme Man (who like thofe that build Caftles in the Air, have a privilege of beginning at which end they pleafe) fays, the Matter at thefe times is precipitated to the Teftes, but which way he obferves not ; for he had juft before been endeavouring to prove the Seat of the Difeafe (altho' in another's Words) to be the Glandules of the Vrethra, particu- larly thofe called Mucofz by Mr. Covoper, and after him, by Dn Drake ; I fay he then told us it muft be fo, becaufe the Cure by Injection could extend no farther, for the valvous ob- it acle on this fide the Sphincter Vejica: But if it can now of a Hidden precipitate, notwith- ftanding, to the Teftis, it may furely as well be bred there, and precipitate back again *, nay perhaps with more facility, by the Conftruft- ion of the faid Valve, which will more readily favour the palling ab intra, than that ab extra : but the Word precipitate, is a Chymical Word, and ferves a Chymical Quack well enough to amufe his unlearn'd Readers in thefe Terms, tho' there be no more Truth in the Affair, than in his Embolus or Sucker, which he has alfo borrow'd, and which he tells us, the Penis makes ufe of after the feminal Emiffion, to draw out the pockey Matter from the Wo- man's Vagina, into the PafTage of the Vrethra ; which Matter we have already intimated, is

C 3 bat

22 A Practical DiffertAtion, &c.

but the Matrix only wherein the Virus, or Poifon,is lodg'd,and whence the fame israis'd fub Halitus Forma : So that we mull needs think f with Submiflion always to better Judg- ments) that as the Word Matter is vulgarly underftood, there is no Matter in the Cafe, but a venomous Exhalation, excited by the heat of Action from the fame ; and we are fo far from joyning Iflue with this Conceit, that we believe the Infection taken as eafily, if not more fo, before than after the Emifto Seminis : for 'tis then or about that time, that the Glans and Cor for a cavernofa Penis, are molt diftended and turgid with Blood and Spirits, and the Parts more fit to catch hold of the poifonous Effluvia: On the contrary, after Emiffion, the fame fubfiding, grow prefently flaccid : So that this Embolus (if there were any thing like it) or the fpringy Parts of the Air, have more force in tranfmitting the vi- rulent Atoms, or ///&>M*> when the Bulb of the Penis ^ is thus diftended, and the whole X>uttus dilated and fet wider open: Not to mention that the Remains of the Semen, toge- ther with the Mucus drilling from the Pro- ftates, might after better guard the Paflage from the Points of the Enemy's Swords, at leaftwife Sheath and Ward of his Thrufts : In a Word,akho' 1 fhall not deny the Likelyhood of the Glandules in the Vrethra being the Seat of Claps, fo call'd ; yet I am as inclinable to believe that the Venereal Venome enters firft of all, by a clofer and more immediate Con- taft, as by the Pores of the GUns, Prsepuce, and Skin of the Penis ', it being apparent that thefe Parts are ufually firft of all inflam'd, ond often- times Excoriated \ thefe likewife are frequent- ly

A Practical DiffertafiMj &c. 25

ly Exulcerated, and theie^the Seat of Chancres\ which furnifh the like Matter with that which drips from the Meatus, and which Dr. Syden- ham allures us, he hath ken ouze out of t}ie Pores of the GUns Penis.

I once had a Patient fo ftrongly infe&ed with this Venome, that the Nervous Bodies of the Penis feemed as it were a Collection of Matter, venting it felf by the urinary BuEtus^ which was apparent, in that laying my Thumb and Finger on each fide the Septum, whiift I continued a light Preffure, the fame would pour forth in large Quantity, as from ano- ther Abfcefs. But whether thefe are the Ways 'of the Poifon's firft Entrance, it is moll certain and indubitable, that it has admittance with- out the Spermatick Difcharge, and very proba- bly always before.

I have in another Place made it appear by Fadr, that the fimple Frication of the denu- ded, but tumid GUns, againft a chancrous Ul- ceration on the Labia Pudendi, has been fuffi- cient to give Rife to a virulent Stitiicidium : And as malign an One as I have feen, was contracted by a momentary Entrance of the Penis juft within, by a Gentleman, who from a Schirrus on the Proftata, or at the Extremity of the feminal Veficles, has their OftioU about the Caput G allinagims,{o lock'd up,that from the Years of Puberty to this prefent (when he is turn'd of forty) he never knew what it was to evacuate one Drop of Semen -0 yet has the fame Propenfity thereto with the reft of Mankind : Which Paffage 1 have alledg'd to countenance my own Opinion, that the Venereal Venom enters rather before than after the fperrriatic Ejection j and that the Vrethra or its Glan- G 4 dales,

24 A Practical Differtation, &c»

doles, however after fecreting the purulent Matter, are not indifputably the Parts prima- rily and immediately feifed.

I think it needlefs to give any Anatomi- cal Defcription of thefe Parts in Men, much more fo in Women *, fince no Legal Practitio- ner can be to feek therein, in an Age efpecially remarkable for furnifhing fome ufeful, but many more obfcene and fcandalous Accounts thereof. So that waving this, we mail come direclly to the Diawoftic Signs of the first Infetiion, called vulgarly among our People, a Clap? which are thefe following, viz.. Diagno- Inflammation of the Glans Fenis^ vel ejm Pra- flic signs futium^ but more commonly on the former, at ofthefirft whofe Entrance into the Vrethray there often- Jnjs&ion. times appears (as Sydenham has taken notice ) a red meally Spot, and fometime after an ill— favour'd Gaping of the fame; fometimes Ex- coriation or Frettings on the Cuticle of thefe Parts, from the fharp Humour ; the Patient firfr, complaining of a kind of Heat, or rather Smarting of his Urine, being fearful of its coming out, and at its Conclufion much pain- ed efpecially under the frmum : Quickly after appears a Weeping at theEnd^of the GUns^ of a crude and indigefted fort of Matter, growing purulent, and according to the Virus or Poifon that gave the Infeclion, together with the Habit of Body, of feveral Colours0, ss of a lighter or deeper yellow ; in its worft State greenilh, fanious, or bloody, as flows from fome other malign Ulcers. About this time alfo the Ulceration, if there was any, begins to turn callous, and the Difeafe increa- fjng, forms it felf into what the Surgeons call a ghan€r?\ difcbarging- great Quantity of the

like

A Practical Dijfertatiov, &c. 25

like Pus, by which, if the fame be not too na- ttily dried up, the Venom of the Difeafe is much evacuated, and by the too fpeedy Exfic* cation of which, before the Body is well clean- fed, as well as from the too hafty flopping of the other Running, a Pox may happen to commence. Thefe Chancres are obferv'd on feveral Parts, more commonly near or upon the Neck of the GUns, very frequently about the Prtpuce, at fometimes though more rare- ly, on the Scrotum and infideof the Thighs. About this time alfo, according to the Degree of the improving Virulency, come on the Cbordee and Pnapifmus, two troublefome Sym- ptoms, difquieting the Patient and difturbing him from his Reft a Nights, frequently forcing him out of Bed } the one being a Convulfive Vellication or hauling down of the Penis^ the other, a fort of painful Comprefllon and Erection only of the fame, and both pro- ceeding from a malign Flatus, blowing up as it were the nervous Bodies, and exciting thefe Spafmodic AfFe&s therein. The Phimofis and Paraphimofis, or the ConftricYlon of the Prepuce before the Glans, and its Reftri&ion behind its Neck (to which thofe with a (trait Fore-skin are moft liable) are Accidents alfo,now and then very early attending,together with the Chryftal- line or Hydatis at the Extremity of the faidPart. The Hernia humoralis or fwelYd Tefticle ari- feth as well whilft the Patient is in a Courfe of purging fometimes, as we remark'd be- fore, but is more commonly taken Notice to enfue the too early Exhibition of agglu- tinative, balfamic, or reftri&ive Remedies; creating oftentimes much Uneafinefs to the Patient, as well as Trouble to the Surgeon?

without

%6 • A Praff icd Differ tAtton, &c.

without whofe Afiiftance, all the boafled Quack Specifics or Arcanums prove infignificant* Next arifeth the Bubo, or Swelling of the Glands in the Groins, although when thefe appear, the Diftemper is very frequently de- nominated a Pox, especially when the fame are critical, the fecond Infection now beginning. To thofe other, as appertaining to the fame Parts, belong the Verruca on the outfide, and the CaruncuU within the Paffage ; of all which we ihaU take farther Notice, when we come to fpeak feparately of the Symptoms of this firffc Infection, in order to their Removal.

I have recited thefe Appearances, fome of them as befalling one, and fome another *, to fome fooner alfo than to others, after their Converfe with a foul Woman, not as affect- ing every iingle TranfgrefTour (although it is not im^ofTible, but that at fome times they may all fall to the mare of the fame Man), but fome of them to one Perfon, others to fome other.

The Female Sex, where the Seat of the Difeafe is more manifeft, viz,, the Glandules of the Vagina Vteri, and not the V terns it felf, as fome have imagined, by reafon of the dif- ferent Formation of the Parts, are freed from many of the Symptoms incident to Men *, fuch , I mean, as the Chordee, Tentigo, Humoral Her- niay PhimopSy Paraphimosis, and CaruncuU : So that the Signs here, are the Dyfury and Run- ning chiefly •, although they are alfo liable to Chancres and Verruca, as well within as on the outward Parts of the Labia Pudendi, likewife the Bt$*Vs£ or Inguinal Tumours*

There

J Practical Difjertatio*, &c. 27

There are fome will have the Phimofis, ap- plicable alfo to this Sex, when by reafon of the Fluxion arifing from fome painful Chancre or Ulceration, there happens a preternatu- ral Claufure or Coarctation of the Syhin&er Vagina^ purfing up as it were the external Orifice ; but there being nothing on the In- fide to be comprefs'd thereby, as in the Male, I cannot think that Name fofuitable here. But I proceed.

'Tis indeed the great Misfortune of that The Dif- Sex (the model!: Part of them), that when by eafemifta- an unkind or brutifh Husband, they have re- *ew for * ceived the Infe&ion, their Running is often }>™jnw>- taken.'for a Fluor albus, and their Dyfuria for the msnj wjt^ Gravel or Stone *, by which Deception lhave Notes of known fome of them run into the laft Degree piflMion of a Vox, before they knew what their Iilnefs ^w'xf °™ was, or look'd out for proper Remedy. But the Cafe is different with the Women of the Town, who fo foon as their Water difturbs them, after their Venered Engagements, take the Alarm prefently, feek out for Help, and {nifi res fint anguftz domi) fo foon as poffible get rid of it.

There has been great Difpute among our modern Writers, whether or no there is any Criterion or certain Rule of Diftin&ion, be- tween this Fluor albidus vel fubflavusj and the virulent Dropping from a Venereal Infection : Some of them affirm that there is, and that the fame is difcoverable at the time of their Menfes, when the Fluor ceafes, and the Stilli- cidium ftill continues ; which was the SentU inent and Affertion of the famous Baglivi, a- mong fome others. On the other Side, a late Writer upon this Gontroverfy allures us,

(if

s8 A Practical Dijjertation? oYc,

(if we may take his Word,) that the Matter of both Runnings is the fame, viz*, the Liquor of the Lacuna in the Vagina Vteri : So that this Difficulty ftill remains, the former Re- mark being founded, as this Gentleman would have it, upon meer Chimera? and having no- thing but Fancy to fupport it.

Yet furely before this Pofition had been thus dogmatically advanced, it behoved our Author to have been well fatisfy'd, that the Fluor albus proceeds outof the faid Lacuna^ fince many (and of them fome very learned ) Au- thors tell us, that the fame is an Excrement difcharged by the VefTels of the Vterus it felf, made out of the nutritious Juice perverted or vitiated by fome Diftemperature of this Part, or of the whole Body* but here fecreted and thrown out j and which at the time of Men- fhuation either wholly flops, or is thereby fo obfcur'd as to be rendered lefs confpicu- ous ; whereas the other Flux being allow'd to be fupplied by the Excretory Duch of the jfard Lacuna? or from fome Vlcufcula in the Vagina? continues its Difcharge as well before as at the time of the Woman's Purgation by her Courfes ? and which, the oppofite Writers aiTure us, may be dijftinguifhed at thefe times by a curious Obferver, though drilling at the fame time out of one external and common PalTage. Again may it not be queried, that if there be indeed fo great Analogy between thefe Lacuna in the Vagina? and thofe of the Vrethra? as the fame learned Author fuppofeth (both Fluxes being fupply'd from the fame Liquor or Juice), how comes it that in fome Cacheftic Habits or ill States of Health, none of the faid Running is found to appear in

Men ?

A Practical Differ t at ion, &c. 29

Men ? for the flmple Gonorrhoea is manifeftly of another Nature-

A farther, but ft ill fomewhat uncertain Di- rection, we have from the Quantity, which is ufually much larger in the Fluor than from the Venereal Contagion ; fome Women being indeed fo delug'd by the former, that after lying along in Bed fome Hours, when they come to ftand upright, the faid Humour flows forth in large Quantity, and feveral Cloths are fouled fometimes in a few Hours ; whereas the other glides more infenfibly, now and then a drop. 'Tis true a mild or inconfiderable Fluor albus may furnilh no more than a very virulent Su Ilk idinm *, but then the deeper yel- low or greenifh Colour of this latter, with the Dyfuria or Pain in making Water (which is lefs heeded, if at all troublefome, in a gentle white Fiux), but efpecially the attending Chancres^ where there are any prefent, put the Queflion out of doubt : And truly every Wo* man who was before perfectly clean and dry in thefe Parts, neither lately has undergone a hard Labour in Childbirth, that fhall in few Days after familiar Converfe with a Man, find a Heat or Pricking in her Urine, which juft before me was unaquainted with, toge- ther with the Appearance of Matter flowing out of the Tudendum, has great Caufe to fufpecl an Injury, and to fend in time for her Phy- fician, who may fatisfy her of the Truth, and direct fuch Remedies as are fuited to her Con- dition.

For the farther clearing of this Point, which is indeed very neceflary we ihould rightly un- derftand, I fhall not think much to transcribe hither the Words of a very learned Man of

our

Jo A Practical Differ -tat ion , &c.

our own College, I mean Dr. Charlton, wh o in his Rheumatifmi Vterini Genealogist, five^ Fluoris Albi Hiftoria, having placed the Caufes of that Diftemper under the following Heads, (7^/.) I. In Vteri yAiwi&9 five Subfiantia ejus jufto laxior reddita. 2. In Glandulis ejufdem officii fui immemoribm, 3. In Lyrnpha-dubluum aper~ tione> 4. In Tubulorum Membraneorum dilatations 'Vel Irritatiwe. 5. In Exulceratione, He pro- ceeds thus, in relation to the different Seats of thefe two Diftcmpers, as well as their proper Diagnoftic Signs, or Marks of Diftia- tHon. Dr € ha rl= Rheumatifmi XJterini Origins, Caufifque tain torts Di- antecedentibus1 quam proximity at que primariis7 ftinBion ofprout Facultates nnfira ferebant, jam tandem in- the tluor veftiq-atis , oftenfifque turn ejufdem Speciebus di~ albus from r c- • s ■ « • • •• •/

theGor)OT'VerJlSj ogms Cut que Speciei proprus, qmbus

rhcea fo ^nteY fe difcriminsntur : aliud nil Difquifitionis caU'd. hujus complimento videtvr deejfi, vifi ut peculia- res quafdarti fubjungam Not as, quibus Fluor ifie a virulent a difiinguatur Gonorrhoea , quam impu- ra Venus infligit, qthtque japenumerb fub Fluoris albi fpecie vel experien.tijfimts Mcdicis impofuit. Ouare, ut extremum FabuU aBum peragam, con* futamque 'tyronum Vtilttati, animadvert 0 \ B^- ftufw Tofbppoi&v & Fluor e albo turn Sede, turn Sym-* ftomatibus atque Signis evidenter difcrepare*

Ouippe in Mulieribus, non Vterus^ nee ejus Va- gina Gonorrhoea Sedes efl , fed Pars ilia Glandu- lis refertaj & in inferiore ac anteriore Vagina Parte, prcpe Meatus ur in aril Exnum, ft a, quam Herophilus apud Galenum Qib. 14. de Ufu Par- tium] Profiatarum nomine primus ivfigmvit ; Nee immerito } Vteri enim Vaginam ab Vretbra dex- tre diffecando dividentibus in ConfpcElum venit Subfiantia qu&dam membronofa, & albicans, uni-

us

A Practical Differtation, &c.' 5 1

us fere Digiti tranfverfi Crajfitudinem aquans9 totamque extrin fecks cingens Vrethra Canalem $ quam perreptant, & in qua terminantur Lacuna, HU, five Ductus confpicui, qui in principio Vrethra^ & in inferiore Vagina Parts reperiuntur, quemad- modum cuiquam eos inflato aere difiendenti facile apparet : adeo ut Sub ft ami a ifia pro Mulierum Proftatis, five Corpore glandulofo, Virorum pre- flatis analogo, retle accipiatur. Idem Offcii eti- am Parilitas demonftrat. Harum quippe Munus eft, in fe excipere, acuere, demumque in Libidi- nis Ardore emittere tenuiorem Sued nutritii illuc delati partem ; qua Acrimonia fua falina Femi- nas ad Venerem ftimulat, Vterique Vaginam in Coitu lubrica Voluptate titillat. Hie igitur cacu- tiit alioquin oculatifjimus Vtftingius, qui {_Syntag. Anat. Pag, 73.] Vtero Pr oft at as glandulofas de- rogavit. Caterptm ex his tantum Proftatis Gonor- rhoeam fcaturire, hoc mihi validijfimo Argumento eft quod in Mulieribus vitio ilio fcedatis, & post Mortem diffetbis Pr oft at a ha femper comperiuntur exulcerata, faniemque virofam compreffu expuen- tes.

And a little farther he goes on as follows : Cognita jam Gonorrhoea virofa Sede^ ad reliqua* Difcriminis Indicia progredicr : Qua partim a Materia extillantis Qualitatibm^ partim a Sym- ptomatibus, infeftarumque Mulierum Querelis% partim a Caufis antecedentibus defumenda funt* Quod per Gonorrhoeam Veneream excidit, conti- nenter ajfiduoque fertur ut in Merino Pluore. Eft tamen craffius multo, at que mo do album, modo flavum, aut virefcens, Odore grayi moleftum^ acre & exedens 'y ac proinde raro deprehenditur citra Pudendi Vlcm; femper fibi Comitem habet acerrimum "Vrina Ardorem^ cum Stranguria \ oh wflammatam^ fapeque excoriatam Vreihra Extre- me-

3 2 A Practical Differ! at ton, &c.

mitatem. At nondum bis Notis certo poffit ab merino Fluore internofci ; fed hinc maxime, quod prorumpentibm Catameniis r.on definat, fed cum his, & mox ab iis fimiliter perfiftat : Vterinus vero Fluor cejfat in Menflum Eruptione, & ali- quanto pofi tempore. Adhac, Fluoris albi Mate- ria, alteram in Gonorrhoea manantem Ouantitate longe excedit. Qua hoc vitio polluuntur, non de Lumbagine, fed de Incendio & Acerbitate qua- darn Pudoris Sinum quafi adurente, qua inter meiendum exacerbatur, cenqueruntur. Quinetiam Luis Venerea Signa fe inter dum produnt ', neque uterini Fluoris Indicia ulla cernuntur* Cateriim qui certior ejfe velit, Pudenda infpiciat. ha cnim Partes Vrethra contifuas (in quibus Lacunarum modo memoratarum txitus terminantur) mucoja vide u^^uadam Materia con [pure at as, ac inter dum etiam s« !i?. p. 84. exulceratas deprehendet ', reliquis Vagina partibtu interim retle Je habentibits, cujm contrarium in Fluxu albo reperiri affolet. Profwfiic Hoping the Reader's Pardon for this Pro- signs ojflixity, I now haften to the Prognofiic Signs of the firftthe firft Infe&ion, called by the Antients fas lfife&ion. we before remark'd,) untruly a Gonorrhoea, and more properly of fome of the Moderns, Stilli- cidium purulentum *, or as Harvy faith it is term- ed among the Dutch, Een Drypert, the Dropper. As to the Event I fay, the fame is generally a Pox, where the Sick falls into the Hands of Quacks, or other ignorant Pretenders ; or if he will not conform to Rules (and 'tis not often that our common Sinners of this Nature will) the Gonfequence may be perhaps the fame, under the beft of Management.

If there be only a Dyfury with <a fimple Running, of good Colour and Condition, in as good a Habit and a regular Patient, the

Cafe

rJ Vratiicd Dijjertation] &c- J j"

Cafe promifeth well for an eafy and fpeedy Cure. A late Writer hereupon acquaints us, in his firft Edition, that the later the Sym- ptoms appear, the greater is the Virulency | in his fecond he fays, the fooner they appear, the Virulency is greateft ^ and both thefe Pofi- tions are advanced as Corollaries from the fame Lemma, like fome other, I muft acknowledge as to myfelf, feeming Inconfiftencies in thac learned Man's Difcourfe. But if theDiftem- per is attended with Chardee or Priapifm (be- fpeaking greater Virulency in the Taint) there is like to be greater Trouble : more ftill if callous Ulceration, or Chancres arife about the Clans- and Prepuce *, or if accompanied with Hernia humor alis : Still worfe, if a Phimofis with the like Chancres underneath, are pre- fent, or a Paraphimojis alfo *, where in the firfir, you cannor fometimes come at your Work* without ripping up the Duplicature of the Fore-skin*, and in the laft, there may be Dan- ger of Gangrene or Mortification to the un- cover'd Clans, by its Strangulation *, and when you may be alfo neceflitated to cut through the Folds of the fame, to fet that Part at Liberty. But worft of all, where Ca- runcles are fcrm'd within the Paffage, which threaten an Jfchury or entire Stop to the U- rine, creating exquifite Pains to the Patient, and great Vexation alfo to the honeft Ar- tift.

Yet aU thefe, with diligent Care and a found Judgment, may be overcome, and the Patient reftor'd to a perfed Health again*, if it were his firft efpecially, or perhaps his fecond Mifhap of this Kind. But let no one think himfelf ( however the more raodifh ©r D gah

ii A Practical Differ tationy &C.

gallant Man ) the more like to be found of compleat in his Health for his repeated Fol- lies of this Nature, leaft finding Himfelf de- ceiv'd, he repent too late. For 'tis moft cer- tain that neither this Difeafe, nor yet its Re- medies, were ever found to improve a Con- ftitution, or to change it otherwife, than from a found, to a morbid State. Mgn But farther i The Infe&ion it felf isoften-* eafter f»- times obferv'd to fpread fatter in Men than fatted than Women, contrary to what fome Authors have Women, j^ down ; becaufe the Genitals of thefe lat-

ZtcLttr are better defen?ed bV the Deluge of Hu- mours ufu3lly dreining off that way :, and in fome of whom this Poifon lies therefore con- ceal'd, or as it were lheathed, many Months* I might fay Years, without appearing to have otherwife polluted the Blood, or (hewing it felf in other Symptoms* than a Running ac- companied fometimes with Chancres. Nay, I am fatisfied I have feen fome common Wo- men, that for feveral Years together, have never been without the one or other of thefe Appearances*, and however communicating the Venome to fome who daily con vers'd with them, yet kept their own Flefh, were ftrong and Iufty, eat well, drank hard, and feldom, if at all, took Phyfick upon that Account. But 'tis plain, that all do not efcape fo well, nor have I found any of them fo eafily cur'd, by reafon of the great Laxity of thefe Parts*, and their being always fteeped by the Humours aforefaid, as the like Degree of Infe&ion is in Men.

The learned Writer formerly mentioned, allows the Men to be fooner catch'd ; very few, , he fays, efcaping that meddle with a difeafed

Woman,,

A Prafthdl Dijfertation, &c. 3 5

Woman ? Nothwithflanding the inconflderable Quantity they can take vp of the venereal Poyfon-y whereas Women, who, he tells us alfo, receive d Million of times more, yet efcape the fame. His <Reafon this, for that the latter finds it blended vr blunted with another oily Liquor, the Semen j yphilft the former takes it in full Force out of the Vagina, where it was lodged before, by fome in- fefted Perfon, and where it may lye fome time without Damage to her. But furely if it be thus Wended^ when difcharged into the Vagina, it might be redifcharged therewith ( finita Copu- latione) in the Woman's ereft Pofture, at leaft the Spicula broken as well therewith, as fheath- ed farther by the glandulous Liquor, with which thefe Parts are bedew' d more particu- larly at fuch times. Wherefore I muft needs think a better Reafon is taken from the de- ferent Texture or Formation of the Genitals themfelves ; the Man's being dry and turgid only with Blood and Spirits, the Glans alfo alike tumid, and being bared from its Cover- ing, the Prepuce^ is endow'd with a molt exqui- fiteSenfe*, consequently more expofed to the venomous Effluvia arifing from the infe&ed Parts. And hence it is as true as common a Remark, that thofe who have this Part al- ways uncovered by a retraced Fore-skin, e- fcape for the moft part better than others. The Women contrarily, for the Caufes jufl before related, are both lefs fufceptible of the Taint, and its Progrefs, when communicated, is generally flower alfo : But enough of this.

As to what relates to the Cure of this firft Theatre in hfe&ion or French Bifeafe, (which whetherS™^ °f theirs or.not, has one of its Epithets, AUmode^rJl^ n* thence borrow'd) there have been, and flill D % are

3<5 A Praoticd Differtation, &c.

are various Methods taken •, and he that cures fooneft, provided he cure fafely, is doubtlefs the belt Phyfician or Surgeon *, but this is not the Aim of our London Quacks, who, if they can but flop the Running or heal the Sores, (which very few of them know how to accom- plish neither) regard not the Confequence, ufually a Pox, as we obferv'd but now in our Trognofticks- Nor truly is it very material, or of great Moment, it fhould be otherwife with the Generality of our Fornicatours : For as the fham Phyfician is eager of his Money, fo is the fham'd Patient in as much hafte to go again to his unlawful Pleafures : Thus one Clap is often palm'd upon an other, and each, unlefs the .fir ft, very probably on apreceeding Pox* But we return to the Cure.

In order whereunto, Purgation is I think al- Jow'd almoftonall fides, and doubtlefs neceflary to difcharge the Cacochymy ; yet here likewife our new Writer thereof finds fault, and tells us (how truly let all good Artifts judge) it were better the Gonorrhoea jhould run off] of it fe If, than be treated with fuch Medicines, as by their flimuli add to the Malignity, and encreafe the Difeafe \ for it is not (faith ht)fo much as pretended, that purgatives deflroy any P art of the Matter of this Diftemper^ but what they effelt is by their flimuli-, helping off with the infehed Matter *, which yet if wholly left to it fe If, would be more fafely difchargd. % Again, faith he, that purging Medicines do not acl direclly in deflroy ing the Matter*, is moft cer- tain^ but only in the fmall Afflflance they give t& Nature, when it carries off the fame, in fomevery healthy Confiitutions*

Let it be fo then, if it carry's off the Matter of ihe Difeafe* it is equally beneficial, as if it

de-

A Prdclical Differtationy &c, ?y

deftroy'd the fame. What he means by fome healthy Conftitutions, I know not ; for if they help not alfo in the lefs healthful, to what pur- pofe are they prefcrib'd by the belt Authors, and daily put in pra&ice by the bell Artifts, with the beft Succefs ; or why does this learn'd Gentleman himfelf (after he has thus declaim'd againft thefe Medicines) inform us in the fame Difcourfe, that as furging Medicines have been f roved to be of Vfs in the Cure of Claps, which is likfwife Manifeft by Experience^ he will fet down fome Forms thereof.

There is no doubt to be made, but that dif- ferent Purgatives, in different Habits, are to be made choice of } and that great prudence is requir'd as to the time of their Being con- tinued } in which perhaps confifts one of the niceft Points of this Cure. For if in fome Dyfcrafes of the Blood, and in fome Infections of this kind, we continue the flronger fort, efpecially, of thefe Remedies promifcuoufly, till the Matter ceafeth to flow, or till it be- comes perfe&ly White and Tenacious, and only glews up the Orifice of the Vrethra (as is the Manner of fome) we (hall very likely often- times find our felves difappointed, and fo far from gaining our End, that both the Viruiency of the Flux, as well as the other Symptoms, may happen to increafe upon us. Thus 1 have more than once obferved in fome Patients, I have had formerly, that after half a fcore or a dozen times purging them, every, or (accord- ding to their Strength^ each other Day, with fome brisk Cathartic^ the Stillicidium hath been both leiTened in its Quantity, and grown better conditioned alfo in its other Qualities ^ the Symptoms likewife have been corrected, D 3 and

jS J Trailed DiJferUtiox, tkcl

and fometimes wholly taken off; when purfu* ing the fame Evacuation a little longer, or perhaps to as many more Times, it has again grown ill-conditioned, and the former Acci- dents of Dyfury and Triafifo have again re- turned : So that I have been forced to leave off the Purging, at leaft with the ftronger Catharticks, and to mix only a little Vulvis Rad. Rhei, with fome Terebimhinate or balfamick Me- dicine, till the Running has again declined ? after which the latter by themfelves. And this Accident I haveobferv'd moft frequently to have attended fome bilious and hot or dry Temperaments, whofe Blood is as it were fir'd, and the Parts farther flimulated by the Colo- cynth. Scammoneat. or Biagrediat. Purges, ufu- ally ordered at fuch Times, and well enough fuited to the colder, more lax and Phlegma- tick Conftitutions. So that in fhort, he who (in an excellent good Author's Words) clean- feth well^ unlefs we reftrain weU to fufficiently^ doth not always cure well. And this I have the rather hinted, that the younger Practi- tioner may be inform'd, that although for the moft part, it may be necefTary the Pur* gation mould be continued, till the Matter is better coloured, and almoft ready to difap- pear; yet have we at all times no abfolute Cynofurt) thereby to fteer this Cure of the firfi Jnfetbion. Nor will the yellow Colour be' al- ways found a Mark of the Malignity (though moft commqnly ) fo much, as of an ill Ha- bit, a bilious Blood, or fome other Angular Dyfirafy of the Juices therein. For al- though the Stopping of fuch a Running by Reftringents, very commonly lays the Foun- dation of a Second Infettivn : Yet by the Means

above,

A Practical Differtation, &c. 59

above? $nd hereafter to be obferved, fome others have been well cured, although this Yellownefs has continu'd to the lad; in which I think I have the concurrent Sentiment of a late Writer upon the fame Subject.

I have the rather alfo touch'd upon this "TVgp;ut(Uf07*, ov Super purgation, becaufe I believe many ftubborn (Sleets have been at firft this way promoted,and the Patient's Body harrafs'd to noPurpofe, the Malignity of the Diftemper being increafed, which was intended to be thereby removed.

The general Purgatives I would however recommend, are thofe commonly ufed by the Surgeons of the Town : viz,. Extr. Rud, Pih Coch. Min. or that with fewer Ingredients (but full out as efficacious as any of them) the P-IU ex Duobus. The latter being what I ufually order from 3\. to 3ft, and la Bodies robufr, fometimes to3ii.with 3fs,gr. xv.orB'i. of Calo- mel: which may be repeated every other Day, or with fome few, who bear the Operation well, every Day for eight or ten times, when the Flux commonly leflens, and looks of a better, *- e. of a whiter Colour.

The Confebl. Hamech and Benedict a laxativa^ were the common Purges of the Antients at thefe Times. Dr. Sydenham makes a Mafs ex FiL Coch. Maj. & Extr. Rud. ana 5ui* Ref. Jalap. & Diagred. ana ^fs^ cum Opobalf. q. f. fiant Fil\ VI. ad 3^' quarum fumat zALger quatuor orrmi TMane per quatuordecim Dies', dein alt em is Aurc* ris, per alias Septimanas duas ; denique bis in Heb+ domade^ ufque ad Curationis Ftnem.

But this is a Penance few of our People will fubmit to, nor is there always (as I have juftnow obferved^ any Neceffity that they fhould.

D4 The

|j rJ Vracticd Dijfertation, kcl

The Pulvis Diafena and Warvicenfis called o* iherwife Santtus and Comachini^ are likewife gi- ven by fome, as is alfo this following Mafs, in ufe with a good Artift, and who, I believe, has had as much of this Bufinefs as molt ia ^Town.

5> Scammon. Sulphuratt Colocynth. pr&p. Aferc* dulc. pp. ana. p. <zq. Terebinth, Fen. q. f. ut for- tnetur Maf. pro Pil. ex quibm Deglutientur iij. iv» vel v. fecundum Vires y <tc Operationis Modum^ fingulis^ vel melius , alternis Diebus.

But in the hot, dry or he&ical Difpofitions, you muft not be too bufy with this Sort of Catbar ticks : For fuch 9 the Pulv. Rad. Rhei cum Cremore Tartaric or the EleUuarium leniti- <vum cum Pvlv. Jalap, may fuffice , as alfo the Decocl. Sen. Gereon. or a ftrong lnfufion of the fa id Radix Rhabarb. incif. Tamarind. Fol. Sen. & SaL Tartan, Some Forms of which I fhall here give you.

fy Pulv. Rad. Rhei %/s. Rad. Jalap* pulv. 3'u Crem. Tart. 9ij. vel Tart, vitriol, gr. v, ad $fs. E- letl. lenitivi cum Syr. Viol, aliquantulum mollefaUi q.f. m. f. Bolus. I£ DecoEl. Sena Gereon. Jiij. Syr. Rof. folut. de Rhamno^ ana ^fs. Crem. ^art* %fs. m. f. Havftus leniter purganu fy. Rad. JRhei tenuiter incif. Fol. Sen&7 ana ^f\fs vel ^{l. Tamarind. "%fs. Sal. Tart, 3i. Sem* Anif. P. j. jiq. dehor. Jiv* fiat Jnfufto calida per Notlem^ mane coletur^ & adde Syr. Rof, Solut. Manna opt, ana Ji. m. fiat Potio mane fumenda^ ufuali Regi** mine cum hifce omnibus cbfervato*

At thefe Times it will be alfo necefiary over night to lodge gr. xii or xv of the Caio- rneUnos^ with a little of the Conf. Fracafi. or Cohf Rof. takei* in a Bolus going to Reft, and

purged

A Practical Differ t at ion, &c. 41

purged off again next Morning, with one or other of thefe Medicines.

la my own Practice, after I have fufficiently Purged off the Virulency, or as the Quantity and Colour of the Flux fliall indicate ; I ufually finifli with §j. of the Balfam Cobaiba, called commonly Capivi, given at feveral times ; vd fub forma Elettuarij, cum Conferv* fru&. Cynosbar. vel Inftar Paft<e alb<e, cum facch. alb. pr<ep. fu- mendo Alterutrius Quant* Nuc. Mofc. Maj. mane atque vefperi, ventriculo vacuo.

One Pot of this Compofltion, hath very frequently compleated the Work ; or if there be occafion, I repeat it once, twice, or per- haps thrice, if any Remains of the Gleet fhould to require, and this Remedy I prefer to any of the Terebinthinate ones, or indeed any other of the natural Balfams, whither Gileadenfe^ Veruanumj Opobalfamum^ Tolutanum (all ufed by fome Practitioners for this purpofe) becaufe I find it heats and binds lefs than thefe laft ; Nor is it fuch a Tell-tale as the former, where the Chamber Pot by its fmell, difcovers what has been done all over the Houfe *, befides it is lefsNaufeousto many Peoples Stomachs than the Common Turpentines, efpecially if taken in the way I have here prefcrib'd it.

Indeed I have often wonder'd fo few of our Writers, have taken Notice of this noble Me- dicament, in finifhing the Cure of Claps7 and of Gleets arifing from thence ^ for which I be- lieve very few Remedies can compare in the whole Phyfical Republick, and they who know- rightly how to time it, may perform more in a Week than by all the other Methods now ufedf in a Month. I am fure I have known one |Ingle Ounce thereof, effeQ: more in fome of

thefe

425 A Practical Differtdtion, &c*

thefe Cafes, than a whole Pound of Turpen^ tine, mixd up too, as Mr. Wifeman directs, cum Pulv. Jalap. Crem* Tart. & Sale Prunel. or than the Chlo atid Cyprus Turpentine taken aK-^ein laTgfeXJh s- When this Compo-

lition oftfurs g|tres tii re than a couple of Stools a Day, and I am f .-lis Red the Malignity it beforehand carried off, I fometimes -direct as fottOi r Frvbl. Cynosb. Balfam. Co-

hatha sin a Jjs 3?? Japcn. pp. 3ij# Saccb. alb. q. s, ut firft Elefit. Sotididris confiftentid, cujus tx Cufpi- de Cults Hi, fumat Morfutum ad Magnitud. Cafta- ne<z, Mane ac Vefptri^ and fometimes I add likewife the Pnk\ Rhei varum torrefalt. ; both which in Weepings meriey of the Seminals, from a too grl y, or fome preceeding

Debility frtfrf? all Hyper catharfis^ are together with a like Quantity of the Croc. Mart. Reflr* always to be adaedu the. Sugar being now left out* 9

It was this Balfam a fate Quack (famous for Clap-curing) mix'd up With Caflia7 Merc. d. OcuL Cane. Sal. Prunel. & Ski Succin* into an fele&usry, which together with his Sublimat, Solution, and his Syringe for the Venis^ made ap his Packet-, and by which it is faid th at ne acquired a plentiful Income. Thofe who defire to fee the Prefcripr, may find it in the Trea- tife call'd The. Symptoms, Nature, Caufe and Cure of a Gonorrhoea? Second Edition*, that in the Firft being different, as alfo in a Quack Libel under the Sanction of M. D. fet forth lately by one Spink.

The Potio Alba, ex Terebinth. Fen. cum ovi vi? tello & Vin. alb. Compcfita. is a Remedy that was formerly in much requeft, and ftill ufed by fome Surgeons as well abroad as at home,

on

A Practical Difiertaticw, &cP 45

on the like Account #, being deemed alfo very ferviceable, but a naufeous Drench to be re- peated, and furly in its Operation ; fo that the nicer Palates and weak Stomachs cannot difpence with it. Somewhat like it we have in Bates , under the fame Title. But inftead of thefe, the Chio and Cyprus Turpentine have been cuftomarily exhibited to the Quantity of a Filberd, Nutmeg or Cheftnut, Night and Morning, or only once, at Night, wrap'd up in Sugar, or cover'd over with a Wafer ; alfo the former Turpentine boil'd up till it is fit to be made into Pills ; likewife the 01 Terebinth^ is prefcribed by fome to Ten, Fifteen or Twenty Drops, deftilfd firft upon a Lump of Sugar, and after diflblv'd in a Glafs of Ale or white Wine \ after the fame Manner the Ope balfam. is taken, which 1 think the better Me- dicine of the two, efpecially for fome particu- lar Conftitutions.

David Abercromby, for his Cure of the G*« norrhcea falfly Co called, dire&s in this Manner- ly Cajfta ree, Extr. 5), Tulv, Rad. Rhei, Crenu Tart, ana 3j, M. F. Bolus *, vet Jfc Tereb. Ven. non lot* 3iij, Rheipulv.'Zj), facch.q. s. Mi fee.

Dr. Harvy thus, Jfc Tereb, non lota 3iij. Rhei Elect, pulv. a §& *d 3i. Gum, Guaj* a 3i, ad Jfs. Merc, d, a 3fs. ad 3i. M. F, Bolus, fumen- dus Mane, & pro Robufiisy repetatur Vefperi,

Yet notwithftanding, after due Purgation with fome of the Catharticks formerly fet down* beft fuited to the Temperament of the Sick, I have faid enough to convince the Reader, tfrat I think the Capivi Balfam preferable to molt others, for healing and agglutinating the Ulcerated Parts, at the clofe of this Dif- temper : Who muft not admire if I omit the

Mention-

44 -^ Practical DiJJertationy &zcl

Mentioning any Injections outwardly, or Re* ftringents in common Ufe prefcribed to be taken inwardly.

As to the firf";, I confefs I never had any great Opinion of them : Nor unlefs in very much Difturbance from the Urine, by fome Excoriation in the PafTage, or greater Diffi- culty than ordinary in drying up the Gleet °7 have I feen Occafion for them : When proba^ bly a little Aq. Hordei, or a fmall Solution of the Troch. Alb. Rhaf. in aq. Flantag. vel Rof. has been directed for the former ; and a fmall Aq. Calcis cum Syr. de Roj. fie, vel Mel. Rof. for the latter. As to their Ufe in Caruncles ; wefhall fpeak prefently. In refpecl; to Reftringents, fuch as the Bolus verus. Sang. Drac. Succin. Ma- ftich. Os fepia, Ter. Lemn. Mumia^ and the like : Since I pra&ifed, with the Balfam before men- tion^ I have but feldom had occafion for them in the common Runnings, and when I have, I cannot fay I have always found they would anfwer Expectation ; nor indeed fhould I advife any one (however inoffenflve or necef1 fary they are reprefented by De BUgny and fome others) in a virulent StilUcidium to have any thing to do with Them.

The time of Ufing thefe Balfamicl Medicines, is generally fpeaking, after the Virulcncy is purged off*} the Symptoms removed, and the Colour of the Running (which is now grown inconliderable in its Quantity) changed from its former yellow or greenifli Caft, to 4 more pale and whiter Afped, and a more tenacious Confluence alfo. But if notwithstanding the Re- petition of your purging Remedies, this Altera- tioa cannot be acquir'd \ the Symptoms before enumerated rather improving \ you muft make Revulfioa by Vomiting your Patient, with a

proper

rJ Practical Dijfertdtio*, &c. 4$

proper Dofe of the Turpethum Min. repeated at two or three Days diftance, once or twice: After which, according to his Habit (the Ma- lignity being fomewhat Check'dJ fome more gentle Cathartick, as the Tulv. Rhei before ob- ferv'd, may be mix'd with the Terebinthinate, or Balfamick Medicine; and the Matter ftill daily decreafing, thefe latter (as we ha?e al- ready intimated) by themfelves. But if the Clap (as frequently happens) be complicate with other Symptoms, and a fecond fafeftionis alfo prefent, you muft then proceed as we (hall direct in the farther profecution of our Dif- courfe, and for the prefent overlook thefirft.

I know the Author of the late Treatife we have before refer'd to, tells us that thefe Bal- famick 'Remedy's differ not from Reftringents in the Cure of Claps \ neither can he faid to he Healers^ becaufe there is no preceeding Digefiton : to which may be anfwer'd, that we have very commonly all the Appearance, the Parts furnifhing the Mat- ter, are capable of fhowing us •, that is a State of Crudity and Indigeflion, and (the Malignity overcome) a State alfo of Conco&ion •, fuitable I fay to the Nature of the Parts affedted, tho' perhaps not what is exa&ly agreeable to that which is produced by fome others. But whether this be fo or not, if thefe Remedies perform'd no other Office than by meerly Reftringing with- out Healing, how comes it that two of the belt of them, Turpentine and Capivi, perform the ge- nerality of thefe Cures, yet purge at the fame time } from whence furely we may infer, that they both deterge and heal, much differently from the common Reftri&ives, which (hut up thePoyfon, conftipate the Belly j either thick- ening the Fluids, or conftringing the Mouths

of

4^ A Practical Differtdtion, &c.

of their containing Veffels ; and confequently if unfeafonably directed, by detaining the faid Venomous Matter, lay the Foundation of a worfe Difeafe than that which they were given to remedy : But to proceed to our Subject

There are fome who, for this end, exceeding- ly Magnify the Clap-mater oiQuercetan : Which he orders to be given by two Spoonfuls twice a Day, Certe tamen prtmijfa debit a Catharfi, and which he prepares thus.

g> Pulv. Fol. Menth. Dittamni, Rad. Irid. Flor. ana %\.fem. Agn. Cap;. Rut& & Laftuca ana 3vj. Terebinth^ Ven. %iv. vini alb. 5 XX. JDeftillentur in Alembico vapor is Balneo.

As alfo the following from Riverius, little differing, which that learned and practical Phyfician tells us, he gave commonly to finifli the Cure, after twice Purging with Calomel and Til. Cocb» Min. ana 3j. and tentimes with 3j. of Pulv. Rad. Rhei cum 3iij. Terebinth, enet.

Ifc Menth. fie. 3uj* Sem. LaEluc. Ruta, Agni Caft. ana %i\. Diftamn. Cret.^K. Sacch. alb. Ibij. Omnia pulverizentur, (3* addendo 'terebinth. Ven. 5v. Vini. alb* generofi Jxxx. F. Defiillatio in Bain. Mar. & capiat Cochl. ij. omni Mane^ duabus horis ante Cibum.

But thefe in my Opinion, feem better fit- ted for the Cure of the Tabes Dorfalisy fo call'd, where by a hot, faline or acrid Seed, the Pa- tient is conftantly ftimulated in his Sleep to No&urnal Polutions } from whence fo great -Portions of this Quintejfentia Sanguinis are car-' ried offi as at length brings on a Nervous Atro- phy; the Patient quickly after growing He&ical and melting away with a Marafmus. Thefe diftill'd Waters I fay, feem likely to effect, more here, than in the venereal &r virulent Claps.

The

A practical Dijfertatio/r, &c. 47

The Cure by Clyfters, which were contrived for thofe whofe Averfion to Medicine is infu- perable ftho' it be not fo to the beloved Vice) is by throwing up §fs, or 3vj» of the Terebinth, Ven. cum Ovi ViteU folut. once a Day, and fome- times twice : if once only, it may be made more purgative with the Confi Hamech, for the ftronger Sort, or the Eletl. de fuc. Rof. Diaca- tholicon. Lemtivum. for the Weaker } but this Method (unlefs the Cure be promoted by giv- ing fome Mercurial Cathartick between whiles, and fome Balfamick alfo, when the Virus is taken off) is fcarce to be confided in: Nor have I known (unlefs very rarely) that it has anfwer'd the Expectation.

Having thus laid down the Curative Me- thod in general, I fhall now take Notice of fome particular Symptoms, accompanying this Difeafe.

The firfl: of which, and which ufually is the cure of Prsecurfor or Harbinger to the reft, is the Dyf the symp- wia, or Ardor Vrina : Altho' the learned Au- tms au thor of The Symptoms, &c. tells us, the fame f^A* doth not appear till three or four Days after jnjt^Qnm the Running , notwithstanding our Clap'd And firfl Patients take the firfl Hint of their Mhfov- 0 f the Pyf- tunes from this Smart and Pricking of their uria* Water, and which they commonly obferve before the faid Running is difcover'd, at leaft together therewith. The Chymifts fay this Difturbance arifeth from fome Saline armoniac Needles fluctuating in a purulent Fluor* Be it«»fo, then, the Heat and Acrimony (without {bay- ing exactly to gauge their Size)indicate certain- ly fome refrigerating, attemperating, diluting and emulling- Liquors, that may take off this Complaint, and eafe them of their Pain : For

which

A Prattled Differtatio^ &C.1

which Caufe let the Patient drink, efpecially on the Days he does not purge, and in the Evenings of thofe he does, the Lac vaccinum cum p. a. Aq. Font. CoBum *, alfo the Lac Amyg- dalinum, or fome Emulflon prseparM Ex. fern, 4. fr. May cum fern. Pupav. & Hyojciam. alb* Edulcorated or rendred grateful to his Palate, cum Syr. Papav. Rhoead. de Alth&a vet de Nymph. or when by reafon of the Pain he is very reft- lefs, the Syr. de Meconi*, inftilling into each Draught of the fame, a few Drops of the Spin Nitr. dulcis. A form or two of fuch a Li- quor, may be after this Manner.

Ifc Amygdt d. Excortic. Num. vii. Bern. 4. fr. Maj. a* 3j. Cotiiunde^ & gradatim Ajfunde Aq<> Hordei (in qua 3ij. Gum. Arabic- incoxerint) lbifs. Colatura adde Aq. Cinamom. hord. %\}. Saccb* alb. 5fs. vet fyr. de Alth&a 5j. Mifce. vet |fc Amygd. dul. ut prius decor tic. Num. x. Sem. LaBuaz & Sem. Papav. alb. ana Jfs. Contufis ajfunde ut ante a DecoB. Hord. & Liquirit. fiatque Emulfio S. A. in a Draught of either of thefe (as we obferv'd before) may be diflblVed J fs. or 3vj. (the other Syrup being here omitted) of the Syr. de Meco- nio, in the Evening of his purging Days, to difpofe him to reft, after the Tumult raifed in the Blood by the preceeding Cathartick s But thefe Liquors limply not availing to remqve this Complaint, we muft order 3j-3fs- or 3ij. of the Chryfiat Mineral, or Sal. PruneU in a Draught of the fame, with its sequal weight of white Sugar, to be repeated two or three times a pay 5 adding farthermore upon occa- fion (as in the Chordee or Priapifm) Sacck* Saturn* gr. v. & in MiBuritione dolorifica, totidem Cam- pkora: Which Remedies generally remove the Complaints of this kind. Thefe Accidents

being:

rA PrdcJical DiJJertation, §zqI ^

hdng likewife attended at fometimes with great Fluxion and Inflammation, as appears by thefeverifh Diforder with which they are af- fecled 'j it is requiiite at fuch times, bat more efpecially in Sanguine Conftitutions, to empty their Veins by Bleeding, which will cool their Bodies, abate the inflammation, and prevent fome Difturbances given afterwards to the Blood, by the purging Phyfick that is necefTary to follow \ it being alfo approved by molt of the Moderns, as a juftifiable Practice, however Condemn'd by the Antients and fome few others.

If there be only a fimple Excoriation on the EX€Qrp. Clans or Prtpuce, a Pledgit of Diapompholygos mom and may be fufficient *, bat if Ulceration, you malt Chancres* forward the Digeftion, efpecially if there be Cal- lolity, or Chancres already formed j at which times your Merc, prtcip. rub. fprinkled there- on, with the Digeftive over, m3y be conveni- ent and proper alfo to deterge them. After which you need not be overhafly to dry them up, till the Virulency is purged off and corre&ed by your Internals •, leaf! in flifling the Venome here, it mould fhow it felf after in other pocky Eruptions, and ftand then in need of the Me- thod of Cure for aconfirm'dLaw. Again if your Precipitate prove iafuiKcient to correct the Vi- rulency, and fubdue the Chancrous Excref- cence, you may touch it with the Lac Subli- mat. Corrof. defcribed in our Treatife de Morb'u Cutaneis, or lay on a fmall Pledgit exprefs'd from the fame } alfo a light touch of the Butyrum Antimonii^ or of the lunar Cauftick, may be fometimes necefTary : But if they ftiil happen to improve in their Virulency, or grow more Spreading and Corrofive, whilft your Patient 7 E. is

ia A Practical Dijfertatiov, &c.

is purged with Mercurials -, there is no bet- ter Way of making Revulfion than by exhibit- ing gr. viii. ix. or x. (according to the Age, Strength and Habit, as alfo Ufe to the like Medicines J of the Turpeth. Min. in a Bole with Conf Rof. and to repeat the fame Remedy, if there be occafion, at two or three Days di- ftance, twice or thrice , by which you will find the Chancre not only to abate of its fretful Nature, and growing milder or more manage- able; but the Symptoms of Pain, Chordee or Tri- apifm (if attending) will like wife quickly go off, the StiUicidinm from the Terns will be lefTen'd, and its Malignity alfo fubdu'd : After which your Purgation as before dire&ed may be re- peated at proper Intervals, as well to fecure the Turpeth, from Havering the Patient, as to carry of any Relicks of the Venereal Poifon, that by reafon of the Emetick-, may have taken hold of the Blood: Of which tho' fome good Artifts tell us there is no Danger '0 yet do I own my felf ever beft pleas'd with the Cure, that did not want them, or Reftringents either, But only purging off the Virus ^ and thereby cleanfing, and after healing with the Bal- famick I have already recommended. txcref- But of this Symptom, together with the wr- cencies ofrUca Tenis^ the Thymic Fici and Condylomata^ various wjtj1 other Excrefcences from a venereal Taint, ' fprouting juxta Podicem, as alfo of the Phimo- ps and Taraphimofis, we have already made fome Mention in our Treatife aforefaid, among the Difeafes incident to the Skin of the Prapuce, and others Cm a Anum ; fo that there may feem lefs Reafon to inlarge here upon the fame: However I fhall not pretermit, what I have of late Years fouftd always fuccefsf ul ia overcom- ing

A Practical Differ tat ion, &c, \l

ing thefe chancrous Ulcerations, either on the GUns or Traputium in Men, and the Labia as well as Sinus Tudor is in Women j and that is ^ juz theSmoaking them with Cinnabar? thrown up^tbor's j^- on a hot Iron, or a common Heater •, the Fume medy fer afcending through a Funnel, or a Seat perfo-C^^- rated like the clofe Stool (which I make fre- quent ufe of for fuch purpofe) all round the. Difeafed Parts, 5j of which C/VwwW I order to be fprinkled on at a time, every Day, and fometimes twice a Day, for a Week; the Iron at the fame time being hot enough to raife a Flame with Smoak, but not fo burning or fiery red, as to make it inftantly coniume . away in Flame alone.

Our new and learned Writer upon the Chan- Symptoms before mentioned, has diftinguifhed <?es di' thefe Chancres as primary or Original, symtt0 JuTanev matical or confequential to the Gonorrceha, and Remefy Symptoms alfoofa Vox \ as he has likewife dif-/<?r the ferenc'd thofeof the Prapuce from thofe on the/^e. Glans\ acquainting us farther, that none but the pocky Chancres require Internals, the reft, (which he faies are two thirds of the whole)are removed by Topickj only. But I have not cime to inlarge upon thefe Diftin&ions, which I think neither well founded, nor the Knowledge thereof, for that reafon, much conducive to the Cure *, nor can I advife that any of thefe Symptoms, unlefs perhaps fome of the Verruca (of which our Author is filent) ihould be truft- cd fingly to the External Application, fince they feem all (tho' not alike) to partake of the fame common Venome \ the one more imme- diately derived from a clofe Contact therewith, the other mediately by the corrupted Juice of the Parts ', aad according to their Situation,

E 2 whether

$2 rJ Pr attic d Differ tat ion, &c.

whether on tbe Ghns or Prapuce^ chiefly differ-* ing in their Afpedt. But 1 muft not overlook his new invented Remedy to remove them, without the tedious (as he expreffeth himfelf ) and painful way of other Artifts, by Efcharo- tickj •, the Coagulated Juices being by this his Medicine refolved, and the Chancre removed without any farther trouble- To keep our Reader no longer in fufpence, this Remedy is compofed of the crude Mercury or Quickfilver, rnvifcated with common Tur- pentine } quantum vis of the one, with a quan- tum fatis of the iaft : Which altho' this learned Gentleman has fo highly extolfd for thefe pur- pofes, and fo wonderfully magnify'd for a new and very ufeful Difcovery *, I can aflure him that the very fame Compofition was well Itnownto fome Pra&itioners many Years paft \ and that in reducing Mercury into Corpufcles invifible,by the means of Turpentine in order to incorporate the fame with the Axungia, for the Unction I have frequently referv'd fome little portion for this Ufe , when, however, in fome mild AfFe&s of this kind, 1 have found itfer- viceable : Yet in the more Corroflve, virulent and ftubborn Chancres^ I have been always ne- cessitated to make ufe of the Pracipit. rub, the Lac;Sublimat. Butyrum Antimonii, or the Lunar Caufiic^ giving alfo Twfeth Aiin, between whiles to check the Erofion, till of late Years, that I have pradifed with the Cinnabarine Suffitus ; when I have feldom had occafion for either ; and which without arrogating to my felf the Invention, or vaunting on its Performance, I may from my own daily Experience be allow'd, I hope, to recommend to Others; and I can af- fure the honeft Artift9 that whllft he is trifling

with

rA Practical Differ tat ion, &c„ jj£

with the former, he will do Wonders with the latter : Yet if the Chancre fas very frequently happens) be attended with other Syptoms of the Second Infection, notwithftanding you may hereby difpofe the fame for Healing, yet muft you not truft to this, or any other Me- thod which only palliates ; but haften a Sa- iivation, that may entirely root out the ve- nereal Poifon} and in the midft of thefe Symptoms that are unattended with others, you are to call in the Aid (as we before ob- ferved) of fome proper Mercurial Antidote given internally, as well as thus externally con- vey'd to the Parts.

How little Reafon then has the fame learn- ed Author of the Difcourfe aforementioned, to acquaint -the World, that in other Artifts Defign of Curing Chancres^ no Remedy is allied to deftroy the Caufe of them ; but like an irrecove- , rable Part they are eaten out, and that not with" out great Wafte committed on that which is found s rfhis likewife being done with fo great Vain and. Inflammation, that an Amputation is the last Re- medy for the jharp Matter of the Gonorrhoea and the Jharper Application.

Thefe laft Words, I muft confefs my felf at a Lofs to make good Senfe of ; for I can't think the Amputation relates either to the Matter, or the Application , and I know of no Artift that was ever obliged to dock the Penis, on Account of having applied an Efcharotick^ to confume a chancrous Callus : nor who has fpent fo many Months, nay Years, in their Extirpa- tion, as he infinuates.

But farther, as the Cure of Chancres, more The Cho/r particularly on the Prepuce and Franum (to ufe dee and fthat learned Gentleman's Words), has fer-Fr**tifi»i E B flexed

£1

rA Practical Differtation, &c-

flexed and puzzled Authors , who did not fujjici* ently attend their Symptoms , fo that likewife- of the Chordee, he tells US, is fuch a furprizing Phenomenon ^ and of .that Difficulty, that Pyficians have never attempted to explain it. And yet, I fear, if we reft net fatisfy'd with the malign Aura or Spiritus flatulentm, diftending and pain- fully inflating the nervous Bodies, as well as Paffage of the Seed and Urine, giving Rife to this Priapifm or unnatural Ere&ion^ his Explanation will be as little fatisfa&ory to an inquifitive or difcerning Perfon : Which is that of its arifing from the Compreffion of the Sides of the Urethra, by the nervous Bodies of the Penis, (theCaufe of which, I think, is there not mentioned ) which Part he will have fo fqueezed together thereby, at the Time of Erection^ as to beget in the Patient this Chorded Senfation7 and to hinder the Admittance of any venomom Matter to the Proftatae at that time^ by the faid Paffage :, and that nothing lefs than the Impetus with which the Semen is thrown outy could make way for its Exit. But fure this learned Man forgets himfelf. For if the Meatus is fo clofeiy compreft through its whole Entrance from one Extremity to the other, at leaft that End next the Clans \ how comes the Poifon (as he fays* it does) to enter one, two or three In- ches within, and to form there the Seat of a Gonorrhoea? I am net arguing either for, or againft this Part's being the prime Refidence of the firft Infe&ion ; but think it ftrange a Notion fhould be advanced fb contrary to dai- ly and manifeft Obfervation : It being evi- dent, that the whole Bulb of the Urethra grows turgid, and is diftended at the fame Infiant with the Corpora cavernofa Penis^ and

thai

rJ Practical Dif[ertation7 &cl kz ?

that its Parietes are fo far from being there- by:, conjoined, that the DutJus communis lies now wide open, and affords a ready PafTage to the Seminal Ejection *, whofe Impetus or faltatory Manner of Conveyance was not in- tended to force open the Sides of the Vrethr*, which are already dilated, but for the more facile and expeditious Arrival of the fame into the Os Vteri internum,

But I ftiall now haften to the Cure of this Symptom, which we are told is eafily removed by dipping the Penis in cold Water, which is alfo propofed by Be Blegny : Yet how far fuch a fudden Conftri&ion of the Pores, may contribute to the (hutting in of the Poifon? and fixing the malign Humour, we are not furely apprifed ; beiides the Danger of Gan~ grene^ in Cafe of very great Fluxion upon the Part, by retarding, if not entirely checking, the Circuit of the Blood : So that if any fuch Experiment were try'd to remove this Com- plaint, I fhould prefer an Epitbeme dipt in Oxyr crate^ and apply 'd to the Tubes ovTefticles of the Patient. But indeed I think it better to forbear either, and purge off the Virulency which gave Rife thereto, byfome brisk Mer- curial Cathartick, making Revulfion alfo be- tween whiles with a Dofe or two of the Turb* Mineral, and on the intermediate Days, di- recting fome proper refrigerating and attem- perating Emuifions, together with the nitrou?9 faturnine or camphorate Solutions above re- cited : And this fhall fuffice to have been fpo- ken of this Symptom.

The Pkimofis, Paraphimofis and Chryftalline, ff10^ however Accidents only, and not immediate ^<fa ml Symptoms of this Difeafe \ yet happening up^ ckyftai*

B 4 $9 tine?

^6 2 Fraflical BijfertAtion^ &a

on a venereal Rencounter with a foul Wo- man, and efpecially if complicate with fome other Marks of Contagion, as the StilUcidium <virulentumy Excoriation or chancrous Ulcera- tion 7 are by no means to be oveflook'd,or trufted (imply to the local Application : but the Venom of the Diftemper being purged off, or (the Defluxion very great and the Sym- ptoms preffing) the Humours revuls'd by an Emetic!?, let a good difcutient Fotus be pro- vided and apply'd to breath out theimpa&ed Humour: or where there isalfolnduration^ fome proper Anodyne Emollients thereunto added. But I have before obferved, that I have treated of thefe Accidents, both fuch as ate, and thofe which are not venereal, in another Place, to which for avoiding unne- ceflary Repetition, I fhall refer you ; whilft I only take notice farther upon this Head, that- the fame Author has inform'd us, the out- ward Applications alone, properly adapted, will free the Patient of thefe Accidents : So that there will never be found Occafi* on for that troublefome and painful Ope- ration, of catting the Foreskin. The con- trary to which (with Submiflion to the learn- ed Author) I do pofitiveJy affirm, and will ap- peal-to the greater ancTbeft experiene'd Ma- imers in the Art cf Chirurgery, if notwith- Jtanding their utmoft Endeavours by local Medicines, whether emollient to relax and fofcen the indurated Duplicature of the Pr*- futium, or Difcutients to fet open the Pores, and breath foirth the Humour } allowing alfo the Affiftance' of internal Remedies (which frequently do more than all the reft ) it wi!l not fomnimes happen^ that they are under a

A Practical Differtatioff, &c. (j

Keceflity to dilate and fet .at Liberty the imprifon'd Glans $ not only to come at fome latent Chancre, but to give Difcharge to the Urine, which has been found thereby in a manner wholly precluded. The like in the To- raphimofis, where the faid Glans by its Collar is ftrangled, and where without cutting into the StridWe, oftentimes not only the rumpled Trepuce, but the GUns it felt, muft inevitably mortify and rot off, as I have proved in the Dif- courfe above refer'd to.

We (hall next proceed to the Hernia Humo* Merms, talis, of which, though a common Attendant #«*****• upon the firft Infe&ion, the new Writer upoa the fame (for what Reafon I knew notj has taken but little Notice, with refpeft efpecially to theCure thereof. When this therefore fhall happen, you muft immediately provide a fuita- ble Bag-Trufsvthat may not only fupportthe Weight of the fame, but contain likewife and fecure the Applications thereto apply'd: Among which there is nothing that excells a Cataplafm of the Farina Fabar. cum Oxymelite JZmplici ; having added thereunto a little 01. Rof. or Vng. Sambucin. to keep it from grow- ing prefently hard and dry. Or a Deco&ioa may be prepared ex Flor. Chamomd. Melilot. §ambucij cum FoL Rof. rub. infpiiTate with the faid Farina^ adding towards the Conclufion, the Oxymel as above. Thus for Inftance, I& Summit. Cent. min. My Flor. Chamomel. Melilot. Sambuc. ana Mis , coquantur in Aqua Fabrorum tbiii. ad Medias\ dein coUtur^ '& itersum fuper ignem pofit. cum Farina Fab arum reducatur in Formam Pultts, fub Finem addenda Oxymel fimp* fiVo Vng. Sambite* 5& refervando ad Vfum.

During

i^8 A Practical Differt Mon^ &c."

During thefe Applications let all Reftrin- gent or Balfamick Medicines be entirely for- born j the Patient being briskly purged with Calomel, and the Pill, ex duobus^ as at the Begin- ning, taking fpecial Care he gets no Cold onder the Operation : By which Method re- peated for fome Days, this Swelling is ufu- ally difperfed \ the Running again appear- ing, which was before leffen'd, if not entirely retrained, and which is now to be purged off with the fime, or the like Cathartkk, repeated at proper Intervals.

But if notwithftanding this Method of pur- ging, the Pain and " Fluxion fHll encreafe, with' Inflammation threatening an Abfcefs } for the more fpeedy Relief of the Part, and preventing Mifchief of that Kind, you muft here likewife vomit your Patient with the Turfeth. Min. repeated at fuch Diftance , as to avoid the making of his Chaps fore, till the Tumour fobfides : Then purge off the Re- licks- When if any Schirrous Hardnefs mould remain, which gives not Way to the Cata- plafm^ neither yet to the Cathartickf, you may endeavour to difperfe and fcatter the fame, with the Emplafi. Diafulf hurts. De Rank cum Merc De Cicuta cum Amman. Emplaft. ex Amman. Diagalban* vel denique9 cum Aceti Suf- fitu. Bubo. The Bubo which attends this Difeafe when recent, if there be only Induration of the Glands, without Pain or Inflammation, re- quires nothing feparate from the general Me- thod j but mull together with the other Sym» ptoms, be purged off as foon as poffible, with the Mercurial Cathartick before obferv'd } but if the fame has teea of any long Stand- ing*

A Practical Difjertdtiotf, &(\ 59

ing, grows painful or inflames, you muft for- bear your Purging for a while, and drefs ( as we fhall dired in another Treatife here- after, where we handle the malignant Tu- mours of thefe gland ulous Parts ) with fome of the ftrongeft Suppuratives, as the Gummy Emplaifter of DiachyL or a Cataplafm ex Ficu- bus ping. Rad. Allii^ cum Ccepis coBis ; vel ex Rad. Altb*&i Bryon. Lil. alb* Flmo Columbin* or the like. Cupping-glades alfo are fometimes applied to roufe the fluggifh Humour or la- tent Venom, and bring forward the fame •, when having difcharged. the Matter by a Gau- ftick, loofened the Efchar, and digefted the Ulcer, you muft proceed again to purge the Patient at convenient Intervals, as his Cir- cumftances require. And here alfo ( as we obferv'd of the Chancre ) if the Ulcer notwith- ftanding fpreads, proves corrolive or Vhag&de- nick, with callous or jagged Lips ^ neither yielding to your Tmcipitate outwardly, nor to your Mercurial Catharticks internally prefcri- bed> by which the Poifon may be carried off; you will be under a Neceflity to vomit with the Turpeth. before-mentioned, it may be two or three Times, at a few Days Diftance: Or finally, if this Symptom (as it often is) be complicated with Scabs, or other ferpiginous Eruptions, about the Body ; Puftules alfo3 dry and crufty, upon the hairy Scalp-, 'tis to little purpofe to fpend your Time in this Method, but to haften a Salivation, by which a perfeft and not a palliative Cure on« ly,, is to be obtained.

Tfa

60 A Pratticd DijJertatipKj 8?cl

fArunclesc The laft of the Symptoms we recited de- pending upon an ill cur'd Clap, or fucceeding ■ a great many, (at leaft, one of long Stand- ing) was the Caruncle, a Diminutive from Caro% feeing one or more little ffefey Excrefcences emerging from the excoriated Vrethra, by the fharp and corroding Matter paffing through, and lodging alfo therein , as we hinted in the Troanofticks of the Difeafe, creating more Trouble to the Surgeon, and greater Dif- qiaiet to the Patient at fometimes £han all the reft-

This Symptom, however a Gonfequent of the Gonorrhoea, is alfo for fome Reafon, beft jkaown to our new Writer, unobferv'd in his Difcourfe thereof} nor do we find any Di- rections therein, for remedying the fame.

The Caruncle does not appear fometimes till long after the Cure was fup^ofed to have been coHipleated, and the Patient fat leaft in his Imagination ) found and free from any Re- mains of his former Illnefs \ which makes them often miftaken for the Stone, or fome Ne- phritick Illnefs, For although the firft Ru- diments may be laid during the Time of the Stitticidium or Running, yet whilft they admit a PafTage for the Urine, they are unobferv'd ? till ialarging, they begin to incommode him in his making Water, which comes out as it were forked^ and in divers Streams, and fome- times only with great Pain by Drops, as in a Strangury, or Stoppage of the DuBus or Neck of the Bladder by a Stone #, efpecially being grown fo large as to fill up the whole PafTage t So that thefe Signs are but equivocal or ambi- guous only of a Caruncle. The real and certaia us taken from the Probe, or f which iseafier

m

rA Practical Differ tat 100, &c. '$i

«io the Patient,) the Wax-candle, which being dipt in Oil and gently introduced, you are to pafs forwards, and if yon meet with any Rub or Obftacle, on this fide the Valve * at the En- + T trance into the Bladder, you have great Pwea-^ ev°^ fon to fufpecl; a Caruncle. When having in- do not de* form'd your felf by the beft Means you can, wive jwu that your Patient heretofore has been infed- ed with this Difeafe, you may be ftill farther jealous that it is fo. And if pafling gently you can get over this interpofing Body, 'tis a Sign the Caruncle is not yet confirm'd ; but if the faid BuBm is quite ftopt, and does not give way to fuch Pre dire as aforefaid, the Cafe is ftill worfe, and the Patient in great Dan- ger, if he be not fpeedily relieved. Where- fore at fuch times changing your Candle for a. filver or leaden Frobe, pafs in again, which will better difcover if the Reiiftance is made by any fmall Stone, or by a flefhy Subftance ; as will your Finger on the outfide of the Bulb, if it be far advanced : Or the fame in Ano9 . if at the Neck. At this Time, I fay, finding a flefhy Subftance, if it has been but of ihort Continuance, you may probably force your Way through, and help your Patient in his Extremity for the prefent : After which, ia order to Extirpation, you muft go' to work with your medicated Candles, prepared ac- cordingly as the Difeafe is new or old, more foft and fpungy, or hard and more confirm'd, with fome ftrong Deilccative : Or thefe fail- ing, fome proper Catberetick, fuch as the Pr<z~ cipit. rub. Alum, calcinat. <zs£s <virid. Vulv. Fob Sabin. alfo the Aw [pigment, or yellow Arfenick is commended by certain Practitioners, of which,

for

6% A Practical Differtation, &c.

. for my own Part, I mull confefs I have no great Opinion.

Thefe are mixed up into a Body with fome Emplaifter fit for Ufe. Monfieur Be Blegny commends this following. I£ Merc, fublim. corrof. gr. xii. Emplaftr. de Mucilag. %i. mifce. Thofe which I have ufed my felf, are borrow- ed from Mr. Wifeman, which may be made flronger or weaker, as the Cafe requires, by increafing or diminifhing the Catheretick therein.

g* Cort. Granat. acid* 3"« Aluminis 3i. puU verati fubtilijjime liqvefcant cum Ji. Emplaftr-

Vid.Kiver.de Cerujfa, pro Vfu. Vel g> Merc, pr&cipit. rub.

Obfervat. 3ii. Lapid. Cat. fubtiliffime etiam triti, 3ii. Vi-

Cent. i. triol. calcinat. pr<zp. 31. Empl. Diacalcit. %\Js»

obf- l4- mifce ad Ignem.

Having prepared your Candles by fcraping off the Wax at the End fo far as is needful, you are to dip their faid Extremities in the melted Compofition, till they are of the fame Dimeniions with the other Part, and when perfectly harden'd, y©u may fmooth them with a Knife exa&ly round like the Parts they ad- here to \ and being thus fitted for the Work, you are to introduce the Medicated End fo as to bear therewith gently againft the Carun- cle in the PalTage, whofe Place of Growth you had marked at your former Probation : Where it is to be fixed clofe, with the other Extremity turned up over the End of the Pre* puce, and fecured thereby from flipping out in the Night- And if there be Necefiity of making Water, (to avoid which Provocation, let him be as {paring as maybe of drinking, cfpecially any Diuretick Liquors) the fame xnuft be extraded* and another replaced by the

Patient

A Practical Differtation, &c. 6|

Patient himfelf, before-hand inftru&ed. for that Purpofe, and furnifhed therewith. Up- on drawing out the Candle, you may inject a little Aq»Hord. cum Syr, Papav. vel de Nymphaa^ or a thin Mucilage of the Sem. Cydon, extract- ed in Aq. Vlantag, Sperm, Ranar, vel Rof. rub. with a Syringe, in order to take off the Heat, and demulce or aiTwage the Pain ariflng from the excoriated Parts; and finding at the next Application, that what you have now done is not fufficient; which you may conjecture (after the coming away of the Sloughs) by the Want of as a full a Stream as formerly, of the Urine, and the clear Admittance quite thro* the Ductus, of your common fearching Can- dle*, you are to proceed in like Manner as before, till the Excrefcence is deftroy'd or eaten down : After which, to dry up the Re- mains, and to prevent a Renafcency thereof, an Aq, Calcis cum Syr. de Rof. fie. or a Solution of Crollitis'j Lapis Me die am. h no unfuitable In- jectio;; ; or a frrong Deco&ion of the G&U& immature. Cortex Granat. Flor. Balaufi. Sumach. Hypociftis, and the like. Which fometimes proves of Efficacy fafficient, in the fiift Rile of the Difeafe, when the little Grains of Flefh are but juft pullulating, to deficcace the fame, and prevent the Ufc or the prepar'd Candies, about vhich it is tart her requlfite (which the Auth.v we are beholden to, has likewife ob- ferved a iid cautioned) that yuu are very care- ful in tempering our Cornpofiuon, fo that the fame mav ate* tic] as ciofe to the Wick as doe the Wax a .] iirifig \ left crumbling or breaking off, it be left behind upon Exnraftion, to the uifquiet of the Patient," .heightening the Symptoms, and giving Trouble to De goc

forth

^4 S0 Practical Dijfertdtion, &c.

Forth again •, but of this you may farther con- fult Mr. Wifemans Treatife relating to this Difeafe.

And thus I have given a Specimen, as well of my own, as of the Pra&Ice of others, in the Stillicidium Gallicum or Fluxus Virg& puru- Untus^ & contagiofus, together with its ufual Attendants, which I exped will be thought tedious by thofe, who pretend to a much fhorter, more compendious, and lefs fatiguing Method of healing this Diftemper, and that without Mercury, and fuch repeated Purging, as fome Perfons I could name (fome of them alio of the Profeflion) have done: When probably others ( but more communicative ) have as much Reafon to boaft of their Ac- quirements in fuch like Knowledge. As to my felf, who pretend to know no more than other Gentlemen bred up in the ProfefHon, I have no Regard for No fir urns \ nor do I think there fhould be fuch a Thing in Phy- fick : For (as our honeft Sydenham remarks truly) each fingle Perfon is a very inconfide- rable and infignificant Part of the Common- wealth, and the Good of the Whole is al- ways preferable to the fingle Intereft or pri- vate Advantage of any Perfon whatever. Not that I would envy any Man his particular Difcoveries, that were upon a juft Examina- tion, found really advantagious ; nor yet fuch Emolument as was fuitable to the faid Advantage the Publick might gain thereby. But 1 muft own this, that I have generally obferved, not only the leaffe Urbanity, but the lead true Merit alfo, among thefe Pretenders to Arcanums % the greater Part of which (I thiak I may fay all,

thas

rA Practical JDiJfertatio^ &c\ 65

that have been yet difcover'd) have been found, many of them, no other than were be- for&fn common Ufe, but now blended with fome other Ingredient only as a Blind *r the reft no better than direft Frauds, and vain Amufe* ments, to impofe upon the lefs wary, or more credulous People : Whofe Authors Steps were I now to tread, I fhould acquaint you, that what I have here advanced, is but the com- mon Method of Curing Claps j and that were it not for fome particular Reafon (Telf Exal- tation and fordid Lucre, you may be fare are always behind the Curtain) I could tell of a much more expeditious and eafier Way \ and I can tell you indeed that this Difeafe is fome- times cur'd in lefs than half the time, by the following Medicine, which I know has been practis'd by a Gentleman now in Being, and • very Eminent alfo in the ProfeiTion.

3rfc Merc, fublimat. corrof. 3j. Alcohol. Vin. Mmpiti* 5j, fiat folutio. Ventur bujus Gut. x. xij. vel xv. cdWaisof in hauftulo potus pojfetici communis, vel in DecoBo ^a^f tb* Avenaceo : Repetendo fingulis Auroris, & nonntln h^ion" quam (pracipue Robufiis) vefperi : Gradatim au~ with a 'tie- gendo Dofin, ufque dum ad gut. XXX. attiveris. cejfary j^e, dvajij jcctra Operatur hoc Me die amentum-* ali- Prehenfim quando Vomitionem promovendo (quod fit genera- °£ f liter) & nonnunquam Sedes. Sputationem frequen- ^ ter etiam per horam unam vel alteram Excitat .a Sed *s£ger, finita Operatione, Res fuas prosequitur negletta Cufiodia.

This Medicine was order'd for a Gentleman who had formerly beeen my Patient, under a Misfortune of this Nature ; but thinking much of the Confinement at that time, under a Courfe of three Weeks Purging, tho' only each other Day -7 upon his next Mifchance, a F Perfon

66 A Practical Dijfertation^ &c.

Perfon of better Title than Morals, his inti- mate Companion, carried him to his Phyfician, who writ the formula above, to his own Apo- thecary : After which, when fcfe had told me he got his Cure in a Week's tirrte with nothing but a little Vial of Drops : I defir'd a fight of the Medicine, which he readily comply'd with, and which by its particular acerb Tafte and Farewell upon the Tongue, I conjectur'd was a Mercurial Solution v but for farther aflurance, I fo contriv'd Matters that I got a fight of the Autograyhi upon a private File :' When I told my Friend that I thought not the better of his Cure for theDifpatcb, which 1 found however was attended with fore Chaps and a (linking Mouth for fome time after*, he told me it had retch'd him ftoutly for about an Hour, each time he took it, and that he Spit always for an Hour or two after.

Having had prepar'd a fmall Quantity of this Medicine, I gave it to a certain Perfon, much converfant with the Libertines of both Sexes, to make Experiments, and report the Suc- cefs: Who told me three Months afterwards (for I had not heard of him fooner) that he had given it to more than Twenty of both , Sorts; Four of which it had plentifully Sali- vated, he continuing its Repetition for that end, and not intending to take it off; others it would have fo ferved if he had gone on, or had not purged it off; but that it removed their Complaints ufually in a Week or ten Days time, or fooner, when they took it twice a Day, as fortie of them had done •, altho' it work'd doggedly both upwards and down- wards with fome of them j and when he iif-J creafed the D©fe fas he had done for fonte

ftubi

A Prafficai Di/fertatiov, See* 6j

ftabborn Infe&ions)made them exceeding Sick for a while. Yet notwithftanding its quick Work, he took it to be as fure a Remedy to change the firfl into a fecond Infe&ion, or a CUp into a Pox, as any other whatever*, but this he told me was a Matter of fmaller Mo- ment with him, becaufe there were very few whom he is concern'd with, who were not Pox'd before.

This indeed was the Lot at Long-run of my Acquaintance before mention'd, as well as of his L — ^-s *, who were both of them my Pati- ents at the fame. time, and upon the likeocea* Hon, under a Salivation.

I acknowledge the giving of this Medicine formerly to three of my own Patients *, in one of which it raifed a Ftyalifmus at ten Days end (for I continu'd it fo long before it remov'd the Complaint) when I was glad to Purge it of% and reft content to be railed on by my Patient for fluxing him to cure a fimple. Clap *, in the other two, it anfwer'd without, only Vomiting, and Purging *, yet not without leaving one of them fore Chaps, which he complain'd of for fome Days ; what Return it made them after- wards, I know not, for they were all Strangers^ and advancing the Reward beforehand, kept themfelves Incognito ; but finding it very furly as well as uncertain in the Manner of its Ope- ration, I foon difeontinu'd its Ufe, nor can I by any means recommend it to the Practice of others.

This fame Solution was (as I have before hintedj formerly in great Ufe with a notorious Quack for difpatching the Cure of Claps; being orderM fo many Drops to be diluted with Water, Cx. xv. or x*. *o three or four Spoon- F i ' fuis,J

68 A Practical Dijfertatbit, &c.

fuls) thrown up warm into the Vrethra, with his Syringe two or three times a day, whilft his Ele&uary was taken Night and Morning, a . Morfel 'i as to which, tho' I have never pradtis'd or given it thus my fe)f (believing a brisker Purgation more expedient at the firft) yet may it likely prove as fafe as moft of the expediti- ous Methods now in ufe : Notwithftanding I have been inform'd, that the fame Perfon Poxed thereby many more than he really Cur'd : However, his Pretence I think was chiefly to the Cure of (Maps \ the Confequence nfually falling after, under the Care of fome Perfon.

The Specific^ Bolus of Turpethum Miner ale, is an other of our late Quack Remedies, for this Cure % and as likely indeed as any to introduce a worfe Difeafe. It is fo quick the Author tells you, that one Dofe is fufficient oftentimes . to take off a fimple Running *, two for the moft virulent,' and three or four to ferret out the moft obftinate Contagion or ftubborn Pox. Which in the Gentlemans Phrafe, at firft fight may found like a Quack Romance. Whilft he, good Man7 would perfuade you all is pure Truth he fays. Sed Caveat Emptor, hie Utet Anguis. We all know very well what this Medicament will do, and grant it of admirable Ufe (as we have already obferved) to make a ftrong Revulfion upon fome particular Occa- fion : As to relieve a Part that is in Danger by the flux of Humours fall'n upon the fame ^ to ftem the Malignity, take of the Pain and ftop the Progrefsof Chaneres7or other corrofive Pha- ged&nick Ulcers : That it is alfo one of the beffc Remedies we have (if not the only efficacious) to haften a Salivation that is fluggifh in com- ing

A Practical Dijjertation^ &c. 66

ing forwards *, but when given after this Mad- man's Rate, one Dofe will avail little ; two or three may Check the Symptoms for the pre- sent, and difpofe the Ulceration (if there be any) to a more tradable Condition, as well as Correct the Virulency : Yet befldes the haz- zard of fore Chaps and Slaverings, very com- monly fupervening, you will be in danger of throwing your Patient into the worfe Difeafe of the two, a Pox,by this hafty way of revelling, without purging off the Cacochymy, either be- fore or after the Exhibition of the Emetick^

No better are you to expect from the Prince's Fonder, or Praciplt. Rub. edulcorated by far* ther Lotions, and Flagrations with Spirit of Wine: The Golden PHI , the Grand Antidote^ with all the other Tribe of Chymical Quack Remedies ? which their flattering, but deceit- ful, Authors tell us are fafe and harmlefs as a Bit of Bread \ tho' we often find them dange- rous, like edg'd Tools in the Hands of Chil- dren ; and not fit I am fure to be taken from thofe of ignorant Empiricks, or other cofening and knavifn Pretenders to the Medical or Chi- rurgick Arts : Nor, however they may work off with fome Ruftick and Strong Bodies, are they by any means fafe for tender Habits, and long batter'd Conftitutions, where the Fluids being thin and (harp, are ready of themfelves to break through their Bounds ^ the Solids fo loofe alfo as to be fcarce able to contain them ^ in aWord, where the Vifcera are almoft putrid, or in a manner rotten, and consequently un- able to bear the Shock of fo rough an Ope- ration as thofe, forts of Remedies ufually oc- cafion : Wherefore I have only given thefe loqfe and general Hints thereof, that Mankind

F 3 mi

jq A Practical Differtation, &c.

may not farther fufFer, or be abufed by fome other bold or confident Perfons, afluming the fame, or the like Method of Pra&ice.

There is an other way, equally I think dan<- gerous, if not more, tho' in a different man^ ner, by their Stimuli, inflaming, racking and tormenting the Stomach and Gutts, but more efpecially the Urinary Parts ; and that is Dr. Groenvett\ by the Cantharides ; which altho' accounted the only Specifick perhaps there is, (the noble Balfam. Copayba failing) in Ulcers of the Bladder: Yet when brought into common ufe for the Cure of CUps (as it is by fome more confident than difcreet Practitioners) will be attended with as bad, if not worfe Confe- quences, than any of the reft", efpecially when enterpris'd by thofe ignorant Perfons, who know not how to obviate the Symptoms, which are fare to attend, more particularly fome certain Idiofyncrafies^ fuffering always by thefe Medicines.

Its Author, not long flnce deceas'd, how- ever unfortunate fas of ill Conduct) yet of learning and good knowledge in Phyfick, has printed a. little Traft, de tuto earundern (Scil Cantharidum) ufu interno : Where you will find his Method of preparing them, as well as Ad- miniftration , together with their Antidote alfo ; by which, as he there fbews us, he per- for'm'd feveral remarkable Cures in Dropfies, Ulcers of the Bladder (I mean its Neck) and Jfcburys from Gravel : Which Succefs in the Ulcers aforefaid, put him, as he told me, up- on Experimenting their EfFe&s in the Difeafe before us ; where he found they would alfo anfwer in thofe ftubborn , obllinate and firuleat Runnings^ that fubmitted not -to

A Practical Differtation, &c,

torgation, nor to the ftrongeft Mercurial Vomits.

I confefs I never had Courage to give them in the Subftanceashe did, but having extracted their Tin&ure in Rheniih Wine, as Bartholine dire&s them, I gave it to two of thefe People by Spoonfuls, with large Draughts of Emul- fions between whiles } ordering moreover a plentiful Dilution with the Decott, Pulli, Ave- nac. Hord. or fuch like \ and for farther Secu- rity, betwixt the Dofes, I alfo exhibited an Oily Draught, Ex pL Amygd, d. cum. Syr. de Nymph&a ana 5j. & Camfkor&folut. gr. vi. Not- withftanding all which, I perceived one of them to complain of fome light Torlions of the Fibers of the Ventricle, tho' little or none upon the Bladder or Urinary Duttus\ upon which the Method was not profecuted fo far as was otherwife intended. The ofher, tho' he made little Complaint after fqveral Days ufe of the like Tin&ure drawn in Spirit of Wine, with the Addition of the Spir. Nitri acidus (as the fame Phyilcian was wont to prefcribe it) yet finding little beaefit by the Profecution of it for feveral Days, I laid it afide*, and at the long run cur a both their Gleets, with the Balfam I have before recommended for fuch purpofes.

My want of Succefs here, was, as the old Gentleman ufed to tell me, becaufe I drove mt the Wedge clofe j i. e. gave them not in Sub- fiance, as he did, or in fufficient Quantity : But I, who believe it both ungenerous, unchri- ftian and inhumane, cum Corio humano ludere, had rather the greater number mifs their Cure , if not obtainable under a regular and fafe Method, than the lefTer/, or indeed

* F 4 thaa

7 z A Practical Dijfertdtion, &c\

than one fhould mifcarry, or forfeit his Life to a rafh or dangerous Experiment ; I had rather, I fay, Err on this fide of the q. s. than on the other 5 and I fear the Nation in general is but little obliged to the bufy Tranflator of the Doctor's little Treatife, which altho', in the r Language he firft publifh'd it, fome ufeful Hints might be thence taken, by the learned , yet may happen to be attended with fome fatal Confequences, when in the Hands of bold Quacks, and other ignorant Medicafters.

But to proceed, The Sin of Whoring (if

our very polite Age will allow me the Ex-

prefilon) is become fo epidemical and fpread-

Ing, that to humour the Votaries, who are

both more forward and frequent in paying

. their Devoirs at Venus Temple , than any

other *, and confequently under neceffity of an

often Penance, which we muft needs think

very cloying to the other Appetite : We have

had thofe who pretend to have found out a

Prefervative , taken before hand*, but thai

Fallacy being dete&ed, and carrying too much

of Contradiction in the Thing it felf, to take

Place : (unlefs with very few of the fhorter-

ilghted) An other foon after, fet up for the

Cure without any Phyflck at all, (a fpecial

Bait. for an old furfeited Sinner J only by the

external or local Application : Yet here if we

duely coniider the Nature and Subtilty of Poi-

fons(and our Difeafe is no other than the Re-

fult of a Venenum fui generis) together with

that of the Animal Compagss '-, which is either

.,?-.. tubular or veflcular, permeable as well as per-

fpirable in all its Parts i We fliall find but little.

Safety la relying upon thefe Pretences. For

were the whole Dud of the Urethra, an^open

Canal

A Practical Differ tation, &c. 7 \

Canal upon the Borfum Penis \ (as it lies in- compaft and arch'd over, as it were by the Nervous Bodies thereof )and that alfo the un- doubted Seat of the firft Taint; Neverthelels without the internal Prsefcription, we fhould 1 fear be at a lofs to fecure many of our Pa- tients, by the fole Ufe either of the beft Preventives, Defenfative or other Topical and Chyrurgical Applications whatever; we fre- quently fee this, in fome fimple or flight Fret- tings on the Prapuce, but much more inCharscres, where altho' the Remedy has immediate ac- cefs to the Part, and the Ulceration is digeft- ed, deterged and cicatrifed by Mercurial Ap- plications , (and 'tis rare that any other will a vail J yet if the Patient trufl: only to this Part of Regiment, 'tis odds if fomtime after he be not forced upon taking much more Medicine^ and of undergoing a feverer Difcipline, than he need have done at firft: Not to mention oftentimes the Difficulty if not Impofiibility of Healing fome of thefe Ulcers, without the internal Affiftance. However if the Method , anfwers (as I believe it neither does nor will) I fhall be far from grudging the Gentleman, even a Patent (it he can obtain it,) for the fole Propriety in this way of Practice.

As to the Prefervative in general, I have r^Prei this only to add farther, that whether any feroAtive Fuch Thing be pofTibleor not, I fhall not take)w>m tkls upon meabfolutely to determine. But whenjW? /»- a certain Gentleman tells us, That it wjll be-fc"m' come every Man to be mode ft ^ when at any time a Method of -preventing may be recommended vpon due Experience : I can't forbear Enquiring, whe- ther we may exped the Difcovery from a Mo- deit Man, or what Reward even a common

Moral

^4 & Practical Differtation> &c.

moral Man wiH deem him worthy, (without confulting Cafuifts) that mail firft publifh it to the World ? and indeed when it is revealed, I leave every honeft Man to judge of theCon- fequence -,tho' I think there is no great Danger of fuch an Invention. The Condum being the belt, if not the only Prefervative our Liber- tines have found out at prefent ; and yet, by reafon of its blunting the Senfation, I have heard fome of them acknowledge, that they had often chofe to rifque a Clap, rather than engage cum Haft is fie clypeatis.

Fallopipuy I own, has with greater Vivacity than, I fear, Veracity, communicated a Trophy* laEtick v which he gives us to understand in above a Thoufand Experiments, never fail'd him once. The Compofition feems a Jumble ot Ingredients, neither the bell adapted for fuch a Purpofe *, and the Modus or Manner of its Application, as little promifing-, but furely if fo infallible, as he reprefents it, is it not fomewhat ftrange, that himfelf thought fit to alter it, and to fubftitute another in its Place (which he did afterwards) which I knew pre- paid ftri&lyaccording*to the prefcrib'd Form* and as carefully dire&ed by a Surgeon of the Town, who obferv'd the Iflue or Event fo diffe- rent, that he told me, he believed not one had far'd the better for it, out of half a hundred that had try'd it, where they had to do with an Infe&ed Perfon.

The Cinnabarlne Fumigation is rather :cu> rative than preventive, of which I have al- ready, and fhall hereafter take farther Notice.

But thefe Pretences ( as we have already obferved) being like to come to nothing \ ano- ther Perfon has undertaken with the Help -qf

the

A Practical Divert ation^ &c. 75

the fmallefl Matter imaginable, to accomplifh the Work*, yet here alfo the whole Defign 'is feen thro (as the Folks fay) with half an Eye. Firtt of all for Fear the Grift fhould not come in fall enough, the Secret-monger would have us believe, that we are all pox'd (the common Amufement of thefe Pretenders)*, there being few Symptoms attending any Chro» nick Difternper, which he has not enumerated, and imputed thereunto *, or if not pox^d, we ailfomewhat or other: For where /hall we find the perfeft djx,pei<ri& or Temper amentum ad Pondvis, at leafl in our Days *, and confequent- ly have occafion for his Specifick Remedy? Thus if there be but one poor Pimple, or perhaps a Flea-bite, the poor Hypochondriac thinks it is the Pox ; if your Head akes, it is the Pox ; if you happen to be giddy, heavy or dull, faint or feeble in your Limbs, 'tis all from the Pox: if the Palms of your Hands are hot, 'tis alfo from a Pocky Ferment. Nay, if your Urine does but (link of Pifs, 'tis Hill the Pox : Or, admit it fhould not be the Pox, his the Scurvy, Gout, Dr op fy, Kings- Evil, Rheumatifm , and that's all one, for the Specific^ will find it out .• Or, if that Sham ( as we fay ) don't take, 'tis but flinging away another Guinea, and we may have an Elixir, th3t very probably will- So that the Specifick, which a little before he tells you (as all fuch Remedies mould) was folely fitted by its Make, Figure, Texture, or its Al- kaline, Sulphureous, Volatile % Globular, Oleagi* nous, and a hundred other Ways of Specifi- cation, to the venereal Venom, is now become from a Mono- a Pan-pharmacon ; though in Truth and Reality it be no better than the reft of the Quack-Trumpery, left to fell at * ' the

^ 6 A Pr attic al Differtation, &c.

the Shops, Omnibm fcilicet utile, fed nihilo pro- ficuum. So that we fee plainly what Specifick cannot do, the Elixir is to make good •, which you are to understand is the moft noble Chy- mical, or fhall I fay Hermetic^ Liquor, ( for this lad is the abftrufer Word, and fitter to confound ) extra&ed by the Rays of the Sun, at a particular or critical Inftant begun, and con- fummated under as particular a Planetary Conjunction fwhich is the great Secret, and) from whence it concenters the intrinfick Worth of the Three Kingdoms, viz,, the Animal, Ve- getable and Mineral.

It was this the famous H^-~ was long labouring after, and had almoft in View, but miffing one little Dot, in the Arabic!^ Pun&a- tion, (wherein the Secret was wrapt up,) together with a little Want of Algebra and Mathematicks , he happened to come fhort of.

,Were tk>fe famous Phyficians Cafe, Noy, Trotter, but now living, ®r the learned Dr. Sajfold, who ufed to regale us,

With Eighteen Tills for Eighteen Pence, Tho' 'twas too cheap in any Man's own Senfe.

werethefe, I fay, alive again to fee them- felves out-done by Libels given away, infread of a poor Scrap of Paper, and an Eighteen- Penny Packet now fold for a Guinea^ what glo- rious Times muft they think we were arriv'd at ? Or, Were the Furnace-Men, fuch as Crollias, Hartman, Paracelfus, and Van Helmont but acquainted with this our Hermes rsdivivm, they would furely ftand amazed.

Ah

A Practical Dijfertation^ &c. jj

Ah Glauber / could'ft thou peep out of thy Caput Mortuum, and behold the Preparation of this Grand Elixir, which our fiery Philofo- pher has acquir'd by reading Martial, Juvenal, Horace, Seneca, Virgil, Hudibras, Dryden, Popet &c- (who were all of them alike great Doctors, Anatomifts, and Chymifts,) how, I fay, wouldft thou rejoice that the great Secret was at length found out, by our Chymical Operator, bred an Academic^, firft in the ' Peripatetic!^ or Ariftote- lian Way, but unfatisfied with occult Qualities, turns Corpufcularian or Atomift, where he ftrait raifed fuch a filthy Pother among the minima Naturalia, as had like to have put out the Eyes of his Underftanding, had net Sir I- faac Newton (of whofe Philofophy he undcr- ftands about as much as may be taught a Par- rot) come in to refcue him, and wipe the Dufl;

off:

But now to be a little ferious, if we furvey our Mathematician, without Enquiry after his other Character, which fome fay is that of a Romijh Pried, (I can't for fome Reafons think him a Jefuit) or fcan but one fingle Page of his naufeous Libel, we (hall difcover him in pu- rls Naturalibus^ no other than a Gold Wire- Drawer.

Wherefore leaving this ridkulous Pretend- er, about whom I fear I have already fpent too much of our Reader's Time, when this Juggle, having had its Run for a little while, is (like the reft) difcartod, for Want of more Fools to be bubbled;* I lee not what remains, unlefs fome Pentacle, Periapt , or Amultt, fatten- ed round the Penis^ as a Charm to cure a Clap9 which no doubt will meet with Cuftomers at its firft Setting out.

It

7 8 A Pratticd Differ tat ion, &.C.

It is but Writing fome Chymical Characters^, which are all Witch-Craft and Conjuration among the common People, and the Feat will anfwer ; or borrowing fome Planetary ones, let but a X be {truck through 2 or £ , and then, poor Siphylis, thy Work is done > and who indeed fo fit for the Undertaking as the fame Author of the nevv Tor qui* Infantum t or good for nothing Necklace for young Chil- dren : Let him forge but a few more roman- tick ridiculous and childifh Tales of Sympathy, dedicated to the R. S. in an affeded Knic-nacJ^ Cant, and the Buiinefs is finifh'd \ though here alfo it may be expedient to ufher the fame in with Dr. - — Some-body's Recommenda- tion,

If it mould be now ask'd, after this gene- ral Way of exclaiming againfb new Pretences to a more compendious and fife Way of cu- ring this Diftemper, whether or no I believe it not poflible a better or more expeditious Method, or without Mercury, (which thefe Quacks difclainv yet u& to my certain Know- ledge at the fame time ) may not be invent- ed or found out ? I anfwer, that I will not dif- pute the Poflibility (though I believe without a Mercurial Preparation it is fcarce probable) and fhall be fo far from envying the Author his juft Praife, who difcovers a better Way of curing the Great Pox, that befides a noble Re- compence in Hand, I would have a Monument erected by Way of Renown, to perpetuate his Memory, as I think the worthy Sydenham de- ferved as well as any of our late Praditioners, for bringing Oplats (I do not fay, for his ex^ treme cold Regimen,) into the Cure of the Small Ones, But I can never believe well of

any

A Practical Differ tat ion , &c«, 75

any Secret, thefe ways tranfmitted to us \ where there is only a fpecious Shew, but at the Bottom, the Footfteps (as we fay) of for- did Lucre, Self-Intereft and direct Fraud, fo apparent in the Manner of its Delivery, to impofe upon Mankind. Or, in fhort, when it comes out of a Quack's Hands ', or from fome others, who, tho' perhaps of more Learning and Sophiftry, have but little more intrinfick Worth or ftandard Generofity.

And thus I fhall finifh my Account of the %

fir ft Infettion, contracted by this foul Difeafe, as it is ufually and (properly enough) denomina- ted- In which, if I have the Approbation of the found and judicious, whether my Fellow- Phyficians, or quondam Brethren, the true practical Surgeons, I value not the Cavils of fome petulant Perfons ; much lefs the Refent- ments of fpurious Upftarts, and other fcaa- dalous Pretenders to the Medical or Chyrurgick, Profeffions. Nor perhaps will fome of thefe my juft Inve&ives, if their Frauds are but per- mitted ftill to be carried on \ among which, (without Prejudice to the unknown Author's Perfons) I look upon thefe laft recited, as fome of the vileft that have bten impofed on the Town \ which has I think at all Times, but efpecially of late Years, abounded with one or other of them*

Part

$■

A

'Practical Dijfertation, Sec Part II.

Of the fecond InfeSiion^ called the Poxt

£ come now to take notice of the fe- The feconi cond Infettion from this Diftemper, Hefiito*

7 with its

W

when it is more particularly termed the Pox, ™™a)[l and which is the ufual Confluence of the fir ft ^ signu ill-treated, or empirically tlubber'd over} al- though the fame may fometimes happen, not- withstanding the belt Endeavours to oppofe it, in fome peculiar Temperaments or Con- ftitutions, where the Blood catches hold of the venereal Venom, as we fee the Tinder does the Spark of Fire *, and where like wild iFire alfo it runs through the Body : So that 1 have feen fome of thefe more than ordina- rily unfortunate People, who have been pox'd almoft as foon as clafd \ the Poifon run- ning ftraight from the Tail, I mean the Venis^ to the Head j as I once obfery'd it after tea

P. P*r

A Practical Differ t at ion, &ci

Days Time, a large chancrous Ulceration, but no Stillicidium, difcharging plentifully at the fame Inftant : Which from all Circumftances, I had Reafon to believe an EfFeft of one and the fame Coupling with a foul Woman.

The Diftemper may arife alfo (as we have before taken notice) in the way of Inheritance from Parents therewith infe&ed ; the poor In- fant being confpurcated with filthy Scabs and puftulary Eruptions, perhaps not immediately^ yet not long after it comes into the World , though fometimes it has been obfervM to have lain dormant feveral Years, if we may credit Writers on this Subjeft. The Nurfe therewith Infe&ed, may pollute the Child } as this latter (more especially with a pocky A$hth<z or Ulcers on the Lips and Tongue) may do the Nurfe.

But waving the feveral Ways of Contracting this Bifeafe (called by way of Eminency the Great Pox, 1 fuppofe from fome Refemblance in its cutaneous Breakings out to the Small Ones), many of which we have already ob- served, in difcourfing of the first InfeUiom The Difeafe it felf is ufually divided into fe- veral Degrees or Stages '•> as the fame hap- pens to be recent? or of long Handing, ha- ving made a lefs or greater Progrefs. Dr. Howry, as I remember, makes four of them, calling the firft Limmary, the fecond a Frontier^ the third a Mid-way^ and the fourth a tho* rough Pox. Some from the four Temperaments (as the fame Perfon alio remarks) have nam'd it a Sanguine^ Phlegmatick, Bilious and Melancholy Tex : Some again divide it only into a particular and uniaerfal Pox. But thefe I think afford us little Help in the Cure, although the Habits ©t Body are by no means therein to be over-

look'd-'

A Practical Differtatio^ &c.~ 8$

look'd. For my own part I (hall diflinguifh it nootherwife than as Superficial, and more profoud? under the firft, comprehending the cutaneous liberations ^ pufluUry and Serpiginous Eruptions y Inguinal Tumours and Abfceffes ? Ophtbdmysy O^na's, Affe&softhetViW^and Tonftls^ altho' thefe latter by fome are annexed to the Second, under which may be reckon'd the Gummata of the Mufcles, the violent Hemicrans and into- lerable CephaUas, the excruciating No&urnal c<ro)t'o<sroiy or Shoulder and Skin pains, with others of the Membranes \ the Tophs and Nodesy alfo the Exofiofes or Ulcerous Caries of the Bones themfelves: Which are all of them £>/- agnofiick Signs of the Diftemper, ft ill farther advanced. And for differencing more efpe- cially the fuperficial Eruptions of this kind, we have given fome neceflary Cautions, in our Treatife of the Skin Difeafes '-> befldes which, it will behove the Artift to enquire prudently, or fo that he may not give offence (if poffible to be avoided) whether or no his Patient has not been heretofore infe&ed ? And if fo, there is Caufe to fufpect the Eruptions thence ari- ' fing : For farther confirmation of which, we are informed by a good Writer upon the Dif- eafe (what will hold for the mod part) that all Puftulesand Scabs appearing as it were aduft, crufty and hard, with a tawny Yellow like the Honey Comb, on the top, are very fufpicious ; and always the more fo-, when the fame are obferved among the Hairs of the Head, or about the Scalp and Fore-head (the Tathogno- monic almoft of this Difeafe)and more undoubt- ed ftill, when the back part of the Fauces ae excoriated, or eaten into by foul or fordid Ul- cers Cthe- Aphtha of Fevers always excepted) G 2 which

$4 3t Fratfical Differtation, &c\

which give not way to common deterilveGar- garifms, Bleeding, Bliftering, Purging, with other Revulfion and Derivation of the Hu- mour \ but fpread ftill farther under thefe Applications. The like may be faid of Ophthal- tne, and Ulcers of the Noftrils, call'd Qzjtn&i Which when of long Handing, and not fubmit- ting to the ufual anodyne and refrigerating Collyria, Lotions, Inje&ions, with the deriva- tive and revulfive Regimen before obferved, nor yet accompanied with SchrophuU about the ISIeck and Chaps, or other figns of afirumous 'Dyfcrafy, more efpecially if you can trace out any former ill cur'd Clap, give abundant Sus- picion of the Nature of the Diftemper. Head- acHsin like manner, and Pains upon the Peri- ofiea, recurring chiefly in the Night-feafon* and going off towards Morning, denote their fpring from the fame Fountain, being fas above) more efpecially corroborated by fome preceeding Symptom of the firfi Infettion for- merly apparent, alcho' now perhaps got out of fight. The Cumrni on the Fleftiy Partss and Nodes upon the Head, but efpecially on the Shin Bones, are ftill more felf evident^ and the peculiar Trophies of the Victorious Sy- philis,^ in this profound Infeftion : Altho' here likewife your modeft Enquiry (where the Pa- tient will not make a voluntary Confeflion) and getting the beft Intelligence you can, if the Patient has not formerly lain in the way of this Difeafe, is not unneceflary for a more abfolute Confirmation*

There are fome Practitioners I know are Very fliy of thefe Enquries, for fear of loofing their Patients ; but there is furely a mild and geatle way of gecting into thefe Peoples

BreaftSj

A Practical Dijjertation, &c. I $

Breads, or thofeof their particular Confidents or mod intimate Acquaintance, and coming by that Secret, which in a more open, rude, and unbecoming Manner, you mud never expect will be extorted from them : and he that be- ing Matter of fuch Secret, believes and keeps it not as facred, as that under the Seal of Con- feflion, is both unworthy the Title he afTumes, whether of Phyfician or Surgeon, or indeed that of an honed Man. But if no Acknowledg- ment of this kind can be got from the Patient, yet where the Symptoms are fuch as give us jud grounds of Sufpicion, we are no farther to drain this Point, but to proceed for his Advantage, by the fame Method, as if he had ingenuoufly acquainted us with the true Caufe. And now we come to the Trognofticks? which are taken from the Date of the Infecti- on, and Progrefsof the Diftemper j the Habit noar^ pr of Body, and its former Ufe to Medicines,^ pox> on the like occafion: The Nature of the or fecond Venome it felf, more Mild or Malignant, to- infefaw* gather with that of the apparent Symptoms.

Thus, for Example, an Infection that is re- cent, has not fpread far, or much contaminat- ed the Mafs of Blood, is more eafily overcome, than that which has been of longer Duration, and taken fader hold of the fame '-, which makes what we call the Superficial, more ea- fily vanquifh'd, than that more profoundly ri vetted. The Habit of Body is alfo much to be regarded, for if that was well temper'd before the Patient was feis'd with the Difeafe, he is like to efcape better than if Scorbutic^, Rheu^ matickj Arthritkk-, Hydropick^ HeElick^ or Other* wife Cachettick, and Cacockymical. Again if it be from a firft Mifchance, and that his Body has G | bpea

$6* J Fratfical Differ tat ion, &c\

been little or nothing ufed to Mercurial Medi- cines, his Cure is the more hopeful, and the Diftemper much fooner overcome, than if the fame Folly has been often repeated, and thefe Remedies as often reiterated, efpecially that grand Courfe of a Salivation. Furthermore, if the Venereal Poyfon was firft of all of a more than common Malignity, or exceedingly Virulent, it will not only make a fwifierPro- grefs(the temperament alfo favouring the fame) and greater wafle upon the Parts it feifeth, but require alfo the more potent Remedies, the longer Continuance of them, the ftri&er Regimen of the Patient under them, and the greater Judgment, with fed ulous Application in the Artift, than if the fame proved of a milder Nature, flower in its Attacks, and fubmitting to the gentler Medicines. Laftly, As to the Symptoms, where there are only, feme cutaneous Eruptions , or ferpiginous Breakings out on the Superfice of the Body, the Malady may be fooner check'd, thaa when more deeply radicated ; as when it has eaten into the Vvula and 'tonfds^ has feifed on the Septum Nafi, or its two out fide Supporters ? or when the Humours are lodged on the Perl- ofieutn^ and begin to tear in fander that fenfible Membrane, Exciting thofe No&urnal Vigils y with which thofe miferable People are torment^ ed, it is I fay ftill worfe \ and if Gummata on the Mufdes, and Nodes upon the Bones, efpe- cially where the Subftance of thefe laft are eaten into, and cariated by the Corrofive Hu- mour, worfe yet ; but wcrft of all when to- gether herewith, the Patient's Body is much Emaciated, and he far advanced in a pocky He&ick, or a fecondary and fymptomatical

Con- .

A Practical Differ t ation, &c. 8 J

Confumption of his Lungs : Yet even here alfb we have more hopes ( if a univerfal Colliquation be not already on him) than in the primary and original Phthifis; for we have had Inftances of fome very deplorable Cafes of the former fort, furprifingly recover'd, by regular Difcipline and fui table Pre fcripti- ons ; fo that of all the feveral Sorts of Con- •fumptions, either Nervous Atrophies, or other kinds of the Symptomatic1*, and Original Affeds of this Nature, I fhould more willingly en- counter the Venereal, than any of the reft* where the Diftemper efpecially had been over- looked, and the Body before unacquainted with the Antidote ; I mean any Mercurial Pre- paration : For whether it be that the Nature of this Venome does not fo immediatly exerC its Malign influence on the Lungs (which con- fidering their loofe texture, is ftill more ftrange) nor yet prey fo much upon the other Bowels, as it fhould feem it does not, there being many a middle ftaged Pox with perfect- ly found Vifcera (3s I have obferved upon the Diflfe&ion of fuch Bodies) or that we have $ Remedy more fure to depend on, for fubdu- ing the fame : ftill fo it happens, that where one Perfon is carried off by a pocky Hetlick, (and yet we know, altho' it does not down- right flay, it feifeth its ten thoufands) we have Twenty, I might fay Forty, melted down or dry'd away by thofe of an other Nature,

But it is now fitting that we fpeak to the Divm Cure, about which there are fundry Methods, v>&ys of propounded by Authors, and the Practitioners Curi^g *te therein, as there were for the firfi InfeBion, al- *0Xl ready defqrib'd ; but none, I muft freely con- fer, that I know of (whatever others may

9 4 Pr^

88 A Practical Dijfertation, &c.

pretend,) of any regard, without a touch pf the Mercurial Alexifharmick ^ which fort of Re- medy foon after the Difeafe appear'd, ap- peared alfo to encounter it, and is yet (not- withstanding fome vain pretences to the Con- trary) the only Champion that is able to cope with it.

?Tis true,, that in thofe early Days, it had fome very difmal Confluences attending, as it yet hath in the Hands of the Ignorant. *l Some ( faith the famous old Writer Sir Vlrick tc Huttcn) have their Teeth drop out of their 11 Heads, fome their Jaws fo locked up that £ft they cannot open their Mouths, but are cc forced to mumble all their Life time after : " others faltering in their Speech, their Limbs Cc trembling, and their Joints difabled with " a Palfy : Others again ftrangled by the 61 Swelling in their Throats : No lefs than u three ftout Husband-men being thus kill'd u by the fame Quack (for the World J thinks wasne^er entirely free from thefe Plagues of Man- kind) " in one and the fame Day, &c.

And how indeed mould it happen others- wife, where they were neither regardful of their Medicine, as knowing no Marks to choofe it by, ncr Purging it from its Arfevicd and other 'deadly Particles, by any way of Preparation: !Noi yet what Quantity of the fame was needful ; but raihly and at hap ha- zard having blended or incorporated the fame with their Ointments, they forthwith (difre- gardiog the Age, Sex,Conftitutionof Body, or ©the. Preparation thereof whatever) fet upon rubbing it into the Peoples Bodies, and then thruff, them into Stoves, fhut up fo clofe from the Air, that no Man could abide long with- out

rJ Practical Differtatiov, &c. - 89

out hazard of Suffocation. After this manner they were anointed three or four feveral times in a Day, till the Salivation rifing fuddenly up- on them, they were either choak'd with their Phlegm, and fudden Fluxion of Humours on the Mufcles of the Larynx and Tharynx ; grip'd to Death with Bloody Dy ferneries -7 or fuffb- cated for want of room to refpire : All thefe apparently arifing from the prepofterous Ufe of the Medicament , and improper Manage- . ment, rather than from the Remedy it felf; which however confefledly a Poifon, and by no means fit for ignorant Perfons to meddle withal, yet in the Hands of the skilful and ex- perienc'd Artift,muft be allow'd one of the molt excellent of Remedies. Thus, Opium, Hellebore^ Coloquintida, Scammony, and many others, that might be named, are in fome fenfe allowed Poifonous •, inimical even in no great Quanti- ties, as well to the fluid, as to the folid Parts of a humane Body, and in great ones, very often lethiferous or thereunto fatal ; and yet without fome of the moft noxious of them, duly prepar'd for ufe by the Experienced Ar- tift, and adminfter'd in proper Dofes, by the Underftanding Phyfician, the Materia Medi- ca would be very deficient, and we fhouid be at a lofs to encounter two Parts, peihaps in three, as well of Chronical as acute Difeafes.

Let us then no longer amufe our felves, with needlefs Fears of Danger from the Medi- cament it felf, thus duly qualified and circum- ftantiated ; but be as careful as you pleafe, from whole Hands you receive it, and by whom alfo it is prepar'd for Ufe : For our laft recited Author confefTeth thefe Mifcarriages |?ere owing to Plow-mc*7 Fanners % Swine-herds^

and

9<> A Practical Dijfertatlonj &c«

and the moil Ignorant of the People; who ran about the Streets with their Pots of Quick- filver Ointments; foon after the Diftemper with furious rage came into Germany^ deftroy- ing the Inhabitants, after the mariner our People do with Buckets of Water, to quench a Fire of another Nature ; but with this dif- ference, that the latter do us often very good Service ; the former more frequently kill'd what the Difeafe it felf (however outragious) if left to it felf, perhaps might not, at leaft would not have done fo very fuddenly.

And thus far of this great and principal Remedy, its Ufe and Abufe, in this Diftemper; which, however, our Country-man Dr. Syden- ham would not allow to be properly a Specific!?, or in a itrift fenfe, Alexipharmick to the vene- real Poyfon ; becaufe faith he, it produceth its Effe&s no other ways than by Purgation, Sa- livation, or other manifeft Evacuation; and that if any other Medicine would excite a Ttyalifm or Spitting, it would be alfo a Speci- fick thereunto. But I am apt to think the Suffrage of the bed Practitioners, as to this particular, lies againft him, as alfo Matter of Fad it felf; for at this rate other purging Medicines might fubdue the virus of the Dif- eafe as well as Mercury, which is found quite other-wife : It being plain that by twice Purg- ing therewith, you (hall gain more upon the Malignity thereof, than by many more, with- out ; and that the fame is obferved at fome- tim.es toencreafe under other Cathartickj* We own indeed that it has been known, fome mild Infections of the firft fort, have been car- ried off by other Purgatives ; but when exceed- ing in their Virulency, or attended with Chan- cres

rJ Practical Difjertation, &c\ 91

cres and other painful Symptoms, the fureft Relief is by Mercurials: Without which, you mult expeft to advance but flowly in the Cure, if the Malady does not improve or increafe upon you ; and (till much lefs can you do with- out, in a confirmed Pox. Not to mention that we have many Inftances of fignal Benefit from this Remedy (many of which are to be fcen among the Observations of Borellus, and indeed daily experienced by almoft every Pra- ditioner) when it has had nofuch vifible Ope- ration ; but is defigoedly lodged in the Body, with fome Ofiat or reftringent Medicine, that it mould not, (for when it prefently runs through, it oftentimes affords not that Relief it would have done, had it tarried longer) fo that altho' Purgation does after enfue, by which the Venome, together with other Hu- mours that are fome way peccant, are now evacuated : Yet the fufing of the Blood, by breaking of its Globules, attenuating its vif- cous Particles, diflblving the Venereal Salts, and referating the obftrufted Tubes, by which the fame are fitted for this Difcharge, are the proper Effects of the Mercurial particles, with- out which the Purges, which are given after- wards, would by no means anfwer, as now they do. Wherefore I think the Argument is not rightly grounded, i. e- Mercury will not cure a Gonorrhoea, therefore it has no Specificated Property for that lllnefs: To which I anfwer, that no virulent Gonorrhoea is fcarce to be cur'd (at lead fafely) without, and therefore Mercu- ry is its Specifich Our Author too himfelf owns, that altho' the Flux is not reftrain'd fome- times, under even a Mercurial Salivation, yet is the poifonous Nature thereof fo vanquim'd

there-

52 A Practical Differtdtion^ &cJ

thereby, and the Difeafe now become fo mildi and gentle to what it was before, that a fmall Morfei of the common Turpentine, or a few Drops of fome of the natural Balfams, are fufficient to accomplifh the Cure. And I have already obferved, that a fmall Quan- tity of the Mercury, well prepared, given with a few Purges, will avail more than a great many without : So that notwithstanding a Gleet from the relaxed Parts, fhould remain after, requiring fome healing or agglutinating Remedy ; yet if the Virulency is fubdued by the former Mercurial Adminiftration, there is no Reafon to object againft the fame being as it were Mexiyharmick thereto •, any more than for that, after another Counter poifon lias done its Work (as upon the Bite of a Serpent, or a Wound infli&ed by fome other venomous Animal) the fame yet Hands in need of an Ejulotick to heal it

op

What other Medicines might effecl, that were capable of railing a Salivation, we can<- not fay \ as knowing none that will : Yet here likewife, unlefs they were fpecificated to this particular Venom, though they dreined the Blood of its Serofities, by the like glandular Secretion , they might happen to leave that poifonous Matter dill behind, as other Dyfcrajks therein, not fuited to be work'd up- on by the Parts of the Mercury, remain pro- bably enough after this. Wherefore notwiths- tanding all our learned and expert Phyfician has alledg'd to the contrary, we mull; jftill think this Medicine, not only a good Remedy, In this Difeafe, but thereunto alfo a Specific^ in the ufual Acceptation of that Word h or a?

the

A Practical Diffevtatiov, &c. 93

the Bark is to intermitting Fevers. Some $ sped- Hints of the Nature or Procefs of this gland a- fical <*- lar Secretion, in the Mercurial Ptyalijm, 1 may g«»/* thff likely have Occafion to give you in another tfar'£jjfc' Place. But truly the very Name of Specifick other ^m implies fomewhat that is abftrufe, as to the medies Manner of Operation ; and therefore I muft therein & defire to be excus'd, if I now enlarge not far-M fher thereon. This Task, for the prefent, I lhall leave to the Rule and Compafs Men, who having exactly meafured the Diameters of all the VefTeis, and as nicely gauged their con- tained Liquors, pretend to inform us, even to the minuteft MoUcula, of the Size and Shape, with all other the Properties of each indivi- dual Atom tofs'd to and fro therein. One of them having very lately computed to the thoufandth Part of a Grain Weight, how much Poifon goes to the making up of a Go~ norrboea, and how much to a Chancre, But asking Pardon for this Digrefilon, I now pro- ceed to fome other Remedies, direded com- monly for the fame Difeafe.

Among which the DecoElions of the Woods (generally fo called,) are often in great Re- queft ; fuch I mean as the SarfapariUa^ Sajfafrafj China, but beyond all the reft, Guajacum^ which for its lingular Power of prorogating the Diftemper was named Lignum fanfivm^ the holy Wood, and Lignum Vita the Wood of Life, in fo great Efteem it feems at one Time in Venice t. that as Harvy7 from Mnjfa^ tells us, it was fold for fifty Crowns per Ounce. Yet Dais and fome other Botanifts make a Difference betwixt the Guajacum and Lignum fanttum j the latter, as he reports, being fomewhat whiter than the other, although of the fame

both

£4 -A Practical Dij[ertationy &c.

both Tafte and Smell '0 & ut in externa Facie, ita quoque in Viribm cum pracedente convenit. in our Author's Words. The fanUum alfo according to Harvyy is more Energetick, burn- ing more un&uous, but feldom brought over hither.

Of thefe alfo we find Dr. Sydenham,(as well as Monfieur de Blegny) had taken up the A me Op:nion, with Regard to their Specifick Vir-\ tues in this Diftemper, as before he did of Mercury \ even Guajacum it felf, he fays, will do no more therein, than any other fudori- fick Deco&ion ; and that if it effe&s any Thing at all, it is by fuch a Property. Yet here likewife we have doubtlefs good Ad- vantage, as well at other Times, as at the Clofe of a Mercurial Salivation, by their Means : particularly in fome lax and phlegmatickCon- IHtutions, where they neither evacuate the ferous Humours by fenfible Perfpiration, nor are given with fuch Intention : I mean by their warming, attenuating and exficcating Faculty, efpecially the laft of them, reftoring the Tone of the relaxed Fibre, drying up the overabounding or fuperfluous Serum, opening the obftru&ed VefTels, and giving a fort of Spring to the Blood it felf, which is much enfeebled at thefe Times. And hence in the Anafarca, Leucophlegmacy, Talfy, and other Confequences of the over unbended Solids, as alfo in the broken Texture of the Fluids, thefe Woods are no contemptible Drugs for the Phyfician's Ufe, as well in others, as in the Cafe before us. And mould there be no fpe* ci&ck Property in either of them againft it5 yet if by others they are found ferviceable in promoting and helping forward the Cure, I

fee

rA Practical Differtation, &cJ 95

fee no Reafon, why they mould be difcarded ; nor have many befides thefe Authors, I think, contemned their Ufe upon fuch Occafions.

The Powders of the fame Drugs, have been given likewife upon this Account, and pre - fer'd by an eminent Phyfician upon his own Ex- perience, to their Infulions or Decoctions ei- ther ; as he deliver'd in a late Le&ure at the College of Phyficians, it being farther obfer- ved, particularly of Guajacum, that it was frequently given in Subftance to 5/}, in order to procure a Stool, at the Times of their fweating Courfe under its Deco&ion, by the old Writer Hutten aforementioned.

To thefe Vegetables, are added alfo the Lign. Juniper. Abietis^ Buxi, Ebeni, Agallochly Cedriy Cuprejfi } alfo the Rad, Bardanz^ Peta- fitidis, to which Iaft (as the French relate) their King Henry's Recovery from this Dif- eafe (which had almoft deftroy'd him) was in great Meafure imputed. The Fol. Perficar. Saponar. with feveral others, are moreover thrown in fometimes, at the End of thefe Decoctions, as you will find in fome phyfical Writers upon the fame Subject-

Neither in this Catalogue of the Vegeta- bles, muft we by any Means forget the Gum of Guajacum, not obferved, as I remember, or brought into phyfical Ufe, till fometime after the Wood had been in great Efteem j but now commonly prefcribed, and that with very good Succefs, both in this as alfo fundry other chro- nical Diftempers, fuch as the Scurvy, Gout7 Rheumatifm^ Dropfyy Afthma, &c

Among Animals, the Viper is, I think, chiefly reported to furnilh Help for the Dif- caffed Gallic m ? and its Flefh prepar'd, as in

the

y6 A Practical Dijf elation, &cJ

the Troch. de Viper is, alfo the Pulvis Viper aru g J and its Volatile Salt, are by the Chy/??ifts highly commended : But a much greater dumber of Antivenereals, are taken from the Mineral Kingdom *, among which Antimony* which is given in Subftance, only finely pow- der'd, from Sfs to 3i. or 3ii. but more ufu- ally fome of its Preparations, as the Antimo- nium Diaphoretic. Cerujfa Antim. Cinnab. An- tim. alfo the Bez^oard. Min* which although efleemed as very famous Sudorificks* yet are fometimes order'd as Alteratives only, with- out expecting or finding the leaft Diaphor&fis, efpecially from the two former of them. The crude Antimony makes alfo an Ingredient in the Decocla DUtetica above- mentioned * and was generally directed by Riverim, as it is now, by many of our Englijh Phyficians, in thefe Cafes.

There is yet another Preparation of this Mineral named by Dr. Harvy (who is faid to be its Author) Antimon. Refufcitatumy which, as he informs us, whoever would cure this Dif- eafe, cito% tuto, ac jucunde, muft make ufe of v but this works apparently, fometimes by Vo- mit, at other times by Sweat, and fometimes alfo downwards by Stool. His own Way of giving it we will (how you prefently, from his printed Treatife.

But after all, the chief Store of our grand 'Anti-Syphiliftan Remedies is allow'd, by the bell of the Antient and modern Practitioners, to be furnifrYd from the Mercurial Mine \ front whence, by divers Chymical Operations, are prepar'd the fever al Precipitates and Subli- mates, which we (hall not here ftay to enlarge on, becaufe met withal inalmoft every PW-

macofoem

A Vr act iced Differ tat id??) &ca 97

macopceia, that is extant t Only give me Leave to obferve one of the moft flmple Pre- parations, yet of admirable Efficacy againft, not only all pocky Eruptions, but other fer- piginous and pruriginous, cutaneous Affecti- ons; that is, the t/Et hi ops Mineral, cumSuU- phur* & Mercur. viv, ana, P. <e. fine Igne frap. of which though I have given 9iv. in a Day, u e. Sii. in the Morning, and as much at Night, and that for 30 Days together, yet I can't fay I have feen any ill Effect, but generally very great Advantage there- by. And having a little before taken notice of the Antimon, Diaphoret, and the Gum of Guajac. ( all of them ufed for the fame Pur^ pofe ) I might obferve that thefe, together with the fa id ^thiops, are well in corpora- ted and adapted to this Cure, in the FiL zAEtbiopicti of Dr. Bate : And this Way of taking the crude Mercury in the black Pill, I think much preferable to that in the blue One, called Barbarojf^ which by Dr. Harvy is prepared thus : fy. Mercur. crud. cum Sue* co Limonum extinEl. Gum, Guaj, ana- 31i. Dia- gredi ^i. Terebinth, q, f. m* f, Majf. pilulark ; of which, made into Pills* he orders from gr, xv. to xxv. to be taken Twenty or Thir- ty Days together: Which he calls his negli- gent Cure of a Frontier or Midway Vox. Of kin to this, are the Til, Balfamica, of the aforefiid Batei prepar'd ex Merc, crud, Tro- ebifc. Albandal. Extr, Euftacb, cum pauculo Croci; and which this Author commends as well for the Arthritis and Lepra, as for the French Pox*

H Sir

9-8 A Pratticd Dijfertation, Sec.

Sir Theodore Mayem prefcribed fometbing like it thus, Ifc Terebinth, ven. ad duritiem coU. Mhei pulv. ana %fs. Pulv. Sarfaparil. Jj. Gum* Guajac. Mjr. Sttccin. Mafiich. ana Jij* Fol. Auri Num. Xxxvi. Mercurij ex Cinnabar, refufcitat. ad pondus omnium ; Balf. Peruv q. s. Dof. *>]. ad 3ij.; m But for my part, I had never any great Opinion, as I faid before, of giving Mercury afcer this manner ; which, however it may fuit with ruftick and ftrong Bodies, with vi- gorous Nerves, and tenfe mufcular Fibers ; yet in the feeble, over lax and weak ones, I believe 'tis better forborn*

With forne of thefe, or fuch like, this Di-

flemper is commonly fet upon, when we pro-

pofe not a Salivation (altho' thefe latter Com-

portions may happen to deceive you, and raife

one unawares) feverai Specimens of which you

Df. Har-W^ find *a Dr- Harvey's Venus nnmafqrfd. His

tey'sfeve- grand Hermaphroditic^ Cure (as he terms it)

ralwaysof being perform'd by the Antimomum refit/citato

%Pmp£.bef°TC mention>d- His Method of Exhibition is 'this, viz.. g> Antimon, refufcit. (cujus Defer iptix> tibi occurrit in Pharmac. BatJ) a gr. iv. ad gr. viij. Merc, dulc* igr. xv. ad gr. xxv. Confi Rof. q. s. m.f. Bolus. This he orders thrice for as many Days fucceflive , or each other Day, as the Patient's flrength will admit: The next four Days following, he dire&s thefe Pills.

5> Antim. diaphoret. a gr. xv. ad gr. XXV. Cerufi Antim. a gr. v. ad 3fs. Merc. d. a gr. vij. ad gr. tv. Flor. Sulph. a gr. v. ad 3fs. 01. Juniper, a gut. ij. *d gut. iv. Syr. Melif, q. s. m. f. Pil. iij. iv. vel v. pro. una Dofiy Omni Mane in leBo, quo bene co&penatur <L/Eger ad fudorem. m Infome very ftrong Perfons, the fame Dofe ss again repeated at Night \ the fifth Day the

Patient

A J? y Actio d Differ tat ion f &c. 99

Patient takes the Bole again j the next four Days, his Pills: Then again the Bolus for the lad time, which he fays never fails to remove a Frontier Infe&ion. His Herculean Cure of the fame Difeafe, is only a Salivation rais'd by the Merc, pr&cip. alb. & rub. or fome other Mer- curial Preparation, taken inwardly, according to the Age and Strength of the Sick, kept up for twenty, twenty five, or thirty Days. His Gigantean Cure, a Salivation alfo, but rais'd by a Mercurial Un&ion : In which he orders 5iij» of Hydrargyrum to lb j. of the Axungia; but in both thefeWays of Salivating, great Heed is to be taken, and fpeciai regard had to the Age, and Habit of Body, with its Ufe to thefe kind of Medicines, as alfo fome particular Idiofyn- crafyy as to their Operation : For altho' at fometimes 5fs. 3 v. or 5vj- of Calomel, may be requir'd to raife a plentiful Spitting, in fome Patients} and 5ifs. 5»j. or Jiij. of the crude Mercury in theUn&ion (with which, fo long as the fame is reduced into invifible Globules, called killing it, its very little material what Ointments are admixed, the Common Axun- gU fervingas well as any) yet with others 3j« "jifs. as 1 have known it, 5ij- or ^\\y of the one j and ?fs. 3vj- or 5J. of the other, will raife a copious Vtyalifm. Without which Regard or Caution in this Proceeding by due Diftance of Time, obferving the Effect ofthelaft Dofe or Anointing ( i. e- twelve Hours at the leaft, fometimes a Day and Nighr, two Days or three, before you repeat the one or renew the other) you run the rifque of deftroying fome difeafed People, as did thofe Ignorant but Bold Mifcreants , we have already e-xpofed^ But of this more prefently.

Hi His

ioo A Practical Dijfertation^ &C.

His Vulcanous Cure, U perform'd by a Clnna^ barine Fumigation, which he directs thus. $ Cin- nab- »pt, 5)- or 5^. Benzoin. Gum. Guaj. Thuris^ ana %'y Styrac. liq. vel Tereb. ven. q. s. m.f. Trock pond. 3^s-°r according to Mr. Wifeman, fyCin- nab. faB. §ij. Mereur. crud. 5j- Maftich. Thuris^ Sandarach. ana Jfs. Styr. Calam. Benz. ana 3uj- f~ omnium puhisi qui excipiatur Terebinth, q. s. & formentur Trochifci pond. ^\[).

In ufsngthefe, the Patient is placed under a Canopy, with a Blanket loofe about him, that the Fume furrounding him, may enter the Pores. But in both thefe formula, I think the Quantity of the Gums too great by half, and that they may as well, if not rather better* be altogether left out; for tho' I never once Efed deiignedly to falivate that Way, (as thinking it more uncertain, and hazardous to the Genus Nervofum , than fome of the reft) yet have I pra&ifed therewith an hun- dred times, in Ulcers of the Throat and No- flrils, as alio in thofe of the Perns and Puden- dum Mvliebre •, where in the former, I have generally obferv'd the Patient to bear the na- ked Fume of the Sulphur and Mercury (which make up the Cinnabarine Compofition) much better than when together Compounded with theSmoak of theGumms, which add nothing to the Efficacy of the Medicament, any more than the Ingredients added to the Quickfilver, in theUn&ion.

Once perhaps in half a Dozen times, I have obferved, where I have ufed it for the Ulcers of the Vwla and TonfilU, it has fwelf d their Chaps, and put them upon Slavering : Which when I found neceflary, I have encourag'd, at kaft fuffer'd to §o on *? but where I intend-

A Prdtfical DiJjertatioKy &c* to?£

ed it only to fubdue the Virulency of thefe corrofive Ulcers (of which it hath fcarce ever feil'd me) I defift from farther proceeding there- with, and immediately purge off, to keep it under.

There is an other Method, which our Au- thor calls a Pofta, I fuppofe for its Difpatch or Hafte; which is perform'd by the Repetition of fome ftrong Mercurial Vomit, for fever al Days; iuch are the Merc. vit&. Arcan. corallin. Turpetb. min. Pracipit. rub* or the like j but here I think the Patient had bed: take care he verify not an old Proverb, More Hafte, xcorfe Speed : For by two only of a prefent Quack's Dofes, of fome fuch kind of Phyfick, a Gentleman I was lately concern'd with as his Phyfician, was potted into a plentiful Salivation, (yet this Fellow alfo rails againft Mercury) by the Ul- cers fixing prefently upon his Cheeks and Tongue, tho' he was afiur'd by his Doctor, the fame Medicine work'd fo gently that a Child might take it } and the Cure was to be fo private, that his neereft Relation or Ac- quaintance (not even his own dear Bofome Friend) was to know any thing of the Mat- ter.

The laft of this Gentleman's Cures, is by the grand Diet ; which after a Purge or two preparatory, is by fweating the Patient once, or perhaps twice a Day, as his Strength holds out, for thirty Days following } and this with large Draughts of a ftrong Decoction of Gua* jacum, adding at fometimes, according to the Conftitution more or lefs hot and dry, the Rad. SarfapariL Raf. lign. Sajfafras and China i When in order to promote this Diaphorefis^ he takes a Bole of Antim. diaph* Bez.Qsrd» min-

H 3 SaL

1 02 A Practical Differ t at io^ &c,

Sal. vol. Viprayum, Vulvis Guajac. cum Theriaca9 or fuch like. The Indian ^ £reat Affinity with this laft, is the Cure, Indian Cure, by which the poor afflicted AU main received his, as he relates at large, when all other Methods, in thofe Days practi- ced, had been try'd in vain. The Way of Proceeding (as he lays it down) was by 1 Boiling Ifei. of Guajac. Chips or Saw-duft, in 4 ifeviih of Spring- Water, to one half: The & Scum of the Deco&ion was referv'd to anoint 4 the Sores, and a Bochet or fecondary Co&ion

* provided for common Drink.

4 In the Ufe of this Diet, the Patient was e kept up ciofe in a warm Room, for Thir-

* ty Days and upwards *, his ufual Refection c being gradually leflened to about a quarter 4 Part : when drinking %}. of the firfl: De- € codlion, hot every Night and Morning, 4 through the whole Courfe, he was kept each 4 Time clofe covered in his Bed Four Hours, 4 one of which was fpent in bringing the 4 Sweat gradually on \ two he lay in the fame, 4 and in the laft he as leifurely cooFd himfelf 4 again.

4 During this Courfe alfo, one Day in five 4 was fet apart for Purging, his Sweats being 4 intermitted on thofe Days: And if at any 4 time coftive, he took f/r. of the Guajac. m £ fine Powder, tho' twice that Quantity, how- 4 ever it moved others, would hardly give one

* Stool to him;

* His Allowance was 5iv. of Bread with € a few Raifinsj his Supper Ji. or jff, £ with fome more of the fame Fruit. Nei- 1 ther did this exquifite thin Diet, and hot ! Regimen (if we may credit this ancient

A Prattled Dijfertatiorj, &c„ xoj

€ Writer) difagrec with the fpareft, or hottefl

* and moft bilious Tempers, of which Confti-

* tution he owns himfelf one."

But you muft know our Knight was no Phy- fician, nor pretends to go beyond his own Ex- perience, and Obfervation upon his own Cafe, with that of fome others of his Countrymen, at that Time Sufferers along with him, by Reafon of the fame Sicknefs ; and therefore muft be allowed to fpeak accordingly. For however this fevere Difcipline, and as it were Starving of the Difeafe, by withdrawing any frefh Fewel, melting down the Humours, and difcharging them at the fame Time, by Sweats thus frequently renew'd for fo long a Time, might happen to agree with their Way of Life and Climate : Yet doubtlefs we mould deftroy many of our People , efpecially thofe afed to good Fellowfhip and high Feeding, as well as the he&ick and dry Temperaments, or the hot, thin and fqualid Bodies, if we were to profecute indifcriminately fuch a Me- thod *, fince we have often obferved, that to thefe Temperaments or Habits, we have few greater Enemies ( notwithstanding his Elogi- um thereon) than this fame good Angel of his (as he fliles it in his Treatife) Guajacum, or Hujacum, as pronounced by the Natives it comes from.

His own Condition he reprefents as follows, before he enter'd upon this Diet ; which I have the rather inferted, that we may fee the Refemblance of the fame Difeafe^ two Hundred Years pafir, with ours at pre- feat

H 4 t Hb

ie>4 A Practical Dijfertation, &c.

Comparifin * His left Leg, he fays, was ufelefs for

between 4 Ej . Years before . — h[% shifl fce

the annent c , ° . , . *c . . • _

ii»4 wo- "ac* a *ar&e and very painful running Sore,

dew Pox. c with a bony Knob fas he expreffeth ic)

1 underneath •, another of the fame Sort a-

' bout his Ankle; with his Thighs and

& Legs reduced to a Skeleton : Pains in his

* Shoulders fo great, his Joints withal foftiffi 4 that he could not raife his Armes. Qa c the Infide of one of them, there was ano- € ther hard Knob, as large as an Egg: In his

* right Side a fiftulous Ulcer, difcharging

* great Quantity of Matter : Above that a c hard bunching Swelling, fattened to his € Ribs : His Head and Neck immoveable,

* turning round only as he mov'd his Bo- fc dy : His Sleeps were only about Noon, ly- ft ing reftlefs all the Nights and tired out with ? Pain.'

What livelier Defcription of our prefent Lues, can we defire, than this, where the Tophs, Nodes, Gummata, and nocturnal Do- lours, are fo nearly refembled ? By which we fee, that however the Ulcers might be more depafcent, corrolive or Phagedamck,i and attended with fome Accidents, pecu- liar to thofe Times of its firft Appearance in Europe : Yet for the greater Part of the Sym- ptoms, we can at this Day match them, and are, I doubt not, an Over- match for them In their Removal.

This Indian Cure, (though not fb ftri&ly as at thofe Times) is ftill in Ufe in other Countries, more than among us. Riverius^ that excellent French Author, perform'd molt of his greateft Cures of this Kind, with the

Afliftance

A Practical Differ t at iox, &c. 105

Afllftance of thefe Diemick Decoftions j ad- ding Antimony to the Woods, in ftubbora Poxes : By which, continued for Twenty Days, he informs us, that he cur'd a French Courtier, who had been difeafed Sixteen Years with Exoftofes upon each Tibia, and unfuffera- ble no&urnal Pains thereby occafioned ; to whom he farther adminiftred (and which had great Share in the Recovery) every fifth Day, his Antivenereal Purgative as follows :

gj Calomel. Magift. Lap. Lazul. Extraft. Rhab. Senna, Turbith. Spin. Pont, ana, ^ii. Gum. Gua- jac. ad Pondrn omnium. Magift. Tart. Solut. Otm Cindmom. ana, ^\fs. Syr. de Fumar. q. f. ad Pi- lulas componendas. Dof ^fs. ad 3i»

Another he obferves, who for Twelve Years had the Difeafe upon him, with Three large Exoftofes on the Cranium, and a Schirrous Tumour on the left Teftis, as big as a Man's Fift, having undergone feveral fweating Di- ets, and Salivations by Un&ion, without Be- nefit *, whom he kept ftrictly to a DecoB. Sar- fap. & China, for Twenty Days, without In- tention of Sweating, giving every Fifth his Antivenereal before mentioned. Afterwards, for Fifteen Days more, he was put ftrictly under a Deco&ion ex Radic. China, Sarfap. Pu* taminibus Nucum & Antimon. The Exoftofes were difpers'd in the mean Time, cum Emplaftr. veftcante, and the Swelling on the Teftis, cum Suffitu Aceti, & Emplaftr. Diaful- fhuris.

And thefe are the Methods, which have been generally practifed for the Cure of the -Pox r yet fome of them having been found too liubborn, and fhocking for weak Perfons, others uncertain and only palliating i whea

the

io6 A Practical Differ t at ion y &c.

the Diftemper has now thoroughly polluted all the Juices of the Blood, and is arrived at what we call a profound Infection, we com- monly at this Time, as a lefs Penance to the Sickr who is now perhaps tired out with his former Quack Medicines \ efpecially the common Fornicators, and who fo long as they are able, will be rambling, upon every Dofe of Phyfick, pouring down perhaps half a Do- zen of Wine, Brandy, or fome other ftrong Liquor, at leaft, the Day after : For thefe Reafons, I fay, and for fuch Patients as will be kept otherwife to no regular or good Dif- cipline, we immediately lay them down in a Salivation, when Neceflity compels them to keep Houfe, and their Appetites are foon taken off from their beloved Vices, and all their other Debauches. The Cure There are many Ways of raifing this Sail- by Saliva- vation or Spitting Courfe, yet all by fome %tl* b& ^ercur*al Preparation; moft of which you Ways V W*H meet W^C^ *a Mr. Wifemans Chyrurgick raifing it, Treatifes, and fome we have already here whether by Wid down. The Preparations which I have

internal or ufefi mv fe\f^ as t^Q fafef£ an(J mofc commo-

%mUk$ di°us? and which I think are generally ufed by the Sufgeons of the Town, are the Calome- lanos, or Mercurim dulcis fexies fublimatus, given inwardly, in the milder Pox •, or the fame being falter radicated, and got into the Bones, the crude Mercury externally, in the Way of UncYion.

The Merc. Fit <zy Arcan. Corallin* with the red, yellow, and green Precipitates ( however in ufe with fame) I think too churlifh, and fcarce fafe for tender Conftitutions } nor in- deed can I fee any Reafon for their Ufe, whilft

we

A Practical Differ tat ion , &c. 107

we have better and lefs hazardous Medicines to fupply their Room. The Turfetbum Min. we have already obferv'd, and fhall touch pre- fentlyupon its Ufe at>thefe Times.

In Salivating by the internal Remedy, to an adult Perfon, of a tolerable good Habit, as to his Strength, and who has not been much ufed to the Medicine, I generally give gr. xv- of Calomel, with a little Conf Rof. in the Morning, and the like Dofe in a little Conf. Fracaft. fine Melle^ at Night *, which I prefer to the larger Dofe given once, or, as cuftomarily, twice a Day ^becaufe it is now lefs liable to run fuddenly through them, or too haftilv fublime, and endanger them that Way, by the Inflammation. Befides, in this gradual Way of Proceeding, it comes on more cer- tainly, eafily, and alfo more fecurely to the Patient j the Effect of each Dofe affording Opportunity of forefeeiag readily, what more may be requifite, and when you muft inter- mit, if not entirely forbear its further Exhi- bition. I know a Phyfical Writer hath lately acquainted us, that we are each Time to dou- ble the Dofe of Calomel, as for the firft Dofe, gr. xv. for the fecond, 'Sff, for the third, 5*- and fotiil the Spitting comes on; but I would advife, that no Perfon take this Author for his Guide in this Affair, how learnedly foe- ver and mathematically alfo, he has defcant- ed upon fome other Medicinal Subjects left inadvertently he deftroy his Patient, toge- ther with his own Reputation : For this Do- ctrine was furely minted in the Gentleman's own Brain, at leaft could not be dictated by Experience, the beft and fureft Director : Buc flfe proceed^

After

;.o8 A Praffical Dijfert ation, &x.'

After Three, Four, or Five Days, thus ma* naged, we ufually obferve the Fauces to inflame, the Infide of their Cheeks to He tumid or high and thick, being ready to fall in betwixt the Teeth, upon fhutting of the Mouth \ the Tongue looks white and foul, the Gums al^ £o Hand out, the Breath ftinks ( which is a good Omen of its coming on,), and in gene- ral the whole Infide of the Mouth appears fhining, feems as it were parboil'd, lying in Furrows, much after the Manner as it does In thofe who haye lately held ftrong Spirits therein for the Tooth-ach. They now begin to refufe their Nourifhment, whilft all Parts of their Chaps, as the Tongue, Gums and Cheeks are fwett'd, and fore, that they can- not chew, efpecially any Food that is folid, but muft be now contented with Liquids, and the fofter Aliments. Befides they are often fick at Stomach, and frequently puke or bulk up a thin Phlegm, another promifing Pnecurfor of a good Salivation, when the fame is moderate and eafy, and comes by Intervals only now and then : But if attend- ed with Cardtalgiay or violent Pains and Tor- ture at the Stomach, perpetual and inceflanfc Retching?, Deliquium and cold Sweats, there is none more dangerous.

The Infide of the Mouth beginning to ap- pear thus whealed, you may expecl: foon af- ter to find them ulcerated, efpecially about the Salival Glandules, emptying thereinto -7 when it may be proper to defifl for a Day or two, if not give over, that you may the bet- ter obferve the lncreafe of the faid Ulcers, what Sloughs are likely to be raifed, and of what Depth and Dimenfioa £hey pre lik?

alfo

A Prdtlical Differt ation^ &c 109

alfo to prove : From which a near Conjecture may be made, of the Duration as well as Quantity of the Spitting, now begun ', the Confidence of the drilling Lympha, more or lefs fluid, being at the fame Time confldered alfo.

When the Salivation after this Manner, is once up, you have no more to do, unlefs to encourage your Patient chearfully to go on % and to refrefh him fometimes with a little mull'd Wine, of what Sort he likes beft; bat red is to be preferred, before other, if there be any Tendency to a Diarrhoea, ad- ding a Third, and fometimes one Half of Water* Let his Diet be a fmall Chicken- Broth, Water-gruel and Panada ; his Drink a fmall Sack-Whey, or Poflet-Drink, with a Draught of good Small- Beer with a Toaft5 between Whiles: But in Cafe of Gripes, or a Loofenefs, the White Drink, prepa- red ex Corn. Cerv. Calcinat. or Rice-Water ; alfo the Decott. Raf. Corn. Cerv. & Eboris? cum Crufia Tanis incoB. & Sacchar. alb. ad flacitum Edulcorat. are to take place of the Reft.

Thus having given him fome few Days Re- spite, if after the coming on of his Spitting, you find him hearty? and his Chaps but little fwell'd on the outfide, and as little fore alfo within, the Ulcers not encreaflng, with few or no Sloughs appearing therein, the Flux alfo inconfiderable in Quantity, you may now again give him 3i. of Calomel, in the Confeft. Fracaft. before mentioned, going to Reft } re- peating the fame for Two or Three Days fol- lowing, as you find Occafion : And thea wait the Iflue thereof again, makirig flow Hafte

rat ho1

no A Practical Differ t &t\on> &C.

rather than precipitate your Patient's Life in a rafh manner, or run him into any Danger, by thinking to do the Bufinefs all at once; in- ftead of which, you only rifque your Credit, together with his Welfare.

But farther, when in this way, he has taken about 5fs. of Calomel, (tho' you will feldom have occafion to go fo high) with but little Alteration as to the Swelling or Soarnefs of his Mouth, and as little Appearance of his Slaver- ing } his Pulfe and other Circumftances, with refped to any ill Symptom attending, favour* ing the fame : You may vomit him with gr. viij. ix. or x. of the Turpeth. Min. by it felf, only made into a Bole with Conf. Rof. or far- ther mix'd up with 3fs. or gr. xv. of the Calo- mel \ encouraging the Operation with fmall Draughts of the common PofTet-drink between whiles, upon each Motion to retch *, but not loading his Stomach therewith, as is cuftoma- ry with other Emetkkj ; leaft happening to run downwards, it invert the Order or Courfe of its intended Operation. The fame Vomit, if found requifite, may be repeated two or three Days after, which at thefe times often an- swers our End, by railing the Humours to- wards the Jaws, and forwarding the Salivation* much more effectually than more Dofes of the Calomel, limply repeated would have done*, and if after this it mould fo happen, asinfpightof all endeavours to the contrary Cby fbme Angu- lar Idiofyncrafy, or Difagreablenefs of the Par- ticles of the Lymph to thofe of the Mercury, fuch as its Vifcoiity, by which it refufeth to be melted down) it fometimes will : Whether I fay, by the Tenacity of the Liquor, of fome Defed in the glandular Secretion,(for I pretend

not

A Practical Dijjertation, &c. iij

not to mathematicife on the Matter) the Spit- ting will not rife to any Quantity, notwith- standing theTumefadion, Inflammation, Stench and Purification, and fometimes Ulceratioa alfo in the Patient's Mouth : You muft for- bear, and purge it off} and miffing his Cure